Posts Tagged ‘Republicans’
Monday, January 17th, 2011
If the Republicans who now control the House of Representatives succeed in repealing the Affordable Care Act – and it’s likely that the Senate will quickly squelch that effort — their action has the potential to increase the federal deficit by $230 billion, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The CBO’s analysis says that repeal of President Barack Obama’s signature legislative victory also will leave 32 million Americans without healthcare coverage. While some health insurance premiums would be less costly, the CBO analysts estimates that if the law is repealed, consumers will have less coverage and will end up paying more if they lose the subsidies that the new law mandates.
Republicans — who are trying to characterize themselves as the party of fiscal responsibility – quickly dismissed the CBO’s analysis as unrealistic. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), said “CBO is entitled to their opinion. I do not believe that repealing the job-killing healthcare law will increase the deficit.”
Although the repeal may survive a vote in the Republican-controlled House, It is unlikely to make any headway in the Senate. Even conservative Democratic Senators like Ben Nelson (D-NE) oppose repeal. Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) said “The majority of the Senate still believes in healthcare reform. We also believe that the only perfect bill ever enacted was carried down the mountain by Senator Moses. Every other effort has needed some visitation, reconsideration, and this will too.”
Republican members of the House Rules Committee said a resounding “no” to attempts by Democrats to amend the repeal resolution to protect parts of the law, such as expanding access to mammograms for women and putting new restrictions on insurance companies. Democrats reacted derisively, noting “You’re saying, ‘Let’s repeal this bill. We don’t have a replacement. Trust us,’” said Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA). “So much for the open process. There is none.”
Tags: Affordable Care Act, Congressional Budget Office, Democrats, Federal deficit, Fiscal responsibility, Healthcare reform repeal, House of Representatives, House Rules Committee, Open process, President Barack Obama, Representative Jim McGovern, Representative John Boehner, Representative John Kline, Republicans, Senator Ben Nelson, Senator Dick Durbin
Posted in Healthcare, Hospital Systems | No Comments »
Monday, December 6th, 2010
Even though Republicans will control the House of Representatives and have a larger presence in the Senate come January, they still are likely to hit some formidable roadblocks in their attempt to repeal the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act. Those roadblocks are such lobbying giants as the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PRMA). The groups are on board with the new healthcare reform law because they will gain an estimated 30 million (or more) new paying customers in the next few years. The reform law is expected to increase payments to physicians and hospitals who have felt squeezed in recent years. Additionally, analysts believe the new law is a major force for job creation in the healthcare sector.
“These guys were onboard for a reason,” said David Dranove, a professor of health enterprise management at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. “Very few employers will drop private health insurance, and you will expand private insurance to 15 million people. If this legislation stands, we are not likely to see new reforms for a generation.”
Primary-care physicians, who are likely to benefit significantly from the healthcare reform law, will see their reimbursements from government insurance programs rise – although many believe the reform law is only the beginning. According to Dr. Cecil Wilson, AMA president, “While the 111th Congress made important improvements to our nation’s healthcare system, more work needs to be done.” Hospitals – which have been hard hit by patients unable to pay their medical bills because of unemployment – will be in better financial shape once more Americans get health insurance subsidies in 2014.
Pharmaceutical companies, which were among reform’s earliest supporters, oppose repeal, even though analysts say it will cost them $100 billion in government rebates. The upside is that the industry will obtain new customers who were previously uninsured and unable to afford the latest brand-name medications. Even the much-maligned insurance companies – who will have more than 15 million new customers – oppose repeal.
Tags: 111th Congress, Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act, American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, America’s Health Insurance Plans, GOP, Health insurers, healthcare reform law, House of Representatives, Independent Payment Advisory Board, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, President Barack Obama, primary-care physicians, private insurance, Republicans, Senate
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Sunday, October 3rd, 2010
Republicans are threatening to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as part of their “A Pledge to America” proposal. On the six-month anniversary of healthcare reform’s enactment, House Republicans issued their “Pledge” , which proposes overturning the law and replacing it with “real reforms” focusing on medical liability reforms to control “junk lawsuits” and defensive medicine. Other elements of the “Pledge” would expand health saving accounts; ban taxpayer funding of abortion; allow people to buy insurance across state lines; assure access for patients with pre-existing conditions by expanding state high-risk pools and reinsurance programs; as well as cutting the cost of coverage.
According to Stephanie Cutter, assistant to the president for special projects, “The (Republicans’) agenda claims to protect people with pre-existing conditions, but it repeals the new law’s ban on discriminating against uninsured Americans, including children who have a pre-existing condition. It will mean that seniors will pay more for their prescription drugs, and their new free preventive Medicare benefits will be cut.”
Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, noted that the GOP proposal “will raise taxes by more than $40 billion on up to four million small businesses that provide health benefits to their employees…and will result in premium increases by eliminating the billions of dollars in cost-saving measures.”
Democratic lawmakers assailed the “Pledge” as recycled ideas that will only intensify the nation’s problems. “Republicans want to return to the same failed economic policies that hurt millions of Americans and threatened our economy,” said Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Even if Republicans vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama still has the power to veto their legislation. It’s likely that he would use his veto power to protect one of his major legislative achievements.
