Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
CMS Plans To Tighten Eligibility Checks For ACA Exchange Subsidies
Modern Healthcare: CMS ACA Subsidy Verification Rule Issued
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published a proposed rule on Friday to establish stricter eligibility verification requirements for people applying for health insurance exchange subsidies. The draft regulation, which implements policies from President Donald Trump’s tax law, requires enrollees seeking premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions to satisfy a set of eligibility checks before they access benefits. CMS characterizes the policy as an anti-fraud measure. The rule builds on a proposed rule the IRS issued last week that would establish technical definitions and narrow access to subsidies for noncitizens. (Early, 10/23)
More news about CMS —
Modern Healthcare: CMS Announces $275M Nurses For Nursing Home Program
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and states are funding a $275 million program to attract nurses to skilled nursing facilities in rural communities and urban areas plagued by staffing shortages. The Nurses for Nursing Home initiative announced Friday would offer nursing students and licensed nurses up to $40,000 in student loan repayments or a $10,000 stipend in exchange for a three-year commitment to work in nursing homes in staffing deserts, CMS said in a news release. (Eastabrook, 10/23)
Modern Healthcare: Centene Sues CMS Over 2027 Medicare Advantage Star Ratings
Centene is challenging in court its 2027 Medicare Advantage star ratings. The health insurance company sued the Health and Human Services Department and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia on Thursday, alleging the government violated the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 by failing to go through the proper rulemaking process when making changes to the Star Ratings program. (Tepper, 10/23)
In other Trump administration updates —
ProPublica: Trump Administration To Require Chips On SNAP Cards
The Trump administration [last] week announced an overhaul of the nation’s food stamp payment system, aimed at modernizing benefit cards to protect families from electronic theft. The move comes a week after ProPublica published an investigation showing how $470 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits were stolen from recipients last year alone, in large part because these cards are technologically outdated. (Hager, 10/23)
Politico: The Trump Administration Moves To Treat Millions Of Mentally Ill Veterans With Psychedelics
Nearly one in three veterans who relies on the government for health care could benefit from taking psychedelic drugs like magic mushrooms or MDMA. That’s not the assessment of some hippie or fading 1960s rock star. It came from Andrew Gradison, a senior adviser at President Donald Trump’s Veterans Health Administration. Gradison told a conference for psychedelics enthusiasts this month that he is eager to ramp up the VA’s capacity to give the drugs to as many as 2.1 million veterans with mental illnesses like post-traumatic stress disorder or depression. Gradison said 6.4 million veterans regularly rely on the VA for care. (Friedman, 10/25)
Stat: NIH Vaccine Injury Center Will Also Probe Long-Term Infection Impacts
Earlier this month at a private event, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other top federal health officials announced a new National Institutes of Health center that would focus on patients with vaccine injuries, drawing fresh scientific firepower to an issue that’s long been central for the health secretary. Yet days later, two leaders at the NIH said the center would also focus on long-term symptoms that people experience after an infection, a phenomenon most recently amplified among those experiencing long-term symptoms post-Covid. (Cirruzzo, 10/26)
Axios: 'Zero' Indication That Kennedy Is Planning A Post-Midterm Departure From HHS
When it comes to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s future, two things are clear: He hasn't finished what he set out to do, and President Trump has his back. It was a popular assumption a few months ago that Kennedy would be out after the November elections. Now, the question is why he would leave. (Owens, 10/26)
On the Nov. 3 midterm elections —
The Hill: Republican Candidates Face Heat Over $1 Trillion Medicaid Reduction
Democrats across battleground districts are holding Republicans’ feet to the fire over the Medicaid cuts in their signature One Big Beautiful Bill law. In advertisements and on debate stages, the Democrats are hammering their opponents over their support for a law that will reduce Medicaid funding by nearly $1 trillion to pay for tax cuts primarily for wealthy individuals and corporations. With less than two weeks before the midterm elections, Republicans are playing defense. (Weixel, 10/25)
The Hill: Physician Candidates Surge Into Midterm Election Races To Counter MAHA
Dozens of medical professionals are running for Congress and top state offices this midterm season, a direct Democrat-led counteraction to the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda’s outsized influence on national health policy. There are seven physicians running for congressional office in this election, including Democrats Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, Annie Andrews of South Carolina, Amish Shah in Arizona and Richard Pan in California. There are even more nurses — 14 non-incumbent candidates — running for Congress, according to Nurse.org’s Nurses on the Ballot research series. (Choi, 10/24)
CNN: Iowa’s Cancer Problem Is Scrambling The Midterms
As the debate season kicked off in Iowa’s heated gubernatorial race, one question seemed to animate and, in some ways, unify the candidates. “What are the immediate and specific steps that you would take to combat Iowa’s cancer crisis?” the moderator asked the Democrat Rob Sand and Republican Zach Lahn, who both said it was a foundational issue for their campaigns — before each accusing the other of not doing enough. (Owermohle and Wright, 10/25)
AP: She Voted For Trump Every Time. Then Came Cancer And The Bills
The Ford Expedition rumbled to a stop and Cindy Banda’s bedazzled flip-flops landed on the asphalt of the Houston cancer center’s vast parking lot. She threaded through the rows of cars, a tally of patients who gather here to sit with chemotherapy needles or lie on radiation machines. The elevator dinged open. A year ago in this building, surgeons removed Banda’s right breast, and she still didn’t know whether treatment had expunged the cancer from her body. Doctors had told her it would be tough to beat. (Bedayn, 10/25)
