Welcome to FreedomWorks Foundation’s third regulatory review of 2020! Our Regulatory Action Center proudly updates you with the latest regulatory actions from the swamp.This week, we bring you a special coronavirus edition, highlighting some of the positive ways our government is responding administratively. Check back next week for the next edition.

There has been some recent uproar over a regulation proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services designed to strengthen Medicaid, the government program that provides health insurance coverage for individuals below certain income levels. The regulation has sparked a curious bipartisan backlash from Capitol Hill and from state governments.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of the Treasury, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have issued new guidance that will make it easier for states to get waivers from certain mandates under Section 1332 of the so-called “Affordable Care Act,” also known as the “ACA” or “ObamaCare.” The goal of the new guidance is to provide consumers with more private insurance options in the nongroup health insurance market.

Last month, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Mark Janus in Janus v. AFSCME, ruling that unions cannot force workers to join an industry union. The fight for workers’ rights, however, is far from over. Since 2014, a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services regulation has allowed states to skim off portions of federal Medicaid payments intended for home caregivers. Earlier this month, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma, a President Trump appointee, brought forward a new proposal to eliminate the Obama Administration’s rule, forcing states to stop skimming funds from Medicaid payments.

As the economy begins to take off as a result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the next big thing we're going to see is a need for workers.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced today that it planned to reduce the budget to promote health plans available on the ObamaCare exchanges from the roughly $100 million spent during the last open enrollment period to $10 million for the upcoming open enrollment period, which is set to begin on November 1 and end on December 15. There will also be a reduction in funding for Navigators, from $62.5 million last year to $36.8 million this year.

The House and Senate are in session this week

ObamaCare enrollments have fallen under 10 million, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an agency under the Department of Health and Human Services that oversees much of the implementation of the 2010 heath insurance law. The new estimate is far below the Congressional Budget Office's 2014 projection.