2001 Year in Review 12/26/2001
By Samuel Goldreich, CQ Daily Monitor
Progress on major health issues, including HIV/AIDS, stalled this year even before the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, as the recession and the 10-year $1.35 trillion tax package Congress passed ate away at the budget surpluses lawmakers counted on tapping to pay for their ambitious agenda. Attention was diverted after Sept. 11 to raising money to fight bioterrorism and debating health insurance for the unemployed under an economic stimulus bill. But all sides agree that lawmakers will return to their 2000 campaign promises next year and will work on creating a prescription drug benefit for seniors, overhauling Medicare for Baby Boomers, helping the uninsured, passing a patients' rights bill, and continuing the debate on embryonic stem cell research.
Sponsors of separate bills (S.1052, H.R.2563) passed by the Senate and House
expect to convene a conference committee to take up the issue early next
year after liability disputes doomed efforts to produce a law that offers
new guarantees of coverage and access to emergency care and allows patients
to sue health plans. Talks never got off the ground after patients' rights
champion Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-Ga.) broke with his bipartisan allies and
offered a bill endorsed by the White House that strictly limits the right to
sue health insurers and preempts state laws.
Goldreich on Patients' Rights (1:36)
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Congress voted to authorize spending $1.4 billion next year to combat the
worldwide spread of AIDS, but appropriators agreed only to fund $675
million. Even so, that represents a substantial increase over $160 million
for 2001 and the groundwork was laid for larger boost in money to battle
spread of HIV in coming years.
Goldreich on HIV/AIDS (1:08)
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Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) has promised a floor debate on
the issues of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research and banning
human cloning after the House (H.R.2505) passed a law outlawing cloning even
for therapeutic purposes. The issue gained urgency after Advanced Cell
Technology, a livestock cloning firm, announced that it had succeeded in
cloning the first human embryo using women's eggs.
Goldreich on Stem Cell Research (1:43)
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Congress made no progress on passing a drug benefit for seniors or
overhauling Medicare to secure its finances in advance of the retirement of
77 million Baby Boomers. The House passed a bill (H.R.2768) granting
regulatory relief to Medicare providers in billing disputes but it stalled
in the Senate (S.1738).
Goldreich on Medicare and Senior Prescription Drug Benefits (1:46)
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Congress set aside $28 billion over 10 years to extend health coverage to
the uninsured either through expansion of state programs or tax credits, but
the money disappeared with the evaporation of the federal budget surplus.
Negotiations on an economic stimulus bill in the wake of Sept. 11 collapsed
over the issue of whether to use tax credits or direct federal subsidies to underwrite insurance premiums for the unemployed.
Goldreich On The Uninsured (2:11)
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House and Senate appropriators have agreed to spend $2.5 billion to combat
bioterrorism next year, including money to stockpile medicine against
anthrax and smallpox, assist state and local governments prepare for attacks
and boost funding for the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health. Lawmakers have not
concluded debate on new policies that would strengthen food safety controls
and exempt drug makers from some antitrust laws and liability to encourage
development of new antibiotics and vaccines.
Goldreich on Bioterrorism (1:46)
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Review the past year of Health News Index Surveys for 2001 produced by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. The Health News Index Surveys explore health issues including: bioterrorism, Medicare, and health insurance premiums.
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