Upon Returning From Recess, Republicans Will Face Ticking Clock To Shore Up Marketplaces
Lawmakers will need to scrounge up 60 votes in 12 days to pass their bipartisan bill. Meanwhile, another plan from Sens. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R., La.) gains traction among Republicans and three former HHS chiefs urge Republicans to stabilize the system.
The Wall Street Journal:
Republicans Face Looming Deadline On Health Law
A fast-approaching deadline for insurers to commit to selling health plans next year under the Affordable Care Act is pressuring Republican lawmakers to decide quickly whether to shore up the law and ease the path for insurers or continue efforts to roll it back. Lawmakers returning to the Capitol from recess on Sept. 5 will have only 12 legislative days to decide whether to pass a bipartisan bill aimed at bolstering the ACA’s markets before insurers must commit to participating in the law’s exchanges in 2018. (Armour and Hackman, 8/20)
The Associated Press:
Past Health Chiefs: Insurance Market Stability Is The Goal
Three former U.S. health secretaries of both parties say President Donald Trump and the GOP-led Congress should make stabilizing health insurance marketplaces their immediate goal. Former Health and Human Services secretaries Kathleen Sebelius, Mike Leavitt and Tommy Thompson tell The Associated Press that calming markets should be the objective now that "Obamacare" seems here for the foreseeable future. (8/21)
Politico:
Obamacare Survives Its Latest Threat — Bare Counties
President Donald Trump contends the health care law is “dead,” but residents of all but one county in America will be able to get an Obamacare health plan next year. Poised for their fifth enrollment cycle this fall, the Obamacare insurance markets are proving more resilient than many anticipated, with insurers jumping in to cover regions other companies fled, undercutting GOP predictions of widespread market collapses. (Demko, 8/20)
Modern Healthcare:
Collins, McCain And Murkowski Are Modern Healthcare's Most Influential People In Healthcare
In the end, three Republican senators—Maine's Susan Collins, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski and Arizona's John McCain—decided their party's bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act would be bad for the states they represent. Resisting tremendous political pressure, the three voted against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's stripped-down ACA repeal bill. In doing so, they dramatically reshaped the epic political battle over the future of the ACA, which has been bitterly fought over by Republicans and Democrats since it was passed by Democrats on a party-line vote in March 2010. (Meyer, 8/19)
Roll Call:
Will 2018 Look Like 2010 For Anti-Repeal Republicans?
When House Republicans passed their measure to repeal and replace the 2010 health care law in May, 20 members of their conference voted against it. While some of them might be able to defend themselves against criticism by saying they voted against a historically unpopular bill, they could find themselves in the same political peril as Democrats who voted against the original health care bill in 2010. (Garcia, 8/21)
In other national health care news —
The New York Times:
Trump Moves To Impede Consumer Lawsuits Against Nursing Homes
The Trump administration is pushing to scrap a rule that would have made it easier for nursing home residents to sue nursing homes for injuries caused by substandard care, abuse or neglect, bringing its campaign to relax federal regulations to the delicate business of care for older Americans. The push would undo a rule issued by the Obama administration that would have prevented nursing homes from requiring that consumers agree to resolve any disputes through arbitration rather than litigation. (Pear, 8/18)
Stat:
Plans For White House Vaccine Commission Appear To Have Stalled
Robert Kennedy Jr., the environmental activist and leading vaccine skeptic, says that it has been months since he has talked with White House officials about chairing a vaccine safety commission — and that the idea of such a panel may no longer be under consideration. ...Kennedy said, however, he has met with a series of top administration officials about vaccine safety since Trump took office, including agency heads at the Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes of Health. He said those meetings took place at the request of the White House. (Branswell, 8/21)
Stat:
Trump Quietly Signs New FDA User Fee Agreement Into Law
President Trump on Friday quietly signed into law a sweeping measure that will help ensure the Food and Drug Administration can continue to oversee drug and device approvals. It’s a victory for the pharmaceutical industry, which, together with the FDA, fought to ensure the package would become law before existing agreements expire at the end of September. The industry will pay more than $1 billion toward the agency’s oversight efforts, per an agreement hammered out with lawmakers and the FDA. Both industry and the agency say the so-called user fees are critical to keeping the lights on at the FDA. (Mershon, 8/18)