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House passes 25 bills to fight opioid addiction and overdoses. The House has passed 25 bills to combat rising drug-related deaths from opioids, including prescription painkillers and heroin. The chamber will continue to weigh other anti-opioid legislation during the next two weeks. “Individually, these bills target some key aspects of the opioid crisis, such as how we boost our prevention efforts and how we better protect our communities,” said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Rep. Michael Burgess, chairman of the Health Subcommittee. “Taken together, these bills are real solutions that will change how we respond to this crisis, and make our states and local communities better equipped in the nationwide efforts to stem this tide.” The bills that have passed include measures that would provide resources to help hospitals discharge patients after an overdose by giving them naloxone, as well as connecting them with peer support specialists and treatment centers. Other bills would give the Food and Drug Administration more authority to stop illegal drugs shipped through the mail and give the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the authority to work with states on tracking diseases that are spread through the sharing of infected needles. One measure would allow the National Institutes of Health to develop more treatments for pain that are not addictive. The House passed Jessie’s Law, which allows healthcare professionals to access a patient’s medical history so they can see whether they have previously abused substances and know when to be more careful with their prescriptions. The law requires a patient’s consent in sharing the information.

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Join the Washington Examiner for our ‘Examining Opioids’ event Thursday. We’ll be speaking with Surgeon General Jerome Adams, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio. Breakfast will be served at 7 a.m. RSVP here.

Senate panel advances its own opioids bill. The Senate Finance Committee unanimously approved the Helping to End Addiction and Lessen Substance Use Disorders Act, which aims to help people who are enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid receive better information about opioids and pain management, and improve guidance on how to treat pain. Amendments include a measure that would spur electronic prescribing and requiring the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to identify a Medicare patient who has suffered a non-fatal opioid overdose and notify the patient’s doctor. “This strong, bipartisan legislation makes meaningful progress toward addressing the opioid crisis facing our nation,” said committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. “Medicare and Medicaid provide more than one third of all health care in America, and the HEAL Substance Use Disorders Act makes much-needed reforms to address opioids and other substance use disorders for beneficiaries and families in these programs. In a time of great political divide, I am pleased we could come together to craft legislation to address such a critical issue.”

CMS delays hospital compare website. CMS won’t update the star ratings for its hospital comparison website next month as planned. “The agency has decided to postpone the July star ratings update to give time for additional analysis of the impact of changes to some of the measures on the star ratings and to address stakeholder concerns,” according to a CMS representative. CMS will continue to maintain the ratings of the quality of care provided by hospitals. The next opportunity to update the star ratings is January 2019.

Democrat seeks to boost controversial 340B program. Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., introduced legislation Tuesday aimed at clarifying the intent of the drug discount program called 340B. The program provides discounts to hospitals and clinics that serve a lot of low-income patients, but the Trump administration introduced cuts to the program. The administration says the program has expanded too much and that it is benefiting hospitals that don’t provide care to low-income people. But Matsui said the program is “being incorrectly used as a scapegoat for high drug prices by the Trump administration.” Matsui’s bill would reverse the administration’s planned 28 percent cut to 340B payments. The legislation received endorsements from major hospital groups including the American Hospital Association and America’s Essential Hospitals.

Democrats hit back at GOP over Trump’s Obamacare lawsuit. Democrats are firing back at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for saying that “everyone” in the Senate supports healthcare protections for people with pre-existing illnesses. The Kentucky Republican made the comments when asked about the Trump administration’s recent lawsuit on Obamacare. The Justice Department has asked a court to undo Obamacare requirements that health insurers cover people despite their health status, without charging them more than other customers.  “Everybody I know in the Senate, everybody, is in favor of maintaining coverage for pre-existing conditions,” McConnell told reporters. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., shot back: “If Republicans are serious about maintaining protections for people with pre-existing conditions, they should join us in urging the Trump administration to reverse their shameful decision to not defend the constitutionality of that vital provision that is already the law.”

Alexander speaks out against the DOJ’s ‘far-fetched’ lawsuit. The Justice Department’s argument is “far-fetched,” concludes Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the HELP Committee who worked to craft the bipartisan Obamacare legislation. “There’s no way Congress is going to repeal protections for people with pre-existing conditions who want to buy health insurance,” he said. “The Justice Department argument in the Texas case is as far-fetched as any I’ve ever heard. Congress specifically repealed the individual mandate penalty, but I didn’t hear a single senator say that they also thought they were repealing protections for people with pre-existing conditions.”

