The Republican tax cut plan, including a repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, has passed through Congress, giving the party a victory in its yearlong struggle to find consensus on legislation to substantially alter the ACA.

In October, the Trump administration had asked for public comments on how to reduce HHS regulations on religious and faith-based groups. Of the 12,302 comments received, the agency has only posted 80, which mostly back the administration’s efforts and attack Obama-era policies on abortion and treating transgender patients.

The medical schools and teaching hospitals at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University could require an immediate injection of funds after CMS denied a request by the state to use federal Medicaid funds to pay those schools to recruit, train and retain physicians.

If Republicans pass their tax cut plan as expected, including a repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s individual mandate, Democratic-leaning states may respond with laws requiring their residents to buy health insurance or face a tax penalty.

The administration of President Donald Trump has settled a long-running lawsuit over cost-sharing reduction subsidies paid to insurers as part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), potentially paving the way for the payments to be restored.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) disputed a report in the Washington Post that seven words or phrases, including “fetus,” “transgender” and “science-based,” had been banned from the agency’s budget documents, while other officials said the motivation was to avoid words that could limit chances of obtaining funding from Congress.

CMS’s move to cut Medicare payments made through the 340B drug discount programs would see the biggest impact in California, New York and North Carolina, according to an analysis by Avalere Health, though for most hospitals it will reduce their total Part B revenue by less than 5 percent.

The Affordable Care Act’s taxes on health insurance, high-cost health plans and medical devices would be delayed under a series of bills introduced by House Republicans, with the Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA) quickly coming out in support of suspending the device tax.