Eve Levin  //  7/30/17  //  Topic Update

The quality of care in many nursing homes is deplorable, and forced arbitration could give the industry another tool to shield its conduct from public scrutiny, writes Nick Bagley at Take Care.

On Tuesday, the Senate voted to begin debate on a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, with Vice President Pence breaking the 50-50 vote (NYT, WSJ).

• The Senate’s secretive process and lack of deliberation may rise to the level of a due process violation, writes Abbe Gluck at Take Care.
• Republican senators who argued their healthcare vote is just to go to conference with the House were being disingenuous, argues Rachel E. Sachs (Take Care, Bill of Health).
• At Balkanization, David Super provides an overview of the “reconciliation” rules that constrained the healthcare bill under debate in the Senate.
• At Slate, Jordan Weissmann provides further detail on how a reconciliation bill presents procedural hurdles to the GOP.
• GOP efforts to use the reconciliation process to fast-track a healthcare bill are backfiring, argues Robert Pear (NYT).
• A proposal in the House of Representatives would abolish the Congressional Budget Office, a transparent step in the “war on information,” argues Leah Litman at Take Care.
• We should think of healthcare as a public investment—one worth the cost, argue Walter McClure, Alain Enthoven, and Tim McDonald at Health Affairs Blog.
• The Senate healthcare bill would give the Department of Health and Human Services unprecedented control over states, write Stan Dorn and Sara Rosenbaum at Health Affairs.

On Wednesday, the Senate rejected a proposal that would have repealed major parts of the Affordable Care Act without replacing it (WaPo, NYT).

• To the alleged chagrin of the House, the Senate is considering a so-called “skinny repeal” that would repeal less of the ACA than would other recent proposed bills (WaPo, Politico).
• The “skinny repeal” could take away health insurance from 16 million people (Politico).
• Skinny repeal could end up looking much like the unpopular BCRA bill that has thus far been discarded (Slate).
• And many Republican politicians apparently believe that bill lacks the votes to pass (Politico).

On Thursday, commentary continued on the Senate’s proposed “skinny repeal” in anticipation of a Friday vote.

• Among other changes, the bill would eliminate the individual and employer mandates, while retaining mandatory coverage for preexisting conditions (WaPo).
• Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke placed a call to Senator Lisa Murkowski, insinuating that her vote against repeal would result in disfavorable treatment for Alaska (Vox, Alaska Dispatch). 
• The so-called “skinny repeal” under consideration in the Senate is both hypocritical and irresponsible, argues Abbe Gluck at Take Care.
• The newly released Health Care Freedom Act will encourage states to submit farfetched waivers knowing that, once the waivers are granted, they won’t be held accountable for lost coverage, argues Nick Bagley at Take Care.
• Repealing the Affordable Air Act would be an unprecedented dismantling of the social safety net, argues Jamelle Bouie at Slate.
• “Skinny repeal” would leave 16 million more Americans uninsured within a decade (WaPo). 

The FDA’s “deeming rule” survived its first court challenge (Volokh Conspiracy).

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