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THE BIPARTISAN EFFORT TO MAKE PART OF THE TRUMP TAX CUTS PERMANENT TO ADDRESS BIG MEDICAL BILLS: The deadline for Congress to pass its budget and avoid a shutdown is only five days away, and amid talks over drug pricing and surprise billing, there’s another healthcare cost issue that has gotten less attention: The fact that fewer people are set to qualify next year for the medical expense deduction.
As it stands now, about 4.4 million people use the deduction to recoup all kinds of expenses related to their health, whether it be premiums, doctor visits, equipment, or even dental care.
Because of the Republican tax overhaul, for the past two years people have been allowed to deduct their medical expenses if they add up to more than 7.5% of their income, but that threshold is set to expire and jump to 10% during the next tax season unless Congress enacts a change as part of its spending bill due Dec. 20.
Seniors in particular face major medical costs and use the deduction, even though they get coverage from Medicare. According to AARP, 39% of people who took the deduction are over the age of 65. People who have diabetes, cancer, or a disability also are disproportionately hit by high out-of-pocket medical expenses.
Susan Collins, who chairs the aging committee, is among the senators pushing for making the tax break permanent. Back when the bill was being debated, increasing the deduction was one of the ways that Republican leaders were able to get her support.
If Congress reaches an impasse on surprise billing, then making the medical deduction sit permanently at 7.5% could help them demonstrate they are committed to reducing costs for patients.
It’s very possible the Medical Expense Savings Act, which would make the tax break permanent, will be added to the spending bill, but a senior GOP aide told the Washington Examiner that there’s no word yet one way or another. Even though the GOP tax overhaul was partisan, it seems that at least a couple of Democrats think this part of the bill is worth preserving.
Democrats Maria Cantwell of Washington and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona recently joined with Republicans Martha McSally of Arizona and Collins in asking Senate leaders to extend the deduction by passing the bill they all co-sponsored. As the spending bill comes together, we’ve got our eye on this particular measure.
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.
OBAMACARE TAXES GETTING THE AXE IN SPENDING DEAL: Negotiations are still underway, but a senior Democratic congressional aide confirmed that the House spending deal would repeal the Cadillac tax, the health insurance tax, and the medical device tax.
The deal also includes: A prohibition on tobacco sales to anyone under age 21, and passage of the CREATES Act, which goes after a practice brand-name drugmakers use to block generic companies from making cheaper copies.
But there’s another piece Republicans might not like. Democrats want to block potential regulatory actions by the Trump administration that would block people from being able to automatically re-enroll in plans, and that would block insurers from “silver loading,” which charges the government more for premiums to make them cheaper for enrollees. There’s no word whether the Trump administration will be moving forward on those ideas, but they would make health insurance more expensive for people who get subsidies under Obamacare.
HEALTHCARE.GOV FACES PROBLEMS IN ITS LAST DAY: The website typically faces a huge surge of visits because people tend to hold off on signing up, and that left customers facing a slew of technical glitches. Get America Covered, the group run by former Obama administration officials, urged the Trump administration to extend the deadline by two days, but it did come to a close.
As in past years, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said anyone who provided their information by 3 a.m. Monday to a call center or through the website could still get coverage.
Obama tweeted about open enrollment again. Former President Barack Obama released a gif of himself using a zen garden on Twitter and urged people to sign up for plans that can cost as little as $10 a month. The irony is that one of the reasons more plans cost so little was because President Trump ended direct payments for cost-sharing reduction subsidies, a move Democrats widely decried as “sabotage” but that led insurers to stack their plans differently so they can charge the government more and customers less.
NEW BIPARTISAN BILL TELLS VAPING COMPANIES TO CLEAN UP THE MESS THEY MADE: Illinois Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi introduced a bill to fund a nationwide anti-vaping campaign, and he wants vaping manufacturers to pay for it. Krishnamoorthi’s bill, introduced with GOP congressman Peter King, requires vaping companies pay a quarterly fee to the government, as tobacco companies already do, to collect $200 million per year to be directed to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. States would then apply for CDC funding to create their own anti-vaping initiatives.
FEDERAL COURT REAFFIRMS DECISION TO BLOCK MISSISSIPPI ABORTION BAN: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2018 decision to block Mississippi’s 15-week ban on abortions, allowing the state’s sole abortion provider, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, to stay open at least for now.
Friday’s decision is a dress rehearsal for 2020 abortion ban litigation: The court’s decision to strike down the law Friday is the latest in a series of suits arguing against state abortion restrictions, and the wave of suits will continue in 2020. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in March 2020 about a Louisiana abortion restriction in the case June Medical Services v. Gee, the first case SCOTUS will hear on abortion since the confirmations of justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. The law mirrors one in Texas that required abortion providers to have hospital admitting priviliges, which the court invalidated 5-3 in 2016.
REPUBLICANS SAY THEIR DRUG PRICING BILL WILL SAVE LIVES, UNLIKE PELOSI’S: GOP healthcare providers-turned-lawmakers wrote in the Washington Examiner that Nancy Pelosi’s Lower Drug Costs Now Act, which the House passed 230-192 last week, would stifle innovation, while their bill would lower prices without harming the creation of new life-saving drugs. “We need to make sure the next miracle drug sitting in the approval pipeline that could cure childhood cancers, as well as metastatic breast, lung, skin, prostate, or pancreatic cancers, are more quickly available for your loved ones. Lives literally depend on it,” wrote the Republicans, including Buddy Carter of Georgia and John Joyce of Pennsylvania.
The Rundown
NPR Clarifying the vocabulary that’s surrounding the Medicare For All debate
The New York Times Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have a problem: Each other
The Wall Street Journal Research fuels debate over e-cigarettes as smoking-cessation device
USA Today Is marijuana linked to psychosis, schizophrenia? It’s contentious, but doctors, feds say yes
Calendar
MONDAY | Dec. 16
Congress in session.
TUESDAY | Dec. 17
10 a.m. Dirksen 226. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “Tackling the Opioid Crisis: A Whole-of-Government Approach.” Details.
THURSDAY | Dec. 19
8 p.m. Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Sixth Democratic debate, hosted with PBS NewsHour and Politico.
FRIDAY | Dec. 20
Deadline for spending bill.
