December 2005 | Vol. 23, No. 12

AAA Amendment to Finance Bill Approved by the Senate

Earlier this year the Screening Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms Very Efficiently (SAAAVE) Act (H.R. 827/S.390) was re-introduced in the 109th Congress to address a serious health risk for elderly Americans -- Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms. The new bill would direct Medicare to cover abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) screening under part B of the Medicare Program. Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms are one of our nation's most preventable but often neglected conditions, taking approximately 15,000 American lives a year.

However, on Nov. 3, 2005, the Senate passed an AAA Amendment to an appropriations bill that will institute a screening benefit linked to the Welcome to Medicare Physical for certain populations – women with a family AAA history and those who fit the US Preventive Task Force recommendation of AAA screening for men age 65 to 75 who have ever smoked – beginning in 2007. The Congressional Budget office scored the amendment, offered by Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), as costing $200 million.

The National Aneurysm Alliance (NAA), of which SVU is a member, will now focus its efforts to obtain House support for this AAA Amendment.

In terms of the SAAAVE Act, H.R. 827, introduced in House by Representative John Shimkus (R-IL), is still co-sponsored by 33 other Representatives.

S. 390, which was introduced in the Senate by Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), is still co-sponsored by 14 other Senators.

You can find the list of SAAAVE Act co-sponsors by going to the Thomas website at http://thomas.loc.gov and entering either H.R. 827 or S. 390 in the Bill number search field. After clicking on Search, click on Bill Summary and Status, and then click on cosponsors to get a complete list of all of the Bill’s cosponsors.