First Edition: July 20, 2018
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Long Waits To See Doctors In Puerto Rico, Where Medical Needs Are Great Post-Maria
Physicians are in short supply in Puerto Rico. From 2006 to 2016, the number of doctors on the island declined from 14,000 to 9,000, according the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Puerto Rico. And Hurricane Maria has helped fuel the exodus.Dr. José Cruz, a pediatrician with a practice in Ponce, said the island’s ongoing financial crisis and low payments from health insurers drove many physicians to seek work in the States. (7/20)
California Healthline:
California’s ACA Rates To Rise 8.7% Next Year
The average increase in California is smaller than the double-digit hikes expected around the nation, due largely to a healthier mix of enrollees and more competition in its marketplace. Still, health insurance prices keep growing faster than wages and general inflation as a result of rising medical costs overall, squeezing many middle-class families who are struggling to pay their household bills.(Terhune and Bartolone, 7/19)
Kaiser Health News:
Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Drug Prices And Unicorns
A trio of court actions provide news for this week’s “What the Health?’” panel. A federal appeals court this week handed hospitals a setback in their effort to stop the Trump administration from cutting funding for a program that provides deep discounts on drugs. Physicians sued health insurer Anthem for its policy of retroactively declaring some emergency department claims not to be an emergency. And the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the city of Philadelphia’s controversial tax on sweetened beverages. (7/19)
The Hill:
Merck To Lower Prices For Some Drugs
The pharmaceutical company Merck on Thursday announced it would lower the costs of some drugs in its portfolio. The company will drop the price of Zepatier, a Hepatitis C drug, by 60 percent, and decrease the costs of "several other" drugs by 10 percent. It also said it would not increase the average net price of drugs in its portfolio by more than inflation annually. (Hellmann, 7/19)
Stat:
Merck Joins The List Of Drug Makers Agreeing To Freeze Or Lower Some Prices
In a brief statement, the company agreed not to increase the average net prices of its medicines by more than inflation annually, and then also dropped the wholesale — or list — price by 60 percent on its Zepatier hepatitis C treatment and lowered list prices by 10 percent on a half dozen other drugs. However, the extent to which its moves will actually be meaningful are being questioned. (Silverman, 7/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
Merck To Limit Drug-Price Increases, Cut Some Prices
Merck, based in Kenilworth, N.J., said it was cutting prices “to help reduce patient out-of-pocket costs.” The price cuts will go into effect in the fall, a spokeswoman said. Merck and other drugmakers typically pay rebates to pharmacy-benefit managers and insurers that amount to discounts from list prices. But uninsured patients and those with high-deductible health plans can still be on the hook for the full list price. (Loftus, 7/19)
The New York Times:
Merck To Lower Prices On Some Drugs, But Not Its Blockbusters
The move follows recent announcements by Pfizer and Novartis that they would freeze price increases for the rest of the year, as the industry confronts sustained criticism from President Trump, lawmakers and the public over the rising cost of prescriptions. Merck’s action shows just how cautiously the industry is shifting strategies: It did not cut the prices of any blockbusters like the cancer treatment Keytruda or the diabetes drug Januvia. Instead, it said it would reduce by 60 percent the list price of Zepatier, a hepatitis C drug whose recent sales have dipped so low that, after paying after-the-fact rebates to insurers, the company recorded no sales in the United States for the product in the first quarter of this year. (Thomas, 7/19)
Politico:
Trump Meets With Drug Giant's CEO As Part Of Price Squeeze
The CEO of drug giant Pfizer met with President Donald Trump at the White House today as the administration pressures drugmakers to voluntarily rein in prices, according to multiple industry sources. Ian Read's appearance followed a Trump tweet this morning that thanked Pfizer and the Swiss manufacturer Novartis for pledging not to raise drug prices further this year. Top pharmaceutical industry CEOs are in Washington for an annual planning meeting of the major drug lobby PhRMA. (Karlin-Smith and Restuccia, 7/19)
The Washington Post:
Trump Administration To Explore Allowing Drug Imports To Counter Price Hikes
