First Edition: December 20, 2017
oday's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Doing More Harm Than Good? Epidemic Of Screening Burdens Nation’s Older Patients
Elena Altemus is 89 and has dementia. She often forgets her children’s names, and sometimes can’t recall whether she lives in Maryland or Italy. Yet Elena, who entered a nursing home in November, was screened for breast cancer as recently as this summer. “If the screening is not too invasive, why not?” asked her daughter, Dorothy Altemus. “I want her to have the best quality of life possible.” (Szabo, 12/20)
California Healthline:
Frail Patients Losing Access To Dental House Calls
Devon Rising shakes his head and tries to cover his face with his hands. It’s time to get his few remaining teeth cleaned, and he fusses for a bit. Gita Aminloo, his dental hygienist, tries to calm him by singing “Itsy Bitsy Spider,” the classic children’s song. Rising, 42, is mentally disabled and blind. He has cerebral palsy and suffers from seizures. It’s hard for him to get to a dentist’s office, so Aminloo brought her dental picks, brushes and other tools to him at the residential care facility he shares with several other people who have developmental disabilities. (Ibarra, 12/19)
The New York Times:
Congress Approves Republican Tax Plan Setting Up Delivery To Trump’s Desk
Clearing the final major hurdle for a decades-long goal, Republicans mustered enough support in the Senate to approve a sweeping tax plan. The vote, along party lines, was 51-48. Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, was the only one who was not present, as he returned home to receive medical treatment. (12/20)
The Washington Post:
GOP Tax Bill’s Passage Slightly Delayed Over Last-Minute Senate Snag
House Republicans thought they had finished their tax work on Tuesday afternoon when they passed a version of the bill 227 to 203. But the effort hit a snag Tuesday afternoon when the Senate parliamentarian ruled that three of its provisions violated that chamber’s Byrd Rule — guidelines on what types of legislation can pass with a simple 50-vote majority. (Stein and Paletta, 12/20)
The Associated Press:
Senate Moves Tax Cut Legislation To Brink Of Final Passage
The legislation repeals an important part of the 2010 health care law — the requirement that all Americans carry health insurance or face a penalty — as the GOP looks to unravel the law it failed to repeal and replace this past summer. (12/20)
Bloomberg:
Cornyn Says Tax Bill Mandate Repeal Makes Obamacare ‘Unworkable'
The No. 2 Senate Republican said Tuesday that the GOP’s tax bill will make Obamacare “unworkable,” which he hopes will force Democrats into negotiations to replace the law. Asked about the failure of the GOP’s efforts to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, Senator John Cornyn of Texas noted the tax measure will repeal the penalty for not buying health insurance, a central element of the Affordable Care Act. (Dennis, 12/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
How The Tax Plan Affects Business: Everything You Need To Know
Health insurers, an overwhelmingly domestic industry, will reap enormous benefits from the tax bill’s sharp cut to the corporate rate. Analysts project that the companies initially could see sharp increases in earnings—perhaps in the 15% to 20% range, said Ana Gupte of Leerink Partners LLC. “It’s huge,” she said. She suggested that insurers are likely to find a variety of outlets for the additional cash, including share repurchases, dividends, investing to grow their businesses and merger activity, which would come on top of a fast pace of managed-care deals already under way. (Wilde Mathews, 12/19)
The Associated Press:
Tax Bill: What's In, What's Out, What Happens
So what's in the massive $1.5 trillion Republican tax package, what's not and what does it mean for most Americans? (12/20)
Politico:
The Stealth Repeal Of Obamacare
Obamacare survived the first year of President Donald Trump, but it’s badly damaged. The sweeping Republican tax bill on the verge of final passage would repeal the individual mandate in 2019, potentially taking millions of people out of the health insurance market. On top of that, the Trump administration has killed some subsidies, halved the insurance enrollment period, gutted the Obamacare marketing campaign, and rolled out a regulatory red carpet for skimpy new health plans that will change the insurance landscape in ways that are harmful to former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. (Kenen, 12/19)
Politico:
Ryan And McConnell Head For Clash Over Obamacare
Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are about to lock horns over Obamacare — part of a House-Senate clash that needs to be resolved by Friday to avert a government shutdown. McConnell promised moderate GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine that he would prop up President Barack Obama’s signature health law in a must-pass, year-end spending bill — so long as she backs tax reform. But Ryan’s more conservative conference is flatly rejecting that idea and urging the Wisconsin Republican to stand firm against his Senate counterpart. (Bade and Haberkorn, 12/19)
