https://mailchi.mp/f3434dd2ba5d/the-weekly-gist-december-20-2019?e=d1e747d2d8

Today, President Trump is set to sign into law a $1.4T spending agreement that keeps the Federal government open and avoids a year-end budget showdown with Congress. The agreement is comprised of two separate spending packages, with a total of 12 budget bills, and includes good news for almost every segment of the healthcare industry.

It repeals the long-debated “Cadillac Tax” on high-cost health plans, which was a key funding mechanism for the ACA and was intended to force employers to encourage their employees to use healthcare services more frugally.

It also repeals the “device tax” on medical device manufacturers, and the separate fee on health insurers, both also part of the ACA.

In sum, those three repeals will reduce tax revenue by about $375B over the next decade and will remove a substantial portion of funding originally earmarked to sustain the 2010 health law.

Meanwhile, notably absent from the budget deal are measures to address surprise billing, which have proven difficult to finalize despite broad bipartisan support, and steps to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, a key legislative priority on both sides of the aisle.

Thanks to intense lobbying by various industry interest groups, and the toxic political environment in Washington, the year is drawing to an end with virtually no progress to show on either front.

As a result, despite a year’s worth of heated rhetoric about the high cost of care, the burden of health spending on individuals, and the need to rein in runaway health spending, 2019 is ending with almost every industry interest—pharmaceutical companies, device manufacturers, insurers, physician groups, and hospitals—largely avoiding accountability in the form of federal legislation. As we head into an election year, we’ll likely have to wait until after next November to see real progress on any of these issues. Merry Christmas.