Tags: Democrats, GOP, health insurance, healthcare reform, Nancy Pelosi, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama, repeal, Republicans, Speaker of the House, White House
Posted in Healthcare, Healthcare Village | No Comments »
Thursday, September 30th, 2010
CMS administrator Donald Berwick has asked the insurance industry to work in good faith to implement healthcare reform in a timely manner. Dr. Berwick made his plea at a Medicare conference sponsored by America’s Health Insurance Plans, the health insurance industry’s trade group.
“We need your help, our nation needs your help,” Dr. Berwick said, noting that companies, CEOs, healthcare professionals and managers all play a role in achieving the objective, yet the insurance industry “can be among the keys of our success, the central part in navigating the success of healthcare reform. We have a job to do, we need to make care better for America.” Berwick told the audience that he plans to work with others at CMS to build relationships and partnerships to assure that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act works as intended. “If we steadily work together to make care what it can become, trust will resurface and the rest will follow,’ he said.
Dr. Berwick, who President Barack Obama named to his post in a recess appointment that bypassed the Senate confirmation process, is not well liked by Republicans because he once wrote an article that praised Britain’s National Health Service, raising concern that he will introduce healthcare rationing. He tried to allay those fears by saying “I urge lower costs without harming a hair on any patient’s head. It’s a clear, stark reality. Our healthcare system, in its current form, is not up to that job. We cannot, with our current system of care, give Americans the care that they need and want and deserve.”
The most pressing issue is improving patient safety and cutting deaths that result from unnecessary medical errors, a specialty that Dr. Berwick developed when he headed the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. He also called for improved prevention and treatment of diseases like obesity and depression.
Tags: America's Health Insurance Plans, CMS, depression, Donald Berwick, healthcare providers, healthcare reform, insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, National Health Service, obesity, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Republicans
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Monday, August 23rd, 2010
Private detectives retained by Medicare required an average of six months to refer fraud cases to law enforcement officials, according to congressional investigators. The average lag time was 178 days – and by then, many cases are so cold that catching the perpetrators is virtually impossible, as is recovering taxpayer dollars. Recently, an inspector general report had questions about the contractors who play a leading role in Medicare’s efforts to rein in fraud. In 2007, private contractors identified $835 million in problematic Medicare payments. The government was able to recover only about $55 million or seven percent of the total, according to the report.
Medicare overpayments – which typically range from a billing error to a brazen swindle – totaled more than $36 billion in 2009, according to the Obama administration. That’s why President Obama has placed a high priority on fighting fraud and waste in the hope that the savings will help fund the new healthcare law. The opposition – in the form of Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) – questions whether taxpayers are getting a good deal from Medicare’s private eyes. His office is reviewing Medicare data from the last four years to determine why it took so long to refer fraud cases to law enforcement officials. According to Grassley, “Medicare is already a pay-and-chase system when it comes to fraud, waste and abuse. Providers are paid first; then questioned if there’s a problem. Add to that mix contractors who sit on cases of ongoing fraud when they should be referring them to law enforcement, and you have a recipe for disaster.”
Medicare retains seven private companies – collectively known as “Program Safeguard Contractors” – at work to find fraud, a program that was started in the late 1990s. These contractors, who oversee specific areas, investigate accusations of misconduct and work with the government’s criminal investigators.
Tags: Congress, Medicare, Obama administration, Republicans, taxpayers
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Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
Senate Republicans want to fast-track an amendment that repeals a portion of the new healthcare reform law. Whether or not they will be able to accomplish this is another question.
Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE) has proposed legislation to rescind a provision in the new law that requires businesses to report purchases of $600 or more to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Business lobbyists such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) both support the legislation. Republicans want to attach the repeal provision to a broader bill intended to help small businesses. According to the Chamber and the NFIB, the provision places a burdensome obligation on the nation’s 40 million small businesses. Under this provision of the healthcare reform bill, businesses are required to file an IRS 1099 form for non-credit card purchases totaling $600 or more. Johanns says that rule is “overly burdensome.”
To make up for the $17 billion that the provision would raise, Johanns has proposed reducing the individual mandate threshold and defer $16 billion in funding for wellness programs. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and other Republicans have introduced legislation that would kill the Independent Payment Advisory Board that the healthcare reform law created. Democratic Senators who wrote the legislation counter that the board is needed to reduce consistently increasing healthcare costs.
Tags: Democrats, healthcare reform, IRS, John Cornyn, Lobbyists, Mike Johanns, Republicans, US Chamber of Commerce
Posted in Healthcare, Healthcare Village, Wellness Centers | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
Although between 5.8 and seven million Americans may qualify for healthcare coverage through the temporary high-risk pool program created as part of healthcare reform, the $5 billion set aside for use between now and 2014 may cover only 200,000 patients annually.