Politico:
Collins Decries Coverage Of Her Tax Bill Support As 'Unbelievably Sexist'
Sen. Susan Collins on Tuesday blasted coverage of her support for the GOP tax bill as “extremely discouraging” and “unbelievably sexist." The Maine Republican, a key swing vote on the tax package, accused reporters of ignoring her influence over the final legislation and unfairly criticizing her efforts to pass a pair of Obamacare stabilization bills. (Cancryn, 12/19)
The Hill:
Abortion Fight Threatens Collins Deal, Risks Shutdown
A new fight over abortion has thrown a late obstacle into negotiations on the year-end stopgap spending deal days before a possible government shutdown. House Republicans say two ObamaCare measures that Senate GOP leaders are expected to attach to the stopgap as part of a deal with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) must include Hyde Amendment language prohibiting the use of federal funds for abortion. (Hellmann and Sullivan, 12/19)
The Hill:
Anti-Abortion Groups Press For Change To ObamaCare Bills
More than 50 anti-abortion groups are calling on Congress to amend an ObamaCare stabilization bill to ensure that federal funding doesn't go to plans that cover abortions. Led by the Susan B. Anthony List, the groups are pressuring lawmakers to vote against the bill, sponsored by Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), that would reimburse insurance companies for giving discounted deductibles and copays to low-income customers. (Hellmann, 12/19)
The Hill:
Connecticut To End Children's Health Program Unless It Gets Money From Congress
Connecticut plans to shutter its health-care program for low- and middle-income children Jan. 31 unless Congress provides new federal funding. Congress let the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) lapse on Sept. 30, to the frustration of state officials and advocates. The program provides insurance to nearly 9 million children nationwide. (Roubein, 12/19)
The Hill:
Dem Rips Disaster Package For Failing To Address Medicaid In Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands
A top Democratic lawmaker on Tuesday ripped the House’s disaster funding package for failing to include any provisions helping Medicaid programs for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. “It’s disgraceful that the House Republican’s emergency supplemental funding package does absolutely nothing for the more than 1.6 million Americans in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands that are counting on Medicaid in the wake of overwhelming devastation,” said Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (N.J.), the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. (Weixel, 12/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
Deals Boom In Push To Move Health Care Out Of Hospitals
A recent burst of deal-making among health-care companies is set to accelerate the shift in how and where Americans get medical care—away from hospitals and toward clinics, doctors’ offices, surgery centers and even drugstores. Potential mergers disclosed since early December involve companies with more than $550 billion in cumulative revenue, a sign of how much of the industry is caught up in efforts to reshape the landscape. (Wilde Mathews and Evans, 12/20)
Reuters:
Humana, Private Equity Firms Buy Kindred Healthcare For $810 Million
Humana, the fourth largest U.S. health insurer, will pay $800 million in cash for Kindred shares and to cover other costs. That will give it a 40 percent stake in Kindred at Home, which will employ the 40,000 Kindred caregivers who serve about 130,000 patients daily. It will not have a stake in the second Kindred unit. (Humer, 12/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
Tenet Healthcare Explores Sale Of Conifer, Expands Cost-Cutting Program
One of the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chains, Tenet Healthcare Corp., is exploring a sale of its health-care operations management business and plans to boost cost-cutting efforts. The moves announced Tuesday come after the company announced 1,300 job cuts in October. (Hufford, 12/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
FDA Blesses Blindness Treatment That Could Cost $1 Million
The Food and Drug Administration approved for sale the first therapy in the U.S. that delivers a functional gene to replace a faulty, disease-causing one—a treatment that could carry a price in excess of $1 million, its maker has said. The injected gene therapy from Spark Therapeutics Inc. is designed to improve sight in people with a rare form of vision loss caused by an inherited genetic mutation. The condition, retinal dystrophy, often manifests itself in young children and affects up to 3,000 Americans, Spark said. (Loftus, 12/19)
The Washington Post:
FDA Approves First Gene Therapy For An Inherited Disease
