Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
The Billion-Dollar Question Splitting The GOP: Should Americans Retain Subsidies For Health Care?
Los Angeles Times: Republicans Divided Over Whether Millions Of Americans Should Lose Government-Subsidized Health Coverage
As Republicans scramble for a strategy to repeal and replace the healthcare law, they are reckoning with a fundamental question the party has never settled: whether to foot the multi-trillion-dollar bill to ensure millions of Americans retain the coverage they obtained under Obamacare. GOP lawmakers for years ducked that issue as they unified behind cries to roll back the program, but were assured President Obama would block them. Now, the power to actually repeal and replace the law is exposing deep divisions in the party. (Levey, 1/26)
The Hill: Senators' ObamaCare Replacement Bills Highlight GOP Divide
A GOP bill introduced by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) seeks the middle ground to replace ObamaCare — but invited harsh opposition from both sides. Despite a plea for bipartisanship, Democrats have blasted the legislation. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) this week introduced the only other Senate proposal with legislative language — simply called The Obamacare Replacement Act (S. 222) — after calling the Cassidy plan not conservative enough. Cassidy's Patient Freedom Act (S. 191) has been praised by some influential senators like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) as a common sense alternative to ObamaCare, and has been gaining momentum with moderate Senate Republicans. (Weixel, 1/26)
Bloomberg: The GOP Grapples With Creating A Better Obamacare
At the heart of the problem is figuring out how to undo the intricate framework of mandates and taxes that form the basis of the Affordable Care Act. If you require insurance companies to cover someone, regardless of preexisting conditions, premiums would skyrocket. To keep premiums at reasonable levels, you have to insist that everyone buy insurance—even healthy people who think they don’t need it. To make sure low-income people can pay the premiums, you have to offer them subsidies. To fund it all without increasing the budget deficit, you need taxes. (Tracer, Edney and Litvan, 1/26)
In other repeal and replace news, congressional hearings will begin ramping up next week, menu labeling seems safe from efforts to dismantle the law, exchange leaders talk about their future strategies and more —
Morning Consult: Obamacare Hearings Set to Ramp Up Next Week
A Senate panel will hold their first hearing this year tied to Obamacare, as Republicans speed up efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing next Wednesday on “options for stabilizing the individual insurance market to rescue the 11 million Americans currently trapped in a collapsing health care market.” (McIntire, 1/25)
The Hill: GOP Chairman To Introduce Pre-Existing Conditions Bill
The Republican chairman of a key healthcare committee will introduce a bill next week aimed at protecting people with pre-existing conditions in the event that ObamaCare is repealed...The bill is a sign that some Republicans are trying to protect one of the most popular aspects of ObamaCare, even as they move forward with plans to repeal the law. How to deal with the pre-existing condition protections while repealing ObamaCare is a thorny issue for the GOP. (Sullivan, 1/26)
Modern Healthcare: Trump's Healthcare Promise Too Sunny For Reality
President Donald Trump made a great sounding promise for future healthcare policy in his first television interview since taking office, but policy experts on all sides of the political spectrum said it's not really possible—or at least more complicated. In interview Wednesday with ABC's David Muir, Trump said the Affordable Care Act has been a disaster and his administration will “come up with a new plan that's going to be better healthcare for more people at a lesser cost.” (Muchmore, 1/26)
Politico Pro: Menu Labeling Expected To Survive Obamacare Repeal
A sweeping requirement to post calorie counts on restaurant menus and vending machines looks likely to survive Congress’ effort to repeal Obamacare. After more than six years of fighting over the little-known mandate, which was buried in the more than 2,000-page Affordable Care Act, the FDA rule that will require calorie labeling at all restaurants with 20 or more locations is set to finally kick in May 5. A rule that requires calorie counts on vending machines took effect Dec 1. (Bottemiller Evich, 1/27)
Kaiser Health News: Repeal Ripples: Five Obamacare Exchange Chiefs Contemplate An Uncertain Future
As the ACA’s third open enrollment draws to a close at the end of the month, five exchange leaders – who all report a brisk business despite the political peril — discuss their strategies to stay in business beyond 2017. (1/27)
The Baltimore Sun: Hogan Pressed To Take Obamacare Case To Trump
A leading General Assembly Democrat pressured Republican Gov. Larry Hogan Thursday to forcefully defend parts of the federal Affordable Care Act that insure many Marylanders. Del. Kirill Reznik, who chairs the House of Delegates subcommittee on health, urged Hogan to weigh in directly with Republican President Donald J. Trump and emphasize the state's interest in preserving large parts of the law known as Obamacare. (Dresser, 1/26)
Morning Consult: Heritage VP: Obamacare Repeal Efforts Going In ‘Wrong Direction’
The Heritage Foundation, an influential conservative think-tank, is pushing Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act as quickly as possible without waiting for a replacement. The GOP’s self-imposed Jan. 27 deadline for legislation to repeal Obamacare is slipping by and plans for repeal are “murkier than ever” and headed in the “wrong direction” wrote James Wallner, the Heritage Foundation’s vice president for research, in the Daily Signal. (McIntire, 1/26)
