Congressional leaders pledge health system reform bill by August

Washington -- All of the five major congressional committee chairs with jurisdiction over health care have agreed to try offering comprehensive health system reform legislation before Congress recesses for the month of August.

Three House panel chairs sent a letter to President Obama on March 11 stating their intention to coordinate legislative efforts with a goal of sending a bill to Obama this year. "We intend to work from a single bill and have that bill considered by the House before the August recess," House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Henry Waxman (D, Calif.) said at the American Medical Association's National Advocacy Conference in Washington, D.C., on March 10. The letter also was signed by House Committee on Education and Labor Chair George Miller (D, Calif.) and House Ways and Means Committee Chair Charles Rangel (D, N.Y.).

Henry Waxman addresses the National Advocacy Conference.

Sen. Max Baucus (D, Mont.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, also said recently that he intends to offer a health system reform bill by August. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D, Mass.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, plans to move legislation on a similar time frame, said a spokesman for the senator. Both Baucus and Kennedy have been searching for reform consensus in meetings with issue stakeholders and members of their committees.

Waxman also repeatedly told physicians at the AMA's National Advocacy Conference that he understands Medicare's doctor payment formula is unacceptable. "We want to reward quality care and we want to be a dependable payer." He said he does not favor improving quality and restraining costs by telling physicians how to care for patients.

Rep. Roy Blunt (R, Mo.) -- chair of a group of 21 House Republicans working on reform ideas -- agreed that fixing the Medicare payment formula must be part of national health system reform. "Almost everyone in the Congress believes that you need to be more fairly compensated and that Medicare takes advantage of the system by not doing [its] part," said Blunt, also speaking at the March 10 conference.

Blunt invited physicians to submit their ideas and comments on health reform to the Health Care Solutions Working Group (link).