Healthcare Dive lets us know,
- “Congress appears to be inching toward injecting more transparency into a controversial program that forces drugmakers to give safety-net hospitals steep discounts on drugs.
- “It would be a win for pharmaceutical manufacturers, which have long lobbied that hospitals be required to account for their savings in the 340B program — or that it be overhauled entirely.
- “The latter appears unlikely, after lawmakers on both sides of the aisle expressed blanket support for 340B during a House Oversight and Investigations subcommittee hearing on Tuesday [June 4, 2024]. However, members said they approved of more oversight to try and stop financial gaming in the program.
- “Though “we’re all in support of 340B … I think nearly all of us agree that the status quo is not acceptable,” said Rep. Larry Bucshon, R-Ind.”
- Roll Call offers more details on this policy issue.
KFF informs us,
- The Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) limits the amount of premium income that insurers can keep for administration, marketing, and profits. Insurers that fail to meet the applicable MLR threshold are required to pay back excess profits or margins in the form of rebates to individuals and employers that purchased coverage.
- In the individual and small group markets, insurers must spend at least 80% of their premium income on health care claims and quality improvement efforts, leaving the remaining 20% for administration, marketing expenses, and profit. The MLR threshold is higher for large group insurers, which must spend at least 85% of their premium income on health care claims and quality improvement efforts. MLR rebates are based on a 3-year average, meaning that rebates issued in 2024 will be calculated using insurers’ financial data in 2021, 2022 and 2023 and will go to people and businesses who bought health coverage in 2023.
- This analysis, using preliminary data reported by insurers to state regulators and compiled by Mark Farrah Associates, finds that insurers estimate they will issue a total of about $1.1 billion in MLR rebates across all commercial markets in 2024. Since the ACA began requiring insurers to issue these rebates in 2012, a total of $11.8 billion in rebates have already been issued to individuals and employers, and this analysis suggests the 2012-2024 total will rise to about $13 billion when rebates are issued later this year.