Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1161749
38 POPULATION HEALTH 38 CEO/STRATEGY Biden unveils healthcare plan: 8 key takeaways By Emily Rappleye F ormer Vice President Joe Biden on July 15 unveiled a healthcare blueprint for his 2020 presidential run. "I believe we have to protect and build on Obamacare," Mr. Biden said in a video an- nouncing his healthcare platform, called the Biden Plan to Protect and Build on the ACA. Eight things to know about the Biden Plan: 1. e Biden Plan would establish a public option "like Medicare" that will cover primary care without copayments, contraceptive care and abortion. 2. Mr. Biden's platform offers a Medicaid expansion alternative. Adults who live in nonexpansion states but would otherwise be eligible for Medicaid under expansion rules would have access to the public option with- out premiums. 3. It would expand tax credits for purchas- ing insurance in the individual market. Mr. Biden would eliminate income requirements for receiving tax credits, which are current- ly available to American families earning between 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level. Mr. Biden's plan would also lower the limit families pay for health in- surance from 9.86 percent of income to 8.5 percent of income and calculate tax credits based on gold plans instead of silver plans. 4. e platform also includes a sur- prise-billing provision that would prohibit providers from charging out-of-network rates to patients who are hospitalized at in- network hospitals. 5. Medicare would be allowed to directly negotiate with pharmaceutical compa- nies to help lower drug costs. 6. Drug price increases would be limited to the general inflation rate. e plan also includes a provision that would authorize HHS to appoint a panel to set the prices of new drugs. 7. Mr. Biden would repeal the Hyde Amend- ment, which prohibits the use of federal Med- icaid dollars for abortion. Mr. Biden previ- ously faced criticism for supporting the Hyde Amendment, but reversed his opinion on the rule in June, according to e New York Times. 8. e Biden Plan would also restore the Obama-era status quo in many ways. It includes provisions to restore federal funding to Planned Parenthood, repeal the Mexico City Policy that governs federal funding for global health projects, and end Trump administration tax cuts on people who earn more than $1 million. n Hackensack Meridian is betting big on long-term care By Emily Rappleye E dison, N.J.-based Hackensack Meridian Health is adding three nursing homes to its network in a $65 million deal that aims to bolster its post-acute care presence in northern New Jersey, the 17-hospital sys- tem announced July 30. After about a year of negotiations with Tandem Manage- ment Co., Hackensack Meridian assumed full ownership of Regent Care Center in Hackensack, N.J., and took a major- ity stake in West Caldwell (N.J.) Care Center and Prospect Heights Care Center in Hackensack. The move is part of Hackensack Meridian's strategy to bring more nursing and rehabilitation services under its wing as the industry continues to shift care to lower-cost settings outside the hospital. It also prepares the system to meet the needs of New Jersey's growing elderly popula- tion. The state's population of seniors is expected to grow by 62 percent between 2010 and 2030, which means about 1 in 5 New Jersey residents will be over age 65 by 2030, according to the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. "We believe at Hackensack Meridian that we should be pro- viding the full continuum of care for the patients we serve and the communities we serve," Hackensack Meridian CEO Robert Garrett told Becker's. "It's important for us to make sure that there's a seamless continuity of care when patients need post-acute care services. It's [an] important part of our network — a growing part of our network." The merger brings the health system's nursing home count to 13, and two of the new facilities are located with- in a mile of the system's flagship Hackensack University Medical Center. The nursing homes' names have been changed to reflect the Hackensack Meridian Health brand, and their roughly 750 employees will join Hackensack Me- ridian's team. Hackensack Meridian is recruiting to grow the number of staff at the facilities, according to Joseph Lemaire, Hack- ensack Meridian's president of diversified health ventures. "Our biggest challenge — we were at Prospect Heights today — is finding enough staff to treat the patients," Mr. Lemaire told Becker's. Currently the patient census at the three nursing homes is lower than the others in Hacken- sack Meridian's network. "Because of the aging population and because acute care stays continue to decrease, I think this is going to be a very high-growth segment of the industry," Mr. Garrett said. "We are all-in at Hackensack Meridian in making sure that [long- term care is] part of our network and really thrives, and that we're getting the same quality of care in the post-acute care setting as we are in the acute care setting." n