In a historic move, the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved a pioneering gene therapy for a rare form of childhood blindness, the first such treatment cleared in the United States for an inherited disease. The approval signals a new era for gene therapy, a field that struggled for decades to overcome devastating setbacks but now is pushing forward in an effort to develop treatments for hemophilia, sickle-cell anemia and an array of other genetic diseases. Yet the products, should they reach patients, are likely to carry stratospheric prices — a prospect already worrying consumer advocates and economists. (McGinley, 12/19)
Los Angeles Times:
FDA Approves Gene Therapy To Fix Mutations That Can Lead To Blindness
Tuesday's announcement marks the third time in five months that the drug safety agency has allowed a gene therapy — a form of treatment with a long and fitful safety history — on the U.S. market. The first approval went to Kymriah, which treats a form of leukemia, in August. In October, the drug agency cleared a second gene-based treatment called Yescarta to treat a form of lymphoma. "Gene therapy will become a mainstay in treating, and maybe curing, many of our most devastating and intractable illnesses," Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the FDA's commissioner, said Tuesday. "We're at a turning point when it comes to this novel form of therapy." (Healy, 12/19)
Stat:
FDA Approves First Gene Therapy Targeting Rare Form Of Inherited Blindness
Like other gene therapies, Luxturna inserts a functional piece of DNA into cells in order to replace or override a defective, disease-causing gene. For Spark, the injection site is the eyes of people, mostly children and young adults, who have a type of inherited retinal disease caused by a mutation in a gene called RPE65. People born with mutated RPE65 genes suffer from severe vision problems, including night blindness. As the disease progresses, people lose all functional vision and can eventually become totally blind. (Feuerstein, 12/19)
NPR:
Luxturna Approved By FDA To Treat Inherited Form Of Blindness
In tests on patients, the treatment often produced dramatic results, restoring the ability of patients to see things they could never see before, such as the stars, the moon, fireworks and their parents' faces. The treatment also enabled patients to do many things that had been impossible, such as read, play sports, ride bicycles and go outside at night by themselves. "Today's approval marks another first in the field of gene therapy," said FDA Commission Scott Gottlieb in a statement announcing the decision. "This milestone reinforces the potential of this breakthrough approach in treating a wide range of challenging diseases." (Stein, 12/19)
Stat:
Lawmakers Who Scold Pharma For Price Gouging Get Some New Ammunition
As anger rose over prescription drug prices, two Washington lawmakers criticized drug makers for taking advantage of Americans, but wanted numbers to back up their claims. Now a new government report, which they requested, provide those numbers — and also potential ammunition in the fight over drug prices. From 2006 to 2015, global sales for the pharmaceutical industry, including biotech companies, jumped 45 percent to $775 billion. Two-thirds of all drug makers experienced rising profit margins, which averaged 17 percent in 2015. And from 2008 through 2014, worldwide R&D spending — most of which went to drug development, rather than research — increased 8.5 percent, to $89 billion. (Silverman, 12/19)
Stat:
Experts Call For Use Of Sanofi’s Dengue Vaccine To Be Halted In Most Cases
The use of the world’s first dengue vaccine should be temporarily suspended except in limited circumstances because of concerns that it could put some people at heightened risk of severe disease, according to prominent public health experts. That step, they say, is necessary after studies showed that the vaccine, manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur, can have an unfortunate effect: worsening — rather than preventing — future cases of dengue in some people who had not previously been infected with it. (Branswell, 12/19)
The New York Times:
A Federal Ban On Making Lethal Viruses Is Lifted
Federal officials on Tuesday ended a moratorium imposed three years ago on funding research that alters germs to make them more lethal. Such work can now proceed, said Dr. Francis S. Collins, the head of the National Institutes of Health, but only if a scientific panel decides that the benefits justify the risks. (McNeil, 12/19)
The Washington Post:
U.S. Lifts Research Moratorium On Enhancing Germs’ Danger
The new policy for pathogens capable of creating a pandemic will allow researchers who want to study them to apply for funding through the new process outlined by the Department of Health and Human Services. The end of the moratorium applies to research on the SARS, MERS, influenza and other dangerous viruses. The October 2014 pause was put in place after researchers in Wisconsin and the Netherlands sparked a debate by announcing in 2011 that they had made the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus more contagious in ferrets, which are used as a model for how disease might spread among humans. This kind of research is known as “gain of function” because it introduces new abilities into existing germs. (Bernstein, 12/19)
