Miss. senators defiant over controversial Medicare vote

Mississippi Republican Sens. Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker lashed out Wednesday at what they term a “misinformation” campaign being waged against them by the American Medical Association over their votes against a Medicare bill favored by physicians.

Both senators are up for reelection this year and have been targeted by the physician lobby for voting last week against advancing legislation that would have prevented a 10.6 percent cut in Medicare fees to physicians. Because the legislation did not move ahead, the rates automatically went down on Tuesday.

{mosads}Physician groups, including the AMA and the Mississippi State Medical Association, expressed outrage at Cochran and Wicker after the vote. The AMA is running television ads in Mississippi and five other states during the July 4 congressional recess accusing Cochran, Wicker and eight other senators of voting to cut Medicare.

According the AMA, other medical societies and Democrats, the enactment of the cut threatens the livelihoods of physicians and could hamper their patients’ access to medical care. Congress has been dealing with the flawed statutory formula that creates these cuts for six years without devising a permanent solution.

In a joint statement released Wednesday, Cochran and Wicker reacted to the AMA’s ads, calling them “misleading.” They asserted their support for legislation to fix the physician payments but reiterated their opposition to the Democratic bill that passed the House 355 to 59 and failed in the Senate by a single vote.

The White House has threatened to veto the bill but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has rejected returning to the negotiating table with the GOP and said he plans to bring the bill back to the floor for another vote when Congress returns from recess.

 “My position on this is very clear: I support blocking the pay cut, and have done so every year since the issue first came in 2002. As we have done in the past, we will get this fixed so that these cuts do not happen,” Wicker said. “I am committed to fixing this problem, and had a productive meeting yesterday with Mississippi doctors and two of President Bush’s top advisers. Everyone agreed this is an issue that can be fixed as soon as some in Congress stop politicizing it,” he said.

Wicker was in his seventh term in the House when he was appointed last year to fill the seat vacated when Trent Lott (R) retired from the Senate. He faces former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove (D), a challenging opponent, in his bid to hold the seat through 2012.

Like other Republican senators who voted against advancing the bill last week, Cochran and Wicker object to portions of the legislation that are designed to reduce spending on private health insurance plans in Medicare Advantage. “I was disappointed that Senate leadership unnecessarily tied our effort to prevent reductions together into a bill with several measures I could not support,” Cochran said.

The statement also notes that Senate Democrats rebuffed an offer from Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to put a 30-day fix in place and that the Bush administration will not process Medicare claims for physicians until July 15.

Physician groups have not shown themselves to be receptive to these arguments, noting that lawmakers were unable to come up with a compromise bill that both parties could support. The groups argued the Republicans who wanted to see the cut blocked should have voted for the Democratic bill.