Building on momentum from Administrator Seema Verma’s announcement of the MyHealtheData initiative at HIMSS 2018, CMS has published more clues as to future action to liberate health information for patients. In the CY 2019 call letter to Medicare Advantage organizations and Part D programs, CMS describes the Blue Button 2.0 project and its use of the interoperable application programming interface (API) standard Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR). CMS encourages Medicare Advantage plans to adopt “data…

Iowa has enacted legislation to permit the offering of certain health benefit plans that would not be subject to the restrictions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The bill combined two separate measures, each intended to expand access to association health plans (AHPs) that are exempt from many of the ACA’s protections. First, the new law would allow small employers to band together to form associations that would be eligible to offer members’ employees coverage…

The Department of Labor’s proposed rule on association health plans (AHPs), issued in response to an October 12, 2017 Executive Order, has received almost 900 comments, including from several states and the District of Columbia (see, e.g., comments from Alaska, Iowa, Massachusetts, Montana, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin). States emphasized the need for clarity in the rule and affirmation of states’ long-standing authority to regulate insurance including both…

On March 8, the White House encouraged Congress to pass stabilization legislation that would not authorize the reimbursement of cost-sharing reductions (CSRs) made by health plans in 2017, as reported by Modern Healthcare. This move comes almost five months after the Trump Administration’s announcement in October that it would discontinue CSR payments effective immediately. The legislation, if passed, would preclude the government from paying CSRs for the 2017 year and would allow CMS to…

On Thursday, March 8, the Trump Administration rejected Idaho’s plan to sell health plans that do not include the consumer protections required by the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The rejection came in the form of a letter touting adherence to current law, though in many ways the letter was written by an apologetic Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) wanting to appease Idaho Republicans. Earlier this year, Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter signed an…

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided, in Coventry Health Care of Missouri, Inc. v. Nevils, that the Federal Employees Health Benefits Act (FEHBA) preempts state laws that prohibit subrogation recovery by health insurance carriers. FEHBA expressly preempts state law. Specifically, “[t]he terms of any contract under this chapter [5 U.S.C. § 8901, et seq.] which relate to nature, provision, or extent of coverage or benefits (including payments with respect to benefits)” preempt state health…

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule  to stabilize the individual and small group markets to entice issuers to continue participation in the exchanges in 2018 despite continued uncertainty surrounding repeal and replacement proposals for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The proposed rule, published today, would make the following changes to the individual and small group markets: Open Enrollment: The proposed rule would shorten the Open Enrollment period from November…