The 107th Congress began with high hopes for health care legislation. Members of both parties pledged to pass a patients' bill of rights, add prescription drug coverage to Medicare and take action to help employers cope with the high cost of offering health insurance to their employees.
When political divides helped stop larger measures like a
Medicare drug benefit -- a plan passed in the Republican-controlled House but stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate -- lawmakers turned their attention to smaller, less divisive bills. For example, Congress passed and President Bush signed into law a proposal to help speed the approval of
medical devices and legislation that authorizes Congress to spend more money on
community health care centers. Lawmakers and Bush also extended for one year a law known as
"mental health parity" that requires insurers who offer mental health coverage to provide the same annual and lifetime limits for mental and physical illnesses. Congress and the White House agreed to spend billions more to help the nation prepare to respond to
biological attacks and other health emergencies.
The 107th Congress left much of its initial health agenda undone. It did not pass a Medicare drug benefit or a patients' bill of rights. Nor did it take action to cap damage awards in lawsuits or to help stop rising malpractice insurance premiums. Congress did not give physicians, hospitals and other Medicare providers more money, even though the groups say senior medical care may suffer as a result. Congress also did not vote to give states help with their exploding Medicaid costs, although governors pushed Washington to take action. While the Senate did pass legislation that would make it more difficult for brand-name drug makers to extend their patent protection, the House did not take action. Congress also sidestepped the difficult issues of cloning and of funding overseas HIV/AIDS programs.
And despite widespread bipartisan interest, Congress did not pass comprehensive legislation to help give provide health care coverage to 41 million uninsured Americans. Those and other issues await the 108th Congress when it convenes in January.
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