NABIP Capitol Conference - Through Our Eyes

By Vicky Cagliola (Legislative Chair, GPAHU) -

Last week, GPAHU members met with our US senators, representatives, and their staff to talk about healthcare issues at our national Capitol Conference in Washington, DC. This an opportunity to let our voices be heard in front of congressional lawmakers. Members of congress want to hear from their constituents, so these meetings can be a powerful way to persuade them when we are faced with loopholes in our healthcare system or emerging legislation that could have detrimental impacts to Americans.

We implored members of congress to retain the employer tax exclusion, which permits employers to offer health benefits to employees on a tax free basis. We also addressed an emerging healthcare cost concern. Site-neutral rules would prevent healthcare providers from billing a service differently based on the site of the service. For example, a general practitioner’s office should not be able to charge higher outpatient hospital facility rates simply because they own both facilities.

We discussed ways that Medicare can be improved, including allowing COBRA coverage to be treated as creditable when seniors move from employer-sponsored COBRA to Medicare coverage, and the ongoing issue of how observation periods are billed and coded under Medicare, instead of counting toward the three-day mandatory inpatient stay before patients are admitted to skilled nursing facilities.