WASHINGTON – During final hours of work on healthcare reform legislation, the Senate Finance Committee agreed to changes that are bad for seniors, veterans and workers, according to Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member on the committee.

“These changes need to see the light of day,” Grassley said.  “Americans considering what this healthcare proposal means for them deserve to know that Medicare prescription drug premiums would probably go up, veterans’ access to healthcare would be diminished and workers’ wages could be garnished in the midst of growing unemployment and a prolonged recession in order to pay for other spending in the health reform bill.”

Grassely said it’s important that senators have actual cost estimates from the Congressional Budget Office before being asked to vote on major policy changes.

In a wrap-up amendment, committee members voted 13 to 10 to expand the power of a newly created Medicare Commission to raise premiums paid by seniors for Medicare prescription drug coverage.

Grassley said the amendment was offered to add back $11 billion in Medicare cuts that were lost because of the special “carve-out” from the proposed Medicare Commission’s authority over spending for hospitals in the pending reform legislation. The special exception for hospitals was agreed to in secret negotiations last summer.

The overall committee bill was short the $11 billion for the hospital deal after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) last week provided its score for the hospital carve-out. In order to support the measure, the new authority for a Medicare Commission to raise prescription drug premiums was added in the wrap-up amendment.

The amendment, sponsored by Sen. John D. Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), also gutted a provision for veterans that committee members had agreed to earlier in the mark-up session. An amendment offered by Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) was passed to prevent the tax increases in the pending healthcare proposal from increasing the cost of medical care provided to veterans or reducing veterans’ access to treatment.

The wrap-up amendment wiped out that protection by turning it into a study, to be conducted by the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The measure also nullified an amendment sponsored by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), which committee members earlier had adopted by a 21-to-0 vote, to safeguard workers’ wages from being reduced because of the effect of fees and assessments on employers.