Max Cleland: “we are all hearing from our constituents about the hardships they have encountered from the unintended consequences of…”

“we are all hearing from our constituents about the hardships they have encountered from the unintended consequences of the Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997. From rural hospitals to home health care agencies, cuts in Medicare reimbursement have forced these health care providers to absorb tremendous debt and have threatened patients' access to care. Senator Daschle has proposed over 30 items that will provide immediate relief across the health care continuum. Among these provisions, the bill would redirect BBA surplus monies to provide a cap on hospital outpatient Prospective Payment System (PPS) loss, a delay on the proposed 15 percent cut to home health care reimbursement, a fix for the graduate medical education resident cap and the indigent care problem, the repeal of nursing home therapy caps, a technical correction to limit oscillations to Medicare physician reimbursement, a delay of risk adjustment for frail elderly/ Evercare. Senator Daschle is to be commended for developing this comprehensive BBA relief bill in an incredibly short period of time. My colleague has more than met the challenge of this urgent health care dilemma. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this critical remedial legislation for a BBA fix. I will support Senator Daschle with all my resources to pass a BBA fix this session.”