Congress

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.

House Democrats’ bill to extend the Medicare sequester moratorium and waive the cost of the American Rescue Plan likely would need to be changed to make it through the upper chamber, those closely following the issue say, as one lobbyist notes Republicans aren’t necessarily in favor of waiving the PAY-GO scorecard for the newly signed COVID-19 relief bill.

House Democrats plan to take up legislation next week to extend the Medicare sequester moratorium through the end of the year and to waive the PAY-GO scorecard for the newly signed American Rescue Plan so that it doesn’t create an additional sequester cut, lobbyists say.

Senate Democrats led by New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen are pushing legislation that would enhance the value of and eligibly for the Affordable Care Act’s cost-sharing reductions (CSRs) and permanently fund the program, thus eliminating the need for the “silver-loading” workaround that insurers crafted after the Trump administration ended direct payments to reimburse their costs for the subsidies in 2017.

Cities and counties would each receive $65.1 billion -- more than a previous draft’s allocation -- under the latest Senate version of the American Rescue Plan passed Saturday (March 6), while states would be subject to the Treasury secretary’s discretion on whether they should get all of their COVID-19 relief funds upfront or wait a year to receive a portion.

House lawmakers are trying to balance their interest in continuing telehealth expansion beyond the pandemic with concerns such services could be overused or used improperly, coming as Department of Justice officials say stopping telehealth false claims is a priority.

The National Kidney Foundation this week cheered introduction of bipartisan legislation that aims to protect living organ donors by banning life and long-term insurers from denying them coverage.