Politics, Law and Policy Blog | Bipartisan Policy Insights & Political Intelligence

Weekly Health Policy Update: HHS/CMS Congressional Testimony & Exchange News

April 22nd, 2013 Posted in Health Policy

Each week, our Health Policy team recaps recent health care developments in two reports, Weekly Health Care Wrap-Up and Health Insurance Exchanges: State of the States.

Weekly Health Care Wrap-Up is our weekly look at regulatory developments affecting health care at the federal and state level. Last week, HHS Secretary Sebelius testified before Congress at numerous hearings and the Federal Basic Health Plan Timeline was released.

Health Insurance Exchanges: State of the States update is our weekly State of the States report on Health Insurance Exchange developments. Last week, Connecticut announced its SHOP contract awardee and there was news about implementation for the Federally-facilitated Exchange.

Privacy and Cybersecurity Collide as House Continue to Debate Information Sharing Legislation

April 18th, 2013 Posted in Congress, Cybersecurity, Data Privacy, Legislation (Federal)

By Dan Caprio

Yesterday, the White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy that includes a threat to veto the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (“CISPA” or H.R. 624) unless further changes are made to the bill’s privacy protections to require removal of personal information before cybersecurity data is shared with the government.

A U.S. Chamber of Commerce coalition has stated in a letter to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Ranking Member Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD) that an amendment to CISPA requiring businesses to remove personal information is unnecessary and costly especially to small and medium sized business thereby limiting their willingness to participate in information sharing.

The full House will continue to debate the bill today.

The TIGER Comes Roaring Back: New Round of Federal Transportation Grants to Award $475 Million

April 17th, 2013 Posted in Public-Private Partnerships, Transportation

By Marcus Lemon

USDOT indicated yesterday that a 5th round of TIGER grant opportunities may be announced on Friday, April 19^th, with $475 million in grants becoming available.

TIGER (which stands for Transportation Grants Generating Economic Recovery), is a highly competitive program that provides matching grant money for transportation projects administered by state departments of transportation, often in conjunction with a private partner or public authority. The program usually will only accept approximately 5-10% of the applications it receives, and has historically favored intermodal, freight rail, livability, or port projects that reduce dependence on fossil fuels, improve safety, offer economic improvement to distressed areas, and provide shovel-ready infrastructure work.

Previous TIGER rounds have included information announcements followed by an initial clearance application due date, which is then followed by a deadline for the full application with supporting materials and documentation in an approved format. The program has come under scrutiny by Congress for its discretionary element, which allows the administration to make a final call on which projects are the most effective and eligible for approval using several guidelines that are scored under a number of factors.

Weekly Health Policy Update: CCIIO Navigator Funding Opportunity and FY14 Budget

April 15th, 2013 Posted in Health Policy

By Elizabeth Carpenter

Each week, our Health Policy team recaps recent health care developments in two reports, Weekly Health Care Wrap-Up and Health Insurance Exchanges: State of the States.

Weekly Health Care Wrap-Up is our weekly look at regulatory developments affecting health care at the federal and state level. Last week, CCIIO released the Navigator funding opportunity announcement while the White House released its long-awaited FY14 budget.

Health Insurance Exchanges: State of the States update is our weekly State of the States report on Health Insurance Exchange developments. Last week, Idaho and New Mexico took steps to begin forming their respective boards to oversee exchanges.

Weekly Health Policy Update: PCORI Advisory Board Members Selected

April 2nd, 2013 Posted in Health Policy

By Elizabeth Carpenter

Each week, our Health Policy team recaps recent health care developments in two reports, Weekly Health Care Wrap-Up and Health Insurance Exchanges: State of the States.

Weekly Health Care Wrap-Up is our weekly look at regulatory developments affecting health care at the federal and state level. Last week, the chairman of the House Committee on Small Business sent a letter to CMS questioning the implementation delay of employee choice in the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) chose its 84 advisory board members.

Health Insurance Exchanges: State of the States update is our weekly State of the States report on Health Insurance Exchange developments. Last week, CCIIO released new information for carriers on its website and New Mexico signed exchange implementation legislation into law.

