• Home
• About Amy
• Serving Minnesotans
• About Minnesota
• Issues/ Legislation
• Media Center
• Contact Amy
• FAQ

News Releases

Manager's Amendment to Health Care Reform Includes Klobuchar Provisions

EARLY Act, Delay in implementation of medical device tax, Medicare fraud provisions, and increased savings from cost reforms included in Manager's Amendment

December 19, 2009

The Manager’s Amendment to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act unveiled today includes several important provisions sponsored by U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar. 

“This final package includes many provisions that I’ve fought to include for months,” said Klobuchar. “The EARLY Act helps young women battling breast cancer, the Medicare fraud amendments will save billions of dollars for our taxpayers, the one-year delay in implementation of the medical device tax was important to our job-creating medical device industry, and, most importantly, the value index I authored for Medicare payments remains in the bill, as do other important cost reform measures.” 

The Manager’s Amendment includes:

EARLY Act
•    The EARLY Act directs the Department of Health and Human Services to develop and implement a national educational campaign to increase awareness of the threats posed by breast cancer in young women and high-risk groups, including African Americans and Ashkenazi Jews. Diagnoses can be delayed in younger women because patients and health providers lack the knowledge to be proactive in screening and fighting against this disease.  Klobuchar introduced the EARLY Act in May of this year to help women under the age of 40 prevent and fight breast cancer.

“Breast cancer is a leading cause of death for women,” said Klobuchar. “Early detection can make this disease treatable and beatable. Ensuring that younger women, particularly those in high risk groups, get valuable information about breast cancer will save lives.”

•    The EARLY Act has been endorsed by the American Cancer Society and The Susan G. Koman Foundation. The legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives by cancer survivors Rep Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) and Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC).

Improved Enforcement of Health Care Fraud
•    The Manager’s Amendment contains straightforward but critical changes to strengthen prosecutors’ ability to combat health care fraud.  This includes increasing the sentencing guidelines for health care fraud offenses, ensuring that all health care crimes are included in the definition of “health care fraud offense,” and greater subpoena authority to prosecute health care fraud and save taxpayer dollars. Klobuchar’s provision to directly deposit Medicare payments to providers is also included in the bill.

Delayed Start Date for Medical Device Tax
•    The medical device tax will now be implemented in 2011 instead of 2010. In the Senate Finance bill, the medical device tax was first set at $38 billion, and the high fee would have threatened jobs, reduced domestic investment in research and development (R&D), and diminished access to life-saving medical devices for patients.  Klobuchar worked tirelessly with Senate leadership to reduce the fee on medical device manufacturers by $18 billion as they merged the Committee’s versions of the health care reform bills. While the fee remains at the reduced levels as expected, the Manager’s Amendment delays the implementation for one year.

Cost Reform
•    Klobuchar’s proposal to reform Medicare and reward the value of care, instead of the volume of services, is included and remains unchanged in Senate health care bill. 

•    Klobuchar’s proposal establishes a Medicare “value index” method for determining payment to physicians. The significant change to the Medicare payment system will be administered by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  The Secretary will work to establish uniform definitions for quality that will become the basis for the index.  This proposal is budget neutral and takes into account justifiable differences in Medicare spending.  It is not contingent on a study, or subject to disapproval by Congress, as other proposals have provided.

•    In addition, the Manager’s Amendment also provides additional authority to expand delivery system reforms.  The Secretary of HHS would have authority to expand successful Medicare programs, including payment bundling and other value-based purchasing projects such as those practiced in Minnesota.  In addition, the Secretary could incorporate private sector payment models into the Medicare Accountable Care Organization program.

####