Healthy Food Access for All Americans Act

1 and 2.) Federal Legislation and Issues (H.R. designates work with House of Representatives; S. designates work with Senate) S. 1724/H.R. 4260, the Healthy Food Access for All Americans Act. Support entire bill; encourages organizations and businesses to provide access to healthy foods in urban and rural food deserts. H.R. 309/S.920, the National Clinical Care Commission Act. Support entire bill; creates a commission to integrate federal research, prevention, and clinical efforts on diabetes and related metabolic and autoimmune diseases. H.R. 2593, the Preventive Health Savings Act. Support entire bill; legislation allows the Congressional Budget Office to analyze legislation beyond the first ten-year budget window to assess savings based on preventive health activities. H.R. 2077, the Restoring the Patients Voice Act of 2017. Support entire bill requires employer-sponsored health plans that employ step therapy to implement a clear process by which the patient or provider can request an exception and that the exceptions process must be made readily available on the website of the health plan. H.R. 3922, the CHAMPIONING HEALTHY KIDS Act. Oppose bill. The Association supports 2-year reauthorization of the Special Diabetes Program; opposes the legislations offset to the Prevention and Public Health Fund. The Association supports the Prevention and Public Health Fund established by the ACA and opposes any legislative efforts to weaken and or cut the fund. H.R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Opposed the provision in the bill that repealed the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The Association opposes legislative efforts to weaken the ACA. The Bipartisan Health Care Act (Alexander-Murray legislation.) Support the bill which would extend the cost-sharing reduction payments and provides other mechanisms to stabilize the insurance market. Issues worked on not yet reflected in legislation: Special Diabetes Program. The Association supports reauthorization of the program and is working on permanent or multi-year renewal before the September 2017 expiration date. A portion of the program was temporarily reauthorized through the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization. Cost of prescription drugs. The Association is concerned about the rising cost of insulin and other diabetes medications. The Association has not endorsed any legislative proposal but has advocated for Congress to hold hearings with all parties in the insulin supply chain to increase transparency and ultimately make insulin more affordable for patients. Diabetes Self-Management Training (DSMT) Legislation. The Association supports efforts to reduce barriers and increase the utilization of DSMT, which is a covered benefit under Medicare. HCR

Client expense: $60,000 · Firm income: Not reported

Government targets: Centers For Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Natl Institutes of Health (NIH), SENATE, White House Office

H.R. 772/S. 261, the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act of 2017. Oppose entire bill; revises the nutritional information that restaurants and retail food establishments must disclose. S. 1724, the Healthy Food Access for All Americans Act. Support entire bill; encourages organizations and businesses to provide access to healthy foods in urban and rural food deserts. H.R. 2351, the Minority Diabetes Initiative Act. Support entire bill; provides grants for the treatment of diabetes in minority populations. H.R. 309/S.920, the National Clinical Care Commission Act. Support entire bill; creates a commission to integrate federal research, prevention, and clinical efforts on diabetes and related metabolic and autoimmune diseases. Better Care Reconciliation Act: Oppose entire bill; repeals the Affordable Care Act (ACA) through budget reconciliation by repealing key provisions of the current law including Medicaid expansion, the ACAs current tax subsidy structure and the Prevention and Public Health Fund. The legislation would drastically change the financing structure of the Medicaid program through a per capita caps mechanism. The Association opposes efforts to repeal the ACA without simultaneously enacting a replacement bill that offers equal or greater coverage and consumer protections. This legislation did not meet those standards. Graham-Cassidy ACA Repeal Legislation: Oppose entire bill; the bill would eliminate the ACA tax credits, cost-sharing reductions payments, and Medicaid expansion coverage funding, and create a block grant program to provide funding to states. This is extremely concerning because by eliminating all of these programs and turning them into one block grant it would cut hundreds of billions of dollars in funding leading to huge losses in coverage. The legislation also repeals the individual and employer mandates, and would roll back ACA consumer protections which would lead to higher costs for those with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes. The Association opposes efforts to repeal the ACA without simultaneously enacting a replacement bill that offers equal or greater coverage and consumer protections. This legislation did not meet those standards. H.R. 1101, Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2017. Oppose entire bill; the legislation would create federally certified association health plans (AHPs). The Association has serious concerns that AHPs would lead to a two-tiered market, in which AHPs offer inadequate coverage to healthy groups only. H.R. 2593, the Preventive Health Savings Act. Support entire bill; legislation allows the Congressional Budget Office to analyze legislation beyond the first ten-year budget window to assess savings based on preventive health activities. H.R. 2077, the Restoring the Patients Voice Act of 2017. Support entire bill; requires employer-sponsored health plans that employ step therapy to implement a clear process by which the patient or provider can request an exception and that the exceptions process must be made readily available on the website of the health plan. Issues worked on not yet reflected in legislation: Prevention and Public Health Fund. The Association supports the Prevention and Public Health Fund established by the ACA and opposes any legislative efforts to weaken and or cut the fund. Special Diabetes Program. The Association supports re-authorization of the program and is working on permanent or multi-year renewal before the September 2017 expiration date. A portion of the program was temporarily reauthorized through the Federal Aviation Administration re-authorization. Cost of prescription drugs. The Association is concerned about the rising cost of insulin and other diabetes medications. The Association has not endorsed any legislative proposal but has advocated for Congress to hold hearings with all parties in the insulin supply chain to increase transparency and ultimately make insulin more affordable for patients.

Client expense: $30,000 · Firm income: Not reported

Government targets: Centers For Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Natl Institutes of Health (NIH), SENATE, White House Office