On Capitol Hill
The Labor Day holiday marked the official end of summer recess and health care reform activity on Capitol Hill resumed at high speed. On Wednesday night, President Obama delivered his address on health care reform to a joint session of Congress. For months, ACS CAN has been working to help focus the debate through the cancer lens, and I’m proud to say – after watching the President’s remarks – that your voices are being heard. Again and again during his speech, the president used the devastating experiences of cancer patients to illustrate the problems facing our current health care system.
For ACS CAN, the President’s remarks included many of the ideas essential to our efforts to ensure legislation focuses on what matters most to cancer patients:
• Guaranteeing coverage for all Americans, regardless of health status or pre-existing conditions;
• Prohibiting insurance companies from charging people more for insurance because of their health status;
• Eliminating annual and lifetime dollar limits on benefits and placing limits on patient out-of-pocket costs;
• Increasing the emphasis on prevention, with little or no patient costs for cancer screenings; and
• Fostering patient-centered care that will improve quality of life for people with cancer.
In addition, five people affected by cancer were special guests of the President and sat with the First Lady. Among them were survivor Kate Gibson from Montana, who with her husband authored the ACS book, Crossing Divides, and from Wisconsin, patient Laurie Klitzka. You may remember earlier this summer that Laura’s story, which was provided to the White House by the Midwest Division, was featured in a speech by the President.
With respect to Capitol Hill, as related in previous versions of this update, three House committees and one Senate committee have now passed proposals for health care reform legislation, and earlier this week, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus unveiled his proposal and announced that the committee would proceed to a mark-up on September 21st. Chairman Baucus’ proposal generally follows the contours of the other bills and includes the important insurance reforms needed by cancer patients, which the president talked about Wednesday night. The Baucus proposal falls short of the other bills on the important question of affordability, and we will need to address that issue when the Finance and HELP committee bills are merged prior to Senate floor action. In general though, the Finance Committee’s forward movement together with the President’s speech adds important momentum to the September legislative effort.
While the legislative process is certain to be messy, we continue to view and assess new legislative activity through the cancer lens, making sure that our priorities are met.
GRASSROOTS RECESS WRAP-UP
As Congress returns, it's a good opportunity to reflect on everything we accomplished over the August recess. It was an exceptionally busy month by any measure – in fact, I think it's safe to say it was the busiest August recess we've ever had. Some key highlights from the month:
• More than 750 ACS and ACS CAN staff joined a nationwide conference call on August 12th to hear John Seffrin, CEO of both ACS and ACS CAN, and me present a legislative update and answer questions on our health care reform campaign.
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• Our call campaigns were a resounding success, with nearly 55,000 constituents patched through to a carefully targeted group of Representatives and Senators. The constituents urged their members to fight for health care reform that is affordable and covers people when they need it most. Calls to targeted members will continue into the fall.
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• In the field, our staff and volunteers were active every day all over the country in support of health care reform. Staff and volunteers attended hundreds of town halls, organized rallies, appeared in dozens of media stories, and held dozens and dozens of in-district meetings with members of Congress. This tremendous work ensured that cancer patients' voices were an essential part of this debate, both in the states and on Capitol Hill.
A FOCUS ON A HEALTH INSURANCE EXCHANGE
One element of some of the proposals getting a lot of attention these days is the insurance exchange. These entities, referred to by the Senate as “gateways,” are one of the most important components of the health reform bills. An exchange is a virtual marketplace where individuals (who don’t get insurance through their jobs) and small businesses can comparison shop. Much like Travelocity or Expedia, it allows consumers to see and compare the array of options presented to them.
The role of the exchange is to establish more uniform rules for insurers and provide greater transparency to consumers. For example, the exchange would have the authority to ensure insurance companies do not discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, or charge extremely different amounts for similar coverage. The exchange would also have the administrative authority to assist consumers in categorizing plans by the level of coverage they provide, publishing premium and benefits information, determining eligibility and administering the subsidies, and standardizing insurance forms and processes. Massachusetts established an exchange as part of its reform effort in 2006 and its implementation has been very successful.
Although the current House and Senate bills vary on some of the details, it is very likely that exchanges will be a part of any final health care reform legislation. The exchanges will do much to achieve the Society’s and ACS CAN’s four A’s, including administrative simplicity. Under the current system, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to be a wise health care insurance consumer because insurance is so complex and obscure. As the Massachusetts experience demonstrates, the exchange can be a significant step toward empowering consumers in the health insurance market and one step closer to affordable, equal health care for all.
As always, I look forward to keeping you informed through these emails, other email updates, regular staff conference calls and podcasts. For more information, you can also visit fightcancer.org/healthcare or contact Erin O'Neill, senior director for grassroots, at [email protected] or 202-661-5716.
Thanks, as always, for all you do.
Dan
P.S. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/acscan for the latest health care reform updates.