'A Pledge to America' -- Released by the Senate Republican Communications Center'We Strongly Support this Effort, and Together, House and Senate Republicans Will Continue to Fight for These Principles.

/Standard Newswire/ -- U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Republican Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Senate Republican Policy Committee Chairman John Thune (R-SD), National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (R-TX), and Senate Republican Conference Vice Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY) released the following joint statement in support of "A Pledge to America (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=hl94yxbab&et=1103711795506&s=13633&e=001VtldEEJkOaIMeTiX7bDRhljzsMSDnnd6I9V6Q3FnovJrBsvh6ALgM6OpjdnZ4zWGJI_GOAQ1tXdAF-RAEM1KKS5pYe4zC6iLSlNS2l3QM3y5UoILWI0OVg==)."

"Americans are speaking out and we are listening. The proposals put forward today by House Republicans reflect what Americans are saying. They want to us to focus on jobs first, fight wasteful Washington spending, repeal and replace the health spending bill and shrink an exploding deficit. Americans want a smaller, less costly and more accountable government.

"We strongly support this effort, and together, House and Senate Republicans will continue to fight for these principles. While the White House will retain the veto pen, House and Senate Republicans will focus on making America more competitive, reducing the size and cost of government, keeping our nation strong and secure, and reining in the massive health care costs and mandates imposed by the Democrats' health spending bill."

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Passage of Medicaid FMAP Extension Will Preserve Quality Care, Key Frontline Jobs

/PRNewswire/ -- With the Senate approval today to extend emergency Medicaid relief (FMAP) until June 30, 2011, the American Health Care Association (AHCA) and the Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care praised the vote and urged the House of Representatives to follow suit, saying the additional $16.1 billion in federal funding will help the nation's most vulnerable seniors retain access to quality care, while protecting key frontline health jobs.

"We applaud the Senate for taking action to pass this vital Medicaid relief, and urge the House to follow in the same manner. Every day that passes without an extension of this funding, seniors' care is placed in jeopardy, facility staffing stability is compromised, and good, local health jobs are put at risk," said Bruce Yarwood, President and CEO of AHCA. "The time to act is now. Our governors have repeatedly expressed the desperate need for relief, and we ask Congress to act on this critical health care policy matter."

"Senate passage of this legislation brings us one step closer to providing the vital funding needed to protect every senior's access to the skilled nursing and rehabilitative care they require and deserve," said Alan G. Rosenbloom, President of the Alliance. "We thank those Senators who took this stand for seniors and urge the House to follow with swift passage as well."

Yarwood and Rosenbloom pointed out that adequate Medicaid funding is directly linked with skilled nursing care and local caregiver job stability throughout America. Without the extension of emergency Medicaid relief, pressure mounts on governors to further reduce Medicaid-financed care and services.

A strong bipartisan majority of governors are adamant about the need for immediate action, as the National Governors' Association (NGA) recently noted, "Funding for FMAP is a particularly effective tool because it immediately allows Governors to eliminate planned budget cuts required to meet balanced budget requirements and continue services for those with the greatest need."

"We urge state legislatures and governors to use this increased funding to ensure our nation's seniors receive the funding necessary to provide high quality care as well as job stability for frontline caregivers," concluded Yarwood and Rosenbloom.

This measure will now return to the House of Representatives, where it could be considered as early as September when Members return from the August work period.

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Rep. Chris Smith's New Bill is Necessary to Restore Abortion Funding Neutrality

/PRNewswire/ -- D.C. Family Research Council Action today praised U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) for introducing bipartisan legislation to codify federal abortion funding restrictions that have been greatly undermined this year. With passage of a health care law that will fund and subsidize abortion, and with efforts by pro-abortion senators to open up military bases to abortion, Rep. Smith is introducing legislation to enact a government-wide abortion funding ban.

Family Research Council Action Senior Vice President Tom McClusky praised the bill with the following comments:

"In the last year, we have seen President Obama and pro-abortion congressional leaders make repeated attempts to eviscerate the long-agreed line on federal funding of abortion. They began by enacting the abortion funding health care law and are now advancing an abortion agenda that includes turning our military hospitals into abortion facilities.

"The American people have responded swiftly and emphatically that their hard earned dollars should not be used to pay for other peoples abortions. We applaud Congressman Smith and numerous Members on both sides of the aisle for responding to the concerns of the American people by introducing a measure that applies an abortion funding ban across the federal government.

"The American people, regardless of their views of abortion's legality, should not be forced to pay for someone's abortion. The Smith bill would protect the American taxpayer and restore the traditional ban on government funding of elective abortion.

"Despite recent claims by the Department of Health and Human Services that it will not fund abortion, even the non-partisan Congressional Research Service agreed yesterday that there is no statutory prohibition on funding abortion in the high risk pools. Both pro-life and pro-abortion groups agree that the courts are likely to require federal abortion funding unless the law says differently which is why passage of Congressman Smith's abortion funding neutrality bill is so essential.

"We applaud all the Democrats and Republicans cosponsoring the Smith abortion funding ban, and urge all Americans to support this commonsense effort to restore government funding neutrality on abortion," concluded McClusky.

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Georgia's New Budget Depends on Extended Federal Help, Senate Set to Take up Legislation This Week

Georgia is among 30 states that have built their state budget assuming that enhanced Medicaid funding will be available through next June, when our budget year ends. Georgia's budget, as recently signed by the governor, includes nearly $750 million of these federal funds, also known as FMAP. "Georgia would realize only half of this amount if Congress allows the funding to expire on December 31, 2010, as scheduled," said Tim Sweeney, the Georgia Budget &Policy Institute's senior healthcare analyst.

"Thanks to the increased federal help granted as states' unemployment rose and Medicaid caseloads increased, Georgia has not made major cuts to Medicaid eligibility levels or to the reimbursement rates paid to healthcare providers serving Medicaid patients," said Sweeney. Rates already fail to cover providers' full costs.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives stripped the extended FMAP funds out of a bill to extend a variety of Recovery Act provisions. The Senate now has the opportunity to restore this temporary extension to stabilize the states a little longer as their economies slowly recover.

"If Congress does not extend enhanced FMAP then Georgia's new budget will be seriously out of balance when the new fiscal year starts July 1," said the Institute's executive director, Alan Essig. "But this would be just the beginning."

Georgia lawmakers are using enhanced FMAP to offset spending that would otherwise have come from state sources, as the Recovery Act intends. If, instead of finding additional state revenue, lawmakers cut the Medicaid program to save $375 million, the state would also forgo more than $650 million in federal funds that are in the state's Medicaid base budget (a total of $4.7 billion of federal funds are the base budget, not shown in the chart above).

This $1 billion loss would represent nearly a 15 percent loss to Georgia's Medicaid program. A deficit of this magnitude requires significant new revenues or devastating cuts to provider reimbursement rates, patient eligibility, covered services, or all of the above.

Although Georgia lawmakers have not indicated precise alternatives to finding revenues, budget proposals discussed in the recent legislative session indicate that across-the-board cuts to Medicaid provider reimbursement rates of at least 20 percent would be needed if lawmakers do not add new revenues.

