As the nation faces continuing COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, deaths, and vaccine delays and shortages, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Future of Health Care Initiative released policy recommendations on January 29 for urgent action by the Biden administration and Congress that would bolster the federal response to the pandemic.

BPC also hosted a virtual event to discuss these recommendations with remarks from former Senate Majority Leaders Tom Daschle and Bill Frist, M.D., co-chairs of BPC’s Future of Health Care initiative, followed by a panel discussion of health care policy experts, including Gail Wilensky, Ph.D., also a co-chair and former administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration (now CMS); William Roper, M.D., former director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Mark Smith, M.D., clinical professor of medicine, University of California San Francisco, and former founding president and CEO, California Health Care Foundation; and Leana Wen, M.D., visiting professor of health policy and management, George Washington University, and former health commissioner of Baltimore. The event aired live on C-SPAN.
Watch the webinar.

A new report released on January 27 offers recommendations to improve and streamline federal law allowing states to offer Medicaid coverage to workers with disabilities, whose incomes exceed maximum eligibility levels. Without this option, known as Medicaid Buy-in (MBI), many people with disabilities would need to choose between remaining in lower-paying jobs or not working at all to be able to retain the very benefits that allow them to live independently.

BPC examined this important issue and its policy recommendations during a virtual event with national Medicaid experts including: Henry Claypool, policy director, Community Living Policy Center; Kathy Hempstead, senior policy adviser, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Michael Gamel-McCormick, Ph.D., disability policy director, U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging; Seth Gold, health legislative assistant, Office of U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH); Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH); and Beth Waldman, J.D., MPH, senior consultant, Bailit Health, and former director of Massachusetts’ Medicaid program.
Watch the webinar.

In this podcast, Sen. Frist highlights BPC’s latest report, COVID-19: Urgent Federal Actions to Accelerate America’s Response, and explains the six key recommendations for immediate reaction.