BBA News Continues to be Positive A growing number of House members have signed-on to a letter asking for action on additional BBA relief. A similar letter is circulating in the Senate and is gaining comparable feedback. President Clinton urged the nation’s governors in mid-July to support his $40 billion (over ten years) BBA relief plan. In addition, 11 House Republicans also went on record supporting the Medicaid proposal, which would eliminate impending cuts. Finally, the Office of Management and Budget announced that the Medicare surplus for this fiscal year is $24 billion and will total $403 billion over ten years, a sign that there is room for significant BBA relief this year.
US Senate Seeks Return on Its NIH Investments An amendment to the Senate Labor-Health and Human Services appropriations bill would require the National Institutes of Health to draft a plan for recouping a reasonable rate of return on profits made by pharmaceutical companies that result from government-funded research. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), contends that federal research has been key to the development of 15 of the 21 drugs considered most beneficial to public health in the last 30 years.
Worth noting. The Senate Finance Committee is working on a prescription drug proposal that is significantly different from the bill approved by the House in June. Since there isn’t much time left to resolve the differences, it is even less likely that a Medicare prescription drug benefit will become law this year.
In Massachusetts:
• House/Senate agree on Managed Care Bill—the legislature has finally agreed on a package of managed care reforms that was presented to Governor Cellucci in mid-July. Many included provisions could have
an impact on the Partners HealthCare System.
• Study Predicts Long-term Care Will Double by 2020—A report released by the Gerontology Institute concludes that the Bay State will experience a 49 % increase in the number of people over age 65 by 2020, with the 85+ age group being the fastest growing age bracket.