employers

Exchange Compromise Appears To Be Fizzling Prospects for a compromise bill in the Senate on an enhanced Exchange subsidy extension compromise appear to be fizzling. I have said the chance is at best 50-50 and now those odds are even dwindling. The negotiating group has failed to reach agreement on two of the biggest sticking points – allowing some or all of the dollars to move to health savings accounts (HSAs) and stricter “Hyde amendment” abortion restriction language. Meanwhile, some Democrats are also arguing the minimum premium of $5 or $10 per family per month is unaffordable for those who are low income. The GOP argues zero premiums have led to fraudulent enrollment. On the home front, states and plans are waiting to see what the fallout of an average 26% premium hike and 114% hike for subsidized individuals will mean. The latest statistics say that enrollment is only down

Trump’s “Great Healthcare Plan” President Donald Trump made a major healthcare announcement today, calling his reform framework “The Great Healthcare Plan.” But the announcement provided few details and leaves much of the work to Congress. GOP lawmakers do appear to be crafting ideas to limit exposure on healthcare unaffordability, but extending the expired enhanced subsidies may not be part of the deal. Here is the very skeletal outline of the president’s proposals: President Trump deserves a great deal of credit on drug price reform, but otherwise the deal is not well thought out and does not tackle the true reason for a lack of affordability – price in the market. I will give more details in a blog soon. Additional articles: https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/regulatory/trump-takes-aim-insurance-industry-unveiling-great-healthcare-plan and https://www.beckerspayer.com/policy-updates/trump-pitches-healthcare-policy-outline-aimed-at-lowering-costs-3-takeaways/ and https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/15/politics/trump-health-care-plan and https://apnews.com/article/trump-health-care-insurance-congress-savings-accounts-b7b4caae9ad14fda4646c42d3858202b and https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2026/01/15/trump-congress-aca-subsidies-health-care.html and https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2026/01/president-trump-unveils-the-great-healthcare-plan-to-lower-costs-and-deliver-money-directly-to-the-people/ and https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/The-Great-Healthcare-Plan.pdf and https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5691065-trump-health-care-affordability-plan/ and https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/trump-great-healthcare-plan-affordability-aca/809759/ and https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/healthpolicy/119456 (Some articles may require a subscription.) #healthcare #healthcarereform https://www.modernhealthcare.com/politics-regulation/mh-trump-great-healthcare-plan-drugs-premiums MedPAC

CMS Actuary Releases 2024 Healthcare Spending Each year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Office of the Actuary releases annual healthcare expenditures for the prior year. This year the release was delayed due to the government shutdown. The Actuary found that the U.S. spent $5.28 trillion on healthcare in 2024, a 7.2% increase from the prior year. The robust growth shows the challenges ahead for healthcare. It was the second consecutive year costs trended up more than 7%. Healthcare accounted for 18% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024, up slightly from 2023. Spending on hospital care grew 8.9% to $1.6 trillion. Spending on physician and clinical services increased 8.1% to $1.1 trillion. The Actuary said prices are a factor but non-price factors, such as utilization, were the driver. CMS’ actuaries attributed about 1% of the gain to population growth, 2.5% to price increases, and 3.6% to remaining

Exchange Compromise Is Slipping Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-OH, a leading supporter of a compromise on extending enhanced Exchange premium subsidies, says a deadline of the end of January has been set for having a compromise framework ready and that the main holdup remains abortion. The earlier goal of having a bill this week will not be met. Meanwhile, the Republican Study Committee, the largest caucus of conservatives in the House, unveiled a framework for a second reconciliation bill. Such a bill would only need a majority in each house to become law. The bill addresses affordability broadly and includes some provisions on healthcare. Additional article: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5686728-gop-housing-health-energy-reforms/?tbref=hp #exchanges #healthcare #coverage #pbms #medicaid https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5687461-senate-obamacare-compromise-deadline Government May Pull Back 340B Reform – For Now A court filing appears to show that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will pull back on its contentious 340B Rebate Pilot, at least for now. The

