The healthcare reform debate in Washington is in a holding pattern as Senators are returning to their states for the Fourth of July recess.
They did not answer one question, though, before they left: Will bills be ready to be marked up by the two committees—Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions—shortly after they return on July 6?
Late Thursday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), along with ranking minority member Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) and committee members Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Olympia Snowe (D-ME), and Mike Enzi (R-WY), issued a brief statement regarding their efforts to "craft" a healthcare reform bill.
Reforming America's healthcare system is "a tremendous challenge, but it's a challenge we simply have to face," the senators said. They added that the issues addressing reform are "difficult and complex."
However, over the past several months, they said they've made progress toward "workable solutions" and that they remain "committed to continuing our work toward a bipartisan bill that will lower costs and ensure quality, affordable care." No timetable was included with the statement, though, of when they will finally mark up a bill.
This message followed an earlier one on Thursday from Baucus that the Finance Committee had finally identified options that the Congressional Budget Office said would fund a healthcare reform package for under $1 trillion over 10 years. Though not specifically pinpointed, it is believed that the senators have lowered the amount of insurance subsidies for lower- and middle-income Americans to bring some of the cost down.
The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, after considering more than 240 amendments during the past two weeks, came closer to having a bill to mark up by around July 6, according to Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT), who has been chairing the committee in the absence of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA). It's a goal, though, that has puzzled and angered Republican members, who wanted to slow down the pace somewhat to go over the bill.
On the House side, the "tri-committee" hearings on the unified health reform bill finally concluded shortly before 7 p.m. on Thursday. The goal is to start marking up the bill once cost scoring from the Congressional Budget Office is received.
The CDC has launched a Web site to help businesses tackle the nation's fast-growing obesity crisis. LEANWorks!, which stands for Leading Employees to Activity and Nutrition, was unveiled at a National Business Group on Health meeting today in Washington, DC.
"CDC LEANWorks! was developed in direct response to organizations asking CDC for help in addressing the obesity epidemic. Specifically, they wanted to know what interventions were effective in helping employees maintain a healthy weight," says William Dietz, MD, director of CDC's Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity. "CDC has identified science-based interventions that work to prevent and control obesity. CDC LEANWorks! provides the tools that employers need to take action."
The just-released 2009 PRC National Health Report - 1995-2008 Detailed Findings surveyed 1,000 American adults from across the nation and found that obesity is growing at alarming rates. Currently, 67.4% of adults nationwide are overweight (with a body mass index of 25 or higher). In 1995, it was 50%. The prevalence of obese Americans (29% of Americans have a BMI value of 30 or higher) has doubled since it was first measured in 1995 (14.7%). At-risk groups include lower-income adults, African-Americans, and adults aged 40 to 64.
Obesity is a risk factor for high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and heart disease. Obese individuals spend 77% more money for necessary medications than non-obese persons, CDC said.
"Obesity affects more than just healthcare costs. It also has a significant impact on worker productivity because the more chronic diseases employees have, the more likely they are to be absent from work, or less productive if they come to work sick," says Janet Collins, director of CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
The CDC Web site was developed for small and mid-size companies, which typically have more limited resources to devote to obesity prevention efforts. However, the CDC said LEANWorks! can benefit companies of any size. The Web site helps employers calculate the cost of obesity for their organizations and develop specific approaches to help control these costs through interventions, such as fitness classes, lunchtime health education sessions, and weight management programs.
The Web site includes:
An obesity cost-calculator where employers can input employee demographic data to estimate the total costs associated with obesity and determine annual obesity-related medical costs for their companies.
Information and resources to help employers plan, build, promote, and assess interventions to combat obesity.
Information on how employers can estimate return on investment, a measure of the cost of an intervention compared to the expected financial return of the intervention.
CDC visited select businesses to identify promising worksite obesity prevention and control practices. LEANWorks! provides case studies from some of those businesses to offer examples of successful worksite obesity prevention programs.
"Workplace obesity prevention programs can be an effective way for employers to reduce obesity and lower their healthcare costs, lower absenteeism, and increase employee productivity," Dietz says. "Employers may also see other indirect benefits when they implement these programs, such as improved employee morale, increased worker retention, and improved recruitment of new employees."
Senate healthcare negotiators said they were closing in on a $1 trillion healthcare bill that would be fully funded by tax increases, Medicare cuts, and new penalties for employers who do not offer health insurance. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said members of the panel would consider several policy and financing options over the Fourth of July recess, with the goal of producing a deficit-neutral 10-year bill shortly after Congress returns July 6.
Can President Obama find enough in spending cuts and tax increases to keep his campaign promise to overhaul the healthcare system, without adding to already huge deficits? House and Senate leaders do not like Obama's ideas but cannot agree on alternatives. Other proposals that could reduce healthcare spending would take too long to show savings for purposes of Congress's budget scorekeeping, and many would require big investments initially, such as for research into cost-effective treatments. Also, special interests like insurance companies and employers are on alert to oppose anything that could hurt them.
Workers at a hospital and two nursing homes in Hollister, CA, have voted to remain in the Service Employees International Union rather than join a rival group launched by former officers of the giant labor organization. The election was the latest skirmish between the SEIU and the upstart National Union of Healthcare Workers, which has filed election petitions to represent nearly 100,000 employees in California. The SEIU won the Hollister contest by a vote of 73 to 53, although the new union said it planned to challenge the results on legal grounds.
In a landmark agreement, two of the nation's most prominent hospitals are pledging to spend millions of dollars to resolve complaints that ill-suited equipment and sometimes-indifferent medical workers make disabled patients feel unwelcome. Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital promised to scour every ward for evidence of physical barriers and equipment inaccessible to the disabled. Staff members will undergo training to make sure they understand and respond to the needs of patients who have trouble walking, seeing, or hearing.
The latest report from the Congressional Budget Office predicts that the deficit will climb to more than 5.5% of GDP in 2035, 8% in 2050, and over 19% 75 years from now unless tax and spending change. Healthcare costs and an aging population are the primary causes. The cost of the two major federal health insurance program, Medicare and Medicaid, are projected to rise to nearly 10% of GDP by 2035 and more than 17% by 2080 without some change in policy, CBO projects. They make up about 5% of GDP now.
Thousands of union members and other advocates of overhauling the healthcare system rallied on Capitol Hill to demand high quality, affordable healthcare for all. Union officials, doctors, patients, and Democratic lawmakers took the stage one-by-one repeating the mantra, "We need healthcare reform in 2009 and we can't wait." Anna Burger, secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union, said the nation's economic crisis makes it clear that "now is the time to act."
Pennsylvania Gov. Rendell assured child healthcare advocates that he would work to protect medical insurance for children from budget cuts in the face of a projected $3.2 billion deficit. The governor pledged his support to the state's Children's Health Insurance Program, which insures nearly 194,000 children in the state. Rendell is lobbying the legislature to temporarily raise the personal income tax as a way to help ensure that CHIP and other programs don't face cuts proposed by Senate Republicans.
The type of advertising war that helped doom the last effort to overhaul the nation's healthcare system is heating up. Business groups opposed to healthcare bills floated by House and Senate Democrats launched print ads, and the Republican National Committee ran its own TV ad as well. Until now, ads for and against President Obama's proposed healthcare overhaul have been run by lesser-known groups. Interested groups are stepping up their efforts during Congress' July Fourth recess.
