CardiovascularCapps Celebrates Energy And Commerce Passage Of Comprehensive Health Insurance Reform Bill
On Friday Congresswoman Lois Capps celebrated the Energy and Commerce Committee"s passage of comprehensive health insurance reform, the America"s Affordable Health Choices Act (H.R. 3200). For the first time the Energy and Commerce Committee has passed a comprehensive health insurance reform bill, marking a historic point in the effort to lower health care costs for families and businesses, improve American"s health and wellness, and provide all Americans with access to quality, affordable health care. The measure passed by a vote of 31 to 28.
The bill would enact critical health insurance reforms to stop insurance companies from refusing coverage based on consumers" pre-existing medical conditions - such as pregnancy or high blood pressure - or refusing to cover a consumer"s medical expenses after a serious and often costly injury or diagnosis like cancer. It would also better serve consumers by closing the Medicare Part D "doughnut hole," and ending insurance companies" "gender rating" in which women are charged higher premiums just because they are women. The legislation would also establish a public option health insurance program to ensure that all Americans have access to health insurance and provide subsidies for lower and middle income families. The public option would provide much needed competition to health insurance companies, which currently monopolize the vast majority of markets across the country and leave consumers little leverage. The bill would ramp up programs to train more doctors, nurses and other health professionals to improve quality of care for all patients and refocus efforts on improving prevention and wellness efforts.
Also included in the legislation were numerous provisions authored by Capps, including three key amendments - protecting reproductive choice, encouraging low-income patients to seek preventive care, and improving the quality of maternal health care - that were included during the mark-up on Thursday and Friday. The full House is expected to consider the America"s Affordable Health Choices Act (H.R. 3200) later this fall.
"This is a historic moment for all Americans who care about fundamentally reforming our broken health insurance system," said Capps, a nurse and Vice-Chair of the Health Subcommittee. "I"ve spent the better part of my life working to improve the health and well-being of my patients and I am thrilled that with this vote we are one significant step further toward finally fixing our broken health insurance system. I am proud that I was able to share my experience as a nurse and public health educator to strengthen several provisions of the legislation dealing with prevention, access to affordable health insurance, securing a robust public health insurance option and increasing the number of health professionals. As a mother and grandmother, I am also proud that my Amendments to protect reproductive choice and improve maternal health care were included in the legislation. This legislation is a work in progress, but make no mistake we have made significant progress in pursuit of our goal of fixing our health insurance system to provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans."
Capps Initiatives Included in the American Affordable Health Choices Act:
Protect Reproductive Health: This Capps amendment would clarify that the government could not mandate nor prohibit coverage abortion services for plans in the exchange, but clarifies that public funding may not be used to pay for such service. Private funds, however, could be used to pay for these services.
Improve Maternity Care: This Engel-Capps amendment would ensure that the quality of maternity care is being measured in Medicaid and CHIP programs.
Prohibit Co-Pays for Medicaid Preventive Services: This amendment prohibits cost-sharing requirements for Medicaid clinical preventive services (like screening for cancer and heart disease, as well as preventing serious infectious diseases, substance abuse, and vision and hearing disorders) that are rated A & B (highly recommended) by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).
Improve Children"s Access to Comprehensive and Easily Accessible Preventive and Primary Health Care (School-Based Health Clinic Establishment Act of 2009, H.R. 3003): This initiative would improve children"s access to comprehensive and easily accessible preventive and primary health care service to medically underserved communities at school-based health clinics (SBHCs). The legislation would provide a consistent, dedicated stream of federal funding to support the school-based health clinics.
Support Nurse-Managed Health Clinic (derived from the Nurse-Managed Health Clinic Investment Act of 2009 H.R.2754): The initiative supports Nurse-Managed Health Clinics (NMHCs) in providing comprehensive and accessible primary healthcare and wellness services to vulnerable populations in America"s medically underserved communities. The services provided by these clinics would help reduce the level of health disparities experienced by these vulnerable populations while training the next generation of nurse professionals.
Improve Nurse Education Grant Programs under Title VIII : During the drafting process Congresswoman Capps served as a liaison between the nursing community and the Energy and Commerce Committee to make sure their priorities are included. The improvements to the nurse education grant programs under Title VIII include:
*Expanding education, practice, and retention programs for nurses.
*Enhancing existing student loan, scholarship, and loan repayment programs.
*Enhancing development of advanced practice nurses, including those who deliver primary care services.
*Expanding existing loan repayment programs to increase number of nursing faculty.
Ensure Nurse Practitioners can be Lead Coordinator for the Medical Home Pilot Program
Increase Reimbursement for Certified Nurse-Midwives
Improve Pain Care and Treatment (derived from The National Pain Care Policy Act H.R. 756): This Capps initiative would improve coordination of pain care and facilitate better sharing of information about pain across health disciplines. The legislation would combat pain in three ways: by authorizing an Institute of Medicine Conference on Pain Care; authorizing a Pain Consortium at the National Institutes of Health; and by instituting a public awareness campaign on pain management. Over ninety leading organizations representing the pain care community have joined Congresswoman Capps and Congressman Rogers in support of this legislation, including the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Pain Foundation and a coalition of leading professional organizations in the pain field.
Expand the CDC"s WISEWOMAN Screening Program for Low-Income & Uninsured Women: This Capps amendment expands the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention"s WISEWOMAN screening program for low-income and uninsured women. Currently the program is available in only 20 states. The expansion of the successful WISEWOMAN program is a key provision of legislation authored by Congresswoman Capps and her Energy and Commerce colleague Republican Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack (CA-45), the Heart disease Education, Research and Analysis, and Treatment (HEART) for Women Act (H.R. 1032). The HEART for Women Act is endorsed by a number of leading health and women"s organizations, including the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, WomenHeart, the Society for Women"s Health Research, and the Association for Black Cardiologists.
Support Evidence-Based Programs that Reduce Teen Pregnancy and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (the "Healthy Teen Initiative" Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program): This Capps amendment establishes grants to states to conduct or support evidence-based programs that reduce teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Programs must be scientifically shown to reduce teen pregnancy or STD rates or the risk behaviors that lead to them. States can work with schools, faith-based organizations, community organizations and other partners. Requires independent evaluation, medical and scientific accuracy, and age-appropriateness. There is no litmus test on "philosophy" of the program - i.e. no preference given to comprehensive or abstinence only programs, rather programs are funded based on scientific evidence of effectiveness and accuracy. It in no way preempts or limits State laws on parental involvement and decision making in their children"s education.
Robust Public Health Insurance Option: Earlier this month Congresswoman Capps led a group of 21 New Democrat Coalition and Blue Dog Democrats in writing to Speaker Pelosi to urge her to protect a strong public health insurance option. Despite attempts by opponents of a robust public option to weaken the bill, Capps played a critical role in negotiating an agreement that would protect premium assistance for low and middle-income individuals and families who would be eligible to purchase the health insurance of their choice - including the public health insurance option - through the newly created Health Exchange.
Geographic Payment Fix (GPCI) for the State of California: Fixes flawed Medicare reimbursement system by updating methodology used to calculate geographic areas in California that are lumped together for calculating regional payment rates for physicians and other health providers.
The Office of Congresswoman Lois Capps