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Trump administration details proposal to loosen insurance regulations. The Trump administration on Tuesday proposed allowing people to obtain short-term health insurance for as long as 12 months, reversing an Obama administration-era rule that put a shorter time frame on how long these plans can be used. The move overturns a rule implemented in April 2016 that restricted the time people were allowed to be on the plans to three months. Prior to that, people were able to have them for nearly a year. The plans are generally meant to be transitional coverage that people use in circumstances such as being between jobs or taking a semester off school. The short-term plans are less expensive than most of the plans offered on the Obamacare exchanges, particularly when customers do not qualify for federal subsidies that cap the amount they pay in premiums. But they do not offer the same consumer protections under Obamacare that cover a more extensive range of medical care, and do not have to be provided to people with pre-existing illnesses. Insurers could choose to omit coverage for diabetes, cancer treatment or substance abuse treatment, or could charge people more who have some of these conditions. “Americans need more choices in health insurance so they can find coverage that meets their needs,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a statement. “The status quo is failing too many Americans who face skyrocketing costs and fewer and fewer choices. The Trump administration is taking action so individuals and families have access to quality, affordable healthcare that works for them.” The proposal will undergo a 60-day public comment period.

Azar speaks: State flexibility, Obamacare, and abortion. The new HHS secretary held an on the record session with reporters on Tuesday morning, and signalled that he hopes to have a more open and transparent relationship with the press — a break with his predecessor. “My expectation and desire is that we would have a transparent, open relationship and that we would have regular interactions,” he said. He added that he “cannot envision” a scenario in which a reporter might be banned from a press event. This is the first media event that Azar has had with reporters, following a year under former Secretary Tom Price, who did not hold any in-person press conferences.

Some highlights from the conversation with Azar:

HHS is looking at a range of ways to give states flexibility. “I’m a big believer in state experimentation,” Azar said in a meeting with reporters Tuesday morning. The health secretary said he would be looking at a range of ways to allow states’ flexibility on how they implement healthcare programs, whether through changes to the Medicaid program or under at 1332 waiver under Obamacare. He stressed that one of the goals of the Trump administration would be to make sure that people have more affordable options for health insurance coverage. He said he hasn’t decided what will happen with Idaho, which is seeking to overhaul Obamacare in the state by offering plans that don’t comply with the law. “I’m not in a position to rule on something I’ve seen a media report about,” Azar said. “Let’s see where the state of Idaho ends up … I don’t believe in premature comments on complex, weighty topics.”

No endorsement of Obamacare stabilization bills in Congress. “The administration hasn’t announced a statement of administration policy” on the matter, he noted, pointing out that the budget reiterated a commitment to repealing and replacing Obamacare through the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson bill. In looking at different bills intended to stabilize the exchanges, he said, he would be looking at whether they would create sustainable markets with effective risk pools.

Reacts to federal officials prohibiting abortions by illegal immigrants in custody. “Our intention is to try to look out for the health and wellbeing as the mother as well as the unborn child,” Azar said. He said he could not comment on specific cases that are still being litigated.

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Insurers will be ready to go when final rule is implemented. Most insurers already sell short-term plans, so it won’t be difficult to start offering such plans soon after the rule gets finalized. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma said that she hopes to finalize the rule swiftly. Karen Pollitz, senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation, told the Washington Examiner last month that the rule could have a major impact on Obamacare’s exchanges. The reason is healthy people could leave the exchanges to get a cheaper short-term plan that doesn’t have to cover as much as the Obamacare plans. “The short-term rule — depending on what it says and how it is crafted — could have more immediate and dramatic destabilizing effects,” she said, referring to the exchanges.

Administration acknowledges rule likely will raise deficits. The proposed rule is expected to raise the deficit each year by $96 million to $168 million. The reason is that short-term plans likely will increase premiums on Obamacare’s exchanges, leading to bigger subsidies. Larry Levitt, senior vice president at Kaiser, added on Twitter that an expansion of short-term plans will “siphon off healthy people from the ACA-compliant insurance market, raising premiums. But, premium subsidies for lower-income people will increase, helping to stabilize the market.”

Insurance lobby not too pleased with rule. The leading insurance group America’s Health Insurance Plans slammed the proposed rule because of the impact it could have on the individual market, which includes Obamacare’s exchanges and is used by people who don’t have insurance through a job. The group said the rule could “further fragment the individual market, which would lead to higher premiums for many consumers, particularly those with pre-existing conditions.”

