Introduction As in past years, Health Policy News is marking the summer season with the publication of one special edition. For summer 2019, we have prepared a roundup of pending federal legislation—in particular, efforts to protect consumers from rising health ...
Introduction This month, we are launching a new series of articles about alternative approaches to healthcare delivery—with a focus in this edition on approaches targeting social determinants of health, specifically nutrition, via health coverage. Stay tuned for an upcoming white ...
Introduction In this month’s edition of Health Policy News, we delve into two of last month’s breaking Federal litigation updates: the decisions issued in cases regarding the Association Health Plan Final Rule and the use and operationalization of Medicaid work ...
Introduction With the first quarter of the new year coming to a close, we are taking this opportunity to do a national review of major state health policy activity in 2019. Nineteen new governors were sworn into office in January, ...
Members of the Health Policy News (HPN) team attended the NCSL Legislative Summit in Nashville from August 5-8, 2019, learning and sharing our work with legislators and staff from across the country. The trending topics this year that related to PCG’s work were: the impact of recent court cases at both the state and federal ...
Unlike many topics under discussion in Congress this year, the issue of health care costs is a priority across party lines. With bills pending in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, and a recent executive order issued on the topic, we have broken down the details on the latest cost control developments ...
Notable among the bills passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in recent months are two bills aimed at shoring up the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Below, we explore the content of both bills—though it is worth noting that neither bill has been, nor is expected to be, taken up by the Senate. H.R. 987 ...
On June 12, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee conducted its initial hearings on H.R. 1384, the Medicare for All Act of 2019. Introduced by U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) in February, H.R. 1384 would: Provide health coverage for all U.S. residents. Authorize automatic enrollment upon birth or establishment of U.S. ...
As we reported in May, funding for a first-of-its-kind Produce Prescription (“Produce RX”) pilot program was included in the 2018 Farm Bill. Produce RX programs seek to connect physicians and patients with vendors that accept prescriptions for fruits and vegetables. The federal government is currently evaluating proposals from organizations hoping to use this funding to launch ...
Although it has been discussed and debated at the federal level for years, viable bi-partisan surprise billing legislation had not been proposed until recently, in the form of the No Surprises Act (“the Act”). It seems likely that the current federal legislation will pass soon, which would be a first step towards a nationwide approach ...
How do we increase the promotion of produce prescriptions in the never-ending quest to implement and integrate social determinants of health? As of 2010, diet has surpassed smoking as the leading cause of death for Americans—which translates to hundreds of billions of dollars being spent to combat diseases stemming from poor health and diet. Data ...
This month, we’re sharing important developments in two state health policy efforts we covered previously: state efforts to advance a public option (with major developments coming out of the state of Washington) and Tennessee’s pursuit of a Medicaid Block Grant. Read on for more information about how recently-passed legislation in these states has advanced major ...
The standards for Association Health Plans (AHPs) continue to be in flux at the Federal level following the Federal District Court ruling at the end of March that invalidated major portions of last summer’s final Federal rule on AHPs. Since the final rule was already in effect for fully insured AHPs and existing self-insured AHPs, ...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released final annual Exchange guidance for 2020 on April 18, 2019, via the Final Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters for 2020 (NBPP) and the 2020 Letter to Issuers in the Federally-facilitated Exchanges (Letter) as well as ancillary guidance. CMS’s stated goals for this year’s guidance are: ...
