If Republicans Repeal Health Law, How Will They Pay For Replacement?

If Republicans Repeal Health Law, How Will They Pay For Replacement?-kaiserhealthnews: Leading Republicans have vowed that even if they repeal most of the Affordable Care Act early in 2017, a replacement will not hurt those currently receiving benefits.

Medicare offers hospitals cash to rev up cardiac rehab participation

Medicare offers hospitals cash to rev up cardiac rehab participation-modernhealthcare: After patients have a heart attack or heart surgery, interventional cardiologist Dr. Amit Keswani urges them to go into cardiac rehabilitation. The program of supervised exercise and counseling helps cardiac patients recover and lowers their risk of future heart attacks, chest pain, hospital admission and a slew of other medical problems.But at most, only about half actually do it.

GOP Wants Trump to Trim ACA Benefits, Say Congress Aides

GOP Wants Trump to Trim ACA Benefits, Say Congress Aides-bloomberg: Facing a years-long wait before they can fully implement a planned repeal of Obamacare, Republicans lawmakers are exploring how the Trump administration can quickly trim required health insurance benefits under the law and lower the cost of health plans, said key GOP congressional aides.

Democrats lean on drug pricing as Obamacare repeal looms

Democrats lean on drug pricing as Obamacare repeal looms-reuters: Democrats are showing little interest in cooperating with the Republicans who control Congress on legislation to dismantle the Obamacare health insurance law but some are signaling a willingness to collaborate on action to curb rising drug prices.

Republican Tax Overhaul Likely to Touch on Individual Provisions

Republican Tax Overhaul Likely to Touch on Individual Provisions-morningconsult: Republican tax experts say there is an opening for individual tax provisions that align with President-elect Donald Trump’s populist rhetoric, even though pre-election discussions focused primarily on corporate rates.

New Medicare Rules Should Help ‘High Need’ Patients Get Better Treatment

New Medicare Rules Should Help ‘High Need’ Patients Get Better Treatment-kaiserhealthnews: Doctors have complained for years that they’re not paid adequately for time-consuming work associated with managing care for seriously ill older patients: consulting with other specialists, talking to families and caregivers, interacting with pharmacists and more.

GOP considers holding off on repealing ObamaCare taxes

GOP considers holding off on repealing ObamaCare taxes-thehill: Congressional Republicans are considering holding off on repealing some of ObamaCare's taxes, according to lobbyists familiar with the discussions.

Medicare sticks with mandatory bundled-pay demo, but Tom Price likely to intervene

Medicare sticks with mandatory bundled-pay demo, but Tom Price likely to intervene-modernhealthcare: The CMS is moving forward with a new mandatory initiative that would make hospitals in 98 markets financially accountable for the cost and quality of all care associated with bypass surgery and heart attacks.

Obamacare recipients go to court to protect funding

Obamacare recipients go to court to protect funding-politico: Donald Trump won't be sworn in as president for another month, but one of the first salvos in a forthcoming legal war against his administration was launched Tuesday as people who get subsidies under Obamacare asked to intervene in a lawsuit that threatens to shut down funding key to the health insurance program.

Senate Aims to Stop Firms From ‘Buying Up Drugs and Jacking Up Prices’

Senate Aims to Stop Firms From ‘Buying Up Drugs and Jacking Up Prices’-nytimes: On the heels of headline-grabbing price spikes on prescription drugs, a bipartisan Senate report on Wednesday will call on Congress to take action to prevent huge, unjustified cost increases on decades-old prescription medicines that have no competition.

Opinion: The FDA’s Accelerated Approval Process is Working

Opinion: The FDA’s Accelerated Approval Process is Working-morningconsult: It goes without saying that the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act by an overwhelming bipartisan majority vote will help speed up the delivery of innovative treatments to patients. There’s now an opportunity to take a step back and assess how we can build on this bipartisan achievement.

Republicans Press CMS on Medicaid Expansion Policies

Republicans Press CMS on Medicaid Expansion Policies-morningconsult: Congressional Republicans are pressing Obama administration officials for details on the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion before they leave office next month.

McConnell: Obamacare Replacement Plan Is ‘Phase Two’

McConnell: Obamacare Replacement Plan Is ‘Phase Two’-morningconsult: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday indicated that Republicans won’t be putting forth their alternative to the Affordable Care Act before repealing parts of the health care law.