The Trump administration is cracking open the door to using prescription drugs imported from overseas — ones that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration — to combat high drug prices in limited circumstances. The FDA announced on Thursday that it plans to create a working group to examine how to safely import drugs in a specific situation: when there's a sharp price increase for an off-patent drug produced by a single manufacturer. (McGinley, 7/19)
Stat:
HHS Opens Door To Possibility Of Importing Some Drugs In Limited Cases
It’s an early step, but the idea behind it is one of the boldest the administration has yet proposed as it has laid out a series of ways to bring down the cost of prescription drugs. Although President Trump said on the campaign trail that he supports importing drugs from other countries as a way to lower prices for Americans, the notion has traditionally been more popular among Democrats. Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the former presidential candidate, is one of its most vocal proponents. (Mershon, 7/19)
The Hill:
Trump Administration To Explore Importing Prescription Drugs
Azar and FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb on Thursday stressed the working group will be narrowly focused, and any importation policies will be temporary. The group will only examine the importation of drugs not protected by patents or exclusivities. “Any policy that involves the importation of drugs would be temporary until adequate competition enters these categories,” Gottlieb said in a statement. (Wiexel, 7/19)
The Hill:
Dems Pressure GOP To Take Legal Action Supporting Pre-Existing Conditions
Senate Democrats are targeting Republicans on health care, urging them to sign on to a resolution that would allow the Senate to intervene in a lawsuit challenging the legality of ObamaCare. The resolution, introduced Thursday, would allow the Office of Senate Legal Counsel to intervene in a case brought by Republican attorneys general that argues ObamaCare is now unconstitutional since Congress repealed the 2010 law's individual mandate last year. (Hellmann, 7/19)
The Hill:
House Dems Want Answers On Cuts To ObamaCare Outreach Groups
A pair of House Democrats want answers from the Trump administration about the decision to significantly slash funding for outreach groups that help people enroll in ObamaCare coverage. The funding will be cut from $36 million this year to $10 million in 2019, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said last week. The administration's funding for such outreach had already been slashed last year to well below the $63 million budgeted annually under former President Obama. (Weixel, 7/19)
The Washington Post:
House Republicans Target District Over Effort To Prop Up Affordable Care Act
House Republicans passed two measures Thursday that would block the District from requiring that all residents have health insurance, opening a new front in congressional efforts to rein in the city’s government. In addition to measures targeting D.C.’s version of the individual mandate under the Affordable Care Act, lawmakers passed restrictions against using local funding to help low-income women obtain abortions, to commercialize recreational marijuana and to allow terminally ill patients to end their lives. (Portnoy and Jamison, 7/19)
The Hill:
Poll: Half Of Americans Find Health Care Harder To Afford This Year
Nearly half of respondents in a new poll said they are now finding it more difficult to afford health care than they were a year ago, according to a poll released Thursday. The Navigator poll found 49 percent of respondents said it’s more difficult to afford prescription drugs, insurance premiums and doctor visits compared to last year. Additionally, 78 percent of those surveyed said they believe the government should be doing more to make health care more affordable. (Samuels, 7/19)
The Associated Press:
Democrats Wrestle With Election-Year Message On Health Care
Cheered on by a handful of activists, liberal House Democrats announced outside the Capitol that they were forming a caucus to push for "Medicare for All" — shorthand for government-financed health care. At the same time Thursday, Democratic senators were introducing a resolution aimed at putting Republicans on the defensive about Trump administration efforts to undermine former President Barack Obama's health care law. (Fram, 7/20)
The Hill:
GOP Looks To Blunt Dems’ Attacks On Rising Premiums
House Republicans are trying to blunt Democratic attacks over rising ObamaCare premiums, an issue that’s poised to play a key role in the November midterm elections. The House is planning to vote next week on several GOP-backed health-care measures that supporters say will lower premiums, and passing them could give a boost to some vulnerable Republicans. (Sullivan, 7/19)
The Associated Press:
Reversal: Kentucky Restoring Medicaid Benefits For Thousands
