House votes to eliminate Medicare premium rises

House votes to eliminate Medicare premium rises

WASHINGTON — Millions of Medicare patients would be spared monthly premium increases next year under a bill passed by the House on Thursday.

The House voted 406 to 18 to eliminate all premium increases for Medicare Part B, which provides coverage for doctor’s visits. The bill now goes to the Senate, where the Finance Committee is expected to take it up soon, though no hearings were scheduled.

Lawmakers said older Americans shouldn’t have to pay higher Medicare Part B premiums because they are not expected to get a cost-of-living increase from Social Security. Most seniors have their Medicare premiums deducted from their Social Security payments.

Bill triples Pakistan aid

NEW YORK — Alarmed by persistent anti-American sentiment and rising Taliban influence in Pakistan, the Obama administration hailed Thursday’s Senate vote to triple foreign aid to the country.

Passage of the bill that will provide Pakistan with $1.5 billion in aid a year over the next five years coincided with a meeting in New York of major supporters of Pakistan co-chaired by President Barack Obama.

The timing of the Senate vote was deliberate, said U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke. He said Obama announced the vote to the “Friends of Democratic Pakistan” meeting held on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly.

Fighting Calif. wildfire

MOORPARK, Calif. — A fleet of helicopters made water drops as bulldozers carved firebreaks Thursday to try to stop a 25-square-mile wildfire burning through an agricultural region of Southern California.

High heat and very low humidity kept fire danger high even though meteorologists said the dry Santa Ana winds that spread the flames through rural Ventura County were weakening.

The 16,400-acre blaze northwest of Los Angeles was 40 percent surrounded.

Actor Quaid, wife arrested

MARFA, Texas — Actor Randy Quaid and his wife have been arrested in West Texas for purportedly skipping out on a $10,000 California hotel bill.

Quaid and his wife, Evi, were taken into custody Thursday afternoon, according to Santa Barbara County sheriff’s officials, who said authorities in West Texas informed them of the arrest. A statement from the California agency said it was told by the Presidio County Sheriff’s Department that Evi Quaid was restrained after a brief struggle.

Presidio County Sheriff Danny Dominguez declined to respond to questions from The Associated Press.

Santa Barbara County’s sheriff’s spokesman Drew Sugars says the warrant for Quaid and his wife set bail at $20,000 each. The felony warrant is for burglary, defrauding an innkeeper and conspiracy.

Ginsberg hospitalized

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was hospitalized Thursday after becoming ill in her office at the court after treatment for an iron deficiency.

The 76-year-old justice, who underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer in February, was taken to Washington Hospital Center at 7:45 p.m. as a precaution, a statement from the court said.

Earlier in the day, she had received an iron sucrose infusion to treat an iron-deficiency anemia that had been discovered in July.

About an hour later, she “developed lightheadedness and fatigue,” the statement said. She was found to have a slightly low blood pressure, which the court said can occur after the type of treatment she received.

Although an examination found her to be in stable health, she was given fluids and taken to the hospital as a precaution, the court said.

Google hearing postponed

NEW YORK — A judge noted the many objections to a $125 million deal giving Google Inc. digital rights to millions of out-of-print books as he agreed Thursday to postpone a fairness hearing so the agreement can be rewritten to comply with copyright and antitrust laws.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said the deal reached last year between U.S. authors and publishers and Google “raises significant issues, as demonstrated not only by the number of objections, but also by the fact that the objectors include countries, states, nonprofit organizations, and prominent authors and law professors.”

He added: “Clearly, fair concerns have been raised.”

Associated Press