Medicaid

CMS on Friday (Feb. 12) rescinded 11th-hour procedures instituted by Trump’s CMS chief Seema Verma to make it more difficult for the Biden administration to ax Medicaid 1115 demos that include work requirements.

Days after House Democrats included temporary expansions of Affordable Care Act tax credits and subsidies for employer-sponsored coverage and extra money for expanding Medicaid in their draft COVID-19 bills, major insurer, hospital, physician, employer and business lobbies announced a new coalition that backs those and other policies that build off the ACA and strive toward universal health care -- without relying on a public option.

House Energy & Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and his Democratic colleagues rejected a Republican amendment Thursday (Feb. 12) to add $35 billion in provider relief funds to the COVID-19 relief package, including batches of $5 billion for Medicaid and rural providers.

State Medicaid programs would see a temporary 7.35% increase in federal matching funds in order to improve their home- and community-based service options under the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s portion of Democrats’ pandemic relief bill, to be marked up Thursday (Feb. 11).

Brand drug makers are targeted for up to $20 billion in offsets in the House Energy & Commerce Committee bill to increase federal government funding of state Medicaid programs: The bill would penalize companies that quickly raise prices by eliminating the cap on Medicaid inflation rebates.

The American Hospital Association placed a priority on COVID-19 relief in its 2021 policy agenda document, which asks Congress and the Biden administration for increased support for providers, protection for patients’ access to insurance and permanent telehealth flexibilities.

Immigrant advocates suing over the former Trump administration’s controversial public charge rule plan to pow wow with Biden’s Department of Justice on next steps in their suits, given the new administration is considering revoking the rule.

Progressive advocates and health experts say President Joe Biden’s newly signed order directing federal agencies to revisit the Trump administration’s controversial public charge rule is a good first step to increasing Medicaid enrollment, but it will take a formal reversal of the rule and community outreach to undo the chilling effects of the policy.

Some local governments organizations are already supporting President Joe Biden’s stimulus proposal, which would give them $350 billion in flexible COVID-19 relief funds -- compared to nothing extra under the Republican plan -- but city and county health officials wary of previous distributions not making it to the frontlines are waiting to see more details from lawmakers.