- Trump Thought the British Were Protesting Their Health Service. They Weren’t. Washington Post by Karla Adam — President Trump took a swing at Britain’s beloved National Health Service (NHS) on Monday, tweeting that Britons were marching in the streets because their universal health care system was financially strapped and dysfunctional, and got a swift rebuke from the British prime minister. “The Democrats are pushing for Universal HealthCare while thousands of people are marching in the UK because their U system is going broke and not working. Dems want to greatly raise taxes for really bad and non-personal medical care. No thanks!” he wrote. A spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said that “the prime minister is proud of our NHS, that is free at the point of delivery.” The spokesman said that funding “is at a record high and was prioritized in the budget with an extra 2.8 billion pounds. In the recent Commonwealth Fund international survey, the NHS was rated the best in the world for a second time.”
- Trump Administration Ponders Lifetime Benefit Limits for Medicaid McClatchy by Tony Pugh — After allowing states to impose work requirements for Medicaid enrollees, the Trump administration is now pondering lifetime limits on adults' access to coverage. Capping health care benefits — like federal welfare benefits — would be a first for Medicaid, the joint state-and-federal health plan for low-income and disabled Americans. If approved, the dramatic policy change would recast government-subsidized health coverage as temporary assistance by placing a limit on the number of months adults have access to Medicaid benefits. The move would continue the Trump administration's push to inject conservative policies into the Medicaid program through the use of federal waivers, which allow states more flexibility to create policies designed to promote personal and financial responsibility among enrollees. .. "I think you have to be very thoughtful here in a way that's quite different from cash assistance," said Gail Wilensky, a senior fellow at Project HOPE who ran the Medicaid program from 1990 to 1992 under President George H.W. Bush. "It depends on what the safeguards and defaults are in a program like this. Otherwise it does not make a lot of sense and seems to be cruel and inappropriate."
- Kellyanne Conway's 'Opioid Cabinet' Sidelines Drug Czar's Experts Politico by Brianna Ehley and Sarah Karlin-Smith — President Donald Trump's war on opioids is beginning to look more like a war on his drug policy office. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway has taken control of the opioids agenda, quietly freezing out drug policy professionals and relying instead on political staff to address a lethal crisis claiming about 175 lives a day. The main response so far has been to call for a border wall and to promise a "just say no" campaign. Trump is expected to propose massive cuts this month to the "drug czar" office, just as he attempted in last year's budget before backing off. He hasn't named a permanent director for the office, and the chief of staff was sacked in December. For months, the office's top political appointee was a 24-year-old Trump campaign staffer with no relevant qualifications. Its senior leadership consists of a skeleton crew of three political appointees, down from nine a year ago.