First Edition: February 5, 2016
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Kaiser Health News:
A Voter’s Guide To The Health Law
Nearly six years after its enactment, the Affordable Care Act remains a hot-button issue in the presidential race — in both parties. “Our health care is a horror show,” said GOP candidate Donald Trump at the Republican debate in South Carolina Dec 15. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, winner of the Iowa caucuses, said at the debate in Des Moines Jan. 28 that the health law has been “a disaster. It is the biggest job-killer in our country.” Democrats largely support the law, but even they can’t agree on how to fix its problems. ... Here is a brief guide to some things the health law has — and has not — accomplished. (Rovner, 2/5)
Kaiser Health News:
2016 Obamacare Enrollment Tops Expectations At 12.7 Million
The annual Obamacare enrollment numbers routinely draw debate. Supporters boast that millions of people have gained coverage. Republican detractors stress millions remain uninsured because they can’t afford coverage and that not enough healthy young adults are enrolling. The latter issue threatens to make coverage uneconomical for insurers, causing them to lose money and raise prices or drop out of the exchanges. (Galewitz, 2/4)
Kaiser Health News:
Study: 29 Percent Of Colonoscopy Patients May Have Unneeded Pre-Screening Visits
Nearly a third of patients who get colonoscopies to screen for cancer visit a gastroenterologist before having the procedure, at an average cost of $124, even though such visits may be unnecessary, a new study found. (Andrews, 2/5)
The New York Times:
Health Care Signups Exceed Hopes, With 4 Million Newcomers To Federal Marketplace
About 12.7 million people signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act or had their coverage automatically renewed in the third annual open enrollment season. Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said the signups exceeded her goals and her expectations. “Open enrollment for 2016 is over, and we are happy to report it was a success,” she said. Most of the plan selections were for people in the 38 states — more than 9.6 million — who used the federal website, HealthCare.gov. The other 3.1 million people were enrolled in states that run their own marketplaces. (Pear, 2/4)
Reuters:
U.S. Signs Up 12.7 Million Americans For Obamacare Health Insurance
On HealthCare.gov, about 4 million new customers signed up for plans and another 5.6 million consumers returned to buy insurance again, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell told reporters on a call. In all, about 2.7 million people aged 18 to 34 signed up for the insurance, she said. Customers who are younger tend to have fewer medical costs and are considered an important factor in creating financial stability for the private health insurers like UnitedHealth, Aetna Inc and Anthem Inc that sell these plans. (Humer, 2/4)
USA Today:
Nearly 13 Million People Enrolled In ACA Plans For 2016
Supporters of the law were expecting an uptick in enrollment after a strong December and the typical lull over the holidays. About 700,000 people signed up in the last week of January, compared to more than 1 million in the last week of enrollment last year. Andrew Slavitt, CMS' acting adminstrator, said that was still a strong week and reflected the agency's efforts to move more of the signups into December, which allowed people to start their policies Jan. 1 and gives insurers more time to see who their new clients are. More than 60% of new enrollees signed up for Jan. 1 coverage, Burwell said. (O'Donnell, 2/4)
The Washington Post:
Affordable Care Act Enrollment Grows Modestly This Year, To 12.7 Million
[T]he latest numbers provide important signs of how the exchanges, a major feature of the 2010 health-care law, are functioning now that they are no longer new. The figures show that most repeat customers heeded warnings by HHS officials that they should return to HealthCare.gov to shop for the best available health plan if they wanted to avoid sticker shock. On the federal exchange, nearly 7 in 10 repeat customers shopped for coverage rather than let the computer system renew them automatically, and about three-fifths of those switched plans. Last year, nearly half let the computer system auto-enroll them. (Goldstein, 2/4)
The Wall Street Journal:
Federal Health-Care Enrollees Exceed Goals
Top administration officials said they were especially excited to see 4 million first-time users of HealthCare.gov among the total, suggesting they had done better than expected in signing up those uninsured who may have been hard to win over. “We knocked the lights out this year,” said Kevin Counihan, the chief executive officer for the federal website and head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services unit charged with implementing the health law. (Radnofsky, 2/4)
The Associated Press:
State Officials Say Insurance Exchange Enrollment Numbers Up
State officials say figures provided by the federal government show that more Delawareans are selecting health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Sunday was the open enrollment deadline to sign up for exchange coverage this year. Federal officials reported Thursday that more than 28,250 people selected plans on Delaware’s exchange, either by signing up or through automatic renewals. (Chase, 2/4)
The New York Times:
Martin Shkreli Invokes The Fifth Amendment In House Appearance