"Cutting Medicaid reimbursement rates 20 percent likely would result in hospitals closing, many doctors and other healthcare providers denying service to Medicaid patients, and further trouble for local communities that depend on their healthcare sector for jobs," said Sweeney.

If Congress does extend FMAP temporarily, it serves the dual purpose of giving Georgia lawmakers time to put new state revenues in place as federal Medicaid funds expire next June. Extending FMAP is crucial to Georgia's ability to weather the Great Recession and avoid crippling cuts to the healthcare infrastructure of the state.

"We urge Governor Perdue to work closely with our congressional delegation to assure they extend enhanced FMAP funding, thereby protecting Georgia's healthcare sector and our citizens' health and security," said Essig. "If Congress eliminates these funds prematurely, it will hurt our healthcare sector and local economies that depend on it. Georgia is not out of the woods yet."

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HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Send Letter to State Attorneys General On New Outreach and Education Efforts to Combat Medicare Fraud

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and Attorney General of the United States Eric Holder today sent a letter to state attorneys general urging them to work with HHS and federal, state, and local law enforcement officials to mount a substantial outreach campaign to educate seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries about how to prevent scams and fraud beginning this summer. The outreach campaign is another step in the ongoing work of the Health Care Fraud Prevention Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), a cabinet-level initiative launch by HHS and DOJ in May 2009.

“We are heading into the week when our first tax-free $250 donut hole rebate checks will be mailed out to Medicare beneficiaries who have fallen into the coverage gap. Accordingly, we are especially concerned about fraud and increased activity by criminals seeking to defraud seniors – and we are seeking your help to stop it,” said Secretary Sebelius and Attorney General Holder in the letter. “Building on our record of aggressive action, we will use the new tools and resources provided by the Affordable Care Act to further crack down on fraud.”

In the letter, the Secretary and Attorney General outline education and outreach efforts where state attorneys general could make a big difference. These include efforts to cut the improper payment rate, which tracks fraud, waste and abuse in the Medicare Fee for Service program, in half by 2012; a series of regional fraud prevention summits around the country over the next few months; regular health care fraud task force meetings to facilitate the exchange of information with partners in the public and private sector, and to help coordinate anti-fraud effort; HHS’s plans to double the size of the Senior Medicare Patrol and to put more boots on the ground in the fight against Medicare fraud; and a new educational media campaign this summer to educate Medicare beneficiaries about how to protect themselves against fraud.

The full letter follows.


June 8, 2010

Dear Attorney General:

It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to speak with you and your staff a few weeks ago. We wanted to send you a letter summarizing our discussions and following up with some suggestions of ways we can work together to protect the American people from health care fraud.

In the two months since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law, we have made substantial progress on providing better choices for consumers, tackling health care costs, and holding insurance companies accountable. But while we have been hard at work, scam artists and criminals continue to profit from misinformation about the Affordable Care Act.

Since early April, we have heard increasing reports about seniors being asked to provide their Social Security numbers in order to receive a “donut hole” check under the new law, raising concerns about potential identity theft scams. We have fielded consumer complaints about phony insurance policies, and our Senior Medicare Patrols have been receiving a growing number of calls from people across the country reporting potential fraud schemes.

We are heading into the week when our first tax-free $250 donut hole rebate checks will be mailed out to Medicare beneficiaries who have fallen into the coverage gap. Accordingly, we are especially concerned about fraud and increased activity by criminals seeking to defraud seniors – and we are seeking your help to stop it.

The President has asked us to reach out to you and to other federal, state, and local law enforcement officials across the country to mount a substantial outreach campaign to educate seniors and other Medicare beneficiaries about how to prevent scams and fraud. Some important components of these outreach and education efforts, where you and your staff could make a big difference, are described below.

First, the President has directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to cut the improper payment rate, which tracks fraud, waste and abuse in the Medicare Fee for Service program, in half by 2012.

Second, following on the National Health Care Fraud Summit we co-hosted in Washington earlier this year, the President has asked both our Departments to convene a series of regional fraud prevention summits around the country over the next few months. The first summit will take place in Miami on July 16. Other summits will follow in, for example, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Detroit, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia.

These summits will bring together top federal and state officials; representatives of federal, state, and local law enforcement; representatives of our agencies; the health care provider community, such as hospitals and doctors; local businesses; the Senior Medicare Patrol; caregivers; and seniors, for a day of panels and training sessions. Your expertise and experience will be instrumental to the success of these events.

Third, at the Attorney General’s request, the Acting Deputy Attorney General has sent a memo to every United States Attorney in the country asking them to convene regular health care fraud task force meetings to facilitate the exchange of information with partners in the public and private sector, and to help coordinate anti-fraud efforts. Most of these meetings will be held quarterly, with some exceptions for smaller districts. All 93 U.S. Attorneys have been asked to put a plan into place and schedule their first meeting by August 16, 2010. We hope that you and your office will take part in these regular exchanges on effective fraud fighting strategies.

Fourth, HHS will be doubling the size of the Senior Medicare Patrol and putting more boots on the ground in the fight against Medicare fraud. Since 1997, HHS and its Administration on Aging have funded Senior Medicare Patrol projects to recruit and train retired professionals and other senior citizens about how to recognize and report instances or patterns of health care fraud. Close to three million Medicare beneficiaries have been educated since the start of the program, and more than one million one-on-one counseling sessions have taken place with seniors or their caregivers. Currently, the Senior Medicare Patrol program funds projects in every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Fifth, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, in conjunction with the Administration on Aging, will be launching an educational media campaign this summer to educate Medicare beneficiaries about the importance of staying vigilant with their personal Medicare information and getting the facts out about the new law so that scam artists are not able to prey on seniors.

The more we can educate the American people about fraud prevention, the better chance we have to protect taxpayer dollars and the Medicare trust fund. The Affordable Care Act also contains some important new tools and resources that will directly help law enforcement officials crack down on fraud.

As you are well aware, fraud schemes have plagued public and private health care plans for decades. Fraudsters have been stealing billions of dollars a year from Medicare, Medicaid, and private health insurers. A year ago, our Departments joined forces to combat fraud in federal health programs. Through the establishment of the Health Care Fraud Prevention Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), we have expanded special anti-fraud Medicare Fraud Strike Forces into seven cities, developed sophisticated new techniques of fraud prevention data analysis, and redirected program integrity resources to fraud hot spots.

Building on our record of aggressive action, we will use the new tools and resources provided by the Affordable Care Act to further crack down on fraud. These include new criminal and civil penalties, enhanced information technology to track and prevent fraud in the first place, and new authorities to prevent bad actors from billing Medicare and Medicaid. HHS has already issued the first set of fraud prevention regulations required under the new health law. These regulations strengthen provider enrollment requirements to ensure we have the ability to better identify, screen, and audit providers and claims.

