Congressional Digest

Tag: Healthcare

    Congress Approves Opioid Package

November 01, 2018
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In early October, in a rare act of bipartisanship, Congress approved a legislative package to address the opioid epidemic, sending it to the President for his signature. The conference report on the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act passed the Senate on October 3 by a vote of 98 to 1, and the House on October 5 by a vote of 393 to 8. The legislation: Reauthorizes funding for the 21st Century Cures Act, passed by the previous Congress, which provided $500 million annually to combat the opioid crisis, and gives…

    Pre-Existing Conditions Coverage

September 16, 2018
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Ten Senate Republicans have introduced a bill designed to guarantee protections for patients with pre-existing conditions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The move is in response to a lawsuit brought by 20 States that are seeking to invalidate the law since Congress effectively ended the “individual mandate” that requires most Americans to have health insurance coverage or pay a fine. The U.S. Department of Justice has declined to defend the ACA in court and has called provisions of that prohibit discrimination based on pre-existing conditions unconstitutional. Oral arguments in Texas v. United States began in early September. The Republican…

    Birth Control Rule

October 23, 2017
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On October 6, the Trump Administration released new rules that would allow employers to seek an exemption, for religious or moral reasons, to the Obamacare provision requiring insurance plans to cover contraception. According to a study commissioned by the Obama Ad­ministration, 55 million women now have access to free birth control because of the contraceptive coverage mandate. That provision has been the subject of more than five years of litigation, however. In August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that nonreligious anti-abortion groups must comply with the mandate. The court sided with the Federal Government in…

    Fixing Obamacare

September 15, 2017
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The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee scheduled four days of hearings on shoring up the country’s health care system. Titled “Stabilizing Premiums and Helping Individuals in the Individual Insurance Market for 2018,” the hearings were held on September 6, 7, 12. The committee heard testimony testimony from State insurance commissioners, governors, health care experts, and insurance companies. The hearings marked the first time that Democratic and Republican senators have met together to look for ways to stabilize the health care system under Obamacare. The top Republican and the top Democrat on the committee each issued statements affirming their intention…

    Climate Change and Health

On April 4, the Obama Administration released Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment. The report was developed over three years by climate change and public health experts from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Department of Agriculture, U.S. Geological Survey, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. According to a White House fact sheet, the assessment: “… reinforces that climate change is a significant threat to the health of the…

    Zika Virus

March 21, 2016
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The U.S. Government is responding on several fronts to the outbreak of Zika, a virus primarily spread by mosquitoes that recently has been linked to birth defects and other concerning health conditions in parts of Latin America. In early February, the Obama Administration sent Congress a request for $1.9 billion in emergency funding to combat Zika overseas and in the United States. The money would go to the Department of Health and Human Services and the State Department and its U.S. Agency for International Development. It would be used for preparedness efforts, mosquito control, vaccine research and development, testing and…

    “Cancer Moonshot”

March 10, 2016
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In his January 12, 2016, State of the Union Address, President Obama announced a “national effort” to find innovative new treatments for cancer and said he was putting Vice President Joe Biden “in charge of mission control.” Last October, after stating that he would not be running for President, Biden called for a “moon shot in this country to cure cancer” and said that he would dedicate the remainder of his term to that cause. In a January 12 blog post, the Vice President wrote that although “innovations in data and technology offer the promise to speed research advances and…

    Flint Water Crisis

February 29, 2016
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The drinking water crisis in Flint, Michigan, resulted from a 2014 decision by the city to switch its water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River. The change was made without adding chemicals to prevent pipe corrosion, so lead leaked into residents’ water, creating a serious public health problem. As the crisis gained national attention in the fall of 2015, Michigan’s congressional representatives called for action. On February 10, the House passed, 416 to 2, H.R. 4470, introduced by Representative Dan Kildee (MI-D), to require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to notify the public within 15 days after discovering…

    Opioid Abuse

October 16, 2015
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A national survey on drug use and health, conducted in 2013 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, found that an estimated 1.9 million people in the United States suffered from substance use disorders related to prescription pain medicines and 517,000 suffered from a heroin use disorder. In the last year, Congress has held several hearings on the what is now considered to be a public health epidemic. These included: Two House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearings: one on April 23, titled “Combatting the Opioid Abuse Epidemic: Professional and Academic Perspectives” and one on May…

    Dietary Guildelines

May 18, 2015
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In February, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee submitted its Scientific Report to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Agriculture. The committee was charged with examining where sufficient “new scientific evidence is likely to be available that may inform revisions to the current guidance or suggest new guidance.” Based on their research, the committee concluded that “a healthy dietary pattern is higher in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, low- or non-fat dairy, seafood, legumes, and nuts; moderate in alcohol (among adults); lower in red and processed meat; and low in sugar sweetened foods and drinks and refined…

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