Page 12 - InsideOut Magazine

★ ★ ★ WashingtonUpdate Legislative Acts and Actions
Prepared by Dale P. Dirks and Dane R. Christiansen, ASD Healthcare’s Representatives in Washington
The 113th Congress came to a close late last year with a flurry of legislative activity. Most notably, Congress passed an omnibus appropriations bill for fiscal year (FY) 2015. Patient advocates were pleased to see that despite a difficult budget situation, legislators provided key funding for medical research and expressed support for public health activities. Specifically, the FY 2015 Omnibus Appropriations Bill includes:
» $30billionfortheNationalInstitutesofHealth, an increase of $150 million over FY 2014;
» $7 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an increase of $21 million over FY 2014;
» $6 billion for the Health Resources and Services Administration, an increase of $24 million over FY 2014.
With the 114th Congress convening
at the beginning of 2015 and initiating the FY 2016 appropriations process, voluntary health groups have had little time to celebrate recent progress on legislative and policy issues. The November elections brought a new ma- jority to the Senate, many new legisla-
tors to Congress, and changes to the membership of key committees with jurisdiction over health issues. Patient organizations and related stakehold- ers are already hard at work educat- ing the new legislators about various conditions and the challenges faced by certain communities. Adding a sense of urgency to congressional outreach efforts is a perception that health policy will play a high-profile role in the new Congress, as legislators will likely take up a number of issues related to quality of care and access to care.
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