One member of the Senate is predicting that a "stealth provision" for health issues in the fiscal 2009 budget resolution now being reconciled is likely to result in a presidential veto.
The result, said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) would throw healthcare funding into turmoil.
Grassley, in a floor statement Tuesday, said he expects provisions of a House-passed Medicare bill, the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act, or CHAMP Act, to be included in the reconciliation.
The act contains "drastic cuts to home healthcare, hospital care and skilled nursing care," said Grassley, ranking member of the Senate's Committee on Finance. The House CHAMP bill also would end the availability of Medicare Advantage plans in many rural areas and turn the capped State Children's Health Insurance Program block grant program into an "uncapped entitlement program," he contended.
"None of these provisions were included in the bipartisan package we worked on together last year," Grassley said.
Grassley said the Democrats are including the healthcare provisions in the reconciliation bill because "they know they don't have the votes to pass these kinds of drastic Medicare cuts, and they don't have the votes for these bad policies in SCHIP."
"If the Democratic leadership insists on using budget reconciliation for the Medicare bill, they will fail to get a bill enacted. Failure to get this done has serious consequences for seniors and disabled Americans who rely on Medicare," he added.
Failure to get a bill passed also will ensure the planned 10 percent cut in Medicare's payments to physicians, called for under the Sustained Growth Rate Rule and delayed for six months until the spring by Congress last December.
"I hope we can set aside this reconciliation charade and work on a bipartisan basis to get a Medicare bill passed and signed by the end of June," Grassley said. "No one should mistake (reconciliation) for a serious effort. It's about jamming a bill through Congress and forcing the President to veto it."
The reconciliation approach also is a step back from the bipartisan effort to craft a SCHIP solution, Grassley said.
Finally, the reconciliation contains provisions for a delay in Medicaid provisions established by CMS, in areas that Congress is avoiding discussion of problems with the entitlement program, he added.