DIALYSIS SERVICES BILL CRIBBED FROM DAVITA DRAFT: After dialysis giant DaVita lost a Supreme Court case regarding coverage benefits for people with advanced kidney failure, the company went to work to get a legislative fix , Megan reports. — Metadata from a Word document obtained by POLITICO shows that Kathleen Waters, the company’s chief legal officer, and Kelly Philson, one of its top lobbyists, drafted proposed legislative language on July 14 that was then mirrored by lawmakers in legislation introduced in the House and Senate weeks later. — The bill would prohibit a group health plan from putting “limits, restrictions, or conditions” on dialysis benefits compared to services needed to treat other chronic conditions covered by the plan. — In June, the Supreme Court ruled an employer-based health plan didn’t run afoul of federal law when it only offered out-of-network coverage for dialysis services. After the decision “created a loophole” that might encourage more employers to stop in-network coverage, a DaVita spokesperson told Megan in an emailed statement, “members of Congress who are concerned about the potential harmful impact to their constituents in this vulnerable patient population started working to restore the protections under the Medicare Secondary Payer Act.” — Megan also reports that each of the 17 co-sponsors of the House bill has received campaign money from DaVita’s PAC since January 2021, totaling $67,000, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks political spending. Five co-sponsors also received contributions to their leadership PACs, Federal Election Commission records show. — While such contributions aren’t unusual, in May, Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.), the bill’s lead sponsor and vice chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, received $14,500 in contributions from 10 DaVita executives and employees — a departure from the relatively modest checks her campaign has typically received from its PAC over the years. The issue has “particular importance” to the congresswoman because of the prevalence of kidney failure among her constituents, Clarke’s office told Megan in a statement. CHAMBER ADDS A NEW TAX LEAD: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has replaced the face of its tax policy work again. Nearly a year after bringing on EY’s Rob Hanson as senior vice president for tax policy, the Chamber announced today that it had added “new leadership” in tax policy and IT roles. Watson McLeish is joining the business lobby from the Tax Executives Institute, and will hold the same title as Hanson. — The latest shake up for the Chamber’s tax advocacy comes as the House prepares to pass Democrats’ reconciliation bill containing tax hikes the group has fervently opposed. Hanson joined the Chamber late last year, as Democrats were weighing a different set of tax hikes on corporations and the wealthy. That more sweeping version of the party’s social spending agenda fell apart this winter because of opposition from Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), resulting in the scaled back measure coming up for a vote later this week. — But now, an October press release announcing Hanson’s hiring redirects to the Chamber’s home page. A spokesperson for the Chamber declined to comment on the record when asked about Hanson’s apparent departure. Last spring, Caroline Harris, a top tax lobbyist, left after more than a decade with the Chamber to become a partner at the tax lobbying firm Capitol Tax Partners. — The Chamber also added Bill Jewell as chief information officer. Jewell will oversee the group’s technical infrastructure, engineering, cybersecurity, information risk management and compliance, and previously served as chief information security officer and vice president of technology at the College Board. IF YOU MISSED IT TUESDAY: In the lead up to Sunday’s vote to pass Democrats’ reconciliation bill, Sen. Sinema’s office “ was inundated with calls from lobbyists representing hedge funds, private equity firms and other money managers arguing against closing the carried interest tax loophole,” people familiar with the matter told CNBC’s Brian Schwartz. — Sinema and her staff “fielded numerous in-person meetings with the industry, said some of the people familiar with these meetings, asking not to be identified in order to speak freely about private efforts to connect with Sinema.” — And the flood of outreach wasn’t limited to carried interest, nor did it go unanswered, per Schwartz: “‘Every single major industry that is not supportive of what’s in there is meeting with Sinema, and she is meeting with anybody and everybody,’ a lobbyist representing some of the biggest investment firms in the world told CNBC before [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer announced late Thursday that Democrats agreed to drop the carried interest provision to get her vote. Sinema said she would work separately ‘to enact carried interest tax reforms.’”
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