Capitol Hill Watch: Hospitals Weigh In On Payment Cuts; Pandemic Prep Bill Sent To Trump; House Defeats Tobacco Amendment
Media outlets report on congressional moves on issues as wide-ranging as community health centers and doctor training programs and pandemics.
Modern Healthcare:
With High Stakes For Employer-Based Insurance, Senate Seeks Hospital Contract Reform
Some healthcare experts view the Senate health committee's proposed reforms to hospital and insurer contracts as essential to try to sustain the employer-based insurance system in the face of bloating costs. Yet even as the healthcare industry seems bent on defending the commercial market against calls for a single-payer system, hospitals are poised to fight at least some of these policies. (Luthi, 6/4)
CQ:
Hospital Payment Cuts Could Complicate Other Health Bills
A bipartisan effort to renew popular community health programs could become stalled by a debate over how to handle pending payment cuts to hospitals that serve poorer populations. Those tensions surfaced Tuesday as the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee considered 11 bills that would renew funding for things like community health centers and doctor training programs, which have funding authorizations that expire at the end of September. (Siddons, 6/4)
Politico Pro:
House Sends Trump Pandemic Preparedness Bill
The House today sent to President Donald Trump a bill to reauthorize HHS efforts to respond to disasters and threats from emerging infectious diseases and chemical or biological agents. The Senate passed the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act, S. 1379 (116), in May. Today's voice vote in the House capped repeated efforts to renew the health agency's pandemic response unit dating to the last session. (Owermohle, 6/4)
CQ:
Long-Stalled Health Emergency Bill Poised To Become Law
The bill, approved by voice vote, would continue the authorizations for billions in funding for programs that help prepare for disease outbreaks and the public health fallout from disasters. Lawmakers have been debating the measure since February 2018, and the House originally passed a version in September. The bill directs “federal agencies to respond to new and emerging threats,” and “naturally occurring and man-made disasters,” citing the recent measles outbreak, wildfires, hurricanes, Ebola and “the constant looming threat of a biological attack,” said House sponsor Anna G. Eshoo, D-Calif. The measure would renew the funding through 2023 and increase the authorized funding levels for programs like the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which invests in early-stage research for vaccines and disease treatments. That program’s authorized funding level will increase from $415 million to $612 million per year. (Siddons, 6/4)
Politico Pro:
House Appropriators Defeat 'Tobacco 21' Amendment To FDA Spending Bill
House appropriators on Tuesday defeated a bid to raise the tobacco purchasing age to 21 nationwide and strengthen age requirements for online e-cigarettes sales. The House Appropriations Committee rejected, 23-27, an amendment from Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.) and Juan Vargas (D-Calif.) after Chairwoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) criticized the way it wouldn't take effect for two years. The language was offered during debate on a fiscal 2020 Agriculture-FDA spending bill. (Owermohle, 6/4)
