{"id":2075,"date":"2021-09-07T20:28:31","date_gmt":"2021-09-07T20:28:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thornrun.com\/health-policy-report-9-7\/"},"modified":"2023-08-08T21:25:36","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T21:25:36","slug":"health-policy-report-9-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thornrun.com\/health-policy-report-9-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Health Policy Report (9\/7)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Capitol Hill Update<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

House lawmakers are set to convene for another week of committee work, with the bulk of this week’s activities focusing on reconciliation markups. The House Ways and Means Committee will kick off its four-day markup on Thursday, along with the Committees on Education & Labor, Science, Space & Technology, Small Business, and Veterans’ Affairs. Members on Ways and Means are scheduled to resume their work on Friday, with the Agriculture and Homeland Security Committees set to hold reconciliation markups as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

House committees are\ninstructed to report out their specific reconciliation language by September\n15, but timing on the floor vote could slip into October due to lingering\ndisagreements between the centrist and progressive wings over the $3.5 trillion\nbenchmark. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed last Thursday, Sen. Joe Manchin\n(D-WV) on Congress to “hit a strategic pause” on the\nmulti-trillion-dollar measure until there has been a more thorough review of\nlegislation’s impact on the current economic landscape. The piece drew the ire\nof several progressive House lawmakers who have vehemently championed the\nproposed investments in health care, climate, education, and housing.\nDemocratic leadership has a tall task ahead of them in the coming weeks ahead\nand will need to carefully navigate intraparty negotiations before a final\npackage and floor strategy emerge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medicare Trustees\nPublish 2020 Report<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, the\nMedicare Board of Trustees released their annual report <\/a>(fact sheet<\/a>) for\nMedicare\u2019s two separate trust funds: (1) the Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust\nFund; and (2) the Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) Trust Fund.\nThe report maintains its previous assertion that the HI Trust Fund will be\ndepleted by 2026, at which point Medicare Part A is projected to only have the\nability to pay 91 percent of estimated expenditures in 2026 and 78 percent in\n2045. Meanwhile, the SMI Trust Fund is expected to be adequately financed for\nthe next 10 years since the fund is financed by general revenues and\nbeneficiary premiums. As such, the burden to support the SMI fund will increase\nfor taxpayers and beneficiaries as costs continue to rise. The Trustees\u2019 best\nestimates of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are reflected in the report,\nthough they assume that the pandemic will have no enduring impact on long-range\nassumptions. The report emphasized that Congress should act with a \u201csense of\nurgency\u201d to address these issues, noting that early introduction of reforms\nwill allow health care providers, beneficiaries, and taxpayers adequate time to\nadjust. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report comes onto\nthe scene as Democrats attempt to pass a $3.5 trillion reconciliation package\nthat would expand Medicare coverage for dental, vision, and hearing services.\nCentrists including Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) may\nharness the Trustees\u2019 report to argue for more moderate spending in the\npackage, while Republicans will likely leverage the report to turn public opinion\nagainst the Democrats\u2019 spending bill. Senate Finance Ranking Member Mike Crapo\n(R-ID) underscored<\/a> last week\nthat the delayed timing of this report \u201cis especially troublesome given the\nmassive amount of legislation contemplated by one side in Congress, in\nwillfully partisan reconciliation exercises, that may impact important Medicare\nprogram.\u201d On the other hand, liberal Democrats point to Medicare insolvency as\nan indicator that preventative care coupled with drug price negotiations in the\npackage will help to remedy the issue. Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR)\nsaid in a statement<\/a> that \u201cwhile\nthe projected depletion of the Medicare Trust Fund remains unchanged from last\nyear\u2019s report, this provides cold comfort to the millions of Americans who rely\non the Medicare program for their health care.\u201d House Ways and Means Chair\nRichard Neal (D-MA) echoed these sentiments in his press release<\/a>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FDA to Issue Rules\nIndependently of HHS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This past Wednesday,\nDepartment of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra revoked<\/a> a Trump-era\nregulation issued in September of 2020 requiring HHS to sign off on the Food\nand Drug Administration\u2019s (FDA\u2019s) policies prior to implementation. Fast moving\nCOVID-19 vaccine developments and a desire to tightly control the process\ncatalyzed the Trump administration\u2019s requirement for FDA. Under Trump, the two\nagencies were sometimes at odds over vaccine and testing developments, and the\nrule allowed HHS to override FDA and allow unproven COVID tests on the market.