Summary
With Congress in recess this week, we recap lawmakers’ jam-packed to-do list for this month:
- Budget Reconciliation (September 15) – Committees are drafting and marking up legislative language in response to the reconciliation instructions in the fiscal year (FY) 2022 budget resolution (Con.Res. 14), with a soft deadline of September 15. The $3.5 trillion package is chock full of major health care reforms – such as addressing the Medicaid expansion coverage gap; extending the temporary to Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium subsidies; expanding Medicare to include dental, vision, and hearing benefits; lowering prescription drug prices; among others detailed in Democrats’ framework agreement.
- Bipartisan Infrastructure Package (September 27) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has set September 27 as the deadline for the House to vote on the nearly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package passed by the Senate. The House is expected to pass the package.
- FY 2022 Appropriations (September 30) – The House has made some progress on passing FY 2022 appropriations bills – e.g., a seven-bill minibus (R. 4502) including funds for the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS). However, the Senate only began marking up appropriations bills last month. The lack of significant progress, as well as attention focused on the budget reconciliation package, increases the odds that Congress will pursue a continuing resolution ahead of the September 30 deadline to avoid a government shutdown.
- Debt Limit (October 1) – The Treasury Department has begun taking “extraordinary measures” to prevent the United States from defaulting on its obligations. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned Congress that the federal government could exhaust these measures as soon as October 1.
Regulatory Update
While no major regulations have recently cleared or are pending review at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the most recently updated Unified Agenda targeted a variety of potential regulatory developments for September 2021. Notably among these include:
- The potential released of the proposed rule for calendar year (CY) 2023 of the Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D programs.
- A potential proposed rule for an “Alternative Payment Model for Medicare.”
- Potential issuance of a final rule to address unlawful discrimination on the basis of disability in certain HHS-funded health and human services programs.
- Potential issuance of final regulations regarding the employer shared responsibility provisions to HRAs and other account-based group health plans.
Beyond these rules, the statutory deadline for the release of the second interim final rule on surprise medical billing (i.e., Surprise Billing Part II) is October 1. It is likely we will see rulemaking activity on this front by the end of this month as the Administration prepares to meet the fast-approaching deadline.