Congressman Peter Welch and New Hampshire’s Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes have voted with the majority in the House to pass legislation delaying the implementation of regulations affecting Medicaid programs.
The roll call vote was 349-to-62 yesterday.
Two thirds of the Republicans joined every voting Democrat to impose a one-year moratorium on seven rules changes that the Bush administration argues are needed to rectify waste and abuse in the state-federal partnership to provide health care to the poor.
Supporters of the bill said the rules would merely shift financial burdens to the states at a time of economic distress while reducing access to health care for the country’s neediest people.