Congress

A group of conservative health policy experts, known as the Health Care Consensus Group, has been meeting weekly to craft a GOP plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, and that effort took on new importance when President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday (April 3) that his health care plan will be a prominent part of his 2020 campaign.

Reps. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) reintroduced anticipated bipartisan legislation Wednesday (April 3) that would align the strict privacy scheme for substance abuse treatment records, 42 CFR Part 2, with the less-stringent Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

President Donald Trump stepped back his demand that the Senate immediately craft a health bill to replace the Affordable Care Act, following a conversation with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and is now saying that a plan will be voted on after the 2020 elections.

Ranking House Energy & Commerce Committee Republican Greg Walden (OR) said the two parties seem to have worked out differences on FDA-related drug pricing bills that the committee will mark up Wednesday (April 3).

Rep. Michael Burgess said maybe Medicare and Medicaid should cover insulin without cost-sharing because the cost to the health care system of diabetics rationing the drug is likely greater than the additional cost of covering it outright.

Health care stakeholders remain fixated on the lawsuit over the Affordable Care Act’s constitutionality as key Republican and Democratic senators urge Attorney General William Barr to explain the Department of Justice’s surprise move to call for the entire health law to be scrapped and as stakeholders file “friend of the court” briefs in the controversial case, Texas v. Azar, which is now on appeal at the Firth Circuit Court.

Senate Finance Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) on Wednesday (March 27) signaled he would back a bill extending the Trump administration’s proposal to shift rebates to the point of sale to the commercial market.

Progressive Democrats’ plans to shine a spotlight on Medicare for All have been put on the backburner due to the renewed focus on the Affordable Care Act and the Trump administration’s call for the law to be scrapped in court and replaced by Republicans.

A trio of business associations is gathering signatures on a list of guiding principles for surprise billing legislation that it will soon send to House Education & Labor Committee leadership in advance of an April 2 hearing on the issue, the first of its kind on Capitol Hill.