As if to prove that every rule has an exception, the usually dysfunctional Republican-majority House of Representatives has at least one sensible piece of bipartisan legislation on its record: In December it passed a health-care measure called the Lower Costs, More Transparency Act on a 320-71 vote. Also contrary to Congress’s occasional practice, the bill’s name is not hype. It actually would end a longstanding, but irrational, disparity in Medicare reimbursements for certain treatments, depending on whether they are administered in doctors’ offices or hospitals. The savings would be more than $3.7 billion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. And beneficiaries’ co-payments would go down, too — by $40 a visit. The next thing that needs to happen is for the Senate to follow suit.
