As many of you know, Sec. 136 of the H.R. 3200, the underlying House tri-committee bill on healthcare reform, currently contains language requiring the new federal healthcare commissioner to “establish standards for the coordination and subrogation of benefits and reimbursement of payments in cases involving individuals and multiple plan coverage.” Last week, Representatives Braley (D-IA) and Barrow (D-GA) offered an amendment to H.R. 3200. This amendment (which is attached for your review) would significantly limit recovery rights. For those of you that practice in Georgia, the amendment adopts many elements of the Georgia subrogation statute (O.C.G.A. §33-24-56.1).  

The Barrow/Braley amendment is currently before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The process for considering the amendment is unclear. The E&C may hold a mark-up session for the amendment or it may refer the amendments directly to the Rules Committee. If a mark-up session is held, it would likely occur the first week Congress is back from recess (the week of September 8).

 The Phia Group is hoping that entities interested in preventing this legislation will coordinate their efforts through a Coordinating Committee for Subrogation Preservation & Advancement.

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This entry was posted by Adam V. Russo on Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 at 3:07 pm and is filed under Health Care Legislation, Subrogation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.