Overnight Health Care: Dems want ObamaCare outreach funds in bipartisan fix

Senate Democrats will push to restore ObamaCare outreach funding in a bipartisan health care bill this month after the Trump administration announced drastic cuts to the program.

Democratic aides say the party will seek funding for ObamaCare sign-up efforts in a bipartisan market stabilization bill that the Senate Health Committee is negotiating, a move that comes after the administration announced a 90 percent cut to outreach efforts.

The move adds another contentious element to efforts to forge a bipartisan fix for ObamaCare.  

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Democrats have been outraged by the Trump administration’s announcement last week that it would cut funding for advertising and other outreach to get people to sign up for the health law’s coverage from $100 million to $10 million. Democrats say the move is part of Republican efforts to “sabotage” ObamaCare.

The bipartisan bill being negotiated this month in the Senate Health Committee, aimed at stabilizing ObamaCare markets, provides Democrats an opening to try to address the issue. Read more here.

 

Anti-abortion leaders urge Congress to fast-track Planned Parenthood defunding

Ten leaders of anti-abortion groups are urging Congress to defund Planned Parenthood using a fast-track budget maneuver that is immune to filibuster.

The leaders, led by the Susan B. Anthony List’s Marjorie Dannenfelser, asked Republicans in a letter Tuesday to revisit the fiscal 2017 reconciliation bill “immediately” to defund Planned Parenthood.

That bill was supposed to be used to repeal parts of ObamaCare, but Senate Republicans could not find the support within their party to pass it and given a raft of congressional must-do items, that effort seems unlikely.

“The pro-life majority that now controls both chambers of Congress and the White House must pass a reconciliation bill stopping the vast majority of federal funding for Planned Parenthood,” the leaders wrote in the letter.

Read more here.

 

Pence swears in new surgeon general

Vice President Pence swore in the new surgeon general, Jerome Adams, who was previously appointed by Pence in 2014 to serve as Indiana’s health commissioner.

At the ceremony Tuesday afternoon, Adams said his motto as surgeon general will be to create better health through better partnerships in an effort to address wide-ranging health issues, such as the opioid epidemic, mental health and childhood obesity.

“To borrow a phrase from our president, let’s all work together to make American health great again,” he said, according to a pool report.

The Senate confirmed Adams in early August, right before the chamber headed into a monthlong recess. In April, the Trump administration ousted Vivek Murthy, who had served in the position since 2014 as an appointee of President Obama.

Pence praised Adams for his work on cutting Indiana’s infant mortality rate, addressing Ebola and helping curb an HIV outbreak stemming from injection drug use.

“It was Dr. Adams who led from the front,” Pence said, according to a pool report. “I saw that empathy for which he is so widely known.”

Read more here.

 

Utah hospital bars police from interacting with nurses

The Utah hospital where a nurse was arrested for refusing to give a patient’s blood sample to police  announced new policies to keep police away from its nursing staff.

Margaret Pearce, chief of nursing at the University of Utah health system, announced the changes in response to the incident. In a video that went viral last week, an officer is seen forcefully grabbing nurse Alex Wubbels and arresting her as she cries for help.

The mayor and police chief have apologized for the officer’s actions.

Pearce said at a news conference that she was “appalled” by the incident. “I’m expecting to see great changes occur because of this event,” she said.

Pearce said police would no longer interact with nurses and instead would speak with “house supervisors.”

Discussions with law enforcement will also occur outside of areas where patients are being cared for, she said.

Read more here.

 

Medical device industry launching new push to repeal tax

AdvaMed, the trade group for medical device manufacturers, is launching a new push to get Congress to repeal ObamaCare’s medical device tax. Calls for repealing the tax are heating up as it is slated to return next year after lawmakers suspended it for this year. The group is launching a digital ad buy around the tax.

“Inaction by Congress could forestall the tremendous advances these American manufacturers are making on behalf of patients,” said Scott Whitaker, CEO of AdvaMed. “No one wins if this tax isn’t fully repealed.”

 

Chamber of Commerce urges Congress to stop ObamaCare tax

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched a six-figure digital media campaign Tuesday urging Congress to repeal an ObamaCare tax on health insurance plans.

The Health Insurance Tax is an annual fee owed by insurers that is set to go into effect in December.

Congress delayed the implementation of the tax in 2015 through an omnibus spending bill after facing pressure from insurance companies and businesses.

“We know Congress has a long to do list this fall, and we want to remind them that delaying the health insurance tax must be a priority. Time is running out. In a few months this tax will return, and small business owners, families, and seniors will shoulder the cost,” said Neil Bradley, senior vice president and chief policy officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Read more here.

 

Groups press lawmakers to stabilize ObamaCare markets

Nearly 100 consumer, patient and provider organizations are asking lawmakers to quickly pass a bipartisan bill to stabilize the ObamaCare insurance markets as the Senate Health Committee gears up for a series of hearings on the issue beginning Wednesday.

In a letter to Republican and Democratic leaders in both chambers of Congress, the groups specifically included three main items they’d like to see in a bill.

Read more here.

 

What we’re reading:

This is what ObamaCare sabotage looks like (Vox)

Transgender patients fear losing care as Trump rewrites health care rules (statnews.com)

The same agency that runs ObamaCare is using taxpayer money to undermine it (The New York Times)

 

State by state

California, other states to extend ObamaCare sign-up beyond federal limit (Kaiser Health News)

Medicaid fraud in South Carolina largely tied to health care providers (Charleston Post Courier)

Wyoming grapples with Medicaid shortfall that will likely grow in coming years (Casper Star Tribune)

 

Join us Tuesday, September 12 for “Turning Genes into Medicine: Reimagining Our Health Care System,” featuring Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa). Topics of discussion include incentivizing medical innovation and the impact of new treatments on the American health ecosystem and patients. RSVP Here

 

Join us Wednesday, September 13 for “America’s Opioid Epidemic: Search for Solutions,” featuring Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.). Topics of discussion include national and local strategies to tackle the opioid crisis, and addressing and eliminating barriers to treatment and recovery. RSVP Here