Senator Dick Durbin, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, said the Senate would vote on Thursday on two competing measures to ensure women have access to mammograms and other preventive screenings and two amendments on proposed spending cuts in the Medicare government health program for the elderly.
The agreement requires that the amendments, which include one offered by Republican Senator John McCain to strike Medicare spending cuts from the bill, win 60 votes in the 100-member Senate in order to pass.
The New York Times reports that
As the skirmishing continued on the floor, the American Medical Association endorsed the thrust of the Senate bill. In a letter to Mr. Reid, the doctors’ group praised the measure’s strict federal regulation of health insurance and new tax credits to help low- and moderate-income people buy coverage.
But the medical association objected to some provisions, including
a new tax on “elective cosmetic medical procedures” and creation of an
Independent Medicare Advisory Board that could “mandate payment cuts for
physicians.”
The association also objected to antifraud provisions that it said could penalize doctors who make “an honest mistake,” with no intent to defraud Medicare or Medicaid. And it complained about a section that would impose new restrictions on
doctor-owned hospitals.
The provisions pale in comparisons to the burdens that the Senate bill would impose on health insurers, such as the $6.7 billion annual fee, the 40% excise tax, and the $25 billion "stabilization" fund.
Sen. Charles Grassley issued a press release yesterday expressing dismay over the fact the the Senate leadership's health care reform bill carved back his initiative approved by the Senate Finance Committee to shift Senators, Representatives, and Congressional employees from the FEHB Program to the state based health insurance exchanges.
Grassley said he’ll offer an amendment to restore his amendment, which the inance Committee accepted without objection, and which the Congressional
Research Service said made clear that leadership and committee staff would be
required to access the new exchange.
Grassley said his floor amendment also will expand the requirement to include the President, the Vice President and all political appointees in the executive branch.
Business Insurance reports that the Labor Department has issued new guidance on the continuation coverage subsidy created by the February 2009 economic recovery act.
“'An individual who does not become eligible for COBRA until after Dec. 31, 2009, does not meet the qualifications to be an assistance-eligible individual and would therefore be ineligible for the ARRA premium assistance,' the Labor Department said." Involuntary termination of FEHBP coverage generally is subject to an automatic 31 day extension of coverage. Consequently, if an employee was involuntarily terminated on November 30, he would receive a 31 day extension of coverage, and he would not be eligible for TCC, the FEHBP's version of COBRA until after December 31, 2009. Consequently, he would not be eligible for the premium subsidy according to this guidance. Efforts are underway on Capitol Hill to extend the premium subsidy beyond the end of this month as previously noted in the FEHBlog.
Forbes Magazine reports that
Medco Health Solutions Inc. and Coventry Health Care Inc. said Tuesday they will work together to see if they can reduce health care costs for senior citizens by addressing factors like home safety, diet and medication use.
The companies say they will conduct a study to determine if they can reduce hospitalizations for seniors on Medicare. Teams of Coventry and Medco employees will identify patients who are at the most risk for hospitalization, and work with their physicians and other agencies to find factors that can cause poor health, and they will keep in touch with patients through regular visits and phone calls.
Gook luck to them with this study.
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