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Republican leaders have been champing at the bit to cut government programs such as Medicare, and critics are now worried they'll use swelling deficits created by the GOP tax bill as an excuse to go after the programs.
The House -- which did not include repeal of the individual mandate -- and the Senate still need to reconcile their versions of the tax legislation, but Republicans have been in favor of getting rid of the requirement since it was passed so it's likely it will make it in the final law.
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
A selection of opinions on health care from around the country.
Opinion writers explore some of the health issues at play in the congressional debate over revamping the tax code.
Each week, KHN compiles a selection of recently released health policy studies and briefs.
Media outlets report on news from Illinois, Iowa, California, Oregon, Massachusetts, Colorado, Utah, Texas, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
The program expired in September and, despite bipartisan support, Congress still has not reauthorized it. Several states are expected to shortly max out their remaining funds, causing worry for officials and the families that depend on CHIP.
“I was surprised it was this bad. As someone who has worked on parity for 10-plus years, I thought we would have done better,” said Henry Harbin, former CEO of Magellan Health. In other mental health news, the dwindling of long-term-care facilities and psychiatric beds over the past decade is leading to a public health crisis.
“We’re going to see more such cases, where a new drug offers an outsized survival benefit in a selected population of patients in a smaller, early-stage clinical trial," Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb tells a House panel during a hearing on the 21st Century Cures Act.
Purdue Pharma becomes the first opioid manufacturer to confirm discussions on suits filed by 41 states. Meanwhile, Minnesota county also plans lawsuits. In other news on the toll of the national opioid epidemic: more kids are being placed in foster care in large part due to parental drug abuse, and a Navy admiral wages a new battle after he lost his son to addiction.
“We are trying to do whatever we can to increase competition and give the (health insurance) plans more tools so that they can be better negotiators on our behalf,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services chief Seema Verma tells Reuters. In other CMS news: The agency officially ends two mandatory bundled-payment models and Verma also comments on 1332 waivers.
Negotiating Medicare drug pricing and withdrawing tax deductions for pharmaceutical ads are among the steps the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine's report urges the federal government to take soon.
CVS Health Corp. may pay $200 to $205 per share to acquire Aetna Inc., the Wall Street Journal reports, but the deal isn’t final yet. In other industry news, Express Scripts' CEO says the company isn't shopping for its own insurer deal but is open to the idea, as well as partnering with Amazon.
Alex Azar, President Donald Trump's nominee to succeed Tom Price, spent three years on the board of the Indianapolis Airport Authority. During that time, he defended the behavior of its CEO, who came under fire for spending public money on everything from travel and steak dinners to Super Bowl tickets. Meanwhile, Azar is supportive of experimental Obamacare payment programs that Price ended.
President Donald Trump gives $100,000 — his third-quarter presidential pay — to the Department of Health and Human Services, which will use the money on a public awareness campaign about opioid dangers.
People in one Virginia county that's hard hit by premium hikes and other insurance-market instability are seeking answers and solutions now. Meanwhile, consumer advocates are focusing on some of the new types of insurance products that are emerging as people grapple with the rising costs.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is scrambling to hold 50 votes on the bill, is making promises to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) that the measure will not result in Medicare cuts and that he will advance separate legislation to stabilize the Obamacare insurance markets. But it is not clear how these assurances will play out in the House.
The GOP tax plan includes a range of health-related provisions -- key among them is language that would eliminate the tax penalty created by the Affordable Care Act for not having health insurance. In addition, it threatens to trigger across-the-board cuts to Medicare and other domestic programs. A number of stakeholders and advocacy groups are expressing concerns about the impact of this and other changes that Republican lawmakers are advancing.
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
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