When President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House next Monday, his administration faces key decisions on healthcare policies President Joe Biden left uncompleted.
Regulations governing Medicare, remote prescribing of controlled substances, and billing disputes between health insurers and providers top the list of proposed rules the Trump administration will have to retain, modify or eliminate. To be sure, the Biden administration could opt to rush out final rules in his last days, but they are more likely to fall to the new team.
Related: Trump faces lengthy healthcare regulation to-do list
New administrations typically place moratoriums on pending regulations so incoming officials can assess how they align, or don't, with the president's agenda. The Trump administration will also have to consider factors such as statutory deadlines, stakeholder views and congressional interest.
Medicare Advantage
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is due to issue the final version of the Medicare Advantage and Part D rule for the 2026 plan year, which the agency proposed in November. There is no deadline, but CMS tends to move quickly to allow health insurance companies time to adapt to new policies before bidding to sell Medicare plans.
The draft regulation's most notable feature is that it calls for Medicare and Medicaid to cover glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, or GLP-1s, for weight loss. CMS forecasts that would cost about $40 billion over 10 years.
CMS also proposed stricter standards for prior authorizations, marketing, broker oversight and supplemental benefits that would sustain Biden's tough stance on Medicare Advantage business practices and build on previous regulations.