The Academy hosted an Oct. 23 ‘Aging Securely’ forum on Capitol Hill on issues that explored long-term care, lifetime income, and the sustainability of public programs like Medicare and Social Security.
In conjunction with the forum, the Medicare Subcommittee released an issue brief that examines the potential for Medicare Advantage plans to improve quality of care at lower prices as part of its Medicare@50 series.
Also in conjunction with the forum, the Long-Term Care (LTC) Reform Subcommittee released issue briefs on LTC insurance portability, product design flexibility, and pricing flexibility as part of its new series on LTC issues.
The Health Practice International Committee released a newissue brief on Oct. 29 exploring the similarities and differences with respect to long-term care reform in Austria, Germany, Israel, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, and the United States.
On Oct. 30, the Financial Reporting and Solvency Committee submitted a comment letter to the NAIC’s Emerging Accounting Issues (E) Working Group on the “ACA Risk Corridors Collectability” exposure draft regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Attendees from 300 sites and 21 different countries tuned in Nov. 4 to the last webinar in the “Exploring Global Health Care Cost Drivers” series hosted by the Academy’s Health Practice International Committee and the International Actuarial Association Health Section. This fourth webinar in the series featured speakers providing a look at the health care systems in Canada and Chile, focusing on the factors driving health care costs in each country; the challenges facing their systems in the years ahead, including providing long-term care, addressing inefficiencies, strengthening access, and improving transparency; and the role of actuaries in those respective systems. Slides and an audio recording are available on the members’ webinar page.
Legislative/Regulatory Updates
On Oct. 29, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule on a process for states to document whether Medicaid payments are sufficient to ensure Medicaid beneficiaries have adequate access to covered services. The regulation requires states to create access review plans that ensure Medicaid beneficiaries have adequate access to mandatory and optional health care services. CMS notes that this effort will also help in the analysis of how changes to provider payments affect the care that beneficiaries receive. The rule goes into effect in January.
President Obama signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 on Nov. 2, suspending the debt ceiling until March 2017 and lifting the Budget Control Act’s discretionary spending caps for two consecutive fiscal years. The bill also addresses a variety of areas including health care, which:
Averts a 52 percent Medicare premium hike that was scheduled to hit one-third of Medicare enrollees next year. It limits increases to 14 percent, partly through a federal loan to be repaid by beneficiaries via a $3 increase to their monthly premiums over five years, saving $200 million.
Extends a 2 percent cut in Medicare provider payments, a product of sequestration, saving $11 billion.
Repeals a provision of the ACA that required employers with more than 200 full-time employees to automatically enroll new employees and re-enroll current employees in a company health plan. This is similar to a reconciliation bill, H.R. 3762, which passed the House in late October and was estimated to save about $7.9 billion through fiscal 2015.
In the News/Media Activities
A Kaiser Health Newsstory on legislation signed by President Obama amending the ACA to make it optional for states to participate in expanding the small group definition cited the Academy’s issue brief on the provision. The story was published by numerous media outlets including Healthcare Finance News, The Lund Report, Northwest Georgia News, and Cincinnati.com.
Hartford Business Journal also cited the Academy’s small group issue brief in reporting that Connecticut will opt out of the provision. The issue brief was also cited by The Charlotte Observer (N.C.).
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