In preparation for each new Congress, the PPS Government Affairs Committee (GAC) meets to evaluate the legislative and advocacy priorities of the Private Practice Section (PPS) and prioritize policy issues and goals to address with the incoming Congress.
The 115th Congress began with the Republican majority in both houses of Congress making many promises of policy change.
Being an active advocate this election season is more important than ever. Candidates are crisscrossing their districts eager to talk to voters, and how you engage with them could change the makeup of the incoming Congress and impact the laws it passes. Democrats, bruised by their defeats in 2016, are eager to reclaim political control where they can; they are seeking to regain the majority in at least one if not both houses of Congress. Republicans are working hard to maintain their current bicameral majority. These goals motivate candidates to more readily respond to outreach from their voters.
Congress spent most of 2017 attempting to pass health care reform legislation. In the end, the most significant legislative change was the elimination of the fine associated with an individual not being covered by a qualified health insurance plan.
Legislative Activity
The Private Practice Section’s (PPS) congressional advocacy in 2017 was primarily focused on playing defense. For the majority of the year, the Republican-controlled House and Senate were focused on a broad health care package that sought to replace or reform many provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including eroding the requirement that qualified health insurance plans must include 10 essential health benefits (EHBs), one of which is rehabilitative and habilitative care.
