Politico Pulse: Medicare fund buys time with pandemic and inflation

MEDICARE’S TRUST HAS A LITTLE MORE TIME — Medicare appears to be solvent until at least 2028, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Treasury Department that extends its projected fiscal cliff by two years.

Covid-19 was net neutral? Medicare’s board of trustees, who estimate program costs and peoples’ use of various medical devices annually, said the Covid-19 pandemic isn’t expected to have a long-term impact on cost projections, though they admitted that much uncertainty still remains around the virus.

While Covid-19 treatment increased some costs, they were offset by an overall drop in other health services as people stayed home and delayed other care, a senior administration official told reporters on a Thursday call. The expectation is that coronavirus treatments will become part of Medicare’s standard of care and not add-on payments, the official added.

The same official nodded to the possibility that long Covid could drive up costs in the future but said they haven’t seen data to that effect yet.

But some uncertainty exists. The trustees set their assumptions for the report in February. Officials acknowledged in a call with reporters that some data points, such as inflation and its impact on the cost of living, may have since shifted. In particular, CMS in April released a restrictive national coverage determination for Aduhelm, a pricey new Alzheimer’s medicine, and said on Friday that expected premium cuts would not happen this year.

The reactions roll in. “This is encouraging news,” said Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), chair of the Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, in a statement. He added that to “extend the solvency,” Congress should pass his legislation that would close loopholes for Medicare tax contributions.

Others were less convinced by the two-year extension. “The Medicare Trustees are warning us that Medicare remains on the brink of insolvency within the next 6 years,” House Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Health Subcommittee ranking member Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) said in a joint statement.

Medicare beneficiaries are already being hurt by “historic Part B premium increases,” they added, in a nod to last week’s news that premiums wouldn’t drop this year after a bump to account for Aduhelm.

HEALTH GROUPS RALLY FOR GUN CONTROL AFTER TULSA — The latest mass shooting hit Tulsa, Okla., on Wednesday, with local police reporting that the man who killed four people — including his surgeon — at a local medical center was motivated by disappointment with a recent back surgery.

The Tulsa tragedy comes within a week of the Uvalde, Texas, shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers and the Buffalo supermarket shooting a week prior.

Provider groups are speaking out, again. Gun violence is “out of control in the United States, and, without real-world, common-sense federal actions, it will not abate,” American Medical Association President Gerald Harmon said in a statement. Harmon endorsed the Protecting Our Kids Act, debated by the House Judiciary Committee in a hearing Thursday.

The American Hospital Association and Federation of American Hospitals also issued statements calling on Congress to pass bipartisan legislation targeting gun violence. “Enough is enough,” said FAH President and CEO Chip Kahn. “Hospitals are pillars of our communities — the places people rush to when they need help; they shouldn’t be crime scenes.”

The National Medical Association mourned Preston Phillips, the surgeon killed in the violence. “The grief we feel over his loss is overwhelming,” NMA President Rachel Villanueva said in a statement. “There is not enough time in between tragedies to complete the stages of grief before we are hurtled back to denial. But we, as a society, cannot resign to this endless cycle of grief and violence. Gun violence can be prevented. Military-grade weapons have no place on the streets. Individuals under the age of 21 should not be allowed to buy weapons. Requiring background checks and eliminating ghost guns are the very least we could do.”