House Passes 4 Medicare Bills by Voice Votes

(Related: House May Vote on Medicaid-Medicare Long-Term Care Bill This Week) Members of the U.S. House today passed four Medicare-related bills by voice votes. House Republican leaders put all of the bills on the House "consent calendar," or list of items viewed as noncontroversial and easy to pass. The bills could do things like expand options for older people who need long-term care (LTC) services and put new types of Medicare cards in Medicare enrollees' wallets. Although the four bills passed in the House by a wide margin, there is no guarantee that the bills will reach the Senate, floor either on their own or as part of a package. In some cases, proposals have broad support, but they lack enough support from the right people to come up for a vote. In other cases, supporters of a popular proposal may have trouble finding an acceptable way to raise enough federal revenue, or cut enough federal spending, to offset the effects of a proposal on the federal budget. For a look at the four bills that passed today, based on a list circulated by House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, see the idea cards in the slideshow above. — Read 3 Ideas From Lawmakers for Making Medicare Better, on ThinkAdvisor. — Connect with ThinkAdvisor Life/Health on LinkedIn and Twitter.