Overnight Healthcare: GOP vows to press ahead against Planned Parenthood

House Republicans are pressing ahead with their probe into Planned Parenthood even after the group retreated from the most controversial part of its fetal tissue program on Tuesday.

Planned Parenthood said Tuesday it will no longer receive compensation for procuring fetal tissue for medical research, its strongest response yet to a months-long controversy driven by anti-abortion activists. But top Republicans, including House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), are dismissing the move as a public relations gambit as the group continues to deny any wrongdoing.

{mosads}”While Planned Parenthood and other organizations may try to publicly distance themselves from the gruesome industry of selling of fetal baby parts, today’s announcement does not change the facts of the investigation,” Boehner wrote in a statement Tuesday.

Boehner’s statements were echoed by anti-abortion leaders like Tennessee Republicans, Rep. Marsha Blackburn and Diane Black, as well as the chairman of the powerful House Oversight Committee, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Ohio).

Chaffetz, who is running to replace the outgoing Boehner as speaker, hailed the move as a “good, tangible result” of the GOP’s investigations, which he said were far from over. 

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards announced the change through a letter to the National Institutes of Health on Tuesday, bending to months of political pressure.

Still, Planned Parenthood officials aren’t expecting to silence their critics – only to force them to change the conversation, Executive Vice President Dawn Laguens said in an interview Tuesday.

“I do hope that they will change their ways, but I’m not hopeful,” Laguens said. “They are being held hostage by the far right, anti-abortion extremist element that run the Republican party process. I don’t see that they have a way out of it.”

Instead, she hopes that Planned Parenthood’s publicized decision not to accept from reimbursement will make clear that it has not committed any wrongdoing.

“I do believe this will further reveal to the American people, which is who we care about, that there was never any ‘there’ there, and that this is an anti-abortion witch hunt,” she said.

BUSH UNVEILS HEALTH PLAN Jeb Bush unveiled a plan on Tuesday to repeal ObamaCare and replace it with healthcare measures intended to give more authority to states. 

Bush argued that his plan would empower local governments, help businesses and control costs.

“Why not empower people when we have a chance? And I believe the states are the place where this will happen,” Bush said in a speech in New Hampshire. “Washington has had its day, it has had its chance to do these things and it has failed us miserably.”

Bush’s proposal would allow people to use the tax credits to buy cheaper plans that offer protection in case of “high-cost medical events.” This would differ from ObamaCare, in which people can get subsidies to buy comprehensive coverage.

Bush, who criticized ObamaCare for driving up costs, is touting his proposals as a more cost-conscious and responsible way of providing healthcare. Critics are likely to argue it will also cut off benefits, particularly for the poor.

The former Florida governor would offer the tax credits based on a consumer’s age, in contrast to ObamaCare’s credits that are based on income and give more assistance to low-income people. Read more here. 

DALEIDEN: PLANNED PARENTHOOD MOVE ‘ADMISSION OF GUILT’ The anti-abortion activist who has targeted Planned Parenthood is declaring the group’s decision to stop taking compensation for fetal tissue procurement as an “admission of guilt” in response to his undercover videos.

Hours after Planned Parenthood announced its policy change, Center for Medical Progress (CMP) President David Daleiden blasted the move as a “PR stunt” that he said offers evidence that its affiliates have been acting illegally.

“If the money Planned Parenthood has been receiving for baby body parts were truly legitimate ‘reimbursement,’ why cancel it?” Daleiden asked in a statement. “This proves what CMP has been saying all along – Planned Parenthood incurs no actual costs, and the payments for harvested fetal parts have always been an extra profit margin.”

Before Tuesday’s policy change, only one Planned Parenthood affiliate accepted compensation for fetal tissue procurement. That affiliate accepted “modest reimbursement” of $45 to $60 per tissue specimen, according to a letter from the group’s president to congressional leaders in August. Read more here. 

Wednesday’s schedule

The Alliance for Health Reform will hold a briefing to preview Medicare Open Enrollment, which opens next month. 

The American Association for Justice holds a press call on nursing home regulations, featuring former Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).

What we’re reading

Makeover coming for HealthCare.gov

Jeb Bush is an unlikely supporter of something like the ‘Cadillac’ tax 

New data shows larger insurer losses on ObamaCare plans 

How Planned Parenthood advertisements evolved since the 1940s

State by state

Wisconsin Senate panel to vote on stripping Planned Parenthood funding 

New York attorney general examining whether Turing restricted drug access

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