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While roughly 83% of adults in the United States will visit a health care provider in the next year, an estimated
News
3-4-11 Affordable Care Act Update
March 4, 2011
New Resource for Consumers – HealthCareandYou.org
ACS CAN joined other trusted national health groups this week to launch HealthCareandYou.org, a new comprehensive online resource to give Americans easy-to-understand information about the health care law so they can make informed decisions for themselves and their families. The site provides tailored information for users, including up-to-date facts about the law, a timeline of when provisions take effect, and a state-by-state listing of health coverage options that are available to consumers. It also features information tailored to consumers of all ages and circumstances, including older Americans, small business owners, and health care professionals. The groups involved in the effort include ACS CAN, AARP, American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Physicians, American Medical Association, American Nurses Association, Catholic Health Association, and National Community Pharmacists Association. Read the groups’ press release.
President Obama Comments on State Waivers for Exchanges
President Obama spoke to the National Governors Association this week and addressed the issue of waivers under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The President stated clearly that although he would not allow any roll-back in the benefits and improvements included in the law, he wants to provide states with greater flexibility in implementing it. In addition, he announced his support for legislation introduced by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Scott Brown (R-MA) that would allow states to apply for waivers in 2014, three years sooner than the law currently allows.
Under the ACA waiver provision, a state could be exempt from a number of provisions, including the individual mandate. However, the law is clear that states must demonstrate that the waiver would not preclude consumers from having coverage at least as comprehensive as what the law currently requires, including insurance reforms (e.g., the ban on pre-existing conditions and annual and lifetime limits), essential benefits, and subsidies. The effect of a waiver must also be budget neutral for the federal government. Examples of waivers that might be proposed include a public insurance option and allowing large employers into the exchanges before 2017.
Capitol Hill Update: Medicaid
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing Tuesday on Medicaid. Governors Haley Barbour (R-MS), Gary Herbert (R-UT), and Deval Patrick (D-MA) testified about the severe budget challenges they are facing and their experiences with the health care law’s “maintenance of effort” (MOE) requirement that prohibits them from imposing more narrow eligibility standards. Under the law, a state would lose all of its federal Medicaid funding if it made eligibility for the program more restrictive than the standards in place when the law was enacted. The committee also discussed a recent letter that 33 Republican governors sent to U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius urging the repeal of the MOE requirement in the stimulus law and the Affordable Care Act.
ACS CAN will continue to engage state and federal legislators and policy makers to ensure that provisions of the law that are helping cancer patients and their families remain intact. Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs play a critical role in providing 50 million people nationwide access to health care coverage. Breast and cervical cancer patients who are screened through the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program rely on Medicaid for treatment coverage. Low-income seniors have been able to access to state Medicaid programs for help with Medicare premiums and for needed long-term services and supports. Cancer patients with disabilities rely on Medicaid for help with the services they need to continue to be active members of their communities. Read recent articles on Medicaid here and here.
Update on State Affordable Care Act Activity
Nearly half of states have seen at least one legislative attempt to set up a health benefit exchange, and in some states there have been multiple proposals. With so much activity we are beginning to see some trends developing.
ACS CAN’s foremost concern is the size and makeup of exchange governance boards. We have strongly discouraged large boards, which would be more likely to become divisive and unable to efficiently address the many critical decisions that need to be made to have a functioning exchange by 2014. Also important is that a board’s voting members and their immediate family have no financial or employment relationships that would pose a conflict of interest. In addition, proposals to date have not clearly detailed the power and responsibility the state insurance commissioner needs to prevent insurance companies from cherry picking healthy applicants. Insurers outside and inside the exchanges should compete on a level playing field, but so far very few proposals have adequately addressed this problem. Finally, many states have not explicitly spelled out in their legislative proposals the level of coordination and transparency that must exist between the state Medicaid program and the exchange to ensure both succeed in properly serving their intended audiences.
Litigation Update
In an important and positive development today, U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson in Florida issued a stay of his own ruling, which means that implementation of the law can proceed pending the administration’s appeal of the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. You may recall that Judge Vinson’s original decision nearly three weeks ago caused confusion in many states with some governors interpreting the ruling to mean that they could suspend further implementation efforts. The new ruling makes clear, at least for now, that the law as enacted continues to stand, and that the implementation process in the states should continue while the court challenges are pending. Read the Associated Press story.
The Society and ACS CAN joined the American Diabetes Association and American Heart Association in filing a brief as amici curiae, or "friends of the court," in the Sixth Circuit appeal in January. Next week, the three groups will be filing a similar brief in the Virginia cases, which are now proceeding to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Click here to read the brief and here to read the joint statement the groups issued.
New Report Estimates How Health Reform Might Affect States
A new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report predicts how the ACA would impact states if fully implemented. The report finds that rates for uninsured people under age 65 would decrease in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., with nine percent of the non-elderly gaining coverage through state insurance exchanges. An estimated $82.3 billion in exchange subsidies and new federal Medicaid dollars would flow into the states. View the report.
As always, thank you for all you do every day to support laws and policies that help cancer patients and their families.
Christopher W. Hansen
President
American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN)