Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
No $200 Discount Drug Cards For Medicare Beneficiaries
Politico: Officials: Trump's Promised $200 Drug-Discount Cards Won't Happen
The White House will not be able to make good on President Donald Trump's campaign promise to give older Americans discount cards to use for medicine, said four officials with knowledge of the deliberations, citing time pressures and still-unfinished planning. "It would take days to get all the sign-offs we still need, plus the time to print the letters and make the cards," said one official involved in the process, who spoke on condition of anonymity and noted that Inauguration Day is now three business days away. "We ran out of time." (Diamond, 1/13)
CNBC: $200 Medicare Drug Discount Cards From Trump Won't Happen
Those promised $200 prescription drug cards for Medicare beneficiaries won’t be coming. With little time left before President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20, the Trump administration is backing off its plan to send the discount cards to roughly 39 million Medicare enrollees, an official for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services confirmed to CNBC. The agency’s head, Seema Verma, earlier told Business Insider that she didn’t anticipate the cards being sent. (O'Brien, 1/14)
In news about CMS administrator Seema Verma —
CNBC: Medicare Chief Verma: Resigning 'A Dereliction Of Duty' Amid Covid
Seema Verma never considered resigning from her job running the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs in the wake of last week’s deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol, even after several Trump administration officials stepped down to protest the president’s encouragement of a mob of angry protestors. “From where I stand, given that we’re in the middle of a pandemic, I felt like it would be a dereliction of my duty and my commitment to the agency and to the people that we serve, to leave my post and without ensuring a smooth transition to the Biden administration,” Verma said in an interview Wednesday as the House began debate on impeaching the president for a second time. (Coombs, 1/13)
In other news about Medicare —
Modern Healthcare: MedPAC Votes To Boost Hospital Payments, Freeze Or Cut Other Providers
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission on Thursday voted to recommend that Congress increase Medicare payments to acute-care and long-term care hospitals by 2% and keep physician payments the same for 2022. The panel will also recommend eliminating scheduled updates to Medicare base payment rates for ambulatory surgical centers, outpatient dialysis centers, hospices and skilled nursing facilities. MedPAC plans to recommend Congress lower Medicare payments for home health agencies and inpatient rehabilitation facilities by 5%. (Brady, 1/14)
Becker's Hospital Review: MedPAC To Recommend 2% Payment Boost For Hospitals Next Year
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission voted Jan. 14 to recommend a 2 percent raise in Medicare payments for hospitals next year. The commission said it wants to give the payment boost to both acute-care and long-term care hospitals. The 2 percent payment increase will result in about a $750 million to $2 billion increase in acute-care hospital spending for Medicare and about $50 million for long-term care hospitals. (Paavola, 1/14)
Stat: Medicare Part D Spent Twice What The VA Paid For The Same Drugs
Medicare Part D spent more than twice as much on hundreds of prescription drugs than the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2017, largely because the agency representing military veterans was able to negotiate prices directly with drug makers, according to a new report. (Silverman, 1/14)
