CMS says another 737,000 consumers selected plans from healthcare.gov in the third week of open enrollment, which is similar to the number last year during the same frame time, but Get America Covered notes the cumulative 1.67 million sign-ups lag by around 250,000 compared to previous years despite more options and lower prices.

Tensions between a congressionally mandated panel charged with recommending alternative physician pay models and CMS’ innovation center culminated in two members of the panel resigning this week over what they view as the agency’s refusal to take the panel’s recommendations seriously.

Senators on both sides of the aisle on Wednesday (Nov. 20) pressed FDA commissioner-nominee Stephen Hahn to take a stance on whether he thinks there should be a flavor ban on electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) products, including e-cigarettes.

Sen. Bill Cassidy is concerned the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s surprise billing legislation could cause insurers to lower doctor pay rates so low that rural hospitals would close.

A third federal judge has blocked HHS from implementing its so-called conscience rule, which would vastly expand the ability of medical professionals to refuse to provide care based on their religious or moral objections.

Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents said they trusted Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) on health care the most among the Democratic presidential candidates ahead of Wednesday night’s debate, despite a majority of the same respondents saying they support a plan with a government-run public option competing with private insurance rather than Sanders’ Medicare-for-all plan, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) poll.

HHS plans to propose this month the controversial International Pricing Index demonstration that the president announced in October of 2018, according to the fall regulatory agenda that the administration published Wednesday (Nov. 20).

The House and the Senate are negotiating how to handle federal funding for Medicaid programs in U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico, with the Senate pushing for two years of funding with an increased federal match rate after the House Energy & Commerce Committee passed a bill offering four years of funding, according to Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL).