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Week ahead: Health stakeholders assess the budget cuts
With the sequester in effect, expect a big week as healthcare stakeholders weigh the impact of budget cuts. In Washington, hospitals will convene a major conference, and the House healthcare committees will explore issues ranging from the Affordable Care Act to U.S. mental healthcare to entitlement reform.
The Federation of American Hospitals is holding its public policy conference Tuesday — just in time to discuss the potential impact of the sequester.
Scheduled to speak are: Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio); Reps. Charles Boustany Jr. (R-La.), chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Oversight, and Kevin Brady (R-Texas), chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Health; and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Marilyn Tavenner.
At Ways and Means, the Oversight subpanel will take a look at the healthcare law’s tax provisions and hear testimony from former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin.
Wednesday, the Energy and Commerce Health subcommittee will examine rising U.S. entitlement costs, with a focus on Medicare and Medicaid. Later that day, the House Small Business panel will hold a hearing on requirements for small businesses under the healthcare law.
Thursday, the Energy and Commerce Health subcommittee will look at the healthcare law’s effect on insurance premiums for young adults and middle-class families. The Heritage Foundation will also unveil a comprehensive market-based healthcare proposal Thursday with a focus on lower costs and better quality.
Finally, on Friday, first lady Michelle Obama will continue touting her anti-obesity initiative at the Building a Healthier Future Summit in Washington. The event is sponsored by the Partnership for a Healthier America, a group uniting private-sector efforts to reduce U.S. waistlines.
