Waxman agrees to Blue Dogs' idea for independent commission with power to control Medicare spending

[flpoljunkie]

Obama himself has called for such an independent council, (IMAC*/Independent Medicare Advisory Council) but it was not included in the House bill (Congressmen like to control Medicare reimbursement rates in their states.) Score one for the Blue Dogs as this would control costs.

*http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/07/the_dull_reality_of_change.html

Blue Dogs See Signs of Hope
Health Care Deal Is Possible

By Steven T. Dennis and Tory Newmyer

Roll Call Staff
July 22, 2009, 12 a.m.

Blue Dog Democrats announced Tuesday that they had reached a “significant breakthrough” with Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and President Barack Obama to cut health care costs, but they added that they still have many issues to resolve before they can back the overhaul.

Blue Dogs said Waxman agreed to support an independent commission with the power to control Medicare spending, an idea proposed by Obama but rejected by House chairmen while writing the bill.

Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), the chairman of the Blue Dog health task force, called the verbal agreement on an independent commission a “significant breakthrough” but said the details still have to be worked out and many other issues remain unresolved.

“We’re making progress, but we’ve got a long way to go,” Ross said.

The Blue Dogs are scheduled to meet with Waxman again Wednesday for further negotiations. Waxman canceled the markups that had been scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday so more negotiations could take place, but he told Roll Call that he is optimistic he can get a bill through his committee this week.

Ross said seven Blue Dogs on the Energy and Commerce Committee who are opposed to the current House bill met with Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf on Friday and that Elmendorf said an independent commission with the power to control Medicare costs was the single most effective thing that could be done to cut costs.

more...

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/55_11/news/37079-1.html

[pinto]

1. I'd like to see the specs, once they get clearer. Is controlling costs

controlling overhead, cutting waste, controlling reimbursements? A mix of all three?

I know that compared to private insurers, Medicare wins hands down on overhead. And I know the patchwork reimbursement schedules are way out of date with cost of living, cost of doing business in some areas of the country.

I'm interested to see some specifics of what is proposed.

[Better Believe It]

2. So the conservative "blue dogs" are re-writing the House bill making it even weaker!

And Congressman Ross says Waxman still has "a long way to go" in order to achieve the conservatives seal of approval.

And after the House meets with the Senate in conference still more concessions will be made to satisfy the demands of "conservative" Democratic and "moderate" Republican Senators.

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. Sounds like they are helping the President by crafting if with an eye toward his agenda

[SpartanDem]

4. How is IMAC a bad thing?

So writes the guy who's supposed to be writing heath-care reform. Confidence-inspiring, innit? But this question of, as Grassley so eloquently put it, "doRITE," is an interesting one. Insofar as there was anything new in Obama's speech, it was his full-throated advocacy of the Independent Medicare Advisory Council (IMAC) (formerly known as MedPAC). This really is a good idea. But it's an idea that probably makes Grassley mad.

The theory underlying IMAC is that Congress cannot do health-care reform, err, RITE. It is too captured by special interests and too baffled by technical arguments and too paralyzed by partisanship. Leaving the continual tweaks and hard decisions that will bend the curve over the long term up to Congress is a bit like asking JD Salinger to blog: It might happen occasionally, but it's not a safe bet. The IMAC proposal substantially removes Congress from the process. The letter that Peter Orszag sent to Nancy Pelosi explained how it would work:

This draft bill would establish an Independent Medicare Advisory Council (IMAC), which would have the authority to make recommendations to the President on annual Medicare payment rates as well as other reforms. Both the annual payment updates and the broader reforms would be prohibited from increasing the aggregate level of net Medicare expenditures. This proposed legislation would require the President to approve or disapprove each set of the IMAC’s recommendations as a package. If the President accepts the IMAC’s recommendations, Congress would then have 30 days to intervene with a joint resolution before the Secretary of Health and Human Services is authorized to implement them.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/07/the_dull_reality_of_change.html

[uponit7771]

5. This looks like a win win, they get to go back and say they controlled cost AND supported pubOption