Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are still working through options for spending cuts to finance their party-line megabill, including a policy targeting drug prices that the Trump administration has pushed as one alternative to steep Medicaid cuts.
Panel members emerged from a closed-door meeting Tuesday mostly tight-lipped, but Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) said the committee is still considering a “most favored nation” drug-purchasing policy linking what Medicaid pays for drugs to the lower prices paid abroad. The pharmaceutical industry has pushed back significantly against the proposal, calling it "government price setting" that would hurt patients.
“It’s one of the proposals that’s out there,” Carter, chair of the health subcommittee, told reporters, declining to say if he supports it. “We’re still talking about it.”
Also asked about the drug policy Tuesday, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise told reporters, “there's been a long list of items that the White House has talked about.” Speaker Mike Johnson said last week he wasn’t a “big fan” of the policy ahead of a meeting with President Donald Trump.
However, the policy could have appeal with moderates concerned their party is preparing to pursue more dramatic Medicaid cuts to offset the GOP bill central to Trump's agenda on taxes, the border and energy policy. The Energy and Commerce Committee has a deficit reduction target of $880 billion, with conservatives saying those savings should come from overhauling Medicaid while more centrist members are wary of making changes to the program beyond adding work requirements and more frequent eligibility checks for enrollees.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) said he supports the "most favored nation" policy, telling reporters Monday it "makes so much sense compared to hurting people. You help them with negotiating drug prices and you are not significantly hurting a population we don’t want to hurt."
The Tuesday meeting of committee Republicans came as lawmakers on the panel race to resolve differences on the health policy section of the larger legislation in time to hold a markup next week; Energy and Commerce had originally hoped to consider their portion of the package this Wednesday.
Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) said in an interview Monday that the meeting he and other party leaders attended with Trump last week yielded a "lot of policy discussions" that could pave the way for an intraparty agreement.
“We had some things the White House wanted to look at,” Guthrie said, adding he pushed back the aspirational markup date "a few extra days to make sure we get things right."
Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio), who chairs the panel’s energy subcommittee, said Tuesday after the members' meeting that he thinks the committee remains on track to meet next week to mark up its portion of the megabill.
“We’re having good family meetings,” Latta told reporters. “The purpose of these is to get the information out there.”
Still, Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), who leads the committee’s commerce, manufacturing and trade subpanel, cautioned there isn’t yet consensus on an outstanding proposal to cap federal spending for certain beneficiaries in Medicaid. Moderates have balked at the policy change, arguing it could lead to potentially destructive coverage losses for patients, while hardliners have pushed for it.
Johnson is set to meet with a larger group of moderates concerned about potential Medicaid cuts later Tuesday afternoon.
from White House https://ift.tt/iClw04m
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