RushNotes Header
Your security software may block the RushNotes template. Please remember to right-click to download images.
A Weekly Publication of the Department of Government Relations  Week of September 21, 2009 
In This Issue
Finance Releases Health Reform Bill
Key Players on Health Reform
APA to Host Congressional Briefing on the Need to Support Mental Health Research
Joint Session of Congress on Health Reform
White House Offers $25 Million For Medical Malpractice Projects
Cornerstone Funding of the Recovery Act
Quick Links
 
 APAPAC Events
 
9/21 - 9:00 a.m. - Candidate Doug Pike (D-PA)
 
9/22 - 12:00 p.m. - Rep. Steve Austria (R-OH)
 
9/22 - 5:30 p.m. - House Republican Chiefs of Staff (R)
 
9/24 - 8:30 a.m. - Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI)
 
9/24 - 6:00 p.m. - Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK)
 
9/25 - 8:00 a.m. - Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY)
 
9/25 - 8:30 a.m. - Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH)

DGR Telephone: 

703-907-7800
Follow APA Advocacy on Twitter!
 
The APA Department of Government Relations is now on Twitter! Now you can find out about APA Advocacy activities, Congressional hearings, mark-ups, and floor votes in real time.

Please click on the following link to start following APA Advocacy Twitter:
http://twitter.com/apa_
advocacy
 
Questions about the Twitter page or how to set up an account? Please contact Kate McAllister or Jason Pray at advocacy@psych.org.
Finance CommitteeReleases Health Reform Bill
On September 16, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) released his proposed health reform legislation. The bill would spend $774 billion to expand coverage and would not increase the deficit over the next 10 years.  The bill establishes a non-profit, member-run Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans (CO-OP) instead of a public insurance option; it expands Medicaid to 133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) and includes subsidies for low-income Americans to purchase private coverage; includes mental health and abuse coverage in the minimum package for the health insurance exchange; extends the current 5% "bump" for certain Medicare mental health services; and has a one-year postponement of the pending 21% Medicare payment cut, but no permanent solution. A mark-up of the bill began on September 22.
Key Players on Health Reform
Senate Leadership
 
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
 
Senate HELP Committee 
 
Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA): In September 2009, Senator Harkin succeeded the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts as chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT): Dodd had led the HELP panel through their drafting of a health reform bill in July. He was unable to gain the support of any of the committee's Republicans for the plan to create a new, government-run insurance option to compete with private insurance plans in the marketplace.

Ranking Member Mike Enzi (R-WY): He shares Democrats' desire to make health care more affordable, but wants a fair hearing for his party's suggestions.

Senate Finance Committee 

Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT): Baucus is in agreement with President Obama's call for health reform but has objected to using fast-track budget procedures to advance a health care bill, preferring to strike a deal with Republicans to maximize support.  Recently released his version of the Senate Health Reform Bill. 
 
Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-IA): Grassley prefers deal-cutting to partisan purity and it is a pattern he has struggled to maintain in addressing health reform during the 111th Congress.

Gang of Six 

Group of 3 centrist health policy experts from both parties charged with negotiating a bipartisan reform bill that could pass the Senate. Max Baucus (D-MT), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) 

House Leadership 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): The Speaker assumed a much different role in 2009, holding together a larger collection of Democrats behind President Obama's ambitious agenda.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD): Hoyer met with the chairmen of three major committees - Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce and Education and Labor - and other pivotal players in the Spring of 2009 to plot strategy on a health care overhaul.  He is a powerful emissary to Conservative Democrats.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)

House Energy and Commerce Committee

Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA): His committee, Energy and Commerce, had the most contentious House markups. 

Chairman Emeritus John Dingell (D-MI): The former Energy and Commerce Chairman, ousted by Waxman, has introduced legislation for universal healthcare in every Congress for the past several decades. 

Ranking Member Joe Barton (R-TX)

Health Subcommittee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ): Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee. Has worked in concert with full committee chairman Waxman to negotiate a difficult compromise between conservative and liberal democrats on the committee.

Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Nathan Deal (R-GA)
Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR), Blue Dog Coalition Health Chairman

House Ways and Means Committee

Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-NY): He has direct control of legislation that affects tax policy and the future of entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid. 

Ranking Member Dave Camp (R-MI)

Health Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stark (D-CA): Chairman of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, supports the public option and expanding Medicare and Medicaid coverage, but stops short of supporting a single-payer system.  

Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Wally Herger (R-CA)
 
House Education and Labor Committee
 
Chairman George Miller (D-CA): Chairman Miller's committee has jurisdiction over health legislation as it relates to labor and employer benefits, including ERISA.
 
Ranking Member Buck McKeon (R-CA)
Health Subcommittee Chairman Rob Andrews (D-NJ)
Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Tom Price (R-GA)
APA to Host Congressional Briefing on the Need to Support Mental Health Research
On September 30, the APA, along with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), will host a briefing titled "Supporting Our Troops: New Research on Suicide and Substance Use Disorder" in the Rayburn House Office Building. This will be in coordination with the Mental Illness Awareness Week Annual Symposium. Joining us for discussion are John Mann, M.D., of Columbia University speaking on the recent NIMH-Army Suicide study, and Tim Condon, M.D., Deputy Director of NIDA, speaking on NIDA's partnership with the military and VA on reducing substance use.
Joint Session of Congress on Health Reform
On September 9, President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress about the health care changes he is proposing and to rally divided congressional Democrats.  The President emphasized how the changes he is promoting would help economically stressed middle-class workers by providing stability if individuals lose their jobs, or by blocking insurers from cancelling coverage if people get sick.  Republican critics said the President, by deferring to Congress on the details of an overhaul, was allowing Democratic leaders to usher in a government takeover of the health system that will drive up costs.  The President's estimate for an overhaul would be less than $900 billion over ten years.
 
If you would like to read the entire speech please go to the link below: 
 
White House Offers $25 Million For Medical Malpractice Projects
On September 17, the Obama Administration announced $25 million in new grants for pilot programs to explore alternatives to the medical malpractice system. The grants would identify practices that would reduce medical errors, scale back malpractice insurance premiums and spare doctors from nuisance litigation.
Cornerstone Funding of the Recovery Act Community Prevention and Wellness Initiative
On September 17, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced a funding opportunity for communities and tribes to apply for $373 million in cooperative agreements for the comprehensive public health initiative, Communities Putting Prevention to Work, to be led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be used to increase physical activity, improve nutrition, decrease obesity, and decrease smoking in U.S. communities.  Creating ways for healthful lifestyle habits to be the natural first choice for Americans is the goal of a $650 million initiative of the HHS.  Communities Putting Prevention to Work will change systems and environments- for example, improving access to healthy foods and opportunities for physical activity-and putting into place policies, such as clean-indoor-air laws, that will promote the health of populations. Funded entities will have two years to complete their work.