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Senate Democrats push ahead on health billPublished: 2009-12-05 15:41:52By: Noam N. Levey | Los Angeles Times | December 4, 2009 Reporting from Washington - After days of delay, Senate Democrats pushed ahead Thursday with their drive to pass a healthcare bill by Christmas, approving the first amendment to their giant bill: a measure to expand women's access to preventive services such as mammograms. The proposal by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), which passed on a largely party-line 61-39 vote, would authorize the federal government to require insurers to cover women's preventive care and screenings without co-payments. The amendment is expected to cost about $940 million over 10 years. It had the backing of numerous groups representing patients, doctors and women. Daniel E. Smith, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said the proposal would "guarantee women access to lifesaving cancer screenings such as mammography and Pap tests." Democrats easily defeated, by a 58-42 vote, a proposal by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to send the bill back to committee to restore more than $400 billion in proposed cuts in what the federal Medicare program will pay insurance companies and healthcare providers over the next decade. The Senate bill would use those savings to offset the cost of expanding coverage to an estimated 31 million by 2019. Republicans allege the cuts would hurt seniors, a case they made again Thursday by focusing on Medicare Advantage, a program in which the government contracts with insurers to provide Medicare benefits to more than 10 million people. The program has been popular, in part because insurers often provide benefits not available to seniors on traditional Medicare. But studies have shown Medicare Advantage also costs the government more than traditional Medicare, prompting calls for the government to pressure insurers to cut their costs. Full story |
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