House May Try To Pass Smaller Individual Healthcare Bills, Says Hoyer

Unwilling to make the ultimate concession and pass the Senate’s healthcare reform bill, the House may try to pass a series of individual bills, said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) on Tuesday.

“We may have individual bills on the floor...that’s in discussion,” said Hoyer, who acknowledged that passing piecemeal legislation could be difficult given that many reform provisions rely on others to be effective. Hoyer said that a decision on how to proceed would be made “as soon as [House leaders] know the way forward.”

In addition to healthcare, Hoyer touched upon a laundry list of issues during his weekly briefing with reporters, including Pay-Go legislation that passed the Senate last week. The Majority Leader said that the House would vote on a Pay-Go proposal of its own within a bill to raise the nation's debt ceiling on Thursday.

Addressing the big news story of the day -- testimony from Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Michael Mullen regarding ending the military’s ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ policy -- Hoyer said he supported doing away with the controversial practice.

“‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ needs to be repealed,” he said. Hoyer added that although Mullen called for an end to the policy during Tuesday’s hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Congress would wait to act on putting forth legislation.

Later, Hoyer blasted Republican leadership for blocking a Senate amendment last week that would’ve created a congressional debt commission. Hoyer took shots at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), noting that he had been for the commission before he voted against it. The Majority Leader expressed his hope that President Barack Obama would “go forward” on issuing an executive order to create a similar commission.

And for you sports fans out there, when asked for his pick to win the Super Bowl, Hoyer wouldn’t commit to either the Saints or Colts, but may have tipped his hand when he quipped that the “Colts were stolen out of Baltimore...in the dead of night.”

Health Spending Growth Rate Hit All-Time Low In 2008

National health spending grew 4.4% to reach a total of $2.3 trillion in 2008, according to new data released by officials with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

However, compared to 2007, when the growth rate for health spending was 6%, the figure for 2008 was significantly lower. CMS officials attributed the slow down to after-effects of the struggling economy.

“During periods of recession we often see healthcare spending to be somewhat insulated from the impacts of that recession...but in 2008 we saw...a more immediate impact on the healthcare spending trend...most likely due to the fact that this recession is one of the most severe that we’ve seen since 1933,” said CMS statistician Micah Hartman.

In 2008, while state health spending decreased noticeably, federal health spending accounted for over one-third of total U.S. health spending, caused mainly by an 8.6% growth in Medicare. In addition, federal Medicaid spending grew 8.4%, sparked by a 2.6% increase in enrollment. These occurances were likely aided by passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which allowed billions in health spending to be shifted from states to the federal government.

Due to a decline in private health insurance enrollment, the growth rate of private health spending slowed to 2.6% in 2008. Private health insurance plans lost roughly one million enrollees as a result of income and job loss. This in turn, sparked a slow down in the growth rate of private health premiums, which fell from 4.4% in 2007 to 3.1% in 2008.

Prescription drug spending also experienced a drop in growth, going from 4.5% in 2007 to 3.2% in 2008. Aside from the recession, cheaper generic drug prices offered by retailers such as Walmart contributed to the decline.

RNC Launches Ad Campaign To Combat Senate Healthcare Bill

By Meagan Wiseley - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

On Monday Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) Michael Steele announced the launch of the “Listen to Me” Effort. Which will include the launch of a six-figure national radio ad which explains the GOP position on healthcare reform, with emphasis on the Senate healthcare bill.

“We can’t force the democrats to listen to the American people, but we can certainly help the American people lift their voice up to be heard by those in Washington,” Steele said. “[We] are asking the Democrats in Washington to do something different for once, and that is listen to the American people.”

The new initiative consists of telephone town hall meetings, an interactive internet campaign and a grass roots activist campaign.

RNC staff members will also be sent to the six states (North Dakota, Nebraska, Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana and Connecticut) who’s Senators still seem to be undecided on how they will vote on the healthcare bill.

“In these states we will do everything we can to help people get their elected representatives to listen, to pay attention [and] to hear their voice,” Steele said.

Senate Medicare Expansion Proposal 'Worth Consideration,' Says House Majority Leader

By Meagan Wiseley, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-M.D.) told reporters Tuesday that the proposed expansion of Medicare being discussed in the Senate is "an idea worth consideration."

"I think [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid obviously is trying to get his caucus to a place where he can get 60 votes to pass a health reform bill," he said. "I congratulate him for the extraordinary Herculean efforts that he is making to bring 60 votes together to get something done in the Senate."

The expansion would allow individuals from the ages of 55 to 64 to buy into Medicare and would also create a non-profit funded healthcare plan for those who are not covered through their employers.

Hoyer also said Congress is currently working on job creation legislation, using left over TARP money for infrastructure projects and job creation. He said depending on the components of the bill, it could cost between $75 billion and $150 billion.

"100 billion, 150 billion, 75 billion, those are all figures that are being talked about, depending on what the component parts are," he said. "And I don't think anybody feels that this package will be the only package in terms of jobs that we'll look at over the next two or three months."

House Democrat Says Tort Reform Won't Reduce Health Care Costs

By Leah Valencia, University of New Mexico- Talk Radio News Service

Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), along with victims of medical malpractice, urged caution over pursuing tort reform Wednesday, warning that caps on court-awarded damages won’t reduce health care costs.

Braley, who has been working on America’s Affordable Health Choices Act since last March, said tort reform is not directly addressed in the bill, but that it does encourage early settlement in malpractice suits.

“At a time when people are trying to cap and restrict injured and deceased patients ability to recover full and fair compensation, it is time we get back we get back to taking about the underlying problem,” Braley said. “The easiest way to reduce the cost of medical malpractice in this country is to reduce the large number of preventable medical errors.”

Tort reform has been identified by Republicans as a way to reduce federal budget deficits by an estimated $54 billion over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office, but there has been no commitment by Democratic leaders to include tort reform in a healthcare reform bill.

Braley stated that “defensive medicine” accounts for only 1.5 percent of the cost of care, and should not be included in a broader healthcare reform.

“I expect there to be further attempts by Republicans to push the tort reform agenda,” he said. “I am more interested in moving forward in a positive direction and getting the ultimate goal, improving patients safety, accomplished whenever we can.”