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Second study places $32 trillion price tag on single-payer A bill from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., to expand Medicare to all Americans would cost the federal government $32.6 trillion over the next decade, a new study finds. The study released Monday from the Mercatus Center think tank at George Mason University, comes as progressive Democrats are making “Medicare for All” a top issue in their campaigns ahead of the 2018 midterms. Mercatus looks at the bill that Sanders released back in September 2017 to convert Medicare into a government-run, socialized healthcare system for all ages. Sanders’ bill would eliminate employer-provided insurance and have health insurance covered for everyone by the federal government. Though Mercatus is known for having free market lean, a 2016 analysis of Sanders’ presidential campaign single-payer plan also found it would increase federal spending by $32 trillion as the federal government absorbs healthcare spending from states and private businesses. Mercatus called its estimates “conservative,” because “they assume the legislation achieves its sponsors’ goals of dramatically reducing payments to health providers, in addition to substantially reducing drug prices and administrative costs.” Doctors and hospitals would be paid far less under Sanders’ bill. The bill would pay all doctors and hospitals under the same rate as Medicare, which pays about 40 percent less compared to reimbursements from employer-sponsored plans. Mercatus does not factor in the impact that these lower rates will have on the healthcare system in the study, providers would face a financial strain.

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Centene to partner with Ascension Catholic hospitals to make a Medicare Advantage plan. Health insurer Centene will be partnering with the Catholic hospital system Ascension to set up a Medicare Advantage plan for low-income seniors, the companies announced Monday. The plan is coming at a time when the Trump administration is expanding the types of services that Medicare Advantage plans are allowed to provide, including healthy home-delivered meals, air conditioners for beneficiaries with asthma, and rides to medical appointments. Centene and Ascension, both of which are based in St. Louis, signed a letter of intent to pursue their plan, which would need to be approved by board members from both companies. The Medicare Advantage plan would be sold beginning in 2020.

Kavanaugh confirmation enters new territory as first meeting with Democrat looms. Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation process will take a new turn Monday as he readies for a sit-down with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and begins to meet with Senate Democrats. Though Democrats are largely opposed to Kavanaugh’s nomination to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, some Democrats who are up for reelection in states carried by President Trump in 2016 are under significant pressure to vote yes. In addition to Manchin, the only other Democrat who has agreed to meet Kavanaugh is Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind. Both Manchin and Donnelly voted to confirm Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s first pick to the Supreme Court.  

Melania Trump spotlights babies in opioid withdrawal amid calls for better research, treatment. First lady Melania Trump is drawing attention to babies who face withdrawal after being exposed to opioids in the womb, even as health facilities are working to develop better ways to care for them and as significant research gaps remain. Trump traveled to Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville as part of her Be Best Campaign that launched in May.

Trump administration approves Wisconsin plan to shore up Obamacare. The Trump administration has approved a plan in Wisconsin allowing the state to shore up its Obamacare market. The plan is expected to lower premiums in 2019 by an average of 3.5 percent. Without it, premiums would rise by 11 percent in 2019, even after seeing hikes of 44 percent for 2018. “People in the individual market saw their premiums go up by 44 percent on average last year, and some saw much larger increases – that’s unsustainable and unacceptable,” said Republican Gov. Scott Walker, an Obamacare opponent. “Thankfully, the federal government is giving us the flexibility to implement a Wisconsin-based solution to help stabilize premiums. Our Health Care Stability Plan is simple and it lowers costs. ” The plan is approved through a waiver that is commonly known as an “innovation waiver.” The specific waiver in Wisconsin will set up a reinsurance fund that keeps premiums at bay by funneling government money toward the most costly medical claims. The state will pay for $50 million of the reinsurance and the federal government will pay $150 million. Wisconsin is the first state to have such a waiver approved in 2018; three other states have had reinsurance waivers approved in previous years.

HHS official who tweeted anti-Muslim views, conspiracy theories has resigned: reports. A former political pundit whose tweets advanced conspiracy theories and called Islam “a cult” has resigned from her post at the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a new report. Ximena Barreto was appointed deputy director of communications for the department in December and placed on leave in April, CNN reported. A liberal watchdog group had unearthed controversial tweets expressing anti-Muslim sentiment and about a conspiracy theory involving a child prostitution ring, known as Pizzagate, from her now-deleted RepublicanChick account.

House lawmakers want federal probe of drug middlemen mergers. The House Energy and Commerce Committee wants the Trump administration to probe how mergers of drug middlemen called pharmacy benefit managers has affected drug prices for consumers. The committee sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission on Friday calling for a retrospective review of mergers of pharmacy benefit managers, which oversee drug plans for employer and union-sponsored health plans. Lawmakers are worried about the large amount of consolidation of PBMs.

Massachusetts raises smoking age from 18 to 21. Massachusetts’ Republican Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law on Friday a bill that raises the legal smoking age in the state from 18 to 21 years old. The law also broadents existing prohibitions on public smoking to also include e-cigarettes, according to a press release on the bill signing. The law also prohibits any pharmacy, hospital or other healthcare facility from selling tobacco products. “Raising the age to buy tobacco products in the Commonwealth is an important step to prevent addiction for young people and encourage healthy choices,” Baker said in a statement. Massachusetts became the sixth state to raise the legal smoking age, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids. The other states that have signed smoking age increases were California, New Jersey, Oregon, Hawaii, and Maine, the campaign said.

Question about whether to block public funding for abortion will go before Oregon voters. Anti-abortion advocates from Oregon Life United have gathered enough petition signatures to have Oregon voters decide whether the state should stop funding abortions. The ballot measure will go before voters in November, asking them whether the state constitution should be amended to make the change. The language includes banning the state from paying for low-income women to have abortions, or from including coverage for abortion in medical plans for public employees.

Public housing ban on smoking to go into effect Tuesday. A nationwide ban on smoking in any public housing that was first introduced in November 2016 is expected to start on Tuesday. The ban would apply to all tobacco-based products like cigarettes or cigars but does not include e-cigarettes. Housing and Urban Development said back in 2016 when the rule was introduced that there were already more than 228,000 public housing units that were smoke-free. Overall there are approximately 1.3 million public housing units in the U.S., according to HUD.

RUNDOWN

Axios Be wary of Alzheimer’s breakthroughs

The Hill Dems court conservative firebrand in Medicare drug fight

NPR To keep women from dying in childbirth, look to California

New York Times The stealth campaign to kill off Obamacare

CNN Bayer paid doctors millions for questionable birth control device

STAT News The DEA wanted new suppliers of marijuana for research. Two years later, nothing has changed

Kaiser Health News 1,400 nursing homes get lower Medicare ratings because of staffing concerns

Politico Trump policy shop filters facts to fit its message