Legislative/Regulatory Updates
 On April 16, President Obama signed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) H.R.2 into law after the U.S. Senate passed the legislation on April 14. This legislation eliminates Medicare’s sustainable growth rate formula and sets up a new payment system as well as reauthorizing the Children’s Health Insurance Program for two years.
On April 24, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued guidance on the operational processes it will use to evaluate issuers’ EDGE server data. CMS will evaluate the enrollment and claims data, and notify any issuer failing to meet expected data quantity thresholds, based on issuers’ previously submitted baseline enrollment and claims counts.
On April 27, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) introduced bipartisan legislation, the Protecting Affordable Coverage for Employees Act (PACE), which would allow states to maintain the current small group definition of 1-50 employees. Under the ACA, beginning in 2016, the definition of small group market would change from 1-50 to include up to 100 employees. A similar bill was introduced in the House by Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.).
On April 28, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) introduced bipartisan legislation, the Middle Class Health Benefits Tax Repeal Act, which would repeal the excise tax on high-cost health insurance plans scheduled to go into effect in 2018. The legislation currently has 82 co-sponsors.
On May 5, the U.S. Senate passed a bicameral budget agreement reached with the U.S. House (passed April 30) for fiscal year 2016. The budget will lay the groundwork for repeal of the ACA through a legislative process that requires fewer votes and can’t be filibustered. President Obama has said he will not sign any ACA repeal legislation. |
