AHA Advocacy Action Alerts

The AHA is the voice of hospitals and health systems in Washington, earning respect and attention from political and opinion leaders and the media. AHA's vigilant focus on federal relations, policy, and communications has resulted in a strong record of changing the thinking of Congress and the executive branch.

The goal: make federal policy-making relevant to the real work of taking care of people and keeping them well.

Often, we play a key role in building coalitions among other national organizations to amplify our message. By advocating in the courts and in the halls of Congress, providing national leadership on legal issues that affect health care, and acting forcefully on quality and accreditation issues, we bring the hospital and health system voice to bear on decisions that affect them.

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Letter: AHA Voices Support for the Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act (H.R. 4626)

Bill would repeal health insurers' antitrust exemption
February 23, 2010

The AHA today voiced support for the Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act (H.R. 4626). Introduced yesterday by Reps. Tom Perriello (D-VA) and Betsy Markey (D-CO), the bill would repeal the antitrust exemption available to health insurers for anticompetitive conduct, including price fixing, bid rigging and market allocation. Expressing its support for the bill in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Perriello and Markey, the AHA said "the health insurance industry should be governed by the same antitrust laws and policies that apply in other sectors of our economy, including health care. Any exemptions should be narrow and carefully tailored to achieve a procompetitive purpose." In May, the AHA urged the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division to step up its enforcement against health plan mergers and other anticompetitive conduct because the increase in concentration and increasingly anticompetitive conduct was harming consumers, hospitals and other caregivers and could imperil health care reform.

White House releases summary of health reform proposal
February 22, 2010

President Obama today released a summary of his health care reform proposal, which the White House says will attempt to "bridge the gap between the House and Senate bills." The proposal will include a "targeted set of changes" to the Senate's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) that "reflects policies from the House-passed bill and the President's priorities," according to the White House. The summary was released in advance of Thursday's White House health reform summit. House and Senate leaders from both parties have been invited to the event, at which the president will moderate a discussion focused on insurance reforms, cost containment, expanding coverage, and the impact of reform on reducing the federal deficit. The summary and additional details about the summit are available at www.whitehouse.gov/health-care-meeting.