Health-Exchange-Alert

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.

Pennsylvania hit a “critical milestone” in its move from a federally facilitated to a state-based exchange last week when the health exchange board agreed to a seven--year contract with GetInsured for its exchange platform and consumer services for the new SBM set to go live in 2021, Zachary Sherman, executive director of Pennsylvania’s Health Exchange Board of Directors, tells Inside Health Policy.

CMS on Friday (Nov. 15) withdrew a proposed guidance letter on Medicaid block grants that had been under review at the White House budget office since June, but the agency on Monday (Nov. 18) reiterated recent comments from Administrator Seema Verma promising that it will soon issue guidance on new ways for states to finance Medicaid.

Democratic Presidential Candidate Elizabeth Warren laid out a strategy for transitioning to Medicare for All under which she would use her first 100 days as president to reverse the Trump administration’s regulatory changes to the Affordable Care Act, defend the law from the GOP challenge in Texas, and support using reconciliation to pass a Medicare-like public option that would be available for all Americans, reform the ACA and lower the Medicare eligibility age to 50.

A federal appeals court panel seems inclined to issue a narrow ruling in a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s rule expanding association health plans, with two of the three judges on the panel repeatedly asking during oral arguments Thursday (Nov. 14) if they can resolve the case without directly deciding whether the rule violates the Affordable Care Act.

Plan selections leapt from 177,000 to more than 930,000 through Nov. 9, according to CMS’ second weekly snapshot on healthcare.gov activity, which indicates that sign-ups are stable despite the technical problems on the first day of enrollment.

CMS proposed a wide-ranging new rule Tuesday (Nov. 12) that the agency says will crack down on states manipulating Medicaid supplemental payments in order to obtain extra federal matching funds.

Sources suggest that California progressive Rep. Ro Khanna’s legislation that would give states flexibility to design a single-payer health system using money from all existing public programs would be a heavy political lift, particularly since seniors are wary of changes to Medicare and employers oppose policies that give states authority over self-insured large group plans.

White House Domestic Policy Advisor Joe Grogan suggested that lawmakers are close to an agreement on surprise billing legislation and believes that something will pass either stand alone or attached to drug pricing measures by the end of the year.