President Joe Biden’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2024 may lack new healthcare initiatives, but his policy agenda includes many items that could affect providers. , health insurance companies and patients.
The Biden administration released details on Thursday of the president’s plans involving Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, health insurance exchanges, Indian Health Services, prescription drug prices, mental health care, rural health, HIV/AIDS, cancer and more.
Biden targets health insurance companies that administer Medicaid benefits to states. Medicaid and CHIP managed care organizations are not required to meet medical loss rate thresholds in every state, like Medicare, commercial carriers, and exchanges must meet. Under the White House budget plan, Medicaid and CHIP insurers will have to spend 85% of the money they receive to cover medical costs for enrollees. The federal government will save $20 billion over 10 years by imposing MLR minimums and recovering excess funds.
The budget proposal also expands Biden’s previously announced behavioral health agenda by calling for lower out-of-pocket costs for Medicare enrollees, growing the mental health workforce mental health and equality for mental health coverage under private health insurance.
Other highlights from Biden’s fiscal 2024 budget plan include:
- Health insurance exchange: The White House will permanently extend advanced benefits to health insurance exchange users.
- Medical assistance: Biden’s budget calls for the creation of a federally funded “Medicaid-like” insurance plan to provide benefits to low-income adults in states that have not yet expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. maybe. The plan will also expand home and community services for Medicaid beneficiaries.
- Community health center: Biden proposed increasing funding for federally qualified medical centers, which the budget claims would double the size of the program.
- Rural health: The plan includes rural health workforce development programs and other proposals.
- Indian Medical Services: The White House seeks to increase short-term funding and classifies the IHS budget as mandatory spending as of fiscal year 2025.
- HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C: The government aims to improve access to HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention and reduce the cost of hepatitis C drugs.
- Prescription drug prices: Biden proposes expanding the Inflation Reduction Act by allowing the federal government to set prices for more drugs, limiting cost-sharing on some generic drugs under Medicare Part D to $2 .