The high-risk pool, created by the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, provides subsidized coverage to uninsured individuals with pre-existing medical conditions. One portion of the law provides income-based subsidies so healthcare coverage is more affordable and accessible. Because most of the provisions do not become effective until January of 2014, however, the limited funding means available dollars will have to be stretched as far as possible, said Paul B. Ginsburg, Ph.D., NICHR director of research. The National Institute for Health Care Reform (NIHCR) has identified key policy considerations in its Health Coverage for the High-Risk Uninsured: Policy Options for Design of the Temporary High-Risk Pool policy analysis.
According to Kaiser Health News, many people with medical conditions may be unable to obtain coverage. “That fear — along with partisan considerations — prompted officials in 20 states to decline to establish their own federally financed pools, opting to leave the task to Washington. Officials in those states, predominantly Republicans, worry that they would face intense pressure to pick up the burden if the money runs out.”
Tags: healthcare reform, high-risk pools, Kaiser Health News, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Republicans
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Monday, June 28th, 2010
President Barack Obama has called on Congress to enact a patch on Medicare payments to physicians and declared his commitment to achieving a long-term solution. “For years, I have said that a system where doctors are left to wonder if they’ll get fairly reimbursed makes absolutely no sense,” the President said. “And I’m committed to permanently reforming this Medicare formula in a way that balances fiscal responsibility with the responsibility we have to doctors and seniors.” The President’s statement came after legislation that would give physicians 18 months of pay raises stalled in the Senate. Instead, a 21 percent pay cut will go into effect unless the Senate acts to prevent that.
According to an American Medical Association survey, approximately 20 percent of physicians have said they are limiting the number of Medicare patients they treat because of the reimbursement levels. In his speech, President Obama took to task Congressional Republicans who have stalled the legislation. A significant number of Republicans – and some Democrats – are unhappy with the price tag on the “physician fix”, which would cost approximately $22 billion over 18 months. A 10-year fix would cost in the neighborhood of $200 billion.
The American Osteopathic Association, American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Family Physicians are on record as supporting the amendment, even though it doesn’t completely restructure the way physicians are reimbursed by Medicare.
Tags: American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Physicians, American Medical Association, American Osteopathic Association, Congress, Democrats, Medicare, Medicare patch, Physician fix, President Barack Obama, Republicans, Senate, senior citizens
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Monday, May 24th, 2010
Although healthcare reform legislation is now the law of the land, Representative John Boehner (R-OH), the House Minority Leader, is still not shy about communicating his distaste for the bill. Recently, Boehner sent a letter to Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, citing increased cost estimates, job-loss information and what he perceives as a lack of follow-through on an executive order regarding abortion coverage that the GOP finds troubling.
Boehner’s letter is a response to a recent statement by Secretary Sebelius, which stressed the law’s initial deliverables, including health insurance reform and tax credits available to small businesses. “Now I’ve seen my fair share of propaganda, but this letter must have been written in an alternate universe,” Boehner said. Republicans have uniformly opposed the healthcare bill throughout the process; the majority claim that it will increase costs. Additionally, the GOP hopes that the healthcare law will guarantee them a majority victory over Democrats in November’s mid-term elections. The GOP is expected to win more mid-term elections in the House versus the Senate.
Sebelius said that “Now, I want to be clear: the Affordable Care Act is not a magic pill that will cure all the problems in our health care system. It will take time for all the benefits to kick in. And if you look at the history of major social legislation, you see that there are always revisions and adjustments along the way.”
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi sides with Sebelius, saying “We’re very pleased with the unfolding of the healthcare bill, In a bigger sense, it is about a healthier America.”
Tags: Democrats, Department of Health and Human Services, executive orders, GOP, healthcare reform, House Minority Leader, John Boehner, Kathleen Sebelius, mid-term elections, Nancy Pelosi, Ohio, propaganda, Republicans, tax credits
Posted in Economics, Healthcare | 1 Comment »
Thursday, May 20th, 2010
“The Terminator” has changed his mind. Although he originally opposed healthcare reform as the legislation moved through Congress, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger now fully supports the new federal law. In a speech at the University of California at Davis Medical Center, the governor – who cannot run for re-election because of term limits — broke rank with his fellow Republicans, many of whom have announced their intention to sue the federal government to overturn the law.
“California is not part of this fight, and I’ll tell you why,” according to Schwarzenegger. “When you don’t have health insurance and you go to the hospital, you are forcing other people to pay for your healthcare.” Twenty percent of California residents lack healthcare insurance, a situation that Schwarzenegger says is a crisis that requires resolution. “The bottom line is the plan is not without flaws, but it is a good law,” he said. To fill the void, California is launching a temporary high-risk insurance pool to cover the uninsured that will be funded by $761 million in Department of Health and Human Services money through 2014.
Schwarzenegger also vowed to enforce the law, to the point of making certain that the state’s insurers comply with bans on lifetime spending caps. If necessary, he will call the state Legislature into a special session to make statutory changes to comply with the act’s provisions. “We’re ready to roll up our sleeves and work with the federal government to get this done,” the governor said.
Tags: Arnold Schqarzenegger, California, Congress, Davis Medical Center, Department of Health and Human Services, Governors, healthcare reform legislation, Kathleen Seblius, lifetime spending caps, President Barack Obama, Republicans, The Terminator, University of California
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