Week ahead: Lawmakers to descend on policy summit

{mosads}House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) and the panel’s health subcommittee chairman, Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), will also speak at the seminar.

On Monday, the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians will continue its conference in Arlington, Va., with visits from Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) and John Boozman (R-Ark.), along with Reps. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) and Upton. The event will wrap up Tuesday.

The Alliance for Health Reform will start the week with a briefing on the future of Medicare Advantage given cuts enacted under the Affordable Care Act. The event is scheduled for Monday in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

The White House Office of Cabinet Affairs will host the administration’s chief technology officers and social media directors on Tuesday at a meeting to discuss the healthcare reform law’s rollout. The administration is in the early stages of trying to leverage its messaging apparatus to encourage enrollment in the new state insurance exchanges.

Also on Tuesday, abortion-rights activists will gather in Washington’s Dupont Circle to highlight the case of a woman named Beatriz who made international headlines after she was denied an abortion under El Salvador’s stringent laws. The pregnancy was not viable and would have ended Beatriz’s life had it continued. She was ultimately given a Cesarean section, and the fetus died after five hours. The protest will highlight attempts to curb abortion rights around the globe.

The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Health will hold a hearing Wednesday to examine state perspectives on reforming Medicaid. House Republicans have voted to reshape the program as a block grant, which would end coverage for millions of beneficiaries.

On Thursday, the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on the Environment will hold a hearing on the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Rounding out the week, the Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Health will look at the government’s response to prescription drug abuse in the United States, the first in a series of hearings on the issue, and the Ways and Means subcommittee on Health will discuss bipartisan proposals to reform post-acute care in Medicare.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the GE Foundation and the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center will also host a briefing on how to meet the growing need for mental health services and substance abuse treatment at the primary care level. The event will take place on Friday at D.C.’s Newseum.