What's next at the national level with health care reform?

The Colorado Health Policy Coalition shared this earlier today:

"While health care has largely taken a back seat to news about appointment of a special counsel to investigate ties between the Trump campaign and Russia and the President’s first trip abroad, there are some important developments to be aware of:

·      President’s Budget to Include Significant Cuts to Medicaid – President Trump will release his first comprehensive budget proposal tomorrow, Tuesday, and it is expected to include hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid, reflecting his support of Medicaid policy changes outlined in the American Health Care Act. You can read details in coverage from Bloomberg, The Washington Post, and The Hill. 

·      Revised CBO Score of AHCA to be Released this Wednesday – The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced on Friday that it will release a revised analysis of the American Health Care Act, as passed by the House, this Wednesday, May 24. The CBO score of an earlier version of the AHCA, released in March, projected that the policy would reduce federal deficits by $337 billion and that 24 million Americans would lose health insurance by 2026; however, the bill was substantially amended in April in order to garner the support needed to pass the bill, so it will be interesting to see what the new analysis of the bill projects.

·      New Developments in Legal Fight Over CSR Payments – The Cost Sharing Reduction (CSR) payments made to insurers under the Affordable Care Act are a key provision to ensuring market stability and have been a political hot button for the last number of months.  Last week, a group of 15 states (Colorado not included) and Washington D.C. filed a motion in the pending court case to argue for continuation of the payments, saying that ending payments would put health insurance for millions of people in jeopardy, thus exposing states to increased financial burden of a higher uninsured population. Learn more about this new motion from this Business Insider article published Friday.  Politico is reporting this morning that the Trump administration will seek another 90-day delay in the lawsuit. The uncertainty about the future of the CSR payments and health care policy more broadly is leading to increased premiums and marketplace instability, as reported last Thursday in this LA Times article.

·      Senate Working on Health Care Bill – In the midst of these developments, members of the US Senate are working on their version of health reform bill. Very few details have been shared and nothing official has been released, but it is rumored that, as compared to the House bill, the Senate bill will make subsidies for private coverage more generous for lower income Americans and will phase out the Medicaid expansions more slowly. Still, no timeline for action has been released and there are many different opinion as to when the Senate may have something to consider. Here are a couple of good recent stories about what the Senate is up to.

o   McConnell steps into Obamacare firing line, Politico, May 21

o   52 ways to repeal Obamacare, Politico, May 11"

Continue to stay engaged with the Protect Our Care Colorado campaign as the Senate works on its version of the health care bill!