The National Association for the Advancement of Orthotics and Prosthetics (NAAOP) has released the following statement regarding its current efforts to promote O&P’s agenda in national healthcare legislation:
Congress Set to Mark-Up Healthcare Reform Legislation in July
Healthcare reform reached some significant milestones in June with the release of a consensus draft health reform bill in the House that totaled over 800 pages. (The proposals for saving money in healthcare to offset the cost of reform will come in July.) Meanwhile, the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee took the first major legislative action of the 111th Congress on health reform by “marking up” actual legislation. The HELP bill totals over 600 pages, but again, most of the savings proposals are not yet in public view. The Senate Finance Committee has jurisdiction over spending reductions such as changes to Medicare, Medicaid, and tax policy.
The Finance Committee failed to meet their self-imposed deadline of introduction of a comprehensive outline of legislation and a mark-up of the bill in Committee by the July 4th Congressional recess. There was good reason for the delay as the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) provided a preliminary estimate of what healthcare reform would cost over 10 years, and the number turned out to be $600 billion more than expected. In response, Senate Finance Committee Chairman [Max Baucus (D-MT)] postponed his timeline and stated publicly that the committee would continue working to compile a bill that would cost no more than about $1 trillion over ten years and would be paid for through other offsets.
Chairman Baucus is also getting praise for his efforts to develop a bipartisan health reform bill, rather than the more partisan approach being taken by the Senate HELP Committee and the House leadership. Chairman Baucus is working intently with two other Democrats and four Republicans on the Finance Committee to achieve consensus. July is another critical month as massive amounts of work will need to be accomplished and major agreements will have to be secured in order for the House and Senate to pass bills in their chambers by the August recess. If all goes [according] to plan, Congress will spend the fall negotiating a final bill in the House and Senate that the President will agree to sign.
What does this all mean for the O&P profession? The answer could fill many pages but the bottom line is this: There are many provisions in the reform package that would benefit consumers of O&P care in terms of obtaining access to care, access to affordable insurance, and improved quality of care. This will have a ripple effect and also benefit O&P practitioners. But there are significant threats to the O&P field as well. For instance, when the detail on the offsets is released, O&P, along with virtually all provider groups, may be subject to cuts or reductions in fees of some kind. In addition, there is currently no specific mention of coverage of O&P care as an “essential benefit” under the private health plans that will have to be offered under a reformed health-insurance market. This does not mean that O&P will be excluded from health-insurance coverage, but it does mean that coverage of O&P care is not a given. That is why NAAOP, working with a large number of other O&P and disability organizations, has made this a top priority in the health-reform debate and is working for its explicit inclusion in the bill.
Thank you for your continued support of our efforts on Capitol Hill, with CMS [the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] and the VA [Veterans Administration].
