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Senior Citizen Politics
Clock Starts Thursday on Democrat Pledges for
Negotiated Drug Prices, Freeing Up Stem Cell Research
New speaker wants insurers to offer
same coverage for mental illnesses as for physical conditions
 January 2, 2007 – Democrats take control of the
Congress on Thursday and the clock starts ticking on the pledge to pass
legislation mandating Medicare negotiate for better prices from the drug
companies and restrictions are lifted on federal funding for embryonic
stem cell research – both vehemently opposed by President George W.
Bush. These are just two of the hottest health care items the Democrats
are expected to be pushing. One problem, however, is they have not found
the money to plug the donut hole in the prescription drug program that
is despised by so many senior citizens.
 Capitol Hill Watch: Health Care Issues High on
Democratic Agenda for 2007
Price negotiations under the Medicare prescription
drug benefit, SCHIP reauthorization, embryonic stem cell research,
health care information technology and a number of other health-related
issues are expected to be major legislative priorities in 2007, the
Washington Post reports.
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Democrats Face Opposition on Bills to Negotiate Drug
Prices, Plug 'Donut Hole'
Provision added
secretly by Hastert to help
home-state Medicare Advantage company may get eliminated
December 18, 2006 – The Democrat's promise of a
bill early next year to force the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for better prices on
Medicare drugs appears to have a problem, according to the latest report
from KaiserNetwork.org. And, there are problems seen in trying to pass
other parts of their health care agenda, including getting rid of the
infamous 'donut hole' in the drug program, where senior citizens have no
coverage. Read more...
Democrats Will 'Mandate' Negotiations for Medicare
Prescription Drugs: Pelosi
Bill one of six to be
passed in first 100 days of new Congress
December
15, 2006 - Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday at
a briefing outlined priorities for Democrats in the first 100 hours of
the 110th Congress and said they will seek to pass legislation that
would require
HHS to
negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies on the prices of
medications under the Medicare prescription drug benefit,
CQ HealthBeat
reports. Read
more...
Read more
on
Politics for Senior Citizens |
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According to the Post, "After years in which Iraq
and national security dominated the debate, ... the return of Democratic
control in the House and Senate and the ramping up of the presidential
campaigns are expected to bring health policy back into the legislative
mix."
House Democratic leaders have said that within the
first 100 hours of taking control of Congress, they will pass bills that
would lift restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell
research and authorize
HHS to negotiate prescription
drug prices with pharmaceutical companies under the Medicare
prescription drug benefit.
President Bush in July 2006 vetoed a bill that
would have increased funding for embryonic stem cell research. According
to the Post, "Advocates in both parties say [that] the bill will pass
again" and that another veto is likely.
On the issue of the Medicare prescription drug
benefit, Democrats in the past that they would use money saved through
negotiations with drug companies to close the so-called "doughnut hole"
coverage gap in the program.
However, the Post reports that "Democrats no longer
say the savings would be enough to fill" the doughnut hole (Lee,
Washington Post, 12/25/06). Savings from lower drug prices is among
several funding sources that are considered "highly uncertain" and that
could affect whether Democrats will be able to finance their health care
proposals, the
Post reports.
Incoming
House Budget Committee Chair
John Spratt (D-S.C.) and incoming
Senate Budget Committee Chair
Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said there is "little room in their budget
blueprints for significant new domestic spending," including closing the
doughnut hole, according to the Post (Montgomery, Washington Post,
12/26/06).
Negotiations Opposition
Price negotiations with pharmaceutical companies
face opposition from Bush and HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, who, "[f]or
the first time in his political career, ... will answer to a Democratic
majority," the
Salt Lake Tribune reports (Gehrke,
Salt Lake Tribune, 12/28/06).
Wendell Primus, an aide to incoming House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said the Democrats' proposal would require the
HHS secretary to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies but would not
specify how. "It will be very simple language," Primus said, adding, "We
do not think that Congress needs to hammer out all the details."
According to the
New York Times, the debate
over the Medicare prescription drug benefit "highlights the profound
differences between Democrats and Republicans over the future of the
nation's health care system, the proper role of government and the role
of private markets in securing the best value for the huge sums spent on
health care" (Pear, New York Times, 1/2).
SCHIP
Although there is bipartisan support for
reauthorizing SCHIP, there likely will be debate in Congress over how
much to increase funding for the program, according to the Post.
Currently, the federal government spends $5 billion annually to cover
more than four million children through SCHIP, and some experts say an
increase of at least $12.7 billion over five years is necessary to
maintain coverage for the same number of children (Washington Post,
12/25/06).
CMS estimates that 1.5 million
children would lose SCHIP coverage by 2012 unless funding increases.
The current program will expire Sept. 30 unless
Congress acts to renew it (Zhang, Wall Street Journal, 12/30/06). Some
Democrats have proposed expanding SCHIP coverage to some uninsured
adults, "a move that would add billions more in costs and bring stiff
opposition from Republicans, who say the program should focus on
attracting more eligible kids," the Post reports.
Other Issues
In addition, legislation that would encourage use
of electronic health records and health care information technology
likely will receive bipartisan support if lawmakers can resolve disputes
regarding "privacy concerns and potential conflicts of interest if
hospitals were to sell such technology to their doctors," according to
the Post.
Lawmakers of both parties also likely will seek to
address
FDA's oversight of drug
safety, which could include a re-examination of fees paid by
pharmaceutical companies to FDA as part of the drug-approval process
(Washington Post, 12/25/06). In addition, Democrats have drafted
legislation that would shorten the approval process for generic versions
of biotechnology drugs (New York Times, 1/2).
Pelosi also has plans to bring to a vote a bill
that would require health insurers to offer the same coverage levels for
mental illnesses as for physical conditions, according to Pelosi
spokesperson Brendan Daly (Frommer,
AP/San Jose Mercury News,
12/28/06).
Fraud Law
In related news, hospitals and nursing homes
nationwide are training staff on how to report health care fraud as part
of a new law that takes effect this month, the
New York Times reports. The
law, part of the Deficit Reduction Act signed by Bush in February 2006,
requires any company that does at least $5 million in Medicaid business
annually to educate all employees on how to detect fraud, waste and
abuse.
In addition, companies must inform employees that
they will be protected from retaliation and could receive a share of
money recovered by the government if they report fraud. The law also
applies to many HMOs, home care agencies, medical equipment suppliers,
physicians groups, pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies. The Bush
administration issued a guidance on the law on Dec. 13, 2006. As of late
last month, many affected hospitals said they were unaware of the
requirements, according to the Times (Pear, New York Times, 12/24/06).
Broadcast Coverage
NPR's "All
Things Considered" on Tuesday reported on Democrats' proposal
to allow HHS to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies under the
Medicare prescription drug benefit. The segment includes comments from
Rep. Rahm Emmanuel (D-Ill.); Mollyann Brodie, a
Kaiser Family Foundation vice
president and director of its
Public Opinion and Media Research Program;
Joe Antos, a health economist at the
American Enterprise Institute;
and Leavitt (Rovner, "All Things Considered," NPR, 1/1).
● Audio of the segment is available
online.
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