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President Donald Trump instructed congressional Republicans this week to raise taxes on the wealthiest earners as part of his “big, beautiful bill,” rattling his party’s brittle consensus on economic issues and muddling the GOP’s path toward enacting his campaign promises. ... House GOP leaders in recent days have ruled out certain cuts to social safety net programs that the GOP had earlier targeted to meet budget goals. Speaker Mike Johnson said the House would not cut the amount states receive to fund Medicaid, and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson (R-Pennsylvania) told The Washington Post that his committee would not rescind federal anti-poverty food assistance money. Hard-liners had been eyeing both of those areas as potential sources of savings. (Bogage and Stein, 5/8)

House Republicans are considering nixing a Medicaid drug pricing plan floated by President Donald Trump and fiercely opposed by the pharmaceutical industry as the party pushes to strike a massive tax and spending deal in the coming days. But drugmakers may not be totally off the hook. (Cohrs Zhang, 5/8)

As Republicans in Congress debate ways to cut Medicaid so they can fund tax breaks, Democrats are pushing them in a different direction: cut excess spending in Medicare Advantage instead. (Herman, 5/8)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: �鶹Ů�� Health News’ ‘What The Health?’: Cutting Medicaid Is Hard — Even For The GOP

After narrowly passing a budget resolution this spring foreshadowing major Medicaid cuts, Republicans in Congress are having trouble agreeing on specific ways to save billions of dollars from a pool of funding that pays for the program without cutting benefits on which millions of Americans rely. Moderates resist changes they say would harm their constituents, while fiscal conservatives say they won’t vote for smaller cuts than those called for in the budget resolution. (Rovner, 5/8)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: A California Lawmaker Leans Into Her Medical Training In Fight For Health Safety Net

State Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson anticipates that California’s sprawling Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, may need to be dialed back after Gov. Gavin Newsom releases his latest budget, which could reflect a multibillion-dollar deficit. Even so, the physician-turned-lawmaker, who was elected to the state Senate in November, says her priorities as chair of a budget health subcommittee include preserving coverage for the state’s most vulnerable, particularly children and people with chronic health conditions. (Mai-Duc, 5/9)

Over the past two years, UnitedHealth Group seemed immune from the higher costs and systemic changes in the Medicare Advantage program that bedeviled its rivals. Until now. (Herman, 5/9)

Medicare drug plans significantly boosted coverage of biosimilar versions of the Humira rheumatoid arthritis medicine this year, but nearly all of them failed to take steps that would encourage greater use of these alternative treatments, a new government watchdog report finds. (Silverman, 5/8)