The Trump administration knew that its move to nearly eliminate the Affordable Care Act’s marketing and outreach budget would significantly affect enrollment, according to a series of e-mails obtained by the watchdog group Democracy Forward.

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission is considering draft recommendations to alter two key areas of hospital payment policy in Medicaid: disproportionate share hospital payments and the upper payment limit for hospitals.

CBO on Thursday (Dec. 13) added two options to reduce Medicare Advantage plan payments to its suggestions on ways to reduce the deficit -- change payments to plans for beneficiary health risks and reduce quality bonus payments to MA plans.

The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission discussed recommending that Congress or CMS create “safe harbors” for the Medicaid best price rule to allow states to experiment with new payment models for high-cost prescription drugs.

Reducing the federal Medicaid match is one of the options laid out by the Congressional Budget Office in its latest report on ways to reduce the deficit, released Thursday (Dec. 13).

CMS on Friday (Dec. 14) approved New Mexico’s request to add premiums and copayments and waive retroactive coverage for some beneficiaries in its Medicaid program, including drug copayments in some situations.

Janssen Pharmaceuticals, which is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, announced Thursday (Dec. 13) that it entered into an outcome-based contract with Oklahoma’s Medicaid program for a long-acting injectable drug used to treat schizophrenia.

The Congressional Budget Office once again included dozens of health-related policies in its list of deficit reduction concepts that could be used for offsets over the 10-year budget period, and one of the largest revenue raisers would be to repeal the forthcoming 40 percent tax on high-cost employer plans -- or the “Cadillac” tax -- and instead limit the open ended tax exclusion for employer-sponsored insurance (ESI).