Affordable Care Act marketplace rule

Federal Health Policy Update for July 30

Don’t Miss: Two new final Medicare payment rules CMS seeks data on 340B prescriptions Agency seeks potentially confidential ER data The following is the latest health policy news from the federal government for July 24-30. Some of the language used below is taken directly from government documents. Congress Senate Republicans remain focused on advancing a short-term continuing resolution (CR) before the August recess; it is expected to differ from the CR the House passed last week. The Senate appears unlikely to consider a budget resolution for a third party-line reconciliation bill before September. The Senate Budget Committee announced a hearing [...]

Court Pauses Parts of ACA Rule

A federal court in Maryland has issued a temporary stay in the implementation of eight provisions in CMS’s Affordable Care Act marketplace rule – provisions that were to take effect on July 20. In a challenge to the legality of portions of the regulation in the case of City of Columbus v. Kennedy, the court concluded that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their challenge to some provisions in question even before further proceedings and therefore vacated: the expansion of eligibility for catastrophic plans through an income-based hardship exemption; expansion of annual maximum out-of-pocket limits and revised cost-sharing requirements [...]