10.25.2023 OMA Board Book

Advocacy Update for OMA Board of Trustees (BOT) October 12, 2023

Federal Advocacy Treat and Reduce Obesity Act

We continue to aggressively advocate for passage of HR 4818/S. 2407, the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act (TROA), which was reintroduced this past July by Representatives Wenstrup (R-OH), Ruiz (D-CA), Miller-Meeks (R-IA) and Moore (D-WI) in the House and by Senators Carper (D-DE) and Cassidy (R-LA). • Support for TROA has now reached 63 members of Congress (including bill sponsors Wenstrup and Carper) with 46 House cosponsors and 15 Senate cosponsors. • The House Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee held a September 19th hearing to discuss more than 25 different Medicare bills including TROA. During the hearing, TROA was mentioned by 6 House Members: Representatives Cardenas (D-CA), Burgess (R-TX), Bucshon (R-IN), Ruiz (D-CA), Pence (R-IN), and Miller-Meeks (R-IA). Of the 6, three mentioned support for TROA during their comments and three (Cardenas, Burgess and Miller-Meeks) asked specific questions of the panel. This marks the first time that TROA was considered by a House committee — a critical component of “regular order” that is required for legislation to proceed to the House floor. Advocates are now working to secure a similar hearing in the House Ways and Means Committee. • OMA Advocacy Committee members have been doing outreach to their respective state congressional delegations through OAC’s new Quorum software that allows advocates to access key staff information about their legislators and whether or not they are current TROA cosponsors or if they have supported the bill in previous Congresses. • The obesity community will be reaching out to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) during October following an October 5, 2023 BLOG post, entitled “A Call for New Research in the Area of Obesity.” This is another in a series of BLOG posts from CBO regarding obesity that stress the need for long-term research that would help policymakers justify expanding coverage for obesity care as outlined in the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act. While Obesity Care Advocacy Network (OCAN) groups are compiling research to share with CBO, we will also be making the point that no such approach of justifying costs for expanding coverage would be applied to any other chronic disease. • ADA and OAC will be hosting an Obesity Policy Summit to address “the Federal Government Response to Addressing Obesity in the United States” on Wednesday, November 29 th . At the time of this report, OCAN is planning to coordinate congressional visits during the week on the summit to drum up additional support for TROA.

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