OVERNIGHT HEALTHCARE: Cures bill heading to House floor

IT’S UNANIMOUS: The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday unanimously approved a medical cures bill shortly after reaching a bipartisan $13 billion deal to pay for the legislation.

“That is an amazing accomplishment,” Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), said, noting that he had been on the committee for 28 years and had never before seen a major bill pass without a single “nay” vote.

The 21st Century Cures measure, which passed 51-0, is aimed at streamlining the Food and Drug Administration’s approval process for new drugs. It received bipartisan support in the Energy and Commerce Committee, easily passing a subpanel last week on a voice vote. The committee’s chairman, Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), worked with Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) on the bill for over a year.

{mosads}The major remaining question was how to pay for the bill’s cost, including more than $10 billion over five years in new funds for medical research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The bill also includes $550 million over five years for the FDA, a key point for Democrats, who pushed to have the funds added.

Members particularly praised the new NIH funds, which would fulfill a bipartisan priority and get around the sequester because the funds are under mandatory spending, which is not subject to the same caps. Read more here.

FEDS MAKE MOVE IN FLORIDA FIGHT: The Obama administration on Thursday agreed to give Florida some but not all of its requested federal funds for hospitals, the latest move in a fight over ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion.  

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) last month sued the Obama administration over what he called an effort to force his state to expand Medicaid under ObamaCare, by withholding funds for a separate federal program that compensates hospitals for treating uninsured people, called the Low Income Pool (LIP).

The Obama administration has countered that the LIP decision will be made “regardless” of Medicaid expansion but noted that LIP funds should be tailored so they do not cover costs that would otherwise be covered by Medicaid expansion.

The White House made its latest move on Thursday by giving Florida the “preliminary” notice that it will fund a smaller LIP program, at $1 billion, down from $2.16 billion currently. It says Florida’s request to continue the funding at about the same level does not meet the standard of being tailored to avoid overlap with potential Medicaid expansion. Read more here. 

HEALTH INSURANCE LOBBYIST MOVING ON: Karen Ignagni, who has long served as the health insurance industry’s top lobbyist in D.C., announced Thursday she will leave her post.

Ignagni, who joined the American’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) in 1993, had been a core negotiator throughout the debate over ObamaCare, often putting herself and the insurance industry at odds with the Obama administration.

Mark Ganz, the board chairman for AHIP, announced her departure in a statement Thursday, praised her for navigating “intense challenges from the Patient’s Bill of Rights to the Affordable Care Act.”

“With tenacity, intellect and deep policy knowledge, she ensured our industry has a seat at all tables,” Ganz wrote in a statement.

The powerful industry lobbyist will become the president and CEO of EmblemHealth. Read more here.

IRS FINISHED OBAMACARE PREP AT THE BUZZER: Turns out it wasn’t just HealthCare.gov that had problems meeting deadlines for ObamaCare.

The IRS didn’t give a final test to its ObamaCare systems until less than a week before this year’s filing season kicked off, a federal watchdog said Thursday.

Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration found that the team that tests IRS systems didn’t access the Affordable Care Act system before they started their work in November 2014. Read more here.

State by state

New York City hospitals ask state, feds for another $1 billion

Many Pennsylvania hospitals aren’t getting paid for the care they provide

What we’re reading

Ignoring the penalty for not having health insurance

Lawmakers back broader access to contraceptives for women in the military

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