Congress Irons Out A Deal To Fund HHS, But There Still Could Be Wrinkles
The legislation still must pass the Senate and House. Stat noted that many of the health care reforms in the package were part of a deal Congress struck in December 2024 that quickly fell apart after then President-elect Trump and Elon Musk attacked it.
Congress has reached a deal on several health care policies, including a crackdown on drug-industry middlemen, transparency measures for hospital billing, pediatric cancer research measures, and Medicare coverage of multi-cancer screening tests. (Wilkerson and Payne, 1/20)
President Donald Trump announced his 鈥淕reat Healthcare Plan鈥 to little fanfare on Capitol Hill last week. The question now is how willing and able congressional Republicans will be to actually pass any of it into law after stumbling for years over politically toxic plans to undo Obamacare. The prognosis is not encouraging for the White House. (Lee Hill, Guggenheim and Carney, 1/20)
More on health care costs and coverage 鈥
The number of new Covered California enrollees has plunged about 32% compared with where it stood a year ago, and the state鈥檚 Affordable Care Act marketplace is bracing for the eventual loss of 400,000 policyholders, most of whom will be priced out. Tens of thousands of Covered California policyholders are facing skyrocketing costs to maintain the health insurance coverage they held last year, following the end of enhanced federal health care tax credits that the Republican-led Congress and President Donald Trump allowed to expire. (DiNatale, 1/20)
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is continuing to pay Medicare Advantage (MA) plans more -- $76 billion more in 2026 -- than if those same patients were enrolled in traditional fee-for-service Medicare. That higher cost comes despite a policy CMS redesigned in 2024 to limit MA plans' ability to exaggerate patients' health risks to garner higher monthly payments. (Clark, 1/20)
麻豆女优 Health News:
Medicaid Tries New Approach With Sickle Cell: Companies Get Paid Only If Costly Gene Therapies Work
Serenity Cole enjoyed Christmas last month relaxing with her family near her St. Louis home, making crafts and visiting friends. It was a contrast to how Cole, 18, spent part of the 2024 holiday season. She was in the hospital 鈥 a frequent occurrence with sickle cell disease, a genetic condition that damages oxygen-carrying red blood cells and for years caused debilitating pain in her arms and legs. Flare-ups often would force her to cancel plans or miss school.鈥淲ith sickle cell it hurts every day,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t might be more tolerable some days, but it鈥檚 a constant thing.鈥 (Galewitz, 1/21)
