The ACR continues to broaden its advocacy efforts on issues critical to rheumatology, as described in updates to its 2017 health policy statements. Along with continuing to advocate for access to care and treatments, enhancements to rheumatology research and training the next generation of rheumatologists, the 2017 health policy statements address a number of new…
Health Policy Resolutions from the AMA House of Delegates 2016 Interim Meeting
This year’s interim meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates (HOD) took place Nov. 12–15, just days after the national election that, in 2017, will usher in a GOP-led Congress and presidential administration. “It was a highly interesting meeting,” says Gary Bryant, MD, FACP, associate professor of medicine and rheumatology at the University…
ACA Upheld: What Does This Mean for Rheumatology?
What does the Supreme Court decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act mean for rheumatologists?
California Rheumatologists Explore Managed Care, Treatment Options
Advances in SLE, osteoporosis, and RA highlighted at California Rheumatology Alliance meeting.
A Comparison of the Canadian and U.S. Healthcare Systems
The joys and the hazards of the Canadian single-payer universal healthcare program Canadian and the high-capacity and costly U.S. healthcare system.
Gabriel to Chair Healthcare Reform Panel
Former ACR president assigned key role in transforming nation’s healthcare system
The Immune System and Advocacy
Lessons learned for dealing with healthcare issues
March Madness on the High Seas: Hoops and Healthcare as Bedfellows
Hoops and healthcare as bedfellows
The Good and Bad of Healthcare Reform
Even though the law was passed, the work of reform is just beginning
In Advocacy, Slow and Steady Wins the Race
Earlier in the year, it seemed that healthcare reform was stopped in its tracks because of the Massachusetts Senate special election—which placed Republican Scott Brown in the seat held by the “Liberal Lion,” Edward M. Kennedy. The Senate Democrats lost their supermajority and the momentum to pass President Obama’s healthcare reform legislation subsided. But through strong lobbying by the president, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590)—comprehensive healthcare reform—on March 21, and the president signed the bill into law on March 23.