New Congress, New Administration, New Ballgame
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New Congress, New Administration, New Ballgame
Ms. Lauren Inouye, Director of Government Affairs, AACN, described the political landscape of the 115th Congress. At this point, the future of ACA is unclear and a more favorable opinion is to repair or improve upon the current bill. The speaker also indicated this project will be up to the Republicans to lead as the Democrats do not have much of a megaphone regarding this issue as many of them are up for re-election in the near future. Speaker Ryan recently released a brief calling for a bill to:
- Place a cap on tax exclusion for employer-sponsored health insurance
- Roll back Medicaid expansion
- Repeal the individual mandate and the premium subsidies
- Utilize state innovation grants to enhance Health Savings accounts.
Ms. Inouye noted the public interest/concern for the ACA is becoming more favorable.
Nursing has 100 National organizations and she stressed the need to speak as one voice; similar to insurance and physician groups. She added nurses can continue to mentor, join professional organizations, run for office, be expert witnesses, wield political capital and build relationships with Legislators to provide nursing perspective on important issues.
Special thanks to the education committee – Dr. Caryn Iverson, Chair;
Cori Armstead
Karen Baggerly
Christine Bradley
Traci Brooks
Judy Cash
Cole Edmonson
Val Kiper
Yvette Ong
Linda Plank
Jennifer Rainer
Susan Sayari
Shannon Stone
Nelson Tuazon
Carrie Walters
Paula Webb
Claudia Wilder
Additional thanks to our contributors: Dr. Paula Webb, Shannon Stone, Tracey Carrigan, Dr. Sally Carmen, Gretchen Hunt, and Dr. Claudia Wilder.