BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD ASSOCIATION for BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD ASSOCIATION
What was lobbied
4 issue areas, each in the filer's own words, with who lobbied on it and where.
Health Issues HCR
See attached addendum for General Lobbying Issue Area: HCR - HealthcareAffordable Private Health Care: Effect of the Health Insurance Tax, defined Essential Health Benefits, and Age Rating on premiums; Healthcare Delivery System Reforms State-based regulation: State Oversight of Rates; Properly designed state based health insurance exchanges to improve competition and maximize choice; federal exchanges; Multi-State Health Plans; Centralized All-Payer Database Medical Loss Ratios: Level Playing Field for MLRs; Consistent reporting requirements for all insurers; MLR Broker Fees: Health Care Quality: Delivery System Incentives to Promote Better Care; Payment Reforms; Patient-centered Primary Care/Medical Home; Evidence Based Care; Wellness; Chronic Care Management Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (FEHBP) regarding proposals to allow additional types of carriers including regional PPOs to be included in the coverage options offered by OPM FEHBP Modernization Act circulation draft President's budget, regional PPOs, government contributions HR 2667 Introduced by Griffin (R-AR) on July 11, 2013 Authority for Mandate Delay Act HR 2668 Introduced by Young (R-IN) on July 17, 2013 Fairness for Families Act Bailouts for Insurance Companies, S. 1726, H.R. 3541, 3812, 3851. 4406 HR 2328 Introduced in House June 12, 2013 Rep. Rogers, Mike J. (R-MI) Access to Professional Health Insurance Advisors Act of 2013 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to exclude remuneration paid for licensed independent insurance producers from administrative cost calculations for purposes of calculating the medical-loss ratio of a health insurance plan. HR 3541 introduced by Tim Griffin November 19,2013 Obamacare Taxpayer Bailout Prevention Act - Repeals the provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish and administer a program of risk corridors for calendar years 2014, 2015, and 2016 under which a qualified health plan offered in the individual or small group market is required to participate in a payment adjustment system based on the ratio of the allowable costs of the plan to the plan's aggregate premiums. Other general Affordable Care Act topics related to multiple parts of legislation: ACA Implementation and back-end issues; Multi-State Plan Program Implementation; Risk Corridors and Risk Mitigation; Reinsurance; Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) implementation; Third-party payment of premiums; Electronic Health Records (EHRs); Health IT Roadmap; Contraception Rule See following page on Health Care Reform issuesS. 1486 Introduced August 1, 2013 by Sen. Carper, Thomas R. (D-DE) Postal Reform Act of 2013 - Amends provisions of federal law relating to the funding of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) retirement and health care systems, operations, revenue, and governance.. Section 104 Substitute Amendment. HR 3362 Introduced October 29,2013 by Rep. Terry, Lee (R-NE) Exchange Information Disclosure Act - Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to expand reporting requirements related to health care exchanges. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to publish reports weekly through March 31, 2015, on: (1) consumer interactions with healthcare.gov or subsequent sites and any efforts undertaken to remedy problems that impact taxpayers and consumers, (2) calls to the federal customer service call center, including the number of calls received by the call center, problems identified by users, and referrals of those calls; (3) all navigators and certified application counselors that have been trained and certified by health care exchanges; and (4) all agents and brokers who have been trained and certified by the federal health care exchange. HR 762 Introduced in House February 15, 2013 by Rep. Blackburn, Marsha (R-TN) Health Care Choice Act of 2013 - Repeals the health insurance and health coverage expansion requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and related requirements of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. Restores provisions of law amended or repealed by such provisions. HR 1701 Introduced April 24, 2013 by Ted Poe (R-TX) Cutting Costly Codes Act of 2013 - Prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) from implementing, administering, or enforcing specified regulations insofar as they would replace International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-9 with ICD-10 as a standard for code sets for appropriate data elements for financial and administrative transactions involving the electronic exchange of health information. HR 3985 Introduced February 3, 2014 by Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) Prohibits health insurance issuers and third-party administrators, for any period after December 31, 2014, from being required to make payments under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) for a transitional reinsurance program for the individual health insurance market in each state. Allows payments to issuers, as limited by this Act, only to the extent of available funds. Limits to 2014 the applicability of the program of risk corridors, under which a qualified health plan offered in the individual or small group market shall participate in a payment adjustment system based on the ratio of the allowable costs of the plan to the plan's aggregate premiums . HR 4496 Introduced April 28, 2014 by Cory Gardner (R-CO) Covering People With Pre-Existing Conditions Act of 2014 - Requires each state to mitigate the health costs of high risk individuals in the state through a state reinsurance program or a state high risk pool HR 4777 Introduced May 30, 2014 by Michael Burgess (R-TX) To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify rules relating to health savings accounts.