Martin Shkreli’s grilling by Congress on Thursday proved to be the spectacle that many had long anticipated. Lawmakers excoriated him. He fidgeted, he smirked, he smiled for the cameras. And he refused to answer questions. Mr. Shkreli, the former chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, who is facing federal securities fraud charges, repeatedly exercised his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination, infuriating members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. (Pollack and Huetteman, 2/4)
NPR:
House Hearing Probes The Mystery Of High Drug Prices That 'Nobody Pays'
Members of Congress at a Thursday hearing wrestled with questions about why the prices of some old drugs are rising so fast. Once Shkreli left Thursday's hearing, lawmakers grilled other witnesses about rising drug prices. The seemingly simple question about how much Daraprim costs in the real world proved pretty tricky to pin down. (Kodjak, 2/4)
The Associated Press:
Drug Exec Takes The Fifth On Capitol Hill, Angers Lawmakers
Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the committee, all but told Shkreli to wipe the smile off his face. “I call this money blood money ... coming out of the pockets of hardworking Americans,” he said as Shkreli sat through the lecture. (Gordon, 2/4)
The Wall Street Journal:
Martin Shkreli Pleads The Fifth Before Congress
Mr. Shkreli, who gained unwelcome notoriety for a 50-fold increase in the price of one lifesaving medication, stole the show. But beyond the theatrics, the crux of the hearing came in the more serious probing of top executives from Turing Pharmaceuticals AG and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., as well as Food and Drug Administration officials, on drug costs. The lawmakers sought to better understand the motivation behind drugmakers that acquire the rights to sell long-standing drugs in the U.S. and then inflate the prices, and they also explored what can be done to curb the fast-rising costs. There were lots of questions, few solutions, and some signs of change. (Armour and Rockoff, 2/4)
Politico:
Martin Shkreli Calls Lawmakers 'Imbeciles'
The drug industry’s most notorious CEO pleaded the Fifth Amendment before Congress on Thursday and then promptly called lawmakers "imbeciles" on Twitter. The appearance of the hoodie-wearing, hip-hop-loving indicted millennial multimillionaire created congressional theatrics — even though the usually chatty businessman, who showed up Thursday wearing a suit and no tie, stayed silent during the House hearing. Democrats, including the presidential contenders, portray Shkreli as the face of an industry that increasingly puts profit above patients. Republicans, who oppose more government intervention in health care, depict him as a “bad apple,” an outlier besmirching an industry dedicated to life-saving innovation. (Karlin, 2/4)
Reuters:
Shkreli Insults Congress On Twitter After Refusing To Testify
Former Turing Pharmaceuticals Chief Executive Officer Martin Shkreli on Thursday called members of the U.S. Congress "imbeciles" on Twitter, moments after he refused to testify before a House of Representatives committee on why his company raised the price of a lifesaving medicine 5,000 percent. "Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government," said Shkreli, using his @MartinShkreli Twitter handle. (Burns, 2/4)
The Wall Street Journal:
5 Things To Know About Today’s Drug-Price Hearing
Substantial price increases for certain drugs have turned the spotlight on industry figures like Martin Shkreli, sparked concerns about the business model of drug company Valeant Pharmaceuticals and triggered Congressional probes. A hearing by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Thursday was watched closely not only by those following the outspoken Mr. Shkreli but many wondering if Congress or regulators might take action to curb drug-price gouging. (Rockoff, 2/4)
The Wall Street Journal:
Valeant Needs More Volume Amid The Noise
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International emerged from a congressional grilling over its pricing policies with its share price intact. Questions about Valeant’s business model will still linger. It is an understatement that Thursday’s House Oversight Committee hearing was uncomfortable to watch. For instance, Rep. Buddy Carter (R., Ga.) told representatives of Valeant and closely held Turing Pharmaceuticals that he found their companies’ conduct “repulsive.” Valeant interim CEO Howard Schiller acknowledged the company had made mistakes in its past. (Grant, 2/4)
The Wall Street Journal:
FDA Gets Tougher On New Painkillers In Light Of Overdoses
The Food and Drug Administration, hoping to reduce deaths related to the abuse of powerful painkillers, said it would insist that new versions of the drugs get tougher scrutiny and that manufacturers gather evidence about their effects once they are on the market. The changes were announced by Robert Califf, the FDA’s deputy commissioner and the White House’s nominee to become commissioner. (Burton, 2/4)
The Washington Post:
‘We Can Do More,’ FDA Says In Announcing Overhaul Of Approach To Opioid Painkillers
The Food and Drug Administration, which has been criticized as too willing to approve addictive narcotic painkillers and too slow to fight their abuse and overuse, said Thursday that it will overhaul policies addressing the powerful class of drugs. The announcement comes amid an epidemic of prescription drug and heroin overdoses, which now kill more Americans each year than automobile accidents. (Dennis, 2/4)
The Associated Press:
Debate Takeaways: Clinton, Sanders Mix It Up Over Wall St.
