Biden Will Reopen Obamacare Exchanges. Nearly 9 Million Could
Benefit.
President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order
Thursday that will reopen the federal health insurance
marketplaces, allowing millions of people to sign up for coverage
outside of the usual six-week enrollment period. In most states,
the enrollment period ends on December 15.
Biden also reportedly plans to boost marketing and outreach
efforts to encourage those who currently lack insurance to obtain
coverage through the Obamacare exchanges, including those who lost
their health insurance due to job losses during the pandemic. Those
efforts were curtailed under former President Donald Trump, which
may have reduced the number of people signing up for coverage over
the last four years.
Could affect millions: The impact on health coverage in
the U.S. could be enormous. According to an analysis by the Kaiser
Family Foundation, about 4 million currently uninsured people could
qualify for no-cost Obamacare bronze plans, with their premiums
fully covered by federal subsidies, and another 4.9 million could
be eligible for partially subsidized coverage.
“The 8.9 million people eligible for free or reduced-cost
coverage represent nearly 60 percent of the approximately 15
million uninsured people in the U.S. who could shop for health
insurance coverage on the ACA Marketplaces,” Kaiser
said Wednesday.
Compared to the U.S. population as a whole, those who would
qualify for fully subsidized, no-cost bronze plans are more likely
to live in rural areas, Kaiser said. They also tend to be younger,
have no more than a high school education, and be unemployed or
working part-time. More than half of them live in just four states:
Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia.
Still, there are questions about how many people will actually
sign up, given the chance. Many of those who lost their jobs and
incomes have already signed up for Medicaid, and others have gained
access to Obamacare plans through the special enrollment period
open to those with qualifying events, including job loss. But
making it easier to sign up, with assistance from paid navigators
and with enough time to supply necessary documentation, could make
a difference in participation. More broadly, reopening the
marketplaces signals that Biden is taking a different approach on
health care, one that seeks to assist as many people as
possible.
Changes in Medicaid, too: Biden also plans to take steps
Thursday to make it easier for people to sign up for Medicaid by
removing barriers put in place by the Trump administration.
According to
The Washington Post, it’s not yet clear whether
Biden intends to reverse specific provisions, such as a Trump-era
rule that allows states to impose work requirements on Medicaid
participants, or simply order officials to review current laws and
recommend changes at a future date.
“You could think about it as announcing a war against the
war on Medicaid,” Katherine Hempstead of the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation told the Post.
HHS Misused Millions of Dollars Intended for Vaccine Research,
Public Health: Report
Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services misused
millions of dollars provided by lawmakers to fund vaccine research
and preparedness efforts for public health threats like Ebola and
Covid-19, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel said Wednesday in
letters to President Biden and Congress.
Research funds for the Biomedical Advanced Research and
Development Authority (BARDA) were used for a variety of unrelated
expenses, including administrative costs, news subscriptions, legal
services, the removal of office furniture and the salaries of
outside personnel. The raiding of BARDA funds for other purposes
was so common, according to a report from the HHS Office of
Inspector General, that it was given a name inside the agency:
“Bank of BARDA.”
The misuse of funds dates back to at least fiscal year 2010,
spanning the Obama and Trump administrations.
The investigation by the HHS inspector general was launched
after a whistleblower complaint to the Office of Special Counsel
alleged that officials in the office of the assistant secretary for
preparedness and response (ASPR) were misappropriating funds. The
inspector general’s 223-page report found that many of the claims
were true and that the tapping of research funds for other purposes
violated one federal law covering congressionally appropriated
money and potentially violated another.
The report does not estimate the total amount of misappropriated
funds, but it claims that, as recently as fiscal year 2019, about
$25 million in BARDA research funding was improperly used for other
purposes, the Office of Special Counsel said in a statement. It
added that from 2007 to 2016, HHS had failed to account for $517.8
million in administrative spending. The inspector general also
found that between fiscal years 2013 and 2017, BARDA funds were
used to pay at least $897,491 in salaries of individuals who did
not actually work for BARDA.
“I am deeply concerned about ASPR’s apparent misuse of millions
of dollars in funding meant for public health emergencies like the
one our country is currently facing with the COVID-19 pandemic,”
Special Counsel Henry Kerner wrote in his
letter to President Biden. “Equally concerning is
how widespread and well-known this practice appeared to be for
nearly a decade.”
