Pump the breaks on AHCA

  

trump-trucker-pic

Following an intense 72 hours of negotiations, House Republican leadership today delayed votes on their signature ACA replacement bill, the American Health Care Act (AHCA).

The chorus of resistance from nurses, providers, patients, consumers, and health systems has slowed consideration of this harmful bill.  The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office also announced on Thursday that this bill would result in 52 million uninsured by 2026, further bolstering the case against the bill. Please continue encouraging your members to contact their members of congress to express opposition to this bill. Click here to see the alert that we sent out earlier today.

Without the requisite votes to pass in the House as written, the Republican leadership moved Wednesday and Thursday to appease their conservative colleagues by promising to add provisions that would strip ‘Essential Health Benefits’ from existing law.

The current Essential Health Benefits (EHB) requirement imposes a baseline of consumer protections and benefits coverage, including mandated coverage for the following:

  • Outpatient care
  • Emergency room trips
  • In-hospital care
  • Pregnancy, maternity and newborn care
  • Mental health and substance abuse disorder services
  • Prescription drugs
  • Preventative services (including vaccines, mammograms, etc.)

With continued defections from the House Freedom Caucus and eroding support from moderate Republicans, it became clear that the bill did not have the votes to pass this evening.

House Republican leadership is considering additional changes to shore up support, and could bring up the AHCA up for a vote in the coming days. With the repeal of Essential Health Benefits and the possibility of additional changes that further erode protections in the individual markets, ANA continues to have significant concerns over the AHCA bill.

GOP Pushes the AHCA, Supreme Court hearings and more

  

On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee kicked off confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. The hearings are expected to last four days, with Gorsuch hoping to avoid hot-button issues like access to reproductive rights, campaign finance, and executive powers. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) hopes to have Gorsuch’s nomination voted out of committee by April 3rd and a vote before the full Senate by April 8th (before the two-week Easter recess).

Last week, House Republicans advanced the American Health Care Act (AHCA), their repeal-and-replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act, out of the House Budget Committee following a blistering Congressional Budget Office report of the impact of the legislation. The AHCA bill is expected to be considered by the House Rules Committee on Wednesday, where the Republican majority on the panel is expected to approve the bill and send it to the floor for a full House vote.  The full House is expected to vote on the legislation some time Thursday, which is the seventh anniversary of the signing of the current ACA law. ANA opposed the current AHCA legislation in a letter sent to Capitol Hill leaders earlier this month.

House Republican leaders are frantically whipping votes in favor of the bill, but the continued chorus of complaints from the conservative House Freedom Caucus and more moderate members has set the stage for a razor thin margin in the lead up to Thursday’s vote. House Republican leaders are expected to release a ‘Manager’s Amendment,’ which is a series of changes to the legislation that can be made by House leadership following the regular committee process to shore up support for the bill. The expected changes to be released later this week would be to:

1) Allow states to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients (appeasing conservative members)

2) And expand health tax credits for seniors (appeasing moderate members).

Though Freedom Caucus members still take umbrage with the current bill for not going far enough and moderates are concerned with the number of Americans that could lose coverage, the changes could be enough to get Republican to the 216 votes needed to pass the bill.

Stay tuned to the Capitol Beat for further updates on health reform and other activity happening on Capitol Hill.

An Unhealthy Budget

  

President Donald Trump released his budget plan for fiscal year 2018 yesterday morning, presenting Congress with a blueprint for how he believes they should fund the federal government. Unfortunately the President’s proposed budget will weaken the nation’s health care system and jeopardize the scientific research that’s necessary to keep Americans healthy. The ANA opposes the President’s budget, and urges Congress to reject it in favor of a plan that doesn’t compromise health care in favor of political and partisan posturing.

Photo: Shawn Thew, European Pressphoto Agency
Photo: Shawn Thew, European Pressphoto Agency

The President’s budget, which represents his priorities but does not carry the power of the appropriations process controlled by Congress, makes a number of ill-considered cuts when it comes to the American health care system, including:

  • A $403 million reduction in funding for health professions and nursing workforce programs;
  • A $5.8 billion cut from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget, constituting a 22% reduction in funding for scientific research to find medical cures, and;
  • A decision to fold the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (ARHQ) into the NIH. Currently, AHRQ is the only federal agency mandated to conduct health services research.

“As the demand for high-quality health care intensifies, Congress must firmly invest in the nation’s largest health-care workforce, registered nurses. Decreasing funding by $403 million will significantly cripple efforts to effectively recruit, train and educate nurses for practice in rural and medically underserved communities,” said ANA President Pamela F. Cipriano, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN.

The ANA is instead urging Congress to provide $244 million to fund nursing workforce development programs, $160 million for the National Institute of Nursing Research, $380 million for the National Health Service Corps, and to restore AHRQ’s funding to at least $364 million in FY 2018.

Despite the organization’s concerns over these misguided cuts, the ANA does support the President’s call for a $500 million increase to expand opioid misuse prevention and treatment efforts.