The health-related provisions of the December 2022 omnibus bill
James C. Capretta | Jan 24, 2023 | Federal
Massachusetts' health cost-control strategy at ten
James C. Capretta | Dec 16, 2022 | Federal
Employer-sponsored insurance in 2022
James C. Capretta | Nov 21, 2022 | Federal
CMS’s post-PHE plan for Medicaid and CHIP
James C. Capretta | Sep 27, 2022 | Federal
The Biden administration wants to minimize the fallout from the expiration of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), whenever it occurs. At the top of the list of concerns is the insurance status of people who have been able to stay on Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
An update on the disputes leading CMS and Georgia to court
James C. Capretta | Aug 26, 2022 | Federal
Two disputes between Georgia and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) over the state’s Trump-era waiver plans remain unsettled after eighteen months of legal and political wrangling. Given the wide gaps separating the two sides’ positions, as reflected in a recent exchange of letters, it seems likely that
Updating Medicare’s physician fees is a challenge again
James C. Capretta | Jul 27, 2022 | Federal
Congress and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have struggled for three decades to establish a stable, and affordable, system of determining annual updates for physician fees. While it was hoped that a law passed in the middle of the last decade would permanently end the volatility, it
Medicare projections from CBO and the program’s trustees
James C. Capretta | Jun 14, 2022 | Federal
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the board of trustees charged with overseeing Medicare’s financial health recently released updated forecasts of the program within days of each other. These latest reports are valuable starting points for examining Medicare’s current status and likely future course. CBO’s Medicare estimates, released
Standardized plan requirements for ACA coverage in 2023
James C. Capretta | May 17, 2022 | Federal
On April 28th, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced its final Affordable Care Act (ACA) rule adjustments for calendar year 2023. Among the changes is a requirement that plan sponsors participating in the federally run exchange--healthcare.gov--offer standardized plans in addition to their other products. An important aim
Medicare and inflation
James C. Capretta | Apr 18, 2022 | Federal
The most recent consumer price index (CPI) release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revealed that the rate of annual inflation from March 2021 to March 2022 was 8.5 percent -- the highest in four decades. If such rapid price escalation persists for an extended period, it will have