CARE to Obama: Take Wildlife Refuge Cuts Off the Table

/PRNewswire/ -- In a letter delivered to President Obama today, a national coalition of wildlife conservation and sporting organizations has asked the President to take cuts to the National Wildlife Refuge System's budget off the table as he considers cutting federal agency spending by five percent in FY 2012. The coalition called the proposed cuts "wrong and inappropriate" at a time when refuges and the species they protect are dealing with potentially one of the largest environmental disasters in U.S. history in the Gulf of Mexico.

"It is neither the time nor the place to propose funding cuts for the National Wildlife Refuge System or for the Fish and Wildlife Service," said Evan Hirsche, Chair of the Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement (CARE). "Agencies are already spread thin responding to the belching oil in the Gulf of Mexico, and the President's proposed five percent budget cut would have dire consequences in the Refuge System's ability to help wildlife recover. The survival of species like the brown pelican, which was only recently removed from the endangered species list, is now looking more bleak than it did just a year ago."

National wildlife refuges protect a host of species that are being decimated in the Gulf of Mexico, including sea turtles, manatees and numerous migratory birds. The FWS is projecting that 20% of its nationwide staff will be deployed to the Gulf at some point to address the ongoing crisis, making it difficult for the agency to address ongoing refuge needs or future emergencies such as floods, hurricanes, and forest fires. Should the proposed funding cuts occur, the problems will be magnified ten-fold. Understaffed wildlife refuges will be forced to make difficult decisions to cut programs that protect wildlife, such as vital scientific monitoring programs. Ultimately, the cuts will compromise the System's congressionally mandated conservation mission.

The Cooperative Alliance for Refuge Enhancement (CARE) is a diverse coalition of 22 conservation, sporting, and scientific organizations representing more than 15 million members and supporters. According to a recent CARE report on Refuge System funding needs, the Refuge System currently faces a $3.7 billion operations and maintenance backlog.

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Hospice Advocates to Congress: Protect Access to Compassionate & High-Quality End of-Life Care

/PRNewswire/ -- Today 450 Hospice Advocates from across the country took part in the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization's (NHPCO) Capitol Hill Day 2010 by meeting with their U.S. Senators and Representatives on Capitol Hill and encouraging policy makers to preserve and protect access to compassionate, high-quality end-of-life care for all Americans.

Thousands of additional Hospice Advocates participated in NHPCO's Virtual Hill Day 2010 from their home communities by making phone calls and sending emails to their Members of Congress that furthered echoed the hospice community's message. NHPCO Hill Day and Virtual Hill Day participants emphasized the value of hospice in their communities and reacquainted Congress with the unique structure of the Medicare Hospice Benefit.

"In the aftermath of health care reform, NHPCO's Capitol Hill Day 2010 was just the beginning of our efforts this year to educate Members of Congress on the hospice community's value and uniqueness as compared with other health care provider groups. Over 1.4 million patients and their families depend on compassionate end-of-life care from hospice programs in communities throughout the country," said J. Donald Schumacher, NHPCO president and CEO. "It is important that Congress know the importance of hospice to their constituents so they can take an active role in preserving compassionate end-of-life care for generations to come."

Over the past two years, the hospice community has been facing rate cuts on two fronts -- regulatory cuts enacted in October 2009 that eliminated a key component of the Medicare hospice reimbursement known as the Budget Neutrality Adjustment Factor (BNAF) and more recently, cuts slated to be implemented in 2013 as a result of the health care reform bill passed last month. This year, Hospice Advocates are working together to educate policy makers on how the hospice community will be impacted by the combined 14.3% reductions.

"Two cuts are too much for the hospice community," Schumacher added. "If these cuts stay in place, services will be reduced, programs will suffer, and the dying won't get the care they need."

At the Hill Day kickoff pep rally, NHPCO demonstrated its on-going commitment to engage and rally Hospice Advocates nationwide to educate their Members of Congress about the hospice community. The program started with rousing words of encouragement and support from Congressional hospice champions, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR.) and Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-3rd-OR.). This year, Virtual Hill Day participants were able to watch the remarks live over the Web while simultaneously tweeting and Facebook chatting to each other and NHPCO staff in attendance.

The organization also unveiled the rebrand of its lobbying affiliate, The Alliance for Care at the End of Life (ACEOL). The ACEOL is now doing business as NHPCO's Hospice Action Network - the name originally coined for its interactive, online community earlier this year. Through social media resources such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, the Hospice Action Network has already developed an ever-growing online advocate base of over [X] people from all over the country. In tandem with traditional outreach methods, these Hospice Advocates are using Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to interact with each other, educate the general public and policy makers about the impact of health policy on hospices in their communities.

