From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— An Assembly committee has asked the Department of Health Services to drop from proposed rule language changes that would replace the phrases “mother” and “woman” with “member” and “father” with “other parent.”
Still, two GOP lawmakers said they are largely powerless to force the Evers administration to make changes to the proposed rule after a state Supreme Court ruling that stripped a joint committee of the power to indefinitely suspend proposals.
DHS skipped yesterday’s hearing of the Assembly Committee on Health, Aging and Long-Term Care, prompting complaints from some GOP members about the agency’s failure to answer questions about the proposed changes. State Rep. Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay, said agency representatives didn’t show up to answer lawmakers’ questions “because they know we don’t have any power so they don’t have to answer to us.”
A split state Supreme Court this summer ruled the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules doesn’t have the power to indefinitely suspend rules. That has left lawmakers few options to block proposed regulations unless they can pass legislation that the guv would sign, nixing the effort.
GOP state Rep. Adam Neylon, a JCRAR co-chair, acknowledged lawmakers’ limited options after the ruling, which he said could have profound consequences moving forward in strengthening the powers of the executive branch. He implored lawmakers on both sides to work together to bring back checks and balances, regardless of who the next governor is.
Meanwhile, state Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, dismissed yesterday’s hearing as a “charade,” saying Republicans know they have no power to stop the rule but decided to have the hearing to advance a political agenda.
The proposed rule, which has been submitted to the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication, deals with access to high-quality prenatal and child care coordination services under the Medical Assistance program. Submitted to the Legislature in January, it includes expanding eligibility to more pregnant MA recipients and revising administrative rules for provider certification requirements to mitigate fraud, waste and abuse.
The committee voted 8-5 along party lines to ask DHS for several language changes.
For example, one passage in the proposed rule seeks to change that successful pregnancy means the “birth of a healthy infant to a healthy member” rather than a “healthy mother.”
One passage would define “collaterals” — anyone who is in direct supportive contact with the person during pregnancy — to include “the prospective other parent” rather than “prospective father.”
Another states nutritional counseling is a covered prenatal service if the medical need for it is identified in a risk assessment and the goal is to ameliorate a “pregnant member’s identified risk factors” instead of a “pregnant woman’s.”
See more coverage here.
— U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin today called on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to resign, saying he has “no business” running the agency. But U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson defended him.
The Madison Dem in a video clip on X said Kennedy is “either totally ignorant of what’s happening in his own department or lying, and I don’t know which is worse.”
“We have seen, whether it’s the ravaging of research by defunding research projects or the mass firings in the CDC and other agencies within Health and Human Services, his actions have real repercussions on Americans’ health,” Baldwin said. “And he has no business leading our preeminent health agency. He should resign.”
Kennedy spoke with senators today at a tense Finance Committee hearing following the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in July.
Johnson, R-Oshkosh, who sits on the committee, thanked Kennedy for “your willingness to serve and for putting up with this abuse.” He also praised Kennedy for “breaking the logjam of information” at HHS.
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