Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid just told reporters that he will not be moving Senator Debbie Stabenow’s 10-year, $247 billion freeze on doctors’ Medicare payments. He said he thought he had the votes – and was promised Republican 27 votes from the AMA – but has since realized he doesn’t. “I don’t bring anything to the floor unless I think I have the votes,” Reid said, answering a question about the apparent shortfall of support. “I was told by various people that we’d have 27 Republican votes, which seemed reasonable since Senator Jon Kyl was the co-sponsor of this legislation. So I was stunned when I was told by his co-sponsor, Senator Stabenow, that, no, he wouldn’t support it.”
The $247 billion bribe bill to help the nation’s doctors may be stalling out on the Senate floor this week (here’s my story). But Dems have won at least one concession from the group: an agreement not to push for the inclusion of medical liability reform in the broader bill. From Rebecca J. Patchin, M.D., [...]
