House Passes Doc Fix Bill today

The House on Thursday overwhelmingly voted to repeal automatic payment cuts to doctors under Medicare, endorsing a rare bipartisan deal that Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) negotiated with Democrats.

The bill, which passed by a vote of 392-37, puts Congress on the precipice of ending a fight nearly two decades old over a formula known as the sustainable growth rate (SGR). 

Since 2003, lawmakers have put off cuts under the Medicare formula 17 times, perennially punting the solution through short-term “fixes” that, over time, ran up the cost of abolishing the formula to nearly $200 billion dollars.

Facing a new deadline for the cuts at the end of March, Boehner said he decided it was time to make a deal.

"We’ve had a patch of this problem 17 times," Boehner said in a speech on the House floor. "And I decided about a year ago that I had had enough."

Only 33 Republicans and 4 Democrats voted against the bill.

Senate Democrats have given the bill a frosty reception, raising concerns about abortion language and the length of an extension for a children’s insurance program.

But some Democratic senators appeared to be warming up to the deal on Wednesday, and President Obama gave it a strong endorsement, saying he has his “pen ready” to sign it.

Boehner told reporters ahead of the vote that he expects the Senate to take up the bill “sooner rather than later,” and said he believes it will ultimately pass both chambers.

"I expect, when the Senate does it take it up, there’ll be a large vote over there as well," he said.

The Senate is in the middle of a “vote-a-rama” on budget amendments that is expected to stretch into the early hours of the morning. Once the budget is passed, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) could seek unanimous consent to approve the Medicare deal before the chamber leaves town for a two-week recess.

More here including video:
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/237068-house-passes-medicare-deal-in-overwhelming-392-37-vote