Legislative: AAP Federal Legislative Updates

June 24, 2011 Federal Legislative Update

In this update:

Budget Negotiations Evolve as Biden Group Disbands

On Thursday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Minority Whip Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) walked out of the bipartisan, bicameral budget negotiation group led by Vice President Joseph Biden over opposition to proposed tax increases as part of a long-term budget compromise. The group also included Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Montana), Appropriations Committee Chair Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), House Budget Committee Ranking Member Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Assistant Democratic Leader Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.).

Without Republican support, the Biden group has disbanded, and all budget negotiation discussions now fall to President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has said that the federal government can avoid default over the $14.3 debt ceiling so long as legislation is passed to raise the debt limit before Aug. 2.

President Obama and Speaker Boehner could either decide to send Congress a short-term, stopgap measure to raise the national debt limit, or negotiate a long-term deficit agreement that could include tax increases and cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

As these negotiations continue, the AAP is weighing in at every level, advocating for Congress and the Administration to protect children’s access to care within Medicaid.

AAP Urges Administration and Congressional Leadership to Keep Medicaid Strong

Today, the AAP sent a letter to President Barack Obama, Speaker Boehner and Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) outlining the wide-reaching benefits of investing in children’s health and urging them to keep Medicaid strong as budget negotiations continue.

During this time, it is imperative that Congress hear from AAP members on the value this program has for some of the nation’s most vulnerable children.

Please take a moment to visit the Advocacy Action Center on FederalAdvocacy.aap.org for background information, draft speaking points and e-mail text to send to your federal legislators on the need to keep Medicaid strong and protect children’s health.

AAP Weighs in on Medicaid Access Rule

On Monday, the AAP filed and circulated a group letter in response to the Medicaid Access Proposed Rule. The letter praises the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for setting up a standard format to collect state data on Medicaid payment rates, but criticizes several shortcomings in the proposed rule, including its failure to enforce the Medicaid statute’s equal access provision. This provision requires each state to provide Medicaid payments to pediatricians and others sufficient enough to guarantee that state’s Medicaid population at least the same access to health care coverage as those who are enrolled in private insurance.

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide later this year whether pediatricians, families and others interacting with Medicaid can sue a state for violating federal law under Medicaid’s equal access clause. If the Supreme Court rules against this private enforcement of the Medicaid provision, the CMS proposed rule will be the only enforcement mechanism left to protect children’s access to Medicaid services. Within this context, it is critical that the CMS rule establish a way for pediatricians to receive appropriate Medicaid payment if private suits cannot be used to enforce the equal access clause.

Senate Finance Committee Hearing

On Thursday, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing, “Health Care Entitlements: The Road Forward,” which focused significantly on Medicaid and current proposals to reform the program, including block grants, spending caps and efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid maintenance of effort requirements. In addition to these topics, witnesses discussed Medicaid payment inequities and health care spending as it relates to current tax levels, among other topics.

During the hearing, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) questioned witnesses as to why Medicaid should be expanded even though children do not have access to subspecialists (based on a recently published New England Journal of Medicine article) and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick discussed the need for a continued federal funding commitment to the program.

AAP Commends FDA on New Graphic Cigarette Warning Labels

On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) unveiled the most comprehensive anti-tobacco effort since the U.S. Surgeon General's warning became mandatory on cigarette packaging in 1965: by September 2012, tobacco marketers will be required to cover the top half of cigarette boxes and 20% of tobacco advertisements with new graphic anti-smoking images and accompanying text warnings.

The new labeling was required as part of the Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act, and will rotate between nine new specific health messages and accompanying images depicting the dangers of tobacco use, including, “WARNING: Tobacco smoke can harm your children,” (pictured) and “WARNING: Smoking during pregnancy can harm your baby.”

In addition, and in accordance with the Academy’s recommendation to FDA earlier this year, all new cigarette labels will be required to display the 1-800-QUIT-NOW quitline number. The AAP urges states and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ensure that all quitlines include counseling to protect children and other non-smokers from secondhand smoke exposure.

The AAP issued a press release on the new warning labels applauding the FDA’s efforts to slash cigarette use, including among the more than 2,000 children under age 18 who start smoking each day.


Federal Advocacy

Do you want to know your U.S. senators? Your U.S. representatives? Want to learn more about the U.S. Congress and the types of bills being considered this year that impact children and pediatricians?

Click here to visit the official website of the United States House of Representatives.
Click here to visit the official website of the United States Senate.