DORGAN PRAISES SENATE FOR OVERRIDE OF BUSH'S MEDICARE BILL VETO
Medicare Bill will stop cuts to physician payments; promote rural health care
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
CONTACT: Justin Kitsch
or Brenden Timpe
PHONE: 202-224-2551
(WASHINGTON, DC) --- U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan issued a statement Tuesday on the Senate’s override of President Bush’s veto of the Medicare Bill, which was approved by a bipartisan majority in the Senate last week. The President vetoed the bill earlier today.
The text of the statement is below.
BY SENATOR BYRON DORGAN
July 15, 2008
“The override of the President’s veto of the Medicare bill was a real victory today for senior citizens who rely on Medicare and the hospitals and doctors who serve them.
“If President Bush’s veto of our bill to strengthen Medicare would have prevailed, North Dakota hospitals and doctors would have lost $30 million in the next 18 months.
“Our state has a large population of senior citizens, and the proposal by the President to slash payments to doctors by over 10 percent, along with other cuts to hospitals, would have endangered Medicare service in our state and other rural states.
“Our vote to override the President’s veto was a vote to keep our commitment to our senior citizens as well as their health care providers.”
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