HCA (US)


June 26, 2025

Hospitals, Obamacare, Medicaid: Parliamentarian Decisions Likely to Force Rewriting on Provider Tax, Uncertain about CSR and Enhanced FMAP Policies

By Beth Steindecker

The sizable hole left by the Senate parliamentarian decisions on various Medicaid and Obamacare provisions, which were reported this morning by Senate democrats (here and here) injects uncertainty for hospitals, Obamacare insurers, Medicaid managed care,…

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June 22, 2025

Obamacare: Program Integrity Rule Meets Overall Expectations, Though Relative Slight Improvement; Risk Remains

By Beth Steindecker

Amidst the behind-the-scenes Senate debate of its draft reconciliation bill, CMS made good on its threat to jettison improper and fraudulent Obamacare enrollment, impacting ACA insurers [OSCR, CNC, ELV, MOH] and hospitals / behavioral facilities…

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June 17, 2025

Healthcare: Thoughts on the Senate Finance Draft’s Healthcare Provisions

By Beth Steindecker

The Senate Finance Committee’s (SFC) draft healthcare and tax portion of the reconciliation bill makes some changes, relative to the House-passed measure, but is overall consistent with that version, with the implications being lower Medicaid…

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June 8, 2025

[HCA, THC, CYH, hospitals] White House Memo Adds Another Wrinkle to State-Directed Payment Programs in Medicaid

By Beth Steindecker

A new complication has arisen for hospitals [HCA, THC, CYH, ARDT, UHS, non-profit / municipally-backed facilities] – and to a lesser extent nursing homes, behavioral providers, and certain physicians – in the debate over payment…

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May 6, 2025

Optimism for Longer Term Resolution on Obamacare eAPTCs Remains but CMS Suggests Expiration [OSCR, CNC, MOH, ELV, HCA, THC]

By Beth Steindecker

Notwithstanding a recent CMS memo advising insurers to design their Obamacare plan bids assuming expiration of the enhanced premium subsidies at year-end, we remain optimistic that Congress ultimately settles on a middle ground (revision and…

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April 21, 2025

Medicaid Provider Tax Proposal: Too Little Info to Appropriately Size Threat [UHS, ARDT, MOH, CNC, ACHC, ENSG]

By Beth Steindecker

Today’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) posting that it is reviewing a proposed CMS regulation about appropriate use of Medicaid provider taxes offers too little information to appropriately size the threat to hospitals (UHS,…

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April 16, 2025

Trump Biopharma EO: Laying the Groundwork for Additional Hospital Reconciliation Targets [municipal-backed, HCA, THC, CYH, ARDT, UHS]

By Beth Steindecker

President Trump’s executive order (EO) on biopharma yesterday suggests the hospital sector is a larger target than administration officials have let on to date and seems to proffer more substance about additional ways to garner…

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April 13, 2025

Vanilla Medicare Inpatient Provider Proposals [HCA, THC, ARDT, EHC, SEM, CHE, ADUS, ENSG, PACS, UHS, ACHC]

By Beth Steindecker

Medicare’s proposed FY26 payment regulations for inpatient hospitals [HCA, THC, CYH, ARDT, UHS, MPW, municipal bond-backed facilities], inpatient rehab facilities (IRFs) [EHC, SEM], hospices [CHE, ADUS, Gentiva], long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) [SEM, Kindred], skilled nursing…

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April 3, 2025

Senate Budget Resolution & Healthcare Offsets

By Beth Steindecker

In response to yesterday’s Senate budget resolution proposal and the GOP’s assumption of the current policy baseline for scoring purposes, we think Congress continues to target Medicaid, Medicare hospital site neutrality, and PBM reforms as…

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March 10, 2025

[OSCR, ELV, CNC, HCA, THC]: Targeting Obamacare Program Integrity in Rulemaking and Legislation

By Beth Steindecker

With all eyes focused on whether Congress will extend the enhanced ACA subsidies or let them lapse – we remain optimistic of a middle ground (revision and extension) – we caution investors about the headline…

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