Recently, with my strong support, Congress enacted the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (Medicare Improvement Act). This bill, which passed over the veto of President Bush, strengthens Medicare and ensures that seniors and persons with disabilities can keep access to the health care they have been promised.
Ensuring Access to Doctors
The Medicare Improvement Act maintains the bond Medicare Beneficiaries have with the physicians they know and trust. The new law prevents a 10.6 percent cut in Medicare payments to physicians from taking effect for the remainder of 2008, and provides a 1.1 percent increase in Medicare physician payments for 2009. A number of our neighbors have told me of their difficulties in finding a Central Texas physician who will take new Medicare patients. If physicians were forced to take a 10.6 percent reduction in current reimbursement rates, the challenges would be greater.
Improving Health Care Through Preventive Medicine
The new law improves Medicare coverage of preventive health care by giving Medicare the authority to cover new preventive services that it does not currently cover, so long as they are recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and approved through regular regulatory channels. In addition, the law waives the deductible for the “Welcome to Medicare” visit, and expands coverage of that service from 6 months to one year. The law also makes strides toward mental health parity in Medicare. Currently, Medicare requires a much higher co-payment for mental health services than for physical health care. The new law eliminates discriminatory co-payment rates for Medicare outpatient psychiatric services.
Honored by the AARP
Recently, it was my pleasure to be honored by AARP with the 2008 Legislative Achievement Award. With 39 million members, AARP is the leading nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization for people age 50 and over in the United States. I was one of only two members of Congress to receive the award for working to improve Medicare. I have worked with AARP during this Congress on a variety of issues affecting seniors. In addition to the enactment of a new Medicare law, we have worked together to strengthen the prescription drug program. National AARP Senior Managing Director David Sloane hailed my Medicare Part D prescription drug bill as a “Number One Priority” for the organization. I will continue to work on legislation to help seniors, such as the National Silver Alert Act to help locate missing seniors with dementia, and the Medicare Identity Theft Prevention Act to remove Social Security Numbers from Medicare cards.

Contact Me
Readers who wish to write me about Medicare, Social Security or other federal issues can send a message by mail to 300 E. 8th Street, Suite 763, Austin, TX 78701, by e-mail to lloyd.doggett@mail.house.gov, or through my website at www.house.gov/doggett.
U.S. Congressman Lloyd Doggett is currently serving his seventh term in the House of Representatives. He is a senior member of the Ways and Means, Budget, and Joint Economic Committees. He and his wife Libby have two daughters—one a physician and one a teacher, and two granddaughters.