General
Obama budget official: ‘Medicare for All’ is Democrat version of GOP’s ‘repeal and replace’
Berkeley Lovelace Jr., CNBC
Democratic proposals for a government-run health-care system are the equivalent of Republican bids pushing to repeal and replace Obamacare, and they will never pass, President Barack Obama’s former budget chief said Tuesday. “Medicare for All” will never be implemented in the U.S. because the “details” are “too hard,” former Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag said at CNBC’s Healthy Returns conference in New York.
Cancer death rates drop, heart disease deaths on the rise for US adults
Edith Bracho-Sanchez, CNN
As the number of American adults dying of cancer continues to decline, the number who are dying of heart disease is on the rise, according to a new report. Researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics examined death certificates filed across the country from 1999 to 2017 for adults 45 to 64, documenting the number of deaths attributed to cancer and heart disease.
States sue over rule allowing clinicians to refuse abortions
Larry Neumeister, The Associated Press
Two dozen states and municipalities sued the federal government Tuesday to stop a new rule that lets health care clinicians decline to provide abortions and other services that conflict with their moral or religious beliefs. A Manhattan federal court lawsuit asked a judge to declare the rule unconstitutional and say it was passed in an arbitrary and capricious manner.
Senate chairman says bipartisan health care package coming Thursday
Peter Sullivan, The Hill
Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) says he plans to release a draft of a bipartisan package of bills to lower health care costs on Thursday. Alexander has been working on the package with Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the panel’s top Democrat, as the pair try to find areas of agreement where both parties can take action on health care.
Vermont Moves to Protect Abortion Rights as Other States Impose Bans
Kate Taylor and Julie Turkewitz, The New York Times
A district attorney in Utah is refusing to enforce a new law banning abortions after 18 weeks. In Colorado, the secretary of state is barring her staff from taking work-related trips to Alabama, a protest against that state’s decision last week to set the strictest abortion limits in the country.
Abortion Shaping Up To Be The Health Care Fight Of 2020
Amanda Terkel, HuffPost
Democrats think Republicans may have overreached with Alabama’s anti-abortion law, alienating voters ahead of the next election.
Democrat O’Rourke unveils new plan to protect abortion rights as he seeks to halt slide in polls
Tim Reid, Reuters
Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke unveiled an ambitious plan to protect abortion rights on Tuesday through mobilizing every branch of the U.S government to defend a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy.
Booker proposes ‘Office of Reproductive Freedom’
Natasha Korecki, Politico
Sen. Cory Booker says he would create a “White House Office of Reproductive Freedom” if he were elected president and promised a series of executive actions he’d take to protect abortion rights.
How Kamala Harris would address the maternal mortality crisis
Brianna Ehley, Politico
Sen. Kamala Harris on Wednesday unveiled her proposal to tackle the worsening maternal mortality crisis in the U.S. and address deep racial disparities in care across the country. Harris’ proposal highlights the fact that African American women are three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related complications compared to their white counterparts — and not just among poor women, according to the CDC.
Trump aides DeStefano, Knight to depart White House
Josh Dawsey and Felicia Sonmez, The Washington Post
Johnny DeStefano, one of Trump’s top advisers, and legislative affairs director Shahira Knight are leaving the White House, according to statements from the president and senior administration officials. DeStefano declined to comment. He is expected to advise a number of companies, including Juul, the e-cigarette company, while helping on the campaign, according to people familiar with his plans.
U.S. Stock Futures Decline as Tech Tensions Grow: Markets Wrap
Todd White, Bloomberg
U.S. equity futures dropped along with European stocks as investors digested the latest developments in the Sino-American confrontation over technology. Oil declined while the dollar and Treasuries were steady before the latest Fed minutes.
Payers
Did The ACA Create Preexisting Condition Protections For People In Employer Plans?
Julie Rovner, Kaiser Health News
During a recent appearance on MSNBC, Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) answered questions from “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski about the latest lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. “The most important part of Obamacare, as you know, Mika, is the protection against preexisting condition discrimination that extended to more than 150 million Americans, folks who get their health insurance through their employer,” he said.
Federal judge signals reluctance to block short-term plans
Susannah Luthi, Modern Healthcare
A federal judge on Tuesday indicated he wasn’t willing to block the Trump administration’s rule expanding access to short-term, limited-duration health plans since Congress didn’t limit them in the Affordable Care Act or in the six years after its passage. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon heard a second round of arguments in the lawsuit over the Trump administration’s reversal of the Obama administration’s cap on short-term plans.
Senator Gillibrand wants insurance to pay for fertility treatments
Ginger Gibson, Reuters
U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Kirsten Gillibrand on Wednesday proposed requiring insurance companies to cover expensive fertility treatments, part of a “Family Bill of Rights” that would also help with adoption and medical care.