G.O.P. Plans to Replace Health Care Law With ‘Universal Access’

G.O.P. Plans to Replace Health Care Law With ‘Universal Access’-nytimes: House Republicans, responding to criticism that repealing the Affordable Care Act would leave millions without health insurance, said on Thursday that their goal in replacing President Obama’s health law was to guarantee “universal access” to health care and coverage, not necessarily to ensure that everyone actually has insurance.

Mandatory participation killed the Part B demo

Mandatory participation killed the Part B demo-modernhealthcare: Experts say the cancellation of a pilot program whose goal was to drop drug prices doesn't mean the fight is over, and future efforts should simply take lessons from the experience.

MEDICARE OUTPATIENTS RISK HIGHER BILLS FOR SOME PROCEDURES

MEDICARE OUTPATIENTS RISK HIGHER BILLS FOR SOME PROCEDURES-ap: You pay less for outpatient treatment than for a hospital admission, right? Not necessarily in the topsy-turvy world of Medicare billing, according to a government report.

Obama administration scraps controversial drug pricing proposal

Obama administration scraps controversial drug pricing proposal-thehill: The Obama administration announced Thursday night that it is calling off a controversial initiative to fight high drug prices.

Actavis UK accused of overcharging NHS for vital drug

Actavis UK accused of overcharging NHS for vital drug-bbc: The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has accused Actavis UK of breaking competition law by raising the price for 10mg hydrocortisone tablets from 70p to £88 over eight years.

Maintain and improve Medicare Innovation

Maintain and improve Medicare Innovation-thehill: As Congress and the new administration prepare to embark on significant changes to federal healthcare policy, we should not lose sight of an important goal: making Medicare and Medicaid, which serve the health needs of tens of millions of Americans, more value-driven by enhancing patient quality and controlling costs.

Debt Ceiling Deadline Falls in Trump’s First 100 Days but Fix May Not

Debt Ceiling Deadline Falls in Trump’s First 100 Days but Fix May Not-rollcall: As Republicans about to have unified control of the government ready their 100-day agenda, one thing is notably missing: a plan for addressing the government’s borrowing authority when the current debt limit suspension expires on March 15.

Tax Reform Coming Via Budget Reconciliation in 2017, McConnell Says

Tax Reform Coming Via Budget Reconciliation in 2017, McConnell Says-morningconsult: The Senate will attempt to pass a comprehensive tax overhaul next year using the budget reconciliation process, which will insulate the legislation from the need for 60 votes to break a potential filibuster.

AFTER HEALTH-CARE REPEAL VOTE, SOME IN GOP FEAR A CLIFF

AFTER HEALTH-CARE REPEAL VOTE, SOME IN GOP FEAR A CLIFF-ap: Republicans are eagerly planning initial votes next month on dismantling President Barack Obama's health care law, a cherished GOP goal. But many worry that while Congress tries to replace it, the party will face ever-angrier voters, spooked health insurers and the possibility of tumbling off a political cliff.

Pay-for-performance drug pricing: Drugmakers asked to eat costs when products don't deliver

Pay-for-performance drug pricing: Drugmakers asked to eat costs when products don't deliver-modernhealthcare: The latest wrinkle in the fight against rising drug prices involves insurers and pharmacy benefit managers asking drugmakers to accept lower prices for the latest medicines emerging from their labs when they don't achieve the desired results.

New push to replace Obamacare reignites old GOP tensions

New push to replace Obamacare reignites old GOP tensions-washingtonpost: Republicans on Capitol Hill are already laying the groundwork for a rapid repeal of President Obama’s signature health-care law beginning on the first day of the new Congress, before President-elect Donald Trump is even sworn in.

Senate Flirting With Brief Government Shutdown

Senate Flirting With Brief Government Shutdown-morningconsult: The prospect of a short-term government shutdown appears likely this weekend unless Senate Democrats decide not to hold up a must-pass spending bill over two unrelated provisions: one to extend benefits for retired coal workers and another meant to spur iron and steel manufacturing in the United States.

