For the last week most of us have heard the word ‘reconciliation’ more than we thought possible – it is quickly becoming the ‘hanging chad’ of 2010. As the days go on, some believe it is more and more likely that the Senate will pass health care reform legislation using reconciliation. But how many of us around the country are looking at one another and asking: What on earth is reconciliation? Well, search no more because Beats Per Minute is going to try to provide some answers! Over the last week, we have done some research in order to understand this process better. While we are certainly not experts, here is our best attempt to break down this very complicated process. And please chime in if you have something to add!
The History
Reconciliation evolved from the Congressional Budget Act of 1974. Twenty-two bills have been approved using reconciliation since 1980, 16 by a Republican controlled Senate and 6 by Democrats. There are many well-known pieces of legislation that were passed recently using reconciliation, including Bush tax cuts and Clinton welfare reform. Read more about the history of reconciliation here.
1) This week President Obama released the final details on the health care reform bill and urged Congress to give an up or down vote on the legislation. In remarks to a group of medical professionals, President Obama asked Congress to put aside politics and take action on behalf of the American people.
2) Politico confirmed from Senator Tom Harkin that Senate Dems have decided to use reconciliation as a means to pass health care reform.
3) Meanwhile, at the local level, big Chicago hospitals saw huge profit gains in 2009 while smaller hospitals continued to struggle.
4) Recent research published in the New England Journal of Medicinefound that certain segments of the U.S. population have a higher prevalence of HIV than exists in parts of Africa. For example: “More than 1 in 30 adults in Washington, D.C., are HIV-infected—a prevalence higher than that reported in Ethiopia, Nigeria, or Rwanda.”
5)Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a report this month that provides a breakdown by state of the federal dollars spent on public health. The report found that spending for public health has been flat and steady for the last five years and that the Midwest received the least amount of funding for disease prevention.
Erie Family Health Center celebrated the 20th anniversary of our award winning HIV/AIDS program at Paint the Town Red held on Wednesday, February 24 at Martini Park. The evening included cocktails, a silent auction (including tickets to see Oprah, a weekend stay with spa treatments at The Trump International Hotel, a behind the scenes private tour at the Field Museum), a raffle for a trip to Mexico, live entertainment with the band Hey Jimmy, appetizers and a good time for all! Erie would like to thank everyone who helped make Paint the Town Red 2010 an incredible success! Due to the partnership of our Junior Board, sponsors, vendors, guests, entertainers, staff and volunteers – this year’s event raised nearly $50,000 to support Erie’s Lending Hands for Life program to provide even more care to those living with AIDS/HIV in Chicago.
View the video premiered at the event to learn more about Erie’s HIV/AIDS program:
The health care summit has started up again after a short break. Erie took a little bit of a longer break but now we are back in the mix!
1:14 – After the break the group came back and is still discussing health insurance regulation.
1:18 – We are back to talking about pre-existing conditions. President Obama is discussing why he disagrees with setting up high risk pools for those who have more pre-existing conditions (‘older, sicker people’).
1:26 – Senator Jay Rockefeller (D) does not really care for health insurance companies: ‘they are in it for the money.’ Then he referred to them as sharks. He feels this way because of lack of oversight, anti-trust rules, etc. Senator Rockefeller believes that they need more restrictions in order to make them more accountable (or ‘clip their wings’ as Senator Rockefeller said).
Good morning everyone! We are getting ready here to start the live blog thread here in a few minutes. If you are at a computer and want to watch the health care summit on a live stream you can do so at the White House website for live videos. Otherwise C-SPAN is offering great coverage on all of their tv and radio outlets.
8:52 – The room at Blair House looks quite full. Speaker Pelosi is also present. Everyone is beginning to sit – looks like things will be starting soon!
8:58 - Kathleen Sebelius was sitting in Harry Reid’s seat. He definitely did not look happy when he asked her to move! A nice bit of humor for the morning.
8:59 – President Obama is walking to the Blair House right now.
9:04 – After walking across the street to Blair House, President Obama has just arrived! He is currently making the rounds and shaking hands with everyone. After, he is beginning a quick opening statement.
