Orshe

There are a few noteworthy health-care provisions buried deep within the $626 billion defense spending bill the Senate’s expected to pass this weekend.

The bill would block a planned 21% Medicare pay cut for doctors that’s set to take effect on Jan. 1. But the block would only last for two months — enough time, presumably, for Congress to put a longer-lasting block in place. For more on this subject, see the post we wrote earlier this week, after the bill passed the House.

Another provision would extend subsidies for Cobra, the program that allows workers to temporarily keep their employer-sponsored insurance after they leave their jobs. Cobra coverage tends to be expensive (the worker is on the hook for the whole premium), but under the stimulus bill that passed early this year the government pays 65% of the cost for nine months for certain workers.

That subsidy ran out at the end of November for workers who started collecting it in March, shortly after the stimulus bill was passed. The defense spending bill would extend the subsidies, so that they run for 15 months. Here’s more on the proposed Cobra extension from the WSJ and Kaiser Health News.

Photo by RussBowling via Flickr

Read the original:
Weekend Action! Medicare Payments to Docs, Cobra Extension