ACA ADVOCACY UPDATE, Week of June 8th

From the States
▪ In the final hours of their session, CT passed parity into law. The language was inserted into another health benefit bill. It is now awaiting the governor’s signature. If she takes no action it becomes law after 15 days.

Overview of the State Campaigns
▪ There are now a total of 18 states with parity laws in place (CO, ME, NH, RI, CA, MA, OR, NJ, IN, VT, LA, AR, IA, MD, TX, MO and CT).

▪ Bills are now being advanced in PA, WI, IL, MI, NY, NC, AL, MN, NE, ND, UT, AZ, OH, ID, NC, GA, KS, KY, TN and WA.

▪ We are also working with ME to get the microprocessor exemption taken out of their existing parity law.

ON THE HILL --- Parity
▪ As you know, the House re-introduced the federal parity bill on May 21st (HR 2575). We have been working to identify additional co-sponsors.

▪ We have been meeting with members of the House Education & Labor, Ways & Means and Energy & Commerce committees to bring on new co-sponsors and cultivate support around healthcare reform.

▪ Our two issues for reform have been the inclusion of assistive devices in the minimum standards and the inclusion of people with disabilities in the health disparities. This gives additional attention to the particular needs and concerns of people with limb loss in terms of research, provision of care, care standards and coordination of services.

▪ We are working with Senators Snowe and Harkin to re-introduce the Senate version. We were in touch with Lee Perselay and Jenelle Krishnamoorthy from Snowe’s office this week regarding the need to get the bill re-introduced ASAP in order to keep up the momentum not only for the stand alone, but more importantly the healthcare reform provisions.

HEALTH CARE REFORM

▪ Chairman Edward M. Kennedy and Democratic Members and staff of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) released the “Affordable Health Choices Act” on Tuesday.

Click here for a copy of the bill, http://help.senate.gov/BAI09A84_xml.pdf.

Some highlights from the bill include:

• Prohibits pre-existing condition exclusions

• Prohibits discrimination based on health status, including disability

• No lifetime or annual limits

• Requirement of a single risk pool

• Rehabilitative services referenced

• Community living assistance services and supports referenced

▪ There are a number of health reform timelines and bill summaries in circulation. Thought it would be helpful to meld them together in summary form. You will find a summary of likely House and Senate timelines for health reform legislation below.

House Timeline

End of Week of June 15 - Draft bill language is released. This bill will be referred to three committees- Energy and Commerce; Education and Labor; and Ways and Means

Week of June 22 - Hearings in the 3 committees (possibly at subcommittee level)
Week of June 29 – Recess; negotiations continue
Week of July 6 – Full committee hearings
Week of July 13 – Full committee markups
Week of July 27 - House floor consideration

Senate HELP Timeline

Week of June 8th – Committee walkthroughs and hearing/roundtable(s)Week of June 15th – Series of markups of different components of legislation
Week of June 22nd – Additional markups

Senate Finance Timeline

Week of June 8th - Ongoing bi-partisan member meetings.Week of June 15th - Committee mark released
Week of June 22nd – Committee markup over several days


Senate Floor Timeline

Week of July 20th – Beginning of consideration on Senate floor
Week of July 27th – Completion of Senate consideration

As you know, we are part of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD). CCD will have a presence and testify at the hearing. We will continue to communicate with relevant offices. We are also working to generate grassroots level contact with the offices around healthcare reform (http://www.amputee-coalition.org/armsandlegsarenotaluxury/index.html).