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HOSPITALS HEAD TO THE HILL TO PUSH OBAMACARE EXPANSION, FIGHT MEDICARE FOR ALL: Hospital groups in town this week to lobby Congress are focusing on expanding the Affordable Care Act while batting back liberal proposals to extend Medicare to more people.
American Hospital Association President Rick Pollack, speaking at the group’s meeting Monday morning in downtown Washington, took a shot at Democrats who want to expand Medicare to more people — whether by enrolling everyone in a government plan or letting more people have the option of buying into the program.
“More patients on Medicare would strain hospitals even more and threaten their survival,” Pollack said. The Democratic proposals, he said, would threaten innovation and disrupt coverage for the people who receive private health insurance through their jobs.
Pollack proposed an alternative: building off of the Affordable Care Act. He listed priorities such as more funding to insurers in the form of reinsurance so they can keep premiums down, boosting subsidies so they’ll go to more people, and funding more advertising and help for people to enroll in coverage. Pollack criticized “cheaper plans with skimpy benefits,” that the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress support.
“Rather than ‘Medicare for all’ we need to build on the ACA,” Pollack said. “We need a ‘BCA’ or a pathway to Better Care for America.”
That wording is similar to the “Better Deal” slogan that Democrats have used and the “Better Way” slogan from House Republicans.
Despite the rhetorical support for “Medicare for all” from Democratic presidential candidates and high-profile progressives, the actual policymaking in the Democratic-controlled House has been in favor of the healthcare industry.
Much of what Pollack listed in his opening remarks is being addressed in the Democratic package being advanced quickly through the House. The one item missing from the list of hospital industry requests, however, is allowing direct payments to insurers, known as cost-sharing reduction subsidies, to start again. The payments are still flowing, because insurers are charging the federal government more in subsidies to make up the difference, but the Trump administration has proposed banning that arrangement.
Hospitals are powerful opponents to Medicare expansion because they are the largest employer in many districts. Hospitals are rarely targets of Democratic ire when they talk about addressing medical spending, even though they make up the largest share of healthcare costs. When politicians talk about taking on the industry, they tend to point the finger at pharmaceutical companies and insurers, but the hospital industry would be affected by legislation addressing both of these areas.
Good morning and welcome to the Washington Examiner’s Daily on Healthcare! This newsletter is written by senior healthcare reporter Kimberly Leonard (@LeonardKL) and healthcare reporter Cassidy Morrison (@CassMorrison94). You can reach us with tips, calendar items, or suggestions at [email protected]. If someone forwarded you this email and you’d like to receive it regularly, you can subscribe here.
PMBS PREPARE TO FACE CONGRESS OVER DRUG PRICES: Pharmacy Benefit Managers, the middlemen that negotiate drug prices, will face lawmakers in two separate hearings this week to push back on the narrative from the pharmaceutical industry that they are responsible for high drug prices and for not passing discounts onto patients. First, executives from top companies CVS Health, OptumRx, and Express Scripts will face the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, and on Wednesday they will address questions about the high cost of insulin before the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.
Comments are due Monday on PBM rule: Public comments must be submitted by Monday regarding the proposal that the Trump administration put forward to force PBMs to pass on drug savings to patients who are covered by Medicare and Medicaid managed care. PBMs have warned that the arrangement would cause premiums to increase.
MULVANEY SAYS HEALTHCARE PLAN COMING SOON: White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told “Fox News Sunday” that the Trump administration would have a healthcare plan ready before the presidential election, saying, “We want to run on this.”
The White House met this weekend with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “We talked about the individual marketplace, we talked about protecting Medicare, we talked about getting drug prices down, and I do think you’ll see a plan here fairly shortly,” Mulvaney said.