Cures Act Gains Bipartisan Support That Eluded Obama Health Law

Cures Act Gains Bipartisan Support That Eluded Obama Health Law-nytimes: With self-congratulatory zeal and smiles all around, huge bipartisan majorities in Congress have just passed legislation to speed the discovery of cures for killer diseases. At the same time, Republican leaders have been devising a strategy to undo the Affordable Care Act, which has done more than any law in a generation to treat people with those diseases.

GOP eyes big gamble on ObamaCare

GOP eyes big gamble on ObamaCare-thehill: Republicans are betting that they can force Democrats to negotiate a replacement for ObamaCare if they repeal the law first.

Republicans Release Bill To Keep Government Open, Add Money To Defense

Republicans Release Bill To Keep Government Open, Add Money To Defense-huffingtonpost: After Democrats spent the better part of Tuesday complaining that Republicans had locked them out of negotiations on a stopgap spending bill, Republicans released text of the bill late Tuesday night that would keep the government open past Friday and add money to the Defense Department.

Freedom Caucus opposes GOP's Obamacare replacement plan

Freedom Caucus opposes GOP's Obamacare replacement plan-politico: The Republican congressman who made his name as the instigator of John Boehner’s ouster last year was set to take the reins of the House Freedom Caucus on Monday night.

Some Democrats Plan Slowdown as Senate Wraps Up Year

Some Democrats Plan Slowdown as Senate Wraps Up Year-thehill: Some Senate Democrats are planning to block or slow down legislation as Republicans try to whittle down what’s left of their to-do list for the 114th Congress this week.

Top Dems urge Manchin, Heidi Heitkamp to turn down Trump

Top Dems urge Manchin, Heidi Heitkamp to turn down Trump-cnn: Senior Senate Democrats are putting pressure on their red-state colleagues to turn down any offer from Donald Trump to serve in his administration, warning that their party could suffer if they join forces with the incoming president.

Ryan: Obamacare repeal is first priority under Trump

Ryan: Obamacare repeal is first priority under Trump-thehill: Repealing Obamacare will be the first priority of congressional Republicans when Donald Trump takes office in January, House Speaker Paul Ryan told CBS's "60 Minutes."

McConnell cautions replacement to health law to take time

McConnell cautions replacement to health law to take time-ap: The next Congress will begin work immediately next year toward repealing President Barack Obama's health care law but delay the changes as Republicans try to come up with an alternative, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Saturday.

Congress’ rush to finish year-end work could create early headaches for Trump

Congress’ rush to finish year-end work could create early headaches for Trump-washingtonpost: Congress returns this week in hopes of quickly completing the year’s remaining work, but the dash to the finish could create headaches in the early part of Donald Trump’s presidency, particularly when it comes to the debate over government spending.

McConnell tees up medical cures bill

McConnell tees up medical cures bill-thehill: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is turning attention toward a medical innovation bill that is receiving pushback from liberals.

Drug pricing debate going into hibernation

Drug pricing debate going into hibernation-thehill: A legislative push to address high drug prices may have slowed for the moment, but healthcare providers expect the debate will resume next year when lawmakers reauthorize medical product user fees.

Reeling Dems look for new leader

Reeling Dems look for new leader-thehill: Reeling from their election losses, Democrats will hold their first audition for a new Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman at a gathering in Denver on Friday.

House OKs bill bolstering medical research, drug approvals

House OKs bill bolstering medical research, drug approvals-ap: The House easily approved a sweeping biomedical bill Wednesday that would help drug and medical device companies win swifter government approval of their products, boost disease research and drug-abuse spending and revamp federal mental health programs.

House GOP Sets Busier, Front-Loaded 2017 Schedule

House GOP Sets Busier, Front-Loaded 2017 Schedule-morningconsult: Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has set a busy House schedule for 2017, one aimed at giving Republicans a wide window to deliver on conservative policies in the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency.

GOP may delay Obamacare replacement for years

GOP may delay Obamacare replacement for years-politico: Prepare for the Obamacare cliff. Congressional Republicans are setting up their own, self-imposed deadline to make good on their vow to replace the Affordable Care Act. With buy-in from Donald Trump’s transition team, GOP leaders on both sides of the Capitol are coalescing around a plan to vote to repeal the law in early 2017 — but delay the effective date for that repeal for as long as three years.