Although the
House vote to repeal health care reform is symbolic only (given the
Democratic Senate and White House), it is a necessary first step leading
to committee by committee action over the coming months on discrete
provisions of health care. One such item, medical
malpractice liability reform, got a hearing last week before the House
Judiciary Committee as Republicans paraded several witnesses before the
committee to showcase the need for legislation from the physicians'
perspective. Since it is very unlikely that the American Medical
Association's wish list would ever become law, the best result from the
committee process would be a bill that skirts the more controversial
items (e.g., cap on damages) and focuses on attainable and meaningful
reforms, such as health courts, stronger pre-trial evaluation and settlement pathways. This would be a path Aetna would strongly support.ARIZONA:
Governor Jan Brewer has announced that she will request a waiver from
the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services so that the state
can set Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS)
eligibility below levels mandated by the PPACA. In
March 2010, Governor Brewer signed a fiscal year 2011 budget that
stripped funding for the state's Children's Health Insurance program
(KidsCare) and cut $385 million from AHCCCS, effectively repealing an
expansion of AHCCCS to childless adults approved by voters in 2000.
However, following enactment of the PPACA, the state rescinded the
scheduled cuts to comply with the law's "maintenance of efforts" (MOE)
requirement. The MOE requirement prohibits a state from having
eligibility standards, methodologies, or procedures for adults that are
more restrictive than those in effect on March 23, 2010, until a health
insurance exchange in the state is fully operational, and for all
children in Medicaid and CHIP through September 30, 2019. The MOE
requirement provides an exception for non-pregnant, non-disabled adults
earning more than 133 percent of the federal poverty level if a state is
projected to have a budget deficit. Arizona faces a mid-year budget
deficit estimated at $825 million. A $1.4 billion shortfall is projected
for the 2012 fiscal year.
No comments:
Post a Comment