Debt Ceiling Showdown Carries High Stakes For Medicare, Medicaid

CNBC:
What The Debt Ceiling Could Mean For Social Security, Medicare

The clock is ticking for the U.S. to avoid a default on its debt, and some are sounding the alarm about potential disruptions to Social Security and Medicare. On Thursday, Jan. 19, the U.S. outstanding debt hit its statutory limit. The debt limit or debt ceiling is the total amount of money the U.S. can borrow to meet its legal obligations including Social Security and Medicare benefits, as well as military salaries, tax refunds, interest on the national debt and other payments. (Konish, 1/19)

KHN:
As US Bumps Against Debt Ceiling, Medicare Becomes A Bargaining Chip

While repealing the Affordable Care Act seems to have fallen off congressional Republicans’ to-do list for 2023, plans to cut Medicare and Medicaid are back. The GOP wants Democrats to agree to cut spending on both programs in exchange for a vote to prevent the government from defaulting on its debts. Meanwhile, the nation’s health care workers — from nurses to doctors to pharmacists — are feeling the strain of caring not just for the rising number of insured patients seeking care, but also more seriously ill patients who are difficult and sometimes even violent. (1/19)

More Medicare news —

Fierce Healthcare:
CMS Data: Medicare Advantage Tops 30M

Enrollment in Medicare Advantage (MA) has topped 30 million, according to new data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. This represents coverage across 776 contracts, according to the data, as of Jan. 1 payments, which reflect enrollments accepted through Dec. 2. Enrollment in standalone prescription drug plans was also about 22.7 million, bringing total enrollment across all types of private Medicare plans to nearly 50.3 million. (Minemyer, 1/17)

Healthcare Finance News:
CMS Releases Three Initiatives To Grow Medicare ACO Participation 

To advance its goal of having 100% of people in traditional Medicare in an accountable care relationship in seven years, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has announced three initiatives in the Medicare Shared Savings Program and the ACO REACH and Kidney Care Choices models. More than 700,000 healthcare providers and organizations will participate in at least one of the three initiatives this year, CMS said. These programs are expected to grow and provide care to more than 13.2 million people with Medicare. (Morse, 1/18)

Bloomberg Law:
Doctors In Congress Look For Permanent Fix To Medicare Pay Woes

The doctors in the House want to revamp how Medicare pays physicians, potentially giving health-care providers a boost in pay in coming years. Lawmakers with medical backgrounds say the time is right and they’re in key positions this Congress to end what’s become an annual frustration of averting billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare pay to doctors and hospitals. The annual cuts to the public health insurance program for the elderly and disabled are a side effect of the current pay structure and rules Congress set up to curb federal spending. But, those efforts will face headwinds by some Republicans more focused on cutting spending. (1/19)

Bloomberg Law:
South Carolina Hospital Blocked From Collecting Medicare Pay

The US Health and Human Services Department properly denied a South Carolina health-care facility’s Medicare reimbursement for 1997 because the facility didn’t provide HHS with information supporting the payment request. (1/18)

King5.Com:
Insurance Squabble Leaves Thousands Of Seniors In Limbo

At 74 years old, Jo Ford keeps herself in good shape by line dancing every week at the Stilly Senior Center in Arlington, but she worries what shape her health insurance is in right now. “I felt like the rug had been pulled out from under us,” she said. Ford has been a client at The Everett Clinic for nearly 50 years. Last month, she received a letter from her insurer, Regence BlueShield, stating the clinic decided to leave the Regence provider network because of a dispute over rising costs and payments. (Wilkinson, 1/17)