Beyond big policy ideas such as universal health coverage and a public insurance option, Congress is now focusing on more specific medical topics. A new bill that has been proposed is called the “Rifle Shot” bill due to its language for specificity and narrowness. This bill is constructed to provide more favorable Medicare payment rates to only a few specifically chosen medical facilities. This proposal would exempt certain centers from the Medicare “prospective payments” system, which reimburses hospitals on diagnosis rather than on treatment. This detail would increase the center’s income and add cost to the taxpayer.

One of the medical topics that is being focused upon is mesothelioma because it is often diagnosed in later stages and proper treatment is crucial to the patients health. Because mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer often treated by procedures such as radiation, chemotherapy and surgery, this “Rifle Shot” bill will provide both adequate treatment and attention to those who are afflicted with the disease.

This health care proposal has tentatively selected the University Hospital, which is under construction in Cleveland, Ohio, the Karmanos Cancer Center in Detroit, the Cancer Institute of New Jersey with its affiliate, the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the Nevada Cancer Institute, which at four-years-old, has not yet reached a national recognition. These are only 4 of the tentative 40 universities and clinics that are slotted to receive this federal funding.

The method of selection for these institutions, in classic rifle-shot form, the text masks the names of the exact beneficiaries by using a type of code, the dates that each institute initially received “comprehensive cancer center” grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The amendment would cover “certain hospitals” if they received NCI comprehensive care designation on July 27, 1978, February 17, 1998 or June 13, 2000.