WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.), both members of the Senate Finance Committee, today introduced the “Better Efficiency and Administrative Simplification Act,” which would allow Medicare beneficiaries to receive important Medicare benefit notices electronically and improve the way the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)... Continue Reading
U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today introduced legislation to help America’s students by exempting schools, colleges, and universities from the ObamaCare employer mandate, which is already cutting education jobs and driving up tuition costs across the country. “School budgets should enhance students’ educations—not pay for the president’s health care law,”... Continue Reading
U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today questioned Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell at a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee about the need for modernization and improved coordination with Indian Health Services (IHS). Thune was allocated approximately five minutes to ask questions and used his time to... Continue Reading
U.S. Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota) today joined Senators Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Pat Roberts (R-Kansas), and Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) in introducing the Keeping America Safe from Ebola Act of 2014 to impose common-sense travel restrictions by creating a temporary visa ban for foreign nationals who are residents... Continue Reading
Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota), Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, and Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pennsylvania), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, urged President Obama to consider all existing options to protect U.S. citizens and deliver aid and resources to West Africa in the ongoing... Continue Reading
To help contain the current outbreak of the Ebola virus, Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Ranking Member John Thune (R-South Dakota) and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pennsylvania) today called for a temporary travel ban from affected West African countries. Additionally, Thune and Shuster have asked the... Continue Reading
U.S. Senators Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota) and John Thune (R-South Dakota) today led a bipartisan group of 33 senators in sending a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Director Marilyn Tavenner expressing concern that federal regulations for health care facilities do not adequately consider the impact... Continue Reading
U.S. Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota) along with Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) today introduced bipartisan legislation that would establish a Medicare Advantage (MA) demonstration program to evaluate how value-based insurance design (V-BID) could reduce MA enrollees’ copayments and coinsurance for some beneficiaries with specific chronic conditions for certain high-value medications... Continue Reading
U.S. Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota) today released the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Obama administration’s attempt to restrict Americans’ religious freedom: “Today’s decision is a victory for religious freedom. Religious freedom is one of our most basic principles and the very first right mentioned in the... Continue Reading
Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), John Thune (R-S.D.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) welcomed the administration’s reversal this week on electronic health records deadlines, after officials earlier this year refused to grant providers additional time to comply with regulations as groups nationwide requested. In a proposed... Continue Reading
U.S. Senator John Thune (R-South Dakota), Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, issued the following statement regarding the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) release of a proposed rule this evening to allow providers and hospitals to use Electronic Health Records (EHR) certified in 2011 to qualify for the... Continue Reading
U.S. Senators John Thune (R-South Dakota), Robert Casey (D-Pennsylvania), and John Hoeven (R-North Dakota) today led a bipartisan group of 34 Senators in sending a letter to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Marilyn Tavenner calling on CMS to hold off on expanding the CMS Durable Medical Equipment,... Continue Reading
