Daily on Healthcare: Feud between Trump and McConnell heats up

What may have led to the tweet. It was after McConnell’s comments grabbed headlines that Trump reportedly spoke by phone with McConnell and expressed his disappointment with the Republican leader, the New York Times reported, citing an unnamed person familiar with the call. Trump was described as being animated while on the call and urged McConnell to continue efforts to pass healthcare reform legislation. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed that healthcare was discussed on the call. She couldn’t say how long the call lasted.

Welcome to Philip Klein’s Daily on Healthcare, compiled by Washington Examiner Managing Editor Philip Klein (@philipaklein), Senior Healthcare Writer Kimberly Leonard (@LeonardKL) and Healthcare Reporter Robert King (@rking_19).  Email [email protected] for tips, suggestions, calendar items and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list.

Obamacare rates range from decrease to double-digit hikes amid uncertainty: Study. Rate proposals for insurers that plan to participate in the Obamacare exchanges next year range from a 5 percent reduction in the cost of premiums in Providence, R.I., to an increase of 49 percent in Wilmington, Del., an analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows. The study examined rates for silver plans, which are mid-level plans, filed in 21 major cities, including the District of Columbia. The second-lowest silver premium for an unsubsidized, 40-year-old non-smoker would range from a monthly rate of $244 in Detroit to $631 in Wilmington, Del., based on the initial filings. The rates aren’t final, and insurers in each state submitted rates that aren’t easily comparable from one state to the next, but they offer an initial view of what to expect.

Conservative groups want Obamacare taxes suspended. A coalition of conservative groups urged congressional leaders on Thursday to suspend or repeal Obamacare’s taxes targeting insurers and medical device manufacturers. The health insurance tax, which was suspended this year after Congress learned that unsubsidized premiums were set to increase by double digits, would reduce premiums for exchange enrollees by between 3 and 5 percent. The other tax, a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices set to go into effect in 2018, has long been targeted by lawmakers from both parties for repeal or delay. If it goes into effect in 2018, it would result in 25,000 job losses by 2021 and increase taxes by $30 billion in a decade, according to the conservative American Action Forum think tank. “Ideally, both the health insurance tax and medical device tax should be repealed permanently, as should all $1 trillion of Obamacare taxes,” the group wrote in a letter. “However, given the recent collapse of healthcare reform legislation, lawmakers should act to delay these two taxes so they do not hit taxpayers in 2018.” The letter was signed by a coalition of conservative groups, including Americans for Tax Reform, Center for Individual Freedom and FreedomWorks.  

With repeal of tax on hold, medical device lobby back to drawing board. The medical device lobby was on the cusp of getting rid of the tax on device makers they have fought since Obamacare’s inception. But now that efforts to repeal Obamacare are on hold after a narrow defeat in the Senate last month, Washington’s biggest device lobby is once again gearing up to get the tax repealed. The Advanced Medical Technology Association will launch a series of digital and social media ads across 15 states to remind lawmakers of the need to repeal the medical device tax when Congress gets back next month. The device lobby says it’s time to get a clear policy win on the books. Repealing the tax has bipartisan support as Democrats from states with a heavy biotech presence have called for its repeal. The device industry is hoping that with a Republican in the White House, the excise tax on device makers can finally be eliminated. “We know full repeal can make it across the finish line and become law, so it’s time to do something about that when Congress returns,” said Scott Whitaker, president and CEO of AdvaMed.

Sen. John McCain on cancer treatment: ‘I’m coming back.’ The Arizona Republican said Wednesday that his treatment for brain cancer is going fine and told his colleagues on both sides of the aisle that he will be coming back to work after the August recess. “My treatment is going fine. I’m feeling fine,” McCain said during a Facebook Live event from his office in Phoenix. “This is a rough disease, let’s be very honest about it. That’s straightforward. I’ve always been straightforward. I have to beat it. Fortunately, they found it early, and the treatment is going extremely well. I have another week and a half of this kind of treatment that I’m getting, then they will check it out and see if there’s anything … additional that needs to be done.”

McCain says he believes Congress can still tackle healthcare, but only if lawmakers do so openly and in a bipartisan way. “I still believe we can do that,” he said during the Facebook Live town hall. “I still believe we must do that. One of the reasons Obamacare failed was because it was rammed through the Senate without any Republican consideration. So, what did we do nine years later? … The same thing to the Democrats. That’s not the way the Senate should function.” McCain, who took questions from Facebook users during the town hall, lamented that he saw the bill only hours before the Senate was scheduled to vote on it, and he said that he didn’t believe working out details during conference was the correct approach. “I campaigned on repeal and replace,” he said. “And I also expected to play a role in the Senate with amendments, with debate and all of the aspects of the formulations of legislation which is characteristic of the Senate.” McCain went on to say that he believed every citizen should have access to healthcare and that he believed the U.S. needed to find a way to protect people with pre-existing illnesses.

