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3-12-10 This Week in Health Care Reform

ON CAPITOL HILL

 

Discussions continued this week between the White House and Capitol Hill regarding changes to the health care reform bill passed by the Senate in December.  Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an analysis of the Senate bill showing that it would cut the federal deficit by $118 billion over 10 years. At the same time, Congressional leaders passed along to the CBO some of the changes they hope to pass through the reconciliation process in the House and Senate before Congress leaves for a scheduled two-week recess on March 26th. 

 

Once all the changes have been bundled into a final bill and the CBO has analyzed the provisions, the House and Senate will take the final package up under a reconciliation procedure, which will allow for passage in the Senate by a simple 51-vote majority.  It now appears that the House may take action on the legislation in committees and on the House floor as soon as next week, with the Senate to proceed following House passage.

GRASSROOTS UPDATE

Since launching the ACS CAN health care petition just over two weeks ago, the response has been overwhelming – we’ve collected more than 54,000 signatures to date!  Thank you for all that you have done to make the petition an unqualified success.

 

Now that we are moving into the endgame, we are making plans to put the petitions in the hands of lawmakers before the critical final votes.  Advocacy staff are working with volunteers and patients to organize petition drop-offs in district offices by the end of next week.  ACS CAN will also be organizing a national drop-off in Washington the following week.  The tens of thousands of petition signatures will deliver a resounding message to lawmakers: cancer patients, survivors, and their families will no longer accept the status quo.  It’s time for Congress to come together and get the job done on meaningful health care reform.  

 

MEDIA UPDATE

 

The “air war” over health care reform is heating up again, as interest groups on both sides of the reform debate are running or preparing to run television and radio advertisements in key Congressional districts and on national cable outlets.  The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) provides some details.  This means the public will continue to receive conflicting information about what health care reform would do and what the legislation includes.

 

Public opinion polls have long revealed that the divisive debate has caused widespread confusion about health care reform.  But the same polls have also shown that once the public learns about specific provisions of legislation, support for health reform rises dramatically.  A recent Newsweek poll found that 81 percent of respondents support the creation of a health insurance exchange where people can shop for affordable coverage, 76 percent support guaranteed access to care for all Americans, even those with preexisting conditions, and 75 percent support requiring that most businesses offer health insurance to employees and providing incentives to help small businesses offer coverage.

 

ACS CAN SENIOR DIRECTOR NAMED CONSUMER LIAISON

 

ACS CAN Senior Policy Director Stephen Finan has been named as a consumer liaison representative to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) for 2010.  Founded in 1871, the NAIC is a voluntary organization of the chief insurance regulatory officials from across the country that works to support state insurance regulators as they address issues in the insurance industry.  The consumer liaison program was designed to help keep the interests of consumers’ top of mind when making regulatory decisions, and is comprised of a diverse set of stakeholders, including members of the public health community and academia.  The appointment will be especially important in the next few years because under health care reform legislation, the NAIC has a very important role in helping shape the implementation of health insurance exchanges and other insurance reforms that are vital to cancer patients.

 

Molly Daniels

Interim President

American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network

 



Connecticut Updates

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