As everyone who reads the newspaper has surely heard by now, the Affordable Care Act’s HealthCare.gov, and challenges related to insurance exchange enrollment and coverage since the site opened on October 1st, have been a magnet for Congress’ attention lately. Members of Congress in both chambers and both parties have expressed their frustration at the …
Author: Alexandra Sange
Congress Is Back…So What’s On the Agenda? Magic Eight Ball Says: Outlook Hazy, Try Again.
by, Federal Affairs Staff There’s no shortage of hot topics for Congress to work on this fall: appropriations for Fiscal Year 2014, raising the debt ceiling again,, , immigration reform, a whole host of other non-health issues, and last but not least: Syria. Yet with only 8 working days left in September and a whole …
Senate Passes Major Immigration Reform
Last Thursday the Senate passed the 1100+ page “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act” (S.744), with a 68 to 32 bipartisan vote (official vote count can be found here). The “Yea’s” included 14 Republican Senators: John McCain (AZ), Lindsey Graham (SC), Marco Rubio (FL), Jeff Flake (AZ) – the four GOP members on …
The Final Push on Immigration Reform
By Joseph Miller, Federal Affairs Intern Both the Senate and the House are working on immigration bills this week. As the Senate clears out the final hurdles to passing a comprehensive immigration reform bill, the House is taking a piecemeal approach and trying to move stand-alone bills related to border security, enforcement, visas, and the …
Immigration Heats Up On Both Sides of the Hill
By Joseph Miller, Federal Affairs Intern Last week, we blogged that the Senate would begin debating S. 744, comprehensive immigration reform legislation – and they have. Not to be left behind, the House has snapped into action as well, starting the committee markup process for several smaller bills (versus a single., comprehensive bill) and approaching …
Eyes on the Senate: Immigration Reform Comes to the Floor
By Joseph Miller, Federal Affairs Intern After months of discussion and deliberations, the Senate will begin debating comprehensive immigration reform on the floor this week. The Senate immigration overhaul, the 800+ page “Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act” (S. 744), which we discussed here on the blog when it was introduced by the …
Acting CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner Re-nominated
Last week, President Obama re-nominated Marilyn Tavenner as Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency that oversees Medicaid, Medicare, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and implementation of major pieces of the Affordable Care Act. Tavenner has been acting Administrator of CMS since 2011, when she replaced the previous CMS Administrator …
Healthy Futures Fund Invests Capital Funding to Link FQHCs and Affordable Housing
This week, Morgan Stanley, The Kresge Foundation and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) announced the launch of the Healthy Futures Fund, a $100 million initiative designed to increase access to health care and affordable housing in underserved areas. The investment will provide capital financing and funding to construct eight FQHCs and 500 housing units …
Fiscal Cliff Discussions: How Medicaid is in the Mix
by Alex Sange, MPP As Congress and the White House continue to hammer out a deal to avert the so-called “fiscal cliff,” members of the House, Senate, and the Administration are voicing their ideas and opinions about changes to programs including Medicare and Medicaid. The “fiscal cliff” refers to the combined impact of a myriad …
NACHC Legislative Fly-In: Message Delivered, Action Continues
By Craig A. Kennedy, MPH Washington DC – On Nov. 28th health center advocates from across the country came to Capitol Hill to press their case as Congress works to avoid the “fiscal cliff.” Their message included a clear picture of what will happen if Congress doesn’t act to stop the across-the-board cuts (known as …