[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 24998]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        MEDICARE BAD DEBT POLICY

  Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I rise today with my distinguished 
colleague from Idaho, Senator Crapo, to discuss the change in Medicare 
bad debt policy as proposed in the budget reconciliation bill. I feel 
there is a need to differentiate between debt owed by individuals and 
debt owed by States. The sponsors of this policy argue that it will 
encourage skilled nursing facilities to be more efficient in the 
collection of bad debt. However, how can the facility be more efficient 
if the State simply refuses to pay the Medicare co-payments through its 
Medicaid program? This body should examine the root of this problem 
before implementing the bad debt policy in this bill. It is my hope 
that the conference committee considers this when examining this 
policy.
  Mr. CRAPO. Senator Lincoln makes a good point. While I support the 
Finance Committee's goal of encouraging accountability and 
incentivizing the collection of Medicare bad debt by skilled nursing 
facilities, I do see the need to differentiate between debt owed by 
individuals and debt owed by States. I believe this conference should 
consider this point as well.

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