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One of the most controversial taxes of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is in danger of repeal. The tax colloquially known as the “Cadillac Tax” was supposed to take effect in 2018, but Congress has delayed it twice. With the tax now slated to take effect in 2022, opponents of the tax have taken the opportunity to attempt to repeal it for good. On July 17, 2019, the House of Representatives overwhelming voted, 419-6, to approve the Middle Class Health Benefits Tax Repeal Act of 2019, which would abolish the Cadillac Tax. A Senate companion bill with 61 co-sponsors, including 32 Republicans and 28 Democrats, shows that the bill is unlikely to encounter much resistance if it is brought to a vote.
Continue Reading Bipartisan Push To Repeal ACA’s Cadillac Tax

On May 1, 2019, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed an initial brief (the “Brief”) with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (the “Fifth Circuit”) on behalf of the United States, in favor of upholding the lower court’s decision that found the entire Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”) unconstitutional.

As we discussed previously in our December 2018 blog post, a federal district court judge in Texas struck down the entire ACA by ruling that the “individual mandate,” which was reduced to $0 as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, no longer raises revenue and thus is no longer a constitutional exercise of Congress’s taxing power. The judge went on to determine that the unconstitutional individual mandate was inseverable from the rest of the ACA and therefore, the entire ACA was unconstitutional. The decision was then appealed to the Fifth Circuit.
Continue Reading Update to Texas v. United States: DOJ Files a Brief in Support of Eliminating the ACA

Healthcare in the United States is at a crossroads, with technology, new market “disrupters,” and seemingly intractable problems converging. At least that was the central theme we observed at the annual meeting of the American Medical Group Association held from March 27-30, 2019. Over 2,000 medical group executives and physician-leaders descended on National Harbor, Maryland to attend the conference and hear presentations on a wide range of topics. 
Continue Reading Healthcare Executives and Physician Leaders Discuss Latest Trends and Challenges in Delivering High-Quality Patient Care at AMGA’s 2019 Annual Conference

On Friday, December 14, 2018, a federal district court judge in Texas issued a widely anticipated opinion that struck down the entire Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) as unconstitutional. The judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs by determining that the “individual mandate”[1] is no longer a tax and is therefore an unconstitutional exercise of congressional authority. The judge also found that the individual mandate was inseverable from the rest of the ACA, which makes the entire ACA, not just the guaranteed issue and community rating provisions, unconstitutional.
Continue Reading Texas v. United States: Texas Federal Court “Strikes Down” the ACA

Retail clinics—the popular term for walk-in clinics located in pharmacies, supermarkets, and “big-box” stores—are playing an expanding role in the health care market. According to a study published by the New England Journal of Medicine, over 2,000 retail clinics were operating in the U.S. as of 2015.[1] Major players, such as CVS Health’s MinuteClinic, Walgreens’ Healthcare Clinics, and Kroger’s Little Clinic, are continuing to grow and adapt their strategy.
Continue Reading Patient Check-Ups Before Checking Out: Partnering to Bring Health Care into the “One-Stop Shopping” Sector

The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) is expected to drastically change how physicians are paid by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Under the proposed rule, physicians will be given the choice between two payment models: alternative payment models (APMs) and the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).  CMS predicts a majority of physicians will elect to follow MIPS when the new payment models go into effect in January 2019.
Continue Reading CMS Redefines Alternative Payment Models and Offers Option for Merit-Based Incentive Payment System in New Proposed Rule