Thomas Daschle: “I join today with Senator Moynihan and many of our colleagues in introducing the Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 2000…”

“I join today with Senator Moynihan and many of our colleagues in introducing the Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 2000 (BBRA-2000). The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) made some justified changes in Medicare payment policy and contributed to our current budget surpluses. It also included important provisions to improve seniors' access to preventive benefits, and it created the Children's Health Insurance Program. These are important accomplishments. But some of the policies enacted in the BBA cut providers significantly more than expected. This has created severe problems for health care providers all over the country. Last year, we took steps to correct these problems. But we did not go far enough. When I met with hospital administrators in South Dakota earlier this summer, one told me that since the cuts from the BBA were implemented, his hospital has been just barely breaking even. Usually, that alone would be cause for concern. But then other hospital administrators told me they were jealous, because they are far from breaking even. In my state, the operating margins for hospitals with 50 or fewer beds were a relatively healthy 2 percent before the BBA. Last year, these small hospitals--which are so vital to their communities--had negative margins of 6 percent.”