First Edition: December 23, 2014
Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Seniors' Wait For A Medicare Appeal Is Cut In Half
The federal office responsible for appeals for Medicare coverage has cut in half the waiting time for beneficiaries who are requesting a hearing before a judge. The progress follows an announcement last January that officials were going to work through a crushing backlog by moving beneficiaries to the front of the line and suspending hearings on cases from hospitals, doctors and other providers for at least two years. (Jaffe, 12/23)
Kaiser Health News:
Is Your Heart Doctor In? If Not, You Might Be Better Off.
If your cardiologist is away at a conference when you’re having a stabbing feeling in your chest, don’t fret. You may be more likely to live. A study published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine found frail patients admitted to teaching hospitals with two common types of heart problems were more likely to survive on days when national cardiology conferences were going on. (Rau, 12/22)
Kaiser Health News:
Can I Keep My Marketplace Plan When I'm Enrolled In Medicare?
KHN's consumer columnist Michelle Andrews answers readers' questions about enrolling in Medicare, (Andrews, 12/23)
The New York Times:
Obama Administration To Investigate Insurers For Bias Against Costly Conditions
The Obama administration said Monday that it would investigate prescription drug coverage and other benefits offered by health insurance companies to see if they discriminated against people with AIDS, mental illness, diabetes or other costly chronic conditions. The administration said it had become aware of “discriminatory benefit designs” that discouraged people from enrolling because of age or medical condition. (Pear, 12/22)
The New York Times:
Group Sues Aetna, Claiming Discrimination Against H.I.V. Patients
A consumer group has sued the health insurer Aetna, claiming that it discriminated against patients with H.I.V. when it required them to obtain medications exclusively through its own mail-order pharmacy. The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court in San Diego by the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, argues that Aetna’s policy violates the new federal health care law, which prohibits insurers from discriminating against people based on medical condition. (Thomas, 12/22)
The Associated Press:
Consumer Group Sues Aetna, Alleges Discrimination
A consumer advocacy group has filed a class-action lawsuit against Aetna Inc. saying a new policy violates the privacy of people with HIV and AIDS by requiring them to get their medications from its mail-order pharmacy. Consumer Watchdog filed the lawsuit Friday in federal court in San Diego. It says sending the drugs through the mail puts privacy at risk because packages could end up at the wrong address or be seen by others. It also says the mail is not a reliable way to ensure people get their medications on time. (Watson, 12/22)
The Wall Street Journal:
Supreme Court To Hear Arguments In Big Health Care Case On March 4
The Supreme Court said it will hear oral arguments on March 4 in a lawsuit over whether the Obama administration is improperly providing tax credits to consumers who purchase health insurance through the federal exchanges. The case will determine the fate of the tax credits to millions of consumers who have obtained insurance coverage through HealthCare.gov, the federal marketplace. (Armour, 12/22)
USA Today:
Solutions To Woes Of Mentally Ill Exist But Aren't Used
The USA could dramatically improve the lives of the 10 million Americans with serious mental illness if it would make wider use of proven programs. "We know what to do," says Ron Honberg, national director of policy and legal affairs at the National Alliance on Mental Illness. "We just don't do it." Most communities ignore mental health until there's a crisis, such as the school shootings in Newtown, Conn., two years ago. ... Studies show that supported housing, which provides a variety of services beyond low-cost apartments, not only reduces homelessness but also helps participants spend less time in shelters, hospitals and jail. (Szabo, 12/22)
Los Angeles Times:
North Carolina Abortion Law Struck Down By Federal Appeals Court
A federal appeals court Monday ruled that a North Carolina abortion law requiring doctors to perform ultrasounds and describe sonogram images to women is unconstitutional because it violates free speech rights. ... A provision in the Women's Right to Know Act requires doctors to display sonogram images of fetuses and to describe them to women at least four hours before an abortion procedure. "Transforming the physician into the mouthpiece of the state undermines the trust that is necessary for facilitating healthy doctor-patient relationships and, through them, successful treatment outcomes," the three-judge panel wrote. (Zucchino, 12/22)
The Associated Press:
Appeals Court Strikes Down NC Abortion Law
A North Carolina law requiring abortion providers to show and describe an ultrasound to the pregnant woman is "ideological in intent" and violates doctors' free-speech rights, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III wrote that the law goes far beyond what most states have done to ensure that a woman gives informed consent to an abortion. (O'Dell, 12/22)
