The House on Wednesday passed a bill that would raise the debt ceiling and slash trillions of dollars in government spending, delivering House Speaker Kevin McCarthy a victory in his efforts to pressure the White House to begin negotiations ahead of a fast-approaching deadline to avoid a default.
The House voted 217 to 215 to pass the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023, with all but four Republican members voting in favor. The Republicans who voted against the bill were Reps. Ken Buck of Colorado, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Tim Burchett of Tennessee and Matt Gaetz of Florida. No Democrats supported its passage.
The measure would lift the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion or until the end of March 2024, whichever comes first, and cut spending to the tune of $4.5 trillion.
Those cuts mean it's dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate and President Biden has vowed to veto it.
The Affordable Care Act includes a long list of codified instructions about what's required under the law. However, like any major piece of legislation, many of the specific details are left up to the agency responsible for implementing the law.
While the PPACA is itself a lengthy document, it would have to be several times longer yet in order to cover every conceivable detail involved in operating the ACA exchanges, Medicaid expansion and so forth. The major provisions of the ACA fall under the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), and within that, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS)
Every year, CMS issues a long, wonky document called the Notice of Benefit & Payment Parameters (NBPP) for the Affordable Care Act. This is basically a list of proposed tweaks to some of the specifics of how the ACA is actually implemented for the following year.
President Joe Biden is set to announce that his administration is expanding eligibility for Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchanges to hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children, according to two U.S. officials briefed on the matter.
The action will allow participants in the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, to access government-funded health insurance programs. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter before the formal announcement on Thursday.
As Eligibility Redeterminations Resume, New York Gets Ready to Renew Coverage for Over 8 Million Enrollees in Medicaid, Child Health Plus and the Essential Plan
Enrollment Assistors Available at Kinney Drugs, ShopRite and Rite Aid to Educate Consumers About Insurance Through the Marketplace
ALBANY, NY (April 26, 2023) – NY State of Health, the state’s official health plan Marketplace, is teaming up with retail pharmacies across the state to educate New Yorkers enrolled in public health insurance programs about upcoming changes to their coverage. With federal rules now requiring the state to resume eligibility redeterminations for nearly 9 million enrollees in Medicaid, Child Health Plus and the Essential Plan this spring, the Marketplace is increasing outreach to ensure consumers don’t risk a gap in their coverage. Certified enrollment assistors will be available on-site at pharmacies to answer current enrollees’ questions about renewals, as well as provide information to uninsured New Yorkers about enrolling in health insurance through NY State of Health.
This happened last week but I was preoccupied with some personal issues and never got around to posting about it. The news is widespread by now but important enough that I figured I should at least give it a mention anyway.
The Supreme Court issued a decision on Friday evening that maintained the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of a commonly used abortion pill while an appeal moves forward, the latest development in a fast-moving legal battle that followed a lower court’s ruling that ordered the drug pulled off the market.
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. had paused the lower court’s ruling on the pill, mifepristone, but that freeze had been set to expire at midnight. The justices issued their decision about five hours before the deadline.
Since March 2020, Aligned with Federal Continuous Coverage Requirements, Enrollment in NY State of Health Programs has Grown by 41 Percent
As the Post-Public Health Emergency Redetermination Process Begins, State Has Deployed Multi-pronged Strategy to Maximize Number of Consumers who Maintain Coverage
ALBANY, N.Y. (April 20, 2023) – NY State of Health, the state’s official health plan Marketplace, today released the 2023 Health Insurance Coverage Update, a detailed summary of NY State of Health enrollment, including demographics, quality measures, and the cost savings realized by millions of New Yorkers who have comprehensive health insurance through the Marketplace. As of January 31, 2023, NY State of Health enrollment is nearly 6.9 million, or more than one in three New Yorkers across the state.
Individuals losing eligibility for MaineCare can enroll in plans on CoverME.gov through July 31, 2024
AUGUSTA— The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) announced today the launch of a Special Enrollment Period (SEP) through CoverME.gov, Maine’s Health Insurance Marketplace, to help Maine people transitioning from MaineCare coverage after the COVID-19 pandemic explore affordable health insurance options and avoid gaps in coverage. The Special Enrollment Period began on April 15, 2023, and will continue through July 31, 2024, allowing Maine individuals found no longer eligible for MaineCare to apply for plans through CoverME.gov outside of the annual Open Enrollment Period.
The main distinction between the New Mexico and Minnesota approaches has to do with which existing publicly-funded healthcare program they're based on. While New Mexico went with Medicaid (which half the state's population is already enrolled in anyway), Minnesota is basing theirs on their Basic Health Plan program, MinnesotaCare. I first wrote about this back in February.
...Well, just one day after the Bright Healthcare bombshell news broke, Texas-based health insurance broker Jenny Chumbley Hogue sounded the alarm on another large carrier bailing on Texas next year:
Last night, the Fifth Circuit issued a decision which invalidates the scientific, independent judgment of the FDA about when and how a medicine is available to Americans. The Justice Department has already announced that they are seeking emergency relief from the Supreme Court.
More than 20 years ago, the FDA approved medication abortion as safe and effective for the American people. Last week, a Texas district court ruled to block access to this medication in every state in the country.
The Fifth Circuit’s decision—just like the district court’s—second-guesses the agency’s medical experts. If this decision stands, no medication—from chemotherapy drugs, to asthma medicine, to blood pressure pills, to insulin—would be safe from attacks. This decision threatens the rights of Americans across the country, who can look in their medicine cabinets and find medication prescribed by a doctor because the FDA engaged in a process to determine the efficacy and safety of that medication.
