HealthCheck February 5, 2010

Academy Activities

In light of President Obama's State of the Union pledge to create a bipartisan commission to address deficit reduction and the release of his administration's 2011 budget proposal, the Academy's Health Practice Council continues to urge the president and Congress to undertake comprehensive Medicare reform. An updated Call to Action outlines four goals that any comprehensive reform of the program must seek to achieve: the Hospital Insurance trust fund must meet short-range financial adequacy, the fund must meet long-range actuarial balance, the program's growing demand on the federal budget must be reigned in by a reduction in the growth in general revenue contributions, and overall Medicare spending must be limited by a reduction in the growth of spending.

In the News

A Fortune/CNNMoney.com (Feb. 2) article urged a review of the concerns raised by actuaries and economists on health care reform. The article quotes a Jan. 14 Academy letter to policymakers (news release) as congressional leaders began negotiations to merge the House and Senate versions of reform legislation. The Academy said that financial penalties in both Senate and House bills are fairly weak compared to the coverage costs, and, thus, lower-risk individuals may be more likely to pay the penalty and forgo coverage, putting upward pressure on premiums.

An Academy letter to congressional leaders regarding legislation to repeal an antitrust exemption for medical professional liability insurers was briefly discussed in the American Medical News (Feb. 1), published by the American Medical Association. Academy Medical Professional Liability Subcommittee Chairperson Kevin Bingham told policymakers that the legislation could limit or preclude the collection, aggregation, and analysis of data across companies, which could ultimately limit competition and potentially increase premiums.

Legislative
Updates

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced that there will be a House vote next week on a stand-alone bill to repeal the health insurance and medical professional liability insurance industries' current antitrust exemption. The repeal was included in the health reform bill passed by the House but was not included in the Senate version. Reps. Tom Perriello (D-Va.) and Betsy Markey (D-Colo.) announced plans on Feb. 3 to introduce a repeal bill today. Reports have indicated that the new bill will not contain a provision included in an earlier version of the bill, which gave express enforcement authority to the Federal Trade Commission with respect to "unfair methods of competition" for all types of insurance. Democratic leadership has also indicated intentions to move other health reform-related provisions as stand-alone legislation.