In a legislative victory that will help ensure access to health care in counties through the authorization of the Community Access Programs (CAP), the Senate passed S. 1533. The conference agreement on the Health Care Safety Net Amendments Act of 2001 passed by unanimous consent on Oct. 17. This follows the Oct. 16 House passage of S. 1533 by a vote of 392–5. In addition to authorizing the CAP program, the Safety Net bill would reauthorize the federal Health Centers and the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) programs.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson congratulated leadership on the passage of the safety-net bill and said, “With this legislation, we’re opening the door to new opportunities to improve the way underserved populations receive needed health services. It couldn’t be happening at a more critical time. This action follows the recent release of new data showing that the number of uninsured Americans rose last year by 1.4 million, to 41.2 million people.”
On the House side, much of the credit for passage of the conference agreement goes to Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.); House Energy and Commerce Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.); Energy and Commerce ranking member John Dingell (D-Mich.); Subcommittee on Health Chairman Michael Bilirakis (R-Fla.); and Subcommittee on Health ranking member Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). For the Senate, credit goes to Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.); HELP ranking member Judd Gregg (R-N.H.); and HELP Public Health Subcommittee ranking member Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).
The bill is likely to be signed by the president before the conclusion of the 107th Congress.
