Legislative Update Week of June 17th

The Legislature saw the light at the end of the tunnel with this being the final week before they leave on their summer recess. This week started with the Lieutenant Governor in the Upper Peninsula and the Governor in Israel working on creating economic development for Michigan but with the Medicaid expansions hanging in the balance, we saw trips being cut short with both the Lieutenant Governor and the Governor coming back to Lansing to try to get the Medicaid expansion across the finish line. Let’s review the week:

House:

The House started out this week with having a number of topics on the agenda including House bill 4736 that would allow Expedited Partner Therapy in Michigan. This was on the agenda for Wednesday for the House to take up but everything took a back seat to what was happening across the hall in the Senate.

Senate:

The Senate found itself in the limelight, where it wanted it or not, this week with the possible consideration of HB 4714 or the bill that addresses Medicaid expansion. Starting out the week the Senate Republicans were having troubles meeting their own imposed requirement where a majority of their caucus has to vote in favor of the legislation before they will consider an issue on the full Senate floor. Wednesday found the majority of those lobbying in the Capitol working on the Senate asking Senators to support the expansion. The Lieutenant Governor made his want back to Lansing to join those lobbying the Senate Republicans on supporting the exchange. At the end of the day, Wednesday saw no action on the expansion and left some wondering if it would ever get done.

Thursday and final day of session before the summer break, found those hoping for the Medicaid expansion to make its way to the Governor's desk, but with the Governor gone in Israel for the past week, it was hard for supports of the legislation to find any hope of moving the issue forward. Then word came that the Governor was on his way back to Lansing and would be at the Capitol before noon. With the Governor's arrival eminent, supports continued working with Senators to push them to support House Bill 4714. When the Governor arrived, he talked with his staff that had been working on the Senate, giving him a status report, and then started working members of the Senate. This went on for most of the afternoon where he also called representatives from the supporting groups to fill them in on his progress which was not promising at the time.



Kenneth Elmassian, DO, President of MSMS in the background at
the Governor's Medicaid Expansion Press Conference.
From the Detroit News
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130620/POLITICS02/306200084

Finally, after five hours of working the Senate, the Governor called a press conference with supports of the expansion asking the Senate to take a vote on the expansion rather than heading home for summer break. Kenneth Elmassian, DO, President of the Michigan State Medical Society was there for MSMS. "Every discussion about health care and health policy in Lansing should start and end with what is best for Michigan patients. The Healthy Michigan Plan puts patients first, helping more families receive the health care they so desperately need while being responsible with residents' tax dollars," said Elmassian in a statement. He went on to say, "Physicians across Michigan are grateful for Governor Snyder's steadfast leadership and look forward to working with lawmakers this summer and into the fall on reforms that put patients first."

Now the Senate will be back in August on the 27th to hopefully finish the work done on the Medicaid expansion, those supporting the package now have until August to continue working to garner support for the package. The blog will now take a break until the legislature comes back into session in August. Follow MSMS though through our twitter feed and Facebook page to get up to date information on what is happening over the summer at http://www.msms.org/advocacy.

Legislative Update Week of June 10th

With the clock ticking away on the amount of time left in the legislative calendar for this first part of the year, Medicaid reform was front and center throughout the entire week, leaving one chamber looking on to see what would be done. Let's review the past week.

House:

With the Senate looking on the House Michigan Competiveness Committee was signaling that there was a substitute bill to House Bill 4714 at the start of their meeting on Tuesday, where the committee continued to take testimony, this time from those individuals who are associated with the Tea Party. Comments offered to the committee from those testifying had nothing to do with the legislation but rather how they disliked the Affordable Care Act and any expansion of any government service or program. After the testimony from the Tea Party the committee adjourned and reconviened on Wednesday where they approved the legislation as substituted along with some amendments that were also tacked on by members of the committee. A further analysis of the legislation can be see here.

Dr. Kenneth Elmassian, President
of MSMS sharing his feelings
about the Michigan Medicaid Reform.

Wednesday the House moved the legislation through second reading leaving a showdown within the Republican caucus on Thursday to move the legislation out of the House to the Senate. The day started at it's usual time with both caucuses heading back to their respective rooms to discuss the upcoming vote on the Medicaid reform package. The subsititute stripped out some of the harsh language including the 48 month drop out of the program was changed to after 48 momths increasing co-pays for the program. Also an amendment was added that at the end of the 48 months a 90 day period would be added on to allow patients to be ready for the changes. After hours of working the room, those support the legislation were able to get the votes needed to pass the bill to the Senate with a vote of 76 for and 31 against.

Now the legislation heads to the Senate as they choose what to do with it over the summer break. The House did also send legislation to the Senate that would allow those who have military expereince to use that if they are looking to be licensed as an EMT. This was part of a larger package aimed to help veterans coming home looking for a job.