As we do our part in Washington, we want to work closely with you and other state officials to fight fraud. In that vein, the Affordable Care Act also strengthens state officials’ ability to detect and root out Medicaid fraud. For example, the law provides new access to Medicaid data for the Secretary of HHS that will help both states and the Administration to coordinate anti-fraud activities and gives states greater incentives and flexibility in identifying and collecting Medicaid overpayments. It also helps to promote enhanced information technology to track and prevent fraud, including predictive modeling techniques that can identify abusive or fraudulent billing patterns, audits, and a shared provider database for pre-enrollment screening and post-enrollment anomaly monitoring.

Securing health care coverage, affordability, and choices for Americans requires hard work and vigilance. We stand ready to serve as a resource and partner for you as we work together to fight fraud, implement the provisions of the new health reform law, and strengthen our health care system.

Sincerely,

Eric Holder
Attorney General

Kathleen Sebelius

Secretary of Health and Human Services

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Pelosi: 'We Passed Health Reform to Improve Medicare and Ensure Seniors Can Count on It Now and for Generations'

/PRNewswire/ -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Barbara Kennelly of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, and Dr. Ben Williamowsky of Silver Spring, Md., a Medicare recipient, held a news conference today to discuss benefits of and misconceptions about the Affordable Care Act and Medicare.

The participants highlighted a four-page brochure, "Medicare and the New Health Care Law, What it Means for You," which was mailed by HHS this week to seniors. It outlines the benefits for Medicare recipients in the new health insurance reform law.

Below are Speaker Pelosi's opening remarks and selected quotes from each of the other participants:

Speaker Pelosi Opening Remarks:
"Good afternoon. I know you are out there. [Laughter.] Good afternoon.


"And a good afternoon it is when we have the Secretary of Health and Human Services with us at the Capitol--Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, a champion in promoting health care for all Americans as a right, not a privilege. I am here with Majority Leader Steny Hoyer. A special guest for all of us, Dr. Ben Williamowsky, a retired dentist and local senior. Steny will introduce him, but I want to say that my father gave him his diploma from dental school in 1948. Where is he? There. We go way back. [Laughter.]

"Four decades ago, Congress created Medicare, a bedrock promise to our seniors. This year, we passed health care reform to improve Medicare, to protect seniors and people with disabilities, and to ensure that seniors can count on Medicare now and for generations to come.

"We are here to draw attention to a critical piece of mail our seniors will get this week. This four-page brochure outlines the new benefits in health reform for Medicare recipients. There it is.

"Perhaps most significantly it begins with what stays the same for Medicare. No change in guaranteed benefits and no change in eligibility. During open enrollment this fall, seniors will continue to have a choice between original Medicare and Medicare Advantage. Medicare will continue to cover health cost the way it always has for seniors. Barbara Kennelly is here, our former colleague, to attest to that.

"Members of Congress will head home to their districts this weekend for Memorial Day. One of our top jobs is to clear up confusion and correct misinformation around health reform. This brochure for seniors is a good place to start.

"We also have to make clear that Congressional Republicans calling for repeal also oppose those benefits and would return us to a system of higher drug cost, shrinking benefits, and insecurity for our seniors. In fact, they have a budget--that's the nature of their budget--that ends Medicare as we know it and turns Social Security over to the whims of Wall Street.

"Republicans in Congress chose the side of the insurance industry and its profits, over the care of what seniors need and deserve. Democrats have been on the side of America's seniors -- securing Medicare for the long-term, ensuring accountability for the insurance industry -- accountability for the insurance industry -- and giving seniors, families, and doctors greater control over their care.

"It is now my honor, as I mentioned earlier, to introduce a great woman who is with us today. And I mention that my father gave Dr. Williamowsky his diploma in 1948. I want to mention that Barbara Kennelly, former Congresswoman, now the head of the Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, and Kathleen Sebelius and I are all graduates of Trinity College in Washington, D.C. -- a women's college in Washington, D.C. And we all had fathers in politics -- the governor of Ohio, the mayor of Baltimore, and Mr. Bailey, the king of the Democratic Party in Connecticut and nationally, as a matter of fact. We had fathers who encouraged their daughters. I hope that there is a message here.

"Again, now, it's my honor to yield the floor to the distinguished Secretary of Health and Human Services. As governor -- as insurance commissioner in her home state of Kansas, as governor of the state -- she knows the ramifications and the implications of legislative language very well. As a person with a vision for health care for all Americans, she is an inspiration to all of us and a major reason why we were able to pass that important legislation. Welcome, Secretary Sebelius."

***

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius:

"There has been a lot of misinformation promoted about what the Affordable Care Act will and won't do, particularly as it regards seniors and their benefits. Unfortunately, some of that has distracted from: What are the real benefits available in the new law to seniors?"

"The Affordable Care Act will finally close the prescription drug donut hole, an issue that has been a hot topic for seniors and disabled Americans. It starts this year with seniors receiving $250 checks and will gradually, over the course of the program, close the donut hole for the 8 million seniors who end up in that category right now where they are paying 100 percent out of pocket for critical prescription drugs..."

"We want to inform America's seniors what the act actually contains, what benefits they have coming their way, how to take advantage of those benefits, and what sort of priorities they will be. And this is the beginning of what will continue to be an aggressive outreach campaign."

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer:

"Older Americans faced an enormous amount of misinformation over the course of the health care debate. It was conscious, it was intended to misinform, and it was intended for political reasons, not for policy reasons."

"But now that the health insurance reform is law, the world hasn't ended, older Americans are learning about all the benefits and policies that are working to strengthen Medicare and their peace of mind."

Dr. Ben Williamowsky:

"I am here because I support the Affordable Care Act, and I believe it is important for seniors like myself to understand how the legislation will improve Medicare in the future."

"There are a lot of reasons why I believe the Affordable Care Act will be good for Medicare. And I also believe it will be good for my family, and that's a thought I would like to leave you today. People ask me, people my friends who are one of the anti-groups, who will say: 'What is it going to do for you? Why are you so much in favor of this bill?' I said: 'Well, I will tell you two very important things it is going to do for me. Number one, it is going to allow me to live out my life.

...And the other reason I give them is this, we have a granddaughter--Minna and I, Minna is in the audience--who at the age of three had a malignant brain tumor. She was operated on. She has gone through treatments all of her life. She is now 25 and functioning fairly well, but still under the care and treatment from time to time. She is 25 years old. She has been taken care of on her parents' health insurance. Now without this bill, what was going to happen when she was 26? When they could not find a job for her that has health benefits to pay that? When she could not have it any longer under her parents' insurance? She would be cut off without insurance at the age of 26 and be faced with a terrible, terrible dilemma and challenges to her going on in her life. Now I can say that she can, with this bill, that she can get health insurance and it will not be dependent on any pre-existing conditions"

Barbara Kennelly:

"So now as President of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, I watched this bill develop -- I read about this bill, I studied this bill. Our members -- we have 4 million members and supporters. And I went around the country telling my members and mailing to my members that this is a good idea."

"Doing nothing was not an option. Because you know why? Because we could not afford Medicare. The government couldn't afford it and the people on Medicare couldn't afford it."

