- On 2/25/10, President Obama and a bipartisan group of federal Representatives and Senators as well as administration officials attended the White House health care summit to discuss and seek consensus on the scope, cost, and effectiveness of the stalled health reform efforts. The President was attempting to reach out to Republicans while highlighting his party’s priorities on health reform. President Obama emphasized Republican proposals that he supported in the summit — market-based exchange; tort reform; and a focus on cutting waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare. Although the President’s essential message to congressional leaders was to find common ground, he stressed the significance of moving forward in the next four to six weeks to pass health reform legislation.
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- Throughout most of the month of January, House and Senate leaders considered various procedural scenarios under which the health reform bill could be enacted. Progress towards enactment stalled following the special election in Massachusetts, which altered the filibuster-proof advantage of the Senate majority party. On 12/24/09, the Senate approved their version of the health reform bill, by a vote of 60-39, and on 11/07/09, the House approved their version of the health reform bill by a vote of 220-215. If enacted, the Senate and House bills contain provisions that would expand health insurance coverage; provide a permanent fix to the sustainable growth rate formula that sets Medicare physician payment rates; provide a bonus payment to primary care physicians; and reauthorize Title VII programs. There is no provision in either bill to increase the number of Medicare-funded GME slots.
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- The House Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce and Education and Labor Committees released a tri-committee health reform bill, America's Affordable Health Choices Act. In this legislation, the Committees expand health insurance coverage, provide a permanent fix to the sustainable growth rate formula that sets Medicare physician payment rates, provide a bonus payment to primary care physicians, reform the GME program, and reauthorize Title VII. A summary of the bill can be found at: http://www.aacom.org/advocacy/topics/Documents/062609-Housebillsummary.pdf. Before adjourning for the August recess, all three committees completed markups of the legislation; House leadership and the Rules Committee will be responsible for melding all three versions and reconciling their differences.
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- AACOM is collaborating with other organizations to support the inclusion of a provision to provide GME funding for teaching health centers (THCs). This provision was included in the revised Senate Finance Committee Chairman's mark. This legislation also includes a grant program to provide start-up funding for THCs. A joint AACOM-AOA letter, dated 07/23/2009, in support of this program can be found here: http://publish.aacom.org/advocacy/topics/testimony/Documents/072309-SenateFinCmte.pdf.
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- The Senate leadership is in the process of combining the Senate Finance and Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Committees health reform bills, which have some very significant differences. Most notably, the HELP bill includes a public insurance option, while the Finance bill provides only for co-ops. The combined bill is expected to go to the Senate floor in mid-to-late October. Once the Senate completes its work, the House will send its bill to the floor.
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- The Senate Finance Committee with jurisdiction over Medicare marked up and passed by a 14-9 margin the America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009. Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) was the only Republican to cross party lines and vote for the legislation. The legislation received a Congressional Budget Office score of $829 billion over 10 years and would expand health insurance coverage to 94 percent of eligible Americans. The legislation includes a 10 percent bonus over five years for primary care services and would redistribute unused graduate medical education slots for primary care training use. The legislation, however, provides only a one-year patch for the sustainable growth rate, replacing a 21 percent cut with a 0.5 percent update in 2010. A full summary of the legislation can be found at: http://www.aacom.org/advocacy/topics/Documents/HealthyFutureAct2009.pdf and http://finance.senate.gov/press/Bpress/2009press/prb101309b.pdf.
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- The Senate HELP Committee legislation also contains the Medical Economic Deferment for Students Act, which was included in an amendment by Senator Richard Burr (R-NC). This provision would retain the current debt-to-income ratio for borrowers to qualify for economic hardship deferment.
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- The Senate HELP Committee released and marked up the Affordable Health Choices Act. Included in this legislation are provisions to expand access to health insurance coverage, to create prevention and wellness programs, and to strengthen the health professions workforce. The Title VII programs are reauthorized and an assessment program is created. A summary of the bill is available at: http://www.aacom.org/advocacy/topics/Documents/061709-HELPsummary.pdf.
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- President Obama sent a letter on 06/02/09, to Senators Ted Kennedy and Max Baucus, chairman of the HELP and Finance Committees, respectively, on the importance of reforming the health care system this year. The President would like to sign a reform bill into law this October. The full text of the letter can be found at: http://finance.senate.gov/press/Gpress/2009/prg060409a.pdf.
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| Updated: 03/05/2010 |