Gregg Margolis: Three things about health policy this week

Gregg Margolis, Director, Health Policy Fellowships and Leadership Programs at National Academy of Medicine, shared on LinkedIn:

“If you can only read three things about health policy this week, I suggest…

Modern Healthcare: Doctors, Hospitals Face Cuts As Congress Takes Christmas Off When Congress went on its winter break before Christmas, it left much of its healthcare business—along with most of it other responsibilities for 2023—unfinished, and now faces an intense scramble to get it all done in just weeks. At the top of the healthcare list is funding programs that depend on annual appropriations for the Health and Human Services Department, which like the rest of the government is running on the latest stopgap funding bill enacted since fiscal 2023 ended Sept. 30. In addition, numerous health-related programs and initiatives expired and are also operating on a short-term lifeline. (McAuliff, 12/21)

Reuters: Enrollment For 2024 Obamacare Plans 33% Higher Than Last Year Consumers who enroll before the deadline will have coverage that starts from Feb. 1, 2024. Those who want to be covered as of Jan. 1 would have had to choose a plan by Dec. 15. Data released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services earlier this month showed nearly 7.3 million Americans had signed up for health insurance so far for next year through the ACA marketplace. (12/20)

Axios: Medicare Is About To Add Hundreds Of Thousands More Mental Health Providers The largest expansion of Medicare’s mental health services in a generation can provide a critical lifeline to America’s seniors — if enough providers sign up. Starting Jan. 1, some 400,000 marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors for the first time can accept Medicare payment, following years of advocacy and amid a mental health crisis that has weighed heavily on seniors. (Goldman, 12/20).”

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Source: Gregg Margolis/LinkedIn