Overnight Healthcare: Trump to keep NIH director | Abstinence advocate named to HHS post | Anthem exits Ohio ObamaCare market

Abstinence education advocate named to HHS post

The Trump administration has named a national abstinence education advocate to a post at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Valerie Huber, the president of Ascend, a D.C.-based professional association that advocates for abstinence education, will be the chief of staff to the assistant secretary for health at HHS, according to a staff email obtained by The Hill.

In an email to staff, HHS’ acting assistant secretary for health Don Wright said Huber’s “wealth of professional experience in the field of public policy will serve her well in this position.”

Read more here: http://bit.ly/2r3fu85

 

Anthem pulling out of ObamaCare market in Ohio

Anthem is exiting the ObamaCare marketplace in Ohio, leaving around 20 counties in the state without an insurer willing to sell a health plan in its exchange for 2018.

The company cited uncertainty as a reason why it’s exiting the exchanges in all of the state’s counties, particularly the question of whether or not the Trump administration will continue payments to insurers that compensate them for reducing out-of-pocket costs for lower-income enrollees.

“The Individual market remains volatile and the lack of certainty of funding for cost sharing reduction subsidies, the restoration of taxes on fully insured coverage and, an increasing lack of overall predictability simply does not provide a sustainable path forward to provide affordable plan choices for consumers,” Anthem said in a statement.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/2sQ61SS

 

Trump to keep NIH director

Francis Collins, until now a temporary holdover from the Obama administration, will continue to serve as the National Institutes of Health director under President Trump.

Collins has broad support among Republicans who control the medical research agency’s purse strings. In fact, four key Republicans urged Trump to keep him in his role in a letter in December, writing that “his distinguished scientific experience, effective leadership skills, and long standing relationships with members of Congress, researchers, and advocates will service the nation and your administration well.”

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) — chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — praised Trump’s decision on Tuesday.

“This is good news for the country and one of President Trump’s best appointments,” Alexander said in a statement. “There’s nobody better qualified than Francis Collins to help accelerate the medical miracles that have the potential to help virtually every American family.”

Read more here: http://bit.ly/2ryORv4

 

Too many cooks threaten GOP healthcare bill

Senate Republicans may have too many cooks in the kitchen when it comes to healthcare, and it is complicating efforts to draft an ObamaCare replacement bill.

The main Senate group working on crafting healthcare legislation is the task force of 13 men backed by Senate leaders. It won negative attention early on for its lack of women, at which point GOP leaders opened it up to all members.

There’s also a rival group led by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), who have been outspoken opponents of the House-passed American Health Care Act and co-sponsored their own version of an ObamaCare replacement bill called the Patient Freedom Act.

Yet another group is led by Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and is focused on Medicaid expansion.

And then there’s the faction of conservatives that includes Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah). They’re not a formal working group, but they want the Senate bill to be as close as possible to the House bill.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/2szqlIA

 

Budget committee: House healthcare bill can move to Senate

The House will not be forced to vote again on its healthcare bill. 

The House Budget Committee announced Tuesday that the American Health Care Act passed May 4 by the House complies with the Senate reconciliation process and will be able to move to the upper chamber. 

House Republicans initially held off on sending their ObamaCare replacement bill to the Senate in case it failed to meet certain budget rules. 

Read more here: http://bit.ly/2ryKal5

 

Five places most likely to lose ObamaCare insurers

The immense uncertainty surrounding ObamaCare has some areas wondering whether they’ll soon be in a dead zone — a place without any insurance plans to buy on the healthcare exchanges.

Insurance companies are in the midst of filing premium requests for the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) marketplaces. But before seeking those premium hikes, they’ll have to decide whether to continue offering coverage at all.

It’s a difficult task, as Congress and the White House haven’t yet committed to funding crucial payments to compensate insurers for subsidizing out-of-pocket costs for some lower-income enrollees. It’s also unclear if ObamaCare will continue to be the law of the land.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/2r1Jz7L

 

Senate panel to hold hearing on drug prices

The Senate’s health panel will hold a hearing next week on drug pricing, questioning experts about the prescription delivery system.

The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee will hold the hearing June 13 at 10 a.m., according to a media advisory.

The long-awaited hearing will focus on “the process of moving prescription drugs from the manufacturer to patients and how the drug delivery system affects what patients pay when picking up their prescriptions,” it says.

Read more here: http://bit.ly/2se5Sf8

 

What we’re reading

GOP plan could doom Medicaid managed care (Modern Healthcare)

The opioid crisis changed how doctors think about pain (Vox)

How Donald Trump shifted kids-cancer charity money into his business (Forbes)

 

State by state

Nevada’s legislature just passed a radical plan to let anybody sign up for Medicaid (Vox)

Delaware House votes on bill protecting abortion rights (AP)

 

Send tips and comments to Jessie Hellmann, jhellmann@digital-staging.thehill.com; Peter Sullivan, psullivan@digital-staging.thehill.com; Rachel Roubein, rroubein@digital-staging.thehill.com; and Nathaniel Weixel, nweixel@digital-staging.thehill.com.