Week in Washington is brought to you by Michael Cohen, PhD. Tune in each week to read the latest on healthcare policy and get a glimpse of what’s on the horizon.
Week in Washington: Pre-Labor Day Tidbits
As is tradition here in DC, the week before Labor Day is among the slowest news weeks of the year. Here’s a few tidbits before the long weekend.
Texas v. US Update: A recent blog post by the Center on Health Insurance Reforms provided a good update on where Texas v. US (the ACA constitutionality case) sits. Recently the Department of Justice (DOJ) asked for the ACA to be invalidated for the 18 challenging states. Clearly this may be problematic as a number of ACA policies are not separable at the state level (e.g., Medicare provisions). Again while most legal scholars believe ultimately this lawsuit has a longshot of winning, it does point that any number of outcomes could result from the case if the Supreme Rules in favor of the plaintiffs, including different effects in different states.
Surprise Billing: While Congress is in recess, lobbyists and staffers are not. There appears to be growing momentum to stop the Surprise Billing legislation. More will be known when Congress comes back in session in a few weeks but it would not be surprising if legislation addressing surprise billing is not passed this year.
Medicare Plan Finder: CMS released its redesigned Medicare Plan Finder to help beneficiaries to shop for Medicare Advantage and Part D plan. This is the first major update in over a decade. The update was designed to address concerns raised by the GAO. If you are interested in downloadable images of the new plan finder, you can find it here.
Things to Read
- Update on Usage of drug Coupons in Enrollee’s annual limit on out-of-pocket costs (HHS will not enforce the new rule until a new regulation is released)
- A good read on RADV FFS Adjuster
- Quality Star Rating results for the ACA Exchanges
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Previous editions:
08/16/2019: Public Charge Rule Released and Other Tidbits
08/09/2019: New Analysis on Private Markets
08/02/2019: Recess
07/26/2019: Health Legislation Takes Center Stage
07/19/2019: New HSA Rule, Surprise Billing Legislation Moving, and More
07/05/2019: Rebate Rule, ACA Lawsuit Update, and Doings on the Hill
06/28/2019: Major Legal Developments for ACA, Executive Orders, and Balanced Billing Bill
06/21/2019: Transparency Executive Order Coming
06/14/2019: Regulation Watch
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