Senate Bill

In the past few weeks, we have had some exciting progress towards national health system reform. Below is a summary of some of the major legislative developments.

Senate Opens Debate on Health Care Bill

Last week, the Senate voted by a narrow margin 60-39 to open debate on the health care bill introduced by Senate Major Leader Senator Reid [D-NV]. The voting was generally along party lines, with all Republican Senators voting against opening debate on the bill. Senate Democrats have stated that they are willing and expect for the bill to change before it is brought to vote. Indeed, some moderate and conservative Democrats have stated that they will not vote for the bill in its current form - in particular because of the inclusion of a public option. On Monday, discussion began on the bill, which Reid hopes will be finished by Christmas. Senate Democrats have expressed concerns that with such a narrow margin of support for opening debate on the health care bill, it will be very challenging to pass the bill prior to the Christmas holiday.

There are numerous resources available to help elucidate the details and differences between the Senate and House bills. Here are a few good ones to help you get up to speed on HSR:

• http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/19/us/politics/1119-plan-comparison.html?ref=politics (NYTimes plan comparison)
  
• http://www.kff.org/healthreform/sidebyside.cfm (Kaiser Family Foundation comparison of all the plans on the table)
  
• http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091130/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul (AP/Yahoo news on Senate HSR debate)

House Passes Sustainable Growth Rate Formula Repeal

On November 19th, the House passed HB 3961, which repeals the current Medicare sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula and replaces it with a Medicare economic index (MEI) update annually. The CBO estimates that H.B. 3961 would increase federal spending on a net basis by $210 billion and therefore it is widely criticized by fiscal conservatives. The bill now heads to the Senate for debate and amendment. If the SGR is not repealed or at least deferred (as it has been in prior years) before the end of the year, medicare physician payments will receive a 21.2% cut on January 1st, 2010.

As always, if you have any questions about these or any other legislative issues please contact your regional Legislative Affairs Representative. We are happy to hear from you!

Nathan Copeland, Southern Region

nathan.copeland@gmail.com

Amanda Mure, Central Region
amanda.mure@utoledo.edu

Ryan Padrez, Western Region
ryan.padrez@ucsf.edu

Matt Reilley, Northeast Region
reimat@gmail.com

Thure Caire, National Delegate
mcaire@health.usf.edu