Senate HELP Committee Releases Draft Health Reform Legislation - 6/12/09

On June 9, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee released draft health reform legislation that the Committee plans to markup over a two week period beginning June 16. While the bill is over 600 pages, key issues remain unresolved, including whether employers will be mandated to provide, or pay for, employee health insurance and how a public plan option, which the legislation mandates, will be structured. These issues were intentionally left unresolved to further bipartisan discussions. Highlights of the bill for public hospitals include the extension of 340B pricing to inpatient drugs; reauthorization of a $200 million Trauma Care Center Grant Program; the establishment of state operated health insurance exchanges; and the establishment of cost sharing limits and sliding scale credits for individuals who do not qualify for Medicaid to purchase insurance. NAPH has prepared a detailed summary of the legislative issues. The HELP Committee held two “roundtable discussions” with key stakeholder groups on the bill on June 11 and 12. Among the 24 witnesses were Chip Kahn, President of the Federation of American Hospitals and Delos Cosgrove, CEO of the Cleveland Clinic. The HELP Committee is scheduled to begin marking up the bill on June 23.