Week in Washington

Congress

Senate Republicans are currently working to pass a reconciliation bill that would provide funding for ICE and Border Patrol. Health policy observers have been focused on the bill, as there is the potential for it to expand in scope to include health care items. To date, that does not appear to be the case. It’s very unlikely that any legislation will move in Congress beyond this reconciliation bill, at least until after the election.

CMS Delays Obesity Demonstration

CMS announced it would be delaying its CMMI demonstration (BALANCE) that would have allowed Medicare to cover weight-loss drugs. The demonstration was contingent on sufficient plan participation, which apparently did not occur. CMS still plans to move forward with the Medicaid portion of the pilot; states can apply until July 31.

Revalidation of Medicaid Providers

CMS announced that it would require states to revalidate providers in high-risk areas as part of an effort to tackle fraud. CMS is asking states “to make sure that legitimate providers are providing services that states are paying for and doing it the right way.” Further details will be forthcoming.

Hospital Policy Proposals

The Paragon Institute, a highly influential Republican think tank, released a new report on potential policy changes targeting hospitals. Recommendations include adopting site-neutral payments in Medicare, modernizing Medicare Advantage price transparency data, further reducing state-directed payments, provider taxes, and supplemental payments, reforming the 340B program, changing requirements tied to hospitals’ tax-exempt status, and removing uncompensated care payments from Medicare.

GLP-1 Usage Data

Truveta released new data on GLP-1 usage. According to their data, “First-time anti-obesity medication (AOM) prescribing increased 21.7% from December 2025 to March 2026, with first-time AOM semaglutide prescribing increasing by more than 50%.” The data are from Truveta Research, which includes information on 130 million patients in the U.S. across all lines of business (LOBs).