Pete Stark: “The protection of low-income seniors in Medicare deals with people between $12,252 and $13,782 in income. And when their…”

“The protection of low-income seniors in Medicare deals with people between $12,252 and $13,782 in income. And when their part B premium is $1,122, they need that protection, and extends that through December 31. The Abstinence Education program is one that is very important to the Democrats. We've extended it on the theory that if we really enforce this abstinence education, there will be fewer Republicans. So, we support that big time. The Hospital Perspective Payment System regulation is one of the most important to our hospital community, and we have changed the way we will collect the funds from the hospitals and not collect it all up front. We will collect part of it up front, and then wait until later in the 5-year cycle to see how they behave to collect the balance, which will create less of a financial burden on the hospitals across the country. The 2008 final regulation that governs inpatient hospital payments under Medicare makes important, long-overdue refinements to the system by differentiating payments based on the severity of illness.”