Well, by now, I am sure you are all aware that Scott Brown won in Massachusetts. This is not a political blog, per se, but the news this morning is covering how Scott Brown's election will effect the passage of a number of bills that are of concern to the home health, private duty, and hospice industries.
The first issue getting a lot of attention is whether or not Scott Brown's victory is the death knell of health care reform. Many Democrats appear to be signaling that it is time to back away from the current bills and rethink health care reform. This article also has some great quotes about the status of health care reform after last night. Some Congressional Democrats are saying everything should be put on hold until Scott Brown is sworn in (you can read that story here). Barney Frank was quoted as saying they may need to start over. Susan Collins even specifically mentioned starting over and getting away from a bill that included the steep cuts to Medicare. These articles give a pretty strong impression that the current bills, which were terrible for the home health industry are dying, if not completely dead. If this is the end of health care in its current form (which seems likely) the election last night may have saved the home health industry from the draconian cuts proposed by the House and Senate.
Of course, this is not done yet. Providers need to keep a close eye on what is happening. Until the bills are officially scrapped and Congress starts over, the cuts are not dead. Furthermore, if Congress starts over, the home health industry will need to keep a close eye on what they propose and, if necessary, be ready to respond loudly and clearly (you may find your representatives more willing to listen now). Based on today's reports, it seems that health care reform may ultimately go forward, but in a much different fashion. If so, home health providers may be able to breathe a sigh of relief that the $55 billion dollars in cuts will not happen.
Another area of interest to the home health, private duty, and hospice industry is the Employee Free Choie Act. At least two outlets (here and here) are predicting that the election of Scott Brown is the end of the Employee Free Choice Act for this year. Scott Brown was clear in his campaign that he was opposed to the EFCA. This is another bit of great news for the industry. (Although it is only a prediction.) This aspect of the election has not gotten much press, because of the focus on health care reform, but it appears that with the election of Scott Brown, supporters of the EFCA no longer have the votes they need to pass the bill.
[There was an interesting side note during the campaign in Massachusetts. SEIU members were out campaigning for Brown while SEIU's leadership was campaigning for Coakley. Here is the video.
This video says a number of things, but I like to think it shows that the union's leadership is out of touch with its members. Always a good point to raise when in the midst of a union campaign.)
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