From Modern Healthcare:
According to a summary of the final agreement, the moratorium on the Medicaid regulations, which hospitals claim would cut their funding, has been extended until June 30. The moratorium had been scheduled to expire on March 31. Hospital lobbyists were also happy to see that the agreement retained a measure to block a scheduled Medicare payment reduction to teaching hospitals.
In other healthcare measures, the agreement proposes a temporary $87 billion increase to the federal share of the Medicaid program, with states and territories receiving an across-the-board increase of 6.2%. A temporary increase of $500 million would also be provided to disproportionate-share hospitals. More than $24.7 billion was allotted to make premium subsidies available for unemployed workers under the COBRA program, which is closer to what the Senate had originally proposed than the House’s more generous $40 billion proposal. The bill would provide a 65% subsidy for COBRA premiums for up to nine months.
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