NAHU Washington Update - 07/13/2007 (Plain Text Version)SCHIP
The reauthorization process for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), including NAHU’s effort to remove some current restrictions that have hindered premium-subsidy efforts of private-market coverage, is moving full-steam ahead! The Senate Finance Committee will likely mark up the SCHIP legislation this coming Tuesday, July 17. In addition to our federal lobbying efforts, we need your help TODAY to make sure that Members of Congress hear our message and include the premium assistance provisions in the reauthorization bill. Grassroots efforts on this issue are particularly important if you live in one of the following states represented by members of the Senate Finance Committee:
Arizona
Arkansas
Mississippi Colorado
Montana Idaho
Nevada Iowa
Kansas
New Mexico Kentucky
New York Maine
Oregon Massachusetts
Utah Washington
Please send an Operation Shout message on this topic to your Congressional representatives today! Healthy Access
At the recent annual convention, NAHU was proud to unveil its new plan for affordable and responsible health care reform, Healthy Access. NAHU believes the time is right for a solution that controls medical spending and guarantees access to affordable coverage for all Americans without limiting the people’s ability to choose the health plan that best fits their needs. NAHU’s Healthy Access proposal is a comprehensive approach to meeting this challenge, and a yardstick for evaluating other proposals. NAHU’s detailed plan, as well as a summary of the proposal and three comprehensive briefing reports on cost containment, ensuring access and financing access, are all available to the public on the NAHU website.
Single-Payer and Michael Moore’s Sicko Movie
Michael Moore’s new documentary on single-payer health systems, Sicko, is now in the theaters in widespread release, and NAHU is spending a great deal of public relations effort to respond to the movie and related press articles about single-payer systems. Everyday we submit specific responses to SICKO-related articles that appear in the top-25 media markets. In addition, NAHU has developed a number of great materials our chapters and individual members can use to respond to inaccuracies contained in the movie. NAHU’s Three Myths of Single-Payer System presentation materials are also all available online and are designed to educate the public about single-payer realities, including:
As well as a one-hour PowerPoint presentation that would be ideal for CE, the presentation materials available include a sample outline, detailed speakers notes, handouts including a resource list, a questionnaire and a summary of the presentation materials, talking points for use with the media and a sample editorial. Best of all, the NAHU website contains a video link to NAHU member Reid Rasmussen's excellent train-the-trainer program given at Capitol Conference 2007, so that any member can learn how to give this presentation.
NAHU Needs Your HelpWe need your help with a short survey on licensing. Please go here to give us your input. [return to top] Medicare Advantage
Over the past few months there has been a great deal of negative national publicity, as well as three Congressional hearings, about health insurance producers and their role in Medicare-related product sales. NAHU has spent a great deal of time and effort making sure state and federal legislators and regulators are aware that actions of a dishonest few should not be interpreted as representative of our entire industry. We are also talking to them about the important ways ethical producers serve their clients. This point is critical not only to Medicare-related product sales, but also to NAHU’s broader health policy goals. There are many different types of comprehensive health insurance reform proposals currently under discussion, both federally and in the states. Even reform proposals that utilize aspects of the private market are not guaranteed to include licensed health insurance producers, so NAHU has been vigilant in educating our policymakers and the public about the role of the agent. To respond to the recent Congressional action, NAHU submitted written statements to the first two Congressional committee hearings on this topic. At the latest hearing on June 26, NAHU member Peggy Olson presented oral and written testimony on the marketing of Medicare Advantage plans to the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. In addition, in the past few weeks we have briefed Senate Finance Committee staff about the value of the agent in Medicare-related product sales, and we have worked extensively with both the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) on this topic. The best way to address this problem is to ensure that brokers, agents and in-house marketing staff are appropriately trained. During the past year, NAHU and America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) established a four-part education program on Medicare, Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage. The NAHU/AHIP course teaches the marketing rules and responsibilities of each program and includes a required exam to document competency. This program has been approved for continuing-education credit in almost every state, and the association and our carrier partners have been actively promoting the course to both NAHU members and non-members. This joint NAHU/AHIP venture has been underway for a number of months, and the recent voluntary suspension of Medicare Advantage fee-for-service product sales by seven leading carriers accentuates the need for this type of comprehensive training. It is our understanding that all carriers will begin to utilize this uniform training and its required exam to be certain that all agents are trained with the same information. We expect to be able to announce major enhancements to our program that will greatly expand its outreach early this fall, prior to Medicare open-enrollment season.
Grassroots In-District Meetings
From August 6-31, Congress is scheduled for their annual in-district work period, so this is a great time for NAHU members and chapters to schedule meetings with Members of Congress. During these visits, you can reinforce the points and connections you and your chapter made with legislators during Capitol Conference and in various Operation Shout messages sent throughout the year. In particular, this would be a great time to personally reinforce NAHU’s message about expanding access to private-market premium-subsidy programs in the upcoming SCHIP reauthorization. Members of Congress’ schedules for this work period are notoriously tight, so try and make those appointments sooner rather than later. Please contact the NAHU Government Relations Department to let us know if you schedule an appointment, or if you need any help. We can provide you with materials to help you prepare for the meetings, and information to leave behind with your representative and his/her staff. In addition, if we know that you have planned such a visit, we can continue to follow up with that individual’s Washington, DC office. [return to top] Update Your Contact Information
In addition to grassroots visits, written grassroots communications are imperative to getting NAHU’s message across to both Members of Congress and legislators in your state. But to make our grassroots program truly effective, NAHU needs to know who represents you! Please make sure that your home contact information is completely up-to-date in NAHU’s membership. An easy way to do this is to access and make updates to your member record online today.
Licensing Issues
NAHU has been asked by the NAIC to provide input about how the current non-resident producer licensing system is working for agents and brokers in the field. If you have any comments to share, or if you would like to be part of an advisory group to NAHU’s government relations staff on licensing issues, please contact us right away.
NASCHIP Event – With Janet Trautwein
The National Association of Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans (NASCHIP) is having its 2007 Annual Conference in Chicago, Illinois, at the beautiful InterContinental Hotel, on September 12-14. NASCHIP is a national, non-profit organization made up of state health insurance high-risk pools and similar programs that provide access to the high-risk population -- people who otherwise would have difficulty obtaining affordable insurance coverage in the private market. Attendees at the conference will include plan administrators, legislators, policymakers, regulators, vendors and industry representatives. If your state is working on implementation of a high-risk pool, it's a meeting you won't want to miss. Feel free to check out NASCHIP's website at: www.naschip.org or contact Karen McCartney, NASCHIP'S conference planner, at 402-351-2107 for more information. Speakers include Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois, Dr. Ed Langston, the chairman of the American Medical Association, Janet Trautwein, CEO of the NAHU, and many highly regarded industry leaders in national health care. [return to top] Kerry N. Weems is Nominated to Head CMS
The Senate Finance Committee has scheduled a July 18 hearing to consider the nomination of Kerry N. Weems to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency that oversees Medicare and Medicaid.
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