First Edition: April 22, 2015
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Tennessee, Kansas Also Get Warning: Expand Medicaid Or Risk Hospital Funds
Add Tennessee and Kansas to the list of states that have been warned by the Obama administration that failing to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act could jeopardize special funding to pay hospitals and doctors for treating the poor. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services confirmed Tuesday that it gave officials in those states the same message delivered to Texas and Florida about the risk to funding for so-called “uncompensated care pools” — Medicaid money that helps pay the cost of care for the uninsured. (Galewitz, 4/21)
The Associated Press:
Obama, Lawmakers Mingle to Mark Rare Bipartisan Breakthrough
House Speaker John Boehner pecked Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on the cheek. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy conferred amiably with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. Republicans and White House officials slapped each other on the back. (4/21)
Politico:
Mike Crapo, Jeff Sessions Hope Final GOP Budget Will Offset ‘Doc Fix’
Two Senate Republicans with heartburn over the cost of a recent Medicare overhaul are hoping a final GOP budget will find offsets — throwing another curveball into budget negotiations that have already blown a week past the original deadline. (Bade, 4/21)
The Washington Post:
Eyeing Big Work Ahead, Senators Cut Deal On Loretta Lynch Confirmation
Loretta Lynch, a U.S. attorney in New York, is expected to win confirmation as soon as Thursday under the deal, which ended a partisan dispute over abortion restrictions in an unrelated bill. Senate GOP leaders insisted on clearing that impasse before moving forward with Lynch. (DeBonis, 4/21)
The New York Times:
Senate, Clearing Hurdle, Sets A Thursday Vote On Loretta Lynch
Democrats said they had become aware of an anti-abortion provision, blocking the legislation from moving forward as they demanded that Republicans remove language barring victims from using criminal fines in a victims’ fund to pay for abortions. As a compromise, the fund will now essentially be split in two. One pool of money, collected from criminal offenders, will be deposited into the general fund of the Treasury and used for non-health care services, which will not be subject to abortion restrictions. Other money would come from that already appropriated by Congress for Community Health Centers. It would be available for health care and medical services and would be subject to longstanding laws restricting the use of federal funds for abortions. Many victims would be able to obtain abortions under the laws’ exception in cases of rape. (Huetteman and Steinhauer, 4/221)
USA Today:
Poll: Obamacare In Positive Territory (By One Point)
There's more evidence that President Obama's health care law is gaining in popularity. According to the monthly Kaiser Health Tracking Poll released Tuesday, 43% have a favorable view of the Affordable Care Act and 42% have an unfavorable view -- the first time the law has been in positive territory since November of 2012, the month President Obama won re-election. Of course, the poll points out that the margin is "one percentage point, and the difference is within the survey's margin of sampling error and is not statistically significant." (Jackson, 4/21)
Politico:
Poll: Obamacare Pokes Its Head Above The Water Line
The poll also showcased the public’s overwhelming ignorance of the law’s actual effects. Only 8 percent of respondents were able to correctly answer that the Affordable Care Act has thus far cost less than the Congressional Budget Office originally projected, while 50 percent said they think the law has been more expensive. A majority of respondents — 56 percent — answered that the law has not directly affected them. Nineteen percent said the law has helped them or their families personally, while 22 percent answered that it had hurt them. Again, answers to this question showed a significant partisan split. (Lerner, 4/21)
The Wall Street Journal:
Justice Department Files Complaint Against HCR ManorCare
Health-care real-estate investment trust HCP Inc. said Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a complaint against its HCR ManorCare Inc. venture for alleged false claims related to Medicare reimbursement. The Justice Department complaint, which was released from seal on Monday, follows a civil investigation of lawsuits filed by former HCR employees, according to a regulatory filing. In the previously sealed lawsuits, the employees claimed, under a provision of the federal False Claims Act, that HCR submitted claims to Medicare for therapy services that were unskilled, unnecessary, not covered by the skilled-nursing facility benefit and therefore not covered by Medicare reimbursement. (Chen, 4/21)
The Associated Press:
Teva Offers To Buy Mylan In $40.1-Billion Cash-And-Stock Deal
Generic drug giant Teva formally offered to buy fellow drugmaker Mylan for about $40.1 billion in cash and stock on Tuesday, despite Mylan's cold shoulder and the certainty the proposed acquisition will bring intense scrutiny by antitrust regulators. If Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. succeeded, the combination would dominate the global generic drug market, be a major contender in some other specialty drug categories — and have the leverage to try to raise generic drugs prices. (Johnson, 4/21)
The Wall Street Journal's Pharmalot:
Actavis Wins A ‘Product Hopping’ Case As Namenda Battle Rages On
Four years ago, Warner-Chilcott caused a stir by adding a line, or “score,” to its Doryx tablets that are prescribed for treating acne. The move gained notice because it was seen by some as another effort by a brand-name drug maker to thwart generic competition, since any generic rival would have had to take the same time-consuming production steps to win regulatory approval to sell a copycat version. (Silverman, 4/21)
Los Angeles Times:
Vaccine Mandate Bill Revamped To Ease Home-Schooling Waiver
A proposal to require more children to be vaccinated before entering school in California was revamped Tuesday to address concerns that it might bar many young people from a public education. But key members of the Senate Education Committee, which is scheduled to vote on the measure Wednesday, remained noncommittal about it. (McGreevy, 4/21)
The Wall Street Journal:
Another Study Shows No Link Between MMR Vaccine And Autism
On the heels of a measles outbreak in California fueled by vaccination fears that scientists call unfounded, another large study has shown no link between the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine and autism. The study examined insurance claims for 96,000 U.S. children born between 2001 and 2007, and found that those who received MMR vaccine didn’t develop autism at a higher rate than unvaccinated children, according to results published Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association, or JAMA. Even children who had older siblings with autism—a group considered at high risk for the disorder—didn’t have increased odds of developing autism after receiving the vaccine, compared with unvaccinated children with autistic older siblings. (Whalen, 4/21)
The Wall Street Journal:
Colorado Family-Planning Program May Be In Jeopardy
During the past five years, Colorado’s teen pregnancy rate plummeted 40%, a dramatic reduction that public health officials attribute to an unusual contraception program financed by investor Warren Buffett. Now the future of the program, which made birth control devices available to thousands of Colorado women at reduced costs, is in jeopardy. It is set to expire this summer and some state lawmakers are balking at using state money to continue the project. (Frosch, 4/21)
The New York Times:
Louisiana Moves Ahead With Abortion Regulation Rewrite
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration has rewritten the state's abortion clinic regulations, a move that abortion-rights supporters say was unnecessary and intended to hinder the operation of clinics. (4/21)
The Washington Post:
Maine Wants To Help You Get Fertility Treatments — Unless It Was An STD That Made You Infertile
Here is the good news: Maine lawmakers want health insurers to start paying for fertility treatments. Many more hopeful Mainers might soon be able to have children. Here is the icky news: Only married people would qualify, and only if they hadn’t become infertile because of a sexually transmitted disease. So far, 13 states have laws requiring insurers to cover assistive reproductive therapies according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. (Guo, 4/21)
The Wall Street Journal's Pharmalot:
Psychiatrists With Ties To AstraZeneca Resign From Texas State Hospital
Two psychiatrists at a Texas state hospital have resigned after being told they would face disciplinary actions for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking and consulting fees from AstraZeneca while also promoting one of its drugs to state officials, according to a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services. (Silverman, 4/21)