Some good news....
https://goo.gl/WvsEVWLate last Tuesday night, only hours after Republican leaders announced they were pulling the Graham-Cassidy repeal and replace bill from Senate consideration, the body unanimously passed the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic (CHRONIC) Care Act of 2017 (the Act).
Aiming to improve care for seniors with chronic conditions, the Act first passed the Senate Finance Committee in May of this year. A Health Affairs blog post by former Senators Tom Daschle and Bill Frist, along with in-depth analysis from the Bipartisan Policy Committee, helpfully outline the need for a bipartisan effort to address these issues.
This post will outline the key components of the legislation, assesses its outlook in the House, and considers what its progress may tell us about the prospect for more bipartisan action on health care in the future. The Act includes offsets and has been scored by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) as being budget neutral, so its sponsors have “checked the boxes” they need to move forward when the political will materializes.