DEMS/HEALTHCARE/HOUSE OF REPS/IMMIGRATION/OBAMACARE/PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Democrats are quietly preparing to launch a slew of investigations into the Trump administration’s health care moves if they retake the House in November, aiming to freeze the White House’s efforts to unravel Obamacare and probe the administration’s care of immigrant kids. The wide-ranging inquiries, coordinated across multiple committees, would focus on the administration’s most controversial actions on health care, which include chipping away at the Affordable Care Act, urging the courts to gut the health law’s protections for pre-existing conditions, and separating migrant families at the border, lawmakers and aides told POLITICO. Outside groups are also pressing Democrats to look into the health department‘s approvals of new Medicaid work requirements in some states, which have already pushed more than 4,000 low-income people off coverage in Arkansas. The work rules have run into roadblocks in court over questions about whether HHS properly considered their impact. Democrats, who now own a clear electoral advantage on health care following the GOP’s bungled attempts to repeal Obamacare, hope their oversight efforts will bolster their defense of the newly-popular health care law. At the same time, Democrats aim to prove that they, unlike Republicans, can provide the check on President Donald Trump that polls show voters want.”
–Adam Cancryn and Alice Miranda Ollstein, “House Democrats plan investigations blitz over Trump health policies,” Politico, October 4, 2018 5:10 am