Obamacare doctor bribe fails in Senate, Reid whines
It looked like the fix was in. The “Doc Fix,” that is. As the Heritage Foundation has been reporting, the White House and Dem leaders scurried today to try and pass a $247 billion payoff to doctors groups as an enticement to support Obamacare.
Surprise: The fix failed. The cloture voted on S. 1776 failed by 47-53. Here’s the roll call vote:
And now look who’s whining. Harry Reid blames the AMA:
Reid brought the $247 billion bill to the Senate floor this week as part of a deal to secure the support of doctors groups such as the AMA for passage of a separate, broader healthcare reform bill later this year. But the strategy has backfired.
Reid knew that he needed Republican votes because several centrist Democrats made it clear to him before this week that they would not vote for the measure if its cost was not offset. Reid though he could count on a few Republican crossover votes…
…Reid told reporters on Wednesday that he was led to believe that more than two dozen Republicans would vote for the bill, though he did not mention the AMA by name.
“I was told by various people that we would have 27 Republican votes, which was pretty reasonable to assume since one of the co-sponsors of this legislation was [Sen.] Jon Kyl [Ariz.], the assistant Republican leader.
“I was stunned when I was told by his cosponsor Sen. Stabenow after we introduced this legislation that [Kyl] couldn’t support it. Even though he is a cosponsor he couldn’t support the legislation,” Reid said, making reference to Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), the lead sponsor of the 10-year doctor payment fix.
Kyl did not cosponsor the 10-year fix. Last year and in 2005 he cosponsored a measure that would have implemented a two-year freeze on the cuts to Medicare payments to doctors.
An aide to Kyl said that those measures would have indexed future payments to inflation and rising healthcare costs. The aide said that Stabenow’s bill would freeze payment levels and make no provision for rising costs.
Another factor is that the nation’s fiscal picture is much different than it was last year. The Obama administration recently estimated the federal deficit at $1.4 trillion.
The AMA pushes back against Reid here.
RedState congratulates grass-roots activists.
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Categories: Health care
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Olympia Snowe voted with the Republicans.
Like snow in Houston. Not impossible, but rare.
Rats! I wanted to be first.
How long till the White House blames this on Fox News? Glenn Beck just had his show with all those doctors.
Wow. I hope this the first of more good news. Come on 2010…..
Does this mean that medicare payments to doctors can now drop? Does anyone know how the medicare fees to doctors are set?
Harry, take two aspirin and don’t call me in the morning.
Oh, I soooo hate it when Harry Reid is disappointed.
Nice try zyzzyg.They cant drop much lower but the paperwork the docs have to do for a claim can double.
wait ’til he gets the prostate handshake…
Everybody, 1,2,3…
Boo Freaking hoo
“Tommy Boy loser”
On October 21st, 2009 at 4:53 pm, zyzzyg said:
As we all know, they spin the Big Wheel…….
Evan Bayh got a call from me…he told me that he was waiting to see how this mess would be paid for.
Methinks the cat is out of the bag: Obamao-care is a pig’s arse.
The state sets medicare payments. The reason this was so important to reid was that if doctors all had to work for what the government sets, a large number of them would go bankrupt.
How quickly they have thrown the AMA under the bus. Here is the tally so far of groups that have thrown in with Obamacare that have been turned on:
AMA
Insurance Companies
That leaves the AARP. Please add to if I have missed any.
I believe it is the feds that set medicare and the state sets medicaid, but not 100% certain on that.
Wow, that traitor McCain voted no. Surprise. Bah! I’m sure that this is just another trick from this snake in the grass traitor McAmnesty liberal. We all know that he is a not so secret democrat and a true Obama supporter, no matter how votes.
If that is the case, how could the Feds promise not to lower medicare payments to doctors? And, why don’t the States increase their medicare payments to doctors? If doctors are concerned about reimbursement, then their issue is with thier States and not the Federal Government. Correct?
The money all comes from the feds in the end.
Not to kill some of the excitement with reality here, this is a good victory for us and all, but don’t anybody get too excited about Snowe, Bayh, et. al. voting NAY on this. I’m sure that there are several in the mix who didn’t have the nerve to be vote #48 but would have gladly been vote #60.
