Republicans To Focus On Access Instead Of Universal Coverage In Repeal Plans
While many health law advocates are focusing on the millions of people who will be vulnerable to losing coverage if the legislation is dismantled, Republicans say their focus is on making sure people who want insurance can get it -- not making sure everyone has it.
The New York Times:
G.O.P. Plans To Replace Health Care Law With ‘Universal Access’
House Republicans, responding to criticism that repealing the Affordable Care Act would leave millions without health insurance, said on Thursday that their goal in replacing President Obama’s health law was to guarantee “universal access” to health care and coverage, not necessarily to ensure that everyone actually has insurance. (Pear and Kaplan, 12/15)
Politico:
Republicans Could Keep Parts Of Obamacare For Up To Four Years
Congressional Republicans say they will vote on repealing and replacing Obamacare “very quickly” early next year but may keep Obamacare in place for as long as four years. The incoming Trump administration and Republicans on Capitol Hill are sorting out the details of how to best deconstruct the Affordable Care Act. One of the thorniest problems is how long to leave parts of the law intact — to give 20 million Americans time to find other arrangements and health insurance companies the ability to develop and price new plans. (Haberkorn, 12/15)
The Hill:
Repeal Of ObamaCare Mandate Could Be Tipping Point
Immediate repeal of ObamaCare's individual mandate next year could cause chaos in the market and threaten coverage for some of the healthcare law’s enrollees, experts warn. Congressional Republicans have not yet said whether they intend to scrap the mandate right away, but the bill they unsuccessfully pushed last year — and are now using as a blueprint for 2017 — abolished the mandate immediately. (Sullivan, 12/16)
Bloomberg:
Obamacare Repeal Seen As Tax Cut For Top 1%, Raise For Others
If the law were eliminated, as President-elect Donald Trump and members of Congress have pledged to do, the top 1 percent of earners would see an average tax cut of $33,000, while the top 0.1 percent would enjoy an average tax break of $197,000, the Tax Policy Center found. The non-partisan group is a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution. Meanwhile, the lowest-income households, which make less than $25,000, would see their tax bills increase on average by $90 under a full repeal. But that average masks a wide variation -- most low-income households would see no change, researchers found, and 7 percent of them would get an average tax cut of about $1,200. But 4 percent would see a tax increase averaging almost $3,900. (Kapur, 12/15)
The Washington Post:
Health Insurers Get Only 1.6% Of $6 Billion They Are Owed For Costly ACA Customers
Hundreds of insurers selling health plans in Affordable Care Act marketplaces are being paid less than 2 percent of nearly $6 billion the government owes them for covering customers last year with unexpectedly high medical expenses. The $96 million that insurers will get is just one-fourth of the sum that provoked an industry outcry a year ago, when federal health officials announced that they had enough money to pay health plans only 12.6 percent of what the law entitles them to receive. (Goldstein, 12/15)
Stat:
#The27Percent: Patients With Preexisting Conditions Rally Online
Roughly 55 million Americans could lose insurance coverage if Obamacare is repealed, but that’s just a number. Those in jeopardy are making it personal. In a burst of Twitter activism, scores of people have begun sharing details of their health complications online, as well as those of their loved ones, to draw attention to the issue. The hashtag to watch — #the27Percent — reflects the 27 percent of Americans under 65 with preexisting conditions who risk losing health coverage. It was created by Dr. Atul Gawande, the surgeon, author, and executive director of Ariadne Labs, who on Wednesday posted his own testimonial to 178,000 Twitter followers. (Tedeschi, 12/15)
In other national health care news —
The New York Times:
Plan To Reduce Medicare Drug Costs Is Withdrawn After Bipartisan Criticism
The Obama administration said on Thursday that it had scrapped one of its most significant efforts to rein in spending on prescription drugs: a plan for a nationwide experiment in which Medicare would have reduced payments for many drugs given to patients in doctors’ offices and hospital clinics. Federal health officials withdrew the proposal after it was criticized by pharmaceutical companies, doctors, patients and members of Congress from both parties. One of the sharpest critics was Representative Tom Price, Republican of Georgia, the man chosen by President-elect Donald J. Trump to be his secretary of health and human services. (Pear, 12/16)
Los Angeles Times:
Trump's Cabinet Picks Are Among The Most Conservative In History. What That Means For His Campaign Promises
Donald Trump promotes himself as a man divorced from party ideology, a president-elect just as open-minded to input from Al Gore as from Newt Gingrich. But with his Cabinet nearly complete, he has chosen one of the most consistently conservative domestic policy teams in modern history, setting himself up for hard decisions and potential conflict with some of his supporters when he begins to govern. (Bierman and Halper, 12/15)
The New York Times:
20 States Accuse Generic Drug Companies Of Price Fixing
A wide-ranging investigation into generic drug prices took its most significant turn yet on Thursday, as state attorneys general accused two industry leaders, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Mylan, and four smaller companies of engaging in brazen price-fixing schemes — and promised that more charges were coming. A civil complaint filed by 20 states accuses the companies of conspiring to artificially inflate prices on an antibiotic and a diabetes drug, with executives coordinating through informal industry gatherings and personal calls and text messages. (Thomas, 12/15)
The Wall Street Journal:
Big Hospital Operator Retreats From Health-Insurance Foray
One of the nation’s largest hospital operators is retreating from an ambitious plan to run its own insurance company, underscoring the risks faced by health-care providers seeking to compete with health insurers. Catholic Health Initiatives, which has 103 hospitals in 18 states, made an aggressive push into insurance markets roughly three years ago. (Evans, 12/15)
The Wall Street Journal:
The Children Of The Opioid Crisis
Widespread abuse of powerful opioids has pushed U.S. overdose death rates to all-time highs. It has also traumatized tens of thousands of children. The number of youngsters in foster care in many states has soared, overwhelming social workers and courts. Hospitals that once saw few opioid-addicted newborns are now treating dozens a year. And many of the children who remain in the care of addicted parents are growing up in mayhem. They watch their mothers and fathers overdose and die on the bathroom floor. They live without electricity, food or heat when their parents can’t pay the bills. They stop going to school, and learn to steal and forage to meet their basic needs. (Whalen, 12/15)