As you all know, tonight is Paint the Town Red, Erie’s event for our HIV/AIDS program, Lending Hands for Life. Well over 200 people will be in attendance this evening! As such, Health Beats is on hiatus for this week but we will return next week!
Also, stay tuned tomorrow as we live blog the President Obama’s bipartisan health care summit! Tune in starting at 9:00am for a play by play of the summit!
In the meantime, here’s a little Paint the Town Red inspiration:
Would you pay $1.94 per day in health insurance for the privilege of unlimited access to comprehensive preventive and primary care services at the level of quality provided by Erie Family Health Center? It sounds like a pretty good deal.
They way I look at it, the health care “pie” is divided into three slices. The first slice is primary and preventive care like Erie provides, a good deal as you’ll read about below. The second is both basic and sophisticated outpatient testing such as x-rays, mammograms, CT scans and MRIs, to which Erie arranges affordable and deeply discounted linkages with partners. The third is the most expensive—hospitalization, surgery, rehabilitation—and Erie provides linkages as well. And I’m not even going to touch the issue of long term care (a whole other pie).
Health care reform pie is on a lifeline in Washington, DC, and cost is of high concern. Meanwhile, around the country, at over 1,200 health centers like Erie, data staffers hit the send button this week and uploaded information for 2009 on the 20 million medically disadvantaged people cared for at community health centers. The fix is in, and the data show that health centers provide very cost effective primary care and preventive services.
1) Over the weekend, patients began lining up before dawn at a dentist office in the Logan Square community of Chicago to receive free dental care. The annual event, which is hosted by Dentists With Heart, drew a line of several hundred people.
2) This week, the New York Times reported that after an extended quiet period, the U.S. is finally seeing a surge in medical schools. Could this be a response to the need for primary care providers? Beats Per Minute discussed this very issue last month.
3) Wondering why no one is talking about H1N1 anymore? The Centers for Disease Control is! The CDC says that H1N1 cases are down but reported that from April 2009 through January 2010, the U.S. saw 57 million possible cases, 257,000 hospitalizations and 11,690 deaths.
4) A study released this week found that over the last three decades chronic conditions have significantly increased in children. In fact, from 1994 to 2006 the percentage of children with chronic conditions, such as asthma, obesity and behavioral health issues, nearly doubled. The highest rates of chronic conditions were found in Latino and African American children.
5) It was announced this week that two Illinois universities will receive federal stimulus money to invest in electronic medical records technology. Last month, Erie Family Health Center completed the implementation of electronic health records at all of our nine sites. Read about it here!
This month Erie Family Health Center will celebrate the 20th Anniversary of our nationally-recognized HIV/AIDS program, Lending Hands for Life. Erie will host an event called Paint the Town Red, which will celebrate the life of the program and the patients that have become part of the Erie family.
In the last 20 years, the progress in the treatment of HIV has been truly spectacular. In the early 1980s, a diagnosis of HIV was a death sentence. In 1987, the AZT drug was approved and using this alone dramatically slowed progression to AIDS. There was great optimism for a while, but unfortunately, the progression to AIDS was delayed only for one or two years. This medication, however, proved the concept that medications could be developed to treat the ravaging effects of HIV on the immune system. Over the past two decades, there have been 25 medications developed to treat HIV and when used wisely they are remarkably effective at treating HIV. Not all people with HIV/ADS have access to quality health care and medications in our country due to barriers such as the cost of care; that is why programs like Lending Hands for Life, where people are treated regardless of their ability to pay, are so important. When patients are connected to care at places like Erie, they have access to the life-saving medications they need. Every few years, with pharmaceutical developments, the medications have become easier to take, with fewer side effects and even fewer pills.
Join Erie Family Health Center on May 25, 2010at the InterContinental Chicago for the second annual Golden Toothbrush Awards Luncheon as we recognize leaders in community oral health care and raise awareness about one of the greatest unmet needs in Chicago’s low-income communities. Proceeds will benefit Erie’s Oral Health Program.
The Nitty Gritty of Reconciliation
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