Overnight Healthcare: Portman, Toomey tasked with Medicaid talks | Trump threatens to stop ObamaCare payments | Senate defends writing health bill in private

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has asked Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) to discuss a way forward on the issue of Medicaid, according to Senate GOP aides.

Portman and Toomey are tasked with discussing how quickly to wind down ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion and how quickly a cap on Medicaid payments should grow.

While both senators represent states that accepted the expansion of Medicaid under the healthcare law, they have different positions.

{mosads}Portman is more protective of Medicaid expansion, while Toomey is opposed to the expansion.

The decision came after the Senate healthcare working group’s Tuesday meeting.

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Senate GOP looking for ways to repeal ObamaCare insurance rules

Senate Republicans are looking into repealing ObamaCare regulations on what services an insurance plan must cover, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Thursday.

Leaving a meeting of the Senate’s healthcare working group, Cornyn was asked if senators are looking at their ability to repeal ObamaCare’s essential health benefits.

“I’d say yes, we’re looking at it,” Cornyn replied.

But it’s unclear whether Senate rules governing the fast-track reconciliation process being used by Republicans would allow the essential health benefits mandate to be repealed.

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Opioid crisis becomes central issue in Medicaid debate

The national opioid crisis is becoming a political hurdle for Senate Republicans negotiating an ObamaCare repeal-and-replace bill that could end the healthcare law’s expansion of Medicaid.

Legislation approved by the House would cut off Medicaid expansion in 2020, ending payouts to states and reducing federal funding to the program by about $880 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

That’s a big problem for lawmakers such as Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who fear the cuts could hurt thousands of people in their states receiving help for addictions to prescription drugs and heroin.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/2q8ePU4

Trump threatens to stop ObamaCare payments

President Trump on Thursday threatened to withhold key payments to insurance companies made under ObamaCare, a move that could throw the market into chaos.

In an interview with The Economist, Trump said he would cut off the cost-sharing reductions (CSRs) — payments that reimburse insurers for providing discounted out-of-pocket costs to help those with low incomes afford insurance.

“[T]here is no ObamaCare, it’s dead. Plus we’re subsidizing it and we don’t have to subsidize it. You know if I ever stop wanting to pay the subsidies, which I will,” Trump said. “Anytime I want.”

Read more here: http://bit.ly/2qxlJFh

Senate GOP defends writing its healthcare bill in private

Senate Republicans are defending their decision to write their own ObamaCare replacement bill behind closed doors, bypassing the usual committee process.

They say it is unlikely that the bill will go through hearings and markups in committee, though they stress that a working group of lawmakers, as well as the entire Republican caucus, will have heavy input on the bill.

Yet the decision means that there will likely not be public sessions where experts could testify on the effects of the bill, nor will there be a public committee session, known as a markup, where lawmakers could offer amendments changing the legislation.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/2r621NN

What we’re reading

Is rape a pre-existing condition? Not exactly. (NPR)

Sen. Lamar Alexander: Women will have important role in crafting ObamaCare replacement bill (Nashville Tennessean)

Senate GOP united on one thing: lowering premiums (Axios)

Donald Trump has no idea what health insurance costs (Vox)

State by state

Illinois Senate approves abortion safeguards; veto likely (AP)

In New Jersey, Democrats hope no good healthcare compromise goes unpunished (New York Times)

CMS gives states until 2022 to meet Medicaid standards of care (Kaiser Health News)