With Congressional Inertia, President’s Scientific Advisors Offer Proposals for Addressing Climate Change

March 27th, 2013 Posted in Canada-U.S. Relations, Climate, Energy Policy, Legislation (Federal)

By Andrew Shaw

On March 22^nd, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (“Council”) released recommendations on how the Administration can address climate change in President Obama’s second term. The Council suggested that a carbon tax or cap-and-trade system would be a preferable policy for reducing greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions, but acknowledged that existing political realities will make passage of these policies difficult.

That same day, a Senate vote underscored the political resistance to carbon taxes as the Senate rejected a proposal by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) that would have imposed a tax on GHG emissions. Given the current political context, the Council’s report provides some interesting recommendations on climate mitigation and adaptation policies.

The Council argued that transitioning from coal to natural gas in the electricity sector will be important in achieving short- to middle-term GHG emission reductions. The Council’s recommendation builds upon a report last year from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which found that energy-related GHG emissions in the first quarter of 2012 were at their lowest level since 1992 due in part to the transition from coal to natural gas in the electricity sector. Continue Reading

Is Arkansas’ Premium Assistance Proposal a Game Changer?

March 26th, 2013 Posted in Governors, Health Policy, Legislation (Federal), Legislatures (State)

By Dennis Smith

The news that Arkansas and the Obama Administration have agreed to put the Medicaid expansion population into the health exchange market by using premium assistance has spread to other states like wildfire. The Administration is apparently hopeful that this approach will bring reluctant governors to the expansion table. But details about what exactly premium assistance means and will be approved are still murky as negotiations continue.

Premium assistance is simply a form of a voucher to be used to purchase health insurance coverage, typically for an individual and family members who have access to employer sponsored health insurance. Congress has enacted vouchers in various public assistance programs before – think of the Food Stamp program or WIC coupons, and now refundable, advanceable tax credits. Premium assistance has been an option within Medicaid for decades, but Federal rules make it difficult to use. The administrative complexities of the individual cost effectiveness test combined with requirements to maintain the “full” Medicaid benefit package with limited cost sharing have discouraged states’ pursuit of premium assistance.

So back to Arkansas. Continue Reading

Weekly Health Policy Update: Non-Binding Medical Device Tax Repeal Passes Senate

March 25th, 2013 Posted in Health Policy

By Elizabeth Carpenter

Each week, our Health Policy team recaps recent health care developments in two reports, Weekly Health Care Wrap-Up and Health Insurance Exchanges: State of the States.

Weekly Health Care Wrap-Up is our weekly look at regulatory developments affecting health care at the federal and state level. Last week, the House of Representatives approved House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget and the Senate approved a budget amendment led by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT).

Health Insurance Exchanges: State of the States update is our weekly State of the States report on Health Insurance Exchange developments. Since last weekend marked the third anniversary of the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, we begin with a recap of the “National Health Insurance Marketplace Stakeholder Call” held by CMS.

Weekly Health Policy Update: HHS Approves New Marketplace Plan Management Option

March 18th, 2013 Posted in Health Policy

By Elizabeth Carpenter

Each week, our Health Policy team recaps recent health care developments in two reports, Weekly Health Care Wrap-Up and Health Insurance Exchanges: State of the States.

Weekly Health Care Wrap-Up is our weekly look at regulatory developments affecting health care at the federal and state level. Last week, HHS approved a new marketplace plan management option and longtime health staff member to former Representative Pete Stark is moving off the Hill to the D.C. Exchange.

Health Insurance Exchanges: State of the States update is our weekly State of the States report on Health Insurance Exchange developments. There was a lot of news out of Washington last week, as top HHS officials met with a variety of stakeholders on ACA implementation, while states made legislative progress passing exchange legislation.

Video Interview: Discussing the Lack of Attention Paid to Medicaid with LXBN TV

March 15th, 2013 Posted in Health Policy

By Dennis Smith

Following up on our recent post focusing on Medicaid, we had the opportunity to speak with Colin O’Keefe of LXBN.

In this brief video interview, I offer my thoughts on why Medicaid receives less attention than Medicare and what lessons we can learn from the 2012 Actuarial Report on the Financial Outlook for Medicaid.