First Edition: April 2, 2015
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Cleveland Clinic Reports 40% Drop In Charity Care After Medicaid Expansion
The Cleveland Clinic, one of the largest hospitals in the country, has cut its charity care spending — or the cost of free care provided to patients who can’t afford to pay — to $101 million in 2014 compared with $171 million in 2013. Hospital officials credited the federal health law for the improvement. “The decrease in charity care is primarily attributable to the increase in Medicaid patients due to the expansion of Medicaid eligibility in the State of Ohio and the resulting decrease in the number of charity patients,” the hospital’s year-end financial statement reported. (Tribble, 4/2)
The Associated Press:
Lukewarm Reception For New Sign-Up Period Under Health Law
About 36,000 people have taken advantage of a second chance to sign up for coverage under the president's health care law, the Obama administration said Wednesday. That's not a lot, considering that an estimated 4 million people are potentially eligible. (4/1)
The Washington Post's Fact Checker:
Obama’s Claim The Affordable Care Act Was A ‘Major Reason’ In Preventing 50,000 Patient Deaths
Could 50,000 people have not died in hospitals because of the Affordable Care Act? That seemed rather extraordinary, even given the size of the United States.
We’ve spent time digging around on this issue and here are the results of our inquiry. It turns out that preventing hospital-related deaths is one of the least controversial aspects of the much-attacked law. (Kessler, 4/1)
The Wall Street Journal:
Economist Jonathan Gruber Backs U.S. On Health-Law Subsidies
Jonathan Gruber, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist whose comments about the U.S. health law earlier had ignited a political furor, says federal subsidies to lower insurance premiums were intended for all those who qualify, regardless of whether they get coverage through a state or federal exchange. A suit before the Supreme court seeks to halt the use of tax credits to offset the cost of insurance premiums for residents in about three dozen states that don’t operate their own insurance exchanges and use the federal HealthCare.gov website instead. Challengers in the case argue the law allows the tax credits only for insurance buyers in states with their own exchanges—currently just 13 states and the District of Columbia. (Armour, 4/1)
The Washington Post's Wonkblog:
Where Romneycare Fell Short — And What That Could Mean For Obamacare
The landmark 2006 Massachusetts health-care law that inspired the federal overhaul didn't lead to a reduction in unnecessary and costly hospitalizations, and it didn't make the health-care system more fair for minority groups, according to a new study that may hold warnings for the Affordable Care Act. Massachusetts’ uninsured rate was cut by half to 6 percent in the years immediately following the health-care law signed by then-Gov. Mitt Romney. Blacks and Hispanics, who have a harder time accessing necessary medical care, experienced the largest gains in insurance coverage under the Massachusetts law, though they still were more likely to be uninsured than whites. (Millman, 4/1)
The Associated Press:
Senate Has New Deadline To Avoid Doctors’ Medicare Cuts
Congress will get a little extra time to prevent a threatened 21 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors. Technically, the cut was to take effect Wednesday. But the Department of Health and Human Services said it will hold off processing claims at the lower rate until April 15. (4/1)
The New York Times:
Senator Robert Menendez Indicted On Corruption Charges
The indictment, the first federal bribery charges against a sitting senator in a generation, puts Mr. Menendez’s political future in jeopardy. He faces a possible sentence of 15 years in prison for each of the eight bribery counts. ... The charges revolve around Mr. Menendez’s relationship with Dr. Salomon E. Melgen, a wealthy Florida eye surgeon and political benefactor. (Apuzzo, 4/1)
Los Angeles Times:
Menendez Vows To Fight Bribery, Conspiracy Charges
According to the indictment, between January 2006 and January 2013 Menendez accepted close to $1 million in “lavish gifts and campaign contributions” from Melgen in exchange for helping Melgen in contractual and Medicare billing disputes worth tens of millions of dollars to the doctor. (Serrano, Phelps and Mascaro, 4/1)
The Wall Street Journal:
Justice Department Indicts Sen. Bob Menendez on Corruption Charges
Mr. Menendez allegedly pushed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to get a more favorable ruling in Dr. Melgen’s Medicare billing dispute. Beginning around June 2009, the indictment said, Mr. Menendez and his staff began advocating on behalf of Dr. Melgen. Mr. Menendez and his staff met directly with the Department of Health and Human Services and CMS, according to the complaint. In July 2009, Mr. Menendez had a call with the acting principal deputy of CMS about the matter, according to the complaint. (Grossman and Dawsey, 4/1)
The Washington Post:
Sen. Robert Menendez Indicted On Corruption Charges
