Key Legislative Accomplishments of the
Subcommittee on Health

Year 2007 - 110th Congress 1st Session

Legislation that Originated in the Subcommittee and Became Law:

• The FDA Amendments Act of 2007 strengthens the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and dramatically improves drug safety.

• The Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 prevents a scheduled 10 percent cut in Federal reimbursements to Medicare doctors for 6 months and provides a half-percent update in payments.  It also extends a number of expiring provisions essential to Medicare beneficiaries, including measures to ensure that seniors in rural areas continue to have access to care.  This issue needs to be revisited early next year.

• Trauma Care Systems Planning and Development Act of 2007 strengthened programs governing trauma care systems and will help to enhance disaster preparedness and reduce death and disability for those experiencing traumatic injury.

• National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program Reauthorization will give greater access to uninsured, and underinsured, women who need breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services.

• Charlie W. Norwood Living Organ Donation Act will save lives by increasing organ donations nationwide.

Legislation that Originated in the Subcommittee and Passed the House of Representatives:

• H.R. 3162, Children's Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act of 2007.  Legislation to reauthorize and improve the State Children’s Health Insurance Program passed the House twice, but was vetoed by the President. This legislation would have committed $50 billion to reauthorize and improve the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), strengthen Medicare and protect the Medicare Trust Fund.  Additionally it would have prevented a scheduled 10 percent cut to physician payments and provided Health Care Coverage to 10 million low-income children.

• H.R. 493, Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2007.  Legislation would prohibit discrimination on the basis of genetic information.

• H.R. 4, the Medicare Prescription Drug Negotiation Act.  This legislation would allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services to use the buying power of millions of Medicare beneficiaries to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies for lower drug prices.

• H.R. 507, the Vision Care for Kids Act of 2007.  This bill would establish a grant program to provide vision care to children.

• H.R. 20, the Melanie Blocker-Stokes Postpartum Depression Research and Care Act.  This legislation would fund research and raise awareness about postpartum depression.

• H.R. 2295, the ALS Registry Act.  This legislation would enhance efforts to treat and cure Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) by creating a national patient registry.

Pending Legislation:

• H.R. 1017, Protecting Children's Health in Schools Act.  This legislation would protect health benefits for children with disabilities.

• H.R. 1535, the Children’s Health First Act.  This bill would provide healthcare coverage to all American children.

• H.R. 2034, Medicare for All Act.  This bill would make healthcare coverage available to all Americans.

• H.R. 1781, the Children’s Dental Health Improvement Act.  The bill would improve dental health services for children.

• H.R. 1328, the Indian Health Care Improvement Act Amendments of 2007.  This legislation would improve the health of American Indians and Alaskan Natives (passed out of subcommittee).

• H.R. 1236.  This legislation would extend the authority of the United States Postal Service to issue a special postage stamp to support breast cancer research.

• H.R. 1424, the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007.  This bill would require equity in the provision of mental health and substance-related disorder benefits under group health plans. 

Oversight Work:

• National Institutes of Health (NIH) - Investigated conflict-of-interest allegations, which prompted the HHS inspector general’s office to reopen 103 conflict-of-interest cases involving NIH researchers.

• Food and Drug Administration - After investigating systematic failures and reports of inadequate funding and staffing, developed H.R. 3610, the “Food and Drug Import Safety Act of 2007”, to strengthen FDA’s capabilities.

• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) - Encouraged CMS to improve and simplify the Advanced Beneficiary Notice (ABN) to assist Medicare beneficiaries and providers; requested that GAO examine CMS’s oversight of Medicare Part D coverage plans and the open enrollment process; investigated and opposed new Medicaid requirements for documentation of citizenship and identity that disrupt coverage for families and burden community providers with added bureaucracy; and actively opposed CMS’s adoption of a more restrictive policy regarding Medicaid eligibility and blocking State plans to cover more uninsured people through the Medicaid program.

• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) - Challenged the accuracy of a report issued by HHS that ignores widely accepted data indicating that six million uninsured children are eligible to participate in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) or Medicaid. The HHS report asserted that there are approximately one million eligible but uninsured children nationwide, an estimate six times lower than what the leading research indicates.

• Social Security Administration - Opposed change to appeal process that would cut benefits for disabled individuals.