After Capitalizing On Antipathy Against Health Law, E&C Chairman Now Focusing On ‘Repair And Rebuild’
Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., has taken over the Energy and Commerce Committee, a role in which he'll be required to steer Republicans' efforts to replace the health law. Meanwhile, incoming Vice President Mike Pence says Donald Trump is getting "very close" to a health care plan, and Republicans look to avoid any YouTube moments that could undermine their messaging for replacement.
Politico:
Obamacare Attack Dog To Lead GOP Effort To Replace It
Rep. Greg Walden spent four years capitalizing on Americans’ unease with Obamacare to usher in the largest House Republican majority in 90 years. Now, he has to help figure out how to replace it. (Cheney and Bade, 1/18)
CNN:
Mike Pence: Trump 'Getting Very Close' To Obamacare Replacement
Vice President-elect Mike Pence said Wednesday that Republicans do not yet have a bill to replace Obamacare, but that he has "seen a lot of great ideas" and that transition officials and GOP leaders are "getting very close" to having a replacement. "It's being crafted right now," Pence said Wednesday in an interview with CNN's Dana Bash, when asked about a replacement to the President's signature health care law. "We're getting very close. We expect to have that plan come forward in the early days of the administration." Pence's comments came after Trump said in an interview Saturday with The Washington Post that his health care replacement plan "is very much formulated down to the final strokes." (Diamond, 1/18)
The Washington Post:
Republicans Look To Avoid YouTube Moments In Fight Over Obamacare Repeal
Seven years after unruly Democratic town halls helped stoke public outrage over the Affordable Care Act, Republicans now appear keen to avoid the kind of dustups capable of racking up millions of views on YouTube and ending up in a 2018 campaign commercial. One week after the Republican Congress kicked off the process of repealing the landmark health-care legislation, only a handful of GOP lawmakers have held or are currently planning to host in-person town hall meetings open to all comers — the sort of large-scale events that helped feed the original Obamacare backlash in the summer of 2009. (DeBonis, 1/19)
The Associated Press:
AP-NORC Poll: Americans Of All Stripes Say Fix Health Care
Sylvia Douglas twice voted for President Barack Obama and last year cast a ballot for Democrat Hillary Clinton. But when it comes to "Obamacare," she now sounds like President-elect Donald Trump. This makes her chuckle amid the serious choices she faces every month between groceries, electricity and paying a health insurance bill that has jumped by nearly $400. "It's a universal thing, nobody likes it," Douglas, a licensed practical nurse in Huntsville, Alabama, said of Obama's signature law. (Kellman and Swanson, 1/18)
And in other health care news, a partnership aims to get control of epidemics before they spiral out of control —
The New York Times:
Donors And Drug Makers Offer $500 Million To Control Global Epidemics
Stung by the lack of vaccines to fight the West African Ebola epidemic, a group of prominent donors announced Wednesday that they had raised almost $500 million for a new partnership to stop epidemics before they spiral out of control. (McNeil, 1/18)