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deadline on health care bills
Posted by | Posted in Health | Posted on 16-07-2009
The Legislature has until the end of the month to pass or reject several key health bills, making this week a turning point for some reforms related to the new federal health law.
Among the measures heading for a final floor vote are bills that would regulate health insurance rates and set up an “exchange” through which consumers would buy insurance under the federal law.
The legislative session is set to end Aug. 31, so lawmakers must act on the pending legislation, or the bills will die.
“I’ve not seen a year with such a combination of significant health care legislation that could be potentially passed and signed,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a statewide consumer and labor advocacy coalition.
Several of the bills are generating controversy. A bill that would set up California’s health insurance exchange, the virtual marketplace of health insurance options required in 2014 under the federal law, passed the Assembly on Friday. The bill, authored by Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-Santa Clara, is scheduled to go back to the Senate and be voted on with a companion bill.
Insurers are against both bills, as are several Republican lawmakers, without amendments that would limit taxation on insurers and require more legislative oversight. They argue that the bills set up a new bureaucracy with broad powers to tax them and create disadvantages for smaller health plans in the exchange.
“Our concern is that (the bill) sets up very broad authority and powers,” said Charles Bacchi, executive vice president of the California Association of Health Plans. “We believe if they make wrong decisions, it could result in fewer choices for consumers.”
Health insurers are also fiercely opposed to several bills that propose various forms of rate regulation, an issue that gained traction earlier in the year after Anthem Blue Cross proposed a 39 percent rate increase on 800,000 individual California policyholders.
Power over rate increases
The rate-hike proposals include a bill by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, that would require insurers to justify rate increases, and one by Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, that would give state regulators the power to approve or deny rate hikes.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a separate plan that would require health care insurers to hire actuaries to review their proposed premium increases.
Bacchi, referring to the Jones bill, said rate regulation diverts attention from the need to curb medical costs. “Health care costs are going up enough,” he said, “without having to create overly burdensome and expensive new government bureaucracies to handle this.”
The California Medical Association and the California Hospital Association join the insurers in their opposition, arguing that if the insurers are squeezed, they’re likely to turn around and squeeze doctors and hospitals through lower reimbursement rates.
“We think the solution to the problem has already been approved as part of federal health care reform: mandating that plans meet a minimum medical loss ratio,” said Andrew LaMar, spokesman for the physicians group, referring to the requirement that insurers spend at least 80 percent of their revenue on patient care.
Coverage of vaccinations
Separately, the medical association is backing a bill that would require insurers to pay the full cost of acquiring and administering vaccinations, a potential mandate the health insurers oppose.
The California Hospital Association, which represents the state’s hospitals, is supporting a bill that would extend deadlines for some hospitals to seismically retrofit their buildings and is opposing a bill that would require hospitals to disclose the cost and quality of procedures.
But the main focus is on bills that would direct the state on how to manage the new health law.
“The 800-pound gorilla staring us all in the face is health care reform legislation, but there’s still so much unknown because regulations haven’t been drafted on the federal level,” said Jan Emerson, spokeswoman for the hospital group. “We’re on the precipice of some major changes to our health care system, but how that plays out on the state level is not yet fully understood.”
Countdown on health care bills
Here are some of the key health care bills that the Legislature must act upon before the session ends Aug. 31:
Assembly Bill 2578: Authored by Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, it would require approval from state regulators for increases in health coverage premiums.
Senate Bill 1163: This bill by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, would require insurers to justify denials and premium increases.
Senate Bill 900 and Assembly Bill 1602: These companion bills authored by Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-Santa Clara, and Assembly Speaker John Pérez, D-Los Angeles, would establish the health insurance “exchange” required under federal law.
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What health care coverage does a congressman have? What happens to it when they leave office?America faces a health care crisis. How can Congress or the Senate much care if they have top notch health care coverage and the taxpayers pay for it?