"We are very excited about the rebrand of our lobbying affiliate. The Hospice Action Network will have all of the strengths of the Alliance, but will also allow us to use innovative and interactive strategies to grow our advocate ranks nationwide. This new identity will allow our Hospice Advocacy efforts to evolve into a national grassroots movement. The Hospice Action Network will not only support professional lobbying on Capitol Hill, but also serve to enhance the important advocacy work that hospice providers are doing in the trenches back home," Schumacher said.

Washington Physicians Launch Medicare Meltdown Petition Drive

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Medicare is breaking down and needs lasting repair, Washington physicians have told the state's Congressional Delegation. Now the state's physicians are launching a petition drive with their patients to help prevent a Medicare Meltdown.

The petition urges Congress to fix the flawed payment formula that threatens care for Washington's 897,000 Medicare recipients, including senior citizens and people with disabilities, and 337,000 military family members covered by TRICARE.

"The final blow to access to care resulted from Congress adjourning for its Spring recess without taking action to stop a 21.2% cut in Medicare payments for physicians' services. Current payment levels don't cover the cost of many services now," stated Dr. Deborah J. Harper, President of the Washington State Medical Association (WSMA). The WSMA represents over 9,600 physicians and surgeons across the state.

"For a Medicare patient, a doctor can mean everything: independence, hope, and security," said Dr. Harper. "But Medicare patients are feeling anything but secure about the future of their health care. Every year for a decade, physicians and other practitioners have faced steep Medicare cuts that jeopardize our ability to care for our patients."

Each year Congress slaps a temporary Band-Aid on the problem, postponing a steep cut to a later date. The most recent cut went into effect on April Fools' Day, and Congress is expected to place another temporary patch on the problem when it reconvenes next week. It would be the third patch this year alone. "This ongoing uncertainty hurts patients and their doctors. Patients need to know their doctor will be there when they need them," added Dr. Harper.

As of today, over 40 state medical associations have joined in the petition drive.

"Our seniors, patients with disabilities, and military families deserve better than the on-again/off-again health plan Medicare has become," said Dr. Harper. "The only acceptable solution is for Congress to repeal the flawed Medicare formula and replace it with a stable, fair funding mechanism that reflects the true cost of providing care."

Physicians report their Medicare patients routinely ask them if they know of other physicians -
both specialists and primary care - who will see and care for them. Finding doctors to care for new Medicare patients is a constant struggle, they say.

Physicians will be inviting their patients to join the grassroots effort to save Medicare by signing the online petition. A link to the easy-to-complete online petition is at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/meltdown/.

Medicare Report Confirms Health Care Takeover Plan is a Fiscal Disaster

/PRNewswire/ -- A new report released by the Medicare Chief Actuary, Richard Foster, and the Center for Medicaid Services, the federal agency that oversees Medicaid, says that the proposed health care overhaul plan will dramatically increase health care costs and senior citizens will suffer from Medicare cuts.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins made the following comments:

"The Medicare number crunchers are admitting what we've known all along - that this $2.5 trillion bill is a fiscal disaster that will dramatically raise costs and likely cut health care access for senior citizens.

"A spending spree of this magnitude will have consequences because our country doesn't have an unlimited supply of money. This sobering report alone should be enough to convince every Senator and Congressman to oppose this bill. In addition, this health care takeover will increase taxes by almost $500 billion, and further hurt job growth by imposing $28 billion in new taxes on employers.

"The Senate plan also takes a slap at married couples by imposing a marriage penalty on couples making more than $250,000 a year. Cohabiting couples, on the other hand, are free to make $200,000 each before getting slammed by the same tax. The marriage penalty strikes at the core strength of our country - the married family unit which is the greatest generator of human goods and social benefits to our nation."

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Congress Has Allowed Most Previous Medicare Cuts to Take Effect, New Study Shows

/PRNewswire/ -- Despite claims that the pending health reform bills aren't really paid for because Congress never lets Medicare savings take effect, Congress has allowed the vast majority of Medicare cuts that it enacted in the past two decades to take effect and produce significant savings, a new study from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows.

The analysis, by James Horney and Paul Van de Water, former senior CBO officials now at the Center, examines the history of every significant Medicare cut that Congress has enacted in the past 20 years - specifically, cuts included in deficit reduction legislation enacted in 1990, 1993, 1997, and 2005.

