Subscribe today to the Washington Examiner magazine and get Washington Briefing: politics and policy stories that will keep you up to date with what’s going on in Washington. SUBSCRIBE NOW: Just $1.00 an issue!
MINIMUM WAGE BILL WOULD UNDO WAIVERS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES: Tucked inside the $15 minimum wage bill receiving a House vote Thursday is a gradual phasing out of a waiver that allows people with disabilities to be paid less than the minimum wage.
The Raise the Wage Act is well known for its provision to hike the wage floor to $15 an hour by 2026, but a lesser-known provision would phase out the sub-minimum wage for with disabilities.
Since the 1930s, employers have been able to ask the government for permission to pay people with disabilities less than the minimum wage as a way to get them into the workforce so they can build their skills and obtain more competitive work later. Oftentimes that transition doesn’t happen, however, resulting in wages that amount to only cents per hour.
Opponents view the exemption as archaic and say it’s time to phase it out, while proponents of the status quo fear that people with disabilities will lose work opportunities if that happens. In Illinois, for example, the president and CEO of Land of Lincoln Goodwill told workers with disabilities this week that they would no longer be getting paychecks because the state was moving toward a $15 minimum wage.
Through the waiver, employers are allowed to compensate workers based on their productivity level. For instance, if a worker without a disability is paid minimum wage to hang up 100 articles of clothing an hour, then someone with a disability who hangs up 50 articles of clothing an hour would be paid half the minimum wage.
An estimated 195,000 people are paid less than the minimum wage, and 2,000 employers use the subminimum wage waiver, called Section 14(c), that they obtain through the Department of Labor.
The Raise the Wage Act would set the subminimum wage at $4.25 within the first year of the bill becoming law, and then gradually increasing it every year for the next six years until it hits $15 an hour.
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.
ARBITRATION ADDED TO HOUSE SURPRISE BILLING LEGISLATION: The House Energy and Commerce Committee amended its surprise billing legislation to include a provision that would let insurers or healthcare providers contest a charge if either side has an issue with the benchmark payment rate. The move was celebrated by medical providers and slammed by health insurers, and sets up a debate with the upper chamber, which does not include the arbitration provision but could still include it when it hits the floor. Here are the other bills that advanced out of committee.
MEDICAID CAPS WOULD LIMIT FUNDING FOR CHILDREN’S HEALTH: AVALERE: Funding for children’s health stands to lose between $89 billion and $163 billion nationally from 2020 to 2029 if states are allowed to administer Medicaid as a block grant, according to a study published Wednesday by Avalere. Block grants give states a set amount of funding, rather than a matching rate, in exchange for flexibility over how they can use the funds. President Trump’s budget request would convert Medicaid to a block grant. Tennessee passed a law in May that directs the state’s health agency to apply for a waiver that would allow them to receive Medicaid as a block grant.
IN RARE DISPLAY OF BIPARTISAN UNITY, HOUSE VOTES TO REPEAL OBAMACARE TAX: House Democrats joined Republicans Wednesday in a 419-6 vote to repeal the controversial Obamacare “Cadillac tax,” a 40% excise tax on employer healthcare plans deemed too generous.
Repealing the tax, which would take effect in 2022, would cost the federal government $193 billion over a decade, according to Congressional Budget Office projections.
HARRIS SAYS ‘NO’ TO MIDDLE CLASS TAX HIKE FOR SINGLE PAYER, BREAKING WITH SANDERS: Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said Wednesday that she would not raise middle-class taxes to pay for a ‘Medicare for all’ healthcare system, a major point of differentiation between her and rival Bernie Sanders, who has bit the bullet of calling for middle-class tax hikes.
Harris said on CNN Tuesday: “I’m supporting [Sanders’] bill… I mean, I’m not in support of middle-class families paying more taxes for it.”
Instead, Harris said, the healthcare plan should be funded by “making Wall Street paying more” and “looking at what we tax in terms of financial services.”
