GOP Health Care Reform Process Takes First Step in Congress

How Congress will proceed with health care reform over the next two months became a bit clearer this week as the Senate passed the 2017 budget resolution and the House is likely to soon follow suit.  The budget resolution sets in motion a process that leads to a reconciliation bill making changes in existing law (i.e., the Affordable Care Act) to enable the budget to meet the resolution's targets.  The next major event is likely to be the Republican retreat with President Trump in Philadelphia which begins on January 25, 2017.  It will bring House and Senate members together to decide how they will reform health care and the tax code in two separate reconciliation bills this year that only need 51 votes to get through the Senate, and it is clear that key Republican lawmakers do not yet agree on the process or package of the reforms.  In his press conference this week, President-elect Trump said his administration would submit a health care reform plan once his nominee for HHS Secretary, Rep. Tom Price, gets confirmed, which may not occur until February.  Mr. Trump said his plan would "be repeal and replace … most likely be on the same day or the same week, but probably the same day."  The President-elect also suggested the government should negotiate drug prices to lower costs.  However, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), chair of the powerful Finance Committee, said Trump's call for government price negotiations is "dangerous because if you stifle the innovation we could lose all kinds of therapies that are very important."  Senate HELP Committee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) also said reform should not be a sweeping replacement plan, rather a more selective approach resulting in "many systems across the country" that allow greater state flexibility.  Then, in a town hall on CNN last night, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) indicated that in "some cases" repealing and replacing the ACA would happen in "the same bill," but remained vague about the timing and process.  Speaker Ryan also said he wants the ACA replacement to include state high-risk pools to cover people with preexisting conditions and offer refundable tax credits to help individuals pay for insurance.  While it is unclear what replace provisions could be in February's reconciliation bill, expanding the use of health saving accounts is one of a few possibilities.  After the January retreat, the House Ways and Means Committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee are expected to release and mark-up their respective parts of the reconciliation bill in early February, with the full House and Senate potentially voting on the bill by February 18, 2017.  HR Policy will be closely monitoring the process and the Association is holding a special conference call with the American Health Policy Institute on Monday, February 6, from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. EST to discuss the latest health care reform developments.  Association members can register for the call here.