Amid Political Rhetoric, CBO Clarifies The Extent Medicaid Would Be Slashed By Republican Plan

The New York Times: Projected Drop In Medicaid Spending Heightens Hurdle For G.O.P. Health Bill
Projected Medicaid spending under a Senate Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act would be 35 percent lower after two decades, the Congressional Budget Office said on Thursday in a new report, which detailed how Medicaid changes would cut more deeply as they go fully into force. The budget office analysis created a fresh challenge for Republican leaders as they tried to muster support for their bill, even as senators scattered to their home states for a 10-day July 4 recess. (Pear and Kaplan, 6/29)

Reuters: Senate Republican Bill Would Slash Medicaid By 2036, Complicating Talks
The Congressional Budget Office report, requested by Senate Democrats, provides a longer-term look at how the Republican plan would affect Medicaid spending as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell searches for a formula to win over the conservative and moderate elements of his Republican caucus. (6/29)

The Washington Post: Senate Democrats Shine Light On Health Bill’s Longer-Term Effect On Medicaid
The Better Care Reconciliation Act relies on the time-honored political strategy of pressing a bill’s most profound effects years into the future — in this case, in severely constricting the main source of public health insurance for poor and vulnerable Americans. Until Thursday, that scenario had been cloaked in arcane legislative language about per-capita caps and varying inflation adjustments. What Congress’s nonpartisan budget scorekeepers did, at the prodding of the Senate Finance Committee’s senior Democrat, is make clear that the GOP legislation would squeeze federal Medicaid spending by 35 percent by the end of two decades, compared with current law. (Goldstein, 6/29)

Politico: CBO: Medicaid Spending Falls 35 Percent In 20 Years Under Senate Health Bill
The drop-off stems from stricter limits Republicans want to enact beginning in 2025 to control the entitlement's growth. Under the Senate bill, federal Medicaid outlays would be 26 percent less in 2026 compared to current law. The gap widens to 35 percent in 2036. (Pradhan, 6/29)

Los Angeles Times: Hopes Fade For Friday Revise Of Senate Republican Health Bill With No Quick Fix In Sight
Senate Republicans appeared unlikely to hit a self-imposed Friday deadline for revising their healthcare bill, as negotiators considered scaling back promised tax cuts for the wealthy in order to provide more insurance assistance to the poor. Vice President Mike Pence led a White House push by meeting Thursday with divided Republican senators, but conservatives and centrists have been unable to resolve their differences. “We’re working,” Pence said as he dashed through the halls, followed by reporters shouting questions. (Mascaro, 6/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Republicans Clash Again Over Senate Health-Care Bill
New divisions opened among Senate Republicans on Thursday over their proposed health-care legislation even as they edged closer to hammering out some agreements to shore up support for the bill. The bill’s status appeared shaky as lawmakers left Washington for a week-long break, its fate likely vulnerable to home-state pressures they may face and any deals they can make over the vacation. (Peterson, Rubin and Hughes, 6/29)

Roll Call: GOP Wheeling And Dealing Takes Center Stage In Senate
Deal-making was the name of the game Thursday as Senate Republican leaders met with skeptical lawmakers in an attempt to bridge deep policy divides among the GOP conference on their legislation to overhaul the U.S. health care system. Vice President Mike Pence and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma were also on Capitol Hill, joining in the effort to rework a bill that would tighten the cap on federal funding for Medicaid over several years and alter the 2010 health care law’s subsidies that help individuals afford insurance. (Williams, 6/29)

The Hill: GOP Adds $45 Billion In Opioid Money To Healthcare Bill 
Senate Republicans are adding $45 billion to their ObamaCare replacement bill to fight opioid abuse, according to sources familiar with the discussions. The move was widely expected as an attempt to win over moderate Republicans like Sens. Rob Portman (Ohio) and Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.), who have both made the opioid epidemic a priority. (Sullivan, 6/29)

The Associated Press: GOP May Keep Some Obama Tax Increases To Save Health Bill
Senate Republican leaders considered keeping one of former President Barack Obama's big tax increases on wealthier Americans and using the money to fatten proposed subsidies for the poor in a bid Thursday to placate moderate GOP lawmakers and salvage their struggling health care bill. (6/29)

The Washington Post: Why Republicans Are Thinking Of Keeping An Obamacare Tax On The Rich
The details of which taxes would be scaled back and by how much haven't been officially released, but The Washington Post reported that Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was rewriting the bill to preserve a tax on investment income for families that made more than $250,000 a year or individuals who made more than $200,000. Over a decade, that tax is projected to add up to $172 billion by the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation. (Johnson, 6/29)

The Washington Post: Americans Watch A Health-Care Bill That Could Upend Many Lives Again
Millions of Americans of all ages and needs would be affected if Republicans in Congress succeed in overhauling major parts of the Affordable Care Act. And the latest maneuvering is only intensifying concerns. But with Senate GOP leaders trying to retool parts of their bill — which was pulled back this week after support for a fast vote eroded — it isn’t easy sussing out exactly how an individual might benefit or lose. Would an uninsured home-care worker in Ohio get a tax credit that would make private health coverage affordable? Would the big changes envisioned for Medicaid funding cut out a New Mexico house painter with emphysema? What about the medical services a young West Virginia boy might require for the rest of his life? (Somashekhar, McGinley, Sun and Bernstein, 6/29)

Los Angeles Times: Less Coverage, More Uninsured: Here's What The Latest Republican Healthcare Plan Could Mean For Women
Women’s health advocates have assailed the plans put forward by congressional Republicans to replace the Affordable Care Act, saying they would cause disproportionate harm to half the adult population. “Both bills are nothing short of an all-out attack on women’s health,” said Janel George, director of federal reproductive rights and health at the National Women’s Law Center. (Zavis, 6/29)

The Wall Street Journal: How The Proposed Health-Care Bill Would Affect Your Taxes
There is no question your taxes will change if Republicans pass a new health-care bill. Earlier this week, Senate leaders delayed a vote on the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 until after July 4. The bill seeks to repeal or replace large swaths of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. (Saunders, 6/30)

The New York Times: Trump Nominates Indiana Health Commissioner As Surgeon General
President Trump has nominated Dr. Jerome M. Adams, the health commissioner for Indiana and a strong advocate of needle exchanges to avoid the spread of disease, to be the surgeon general of the United States. Dr. Adams, 42, was first appointed to the Indiana post in October 2014 when Vice President Mike Pence was governor. Shortly after Dr. Adams took office, there was an unusual H.I.V. outbreak in Scott County, a rural Indiana community near the Kentucky border. (Kaplan, 6/29)