Sanders says single-payer would increase middle-class taxes: Sanders’ Medicare for All proposal, which Harris supports, entails middle-class tax hikes. Sanders acknowledged Wednesday that, while the single-payer proposal would lower healthcare costs overall, Americans within every tax bracket would have to pay higher taxes.
Sanders ran in 2016 on raising middle-class taxes to pay for government-financed healthcare, among other new programs, demonstrating that a candidate with such a position can vie for the Democratic nomination.
Current Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden, though, is betting that a middle-class tax hike proposal is still a loser, both in the Democratic primary and in general. He’s criticized ‘Medicare for all’ on the grounds that it would raise taxes on the non-rich.
RAND PAUL THWARTS PROGRESS OF 9/11 COMPENSATION FUND IN THE SENATE: Kentucky Republican Rand Paul objected to the passage of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund Wednesday, saying further debate is necessary because the nation’s debt is already high at $22 trillion. The bill would add about $10 billion to the fund over 10 years. Paul said, “any new program that’s going to have the longevity of 70-80 years should be off-set by cutting spending that’s less valuable.” New York Democrats Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand said Paul and his colleagues were playing “political games” with the fund.
GAO SAYS VA ISN’T DOING ENOUGH TO TRACK TREATMENTS FOR MENTAL ILLNESS: A new Government Accountability Office report on Veterans Affairs efforts to treat mental illness said that while different psychiatric medicines and therapies are used to treat PTSD and major depression, few Veterans Health Administration officials do enough to monitor different treatments that could be better for individual patients. The GAO also said the agency has not created a sufficient, streamlined way for providers to keep records of patients’ therapies or medicine regimens.
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION DECLARES EBOLA IN THE CONGO A PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY OF INTERNATIONAL CONCERN: Director-General of the World Health Organization Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared Wednesday that the Ebola virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is now a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The WHO held its fourth meeting about the outbreak since the disease began to spread in August 2018. The organization is encouraging foreign funding to treat people and supply treatment centers with medical goods. Robert Steffen, chair of the Emergency Committee, said: “It is also crucial that states do not use the [health emergency declaration] as an excuse to impose trade or travel restrictions, which would have a negative impact on the response and on the lives and livelihoods of people in the region.” The outbreak in the DRC has killed over 1,600 people.
OVERDOSE DEATHS HAVE DECLINED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN DECADES: Drug overdose deaths declined in 2018 by 5.1%, the first decline since 1990. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Wednesday that the “latest provisional data on overdose deaths show that America’s united efforts to curb opioid use disorder and addiction are working.” The steepest declines occurred primarily in areas that have been hit hardest by the opioid crisis, such as Ohio, Kentucky, South Dakota, and Alaska.
The Rundown
ABC News Bernie Sanders accepted pharma executives’ donations prior to new pledge
The Wall Street Journal Trump administration moves to shift patients’ chronic illness costs to insurers
Kaiser Health News ‘Climate grief’: fears about the planet’s future weigh on Americans’ mental health
The New York Times Arthritis is tied to heart disease risk
Los Angeles Times Rising health insurance deductibles fuel middle-class anger and resentment
Calendar
THURSDAY | July 18
Congress in session.
2 p.m. 2253 Rayburn. AIDS Institute congressional briefing on “Viral Hepatitis Elimination in the U.S.” RSVP.
3:30 p.m. 1225 I St NW. Bipartisan Policy Center event on “The Sandwich Generation’s Financial Strain: How Caregivers Balance Family and Finances.” Details.
4 p.m. CVC 209-08. Chamber of Commerce event on “Tomorrow’s Cures: Impacts of the International Pricing Index.”
FRIDAY | July 19
8 a.m. 2101 Constitution Ave. NW. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will host a workshop on “Preparedness for 21st Century Health Threats.” Details.
MONDAY | July 22
July 22-23. Better Medicare Alliance Medicare Advantage Summit. Details.
TUESDAY | July 23
Noon. Longworth 1310. American Action Forum on “Arbitration and Drug Pricing.” Details.
THURSDAY | July 25
8 a.m. 1777 F St. NW. The Hill event on “Policy Prescriptions: Lowering Drug Prices.” Details.
