The Trump Administration had ordered the Justice Department to abolish the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which had been enacted nine years ago under the Obama Administration. The House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to stop the Justice Department from carrying out the ACA termination, with the final tally set at 240 to 186, counting eight [...]
On Thursday, a U.S. District Judge ruled against the Trump administration's efforts to expand on association health plan rules. The Trump administration had developed a final rule that allows for association health plans to be developed by associations and employers, which the judge has ruled that it is beyond the Trump administration's authority under the [...]
On Thursday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) made the announcement that the number of providers who participate in the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BCPI) Advanced model has decreased by 16%, scaling down to 1,086 providers from 1,299 providers. The BCPI Advanced model was initially started in October 2018 as the first [...]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has been working to continually evolve and reform the Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) program. A recent reform to the ACO program was the Pathways to Success Rule, which was enacted in late 2018, which focused on reforming the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). The Pathways to Success [...]
After having received over 300 comments on recommended modifications to the Stark law, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) decided to make major changes to the federal law. CMS Administrator Seema Verma announced part of the big improvement to the Stark law on Monday, stating that the CMS will a major part will [...]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is considering eliminating their current star rating model for a model that takes the average of scores, rather than their current model based on a latent variable model (LVM). The decision would not be quick, but would be enacted in 2020. The CMS' new stance on their [...]
On January 14, 2019, the House Democrats developed a draft for the approaching Medicare for All bill, which will suggest a new budget model. Initially, Senator Bernie Sanders had developed the framework for the Medicare for All bill in 2017, but the new draft expands on the funding for the bill. Sanders' bill had put [...]
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) had announce on Thursday the second part of their 2020 Medicare Advantage Advance Notice, which will increase the Medicare Advantage rates by 1.59% in 2020. The rate hike is not as substantial as the rate hike for 2019, which is 3.4%. The first section of the 2020 [...]
A new survey released by the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index on Wednesday revealed that the number of uninsured American adults has increased from 10.9 % in 2016 to 13.7 % in 2018, which is a growth of an estimated 7 million adults uninsured. The current uninsured rate of 13.7% American adults is the [...]
On Thursday, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a proposed rule that aims to cut fees for those enrolled in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This act can potentially eliminate silver-loading within the health insurance market. The practice of silver-loading is when premiums are heavily increased onto silver-level exchange plans, which are [...]