Bipartisan Bill Would Alert Those Nearing Medicare Age About Late Fees

CNBC: Late-Enrollment Fees Hit Some Medicare Beneficiaries. A Congressional Bill Would Warn People Of Those Charges Before They Happen
A recently introduced bill in Congress has its sights set on preventing a cost that some new Medicare beneficiaries face: late-enrollment penalties. The bipartisan measure, introduced in the Senate, would require the federal government to provide individuals with information about Medicare enrollment rules before they reach the Medicare-eligible age of 65. While many beneficiaries are automatically enrolled at that point because they are on Social Security, that’s not the case for everyone. (O'Brien, 3/2)

In more Medicare news —

CNBC: Biden Renews Call To Let Medicare Negotiate Drug Prices
President Joe Biden apparently hasn’t given up on a proposal aimed at reducing prescription drug prices, especially for retirees. In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, Biden called for capping insulin prices at $35 a month for all Americans, as well as allowing Medicare to negotiate prices with drug manufacturers — something that currently isn’t permitted. “I know we have great disagreements on this floor with this — let’s let Medicare negotiate the price of prescription drugs,” Biden said in his speech to congressional lawmakers. (O'Brien, 3/2)

KHN: Biden Pledges Better Nursing Home Care, But He Likely Won’t Fast-Track It 
President Joe Biden’s top Medicare official suggested Wednesday that forthcoming rules to bolster nursing home staffing won’t be issued under a4 mechanism, known as interim final rules, that would allow regulations to take effect more or less immediately. “While we want to move swiftly, we want to get comments from stakeholders,” Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said in an interview about the overhaul Biden promised during his State of the Union address. (Pradhan and Meyer, 3/3)

Modern Healthcare: CMS To Reweigh MIPS Data For Some Physicians Amid Pandemic
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is giving physician groups participating in its Merit-based Incentive Payment System more time to apply for an extreme and uncontrollable circumstance waiver so that 2021 quality data has less of a chance of negatively impacting their payments. Physician groups, virtual groups and alternative payment model entities can apply for a waiver until March 31, and if granted, will have their data re-weighted to account for COVID-19 impacts. In addition, if physician groups didn't submit data, they will not receive a penalty. The previous deadline was on Dec. 31, 2021, but the American Medical Association and others argued that physician groups needed an extension. (Gillespie, 3/1)

Modern Healthcare: Cigna Amps Up Direct Contracting Participation After Program Revamp
A Cigna subsidiary is the latest company to bank on the recently rebranded Direct Contracting program, the company announced on Wednesday. The insurer's value-based care consultancy, CareAllies, is participating in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Global and Professional Direct Contracting model, a payment plan that allows private payers and providers to take on risk for traditional Medicare enrollees. Regulators replaced GPDC last week with a more equity-focused and provider-led Accountable Care Organization program, after facing strong pushback from provider groups and progressive Democrats, who argued that the previous design favored private equity and Medicare Advantage companies. (Tepper, 3/2)

KHN: Seeking To Shift Costs To Medicare, More Employers Move Retirees To Advantage Plans
As a parting gesture to a pandemic-ravaged city, former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio hoped to provide the city with a gift that would keep on giving: new health insurance for 250,000 city retirees partly funded by the federal government. Although he promised better benefits and no change in health care providers, he said the city would save $600 million a year. Over the past decade, an increasing number of employers have taken a similar deal, using the government’s Medicare Advantage program as an alternative to their existing retiree health plan and traditional Medicare coverage. Employers and insurers negotiate behind closed doors to design a private Medicare Advantage plan available only to retirees from that employer. Then, just as it does for private individuals choosing a Medicare Advantage plan, the federal government pays the insurer a set amount for each person in the plan. (Jaffe, 3/3)

In Medicaid news —

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Lengthy Wait Times For Medicaid Applicants In Missouri Could Ease In Coming Weeks 
The head of Missouri’s health insurance program for low-income adults and families said long waiting times for applicants could begin to ease within weeks. Todd Richardson, a former speaker of the Missouri House who now runs the MO HealthNet program, said a combination of factors has led to a backlog of applications taking as many as 70 days to process. But, he said, “I think we will see improvement in the coming weeks.” Richardson’s comments came during a Senate hearing on the state budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. (Erickson, 3/2)

Georgia Health News: Programs For People With Disabilities Still Await Funding 
Matthew Southern, 35, who has intellectual and developmental disabilities, is able to stay out of an institution because health aides paid through a Medicaid program assist him and his roommate with ordinary tasks. But amid a worker shortage worsened by the pandemic, Southern’s father, Dan, has had to step in to fill in gaps in his son’s care by volunteering at their Lilburn home, 45 minutes away from his own home in Kennesaw, a northwestern Atlanta suburb. He blames the low pay across the industry. “No one wants to work for $12 an hour,” Dan Southern said. “People can work at Burger King and make more money.” (Miller, 3/2)

Miami Herald: Florida Ending ‘Critical Care’ Fund For Public Hospitals 
Some of the state hospitals that serve the poorest and sickest patients are likely to see millions in cuts, the Florida senator in charge of crafting the state’s health care budget said Wednesday. Hospitals that take on the largest number of Medicaid patients have for years received hundreds of millions in extra taxpayer funding. For instance, in 2021, the state distributed $309 million to support 28 of those facilities as part of what hospital administrators call the “critical care fund.” Some of the biggest beneficiaries have included Jackson Memorial Hospital, two Broward Health facilities, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg and Tampa General. (Wilson, 3/2)