Republicans

Battles continue to rage between House Republicans, Senate Democrats and the Obama Administration on a variety of financial and health care issues. As always, BenefitMall pledges to keep you up-to-date on the latest topics affecting the healthcare industry. Here are some brief snapshots of what is just around the corner.[1]

The Looming Debt Crisis

The U.S. debt reached the maximum allowed debt level on May 16, stretching to the ceiling of $14.3 trillion.[2] Both parties have been unable to reach an agreement to address the debt and federal spending problems, forcing the Department of Treasury (DOT) to take “extraordinary measures” by suspending the issuance of new debt and tapping two federal employee pension funds.[3] According to DOT, this will allow the government to continue functioning until August 2 when the tapped pension funds will be depleted.[4] Despite current grandstanding by all parties involved, a compromise must be reached by that date or the government will face another threat of shutdown.

No matter who is in control of the White House or Congress, one bipartisan activity that will continue in the coming years is the fight against health care fraud.  Both Democratic and Republican Administrations have supported a number of anti-fraud programs to identify criminal activities that hurt consumers and cost U.S. taxpayers dearly.   

Recently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the launch of another round of initiatives to fight health care fraud, including hosting fraud summits in several cities.  A HHS press release published on November 5th explains “(t)he summits are part of a larger effort on behalf of the Obama Administration to root-out waste, fraud, and abuse within the U.S. health care system.”  In 2009, HHS reports that “anti-fraud efforts put $2.51 billion back in the Medicare Trust Fund resulting from civil recoveries, fines in criminal matters, and administrative recoveries.”

Now that we have had a week to digest the historic election headlines regarding the Republican gains both at the state and federal levels, it is time to move beyond the political whirlwinds and begin to evaluate how we can improve the healthcare system in a meaningful way.  BenefitMall has a unique perspective on this as we represent thousands of brokers and agents who help underwrite billions of premium dollars annually. 

Addressing the Downpour

Certainly, pitfalls and challenges abound as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and other federal agencies implement the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).  While outright repeal is unlikely, attempts will be made to roll back or eliminate certain provisions of the Act.  Here is a short list of some of the pressure points:

During the last few months, the Republican Party has made opposition to President’s Obama’s health care overhaul a central theme in its push to take back the U.S. Congress. While not all of the election returns are final, based on November 2 initial results, change is definitely in the air. 

Clearly, some recent headlines are hard to ignore such as “Republicans take over the U.S. House of Representatives” or “Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) loses bid for reelection to Republican Ron Johnson.”   Several other democratic veterans also lost their jobs last night. 

State Action

Yet behind the headlines, the fate of health care reform may actually depend more on the outcome of relatively less well-known state races across the country – especially for the offices filled by state insurance commissioners and state legislators.