Last year was a busy time for health policy. After a alternation in administration in the middle of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we had numerous federal changes to our policy to strengthen the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Medicaid program. Policymakers weren't going it alone; stakeholders weighed in on health policy priorities, outlining administrative actions to increase access to affordable, comprehensive health insurance promote health equity. The new year is a great time to size up President Biden's first year at work as well as what health changes to our policy might be available for 2022.
In her latest post for that Commonwealth Fund's To the Point blog, Georgetown's Katie Keith identifies thirteen high-priority administrative policies to strengthen the ACA and Medicaid and evaluates their current status. Keith finds the Biden administration completed roughly 1 / 2 of these actions in the newbie, including turnaround of the Trump administration's public charge rule and increasing marketing, outreach, and enrollment assistance for HealthCare.gov. Other priorities, for example fixing the “family glitch” (a current policy preventing millions from accessing financial assistance around the ACA's marketplaces), are expected to be implemented through the Biden administration in 2022. You can read more about your federal administrative health policy priorities here.
