Discussions on Health Issues Intensify As Recess Approaches
AHIP Federal News Bulletin, www.ahip.org
With just one week remaining before Congress begins its Memorial Day recess, lawmakers in both the Senate and the House are preparing for committee action on health care reform legislation in June.
Members of the Senate Finance Committee met on Thursday for more than eight hours to discuss options for expanding health care coverage. This discussion centered around a set of policy options that the committee released earlier this week. This meeting included significant discussion about establishing a government-run health insurance option and issues surrounding an employer mandate and an individual coverage requirement, but no specific agreements were announced on these contentious issues. The committee will meet again on May 20 to “walk through” a series of policy options for financing the costs of health care reform.
House Democratic leaders and committee chairmen met this week with President Obama at the White House to discuss plans for congressional action on health care reform. Following the meeting, the President and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) indicated that the House is committed to passing comprehensive health care reform by July 31 before Congress begins its August recess.
While the House committees have not released any official documents pertaining to the reform proposal they are developing, an unofficial document circulated around Capitol Hill this week indicating that the House Energy and Commerce Committee bill, as currently envisioned, would include the following components: a government-run health insurance plan; a national health exchange; premium subsidies on a sliding scale for families with incomes below 400 percent of the federal poverty level; an individual coverage requirement; a “pay or play” requirement for employers; unspecified insurance market reforms; and an advisory committee that would make recommendations on benefit packages.
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