House passes bill that would provide relief from Medicare sequester cuts

The House of Representatives today voted 246-175 to approve H.R. 1868, a bill that, among other health care provisions, would eliminate the 2% across-the-board cut to all Medicare payments, known as sequestration, until the end of 2021. Congress in legislation enacted last year paused the cuts, but they are expected to resume April 1 without additional congressional action.

H.R. 1868 also excludes the budgetary effects of this bill, as well as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, from the scorecards established by the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, preventing across-the-board cuts to numerous direct spending programs, including Medicare. Without this action, additional sequester cuts will be triggered in January 2022. 

The bill also would make several technical changes to the rural health clinic provisions that were included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. 

In a statement, AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack said, “America’s hospitals and health systems thank the U.S. House of Representatives for passing legislation today that extends relief from pending Medicare cuts to doctors and hospitals that are slated to resume at the beginning of next month. Hospitals, health systems and our heroic caregivers remain on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, caring for patients and communities and playing a leading role in vaccination efforts. Now is not the time to pull resources away from these critical efforts. 

“We now look forward to working with the U.S. Senate to achieve relief from the pending Medicare sequester cuts before they go into effect.”