The Supreme Court is scheduled to decide how to handle the multiple Affordable Care Act challenges at a private conference on November 10, HHS announced that 2012 Medicare Part B premiums will be lower than projected, and the House of Representatives voted to change the Affordable Care Act’s definition of income, such that modified adjusted gross income would not exclude the portion of Social Security benefits that are not subject to income taxes.
AT THE AGENCIES
On Thursday (10/27), HHS announced that Medicare Part B premiums will be lower than projected for 2012 but up $3.50 from the past three years’ rate. 2012 monthly premiums will be $99.90. Part A premiums, however, will increase by a dollar a month.
According to a proposed rule from October 18, CMS is interested in reducing the regulatory burden on doctors by making consequences for missing Medicare enrollment deadlines less harsh. The proposed change would quickly reinstate physicians who are kicked out of the Medicare program due to their clerical and administrative errors.
According to the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration, the IRS is on track to meet the technological requirements of the Affordable Care Act, which has required the agency to make at least 40 changes to the tax code.
IN THE COURTS
The Supreme Court is scheduled to decide how to handle the multiple Affordable Care Act challenges at a private conference on November 10. The Court has received six separate petitions asking it to rule on whether the law's individual mandate is constitutional. The key issues from the briefs filed with the Supreme Court are: whether Congress exceeded its constitutional power by requiring all Americans to buy health insurance or pay a penalty, whether the entire law should be scrapped if the individual mandate is declared unconstitutional, whether Congress unconstitutionally forced Medicaid expansion on the states by threatening to withhold billions in funds from states that refuse to cooperate, and whether parties have standing to bring these lawsuits before any penalties have been imposed.
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court arguing that the entire Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act should be stricken. The group argues that severing only the individual mandate would allow the courts to have judicial line-item veto.
On Tuesday (10/25), America's Health Insurance Plans, a Washington, D.C., trade group filed a brief with the Supreme Court. The group argues in its brief that insurers need to know as soon as possible whether the Affordable Care Act will be upheld.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce submitted a brief Tuesday to the Supreme Court saying that it takes no position on the constitutionality of the individual mandate, and that the court should not sever the individual mandate from the rest of the law in determining its constitutionality. The Chamber said health insurers and insurance buyers would face "dire consequences" if only the mandate were to be invalidated.
ON THE HILL
Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) are arguing that CMS is not taking advantage of the authority granted to it by the Affordable Care Act to issue moratoriums to prevent fraudulent Medicare providers from joining the program.
On Thursday (10/27), the House of Representatives moved to change the provision of the Affordable Care Act which defines income, such that modified adjusted gross income would not exclude the portion of Social Security benefits that are not subject to income taxes. The Congressional Budget Office says that this will cut between 500,000 to 1 million people off from Medicaid coverage. In a Statement of Administration Policy, the White House said it supports the new definition of modified adjusted income in the Affordable Care Act's inclusion of both taxable and nontaxable Social Security benefits.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) is responsible for a new report, based on information from the Joint Commission on Taxation, that argues the Affordable Care Act penalizes married couples by making it more difficult for them to get insurance subsidies.
On Monday (10/24), the chairman of the House Appropriations Health subcommittee, Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT), introduced bills to repeal the Affordable Care Act's expansion of Medicaid to close to 17 million people beginning in 2014, eliminate federal subsidies for about 20 million people to buy private health insurance through state health exchanges, and repeal the CLASS Act.
IN THE STATES
On Wednesday (10/26), Wisconsin asked for a waiver from the health law's medical loss ratio provision, which requires health insurance plans to spend a minimum of 80 percent of premiums on medical care.
On Thursday (10/27), Gov. Chris Christie announced that requiring New Jersey public employees to pay more for their health benefits will lead to an estimated $70 million in savings for state and local governments.
On Tuesday (10/25), the Colorado Health Information Organization announced that 12 new hospitals have been connected to the state's health information exchange network. The health information exchange is a secure network that links doctors and other medical care providers throughout the state and provides access to patient information.
THIRD PARTIES
Occupy Wall Street protestors rallied against the health insurance industry this week in an effort to "get Wall Street out of health care."
THIS WEEK
On Wednesday (11/2) at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn, the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health held a hearing titled "Does New Health Law Mandate Threaten Conscience Rights and Access to Care?"
To view our compilation of recent health care reform implementation news, click here.