Congress Overrides Bush to Suspend Bidding Program

Congress united against President Bush on July 16 to override his veto of HR 6331, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008, signing it into law the same day. The House and Senate voted to override the President 383 to 41 and 70 to 26, respectively.

The law will suspend for another 18 months the first round of the Medicare competitive-bidding program for durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS), which was scheduled for implementation in ten metropolitan statistical areas on July 1. The law will also suspend a scheduled 10.6 percent cut to Medicare's physician pay rates, replacing it with 18 months of stable payments. The law will instead reduce costs by cutting bonus payments to private insurance companies in the Medicare Advantage program. According to the Congressional Budget Office, those costs would equal $12.5 billion over five years.