Help stop Medicare sequestration extension; contact Congress today
Right now, both the House and Senate are working on bills dealing with trade adjustment assistance (TAA). Essentially, these proposals pay for job training and other assistance for those who are displaced by trade. While, the National Rural Health Association generally does not focus on trade issues, the House bill H.R. 1892 has snared health care into this bill as a pay-for. The bill, which is backed by House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan, extends Medicare sequestration for one year and also cuts payments for dialysis treatments to pay for its trade adjustment assistance measures. According to CBO, the bill would be a $700 million dollar cut to Medicare, by imposing a 0.25 percent cut in Medicare in fiscal year 2024. Currently, the Senate version does not include these or any pay-fors. The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to take up its own version of the legislation Wednesday. Contact your members of Congress today and tell them not to pay for a trade bill by endangering access to care for seniors and the disabled. Rural providers and hospitals cannot continue to absorb the cuts without hurting rural America’s access to necessary health care.