McCain’s office sounds off on Sen. Ron Johnson comments. The Wisconsin Republican sparked a controversy when he posited on a local radio show that McCain’s brain tumor might have factored into his “no” vote on “skinny” repeal. A spokesman for McCain dismissed the criticism. “It is bizarre and deeply unfortunate that Senator Johnson would question the judgment of a colleague and friend,” a spokesman said in a statement. “Senator McCain has been very open and clear about the reasons for his vote.”

Johnson walked back the comments today. He tried to deflect the criticism of his comments while on CNN this morning, saying that he was actually defending McCain. “I have the greatest respect for John McCain,” Johnson said on CNN’s New Day. “He is not impaired in any way, shape or form.” Johnson said he was not trying to criticize his colleague, but he was “trying to defend his position and express my sympathy for his health condition.” He said he hopes to talk to McCain Thursday.

Newt Gingrich to GOP: Don’t repeat healthcare mistakes with tax reform. The former House speaker doesn’t want Republicans to set an artificial deadline for passing tax reform, pointing to the party’s unsuccessful effort to repeal Obamacare. “I’m frankly equally afraid they are going to mishandle the tax cuts exactly the way they mishandled healthcare,” Gingrich said on Fox News. “If that happens, we’ll be at the end of the year with a disaster.” Gingrich said reforming healthcare could take “three or four or five years or may take 10 or 12 different bills.” The House set an artificial deadline to repeal Obamacare on the anniversary of the law being signed by former President Barack Obama. It failed but eventually passed a bill a few months later.

Whistleblower warns VA plans to close thousands of healthcare applications. A well-known whistleblower in the Department of Veterans Affairs warned Wednesday that the VA appears to be getting ready to close tens of thousands of incomplete healthcare applications, even though it’s been clear for more than a year that the VA was failing to give veterans a chance to complete them. Scott Davis is a public affairs officer for the VA’s Member Services in Atlanta who has testified before Congress about problems within the department. In an open letter to VA Secretary David Shulkin, Davis said the VA is preparing to send out thousands of letters notifying veterans that their incomplete applications are being closed. He told the Washington Examiner that he has seen emails from a federal contractor who asked VA officials to send over proofs for “notification of closed application” letters, which Davis said is a sign the VA is preparing to close out applications that have been held in limbo for more than a year. In his letter to Shulkin, Davis said that’s a problem because the VA has promised to do nothing until a full study is completed on how effective the VA is at guiding veterans through the application process.

VA forced to rehire fired head of Washington VA center. Brian Hawkins, who was the head of the VA Medical Center in Washington, appealed the decision to fire him to the Merit Systems Protection Board. He was fired after it was discovered that he was sending emails about problems at the facility to his wife. The D.C. facility was also being investigated for management problems, and the VA’s move was based on a finding that he was incapable of leading the facility. But Hawkins appealed the decision to the MSPB, which ordered a stay of the VA’s decision. He will now return to work pending an Office of Special Counsel review of Hawkins’ claims. VA Secretary David Shulkin has said several times in public that current law has hamstrung his efforts to shed the department of nonproductive, corrupt or negligent employees. In a statement from the VA, Shulkin said he would at minimum make sure Hawkins is not allowed to work with veterans. “No judge who has never run a hospital and never cared for our nation’s veterans will force me to put an employee back in a position when he allowed the facility to pose potential safety risks to our veterans,” Shulkin said. “Protecting our veterans is my most important responsibility.”

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner: The Senate failed on healthcare. “Since 2010, Republicans have seen the writing on the wall about Obamacare. We knew the dangers it posed to the public. We understood how it would lead to skyrocketing premiums, decrease the quality of care, and leave millions of Americans with fewer, less-desirable healthcare options,” he wrote in an op-ed in the Washington Examiner today. “That’s why for the past seven years, we’ve fought against this disastrous law. We made promises to our constituents that we would repeal and replace Obamacare. We assured them that relief was on the way. That’s why it seems unfathomable that when the moment came to save millions of Americans from the burdens placed upon them by the failures of Obamacare, a small minority of my Republican colleagues caved under outside pressure and broke their promises.” Read more.

RUNDOWN

USA Today Carper cast as governors’ lobbyist in healthcare fight

Axios The different ways your healthcare costs are going up

Washington Post Republicans can’t stop airing their dirty laundry on Obamacare

Kaiser Health News Hospitals slashed use of two heart drugs after major price hike

Wall Street Journal Health navigators wait for decision on their funding

New York Times Programs that fight teenage pregnancy in danger of being cut

The Hill Trump officials confront new Obamacare reality

STAT News Are people really falling ill from touching fentanyl? In most cases, scientists say no

Roll Call Lobbyists push GOP to repeal Obamacare fees in tax reform

Talking Points Memo Trump administration abandons Obamacare signup outreach to Latinos

Calendar

THURSDAY | Aug. 10

11 a.m. S&P Global Ratings webcast on “U.S. Health Insurance: Earnings, Regulations And Credit Trends.” Details.