TREA WASHINGTON UPDATE FOR FEBRUARY 26, 2010
Well, after a 7-1/2 hour “Health Care Summit” we have to wait and see what
happens. It is clear that the White House intends to push a modified Senate
version of health care reform (please see below). We are also waiting to see if
the bill to extend several federal programs that is set to expire at the end of
February will pass today. (also please see below)
1) Short “Doc Fix” Held Up
On Senate Floor
2) White
House Continues Push For Large Health Care Overhaul
3) Startling
High Level of Contract Employees at DHS
4) DoD Shuts Down Military Spouse Tuition Aid Program Without Warning
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1) Short “Doc Fix” Held Up
On Senate Floor-HR4691
contains short extensions of federal laws that are to expire at the end of the
month including unemployment insurance, COBRA for the unemployed,
the Medicare Doc Fix, highway
construction and satellite TV. On Thursday night the bill passed the House of
Representatives by voice vote and they sent it on to the Senate. And there it
stopped. Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) refused to allow a vote. He is insisting
that
the bill contain provisions that would pay for the extensions with economic
stimulus funds (PL 111-5). At this time there is
no payment provided for the bill’s
provisions.
The bill would stop the scheduled 21% Medicare payment cut for Doctors until
March 31. This is a huge concern for all TRICARE beneficiaries. TRICARE for Life
(TFL) beneficiaries since Medicare is their first payer. Additionally, since
TRICARE payment rates are based on Medicare rates this would affect all other
TRICARE beneficiaries who receive any care outside of the MTFs. We have been
urging Congress to fix this serious problem. Earlier, this month Congress passed
a law allowing a 5 year fix without complying with the PAYGO rules. But they
have not passed the bill itself. This bill was clearly intended to allow them to
work on this and several other matters. However, it is not clear what will
happen now.
The bill would extend the “expanded unemployment insurance”
through April 5, as well as extensions of some highway bills, copyrights for
satellite TV, federal flood insurance, and health insurance subsidies for the
jobless. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the bill would
increase the federal deficit by $10.3 billion from fiscal 2010-2020. (The bulk
of the cost, $6.9 billion, coming from the unemployment provisions.) Senator
Bunning stayed late into the night refusing to allow the vote. What will happen
today is not clear. Whatever happens to this piece of legislation we must keep
pushing for a permanent fix to the Medicare payment problem or TRICARE
beneficiaries will face real problems to finding new doctors.
2) White
House Continues Push For Large Health Care Overhaul-After
a 7-1/2 hour “health care summit” President Obama stated that he intended to
push for the passage of a modified version of the Senate’s Health Care bill
(that was posted earlier this week on the White House web site) by the end of
March if a bipartisan agreement with Congressional Republicans is not reached by
then. Clearly this is a concern since the Senate’s version does not explicitly
exclude TRICARE and VA health care from the plan. It certainly does not include
either program in the bill and it is unlikely that with all the problems they
are now having they would add this fight right now. However, after a bill is
signed into law it can always be modified years down the road.
But whether it will pass at all is not at all clear. The Senate version (HR
3590) includes language that several anti-abortion House members think will
allow federal money to be used for abortion. Other House members still want a
public option to be included. Others oppose the Senate’s tax on high end health
care plans even with the change the White House made. So it is not clear that it
can pass the House at all. And even if an agreement is reached on these, and
other issues, how can the House be sure that the Senate will vote for them
after the House votes on the Senate bill. Well, the latest rumor around
town is that 51 Senators will sign a letter directed to the House of
Representatives promising to pass a set of “agreed to changes” between the
Houses through reconciliation (which means the Democrats would only need 51
votes) if the House of Representatives will pass the Senate’s version of the
bill. (If the House adds the changes before they pass the bill it then has to go
back to the Senate for a vote and now they don’t have a 60 vote majority).
Whether this will be tried – and whether the members of the House will believe
the Senate is still to be seen. But whatever happens it seems clear that March
in Washington will still be dedicated to the health care bill.
3) Startling High Level of Contract Employees at DHS-At a hearing this week of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee the Department of Homeland Security stated that they had 200,000 contractors and 188,000 civilian employees (not including the uniformed members of the Coast Guard). Both Chairman Senator Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn) and Ranking Member Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) stated that they were shocked by such a ratio. During the hearing on the Department’s proposed FY2011 budget Chairman Lieberman said: “To me this is just a shocking and unacceptable number. Our Committee has long been concerned about DHS’s heavy reliance on contractors because it raises the question of efficient use of taxpayer money, but also the question of who is in control of the Department’s mission: Is it federal contractors or fulltime employees?” The Department stated that they are working to “rebalance the proposals”. The Senators asked that they be given a breakdown of contractor to federal employees within each agency of the Department. So this may be a good time to start looking for jobs at DHS.
4) DoD Shuts Down Military Spouse Tuition Aid Program Without Warning-Last
week DoD shut down its “My Career Advancement Accounts Program” without warning
and just when students were enrolling in their spring semester classes. This
program gave up to $6,000 in tuition to allow military spouses to study for
“portable careers”. While DoD officials said the shutdown was temporary they
gave no date when the program would resume and no reason for the shutdown.
All Defense Department Spokeswoman AF Major April Cunningham said was: “We’re
reviewing it from top to bottom to ensure the program is meeting the intent
established by the legislation.” She also said that there would be no new
accounts approved during the “reviewing period”. Of course, this could not come
at a worse time for enrolled students; 133,000 students have applied since last
year and 98,000 are presently enrolled students approved for this program.
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