End-Of-Year Stop Gap Funding In Flux
With the House staying Republican, some are saying the stop gap measure to fund government by the end of the calendar year is now in flux. Some Republicans want to punt any substantive legislative action to the new Congress when the GOP is fully in control. Others want to pass substantive legislation, including several healthcare initiatives. They could include pharmacy benefit manager reform, hospital transparency, and site-neutral payments.
One of the top issues that many aim to pass in the lame-duck session is instituting site-neutral payment rules for outpatient care. This is heavily opposed by the hospital lobby, but it is gaining bipartisan momentum. It is unknown how expansive any proposal would be (some or all outpatient services) and whether it would apply just to Medicare or include commercial. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the most robust site-neutral legislation would save more than $100 billion over 10 years. Including commercial, savings are even greater.
In other news, healthcare advocates are saying that extending Exchange premium subsidy enhancements may be a long shot but they see pathways to victory. They will argue the impact to coverage will be great if enhanced subsidies sunset. There could be some concessions on the size of the enhancements and who is eligible. The CBO says reupping the enhancements permanently would cost about $335 billion over 10 years. A sunset could mean 4 million join the ranks of the uninsured.
Additional articles: https://www.modernhealthcare.com/politics-policy/site-neutral-payment-bill-congress and https://insidehealthpolicy.com/daily-news/advocates-see-fight-over-aptcs-hard-winnable-alternative-approaches-may-be-play
(Articles may require a subscription.)
#crs #governmentshutdown #congress
https://insidehealthpolicy.com/daily-news/election-throws-uncertainty-lame-duck-package-size-timing