Overnight Healthcare: Abortion language may be cut from Senate ObamaCare bill | Anthem to leave ObamaCare markets in two states | WH launches repeal website

Key provisions of the Senate’s ObamaCare repeal bill meant to curb abortion services are in serious danger of being dropped from the legislation, which could cost the bill votes from conservatives.

All three provisions, according to aides and lobbyists, are expected to fall short of budgetary rules.

Republicans are using budget reconciliation rules to pass the ObamaCare repeal bill in order to prevent Democrats from filibustering it.

The problem is that provisions in the healthcare bill must be budget-related to be included in a measure considered under those special rules.

Read more here.

 

Anthem to end ObamaCare plans in Indiana, Wisconsin 

Anthem will pull out of the ObamaCare exchanges in Indiana and Wisconsin next year, the insurance giant announced Wednesday. 

{mosads}Anthem cited uncertainty surrounding how the Trump administration will handle the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as one reason for leaving. 

“Today, planning and pricing for ACA-compliant health plans has become increasingly difficult due to a shrinking and deteriorating individual market, as well as continual changes and uncertainty in federal operations, rules and guidance, including cost sharing reduction subsidies and the restoration of taxes on fully insured coverage,” spokeswoman Leslie Porras said in a statement. 

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R) said in a statement that consumers in his home state of Wisconsin “will now have to scramble to find new plans and new doctors” while ObamaCare is “clearly collapsing” around them.

Read more here.

 

Meanwhile… Insurer startup to enter five ObamaCare exchanges

An insurance startup is expanding its reach in five state ObamaCare exchanges amid uncertainty over the Affordable Care Act’s future.

In a blog post, the insurance startup Oscar said it was working in the states because it sees a business opportunity despite turmoil surrounding former President Obama’s signature law, which Republicans are seeking to repeal.

“We’re confident that when the dust settles, the market for health insurance will stabilize in time for 2018,” the blog post states. “For all the political noise, there are simply too many lives at stake for representatives in Washington, D.C. not to do what’s right for the people.”

Read more here

 

GOP senator: I ‘can’t imagine’ voting yes on health bill in a week 

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Wednesday cast doubt on whether he would vote for the Republican ObamaCare repeal bill next week, pointing to the short timeframe to review the bill. 

“What I’ve told leadership very clearly is I’m going to need time, and my constituents are going to need time to evaluate exactly how this is going to affect them, so I personally think that holding a vote on this next week would definitely be rushed,” Johnson said on CNN. “I can’t imagine, quite honestly, that I’d have the information to evaluate and justify a yes vote within just a week.” 

Read more here.

 

And from another GOP senator: ‘If I don’t get to read it, I don’t vote for it’

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said on Wednesday that he wouldn’t vote for a healthcare bill if he wasn’t first able to read and study it.

During an interview on MSNBC, Cassidy was asked whether he thinks he’ll get the chance to see the GOP healthcare plan and decide whether it is satisfactory before a vote.

“If I don’t get to read it, I don’t vote for it,” he said.

“If I don’t get to study it, I don’t vote for it. And so it’s just a question — we got pretty detailed discussion, though, as to what we wish to do.”

Cassidy said he’s not defending the process and doesn’t like it.

Read more here.

 

White House launches ObamaCare repeal website

The White House launched an ObamaCare repeal-and-replace web page on Wednesday that criticizes the healthcare system, though it does not include any details about a GOP healthcare plan.

The page was posted one day after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) promised his GOP colleagues that they would have a draft legislation by Thursday, followed by a Senate floor vote next week.

The White House web page points to higher premiums, costly deductibles and fewer insurance options as some of the flaws of Obamacare.

“Obamacare has led to higher costs and fewer health insurance options for millions of Americans,” the page reads. “The 2010 healthcare law has brought the American people rising premiums, unaffordable deductibles, fewer insurance choices, and higher taxes.”

It also highlights President Trump’s healthcare efforts and key campaign promise to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

Read more here.

 

Planned Parenthood plans nationwide rallies against healthcare bill

Planned Parenthood is planning a wave of nationwide protests to dissuade the Senate from including language in the ObamaCare repeal bill that would defund the nonprofit organization.

The organization says its message at Wednesday night’s rallies, taking place in at least 20 states, is simple: “Do not take away my health care.”

The organization says it will hold more than 60 “Pink Out The Night” rallies in major cities across the country on Wednesday night “to call on the Senate to protect access to health care and reject efforts to block patients from care at Planned Parenthood,” according to a press release.

Organizers are giving away strands of pink lights and encouraging participants to hang them over their front doors at home.

Read more here.

 

What we’re reading 

GOP health plan is really a rollback of Medicaid (The New York Times)

Addiction experts say GOP plan to replace Medicaid spending won’t help (Stat News)

Fears mount that ObamaCare repeal will put life-saving treatments for opioid epidemic out of reach (Los Angeles Times)

 

State by state

Wisconsin governor urges GOP senators to reject Medicaid expansion (Associated Press)

Michigan hospitals, communities benefit from Medicaid, private insurance expansion (Crain’s Detroit Business)

Massachusetts governor offers plan to overhaul Medicaid program (boston.com)

 

In case you missed it from The Hill

GOP rep on Senate plan: ‘It looks like they are trying to hide something’

House Dems slam Trump ‘betrayal’ on drug prices

Schumer: Dems have ‘damn good chance’ of blocking ObamaCare repeal

Poll finds growing opposition to GOP healthcare bill