CONSERVATIVE DRUG CZAR DURING THE CRACK EPIDEMIC SAYS BIDEN TOLD HIM: ‘YOU’RE NOT BEING TOUGH ENOUGH’: William Bennett, a GOP designer of the war on drugs and the first U.S. drug czar, was a strong supporter of funding for law enforcement in the 1980s as the crack-cocaine epidemic raged on — and says that he wasn’t tough enough on drugs for Joe Biden. In 1988, he proposed an $8 billion national drug control strategy to tackle the problem through a combination of stricter policing, anti-drug education, and rehabilitation programs for drug users. But Senate Democrats, led by Biden as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, requested an additional $1 billion for the budget. Bennett said Biden wanted more money for law enforcement measures, including local police departments, criminal prosecutions, and prisons.
VERMONT SENATE APPROVES ABORTION-RIGHTS CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: The state Senate moved Proposal 5, a measure to write abortion-rights protections into the state constitution, to the House for consideration Thursday. The bill is a reaction to the prospect of changes to Roe v. Wade at the federal level, as well as proposed measures to ban abortions at six weeks in other states including Georgia and Ohio.
JORDAN AND MEADOWS WARN DRUG COMPANIES THAT CUMMINGS IS AFTER THEM: Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio and Mark Meadows, R-N.C., warned pharmaceutical companies that Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., was coming after them in a partisan investigation. Meadows and Jordan sent 12 letters on Friday to pharmaceutical companies, alerting each to what they said was Cummings’ plans to “unilaterally release sensitive information” found by the Committee on Oversight and Reform about these companies.
CMS FINALIZES PLANS TO BRING TELEHEALTH TO MEDICARE ADVANTAGE: CMS finalized policies Friday to expand telehealth care for Medicare Advantage plans. Starting in plan year 2020, the plans would offer patients the option to receive healthcare services from places like their homes, rather than requiring them to go to a healthcare facility.
NY JUDGE SAYS ROCKLAND COUNTY WILL NOT BAN UNVACCINATED CHILDREN FROM PUBLIC PLACES: A New York state judge has blocked Rockland County’s controversial ban barring unvaccinated children from being in public spaces and schools. The ban was an effort to address an outbreak of 167 confirmed cases of measles, as of Friday.
NANCY PELOSI TO RECEIVE KENNEDY PROFILE IN COURAGE AWARD FOR OBAMACARE: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., will receive the 2019 Profile in Courage award for her role in legislating Obamacare, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation announced Sunday. The award will be presented to Pelosi by JFK‘s daughter Caroline Kennedy, a former U.S. ambassador to Japan, and her son, Jack Schlossberg.
MEXICAN NATIONAL DEAD WHILE IN ICE CUSTODY: A Mexican national, Abel Reyes-Clemente, 54, died Wednesday morning in ICE custody. Medical staff said that Reyes-Clemente exhibited signs of influenza earlier in the week. ICE officials are still waiting for final results of an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Reyes-Clemente is the fourth person who has died in ICE custody since October, according to the statement.
The Rundown
The Wall Street Journal Amazon Wants You to Use Alexa to Track Health Care
The New York Times Hunger and an ‘abandoned’ hospital: Puerto Rico waits as Washington bickers
The Colorado Sun Colorado’s proposed first-in-the-nation health insurance program just got a big rewrite. Here’s what changed.
Politico California tests if addiction treatment can be incorporated into primary care
Macon Telegraph Uninsured patients can get free healthcare at this Warner Robins clinic
Calendar
MONDAY | April 8
April 7-9. Marriott Marquis. American Hospital Association annual meeting. Agenda.
TUESDAY | April 9
9:30 a.m. 1225 I St. NW. Bipartisan Policy Center event on “Comparative Effectiveness Research: Recent Findings and Future Investments.” Details.
10 a.m. 226 Dirksen. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “Abortion Until Birth: The Need to Pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.” Details.
10 a.m. Rayburn 2008. House Appropriation Committee’s Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing on the Indian Health Services budget.
10:15 a.m. 215 Dirksen. Senate Finance Committee hearing with pharmacy benefit managers. Details.
WEDNESDAY | April 10
8 a.m. AJAX. Axios event on “The Wellness Paradigm.” Details.
10:30 a.m. 2322 Rayburn. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing on “Priced Out of a Lifesaving Drug: Getting Answers on the Rising Cost of Insulin.” Details.
