Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Individual-Mandate Repeal Gains Traction As GOP Scrambles To Close $74B Revenue Hole
Bloomberg: Revenue Hole May Bring GOP Back To Repeal Of Obamacare Mandate
The impact of House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady’s amendment to revise one of the GOP tax bill’s offshore provisions emerged late Tuesday -- an estimated $74 billion revenue hole, which is sending tax writers scrambling to find additional revenue. They may pursue a risky strategy to make up the shortfall: repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate. House Republicans are edging closer to accepting President Donald Trump’s suggestion to combine their tax legislation with a repeal of the mandate that all individuals purchase health insurance, according to a person who’s helping to draft the tax bill. (11/8)
Roll Call: Brady Says Individual Mandate Repeal Isn’t Off The Table
Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady on Tuesday left open the possibility that repeal of the 2010 health care law’s individual mandate could eventually make it into the GOP’s tax overhaul. The Texas Republican released a substitute amendment Monday that the Ways and Means Committee adopted on a party-line vote that did not include the mandate repeal or any health care changes. But Brady told talk radio host Hugh Hewitt on Tuesday that he’s asked for an updated cost estimate on repealing the individual mandate, indicating he won’t make a final decision until he sees that. (McPherson, 11/7)
Bloomberg: Ted Cruz Is Pushing To Include Obamacare Mandate Repeal In Tax Bill
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is pushing to keep alive the idea of including a repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate in the tax overhaul plan, even as House Republicans struggle with how to address an issue that threatens to complicate the tax debate. At a news conference Tuesday, Cruz said it’s vital to use the tax legislation to end the mandate that all Americans have health insurance or pay a penalty. If nothing else, he said, doing so will in effect be a tax cut for the 6.5 million Americans who now pay a penalty because they don’t have health insurance coverage. (Litvan, 11/7)
The Hill: GOP Senator: CBO Moving The Goalposts On ObamaCare Mandate
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Tuesday sharply criticized the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) for shifting its estimates of the effect of ObamaCare’s individual mandate as GOP lawmakers consider new ways of repealing the rule. Lee’s comments come after Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told The Hill earlier on Tuesday that he has been informed the CBO is now projecting that repealing the mandate will provide significantly less savings than it previously projected. (Sullivan, 11/7)
Meanwhile —
The Wall Street Journal: GOP Senators Aim to Retain Medical-Expenses Deduction
Senate Republicans aim to preserve a popular tax deduction for household medical expenses when they release their version of a tax plan later this week, parting ways with House lawmakers on a proposal that costs about $182 billion over a decade, according to people familiar with the matter. They are also considering delaying the start of a cut in the top corporate tax rate to 20% from 35% but hadn’t decided on the matter as of Tuesday evening. (Hughes, 11/7)
CQ: Health Groups Target Proposed Medical Expense Deduction Repeal
A coalition of health care groups is calling on lawmakers to retain the medical expense deduction in the House GOP tax bill. Led by the seniors' group AARP, nearly 40 groups wrote in a Tuesday letter that the deduction is “truly middle class tax relief,” urging lawmakers not to repeal the deduction as the current version of the House Republican tax bill would. (McIntire, 11/7)
