Representative Lois Capps inserted a measure into the Children’s Health and Medicare Protection Act, passed by Congress on 8/6, that classifies Santa Barbara County as “urban” instead of “rural” in order to increase the amount the federal government reimburses Santa Barbara doctors treating Medicare patients. Though the switch could increase the number of insured county children from 9,250 to 11,500, President Bush has vowed to veto the measure, charging that expanding the number of federally covered children would be prohibitively expensive.
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