Bush Vetoes Medicare Bill

As promised, President Bush has vetoed the Medicare bill that would stave off a 10.6 percent cut in reimbursements to doctors and replace it with a slight increase. The bill passed both chambers with a veto-proof majority after a contentious several weeks of debate. And now it continues.

Bush vetoed it, he said in a statement, because of Democratic attempts to roll back certain private elements within the Medicare program. Democrats say the private plans amount to a corporate giveaway and are too costly; Bush frames it as a matter of choice, saying in a veto statement that "taking choices away from seniors to pay physicians is wrong."

His full statement after the jump...
Continue reading post...