The Ohio Academy of Family Physicians (OAFP) advocacy team monitors healthcare related legislation, rule changes, and legislative updates for Ohio’s family physicians.
To access the OAFP Bill Tracker, visit the OAFP Public Policy webpage and click on the Bill Tracker icon.
Read on for this week’s updates and contact Advocacy Coordinator Kaela Springhetti with questions or for ways to get involved.
October Issue of AAFP’s Family Medicine Advocacy Rounds
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has released its October issue of Family Medicine Advocacy Rounds, a monthly tip sheet to educate, engage, and update you on the latest policy issues affecting family physicians and their patients.
- Family Physicians Concerned about Shutdown’s Impact on Patients
- AAFP Weighs in on New Proposed Rules Impacting IMGs
- AAFP Endorses Bipartisan Safe Step Act
- AAFP: Linking Vaccines to Autism Is Unproven and Dangerous
- Sarah C. Nosal, MD, FAAFP, Takes Office as AAFP President.
Ohio Redistricting Commission, Tasked with Approving Bipartisan Map, Can’t Agree on Rules
Source: Statehouse News Bureau
Critics have been saying the state’s redistricting process is broken. An effort to overhaul it last year failed, but there are new calls for changes. As the process to draw a new 15-district congressional map moves into a second phase, it’s been fraught with disagreement over the most basic parts. That was evident in the first meeting of the Ohio Redistricting Commission this week.
At its first meeting on October 21, the seven members of the commission were divided on the basic rules that should used for the meetings. Co-chair Brian Stewart (R-Asheville, OH) wanted to adopt one parliamentary process.
“At this time, I’d like to suggest we use Mason’s Manual of Legislative Procedure, the 2020 edition,” he said, adding that Mason’s rules are used in the Ohio General Assembly.
But Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood, OH) said Mason’s rules were fine but she pushed for more guidelines.
“What we wanted to add were some elements of how many meetings to have and there were a couple of other items,” Senator Antonio said. She explained those items specified the number of meetings the commission would have and defined what constitutes a quorum. And she said there’s precedent for those rules.
Read the full article in the Statehouse News Bureau.
Ohio Congress Members Keep Up Fight for Healthcare as Government Shutdown Continues
Source: Ohio Capital Journal
Congressional Democrats from Ohio say they’re still fighting to keep healthcare for Ohioans as a government shutdown and stalemate continues on Capitol Hill.
The weeks-old government shutdown does not appear to have an end in sight, as Republicans and Democrats trade blame as to why agreement isn’t coming.
In a press conference with advocacy group Protect Our Care, Ohio U.S. Representatives Marcy Kaptur (D-Toledo, OH), Shontel Brown (D-Cleveland, OH), and Greg Landsman (D-Cincinnati, OH) said they and their Democratic colleagues are ready to meet with Republicans to resolve their issues, specifically to return Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits to Americans, credits which are set to expire at the end of the year.
“We would like to reopen the government, get an ironclad agreement to cancel the (ACA) cuts, to lower the costs and save our healthcare,” Rep. Brown said.
The expiration of those tax credits could cause out-of-pocket premium payments to “more than double,” according to the policy research group KFF. The group also said insurers in the ACA Marketplace are releasing proposals to raise rates by an average of 18%.
Read the full article in the Ohio Capital Journal.