Still, it is interesting to note that with reports (Redstate) of Burr’s office claiming he’d be a YEA vote, and the likelihood that Snowe would have folded, this means that there must have been at least a couple of Dems that failed to give Harry his 60 even before Burr and Snowe decided this was a bad idea.
Lieberman apparently was polling his constituents. With the lefties ready for battle, this means the conservative grass roots movement showed up to fight today. Good work.
Of course our CO senators voted with Reid. Makes me want to scream. No matter how many times you call or email. Is it Nov. 2010 yet?
Do I understand correctly that Reid (D-Loser) had said that Kyl was a cosponsor, but voted against it? And further down, the article states that Kyl said he was not the cosponsor?
Is Harry losin’ it?
Not so fast my friend, Lindsay and I are working on a compromise bill to make this happen.
Love, John
Docs are very concerned over medicare payments. It’s way too low. Obama’s ridiculous statement that docs are making $40K on an amputation, has a lot of people believing it’s profitable to have medicare patients. For example: a routine gallbladder operation did pay $800 back in the 80s. It nows pays $480, which includes follow-up and tests. Not every “profitable” to anyone’s pocketbook.
Byrd is back. I did not know that. Good to see all the R’s on the same side. Even better that there are some rational D’s that don’t feel like playing games with a 1/4 trillion dollars.
I can’t wait to see the Dem’s try some procedural trick (reconciliation) to get Healthcare passed with public option. American’s are smart enough to see these as the shenanigans that they are.
I note 13 Dems voted NO.
And no Reps. voted YEA.
A harbinger for Obamacare????
I just called both of my Senators, Reid and Ensign, and my Congressman – Heller – suggested that they would get MUCH more support if they included themselves in the covered population. Of course, Heller introduced that amendment, and it failed in committee on strict party lines.
“Good for thee, but not for me”
Seems like what this does is to force this issue to be included in the ‘big’ health care bill. Which means reconcillation for that bill is even less possible.
I call your gallbladder and raise an appendectomy.
Wonder what it’s like to be so powerful and not have any power?
Fool—-
Nobody tell the SEIU and Acorn “doctors” that Harry Reid wants the white lab coats back.
Please America, write Odopey a Dear John letter.
Go to Michelle’s link re: “AMA pushes back” for info on how doctors’ wages are set.
PLEASE, PLEASE, Nevada! Dump Dingy Harry next year!
Once again good riddance to Specter (a Yea)
Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Further – consider a frog sitting in water and water getting warmer slowly but the frog doesn’t jump out even though the water eventually boils but if the water got hot very quickly, they jump out.
The parallels to the politics of our times may be striking.
So what happened? My guess is that the amount was simply too small. Had it been $2.47 trillion, with the promise it would be deficit neutral, then I think it would have passed.
Yes, but that does not address the questions.
If healthcare reform is on the table there should be answers. Answer from the politicians, the media or from the people who have written about the “Doc Fix.” Why write about an issue and not explain all the details?
Senators have expressed concern about how low medicare reimbursements are in their States. Wouldn’t it make sense to advance the position to increase those payments then?
But, the States controll medicare disbursements, so the Senator’s real concern is with their Governors and State Legislatures.
A true National Healthcare Plan would direct how much the Doctors are reimbursed, consistently across the Nation. There would be a National standard for reimbursement. Maybe this is not a true National Healtcare Plan.
Part of the difficulty appears to be getting the States on the same page. With a Public Option styled after Medicare, will reimbursements remain different in each State?
Healthcare reform seems to have lots of moving pieces, and they all should be accounted for, before anything is done. This is something that Pres Obama, and his supporters in the Congress, can be taken to task over.
FIFY
Being a proud denizen of the Republic of Nevada, I would submit to you that it is Vegas and not the rest of Nevada which is electing this man into office now. Unfortunately, we have not been able to convince him that since he happened in Vegas, he should stay in Vegas.
You are supposed to bribe people in the shadows. Hard to do when the sun shines.
Poor dear harry. He will have to get with dear nan and have a pitty party tonight. I hope this is one among numerous defeats for this mess to go down.
PS, I hope harry is on the unemployment line in 2010.
L
I am amazed that Reid said this didn’t pass and it was the AMA’s fault. The problem with America is that these are the ‘leaders’ that are spending our money.
None of them take responsibility for anything, yet they hold others accountable for things out of their control at times.
If Congress were a business, it would be in jail. Businesses can’t operate the way the government works and stay in business.
