By George Weiner, MD
2009-01-01
Dr. Weiner is Chair of the ASH Government Affairs Committee, and
Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of the Holden Comprehensive
Cancer Center at the University of Iowa.
Since the November elections, ASH Headquarters has fielded numerous
calls from members with questions about what the election results may
mean for stem cell research, health-care reform, funding for NIH, and
other issues important to ASH and its members. These are difficult
questions to answer, other than to say that the changes resulting from
this election will lead to what promises to be a "most interesting"
111th Congress.
As we all know, November elections swept Senator Barack Obama into
the White House and significantly widened the Democratic party’s
majorities in both chambers of Congress. The Democrats will command a
unified government in Washington for the first time since 1994. In the
U.S. Senate, Democrats gained enough seats to get within shouting
distance of the magic number 60 (the number of votes needed to bring
legislation to the floor), while in the House of Representatives, they
captured enough new seats to get close to the margins they had over 14
years ago.
 |
Democrats will be firmly in control, yet will face multiple
monumental challenges, including a failing economy, a financial crisis,
a collapsing auto industry, and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The new
president and Congress will need to manage competing priorities while
trying to remain united behind a consensus agenda. Will reform of
health care and health policy be the top priority on that agenda? Will
federal support for biomedical research be identified as an excellent
way to build infrastructure or stimulate the economy? We do not know,
since, in this climate, statements of understanding and support for
issues important to ASH may not translate into policy as other issues
of higher priority receive attention.
Despite this uncertainty, some educated guesses are possible based
on President-Elect Obama’s prior statements and long-held positions.
One of his first executive orders will be to allow expansion of
federally funded embryonic stem cell research. The transition team and
congressional leaders have also acknowledged that the State Children’s
Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP), which is set to expire April 1, will
need to be reauthorized. Fixing physician payment in Medicare is also
recognized as a priority, although there continue to be some disputes
over financing. It is also expected that one of the first pieces of
legislation before the new Congress will be a stimulus package and that
Democratic congressional leaders will likely try to include additional
funding for the National Institutes of Health in the package.
Comprehensive health reform is considered a priority by
President-Elect Obama and congressional leaders. Health reform was a
central aspect of President-Elect Obama’s campaign, and exit polls
indicate that health care ranked in the top three most important issues
cited by voters. The chairmen of the two Senate committees with
jurisdiction over health reform, Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), chair of
the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and
Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, have
each released details of their proposed plans for comprehensive health
reform. Both plans include universal coverage, reducing costs,
reforming the delivery system, and increasing the focus on prevention
and public health. Both Senators plan to hold multiple public hearings
next year and are seeking input from a variety of stakeholders.
Legislative activity on health reform in the House is more likely to
follow an incremental approach.
What is ASH doing during the transition? The ASH Committee on
Government Affairs and staff in the Society’s government relations
department have been tracking developments in the Obama-Biden
transition team and identifying transition team members who are
responsible for reviewing all federal agency activities and reporting
back to the president-elect. Not surprisingly, there are several team
members with whom ASH has worked closely in the past and who are
receptive to our offers to provide input. The Society has updated its “Agenda for Hematology Research,”
which identifies top hematology research priorities, and will be
sharing it with policymakers. ASH is also developing briefing documents
that outline the legislative issues of greatest concern to the Society.
In addition to calls from ASH members asking "what these changes
mean for ASH," we have received calls from ASH members saying they know
new members of Congress from their state delegation or agency officials
who are likely to play major roles in the new administration. Such
calls are always welcome, as personal relationships can be key to
helping ASH advance our agenda. ASH strongly encourages all members to
participate in its grassroots advocacy efforts and to share their ideas
about issues the new administration and Congress must address. Please
e-mail ASH at grassroots@hematology.org. We certainly will remain in close contact with our membership as these events evolve.
back to top
