Page 20 - January 2021 South Florida Hospital News

2021... A LOOK AHEAD...2021... A LOOK

Cover Story: What Now?

Continued from page 1
central distribution point. But from there, Another area where the Administration
to get to areas for dispensing, this is where will have a policy focus will be to bring
things get much more complicated. down pharmaceutical prices. There is a
And, what about other aspects of health desire by the Administration to enable the
care policy going forward? With the real- Medicare authorities to negotiate down
ization that the Patient Protection and the prices paid for the pharmaceuticals.
Affordable Care Act essentially survived Surprise billing is an additional policy
the past four years including the first two goal.
years of President Trump’s term when the One other area that has not been on
House, the Senate, and the Executive anyone’s radar but needs to be is the fact
branch were aligned politically, it is almost that Medicare Part A is expected to
assured that the Affordable Care Act will become insolvent in the year 2024. This
continue on and will be built upon over has been stated by the Trustees of the
the next four years. Medicare system itself. It should be noted
And even though the Individual Man - that this has recently been moved up from
date had been eliminated as a driver for the year 2026 due, in part, to the COVID
people to sign up for health insurance Pandemic and its impact on the Medicare
through the Exchanges, nonetheless the population. We must remind ourselves
number of individuals signing up volun- that 2024 is but three years away. This
tarily for an insurance plan through the means that the Biden/Harris Admin -
program continues to be significant. istration and Congress will have to be
With incoming President Biden having aware and potentially act. There are three
been directly involved in the development variables in dealing with the inability of
of “Obamacare”, and with the realization the Medicare program to fully fund its
that this has been the law of the land now expenditures.
for over ten years we can anticipate that These variables are to cut benefits to
this will continue as law over at least the Medicare recipients, increase Medicare
next four years. Y taxes on the working population, or to
es, it is true that the Supreme Court has cut reimbursement to providers. It has
been asked to review the constitutionality been the latter exercise that has been a
of the law and is expected to rule this significant part of our process for the last
Summer of 2021. The Supreme Court several years. Deeper cuts however will
rarely overturns a piece of legislation that be required. None of these scenarios are
has been ratified through Congress, espe- pretty.
cially after it has been law for this many So, there we are. We will see where we
years. I would be surprised to see the law ultimately end up with healthcare policies,
overturned, though the unknown is how processes, and outcomes. I have a feeling
several new Supreme Court Justices will we will be having future discussions
review the situation. through this and other venues as we go
One aspect of the Biden/Harris policy forward. Please stay safe.
concept is that a federal Medicare type
program be available as an option for Dr. Steven G. Ullmann, Professor and
those not happy with their private insur- Chair, Department of Health Management
ance options. This option is also seen as a and Policy, Director, Center for Health
policy goal for those individuals who Management and Policy, and Special
reside in states that have not expanded Assistant to the Provost at Miami Herbert
Medicaid (such as Florida) and who have Business School, University of Miami,
an income level below 138 percent of the can be reached at (305) 284-9920 or
Federal Poverty Level. Sullmann@miami.edu.

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20 January 2021 southfloridahospitalnews.com South Florida Hospital News