Senator Klobuchar Votes to Pass Medicare Bill for Seniors, Military Families by Veto-Proof Majority

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Senator Klobuchar Votes to Pass Medicare Bill for Seniors, Military Families by Veto-Proof Majority

Supports measure that contains quality-improvement incentives

U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar voted today to preserve access to quality health care for America's Medicare beneficiaries by avoiding a harmful cut in physician payments and creating incentives to reward quality-improvement practices.

The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act passed the Senate today by a vote of 69-30 and will now go to the President. Senators stood and applauded shortly before the roll call as Senator Ted Kennedy, D-MA., returned to the chamber for the vote for the first time since being diagnosed with a brain tumor.

"Thousands of Minnesotans count on Medicare for quality health services and the peace of mind that comes with dependable medical care,'' Klobuchar said. "It is fitting that we could join today in this important vote with Senator Kennedy, who was present at the creation of Medicare and has championed quality health care through his long and distinguished career.''

The measure blocks a 10.6 percent cut in payments that was scheduled to take effect for Medicare physicians, a cut that would have caused many doctors to stop seeing or taking new Medicare patients, according to health care analysts.

The bill also contains incentives to improve health care quality in Medicare. It will reward doctors who report on quality improvement measurements and provide incentives for doctors and clinics to make greater use of electronic-prescribing technology to improve medical accuracy.

"It's time that Medicare rewarded the kind of high-quality, low-cost medicine that our doctors and hospi

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