July 30th marks an historic day—the 50th Anniversary of Medicaid (and Medicare). With Medicare in the traditional “big brother” role, Medicaid often gets forgotten. But this year, with King v Burwell no longer in the crosshairs, and a major revamp of the Medicare payment system in recent history, Medicaid is standing front and center. No …
Author: Heather Foster
Congressional Budget Update: Where it all stands…
Since our last post on the House and Senate Budget blueprints, the two houses of Congress have now formalized their joint budget. This budget is both non-binding and completely separate from the President’s budget (also non-binding). Instead of a detailed program-by-program breakdown of Federal spending, the Congressional budget resolution simply provides general funding targets and …
HOUSE & SENATE BUDGET PASS BUDGET BLUEPRINTS
Both the House and Senate passed their respective budget resolutions last week—moving the budget process one step further toward a possible Budget Reconciliation bill sometime later this year. Both of the budgets passed are non-binding and represent only a marker on the majority’s current priorities—basically an initial shot across the bow for future discussions and …
Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Funding Push on Capitol Hill
With CHIP funding slated to expire in September (at the same time as the Primary Care Cliff), advocates are gearing up on Capitol Hill to pass a funding extension ASAP. Given that a number of state legislatures will have finished their legislative sessions for the year well before September rolls in—including 9 that will be …
House & Senate Pass Short-Term “doc fix” Health Care Legislation
On Monday evening, March 31st, the U.S. Senate passed a 12-month extension to the scheduled Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) physician cuts—otherwise known as the “doc fix”. The House had previously passed the bill the week before and it easily passed the Senate with a vote of 64 to 35, although it’s important to note that …
Exchange Plans are Live! What’s the Status of Contract Negotiations…?
As Outreach & Enrollment efforts continue after the first week of the new Health Insurance Exchanges being live, participating Qualified Health Plans are ramping up their networks in order to finalize their coverage and providers for the beginning of 2014 when the newly enrolled will be able to access their covered benefits. Accordingly, this means …
Around the Horn Hill Download
By Joseph Miller, Federal Affairs Intern As the summer heats up here in DC, so has the debate around the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – again— along with a number of other health issues. Here’s the roundup on health news as we move toward the August Recess. Parties Continue to Battle It Out Over ACA …
Senate Immigration Legislation Unveiled
Last Wednesday morning, a bipartisan group of eight Senators introduced the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013. This bill, developed by Senators Schumer (D-NY), McCain (R-AZ), Durbin (D-IL), Graham (R-SC), Menendez (D-NJ), Rubio (R-FL), Bennet (D-CO), and Flake (R-AZ), is just the starting point for immigration reform discussions in the Senate. …
Sequester Cuts: The Medicare Side of the Ledger
by Heather J Foster, MPH While we have focused primarily on the impact sequester will have on the Health Centers Program, it’s important to note that this will not be the only way FQHCs are affected by the across the board cuts scheduled for March 1. We have already blogged about the fact that Medicaid …
Top Administration Officials Say “No” To Sweeping Medicaid Cuts
by Heather J Foster, MPH Last week, top HHS and White House advisors publicly committed to protecting the Medicaid program and providing stable, predictable future funding for the program. Gene Sperling, the top White House economic advisor, said that the President would oppose any major cuts to the Medicaid program for the rest of his administration. …