Letter: Bill supports biomarker testing
This letter originally ran in the Lincoln Journal Star.
News
April legislative update on health care reform
April 17, 2009
The health care reform debate is heating up in Washington. Both the House and Senate leadership have been laying out the legislative framework in which they plan to move health care reform forward through Congress.
The Senate Finance committee is convening a series of public roundtables, each of which will delve into a different area of health care reform. The format will be a round table discussion for Members of the Committee with 6-9 experts for each policy area. Following these public roundtables, the committee will hold a follow-up walk thru session in private wherein they plan to actually draft legislation that corresponds to each policy area. That schedule is:
Delivery System Reform: Round table 4/21/09, Walk thru 4/29/09
Coverage: Round table 5/14/09, Walk thru 5/20/09
Financing Round table 5/14/09, Walk thru 5/20/09
The committee's goal is to have health care reform legislation that is ready for mark-up (the process by which a committee reviews and makes changes to a bill before it is sent to the full House or Senate for a vote) by mid-June. Additionally, the House is also actively engaged in health care reform. Since January of this year, the three Committees of jurisdiction, the Energy and Commerce Committee, the Ways and Means Committee and the Education and Labor Committee, have been holding several hearings a week on various issues of health care reform. The Chairmen of these committees have publicly stated that they are committed to getting health care reform enacted this year. Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer have also stated that they would like the House to vote on health care reform legislation before the August recess.
ACS CAN has developed a series of "asks" (legislative requests) that it has shared with bill drafters. ACS CAN is prepared to ensure that cancer patients are at the forefront of lawmakers mindÈs as they craft legislation that could have a dramatic impact on ACS and ACS CANÈs shared mission. We will continue to keep you up to date on the latest legislative activities and ACS CAN's involvement in the subsequent debate.
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