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- Jennifer voted for H.R. 2990, the
Quality Care for the Uninsured Act, to expand coverage for
Americans who lack health insurance for themselves and their
family. With more than 44 million people uninsured, this
legislation allows small businesses and individuals who are
self-employed to pool together and purchase health care for their
employees at discounted rates now available to only larger
companies. Furthermore, this legislation allows self-employed
individuals to deduct 100 percent of their health insurance
premium by 2001, extends this tax deduction to individuals whose
employers do not offer health insurance, and provides tax benefits
for the purchase of long-term care insurance and the care of an
elderly family member at home. All of these tax reductions were
included in the 1999 Taxpayer Refund and Relief Act, which was
vetoed by President Clinton. Jennifer will continue to push for
these common sense health care proposals so we can promote access
to quality, affordable health insurance for more hard-working
Americans.
- Many people have expressed concerns
that managed care plans are denying coverage for benefits
or limiting access to specialists to provide quality care. In
addressing this important issue, we must balance the need to
provide access to affordable health care to reduce the number of
uninsured without imposing new government-imposed requirements
that will result in higher health insurance premiums. During the
debate on patient protection in health plans, there were several
bills considered by the U.S. House of Representatives. Jennifer
supported legislation to protect patients in managed care plans by
requiring health plans to establish an appeals process
conducted by independent physicians. This appeals process will
allow patients to appeal decisions of health plans if they believe
they were unjustly denied services. In addition, the long delays
that would be associated with pursuing these claims through the
courts would not be a factor since the appeals process would
ensure that patients' cases are considered promptly. If the
patient wins the appeal, but is still denied care by the health
plan, he or she would have the right to bring a lawsuit
against the health plan. Jennifer strongly believes that patients
should have this right as a last resort. This proposal would also
provide additional patient protection such as:
- lifting "gag rules" to allow free and open communications
between patients and doctors to make fully-informed decisions.
- requiring health plans to provide coverage for emergency
care without prior authorization if the situation was deemed an
emergency by the patient.
- requiring health plans to allow patients direct access to
pediatricians or obstetricians and gynecologists as primary care
physicians.
- requiring health plans to fully disclose information about
the covered benefits to patients.
- These changes will help ensure that
patients' health needs remain the primary focus of managed care
plans. Unfortunately, this legislation did not receive as many
votes as an alternative sponsored by Representatives John Dingell
(MI) and Charlie Norwood (GA). While the alternative bill
contained many provisions that Jennifer supported, she believes it
will result in higher health care premiums. The independent
Congressional Budget Office determined that the proposal offered
by Representatives Dingell and Norwood will increase premiums more
than any other managed care bill being considered. With 44 million
Americans already without health insurance, Jennifer is wary about
making health coverage more expensive and inaccessible, especially
when there are alternatives that strike a more appropriate
balance. She will continue to work toward that goal in the
next congressional session.
- One of the premier medical
institutions in the Northwest is Children's Hospital in
Seattle. It is an institution in which Jennifer has taken a great
deal of pride over the years since she volunteered there, and, as
such, she has worked hard to ensure their fair treatment under
federal law. This year, she led an effort to provide federal funds
to children's hospitals that train physicians. Fortunately, this
effort was successful and Children's will soon be compensated for
the high quality medical professionals they train.
- Jennifer has long been committed to
ensuring that women have access to quality treatments and vital
tests. She was the lead sponsor of an important reform in H.R.
3075, the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Balanced Budget Refinement
Act, to double the Medicare reimbursement rate for pap
smears. This is the first increase in pap smear payments in
over a decade. In her effort to expand access to new innovations
as well, Jennifer successfully added a provision to include
reimbursements for automated cervical cancer technologies. Women
will now have access to new technologies that can identify
cervical cancer more accurately.
- Jennifer was also successful in
increasing reimbursements for the Bailey Boushay House, a
skilled nursing facility in Seattle that provides assistance to
people with AIDS. Without her assistance, this facility would not
be able to continue serving patients with complex medical needs
because they would have been severely impacted by a new Medicare
reimbursement formula.
- To provide seniors access to
innovative medicines, Jennifer introduced H.R. 2892, the Access
to Innovation for Medicare Patients Act. This legislation
expands Medicare coverage to self-injected biologics that are
prescribed in lieu of prescription drugs currently covered under
Medicare. Seniors suffering from chronic illnesses such as
rheumatoid arthritis who want to use self-injected biologics
already available for use would continue to benefit from Medicare
coverage. Though H.R. 2892 was not ultimately attached to the
Medicare bill, Jennifer's work with several House committee
chairmen laid the groundwork to advance this issue further for
seniors.
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