2009-03-12
Plans for major reform of the nation’s health-care system are
beginning to take shape in Washington. President Obama has stated
publicly that he wants health-care overhaul legislation completed and
signed by the end of this year. Senate Finance Committee Chair Max
Baucus (D-MT), who will take a leading role in developing legislation,
has announced that he wants to “put a health care bill on the
president’s desk this summer,” and indicated that his committee is
making plans to mark up a prospective bill in June.
Several House and Senate committees met Tuesday, March 10, and
Wednesday, March 11, to begin to discuss the specifics of potential
legislation. While there is broad support for health-care reform among
both parties and most interest groups, the debate over the details of
future legislation is expected to become contentious. In particular,
Republicans have expressed skepticism at Democratic initiatives to cut
payments to Medicare Advantage Plans. They have also taken umbrage with
a proposal, sketched out by President Obama on the campaign trail last
year, to set up a government-run health plan that would compete
alongside private insurers.
A third point of contention is the issue of comparative
effectiveness. It remains unclear how comparative effectiveness
research (CER) initiatives will interface with the issue of cost, and
different stakeholders have sharply divergent views over the role that
CER should play in addressing financial concerns about any future
health-care reform. The stimulus package passed earlier this year
included over $1 billion for comparative effectiveness research, and
more recently the Obama administration named a federal coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, who will be
taking a lead on health reform in the House of Representatives,
emphasized that congressional overhaul of the health-care system must
not only provide for universal coverage but also for more primary care
doctors and nurses, making this another major theme in the health
reform debate.
As the health-care reform debate moves forward, ASH will be
involved with several components, including: physician payment reform,
comparative effectiveness, coverage of special patient populations such
as adults with sickle cell disease, and hematology-related public
health issues.
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