On January 6, 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives (in a 242-181 vote) approved H. Res. 5 suspending the application of Section 803 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA) for the remainder of the 111th Congress.
Under the MMA, the Medicare Board of Trustees is required to include a finding in its annual report whenever it projects that general revenues will make up more than 45 percent of total Medicare funding within 7 years. If the Board of Trustees make such a determination for 2 consecutive years, a Medicare funding warning is triggered requiring that the President submit a legislative proposal to reduce general revenues as a share of Medicare costs.
Section 803 of the MMA sets forth the procedures that the U.S. House of Representatives must follow after a Medicare funding warning is triggered and the U.S. House of Representatives is presented with a legislative proposal. The Medicare funding warning was first triggered by the Medicare Board of Trustees' 2007 annual report.