In early June 2012, Melgen issued a check for $300,000 for the Majority PAC. ... That same month, the senator went to bat for Melgen again, this time on behalf of his eye clinics, with top officials in the Department of Health and Human Services who oversaw Medicare reimbursements and whose auditors had concluded Melgen had overbilled the federal health program for eye medications he used in his clinic. Menendez, using talking points created by Melgen’s lobbyist, talked by phone on July 2 to the acting administrator at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services about her agency’s policy for reimbursing physicians such as Melgen, who used a single vial of medication multiple times, sometimes for multiple patients. ... The senator next had his staff arrange a meeting with then-HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, which occurred in August 2012 at the behest of Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who was majority leader at the time. (Kane and Leonnig, 4/1)
Politico:
Florida's Third Senator
Menendez allegedly pressured federal health officials to drop an $8.9 million fine against the eye doctor for overbilling Medicare, used his influence to advance a lucrative port-security deal in the Dominican Republic for a firm owned by Melgen, and threw his weight around to help three of Melgen’s foreign girlfriends get help entering the United States. (Caputo, 4/1)
NPR:
Margaret Hamburg Ends Six-Year Run As FDA Commissioner
Margaret Hamburg ended her run this week as one of the longest serving Food and Drug Administration commissioners in recent decades. NPR's Robert Siegel speaks with her about her accomplishments and challenges while in office. (4/1)
The Wall Street Journal:
After Airline Tragedy, New Focus On Mental Health At Work
As investigators and transportation officials try to determine why a young airline pilot with a history of depression might have deliberately crashed a Germanwings plane into the French Alps last week, the incident has raised questions about how much employers should know about their employees’ mental health. (Silverman and Feintzeig, 4/1)
NPR:
Germanwings Crash Highlights Workplace Approaches To Mental Health
The horrifying crash last week of the Germanwings flight operated by Lufthansa has put a spotlight on what the airline knew — and what it should, or could have done — about its pilot's mental health. Lufthansa could face unlimited liability, after the pilot allegedly brought the plane down deliberately. Here in the U.S., employment experts say monitoring employees' mental health status raises a thicket of complicated issues. (Noguchi, 4/1)
The Wall Street Journal:
New York City Details Plan To Rein In Employee Health Costs
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration for the first time laid out its plan to save $3.4 billion in employee health-care costs over the next four years. The strategy addresses a long-standing fiscal challenge and sheds light on how the city hopes to help offset raises negotiated over the past year with municipal unions. The planned cost-cutting includes the city paying less than previously projected for employee health insurance, newly negotiated rates with insurers and greater incentives for preventative care. (Gay, 4/1)
NPR:
Arizona Requires Doctors To Say Abortion Pill Is Reversible
Arizona will now require doctors to tell women who use the so-called abortion pill that the procedure can be reversed. We asked NPR health correspondent Rob Stein whether that's true. Here's his report. (4/1)
The Washington Post's Fact Checker:
Arizona’s Claim That Abortion Pills May Be ‘Reversible’
Arizona, a battleground for anti-abortion legislation, has become the first state to pass a law requiring doctors to tell women that drug-induced abortions may be reversible. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed the controversial Senate Bill 1318 into law on March 30, 2015. Herrod, who has lobbied to restrict abortion rights for years, was a main proponent of the law. Advocates who support abortion rights are furious over several provisions in the bill — in particular, the provision that requires physicians performing an abortion to inform the woman “it may be possible to reverse the effects of a medical abortion.” But the method itself is still experimental, and doctors and advocates say it is not responsible to present women with the option. (Lee, 4/2)
The Associated Press:
Prosecutors Seek Congressional Probe Of Supplement Industry
A group of 14 attorneys general has asked Congress to launch an investigation of the herbal supplements industry and to consider giving the U.S. Food and Drug Administration stronger oversight of the industry, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced. (4/2)
Los Angeles Times:
In Rural Indiana, Battling HIV, Drugs And Bleak Times
Donald Spicer slowed his police car to a crawl as he pointed out “shooting galleries” — paint-chipped houses with broken windows and rotting wood, where addicts inject liquid painkillers and lose all sense of time. Used needles often lie in plain sight, in the cracked streets, in the garbage-filled gutters, on patchy lawns. “This is a common problem,” the police chief said. “This isn’t anything new to us.” Spicer now finds his rural hometown at the core of the state’s worst-ever outbreak of HIV, one so grave that Gov. Mike Pence declared a health emergency last week. Pence also authorized a short-term needle exchange to fight the virus’ spread, an exception to Indiana’s conservative anti-drug policy that bars programs to trade dirty needles for clean ones. (Parvini, 4/1)