November 04, 2020 Governor Wolf’s Press Conference: Be Patient Until All Results are Counted Today, Governor Wolf held a press conference about the General Election, elaborating about the delay in counting mail-in ballots, adding that Pennsylvania may not know the final tally of votes today, but will ensure that all ballots are counted to guarantee a fair election in the state.
October 07, 2020 Health Insurance Coverage Gains in Jeopardy with Threat to ACA and COVID-19 Impact Health insurance coverage gains earned over the last decade are in jeopardy as a result of the potential for the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Affordable Care Act and the enormous impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
October 05, 2020 U.S. Senator Toomey Makes Announcement about His Political Future U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R–PA) announced today that he will not seek reelection to the U.S. Senate during 2022 and he will not run for Governor. He intends to serve out the remainder of his current term, which expires during January of 2023.
October 02, 2020 Implications of the Upcoming Supreme Court Decision for Medicaid Enrollees and the Hospitals that Care for Them As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to consider California v. Texas, which could overturn the Affordable Care Act (ACA), researchers are considering implications for the 15 million Americans—and 766,000 Pennsylvanians enrolled in Medicaid expansion programs.
September 22, 2020 New Report Shows Millions are Still Losing Job-Based Coverage A new analysis from the Urban Institute reports that, between April and July, more than 3 million adults lost their employer-sponsored coverage and nearly 2 million became uninsured.
September 18, 2020 Hospital Employees Encouraged to Register and Vote in November Election The outcome of this year’s election will be critical to those who work in health care because those who are elected will make important decisions that affect health care as well as Pennsylvania’s hospitals. HAP is supporting the American Hospital Association’s “We Care, We Vote” campaign and is encouraging hospital employees to register to vote and to vote on November 3.
September 16, 2020 Advocates for Medical Research Call for NIH Investments A broad coalition of medical research advocates, including researchers and stakeholders representing more than 300 organizations and institutions including HAP, are urging Congress to make funding the National Institutes of Health (NIH) a national priority.
September 14, 2020 Hearing Stakeholders’ Concerns, CMS Withdraws Medicaid Regulation In a tweet today, Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the Administration would withdraw a proposed Medicaid regulation which stakeholders cautioned would have significant consequences, putting economic pressure on states and negatively impacting Medicaid beneficiaries across the country.
September 04, 2020 U.S. House Leaders Press HHS to Stop Drug Companies from Undermining the 340B Program Yesterday, Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Health Subcommittee Chair Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA), and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chair Diana DeGette (D-CO) sent a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar expressing strong concerns about recent actions taken by drug manufacturers that undermine the 340B Drug Pricing Program.
September 04, 2020 New HHS Action Plan Outlines Trump Administration’s Coordinated Rural Health Strategy This week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a new action plan focused on rural health care as part of its response to President Trump’s August 3 rural health Executive Order. This assessment, a product of the HHS Rural Task Force, is HHS’ first in-depth look at rural health care in more than 18 years.