What We're Reading: ACA Replacement Legislation Coming Monday

A plan to replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will be introduced on Monday by Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana). According to The Hill, the plan is based on a 2015 proposal and provides states with the flexibility to keep the ACA or choose another path with funding earmarked for the ACA. Full details have not been released yet, but Cassiday said the plan could cover up to 95% of Americans. Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) may also introduce his own alternative replacement plan.

McKesson has agreed to pay $150 million in a settlement over whether it failed to report suspicious opioid orders. The deal follows a similar settlement with McKesson over violations in 2008, according to Reuters, plus comes just days after Cardinal Health agreed to pay $44 million for not alerting the Drug Enforcement Administration of suspicious orders. McKesson will suspend sales of controlled substances from centers in Colorado, Florida, Michigan, and Ohio for several years.

Once Sylvia Mathews Burwell leaves her position as HHS secretary when the new administration comes in, she plans to go onto the ACA exchange in DC. Burwell is currently on the federal employee plan, but once she is no longer covered by that plan, she will enter the exchange despite GOP plans to repeal the ACA, reported POLITICO. She added that with her husband having a preexisting condition, getting coverage before the health law was passed would not have been possible. Burwell has led the implementation of the ACA for the last 2 years.