Affordable Care Act

Medicaid Expansion in Jeopardy?

The Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion resulted in 40 of the 50 states (and the District of Columbia) expanding their Medicaid programs because of the health reform law’s promise of additional federal funding to help pay for care for the expansion population. But now, with Congress and the new administration contemplating spending cuts that may include reductions in the federal financial commitment to Medicaid, a number of states may soon reverse those Medicaid expansions. Expansion repeal efforts are already underway in Idaho, Montana, and South Dakota. Nine states – Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Utah, and [...]

2025-02-11T16:11:32-05:00February 12, 2025|Affordable Care Act, Congress, Medicaid|

State-by-State Medicaid Data

New resources published by the Commonwealth Fund share information on the role of Medicaid in serving the U.S. population on a state-by-state basis. The one-page fact sheets – one for each state – share data about how many people in each state are covered by Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP); how many are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid; how many adults participate in Medicaid as a result of Affordable Care Act Meedicaid expansion; how much money each state’s Medicaid program receives from the federal government – and the share of each state’s Medicaid spending that federal [...]

2025-02-04T14:46:40-05:00February 5, 2025|Affordable Care Act, Congress, Medicaid|

Federal Health Policy Update for January 23

The Administration Public Communication The new administration has directed HHS to pause all external communications, including announcements, advisories, regular publications, and web site updates.  According to a published report, "HHS has issued a pause on mass communications and public appearances that are not directly related to emergencies or critical to preserving health," a spokesperson wrote in an email.  "This is a short pause to allow the new team to set up a process for review and prioritization.  There are exceptions for announcements that HHS divisions believe are mission critical, but they will be made on a case-by-case basis."  The directive [...]

Federal Health Policy Update for January 16

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for January 11-17.  Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Congress   House Budget Committee Republican members of the House Budget Committee have circulated a list of possible policy changes that would reduce federal spending by between $5.3 trillion and $5.7 trillion over a period of ten years.  Up to $3.4 trillion of those possible cuts could include reductions in federal health care spending.  The health care cuts the document lists (all figures are ten-year reductions) are: Medicare introducing Medicare site-neutral outpatient payments - [...]

House Committee Mulls Possible Health Care Cuts

Republican members of the House Budget Committee have circulated a list of possible policy changes that would reduce federal spending between $5.3 trillion and $5.7 trillion over a period of ten years.  Up to $3.4 trillion of those possible cuts could include reductions in federal health care spending.  The health care cuts the document lists (all figures are ten-year reductions) are: Medicare introducing Medicare site-neutral outpatient payments - $146 billion reducing Medicare disproportionate share (Medicare DSH) uncompensated care payments - $229 billion reducing Medicare bad debt reimbursement - $42 billion extending the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 budget sequestration that [...]

Medicaid Changes on the Agenda?

With a new administration 60 days from taking office and the same party to be controlling the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives, Medicaid changes are a common topic of conversation in Washington policy circles these days. One of the objectives of those conversations:  reducing federal spending on Medicaid, which in federal fiscal year 2023 amounted to $860 billion. Among the means of reducing those expenditures that can be expected to be the subject of policy deliberations in the coming months are: Instituting Medicaid work requirements. Ending the supplemental federal Medicaid funding states receive for Medicaid enrollees covered under [...]

2024-11-19T16:26:24-05:00November 21, 2024|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

Federal Health Policy Update for October 24

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for October 18-24.  Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services CMS has issued new guidance outlining regulatory requirements for hospitals to report specific data on COVID-19, flu, and RSV.  The new weekly electronic reporting requirements will apply to short-term acute-care hospitals, long-term-care hospitals, critical access hospitals, Indian Health Service hospitals, children’s hospitals, and cancer hospitals, with other types of hospitals – psychiatric hospitals and distinct part units and inpatient rehabilitation hospitals and distinct part units – subject [...]

Federal Health Policy Update for September 26

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for September 20-26.  Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Congress Yesterday, Congress passed a continuing resolution to fund the federal government when the new federal fiscal year begins on October 1.  The continuing resolution will extend funding for federal agencies at current levels through December 20 of this year.  The bill did not include other significant policy provisions.  President Biden will sign the bill this week and avoid a shutdown of the federal government.  Find the bill text here. Following passage of [...]

Number of Uninsured on the Rise

The number of uninsured Americans has risen significantly over the past year:  from 25 million in March of 2023 to 27 million in March of 2024, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with the uninsured rate rising from a record low of 7.7 percent to 8.2 percent. The rise in the number of uninsured people results primarily from individuals who became eligible for Medicaid during the COVID-19 public health emergency, a period during which states could not redetermine eligibility without losing some of the additional funding they were receiving from the federal government [...]

2024-08-08T08:46:58-04:00August 7, 2024|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

Federal Health Policy Update for June 28

The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for June 21-28.  Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. The Courts The Supreme Court has overturned the court’s own decision in the 1984 case of Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. that gave federal agencies considerable leeway to interpret ambiguous laws enacted by Congress.  While the Chevron decision called for the courts to defer to federal agency interpretation of ambiguous statutes if they found them to be reasonable, the latest Supreme Court decision calls for the courts [...]

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