The authors found that virtually 100 percent of the 1990 savings survived; virtually 100 percent of the 1993 savings survived; virtually 100 percent of the 2005 savings survived; and nearly 80 percent of the 1997 savings survived.

"Today's conventional wisdom is wrong," said Horney. "Medicare savings have been a big part of all major deficit-reduction packages that Congress has enacted since 1990, and lawmakers have allowed the vast majority of those cuts to take effect. Given that history, there is every reason to believe that Congress will allow the Medicare savings in the pending bills to take effect as well."

Main "Example" of Failure to Implement Cuts Rests on Misunderstanding

In arguing that large Medicare cuts never "stick," many critics focus on Congress' repeated refusal to let the reductions in doctor reimbursement rates under Medicare's "Sustainable Growth Rate" (SGR) mechanism to take full effect.

But, as the report explains, Congress didn't intend the SGR to produce large savings. In fact, the SGR represented only 3 percent of the total ten-year Medicare savings in the 1997 deficit-reduction bill - only $12 billion of the $394 billion in total Medicare savings over ten years, as CBO estimated at the time.

Because it was badly designed, however, the SGR would actually have cut payments to physicians much more than had been anticipated and well below the level needed to keep pace with doctors' costs. Congress' decision to forestall these unintended cuts was therefore justified on policy grounds.

But, Congress did not simply cancel the SGR and let physician reimbursement rates grow willy-nilly. In fact, although Congress has since 2002 prevented the full SGR cuts from going into effect, it has cut physician reimbursement rates substantially below what was needed simply to keep pace with inflation. Even if Congress blocks the next scheduled SGR cut and freezes the rate at current levels, the rate next year will be 17 percent below the rate in effect in 2001, adjusted for medical inflation.

The Medicare savings provisions in the House and Senate health bills are very different from the poorly designed SGR cut. Instead, they are similar in both size and design to the past Medicare cuts that Congress has allowed to take effect.

Bills Contain Wide Range of Cost-Containment Measures

Claims that the House and Senate health reform bills lack serious cost-containment provisions also do not withstand close scrutiny, the report explains.

"These bills contain just about every reform that health policy experts have proposed to slow health care costs over time," notes Van de Water. "While we will ultimately have to do much more, the bills take most of the steps that we know enough about to pursue now in the areas that experts view as promising."

In Medicare, the bills would scale back overpayments to private insurers, reduce annual payment updates for hospitals and other providers, and, in the House bill, lower prescription drug costs. To reduce costs across the entire health care system, the bills would promote competition among insurers by creating an insurance exchange, cut insurers' administrative costs, invest in preventive care, penalize hospitals with high readmission rates, and establish pilot projects in various areas to help determine the best approaches to controlling health care costs (while giving federal health officials some new authority to implement some changes in Medicare based on the knowledge gained without having to enact new legislation). In addition, the Senate bill would impose an excise tax on high-cost insurance plans to discourage overuse of health care and would create an independent board with the power to implement cost savings in Medicare.

"Lawmakers can strengthen the final bill by combining the strongest cost-control elements of the House and Senate bills," Van de Water said.

Bills Are Fully Paid For and Would Begin to Rein in Long-Term Health Costs

A third major claim by critics -- that, in the near term, the House and Senate bills would raise the nation's total health care expenditures -- is correct but not a meaningful argument against health reform, the report explains. Covering tens of millions of uninsured Americans will necessarily raise total health care spending in the short term.

"There are two fundamental tests for any health reform bill: does it expand coverage without increasing the deficit, and does it begin to slow health cost growth so total health spending will be lower over the long term than it otherwise would be? The House and Senate bills meet the first test and hold real promise for the second," Horney said.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that both bills would reduce deficits over the first ten years (the House bill by $138 billion, the Senate bill by $130 billion) and for at least a decade after that. Moreover, under the Senate bill, the total federal cost for all health care spending and tax subsidies in the decade after 2019 would be no higher than if we continued current law, according to CBO. This is a major accomplishment for a bill that extends coverage to more than 30 million of the uninsured, the report notes.

Finally, some critics complain that the CBO cost estimates showing that the bills would reduce the deficit are misleading and rest upon a gimmick -- specifically, that neither the House nor the Senate bill includes a measure to permanently eliminate the SGR mechanism. Since Congress likely will continue to prevent the SGR from taking effect, critics say, Congress and CBO should consider the cost of such action as part of the cost of the health reform bills. Once that cost is added, they argue, the contention that the bills do not increase the deficit is false.

