WASHINGTON WIRE
September 21, 2007
Issue 146
In this issue, you'll find:
Negotiators Reach Deal on SCHIP Bill
Senate Approves Mental Health Parity Bill
Senate Sends FDA Legislation to President
Top Story
Negotiators Reach Deal on SCHIP Bill
Congressional leaders announced this morning that they have reached a compromise on reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Although the legislative language is not yet available, the compromise is expected to closely resemble the Senate-passed reauthorization bill approved in August.
The negotiated bill reauthorize's SCHIP for five years and invests an additional $35 billion in the program over the same time period. The legislation will provide SCHIP coverage for approximately ten million children, including all 6.6 million currently covered by the program. The bill is also expected to address a recent change by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that makes it difficult for states to cover higher income children. The package is funded by a 61-cent increase in the cigarette tax.
House and Senate staff are expected to spend the weekend drafting the final legislation and will likely vote on the measure early next week. Although some House Democrats who supported the House's earlier version are expected to vote against the compromised bill for various reasons, the negotiated bill is expected to pass both the House and Senate.
However, President Bush is standing by his threat to veto the final measure and Congress may ultimately have to send the President a short-term extension bill prior to September 30th, when the SCHIP program expires.
Health Care News
Senate Approves Mental Health Parity Bill
On Thursday, the Senate approved mental health parity legislation, which would require business offering mental health benefits to make such benefits equal to other medical benefits in terms of deductibles, copayments, coverage, and hospital visits.
The House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee approved its version of mental health parity earlier in the week. While the House bill has already been approved by the House Education and Labor Committee, it must still be passed by the full Way and Means Committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee.
Major differences exist between the House and Senate bills and the Senate bill is generally considered less expansive than the House bill in terms of the benefits affected. However, the Senate did amend its legislation prior to passage, removing a provision allowing preemption of state laws on minimum mental health coverage levels. The House bill does not contain such a provision.
Although the parity legislation still has a long way to go in the House, there is already speculation on the contents of a final negotiated bill. Many observers expect final legislation will closely resemble the Senate-approved bill, which is largely a result of negotiations between stakeholders including businesses, mental health advocates and insurers.
Senate Sends FDA Legislation to President
Late Thursday night, the Senate approved legislation (HR 3580) to reauthorize the prescription drug and device user fee programs for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and implement new drug safety measures. The House overwhelmingly approved the compromise legislation on Wednesday.
The bill would reauthorize the FDA's prescription drug and medical device approval program which is primarily funded through fees paid to the agency by drug and device companies. It would also provide the agency broad new authority to regulate postmarket drug safety.
Holds placed on the bill by Senators Burr (R-NC) and Coburn (R-OK) were lifted just prior to passage, as the programs' September 30th expiration approached. The FDA warned that if reauthorization legislation to fund the drug and device programs was not approved by the end of the month, more than 2,000 layoff notices would be sent to FDA employees.
While Senator Enzi (R-WY), Ranking Member of the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee and an architect of the FDA bill, stated that Republican holds on the bill were primarily procedural, Senators Burr and Coburn expressed their disappointment with several provisions in he final legislation as well as the way negotiations were conducted.
Upcoming Events
Hearings
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Long-Term Care Options
Senate Finance Committee
10 a.m., G-50 Dirksen
VA Polytrauma Rehabilitation Centers
House Veterans' Affairs - Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
10 a.m., 334 Cannon
AIDS Relief Plan
House Foreign Affairs Committee
10 a.m., 2172 Rayburn
Protecting Public Health
House Oversight and Government Reform - Subcommittee on Domestic Policy
2 p.m., 2154 Rayburn
Organ Donations
House Oversight and Government Reform - Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives
2 p.m., 2247 Rayburn
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Health Information Technology
House Science and Technology Committee
10 a.m., 2318 Rayburn
Treatment of Injured Soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital
House Oversight and Government Reform - Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs
10 a.m., 2154 Rayburn
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.
Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville, PC is a full service law firm specializing in health care and education law and located at
1501 M Street, NW, Seventh Floor, Washington DC 20005
© Copyright 2007, Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville, PC
All rights reserved.
Terms & Conditions
