Daily on Healthcare: Senators stay focused on Obamacare regulations

Senators stay focused on Obamacare regulations: When a working group of Republican senators meets again today to discuss crafting new healthcare legislation, a source familiar with today’s meeting says the group will focus on Obamacare’s insurance regulations. The difficulty they’re trying to navigate is that centrists believe that the House-passed bill went too far in uprooting Obamacare’s regulatory architecture, whereas conservatives believe it didn’t go nearly far enough. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is out with an op-ed outlining the changes he wants to see in any Senate bill, and all of them are consistent with what Daily on Health reported last week. Lee, who is helping to hold down the fort for conservatives in the working group, wants to see a more aggressive rollback of Obamacare’s regulations, not only giving states more latitude to set their own regulations, but also making it so that states have to actively opt-in if they choose to keep any Obamacare regulations. This is a major departure from the House bill, which keeps Obamacare regulations as the default nationally and requires states to seek waivers to get out of a limited number of regulations. It’s also an option that rattles centrists, who opposed the House bill from even allowing states the option of waiving the regulation that prevents insurers from charging people more if they have pre-existing conditions.

Medicaid talks going nowhere: In his op-ed, Lee also made clear that he wants legislation that would more swiftly phase out Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion and allow spending to grow at a standard rate of inflation, which is a slower pace than the House bill — whereas centrists have been pushing for Medicaid funding to be even more generous than the House bill. Last week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had asked Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. (representing conservatives pushing for a slower growth rate) and Rob Portman (representing those pushing for more generous Medicaid funding) to hash out a compromise. But according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions, those talks are going nowhere.

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.

Oregon Obamacare insurers propose double-digit rate hikes: The average, unsubsidized requests are 17.2 percent, according to independent analyst Charles Gaba, who writes ACASignups.net. Insurers cited insufficient funding in previous years to cover claims, the re-implementation of the health insurance tax, tobacco use among customers and the expectation that fewer healthier customers would enroll in the exchanges in 2018.

Lawmakers seek transparency on drug prices: A group of lawmakers is arguing that forcing drugmakers to explain their reason for charging so much for drugs could lead to major changes and help lower prices. That is why two bipartisan senators and a House member on Tuesday introduced the FAIR Drug Pricing Act. The bill would require drugmakers to disclose and provide more information on planned price increases, including detailing research and development costs. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., sponsored the Senate bill alongside Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., in the House.

The Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday released a checklist for states that choose to seek waivers from certain Obamacare requirements. Through the waivers, commonly known as “innovation waivers” or 1332 waivers, states can ask the federal government to allow them to set up high-risk pools, reinsurance programs or another proposal that would decrease costs for customers or allow for more people to be covered. “The failure of the individual marketplace under Obamacare is driving insurers out of counties and states at an alarming rate, leaving millions of Americans without choices for affordable health insurance,” Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said in a statement. “The innovation waiver process provides Americans relief from the damage Obamacare continues to inflict on health insurance markets.”

Democratic senators raise concerns about proposed HHS budget cuts: In a letter sent to Trump Tuesday, Democrats said they were extremely concerned about the proposal to cut 18 percent from the agency and how it would affect the implementation and the 21st Century Cures Act passed last year. The cuts, they said, would get in the way of biomedical research, mental health treatment, health information technology and the approval of medicines.

Trump prepares for healthcare changes in the Senate: White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters Monday that Trump feels “very strong about the product that came out of the House, but he recognizes the Senate has a duty to review it and come up with ideas.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley says Obamacare is like a “falling bridge”: The Iowa Republican on Monday compared Obamacare to a bridge built in 1940 that collapsed just five months after it was built. “The bridge was set to fail from the very beginning,” Grassley said on the Senate floor about the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state. That bridge opened to traffic in July 1940 and fell into Puget Sound by November, despite being hailed as a wonder of modern construction techniques. Several Republicans have said Obamacare is on the verge of collapse, as more and more insurers exit the system and premiums for the dwindling insurance packages rise. Democrats say the GOP is purposefully allowing the law to collapse and that the GOP plan to replace the law might be stalled for several months, or longer.

Trump administration proposes to end online enrollment feature on the small business exchange. Instead, employees who work at companies that have up to 50 workers would shop for plans on healthcare.gov and could buy plans through a broker or an insurance company. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it made the proposal because enrollment projections had expected 4 million customers, but current figures show roughly 230,000 are enrolled.

