Please see below for highlights from the Washington Update. You can click here to read the full edition of last week’s Washington Update.
- Just in… The CMS has decided to nix the proposed rule on the Medicare prescription drug program. The administration said it will move forward with the proposals on consumer protections, anti-fraud, and transparency, while shelving the prescription drug changes. The letter from CMS is attached. To read more about the background on this issue, click here
- Thank you to everyone for their dedication on the Carney/Dent letter to HHS/CMS for the technical fixes. With your help, the letter was able to pick up 75 co-signers spanning the political spectrum that helps demonstrate that the fixes are not ideological but are critical and immediate needs. The final letter is attached.
- The Treasury Department released the final rules of the Employer Reporting Requirements (Sections 6055/6056). Information should begin to be collected next January and reporting will begin in 2016. Read more about the rule and see a side-by-side analysis here.
- Gary Cohen, the head of CCIIO at CMS/HHS has announced he will be leaving the agency at the end of the month. Mandy Cohen (unrelated) will be serving as acting director of CCIIO until a permanent successor is named. Mandy Cohen is currently the acting director of the consumer support group at CCIIO.
- The Obama administration announced that people who had plans that were to be cancelled this year will now be able to keep them into 2017, contingent on each state and insurers offering the policies. This is a further extension of the cancelled plan extension that was announced last November, for non-ACA compliance plans set to expire last December. This applies for both Individual and Small Group plans. Read more about it here.
Contact Steven Cosby with questions or to request more information and to schedule a healthcare plan evaluation, savings analysis or group plan solution for your company.