Policy Updates

Governors Look at Surprise Medical Bills

While action on surprise medical bills may be slow in coming at the federal level, many states have introduced measures to address this challenge and others are exploring possible actions. Since 2017, 11 states have introduced surprise medical bill laws, six of them doing so this year alone. Surprise billing is an issue of importance to the nation’s governors, and their professional group, the National Governors Association, has prepared a report outlining the key issues they must address when attempting to craft surprise billing policies. Learn more about what governors view as the key considerations in developing such policies in [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-26T09:57:52-04:00July 26, 2019|Uncategorized|

ACA’s Medicaid Pay Bump Helped But Benefits Now Lost, Study Says

Health status and access to care improved for Medicaid patients when the Affordable Care Act mandated a temporary rate increase for physicians serving newly insured patients covered through that law’s Medicaid expansion. But when the mandate for increased physician payments ended and state Medicaid programs reverted to their previous, lower payments, many of those benefits were lost. Or so reports a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research. According to the study, even a $10 rate increase improved access to care enough to reduce by 13 percent Medicaid recipients’ complaints about not being about to find a doctor. [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-24T06:00:47-04:00July 24, 2019|Affordable Care Act, Medicaid|

CMS Chief Criticizes Health Care Proposals

In an address to the Better Medicare Alliance 2019 Medicare Advantage Summit, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma criticized Medicare for All proposals, said Medicare “public option” proposals are no better, and called the Affordable Care Act a failure,. Verma also insisted that greater reliance on market forces would improve Medicare and Medicaid, said the 340B prescription drug program is harming the health care system, and called for a reduction of federal regulations that limit how and where people can receive care. She said reduced regulations have spurred hundreds of new plans to participate in the Medicare [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-23T10:10:59-04:00July 23, 2019|340b, Affordable Care Act, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare regulations|

Groups Seek to Block Medicaid Block Grants

Do not permit states to adopt block grants for their Medicaid programs, more than two dozen groups have asked the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. A letter signed by the American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, COPD Foundation, March of Dimes, United Way, and others states that Simply put, block grants and per capita caps will reduce access to quality and affordable healthcare for patients with serious chronic health conditions and are therefore unacceptable to our organizations. The letter explains that Per capita caps and block grants are designed to reduce federal funding for Medicaid, forcing states to either [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-22T06:00:38-04:00July 22, 2019|Medicaid|

Ways and Means Establishes Rural Health Task Force

The House Ways and Means Committee has established a new “Rural and Underserved Communities Health Task Force.” The purpose of the task force, according to a committee news release, will be to … convene members and experts to discuss the challenges of delivering health care in rural and underserved areas, and explore holistic bipartisan policy options that could improve outcomes and care in these communities. The task force will have bipartisan leadership. Learn more about the task force, its members, its objectives, and how it intends to proceed with this work in this Ways and Means Committee news release.

iqtsupport2019-07-19T06:00:16-04:00July 19, 2019|Congress|

Trading Loan Forgiveness for Serving Medicaid Patients

The state of California is paying off some doctors’ medical school debts in exchange for a commitment to care for Medicaid patients. Under a new state program, physicians and dentists can see their medical debt eliminated or greatly reduced in exchange for a five-year commitment during which at least 30 percent of their patients are served by Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program. The state expects to spend $340 million in this manner in the coming year, with the money coming from Proposition 56 tobacco tax revenue. That measure included a $2 tax increase on every pack of cigarettes sold in [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-17T10:28:28-04:00July 17, 2019|Medicaid|

CMS Proposes Easing Medicaid Access Protections

States would have to do less to ensure access to Medicaid-covered services for their Medicaid population under a new regulation proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In 2015, CMS required states to track their Medicaid fee-for-service payments and submit them to the federal government as part of a process to ensure that Medicaid payments were sufficient to ensure access to care for eligible individuals. Now, CMS proposes rescinding this requirement, writing in a news release that This proposed rule is designed to help streamline federal oversight of access to care requirements that protect Medicaid beneficiaries. CMS anticipates [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-16T10:33:57-04:00July 16, 2019|Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medicaid, Medicaid regulations|

HHS Launches New Quality Initiative

The evaluation, adoption, and streamlining of federal health care quality programs will be the objective of a new “quality summit” launched by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In response to an executive order issued by the president, HHS has established the quality summit because, according to an HHS news release, A long-stated goal of the Trump Administration has been to shift our current government healthcare programs from paying for services and procedures to paying for better patient outcomes. We believe the best way to effect this shift is through greater transparency and a focus on quality outcomes [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-11T06:00:33-04:00July 11, 2019|Medicare|

The Role of Medicaid in Addressing Social Determinants of Health

Medicaid can play a major role in addressing the social determinants of health. Or so argues a recent post on the Health Affairs Blog. According to the post, social determinants of health – income, education, decent housing, access to food, and more – significantly influence the health and well-being of individuals – including low-income individuals who have adequate access to quality health care. Medicaid, the post maintains, can play a major role in addressing social determinants of health. The post outlines the role state Medicaid programs can play in addressing social determinants of health; describes tools for such action such [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-10T06:00:27-04:00July 10, 2019|Medicaid|

Study Finds Surprise in Sources of Medicaid, CHIP Growth

While enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP has been greatest among low-income families working full-time for small businesses, growth in Medicaid and CHIP among low-income families employed full-time by big businesses has been rising faster in recent years. According to a new study published in the journal Health Affairs, Medicaid and CHIP enrollment among low-income families employed full-time by large companies rose from 45 percent to 69 percent between 2008 and 2016. The driving force behind this growing reliance on public insurance appears to be the shift of health insurance costs from companies to employees: employee share of health insurance premiums [...]

iqtsupport2019-07-08T14:40:03-04:00July 8, 2019|Medicaid|