GOP Health Reform

The Department of Justice Friday (Jan. 4) filed a motion in Texas district court stating it would appeal Fifth Circuit Judge Reed O’Connor’s ruling that the entire Affordable Care Act is invalid because the individual mandate is no longer constitutional and cannot be severed from the law.

HHS recently told stakeholders it will prioritize models out of the Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee that reduce mortality or are expected to reduce spending by at least $10 billion annually once expanded nationally, and the department has pegged six model areas for close consideration.

The Department of Justice On Friday (Jan. 4), pointing to the ongoing government shutdown, asked a Texas district court to hold off on any briefings on House Democrats’ Thursday (Jan. 3) motion to intervene in the high-profile case over the ACA. DOJ tells the court it opposes the House motion, but will not be able to respond by the Jan. 24 deadline because of the lapse in appropriations.

New Republicans joined the Senate health, Finance and Aging committees for the 116th Congress, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced on Thursday (Jan. 3).

A federal district court last week rejected the government’s request to pause action on a lawsuit over the final association health plan rule due to the government shutdown, pointing out that the Department of Labor, which is still fully funded, is primarily responsible for compiling the administrative record.

The House speaker would have permission to intervene in any court case over the Affordable Care Act, including the high-profile Texas case, under the new rules package Democrats unveiled late Tuesday (Jan. 1).

The lobby representing employers that rely on self-funded health insurance benefits that fall under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) is touting successful efforts to prevent states from turning to job-based plans and administrators for money to support reinsurance programs, and pledges to continue that work.

The 17 Democratic attorneys general intervening in the high-profile case over the Affordable Care Act stress in a brief that all parties agree the recent ruling has no immediate impact and the case should quickly move to the appeal stage, and California AG Xavier Becerra, who is spearheading the fight to defend the law, asked Judge Reed O’Connor to rule on their motion by Jan. 1.

The Department of Justice agrees with a group of Democratic attorneys general that U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor should clarify that his controversial ACA ruling is not final -- and thus has no immediate impact -- or should be stayed pending appeal, while the 20 GOP-led states that filed the case say a clarification is not needed and they won’t seek to enforce the order while it is on appeal.