The Society Asks Members of the House to Vote "No"

Since the press briefing on March 3, 2010, when President Barack Obama laid out the next steps to pass health care reform, all attention has focused on the U.S. House of Representatives and the need for it to approve the Senate-passed health reform bill (H.R. 3590). According to the plan, the House is to pass the Senate version as well as a so-called “side-car” reconciliation bill, which will make changes to H.R. 3590 designed to be responsive to the concerns of House Democrats as agreed to in negotiations with the White House.

Once the House passes both bills, the Senate is also supposed to approve the “side-car” reconciliation bill. The House vote on the health care package is scheduled for Sunday, March 21, 2010.

The reconciliation bill follows closely President Obama's February 24 proposal. While it includes fixes to the Senate bill in hopes of getting House members’ support, it does not modify any provisions impacting physicians.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which analyses the economic impact of bills for Congress, released its analysis of the final health care package (i.e., the economic impact of the Senate bill and the reconciliation bill) on Thursday, March 19. According to CBO, the bill will cost $940 billion over 10 years and will reduce the deficit by $138 billion in the first decade. In addition, CBO finds that the bill reduces annual growth in Medicare expenditures by 1.4 percentage points per year, therefore extending Medicare's solvency by at least nine years. While the bill is more expensive than the Senate bill, it is fully covered.

The Heart Rhythm Society is extremely concerned with the final health care reform package, as physician-related provisions are identical to those in the Senate legislation (learn more about the Society’s concern). On Friday, March 19, the Alliance of Specialty Medicine (of which the Sociey is a member) sent a letter to the House of Representatives opposing both the Senate bill and the reconciliation package and asking them to vote "No" on Sunday. Read the full letter (PDF, 93K).

Despite not supporting these particular bills, the Alliance agrees that the status quo is unacceptable. The Alliance is urging Congress to reject the current health care reform legislation and draft a more patient-centered bill, one that focuses on improving access to affordable health insurance, including provisions that:

• prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions
• provide adequate access to specialty care
• addresses rescission of health coverage
• ensures continuity in Medicaid coverage for children who go in and out of the system
• prohibits annual and lifetime coverage limits