Help! Somebody Please Explain This.

[angelatc]

House votes to override Bush Medicare veto
Try not to use real long sentences because I'm apparently having comprehension issues tonight.



Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:53pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to override President George W. Bush's veto of a Medicare bill that would cancel a scheduled 11 percent pay cut to doctors who treat patients in the health care program for the elderly.

So Bush vetoed a bill that cancelled a pay cut. That means the pay cut was out.



The House voted 383-41 to overturn Bush's action, just hours after he vetoed the legislation. The Senate also was expected to override the veto later on Tuesday.

OK, the pay cut is back. Medicare MDs will get less.


So far, so good. (I think!) Here's where I get lost:


Under the bill, the costs to the government of canceling the doctor pay cut would be offset with about $13 billion in reimbursement reductions to insurers such as UnitedHealth Group Inc. and Aetna Inc., which contract with the Medicare program.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan, editing by David Alexander)

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssHealthcareNews/idUSWAT00979820080715

So, the cost of not not spending that money ......what?

[noxagol]

Yeah that is a pretty convoluted sentence. I think it cost money to cancel payments already going through the system or something maybe?

[acptulsa]

The bill would cancel the scheduled pay cut. Vetoing the bill would reinstate the scheduled pay cut. Overriding the veto would, by restoring the bill, cancel the cut.