NATIONAL HEALTH CARE REFORM UPDATE - by Dr.
Gary Walsemann, ICA President
"The
battle for chiropractic’s future is raging -- in
Congress, in the media, in the insurance industry, in
the minds of consumers and on the frontiers of the
world, and the outcome is far from certain. Here is an
update on the current status of health care reform
legislation in Congress.
Before breaking for the August recess, the three
committees in the House of Representatives that have
jurisdiction over the health care reform bill H.R.
3200 America’s Affordable Health Choices Act
marked-up, voted on, and passed slightly differing
versions of the bill. These three committees—the Ways
and Means, Education and Labor, and Energy and
Commerce committees—each produced somewhat unique
versions of legislation, which have yet to be
reconciled. The Energy and Commerce committee still
has around 50 amendments to vote on when they return
in September. ICA plans to be very active when that
committee reconvenes, aggressively pushing our
amendments on behalf of chiropractic practitioners and
patients.
In the Senate, the Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions (HELP) Committee passed their version of
legislation on July 15th. Despite the fact that
approximately 160 amendments offered by Republican
Senators passed, their version of the bill is
considered extremely partisan. Republicans note that
maybe two of those amendments made any changes to
content, while the rest dealt with technical issues.
Thus, much hope has been placed on the Senate Finance
Committee. Led by Senate Finance Committee Chairman
Max Baucus (MT), six Senators deemed “the coalition of
the willing” have been working to produce a
bi-partisan bill. There have only been whispers about
what their legislation might look like, but it will
probably offer non-profit cooperatives instead of the
public option, potentially strike the employer mandate
in favor of the individual mandate, and avoid any
taxes on the wealthy to pay for the reform. Chairman
Baucus has said that their legislation will be
completed by September 15th.
The Senate and House will respectively be faced with
the task of reconciling the differing legislations
within their own committees. Then, a conference
committee will have to reconcile the final legislation
produced by each Congressional body. As perfecting the
legislation will surely take a fair amount of time,
there is still much work to be done before a final
bill will be produced. This legislation, like
chiropractic’s aspirations in it, has a long way to
go.
The national chiropractic organizations, working
through a profession-wide coalition, The Chiropractic
Summit, continue to work for solid anti-discrimination
language, amendments to preserve the private pay
option for the cash-paying patient, to preserve the
protections in the state-enacted insurance equality
laws and other key points. You can join in this vital
effort through the Internet based grass roots lobbying
program
www.AdjustTheVote.org. Your help is urgently
needed."
top
|