Overnight Health Care: Trump officials defend Medicaid work requirements | HHS chief dismisses ‘Medicare for all’ as ‘too good to be true’ | Aetna sells Medicare drug business
Welcome to Thursday’s Overnight Health Care. Most of the country was focused on the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh before the Senate. On the health front, though, top Health and Human Services officials were maing the case for President Trump’s conservative health policies. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator Seema Verma defended Medicaid work requirements Thursday, while her boss, Alex Azar, called Medicare for all “to good to be true.”
Verma, speaking at an event in D.C., said that the intent of Medicaid work requirements isn’t to expel people from the program.
“Community engagement requirements are not some subversive attempt to just kick people off of Medicaid,” she said.
“Instead, their aim is to put beneficiaries in control with the right incentives to live healthier, independent lives.”
Why it matters: More than 4,300 people lost their Medicaid coverage in Arkansas this month for not adhering to the new rules.
{mosads}But Verma stood by the Arkansas’ program, repeating an assertion from the state’s governor that it helped 1,000 gain employment.
What’s next: Verma indicated CMS would continue approving work requirements, even though a federal judge recently ruled against the administration in a lawsuit against Kentucky’s program. Eight other states are asking the administration to approve work requirements.
“We are committed to this issue and we are moving closer to approving even more state waivers,” she said.
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Azar: Medicare for all is ‘too good to be true’
In a wide-ranging speech in Nashville, HHS Secretary Alex Azar dismissed “Medicare for all” as a promise that’s too good to be true.
“Well, when we were young, our parents taught us a good lesson: If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. That’s no less true in healthcare than it is anywhere else,” Azar said.
His argument: “When you drill down into the details, it’s clear that Medicare for all is a misnomer. What’s really being proposed is a single government system for every American that won’t resemble Medicare at all.”
This was not the first time a top HHS official at the Department of Health and Human Services has tried to discredit the idea of Medicare for all. In July, Verma called it socialized medicine that would put seniors at risk.
Azar also credited President Trump with lowering ObamaCare premiums
In the same speech, Azar said President Trump has been a better steward of ObamaCare than its namesake.
“The president who was supposedly trying to sabotage the Affordable Care Act has proven better at managing it than the president who wrote the law,” Azar said.
He said premiums have been decreasing and there are more plans available for consumers to choose from on state exchanges. According to Azar, premiums for the typical ObamaCare plan will decrease in 2019 by an average of 2 percent nationwide.
But experts say premiums are falling despite Trump, not because of him.
Here’s some important context for the Trump administration’s announcement that ACA benchmark premiums will drop next year. Insurers in the exchange are quite profitable right now because they overshot so much in their premium increases for this year.https://t.co/hYhi5bGu0d pic.twitter.com/dWXUM67pib
— Larry Levitt (@larry_levitt) September 27, 2018
In addition, insurers overpriced their plans this year, driven by the uncertainty over how the Trump administration would handle ObamaCare.
Read more on Azar’s speech here.
Democrats are plotting moves on ObamaCare if they win back the House.
Democrats say they will grill top Trump administration officials over what they say have been efforts to “sabotage” ObamaCare, if they take back the House majority this fall and win committee chairmanships with subpoena power.
While Democrats are unlikely to see significant health-care legislation enacted while President Trump is in the White House, they say they’ll work to advance several bills designed to “undo” the damage caused by the administration and build up the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The measures and the tough hearings could help set the stage for the 2020 presidential race, when Democrats hope to unseat Trump.
Why it matters: Election forecasters say it’s almost certain Democrats will win back the House but Republicans are expected to keep the Senate. Still, House Democrats could make things uncomfortable for the GOP and President Trump ahead of 2020.
GOP lawmaker touts move to lift limits on telehealth for opioid treatment
Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) on Thursday touted legislation to use telehealth to prescribe drugs to treat opioid addiction, a move he said would make it easier to fight the epidemic.
“This will give the opportunity for physicians, through telemedicine, to actually prescribe controlled substances such as what we use in medication assisted treatment,” Carter said at an event on telehealth hosted by The Hill and sponsored by the Health Care Alliance for Patient Safety.
Carter’s legislation, cosponsored by Democratic Rep. Cheri Bustos (Ill.) would lift limits on prescribing drugs that treat opioid addiction without first having an in-person doctor’s visit. Instead, telehealth could be used to prescribe the medication from afar.
The legislation, the Special Registration for Telemedicine Clarification Act, is included in an opioid package that Congress is expected to pass this week.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a doctor, said that telehealth can be useful in other circumstances as well, even if a patient is older and not as technologically savvy, if the doctor establishes a good relationship.
“It isn’t age, it’s the nature of the patient-provider relationship that enables,” Cassidy said.
Aetna sells Medicare health business
Health insurer Aetna Inc. said Thursday that it plans to sell its Medicare prescription drug plan business to WellCare Health Plans Inc., according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The sale is contingent on approval of Aetna’s merger with CVS Health, which requires approval by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and other regulators, according to the filing. The price of the sale was not disclosed.
The sale is part of an effort by Aetna to avoid an antitrust lawsuit over the level of control it will have in the Medicare prescription drug market following its merger with CVS.
CVS last year agreed to buy Aetna for $69 billion.
What we’re reading:
ObamaCare is about to get a bit cheaper for lots of people (CNN.com)
Doctors speak bluntly about a record 80,000 flu deaths (NBC News)
An EPA children’s health official says Trump wants to “disappear” her office (Vox)
State by state
Medicaid expansion goes before Maine judge (WGME)
Iowa Poll: Share of Iowans who want to continue Medicaid privatization drops to 28 percent (Des Moines Register)
Sen. Emmett Hanger awarded for focus on cancer policy (WHSV)
From The Hill’s opinion page:
I would urge Tiger Woods to speak out against the danger of opioids after surgery
Poll shows Trump could be in jeopardy if uninsured rate increases
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