Health Policy news these days is wrapped into the transition. Here are some highlights from the week:
Nominees Announced:
Two of the most important health care positions were announced in the last week
HHS Secretary- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was announced as the nominee for HHS Secretary. According to Politico RFK has a stated that he’d like to make changes to the process for vaccine approval, drug approvals, and food safety and disease surveillance. Kennedy is known for his anti-vaccine activism. Stat news reported that people close to him are exploring a proposal to change Medicare’s physician payment system and reduce the American Medical Association’s influence on it. CMS Administrator – Also nominated this week was Mehmet Oz (Dr. Oz) for the position of CMS Administrator. Oz, during his unsuccessful Senate campaign in 2022, suggested a policy of Medicare Advantage for all and criticized the Affordable Care Act.
Issues to Monitor
- Wakely, in a new paper, outlines some of potential impacts of the election on the individual market. You can read about it here.
- Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who were announced to be in charge of a federal government reorganization published an editorial in the Wall Street Journal calling for massive cuts to the number of federal employees and regulations. Additionally, they called for the challenge of the Impoundment Act. The Impoundment Act requires the Executive Branch to spend funds passed by Congress. Musk and Ramaswamy wrote that the President can unliterally reduce federal spending.
- The Congressional Review Act provides Congress with the opportunity to nullify regulations finalized in the final 60 legislative days. A number of regulations such as the organ transplant model or mental health parity regulations could be overturned.
Timing
A few key dates to remember. The new Congress (and Republican control of the Senate) happens on January 3, 2025. Inauguration is January 20th, 2025.
Odds and Ends
Interesting new research in Health Affairs was recently published that repricing individual market plans and compared them to small group plans. Overall, they found that “in 2021, Marketplace prices were 152 percent of Medicare prices, whereas the prices paid in small-group employer plans were 179 percent of Medicare prices… Off-Marketplace prices fell between Marketplace and employer small-group prices.”