Actuaries: Rolling back insurer tax expected to ease Obamacare premiums slightly. The American Academy of Actuaries estimated that a moratorium on Obamacare’s health insurance tax in 2019 would only modestly lower premiums on plans sold on the law’s insurance exchanges. But the academy cautioned that the elimination of the individual mandate and moves by the Trump administration to expand access to cheaper, low-quality health plans will be major drivers on premiums next year. The estimate in a report released Wednesday is the latest to show that the mandate repeal and other moves will cause premiums to increase. The Trump administration is expected to finalize later this year regulations to expand access to association health plans and expand duration of short-term health plans from 90 days to nearly 12 months. The plans don’t have to abide by Obamacare’s quality regulations, including not charging sicker people higher prices. The academy says that healthy people will leave Obamacare’s insurance exchanges for the cheaper plans, causing further instability and premium increases. The repeal of the individual mandate also could cause healthy people to flee because it takes away an incentive for them to get insurance, the report said.

Doug Jones wants states that haven’t expanded Medicaid to know what they are missing. Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., introduced legislation Wednesday seeking to quantify the impact of the Medicaid expansion for states that did and did not expand the program under Obamacare. Jones, whose state did not expand Medicaid, said he wants to know how much states lose out by not expanding the program. “This legislation will shed light on the extent to which failing to expand Medicaid is costing taxpayers and expediting the closure of our rural hospitals,” he said. A 2012 Supreme Court decision mandated that states can choose to expand Medicaid, and 33 states have sought to do so. The annual report from the federal government would estimate the amount of federal funding each expansion state could receive a year and the number of people who would be covered. While the federal government picks up the entire tab for the expansion for the first few years, states eventually will have to shoulder part of the costs. For instance, starting in 2020 states will have to pay 10 percent of the expansion costs.

Insurer ad campaign highlights employer coverage, pushes for Obamacare tax repeal. America’s Health Insurance Plans has started a six-figure Coverage@Work campaign to highlight findings that most people in the U.S. get medical coverage through their jobs and like it.  “Nearly 180 million workers, their families, and American businesses depend on employer-provided coverage for their health and financial protection,” the group said. “The program has evolved into one of the country’s essential lifelines for insurance, with an overwhelming majority, [71 percent], of Americans reporting high-satisfaction with their coverage.” While Congress has focused on measures regarding Obamacare or other government-supported programs, such as Medicare, AHIP said the employer market can be strengthened. The group is specifically requesting the repeal of Obamacare’s health insurance tax and its “Cadillac tax,” which is waged on high-cost plans.

Judge allows Missouri restriction on abortion pill to continue. A federal judge has declined to block a Missouri law that restricts access to the abortion pill as the case awaits trial. Restrictions will stay in place requiring doctors and other medical professionals to have a contract with an OB-GYN who has hospital admitting privileges and who agrees to be available if any complications arise, ruled U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips.

HHS, DHS may house unaccompanied child immigrants in tent cities on Texas military bases: Official. The Trump administration is moving forward on a plan to tentatively house unaccompanied minors in tent cities on three Texas military bases because of increasing high border apprehensions and a shortage of beds for the underage immigrants, according to an administration official. “[Health and Human Services] is running out of space because of the implications of the zero tolerance policy, but also because we continue to see this uptick in numbers,” an official told the Washington Examiner Tuesday evening.

Senate Finance Committee passes bipartisan bill to help newborns suffering from addiction. The Senate Finance Committee advanced a bill intended to expand treatment options for babies born addicted to opioids. The bill sponsored by Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, would recognize residential pediatric recovery centers as providers under Medicaid. The move would enable Medicaid to cover those services in the centers in addition to hospitals, according to a release on the Caring Recovery for Infants and Babies (CRIB) Act.

Senators demand federal watchdog examine substance abuse treatment facilities. A new bipartisan bill would require the Government Accountability Office to evaluate and report on the capacity of residential and inpatient treatment facilities for substance abuse. It would be the first government study on substance use disorder treatment, according to a statement on the bill sponsored by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska. “In order for the government to properly allocate funding, we need to know exactly how much we need and where it should go,” Manchin said in a statement on the Examining Opioid Treatment Infrastructure Act.

Pharmaceutical convention party featuring topless dancers draws criticism. An advocacy group bashed a report of drug companies throwing lavish parties with topless women at a recent conference. A report in STAT News said an unofficial party at the BIO International Convention in Boston featured topless women dancing with their bodies painted with the logos of several companies that sponsored the party. The news drew the ire of several groups advocating for lower drug prices. “The pharmaceutical industry can’t seem to find a way to lower drug prices, but it can hire topless dancers branded with drug company logos as entertainment at a pharma party,” said Juliana Keeping, communications director for Patients for Affordable Drugs.

RUNDOWN

STAT News FDA broadens guidelines on what information drug makers can share with insurers

Bloomberg Air ambulances are flying more patients than ever, and leaving massive bills behind

Business Insider A judge just approved Time Warner and AT&T’s merger, and it could be good news for a series of healthcare megamergers

Kaiser Health News How America got hooked on a deadly drug

New York Times Common drugs may be contributing to depression

Washington Post Senior Justice Department lawyer resigns after shift on Obamacare

NPR Americans’ support for abortion wanes as pregnancy progresses

Axios Republicans aren’t loving the latest ACA lawsuit