<!–
Health Care
Health Care
<!–
The Big Story
White House asks states to pump the brakes on Medicaid disenrollment
The Biden administration is imploring states to slow down efforts to cut people from Medicaid after more than a million Americans lost coverage, including many due to red tape.
© Adobe Stock
Administration health officials from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Tuesday said they were closely monitoring state data and were concerned about the high numbers of people losing coverage.
If states are not following federal law, officials said the agency would take action.
“When it is needed, we will not hesitate to use all of our enforcement tools to ensure that states are doing what they are required to do throughout the renewals,” CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said on a call with reporters.
Medicaid enrollment hit record high numbers amid the COVID-19 pandemic because states weren’t allowed to end coverage. But that safety net ended in April, and states started to determine — for the first time in three years — who was eligible for Medicaid.
In some states, more than 80 percent of people who lost coverage were due to what CMS described as “procedural reasons,” such as the failure to return forms.
In a letter to governors sent Monday, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra decried the massive coverage losses and urged states to adopt all available flexibilities to minimize avoidable coverage losses among children and families.
“I am deeply concerned with the number of people unnecessarily losing coverage, especially those who appear to have lost coverage for avoidable reasons that State Medicaid offices have the power to prevent or mitigate,” he wrote.
Officials on Tuesday urged governors to do more than the bare minimum to make sure those eligible retain their health coverage.
The administration is offering waivers and strategies and wants states to take advantage of them, especially ones that allow for auto-enrollment without any physical paperwork.
Still, officials acknowledged that as long as governors are following federal law, the administration doesn’t have the power to force states to do anything.
Welcome to The Hill’s Health Care newsletter, we’re Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health.
Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.
Essential Reads
How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond:
Pfizer warns FDA of shrinking penicillin supply
The ongoing drug shortages impacting the U.S. are now threatening to exhaust two commonly used forms of penicillin, Pfizer said in a warning to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday. Pfizer alerted the FDA that there is “a limited supply and impending stock out” of Bicillin L-A and Bicillin C-R, two of its injectable penicillin products. Bicillin L-A is used to treat strep infections in the throat, nose …
Full Story
Sanders: No ‘immediate’ plans for confirmation hearing on Biden NIH pick
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said he has no immediate plans to hold a confirmation hearing on the Biden administration’s nominee to lead the National Institutes of Health (NIH) amid a standoff over drug pricing. Sanders told The Hill in a brief interview there won’t be a confirmation hearing for Monica Bertagnolli “in the immediate future. We have a whole lot of stuff we have to do.” Bertagnolli, a cancer …
Full Story
Walensky faces COVID-19 panel for final time as CDC director
Rochelle Walensky, the outgoing director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), testified before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on Tuesday in a retrospective discussion touching on the federal government’s failures and successes during the COVID-19 pandemic. In what may likely be her final appearance before Congress before she leaves at the end of this month, Walensky was greeted with …
Full Story
On Our Radar
Upcoming news themes and events we’re watching:
The FDA’s vaccine advisory panel will meet on Thursday to discuss which strains of COVID-19 to select for this year’s fall vaccine campaign.
The Senate’s Special Committee on Aging will hold a hearing Wednesday on planning for older Americans and people with disabilities during times of emergency.
In Other News
Branch out with a different read from The Hill:
Few rehab centers for addicted teens offer recommended medicine, US study finds
Only 1 in 4 residential treatment centers for teens offers a recommended medicine for opioid addiction, according to a study that exposes an important gap in care. Posing as an aunt or uncle seeking help for a fictitious 16-year-old who survived a fentanyl overdose, researchers called U.S. rehabs and asked if they offered the treatment …
Full Story
Upcoming Event
The Hill’s Future of Health Care Summit, Thursday, June 22, 2023, 8-11 a.m. ET | National Press Club Ballroom & streaming online
Join us for The Hill’s largest health event of the year, bringing together policymakers and health experts for a discussion on advancing access, health equity, preparedness and resetting the care paradigm.
Speakers include former Surgeon General Jerome Adams (appearing virtually), former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci, George Washington University Hospital emergency physician Dr. Leana Wen and more.
REGISTER NOW
Around the Nation
Local and state headlines on health care:
Louisiana lawmakers reduced the health care budget. No one knows what that means yet. (Louisiana Illuminator)
ADPH: Syphilis cases rising in Alabama (WSFA)
Southwest Idaho medical group plans to stop seeing urgent-care patients at most clinics (Idaho Capital Sun)
What We’re Reading
Health news we’ve flagged from other outlets:
AMA asks doctors to de-emphasize use of BMI in gauging health and obesity (Stat)
Fungal meningitis outbreak death toll rises as officials rush to find patients at risk (NBC News)
Amid overdose crisis, disputes grow over how to classify fentanyl cousins (The Washington Post)
What Others are Reading
Most read stories on The Hill right now:
Democrats raise concerns about Trump-appointed judge handling documents case
Senior Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are raising concerns about what role Trump-appointed federal judge Aileen Cannon will have in handling … Read more
GOP senator will block Biden’s Justice Department nominees to protest Trump indictment
Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance announced Tuesday that he will block all of President Biden’s nominees to the Department of Justice to protest a 37-count indictment … Read more
You’re all caught up. See you tomorrow!