Obamacare ally decries short-term plan rule. A pro-Obamacare group is crying out that the new rule would expand junk insurance. “These proposed short-term plans would actually be long-term scams,” said Brad Woodhouse, campaign director for the group Protect Our Care. “The Trump administration wants to let insurance companies sell skimpy plans to unwitting Americans and then leave them holding the bill if they get sick or hurt.”

Work requirements are only the start of Republican proposals to tighten Medicaid. Now that the Obama administration has left, conservatives are turning to the Trump White House to allow them to tighten Medicaid in ways they’ve long wanted, mainly through the submission of waivers. The documents go far beyond the latest work requirements. State requests have included putting lifetime caps on the program, temporarily locking people out of coverage if they fail to renew their membership in a timely way or fail to report changes in income, drug testing recipients, or shifting more people onto private coverage. More states are proposing that certain beneficiaries pay for some of their own medical expenses, which could be a portion of their prescription or a co-pay for a doctor’s visit. And the proposals don’t all come from conservatives. In Louisiana, Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards has embraced the idea of Medicaid work and community involvement requirements. In Massachusetts, a proposal would allow Medicaid to negotiate drug discounts and to exclude coverage for drugs that don’t work as well as others.

Doctors groups call on lawmakers to limit access to firearms. Several doctors groups are calling on Congress and the president to take measures against gun violence that include restricting access to firearms that have “features designed to increase their rapid and extended killing capacity.” The groups’ list of other requests includes labeling gun violence “a national public health epidemic” and including a line item in the omnibus spending bill allowing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research gun violence. “The families of the victims in Parkland and all those whose lives have been impacted by daily acts of gun violence deserve more than our thoughts and prayers,” they wrote of the mass shooting at a Florida high school. “They need action from the highest levels of our government to stop this epidemic of gun violence now.” The American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Physicians, and the American Psychiatric Association all signed on to the requests. Together, the groups represent about 450,000 healthcare workers and medical students.

Trump and first lady visit wounded students in Florida hospital. The president arrived at a Florida hospital Friday evening to visit with wounded students and to thank medical workers after the mass shooting. Earlier in the day, he tweeted about his plans to visit with those impacted by the massacre. Trump was joined by his wife, Melania, in the visit to Broward Health North Hospital. “The job they’ve done is incredible and I want to congratulate you,” the president told trauma surgeon Dr. Igor Nichiporenko, according to a press pool report. He also said it was “sad” that something like the shooting could happen and expressed how impressed he was at the “record-setting” pace by which first responders reacted. “In one case 20 minutes,” he said, adding that it was “an incredible thing.”

Senate HELP to hold hearing on how tech can fight opioid abuse. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee has scheduled a Feb. 27 hearing on how data and technology can combat the opioid epidemic. It is the latest hearing that HELP will hold on the crisis. “Data and technology, such as states’ Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs, show great promise in helping fight this heartbreaking crisis,” said Chairman Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. “I am looking forward to hearing about ways the federal government can help states and local communities take full advantage of the potential that technology has to offer.”

HHS communications leader heads to White House. The top communications official with Health and Human Services is leaving her post to join the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, according to a report in STAT News. Charmaine Yoest would be the latest administration official to head to the drug policy office. The move comes as White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jim Carroll was appointed last week to become the nation’s “drug czar,” STAT said. Carroll is a lawyer that doesn’t have any experience in drug policy. The Trump administration’s budgets have called for cuts to the ONDCP, but Congress has resisted.

Statewide walkout by teachers, public employees planned in West Virginia. Teachers and public employees all throughout West Virginia will stage a walkout Thursday and Friday to protest inaction to solve issues related to pay raises and healthcare costs. Union leaders made the announcement Saturday during a rally at the state Capitol where thousands of people reportedly gathered in the rain. “The entire state of West Virginia will be shut down,” said Dale Lee, president of West Virginia Education Association, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail. “We are standing united — all 55 [counties]. Will you stand with us?” The demonstrators are expressing their frustration with state lawmakers debating a pay raise they say is too small to contend with a projected rise in healthcare costs. They are also seeking full funding of the Public Employees Insurance Agency.

RUNDOWN

Axios When AI will start to disrupt healthcare

Politico Rubio calls for firearm task force, expresses concern over chilling of firearm research

Wall Street Journal House Republicans plan legislative hearings as first step to fight opioid crisis

STAT News Can the popular vaccine FluMist make a comeback in the U.S.?

Kaiser Health News Bad bedside manner: Bank loans signed in the hospital leave patients vulnerable.

Associated Press Stuck in an opioids crisis, officials turn to acupuncture