|
 What's New
Update on Federal Legislation
as of November 6, 2008
In October 2008 Congress passed mental health parity legislation as part of the large economic bailout package. The President signed the bill, HR 1424, on October 3, 2008. The bill requires health plans to offer mental health benefits at the same cost and scope as traditional medical benefits.
On April 2, 2008, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved, with amendments, HR 1108, which would require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate tobacco. User fees paid by the tobacco companies would fund the cost. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee passed its companion legislation, S 625, in August 2007. Another bill in the Senate, S2685, would make changes in the marketing of tobacco products. It has been approved by the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee.
On April 30, 2008, the Senate approved S 1760, which would reauthorize the Healthy Start grant program that expired in 2005. This program provides grants to communities with higher infant mortality rates in order to improve perinatal care. The Senate bill authorizes up to $120 million per year for fiscal years 2008 through 2013. The House approved the bill in September, and the President signed the legislation on October 3, 2008.
On April 8, 2008, the House approved S 793, which was passed by the Senate in December 2007. The bill reauthorizes a CDC state grant program for brain injury treatment and rehabilitation programs. The legislation revises the national program for traumatic brain injury registries to make grants for state traumatic brain injury surveillance systems as well as registries. It also authorizes appropriations for FY2008-FY2011 for NIH's trauma research program.
On April 8, 2008, the House passed, S 1858, which was approved by the Senate in December 2007.
The legislation provides grants for education and outreach on newborn screening and coordinated follow up care once newborn screening has been conducted . The bill was signed by the President on April 25, 2008.
On June 27, 2007, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee passed out S1693, which would authorize $278 million in federal fiscal years 2008 and 2009 for competitive matching grants to local and regional health information technology networks. The bill would mandate that government health information technology purchases meet certain standards regarding information exchange. The legislation also includes privacy protection provisions. The companion bill in the House is HB 3800, which has not been acted upon. In November 2007, the House Science and Technology Committee reported favorably to the full House HR 2406, the Healthcare Information Technology Enterprise Integration Act, which would authorize grants for health information technology research and would require the National Institute of Standards and Technology to establish a task force of federal agency and industry group representatives to develop common terminologies and classifications for use in health information technology systems. The House Energy and Commerce Committee reported HR 6357, the "Pro(tech)t Act of 2008,"to the full House on September 11, 2008.
On April 24, 2008, the Senate passed HR 493, which prohibits discrimination by employers and insurers on the basis of an individual's genetic information. The House gave its approval to the final bill on May 1, 2008, and the President signed the bill into law on May 22, 2008.
« Back to News
|