In a statement, Kerner urged Congress and HHS to take immediate
steps “to ensure funding for public health emergencies can no
longer be used as a slush-fund for unrelated expenses." Kerner said
in his letter to Biden that HHS is reviewing the use of research
funds and has also engaged an accounting firm to conduct an audit,
with results expected by the summer.
Nicole Lurie, the Obama administration’s top
emergency-preparedness official, who was named in the whistleblower
complaint, told
The Washington Post that the agency’s use of BARDA
funds was appropriate. “All expenditures were done in a routine
way,” Lurie said, adding, “BARDA was part of ASPR and had a shared
mission and used common resources.”
Lurie told the Post that the inspector general has
criticized spending decisions that helped expedite dozens of
medical products to help fight public health
emergencies.
House Dems Push for Automatic Stabilizers for Unemployment
Benefits
As House Democrats prepare another round of coronavirus relief
legislation, a group of moderates is urging party leaders to use
automatic stabilizers to tie emergency unemployment benefits to
economic conditions, The Hill’s Mike Lillis
reports.
“In a letter to House Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi (Calif.)
and Steny Hoyer (Md.), and another to President Biden, the
lawmakers urged that a host of their priorities be incorporated.
The list includes an expansion of the child tax credit, billions of
dollars for mental health services, and billions more to boost the
research, production and dissemination of COVID-19 vaccines.
“It also features legislation hitching the federal increase in
unemployment benefits to economic factors on the ground, thereby
precluding the need for Congress to extend those benefits with new
legislation down the road.”
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News
Biden’s Key Virus Advisers Warn the U.S. Will Remain
Vulnerable Without the Quick Passage of Relief Bill by
Congress – New York Times
White House Plots "Full-Court Press" for $1.9 Trillion Relief
Plan – Axios
Democrats Planning Swift Moves on Budget Resolution Next
Week – Roll Call
Virus Will Kill Many More, White House Projects as Briefings
Resume – Associated Press
CDC Projects US Could See Up to 514K Coronavirus Deaths by
Feb. 20 – The Hill
Biden Officials Try to Confront Virus Mutations, Seek More
Aid – Roll Call
Black People in the US Are Getting Vaccinated at Lower
Rates – The Hill
Biden, Emphasizing Job Creation, Signs Sweeping Actions to
Fight Climate Change – New York Times
Biden Hits 'Pause' on Oil and Gas Leasing on Public Lands and
Waters – NPR
Fed Holds Policy Steady as Economy Stumbles – Wall
Street Journal
Census Data for Redistricting Won't Be Ready Until End of
April – Associated Press
The Covid-19 Pandemic Has Added $19.5 Trillion to Global
Debt – Bloomberg
80 Percent of Mayors Surveyed Say Police Budgets 'About
Right' – The Hill
Tens of Thousands of Voters Drop Republican Affiliation After
Capitol Riot – The Hill
Views and Analysis
Biden’s Relief Plan Is a Trojan Horse. And I’m OK With
That – Steven Rattner, New York Times
There Are Ways Congress Could Better Target a New Round of
Pandemic Relief Payments – Howard Gleckman, Tax Policy
Center
Made in the U.S.A.: Socialism for the Rich. Capitalism for
the Rest – Thomas Friedman, New York Times
A Bold Proposal to Ease Child Poverty Is the Essence of
Bidenomics – John Cassidy, New Yorker
Pandemic Rescue: It’s ‘And’ Not ‘Or’ – Paul
Krugman, New York Times
We Were Right to Worry About the Nation’s Fiscal Future. But
I Know When to Fold ’Em – Mitch Daniels, Washington
Post
CDC-Backed Research Finds Schools Aren't Big Coronavirus
Spreaders – Paige Winfield Cunningham, Washington
Post
Biden Inherits Trump’s Unique Health Care Agenda –
Lauren Clason et al, Roll Call
Your Next Stimulus Check May Be the First of
Several – Jonathan Nicholson, MarketWatch
Make Them Vote Against the $2,000 Checks – Jack
Holmes, Esquire
CFPB Emerges From Trump Storm Battered but Intact
– Joe Nocera, Bloomberg
Rethinking Federal Policy for America's Veterans –
Marg Duggan and Audrey Guo, The Hill
Governments’ Alcohol Subsidies Are Harmful to Public
Health – Nandita Murukutla and Rebecca Perl, STAT
News
To Battle the Opioid Crisis, Arm More Healthcare
Providers – Shoshana V. Aronowitz et al, The
Hill
Why Trump's Post-Presidency Perks, Like a Pension and Office,
Are Safe for the Rest of His Life – Jan Wolfe,
Reuters