Your monthly update about HFA's advocacy efforts. No Images? Click here Community Advocate,This week will be my last week on the HFA team. It has been an honor to serve the community and work with the amazing people at HFA. I wanted to take this opportunity to say goodbye, but also to thank everyone in the bleeding disorders community for their support and activism over the years. One thing I have learned in this role is that HFA is lucky to have so many dedicated advocates. Thank you for responding when we called on you last year, thank you for your willingness to share your stories and your voice, and thank you for always taking an active role in the community. Even though I’ll no longer work at HFA, I remain an HFA member. With you, I plan to continue to ask questions, be involved, and take action! ![]() Katie Verb, J.D. ![]() ![]() ![]() Your HFA team remains hard at work! HFA is excited to announce that Kim Isenberg joined HFA in February as Vice President for Advocacy and Policy. Kim’s come to the role with over 30 years of experience in politics, policy and advocacy – with the last decade in rare disease. Sonji Wilkes continues on as Associate Director for Advocacy, and Sarah Shinkman as Advocacy/Outreach Manager. You’ll continue to see familiar faces on the policy side, too: Deema Tarazi (Policy Analyst) and Miriam Goldstein (with a new title, as Associate Director for Federal Policy). Please feel free to reach out to any of the team with your concerns. All look forward to continuing HFA’s advocacy and policy programs! ![]() On February 21, the Administration published a proposed rule to expand the use of short-term, limited-duration health insurance. Short-term plans, designed to cover people during a temporary gap in coverage, do not have to meet ACA insurance standards. Short-term plans can reject applicants based on health status, don’t cover pre-existing conditions, don’t have to cover ACA-mandated essential health benefits, and can impose annual limits on coverage. Short-term plans cost less than comprehensive insurance, because they cover far less. The proposed new rule would expand the permissible duration of short-term plans, basically turning them into year-long coverage. Many analysts fear this would allow short-term plans to cherry-pick healthy customers (attracted by the low premiums), leaving ACA-compliant plans to cover “sicker” and therefore more expensive enrollees. This trend would put further upward pressure on premiums. People who need comprehensive insurance policies would bear the brunt of the price increases, particularly people who do not qualify for premium subsidies. HFA will be submitting comments expressing our concerns about the proposed rule (the comment period closes April 23, 2018). ![]() As the Administration moves forward with its short-term insurance rule and with other similar initiatives, there’s been a new focus on how states might respond. Patient advocacy groups, think tanks, and even insurance trade associations have called on state governments to take action to protect consumers and bolster their insurance markets (e.g., by restoring duration limits on short-term insurance plans sold within the state). Unfortunately, some states are taking the opposite approach and are encouraging the sale of skimpy, non-ACA-compliant plans, to the detriment of people who need comprehensive insurance coverage. Idaho, for example, falls into this second category: passing over federal law, the state is inviting insurers to sell plans that disregard many of the ACA’s consumer protections (permissible age rating, no annual limits on benefits, no medical underwriting, etc.) Earlier this month, HFA co-signed a letter to the US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) asking him to disallow Idaho’s action as inconsistent with federal law. The HFA team will be closely monitoring these state-level developments. ![]() HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) promised in 2017 to look favorably on state proposals (“waivers”) to put new limits on Medicaid eligibility. CMS is now making good on that pledge, issuing its first approvals of state waivers linking Medicaid eligibility to work status for adult enrollees.
![]() In February, Congress passed another continuing budget resolution to keep the government running through March 23rd. This measure, while not Congress’s final word on 2018-19 spending, does provide long-term funding for some programs. For example, the budget resolution authorized an additional four years of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), on top of the 6 years’ funds authorized in January 2018. The budget resolution also speeds up the closing of the Medicare Part D “donut hole” (a gap in coverage for Part D drugs) and provides much-needed additional support for Puerto Rico’s Medicaid program. It’s noteworthy that the President’s budget request for FY 2019 – submitted days after passage and signing of the budget resolution – lays out spending proposals that are starkly inconsistent with the budget resolution, including deep cuts to Medicaid and a renewed push for ACA repeal. The President’s budget is not self-executing and does not bind Congress, which has (for example) shown little interest in revisiting the issue of ACA repeal in 2018. HFA will nonetheless continue to monitor budget-related developments carefully for their possible impact on federal health programs. Stay Tuned!That's all for this month, but remember: every month we're working with our member organizations and strategic partners across the country to improve the lives of those living with bleeding disorders. We will continue to send you an update on the last Friday of each month summarizing the five things you should know about HFA's advocacy efforts. See you in March! |