Please, please don’t say that, and teach your children not to say that!
All money that the feds spend on transfer programs comes from the 53% of us who are still pulling the wagon (47% of Americans do not pay taxes – no, not even FICA).
Teach your children the truth.
I wish my mantra could be:
O-Dumbo, get used to defeat.
Alas, he has to many stupid people helping him with his agenda.
I pray the AMA was watching how the O-D admin has been selling out the big boys and not waiting for a better deal.
Petulant Pinky Posturing.
And, hey, WarTip, some of us here in Vegas are planning to work very hard to dispose of him in 2010, and his little son too!
The problem with that wizened old prune Reid is that he knows he won’t be reelected so now he is trying to make friends with the Mammon of unrighteousness.
Last time I was there his son was still working for lobbyists … if you can find a way to depose these cancerous marks on our society and our politicians count me in.
This is why U.S. Senators, with a few exceptions, are just representatives-at-large for the major metro area in the state.
Here in The Peoples Socialist Quagmire of California, LALA land elects the US Senators and most of the statewide officers.
A real fix would be to elect US Senators and all statewide officers by county. Each county gets one vote. Win the popular vote in that county and you get its vote. Win a majority of the counties and you get elected. Think of it as a state version of the electoral college.
You can’t use US Representative districts or any other type of district created by the state legislature; they’ll just change the districts to suit their votes. Counties on the other hand rarely change. It would also mean the sparsely populated rural counties would have the exact same vote as a metro county. They should, since the offices in question are US Senators and statewide offices. That is, those offices represent the entire state.
The same basic effect could be implemented by the repeal of the 17th amendment that has been such a thorn in the side of state’s rights and an impediment to the ability of the constitution and the system of checks and balances to prevent unnatural powers from being invoked by the centralized federal system over the individual state’s rights.
Just my two cents though … and quite honestly, a Constitutional Convention at this point in time could be devastating to the nation as a whole … not that it is not being looked at but for the time being, it remains unattainable.
Fix or “fix”, either way it would be unethical or illegal.
Lucky for us the recreational abusers, the liberal socialists, didn’t have enough time to cook the smack in the spoon.
I am glad to see some of the Democrats join the adults in voting nay.
Addiction (in this case, to money and power) is a treacherous thing…we can only hope the reality of this cold turkey won’t cause some recidivism.
harry’s been in la la land for years…time for him and piglosi to go to the funny farm home….
Do you actually think Harry the Undertaker reads these bills?
It’s a good day whenever I see Reid (and Pelosi) “whining”. It means the American dream and values have survived a little while longer.
HA! O-dumbo is dropping in the CNN polls. It’s about time. I liken this to a blind police officer finding a donut shop – it’s bound to happen – eventually.
Golly, I got a letter from Obama, Reid and Pelosi but they only offered me $215 billion to support ObamaCare. Good thing I said no! I am holding out for $787 billion. That should get me a loaf of bread on election night in 2012…
Murray and Cantwell voted yea (dems or is that dims) from WA–go figure.
/sarc off
Jake
Dingy Harry is having a bad year-he never recovered from all those stinky tourist.
TrueSoldier
AMA—Insurance Companies–Fox News–Rush Limbaugh– Glenn Beck–Chamber of Commerce–and more to follow I’m sure.
There are three factors.
1. Base rate – decided by CMS
2. Regional adjustment – decided by CMS
3. Conversion Factor – decide by Congress
The Conversion Factor is what they use to adjust for inflation. It went down 5.3% for 2009.
keeping doctors is going to become a real trick. between the gubmint saying they should work for schoolteachers wages, and the lawyers suing them every time some sick person dies, the md profession is looking less and less attractive. i can’t wait for the time that the only businesses sitting on pots of tappable money is the legal profession. i may even dust off my shingle and start suing those greedy lying lawyers.
Naturally, the two PA Demoncrats voted for cloture. Color me surprised!
God, I can’t wait for SpecterDetector to GO AWAY!!
The citizens in Las Vegas who vote should remember that Reid’s “party of the working people” tried to keep tourists out of Vegas. Everyone’s (and I think this is not an exaggeration) EVERYONE’S livelihood depends on tourists – people spending money. The Dimwits are trying to shut down the town because of $ envy.
Send Harry Home!