What does the 110th Congress Hold for Healthcare Legislation?

Posted on December 22, 2006
Filed Under News

Nancy PelosiJust before the lame-duck 109th Congress wrapped up in December, it offered the family physicians across the U.S.A. some glad tidings: the 11th hour legislation that averted a scheduled 5 % Medicare pay cut to go into effect in January 2007.

But as family doctors welcome this news, some pressing questions remain. For example:  when the 110th Congress is gaveled to order on January 4, will the cure – or at least some relief — for America’s health care ills be on the horizon?

To paraphrase Bob Dylan – the answer to the question on every health care provider’s mind is blowing in the winds of political change that has swept across Washington after last November’s midterm elections. Suddenly, health topics such as universal coverage, prescription drug prices, and Medicare reforms, are getting the emergency treatment that all too often eluded them in the past.

Given the notoriously fickle nature of political promises, it is difficult to make a firm diagnosis about the future state of the nation’s health care. However, since the Democrats now have the inside track for the first time since 1994, there is hope that these issues will remain on Capitol Hill’s front burner.

“It’s not that Democrats are necessarily more likely to score legislative wins — in fact, the opposite may be true,” said John Reichard, editor of Congressional Quarterly’s CQ HealthBeat, on Nov. 8. “But their passion for all the permutations of health care means it is one of their core issues and that it is likely to receive dramatically more attention.”

Focus on health care reforms will, promises the incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, remain a matter of top priority in the first 100 hours of the new session. Reflecting the findings of a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll, which ranks health care just behind the economy as the most important domestic issue, Pelosi and the incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid have vowed to give health issues the much needed shot in the arm.

One of the biggest victories for the Democrats in the midterm elections was due to the popular support for stem-cell research. President Bush repeatedly vetoed the bill that would have expanded federal funding for what many consider to be life-saving research, but the new leaders of the House and Senate plan to push for that legislation. “We are going to move it fairly quickly,” Reid promised.

If funding restrictions are lifted – and it is a big “if,” given the President’s unwavering stance on the issue — the NIH scientists would get the green light to pursue the controversial medical research that could pave the way to cures for a slew of conditions ranging from Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases to spinal cord injuries.

Another hot-button health topic on the 110th Congress’ agenda: just as Medicare Part D goes into effect in January, Democrats will step up the fight to require the federal government, rather than individual plans, to negotiate Medicare drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies, and to allow commercial importation of prescription medications.  Whether or not the efforts will ultimately be successful remains to be seen. Pharmaceutical companies spend more than $150 million a year on lobbying, so the opposition to these measures will be fierce.

Also on the Capitol Hill’s radar: the renewal of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act with the strengthened FDA oversight of drug safety. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-MA, and Sen. Mike Enzi, R-WY, are co-sponsors of a bill that would increase disclosure of clinical drug trial results. And the Democrat-led Congress will revisit the issue of funding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) beyond its current spring deadline.

With the shift in political priorities, can health professionals expect a concrete and tangible Rx to heal what ails them?

At the end of the day it may all come down to tiny steps rather than big leaps forward. “The health measures that Congress and the administration will fight over in 2007 will be modest,” noted Kaiser Family Foundation President and CEO Drew Altman,  “and they will be as much about positioning for 2008 as solving the nation’s health care problems.”

One thing is sure: at least now there is a genuine political will on Capitol Hill to give the nation’s health care system a thorough check-up and a clean bill of health.  Maybe what the new lawmakers need is a doctor who makes House calls.

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