"Once I tell my members what's in this bill. Once I explain to them about this bill -- they are for it. And therefore I urge all former friends of mine in the Congress: Get out there and sell this bill. Because if we don't have this bill, Medicare will be broke down the line."

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Obama, Congress: Fix 10 Health Care Loopholes and Repel Insurer Attempts to Undermine New Consumer Protections, Says Consumer Watchdog

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Consumer Watchdog called on President Obama and Congress in a letter sent today to fix ten problem areas in the new federal health reform law that, if not addressed, will be exploited by health insurers and drug companies looking to charge more for less health care.

Download the letter here: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/HealthReformLoopholes.pdf

In the letter sent today, Consumer Watchdog wrote:

"The enactment of broad health reform into law is, as you know, only the start of providing health coverage to all Americans at a fair price. Not only must the White House and Congress close loopholes in the newly enacted law, but the White House must also strongly repel efforts already under way by insurers and other corporate interests to undermine Department of Health and Human Services regulations while they are being written. . . .

"Key questions left unanswered in the legislation--including the scope of health benefits that insurers must provide under the new law--will be addressed over the next months and years by federal regulators. Congress must stand ready to continuously clarify and strengthen the law against efforts to nullify its broad and progressive intent. . . .

"Consumers will brook no excuses for failure by the White House or Congress to strongly defend newly won consumer protections, fill dangerous loopholes in the new law, and ward off an onslaught of well-funded lobbyists."

The ten loopholes and problem areas are (see letter at link above for more details):

* Lack of Insurer Rate Regulation. The federal law fails to adequately limit what insurers can charge American families and business owners for coverage, even though tens of millions of Americans are required to purchase private health insurance policies. Without the strongest possible review and prior approval of health insurance rates insurers will be able to raise rates nearly without limit and use rate-setting as a vehicle for continuing to cherry-pick the healthiest customers.

* Weakening of benefits. Pre-emption of stronger state benefit requirements by so-called Nationwide and Multi-state plans will threaten the survivability of the state Exchanges and eliminate key health and consumer protections in many states. This is a "race to the bottom" provision that may allow insurers to sell highly profitable bare-bones policies under the guise of cutting costs. Consumers who fall seriously ill would suffer the consequences.

* States Rights to Innovate. Under the current law, states must wait until 2017 for waivers from the federal government to use federal Medicaid, Medicare, tax subsidies and other funds to support state alternatives to the private insurance market, whether that be by adopting a state single-payer model or a state "public option." If the federal government will require all Americans to purchase private insurance by 2014 or face tax fines, then by 2014 the federal government must also give states the right to use their share of federal funds to support alternate, state-based health reform.

* Medicare Advantage pushback. Private, for-profit Medicare Advantage systems will spend hundreds of millions of dollars on glossy marketing to attract a higher percentage of healthier seniors into such plans. The result could be a lobbying coup that prevents cuts in Medicare Advantage overpayments, cripples efforts to stabilize Medicare costs and may even push traditional Medicare into an economic death spiral.

* Pharmaceutical price spiral. Pharmaceutical companies' large and unwarranted recent price increases on heavily used drugs have already eliminated any cost savings from an industry promise to "reduce" Medicare drug prices by $8 billion a year. Further Congressional action is needed to allow direct bargaining for drugs by Medicare, which is the only way to steadily curb drug prices.

* Continued rescission. The federal law allows insurers to define the terms of future coverage rescissions when customers fall seriously ill in the fine print of their policies. The law limits rescission of health policies to instances of fraud or "intentional misrepresentation," however no new regulatory oversight of rescission is provided to ensure that omissions or errors are indeed fraudulent or intentional, rather than innocent mistakes.

* No legal accountability for insurers that deny care. Patients who have health coverage paid for in part or full by employers cannot hold insurers legally accountable for denying medically necessary treatments.

* Definition of medical expenses. Consumer Watchdog has called on the Obama Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") to probe insurance giant WellPoint Inc. in light of a message to its investors describing how WellPoint would simply re-label administrative costs as "medical care" in response to the new health reform law. HHS must narrowly define what constitutes medical care to block gaming of the new medical loss ratio requirement by health insurers.

* Inadequate Federal Fallback. Consumer Watchdog advocates for frontline state enforcement with strong federal fallback if states fail to act. States are the local cops on the beat and can respond faster to local threats and with greater knowledge of the local market. But there should be pathways for federal regulators to become fully aware of the failure of state fraud enforcement through public intervenor groups and reporting requirements that tip federal regulators to local inaction.

* Sick kids. The ink was hardly dry on the health reform law when the insurance industry started saying that no matter what Congress thought it passed and no matter what President Obama said, they did not have provide coverage to sick children right away. The main private insurer lobbying group, Americans Health Insurance Plans, has since said it will not fight the new coverage of previously excluded children and conditions, but the provision must also be clearly stated in regulations implementing the law.

Consumer Watchdog is a nonpartisan consumer advocacy organization with offices in Washington, D.C. and Santa Monica, CA. Find us on the web at: http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/

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Libertarian Party opposes health care plan

The Libertarian Party adamantly opposes the health care bill passed on Christmas Eve by the US Senate that is currently being considered in the US House of Representatives. The Libertarian Party calls on the US House to vote down this disastrous plan, and instead to pass laws reducing federal involvement in health care.

Libertarian Party Chairman William Redpath commented, "We oppose this horrible federal government expansion into health care, just as we have consistently opposed all the increased government intrusion into health care proposed by Republicans and Democrats over the years. For example, we vocally opposed the huge Medicare expansion pushed through Congress by Republicans in 2003."

Redpath continued, "It is a virtual certainty that the cost estimates of this legislation are drastically understated. When Medicare Part A started in 1965, the projected cost for 1990 was $9 billion. It turned out to be $67 billion. Should this bill become law, when the debt of the United States government is downgraded by ratings agencies shortly thereafter, it will not be a coincidence. That will increase interest rates, and the entire economy will suffer."

The Libertarian Party Platform says the following about health care: "We favor restoring and reviving a free market health care system. We recognize the freedom of individuals to determine the level of health insurance they want, the level of health care they want, the care providers they want, the medicines and treatments they will use and all other aspects of their medical care, including end-of-life decisions."

The words "health care" and "medicine" are not found anywhere in the Constitution. Accordingly, the Libertarian Party asserts that Congress has no authority to regulate or appropriate money for health care. (The Libertarian Party has consistently argued for decades that the "general welfare" and "interstate commerce" clauses are not generic authorizations for spending and regulation.)

Redpath concluded, "This is a top-down, Washington-mandated control of health insurance and health care in this nation. It is the antithesis of consumer-driven health care, which is what will ultimately be necessary to control health care costs and to provide the best health care for the greatest number of people."

