{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=A67B136E-C8C0-4EF2-A7BD-A8FBEC00B5C7", "Heitkamp Successfully Presses Administration to Maintain Access for Medicare Beneficiaries", "2016-12-16", "2016", "2016-12", "Democrat", "House", "ND", "Heidi Heitkamp", "H001069", "www.heitkamp.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "BISMARCK, N.D. \u2013 After leading eight senators in warning the administration about a potentially harmful Medicare proposal, U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp announced today that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has heeded her concerns, and will not to go forward with the proposed demonstration project.\r\n\u201cEarlier this year, I stood up to voice my concerns about a proposal that could have impacted our most vulnerable seniors \u2013 including folks in rural areas suffering from cancer, arthritis, and auto-immune diseases. Now, the administration has listened to those concerns and dropped the proposal,\u201d said Heitkamp. \u201cFighting for quality health care for seniors is a responsibility I take seriously. That\u2019s why I warned the administration about how this could impact seniors and independent physicians who are critical for rural communities. Going forward, I\u2019ll continue fighting to defend Medicare and to improve care for all North Dakotans.\u201d\r\nThe proposed demonstration would have impacted payments for nearly all Medicare Part B drugs over a five-year period, and would have required up to 75 percent of providers to participate in one or both of the two phases of the project.\r\nIn May, Heitkamp led eight fellow U.S. Senators in pressing CMS to reexamine the size and scope of the proposed demonstration, as they were worried it could have impacted Medicare Part B services for the sickest seniors with some of the most serious illnesses. Access to treatments for conditions such as cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and auto-immune diseases is fundamental to Medicare beneficiaries\u2019 health and quality of life.\r\nHeitkamp was joined by U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-NM), Jon Tester (D-MT), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Chris Coons (D-DE), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Angus King (I-ME). The Senators pressed the agency to engage in meaningful dialogue with the impacted medical and beneficiary communities, and urged CMS not to move forward with the demonstration until those concerns were addressed. Click here to read the letter.\r\nThe senators also expressed concern about the detrimental financial impact of the demonstration on physicians in rural communities and at small, independent practices, which could have disrupted access to care or forced patients to travel longer distances for care.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=A67B136E-C8C0-4EF2-A7BD-A8FBEC00B5C7"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7500771898776293, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}