Articles and Blogs

Proposed Rule Released for Short-Term Health Insurance Plans On February 20, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a proposed rule to extend the availability of a lower cost, more narrowly tailored form of insurance called short-term limited duration health insurance plans. This would allow consumers to buy short-term health plans of up... READ MORE

Trump Budget Proposes Cuts to HHS and Entitlement Programs On February 12, the White House released President Trump’s FY 2019 budget proposal, which seeks major cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services. If enacted into law, the budget would cut the HHS discretionary budget by 21 percent and slash Medicare and Medicaid... READ MORE

Congress Passes Massive Budget Bill with Numerous Health Care Provisions In the early morning of February 9, Congress passed a two-year budget deal containing substantial implications for health care. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 sets new limits on how much the federal government can spend in the next two years. The budget deal... READ MORE

GOP Moving Away from ACA Repeal Efforts Congressional Republicans met for their annual policy retreat this week in West Virginia. Key GOP lawmakers stated that there are no imminent plans to try again to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”). Instead, they are shifting their focus to passing legislation to lowering health care... READ MORE

Congress Votes to End Government Shutdown After a three-day government shutdown, the Senate voted 81-18 on Monday to fund the government through February 8, 2018. The continuing resolution (“CR”) was then sent to the House, where it passed 266-150. President Trump subsequently signed the bill into law on January 22. The three-week CR includes... READ MORE

Federal Government Shutdown Looms as Deadline Nears On January 18, the House passed a four-week continuing resolution (“CR”) that would fund the federal government through February 16. While a vote in the Senate is expected on Friday or sometime over the weekend, the bill’s chances of passing the upper chamber remain uncertain as of... READ MORE

CMS Allows States to Establish Medicaid Work Requirements On January 11, CMS issued new guidance that will allow states to establish work requirements for certain Medicaid recipients for the first time in the program’s history. Through a letter to State Medicaid Directors, CMS outlined criteria for the types of employment proposals targeting able-bodied, working-age... READ MORE

Congress Returns to Crowded 2018 Legislative Calendar The Senate returned to Washington this week to begin the second session of the 115th Congress. The House returns Monday of next week, which gives Congress eight legislative days to fund the federal government for Fiscal Year 2018. Prior to departing for 2017, Congress passed a temporary... READ MORE

Congress Passes Stopgap Spending Bill to Avoid Government Shutdown After passing the most significant tax reform legislation since 1986, Republicans in Congress narrowly avoided a government shutdown on December 22 by passing legislation that temporarily funds the government through January 19, 2018. The House voted 231-88 to approve the short-term spending bill, and the Senate quickly... READ MORE

House and Senate Republicans Reach Deal on Tax Reform On December 13, House and Senate Republicans announced they’ve reached an agreement on how to reconcile the differences between their respective tax reform bills. Although text of the legislation has not been released, reports indicate the final version will repeal the ACA’s individual mandate and... READ MORE