Summary
The 118th Congress marks a significant shift in the political landscape – a Republican-controlled House, albeit a slim majority, and a Democratic majority in the Senate. Their appetite for bipartisanship is unclear. We anticipate the bulk of policymaking will take place in the regulatory arena. We continue to monitor the release of the Biden Administration’s updated regulatory agenda.
Today, the House will vote on its next Speaker. Whether Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has the votes remains to be seen. Following a vote on the rules package for the 118th Congress, Republicans will hold votes on a slate of messaging bills. It includes two bills that would limit access to abortion: (1) A measure to codify the Hyde Amendment prohibiting federal funding for abortion; and (2) the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which is framed as a measure to require a fetus that survives an abortion to receive emergency medical care. However, such emergency medical care is required by a 2002 law, and the new measure would “add criminal penalties against doctors and clinicians as a scare tactic to discourage women from seeking safe, legal abortion,” explains the Guttmacher Institute.
Meanwhile, the Senate is expected to adopt a number of housekeeping resolutions. January 23rd will be the first day for bill introductions.
Regulatory Update
As noted, the Biden-Harris Administration has yet to release its updated iteration of the Unified Regulatory Agenda. Once released, we will have a clearer idea of the Administration’s regulatory priorities for 2023.
Meanwhile, a final rule related to the calendar year 2020 policy and technical changes to Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D arrived at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in late December. The final rule appears to address the unfinalized provisions related to the MA Risk Adjustment Data Validation (RADV) program and the use of extrapolation for audit recovery findings in calculating improper payments. Details on this provision – originally proposed in 2018 – are available here. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) chose not to finalize the proposed changes and instead extended the comment period for these particular provisions until August 2019 (details).
Two other notable regulations cleared review at OMB just before the new year:
- A proposed rule entitled “Rescission of the Regulation entitled ‘Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights in Health Care; Delegations of Authority’”
- A final rule entitled “Vaccine and Mask Requirements To Mitigate the Spread of COVID-19 in Head Start Programs”
We expect to see the publication of these regulations in the Federal Register shortly.