Indeed, Congress likely will never let the full SGR cuts take effect, and it probably won't offset the cost of scrapping them. But that cost is neither part of, nor in any way a result of, health care reform -- the federal government will incur this cost regardless of health care reform, not because of it. This fact is undeniable: if health reform legislation were to die tomorrow, the full SGR cost would remain. To be sure, it would be better if Congress offset the cost of cancelling the SGR cuts. But that issue is separate from the question of whether the health care reform bills themselves add to the deficit or not.

The full report is available at http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3021.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization and policy institute that conducts research and analysis on a range of government policies and programs. It is supported primarily by foundation grants.

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AHIP Statement on the Release of Proposed Senate Legislation

/PRNewswire/ -- Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), released the following statement today on the release of proposed Senate legislation:

"The promise of health care reform is that it will provide all Americans coverage, allow them to keep their coverage if they like it, and bends the cost curve to put the system on a sustainable path. These are the standards by which any reform bill should be judged, and the Senate bill falls short of meeting them. We believe that these issues can be addressed and improved to achieve these goals, and we will continue to work with policymakers toward that end.

"We believe that all Americans, regardless of health status or medical history, should have guaranteed access to affordable coverage. We have proposed guarantee issue coverage with no exclusions for pre-existing conditions in conjunction with a coverage requirement and adequate subsidies for working families. We also have made a commitment to do our part by proposing far-reaching administrative simplification reforms that improve efficiency, reduce costs, and free up time for physicians to focus on patient care. We stand by these commitments, but agree with a wide range of health policy experts that market reforms will not work if there is not an effective coverage requirement.

"This proposal encourages people to wait until they are sick to purchase coverage, which will significantly drive up costs for those who are currently insured. The legislation also imposes rating rules that will raise the cost of coverage for millions of young families in more than 40 states.

"The new health care taxes and fees will raise the cost of coverage for individuals, families, and employers. Health plans will be required to pay a $6.7 billion tax beginning next year for the next 10 years, in addition to 'stabilization' fees of $25 billion in 2014, 2015, and 2016. According to Fortune magazine's analysis of the companies listed under 'Insurance and Managed Care,' earnings in 2008 totaled $8.61 billion with a profit margin of 2.2% -- ranking the industry 35th on the Fortune list.

"This bill will also exacerbate the health care cost shift as health care providers offset reductions in public program reimbursements by charging more to families and employers who have private coverage. The new government plan will cause even more cost-shifting and threaten the employer-based coverage with which Americans are overwhelmingly satisfied.

"The $117 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage will threaten the choices that seniors have across the country and significantly reduce seniors' benefits in many major metropolitan areas.

"Congress is being forced to turn to these financing mechanisms because it has been unwilling to make a commitment to specific strategies and enforceable objectives that will bend the health care cost curve downward."

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New National Ad Campaign Targeting Congress, Seniors Say 'DON'T CUT MEDICARE!'

/PRNewswire/ -- Today, the 60 Plus Association released a new TV ad targeting the Democrat Congress' plan to cut Medicare by half a trillion dollars, and announced a phone call campaign into the districts of 78 Members of the House of Representatives.

The ad features members of our Greatest Generation begging Congress not to cut Medicare to pay for health care reform. The 30 second TV ad begins running nationally on cable today. See the ad at www.60plus.org.

The phone calls target Members of the House of Representatives and urge concerned citizens to call their Member and urge them not to cut Medicare.

"This bill adds 111 entitlements and the only one it cuts is Medicare, how is this fair to our greatest generation? Seniors have already lost their Social Security COLA and now Speaker Pelosi wants to cut Medicare, too. As yesterday's elections prove, seniors are upset. Seniors are taking a stand and say 'Don't cut our Medicare,'" said Jim Martin, president of 60 Plus.

Titled "Enough -- Congress" the ad highlights seniors speaking in their own words to the fact that Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Harry Reid want to cut up to $500 billion from Medicare. This could mean life-saving drugs could be withheld and seniors could even be prevented from seeing their own doctors.

The ad ends with a senior stating "Don't make us pay for health care reform by cutting Medicare. We've sacrificed enough."

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Statement from 60 Plus Association President Jim Martin on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's New Health Care Proposal

/PRNewswire/ -- The following is a statement from 60 Plus Association President Jim Martin:

"There is an old saying that a lie can travel half-way around the world before the truth can get its shoes on. The truth has its shoes on and is trying to catch up to Speaker Pelosi. I'm putting the wood to this lie right now, the Speaker's plan WILL hurt seniors by cutting half a trillion dollars from Medicare.

