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New Jersey passes bill to reimpose individual mandate. New Jersey’s state legislature has sent a bill to the governor to reimpose the individual mandate, one of a handful of states pursuing such a measure. The state’s assembly and senate approved on Thursday a bill to require nearly all state residents to get insurance or pay a penalty. The legislature also approved a bill to create a reinsurance plan in which a state covers the highest claim from an Obamacare insurer, creating an incentive for the insurer to lower premiums. New Jersey is among a handful of states that are looking at creating their own individual mandate after Obamacare’s mandate was repealed in the tax law starting in 2019. Insurers and critics have charged that without the mandate, younger and healthier people will lose an incentive to sign up for Obamacare on the exchanges. That will cause the risk pool for the exchanges to deteriorate as younger and healthier people are needed to help offset the costs for sicker people. New Jersey’s bill would re-impose the same mandate penalties that had existed at the federal level before they were repealed — $695 fine or 2.5 percent of household income, whichever is greater — for any individual who doesn’t have insurance or doesn’t qualify for any exemptions.

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House panel plans to grill opioid distributors. A House panel will question major drug distributors about pill dumping in West Virginia. The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s oversight subcommittee said Thursday it would bring in the drug distributors for a hearing May 8. The hearing follows a committee investigation into how large amounts of powerful painkillers ended up in small communities. The witnesses include officials from major drug distributors McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health, H.D. Smith Wholesale Drug Co., AmerisourceBergen and Miami-Luken Inc. The committee’s investigation into pill dumping started in May, based on media reports of an unusually large amount of opioids in West Virginia. West Virginia is one of the states hit hardest by the opioid epidemic. In 2016, 52 of every 100,000 people were killed by a drug overdose, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Democrats press GOP on Medicaid cuts during hearing. House Democrats pilloried Republican proposals to cut Medicaid Thursday, charging that cuts to the program will exacerbate the crisis. The attacks occurred during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing to consider more than 30 bills to combat the opioid epidemic, the third in a series of hearings. The bills considered in the two-day hearing, which started Wednesday, focus on changes to Medicare and Medicaid. Democrats charged that the bills wouldn’t do much good if Republicans succeed in cutting Medicaid. Several Democrats pointed to the Trump administration’s fiscal 2019 budget proposal that cuts Medicaid by $1.4 trillion. “Any effort to cut the funding will severely jeopardize these services,” said Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif.

Army chief says transgender service is ‘not a civil rights issue.’ The legal fight over transgender troops and a proposed Pentagon policy barring many from service is not an issue of civil rights, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said Thursday. Milley told a Senate committee that soldiers voluntarily give up some civil rights when they enlist and that instead the transgender debate should be focused on standards that make the Army more effective. “It is important that this 1 percent who wear this uniform and the clothe of our country, we’re giving up certain civil rights so the other 99 percent can retain their civil rights. We know that, we do it willingly and volunteer to do it,” he said during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. “So, this is not an issue, with respect to transgenders, this is not an issue in my view, this is not a civil rights issue.” Milley and Army Secretary Mark Esper also testified that they had no indication that transgender soldiers who are in the service are causing any disruption.

Lawmakers want Trump administration to preserve part of Accountable Care Organizations costing feds money. A group of bipartisan lawmakers want the Trump administration to continue a program that seeks to cut healthcare costs but is actually costing the government money. The lawmakers sent a letter to the Trump administration on accountable care organizations, which are groups of physicians, hospitals and other providers. ACOs were created by Obamacare to entice healthcare providers to cut healthcare costs. An ACO that cut its Medicare costs under a certain threshold can get a cut of the savings, providing a financial incentive. However, an ACO could have to pay Medicare if it doesn’t meet savings targets. But the ACOs are actually costing the federal government money. An analysis from Avalere Health found that the program increased spending by $384 million from 2013 to 2016. The reason is how the program is structured. There are three tracks that an ACO can join. In the first track, an ACO gets a cut of the savings from Medicare costs but it doesn’t have to pay Medicare anything if it doesn’t reach those savings targets. ACOs in the second and third track do have to pay Medicare if they miss the mark, but get a greater share of the savings than in track 1. Most ACOs choose track 1, leaving not enough organizations paying the federal government if they miss the savings targets. Lawmakers wrote to the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services asking that ACOs that are in track 1 to stay there longer. Currently an ACO can only stay in track 1 for six years. “Capping the Track 1 participation to just two 3-year agreement periods may hobble the pipeline of providers participating in alternative payment models,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash, who signed the letter. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore.; Erik Paulsen, R-Minn.; John Lewis, D-Ga.; Pat Meehan, R-Pa.; Mike Thompson, D-Calif. and Terri Sewell, D-Ala., also signed the letter.

Democrats push to end proposed rule to create ‘junk’ insurance plans. House and Senate Democrats are pushing the Trump administration to scrap a rule that expands the duration of cheap, short-term plans, and argue the rule will sabotage Obamacare. Democratic committee leaders in the House and Senate wrote to top administration officials on Friday calling for the removal of a proposed rule that expands the duration of short-term plans from 90 days to nearly 12 months. Short-term plans skirt Obamacare’s patient protections, such as rules that prevent insurers from charging sick people more money. Democrats complain that the rule will “encourage the sale of junk health plans that will undermine consumer protections.” “These junk policies fail to cover needed benefits, particularly for people with pre-existing conditions,” the letter said.

RUNDOWN

Politico House debuts farm bill calling for big changes to food stamps

Washington Post Food stamp requirements won’t work if states don’t do their part

NBC News More than five drinks a week could shorten lives by years, study finds

Wall Street Journal Trump appointee harnesses civil rights law to protect anti-abortion health workers

STAT News Despite high hopes for polio eradication, discouraging news is piling up

Associated Press In opioid epidemic, some cities strain to afford overdose antidote

Kaiser Health News Puerto Rico’s slow-going recovery means new hardship for dialysis patients

Minnesota Public Radio Minnesota won’t collect $30 million in unpaid Obamacare premiums