Trump administration broadens Mexico City policy. The State Department announced the “Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance Initiative” Monday, which broadens the policy that previously covered only family planning funds to now cover all foreign health assistance provided by government agencies, including the State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development, the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and the Department of Defense.It provides exemptions for abortions conducted in cases of rape, incest or threat to a pregnant woman’s life or health.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., reacts to news that certain breast implants have been linked to a deadly form of cancer. “The FDA is once again failing to do its job as a regulatory agency that ensures the health and well-being of the American people,” she said in a statement. “With hundreds of cases of textured breast implants linked to lymphoma, and at least nine deaths, I am appalled that the FDA is not doing more to investigate this connection and take serious action against these life-threatening products.Women have turned to these implants after surviving cancer once, and it is unconscionable that they face the threat of a second round of cancer due to their use. Having first reported a link between the implants and cancer more than five years ago in 2011, there is absolutely no reason why the FDA has not taken more aggressive action. The lives of American women depend on it.” 

RUNDOWN

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Wall Street Journal More American workers are testing positive for drugs
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Kaiser Health News Overwrought marketing? Ads, not research, create some of pharma’s biggest sellers
Associated Press Government report: Efforts to reduce uninsured stalled in 2016
LA Times WannaCry cyber attack: When a hack shuts down a hospital, who is to blame? 

Calendar

TUESDAY | MAY 16

House returns from recess. Schedule.

71st Annual Convention for Paralyzed Veterans of America. Gaylord Resort and Convention Center. 201 Waterfront St. Oxon Hill, Maryland.

Noon. U.S. Department of Justice. 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Justice roundtable opposing recent sentencing changes called for by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
1 p.m. Sheraton Pentagon City. Scott Blackburn, VA Interim Deputy Secretary, to speak on “Update on MyVA and How It Is Affecting Veterans Benefit Delivery.” Details.

1 p.m. Sheraton Pentagon City. Tiffany Love, VA Deputy Associate Director of Patient Care Services, to speak on “Social Media and Its Evolving Impact on Veterans.” Details.

1:30 p.m. Sheraton Pentagon City. Joseph Ronzio, VA Deputy Chief Health Technology Officer, to speak on “Incorporating Wearable and Implantable Technology into the Next Generation of Healthcare Delivery.” Details.

2:30 p.m. President Trump meets with Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and with Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney in the Oval Office.

WEDNESDAY | MAY 17

8 a.m. 620 Perry Pkwy. Gaithersburg, Md. FDA committee meeting on gastroenterology and urology devices. Details.

8:30 a.m. 10903 New Hampshire Ave, Silver Spring, Md. FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee Meeting on considerations for evaluation of Respiratory Syncytial Virus vaccine candidates in seronegative infants. Details.

10 a.m. 2358-C Rayburn. Oversight hearing on advances in biomedical research. Details.

10 a.m. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on “Current Issues in American Sports: Protecting the Health and Safety of American Athletes.” Details.

10 a.m. 2123 Rayburn. House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on “Future of Emergency Alerting.” Details.

10:15 a.m. 2123 Rayburn. House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on “Examining Initiatives to Advance Public Health.” Details.

11:15 a.m. Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. 201 Waterfront St., Oxon Hill, Md. Marijuana Business Conference and Expo. Panelists include Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore. Details.

Noon. 201 AB U.S. Capitol Visitors Center. Congressional Men’s Health Caucus to hold briefing on prostate cancer screening guidelines.

THURSDAY | MAY 18

8 a.m. Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Meeting on how how the SMART Student Health and Wellness model can transform healthcare for public school students and impact their education, careers and communities. Includes Democratic Reps. Jan Schakowky of Illinois and Terri Sewell of Alabama.

2 p.m. 1100 Longworth. House Ways and Means Committee hearing on the “Current status of the Medicare Program, Payment Systems and Extenders.” Details.

FRIDAY | MAY 19

9:30 a.m. Rayburn 2123. House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Drinking Water System Improvement Act and Related Issues of Funding Management and Compliance Assistance under the Safe Drinking Water Act. Details.

MONDAY | MAY 22

CBO report on the American Health Care Act expected this week.

Trump administration must provide the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals an update in the case House v. Price on cost-sharing reduction subsidies.