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Legislative proposals affecting the workplace often take top billing on Capitol Hill, but this year human resource issues will take a back seat to the faltering economy and possible war with Iraq.

While President Bush's State of the Union address Jan. 28 prominently featured his economic stimulus proposals and the need to disarm Iraq, he briefly sketched out his domestic policy agenda and placed health care and Medicare reform high on his priorities. And while many employers agree that the steeply rising cost of providing health care benefits is a major concern, the 108th Congress probably won't be making any major reforms to the health care system this year.

"The more things change, the more they remain the same," says Deron Zeppelin, PHR, director of governmental affairs for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). "Even though the Republicans hold both houses of Congress and the presidency, the dynamics have pretty much stayed the same."

Bush indicated that the administration's proposals for containing health care costs would focus on setting caps for punitive and compensatory damages in medical malpractice lawsuits and on reforming legislation governing malpractice insurance. The GOP-controlled Congress will be following the president's lead, but Zeppelin says, "Medical malpractice reform has been on the plate before and is just one piece of the puzzle for containing health costs. Reform of the care system is such a complex and contentious issue that we probably won't see any radical changes or fixes coming from this Congress."

The reason, Zeppelin says, is that the Republicans' small majority in the Senate (51 GOP, 48 Democrats, 1 independent) means Bush and the Republican leadership cannot enact some legislative proposals without significant compromises.

Neil Reichenberg, executive director of the International Personnel Management Association, an association of government HR professionals, agrees that the administration's proposals for substantial changes such as Medicare reform will face stiff opposition.

"Bush's proposal that senior citizens join an HMO [health maintenance organization] in order to receive prescription benefits through Medicare will be a really tough sell and won't go much of anywhere," Reichenberg says.

The administration did back away from its stance on the HMO proposal after negative public reaction. Two days after the State of the Union address, presidential Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said several proposals were on the table for Medicare prescription benefits, and that seniors should be able to choose a medical plan that best fits their needs.

"I think the real message from Fleischer's comment is that the administration wants to find common ground and create proposals that have bipartisan support and have a strong chance of passing through Congress," says James Klein, president of the American Benefits Council.

Klein predicts Congress will pass a Medicare reform measure this year, but agrees with Zeppelin that the possibility of any far-reaching health care reform being enacted this year is remote.

"Congress has seemed content to debate these issues but then do nothing about them because, frankly, it's easier than the protracted political fights it will take to make these very tough and complicated decisions," Klein says. "While I think we will see some changes made, Congress likes to make these changes in small increments, and we won't be seeing any real sweeping or radical changes for issues like health care and pension reform."

Training and the Economy

Another key piece of workplace legislation that will be facing Congress this year will be the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, which was designed to help consolidate federal employment and training programs and require states and localities to develop a single "one-stop center" system to better serve job seekers and employers. The law is up for renewal for the 2004 fiscal year, so Congress will be making decisions that should have some far-reaching effects on workforce development issues, according to Cynthia Pantazis, director of legislative affairs for the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).

"The decisions they make will definitely hinge on the economy," she says. "If the economy is still sputtering along six months from now, then Congress will definitely change focus from looking at ways to Support employer-provided workforce development and training to creating more job opportunities for the unemployed through training programs."

Fixing the faltering economy is probably the biggest challenge facing Bush and the Congress. And Bush's economic stimulus package is drawing harsh criticism from organized labor. Officials with the AFL-CIO claim Bush's economic stimulus package is overly generous to the wealthy and provides no real support for working Americans. The labor federation has pledged to lobby For several counterproposals to Bush's stimulus package, such as increasing the minimum wage and further extending emergency unemployment benefits.

# posted by Medical Information : 4:06 AM