Dental and vision care benefits will be restored for hundreds of thousands of Medicaid recipients in a sudden reversal by Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin's administration following an outcry over the recent cuts. The coverage had been abruptly cut at the start of July after a federal judge rejected the Republican governor's plan to overhaul Kentucky's Medicaid program. The cuts triggered stinging criticism from Democrats and public health advocates. (Schreiner, 7/19)
The Hill:
Senate To Vote Monday On Trump's VA Nominee
Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), the chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, said earlier Thursday that the Senate should vote to confirm Wilkie “without delay.” "It is of utmost importance that any policy changes that impact the future of the department be made by a confirmed VA secretary who can be held accountable by Congress and the American people," Isakson said. (Carney, 7/19)
The Hill:
More Than 400 Bills Aimed At Improving Reproductive Health Have Been Introduced In 2018: Report
More than 400 bills aimed at improving reproductive health have been introduced across 44 states in 2018, according to a new report. The National Institute for Reproductive Health (NIRH) on Monday released a report that found fewer state-level initiatives related to reproductive rights were introduced this year than in 2017, but that overall legislation has continued to skyrocket under President Trump's administration. (Birnbaum, 7/18)
The New York Times:
What It Takes To Get An Abortion In The Most Restrictive State In The U.S.
With the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Democrats and abortion rights groups have warned of a threat to Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that made abortion legal nationwide. Already, American women face increasingly different paths to getting an abortion, depending on their state. “It doesn’t make a difference if it’s legal if it’s inaccessible,” said Diane Derzis, owner of Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the only remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi. “And it’s definitely inaccessible to many people.” (Carlsen, Ngu and Simon, 7/20)
The Washington Post:
Cleveland Woman Is Told Embryos Were Destroyed Months After Being Assured They Were Safe
Attorneys suing University Hospitals in Cleveland over the destruction of thousands of eggs and embryos on Thursday called for an independent monitor for the fertility clinic and accused the medical center of undermining the investigation by asking a judge to issue a gag order in the case. Joseph Peiffer, who represents 75 families of the 1,000 families that were impacted by the freezer malfunction in March, said information about the case must continue to be shared freely for the sake of the clients of the clinic. (Cha, 7/19)
The New York Times:
Doctors And Health Workers Reflect On Rural America’s Limited Access To Care
Kela Abernathy’s urgent ride to the Missouri hospital where she would give birth to premature twins covered 100 miles, took nearly four hours, and featured one stop at a hospital that couldn’t help because its labor and delivery ward was defunct. In parts of rural America, such lengthy drives to labor and delivery wards are becoming more common, according to an article published Tuesday in The New York Times. (Virella, 7/19)
Reuters:
A Tenth Of U.S. Veteran Coal Miners Have Black Lung Disease: NIOSH
More than 10 percent of America’s coal miners with 25 or more years of experience have black lung disease, the highest rate recorded in roughly two decades, according to a government study released on Thursday that showed cases concentrated heavily in central Appalachia. The study by researchers from the government’s National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health marks the most authoritative evidence to date of a resurgence of the incurable respiratory illness caused by coal dust, which plagued miners in the 1970s but was nearly eradicated by the 1990s. (7/19)
The Associated Press:
Gene Tests Can Provide Health Clues -- And Needless Worry
Last year, Katie Burns got a phone call that shows what can happen in medicine when information runs ahead of knowledge. Burns learned that a genetic test of her fetus had turned up an abnormality. It appeared in a gene that, when it fails to work properly, causes heart defects, mental disability and other problems. But nobody knew whether the specific abnormality detected by the test would cause trouble. (7/19)
The New York Times:
Parents Aren’t Good Judges Of Their Kids’ Sugar Intake
