The American Hospital Association -- AHA -- reported that the House and Senate voted in mid-March to approve fiscal year 2009 budget resolutions that exclude the president's proposed Medicare and Medicaid funding reductions.

The House resolution, approved 212-207, includes a reserve fund to extend the moratorium on several Medicaid regulations. The Senate version, approved 51-46, also is expected to pay for a Medicaid moratorium in 2009.

In addition, both resolutions include reserve funds of unspecified amounts to increase payments for physicians and make changes to Medicare's prescription drug program, as well as a $50 billion reserve fund to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
The House budget plan also includes reconciliation instructions directing the House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicare, to develop legislation that decreases spending or increases revenues by $750 million over five years. The president had proposed more than $182 billion in cuts to Medicare over the next five years, of which $135 billion would come from hospitals; as well as $18 billion in Medicaid cuts.

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