The president vetoed Medicare legislation Tuesday, and Congress planned to override him quickly.

Bush’s veto of the bill set the wheels turning for a House override vote Tuesday afternoon, followed quickly by Senate action.

In his veto message to the House, Bush said that he supported the legislation’s goal of stopping a 10.6 percent cut to Medicare’s physician payment rates, but that cuts to private Medicare plans, known as Medicare Advantage, prompted the veto.

“Because this bill would severely damage the Medicare program by undermining the Medicare Part D program and by reducing access, benefits, and choices for all beneficiaries, particularly the approximately 9.6 million beneficiaries in [Medicare Advantage], I must veto this bill,” Bush said in his message.

Both chambers passed the bill with a wide enough margin to override a veto. It appeared that those numbers would hold on Tuesday.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer noted that 355 House members voted for the bill. “We’re confident they will vote to override the president,” said Hoyer, D-Md.

Even Republicans in the Senate — where some held out hope that the White House would make a last stand — were predicting an override.

“As of right now, I would say it’d be overridden. I just don’t have any reason to believe otherwise,” said Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, one of the Republicans who voted against the bill.

The measure would replace a scheduled 10.6 percent cut to Medicare’s physician pay rates with 18 months of stable payments. The cost would be offset by cutting bonus payments to private Medicare plans known as Medicare Advantage. Those cuts total $12.5 billion over five years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The House passed the bill, 355-59, on June 24. The Senate passed it by voice vote July 9 after voting 69-30 to overcome a procedural hurdle.

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