At the start of the pandemic, Congress enacted the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), which included a requirement that Medicaid programs keep people continuously enrolled through the end of the month in which the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) ends, in exchange for enhanced federal funding. Primarily due to the continuous enrollment provision, Medicaid enrollment has grown substantially compared to before the pandemic and the uninsured rate has dropped. But, when the continuous enrollment provision ends, millions of people could lose coverage that could reverse recent gains in coverage. As part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, signed into law on December 29, 2022, Congress set an end of March 31, 2023 for the continuous enrollment provision, and phases down the enhanced federal Medicaid matching funds through December 2023. States that accept the enhanced federal funding can resume disenrollments beginning in April but must meet certain reporting and other requirements during the unwinding process. This brief describes 10 key points about the unwinding of the Medicaid continuous enrollment requirement, highlighting data and analyses that can inform the unwinding process as well as recent legislation and guidance issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to help states prepare for the end of the continuous enrollment provision.
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Summary:
This final rule will revise the Medicare Advantage (MA) (Part C) program and Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit (Part D) program regulations to implement changes related to marketing and communications, past performance, Star Ratings, network adequacy, medical loss ratio reporting, special requirements during disasters or public emergencies, and pharmacy price concessions.
This final rule will also revise regulations related to dual eligible special needs plans (D-SNPs), other special needs plans, and cost contract plans. This final rule finalizes certain 2021 and 2022 Star Ratings provisions that were included in two interim final rules with comment period (IFC) that CMS issued on April 6, 2020, and September 2, 2020; other policies from those interim final rules will be addressed in other rulemakings.
Dates:
Effective dates: These regulations are effective on June 28, 2022, except for amendatory instructions 27 and 36 (regarding the definition of “negotiated price” at §§ 423.100 and 423.2305), which are effective January 1, 2024.
Applicability dates: The applicability date of the provisions in this rule is January 1, 2023, except as explained in SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.
There is lots of information for us to review and determine how it may impact the agent community we serve. We will dig in and share highlights on future blog posts. In the meantime, you are more than welcome to review the official documents at the links below. |
Website link: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/05/09/2022-09375/medicare-program-contract-year-2023-policy-and-technical-changes-to-the-medicare-advantage-and
PDF Link: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2022-05-09/pdf/2022-09375.pdf
National Law Review Summary: https://www.natlawreview.com/article/cms-issues-contract-year-2023-final-rule-medicare-advantage-organizations-and
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