Addressing Health Care Challenges a Priority
Access to quality, affordable health care is one of our nation’s most difficult problems to fix and the President’s health care law is making these problems worse, not better. While everyone agrees there are problems with the law, the President and his allies have vehemently resisted making any changes. As the 114th Congress convened this week, addressing health care challenges is among my top priorities.
The employer-mandate included in Obamacare requires businesses with more than 50 employees to provide health insurance to their workers. This is even true of veterans who already qualify for health care benefits through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
To correct this problem the first bill passed by the new Congress was the Hire More Heroes Act. This legislation would exempt veterans with VA benefits from counting as employees toward the 50 employee threshold. Not only does it make sense to not require employers to provide health care to those who already have it through the VA, but this will also encourage businesses to hire more veterans – a win-win for job creators and those who have served our nation in uniform. The bill passed with strong bipartisan support.
To fix another element of the Obamacare employer mandate, the House passed the Save American Workers Act. This bill would define full time employment as 40 hours per week as opposed to 30 hours as currently defined by the law. This 10 hour difference encourages employers to schedule employees for less than 30 hours per week. Reduced hours and the resulting loss in wages are hurting low-income Americans the hardest.
I am also continuing to work to address some of the regulatory burdens which threaten access to quality, affordable health care in rural areas such as Nebraska’s Third District. Long distances between facilities and a shortage of doctors make access to health care in rural America challenging enough without the heavy hand of the federal government.
The 96-hour rule requires physicians at Critical Access Hospitals at the time of admission to certify Medicare and Medicaid patients will not be there more than 96 hours. Otherwise, the hospital must transfer the patient or face non-reimbursement. To address this problem, I have reintroduced the Critical Access Hospital Relief Act which would remove the 96-hour precertification requirement for patients at Critical Access Hospitals.
Physician supervision rules require a physician’s presence and supervision over nearly all routine procedures administered in hospitals. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) previously delayed enforcement of this rule for Critical Access Hospitals, as did Congress through 2014. However, as of January 1st these rules are once again being enforced. Therefore I have reintroduced the Rural Health Care Provider Relief Act which would delay physician supervision requirements at Critical Access Hospitals for at least a year and until the impact of the rules is studied.
These bills alone are not a silver bullet to solve our many health care challenges. However, they would be steps in the right direction toward greater access to care and reversing some of the damage caused by the health care law. I will continue to be an advocate for patient-centered, and market-based health care solutions which will lower costs, promote freedom, and expand coverage for all Americans.