CQ’s Carey Discusses Newborn Screening, Brain Injury Measures; Medicaid Regulations; Senate SCHIP Hearing

Mary Agnes Carey, associate editor of CQ HealthBeat, examines bills dealing with newborn health screenings and brain injuries, House approval of legislation that would block Medicaid rule changes proposed by the Bush administration and a Senate hearing on an SCHIP enrollment directive in this week's "Health on the Hill from kaisernetwork.org and CQ."

According to Carey, the House voted to approve legislation that would authorize $44.5 million in fiscal year 2008 for programs to detect congenital, genetic and metabolic disorders in newborns. The measure also calls for federal guidelines for newborn screening and would require HHS to create and maintain an information clearinghouse of educational and family support services to help families with newborns diagnosed with the conditions. The House also voted to renew a CDC program that funds state programs that track and report brain injuries and that connects patients with hospitals and treatment centers. The legislation would reauthorize a grant program within the Health Resources and Services Administration that funds brain injury rehabilitation programs.

Carey also discusses House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee approval of a measure that would block a series of Medicaid rule changes until 2009. Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.), to help win Republican support, made changes to the legislation to clarify that the new measure would block only the seven Medicaid regulations lawmakers oppose and not any new administrative regulations that the Bush administration might propose in the future. White House officials have said the regulations are intended to end practices used by some states to gain additional federal Medicaid funding. Carey says President Bush might have difficulty sustaining a veto of the bill if it has widespread support from Republicans who are reluctant to cut federal funding for Medicaid during an election year.

Lastly, Carey says that during a Senate Finance Subcommittee on Health Care hearing, Dennis Smith, former director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations at CMS, said that guidelines for states to extend SCHIP coverage to 250% of the federal poverty level do not intend to punish states, but rather help them with coverage expansions. While some Republicans at the hearing agreed with the Bush administration that it was important to cover the nation's lowest-income children before expanding the program, many Democrats said the directive would hurt states' ability to provide health coverage to uninsured children.

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