House Democrats’ agenda takes shape

In the week that the House was in town, a fuzzy outline of the health care agenda that Democrats are considering should they win back the House started to take form.

In response to a question from NBC on Sept. 1, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) listed four items in Democrats’ affordability platform for which there is “uniform Democratic support.” Two of them are health care policies: reversing Medicaid funding cuts and extending enhanced marketplace insurance tax credits.

When a reporter for Bloomberg later asked Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) whether Democrats will pay for those policies, the House Democratic Caucus chair said the party is “mindful” of the deficit, but added that “it isn’t fair to say Democrats must pay for things, but it is OK for the other side not to.”

Jeffries would say only that Democrats will “act responsibly” on the debt.

Offsets for increased government health care costs often come from cuts to hospitals, insurers, doctors, and drug companies. But the more than $1 trillion in health care cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill were themselves offsets to the $4.5 trillion cost of Republicans’ tax cuts.

The Washington Post cites four unnamed sources as saying that Democrats also are considering lowering the age for Medicare eligibility; adding dental, vision, and hearing benefits to the program; and creating a government-run alternative to compete against private insurance.

None of these changes are planned for the near future. Even if Democrats were to win back the House and Senate, President Trump would probably veto such an overhaul of the health care system. Instead, Democrats are preparing for what they hope will be full Democratic control of Congress and the White House in 2029, the likelihood of which is impossible to predict.

hospitals

Medicaid cuts fuel rural hospital consolidation

Rural hospitals are fighting to stay alive in the face of looming GOP Medicaid cuts. Consolidation could be a lifeline for some of them, Daniel Payne reports.

Merger and acquisition brokers told Daniel they’ve seen an uptick in large hospital systems getting calls from smaller ones looking for a partner.

The new dynamic could make care more expensive and harder to reach for patients nationwide, should the larger systems choose to offer some services in fewer locations. But that’s better than rural hospitals shutting down entirely.

Read more of the third installment of Daniel’s Unraveled series.

lobbying

Flooding the campaign coffers

Bob Herman noticed an interesting sign of the insurance industry preparing for a big fight over Medicare for all.

UnitedHealth Group’s top executives donated more than $100,000 to Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, the No. 2 Democrat in the House. That’s double the amount they’ve given to any other federal politician

Clark is a moderate, and a handful of incumbent Democrats have lost their primary races to progressives who support Medicare for All, making the midterms a referendum on whether the party will shift more aggressively toward overhauling the health care system.

tobacco companies

Getting a peach of the vape market

R.J. Reynolds is rolling out fruit-flavored vapes, despite being unauthorized, and that could spur other companies to do likewise, Sarah Todd reports.

In May, the Food and Drug Administration effectively invited companies to break the rules when it softened its enforcement guidance, according to some critics, creating a large market for illegal fruit-flavored e-cigarettes.

A Reynolds American spokesperson said the sale of the fruity vapes is “consistent with applicable state regulations.” (Many states do not ban flavored vapes.) The launch also is being paired with “enhanced youth access prevention measures,” including ID requirements and purchase limits.

What we’re reading

Not so fast: Diabetes association panel not done reviewing ejections from its June meeting, STAT
This Is the Biggest Obstacle to New Cancer Cures, The New York Times
First Opinion: Make infectious disease data boring again, STAT
HHS Cancels Infant Mortality, Postpartum Grants to Focus on Sperm Counts, ED, NOTUS

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