Trending News Today: Lawmakers Outline ACA Replacement

Yesterday, GOP lawmakers outlined their replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act. This plan includes tax credits to assist individual health insurance purchases, and significantly reduced payments to states that expanded their Medicaid programs, The New York Times reported. However, there was no information provided about how the replacement plan would be funded.

Seema Verma, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, recently cited the EpiPen pricing scandal as a reason to reform the way products are classified as generics or brands, according to The New York Times. Verma criticized Mylan for listing EpiPen as a generic with Medicaid, but as a branded product through the FDA, which lead to smaller rebates for Medicaid. Verma did not indicate whether she supports involving the federal government with price negotiations.

A Delaware judge recently issued a temporary restraining order to block Cigna from terminating its merger with Anthem, The Wall Street Journal reported. Earlier this month, a federal judge blocked the merger, citing that it violates anti-trust laws. This restraining order may be the first action of a very long legal battle between the 2 companies.