Clinton struggled when asked whether she would release transcripts of her paid speeches, many of which she made to Wall Street firms. "I will look into it," she said. She later tried to push back on the criticism, saying contributions to her campaign have no impact on her positions. And besides, she added, Wall Street is only part of the problem. She would go after "a broader target list" as president, including oil and pharmaceutical companies. (2/4)
The New York Times:
In Democratic Debate, Candidates Clash On Money’s Role
From its opening moments, the [Democratic] debate devolved into a series of searing exchanges over one overarching theme: which of the two Democrats was the most progressive. On one level, the debate was over semantics: The candidates share a similar worldview about aggressive government support for universal health care, public education and aid to the poor, and both of them used the word “rigged” to describe the American economy. But they kept putting their own personal spin on the word “progressive,” with Mrs. Clinton deriding Mr. Sanders as the “self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism” and accusing him of judging her unfairly. Rebutting Mr. Sanders’s claim that she is a political moderate. (Martin and Healy, 2/4)
The Washington Post:
Democratic Candidates Exhibit A New Ferocity In Last Debate Before N.H. Vote
Clinton used her opening statement to needle the senator from Vermont, who describes himself as a democratic socialist, over what she has contended are unrealistically liberal plans for universal health care, free college and other programs. “I’m fighting for people who cannot wait for those changes, and I’m not making promises that I cannot keep,” the former secretary of state said. (Gearan and Tumulty, 2/4)
Politico:
Clinton And Sanders Get Ugly
After pledging early on to not engage in any negative attacks on his rival, Bernie Sanders has more pointedly called out Clinton for her record and used the poison “E” word – establishment. “What being part of the establishment is, is, in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one's life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests,” he said. And he dismissed Clinton’s notion that his proposals for free college and universal healthcare are progressive, but not possible. “Now all of the ideas that I'm talking about, they are not radical ideas,” he said. (Debenedetti, 2/4)
Los Angeles Times:
Clinton And Sanders Vigorously Spar In New Hampshire Debate, A Sign Of Things To Come
Clashing one-on-one for the first time, in a Thursday night debate a day after a New Hampshire town hall, the more than two hours of jostling — over healthcare, Wall Street regulation, what it means to be a true progressive — came down to a fundamental question: Do Democrats want ground-shaking change after eight years in control of the White House, as Sanders promises, or mere refinement of the programs and policies that President Obama put into place, as Clinton suggests? (Barabak and Halper, 2/4)
The Washington Post:
Kasich Lays Off Attack Politics, Lays It All On The Line In New Hampshire
The Ohio governor is trying to turn Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary into a test of whether his party has room for a throwback brand of Republicanism. As he travels the state, Kasich is emphasizing fiscal policy and other issues that have long been important to Republicans but have not animated the party base in recent elections. He boasts his centrist credentials, embracing his decision in Ohio to accept more Medicaid funds as part of President Obama’s health-care law. (Kranish, 2/4)
The Wall Street Journal:
Trump Vows To Take On ‘Powerful’ Drug Companies, Drive Down Prices
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday vowed to renegotiate the prices Medicare pays for drugs, arguing that pharmaceutical companies had been let off the hook by policymakers in thrall of their campaign contributions. “When it comes time to negotiate the cost of drugs, we are going to negotiate like crazy,” Mr. Trump told a crowd of several hundred people gathered at a town hall-style campaign event here. (Haddon, 2/4)
Reuters:
What Will Be In Obama's Final Budget Proposal?
