The House of Representatives, by a vote of 219 – 212, voted to pass H.R. 3590, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as amended by the Senate. This is the healthcare reform bill that was passed by the Senate December 24, 2009.
The House also passed H.R. 4872, the Health Care and Education Tax Credits Reconciliation Act of 2010. The House Reconciliation Act changes a number of the provisions in the Senate’s Patient Protection Act, to which the House had objected.
Some of the new taxes or revenues generated by Patient Protection Act include:
- a penalty levied against individuals for not maintaining health insurance coverage
- a tax levied against employers for failing to offer minimum essential coverage
- an increase in the individual’s Medicare tax from 1.45% to 2.35%
- impose an unearned income Medicare contribution of 3.8% on investment income for individuals earning more than $200,000 ($250,000 joint filers)
- impose a new tax on “Cadillac” health insurance plans.
The Senate has adjourned for the Easter Recess and will not return until April 12th and failed to act on legislation extending the physician fee schedule freeze that has been in effect since January 1. This means that the 21% cut in physician fee schedule payments scheduled to take effect on April 1, will occur.
When the Senate returns on April 12, it intends to take up the SGR fix bill, H.R. 4851. It is not clear whether the votes will be there to take up and pass the bill.
Unless something changes between now and April 12th, it is conceivable that it could take several days of debate before the Senate will be able to vote on H.R. 4851. Although we ultimately expect Congress to approve a freeze in the extension and make it retroactive to April 1st, providers should be prepared for the possibility that for claims submitted with a DOS of April 1 or later will be paid at the reduced rate.
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Editor: Philip Blann (pblann@anesthesiabilling.com).
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