Last week, HHS issued final rules on health insurance exchanges, CBO provided new estimates on the cost and coverage of health reform, and the Supreme Court rejected calls to televise next week’s oral arguments. This week marks the Affordable Care Act’s two-year birthday.
IN THE COURTS
There is now one week until the Supreme Court hears Florida v. Department of Health and Human Services.
On Friday (3/16), the Supreme Court rejected calls to allow television cameras into its chambers during the March arguments. It said, however, that it would release same-day audio recordings of the arguments instead of its usual end-of-week recordings.
AT THE AGENCIES
On Monday (3/12), HHS issued final rules on the health law exchanges. Under the rules, states will have "substantial flexibility" to create insurance marketplaces to meet their residents' needs. For example, a state may structure its exchange either as a nonprofit entity established by the state, as an independent public agency, or as part of an existing state agency. The rule also offers more flexibility to states for establishment deadlines. The final rule allows states that are unable to meet the 2014 deadline to apply to operate their own exchanges in 2015 or any subsequent year. The rules also say that insurers and other industry representatives will get to fill up to half of the seats on the insurance exchange governing boards and that at least one seat must be reserved for a consumer representative.
A Congressional Budget Office report Thursday (3/15) says that as many as 20 million Americans could lose their employer-provided coverage because of the health care reform law. At the other end of the CBO’s estimates, the law also could increase the number of people with employer-based coverage by 3 million in 2019.
This report follows a CBO Update from Tuesday (3/13), in which the CBO updated its $940 billion estimate of the Affordable Care Act's cost over 10 years to $1.76 trillion.
On Friday (3/19), HHS released its final rules for expanding Medicaid under ACA. The final rule will make it easier for eligible individuals and families to enroll in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) by cutting back on red tape and coordinating enrollment with health insurance exchanges. It will create a minimum income-based eligibility standard for every state's Medicaid program.
On Tuesday (3/13), CMS awarded $75 million, authorized by the Affordable Care Act, for a program that will look for cheaper, more effective ways to treat mental illness. The states participating in the demonstration project are Alabama, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Washington and West Virginia. Washington, D.C., will participate as well.
ON THE HILL
Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) of the Senate Budget Committee requested a hearing with HHS Sec. Sebelius after an exchange last week in which she was unsure of details about the law's effect on the deficit.
IN THIRD PARTIES
A group of prominent center-right leaders, including a number of top Bush administration officials, founded a new advocacy group, Conscience Cause, to advocate for measures exempting religious organizations from federal rules governing contraception coverage. The group’s mission is to stop “the implementation of a Department of Health and Human Services regulation which would compel people and organizations to pay for drugs and services that violate their faith.”
A new study in the March/April issue of the Annals of Family Medicine says that if current trends continue, health insurance premiums will surpass the median U.S. household income in 2033.
IN THE STATES
The Texas attorney general's office sued HHS in federal civil court in response to the department's decision to terminate federal funding for the state's Women's Health Program.
There was news this week that Mississippi is on track to have its health insurance exchange set up by the 2014 deadline.
THIS WEEK
On Tuesday (2/20) from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. at The Heritage Foundation, Edwin Meese III, Steve Bradbury, Erik Jaffe, Michael Rosman and Carrie Severino will speak at an event titled, Obamacare in Briefs: The Amicus Writers Preview the Key Questions.
On Wednesday (3/21) from 12:30 to 1:00 p.m. live online, the Brookings Institute will host a forum for Russell Wheeler to take questions on the upcoming Supreme Court case to determine the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
To view our compilation of recent health care reform implementation news, click here.