They are in a hurry to get it signed into law before the people figure out it's just a tool for the government to phase into full blown socialism. I think the conversation probably went something like this….
"Details, details………let's just push this through and get the public under our thumb as quickly as possible. Let's use mindless liberal democrats (that only voted for me because I'm black and don't know anything about me) to vilify anyone who encourages liberty and meaningful debate, and distract everyone from the fact that we are going to plunge America into economic ruin so we can transform the nation into a socialist nation. Ok, thanks guys, I'm going out for a smoke. Oh yeah, this is on the down low bro, right? Yeah, you got it. It's all good."
liberal congressmen who solicit other liberals to help them 'write' bills really do not care about the actual content of any of these bills. they want something to pass just so they can then 'tweak' it. as they said in the own words, it is like a 'starter' home, you get in and then can do what you want.
as with other bills they have passed, there will not be any transparency nor debate. they have used unprecedented methods to ram their agenda down our collective throats and have sold us out to socialism. the are not bothered by the Constitution anymore and obama even called it a 'flawed, outdated document. it has been the rock on which our republic was build and discarding it will make us crumble.
it seems this democratic congress cannot refused anything to their leader, even if it costs them their re-election since they have ignored what their people wanted to give obama what he wanted.
the power grab of federal powers expansion is unprecedented and one wonders where will it stop! what will our nation look like when he is through with his one term? most likely, another European nation near collapse, even worse than we are now.
Obama is probably the most clueless senator in the country and that covers a lot of clueless senators
here's more
p. 120, to cover the start up costs of the government health insurance option
* p. 300, to pay for a study on why Medicare costs vary around the nation
* p. 404, to pay for a section on "Ensuring Effective Communication In Medicare"
* p. 610, for a study of large intrastate chains of nursing facilities
* p. 864, to increase funding for Community Health Centers between 2013-2019
* p. 869, to fund the National Health Service Corps Program for 2013-2019
* p. 892, to increase money for the Public Health Investment Fund
* p. 897, more on funding for the Public Health Investment Fund
* p. 931, "such sums" to fund a cryptic reference to public health law
* p. 1001, money to fund School Based Health Clinics for 2011-2014
* p. 1006, to fund the National Medical Device Registry
* p. 1018, to fund Grant Programs to Provide Education to Nurses
I will believe it when it is passed and through the Conference Commitee and on President Obama's desk to be signed. The Republicans still have more dirty tricks up their sleeves and will use them when they think they can.
Everyone is Baffled by obama
Why:
Becuase he is a socialist/facsist
Why:
Becuase his father was a communist politician from kenya, his father figure in hawaii was a member of the communist party of america, his camaign advisor's parents were members of the communist party of america and published their magazine. He is at his very core…. a socialist/communist… and he thinks everyone is like him
The president has the job of proposing new programs in his State of the Union address. Of course, once he does this, it's up to Congress to act. We have had many presidents who have had big ideas, badly needed ideas to solve real problems, some good, some bad, which went nowhere. Later, when when the president is asked about this in a news conference he shrugs his shoulders. "Well," he says, "I proposed it but it went nowhere in Congress."
So if a president really wants an idea to go through, he prods Congress. He pokes Congress with a stick. 8^) He holds their feet to the fire. He says "I want to see this legislation on my desk by Christmas" or some other reasonable goal. Then later, if it still didn't pass, he can more easily lay the blame on Congress, saying he didn't just propose the idea and leave it there, he actively worked for it, but Congress dropped the ball, not him.
I agree that the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tem of the Senate, plus party leaders in Congress, will react to say that Congressional initiatives are not up to the President, but when the president actively campaigns for some idea, the pressure on congressional leaders is higher, so they are more likely to actually do something rather than to delay indefinitely.
I hope they do before the liberals bankrupt us. Anyone who supports this particular health care bill obviously has not read one page of it and is just following Obama like a sheep instead of an informed citizen.