Welcome to Thursday's Overnight Health Care.

The government shutdown hit Day 20 on Thursday as President Trump Donald John TrumpHR McMaster says president's policy to withdraw troops from Afghanistan is 'unwise' Cast of 'Parks and Rec' reunite for virtual town hall to address Wisconsin voters Biden says Trump should step down over coronavirus response MORE gave his strongest sign yet that he may declare a national emergency to build the border wall and an effort to secure a broader immigration deal fell apart.

Meanwhile, the new Democratic House is slowly but surely getting started on their health care agenda, and Maine is officially enrolling people in its expanded Medicaid program following the departure of former Gov. Paul LePage (R).

But first... Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersMcConnell accuses Democrats of sowing division by 'downplaying progress' on election security The Hill's Campaign Report: Arizona shifts towards Biden | Biden prepares for drive-in town hall | New Biden ad targets Latino voters Why Democrats must confront extreme left wing incitement to violence MORE and Democrats rolled out a package of bills to lower drug prices

With Democrats now in control of the House, progressives are raising the pressure to act on drug pricing.

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On Thursday some of the biggest progressive names rolled out not one but three bills to target drug prices.

The bills:

Allowing importation of cheaper drugs from Canada

Allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices

Stripping monopolies from drug companies if their prices are above the average price for the drug in other wealthy countries.

The politics: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and other Democrats challenged President Trump to live up to his rhetoric on drug prices.

"Today I say to President Trump: If you're serious about lowering prescription drug costs in this country, support our legislation and get your Republican colleagues on board," Sanders said.

2020 intrigue: Sen. Cory Booker Cory Anthony BookerDHS opens probe into allegations at Georgia ICE facility Democratic lawmakers call for an investigation into allegations of medical neglect at Georgia ICE facility Black Voters Matter Fund deploying voter outreach caravans in 12 states to drive turnout MORE (D-N.J.) joined Sanders, along with other Democrats, at the press conference. Both Booker and Sanders are potential 2020 presidential contenders.

Booker has previously come under criticism from some progressives for not being strong enough on drug pricing, but on Thursday Booker spoke in strong language, attacking the "outrageous and unjustifiably high cost of prescription drugs."

Read more on the bills here.

Cummings to meet Trump health chief on drug pricing next week

House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings Elijah Eugene CummingsOvernight Health Care: US won't join global coronavirus vaccine initiative | Federal panel lays out initial priorities for COVID-19 vaccine distribution | NIH panel: 'Insufficient data' to show treatment touted by Trump works House Oversight Democrats to subpoena AbbVie in drug pricing probe Democratic chair subpoenas postmaster general for documents on reforms MORE (D-Md.), who was at the press conference with Sanders on the drug pricing legislation Thursday, said he will meet with Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar about ways to lower drug prices next week.

And the first hearing from his Oversight Committee this month will focus on drug pricing. According to a notice from Cummings, the hearing on Jan. 29 will serve to launch a "broad review of the skyrocketing prices of prescription drugs." No witnesses have been announced yet, but the fact this is the first hearing of the year shows how much of a priority drug pricing will be for the committee.

Also in drug pricing, Sens. Amy Klobuchar Amy KlobucharEPA delivers win for ethanol industry angered by waivers to refiners It's time for newspapers to stop endorsing presidential candidates Biden marks anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act, knocks Trump and McConnell MORE (D-Minn.) and Chuck Grassley Charles (Chuck) Ernest GrassleySenate Republicans signal openness to working with Biden Senators offer disaster tax relief bill Trump spikes political football with return of Big Ten season MORE (R-Iowa) introduced a bill to crack down on 'pay for delay' tactics

Sometimes branded drug companies pay generic drug makers not to bring their lower cost alternatives to the market.

"Our bill will curb the anti-competitive pay-for-delay tactics that artificially inflate prices for patients and prevent access to more affordable alternatives," Grassley said in a statement.

Why it matters: The Federal Trade Commission says such agreements cost consumers and taxpayers $3.5 billion in higher drug costs every year.

Context: It's a bipartisan bill, so it might have a shot at passing Congress. Klobuchar and Grassley also paired up to introduce a bill Wednesday that would allow Americans to import prescription drugs from Canadian pharmacies.

Dems probe Trump administration on use of ObamaCare fees

House and Senate Democratic health leaders are asking HHS Secretary Alex Azar and CMS Administrator Seema Verma how they're spending user fees generated by the ObamaCare marketplace exchanges.

Democrats say since the administration has cut funding for marketing and outreach, it "raises questions about whether the dedicated funding is being spent effectively, legally, and appropriately."

States that use healthcare.gov are charged a 3.5 percent user fee, which is used to cover the costs of running the exchanges for open enrollment.

"Congress and the American public are entitled to understand how CMS is spending these funds, which likely represent billions of dollars in federal spending, and whether the agency is using them solely for the purpose of supporting the functions of the Federal Marketplace," the Dems said.

Read their letter here.

Advocacy group launches ads backing Trump's drug pricing move

Patients for Affordable Drugs Now on Thursday launched a $1 million ad campaign calling on people to tell lawmakers to support Trump's plan to lower drug prices, with a link to a petition.

The ads are backing Trump's plan announced in October to tie certain Medicare drug prices to lower prices in other countries.

Chamber of Commerce CEO vows to 'use all our resources' to fight single-payer

Thomas Donohue, the president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, on Thursday vowed to use all of the Chamber's resources to fight single-payer health care proposals.

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"We also have to respond to calls for government-run, single-payer health care, because it just doesn't work," Donohue said during his annual "State of American Business" address.

"We'll use all our resources to make sure that we're careful there," he said, though his previously released prepared remarks had said the Chamber would use all of its resources to "combat it."

Read more on his remarks here.

In Maine, the new Democratic governor's administration has started enrolling people in the expanded Medicaid program

Maine voters approved Medicaid expansion in 2017, but it was blocked by then-Gov. Paul LePage.

Gov. Janet Mills has said she would make implementing the expansion a priority.

On Thursday, her administration announced 529 people have been granted coverage in the last week.

Mill issued an executive order earlier this month directing Maine's Department of Health and Human Services to implement the expansion as "smoothy, efficiently and aggressively as possible."

What we're reading

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Republicans move to repeal ObamaCare tax on insurers (Washington Times)

Sen. Collins presses HHS to reform drug rebate system (The Wall Street Journal)

Her insurer's price tool estimated less than $1,375 for a breast MRI. Then she got a bill for $3,200. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Three trends that could change health care for consumers in 2019 (The Tennessean)

From Amgen to Gilead, drugmakers are sitting on billions of cash -- and top pharma executives are hinting about big M&A to come in 2019 (Business Insider)

State by state

Utah voters approved Medicaid expansion, but lawmakers may delay it or impose work requirements (Salt Lake Tribune)

Mills says Medicaid applications top 6,000 since July in Maine (Centralmaine.com)