Grassley Amendment (#3352) on Medicare Extenders
Sen. Grassley has introduced a Medicare extenders amendment (#3352) to the latest “jobs bill.” This amendment replaces the Medicare sections of the underlying bill with a one-year fix to the Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula, through December 31 of this year (as opposed to September 30 in the Baucus bill). The language also includes all the additional “Medicare extenders” in the Baucus package, including those added to the bill yesterday (technical language on outpatient hold-harmless and extension of gainsharing demonstration). This amendment is paid for through an approximately $17.9 billion drawdown of the Medicare Improvement Fund (the underlying bill only re-directs $8 billion from the MIF).
Please note that this amendment does NOT strike or otherwise impact the COBRA subsidy provisions or the six-month extension of Medicaid “stimulus” funding in the underlying legislation. Those provisions are NOT paid for and are declared “emergency” spending for PAYGO purposes in the Baucus bill.