WASHINGTON — The U.S. House approved a $10 billion plan to provide a one-month extension of unemployment benefits, including federal subsidies to help the jobless buy health insurance.
The measure also would prevent looming cuts in Medicare reimbursements to doctors.
The bill, approved on a voice vote Thursday, was headed to the Senate, where lawmakers aimed to approve it before the programs expire this weekend.
The measure would buy lawmakers time to debate longer-term extensions of the programs. The jobless can buy health insurance through their former employers for 18 months under a law known as COBRA. The government currently pays 65 percent of the tab.
The bill approved by the House would prevent a 21 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors that would otherwise be imposed by a budget mechanism created a decade ago. Congress routinely blocks the payment reduction.
