Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Lawmakers Want Biden's Spending Bill To Address Medicare Expansion, More
Axios: Democratic Senators Call On Biden To Expand Medicare In American Families Plan
Senate Budget Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and 16 Democratic senators sent President Biden a letter on Sunday calling for his American Families Plan to significantly expand Medicare. The plan, expected to be announced ahead of Biden's address to Congress on Wednesday, is one of several massive proposals brought by the administration to ease mass economic pain caused by the coronavirus pandemic. (Rummier, 4/25)
Modern Healthcare: House Lawmakers Want Medicare To Fund Mental Health Peer Support Services
Two House lawmakers reintroduced a bill Thursday that would allow Medicare to fund mental and behavioral health services from trained specialists with similar challenges to their patients. The Promoting Effective and Empowering Recovery in Medicare Act of 2021, introduced by Reps. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) and Judy Chu (D-Calif.), would clarify that CMS can reimburse peer support specialists for services rendered in mental and physical health settings. Currently, Medicare and private health insurers are not able to reimburse these services, leading to a lack of funding and dwindling number of available jobs for specialists. (Gellman, 4/23)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: As COVID Eases, Federal Funds Try To Help Mental Health Of Frontline Workers
Since the pandemic began over a year ago, thousands of front-line workers and first responders have been going to work each day – and carrying with them the fear of bringing home a deadly virus. Now, as Georgia presumably enters the final leg of the threat, concerns are growing about the impact on the mental health of those who have lived through the worst, and whether they will have at their disposal the resources to address their psychological scars. (Berard, 4/26)
Modern Healthcare: Congress May Address Doctor Shortage In Infrastructure Bills
Physician and hospital groups are hopeful Congress will approve thousands of additional Graduate Medical Education slots this year which, if successful, would mark one of the biggest expansions to the program seen in decades. Citing a looming physician shortage, doctors and providers have lobbied Congress for more than a decade to increase the number of residents Medicare helps pay to train. That number has been frozen since 1996 until Congress approved an additional 1,000 slots in December. Lobbyists say that was the catalyst needed to break a decades-long resistance to expanding the program, with provider groups pushing for an additional 14,000 slots this year. (Hellmann, 4/23)
In other news from Capitol Hill —
NPR: New Program Helps Capitol Police Deal With Trauma From The Insurrection
Dr. Jim Gordon of the Center for Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, D.C., says one of the first steps to addressing trauma is breathing. "Slow, deep breathing, in through the nose," Gordon says, modeling the practice, "and out through the mouth with our bellies, soft and relaxed." The psychiatrist is sharing this concentrated meditation technique with U.S. Capitol Police as part of a new program to address the upheaval they have seen in recent months. "And afterwards I'll say, 'How many of you noticed change?' " Gordon says. "And out of a dozen people, 10 people will say, 'Yes, I noticed the change.' " (Grisales, 4/25)
