First Edition: January 15, 2015
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire:
Americans Want Congress To Focus On The Basics, Poll Shows
Republicans and Democrats alike want Congress to pass an annual budget, drive down college costs and preserve Medicare for future generations. Splits emerge over more divisive issues like approving the Keystone XL pipeline, changing the Affordable Care Act, or repealing it entirely. Those are just some of the conclusions from a recent nationwide poll commissioned by Crossroads GPS and the American Action Network, two groups that back congressional Republicans. (O'Connor, 1/15)
Los Angeles Times:
Fewer Americans Delayed Needed Medical Care In 2014, Survey Says
From 2012 to 2014, the share of consumers delaying a recommended test or treatment or not filling a prescription fell by nearly a third. And the percentage who reported problems with medical bills fell by almost a quarter. Those are the first declines ever recorded by the biennial national survey by the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund, which began asking Americans about the affordability of medical care a decade ago. (Levey, 1/14)
The Associated Press:
Study: Fewer Struggle With Medical Costs As Coverage Grows
Not only do more Americans have health insurance, but the number struggling with medical costs has dropped since President Barack Obama's health care law expanded coverage, according to a study released Thursday. The Commonwealth Fund's biennial health insurance survey found that the share of U.S. adults who did not get needed care because of cost dropped from 43 percent in 2012 to 36 percent last year, as the health care law's main coverage expansion went into full swing. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 1/15)
The Associated Press:
Health Overhaul Sign-Ups Edge Higher
With a month to go in the 2015 open enrollment season, the Obama administration says sign-ups under the president's health care law are edging higher. The Health and Human Services Department says at least 163,000 people signed up last week for subsidized private health insurance. (1/14)
The Wall Street Journal:
IRS Woes Keeping Taxpayers On Hold
Taxpayers are facing the worst service from the Internal Revenue Service since at least 2001, with more than half of callers unlikely to get through to the agency and average hold times of 30 minutes or more, according to a new government report. ... In addition to congressional budget cuts pushed by conservative Republicans in recent years, the agency also faces heavier workloads stemming from Mr. Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act, as well as new reporting requirements for foreign financial accounts, the report said. (McKinnon, 1/14)
The Associated Press:
5 Things To Know About Tax Filing And Obama's Health Law
The IRS is cutting taxpayer services just as President Barack Obama's health law is making filing a tax return more complicated. The agency blames budget cuts enacted by Congress. An IRS watchdog says service problems at the tax agency will make complying with the law harder for well-intentioned taxpayers. (1/15)
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire:
Republicans Consider ‘Reconciliation’ In Taking On Health Law
Republicans head to an annual retreat this week wrestling with a subject that many within the caucus have preferred to avoid: whether to use a divisive procedural tool to attempt to repeal President Barack Obama‘s signature health law. On Thursday, the chairmen of the six relevant committees–Senate Finance, Senate Commerce, and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committees, and their House counterparts–will headline a panel discussion about health policy. (Hughes, 1/14)
Politico:
Obamacare's Little Secret
Elizabeth MacDonough holds no elected office. Few people outside of Capitol Hill even know her name. And forget about knowing her political leanings or loyalties. But she may very well be the most powerful person in Washington in determining how far Republicans can go in trying to repeal Obamacare. (Haberkorn, 1/14)
The Associated Press:
Paul: Some Game System To Get Undeserved Disability Payments
Republican Sen. Rand Paul said Wednesday that some people “game the system” to receive disability payments they don’t deserve and later criticized the federal government for not doing an adequate job policing a system he says needs reform. During a meeting with Republican state lawmakers, Paul said fraud is a widespread problem in disability programs that help people who are injured at work. He joked that “half the people on disability are either anxious or their back hurts.” (1/14)
The Wall Street Journal:
Federal Court Strikes Down Rule On Pay For Home-Health Workers
The ruling issued Wednesday by Judge Richard Leon on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is a blow to the Obama administration and worker advocacy groups that fought for the added protections and a victory for trade groups that challenged the rule on behalf of third-party home care providers. “The department is trying to do through regulation what must be done through legislation,” wrote Judge Leon, who struck down another key portion of the rule in December. “I cannot help but conclude that Congress’s intent in 1974 to exempt from minimum and overtime wage requirements domestic workers providing services—including care to the elderly and disabled—is still as clear today as it was forty years ago,” he said. (Trottman, 1/14)
The Washington Post:
Obama To Propose Seven Days Paid Sick Leave For Workers
Obama will also sign a presidential memorandum granting federal employees six weeks paid leave after the birth of a child and six additional weeks of unpaid administrative leave, Jarrett said, adding that Obama would call on cities and states to adopt similar measures. The president will outline a new plan to help states create paid leave programs, and provide new funding through the Department of Labor for feasibility studies that will help other states and municipalities figure out the best way to implement programs of their own, Jarrett said. (Mufson, 1/14)
Politico:
President Obama To Expand Paid Sick Leave
President Barack Obama will outline a plan Thursday to help states create paid leave programs and to fund Labor Department feasibility studies on paid leave.
