ADA lists healthcare reform positions

The ADA has posted its positions on healthcare reform legislation now making its way through the U.S. Congress.

Last week the organization made public a September 21 letter to Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), the chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance who is the chief architect of a bill now being debated in that committee.

Specifically, the ADA said it supports amendments that would:

• Raise reimbursement rates for Medicaid providers
• Allow standalone dental plans to be offered within public insurance exchanges
• Exclude flexible savings accounts, health savings accounts, and health reimbursement arrangements (devices by which money can be set aside with special tax reductions) from a new excise tax on health plans
• Increase limits in flexible savings accounts to $5,000 from the $2,500 envisioned in the bill
• Limit malpractice damages to $250,000

The ADA opposes amendments that would:

• Expand benefits under regular Medicare to include dentistry
• Set a limit on the total value of healthcare that employers can provide

Previously, the ADA set out its positions on similar bills in the House of Representatives and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP).

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