NPR:
NIH Lifts Ban On Research That Could Make Deadly Viruses Even Worse
On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Human Services released a new framework for making decisions about funding research that has the potential to create a new pandemic strain. "We have a responsibility to ensure that research with infectious agents is conducted responsibly, and that we consider the potential biosafety and biosecurity risks associated with such research," said Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, in a statement. The move by officials may mark the end of a long saga that has sharply divided the scientific community in recent years. (Greenfieldboyce, 12/19)
The New York Times:
E.P.A. Delays Bans On Uses Of Hazardous Chemicals
The Environmental Protection Agency will indefinitely postpone bans on certain uses of three toxic chemicals found in consumer products, according to an update of the Trump administration’s regulatory plans. Critics said the reversal demonstrated the agency’s increasing reluctance to use enforcement powers granted to it last year by Congress under the Toxic Substances Control Act. (Kaplan, 12/19)
The Associated Press:
Prospects Ebb For High Court Fight Over Immigrant’s Abortion
A potential Supreme Court confrontation over the ability of a pregnant immigrant teenager in U.S. custody to have an abortion appears to be receding. The Trump administration says in court papers filed Tuesday that it has obtained the teen’s birth certificate and it shows she is 19 years old, not 17. That means she will no longer be in the custody of the Health and Human Services Department office that oversees shelters housing immigrant children. (12/19)
Politico:
Supreme Court Abortion Showdown Is Defused
The age difference is significant because Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is responsible for adults in immigration detention, tends to have fewer restrictions on pregnant women seeking to obtain abortions while in custody. Later Tuesday, the Justice Department said the immigrant was turned over to ICE and released on her own recognizance. That leaves her free to seek an abortion if she wishes to do so. (Gerstein and Rayasam, 12/19)
NPR:
Stress From Racism May Be Causing African-American Babies To Die More Often
In February 2009, Samantha Pierce became pregnant with twins. It was a time when things were going really well in her life. She and her husband had recently gotten married. They had good jobs. "I was a kick-ass community organizer," says Pierce, who is African-American and lives in Cleveland. She worked for a nonprofit that fought against predatory lending. The organization was growing, and Pierce had been promoted to management. (Chatterjee and Davis, 12/20)
The Washington Post:
A Model's Warning About Tampons And Toxic Shock Syndrome
Lauren Wasser woke up in a hospital bed 80 pounds heavier than she was supposed to be — filled with fluids to try to flush the toxins from her body. She struggled to move, and her feet felt like they were being lit with a lighter again and again. But the model did not know how dire her situation was — until she overheard a nurse discussing the surgery that would upend her life: Wasser, just 24 years old at the time, would need a below-the-knee amputation on her right leg. (Bever, 12/19)
Los Angeles Times:
Rich People Experience Happiness In A More Self-Centered Way Than Poor People, Study Suggests
Rich people are different from the rest of us — and that includes the way they experience happiness. Instead of feeling positive emotions that involve connections with other people, their happiness is more likely to be expressed as feelings that focus on themselves, new research shows. However, this difference doesn't necessarily mean that high-income people have more total happiness than people who earn less. The findings were published this week in the journal Emotion, and they seemed to fit a larger pattern, according to the psychologists who conducted the study. (Kaplan, 12/19)
The Washington Post:
She Finally Had A Baby Naturally — With A 24-Year-Old Frozen Embryo.
When Tina Gibson got married seven years ago, the 26-year-old knew it was unlikely that she would have children naturally. Her husband, 33-year-old Benjamin Gibson, had cystic fibrosis, a condition that can make men infertile, the couple told CNN. The East Tennessee pair decided they would eventually adopt a child instead — and that they would foster several children in the meantime, until they were ready. (Eltagouri, 12/19)
The Associated Press:
Kansas State Mental Hospital Regains Certification For Unit
The state mental hospital in eastern Kansas has regained federal certification for one of its treatment units after two years of working to address safety and patient care issues, a dose of good news as officials consider the entire hospital's future. The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services confirmed Tuesday that Osawatomie State Hospital, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Kansas City, had passed a federal inspection after Thanksgiving, the second within four months. (12/19)