Policy Corner: September 1, 2023
Categories: Policy Corner Archives
ACL Awards Two State TBI Partnership Grants
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Community Living (ACL) has announced it has awarded two ACL Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) State Partnership Program grants: the University of Florida and the University of Wisconsin. Both are three-year grants that started today, Sept. 1, 2023, and ending July 31, 2026, totaling $599,000. The grants are authorized through the TBI Program Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Pub. Law 115-377) and funded through the appropriations process. The grant program was established as the result of the TBI Act of 1996 to assist states to increase rehabilitation and community services. The Act also authorizes funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for education, data collection, and analysis.
The University of Florida’s program will be called “Building a System of Resource Facilitation for All Floridians with Brain Injury.” The University of Wisconsin’s program will be known as “Brain Injury Advocacy Network of Wisconsin (BIANW).”
White House Announces 10 Drugs Medicare Will Negotiate Pricing
This week, the White House announced the ten medications that will soon be subject to Medicare price cut negotiations with drug companies due to the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Over the next 4 years, Medicare will negotiate prices for up to 60 drugs covered under Medicare Part D and Part B, and up to an additional 20 drugs every year after that. Today, there is no cap on how much seniors and people with disabilities pay for drugs.
These first ten drugs are among those with highest total spending in Medicare Part D and treat life-threatening conditions including diabetes, heart failure, and cancer. Negotiations for the first group of selected drugs will begin in 2023, with negotiated prices going into effect in 2026. People with Medicare will continue to see their prescription drug costs go down as more provisions of the IRA go into effect in the coming years. Part D enrollees will no longer pay 5% co-insurance when they reach the catastrophic phase of their benefit starting in 2024.
House and Senate to Face Government Spending Bills When They Return
Members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate will soon return to the Capitol and will have the task of funding government past Sept. 30 to avoid a government shutdown. The Senate is expected to return on Sept. 5, while the House is expected to return Sept. 12. The House had passed only one FY 2024 appropriations bill before the August recess, the Military Construction-VA measure, which has yet to be sent to the Senate. The House Committee has recommended cuts in non-defense appropriations in the remaining bills that are far deeper than agreed to in the debt ceiling deal and contain a range of poison-pill legislative riders pushing policies against LGBTQ people, racial equity, and access to reproductive health care. While House Republicans are pushing deep cuts to federal programs, the Senate is proposing spending in line with previous agreements made in the debt ceiling bill. Neither body appears to be wavering on their position.
Yesterday, the White House asked Congress to pass a short-term funding bill to keep government open starting Oct. 1. The White House is also proposing additional funding for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program due to high food prices, as well as for disaster relief relating to recent fires and hurricanes, and Ukraine.