Bulletin Board
Bulletin Board
Federal Health Policy Update for February 12
The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for February 6-12. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. The White House The White House announced the launch of TrumpRx, a service that will enable consumers to purchase a limited number of discounted prescription drugs directly from the manufacturers of those drugs and in some cases from pharmacies without the benefit of health or prescription drug insurance. Learn more about TrumpRx and its launch from this White House announcement, an accompanying fact [...]
CMS Proposes Major Changes in Exchange Plans
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has proposed sweeping changes in the health plans offered by Affordable Care Act marketplace exchanges. The changes, revealed in CMS’s proposed Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2027, affect both the regulations governing the types of health plans that can be offered on exchanges and how potential buyers of those plans are deemed eligible for those plans. The major changes include: Permitting insurers to offer catastrophic plans with terms of either one year or multiple consecutive years, up to ten years. Repealing [...]
CMS Axes 340B Model
Following two defeats in federal court, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has ended its 2025 attempt to launch its 340B Rebate Model Pilot Program. The program, which would have introduced a new approach to the 340B prescription drug discount program under which a limited number of pharmaceutical companies would pay rebates to 340B-eligible entities after they purchase drugs instead of offering discounts for the purchase of those same drugs, as has been the practice since the 340B program’s launch in 1992. Late last year a federal court ruled [...]
Docs Not Always Caring for Medicaid Patients
More than a quarter of all doctors enrolled to serve Medicaid patients in 2021 did not serve any Medicaid patients at all while another ten percent treated fewer than 10 Medicaid patients, according to a new Health Affairs study. Among different types of doctors, primary care physicians and cardiologists were most likely to care for higher numbers of Medicaid patients while Medicaid patients seeking the services of psychiatrists were mostly out of luck. Many of the doctors who care for Medicaid patients, and especially those who do not, cite reimbursement [...]
Non-Profit Hospitals Face Near-Term Challenges
The end of Affordable Care Act enhanced health insurance premiums will pose a financial challenge for many of the nation’s non-profit hospitals. The challenge to hospitals will be greatest in states that did not take advantage of Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion and those with especially large concentrations of rural hospitals that also lack a robust health care safety net. On safer ground will be hospitals in states that do have strong health care safety nets or that have taken recent steps to attempt to fill the void left by [...]