Congressional Quarterly is reporting that Senate negotiators have brokered a deal on a bill that would block the scheduled 10.6 percent cut to Medicare physician reimbursements, but that would not be vetoed by President Bush. According to Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), several concessions were made to Republicans on the issue of Medicare Advantage funding.

 

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) “confirmed that a key part of the compromise dropped restrictions on private fee-for-service plans, a subset of the Medicare Advantage plans,” CQ adds.