With a week left there are several issues still on the docket that both chambers are looking to complete before the summer break. Stay with MSMS to get the up to date information on the issues that will effect the physician community. Go to http://www.msms.org/advocacy to get all the information.

Legislative Update Week of June 3rd.

With the summer recess looming on the horizon, both chambers are looking to finish up some of the larger issues that have been on the plate for the legislature. Lets review the activity of this week and whats still to come:

Senate:

The Senate concurred with the conference report for the General Government Omnibus budget, which covers the Department of Community Health budget as well. With the budget now agreed to by the both House and Senate, it will be heading to the Governor's desk for his signature.

House:

The House Michigan Competitiveness Committee convened again this week to consider the House Republican Medicaid Reform package. House Bill 4714 would require the state to ask for a waiver for their Medicaid program that would require full support of expansion by the Federal Government along with a 48 month limit for those able bodied individuals using Medicaid. There were rumors that the legislation was going to be voted out this week by the committee but it did not happen. Instead there was notification that a substitute piece of legislation would be introduced which would make the plan more attractive to the groups who are against this major change. We wait to see what the substitute legislation will look like, but signals from the chair of the committee along with the Speaker of the House is that the new legislation will have the 48 month limit included in it.

The House Judiciary committee came together with the House Health Policy committee to take testimony on House Bills 4694, 4695, 4696 and 4697, which is enabling legislation to create Mental Health courts statewide in Michigan, bring them under the authority of the State Court Administrator's Office (SCAO) and allow them to direct funding for the program. The General Government Omnibus budget included $2 Million for the courts in Michigan, now with this legislation it these court could become a reality. The joint committee heard testimony from those involved in the Mental Health court in Kalamazoo on Tuesday when the joint committee meet. The Judiciary committee continued taking testimony on this issue on Thursday  hearing from the judge in charge of the Mental Health court in Kalamazoo. This legislation is likely to be moved out of the committee at their next meeting as this was one of the issues that Republicans were interested in moving before the start of the break.

The House Health Policy Committee also meet this week to consider a host of issues including taking a vote on House Bill 4736, a bill that would bring EPT to Michigan. The legislation made it out of committee with no signs of fight back from the members of the committee with a vote of 13 yes votes 0 No votes and 2 passes. Now the legislation will be sent to the full House for their consideration and we are hopeful for a vote before the House members leave for break. The committee also took a vote on changing the grade requirement for immunizations. The push to to move the record from 6th to 7th grade since those who are in 6th grade may be younger than what traditionally someone in 6th grade would be. This legislation headed to the House as well.

The Coming Weeks:

The House has several large issues they are looking to tackle before heading home on their summer recess. Transportation and road funding is the major problem facing the legislators at the moment. Looking to increase the tax on gasoline while it is so high or tacking on an increase to your registration fees are just a couple of the ways the House is looking at to solve this road funding issue. Medicaid expansion will be in the limelight for the next couple weeks as well. The House is committed to get their Medicaid reform legislation to the Senate before break. Those are the two largest issues facing the legislature that are trying to be teed up to send to the other chamber.

For more information on what is happening in Lansing and beyond follow us at http://www.msms.org/advocacy. You can get all of the information there and from our Facebook and Twitter feeds. What to know what is happening politically? Check out MDPAC at http://www.mdpac.org to get all the information on who will be running for what in the coming months ahead.

Legislative Update Week of May 27th

This week the legislature saw a short but very important week with the House working hard to meet it's self imposed deadline of getting the budget approved. Let's take a look at what happened before the legislators left for the week:

Budget:

The Detroit Regional Chamber had it's annual policy conference on Mackinac Island this week that included names like Governors Jeb Bush and Scott Walker. This left the legislator looking at a shorten schedule for this past week with the conference starting on Wednesday. The House started with the School Aide budget with an increase in the foundation allowance for most school districts around Michigan that averaged out to $52 per student. The Senate agreed with the House and the Conference Committee' s work and passed the Education Omnibus budget, sending it to the Governor for his signature.

The General Government Omnibus budget is still in limbo. The House received the report of the Conference Committee, a report that came without the Medicaid Expansion. Mental Health Services saw the majority of extra funding with the Governor's push for greater access and increased services for those needing mental services. The House voted the bill out on party lines to the Senate for their approval but the Senate decided with the short timeline for the week that they were not interested in rushing the budget through. The Senate will be considering the budget this coming week.

This coming week the budget will be finalized, Expedited Partner Therapy could see a vote in the House Health Policy committee along with other action. Stay will MSMS to get the most up to date information at http://www.msms.org/advocacy.