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President Obama Highlights Bipartisan Policy Center Health Care Reform Plan in Remarks to House Republicans

/PRNewswire/ -- In today's remarks at the House Republican Issues Conference, President Obama praised the Bipartisan Policy Center's (BPC) plan for reforming health care, entitled: "Crossing Our Lines: Working Together to Reform the U.S. Health System," as a bipartisan health care proposal that is worthy of consideration by both Republicans and Democrats. According to President Obama, the plan, which was developed by former U.S. Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle and Bob Dole, members of the BPC's Advisory Board and Leaders' Project on the State of American Health Care, is "pretty similar" to the legislation currently being considered by Congress. The President urged bipartisan cooperation in reforming the U.S. health care system and said, "We've got to close the gap a little bit between the rhetoric and the reality."

Quotes from President Obama's remarks:

"The component parts of this thing are pretty similar to what Howard Baker, Bob Dole and Tom Daschle proposed at the beginning of this debate last year.

"Now, you may not agree with Bob Dole and Howard Baker and Tom -- and certainly you don't agree with Tom Daschle on much ... but that's not a radical bunch. But if you were to listen to the debate, and, frankly, how some of you went after this bill, you'd think that this thing was some Bolshevik plot."

"And so I'm thinking to myself, 'Well, how is it that a plan that is pretty centrist...'

"No, look, I mean, I'm just saying -- I know you guys disagree, but if you look at the facts of this bill, most independent observers would say this is actually what many Republicans -- is similar to what many Republicans proposed to Bill Clinton when he was doing his debate on health care. So all I'm saying is we've got to close the gap a little bit between the rhetoric and the reality."

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Pelosi and Hoyer Announce 72-Hour Online Posting of Health Insurance Reform Legislation

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer issued the following statement today on health insurance reform legislation:

"The House Democratic Leadership is committed to having the final health insurance reform legislation online for 72 hours before the House votes, for all Members and the American people to review. We will continue the transparent process this landmark legislation has had for months."

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Libertarian Party wants open health care negotiations

The Libertarian Party (LP) calls on President Obama to not break yet another campaign promise by directing Congress to have an open, televised format for all future negotiations on the health care overhaul bills under consideration in Congress.

In 2008, then-Senator Obama promised at least eight times on the campaign trail to have open, transparent negotiations regarding a health care overhaul bill. That promise has been broken. Most substantive negotiations have occurred behind closed doors, not "on C-SPAN" as the President repeatedly promised.

The LP urges President Obama and Congressional leaders to hold all future negotiations in an open, televised format, as the President promised.

William Redpath, LP National Chairman, commented, "The President has no power to force Congress to hold televised negotiations, but he is clearly the driving force behind the health care legislation being considered by the Congress. Unfortunately, the President doesn't want to keep his promise. And, we all know why. Public approval of health care overhaul is down to about 40% and is sure to plummet further once a little sunshine is inserted into the legislative process."

Redpath continued, "Open negotiations would let Americans see how esthetically pleasing sausage making is when compared to Congress' negotiation process and the details of the health care legislation. The public would gain a much better understanding of how horrible this legislation is. President Obama and Democratic Party leaders probably think open negotiations would create a public groundswell that would effectively kill their ill-considered remake of one-sixth of the American economy that would likely bring the day of our next financial crisis that much closer."

Redpath concluded, "Government has an enormous cost estimate credibility problem. When Medicare Part A started in 1965, the projected cost in 1990 was $9 billion. It turned out to be $67 billion. When Medicaid's special hospitals subsidy was added in 1987, it was only supposed to cost $100 million per year, but, by 1992, it cost 110 times that amount. If the government is wrong by a factor of 7.5 or more this time, the result will truly be catastrophic for the US economy."

The LP opposes both the House and Senate versions of the current health care overhaul bill.

On the subject of health care, the LP Platform states:

We favor restoring and reviving a free market health care system. We recognize the freedom of individuals to determine the level of health insurance they want, the level of health care they want, the care providers they want, the medicines and treatments they will use and all other aspects of their medical care, including end-of-life decisions.

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New Concord Coalition Paper Discusses 'End Game' Fiscal Considerations for Health Care Reform

/PRNewswire/ -- With the House having passed its version of health care reform (H.R. 3962) and the Senate on the verge of passing its version (H.R. 3590), the outline of a final bill is beginning to take shape. In its new Issue Brief, The Concord Coalition looks ahead at the fiscal considerations that will likely be the subject of conference committee discussions and "end game" negotiations. These include the cost of expanding coverage, the methods used to prevent that cost from adding to the deficit, and the prospects for systemic reforms to reduce cost growth over time.

This issue brief gives The Concord Coalition's perspective on how the bills measure up, what the risks are and how these risks could be lessened. We conclude that:

-- Both bills establish an important benchmark by achieving deficit
reduction according to official cost estimates by the Congressional
Budget Office (CBO). However, the fiscal outlook remains on an
unsustainable track even with the modest deficit reduction achieved
under either plan.
-- There are clear risks that some of the methods used to achieve deficit
reduction in the official scores may not hold up over the long-term.
-- The revenue package in the Senate bill holds more promise to reduce
the deficit than the House version because its largest component --
the high-cost insurance excise tax -- will better keep up with the
growth rate of health care spending, and will also work to lower
health care costs.
-- Both bills contain many promising reform strategies to achieve
long-term cost control. However, these strategies remain unproven and
cannot be counted on to produce timely, reliable savings without a
strong cost control mechanism such as the Senate's proposed
Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB).

The "Fiscal Risks" mentioned in the discussion include:

-- Doing Nothing
-- Spending offsets that are not maintained over time
-- "Curve benders" that don't pan out or are not adopted more broadly
-- Failure to include an effective cost control mechanism
-- Lagging revenue increases
-- General revenue bailout of the CLASS provision
-- Inadequate premium subsidies, weak penalties, and a poorly designed
exchange


In the conclusion, Concord discuss the possible changes that could be added to the legislation to lessen these risks and further promote fiscal responsibility.

To read the full issue brief, go to: http://www.concordcoalition.org/issue-briefs/2009/1223/health-care-reform-end- game-fiscal-considerations

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The 'Big 3' Fixes for the Weakened Senate Health Reform Bill to Block Full Insurance Co. Take-Over of Health System

/PRNewswire/ -- Consumer Watchdog condemned the removal of the Medicare buy-in provision for those over 55 and the public option from the U.S. Senate health reform bill. But the group said that the Senate must still make three essential fixes to the greatly weakened bill to prevent ceding the entire health care system to the insurance industry.

Without the changes, said the consumer advocacy group, the legislation will fail even to provide basic consumer protections of cost containment, access to necessary care, and protection against bankruptcy when patients get sick and need coverage the most.

Consumer Watchdog said that it is essential that the bill be fixed now because there is a growing belief that a conference committee will be bypassed altogether, and instead the House of Representatives will be pushed to approve the Senate bill with no amendments. The three key fixes, detailed below, are:

1. Remove Provisions that Would Pre-empt More Protective State Laws
2. Bar Insurers From Placing Annual Limits on Medical Payments
3. Make Health Insurance Rate Regulation Real


"If health care reform is really about consumers and patients, then Senators must make these fixes before they pass the bill," said Jerry Flanagan, health policy director of Consumer Watchdog. "Current provisions of the Senate bill requiring Americans to buy insurance policies, while gutting state laws and ineffectively capping what insurers can charge for bare bones coverage, add up to a dream bill for insurance companies."

