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
10/12/2023
Congress
As of writing this blog, the House of Representatives does not have a Speaker of the House. It is important to note that until a Speaker is elected, no legislation or resolution can pass the House. There is concern that if a Speaker is not selected before the current budget resolution expires (November 17th) the government would shut down.
Medicaid Redetermination
As of October 11, according to KFF, approximately 8.7 million Medicaid enrollees have been disenrolled. Approximately 35% of those redetermined have lost coverage. There is wide variation in state re-enrollment rates with Texas having the highest disenrollment rate (66%) and Illinois the lowest disenrollment rate (11%).
Inflation
Core inflation (inflation excluding food and gas) slightly ticked up last month. Overall inflation also increased. The current expectation is that the Federal Reserve will not raise interest rates in November.
Third-Party Payer
Last week CMS reopped its portal for providers to submit claims for unpaid out of network services for arbitration as part of the No Surprises Act (ban on surprise billing). However there currently is an uncertainty of the benchmark which determines payment in a dispute (a federal judge recently ruled against CMS’ interpretation of how the benchmark is calculated. This means that arbitration and ultimately what amounts issuers will need to pay is in limbo.
Previous editions:
09/21/2023: Week in Washington
09/07/2023: Week in Washington
08/31/2023: Week in Washington
08/24/2023: Week in Washington
08/17/2023: Week in Washington
08/10/2023: Week in Washington
07/27/2023: Week in Washington
07/20/2023: Week in Washington