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Senate Passes Thune Bill That Would Improve Access to Rural Health Care

“Closing the gap between the health care our rural communities are receiving and the care they deserve has been a priority of mine, and having this bill signed into law would mean that gap gets even smaller.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, applauded the Senate’s passage of his Rural Health Care Connectivity Act of 2015, which was included in the Toxic Substances Control Act conference report. Thune’s bipartisan bill, which was introduced early last year, would amend the Communications Act to permit public and nonprofit skilled nursing facilities (SNF) to apply for support from the Universal Service Fund’s (USF) Rural Health Care Program (RHCP). The USF’s RHCP provides funding for telecommunications and broadband services used to provide health care in rural communities. The Communications Act specifies which types of health care providers are eligible to receive RHCP support, and SNFs are currently not included.

The Commerce Committee passed the Rural Health Care Connectivity Act in November 2015, and last night the full Senate approved the conference report by voice vote. The conference report now heads to the president, who is expected to sign it.

“Closing the gap between the health care our rural communities are receiving and the care they deserve has been a priority of mine, and having this bill signed into law would mean that gap gets even smaller,” said Thune. “We should be doing all we can to make it easier for health care professionals to connect with rural patients and provide greater support and improved services to those who need them the most. This bill would put these professionals, like those who work for skilled nursing facilities around the country, in a much better position to do so.”

When the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) updated the RHCP and created the Healthcare Connect Fund in 2012, it proposed implementing a pilot program to examine funding SNFs. In January 2014, the FCC deferred implementation of the pilot program, claiming it needed additional statutory authority to allow SNFs to be eligible.

The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society (Good Sam), headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, currently operates hundreds of SNFs nationwide, most of which are in rural communities. Through Internet-based connections to its national headquarters, Good Sam allows rural patients to remotely connect with hospitals and physicians. The Rural Health Care Connectivity Act would help organizations like Good Sam provide better-quality care for rural areas throughout the country.

“We commend Senator Thune and the support of other congressional leaders for the long-awaited passage of the Rural Health Care Connectivity Act of 2015,” said David J. Horazdovsky, president and CEO of Good Sam. “Enactment of this bill will offer much-needed assistance to residents of Good Samaritan and other skilled nursing care centers in a variety of locations in South Dakota and in other rural areas of the country.”

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Always glad to see that as much as things change, there are always some things that stay the same.

Some people are sore losers. Some are sore winners. And some are just sore.

A friend pointed out to me this AM that out of 6 incumbent senators up for election last night, there was only one incumbent Senator – Bruce Rampelberg – who was fired from being a State Senator last night.

And as I’ve noted before, he was a supporter of a corporate income tax, & legalizing pot to a degree. Otherwise, that was it.  In D7, Tidemann returns, D9 Deb Peters returns, D32 Alan Solano returns, D33 Phil Jensen returns, and D35 Terri Haverly returns.

That doesn’t translate to a lot of people looking for drastic change in the status quo.

Arguably, you might have been able to call the 2016 GOP Senate Primary races last month with the exception of Sly/Jensen. The House primary races? That’s a horse of a different color, as results seems to have come out all over the place.

While they largely leaned towards the familiar, they weren’t afraid to try something new if the candidate showed that they were willing to go out after it.

District 3 –  Dennert & Kaiser over Kolden.
District 11 – Karr & Willadsen over Landry.
District 14 – Holmes and Zikmund over Zimbeck
District 16 – Jensen and Anderson over Shorma
District 19 – Schoenfish and Peterson over Osborn
District 23 – Lake and Gosch over Werner & Hoffman
District 25 – Hunt and Pischke over Ecklund
District 28B – Marty over Wagner
District 30 – Frye-Mueller & Goodwin over Oakes, Mounce and Lasseter
District 31 – Johns & Turbiville over Weyrich
District 32 – Conzet and McPherson over Ericks
District 33 – David Johnson and Howard over Buckingham

If anyone has any thoughts on a universal explanation as to why the house races went as they did aside from the efforts the candidates put into it, I’m open to discussion. I don’t think there’s any unifying theme other than going out and doing the hard work.

Now that the rubble has settled, with the exception of the Sly/Jensen race, were there any real surprises last night? Many of the old hands at politics I talk to, along with myself, don’t think so.

Moving into Tuesday night, you have what you’d like to see, versus what you want to have happen. District 19 was a perfect example of that. Stace Nelson was just coming off of a statewide election, and is arguably one of, if not the dirtiest campaigner in the State. If there’s a place most candidates won’t go, that’s not a problem for him. He faced off against Caleb Finck, the candidate many observers and those involved in the process wanted to win.

The race was always Stace’s to lose, and it was clear he was doing his damndest to move it in that direction with the most negative mailer that people can remember sent by his close allies, and a bizarre Robocall where he kept talking about panties. At the same time his opponent blanketed the district with radio, mail, & newspaper, and an uninvited card came into the district to counter the ultra-negative pro-Nelson mailer

When the dust settled, Nelson still won. But the former congressional candidate lost 2 important counties, showing surprising vulnerability as he found Finck far closer than anyone should be to a person who placed third in a statewide Congressional race. With two more weeks of campaigning, it could have been a different race, as things were NOT trending Nelson’s way.

With the dust settling, Finck might not have the actual victory, but he has the moral one, and is going to be a go-to when a district seat next needs a candidate.

On the other hand, Nelson is being his usual self, and alienating anyone he might need to call on help from moving into the general election. If Dems change out their placeholder to Frank Kloucek or other notable Democrat, this seat could seriously be in play, as Nelson is likely to receive no help from the GOP structure.

If that was the moral upset of the night, Sly/Jensen was the only real one. Given Phil Jensen’s penchant for utterly cringeworthy racially tinged statements that receive national-level ridicule, that race should have been Sly’s to lose. From generous donors who were weary of Jensen, she had all the money she needed. Yet it imploded in her face during the last few weeks.

A major salvo came from controversial Sly ally Stan Adelstein, accusing Jensen of being a conscientious objector in the Vietnam war. It hit Jensen, but it also energized Jensen supporters, who hit back in various ways, and gave a rallying cry for Jensen’s ground troops who mobilized to go to work.

The Vietnam ad was followed by an ad from Jensen supporters which was quickly taken offline, as one person described it to me as “making the Barnett/Kirby skin theft ad look tame.

From a distance, it seemed as if Sly was running a top down campaign relying on advertising, an expensive website, etc, but with nothing to back it up on the ground. And in the face of mobilized Jensen supporters, it withered.

The Russell/Rampelberg race was never in doubt once Russell, a former SDGOP ED, got motivated. Rampelberg’s support of the education tax plan which cost his District teachers was a career killer by itself. Coupled with back to back sponsorships of income tax bills in 2015 and 2016, anyone could have challenged Rampelberg, but he faced far worse – an experienced politico who has never been afraid to make waves, and knows how to run a race.

As for the rest, again, I’m not seeing any big surprises. I’ll talk about some more races later this am.. Time to get out of bed and start the day!

Lance Russell won his race for Senate and underlined it with a 59-41% win. But the House race may be a recount that’s closer than the last one, with 15 votes between 2nd and 3rd place.

One of my favorite legislators Terri Haverly, has won a second term of office over challenger Tina Mulally, according to the SOS:

Congratulations Terri!