President Barack Obama is set on Tuesday to unveil his budget proposal for fiscal year 2017, his final year in office. But since the Republican-controlled Congress controls the purse strings, much of Obama's budget will likely stay on the drawing board. ... The budget will include three years of federal funding to 19 state governments that passed up an earlier offer to expand Medicaid coverage for more than 4 million low-income people. Obama will [also] ask for tweaks to a tax on certain health insurance plans that is unpopular with labor unions. (Rampton and Rascoe, 2/5)
The Wall Street Journal:
Cigna Profit Falls 8.8%
Cigna Corp. on Thursday said its fourth-quarter profit fell 8.8% as the health-care provider took a hit from charges related to its proposed merger with Anthem Inc., though revenue increased. The company also gave full-year guidance below analysts’ expectations, saying it expects earnings of $8.85 to $9.25 a share, compared with estimates of $9.30 a share, according to Thomson Reuters. (Steele, 2/4)
The Washington Post's Wonkblog:
How A Zika-Like Illness Helped Transform American Acceptance Of Abortion
The 23-year-old mother was pregnant with her fourth child when she contracted a dreaded disease. Thousands of women who had been similarly infected had gone on to have children with birth defects ranging from heart problems to blindness to microcephaly, an abnormally small head. Knowing that her baby was likely to suffer from severe disabilities, the young mother, the wife of a construction worker, decided to get an abortion. It was illegal where she lived, but her doctor agreed. ... This wasn’t a reaction to Zika virus, the mosquito borne illness that has rapidly escalated into a public health emergency. It was a reaction to German measles. In 1970. In Minnesota. (Johnson, 2/5)
The Associated Press:
Drug Price Transparency Bill Fails; Set For Further Study
Legislation to make drug makers reveal how much they spend marketing high-priced drugs has stalled in the Virginia General Assembly, at least for this year. State senators said the bill wasn’t ready for prime time, but was an issue worth reviewing after further study. A Senate panel voted Thursday to delay consideration of the bill until next year. (Suderman, 2/4)
NPR:
Women Blast CDC's Advice To Use Birth Control If Drinking Alcohol
New advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention aimed at preventing fetal alcohol syndrome has created quite a stir. The CDC estimates that about 3 million women "are at risk of exposing their developing baby to alcohol because they are drinking, sexually active and not using birth control to prevent pregnancy." So the CDC is now advising women to stop drinking if they are trying to get pregnant or not using birth control with sex. That's right, abstain from drinking. (Aubrey, 2/4)
Los Angeles Times:
BMI Mislabels 54 Million Americans As 'Overweight' Or 'Obese,' Study Says
Good news for some in the high-BMI crowd: A new study from UCLA finds that some 54 million Americans who are labeled as obese or overweight according to their body mass index are, when you take a closer look, actually healthy. The findings, published in the International Journal of Obesity, reveal that employers could potentially saddle people with unfairly high health insurance costs based on a deeply flawed measure of actual health. (Khan, 2/4)
NPR:
Could Hospital ERs Provide Missing Data On Police Shootings?
For the past two years, Joseph Richardson has been trying to figure out how to keep young black men with knife and gunshot wounds from turning up again with similar injuries at Prince George's Hospital Trauma Center outside Washington, D.C. Richardson is director of the Violence Intervention Research Project at the trauma center. When these men are admitted, he shows up at their rooms to ask them to take part in his ongoing study on risk factors for repeat violent injuries. Sometimes he finds them handcuffed to a hospital bed, guarded by a police officer or two. Richardson has to walk away. The patients are under arrest and off-limits to him. (Rancano, 2/4)