The short week was filled with health care excitement from Trump's "Day One" Executive Order to CMS's final rule on Medicaid Managed Care Organizations not to mention the Hedgeye Health Care Team's Q1 2017 Macro Themes call. Replay here. Here's the run-down for the week of Jan. 15.
- The 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, was sworn in on Friday and wasted no time separating himself from the plodding and cautious ways of official Washington that has often left Americans unable to discern the difference between Democrats and Republicans
- Trump's inauguration speech was heavy on nationalism and populism but did not mention health care
- Later in the day, he kept his "day one" promise to curtail the influence of the Affordable Care Act by dedicating on of his first Executive Orders "to minimize the unwarranted economic and regulatory burdens of the [Affordable Care Act].” Our take on what the EO says can be found here.
- Counselor to the President, Kellyann Conway, clarified on ABC News "This Week" that Trump may intend to end enforcement of the individual mandate
- The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a "courtesy" hearing for Trump's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services.
- Democrats attacked Price for health care company stock trades and asked for his pledge not to recommend cuts to Medicare or Medicaid.
- Republicans held the line - were even jovial - with frequent fly-in-the-ointment Rand Paul staying on the reservation
- Repubican Governors and Members of the Senate Finance Committee met to discuss repeal of the ACA
- Shorter version? Governors want to keep the federal revenue with less strings attached.
- So, far 15 Governors we know of have responded to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's December 2, 2016 letter asking for input on repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act. Our favorite? Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam's. Not because he is our Governor and introduces himself by saying "Hi, I'm Bill" but because his letter is a pretty objective analysis of what needs to change in the Medicaid program.
- Meanwhile, Kansas is caught in the Section 1115 Waiver approval trap with a recent CMS denial
- The Epi-Pen controversy gets weirder with Auvi-Q announcing a price of $4,500 for its product.
- The Congressional Budget Office released its analysis of repeal of certain portions of the ACA but assumes no replacement. Full report here.
- CMS ended about $3.3 billion in pass-through payments to Medicaid Managed Care Organizations. Ouch. Read the final rule here.
- CMS has started to look more closely at the cause of drug price inflation and released a memo on DIR fees in its Part D Program. As far as we can tell, this report is the first of its kind, suggesting, as we have said since October, that Pharmacy Benefit Managers are probably going to have a tough year. Bob Herman at Axios has a little more on that.
- Given his - ahem - colorful campaign, Donald Trump's inauguration festivities did not attract the musical talent that a Clinton party would have. Country Music to the rescue - specifically Toby Keith:
The Hedgeye View:
ACA REPEAL AND REPLACE: STATE OF PLAY, EXECUTIVE ORDER EDITION, Jan. 21, 2017
FIELD NOTES | HCA | WE "MIGHT MAKE A LITTLE MONEY ON MEDICARE" PATIENTS, Jan. 19, 2017
FIELD NOTES | EXAS | “WHAT ABOUT THIS NEW TEST, COLOGUARD?", Jan. 19, 2017
POSITION MONITOR | CLEANING UP THE BENCH, Jan. 17, 2017
Call with questions. We skipped the march in Washington to read the Federal Register.
Emily Evans
Managing Director
Health Policy
@HedgeyeEEvans