Providers
The Struggle To Hire And Keep Doctors In Rural Areas Means Patients Go Without Care
Kirk Siegler, NPR News
Taylor Walker is wiping down tables after the lunch rush at the Bunkhouse Bar and Grill in remote Arthur, Nebraska, a tiny dot of a town ringed by cattle ranches. The 25-year-old has her young son in tow, and she is expecting another baby in August.
Hospitals are swimming in cash
Bob Herman, Axios
The number of hospital admissions, surgeries and other medical procedures has continued to stay flat in many parts of the country, but that hasn’t prevented hospitals from retaining large sums of money and hiring more people.
Pharma, Biotech and Devices
Former FDA chief Gottlieb: ‘We struck the wrong balance’ on e-cigarettes
Angelica LaVito, CNBC
The Food and Drug Administration struck the wrong balance in its oversight of the e-cigarette industry, former Food and Drug Administration chief Scott Gottlieb said at CNBC’s Healthy Returns conference Tuesday.
The global battle over high drug prices
The Economist
These days it is hard to find a government that is not struggling with the high price of medicines. In England, the government is fighting Vertex, a drug company, over the cost of a drug for cystic fibrosis, Orkambi.
Novartis CEO says cannabis isn’t a focus despite Tilray partnership
Berkeley Lovelace Jr., CNBC
Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan said Tuesday that cannabis is not a priority for the Swiss drugmaker despite its partnership with Canadian marijuana giant Tilray. Tilray is working with Novartis’ generic drug business Sandoz and supplying non-smokable and non-combustible medical cannabis products where it is legally allowed.
Scientists Modify Viruses With CRISPR To Create New Weapon Against Superbugs
Rob Stein, NPR News
Alphonso Evans rolls his wheelchair into a weight machine in the gym at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, Ga. “I’m not so much worried about dying from a heart attack or diabetes, because I’m active. I know what to do to work against it: watch what I eat, exercise,” Evans says. “But what do I do about an infection? Or fighting off a bacteria — something inside me that I don’t see until it’s too late?”
Mallinckrodt sues CMS over Medicaid rebates for its pricey Acthar Gel medicine
Ed Silverman, Stat News
In an unexpected development, Mallinckrodt (MNK) filed a lawsuit accusing the federal government of illegally resetting a benchmark used for calculating rebates the company must pay to Medicaid for its most important drug, a move that could cost it hundreds of millions of dollars and hobble its R&D efforts going forward.
Vermont attorney general files suit against Sackler family for deceptive marketing
Rob Frehse et al., CNN
Vermont’s attorney general is suing eight members of the Sackler family, alleging they personally oversaw Purdue Pharma’s deceptive marketing of opioids. Attorney General T.J. Donovan alleges the family members directed Purdue’s strategy to minimize the health risks of opioids and encouraged sales representatives to promote higher dose products, which were more lucrative, dangerous and addictive, the AG noted in a press release.
Indiana AG sues Sackler family, which brought us Oxycontin and opioid epidemic
Shari Rudavsky, Indianapolis Star
Indiana has filed suit against members of the family whose company made billions on the sale of prescription opioids, saying that their actions contributed to the toll of the state’s drug crisis.
Beto O’Rourke: Big Pharma Should Face Consequences, Even Jail Time, For Opioid Crisis
Dominique Mosbergen, HuffPost
Pharmaceutical companies and their executives should be held legally responsible for their role in perpetuating the opioid crisis, including facing possible prison time, Beto O’Rourke said Tuesday.
Health IT
‘What’s my real identity?’: As DNA ancestry sites gather more data, the answer for consumers often changes
Damian Garde, Stat News
23andMe caused Leonard Kim not one identity crisis but two. The first came in 2016, when Kim, who was raised believing he was 100% Korean, took the company’s DNA ancestry test and learned he was almost half Japanese.
Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
How Telehealth-Based Physical Therapy Can Save Lives and Money
Nikesh Patel, Morning Consult
American seniors are facing an epidemic. It’s an epidemic that strips away their ability to live and function independently, presenting staggering costs to Medicare and America’s broader health care system.
Research Reports
National Vital Statistics Reports
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Vital Statistics Reports (NVSR) are regular issues from the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) that cover provisional birth, death, marriage, and divorce statistics. Four to six special reports are issued per year.
Poverty Line Proposal Would Cut Medicaid, Medicare, and Premium Tax Credits, Causing Millions to Lose or See Reduced Benefits Over Time
Aviva Aron-Dine and Matt Broaddus, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
A proposal the Trump Administration is considering to use a lower inflation measure to calculate annual adjustments to the federal poverty line ultimately would cut billions of dollars from federal health programs and cause millions of people to lose their eligibility for, or receive less help from, these programs.
Changes in Breast and Colorectal Cancer Screening After Medicaid Expansion Under the Affordable Care Act
Stacey A. Fedewa et al., American Journal of Preventive Medicine
Medicaid expansions following the Affordable Care Act have improved insurance coverage in low-income adults, but little is known about its impact on cancer screening. This study examined associations between Medicaid expansion timing and colorectal cancer (CRC) and breast cancer (BC) screening.
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