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Surgeon general wary of turning to marijuana as alternative to opioids. Surgeon General Jerome Adams said Thursday he was skeptical of medicinal marijuana as an alternative for pain. Adams said at the Washington Examiner’s “Examining Opioids” event in Washington that the Food and Drug Administration needs to conduct further studies on the use of marijuana, which remains illegal under federal law. “We know that exposing the developing brain to marijuana can prime the brain to addiction and have potential negative consequences including promoting cancer,” Adams said. He added that as surgeon general, his name is on the side of every cigarette box warning smokers of the dangers of cigarettes. “It would be incredibly disingenuous of me to say that you shouldn’t smoke a cigarette but it is fine to go out and smoke a joint,” Adams said. “I think it is important that we do look at the studies, but I also think it is important that we not jump on something that may have more potential consequences down the road.”

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Key House Republican touts pre-existing condition coverage after DOJ’s attack on Obamacare. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., said Thursday he supports efforts to cover those with pre-existing conditions, an issue that has taken on renewed significance in the wake of President Trump’s Justice Department backing of a lawsuit that would strike down those protections. The lawsuit argued that since Obamacare’s individual mandate will be repealed starting in 2019, other elements of the law should also go away. Those include protections that require insurers to not charge sicker people more money or deny someone coverage based on a pre-existing condition. Walden, speaking at the Washington Examiner’s “Examining Opioids” event, didn’t take a position on the lawsuit. But he made it clear he supports coverage of pre-existing conditions. “I don’t want to go back to the days when you can be denied insurance based on a pre-existing condition,” Walden said. “I will make sure that people with pre-existing conditions can continue to get access to health insurance.”

Walden wants Senate to take up raft of opioid bills by August. Walden has an optimistic timeline for when the Senate could act on a collection of more than 60 bills combating the opioid crisis. He said at the “Examining Opioids” event that he hopes the Senate takes on the legislation by August, but admits “that is a bit of a stretch.” The Senate is working on its own series of bills to combat opioids. It is not clear which House bills could win enough support to pass the Senate.

House tees up more opioid bills. The House is plugging away at moving more than 60 bills battling opioid abuse over the next week and a half. The House advanced two bills on Wednesday aimed at improving treatment of neonatal abstinence syndrome. The House will hold votes today and tomorrow on two bills aimed at curbing shipments of illicit opioids such as fentanyl. A group of bipartisan committee leaders introduced a legislative vehicle yesterday evening aimed at moving all of the opioid bills together to the Senate, which is pursuing its own push on opioid legislation. Republicans are promoting the two-week barrage of bills as a way to combat the crisis, hoping for taking on a major healthcare issue ahead of the 2018 midterms.

Doctor groups urge court to reject Obamacare lawsuit. The American Medical Association spearheaded a court filing Thursday seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit that would gut Obamacare. The AMA and four other doctor and medical groups said the lawsuit threatens care for millions of patients. The lawsuit led by Texas and several other states would gut protections for people with pre-existing conditions. “An unfavorable decision in this case would create further disruption, generate uncertainty, spark additional premium increases and cause declines in coverage,” AMA President Barbara McAneny said. “We urge the court to reject this case because health policy should be developed in Congress and not in the courts.”

Portman not a fan of state marijuana bill. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said he would oppose a bipartisan bill that gives states greater power to set their own marijuana policy. He said his own state has a medicinal marijuana law with heavily regulation. But he shied away from further action on the federal level. “I don’t think we as a country ought to say we are condoning the use of these substances by taking away the illegal status and making them legal,” he said. Portman added that he would likely oppose the bipartisan bill from Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “I will probably vote against it, but I want to have a chance to look at it closer,” Portman said. It is illegal under federal law to possess marijuana, but a handful of states have legalized recreational use and more than 40 states have approved its use for medicinal purposes.

State spending on Medicaid expected to slow in short term. Growth in state spending on the Medicaid program is expected to fall significantly in the short term, according to a new report by state budget officers. The findings, published Thursday in a report from the National Association of State Budget Officers, or NASBO, show that state Medicaid spending is expected to carry a median growth rate of 4.5 percent in fiscal 2018, and then growth is projected to slow significantly in fiscal 2019, to a median growth rate of 1.5 percent. The organization uses governors’ budgets in making its assessments.  In the long term, however, healthcare costs are expected to grow faster than revenue, which would put a strain on state budgets. Medicaid is the second-largest expenditure in most states, and in future years, the program is expected to grow closer to historic levels of 5.5 percent, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Frank Pallone: GOP push of opioid bills ‘total hypocrisy.’ Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey on Wednesday blasted Republicans’ pursuit of bills fighting opioid abuse as hypocritical because of the Trump administration’s decision to abandon Obamacare’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Pallone, the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, spoke about the opioid legislation during a press conference of top Democrats criticizing the Department of Justice’s decision last week to not defend the law’s pre-existing condition protections in a lawsuit. His comments come a day after the House passed 25 opioid bills. “Whatever you do with opioids … is going to be meaningless if you have more and more people who have substance abuse problems who can’t get insurance,” Pallone said.

Four healthcare bills set for a vote in key panel. Bills to address maternal mortality, opioid overdose deaths, sports medicine licensing, and preterm births will receive a vote Wednesday in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the HELP Committee, said the legislation on premature births accounts for additional help pregnant women will need during the opioid crisis, which has led to babies being born with neonatal abstinence syndrome.

HELP Committee says it will explore lowering healthcare costs. The committee will hold a series of hearings to explore how to reduce healthcare costs, Alexander announced Thursday. The first hearing is scheduled for June 27 and will focus on understanding healthcare spending, including who is doing the spending, what the funds are being spent on and when in a person’s life is spending the highest. “The United States has the most innovative healthcare system in the world, but it is also the most complex, and too often Americans struggle to understand the system and plan for and afford their health care,” Alexander said. “These hearings will explore why Americans spend so much on health care and how to reduce those costs.”

Trump considered Democratic senator as possible candidate to lead the VA: Report. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., was a possible candidate for becoming the next Veteran Affairs secretary this spring after physician Ronny Jackson withdrew his name from consideration, according to a new report. Senior White House officials say they discussed the position to asses Manchin’s interest in the position to potentially open his seat for a GOP win in the red state during the 2018 midterms, the Washington Post reports. Manchin, who is up for re-election, says that he interpreted that the talks with the White House as being focused on “finding the right person who could fill [the position] with the right qualifications,” and were not about him specifically. White House staffers, on the other hand, said the topic of Manchin leading the agency was broached in office conversations, and that they were under the impression he was open to the idea. Manchin backed out once a poll was released indicating he had a good chance of being re-elected and had been told that leading the agency was challenging.

RUNDOWN

Politico Birth control and beer kegs: How Trump’s tariffs will hit Middle America

The Hill Democrats seek to leverage Obamacare fight for midterms

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NPR Errors trigger retraction of study on Mediterranean Diet’s heart benefits

Los Angeles Times Nonprofit hospitals are being less charitable. They say that shows Obamacare is working

Des Moines Register Iowa Medicaid director: Privatization is saving money but it is hard to say how much