Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Increases In Medicaid Enrollment Widespread Due To Job Losses
The Washington Post: Medicaid Rolls Swell Amid The Pandemic’s Historic Job Losses, Straining State Budgets
The unlikely portrait of Medicaid in the time of coronavirus looks like Jonathan Chapin, living with his wife and 11-year-old daughter in a gated community in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Chapin had a thriving Reno, Nev., production company, We Ain’t Saints, booking bands, managing weddings, hosting 600-strong karaoke nights at the Tahoe Biltmore Lodge & Casino. When the novel coronavirus came, forcing northern Nevada’s entertainment industry to go dark, he said, “everything I knew all disappeared.” (Goldstein, 9/14)
In other Medicaid news —
Modern Healthcare: CMS Kills Proposed MFAR Rule
CMS is withdrawing its much-maligned Medicaid fiscal accountability regulation, CMS Administrator Seema Verma said in a tweet Monday. The proposed rule was opposed by a wide range of stakeholders, including providers, state regulators and governors, patient advocacy groups and members of Congress because it would have ramped up federal oversight of how states fund their Medicaid programs and possibly led to significant funding cuts. (Brady, 9/14)
Becker's Hospital Review: CMS Scraps Medicaid Fiscal Responsibility Rule
CMS has withdrawn its proposed Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Rule, Administrator Seema Verma tweeted Sept. 14. CMS issued the proposed Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Rule last November. The rule aimed to promote transparency and fiscal integrity by establishing new reporting requirements for state supplemental payments to Medicaid providers. In mid-August, some hospital associations called on CMS to withdraw the rule, arguing that it could exacerbate the challenges hospitals are facing in the U.S. (Paavola, 9/14)
The Hill: Trump Administration Backing Off Medicaid Rule That States Warned Would Lead To Cuts
The Trump administration will not move forward with a proposed Medicaid rule that states, hospitals, insurers, patient advocates and members of both political parties warned could lead to massive cuts to the federal health care program for the poor. “The proposed Medicaid Fiscal Accountability Rule (MFAR) was designed to increase transparency in Medicaid financing and ensure that taxpayer resources support the health care needs of our beneficiaries,” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement Monday. (Hellmann, 9/14)
