From rvandevander at carilion.com Thu Jul 10 16:53:43 2008 From: rvandevander at carilion.com (Randall Vandevander) Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:53:43 -0400 Subject: [Vscls-members] Fwd: Medicare Legislation Message-ID: Okay everyone, it's time to mobilize to keep the competitive bidding dead. While the vote has occurred on the Medicare bill that includes the repeal of competitive bidding, President Bush has promised a veto. Senator Warner voted for the bill originally (one of a handful of Republicans to do so), and we need to have him continue that vote to override the veto. As you can see from Elissa's email, there is a draft example of an email that you can use and the web address for Senator Warner. Please mobilize the troops and get the emails going. Thanks! Randy >>> "Elissa Passiment" 7/10/2008 4:31:58 PM >>> Hi Everyone, I hope that you all received my message yesterday letting you know that the Senate voted for cloture and passed the House bill H.R. 6331. This was a major victory in our efforts to repeal competitive bidding. However, there is one more step before this becomes law. President Bush must sign the legislation and the White House just released a press release stating that he will veto the Medicare legislation (HR 6331). Now the vote for this bill in the House was overwhelmingly in favor so we know that the House can override his veto. The Senate is another story. The vote in the Senate was 69-30, two more than the 67 needed for an override. If any of the 18 Republican Senators were to change their yes vote it is possible that the Senate would not be able to override the President's veto. So we need each and everyone one of you whose Senator is listed below to email them, thanking them for their vote and asking them to continue to support this legislation. We have included the text of an email and the list of the 18 Republican Senators who voted for HR 6331. Please circulate this to your grassroots contacts quickly and ask them to email these Senators. (This message has been sent to all of the state presidents already.) We have heard that the President may veto the bill as soon as it arrives at the White House, and Congress would have to vote to override early next week as the CMS ?HOLD? on claims expires on Tuesday, July 15. "Dear Senator __________: My name is _______________ and I am a Clinical Laboratory Scientist in ________________. I want to thank you for your vote to end cloture and pass HR 6331, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008. This bill contains provisions that of great importance to me and the patients I serve, the physician fee schedule update and the repeal of the laboratory competitive bidding demonstration project which, if implemented, would have had a catastrophic effect on access to laboratory services for Medicare beneficiaries in our state. I understand that President Bush will veto this legislation and I am urging you to vote to override that veto. Clinical laboratory services are an essential component of quality health care. They provide physicians with objective data needed to help them diagnose, treat and monitor diseases and other medical conditions. Laboratory testing must often done on the same day and close to where the specimen was drawn; many times results are needed in hours in preparation for chemotherapy or at least by the next day. The competitive bidding demonstration project threatens the quality of laboratory services and access to those services by all residents of the demonstration area and beyond. Repealing this poorly conceived demonstration project is the right thing to do. Once again, thank you for your ?yes? vote on HR 6331. You have helped me continue to ensure that Medicare?s beneficiaries have access to quality healthcare. Sincerely," Here are the Republican Senators who need to be contacted (you may have to copy the link into your web browser): Alexander (R-TN) Link to Web Form: http://alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home Chambliss (R-GA) Link to Web Form: http://chambliss.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.ContactForm&CFID=51392169&CFTOKEN=14703251 Coleman (R-MN) Link to Web Form: http://coleman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm Collins (R-ME) Link to Web Form: http://collins.senate.gov/public/continue.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorCollins.EmailIssue&CFID=693606&CFTOKEN=39503684 Corker (R-TN) Link to Web Form: http://corker.senate.gov/Contact/index.cfm Cornyn (R-TX) Link to Web Form: http://cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm Dole (R-NC) Link to Web Form: http://dole.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactInformation.ContactForm Hutchison (R-TX) Link to Web Form: http://hutchison.senate.gov/contact.cfm Isakson (R-GA) Link to Web Form: http://isakson.senate.gov/contact.cfm Martinez (R-FL) Link to Web Form: http://martinez.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactInformation.ContactForm Murkowski (R-AK) Link to Web Form: murkowski.senate.gov/contact.cfm Roberts (R-KS) Link to Web Form: http://roberts.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactInformation.EmailPat Smith (R-OR) Link to Web Form: gsmith.senate.gov/webform.htm Snowe (R-ME) Link to Web Form: http://snowe.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactSenatorSnowe.Email Specter (R-PA) Link to Web Form: http://specter.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm Stevens (R-AK) Link to Web Form: http://stevens.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.EmailSenatorStevens Voinovich (R-OH) Link to Web Form: http://voinovich.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm Warner (R-VA) Link to Web Form: http://warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm Thanks Everyone Elissa Passiment ASCLS 6701 Democracy Blvd, #300 Bethesda, MD 20817 301.657.2768 (voice) 301.657.2909 elissap at ascls.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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