Perspectives On The Ethical Issues Surrounding The New HHS Secretary; GOP Health Policy Plans, Medicaid Reforms And What Becomes Of The Safety Net

Los Angeles Times: Trump Is Stocking His Cabinet With The Ethically Challenged. Case In Point: Tom Price
It’s bad enough that President Trump confined his Cabinet search to members of the 1%. But it’s particularly galling that his choice for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services — an agency vital to poor and infirm Americans — may have used his congressional office to expand his personal fortune. That nominee — Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), an orthopedic surgeon who has served on two House committees that help shape healthcare policy — invested in more than half a dozen healthcare-industry companies even as he took steps as a legislator that benefited them. That’s a clear conflict of interest, and if Trump honestly wanted to drain the swamp of self-serving elites in Washington, he would have withdrawn Price’s nomination as soon as Price’s investing habits came to light. (2/9)

The Wall Street Journal: The GOP’s Health-Care Offensive
When Dave Hoppe recalls his first big health-care fight, one memory stands out. It was the summer of 1994, and Sen. George Mitchell, the Democratic majority leader, had canceled August recess to force a debate over his party’s health-care monster: HillaryCare. Senators weren’t happy about losing their break, remembers Mr. Hoppe, who at the time was an aide. “And yet, Republican senators were lining up in the cloakroom; they couldn’t wait to get to the floor,” he says. “They knew this issue. They’d studied it. They were better informed than Democrats about HillaryCare. There was such an esprit de corps. It was energizing.” (Kimberley A. Strassel, 2/9)

The Washington Post: The Republican Health-Care Plan The Country Isn’t Debating
With the debate about the Affordable Care Act drawing so much scrutiny, a broader Republican agenda to fundamentally change the federal role in health care is flying under the radar. It’s the most important issue in health care we are not debating. Many Republicans in Congress want to convert Medicaid to a block-grant program and transform Medicare from a plan that guarantees care into one in which seniors would receive a set amount of money to purchase coverage. Meanwhile, Republicans would replace existing subsidies for premiums under the ACA with less generous tax credits — all while eliminating the expansion of Medicaid that enables states to cover low-income childless adults. (Drew Altman, 2/9)

The Washington Post: Obamacare Repeal: Blind Men And The Elephant
Vicki Hopper, a constituent of Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) from Roswell, Ga., lost her job two years ago but has kept her insurance through the Obamacare exchange. She says the price is “high, but affordable” since the subsidy cuts her payment to $370 per month. On Wednesday, she met with staffers in the offices of  Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.). “I told them you just can’t repeal it fully,” she told me. “There’ll be chaos.” She’s convinced Republicans won’t really go through with repeal. (Jennifer Rubin, 2/9)

USA Today: Save The Health-Care Safety Net
In the debate about the fate of the Affordable Care Act, one indispensable cog in our nation’s health care system has thus far been ignored — the safety net. These are the community health centers, public hospitals, clinics and programs that never turn anyone away, regardless of the ability to pay. They provide family planning to women and primary care to public housing residents. They serve homeless families, people with TB and AIDS and hemophilia, coal miners with black lung and those in the grip of opiate addiction. (Henry A. Waxman, 2/9)

Tampa Bay Times: A Bad Medicaid Plan For Nursing Homes
Although there are still exceptions, Florida is no longer home to the flood of nursing home horror stories that Sunshine State residents heard so frequently, and from so many homes, in the early '80s. ... This may all be about to change. Earlier this month, AHCA submitted a plan to the governor and the Legislature for a new approach to nursing home Medicaid payments. The plan is intended to establish an equitable payment system that includes incentives for high-quality care, simplifies the payment process, controls costs and makes legislators' budgeting for Medicaid spending on nursing homes more predictable. What the plan will actually do is penalize the nursing homes that for the last three decades have invested in delivering the highest quality of care possible, while rewarding homes that have remained at the bottom of the quality barrel. (Steve Bahmer, 2/9)

The Wichita Eagle: Medicaid Expansion Clears First Key Hurdle
Medicaid expansion cleared its first key hurdle this week when Wichita Rep. Dan Hawkins, the chairman of the House Health and Human Services Committee, agreed to allow a debate and committee vote next week. Committee members should heed the compelling testimony they heard and send a bill to the full House. (2/10)