Archive for December 2011
WHAT WE’RE READING: A Smorgasbord of Health Policy
While American Health Line is on hiatus, we’ve been catching up on our reading. Below the jump are several issues in which we’re interested, with relevant articles.
WHILE WE ARE OUT: The Health Policy News You Need To Know
American Health Line is on hiatus until Jan. 4, 2012. In the meantime, health policy news doesn’t stop. Here are some of the stories that you should be following while we’re away.
WHILE WE WERE GONE: Obama Signs Legislation To Extend Payroll Tax Break, Delay Scheduled Cuts to Medicare Physician Payment Rates
While American Health Line is on hiatus, lawmakers continue to work. Below is an update on a story AHL has been following.
President Obama on Dec. 23 signed a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut that includes a two-month delay to scheduled Medicare reimbursement cuts for physicians, CQ Today reports.
WHAT WE’RE READING: Salt Shakers Anonymous
- “Salt: Do Health Policymakers Meet The Limits They Recommend? Guess,” Los Angeles Times‘ “Booster Shots”: Survey finds they take their own sodium advice with a grain of salt.
AHL’S TOP STORY: U.S. Biosecurity Panel Asks Journals To Omit Avian Flu Study Details
The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity, a government advisory panel overseen by NIH, has taken the unprecedented step of recommending that two scientific journals publish only general conclusions from two studies on H5N1, or avian flu, out of concern that the information could be used for nefarious purposes, the New York Times reports (Grady/Broad, New York Times, 12/20). Based on the panel’s recommendation, HHS officials on Tuesday said they asked the study authors, as well as the editors of the journals Science and Nature, to omit “details that could enable replication of the experiments by those who would seek to do harm” (Brown, Washington Post, 12/20).
BACK AND FORTH: Felons in Medicare
Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) recently criticized efforts by CMS to prevent convicted felons from billing Medicare for health care services as “inadequate.”
AHL’S TOP STORY: House GOP Postpones Vote on Senate-Approved Payroll Bill; Considers Conference Committee
House Republicans yesterday postponed a floor vote on an amended version of a House-approved bill that would extend a payroll tax break and delay scheduled Medicare physician reimbursement cuts for two months. Instead of House GOP members voting down the bill, the House Rules Committee on Monday adopted a rule allowing it to go to conference with the Senate on the payroll measure. House lawmakers on Tuesday will vote on whether to form a conference committee for the bill. Republicans opted for the conference committee strategy in part because they did not want to explicitly vote against a tax cut. However, Senate members adjourned for recess after Saturday’s vote and are not expected to return to the Capitol until January. Reid on Monday said Senate Democrats would not take part in conference committee negotiations until the House passes the short-term measure.
POLL: Should the House Pass the Senate’s Payroll Tax/Doc Fix Bill?
The Senate on Saturday voted 89-10 to pass an amended version of a House-approved bill (HR 3630) that would extend a payroll tax break and delay scheduled Medicare physician reimbursement cuts for two months.
Last week, the House voted 234-193 to pass the GOP-helmed House bill, which would extend for one year a $1,000 payroll tax break that is set to expire at the end of this month and stave off for two years a nearly 30% cut to Medicare physician payment rates that is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1, 2012.
Senate leaders initially assumed that the amended bill would pass easily in the House because it is has been endorsed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and includes a provision related to a controversial oil pipeline that Republicans favor. However, House Republicans are poised to reject the bill during a floor vote on Monday.
WHAT WE’RE READING: Romney Says That These Are the Jokes, Folks
- “What Romney Knew About Medicaid,” New York Times‘ “The Caucus”: GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he didn’t know what Medicaid was before getting into politics, and now says he was kidding and only misunderstood its nuances. We definitely believe the latter because even CMS gets confused sometimes.
AHL’S TOP STORY: HHS To Allow States To Set ‘Essential Benefits’ for Health Plans in Exchanges
The Obama administration in a “bulletin” released on Friday said it would allow states to determine what “essential benefits” health plans will be required to cover in the state insurance exchanges under the federal health reform law, the New York Times reports (Pear, New York Times, 12/16).
Under the federal health reform law, states by January 2014 must create exchanges that provide coverage options for individuals and small businesses. States can choose to administer their own exchanges — for which they must have some infrastructure in place by January 2013 — or ask the federal government to run the exchanges for them (American Health Line, 12/2). The health reform law lists 10 categories of benefits — such as maternity care, prescription drugs and preventive care — that must be provided by the plans offered in the exchanges.
HHS was charged with determining which services and benefits must be provided within those 10 categories. However, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the federal government would give states “the flexibility to design coverage options that meet their unique needs.”
Under the guidance, HHS said states could use one of the following health insurance plans as a benchmark:
- One of the state’s three largest small-group plans;
- One of the state’s three largest health plans for state employees;
- One of the three largest health plans offered under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan; or
- The largest HMO operating in the state’s commercial market (New York Times, 12/16).
