The Academy hosted a webcast for members on health care reform on Jan. 25 that provided over 1,500 attendees with an overview of the current status of health care reform. Health Practice Council panelists David Shea, Tom Wildsmith, and Cori Uccello outlined significant differences between the House and Senate bills and discussed the Academy's involvement with policymakers and media members in the overall debate. The slides and archived webcast are available online. The webcast was co-sponsored by the Conference of Consulting Actuaries and the Society of Actuaries.
The Academy issued a news release in advance of President Obama's State of the Union address, urging policymakers to focus the domestic policy agenda on four cornerstones that would improve financial security for all Americans: health security, fiscal security, retirement security, and financial systemic risk management. From a health security perspective, this would mean continuing to pursue health care reform that would curb health spending growth, reduce the number of the uninsured, increase access to affordable coverage, and improve health care quality. According to the news release, addressing the solvency challenges facing Social Security and Medicare is also essential to restoring the nation's fiscal health.
In the News
Citing an actuarial analysis by a joint work group of the Academy and Society of Actuaries, The Tennessean (Jan. 23) considered the future of the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act, a health care reform provision that would establish a federal long-term care program, now that Democrats have lost a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.
An Academy letter to congressional leaders regarding legislation to repeal an antitrust exemption for medical professional liability insurers (news release) made headlines this week. As first reported by Modern Healthcare (Jan. 24), 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. Additional coverage included National Underwriter Property & Casualty (Jan. 25), HealthLeaders Media (Jan. 25) and Insurance Networking News (Jan. 25).
News links are to external websites. The Academy is not responsible for the content of these websites.
Legislative
Updates
President Obama presented his State of the Union address Wednesday and asked that Congress remain committed to reforming health care. In his address, Obama called for a plan that would reduce premiums, reduce the deficit, provide coverage to the uninsured, and implement insurance market reforms. He also indicated his intention to create, through executive order, a bipartisan fiscal commission modeled on a proposal by Senators Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.).
Speaker Pelosi indicated after the address that the House could consider a series of smaller health reform issues by mid-February. A repeal of the current McCarran-Ferguson antitrust exemption for the health and medical professional liability insurance industry, one such issue, was reported to be on the floor schedule next week. Other reports indicate the House could also introduce a package of budget-related changes to the Senate health care reform bill, which could then be passed by the Senate through a reconciliation process that requires only a 51-vote majority.