It remains to be seen whether President Obama's address
before a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night will be a game changer,
but he certainly set the tone for what promises to be a heated debate in Washington. The President took great pains to appeal to
both sides of the aisle in his remarks.
He encouraged his progressive colleagues to seek compromise on the
controversial "public option," which would give the uninsured and small
businesses the option of choosing a government run insurance plan or a private
insurance plan. In doing so he indicated
a willingness to consider a proposal by Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of
Maine that would allow for a public option to be "triggered" if private
insurance is unable to cover all Americans in time for a 2013 deadline. President Obama further tipped his hat to
Republicans by crediting his former opponent, Senator John McCain of Arizona,
with plans to prohibit insurers from denying coverage to people with
preexisting conditions and for establishing immediate protections to keep the
chronically ill from health-related bankruptcy.
Further, GOP Members warmly greeted the President's call for medical
tort reform-a longtime Republican initiative.
News of the President's address jolted Congress back into
action. Over Labor Day weekend, Senator
Max Baucus of Montana, who chairs
the final committee charged with crafting a health reform proposal, the Senate
Finance Committee, circulated a rough sketch of his health reform plan among
key Senators. The document was released
to the public on Tuesday-and while it lacks details, it appears to have
positive implications for oral health.
The framework protects the pediatric dental benefits that are included
in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), while
recognizing the need to ensure that a pediatric dental benefit is included in
the private market as well.
A copy of the framework is available on CDHP's web site.
The Senate Finance Committee is expected to release a more
detailed plan next week, with the goal of finishing its work on the bill in the
week of September 21. The legislation
will then be reconciled with bills crafted by the Senate Health, Education,
Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee and the House Tri-Committee (Energy and
Commerce, Education and Labor, and Ways and Means Committees). The House has almost completed its version of
the bill; however, the House Energy and Commerce Committee must still consider
50 amendments that it failed to take up before the August adjournment,
including a key CDHP-supported amendment to include oral health expertise on
the health benefits advisory committee.
It is rumored that the Committee will meet on September 16 to consider
those amendments. Vice President Joe
Biden told reporters that he expects Congress to send a bill to the President
for his signature by Thanksgiving.
The fact that all three versions of the legislation are
likely to include a pediatric dental benefit bodes well for efforts to get a
dental benefit for children in the final bill.
Unfortunately, despite the tremendous need among millions of Americans,
adult dental coverage is not being addressed by the Congress and therefore,
prospects for its inclusion in any final package do not look promising.
