Topics this week:
1. Health Policy Discussed in the Town Hall Debate and First Presidential Debate Review
2. Comparing Medicare Proposals
3. Meningitis Outbreak and Possible Increased Oversight of Compounding Pharmacies
4. Supreme Court Explores Consideration of Race in Admissions
1. Health Policy Discussed in the Town Hall Debate and First Presidential Debate Review
2. Comparing Medicare Proposals
3. Meningitis Outbreak and Possible Increased Oversight of Compounding Pharmacies
4. Supreme Court Explores Consideration of Race in Admissions
1. Health Policy Discussed in the Town Hall Debate
While receiving less air time than in previous debates, the Town Hall Debate on Tuesday featured a continued focus on healthcare and health policy issues. The candidates discussed requiring contraceptive coverage in insurance plans, Planned Parenthood funding, the Affordable Care Act, and Medicare. The Kaiser Family Foundation has compiled a list of each candidate’s responses in regards to health policy from the most recent debate. That transcript can be found here ((http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Multimedia/2012/October/town-hall-debate-obama-romney.aspx?utm_source=khn&utm_medium=internal&utm_campaign=widget). Need a recap of how health policy was discussed in the first debate? You can check out our last Legislative Affairs Update, which provided an excellent recap (link to previous updates found at the bottom of the page). Additionally, NPR published an updated recap with fact checking, which can be found at http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/10/16/163025327/medicare-where-preisdential-politics-and-policy-collide.
2. Comparing Medicare Proposals
Getting stuck in campaign rhetoric? The future of Medicare has been a commonly referenced topic in both the presidential and vice presidential debates. At first glance (or listen), it can be difficult to tease out the concrete differences between the plans offered by each campaign. The Kaiser Family Foundation has put together a document which provides a side-by-side comparison not only of each campaign’s plan, but also of 3 other proposals which have been introduced in Congress: The Senate “Gang of Six” proposal, The Obama Administration’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (co-chaired by Senator Alan Simpson) proposal, and The Debt Reduction Task Force’s recommendations. The side-by-side comparison can be found at http://www.kff.org/medicare/upload/8124.pdf.
3. Meningitis Outbreak and Possible Increased Oversight of Compounding Pharmacies
The recent meningitis outbreak related to steroid injections provided by the New England Compounding Center has sparked discussion regarding the regulations that deal with compounding pharmacies. A brief history of these regulations was recently reported on in the Washington Post (article can be found at http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/compounding-pharmacies-need-fda-oversight/2012/10/16/12e5ee78-17af-11e2-9855-71f2b202721b_story.html. Congress initially granted some oversight powers to the FDA in 1997, but these were struck down by the Supreme Court in 2002. Therefore, a potential danger that comes with limited oversight is that final compounded drugs which are made by these pharmacies are not subject to FDA approval. Many groups as a result are calling for the FDA to once again be granted the power of oversight over compounding pharmacies. The FDA’s position as explained by one of its deputy commissioners can be found at http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2012/10/17/fda-compounding-pharmacies-meningitis/1640023/.
4. Supreme Court Explores Consideration of Race in Admissions
The Supreme Court last week began hearing oral arguments in a case challenging the University of Texas at Austin’s consideration of race in undergraduate admissions. A previous ruling by the court in 2003 (Grutter v. Bollinger) allowed for consideration of race as part of a multi-factor, individualized selection process with the aim of admitting diverse student bodies. The decision in this case not only has the potential to affect undergraduate admissions, but the medical school admission process as well. The AAMC—joined by 29 organizations representing health care educators, providers, and students—filed an amicus brief urging the court to preserve Grutter to ensure a diverse, culturally competent health professional workforce to address the critical health needs of an increasingly diverse nation. A copy of the brief can be found at https://www.aamc.org/download/301646/data/fisheramicusbrief.pdf, while a more detailed summary of the AAMC’s advocacy can be found at https://www.aamc.org/advocacy/washhigh/. A decision on this case is expected this coming spring.
Your loyal Legislative Affairs team,
Brad Hunter – Northeast Region
Robert Sanchez – Central Region
Sean Vanlandingham – Southern Region
Claire Sadler – Western Region
William Teeter – National Delegate
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To access previous updates see our blog at:
https://www.aamc.org/members/osr/communications/legislative_affairs/
For more Health Care Policy news go to:
https://www.aamc.org/members/osr/communications/legislative_affairs/49198/legislative_affairs_resources.html