\nPreceding this 2020 policy, FDA had not been required to check with HHS before\nissuing rules. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that the rule has\nbeen repealed, FDA can issue rules without worry that HHS will override the\nAgency. This regulatory change occurs as FDA navigates the Biden administration\u2019s\nCOVID-19 booster plan amidst controversies. Some experts believe that a booster\nplan is premature, and two top vaccine regulators resigned last Tuesday. One of\nthe officials confirmed that their departure from the Agency was based on how\nthe booster policy is transpiring. Additionally, former FDA Commissioner Scott\nGottlieb recently voiced his discontent with the Centers for Disease Control\n(CDC), accusing the Agency of violating FDA\u2019s jurisdiction over boosters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden Administration\nto Provide $3 Billion for Domestic Vaccine Supply Chain <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the country gears\nup for COVID-19 booster distribution, the Biden administration is investing\nabout $3 billion to help American companies bolster the vaccine supply chain.\nInvestments include production lines and facilities, critical supplies\nincluding lipids, bioreactor bags, tubing, personal protective equipment (PPE),\nand plants to produce these items. White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator\nJeff Zients said that the administration has yet to discern which companies\nwill receive funding, though it will be conducted via the contracting process\nwithin the next few weeks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Zients noted\nthat this increased capacity would enable the U.S. to continue producing\nvaccines for the rest of the world, the investment is not unanimously\nsupported. Many are concerned that prioritizing booster shots over initial\nvaccinations for people around the world promotes vaccine inequity and enables\nthe emergence of new variants. In late August, World Health Organization (WHO)\nDirector-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus voiced his disdain for booster\ndevelopment and called for a two-month moratorium on booster shots. National\nInstitute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci\njoined the conversation as well. He stressed that countries providing booster\nshots to their residents should follow the U.S.\u2019s lead in donating vaccine\nsupplies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MedPAC Commissioners\nPrepare to Scrutinize MA Plans <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first<\/a> session of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission\u2019s (MedPAC\u2019s) September meeting, commissioners discussed short- and long-term health care spending trends. The conversation covered the impact of COVID-19 on beneficiaries as well as national and Medicare spending trends. Commissioners discussed several key policies that contribute to significant portions of Medicare spending, including Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, low-value care, and overuse of services. Staff and commissioners deliberated these issues just one day after the Medicare Board of Trustees released their report. Commission Chair Michael Chernew and Vice Chair Paul Ginsburg stressed that the commission needs to be \u201caggressive\u201d and take \u201cbolder action\u201d to reduce costs. Chair Chernew also emphasized the need to drive down costs, saying that \u201cwe will not be shy\u201d when making recommendations in December.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commission focused on evidence that spending per beneficiary is growing faster in MA than Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) and Part D. FFS spending experienced a four percent growth rate between 2011 and 2019, MA plans grew at a rate of 6.9 percent. The Kaiser Family Foundation also found that MA makes up 42 percent of Medicare beneficiaries and 46 percent of all federal Medicare spending. In the MedPAC meeting, commissioners expressed interest in a comparison between the cost breakdown of FFS and MA components to help the commission target areas for cost reduction in MA as well as an examination of MA benchmark policies including coding issues and 115 percent benchmark areas.\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Capitol Hill Update House lawmakers are set to convene for another week of committee work, with the bulk of this week’s activities focusing on reconciliation markups. The House Ways and Means Committee will kick off its four-day markup on Thursday, along with the Committees on Education & Labor, Science, Space & Technology, Small Business, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,7],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHealth Policy Report (9\/7) - thornrun<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thornrun.com\/health-policy-report-9-7\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Health Policy Report (9\/7) - thornrun\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Capitol Hill Update House lawmakers are set to convene for another week of committee work, with the bulk of this week’s activities focusing on reconciliation markups. 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