This Week’s Dose: The Administration requested emergency funding to fight the coronavirus epidemic, and US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar defended the Presi...

AZAR DEFENDS THE HHS BUDGET THIS WEEK.

• Azar Continues to Defend the HHS Budget. It will be a busy week for Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar. He will be defending the HHS bu...

  M+ Check-Up: February 14, 2020

  This Week’s Dose: House committees advanced legislation to address surprise billing, and the White House released the President’s budget for fiscal year (FY) 2021.

  M+ Healthcare Preview: February 10, 2020

  IT’S SURPRISE BILLING AND BUDGET WEEK.   

  • It’s Another Busy Week For Surprise Billing Proposals. Last week ended with a flurry of activity relating to surprise billing. First, the House ...

    M+ Healthcare Preview: February 3, 2020

    SURPRISE BILLING IS BACK.   

    • Surprise Billing is Back in the Spotlight. Since December, we have been waiting for the House Ways and Means Committee to release language for its surprise billi...

      M+ Check-Up: January 31, 2020

      This Week’s Dose: The House of Representatives returned from recess to continue work on legislation to address surprise medical bills and high drug costs, while the Administration unveiled a ...

      M+ Check-Up: January 17, 2020

      This Week’s Dose: The House of Representatives voted to formally present the articles of impeachment against President Trump to the Senate, kicking off the trial phase of the impeachment pro...

      M+ Check-Up: January 10, 2020

      This Week’s Dose: Congress is back in session following the holiday recess, though the exact Senate schedule remains uncertain as lawmakers negotiate the details of President Trump’s impeac...

      M+ Check-Up: December 20, 2019

      This Week’s Dose: The 2019 legislative session has come to an end. Lawmakers reached a deal to fund the government through fiscal year (FY) 2020, the House of Representatives impeached Presid...

      M+ Healthcare Preview: December 16, 2019

      A Busy Week to End 2019. Sort of.

      • Congress Has One Week to Fund the Government and Address Major Health Care Priorities. Congress needs to fund the government and address the health care exten...

        M+ Check-Up: December 13, 2019

        This Week’s Dose: House Democrats passed a sweeping drug pricing reform package and key House and Senate committees announced a surprise billing deal. Co...

        M+ Healthcare Preview: December 09, 2019

        Never a Dull Moment in Healthcare.

        • All the Major Healthcare Proposals are in Play, But Assembly is Still Required. Late last week, the Senate Finance Committee released a bipartisan and update...

          M+ Check-Up: December 06, 2019

          This Week’s Dose: Congress is back in town with just two weeks to address government funding and many healthcare issues. More proposals are emerging on drug pricing and surprise billing, and ...

          M+ Healthcare Preview: December 02, 2019

          Welcome Back from Thanksgiving!

          • Congress Has Three Weeks Left to Achieve Massive Cooperation and Compromise. The House has an ambitious agenda for the next three weeks: 1) pass H.R. 3, the Pe...

            M+ Check-Up: October 4, 2019

            This Week’s Dose: The impeachment inquiry proceedings are still moving forward, despite the Congressional recess. Surprise billing activity continued, and the Trump Administration issued an E...

            M+ Check-Up: September 20, 2019

            This Week’s Dose: Speaker Pelosi released her long-awaited drug pricing bill, and the House Energy and Commerce Committee questioned drug companies’ financial motivations during a hearing t...

            M+ Check-Up: September 13, 2019

            This Week’s Dose: The House and Senate are back in session with two weeks to go until the government funding deadline and lots to do. Congress

            M+ Health Care Preview: September 3, 2019

            Welcome to September!  What Does The Rest of the Year Have in Store for us? Prior to the August recess, there was significant movement in Congress to advance health care proposals. As a reminder, the proposals...

            M+ Health Care Preview: July 29, 2019

            One chamber down. One to go before the August recess. What Will the Senate Do During Its Last Week in Session? It is likely the Senate will focus on issues outside of health care this week, so the health care community c...

            M+ Check-Up: July 26, 2019

            This Week’s Dose: The Senate Finance Committee finally released its drug pricing package and moved quickly to a markup. The bill passed out of committee, but work will continue before the ful...

            M+ Health Care Preview: July 22, 2019

            This is the last scheduled week the House is in session and the second to last week the Senate is in session before the August recess.  What will get done? Mark-Up of the Senate Finance Committee’s Prescription Drug Package This Week?...

            M+ Check-Up: July 19, 2019

            This Week’s Dose: The Energy and Commerce Committee held a marathon mark-up of 25 bills, including 10 health care related bills. The No Surprises Act received an amendment that adds arbitrati...

            M+ Check-Up: July 12, 2019

            This Week’s Dose: Congress is back for the final legislative session before the August recess, and it’s all about what can get done ahead of the break. House and Senate committees have alre...

            M+ Health Care Preview: July 8, 2019

            They’re back…and heading into the final weeks before the August recess. What Can Get Done? That’s the key question as we enter into the next four weeks. Congress has been very busy leading up to this stretch, and what gets...

            M+ Health Care Preview: June 24, 2019

            The last week before recess is shaping up to be a busy one. All Eyes on the Administration. The Administration is expected to release a transparency executive order as early as today. This executive order is rumored to direct ag...

            M+ Check-Up: June 21, 2019

            This Week’s Dose: Three weeks down, one week to go in this work period. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is moving forward with its cost containment legislati...

            M+ Health Care Preview: June 17, 2019

            Two weeks down. Two weeks to go. All Eyes Watching the Senate HELP Committee. This week, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee will have a hearing on the Lower Health Care Costs Act. The Lower Health...

            M+ Check-Up: June 14, 2019

            This Week’s Dose: The focus was back on surprise billing this week with the third hearing of the year. We also saw hearings on Medicare for All and vertical consolidation in the health care i...

            M+ Check-Up: June 7, 2019

            This Week’s Dose: Congress is back, and this week marked the start of another busy legislative session. Work continues on drug pricing, surprise billing and cost containment, and negotiations...

            M+ Check-Up: May 24, 2019

            This Week’s Dose: We saw a flurry of activity this week related to drug pricing, surprise billing, cost containment and tobacco as lawmakers worked through their to-do list ahead of the Memor...

            M+ Health Care Preview: May 20, 2019

            Buckle up. It’s a busy week right before recess. It is widely rumored that a cost containment package will be released this week. And the key question is: what’s in it? La...

            M+ Check-Up: May 17, 2019

            This Week’s Dose: Drug pricing remains in the spotlight, but lawmakers also introduced legislation focused on surprise billing and coinsurance. Congress<...

            M+ Health Care Preview: May 13, 2019

            We are half way through this four week work stretch… And the conversations continue to point to prescription drug pricing. Last week was a busy week on prescription drug pr...

            M+ Check-Up: May 10, 2019

            This Week’s Dose: Another busy week for prescription drug pricing. Two more hearings took place on the subject, and a handful of bills passed out of the House. Now we watch the Senate to see ...

            M+ Check-Up: April 5, 2019

            This Week’s Dose: Health care continues to dominate much of the attention on Capitol Hill. Lots of hearings. New coverage expansion legislation. And more state action on Medicaid.