In less than two weeks, we will know not only who our president will be for the next four years, but also what our health insurance system is likely to look like. With the election so near, there was little implementation of ACA last week, but supporters and opponents of the law are waiting in the wings to begin taking action in November.
IN THE COURTS
A proposed settlement of a class action lawsuit filed on October 16 in U.S. District Court in Vermont says that the Obama administration will revise its Medicare manual to say that benefits will be available even when care would only "maintain the patient's current condition or ... prevent or slow further deterioration." An HHS spokeswoman said this settlement “clarifies” existing policy and that she does not expect any “changes in access to service or costs.”
The Justice Department is urging a federal judge to deny Hobby Lobby Stores’ request to block enforcement of the part of the Affordable Care Act that requires employers to cover insurance costs for morning and week-after pills.
ON THE HILL
On Wednesday (10/24), the House Ways and Means Committee threatened to subpoena HHS to get information about the use of taxpayer dollars for an Affordable Care Act PR campaign.
Chairman Darrell Issa and other Republicans on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee after also threatening to issue a subpoena, did. The subpoena was issued to the IRS seeking records on how the agency is implementing the law's insurance subsidies and comes after HHS responded to the committee’s other requests for these documents minutes before the deadline with a massive amount of information, which, Issa says, was not responsive.
IN THIRD PARTIES
In a new American Action Forum paper, The Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) And Access to Health Care, conservative economist Douglas Holtz-Eakin argues that the IPAB could push Medicare "dangerously close to a ration system."
A new study from the Urban Institute argues that the Affordable Care Act utilizes market-based principles to achieve its goals. The director of the HHS task force at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) asked why left-leaning groups were now arguing that ACA relies on market-based principles when the premise for ACA was that the market does not work to address health care problems.
IN THE STATES
Health care is taking center stage in the Massachusetts Senate race between Republican incumbent Scott Brown and Democratic rival Elizabeth Warren. Sen. Brown is pledging to work for the law's repeal while Warren is pledging to uphold it.
IN THE ELECTION
On Tuesday (10/23), President Obama released a 20-page second-term plan titled, "The New Economic Patriotism: A Plan for Jobs & Middle-Class Security." In broad brush strokes the plan explains how the ACA would continue to be implemented in a second-term of the Obama presidency.
To view our compilation of recent health care reform implementation news, click here.