The Senate Finance Committee will meet tomorrow through Friday to consider the 564 amendments that Senators will offer to Chairman Baucus' proposal, America's Healthy Futures Act of 2009.  A summary of the amendments and their text is available on the committee's web site.
 
CDHP is currently in the process of reviewing all of these amendments, but the following three would clearly have a significant impact on oral health:
 

• An amendment offered by Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia would add dental, vision, and hearing coverage to the list of mandatory benefits for Medicare recipients.

• An amendment offered by Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas and Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah would exclude dental, vision and other supplemental plans from the equation for determining whether an insurance policy qualifies as "high cost" for the purposes of imposing an excise tax on insurance companies

• An amendment offered by Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan would allow stand-alone dental and vision plans to offer the required pediatric dental and vision services to be offered in the individual and small group markets including within the insurance exchanges.

 
CDHP will be tracking amendments in the Senate Finance Committee closely and will provide updates as they arise. 
 
While all eyes have been on the Senate recently, negotiations in the House are also ongoing.  On Wednesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is expected to meet to complete its work on health reform.  CDHP has learned that an amendment offered by Congresswoman DeGette to add oral health expertise to any health benefits advisory committee has been accepted by Chairman Waxman and will be included in his "mark," which he will offer at that meeting.  CDHP worked closely with Congresswoman DeGette to draft and garner support for the amendment, which is widely supported in the dental and children's advocacy communities.