Mid-week update

The President will be speaking about health care reform before a joint session of Congress next Wednesday Sept. 9. (The night before the kickoff of the new NFL Season which of course is back to school night at my son's high school.) The President is expected to provide more details on his health care reform plan. Speaker Pelosi said today according to Modern Healthcare that “We can’t pass a bill without a public option.” She declined to provide a timeline for floor consideration of the House bill HR 3200 which of course features a public option. The Politico reports that according to White House officials, the President has no plans to insist on a public option in his speech.

The AP reports that Sen. Charles Grassley's spokeswoman stated that the Gang of Six from the Senate Finance Committee will hold a conference call on Friday in an effort to achieve a bipartisan proposal. The President's speech is now scheduled to occur before the Finance Committee's soft September 15 deadline for producing a bill.

The Federal Times reports that the President continues to support a 2% pay increase for federal employees next year."Obama’s proposal, outlined without fanfare in a letter to congressional leaders, would leave federal workers with their lowest cost of living adjustments in two decades. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush proposed lesser increases three times. Congress, which must approve the plan, has not granted less than 2 percent since 1988."

The big drug manufacturer Pfizer agreed with the federal government to pay $2.3 billion to settle charges that Pfizer illegally marketed Bexar and certain other drugs for off label purposes and paid related kickbacks. According to a government fact sheet, this is the largest combined federal and state health care fraud settlement in the Justice Department's history. The resolution includes $1.3 billion in criminal fines and forfeiture and a combined federal and state civil False Claims Act settlement of $1 billion. Settlement proceeds will be distributed among the following programs: Medicaid (federal and state share), Medicare, Department of Defense-TRICARE, Office of Personnel Management-Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan, Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Department of Labor, Bureau of Prisons. Medicaid (federal and state portion) is the largest part of the recovery, constituting $705,287,596 of the combined civil settlement amount. Why isn't Speaker Pelosi demanding a public drug manufacturer to keep the drug companies honest?

Asparity Decision Solutions announced today that www.PlanSmartChoice.com, an FEHBP Open Season decision making tool, will continue to be available free to all federal employees during the 2010 open season, which begins November 9, 2009.