On Jan. 31, the ACR partnered with the Arthritis Foundation to host an Arthritis 101 Congressional briefing on Capitol Hill. Panelists educated new and returning members of Congress and their staffers about arthritis and other rheumatic diseases, the cost and impact of rheumatic disease to constituents and the U.S. healthcare system, and current policy challenges…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Me.) called President Donald Trump’s executive order against Obamacare “very confusing” on Monday, saying whatever actions the Trump administration takes, legislation will still be needed to replace the health insurance law. “We really don’t know yet what the impact (of the order) will be,” Collins told reporters, adding that it…
As 2017 unfolds—a year when MACRA begins, lawmakers take steps to dismantle the health reform efforts of the past eight years, and political uncertainty is the rule—it is imperative that the ACR leverage its advocacy agenda by maintaining its seat at the American Medical Association’s (AMA’s) House of Delegates (HOD), says Gary Bryant, MD, FACP…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The U.S. Senate will take its first steps toward repealing President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare reform act by the end of the week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Sunday. Speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” McConnell said: “There ought not to be a great gap” between repealing the act and replacing…
Ready for a cyber checkup? Auditing your health IT policies, safeguarding your hardware and educating your staff on the importance of data security should be routine, according to industry experts…
With a new federal administration and Republican-controlled Congress taking the helm in 2017, the ACR Government Affairs Committee has identified top legislative and regulatory priorities for the year. “The main priority is going to be helping represent the rheumatology community as Medicare is reformed, because the era of MACRA started Jan. 1,” says Angus Worthing,…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says the Senate will move to repeal President Barack Obama’s healthcare law shortly after Jan. 1, but declined to give a timeline for a plan to replace it. McConnell says the Senate would vote as soon as it returns from its year-end recess to repeal Obamacare. “And…
NEW YORK (Reuters)—The largest lobbying group for health insurers has asked U.S. lawmakers weighing the fate of Obamacare to push back the due date for 2018 individual insurance submissions to regulators in hopes of obtaining greater clarity on the program’s future later on. Republican leaders including President-elect Donald Trump and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—A federal appeals court on Monday brought to an end President Barack Obama’s bid to overturn a ruling that threatens to gut his signature healthcare law by putting the case on hold until after President-Elect Donald Trump, who aims to repeal Obamacare, takes office. The Obama administration had appealed a judge’s May ruling favoring…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—A senior U.S. Senator warned his on Thursday against simultaneously overhauling Medicare and the Obamacare health insurance program, saying this would be “biting off more than you can chew.” The cautionary comments from Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) came after House Speaker Paul Ryan, long an advocate of privatizing Medicare, said Republican lawmakers would be…