Washington, DC – Today, President Obama signed into law H.R. 4994, the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014 (IMPACT Act), bipartisan legislation aimed at strengthening and improving post-acute care for Medicare beneficiaries while bringing about more accountable, quality-driven benefits to patients. The IMPACT Act also strengthens Medicare’s oversight of hospice care by ensuring that Medicare dollars are spent efficiently and that high quality care is provided. The bill...
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Washington, DC – House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) says one year after a disastrous rollout, the Affordable Care Act still isn't ready. “Today, Americans were supposed to be able to enroll in an Affordable Care Act plan for the second year, but the opening of 2015 enrollment was delayed till after the mid-term elections to avoid consumers finding out that much of the backend of Healthcare.gov still doesn’t work, and that they may face higher premiums and a more...
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Washington, DC – The Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is not keeping complete and reliable information on how much it is spending to implement the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In response to the report, Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Charles Boustany Jr., M.D. (R-LA) issued the following statements. “The Administration has tried to hide the ball from Congress on just how much it ...
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Washington, DC – The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed the "Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014 (IMPACT Act)," bipartisan legislation that will strengthen and improve post-acute care for Medicare beneficiaries while bringing about more accountable, quality-driven benefits to patients. The House passed the bill on Tuesday. The IMPACT Act of 2014 also strengthens Medicare’s oversight of hospice care by ensuring that Medicare dollars are spent efficiently and that high quali...
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Washington, DC – Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) wrote to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell regarding HHS’ unilateral action to clear the backlog of Medicare appeals through a “settlement” process. In the letter, Brady asked HHS to clearly articulate its statutory authority for this settlement process. In releasing the letter, Brady stated: “While the backlog of Medicare appeals is at an unacceptable high, settling all appeals without rev...
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The Affordable Care Act has changed how Americans receive their health care. There has been ample debate over the last four years about the ACA and what impact it will have. Today, we have the chance to look in the review mirror and judge the results rather than the promises. And we have the opportunity to look forward to next year, to see what other changes and surprises may lay ahead for the American people. It’s no surprise that I, and many of my colleagues on this side of the aisle, were ve...
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Washington, DC – Today, House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) released the Protecting Integrity in Medicare Act of 2014 (PIMA), a discussion draft aimed at combating fraud, waste and abuse in the Medicare program so that it can better serve Americans. Upon releasing the discussion draft, Chairman Brady made the following statement: "I’m pleased to release a discussion draft of the Protecting Integrity in Medicare Act (PIMA) of 2014. This draft bill builds off th...
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The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office released a report showing how the successful Part D program has harnessed competition and private sector innovation to save billions for taxpayers and seniors. The report highlighted that spending in fiscal year 2013 was $50 billion less than CBO's originally projected in that year. That is nearly HALF of what they had previously estimated. Additionally, CBO confirmed that having more Part D sponsors leads to more competition. This report shows that c...
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Washington, DC – Today, Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI), Health Subcommittee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Sam Johnson (R-TX) made the following statements upon the release of the 2014 Medicare and Social Security Trustees Report. According to the report, at the current rate, Medicare will go bankrupt in 2030 and Social Security will not be able to pay full benefits in 2033. Rep. Camp: “This Administration continues to ignore the fast-approaching ...
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