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Senate Rejects Republican Bid to Restore Home Health-Care Cuts
Share Business ExchangeTwitterFacebook| Email | Print | A A A By Laura Litvan

Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Senate voted to reject a Republican proposal to strip $42 billion in cuts to home health services from broad health-care overhaul legislation, turning back another attempt to alter the bill.

The measure, by Nebraska Republican Mike Johanns, is one of a series of proposals by Republicans designed to draw attention to the possible impact on patients of the health-care legislation, which is President Barack Obama’s top priority.

“These Medicare cuts will impact the quality of care for millions of American seniors,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican.

The Democratic-led Senate instead adopted, 96-0, a proposal by Senator John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, prohibiting any cuts to home health care that would affect patients.

The votes came during a rare Saturday session as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid seeks to meet a deadline of passing legislation by the end of the year.

The Senate delayed until tomorrow a planned vote on a proposal to limit the tax deductions insurance companies can take on executive salaries.

The amendment from Arkansas Democrat Blanche Lincoln would cap tax-deductible salaries at $400,000 instead of the current national limit of $1 million. It would apply only to health insurers that get at least a quarter of their income from premiums generated by the bill’s new mandate to buy coverage.