OVERNIGHT HEALTHCARE: GOP pressure builds for ObamaCare alternative

by Sarah Ferris - 05/18/15 6:01 PM ET

Republicans are getting more and more anxious about what exactly House leaders are planning to do if the Supreme Court rules against ObamaCare next month.

Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R-Maine) wrote a letter to the three GOP chairmen leading the effort on Monday, warning that the chamber needs to have a plan to avert chaos in case millions of people lose their subsidies.

“I wrote this letter to encourage them to move forward,” Poliquin said in an interview, adding that the leadership needs to act “sooner rather than later.”

{mosads}Poliquin’s letter – which falls short of an official proposal – asks that individuals no longer be required to purchase insurance or to purchase plans that cover certain services and procedures.

“There’s a lot of commonality between what our leadership is working on and what a lot of what I’ve put in this letter,” Poliquin said. Specifically, he said most Republicans agree that insurance companies should cover people with pre-existing conditions, should allow people to carry their plans from job-to-job and to allow people to shop across state lines.

As for the issue of extending ObamaCare subsidies? He says that’s for the leadership to decide.

“We’ve got to first agree that there is a problem and we need a solution, and I think we’re there,” Poliquin said about the post-King v. Burwell planning. “Now I think [the debate] has become, what parts do we need to focus on?” Read more here.

OBAMACARE MENU RULES UNDER FIRE: The top two leaders of the Senate health committee are calling for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to delay controversial menu labeling rules for restaurants and grocery stores.

Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.), are leading an effort to push back new requirements from the FDA that will force many restaurants, grocery stores, convenience stores and entertainment venues to list the number of calories in the foods they sell. Read more here.

SANDERS, CUMMINGS DIG IN AGAINST RX COSTS: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) on Monday introduced a bill aimed at lowering the taxpayer burden for rising generic drug prices.

Brand-name drug manufacturers are required by law to pay a rebate to Medicaid when their drug prices rise faster than inflation. Sanders and Cummings’s bill would extend this requirement to generic drug manufacturers.

Sanders, who is challenging Hillary Clinton from the left for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, has long made curbing drug prices part of his push to reform what he calls an overly costly healthcare system. Read more here.

Tuesday’s schedule:

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will begin the markup for its 21st Century Cures initiative.

The Ways and Means health subcommittee will hold a hearing on improving competition within Medicare.

State by state

Massachusetts governor asks for more ObamaCare waivers

48-hour waiting period for abortion signed into law in Tennessee

What we’re reading

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Stem cell ‘Wild West’ takes root amid lack of US regulation

Hospital CEO says doctors ‘reluctant‘ to take ObamaCare patients

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