Endocrine Insider
September 17, 2009

(See Full Issue)

Congress, the Administration, and the American people have been eagerly awaiting health reform legislation from the Senate Finance Committee, the only committee with jurisdiction over health reform that has yet to pass a bill.  On Wednesday, September 16, Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), chair of the committee, released the Chairman’s Mark. These recommendations by the committee chair lay out the measure to be considered in the markup which will occur on September 22.  Senator Baucus has been working with the “Gang of Six,” two other Finance Democrats and three Finance Republicans, for the last three months to craft a bipartisan bill, but despite this, the Finance package was introduced without the support of any Republicans.

The Endocrine Society has identified a number of provisions that will require further analysis by the Society’s Advocacy and Public Outreach Core Committee before the Society takes official positions. Some of those provisions include:

•    Removal of Cost-sharing for preventive services recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
•    Establishment of a five-year initiative to explore providing incentives to Medicare beneficiaries who improve their health status and complete scientifically-based healthy lifestyle programs. The programs would target specific risk factors including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, tobacco use, overweight or obesity, diabetes, and falls prevention.
•    Establishment of an independent Medicare Commission (MC) that would submit proposals to Congress to extend Medicare solvency and improve quality in the Medicare program. Congress would have an opportunity to amend the proposal or pass an alternative proposal with an equivalent amount of budgetary savings. Should Congress not pass an alternative measure, the Secretary of HHS would be required to implement the provisions included in the original MC proposal.
•    Addition of Certified Diabetes Educators to the list of professionals eligible to provide outpatient diabetes self-management training services.

Although the Society has not endorsed in full any of the health reform bills that have come out of the House or Senate, the Society has been advocating for the issues outlined in its “Guiding Principles for Health Reform.”