AOTA Meets with Obama Transition Leaders to Discuss Health Care Priorities
On the afternoon of Thursday January 15, 2009, AOTA Federal Affairs staff again met with President-elect Obama’s Transition Team. This time the agenda was to discuss AOTA’s health care priorities. The meeting was with some the top transition advisors who will be moving into positions within the new Administration.
The meeting took place just 1 day before the transition team began the process of actually transitioning to be the new Obama Administration. The timing allowed AOTA to follow-up on previous contacts with the Transition Team providing an opportunity to make sure that AOTA’s voice was one of the most recent they heard before taking power in the federal government.
Health Prevention Emphasized
AOTA was able to share the results of the in-person and online health care reform town hall meetings held in December and discuss the results of our online member survey on health care and other issues. In the survey and in the town hall meetings, AOTA members recommended a prevention focus to health care reform to improve quality, reduce costs and deliver better value. Prevention was also something emphasized by the Transition leaders both in regard to preventing initial disability and also preventing secondary disabilities.
Addressing systemic problems in the Medicare program such as the physician fee schedule and the therapy caps were also discussed. AOTA promoted the idea that true reform must deal with chronic problems in our current health care system, including workforce development gaps.
Another topic raised by AOTA was in regard to waste, fraud and abuse prevention efforts at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). While AOTA fully supports the elimination of waste, fraud and abuse, some actions of the Bush Administration used fraud and abuse as talking points to support policy changes.
Opposition to Medicaid Program Cuts
In particular, AOTA noted that we had taken a leading role in opposing proposed Medicaid regulations related to changes to the rehabilitation services option and school-based transportation and administrative claiming reimbursement. AOTA encouraged the Transition Team to continue to target waste fraud and abuse but suggested that efforts address the problem directly rather than wholesale elimination of significant programs upon which children and people with disabilities depend to support their health, participation, independence and quality of life.
AOTA participated in the meeting in collaboration with other groups who, like AOTA, are members of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD). The meeting broadly discussed health care issues and health care reform with a particular focus on people with disabilities.
Discussion of Long-Term Care Needed
AOTA and other CCD members raised the importance of including and addressing long-term care in any discussion of health care reform. This factor is often resisted by lawmakers because of the overwhelming costs of long-term care but any reform efforts are disingenuous if they don’t include long-term care needs of older Americans and people with disabilities.
The meeting was very productive and AOTA made several connections with key Obama Administration advisors so that AOTA can continue to be occupational therapy’s voice in the health care reform debates to come.