Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Progressive And Centrist Democrats Pushing Biden To Expand Medicare
The New York Times: Broad Coalition Of Democrats Presses Biden To Expand Medicare
A broad coalition of Democrats from across the ideological spectrum plans on Thursday to begin what it promises will be a noisy and sustained campaign to pressure President Biden to include a major expansion of Medicare in his infrastructure package. More than 150 House Democrats — including Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington, the leader of the progressive wing in the House, and Representative Jared Golden of Maine, one of the chamber’s most centrist Democrats — have teamed up on the effort, which is all but certain to draw Republican opposition but contains proposals that are popular with a wide segment of voters. (Broadwater, 5/27)
Marketplace: COVID Unemployment Causes Funding Issue For Medicare
President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion fiscal stimulus relief package signed into law in March contains a huge expansion in the Affordable Care Act, possibly the biggest since it was signed into law 11 years ago. But thanks to the coronavirus, there’s another health care crisis brewing. Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund, which pays for the services one receives in hospitals, nursing facilities and more, is projected to become insolvent sooner than expected — within three to five years. (Brancaccio, Farrell, Soderstrom, and Shin, 5/26)
AP: Feds Take Down Medicare Scams That Preyed On Virus Fears
The Justice Department announced criminal charges Wednesday against more than a dozen people from Florida to California in a series of Medicare scams that exploited coronavirus fears to bill tens of millions of dollars in bogus claims. A common hook involved a pandemic variant of identity theft: Fraudsters allegedly offered COVID-19 tests to get the Medicare numbers of unsuspecting patients, and then used that information to bill for lucrative but unneeded genetic tests that can cost thousands of dollars. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 5/26)
Newsweek: Over $140M In Fake Medical Billing Generated Via COVID Testing Scams, DOJ Says
The scammers offered COVID-19 tests in order to get the Medicare numbers of unsuspecting patients and then charged them for other expensive medical procedures. The billings exceeded $140 million. Chris Schrank, assistant inspector general for investigations with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), said these schemes have "evolved to another level." (Giella, 5/26)
Fox Business: Social Security, Medicare Should Not Be Cut For Deficit Woes: AARP
Congress should reject any effort by lawmakers to slash funding for Social Security and Medicare in order to reduce the nation's ballooning budget deficit, AARP said Wednesday. "Targeting Social Security and Medicare to pay down the national debt is the wrong approach and is strongly opposed by older Americans, regardless of party affiliation," the group said in a news release. It noted that 85% of individuals age 50 or older "strongly oppose" slashing those benefits in order to help reduce the budget deficit. (Henney, 5/26)
Becker's Hospital Review: 4 Hospitals Sue HHS Seeking To Invalidate Medicare Supplemental Pay Ruling
Four hospitals, including Emory University Hospital Midtown in Atlanta, are suing HHS, hoping to invalidate a CMS ruling that they say hinders their ability to contest the amount of disproportionate share hospital payments they received. The complaint, filed May 24 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues against CMS ruling 1739-R, which requires the Provider Reimbursement Review Board to remand certain DSH payments challenges to a Medicare contractor. The CMS ruling only applies to appeals involving the Medicare Part C days component of DSH calculations. (Paavola, 5/26)