More than 18 percent of elementary-school-age students in the United States are obese, and no one really knows why. The causes are numerous and tangled. But consuming too much sugar is widely accepted as an important factor. In 2015, the World Health Organization issued a recommendation: Everyone, regardless of age, should restrict his or her sugar intake to less than 10 percent of all calories consumed daily. For young children, that would mean no more than about 45 grams of sugar a day. Of course, few young children are responsible for their own diets or can be expected to capably monitor their sugar consumption. That oversight usually falls to a parent. And a recent study published in the International Journal of Obesity suggests that most of us, alas, are not adept at estimating how much sugar is in some common foodstuffs. (Reynolds, 7/19)
The New York Times:
After Flint, Watchdog Urges E.P.A. To Monitor Drinking Water More Closely
The Environmental Protection Agency’s failure to intervene earlier and stop the water crisis in Flint, Mich., exposed a need for wholesale changes to how federal officials monitor drinking water systems, a government watchdog said Thursday. A report from the E.P.A.’s Office of Inspector General said management weaknesses hobbled the agency’s response to the lead and other contaminants that poisoned Flint’s drinking water for more than a year and that federal officials should have taken stronger action to correct repeated blunders by state regulators. (Smith and Friedman, 7/19)
The Associated Press:
Flint Water Crisis Prompts Call For More Federal Oversight
In a 74-page report released Thursday, the EPA's inspector general report pointed to "oversight lapses" at the federal, state and local levels in the response to Flint's contaminated drinking water. " While oversight authority is vital, its absence can contribute to a catastrophic situation," the inspector general, Arthur A. Elkins, said in a statement. His office has concluded the EPA was too slow and passive in responding to the Flint crisis. (7/19)
The Washington Post:
After Flint Debacle, EPA Must Strengthen Oversight Of Mich. Drinking Water Programs, Watchdog Says
“While oversight authority is vital, its absence can contribute to a catastrophic situation,” EPA Inspector General Arthur A. Elkins Jr. said in releasing the findings, which stated that “while Flint residents were being exposed to lead in drinking water, the federal response was delayed, in part, because the EPA did not establish clear roles and responsibilities, risk assessment procedures, effective communication and proactive oversight tools.” (Dennis, 7/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
EPA Report Faults Response To Flint Water Crisis
A spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality said the water crisis “highlighted the fragile nature of the aging infrastructure throughout the country, as well as a number of ways the federal lead and copper rule needs improvement and/or clarification.” She said that Michigan has “taken a lead role” in updating its lead and copper rule. (Barrett and Maher, 7/19)
The Associated Press:
California Sues Over Trump Halt To Truck Pollution Rule
California and 14 other states sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Thursday over its decision to suspend an Obama-era rule aimed at limiting pollution from trucks. The July 6 decision by the Trump EPA was illegal and could put thousands of additional highly polluting trucks on the roads, the states and the District of Columbia said in the lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. (7/19)
The Washington Post:
Virginia Resident Dies After Coming Into Contact With A Flesh-Eating Bacteria
A Virginia resident has died from an infection involving a waterborne bacteria that eats flesh. The person came into contact with the flesh-eating Vibrio bacteria. Virginia Department of Health officials weren’t releasing the person’s name or other details about the resident, citing privacy laws. Katherine McCombs, a foodborne disease epidemiology program coordinator at the health department, said the person died from a Vibrio infection. She said she couldn’t say when the person died or came into contact with the bacteria. She said it happened in the health department’s eastern region, which includes the Hampton Roads area. (Hedgpeth, 7/19)
The Washington Post:
Coffee Shop Serves Hope To People Recovering From Addiction
A Pennsylvania town’s newest coffee shop is offering people recovering from opioid addiction a fresh start, one steaming cup of java at a time. Hope & Coffee began serving customers Thursday morning in Tamaqua, a small coal-region town about 85 miles from Philadelphia. In some ways, Hope & Coffee looks like any other hip cafe with its vintage parquet floors, leather sofas, free wi-fi and gourmet coffee beans. But this is coffee with a twist: People in recovery renovated the 1865 Victorian home, built the coffee bar, supply the beans and serve as the nonprofit coffee shop’s managers and baristas. (Rubinkam, 7/19)