Legislative Update

Lugar Introduces Bill to Promote Advance Health Care Planning
In February, Senators Lugar and Bill Nelson reintroduced the Advance Directives Improvement and Education Act of 2007. The bill would improve understanding of the importance of advance directives and give people the opportunity to discuss options with a doctor.

“Americans of all ages deserve quality end-of-life medical care,” Senator Lugar said. “This legislation would improve access to information about individual health care options and promote advance care planning and decision-making.”

The bill encourages American adults, especially those 65 and older, to prepare advance directives for medical care near the end of life should they become unable to make decisions for themselves. Advance directives include living wills and durable powers of attorney for health care and other purposes.

Specifically, the legislation would encourage new Medicare beneficiaries to prepare advance directives by including a physician consultation on advance directives in each “Welcome to Medicare” physical exam. This initial consultation would cover the importance of preparing advance directives, when these documents are most likely to be used, and where to find additional resources and information.

It would also engage health providers in disseminating information about and assisting with the preparation of advance directives by providing funds for the Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a public education campaign to raise awareness about the importance of planning for care near the end of life.

Lugar Introduces Bill to Accelerate Vaccine Development
Senator Lugar recently introduced the "Vaccines for the Future Act of 2007," a bill to accelerate the development of vaccines for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other infectious diseases that disproportionately affect populations in developing countries. Lugar's bill would require the Administration to develop a comprehensive strategy to speed the development, testing and distribution of life-saving vaccines through innovative financial incentives and would authorize funding for a pneumonia vaccine pilot program.

Lugar's bill would provide these market incentives for research and vaccine development by requiring the Administration to continue negotiations to establish an Advance Market Commitment (AMC), a concept approved by the Administration and the G-8 at the 2005 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland. By committing to purchase large quantities of a successful vaccine beforehand, the AMC concept aims to bridge the gap between the vaccine makers' research costs and the future sales needed to cover the costs of their investment.

Additionally, Lugar's bill would authorize the appropriations to fund a pilot program for an AMC for pneumococcal disease, which causes both pneumonia and meningitis and claims the lives of an estimated 1 million children a year. This funding would join a $1.5 billion pledge announced on February 9, 2007, in Rome, by Britian, Italy, Norway, Russia, and Canada along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fund an AMC to encourage pharmaceutical companies to develop a vaccine for pneumococcal disease.

Bush signs Lugar-Obama into Law
President Bush signed into law the Lugar-Obama proliferation and threat reduction initiative, which expands U.S. cooperation to destroy conventional weapons and expands the State Department’s ability to detect and interdict weapons and materials of mass destruction.

Authored by Senators Lugar and Barack Obama, the Lugar-Obama initiative expands U.S. cooperation to destroy conventional weapons. It also increased the State Department’s ability to detect and interdict weapons and materials of mass destruction.
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