Trump May Veto Subsidy Bill If Passes; Exchange Enrollment Down So Far The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) reports that about 22.8 million consumers have signed up for 2026 individual market Exchange coverage through Jan. 3. This is surprisingly robust with 12 more days to enroll. About 21.4 million enrolled in 2024 and about 24.3 million enrolled in 2025. About 23.6 million people enrolled in the Exchanges plans through Jan. 4, 2025. The 800,000 drop so far is likely less than most had expected. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said 2.2 million will lose coverage in 2026 due to the expiring enhanced subsidies. The CBO said an average of 3.8 million more uninsured people annually would result from 2026-2034. The results so far include 15.6 million Exchange selections in the 30 states using the HealthCare.gov platform for the 2026 plan year and 7.2 million plan selections in the

J&J Becomes Latest Drug Firm To Strike Price Deal Johnson & Johnson arrived at a deal with the Trump administration to lower prices for certain prescription drugs in exchange for tariff relief. As with other deals, J&J will offer specific drugs for sale directly to consumers at significant discounts through the Trump administration’s TrumpRx website. It will offer its drugs to the Medicaid program at comparable prices to other developed countries. It will also give the most-favored-nation (MFN) price on new drug introductions. J&J said it is planning two new U.S. manufacturing facilities as part of a previously announced $55 billion investment. #drugpricing #branddrugmakers #mfn   https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5681535-johnson-johnson-trump-drug-prices/?tbref=hp Congress Could Ban PA in Medicare FFS Lawmakers explored the merits of a bill that would block the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) from implementing a pilot program to test whether prior authorization (PA) should be piloted in traditional Medicare fee-for-service (FFS). The model would be tested

The Courageous 4 Becomes The Courageous 17 The House voted 230-196 to extend enhanced Exchanges premium subsidies for three years as is, with 17 GOP lawmakers joining Democrats. This was after four GOP members signed on to a discharge petition to force a vote. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, and other leaders are livid, but the members were courageous to buck their party to cast a vote they believed in. They tried very hard to get the GOP leaders to agree to a compromise and even simply to hold a vote. Johnson broke his word on the vote under pressure from head-in-the-sand conservatives. The measure is not expected to pass the Senate as a similar bill failed to reach 60 votes there, but a compromise continues to be negotiated in the upper chamber between moderates on both sides of the aisle, which then would face a rocky road back in the

Exchange Compromise Being Developed In Senate A bipartisan group of senators is working on a compromise to extend the enhanced Exchange subsidies that expired on December 31. The draft compromise would extend the subsidies for two years but add reforms, including income caps for subsidies, minimum premium payments, and appropriations of cost-sharing subsidies. To combat fraud, the bill would penalize health plans that enroll phantom enrollees. The bill would also include expansion of health savings accounts (HSAs) by giving subsidized enrollees the choice of the current Exchange subsidy or having the money go to a pre-funded account beginning the second year of the extension.  The official draft may be released next week. Some Democrats say the caucus could agree to such changes. Others are upset by any minimum premium, even $5 or $10 a month. That seems like a ridiculous position. But abortion could spell doom for the compromise. Republicans

WSJ Finds Excess Rx Refills At Medicare Plans Via Mail Order Many argue The Wall Street Journal has it out for health plans as it has had many hard-hitting investigations of fraud and bad practices over the past year or so. Some parts of the industry have accused the Journal of being wrong or behind the times, but the newspaper seems to constantly find scandal afoot, especially among the big national plans. Some of its findings, which are hard to question, have led to ongoing investigations by federal regulators and Capitol Hill. The Journal’s latest expose finds that mail order pharmacies – again the biggest owned by the big national healthcare players — regularly overfill Medicare prescriptions. The Journal finds that excessive filling is a common practice at mail order firms. Too-frequent refills by all U.S. pharmacies cost Medicare and patients $3 billion between 2021 and 2023 says the Journal.

Johnson Under Fire From Moderates On Healthcare As Congress returns this week, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-LA, is facing a backlash from moderates in his already divisive caucus with a razor-thin majority. Moderates are upset that Johnson refused to hold a vote on Exchange subsidy extensions. After that, four members sided with Democrats on a discharge petition to force a vote in January. These moderates are committed to reaching a compromise with the Senate to extend the subsidies in some form. #exchanges #healthcare #coverage #congress #gop #speakerjohnson https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5667397-mike-johnson-house-republican-moderates/?tbref=hp AHIP Goes On Offensive Against Cost Blame AHIP, the health plan lobby, is continuing its media campaign to note that plans are not responsible for huge surges in costs and premiums. It notes that plans made just 0.8% in 2024 and the industry’s profits are now regulated by various rules and laws. However, vertically integrated healthcare behemoths, which own insurers, typically do