Last week, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) released her much-anticipated drug pricing plan, the Lower Drug Costs Now Act of 2019 (H.R. 3). Top Democrats on the three committees of jurisdiction introduced the legislation—Chairman Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Energy & Commerce; Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA), Ways & Means; and Chairman Bobby Scott (D-VA), Education & Labor.

The bipartisan Beneficiary Enrollment Notification and Eligibility Simplification (BENES) Act (S. 1280/H.R. 2477) is urgently needed to modernize and streamline the Medicare Part B enrollment process. Passage this year presents an important opportunity for members of Congress to advance commonsense, low-cost reforms that are in the best interest of millions of current and future Medicare beneficiaries.

New polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) explores the experiences of adults ages 65 and older with prescription medications,

A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation examines a number of these proposed and recent changes—including those related to the Part D benefit design, the Low Income Subsidy (LIS) program, drug importation, generic drug availability, and price transparency—outlining the implications for people with Medicare and the program itself. This comprehensive resource will be updated ongoingly to reflect evolving policy discussions.

On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security finalized a “public charge” rule that could greatly harm families and prevent people with Medicare from accessing the services and supports they need to thrive. The new policy is set to become effective on October 15, 2019.

A new report from the AARP Public Policy Institute examines changes to Medicare Advantage (MA) supplemental benefit policies and the implications for people with Medicare.

MA plans have long been able to offer benefits beyond what is required by law. However, the recent Balanced Budget Act of 2018 and regulatory decisions, including those in the 2019 Part C and D final rule and the Final Call Letter for 2019, have greatly increased this authority.

This week, the Senate Finance Committee unveiled long-awaited drug pricing legislation, the Prescription Drug Pricing Reduction Act (PDPRA) of 2019. The bill outlines a number of changes to address the problem of high and rising drug prices within the Medicare program, including a redesign of the Part D benefit and the imposition of inflationary rebates.

The Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently released two reports on the Medicare hospice

This week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit heard oral arguments in Texas v. U.S., the latest legal challenge

This week, the House Committee on Ways and Means advanced the Beneficiary Enrollment Notification and Eligibility Simplification (BENES) Act (S. 1280/H.R. 2477) in a markup that considered a series of Medicare-related bills. The BENES Act is now included in a larger bipartisan package that was unanimously reported favorably out of Committee—the Beneficiary Education Tools, Telehealth, and Extenders Reauthorization (BETTER) Act of 2019 (H.R. 3417).