Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) hold leads to Medicare meltdown

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Hall of Fame baseball pitcher and political gadfly Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) is holding an unemployment compensation bill that also includes a number of other important measures. Republican Senate leadership (paging Jon Kyl) could shut him down anytime they want, but have failed to force Bunning to stand down. Bunning Blockade Leads To 21 Percent Pay Cut To Doctors | TPMDC:

Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) is already infamous for blocking a temporary extension of unemployment and COBRA benefits for out of work Americans. But included in that package is legislation to prevent a mandatory pay cut for doctors–and by standing in it's way, he's triggered a 21 percent fee reduction to doctors seeing Medicare patients starting today.

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The American Medical Association warned of this last week: "A Medicare meltdown now seems certain, as the U.S. Senate has left early for the weekend, abandoning seniors, military families and baby boomers," reads an AMA statement from Friday. "The Senate failed to repeal the Medicare physician payment formula that will cause a drastic 21 percent payment cut to physicians who care for Medicare and TRICARE patients. On Monday, the 21 percent cut goes into effect, forcing many physicians to limit the number of Medicare and TRICARE patients they see in order to keep their practice doors open."

On a conference call with reporters this afternoon Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) put it this way: "By his actions, Bunning has prevented people from receiving Unemployment, health care access, transportation projects from going forward, and Doctors who provide Medicare services from getting paid."

Today, for the seventh time, Bunning objected to a request for unanimous consent to temporarily extend benefits. In addition to cutting doctor's fees, his exploitation of the Senate's filibuster rules has cost thousands of out-of-work Americans their benefits and has even put thousands of federal employees out of work.

Democrats hope to resolve the issues in a longer-term way by passing jobs bill (which includes benefits extensions and a so-called "doc-fix" for Medicare reimbursement rates) next week. In the meantime they're bracing for Bunning and the GOP to take as many steps as possible to delay legislative progress.

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It's unclear at this point whether the lost benefits and reimbursements can be retroactively restored.

Last week, Sen. Bunning whined that he was missing the televised Kentucky v. South Carolina basketball game because he was on the floor of the Senate filibustering this bill. At one point, while Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) were asking him to relent, Bunning was overhead blurting out “tough sh*t” as he sat in the back row. Bunning Whines About Missing Basketball Game, Tells Dems ‘Tough Sh*t’ On Unemployment Benefits

[O]ther Republicans went to bat for Bunning, arguing that the Democrats should simply respect Bunning’s hold. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) said, “I believe we’re stooping to a low level. This is not the way the Senate functions. Everybody in the country now knows that the senator from Kentucky has a hold on this bill. … That’s something that we honor in this body.”

Right. Pompous ass pricks in the U.S. Senate are more important than the millions of average Americans they represent. The Senate is truly dysfunctional.

h/t Forward Liberally for photo.

UPDATE: The AP reports today Lone senator causes big havoc on benefits:

Jobless benefits suddenly ended for some laid-off workers, Medicare payments to doctors were delayed, and 2,000 federal transportation workers were sent home Monday …

41 highway projects were to be shut down because federal inspectors were off the job, and the Obama administration ordered Medicare billing contractors not to pay any claims from doctors for the first 10 business days of March.

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Republicans have been largely silent on the impasse, with several defending Bunning's right as a senator to slow the legislation, but none offering full-throated support.

Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, said Bunning correctly argues that the bill ought to be paid for, but he predicted it would pass [on FAUX News Sunday].