History of the Reconciliation Process in Health Care Reform

Do you know why COBRA, the law that lets people keep their health insurance when they leave their jobs, is called COBRA?

"The correct name is continuation benefits. And the only reason it's called COBRA is because it was contained in the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985; and that is how we came up with the name COBRA,"

According to NPR health care reform via the reconciliation process has a deep history, going back to 1882. Here's a list of health care reform legislation passed via reconciliation:

1982 — TEFRA: The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act first opened Medicare to HMOs

1986 — COBRA: The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act allowed people who were laid off to keep their health coverage, and stopped hospitals from dumping ER patients unable to pay for their care

1987 — OBRA '87: Added nursing home protection rules to Medicare and Medicaid, created no-fault vaccine injury compensation program

1989 — OBRA '89: Overhauled doctor payment system for Medicare, created new federal agency on research and quality of care

1990 — OBRA '90: Added cancer screenings to Medicare, required providers to notify patients about advance directives and living wills, expanded Medicaid to all kids living below poverty level, required drug companies to provide discounts to Medicaid

1993 — OBRA '93: created federal vaccine funding for all children

1996 — Welfare Reform: Separated Medicaid from welfare

1997 — BBA: The Balanced Budget Act created the state-federal childrens' health program called CHIP

2005 — DRA: The Deficit Reduction Act reduced Medicaid spending, allowed parents of disabled children to buy into Medicaid

Posted in Submitted by Gina on February 24, 2010 - 09:15.

Large selection of dragon mascot,dragon mascot costume,red dragon mascot and bird mascot.

Anonymous | June 24, 2010 - 19:30

This is cool that people can receive the credit loans moreover, this opens up new possibilities.

Anonymous | July 25, 2010 - 12:12

Some corporations propose the writing services essays. But, you need to opt for the masters custom writing service to buy essay paper from.

Anonymous | July 27, 2010 - 08:46

Post new comment

  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

More information about formatting options

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Search

The challenges of change are always hard. It is important that we begin to unpack those challenges that confront this nation and realize that we each have a role that requires us to change and become more responsible for shaping our own future.
-Hillary Clinton

Awesome Speaker Pelosi Photo

My Tweets

My Tumblr



Recommended Reading

Outliers: The Story of Success
-Malcolm Gladwell
The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers, and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics
- Matt Bai
Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics
-Jerome Armstrong
and Markos Moulitsas

The Next Deal The Future of Public Life in the Information Age
-Andrei Cherny
Rules for Radicals A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals
- Saul Alinsky
Moneyball
- Michael Lewis
Wages of Independence Capitalism in the Early Republic
- Paul Gilge (editor)