Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Getting To 50: A Look At The Changes That Republicans Are Tossing About
Roll Call: GOP Wheeling And Dealing Takes Center Stage In Senate
Deal-making was the name of the game Thursday as Senate Republican leaders met with skeptical lawmakers in an attempt to bridge deep policy divides among the GOP conference on their legislation to overhaul the U.S. health care system. Vice President Mike Pence and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma were also on Capitol Hill, joining in the effort to rework a bill that would tighten the cap on federal funding for Medicaid over several years and alter the 2010 health care law’s subsidies that help individuals afford insurance. (Williams, 6/29)
The Hill: GOP Scrambles To Win Centrist Votes On ObamaCare Repeal
Senate Republican leaders are focused on winning over centrists as they try to revive their legislation repealing and replacing ObamaCare. Their strategy is to win over moderates who balked at their earlier bill, and then hope that the pressure to take action on the GOP’s promise to repeal former President Obama’s signature legislation will be enough to get conservative senators to back the bill. GOP leaders can only afford to lose two votes, giving them little room for error. (Bolton and Sullivan, 6/29)
The Hill: GOP Adds $45 Billion In Opioid Money To Healthcare Bill
Senate Republicans are adding $45 billion to their ObamaCare replacement bill to fight opioid abuse, according to sources familiar with the discussions. The move was widely expected as an attempt to win over moderate Republicans like Sens. Rob Portman (Ohio) and Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), who have both made the opioid epidemic a priority. (Sullivan, 6/29)
Roll Call: What Portman And Capito Want In Obamacare Repeal Debate
Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia were known to want $45 billion in dedicated funding for drug abuse treatment for the population currently served through Medicaid expansion, and those dollars needed to be outside the current Medicaid structure so that treatment could continue during any eventual wind-down of the expansion under the 2010 health care law. But, as Capito made clear in her statement announcing opposition to the most recent draft, there also came to be questions about Medicaid cuts itself. (Lesniewski, 6/29)
Texas Tribune: Ted Cruz Proposes Amendment With Aim To Salvage Senate Health Care Plan
Cruz, a Texas Republican, is now proposing an amendment that would allow any health plan to offer "non-Obamacare compliant" plans in a state if it was already offering at least one plan that does comply with the 2010 health care law in that state, according to a Vox.com report. That measure, combined with reducing the bill's tax cuts, could be enough to win over a conservative bloc of senators who are withholding support for the bill, while also freeing up funds to boost Medicaid funding, which might bring along some moderate Republicans opposed to the bill, per Vox. (Livingston, 6/29)
Bloomberg: Cruz Pitches GOP Leaders To Allow Cheap Insurance In Health Bill
Senate Republican leaders are considering a proposal by Senator Ted Cruz that would allow insurers to sell cheaper, less robust plans as long as they also sell policies that meet coverage standards imposed by Obamacare. The Texan’s idea is aimed at breaking the health-care logjam and winning conservative holdouts -- but the proposal faces opposition from the moderate wing, underscoring the delicate balance facing party leaders trying to secure the votes for a bill to unwind the Affordable Care Act. (Kapur, 6/29)
The Hill: GOP Leaders Prepared To Make Big Boost To Healthcare Innovation Fund
Top Senate Republicans are signaling that they are willing to dramatically increase funding for a special state innovation fund in order to persuade wavering moderates to support their floundering healthcare reform bill, according to sources involved in negotiations. One Republican senator said leaders could double the amount of money in the bill’s long-term state innovation fund. (Bolton, 6/29)
McClatchy: Abortion, Planned Parenthood Could Derail Senate Health Bill
The health care provider uses federal funding to treat Medicaid patients and subsidize other health services, and by law cannot use those funds to provide abortions. But House Republicans still want to deny Planned Parenthood funding for a year because it performs abortions. (Clark, 6/29)
Kaiser Health News: This Woman Can Make Or Break McConnell’s Health Bill
As Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tries to negotiate his way to a health bill that can win at least 50 Republican votes, there is one woman in the Senate who could stop the bill cold. She isn’t even a senator. (Rovner, 6/30)
