GOOD MORNING AND WELCOME TO A SPECIAL "DEBT CEILING" EDITION OF THE CONAWAY CHRONICLE.
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Content
1. House vote on Cut, Cap, and Balance Act
2. Cut, Cap and Balance Background
3. Cut, Cap, and Balance Senate Action
4. Cut, Cap, and Balance Video
5. Extra Information
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1. House vote on Cut, Cap, and Balance
For months, the focus in Washington has been the debate over spending, entitlement reform and the debt limit. Without an increase in the debt ceiling before August 2nd, the federal government will default on 45% of its bills. I oppose any increase in the debt ceiling that does not come with significant spending cuts and a change to the out-of-control spending in Washington. That is why I voted against increasing the debt ceiling increase on May 31, 2011. We need to rein in spending, impose spending caps and add a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. Otherwise, politicians and bureaucrats in Washington will never change their ways.
Weeks ago, in an effort to find common ground on spending cuts and entitlement reform, Congressional leaders from the House and Senate traveled to the White House and met with the President to negotiate a deal to raise the debt ceiling without raising taxes – their efforts were unsuccessful. President Obama and the Democrats in Congress continually insist on raising taxes so they can carry on spending money our nation does not have.
With the August 2nd deadline rapidly approaching, House Republicans stopped waiting for the President to propose a deal, and moved forward with a plan of their own: the Cut, Cap and Balance Act. I cosponsored this legislation and voted in favor of it on Tuesday, July 19, 2011 where it passed the House 234-190.
On Friday, July 22, 2011 the Senate failed to pass the Cut, Cap, and balance Act, with a final vote of 51-46. Afterwards, Speaker Boehner sent a letter to President Obama notifying him that House Republicans would be ending discussions with the White House and beginning conversations with leaders in the Senate in an effort to find a path to enactment of legislation that will cut and cap government sending and pave a way for a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution in exchange for raising the national debt ceiling.
Click on these links to read the details, or keep reading this edition of the Conaway Chronicle for more background.
Full Bill text
GOP.gov Summary
Speaker Boehner's Letter to President Obama
Sincerely,
Rep. Mike Conaway, 11th District
There's a problem with the links for the Full Bill text, GOP.gov Summary, and Speaker Boehner's Letter in the original text of this newsletter from Mike Conaway. I'll track 'em down and fix the links. ~Faye
Showing posts with label HEALTHCARE IMPACT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HEALTHCARE IMPACT. Show all posts
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Monday, April 14, 2008
Entrants costly to hospitals, patients
Scope of crash injuring 29 unusual; bill passed on to consumers routine
By Brady McCombs Arizona Daily Star Tucson, Arizona Published: 04.09.2008
The costs to four Tucson hospitals that treated 29 illegal entrants injured in a rollover crash Monday near Benson will be sizable and largely unreimbursed. The medical-care costs not covered by a federal reimbursement program will eventually be passed on to consumers, officials at the hospitals said Tuesday. The incident — which resulted in the death of one Guatemalan woman and has three men in critical condition — was extraordinary in the number of people involved and the severity of their injuries. But it's just the latest example of Southern Arizona hospitals' being forced to treat illegal border crossers with no assurances of reimbursement. "It's a daily event for us," said Kevin Burns, University Medical Center's chief financial officer. "This one gets attention because it's such a large number of people and such a catastrophic event, but we deal with this day in and day out." Of the four hospitals, only University Physicians Healthcare Hospital at Kino has estimated the cost of this crash. The hospital, which treated 11 of the 29, estimates it cost between $44,000 and $55,000, spokeswoman Sarah Frost said. The faith-based Carondelet Health Network, which runs St. Joseph's, St. Mary's and Tucson Heart hospitals in Tucson and Holy Cross Hospital in Nogales, takes its duty to "care first and worry about payment later" seriously, but it doesn't mean the costs don't add up, said Bill Pike, director of public policy at Carondelet. Four of the illegal entrants landed at St. Joseph's. "In the big picture of things, when health-care organizations provide a lot of charity care, those dollars are billed into or carried over to people who do pay for care," Pike said. "You and I, we all pay for care for the uninsured." Burns echoed that: What doesn't get reimbursed eventually gets covered by consumers because the hospital needs to operate at a reasonable profit margin to stay in business. UMC treated seven of the injured border crossers and is still caring for two Guatemalan men in critical condition. "Effectively, not getting these costs covered by the federal government means we end up passing that cost on to consumers in insurance premiums," Burns said. Treating foreign patients without medical insurance costs UMC about $5 million a year, Burns said. The hospital is reimbursed about $1.5 million a year through a federal program designed to pay hospitals for emergency care given to illegal entrants. It costs Carondelet about $4 million annually to care for illegal entrants, Pike said. Tucson Medical Center, which treated nine of the injured, and Kino didn't have yearly cost estimates available Tuesday. Records from the Arizona Hospital and Health Care Association show that in 2006, the federal program reimbursed Arizona hospitals $24.7 million for treating illegal entrants. Tucson hospitals received about $4.5 million: ● Carondelet: $1.85 million. ● UMC: $1.76 million. ● Tucson Medical Center: $917,398. The program reimbursed ambulances statewide in 2006 a little more than $2 million and physicians $1.7 million. Burns and Pike are in Washington, D.C., this week advocating for the extension of the federal reimbursement program, known as Section 1011. It's set to expire in September. The program pays hospitals at a rate of about 15 cents on the dollar, they said. "This is very much a largely unfunded mandate," Burns said. "It doesn't just affect us; it affects every hospital in the state of Arizona." The impacts aren't just financial. Treating the uninsured, who include many U.S. citizens as well, takes time and resources away from treating paying customers, Burns and Pike said. "We have a very busy ER department, and this really tends to tie up our ER and trauma," Burns said.
