CQ Politics | Innovations - Bills to Increase Health Research, Treatment Expected to Pass

Bills to Increase Health Research, Treatment Expected to Pass

September 23, 2008 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Drew Armstrong, CQ Staff Writer

The House is scheduled to take up nine public health bills Tuesday under suspension of the rules, in an effort to quickly move non-controversial legislation dealing with topics such as organ transplant funding and infant health promotion.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the bills in markup Sept. 17 as part of what panel members called a final effort to get legislation to the president before Congress adjourns.

The House has a very full schedule of bills to consider under the expedited suspension of the rules, which bars amendments and requires a two-thirds vote for passage. It remains to be seen whether the chamber will complete work on its list Tuesday or if some bills could slide to later in the week.

The health measures include: • A bill (S 1760) by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, to reauthorize the Healthy Start program at $120 million annually from fiscal 2008 through 2013, with adjustments for inflation. It would authorize some new projects to help reduce infant mortality.

The program funnels federal funds to communities with high infant mortality rates in an effort to improve prenatal care. The Senate passed the bill April 30. The last authorization (PL 106-310) for Healthy Start expired in 2005; funding has continued through annual appropriations bills.

• A bill (HR 758) by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., to prohibit insurance companies from limiting hospital stays to less than 48 hours for patients who have just had surgery related to breast cancer.

• A bill (HR 6469) by Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., that would authorize an increase in funding for the nation's public-private Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, from $2 million annually to $7 million.

The funding level has remained unchanged since the network was created in 1984 (PL 98-507), according to the bill text, although its costs now exceed $27 million a year.

• A bill (HR 1532) by Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, to focus on eliminating tuberculosis (TB) in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 13,293 cases of TB in the United States in 2007, a slight decrease from the year before.

The bill would create a national program to eliminate the disease through the use of new drugs and expanded public health programs. It would authorize $1.7 billion over the next five years.

• A bill (HR 2994) by Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., to authorize $5 million annually over the next two fiscal years for grants to train health care professionals in pain management. Additional funding would be authorized to create a national pain care education, outreach and awareness campaign by the end of June 2009.

• A bill (HR 5265) by Rep. Eliot L. Engel, D-N.Y., to encourage research on the treatment of muscular dystrophy and increase collection of data on the disease by government health agencies.

• A bill (HR 2583) by Rep. Michael C. Burgess, R-Texas, to create a loan program for hospitals to establish residency training programs for doctors, with the goal of increasing the number of physicians.

Specifically, the bill would target primary-care doctors, emergency room doctors, obstetricians and gynecologists, whose specialties are thought to be in short supply. The bill would authorize $25 million over 10 years, beginning in 2008, with a preference for loans to hospitals in rural areas or small cities.

• A bill (HR 6901) to improve treatment and prevention of methamphetamine addiction. The bill would expand treatment programs for pregnant women, as well as grant programs to fight addiction.

• Another bill (HR 6908) by Burgess, known as the "bungee bill," to require health insurance plans to clearly disclose limitations on coverage. The idea behind the bill is to make sure insurers disclose if there are restrictions on risky recreational behavior by beneficiaries. The nickname for the bill refers to the extreme sport of bungee jumping. It would require that any such restrictions be "explicit and clear" upon enrolling in the plan.