House Overwhelmingly Passes Bill to Delay Harmful Medicaid Regulations
This week the House of Representatives passed by a veto-proof margin H.R. 5613, important legislation which would place a moratorium until March 2009 on seven harmful Medicaid regulations issued by the Department of Health and Human Services. BIAA issued a Legislative Action Alert earlier this week before the vote encouraging advocates to urge their Representative to vote YES on the bill. The fate of the bill is now up to the Senate.
The legislation, which was originally introduced on March 13, 2008, would delay the implementation of seven harmful Medicaid regulations through March 2009, including several rules which would be especially deleterious to individuals with brain injury.
One of these rules would limit rehabilitation services for Medicaid beneficiaries, severely curtailing the ability of people with disabilities – including TBI – to receive rehabilitation services now covered under Medicaid. Access to these rehabilitative services is essential, as in many cases, these services play a vital role in allowing people with TBI to live independently in the community.
As the House considered and passed H.R. 5613 by a vote of 349-62 on Wednesday, Senate Republican leadership began circulating a letter defending the Medicaid regulations and urging colleagues to reject such legislation in the Senate. According to news sources, this letter forms part of a Republican strategy to demonstrate to supporters of H.R. 5613, through the gathering of a sufficient number of signatures, that they will not be able to override a veto in the Senate.
If enough Senators sign on to the Republican leadership letter, effectively backing up the president’s veto threat, there is speculation that the White House could then offer a limited moratorium on only two of the harmful regulations. Unfortunately, these two regulations are not the ones addressing targeted case management and rehabilitative services, which stand to directly impact individuals with brain injury. (CQ Healthbeat News, April 24, 2008, John Reichard).
Without a moratorium, all seven of the regulations would go into effect by June 30 of this year.
BIAA thanks advocates for contacting their Representatives this week, and will shortly issue another Legislative Alert anticipating Senate action on the bill.
A copy of BIAA’s letter endorsing H.R. 5613 can be obtained by visiting BIAA’s website at the following address: http://www.biausa.org/policyissues.htm.
