March 26, 1999

Senators Urge Retention of GME in Medicare

A bipartisan group of 22 Senators sent a letter March 18 to Budget Committee Chairman Pete Dominici (R-N.M.) and Ranking Minority Member Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) asking that they retain in their FY 2000 budget resolution the assumption that Medicare would continue paying for Graduate Medical Education (GME). The letter was written in response to the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare's discussion to move direct graduate medical education payments from Medicare to the appropriations process.

"We now appeal to you as you draft this year's budget resolution, to preserve that vital role that teaching hospitals play in our health care delivery system", stated the senators in the letter. "We urge you to retain GME's current funding mechanism, as we have serious concerns about efforts to subject the program to an annual discretionary appropriations process."

The signatories included Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), John Edwards (D-N.C.), John Kerry (D-Mass.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Patty Murray (D-Wis.), Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.), John Ashcroft (R-Mo.), Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), (Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), and Pat Roberts (R-Kan.).

The Senate FY 2000 budget resolution, as passed by the Senate Budget Committee, continues funding GME through Medicare.

Information: Lynne L. Davis, AAMC Office of Governmental Relations, 202-828-0526.