Health-Exchange-Alert

The Trump administration told a federal appeals court Thursday (July 18) that states should be able to continue testing Medicaid work requirements even as the administration acknowledged problems in how Arkansas initially implemented its first-in-the-nation work requirement program.

Stakeholders plan to appeal federal DC district Judge Richard Leon’s Friday (July 19) ruling that upholds the Trump administration’s rule expanding short-term health plans.

Delaware and Rhode Island recently submitted state innovation waivers to establish reinsurance programs, and CMS has informed the states that their applications are complete, triggering the federal comment period.

The House late Wednesday passed 419 to 6 legislation to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act’s 40% tax on high-cost health plans, also known as the Cadillac tax, a key priority for a broad array of health care stakeholders, including issuers, employers, unions and others.

The Supreme Court likely will hear arguments in December over whether the government is obligated to pay out about $12 billion owed to issuers participating in the ACA’s risk corridors program, presuming the court agrees to a recently proposed briefing schedule.

Senate Republican leadership hotlined the health committee’s broad cost-cutting package in order to ascertain GOP concerns and discovered several senators were prepared to hold up floor action over the surprise billing provisions -- signaling that Senate leaders have work cut out for them before they can move broader legislation that is expected to merge the health committee's bill with drug-pricing measures from the Finance and Judiciary committees.

Senate Finance ranking Democrat Ron Wyden (OR) put Republicans on notice that they’ll soon be asked to prove their stated support of protections for people with preexisting conditions now that the Government Accountability Office has said the Trump administration’s updated 1332 waiver guidance should have been issued as a rule.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden proposed a Medicare-like public health insurance option that would be offered at no-cost for people in states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act and would increase premium tax credits for middle-income individuals to purchase exchange coverage.

The Department of Justice on Monday (July 15) said it will “continue to vigorously defend religious freedom,” after a federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that blocked the Trump administration from implementing new rules broadening employers’ ability to sidestep the ACA’s contraceptive coverage mandate.