The Home Guidelines Committee determined Monday to ship a well being program anti-discrimination measure to the Home ground with a decision calling for the impeachment of U.S. Homeland Safety Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
The committee rule requires Home members to debate H.R. 485, the Defending Well being Take care of All Sufferers Act of 2023, for an hour.
The Home is impeaching Mayorkas as a result of some members consider he has achieved too little to maintain folks from coming into the USA from Mexico with out permission.
H.R. 485 was launched by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Ore. It might forbid federal applications, together with Medicaid and the Federal Workers Well being Advantages Program, from basing protection selections on quality-adjusted life years estimates.
What it means: Federal legislation already prohibits Medicare from contemplating QALY estimates. If H.R. 485 turns into legislation, it may have an effect on purchasers who’ve federal worker advantages or who use Medicaid to pay for nursing house care.
QALY: A “quality-adjusted life yr” is a measure for assessing the impression of well being care actions and traits based mostly on the belief {that a} wholesome yr of life is extra invaluable than a yr affected by a critical sickness or incapacity.
H.R. 485: H.R. 485 would forbid use of QALY estimates or an identical measure by a federal well being program. It contains particular bans on QALY use by Medicare Benefit and Medicare Half D prescription drug plans.
The mechanics: H.R. 485 is much like H.R. 7364, a invoice McMorris Rodgers launched within the earlier Congress.