WASHINGTON WIRE
January 19, 2007
Issue 118
In this issue, you'll find:
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Coalition Unveils Plan to Cover the Uninsured
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Medicaid Regulation Would Restrict States' Use of IGTs
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Medicare Oversight to be a Focus of House Ways and Means Chair
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PPSV in the News: Robert M. Portman Joins PPSV
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Hearings
Top Story
Coalition Unveils Plan to Cover the Uninsured
A group of organizations known as the "Health Care Coalition for the Uninsured," unveiled a proposal on Thursday aimed at expanding health care coverage to half of the nation's 47 million uninsured.
Coalition members include AARP, the American Hospital Association, America's Health Insurance Plans, American Public Health Association, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Families USA, Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The coalition's plan would be phased-in, initially focusing on coverage of uninsured children. The plan begins with a broad expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and Medicaid by increasing program funding by $45 billion over five years. This phase would be followed by an expansion of the Medicaid programs to provide coverage to all adults at or below the poverty level. The coalition also recommends that families up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level receive tax credits to assist them in purchasing private insurance.
The group appears to be eyeing SCHIP reauthorization legislation, which is expected to move this year, as a possible legislative vehicle for the first phase of their plan.
In a related story, on Wednesday, Members of both the House and Senate introduced legislation to improve funding for state initiatives aimed at covering the uninsured. The bipartisan legislation would provide grants to states to experiment with various approaches to insurance expansion, and possibly provide participating states with exemptions from certain insurance-related federal laws.
It remains to be seen whether Congress plans to consider any or all of the proposal from the Health Care Coalition for the Uninsured, but recent Congressional actions suggest that expanding health care coverage is going to be an important focus for many lawmakers this year. The biggest challenge, of course, will be finding the funding to pay for such a dramatic expansion of health coverage.
Health Care News
Medicaid Regulation Would Restrict States' Use of IGTs
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published a Medicaid regulation this week that aims to curb states' use of Intergovernmental Transfers (IGTs) and Upper Payment Limits (UPLs) to garner additional federal Medicaid dollars.
The proposed rule, published in the January 18th Federal Register, would require that health care providers retain all Medicaid reimbursements for their services, rather than returning some to state and local governments. This would reduce the state's ability to pull down matched federal funding on above-cost reimbursements that is then repaid to, and recycled by, the state and local governments.
CMS estimates that it will save $3.8 billion over five years with this proposal. However, many stakeholders argue that if implemented the change could severely hinder states' ability to finance their Medicaid programs as many state and local governments have come to depend on such creative accounting techniques.
The proposed rule was originally drafting to address a similar accounting mechanism, "provider taxes," but Congress recently intervened with legislation to prevent such a rule from being published. It is likely that interest groups will ask Congress take similar actions to prevent implementation of this recent proposed rule.
Medicare Oversight to be a Focus of House Ways and Means Chair
The House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Charles Rangel (D-NY), stated in a letter to several colleagues this week that his committee will make Medicare oversight a major priority in this Congress.
Such oversight will focus on access to care, quality of care and efficient use of resources in Medicare Parts A and B, as well as the ability of private plans to manage and treat chronic illness and improve outcomes under Part C. Oversight of the Medicare Prescription Drug benefit (Part D) will also be a major objective for the Chairman.
In his letter, the Chairman also indicated he will be examining Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), CMS administration, and emergency care.
PPSV in the News: Robert M. Portman Joins PPSV
Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville, PC is pleased to announce the arrival of new partner Robert M. Portman.
Mr. Portman concentrates his practice on counseling nonprofit organizations in healthcare, education, business, social services, and numerous other fields. He represents national and state professional societies, trade associations, certification bodies, and voluntary health and social service organizations. He counsels these clients on a wide range of legal issues, including governance, antitrust, transactions, tax exemption issues, intellectual property, election and lobbying law, and legislation and regulation in healthcare and other fields. Mr. Portman also represents numerous individual physicians, medical groups, other health care providers, and manufacturers and distributors of various health care products. Mr. Portman augments the firm’s significant depth of experience in HIPAA patient privacy rules; Stark II self-referral and Medicare-Medicaid anti-kickback counseling; physician-hospital transactions and medical staff issues; antitrust, EMTALA, and FDA counseling, and numerous other health law issues.
Mr. Portman comes to PPSV from the Washington, DC office of Jenner & Block, where he practiced for many years and chaired the firm’s Health and Association Law practice groups. He is currently serving on the Legal Section Council of the American Society of Association Executives and is immediate past chair of the DC Bar Council on Sections and former chair of the DC Bar Health Law Section. Mr. Portman was Special Assistant to Secretary of Labor Robert B. Reich and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Work and Technology Policy during the Clinton Administration and served as the Secretary's principal representative to the President's Task Force on Health Care Reform. He also served as Executive Officer of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office in Chicago, where, among other things, he directed the States Attorney's Task Force on the Forgoing of Life-Sustaining Treatment. He received his BA, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Northwestern (1980) and his JD, magna cum laude, from Harvard (1985). He also holds a masters in public policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government (1985). Mr. Portman clerked for the Honorable Mark L. Wolf, currently Chief Judge of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts (1985-86). He can be reached at 202-466-6550 or Rob.Portman@PPSV.com.
Upcoming Events
Hearings Health Subcommittee Organization Meeting
Monday, January 22, 2007
House Ways and Means - Subcommittee on Health
Subcommittee Business Meeting
6 p.m., 1100 Longworth Bldg.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Oversight Subcommittee Organization Meeting
House Ways and Means - Subcommittee on Oversight
Subcommittee Business Meeting
2 p.m., 1105 Longworth Bldg
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Health, Labor, Education and Pensions Committee Organization
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
Full Committee Business Meeting
10 a.m., 430 Dirksen Bldg.
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
Full Committee Markup
10 a.m., 430 Dirksen Bldg.
For More Information
For further information on any topics discussed or publications listed, or to get copies of anything mentioned in this alert, please call (202) 466-6550 and ask for the Legislative Practice Group.
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