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The legislation had been sharply pared back after weeks of negotiations with GOP moderates Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, but they were not persuaded to support the measure. The latest draft would have added $33 billion to the deficit. The Medicare bill that passed Thursday would delay cuts in payments to doctors until the end of November
-- after congressional elections -- when lawmakers hope the political climate is better for passing a more permanent, and expensive, solution. There was some urgency to approve the funding because Medicare announced last week it would begin processing claims it had already received for June at the lower rate. Lawmakers said some doctors have already stopped seeing new Medicare patients because of the cuts. The bill would increase payments to providers by 2.2 percent. The legislation, which costs about $6.5 billion, is paid for with a series of health care and pension changes that both Democrats and Republicans agreed to. The Medicare cuts were required under a 1990s budget-cutting law that Congress has routinely waived. The latest extension expired May 31 after concerns about adding to the budget deficit held up the larger bill that also included unemployment benefits. Obama praised Congress for passing the measure, while urging lawmakers to work on a more permanent solution.
[Associated
Press;
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