"Speaker Pelosi, I challenge you to tell the truth to our Greatest Generation, and be honest about the cuts to Medicare."

The 60 Plus Association is a 17-year-old nonpartisan organization working for death tax repeal, saving Social Security, affordable prescription drugs, lowering energy costs and other issues featuring a less government, less taxes approach. 60 Plus calls on support from nearly 5.5 million citizen activists. 60 Plus publishes a magazine, SENIOR VOICE, and a Scorecard, bestowing awards on lawmakers of both parties who vote "pro-senior." 60 Plus has been called, "an increasingly influential senior citizen's group" and since 1992 "the conservative alternative to the AARP."

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Senate Finance Committee Cuts Home Medical Equipment in Reform Package

/PRNewswire/ -- Yesterday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) issued his recommendations for healthcare reform in his long-awaited "Chairman's mark" version of the bill. The 220-page bill contains several provisions that affect home medical equipment, ranging from power wheelchairs to anti-fraud measures. The bill does not include specific cuts to oxygen payment rates, but the American Association for Homecare believes that the threat of cuts remains.

"While we favor the goals of health care reform and aggressive measures to reduce fraud and waste in Medicare, the cuts proposed for home medical equipment and related services are unwarranted and disproportionate," said Tyler J. Wilson, President of the Association. "We don't believe the cuts will produce either savings or better care for seniors in the long run."

The draft bill includes billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare, including reductions to the home medical equipment sector that will reduce access to care for seniors. These cuts come on the heels of several years of Medicare reimbursement reductions for homecare, and they will hurt small businesses. The home medical equipment and service sector is one of the smallest and slowest-growing sectors in Medicare according to National Health Expenditures data from the federal government.

Among the cuts and negative impacts detailed in the draft Senate legislation:

Competitive Acquisition Program Expansion. The Chairman's mark would expand the number of areas to be included in Round Two of the bidding program for durable medical equipment from 79 of the largest metropolitan statistical areas to 100.

First-Month Purchase Option for Power Wheelchairs. The mark would maintain the first-month purchase option for complex power wheelchairs but eliminate the option for standard power wheelchairs. Nearly all beneficiaries elect the purchase option because they suffer from long-term, debilitating conditions that require customized equipment to meet their specific needs. Removing a beneficiary's right to choose the first-month purchase will create access-to-care problems as the provider will not be able to secure the financing to cover the costs of the power wheelchair over a 13-month period, especially given the current financial environment.

Excise Tax on Manufacturers and Importers of Medical Devices. The Chairman's mark would require an annual tax on manufacturers and importers of medical devices that are categorized as Class II or Class III devices offered for sale in the United States, costing device manufacturers approximately $29.9 billion over ten years.

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ACLA Opposes Proposed LabTax

/PRNewswire/ -- "Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus' (D-MT) plan to impose $750 million in taxes on clinical laboratory testing services -- on top of other cuts -- translates into a disproportionate cut for laboratories, will damage efforts to enhance prevention and wellness, and raise health care costs," according to Alan Mertz, President of the American Clinical Laboratory Association (ACLA). The proposed fee was included in the health reform "framework" released by the Senate Finance Committee Chairman.

Mertz said, "The tax unfairly targets the clinical laboratory industry among providers, which includes about 40 thousand labs providing a myriad of critical health services to patients across the nation. When the $750 million in new fees are added to other cuts in the proposal, America's clinical labs could be facing cuts several times that of other providers."

"New fees will place an unnecessary access hurdle for laboratory services," added Mertz. "Clinical laboratory services are integral to realizing a key goal of health care reform -- building a new framework to enhance prevention and wellness." Laboratory tests provide critical information on which sound medical decisions can be made. It is estimated that 70% of all medical decisions are based on laboratory testing.

ACLA supports the goals of health reform and understands that everyone has to give to help achieve those goals. The laboratory community has demonstrated that support and willingness to do its fair share by agreeing to a reduction in future annual updates. However, ACLA strenuously objects to being singled out for additional cuts or taxes that are far beyond those taken by other providers.

Mertz concluded by saying that Medicare spending for laboratory tests has not kept pace with inflation. "Overall, Medicare payment amounts for clinical laboratory services have been reduced by about 40 percent in real, inflation-adjusted terms between 1984 and 2004," he said. "Congress has acted to completely eliminate the annual update for clinical labs in 10 of the last 12 years. Since 2000, laboratories have received the smallest cumulative update of any provider in Part B of Medicare, only 5.6% compared to 12% for physicians and 34% for hospitals."

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