Summary
Congress returns this week. Even as Republicans push to meet President Trump’s June 1 deadline for a budget reconciliation package narrowly focused on funding ICE and CBP, health care remains a focus in both chambers, with key committees holding hearings on health care innovation, prescription drug prices, and public health. There is a possibility that if reconciliation 2.0 only includes ICE and CBP, Republicans may try to pass a third reconciliation bill with other priorities including health care. HHS Secretary Kennedy will also kick off a series of hearings to discuss the President’s FY 2027 budget.
Since this will be Secretary Kennedy’s first time back on the Hill since last September, we anticipate members will ask a range of questions beyond the President’s budget. At the top of the agenda will likely be health care costs, which remain a top priority for voters heading into the midterms.
Democrats are also likely to press the Secretary on his controversial vaccine stance and the overhaul of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) charter. Last week, the CDC expanded the ACIP’s purpose to include work identifying “gaps in vaccine safety research and adverse events following vaccination.” The charter also added toxicology, pediatric neurodevelopment, and recovery from serious vaccine injuries to the types of expertise included in the committee and added several groups known for being vaccine skeptics to the list of non-voting liaison representatives. This latest action follows a federal district court’s ruling that Secretary’s appointees did not follow the requirements that the committee be composed of experts on the relevant subject matter.
Secretary Kennedy will start with the House Ways and Means Committee and House Appropriations Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee on April 16, with additional hearings tentatively scheduled for next week.
Regulatory Update
The Office of Management and Budget completed its review of the following:
- Immigration Status. A Department of Labor proposed rule titled, “Improving Wage Protections for H-1B and PERM Employment in the United States.”
OMB is also reviewing:
- Coverage and Payment:
- Medicaid:
- State Directed Payments. A proposed rule titled, “Medicaid Managed Care State Directed Payments and Medicaid Fee-For-Service Targeted Medicaid Practitioner Payments.” The proposed rule appears intended to advance a presidential memorandum released on June 6, which directs HHS to “eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid, including by ensuring Medicaid payments rates are not higher than Medicare, to the extent permitted by applicable law.” On February 27, the title of the proposed rule was revised to include Medicaid FFS targeted Medicaid practitioner payments.
- Medicaid Tax Waivers. A proposed rule titled, “Amending the Indirect Hold Harmless Threshold of Health Care-Related Taxes.”
- Work Requirements. An interim final rule titled, “Establishing State Community Engagement Requirements for Certain Individuals Under Section 1902(xx) of the Social Security Act.”
- Medicare Advantage:
- Payment: CY 2027 Medicare Advantage and Part D Rate Announcement
- 2027 Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters final rule.
- No Surprises Act. A final rule titled, “Independent Dispute Resolution Operations.” Thing long-awaited rule was proposed in November 2023 by the Biden Administration.
- Organ Transplant. A final rule titled, “Alternative Payment Model Updates and the Increasing Organ Transplant Access.”
- Prescription Drugs
- Price Negotiation. A proposed rule titled, “Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program.”
- Oversight and Integrity
- Accrediting Organizations. A final rule titled, “Strengthening Oversight of Accrediting Organizations (AO), Burden Reduction, and Related Provisions.”
- Nutrition
- Work Requirements. A proposed rule titled, “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Modification to Work Requirements for Able-Bodied Adults.”
- Categorical Eligibility. A proposed rule titled, “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Reforming Categorical Eligibility.”
- Other Topics:
- An interim final rule titled, “Unaccompanied Children Program Foundational Rule; Update to Include Proof of Identity and Income Verification Standards.”
- Medication-Assisted Treatment. A final rule titled, “Implementation of the SUPPORT Act: Dispensing and Administering Controlled Substances for Medication-Assisted Treatment.”
- A final rule titled, “HIPAA Privacy Rule: Changes to Support Coordinated Care and Individual Engagement and Reduce Regulatory Burdens.”
- Excepted Benefits. A proposed rule titled, “Amendments to Excepted Benefits.”