The House and Senate convened this week to kick off the 118th Congress. Republicans control the House after four years of a Democratic majority. House Republicans have a very slim.
Welcome to the 118th Congress. This session of Congress is convening on the heels of the enactment of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA), 2023, which was signed into law on Dec. 29, 2022.
The Big Picture
Until late December, few if any Medicare policy changes were anticipated as part of a year-end healthcare package, barring extensions of funding for programs that otherwise would have expired. But after several days of closed-door negotiations, congressional leaders unveiled and very shortly thereafter Congress passed a legislative package containing an amalgam of Medicare policy changes.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the Act) includes significant payment adjustments, rural health improvements, transparency requirements for certain manufacturers of drugs covered under Medicare Part B, and fixes to long-standing coverage and benefits issues such as eliminating beneficiary cost-sharing for colorectal cancer screenings. None of these changes, taken individually, represent a monumental shift in administration of the Medicare program. But as a whole, they represent an important body of policies that address long-standing concerns.