U.S. Representatives Gohmert, Granger, E.B. Johnson Praised by THCA for Helping Lead House Effort to Stop $45.6 Million Texas Med...( Bush Administration's Cancellatio...),Health

Bush Administration's Cancellation of New Medicare Regulation Protects Texas Seniors' Access to Quality Care

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Texas Health Care Association (THCA) today thanked U.S. Representatives Louis Gohmert (R-TX), Kay Granger (R-TX) and E.B. Johnson (D-TX) for helping to lead a successful, bipartisan effort in Congress to stop the Bush Administration from moving forward with a new regulation that would that would have cut Medicare-funded nursing home care by $5 billion over the next five years, and $770 million in fiscal year 2009. The Administration announced late last week that the regulation would not go into effect. The success of Reps. Gohmert, Granger and Johnson in helping to stop the Medicare regulation ensures Texas seniors will be protected from cuts of $45.6 million next year.

"For Texas' Medicare beneficiaries, it is highly noteworthy that Reps. Gohmert, Granger and Johnson helped lead the effort in the U.S. House to ensure the harmful Medicare regulation highly detrimental to the health care needs of Texas seniors did not go into effect," stated Tim Graves, President of THCA. "Reps. Gohmert, Granger and Johnson helped make sure the Administration was aware of the impending funding cuts for Texas Medicare beneficiaries, and were among the U.S. House Members to co-sign a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mike Leavitt warning about the problem."

The House letter, led by Reps. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND), Shelley Berkley (D-NV) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), expressed their deep concern that high-quality skilled nursing care for America's seniors would be threatened if the regulation went into effect.

The letter joined by Gohmert, Granger and Johnson said the new regulation would "jeopardize the significant quality improvements made by the skilled nursing facility (SNF) community in recent years as well as the ability of SNFs to continue caring for high acuity patients.
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