Senate passes Medicare bill with Kennedy’s help
A Medicare bill opposed by the White House won final congressional approval on Wednesday with the help of Sen. Edward Kennedy, who returned to the Senate floor for the first time since brain surgery last month.
With Kennedy’s dramatic and surprise appearance, he and fellow Democrats overcame a Republican procedural hurdle and, on a voice vote, passed the measure earlier approved by the House of Representatives.
Once again, Bush/McCain work in the favor of Corporations and not doctors and patients.
The Bush administration opposes any effort to trim payments to private health plans. The president has said the move would limit plan choices for seniors. But doctors and the seniors’ group AARP waged an aggressive lobbying effort to prevent the doctors’ pay cut.
“This is pretty much a done deal. The president is not going to win this fight,” Ipsita Smolinski, a health care analyst with JP Morgan, said after the Senate vote.
The White House had no comment.
In the notion of fair play, it should be noted that the Dems in the Senate actually did pass something worthwhile. Of course GW will probably veto it.
So, those of you on Medicare, hoping to soon be on Medicare, or with parents and family on Meidcare…pay attention to EXACTLY who stands in the way of fixing the system to work better.
The lie and cheat Republicans need to be held accountable at the polls for this.
Most people care more about Health CAre than FISA! Maybe they are uninformed sheep but at least they vote and not sit on their behinds and whine.
