Overnight Healthcare: CBO projects 18M could lose coverage after ObamaCare repeal

Repealing portions of ObamaCare without enacting a replacement could leave 18 million people without health insurance the following year, according to a report released Tuesday by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The CBO also estimated that premiums for policies purchased through the marketplaces or directly from insurers would increase by 20 to 25 percent that year.

The report, which was requested by Democrats, could complicate Republican efforts to repeal the health law and is likely to reignite a long fight between GOP lawmakers and the CBO over ObamaCare.

{mosads}

The CBO examined a 2015 repeal bill authored by Republicans that would have eliminated ObamaCare’s penalties and subsidies while leaving the insurance market reforms in place. President Obama vetoed that legislation when it reached his desk.

President-elect Donald Trump and the GOP have made repealing ObamaCare their first priority for 2017, but have not said what parts of the law they will leave in place or what a replacement plan will look like. It’s also unclear what parts of the 2015 bill they will use.

Read more here on the CBO report: http://bit.ly/2j5cvc0

Sanders to roll out bill letting Medicare negotiate drug prices

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Tuesday said he will introduce legislation allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices and called on President-elect Donald Trump to support the proposal.

“If Mr. Trump is serious about taking on pharma, if Mr. Trump is serious about having Medicare … negotiate prescription drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry, we are going to have very shortly very significant legislation to do just that,” Sanders told reporters.

“I would hope that Mr. Trump would join us and support that legislation.”

Trump indicated throughout the campaign that he would support allowing the government to negotiate drug prices and said last week that the pharmaceutical industry is “getting away with murder” because of what it charges the government.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/2j6lUjr

Poll: ObamaCare hits new popularity

ObamaCare is more popular today than it has been since 2009, according to a new poll from NBC News/The Wall Street Journal.

Forty-five percent of those polled view the healthcare legislation as a good idea, while 41 percent think it is a bad idea.

The poll notes that this is the first time since the Affordable Care Act became law that more Americans view it as a good idea than a bad idea.

While 80 percent of Democrats think the legislation is good, only 13 percent of Republicans feel the same way.

The poll comes as Congress last week passed a budget resolution that includes the first step toward repealing the healthcare law.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/2k1Kxlv

Dems call for delaying Price hearing over ethics concerns

Senate Democrats are pushing for a delay to Rep. Tom Price’s (R-Ga.) confirmation hearing to be Health and Human Services secretary amid renewed ethics concerns.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) sent a letter to Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) asking him to delay Wednesday’s confirmation hearing amid reports that Price invested in companies before introducing or supporting legislation that would help those companies.  

“Allowing Congressman Price’s nomination to move to a hearing with questions about his ethical qualifications left unanswered would send an early, clear, and deeply troubling signal that the Senate’s critical oversight functions will be given a back seat to the demands of the Trump Administration,” the senators wrote.

CNN reported on Monday that Price invested in a medical device company days before he introduced legislation benefiting the company.

The Trump team dismissed the report, noting the investment was made by a broker and Price was not aware of it until after he had introduced the legislation.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/2jHMUqb

Health pick puts STOCK Act in spotlight

The controversy over Rep. Tom Price’s investment’s has also thrust into the spotlight the 2012 law that forbids members of Congress from personally profiting from private information obtained through their congressional work.

The Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act was one of the few bipartisan achievements of President Obama’s tenure. Of the 435 members in the House, 417 voted to pass it, including Price.

No lawmaker has faced insider trading charges since the law was approved, but it has given ammunition to Democrats eager to question Price’s trading activity.

Lawmakers have focused on a series of trades Price made in medical companies, oftentimes in close proximity to political activity that may have boosted their profits.

The Hill’s Peter Schroeder has more on the law and the controversy here: http://bit.ly/2jwkYI6

What we’re reading

Tom Price invested in six drug companies before Medicare fight (Time)

Tragedy would unfold if Trump cancels Bush’s AIDS program (The Atlantic)

High prices for orphan drugs strain families and insurers (NPR)

State by state

Planned Parenthood in federal court to fight ouster from Texas Medicaid program (Dallas Morning-News)

Bipartisan fear of Medicaid block grant threat to Virginia (Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star)

North Carolina, federal officials ask judge to lift block on Cooper’s Medicaid expansion plan (News & Observer)