Congress

The American Hospital Association is hoping the Senate will pass an extension of the Medicare sequester moratorium in the next few days and CMS will take that as a signal to hold off on any provider pay cuts until after the House passes the Senate version of the legislation.

The House Energy & Commerce Committee will hold a hearing Monday (March 22) on a wide- ranging infrastructure bill that includes funding to upgrade hospitals, renovate clinical labs, boost state and local public health facilities, build community health centers, update teaching and behavioral health centers, and expand broadband needed for telehealth.

Once COVID-19 vaccine booster shots become available, people with compromised immune systems and other preexisting health conditions likely will need to be first in line to get the shots since their antibody levels will wane faster than those of otherwise healthy people, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci told lawmakers during a Senate health committee hearing Thursday (March 18).

House Democrats hope in addition to averting a Medicaid fiscal crises in the territories in October, they’ll be able to come up with longstanding federal funding solutions -- such as eliminating the Medicaid cap for territories and changing territories’ federal Medicaid matching funds calculation to what’s used for states.

The House has delayed votes on three bipartisan drug-pricing and food safety bills that were originally slated to be taken up this week, a Democratic leadership aide told Inside Health Policy.

House Medicare for All sponsors Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) joined dozens of co-sponsors and advocacy groups Wednesday (March 17) to reintroduce legislation that would extend Medicare to all Americans, saying the pandemic has laid bare the problems with the existing system and made the transition more urgent.

Maternal health advocates are cheering the COVID-19 relief package’s provision that lets states extend Medicaid postpartum coverage for up to one year without asking CMS, but they still want Congress to make the extension mandatory and to send states additional federal funds to implement it.

More than two dozen Democratic senators are sponsoring legislation that would reverse the Trump administration’s revised guidance on Section 1332 waivers -- codified as part of the 2022 exchange rule -- that they say promotes “junk” health care plans and undermines coverage for people with preexisting conditions.

The House this week will consider three bipartisan drug-pricing and food safety bills, two of which aim to increase competition and lower drug prices by more narrowly defining the types of new drugs that can receive five years of exclusivity and by increasing education in biologics and biosimilars.