Rollover under investigation
The crash occurred at about 5 a.m. Monday on Interstate 10 near Empirita Road, about 10 miles west of Benson. A van loaded with illegal border crossers tried to evade the Border Patrol and rolled. Ambulances and helicopters transported 29 illegal entrants. The cause of the rollover is still under investigation and may take investigators several days to determine, said Officer Quent Mehr, state Department of Public Safety spokesman. A 21-year-old Guatemalan woman died at the scene. Officials with the Guatemalan Consulate in Phoenix have notified her family, said Oscar Padilla, the Guatemalan consul general in Phoenix. Three Guatemalan men remain in critical condition, two at UMC and one at Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, Padilla said. In total, at least 20 of the 31 involved in the crash were Guatemalan. Those who have been released from hospitals are in the custody of the Border Patrol, he said. Vincent Picard, spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said there also were eight from Ecuador, two from Mexico and one from El Salvador. The two Mexican men were arrested and referred to the U.S. Attorney's Office on suspicion of being the smugglers. No charges have been filed yet, said Sandy Raynor, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office. The Ecuadorean consul general in Los Angeles, Eddie Bedón, flew to Tucson to visit with the Ecuadoreans in hospitals and at detention facilities. ICE officers will hold some of the illegal entrants involved as witnesses for a possible criminal trial, Picard said. They'll be given parole and allowed to work, because it can take a long time for a criminal trial, he said. The rest will be set up for formal removal proceedings and held in detention centers in Eloy and Florence. The removal process can take several weeks to several months, Picard said. ● Star reporter Dale Quinn contributed to this story. ● Contact reporter Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com.
Submitted by EGH in El Paso.
By Brady McCombs Arizona Daily Star Tucson, Arizona Published: 04.09.2008
The costs to four Tucson hospitals that treated 29 illegal entrants injured in a rollover crash Monday near Benson will be sizable and largely unreimbursed. The medical-care costs not covered by a federal reimbursement program will eventually be passed on to consumers, officials at the hospitals said Tuesday. The incident — which resulted in the death of one Guatemalan woman and has three men in critical condition — was extraordinary in the number of people involved and the severity of their injuries. But it's just the latest example of Southern Arizona hospitals' being forced to treat illegal border crossers with no assurances of reimbursement. "It's a daily event for us," said Kevin Burns, University Medical Center's chief financial officer. "This one gets attention because it's such a large number of people and such a catastrophic event, but we deal with this day in and day out." Of the four hospitals, only University Physicians Healthcare Hospital at Kino has estimated the cost of this crash. The hospital, which treated 11 of the 29, estimates it cost between $44,000 and $55,000, spokeswoman Sarah Frost said. The faith-based Carondelet Health Network, which runs St. Joseph's, St. Mary's and Tucson Heart hospitals in Tucson and Holy Cross Hospital in Nogales, takes its duty to "care first and worry about payment later" seriously, but it doesn't mean the costs don't add up, said Bill Pike, director of public policy at Carondelet. Four of the illegal entrants landed at St. Joseph's. "In the big picture of things, when health-care organizations provide a lot of charity care, those dollars are billed into or carried over to people who do pay for care," Pike said. "You and I, we all pay for care for the uninsured." Burns echoed that: What doesn't get reimbursed eventually gets covered by consumers because the hospital needs to operate at a reasonable profit margin to stay in business. UMC treated seven of the injured border crossers and is still caring for two Guatemalan men in critical condition. "Effectively, not getting these costs covered by the federal government means we end up passing that cost on to consumers in insurance premiums," Burns said. Treating foreign patients without medical insurance costs UMC about $5 million a year, Burns said. The hospital is reimbursed about $1.5 million a year through a federal program designed to pay hospitals for emergency care given to illegal entrants. It costs Carondelet about $4 million annually to care for illegal entrants, Pike said. Tucson Medical Center, which treated nine of the injured, and Kino didn't have yearly cost estimates available Tuesday. Records from the Arizona Hospital and Health Care Association show that in 2006, the federal program reimbursed Arizona hospitals $24.7 million for treating illegal entrants. Tucson hospitals received about $4.5 million: ● Carondelet: $1.85 million. ● UMC: $1.76 million. ● Tucson Medical Center: $917,398. The program reimbursed ambulances statewide in 2006 a little more than $2 million and physicians $1.7 million. Burns and Pike are in Washington, D.C., this week advocating for the extension of the federal reimbursement program, known as Section 1011. It's set to expire in September. The program pays hospitals at a rate of about 15 cents on the dollar, they said. "This is very much a largely unfunded mandate," Burns said. "It doesn't just affect us; it affects every hospital in the state of Arizona." The impacts aren't just financial. Treating the uninsured, who include many U.S. citizens as well, takes time and resources away from treating paying customers, Burns and Pike said. "We have a very busy ER department, and this really tends to tie up our ER and trauma," Burns said.
Rollover under investigation
The crash occurred at about 5 a.m. Monday on Interstate 10 near Empirita Road, about 10 miles west of Benson. A van loaded with illegal border crossers tried to evade the Border Patrol and rolled. Ambulances and helicopters transported 29 illegal entrants. The cause of the rollover is still under investigation and may take investigators several days to determine, said Officer Quent Mehr, state Department of Public Safety spokesman. A 21-year-old Guatemalan woman died at the scene. Officials with the Guatemalan Consulate in Phoenix have notified her family, said Oscar Padilla, the Guatemalan consul general in Phoenix. Three Guatemalan men remain in critical condition, two at UMC and one at Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, Padilla said. In total, at least 20 of the 31 involved in the crash were Guatemalan. Those who have been released from hospitals are in the custody of the Border Patrol, he said. Vincent Picard, spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said there also were eight from Ecuador, two from Mexico and one from El Salvador. The two Mexican men were arrested and referred to the U.S. Attorney's Office on suspicion of being the smugglers. No charges have been filed yet, said Sandy Raynor, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office. The Ecuadorean consul general in Los Angeles, Eddie Bedón, flew to Tucson to visit with the Ecuadoreans in hospitals and at detention facilities. ICE officers will hold some of the illegal entrants involved as witnesses for a possible criminal trial, Picard said. They'll be given parole and allowed to work, because it can take a long time for a criminal trial, he said. The rest will be set up for formal removal proceedings and held in detention centers in Eloy and Florence. The removal process can take several weeks to several months, Picard said. ● Star reporter Dale Quinn contributed to this story. ● Contact reporter Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com.
Submitted by EGH in El Paso.
Medical fund for illegal immigrants to expire
Apr. 9, 2008 06:34 AM
Associated Press
Associated Press
TUCSON- A federal fund that helps hospitals cover some of the costs of treating illegal immigrants will only be around for a few more months unless something is done and more cash is found.
Officials with University Medical Center, Tucson Medical Center and Carondelet Health Network were in Washington Tuesday trying to get the federal government to keep the fund alive, rather than letting it expire in September.
Kevin Burns, chief financial officer for University Medical Center, said UMC receives $1 million to $2 million a year to help cover the estimated $5 million to $6 million in costs of caring for illegal immigrants. 
The federal mandate helps with costs until a patient is stable. "The moment they are deemed stable, that program no longer covers them," Burns said. "Yet that patient could end up in a hospital bed for 20 to 30 days and we don't get any compensation for that."
The federal program set aside $250 million each year from September 2004 to September 2008 to be divided among the 50 states for the medical care of illegal immigrants.
Arizona received most of it.
Bill Pike, director of public policy and community affairs for Carondelet Health Network, said Carondelet estimates that caring for illegal immigrants and uninsured patients costs about $4 million each year. Those costs get shifted to patients who pay or have insurance, Pike said.
"We believe in 100 percent access to health care in general, but when you do have individuals show up in the ER without insurance whether they are undocumented or uninsured it creates a financial burden," Pike said.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/04/09/20080409az-hospitalfund09-on.html
Submitted by EGH in El Paso.
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