February 14, 2025
ACEP in Washington DC
Action On Capitol Hill
Senate Confirms RFK Jr. as HHS Secretary
On Thursday, the Senate officially confirmed Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to be Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in a nearly party-line 52-48 vote, with Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as the lone Republican to oppose Kennedy’s confirmation.
Kennedy was officially sworn in later in the afternoon in a small ceremony in the White House Oval Office. Immediately after the ceremony, President Trump signed a new “Establishing the President’s Make America Healthy Again Commission” Executive Order with the intent of investigating and addressing “the root causes of America’s escalating health crisis, with a focus on childhood chronic disease.”
With Kennedy now taking the helm of HHS, the Senate will begin tackling the slate of other health-related agency positions that must be confirmed, such as the nomination of Dr. Mehmet Oz to be the Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Oz’s nomination is expected to be considered in the next several weeks.
House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Hearing on Healthy Living
On Tuesday, the House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health held a hearing, entitled, “Modernizing American Health Care: Creating Healthy Options and Better Incentives.” The hearing focused on ways to promote healthy living, tackling the chronic disease epidemic, and ensuring prevention and early detection of disease. The subcommittee heard from a panel of witnesses, including Brooks Tingle, CEO of John Hancock Financial; Jay Carlson, DO, MS, Medical Director for Oncology for Mercy Hospital St. Louis, MO; Marcie Strouse, Owner and Partner of Capitol Benefits Group; and, Leslie Dach, Founder and Chairman of Protect Our Care.
Subcommittee Chairman Vern Buchanan (R-FL) and Ranking Member Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) both shared their concerns about the “out of control” chronic disease epidemic and the need to improve disease prevention; however, the two disagreed significantly with the approach of the Trump Administration and now-HHS Secretary RFK, Jr. on addressing the causes of the chronic disease epidemic and Americans’ poor overall health and health outcomes.
House & Senate Budget Committees Kick Off Budget Process
On Thursday, the House and Senate Budget Committees each met to consider their budget resolutions, the first step in the process needed to initiate the “budget reconciliation” process that congressional Republicans intend to use to pass sweeping efforts to make permanent the 2017 tax cuts and reduce federal spending. Both committees approved their budget resolutions on party lines; however, the House and Senate blueprints differ substantially and both chambers will eventually have to agree on a unified approach.
The Senate prefers a two-bill reconciliation approach, focusing on a narrower first bill focused on border security, defense, and energy, with approximately $85 billion in spending to be fully offset by corresponding cuts, and a second, larger bill later in the year to permanently address the expiring 2017 tax cuts. The initial bill advanced by the Senate Budget Committee on Thursday does not intend to address health care or use health care programs as potential savings. The House has been working on a comprehensive one-bill strategy, with their budget blueprint seeking $1.5 to $2 trillion (or more) in spending cuts in order to offset some of the costs of permanently extending the tax cuts, estimated to cost north of $4.5 trillion over ten years.
As part of the spending cut efforts, the House blueprint instructs the House Energy and Commerce Committee to come up with at least $880 billion in cuts through policies under their jurisdiction. While the instructions are not specific on how the Committee finds their spending cuts, it is widely expected that significant changes and cuts to the Medicaid program are on the table. At the moment it remains unclear how the Committee will approach Medicaid, and ACEP continues monitoring any developments, communicating with legislators about how Medicaid changes will disproportionately affect emergency departments that are already under significant strain, and working to ensure that federal policies protect our patients and do not simply force an additional cost-shift on to emergency physicians.
Urge Your Legislator to Cosponsor H.R. 879 - PFS Fix Bill
As previously reported, a broad bipartisan coalition of House members introduced the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act (H.R.879), legislation to reverse the 2.83 percent Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) cut that went into effect on January 1, 2025, and also provide a 2 percent update for 2025 to help account for inflationary pressures on physician payments. The bill is led by Representatives Greg Murphy, MD (R-NC), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Marianette Miller-Meeks, MD (R-IA), Kim Schrier, MD (D-WA), John Joyce, MD (R-PA), Raul Ruiz, MD (D-CA), Carol Miller (R-WV), Ami Bera, MD (D-CA), Claudia Tenney (R-NY), and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL).
Click here to Urge Your Representative to Cosponsor this Critical Legislation!
