Welcome to another round of PYA Washington Updates! It’s National State Fair Food Day! So, grab your corn dog, funnel cake, chocolate-covered bacon, and fried twinkies while you enjoy our latest healthcare policy update.
We’re back after a one-week hiatus, and a lot has happened since our last update.
One Big Beautiful Bill Act Becomes Law
President Trump got exactly what he wanted: Congress delivered the reconciliation bill to his desk by July 4. The final version of the bill differed from the one that passed the House back on May 22, including significantly deeper cuts to the Medicaid program.
According to an article in Modern Healthcare on Wednesday, “[i]n the immediate aftermath, providers and healthcare system experts said there are three main areas of focus for the health sector: learning the new law, planning to deal with its worst impacts and doing everything possible to get Congress to mitigate the damage.” We will be unpacking the new law’s provisions and their impact on providers for the next several weeks.
Yesterday, as part of PYA’s Let’s Get Rural webinar series, we addressed OBBBA’s impact on Medicaid and ACA premium tax credits, the new Rural Health Transformation Program, and other healthcare-related provisions in the new law, with a specific focus on their impact on rural providers. You can access a copy of the presentation and the webinar replay here. Also, the audio recording will soon be available on PYA’s Webinar Recast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
OBBBA: Rural Health Transformation Program
The Senate added this $50 billion program to OBBBA at the last minute to address concerns about the impact of Medicaid cuts on rural hospitals. The new law requires the Program to be up and running by the end of this year, ready to distribute the first $10 billion in 2026. We’ve had many inquiries regarding the Program’s operations and opportunities to offset anticipated funding cuts, and we’ve now posted to our website a detailed explanation of those operations and opportunities. Please familiarize yourself with the Program and share this content with clients and colleagues!
OBBBA: Caps on Student Loans
In addition to Medicaid and SNAP cuts, OBBBA places lower limits on how much graduate and professional students can take out in federal loans. The Grad PLUS program, which made unlimited funds available to graduate students, has been eliminated. Beginning July 1, 2026, professional students (including medical students) can borrow a maximum of $200,000 in federal loans over the course of their studies. That means many potential medical students will have to find new ways to finance their educations or pursue other options. Expect physician shortages to become more pronounced, as this will push medical school out of many students’ reach. For others, it will push them away from primary care to more lucrative specialties.
New PYA Webinar
Next Wednesday, PYA will host episode #97 of PYA’s Healthcare Regulatory Round-Up webinar series, One Big Beautiful Bill, Lots of Proposed Rules. We will once again dive into OBBBA’s key provisions as well as the first of the CY 2026 Medicare payment rules. Thus far, only the home health and end-stage renal disease proposed rules have been released, but we anticipate the hospital outpatient and Medicare Physician Fee Schedule proposed rules will be released any day now. You can register for the webinar here.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions regarding these latest developments, and please continue to check PYA’s website for updates.