“This is not a partisan issue; this is a family issue, and it’s an economic issue,” senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said in a conference call with reporters. (Levine, 1/14)
The Washington Post's Wonkblog:
How The Drive For Profits Is Shaping End Of Life Care
A federal watchdog has warned - yet again - that financial incentives in Medicare may be warping the ways that hospice care works in the U.S. In a report released Wednesday, the inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services warns that some hospices appear to have sought higher profits by focusing on patients living in assisted living facilities. (Whoriskey, 1/14)
The Wall Street Journal's Metropolis:
Report Criticizes Long Wait Times, Care At New York-Presbyterian Hospital
Two Upper Manhattan elected officials released a report Wednesday sharply criticizing New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center in Washington Heights for what it dubbed substandard care for poor patients in the hospital’s emergency room. State Sen. Adriano Espaillat and New York City Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, who represent the Washington Heights area, released the report, with Mr. Espaillat calling the emergency room’s services “a tale of two hospitals,” referring to different levels of care provided to patients with private insurance and those “for poor people, people who come to the emergency room on a regular basis.” (Janos, 1/14)
The Washington Post:
This 88-Year-Old Doctor Treats The Poor Out Of His Toyota Camry. Mississippi Wants To Punish Him For It.
For the last two years, Landrum has been working without an office, but he’s happy to meet his patients wherever they are. Sometimes, the meetings occur in a home; sometimes they take place in a parking lot. Other patients meet the doctor on the side of a quiet country road — or inside his 2007 Toyota Camry. The location doesn’t matter because Landrum, a World War II veteran who has been in private practice for more than 55 years, believes it’s his duty to help anyone who calls on him. ... But his work may soon come to an end. Landrum said he’s being asked by the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure to surrender his medical license, which he’s carried in his pocket with pride since Dwight D. Eisenhower was president. The reason for the request, according to Landrum, is that the board balked several months ago upon learning that he was operating his practice out of a car. (Holley, 1/14)
USA Today/The Tennessean:
Tenn. Woman Gets Medicaid Help – 6 Days After Her Death
Neva Holt stood in a kitchen for years whipping up coconut cake and patting out hamburgers — food she sold from her Lyles, Tenn., cafe that generated sales tax revenue for the state — but when she got old and needed nursing home care, Tennessee didn't give anything back. She got kicked out of a nursing home because TennCare, the state's Medicaid agency, wouldn't pay. TennCare determined she didn't qualify for coverage, contending she had owned land that she transferred to her grandchildren — assets that should have been used to cover the cost of a nursing home. The family appealed and ultimately had TennCare's determination overturned this month. It was a hollow victory. Holt died at age 88 — six days before the decision came down. (Wilemon, 1/14)
The Associated Press:
FBI Raids Medical Supply Firm With Wall St. ‘Wolf’ Tie
FBI agents and other investigators spent hours Wednesday apparently collecting evidence at a South Florida medical supply firm with links to “The Wolf of Wall Street” film amid accusations of Medicare fraud. FBI spokesman Jim Marshall confirmed that the bureau was “conducting law enforcement activity” at the offices of Med-Care Diabetic and Medical Supply Inc. in Boca Raton. News media photos and video showed agents from the FBI and other agencies carting out boxes of files and other materials from the office. (1/14)
The Wall Street Journal:
Federal Agents Raid Florida Medical-Equipment Supplier
Federal agents on Wednesday raided the offices of a Boca Raton, Fla., medical-equipment supplier with an executive who was the inspiration for a “Wolf of Wall Street” character. Daniel Porush, an executive at Med-Care Diabetic & Medical Supplies Inc., was a former associate of Jordan Belfort, the stockbroker whose boiler-room tactics ultimately landed both men prison sentences. The 2013 film, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” was based on their exploits and starred Jonah Hill as the character inspired by Mr. Porush. (Weaver, Stewart and Carreyrou, 1/14)