Over the past week, the Obama administration announced that 3.6 million people enrolled in Medicare saved $2.1 billion on prescription drugs; thousands of Catholic parishioners across the country were read a letter from their priests announcing that the church would not comply with the Affordable Care Act; and the Congressional Budget Office announced that if Congress used the nation’s war savings to address the sustainable growth rate mandated cuts, it could achieve a permanent “doc fix.”
IN THE COURTS
On Monday (1/30), U.S. District Court Judge for the Central District of California Christina Snyder said she will temporarily block a 10 percent cut in Medi-Cal payments to doctors, dentists, and other health care providers. Then on Wednesday (2/1), Judge Snyder made her temporary ruling permanent. Gov. Jerry Brown's administration said that it will appeal the judge's ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
AT THE AGENCIES
During the last weekend of January, thousands of Catholic parishioners around the nation were a read a letter from their priests announcing that the church would not comply with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The church decided to take the bold stand when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that all American employers – including Catholic churches, hospitals, colleges, charities, and more – will be required to provide for their employees health insurance that includes subsidized contraception, sterilization, and coverage for abortion-inducing drugs, or pay a fee so that the government can provide such coverage for those individuals. The letters specifically identified HHS’s announcement, the Obama administration, the First Amendment, the church’s unbending resolve, and steps parishioners could take to protect the church from government.
To fill the “doughnut hole,” a term which refers to a coverage gap that requires Medicare enrollees who do not qualify for a low-income subsidy to pay the full cost of their drugs, the Affordable Care Act requires drug companies to offer discounts on brand-name and generic drugs for Medicare beneficiaries after they reach the gap. On Thursday (2/2), the Obama administration announced that 3.6 million people enrolled in the government Medicare program saved $2.1 billion on prescription drugs, one of the first tangible benefits of the Affordable Care Act.
ON THE HILL
The House of Representatives voted to terminate a component of the Affordable Care Act that the Congressional Budget Office said would raise money in the short run but add to long-term budget imbalances, as it would, in time, pay more in benefits than it collected in premiums. HHS pulled the plug on this program last fall when the department concluded it would be insolvent as a voluntary system, but Democrats argued Congress should fix the program – known as the Community Living Assistance Services (CLASS) Act – not repeal it. Democrats in the Senate will not affirm the House’s action, but Republicans say it’s the beginning of the end for PPACA.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced a bill called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2012, which would expand the very small exemption for religious employers in the Affordable Care Act. Sen. Rubio's proposed bill would protect religious organizations from the health care reform's mandate to provide contraceptives, sterilization services, and abortion-inducing drugs.
A perennial problem in Washington is the need for a “doc fix,” which lawmakers always agree is important but not workable. This year, things may be different. Medicare reimbursement rates for physicians are set by the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula, which this year would compel a 27.4 percent reduction in payments to physicians unless Congress acts to prevent the cuts. Congress has used temporary patches for this problem before, but the CBO just announced that if Congress used the nation’s war savings ($838 billion that, absent the draw downs in Iraq and Afghanistan, would have been spent on war between now and 2022) to address the SGR mandated cuts, it could achieve a permanent “doc fix.” The fix could freeze payments at current levels until 2022, for a total cost of $316 billion.
Sen. Mitch McConnell and Chief Counsel and Policy Director for the Judicial Crisis Network Carrie Severino co-authored an opinion piece in Politico arguing that if the individual mandate is struck down, the entire law should be struck down as well. The piece analogizes the individual mandate to a Christmas tree and the rest of the law to Christmas tree ornaments, which, without the individual mandate, would be suspended midair.
Though Medicare Advantage plans have reduced premiums by 7 percent and increased enrollment by 10 percent, officials from America's Health Insurance Plans warned that enrollment is expected to decline dramatically according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis because the Affordable Care Act requires $200 million in cuts.
IN THE STATES
The largest pro-life organization in Idaho announced last week that it opposes the construction of a state health-insurance exchange, which would be built in an effort to satisfy requirements of the Affordable Care Act. The group – Idaho Chooses Life (ICL) – said one reason it opposes the act and an exchange is because Planned Parenthood is pushing so hard for its enactment, largely because of subsidies for abortion services. Idaho Gov. Butch Otter said Idaho is running out of time, and if it does not act soon, the federal government will have to create an exchange for Idahoans, but ICL said if they implement an exchange, they risk undermining the lawsuit that Idaho and 25 other states are engaged in efforts to overturn the Affordable Care Act.
THIS WEEK
On Tuesday (2/7) at 10:00 a.m. in 1100 Longworth, the Health Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on how some private sector payers are rewarding physicians who deliver high quality and efficient care, which could be used as a model for an overhaul of the Medicare physician payment system.
On Wednesday (2/8) at 10:00 a.m., the Brookings Institution will host a conversation on the issues surrounding implementation of health information exchange titled "Policy Megachange and Health Information exchanges."
On Wednesday (2/8) at 11:00 a.m., the Center for American Progress will host a discussion titled "Massachusetts' Health Care Success Story and Why the Affordable Care Act is Constitutional."
On Thursday (2/9) at the National Press Club, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will square off against Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.
To view our compilation of recent health care reform implementation news, click here.