February 19, 1999
Senators Send Letters to Medicare Commission on GME and DSH
On Feb. 12, Sens. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), and 53 other Senators sent a letter on graduate medical education (GME) and disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments to the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare. The letter urges the commission "to maintain Medicare's commitment to funding GME and DSH" and "opposes efforts to subject GME and DSH to an annual appropriations process."
The letter was issued in response to earlier proposals considered by the commission to move GME and DSH from Medicare to the appropriations process. Sen. Kennedy, in an issued press release said, "Medicare payments to teaching hospitals are vital to their survival." He added that "the continuation of strong support for teaching hospitals across the country under Medicare is essential."
A total of 19 Republicans and 36 Democrats signed the letter. Besides Moynihan and Kennedy, Sens. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn), Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.), Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), John Edwards (D-N.C.), Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.), John Kerry (D-Mass.), John Ashcroft (R-Mo.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Max Cleland (D-Ga.), Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Joseph Biden (D-Del.), John Chaffee (R-R.I.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Kit Bond (R-Mo.), Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), Blanche Lambert Lincoln (D-Ark.), Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), Connie Mack (R-Fla.), Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.), Bob Graham (D-Fla.), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), James Jeffords (R-Vt.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Slade Gorton (R-Wash.), Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska), Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.), Robert Bennett (R-Utah), and Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) signed the letter.
In addition, Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and Paul Coverdell (R-Ga.) have written individual letters to the commission expressing concerns about GME and DSH funding.
Information: Lynne L. Davis, AAMC Office of Governmental Relations, 202-828-0526.
