Healthcare Policy
(Last Updated On: March 27, 2017)
History seems to be repeating itself.  Just because you control the White House and both Houses of Congress doesn’t mean you can make legislative progress as Republicans Subdivide.   In the case of the Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, the bill was signed by the President in March 23, 2010 the and upheld by the Supreme Court on June 28, 2012.   But it took a secondary role to dealing with the Great Recession and it took almost the whole first term of the administration to get it launched.
CMS logo - Republicans Subdivide
History seems to be repeating itself.  Just because you control the White House and both Houses of Congress doesn’t mean you can make legislative progress.  In the case of the Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, the bill was signed by the President in March 23, 2010 the and upheld by the Supreme Court on June 28, 2012.   But it took a secondary role to dealing with the Great Recession and it took almost the whole first term of the administration to get it launched.

We now have somewhat of a parallel situation with the attempted change to Trumpcare.  First, there has been major backlash on the part of the public to the repealing of Obamacare. Many people have attended local meeting with their Representatives and have been very vocal about keeping the plan in place.  Some Congressmen have even skipped out of their planned meeting altogether.   Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah met with an angry crowd of around 1,000 people to voice their concerns.

So where is the parallel to the earlier stages of the Obama administration.  I thinks is fair to say that at present the Trump administration has bigger fish to fry.  Two examples are the courts suspending the Executive Order regarding immigration and the resignation of General Mike Flynn as National Security Advisor.

Republicans Subdivide on Obamacare Direction

In the meantime Congress itself is also delaying its efforts to replace Obamacare. Despite efforts by Speaker Ryan to come up with a replacement no amount of whipping have come up with a voting consensus.  The most Freedom Caucus members aren’t willing to wait and insist on eliminating Obamacare whether or not there’s an replacement in place or not. Further, there is no real guidance from from the White House or Secretary Price.

There are other factors in play but it looks like Trump administration has had its hand tied in its immigration efforts.  It will have to be seen if the Judaical Branch weights in on Obamacare issues.

For example, the recent ruling on ACA Insurance Risk Corridors would confirm that those insurers that didn’t do well and have gone out of business or written off the costs will get some of their expenses returned.  But it is not sure if this specific ruling will be overturned.  Or even if Congress just changes the law the disallow the use of The Judgement Fund by enacting HHS Slush Fund Elimination Act.

Meanwhile I am listening to a webinar on the MACRA Merit-based Incentive Payment System Annual Call.  Point being, that in the belly of the HHS/CMS beast life is goes on.  There’s an actual Radiologist on the cal, the poor man, that is trying to figure out how to participate in the merit/performance standards.  The people from CMS are trying their best and they did direct the doctor to a good contact point at CMS, good stuff.