CQ’s Carey Discusses Tobacco Regulation Bill, PEPFAR Reauthorization, Medicaid Regulations

Mary Agnes Carey, associate editor of CQ HealthBeat, discusses legislation that would give FDA the authority to regulate tobacco, reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and a House hearing about the Bush administration's proposed Medicaid regulations in this week's "Health on the Hill from kaisernetwork.org and CQ."

According to Carey, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved legislation that would subject new tobacco products to premarket review and permit HHS to require prior approval of all tobacco product labeling. The legislation also would allow the HHS secretary to restrict the sale or distribution of tobacco products, and manufacturers and importers of tobacco would have to pay user fees to fund FDA's new regulatory responsibilities, Carey says. She adds that the bill is expected to pass in the House, but its prospects are uncertain in the Senate. Opponents of the legislation say they do not want FDA to be in the position of regulating a product that is not safe.

In addition, Carey says the House approved legislation that would reauthorize PEPFAR and provide $50 billion from fiscal year 2009 to FY 2013 to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria abroad. In exchange for higher funding levels, Democrats dropped language that would have tied family planning groups more closely to HIV/AIDS services, which conservatives argued would have allowed for abortion funding in focus countries. The bill also would overturn an existing law requiring one-third of all HIV/AIDS prevention money to be spent on abstinence education, replacing it with a requirement for a report to Congress if spending on abstinence and fidelity programs drop below 50% of prevention spending in a given country. The measure includes programs to train new health care workers and to add secondary services, such as nutrition, to the program, Carey says.

Finally, Carey discusses a House committee hearing on the potential effects of Medicaid regulations proposed by the Bush administration. According to Carey, educators, public health officials and hospital administrators testified that the regulations would reduce health care for nursing home residents, low-income schoolchildren and pregnant women, among other groups. However, Bush administration officials and other supporters of the rules say the changes would curb improper Medicaid spending by some states and would not affect access to medically necessary care for beneficiaries. Sen. John Dingell (D-Mich.) has sponsored legislation to postpone all or some of the Medicaid regulations.

The complete audio version of "Health on the Hill," transcript and resources for further research are available online at kaisernetwork.org.