"Eliminating the public option, pre-empting state health benefit laws and avoiding tough rate oversight is an insurance company hat trick - the top three legislative goals of the insurance industry of the last twenty years," said Flanagan. "If health reform is going to be worth anything to consumers, Senators must fight back on these three points. Without them, health reform is little more than a scheme for health insurers to increase profits at the expense of patients and taxpayers."

The three changes that the U.S. Senate must make to HR 3590 are:

1. Remove Provisions that Would Pre-empt More Protective State Laws


For 60 years, states have been responsible for the oversight of health insurance. States have traditionally been the laboratories of innovation in health care and insurance reform. States also have a greater ability to respond quickly to local needs.

However, provisions in the current bill could replace hard-fought "Patients Bill of Rights" laws with new, weaker federal protections.

For example, section 1333 on page 219 of the Senate bill allow health insurers to avoid strong state patient protection laws under so-called "nationwide plans" and multistate "compacts." Under these provisions, health insurers that sell policies in more than one state would only be regulated by the state where the policy was "written or issued." Therefore, if an insurer "issues" all of its policies from Wyoming, then the laws of Wyoming would control policies sold to consumers in states with more protective laws like California, New York, Texas or Virginia.

Insurers would certainly elect to issue their policies from the states with the weakest laws. As a result, new federal minimum coverage requirements would become the norm. Coverage of AIDS/HIV testing, reconstructive surgery, home health care services, and child delivery and mastectomy minimum hospital stays, for instance, would likely be lost.

The Senate health reform bill should be modeled on existing federal health care laws, which provide for a federal-state partnership rather than federal pre-emption of more protective state standards. Minimum federal standards should set a floor, not a ceiling, on state health care protections. Read Consumer Watchdog's analyses of the pre-emption provisions and the group's letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid at:


http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/patients/articles/?storyId=31197

Read the Los Angeles Times coverage of the pre-emption provisions:
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/patients/articles/?storyId=31200

2. Bar Insurers From Placing Annual Limits on Medical Payments


A cornerstone of national health reform is to ensure that patients get the care their doctor prescribes when they are sick and need treatment the most. An essential element to reach that objective is to bar insurance companies from placing annual limits on how much health care a patient can receive.

Current caps mean that patients with serious illnesses, including many cancers, can be left without coverage in the midst of treatment. As a result, patients face bankruptcy even though they have insurance. In fact, a Harvard Medical School study released this year found that 62% of U.S. bankruptcies were caused by big medical bills, while 78% of those declaring bankruptcy had insurance.

A loophole in the Senate bill would allow health insurers to impose unspecified "reasonable" annual limits on the annual dollar value of benefits that patient can receive this year. This is a major departure from previous version of the Senate bill, and the House legislation, which bar any annual caps.

The Senate bill cites section 223 of the Internal Revenue Code, which regulates Health Savings Accounts. That section does not define "reasonable" annual limits. As a result, health insurers will be left to define "reasonable" as they see fit. However, for an insurance company, a "reasonable" limit on annual health care costs is one that increases shareholder profits by cutting off access to necessary care.

3. Make Health Insurance Rate Regulation Real

Requiring insurance companies to justify rate increases and seek "prior approval" for those increases are essential components to controlling skyrocketing health insurance premiums, deductibles, and other out-of-pocket costs.

Page 37, section 2794 of HR 3590 provides some additional transparency on insurance premiums and takes some first steps toward limits on insurance company gouging, but does not provide real protections for Americans by, for instance, requiring insurers to seek approval before imposing premium and rate increases.

Consumer Watchdog, which pioneered the most successful insurance premium regulation law in the nation, Proposition 103, calls on the Senate to adopt amendments reflecting key provisions of California's landmark insurance reform law, including:

-- Mandatory justification of any rate increase (including premiums,
deductibles, co-pays), not merely justifications of "unreasonable"
premium increases.
-- Mandatory prior approval, which means requiring insurers to seek
permission from government regulators, in addition to justifying rate
increases, before imposing rate increases. Since 1988, California's
Proposition 103 has saved drivers $62 billion while fostering a
competitive and profitable insurance market.
-- An intervenor system that provides consumers a forum to challenge
unnecessary or excessive rate increases. Since 2003, Consumer Watchdog
has saved the state's consumers $1.7 billion by challenging
unnecessary premium increases using the public intervention process.

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Obama Rates Favorably with Americans in Bloomberg National Poll

/PRNewswire/ -- President Barack Obama receives high marks for his foreign policy while most Americans disagree with his handling of health care and the budget deficit, according to the Bloomberg National Poll, a quarterly survey of Americans.

While most Americans polled generally support Obama with a job-approval rating of 54 percent, he receives negative marks on many domestic issues. More than 50 percent of respondents say they disapprove of his plan to overhaul the health care system and even more, 57 percent, criticize his management of the federal budget deficit. In contrast, he receives strong support for his approach to foreign policy, 62 percent of Americans approve of his decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and 59 percent approve of the way he is managing relations with other countries.

The economy is still the country's top concern with 8 out of 10 Americans rating joblessness as a high risk to the economic performance in the next two years, outranking the federal budget deficit, which was cited by 7 out of 10.

Despite concerns with Obama's handling of the economy, health care and the deficit, Americans appear to still be allowing him a honeymoon period to address these issues, with 60 percent saying the nation's economic problems are mostly the result of decisions he inherited, according to the Bloomberg National Poll, which interviewed a random sample of 1,000 U.S. adults ages 18 or older, for a snapshot of Americans' thoughts on Obama's administration and the economy.

The Bloomberg National Poll was conducted by Selzer & Company, whose survey of Iowa Caucus voters in 2008 was the only one to accurately predict Barack Obama's victory. The firm has conducted surveys for more than two dozen major newspapers in the U.S., and was named the best of 32 polling firms ranked by polling Web site FiveThirtyEight.com. Poll results are available at www.bloomberg.com.

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Senate Mandatory Health-Insurance Bill Infringes on Choice and Privacy

/PRNewswire/ -- The Senate's newly released health-reform bill ("Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act") infringes on Americans' health-insurance choices and medical privacy, says Sue Blevins, president of the Institute for Health Freedom (IHF) -- a patients' rights group in Washington, D.C.

The bill would (among many other provisions):

-- Require nearly every legal resident to buy government-sanctioned
health insurance;
-- Increase Medicare payroll taxes on individuals earning over $200,000
per year and couples earning over $250,000 per year (raising $54
billion in taxes over 10 years);
-- Slap a new tax on "Cadillac" health plans (high-cost plans offered by
employers to their employees) -- raising $149 billion in taxes over 10
years (2010-2019); and
-- Finish laying the building blocks for a computerized "Nationwide
Health Information Network" (NHIN) without patients' consent.


