Colorado Children's Campaign Issues Public Comment on HHS Proposed Rule

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 -- Erin Miller, vice president for health initiatives at the Colorado Children's Campaign, Denver, has issued a public comment on the Department of Health and Human Services proposed rule entitled "Securing Updated and Necessary Statutory Evaluations Timely". The comment was written on Nov. 24, 2020, and posted on Dec. 8, 2020:

* * *

This letter comes to you on behalf of the Colorado Children's Campaign. We are a non-profit, non-partisan research and advocacy organization committed to realizing every chance for every child. We work for the development and implementation of data-driven public policies that improve child well-being. Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed rule, "Securing Updated and Necessary Statutory Evaluations Timely" (the "Regulations Rule"). The proposed rule would retroactively impose an expiration provision on most HHS regulations, and establish "assessment" and "review" procedures to determine which, if any, regulations should be retained or revised. The Regulations Rule would create tremendous administrative burden for HHS and would wreak havoc across a broad swath of programs that are vital to the health and wellbeing of children and families in Colorado, such as Medicaid. Additionally, the truncated 30-day comment period is insufficient for a rule of this broad scope with potentially harmful effects. We urge HHS to immediately withdraw this proposed rule.

The proposed rule would divert HHS' departmental resources and attention in most desperate times.

HHS itself estimates that the proposed rule would cost nearly $26 million dollars over 10 years, needing 90 full-time staff positions to undertake the required reviews./1

Such an undertaking would divert resources from critical work, including efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic. It is especially important during crisis situations like COVID-19 that HHS have the flexibility and bandwidth to shift focus and respond quickly to immediate needs.

The current rule would wreak havoc across all HHS programs.

Regulations play an important role in implementing HHS policies and programs including safety net programs such as Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which provide health coverage for over 75.5 million people, including 36.6 million children nationwide and more than 600,000 children in Colorado alone. A strong regulatory framework provides states the clarity they need to run these programs on a day-to-day basis, gives providers and managed care plans guidance as to their obligations, and explains to beneficiaries what their entitlement means. The Regulations Rule would create legal uncertainty regarding the validity and enforceability of regulations throughout the review process.

The bigger danger posed by the Regulations Rule is that important regulations may be arbitrarily rescinded because there are simply not enough HHS staff or resources to undertake such a sweeping review process. Regulations that do not complete the complicated and time consumer review process would summarily expire, potentially leaving vast, gaping holes in the regulatory framework implementing HHS programs and policies.

For example, multiple insurance affordability programs including Medicaid and CHIP rely on regulations at 42 C.F.R. Sec. 435.603 to determine financial eligibility using Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) methodologies. If this regulation were to simply disappear, programs would be free to redefine MAGI household and income counting rules, with no standards, consistency, or accountability. Arbitrarily rescinding large swaths of regulations would lead to untold harm to the millions of people who rely on those programs.

The loss of health insurance coverage would be devastating for kids and families. Insurance coverage improves health status, mental health, and access to health care, and decreases infant, child, and adult mortality rates. Insurance coverage impacts long-term outcomes as well. Kids with health insurance coverage are less likely to drop out of high school, more likely to graduate from college, and have higher incomes as adults. The financial security provided by health insurance coverage reduces family stress and the toxic stress that can be experienced by children, which we know is increasingly important during these uncertain times.

The Regulation Rule an ill-conceived attempt to sabotage public programs

If passed, the Regulations Rule would damage duly promulgated regulations, by retroactively imposing an arbitrary end date. This rule is unnecessary, will wreak impair HHS programs, negatively impacting children and families in the middle of a global health crisis. Furthermore, if passed, it will tie the hands of the incoming Administration by detracting from critical issues like the COVID-19 pandemic, to undertake this time-consuming process. We strongly oppose this rule, and urge HHS to withdraw it immediately. Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this important issue. If you have questions, please contact Erin Miller ([email protected]).

Sincerely,

Erin Miller

Vice President, Health Initiatives

Colorado Children's Campaign

* * *

Footnote:

1/ 85 Fed. Reg. 70116.

* * *

The proposed rule can be viewed at: https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=HHS-OS-2020-0012-0001

TARGETED NEWS SERVICE (founded 2004) features non-partisan 'edited journalism' news briefs and information for news organizations, public policy groups and individuals; as well as 'gathered' public policy information, including news releases, reports, speeches. For more information contact MYRON STRUCK, editor, [email protected], Springfield, Virginia; 703/304-1897; https://targetednews.com