Congress
The Drug Pricing Debate Part II: The Many Acts of Congress
As we outlined earlier this spring, congressional action on drug pricing continues to intensify. Key committees have advanced an array of reforms, demonstrating Congress’ intent to finalize legislation this year. We aim to clarify what that might include....
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What to Expect in Health Policy Under a Divided Congress
The 2018 midterm elections were powered by a “blue wave” that flipped control of the House of Representatives from the GOP to the Democrats but left the Senate in Republican hands, meaning the two chambers of Congress will be divided at least until 2020. In the Senate, Republicans have a 53 to 47 majority and will continue to be led by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, while House Democrats gained a 235 to 199 majority....
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What the 2018 Midterm Elections Means for Health Care
The fundamental shift in the balance of power in Washington will have substantial implications for health care policymaking over the next two years. In this post, I’ll take a look at which health care issues will come to the fore of the Federal agenda due to the outcome Tuesday, as well as state expansion decisions. And it should of course be noted that, in addition to positive changes Democrats are likely to pursue over the next two years, House control will allow them to block legislation they oppose, notably further GOP efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA)....
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Creating Medicare Advantage Premium Support For All, Part 5: Which Proposal Is Actually Medicare?
With the burgeoning debate around single payer, primarily oriented around "Medicare for All," CEO Billy Wynne takes a look under the hood of Sen. Bernie Sanders' "M4All" proposal and discovers it is not actually based on Medicare. He also continues his inquiry into what bona fide Medicare for All would actually look like, in this case by explaining the basics of the Medicare Advantage program, which covers 33% of Medicare enrollees this year....
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What Might Happen in Federal Health Policy Before the Midterm Elections
An in-depth guide to the key health policy issues that will dominate DC through the midterm elections....
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Here’s What the House Passed to Tackle the Opioid Crisis
A breakdown of all of the key provisions in the House-passed opioid package. From the intro:
"After months of debate, the US House of Representatives passed a package of bills on June 22 addressing the opioid epidemic by a vote of 396 to 14. H.R. 6, the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act (SUPPORT), incorporates dozens of House bills.
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The CHRONIC Care Act Passes Senate, Obstacles Remain
his post outlines the key components of the now adopted Chronic Care Act, assessed its outlook in the House, and considered what its progress may tell us about the prospect for more bipartisan action on health care in the future. ...
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The Health Implications of Tax Reform
This post breaks down the key components of 2017 Federal tax reform and its impact on the health care sector....
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The Arduous Road to Renewal of CHIP Funding
After months of uncertainty, on January 22, 2018, Congress passed legislation renewing long-term federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Nearly nine million children and 370,000 pregnant women nationwide rely on the program for health coverage. This post examines the pathway renewal of the program took through considerable delays and political controversies....
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The Alexander-Murray Market Stabilization Package: What’s In It And Where’s It Going?
They may have done it. The apocryphal bipartisan deal to “fix” Obamacare is being struck (at least by two important Senators, for now, in part …). Today, Senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Patty Murray of Washington announced they are converging on an agreement on a short-term package to help stabilize the individual insurance market. Even better, the policies included would likely be somewhat successful in achieving their purported purpose...
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