Reuters:
U.S. Court Strikes Down North Carolina Ultrasound Abortion Law
A North Carolina law that required physicians to perform an ultrasound, display the sonogram and describe the fetus to women seeking abortions is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va., upheld a district judge’s decision striking down the 2011 law, which was passed by North Carolina’s Republican-led legislature over a veto by Gov. Bev Perdue, a Democrat. (12/22)
The Associated Press:
Judge Strikes Down Wage Boost For Some Home Workers
A federal judge on Monday struck down Labor Department regulations that would have meant higher pay for some home health care workers. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said part of the rules approved last year conflict with federal law that has long exempted third-party providers of in-home care for the elderly and disabled from complying with minimum wage and overtime laws. (Hananel, 12/22)
The Wall Street Journal:
Patients Turn To Palliative Care For Relief From Serious Illness
Patients with serious illnesses need medical treatments to survive. But they are increasingly taking advantage of the specialty known as palliative care, which offers day-to-day relief from symptoms as well as stress and lifestyle management. Though often regarded as only for older patients with terminal illness before they enter hospice programs at the end of life, palliative care is increasingly being offered to patients of any age with a range of chronic illnesses such as cancer, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s. (Landro, 12/22)
The New York Times' Upshot:
What 2,000 Calories Looks Like
The nation’s largest restaurant chains have made a big deal in recent years about introducing smaller portion sizes. McDonald’s eliminated the Supersize menu, while T.G.I. Friday’s and others have introduced small-plate items. Yet the restaurants have also been doing something else, with less fanfare: continuing to add dishes so rich that a single meal often contains a full day’s worth of calories. Here, we show you what roughly 2,000 calories looks like at some large chains. (Barro, Griggs, Leonhardt, Cain Miller and Cenicola, 12/22)
Los Angeles Times:
CDC Chief: 'World Of Difference' In Ebola Fight, But Complacency A Risk
The fight against the Ebola virus in West Africa has seen some “real momentum and progress” in the last few months but remains imperiled by complacency as hot spots of the disease continue to sprout across the region, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. ... To shut down the Ebola outbreak, Frieden told reporters, healthcare workers must continue adhering to strict protocols and use of personal protective equipment, and officials must be able to effectively trace every patient’s contacts closely to shut down chains of transmission. “Until they get to zero, we in the U.S. will not be safe from other potential imported cases,” Frieden said. (Mai-Duc, 12/22)
The Washington Post:
CDC Director Frieden Cites Progress, Challenges In Ebola Fight After W. Africa Trip
Despite progress fighting Ebola in Liberia, a surge in the number of cases and a shortage of treatment beds in neighboring Sierra Leone and Guinea pose “sobering” challenges to stopping the epidemic in West Africa, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. CDC Director Thomas Frieden said the conditions he saw on a week-long trip to the three hardest-hit countries were “a world of difference” from his visit in late August and September, when the number of cases was increasing exponentially in Liberia and dead bodies lay in streets and in treatment centers. (Sun, 12/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Panel Recommends Blood Pressure Screening To Stop A 'Silent Killer'
Health authorities in the U.S. are taking fresh aim at a “silent killer” with a recommendation that all American adults be screened for high blood pressure. People should be screened once a year if they are at least 40 years old, if they are overweight or obese, if they are African American, or if their blood pressure is in the “high normal” range, according to a draft recommendation released Monday by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Adults ages 18 to 39 who have no risk factors for high blood pressure should be screened once every three to five years, the panel said. (Kaplan, 12/22)
The Associated Press:
Do Heart Patients Fare Better When Doctors Away?
Doctors joke that if you're going to have a heart attack, the safest place would be at a big national gathering of heart specialists. But a new study suggests some older hospitalized heart patients may fare better when these doctors aren't around. (Tanner, 12/22)
Los Angeles Times:
Some Heart Patients Do Better When The Cardiologist Is Away
Holy heart attack! Researchers have found that certain high-risk heart patients stand a better chance of survival if they go to a teaching hospital when all the cardiologists have left town. ... In research published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, study authors found that the survival rate for high-risk cardiac arrest patients rose 10% when they were admitted to a major teaching hospital on days that a national cardiology meetings was in session. (Morin, 12/22)