Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Biden Administration Bumps Up Annual Cap For Addiction Treatment
Stat: Biden Administration Allows Larger Incentives For People Who Reduce Meth Use
The Biden administration on Wednesday eliminated a major barrier for health providers seeking to offer contingency management, a form of addiction treatment increasingly used to help reduce the use of stimulants, particularly methamphetamine. (Facher, 1/8)
AP: Biden's Top Health Official Has Advice For RFK Jr.
Thousands of people were dying from COVID-19 every day. Americans were still being ordered to stay-at-home or mask in public. Millions of people were eager to line up for jabs of the newly-released COVID-19 vaccines. That’s the scene the nation’s top health official, Xavier Becerra, wants Americans to remember as he readies to leave the office, possibly to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy is a vehement critic of the vaccine that government officials — Becerra included — promoted to combat the deadly virus. (Seitz, 1/8)
AP: Biden Is A Great-Grandfather
With the new addition, President Joe Biden, 82, is believed to be the first sitting president to become a great-grandfather while in office. His granddaughter, Naomi Biden Neal, gave birth to her first child, a boy, with husband Peter Neal at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. (Superville and Long, 1/8)
On the Trump administration —
Modern Healthcare: ACA Subsidies Not Doomed Amid Incoming Trump Administration
One of the big healthcare policy questions for 2025 is whether enhanced subsidies for health insurance exchange plans will survive Republican control of the federal government. After all, Donald Trump and a GOP-led Congress nearly repealed the Affordable Care Act of 2010 eight years ago during Trump's first term as president, and he continued to rail against "Obamacare" during his 2024 campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris. But it's not 2017 anymore. (McAuliff, 1/8)
Axios: Trump Could Derail Biden's Push To Police Medical Lab Tests
The Biden administration's contentious plan to increase federal regulation of diagnostic medical tests could be swiftly dialed back after President-elect Trump is sworn in. Lab-developed tests account for a global market worth more than $12 billion but haven't been subject to pre-market approvals or controls after they're made commercially available in the U.S. (Goldman, 1/9)
Modern Healthcare: Hospital-At-Home Programs In Limbo With Waiver Uncertainty
Uncertainty over the future of Medicare's hospital-at-home waiver is hampering some health systems' plans to launch or expand those programs. A waiver that reimburses health systems for hospital-level care at home was extended through March 31 under a short-term spending bill President Joe Biden signed last month. That is a drastic reduction from the five-year extension included in an earlier spending deal that was scrapped after President-elect Donald Trump opposed it. Congress could extend the waiver for five years or continue it for a shorter period of time in the next spending bill. (Eastabrook, 1/8)
On Capitol Hill —
The Hill: Senators Introduce Measure Making Daylight Saving Time Year-Round Standard
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) reintroduced legislation to make daylight saving time year-round on Tuesday, touting bipartisan support for the measure. “I hear from Americans constantly that they are sick and tired of changing their clocks twice a year – it’s an unnecessary, decades-old practice that’s more of an annoyance to families than benefit to them,” Scott said in a statement. (Fields, 1/8)
The 19th: What A GOP-Controlled Congress Means For Trans People
For two years, as states pushed anti-trans laws, Republicans in Congress filed dozens upon dozens of bills that would restrict transgender rights on a national scale — but most of those bills never advanced. Now, as a new GOP-controlled Congress signals that anti-trans legislation is a top priority and President-elect Donald Trump takes office, a wave of federal anti-trans laws and executive orders is on the horizon. (Rummler, 1/8)
