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Centrist focus on merely fixing Obamacare exposes split among Democrats. Centrist House Democrats on Wednesday announced they would be pushing for a healthcare plan to shore up Obamacare, only hours after the House’s liberal Democrats pushed for a fully government-financed healthcare system. The centrist Democrats, a 101-member group which calls itself the New Democrat Coalition, hope to revive a bipartisan measure that failed in the Senate. The plan, an approach favored by the healthcare industry, would funnel billions of government dollars toward Obamacare in order to lower premiums for more patients.

The press conference came just hours after 107 House Democrats re-introduced the Medicare for All Act, a bill that would extend Medicare to cover more medical services than it does now, and that would cover nearly every person living in the U.S. A spokeswoman for the New Democrat Coalition denied that the event’s timing was intended to coincide with that of the Medicare for All Caucus and said its plans to hold the conference had been on the books for two weeks.

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New Democrat coalition wants reinsurance, CSRs. The centrist Democrats said they were open to possible other changes to the healthcare system down the road, such as allowing people to buy into Medicare at a younger age or letting people buy Medicaid instead of a private health insurance plan. They stressed the party should hold hearings on each but framed their approach as more pragmatic, saying the priority was to find healthcare solutions that could be enacted quickly. The New Democrat Coalition sent a letter to House leaders Wednesday outlining its proposals. They would include a reinsurance fund, which funnels government dollars to the sickest patients to help reduce the costs of premiums for everyone else who buys coverage. Another part of the plan would reinstate billions of dollars in payments President Trump ended in 2017 that help low-income people with Obamacare plans pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses. They proposed letting states enact auto-enrollment, which would take away the need for patients to actively enroll in coverage every year.

Democrats dodge questions about cost on formal Medicare for All Act unveiling. When asked about cost, Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., said the proposal would save money. “We are going to get a bill and we are going to figure it out,” said Dingell, a co-chair of the Medicare for All Caucus. “But let’s start with eliminating waste, bill paying, and bureaucracy. Let’s have doctors stop worrying about paper and let them treat patients again.” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Calif., the lead sponsor of the bill, also focused on the potential savings that could be generated through a government-financed healthcare system. “The cost of this healthcare system that we have right now is absolutely unaffordable… It is killing our economy,” she said. “We are already spending an enormous amount of money on healthcare.” She blamed insurers and drug companies for high costs, though hospitals and doctors make up a larger share of healthcare spending. “What we are doing is saying, ‘This should not be based on profits,” Jayapal said. “Let’s take those profits out of it and let’s really focus on care. And I guarantee you we will reduce the cost of healthcare in this country.” Read the bill.

Republicans seize on ‘Medicare for all’ introduction. GOP House leaders on Wednesday slammed Democrats for their proposal, saying that it would be too costly, take people off private plans, and said the government would be incapable of taking it on. “When Americans see Democrats’ true, frightening government takeover of health care – banning good health care plans at work, jeopardizing Medicare for seniors, and doubling everyone’s taxes – voters will reject it,” said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, the top GOP on the Ways and Means Committee. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., called for a hearing on the bill in the Energy and Commerce Committee, where he is the ranking member. “Here it is, a government-run, single-payer health care bill has been introduced, and yet there is still no promise we are going to give it appropriate review at Energy and Commerce,” he said.  

FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb backs raising the minimum age for tobacco to 21. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb expressed support Wednesday for raising the minimum age to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21. “We would support that,” Gottlieb said in congressional testimony when asked by Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., if he would favor raising the minimum age.

As the Trump-appointed head of the FDA, Gottlieb has cracked down on sales of e-cigarettes to address what he termed Wednesday as a “sheer epidemic” of youth use of the products. Flavored e-cigarettes particularly appeal to minors, Gottlieb noted. Gottlieb expressed doubt that e-cigarette companies are doing all they can do to prevent young people from using their products. “A lot of the youth access isn’t just 14-year-olds and 15-year-olds going into convenience stores and buying these products,” Gottlieb explained. “This is enterprising 18-year-olds in high school buying them legally, and creating a business in their high school selling them back to 16-year-olds and 15-year-olds.”

Government contest seeks better way to find opioids in the mail. The Trump administration launched a $1.55 million prize competition Thursday for plans to help detect opioids in the mail.  

The crisis of abuse of opioids, many of which are shipped internationally via the mail, is unprecedented. In 2017, approximately 50,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses.

“Postal Inspectors have always made it their mission to protect the public and the U.S. Postal Service from the dangers of illegal narcotics,” Chief Postal Inspector Gary R. Barksdale said. “This challenge and the partnerships involved will provide better mechanisms and technologies to identify and stop the flow of opioids into the country.”

Progress in reducing HIV cases has stalled. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday that the decline in HIV cases has plateaued because effective HIV prevention and treatment do not reach those areas that are most at risk. Rural areas, Southern states, and Latino and African-American communities face the most adversity in getting treatment.

Trump outlined a national plan to eradicate America’s HIV epidemic in his State of the Union address. The plan includes diagnosing those with HIV as soon as possible, treating the infection rapidly to the point of viral suppression, protecting at-risk individuals with prevention methods, and responding quickly to growing chains of transmission. The goal of the plan is to reduce new HIV cases by 90 percent over 10 years. “We have a historic opportunity to improve the precision of prevention,” said Jonathan Mermin, the director of CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. “This infusion of resources will finally relegate America’s HIV epidemic to the pages of history.”

Kirsten Gillibrand vying to be the ‘vice’ president. Big tobacco, big soda, big booze, big burger, casinos, and Viagra might sound like the ingredients for an extremely lively and health-hazardous night out on the town. They also represent some of New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s major financial backers. A review of Gillibrand’s donations by the Washington Examiner via the political transparency organization Open Secrets reveals a candidate willing to take donations from America’s biggest pushers of vice. She accepted the cash even as other Democrats began endorsing public health measures countering unhealthy lifestyles.

House scrutinizes vaccine coverage following measles outbreaks. The House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing Wednesday about the growing threat of measles outbreaks in the U.S., which have reached 159 cases. Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, pointed out that, since its invention in the 1960s, the measles vaccine has remain unchanged because of its efficacy and safety. “I consider it really an irony that you have one of the most contagious viruses known to man juxtaposed against one of the most effective vaccines that we have, and yet we don’t do and have not done what could be done, namely completely eliminate and eradicate this virus,” Fauci said.

RUNDOWN

Science Magazine Data sharing will be a major thrust of Trump’s $500 million childhood cancer plan

The Hill Moderate Dems revive effort to stabilize ObamaCare markets

Harvard Public Health America is failing its black mothers

Kaiser Health News Listening to older patients who want to stop dialysis

The Washington Post Lawmaker promoting anti-vaxx bill suggests measles can be treated with antibiotics. (It can’t.)

NPR Storing Health Records On Your Phone: Can Apple Live Up To Its Privacy Values?