Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
After Kicking Health Issues Down The Road, Congress Faces Day Of Reckoning
Health-care issues are聽at the top of Congress鈥檚 hefty December to-do list.聽Republicans spent much of the year on a failed bid to repeal and replace ObamaCare. That鈥檚 left several programs and taxes hanging in the balance as the year draws to a close, in addition to the聽latest聽health-care drama thrust into the GOP tax-reform debate.聽Here are five of the biggest health-care issues Congress will face next month. (Roubein, 11/26)
Lawmakers returning to Washington are confronting a full slate of health care issues that threaten to complicate a year-end sprint already fraught with debates over a major tax overhaul and immigration. The pileup is in part a consequence of Republicans鈥 single-minded push to repeal and replace Obamacare, which dominated health care debates for months and repeatedly collapsed in failure. (Cancryn and Pradhan, 11/27)
Senate Republicans began a frenzied week of negotiations to pass a landmark tax overhaul, grappling with several blocs of wavering GOP senators and trying to cobble together enough votes. ...聽A third group, including Susan Collins (R., Maine) and John McCain (R., Ariz.), helped kill the Republican health-care bill earlier this year and could pose resistance over a variety of provisions, including plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act鈥檚 health-insurance mandate as part of the tax bill. Mr. McCain said Monday that he is still undecided and had 鈥渁 lot of things鈥 he is concerned about. (Rubin and聽Hughes, 11/27)
Congressional negotiators are making progress towards a bipartisan deal to reauthorize children鈥檚 health insurance and several other important health-care programs, sources say. Staff from the relevant committees in both parties and chambers met over the Thanksgiving break and are getting closer to an agreement, according to lobbyists and aides. (Sullivan and Roubein, 11/27)
Colorado鈥檚 version of the program is called the Child Health Plan Plus, or CHP+. The state spends about $185 million per year on CHP+, according to聽a report by the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, and nearly 90 percent of that money comes from federal funds given to the state. The program聽also charges聽some enrollment fees and copays. Without renewal from Congress, Colorado has enough money to run CHP+ until the end of January, said Marc Williams, a spokesman for Health Care Policy and Financing. (Ingold, 11/27)
