There has been a lot of policy discussion recently about how to protect patients with outstanding medical debts. Many proposals center on changes to how medical debt is treated on consumer credit reports. As explored in June 14’s edition of Capitol Insights, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed a rule that would ban medical debt from impacting a person’s credit. The public comment period closed on Monday with over 1,000 comments from wide-ranging stakeholders. The CFPB is expected to issue the final version of the rule before the end of the year, to ensure the policy is finalized before the end of the Biden Administration.

States are also active on this issue. Last week the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved a plan proposed by North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper that allows hospitals to receive more Medicaid funds if they “relieve existing medical debt and establish policies to prevent the accumulation of medical debt for low- and middle-income North Carolinians.” The funds will be distributed through the Healthcare Access and Stabilization Program (HASP).

According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services press release, only a very small fraction of the over $4 billion owed to hospitals is able to be recovered through traditional debt collection practices.

To be eligible for the additional HASP payments, hospitals must do the following:

• Forgive or eliminate past medical debt for Medicaid enrollees and to various degrees for other patients with low to moderate incomes.
• Offer financial assistance to patients with incomes up to 300% of the federal poverty level.
• Implement restrictions on billing and collection practices to reduce future medical debts

Other states have undertaken similar efforts. For example, in June Minnesota passed a law that both prohibited reporting medical debt to credit bureaus, and made it illegal for providers to deny necessary care due to overdue medical bills. Illinois signed a similar bill into law in July. Colorado and New York passed similar legislation in 2023.

 The trend of excluding medical debt from a person’s credit score is certainly growing in popularity on both the state and federal levels. Capitol Associates will closely monitor whether similar practices are adopted in other states and what the long-term impacts of this policy will be for providers.

The Biden Administration released the long-awaited results from the first annual Medicare drug price negotiations, which is expected to save the US government $7.5 billion in the first year alone. This was a hallmark feature of the Inflation Reduction Act.  

According to a new KFF report, more than 54% of Medicare beneficiaries are now enrolled in Medicare Advantage.  

A new letter written by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Senator Angus King (I-ME), and Representative Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) called for the executive branch to exercise “march-in rights” that would allow the government to seize patents to help lower drug costs for patients.  

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he would work to block any efforts to cut the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) budget this year. Many Republican appropriators, on the other hand, are pushing for cuts to the agency. 

 Senator Bernie Sanders wrote a letter calling on GSK and Prasco Labs to cap the price of their generic version of Flovent at $35. Notably, Flovent was removed from the market earlier this year and the generic is still unaffordable and seldom covered by health insurance plans. It is primarily prescribed to children.  

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared mpox a global health emergency.

Trilliant Health released its national provider directory including more than 2.9 million providers nationwide. 

 A new bill introduced in California would mandate state review of private equity deals in the health sector.  

CMS released the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) performance feedback and final scores for the 2023 performance year, along with the associated payment adjustment information for the 2025 payment year. 

President Biden announced $150 million in new federal grants as part of the Administration’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative. The new grants will be for researchers developing advanced tumor-removal surgeries.  

A proposed rule from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) would mandate use of ONC-certified health IT technologies to be eligible for HHS grants.