Feingold Announces Huge Step Forward in Fair Medicare Reimbursement Rates for Wisconsin Discusses His Medicare Fairness Efforts Included in Prescription Drug Bill at Local Listening Session July 21 , 2003 Baileys Harbor – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), one of the main authors of Medicare fairness legislation, told a group people at the Baileys Harbor Town Hall today that many of the Medicare equity provisions he has fought for have been included in S. 1, the Prescription Drug Benefits Bill that recently passed the Senate. A Feingold amendment that passed in the Budget Committee earlier this year helped make the inclusion of Medicare fairness provisions in the prescription drug bill possible. Feingold reintroduced his Medicare fairness legislation on the first day of this Congress with Senator Susan Collins (R-ME). Like the Feingold/Collins legislation, the provisions included in S.1 will reform the current Medicare reimbursement system by reducing regional inequities in Medicare reimbursement rates. “I am pleased that the amendment I authored in the Budget Committee helped to pave the way for these Medicare equity provisions to be included in this prescription drug bill,” Feingold said. “For years we have been getting the short end of the stick on Medicare payments, and this bill will mean more than $250 million in Medicare dollars for Wisconsin over the next ten years. This is not a partisan issue – it deals entirely with fairness in the distribution of Medicare dollars.” Last week, Feingold sent a letter to members of the prescription drug conference committee, the committee consisting of members from both the House and Senate with a mandate to iron out the differences between the House and Senate prescription drug bills, urging them to keep these Medicare reimbursement provisions in place. “There is still more work to do, but these provisions are a huge step forward,” Feingold said. “We will have to fight to keep these provisions in the bill when it goes to conference with the House. I will continue to work with the entire Wisconsin delegation to help get these provisions to the President’s desk for signature.” Feingold held his 37th Listening Session of 2003, and his 757th since he was first elected, at the Baileys Harbor Town Hall, starting at 10:30 a.m. This is Feingold’s eleventh year of holding Listening Sessions in every county.

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