Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Biden To Unveil New Initiatives To Lower Health Care Costs
AP: Biden Launches New Push To Limit Health Care Costs, Hoping To Show He Can Save Money For Families
President Joe Biden on Friday plans to roll out a new set of initiatives to reduce health care costs: a crackdown on scam insurance plans, new guidance to prevent surprise medical bills and an effort to reduce medical debt tied to credit cards. Biden’s remarks would build on previous initiatives to limit health care costs, with the Department of Health and Human Services releasing new estimates showing 18.7 million older adults and other Medicare beneficiaries will save an estimated $400 per year in prescription drug costs in 2025 because of the president placing a cap on out-of-pocket spending as part of last year’s Inflation Reduction Act. (Boak, 7/7)
CNN: Biden Wants To Roll Back Trump's Expansion Of Short-Term Health Insurance Plans
The proposal would largely reverse former President Donald Trump’s expansion of short-term plans in 2018, which extended the duration of the policies to just under a year and allowed them to be renewed for a total of up to 36 months. The move was one of many actions the prior administration took to chip away at the Affordable Care Act. (Luhby, 7/7)
In news from CMS —
Axios: Home Health Group Sues CMS Over Payment Cuts
The home health industry is suing the Biden administration over hundreds of millions of dollars in planned Medicare cuts that it says were improperly calculated and could imperil in-home services nationwide. The National Association of Home Care and Hospice suit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, escalates tensions between home health agencies and the administration over the way providers are paid. (Dreher and Goldman, 7/7)
Modern Healthcare: Medicare Advantage Quality Bonus Program Ineffective: Urban Institute
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ quality bonus program is ineffective in many cases, overpays Medicare Advantage organizations and needs reform, according to the Urban Institute. The bonus program, established by the Affordable Care Act in 2010, offers 5% bonus payments to Medicare Advantage contracts with ratings of four stars or higher. In 2022, quality bonus program payments totaled $10 billion, up from $3 billion in 2015. The institute's report noted that combined, United Healthcare and Humana received $4.7 billion in bonuses last year. (Devereaux, 7/6)
And Sen. Bernie Sanders has stalled the vote for NIH director —
The Wall Street Journal: Biden’s Pick For U.S. Health-Research Chief Stalled By Drug-Costs Fight
President Biden’s choice to run the U.S. government’s medical research is at a standstill because of an impasse with Sen. Bernie Sanders over high drug costs. Sanders, the Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats and chairs the Senate’s health committee, is refusing to hold a key hearing on Dr. Monica Bertagnolli’s nomination as National Institutes of Health director until the White House has spelled out a plan to cut drug prices, a spokesman said. (Whyte, 7/6)
