Overnight Health Care: Dems have new questions for former Trump refugee director | New Jersey to run its own ObamaCare marketplace | GoFundMe cracks down on anti-vax campaigns
Welcome to Friday’s Overnight Health Care.
Washington tonight is riveted by news that special counsel Robert Mueller has delivered his confidential report, bringing the two-year investigation to an end. Check in at TheHill.com for the latest updates on this breaking story.
And now on to the day’s health care news. Scott Lloyd is under new scrutiny for statements he made to the House Judiciary Committee. Meanwhile, New Jersey has decided to run its own ObamaCare exchange, and CVS is going to start selling CBD-based products.
We’ll start with Lloyd…
House Judiciary panel wants former Trump refugee director to clarify testimony
House lawmakers are seeking clarification from the former head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) on the public testimony he gave last month about tracking the pregnancies and menstrual cycles of young women in the care of his former office.
{mosads}Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, on Friday sent a letter to Scott Lloyd asking him to clarify comments he made during his testimony in February.
“We were troubled by your responses at the time — but we now have reason to believe that your responses are inconsistent with documentation that has been made public since your testimony,” Nadler wrote.
The backstory: Lloyd testified in late February about the administration’s policy of separating migrant children from their families at the southern border. Lloyd, a staunch anti-abortion advocate who previously worked for the Knights of Columbus, was asked repeatedly about reports that he had used spreadsheets to specifically monitor the menstrual cycles of unaccompanied minors.
Lloyd tried to dodge the questions, but ultimately denied he had done so.
What happened next: Since his testimony, Democratic-aligned outside groups Equity Forward and American Bridge released internal documents and communications that showed Lloyd was tracking pregnancies and receiving updates on the menstrual cycles of the young migrant girls in custody.
The documents also showed Lloyd was seeking information on pregnant minors in HHS custody even before he was officially named to lead the refugee office.
Read more on the controversy here.
NJ will run its own ObamaCare marketplace to guard against Trump
The Democratic governor in New Jersey is taking a new step he says will guard against President Trump’s actions on ObamaCare.
Gov. Phil Murphy announced Friday that the state will start running its own ObamaCare marketplace in 2021, rather than letting the federal government operate it.
“Together with the Legislature, we have the ability to further protect New Jersey from actions taken by the Trump Administration to roll back the hard-fought protections afforded by the ACA [Affordable Care Act] and I would argue we have an obligation to do so,” Murphy said in a statement.
Context: New Jersey has already won praise from Democrats for taking steps to fight back against what they call Trump’s “sabotage” of ObamaCare. For example, the state has reinstated the mandate to have coverage after Republicans in Congress repealed it and set up a “reinsurance” program to lower premiums.
GoFundMe bans campaigns raising money to promote misinformation about vaccines
GoFundMe is reportedly banning campaigns from its platform that raise money to spread anti-vaccination messages.
Bobby Whithorne, a spokesman for the crowdfunding platform, told the Daily Beast in a report published Friday that campaigns raising money “to promote misinformation about vaccines” violate GoFundMe’s terms of service, adding that such campaigns will be removed from the site.
“We are conducting a thorough review and will remove any campaigns currently on the platform,” Whithorne told the Daily Beast.
The crackdown on anti-vaccination content comes as other online platforms like YouTube and Pinterest have begun to remove channels and posts from their websites that promote misinformation to discredit vaccinations.
CVS to sell cannabis-based products in 8 states
CVS Pharmacy has started selling cannabidiol-derived products at its stores.
Cannabidiol, or CBD, is the non-psychoactive component of marijuana. It has been legal at the federal level since the passage of the farm bill in December but only when it is extracted from hemp. It does not give users a high.
The topical CBD products, such as creams, sprays and roll-ons, will be marketed as “an alternative source of relief,” CVS said in a statement to NBC News.
What we’re reading
The inside story of how John Roberts negotiated to save ObamaCare (CNN.com)
Trump can’t blame the repeal-and-replace debacle solely on McCain (National Review)
It will take more than transparency to reduce drug prices, economists say (NPR)
Snap to drug advertisers: We’re the friendlier social network (CNBC)
State by state
Idaho voted to expand Medicaid. Republican lawmakers are trying to roll it back. (Vox.com)
Illinois Medicaid defies federal mandate, denies services to kids with autism, advocates say (ABC 7 Chicago)
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