RMAC/NRLN Health Care Advisory Committee Meeting Report April 2nd 2009

Guests; No guests were invited to this meeting due to the nature of the subject material

National

1. President Obama’s eight principles for health care reform. A review of these principles found they were consistent with the NCHC specification for health care reform with the addition of principle number 1; protection for all against catastrophic medical expenses. This will be added to the NCHC template for evaluation of health care proposals.

2. Discussion of paper “A Comprehensive Benefit Option for Medicare Beneficiaries”

a. A product of the Commonwealth Group; which is heavily involved in health care reform
b. A possible source of CBO Option 81 which promotes a Medicare catastrophic care benefit.
c. Karen Davis, their spokes person testifies regularly to congressional health care committees.
d. NRLN lobbyist Phyllis Borzi has been nominated for Assistant Secretary of Labor and will probably not complete assignment to determine the source of CBO option 81.

3. A review of the H R 676 analysis performed by Ed Bettinardi

a. John Kotson sent a copy to Health Care for All Colorado. One member commented that he no longer supports the bill. Most supporters don’t really know what is in the Bill.
b. Ed Bettinardi sent a copy to Congressman Mike Coffman’s office.
c. John Kotson sent a copy to Congresswoman Betsy Markey’s office. She does not support the bill.
d. Helen Domaratz sent a copy to Stuart Feinhor, staffer for Congressman Jared Polis. After reading the analysis, Stuart said it may not be a bill to support even though Congressman Polis is a co-sponsor.

4. Discussion of Congressman Bernie Sanders’ single payer health care bill. Our assessment is the bill was introduced too late to influence the congressional health care committees. Ed Bettinardi will track the progress of the bill.

5. The HCAC recommended that NRLN provide strong support to the incorporation of a government sponsored health care program to compete with the private health care plans being considered by congressional committees. Ed Bettinardi had the action item to contact NRLN president Bill Kadereit. Subsequent discussions with Kadereit produced no tangible results. Therefore the HCAC will pursue this objective independently.

6. Senator Mike Enzi’s staffer Todd Spangler requested ideas on “Long Term Care”.

a. Repeated communications with Enzi’s staff have resulted in support for catastrophic care coverage for everyone.
b. Long term care can be a partial solution to catastrophic medical expense. Medicare currently only covers 100 days in a qualified nursing facility.
c. Long term care is currently available to anyone that qualifies for Medicaid. Recipients often must shed most of their wealth in order to qualify.
d. Individual states regulate nursing homes. However, enforcement is sometimes lacking. Most facilities are privately owned.
e. HCAC majority feels this is not the time to tackle long term care.  It could detract from the primary mission of health care reform. The ultimate direction taken on health care reform might shape how long term care is administered.
f. Barbara Wilcox will prepare a response to Todd Spangler conveying this message. Hazel Floyd will deliver the response to Spangler.

7. Contacts with Ken Bennett, District Director for Congresswoman Betsy Markey. Ken sent our request for support of Medicare catastrophic coverage and H R 684/S.330 the Medicare prescription drug bill to Markey’s Washington staff. He will advise us when they take a position. John Kotson will continue to interface.

Colorado/Wyoming

1. Discussion of Colorado Bill HB09-1273, Health Care for All Coloradoan’s

a. Assessment was this is primarily another study of the health care problem. Probably won’t result in any action.
b. HCAC will monitor the study and decide if any involvement is warranted.

2. Status of letter to Congresswoman Dianna DeGette concerning support for Medicare catastrophic coverage and H R 684/S.330.

a. Letter was delivered by E-mail, fax and snail mail. Hazel Floyd verified that it was received in Washington.
b. We must get a response from DeGette’s office. RMAC has put a lot of effort into the DeGette interface including a recent meeting with the Congresswoman. Her Denver office staff person appears to be a road block.
c. Hazel Floyd will attempt to corner DeGette at the next CARA meeting where she will be the guest speaker.

3. Congressman Mike Coffman; Ed Bettinardi will continue to maintain a contact with the office. He would like to send a proposal that there should be a public health care plan. Ed will ask NRLN to write a white paper in support of the plan. Barbara Wilcox will look up a study comparing the economics of a public plan versus private plans.

4. Congressman Ed Perlmutter; he is not involved in health care per se. Hazel has repeatedly asked Perlmutter’s staffer, Jerry Pifer to attend our meetings. She will keep trying; Jerry still owes RMAC promised feedback on the Medicare catastrophic care white paper.

5. Senator Michael Bennet; Staff member Betty Sweeney is normally a regular attendee at our meetings. Since Ken Salazar left to become Secretary of Interior, RMAC has lost a valuable health care advocate. The committees that Michael Bennet participates in are of little use on health care reform. We must evaluate whether his staff can be of service to our health care agenda.

6. Senator Mark Udall; still doesn’t have a local staff in place. When a health care person is identified, RMAC will interface with that person. Meanwhile, Hazel Floyd will continue to keep in touch with the Washington staff.

7. New Business

a. The Lucent Retiree Organization (LRO) will have a meeting on June 24th at the Marriott Tech Center in Denver to drum up new members. The meeting will concentrate on health care reform, HCAC is invited to attend and participate.
b. The latest Towers Perrin report covering health care legislation is available.
c. H R 1322 has been introduced by Congressman John Tierney for the 7th time. This bill attempts to restore health care benefits that companies provided when persons retired. Support in the House of Representatives has been dwindling and a Senate sponsor has not been found.
d. H R 1085/S.442 has been introduced by Senators Dorgen and Snowe. This bill would increase the health plan cap on benefits from $1 million presently to $5 million in 2years and $10 million in 3-4 years. Then it would be indexed to inflation. The group felt this bill was worthy of support.

8. The next RMAC/Health Care Advisory Committee meeting will be held on May 1st. I would ask everyone to place this meeting on their calendars. Attendance at this meeting was pretty poor considering the importance of our health care agenda this year.

John Kotson; RMAC Chairman