Waxman Committee Working Overtime On Health Reform

By Joseph Russell- Talk Radio News Service

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) told members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which he heads, to clear their schedules until late into the night on Thursday.

“I expect we’ll be back here tomorrow,” Waxman said. “We’re not going to close out anybody’s opportunity to offer amendments.”

The committee agreed to limit all debate for amendments to 10 minutes each for both sides in order to save time. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that the mark-up will be finished before the House’s recess begins on Saturday.

Earlier in the day, a Republican amendment that would have prevented illegal immigrants from receiving Medicare benefits failed by one vote. The amendment would have required Medicare recipients to prove citizenship in order to get benefits.

An amendment that would prevent federal funding of clinical comparative effectiveness research passed overwhelmingly. Such research evaluates medical care based on cost rather than effectiveness. In England and Canada, federal comparative effectiveness research is used to ration care by preventing certain procedures based on factors such as outside patient needs and requirements.

Debate over mark-ups will continue as the committee works late into Thursday night and early Friday morning.