| Lobbyist | Covered position, as disclosed |
|---|---|
| ALEXIS KRISTIANA AHLSTROM | — |
| JEROD BROWN | — |
| JOHN CERISANO | — |
| KATHY DIDAWICK | — |
| JOHN ERICKSEN | — |
| GARRY EWING | — |
| ALISSA FOX | — |
| JANE GALVIN | — |
| KRIS HALTMEYER | — |
| JUSTINE HANDELMAN | — |
| PHILIP JOHN HAYS | — |
| DANIEL R JONES | — |
| JASON PRAY | — |
| LORI SHOAF New | — |
| JOEL SLACKMAN | — |
| JAMES BERRY TRIMBLE | — |
| DAVID TULLY | — |
| THOMAS WHARTON | — |
Pharmacy PHA
No pharmacy lobbying activity reported during the 2nd quarter.
| Lobbyist | Covered position, as disclosed |
|---|---|
| JANE GALVIN | — |
Taxation/Internal Revenue Code TAX
IRC section 833(b) tax provisions; Health Spending Accounts; Medical Loss Ratio definition to qualify for 833(b) tax deduction; Health Insurance Tax: Health Insurance Excise Tax, S. 603/HR 763, HR 3367
| Lobbyist | Covered position, as disclosed |
|---|---|
| JOHN CERISANO | — |
| KATHY DIDAWICK | — |
| JOHN ERICKSEN | — |
| ALISSA FOX | — |
| JUSTINE HANDELMAN | — |
| PHILIP JOHN HAYS | — |
| DANIEL R JONES | — |
| JASON PRAY | — |
| DAVID TULLY | — |
| THOMAS WHARTON | — |
Medicare/Medicaid MMM
Medicare Reforms: Medicare A & B; Delivery System Reforms, Benefit Restructuring ; Medigap first-dollar coverage; Quality Initiatives/SGR Reform, HIPAA Code Adoption Process, Medicare Advantage Risk Delay Part D Cuts, HR 2810 Introduced by Burgess (R-TX) on July 31, 2013 See addendum on additional Medicare/Medicaid issues...Addtional Medicare/Medicaid Issues: HR 3392 Introduced October 13, 2013 by Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for a PDP safety program to prevent fraud and abuse in the dispensing of controlled substances under part D of the Medicare program, and for other purposes. Multi-State Plan Programs, Medicare Patient Access and Quality Improvement Act of 2013, Medicare Prescription Drug Integrity. Medicare fraud; Provider terminations in Medicare Advantage HR 4160 Introduced March 6, 2014 by Renee Ellmers (R-NC) Keep the Promise to Seniors Act of 2014 - Prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) from taking any action (through promulgation of a final or interim final regulation, issuance of regulatory or program guidance, use of federal payment audit procedures, or other enforcement or administrative action, policy, or practice) to implement any provision of the proposed regulation (relating to policy and technical changes to the MedicareAdvantage and part D programs under Medicare) published in the Federal Register on January 10, 2014, insofar as that regulation relates to part D (Voluntary Prescription Drug Benefit Program) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA), including its application to MedicareAdvantage- Prescription Drug (MA-PD) plans under part C (Medicare+Choice Program). HR 4930 Introduced June 20, 2014 by Joe Barton (R-TX) Advancing Care for Exceptional Kids Act of 2014 or the ACE Kids Act of 2014 - Amends titles XIX (Medicaid) and XXI (Children's Health Insurance) (CHIP) of the Social Security Act to extend medical assistance to payment for items and services furnished under a Medicaid Children's Care Coordination (MCCC) Program which the state may elect to provide to eligible children with complex medical conditions HR 4577 Introduced May 6, 2014 by H. Griffith (R-VA) Ensuring Seniors Access to Local Pharmacies Act of 2014 - Amends part D (Voluntary Prescription Drug Benefit Program) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to a prescription drug plan that has, in its network of pharmacies, one or more pharmacies located in a health professional shortage area, in a medically underserved area, or among a medically underserved population, and that provides a reduction in coinsurance or copayments for covered part D drugs dispensed through them. Declares that such a plan shall extend to any pharmacy located in that area or among that population the option to be an in-network pharmacy with respect to such plan under terms and conditions comparable to those the plan has agreed upon with other in-network pharmacies located in the area or among that population.
| Lobbyist | Covered position, as disclosed |
|---|---|
| ALEXIS KRISTIANA AHLSTROM | — |
| JOHN CERISANO | — |
| JOHN ERICKSEN | — |
| GARRY EWING | — |
| ALISSA FOX | — |
| JANE GALVIN | — |
| PHILIP JOHN HAYS | — |
| JASON PRAY | — |
Shown as published by the Senate Office of Public Records and the House Clerk under the Lobbying Disclosure Act. The official filing is the record; open it for the full form.