News from the AOA's Blog

The year-long effort by President Obama and congressional Democrats to enact sweeping national health reform legislation was dealt a serious setback by the victory of Republican Scott Brown in the Jan. 19 special election to fill the U.S. Senate seat held for more than four decades by Massachusetts Democrat Edward M. Kennedy. With their 60-seat Senate majority trimmed by one, Democratic leaders must now reconsider their health reform strategy as they no longer have the ability to overcome a Senate filibuster on a party-line vote. The president acknowledged growing uncertainty about the future of his signature initiative during his first State of the Union address, but also pushed lawmakers to continue work on advancing a health overhaul bill.

Going forward, the U.S. House could take steps to adopt the Senate-approved measure, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has indicated that she does not have the votes to ensure passage. Senate Democrats have the option of using a parliamentary tactic known as “reconciliation” to pass a scaled-down version of health reform with a simple majority, but that process is a complex procedure with a limited scope.

As the president and congressional leaders continue to consider their options, the AOA is not standing down and will continue working to ensure that optometry is active and visible on Capitol Hill, said AOA President Randolph E. Brooks, O.D.

At every step of the process, the AOA has continued to read the fine print and analyze each and every legislative proposal for the potential impact on patients and the profession. From the start, a top priority has been to make provider non-discrimination safeguards – aimed at protecting patient access to optometric care – a key element of any piece of health care reform legislation that advances.

As a result of AOA efforts, the House-passed health overhaul bill includes a provision sponsored by Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.) aimed at blocking preemption of state patient protection and provider non-discrimination laws. The Senate-approved health reform bill includes an amendment sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), which would establish a federal provider non-discrimination law. The AOA views both provider non-discrimination provisions as absolutely necessary to ensure that health plans are not given the new authority they want to restrict patient access and control the care ODs provide, noted AOA Executive Director Barry J. Barresi, O.D., Ph.D.

At the urging of the AOA, both the Senate and House bills would also specifically designate children’s vision as an essential benefit for health plans to be offered to uninsured Americans. The AOA has continued the fight for full recognition of optometrists in Medicaid (Schakowsky Amendment, passed by the House) and adding access to vision care through school-based health clinics (Dodd Amendment, passed by the Senate).

Additionally, the AOA has pushed for greater safeguards for existing coverage, also included in the House and Senate-passed bills, aimed at ensuring that no American would be forced to give up their health insurance coverage, including their vision coverage, if they want to keep it in place.

AOA-backed provisions have advanced through the efforts of state optometric association leaders and staff, the AOA Board of Trustees, AOA Federal Keypersons, AOA-PAC investors and concerned ODs and optometry students from across the country who have answered urgent calls to action to contact Congress from the AOA Washington office. However, the health insurance industry, organized medicine and other groups with anti-optometry objectives remain more active than ever on Capitol Hill, noted AOA Washington office Director Jon Hymes.

Given the shift in how health care reform will be considered further, an even greater level of involvement of ODs and students will be needed to ensure that Optometry continues to be heard on Capitol Hill and throughout Washington, D.C., Hymes added.

Every AOA member can help take Optometry’s message directly to Capitol Hill at this critical time by participating in the AOA Congressional Advocacy Conference (March 2-4 in Washington, D.C.) or by joining as an AOA Federal Keyperson or an investor in AOA-PAC. For more information on how to get involved and do more on health care reform, please visit the AOA’s Online Legislative Action Center on the AOA Web site or contact the AOA Washington office directly at 800-365-2219.