Section 937 of the bill, titled "Dissemination and Building Capacity for Research," includes the following provision:

''(f) BUILDING DATA FOR RESEARCH.--The Secretary [of Health and Human Services] shall provide for the coordination of relevant Federal health programs to build data capacity for comparative clinical effectiveness research, including the development and use of clinical registries and health outcomes research data networks, in order to develop and maintain a comprehensive, interoperable data network to collect, link, and analyze data on outcomes and effectiveness from multiple sources, including electronic health records." [Emphasis added.] (See pages 1683-684 of the bill.)

Dissemination of the collected data will be governed by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) privacy rule, which actually permits patients' personal health information to be shared among more than 600,000 organizations without patients' consent. "Combining a mandatory national electronic medical-records data network with the so-called HIPAA privacy rule means patients will lose control over the flow of their personal health information," says Robin Kaigh, an attorney and medical-privacy advocate. "The only way to ensure that patients control their personal health data is to make sure patient consent is obtained before data can be shared."

IHF points out that Dr. Bernadine Healy, former head of the National Institutes of Health, recently stressed in U.S. News & World Report:

"...[T]he doctor-patient relationship was never meant to be other than confidential and privileged and solely for the benefit of the patient. Patients expect it, or they would not be forthcoming. And doctors take the Hippocratic oath, pledging to hold sacred their patients' secrets. This pledge of confidentiality, however, is now challenged by a world where computers rule and health information falls into many hands. One might well ask whether medical privacy is just too outmoded a concept for today's information-hungry world. We had better decide...."

Do you really wish to have your personal health information become part of a Nationwide Health Information Network without your consent?

IHF is encouraging citizens to call their Senators as soon as possible and tell them to "vote no on a motion to proceed" on Senator Reid's mandatory health-insurance bill, because it infringes on patients' choice and privacy.

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New Reid Bill Funds Abortion: Excludes Bipartisan Stupak-Pitts Amendment

/PRNewswire/ -- Last night, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and the Senate Democrats introduced a new Senate version of health care reform that includes government funding for elective abortion. The "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" authorizes the Secretary to include elective abortion in the public option and subsidize health plans in the government run exchange that cover elective abortion.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins made the following comments:

"Senator Reid's new health bill does not include the Stupak-Pitts amendment that was designed to prevent federal funding for abortion-on-demand. Instead, he chose to include a version of Rep. Lois Capp's abortion funding language which has already been rejected by the House in favor of the Stupak-Pitts language.

"The Reid bill authorizes the Secretary of HHS to fund abortion in the public option, now called the 'community health insurance option.' The bill provides tax credits for private plans that cover abortion-on-demand, mandates plans across the country to cover abortion-on-demand and strips important conscience protections for providers who refuse to perform elective abortion.

"The Stupak-Pitts amendment adopted with 240 votes in the House would prevent federal funding for abortion or subsidies for plans that cover abortion. It also makes clear that individuals or groups are not prevented from providing coverage that includes abortion as long as federal funds are not used.

"Clearly the straightforward language of the Stupak-Pitts amendment is not what Senator Reid and his pro-abortion colleagues want. Rather they want government funding of abortion-on-demand.

"Pro-life senators, including Senators Ben Nelson and Bob Casey, must denounce the Reid abortion funding provisions and make every effort to include the Stupak-Pitts amendment in the Senate bill in order to prevent the establishment of a government funded abortion program for the first time in over three decades."

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Democratic Senators Discuss Reforms for Small Business Health Care

/PRNewswire/ -- Five Democratic Senators today gave back-to-back speeches on the Senate floor discussing the need to focus on small businesses when considering health care reform. Without the right reforms, small businesses will pay nearly $2.4 trillion over the next ten years in health care costs for their workers, according to a report by the Small Business Majority. The Senators made the following comments:

"Without the worry of high health costs, small businesses will be able to get back to what they do best: creating jobs, encouraging entrepreneurship, growing our economy and keeping our nation competitive in the global arena," U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chair Mary Landrieu of Louisiana said. "Today, it is more important than ever for us in Congress to work together to bring about these needed health care reforms and help small businesses."

"If we do nothing, small businesses are going to see this escalator of costs go up for health insurance. Small businesses should be able to negotiate with insurance companies to drive down the costs of their health plans," Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington said. "That's why we need to give small business the same kind of negotiating power that large companies have to negotiate for benefits."

"Small businesses are essential to our economy, and we must control health care costs and relieve the financial burden facing so many small businesses in New Hampshire and across the nation," said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. "I urge my colleagues to work together to pass comprehensive health reform legislation because employers should not have to choose between keeping their doors open and offering health care to their employees."

"If we do not pass health insurance reform, small business owners will continue to see the cost of providing healthcare coverage to their employees eat away at their bottom line. In my home state of Colorado, premium costs for small businesses are projected to more than double over the next decade," Sen. Udall of Colorado said. "These unsustainable cost increases not only harm current businesses, but they also prevent the growth of new ones. Enacting meaningful health reform is necessary for ensuring productive small businesses, new American jobs, and a strong economy."

"Today, small businesses are the only group who still pay retail for their health care coverage," said Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia. "With fewer employees, they lack the bargaining power of large firms and pay as much as 18 percent more for the same health insurance as larger companies. But if we do health care reform right, it will give small businesses and their employees more affordable options."

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Democratic Senators, Congresswoman, Small Business Owners Discuss Impact of Health Insurance Reform on Small Businesses

/PRNewswire/ -- Democratic Senators Tom Harkin and Mary Landrieu and Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson joined Mike Draper, a small business owner from Des Moines, Iowa; Gwendolyn Barnes, a small business owner from Shreveport, Louisiana; Dr. Ken Brantley, a small business owner from Richmond, Virginia; and other small business owners from across the country at a press conference this morning to discuss how health insurance reform will benefit small businesses. Recent studies indicate that small businesses are likely to see their premiums rise 15% in the coming year, double the rate of last year's increase. Small businesses employ roughly 40% of the private labor force in America, making it crucial that we work to ensure affordability of health coverage for this central part of the American workforce.

"The status quo in health insurance spending for America's small businesses is intolerable and it is unsustainable," said Harkin. "Today, we have a simple message for small business owners across America: help is on the way and it comes in the form of a health reform plan that puts a stop to the discriminatory insurance industry practice of jacking up premiums for small businesses by up to 200 percent when an employee gets sick or because the business hires a woman. Our bill will end the practice of denying coverage based on preexisting conditions or increasing premiums based on health status, gender, or industry. As I have said many times, the biggest winners in a reformed health system will be small business owners and their employees."

Landrieu said: "Small businesses are suffering from skyrocketing health insurance premiums that are eating into their bottom lines and threatening their survival. As we continue to make progress toward comprehensive health care reform, Democrats are working to address the health care needs of small businesses. And while we may not yet completely agree on everything, one thing we can all agree on is that doing nothing is simply not an option."

"Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and right now health care costs are simply too much to bear," said Halvorson. "If we truly want our small businesses to help lead us out of our current economic troubles, we must act to reform health care. Small business owners and their employees are depending on it. We must act now."

Draper said: "We try to be flexible, but it's an expensive way to do it. Right now, health insurance is a volatile commodity such as oil -- the price swings, the price increases, and it takes up a larger portion of a company's budget. If the government were to provide a more stable option and take the market out of things, it would help settle business's books, it would help them better predict the future. As a business owner, I wouldn't have to worry about finding policies, knowing what is covered, what isn't covered and how much the company will end up paying."

"We started off with everybody on a group plan, but as the premiums continued to climb and climb, my employees had to start dropping out, so we switched to individual plans," said Barnes. "But one of my employees was denied for a pre-existing condition. And we've had trouble with the insurance company -- when my daughter needed a surgery, they mysteriously took her off the surgery schedule. That's not right. It's time to fix health care -- for small businesses like mine and for the communities we serve."

Brantley said: "The lack of affordable health insurance hurts millions of small-business owners like me. I would love to hire several highly skilled staff to work with me. This would balance the workload, expand our care, and create more jobs. It is virtually impossible, however, to find qualified applicants who will accept a job offer without health insurance benefits. The high cost of health care hurts my ability to create new jobs here in Virginia and retain skilled employees. Without competition and meaningful health care legislation, we will continue to see rising health insurance premiums each year that harm businesses and squeeze families."

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Taxpayer Group Launches Petition to Ask Sen. Ben Nelson to Keep His Pledge

PRNewswire/ -- Today, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) continued its pressure on Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) by releasing an online petition asking him to oppose the Senate healthcare bill because it violates the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.

The petition, found at www.nohealthcaretaxes.org, urges Sen. Nelson to be a "no" vote on any procedural votes and/or final passage votes on this anti-taxpayer piece of legislation. The petition also reminds him that a failure to do so would be a breach of trust between him and the people of Nebraska.

"Sen. Nelson has shown the courage of his convictions. He is alone among Senators to have taken the Pledge as a Democrat," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. "The pressure is building now to break that Pledge, however. Majority Leader Harry Reid is pressing his caucus to deliver a healthcare bill, and it appears more and more likely he will not have a single Republican to lend a 'bipartisan' label to the government healthcare bill. Sen. Nelson needs encouragement to know that he's not standing alone in the face of this pressure."

The petition follows up on ATR's recent launch of a series of television ads encouraging the Senator to oppose the healthcare bill. The ads will run on both local and national news and commentary broadcast for three weeks, reflecting the significance of Sen. Nelson's vote to prevent tax increases as part of the healthcare bill.

"It's clear with Harry Reid's decision to include the public option in any healthcare legislation going to the floor that every Democrat vote is required to pass cloture. Now is the time for Sen. Nelson to follow through on the promise he made to get elected and stand by the Taxpayers," continued Norquist.

Americans for Tax Reform is a non-partisan coalition of taxpayers and taxpayer groups who oppose all tax increases. For more information or to arrange an interview please contact John Kartch at (202) 785-0266 or by email at jkartch@atr.org.

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CREW Files Dept. of Justice Complaint against Rep. Mike Ross

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) asked the Department of Justice to investigate whether Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR) engaged in bribery and honest services fraud by selling a piece of commercial property for more than its worth to a pharmacy chain with an interest in pending legislation.

According to a story appearing in the September 22, 2009 Politico, in June 2007, Rep. Mike Ross sold Holly’s Health Mart in Prescott, Arkansas to USA Drug for $420,000. In addition, the owner of USA Drug, Stephen L. LaFrance, also paid Rep. Ross and his wife, Holly, between $500,000 and $1 million for the pharmacy’s assets and Ms. Ross was paid between $100,001 and $250,000 for signing a covenant not to compete with Super D Drug Acquisition as part of the sale. In addition, just two weeks after the sale, Rep. Ross received a $2,300 campaign contribution from Mr. LaFrance.

At the time of the sale, the county assessor’s office valued the pharmacy’s building and the land on which it sits at $263,000, $157,000 less than the Rosses were paid. ProPublica hired a licensed real estate appraiser in Prescott, Arkansas to assess the property, and he valued it at $198,000, less than the county’s assessment, which was raised from $263,000 to $269,000 this year. Another Prescott real estate professional said county property assessments tend to be slightly below market value, but usually not more than 5% below. Nevada County, which includes Prescott, also questioned the purchase price. A contractor hired by the county to update property assessments every five years contacted USA Drug to verify the purchase price, finding it inconsistent with commercial property values in the area.

Even assuming a price of 5% above the assessment, the building and property would have had a value of no more than $276,150. Therefore, at a minimum, it appears the Rosses received at least $143,850 more than the property’s value -- and perhaps as much as $222,000 more, excluding the additional money paid for the non-compete clause -- when they sold it to USA Drug.

In 2008, USA Drug was the 15th largest drug chain in the country with an estimated $906 million in sales and the pharmacy industry is aggressively lobbying Congress regarding proposed health care reform legislation. Two months after the purchase of the Ross property, Mr. LaFrance was profiled in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. He opined if the government does not interfere, there are “nothing but good days ahead” for the pharmacy business.

As a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and the Blue Dog Coalition, Rep. Ross has been integrally involved in the debate over health care reform. This past June, the National Association of Chain Drug Stores thanked Rep. Ross for introducing legislation authorizing payments to pharmacists to train patients how to manage their medications.

Rep. Ross receives significant financial support from the health care industry. According to OpenSecrets.org, this campaign cycle Rep. Ross has so far received $81,100 from those in health-related industries, $23,850 of which is from the pharmaceutical/health products industry. In the 2008 cycle, Rep. Ross received $261,275 from the health care interests, $50,600 of which was from the pharmaceutical/health products industry.

CREW executive director Melanie Sloan stated, “With the sale of his business and the high priced non-compete covenant, Rep. Ross has gone from accepting campaign contributions from those with legislative interests before him to accepting significant personal financial benefits of dubious legality.” Sloan continued, “The situation is reminiscent of that in which former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham sold his house to a defense contractor for an amount above its value in return for legislative assistance – a sale that ultimately resulted in Rep. Cunningham’s conviction on criminal charges.” Sloan explained, “Given that Rep. Ross received a personal financial benefit conservatively valued at no less than $143,850 and probably a great deal more, both the sale of the property for $420,000 and payment of no less than $100,001 for the covenant not to compete certainly merit criminal investigation.”

Federal bribery law prohibits public officials from directly or indirectly demanding, seeking, receiving, accepting, or agreeing to receive or accept anything of value in return for being influenced in the performance of an official act. Honest services fraud prohibits members of Congress from depriving their constituents, the House of Representatives, and the United States of the right of honest service.

At a time when health care reform legislation is a matter of pressing concern and heated debate, it is particularly important for Americans to have faith that their government officials are making decisions based on the best interests of the nation rather than their own financial interests. As a result, it is imperative for law enforcement authorities to thoroughly investigate Rep. Ross’s conduct.

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