Company: OCEA
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001641172-25-003155
Chunk: 2249

Company: Ocean Biomedical, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-08
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 2249
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 litigation and other efforts
to repeal and replace the ACA will impact the ACA and our business. In addition, the first Trump administration issued various Executive
Orders which eliminated cost sharing subsidies and various provisions that would impose a fiscal burden on states or a cost, fee, tax,
penalty or regulatory burden on individuals, healthcare providers, health insurers, or manufacturers of pharmaceuticals or medical devices.
Additionally, Congress has introduced several pieces of legislation aimed at significantly revising or repealing the ACA. It is unclear
whether the ACA will be overturned, repealed, replaced, or further amended. We cannot predict what affect further changes to the ACA
would have on our business.

Other
legislative changes have been proposed and adopted in the United States since the ACA was enacted. The Budget Control Act of 2011, among
other things, created measures for spending reductions by Congress. A Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, tasked with recommending
a targeted deficit reduction of at least $1.2 trillion for the years 2013 through 2021, was unable to reach the required goals, thereby
triggering the legislation’s automatic reduction to several government programs, including aggregate reductions of Medicare payments
to providers of 2% per fiscal year. These reductions went into effect on April 1, 2013 and, due to subsequent legislative amendments
to the statute, including the BBA, will remain in effect through 2030, unless additional congressional action is taken. However, these
Medicare sequester reductions have been suspended multiple times. Most recently, the Protecting Medicare and American Farmers from Sequester
Cuts Act impacts payments for all Medicare Fee for Services claims as follows: no payment adjustment through March 31, 2022; 1% payment
adjustment April 1 - June 30, 2022; and 2% payment adjustment beginning July 1, 2022. The sequester may be delayed by future legislation.
The BBA also amended the ACA, effective January 1, 2019, by increasing the point-of-sale discount that is owed by pharmaceutical manufacturers
who participate in Medicare Part D and closing the coverage gap in most Medicare drug plans, commonly referred to as the “donut
hole.” On January 2, 2013, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was signed into law, which, among other things, further reduced
Medicare payments to several types of providers, including hospitals, imaging centers and cancer treatment centers,