Braley Secures $12.5 Million in New Medicare Payments to Iowa Hospitals

Washington, DC - Today, Congressman Bruce Braley (IA-01) announced that 20 Iowa hospitals will receive $12.5 million in additional Medicare reimbursements. The payments will be delivered to the hospitals tomorrow, and come as a result of a provision Rep. Braley authored and passed into law during the health care negotiations last Congress.

"For decades, Iowa's doctors have been punished for no reason other than geography," said Rep. Braley. "These payments are the first step toward ending these geographic disparities and reforming our Medicare system so it finally rewards quality of care instead of the number of procedures performed."

Rep. Braley secured the funding during late night negotiations with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Obama Administration officials before the final health care votelast spring. Tomorrow, Iowa hospitals will receive $12.5 million in additional Medicare reimbursements, or 8.3 percent of the available funds. Under Rep. Braley's provision, Iowa receives the 4^th-highest amount of payments of any state.

Last Congress, Braley negotiated a compromise adding language to the health carereform bill that provides an immediate $800 million to address geographic disparities for both doctors and hospitals, as well as written guarantees from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for further action toreform Medicare reimbursement rates. Iowa doctors and hospitals have long suffered from an unfair Medicare formula which reimburses them at a lower rate than providers in other states - all while offering some of the highest quality, lowest-cost care in the nation.

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