States Get More Time to Decide on Exchange
In response to criticism from Republican governors, HHS moved back the deadline for states to declare whether they will set up their own health insurance exchanges or adopt the federal model. The deadline to file letters of intent is now December 14, 2012. While states must follow certain guidelines in establishing their exchanges, those that choose to set up their own exchange would be completely in charge of the system. Furthermore, the federal government is giving states grants to set up the exchanges, which states must eventually self-fund. Some states have already received more than $100 million in grants to set up their exchanges. Arizona, Florida, Idaho, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin are the states that have yet to declare their intentions.
Hospitals Could Face Funding Cuts Worse Than Sequester
As lawmakers search for ways to avoid going off the fiscal cliff, hospitals could end up worse off than if Congress allows sequestration to happen. The problem deals with the fact that sequestration took Medicaid cuts off the table and limits Medicare cuts to 2%. However, any fiscal cliff deal between Capitol Hill and the White House is not subject to the terms of sequestration. Consequently, Medicaid could face spending cuts while Medicare’s cuts could be deeper than 2%.
The ideas being circulated on Capitol Hill focus on cuts to graduate medical education, lifting the ban on new physician-owned hospitals, eliminating Medicaid provider taxes and reducing Medicare “bad debt” payments as ways to reduce the deficit. However, the proposal getting the most attention would cut payment for evaluation and management services in a hospital’s outpatient department to the level paid to doctors who provide the same treatment in their offices.
House Republicans Will Increase “Oversight” of ACA
Although voters failed to give Republicans on Capitol Hill a mandate for full repeal of the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), Speaker John Boehner signaled his intention to increase Congress’s investigatory powers over the landmark health care law. In a blog post this week, Speaker Boehner urged House Republicans to “recognize the role congressional oversight will play in repealing Obamacare going forward.” The post also quoted a letter sent to House Republicans, which noted that “there are three possible routes to repeal of Obamacare: the courts, the presidential election and our constitutional responsibility for oversight. With two of them having come up short, the third and final of these becomes more important than ever.”
Push for New Health Care Committee Dies in House
Washington State Congressman Doc Hastings urged his fellow House Republicans to create a new committee that deals only with health care issues. In a letter circulated on Capitol Hill earlier this week, Hastings said such a committee would make it easier to work on Medicare, Medicaid and oversight of the ACA’s rollout. He also said it would enable Republicans to plan how to repeal the federal health law after President Obama leaves office in 2017. However, the idea died when Hastings was unable to garner enough support from his fellow Republicans at a Thursday caucus meeting. The two subcommittees of the Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce committees will continue to handle issues related to Medicare, Medicaid and health care law.
For more information, please contact John F. Williams, III at 317.977.1462 or jwilliams@hallrender.com.
Please visit the Hall Render Blog at http://blogs.hallrender.com/ for more information on topics related to health care law.
