Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is offering up an motion to commit that would basically kill the HCR bill by returning it to committee with an order to restore billions of dollars in Medicare spending cuts. In his opening remarks, he denigrated the AARP for supporting the HCR bill and asked all seniors with Medicare Advantage to cut their cards in half and send them back to AARP, and offered an alternative in "60 plus".
According to SourceWatch,
However, a 2006 report in the AARP Bulletin called 60 Plus a front group for the pharmaceutical industry. 60 Plus, along with Senior Coalition and United Seniors Association, "claim to speak for millions of older Americans, although as recently as 2001 none of the three listed any revenue from membership dues on their tax returns." The article added: "virtually all of their largest contributions in recent years have come from the same source -- the nation's pharmaceutical industry."
60 Plus president James L. Martin claims to have given then-"Texas Gov. George W. Bush his first political job ... way back in 1967." Martin also "credits himself" with coming up with the phrase "death tax," as part of efforts to repeal the estate tax.
McCain has bolstered his attempt with robocalls over the last week, warning seniors the Senate bill "attempts to remove 2.6 million Americans from the Medicare Advantage program."But two Medicare advocacy groups, Medicare Rights Center and Medicare Advocacy, have this to say about McCain's bill:
Joint Statement by Medicare Rights Center President Joe Baker and Center for Medicare Advocacy Executive Director Judith Stein on McCain Amendment to Senate Health Reform Bill
New York, NY – The amendment to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act offered by Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, is couched as an effort to protect Medicare. It is not. In fact, if this amendment passes, it would kill the bill and the very real benefit improvements it makes for people with Medicare.
By curbing the annual reimbursement increases to hospitals and other facilities and by bringing subsidies to Medicare Advantage plans more in line with costs under Original Medicare, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would extend the solvency of the Medicare trust fund by five years. By reversing the payment provisions in the bill, the McCain amendment would keep the Medicare trust fund on its current path to bankruptcy in 2017. The amendment even rescinds provisions that deliver savings by reducing hospital readmissions and improving care coordination.
The McCain amendment would overturn the bill’s provisions that rein in the overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans. These overpayments will cost taxpayers $170 billion over the next ten years. They threaten the financial sustainability of Medicare and raise premiums for all people with Medicare, including the vast majority who are enrolled in Original Medicare.
Most importantly, by derailing efforts to pass health reform, the McCain amendment would prevent the benefit improvements in the bill for people with Medicare from becoming a reality. Instead of paying half-price for their medicines when they fall into the coverage gap in the Medicare drug benefit—as they will next year if this bill passes—older adults and people with disabilities will struggle to pay the full cost of their medicines, or will continue to skip doses and split pills as they do today. Further, people with Medicare will not see the savings or improved health from the bill’s improvements to preventive benefits if the McCain amendment passes and health reform does not. Instead, all people with Medicare and the Medicare program itself will be harmed.
Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Col., offered an amendment that provides that no benefits in traditional Medicare will be cut by the legislation. It also clarifies that the Medicare cuts — amounting to a 2 percent slowdown in spending — will extend the life of the program and lower premiums for beneficiaries. It provides that the savings generated from the Medicare provisions in the bill be returned to the Medicare program through improved Medicare benefits and extending the Medicare trust fund. The Bennett amendment was passed unanimously.
Earlier, after 3 days of debate, the Senate passed Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) amendment providing for preventative care for women with no co-pay. Voting yes on Mikulski's amendment were 56 Democrats, 3 Republicans (Vitter, Collins, Snowe) and 2 independents. Voting no were 2 Democrats (Nelson and Feingold) and 37 Republicans. The Senate rejected the other bill introduced by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), which would have prevented government interference in preventative care and health guidelines BUT ALSO defined that abortion was not preventative care.
Next up, after the vote on McCain's amendment, is Sen. Ben Nelson's (D-NE) amendment that restricts abortion funding, except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother. As I'm sure this will be diaried ad infinitum, I'll look forward to reading others' views on that amendment!
Update: Senator McCain's motion failed 42-58. The next hour is debate only, recessing at 1630 ET for classified briefing. Two Democrats voted with McCain against the Medicare cuts, Nelson of Nebraska and Jim Webb of Virginia.
Update 2: CSpan is reporting that the Senate will return to debate after the security briefing. It isn't clear whether it will be strictly debate or whether amendments will be offered. It is possible that Nelson's amendment may be forthcoming. According to CQPolitics, this may well be the case.
Orrin G. Hatch , R-Utah, and Ben Nelson , D-Neb., are preparing to offer an amendment replicating House-passed language that would limit coverage for abortion in a retooled health care system.