LEGISLATIVE LOOP Legislative Overview & Political Update
ADA Advocacy News ODA Participates in ADA Virtual Lobby Day ODA members currently serving as ADA Action Team Leaders (ATL) recently participated in the ADA’s Virtual Lobby Day and had an opportunity to visit with Oklahoma’s congressional delegation, via ZOOM, about two issues on the ADA’s current legislative agenda: repeal of the McCarran-Ferguson Act and additional pandemic relief for dentists. Those participating were Drs. Doug Auld, Tamara Berg, Matt Cohlmia, Krista Jones, Juan Lopez, Lindsay Smith and Rieger Wood; and ODA President, Dr. Paul Mullasseril.
Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act of 2019 S. 350 and H.R. 1418
These bills would amend the McCarran-Ferguson Act (passed into law in 1945) to authorize the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department to enforce the full range of federal antitrust laws against health insurance companies engaged in anticompetitive conduct. The Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act would not interfere with the states’ ability to maintain and enforce their own insurance regulations, antitrust statutes, and consumer protection laws. The bill is narrowly drawn to apply only to the business of health insurance, including dental insurance, and would not affect the business of life insurance, property or casualty insurance, or any other similar insurance areas. Passage of antitrust reform would help inject more competition into the insurance marketplace by authorizing greater federal antitrust enforcement in instances where state regulators fail to act. Promoting lower prices, greater consumer choice, and increased innovation through robust competition is the role of the antitrust laws. The week after the ADA Virtual Lobby Day, the U.S. House of Representatives on September 21 voted to repeal the McCarran-Ferguson antitrust exemption for health insurance companies by passing HR 1418, the Competitive Health Insurance Reform Act. The House passed the bill by a voice vote which means no recorded vote was taken. The ADA strongly supported the bipartisan legislation, which was led by Representatives Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon, and Paul Gosar, R-Arizona. The bill will next need to be considered by the Senate before it can become law.
Additional COVID-19 Relief Issues Crucial to Dentistry
Many dentists took advantage of various programs created by the CARES Act and other COVID-19-related legislation. These programs helped dentists retain and rehire employees and make changes to their offices to keep patients safe. Although these programs were a muchneeded lifeline for dentists, their employees, and their patients, there are changes to these programs that would go further in easing the economic distress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. There are other business and patient care-related policy proposals that would be key to ensuring that dental practices can continue to provide the public with the oral health care they need. When considering additional pandemic relief efforts, ADA Action Team Leaders encouraged members of Congress to:
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Offer tax credits for small businesses for the purchase of additional personal protective equipment (PPE).
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Exempt monies received from the Provider Relief Fund from taxable income.
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Expand the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC).
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Allow Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) recipients to be eligible for the ERTC.
Incentivize health care practitioners to work in healthdisadvantaged communities that have been further undermined by COVID-19 by providing certain incentives.
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Increase the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) for Medicaid while keeping in place maintenance of effort (MOE) protections.
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Provide small business owners with liability safeguards against coronavirus-based claims.
Support a significant, long-term investment in the public health infrastructure of states, localities, tribal governments, and territories, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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Support the following enhancements to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP):
Specify designated funding for the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) to help re-launch research to prepandemic levels and to fund COVID-19 related research.
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Provide adequate funding for the Indian Health Service (IHS) to help address the health care needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
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Allow 501(c)(6) nonprofit organizations to apply,
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Include PPE as allowable and forgivable expenses for PPP funds, and
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Streamline forgiveness for PPP loans under $150,000.
For more information on these and other ADA advocacy efforts, visit ada.org/advocacy 28 journal | Nov/Dec 2020
