Biden has signaled his administration will take a broader review of Trump policies Democrats see as undermining the Obamacare insurance markets. Those include rules expanding access to cheaper, skimpier health insurance plans that don't comply with Obamacare standards, including requirements to cover preexisting conditions.
The agency has already begun erasing Trump's changes to Obamacare. It's overseeing a new Obamacare special enrollment period for the uninsured during the pandemic, and it notified states that it is moving to withdraw the previous administration's approvals of Medicaid work rules.
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The Biden administration has been moving to roll back those Trump-era plans and on Monday cited "greatly changed circumstances" in asking that the cases be dropped from the court’s argument calendar. They are currently scheduled to be heard on March 29. The court has been hearing arguments by phone due to the coronavirus pandemic restrictions.
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The high court back in December, had agreed to review lower-court decisions involving Arkansas and New Hampshire that found that the Trump administration’s support for work requirements went beyond what’s allowed by law. Arkansas on Monday opposed the Biden administration’s request that the cases be dropped, writing in a brief that the "central question in these cases — what Medicaid’s objectives are — will likely return" to the Supreme Court and that the need to decide the cases is "as pressing today" as when the court agreed to hear them in December.
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The timing of the court’s decision last year to take up the cases was curious as by that time it was blatantly clear that Biden was set to become president and that his administration would be unlikely to continue Trump’s plans. Congress has also barred states from restricting eligibility during the public health emergency.
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Medicaid is a $600 billion federal-state program that covers about 70 million people, from pregnant women and newborns to disabled people and nursing home residents. Under the Obama-era Affordable Care Act, states gained the option of expanding the program to many low-income adults previously ineligible. More than 12 million people have gained coverage as a result.
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The President will nominate seasoned Democratic health policy broker Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to helm the trillion-dollar Medicare and Medicaid agency, according to four sources familiar with the selection.
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Brooks-LaSure, an Obama administration veteran who oversaw implementation of Obamacare, if confirmed will play a leading role in crafting Biden's plans to expand on the health care law – and unwind much of the Trump administration's efforts to minimize it.
The Biden administration has been slow to fill other top posts at the agency while it's been consumed by the pandemic response, which has mostly been run out of the White House and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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