The last day of the Capitol Conference went well. Another 3 ½ hour general session that featured 4 Representatives and 1 Senator. The lone Senator was Orrin Hatch (R-UT). Senator Hatch was well spoken and supports our efforts. He clearly does not want a single payor system. He noted that the Senate is looking to pass healthcare reform under a budget reconciliation process whereby the discussion is limited to 20 hours, no language can be added and it only takes a simple majority (51) to pass. Senator Hatch feels we should not push so quickly, and with so little majority, on something that represents 1/6th of the entire federal budget.
Sher Sparano (NYC NAHU member) and I met with Tiffany Guarascio, Senior Legislative Assistant to Congressman Anthony Weiner who gave us an interested spin on this. While she noted there were short-comings to the budget reconciliation process (BTW- she told us the House does not have something like this) she felt that 20 hours of debate is long time (on the hill) and the regular process (the name escapes me) allows for a few Senators to hold out and stall the whole process. I believe this is what happened with the President’s initial stimulus bill. Not sure which is better or worse? We do need reform, but at what expense? Our meeting with Tiffany lasted ½ hour and she asked questions and gave us some insight into what’s going on. She noted that single payor did not look to have any legs at all.
We had two other House meetings today. One with Eli Kogan, Senior Legislative Assistant to Congressman Joseph Crowley and another with Becky Cornell, Legislative Aide to Congressman Paul Tonko. The meeting with Eli was very short. He took our material, heard what we had to say and thanked us for coming. Becky took lots of notes and could only tell us that Mr. Tonko supports universal access. Becky did know who NAHU was and said some legislative people from NAHU had been by to brief them. This was the first meeting we had where they noted they knew NAHU.
Yesterday we met with Meghan Taira, Legislative Assistant to Senator Schumer. There were 5 of us who met with her and she told us they were busy trying to conceptualize a Public Plan Option. This was new phrase for me and she note this would be the government provided plan that looks to be passed before August. Today we heard both Senator Hatch and other House Representatives mention this same phrase. Meghan told us that no language has been drafted, but this is what they are working on. We told her that while we were not opposed to a plan (like the Public Plan Option) to back up any individual coverage mandates, we felt that a level playing field was critical to the survival of the private market.
This is a big issue folks. This looks to be what the new government plan will be. After our Schumer meeting we all discussed how we could see each state selling this as the state’s PPO option (sound familiar?) We felt this would confuse folks in the market who are familiar with PPO’s in the private market, but not aware of how this applies under a federal mandated plan. They may gravitate to this plan not knowing what it really is. Combine this concept (which has familiarity on the House side) with a “get it done before the August recess” mindset and it’s not too hard to see why Senator Hatch feels that the Public Plan Option is the long road to a single payor system.
Mr. Hatch told us this is the year to convince congress that our ideas of reform will have a positive affect on healthcare. All of us at the Capitol Conference got the feeling from both houses of congress that they are acting fast and want to deliver something to the President soon. We need to be aware of what’s going on and stay in touch with our legislators and stay atop of what our national organization is doing on our behalf.
That’s it for the 2009 CapCon! I hope you all enjoyed reading my updates. We’ll work to continue the blog to keep folks up to date and share ideas. To my wife (who I know has been reading my blog) - Honey, I’m coming home!
Sher Sparano (NYC NAHU member) and I met with Tiffany Guarascio, Senior Legislative Assistant to Congressman Anthony Weiner who gave us an interested spin on this. While she noted there were short-comings to the budget reconciliation process (BTW- she told us the House does not have something like this) she felt that 20 hours of debate is long time (on the hill) and the regular process (the name escapes me) allows for a few Senators to hold out and stall the whole process. I believe this is what happened with the President’s initial stimulus bill. Not sure which is better or worse? We do need reform, but at what expense? Our meeting with Tiffany lasted ½ hour and she asked questions and gave us some insight into what’s going on. She noted that single payor did not look to have any legs at all.
We had two other House meetings today. One with Eli Kogan, Senior Legislative Assistant to Congressman Joseph Crowley and another with Becky Cornell, Legislative Aide to Congressman Paul Tonko. The meeting with Eli was very short. He took our material, heard what we had to say and thanked us for coming. Becky took lots of notes and could only tell us that Mr. Tonko supports universal access. Becky did know who NAHU was and said some legislative people from NAHU had been by to brief them. This was the first meeting we had where they noted they knew NAHU.
Yesterday we met with Meghan Taira, Legislative Assistant to Senator Schumer. There were 5 of us who met with her and she told us they were busy trying to conceptualize a Public Plan Option. This was new phrase for me and she note this would be the government provided plan that looks to be passed before August. Today we heard both Senator Hatch and other House Representatives mention this same phrase. Meghan told us that no language has been drafted, but this is what they are working on. We told her that while we were not opposed to a plan (like the Public Plan Option) to back up any individual coverage mandates, we felt that a level playing field was critical to the survival of the private market.
This is a big issue folks. This looks to be what the new government plan will be. After our Schumer meeting we all discussed how we could see each state selling this as the state’s PPO option (sound familiar?) We felt this would confuse folks in the market who are familiar with PPO’s in the private market, but not aware of how this applies under a federal mandated plan. They may gravitate to this plan not knowing what it really is. Combine this concept (which has familiarity on the House side) with a “get it done before the August recess” mindset and it’s not too hard to see why Senator Hatch feels that the Public Plan Option is the long road to a single payor system.
Mr. Hatch told us this is the year to convince congress that our ideas of reform will have a positive affect on healthcare. All of us at the Capitol Conference got the feeling from both houses of congress that they are acting fast and want to deliver something to the President soon. We need to be aware of what’s going on and stay in touch with our legislators and stay atop of what our national organization is doing on our behalf.
That’s it for the 2009 CapCon! I hope you all enjoyed reading my updates. We’ll work to continue the blog to keep folks up to date and share ideas. To my wife (who I know has been reading my blog) - Honey, I’m coming home!
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