First Edition: June 20, 2019
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Stem Cell Company Persuades Employers To Steer Workers Toward Controversial Therapy
A Midwestern grocery chain, Hy-Vee, is taking an unusual — and highly controversial — approach to reducing health care costs. Before employees in certain cities can undergo knee replacement, they first must visit a stem cell provider. Hy-Vee has contracted with one of the United States’ leading stem cell companies — Regenexx, based in Des Moines, Iowa — that claims injections of concentrated bone marrow or platelets can help patients avoid expensive joint surgery. (Szabo, 6/20)
Kaiser Health News:
1 In 6 Insured Hospital Patients Get A Surprise Bill For Out-Of-Network Care
About 1 in 6 Americans were surprised by a medical bill after treatment in a hospital in 2017 despite having insurance, according to a study published Thursday. On average, 16% of inpatient stays and 18% of emergency visits left a patient with at least one out-of-network charge. Most of those came from doctors offering treatment at the hospital, even when the patients chose an in-network hospital, according to researchers from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Its study was based on large employer insurance claims. (Bluth, 6/20)
Kaiser Health News:
Sen. Alexander Details His Plan To Fix Surprise Medical Bills
Alexander and Murray formally introduced their wide-ranging bill Wednesday, but they had offered a broad outline before without taking a stand on how to mediate between health care providers and patients on the surprise bills. When a patient is seen by a doctor who isn’t in their network, the Alexander-Murray bill says insurance would pay them the “median in-network rate,” meaning the rate would be similar to what the plan charges other doctors in the area for the same procedure. If there aren’t enough other doctors covered by the plan to compute a median in-network, the plan would use a database of local charges that is “free of conflicts of interest.” (Bluth, 6/19)
Kaiser Health News:
Study: Arkansas Medicaid Work Requirement Hits Those Already Employed
While the thousands of Arkansas residents losing Medicaid coverage has been documented since last year, the Harvard study is the first to provide evidence that the change left them uninsured and did not promote employment. The results, based on a telephone survey of about 3,000 low-income adults in Arkansas, concluded that the law befuddled enrollees and that its mandatory reporting requirements led many to unnecessarily lose coverage. “Lack of awareness and confusion about the reporting requirements were common, which may explain why thousands of individuals lost coverage,” the researchers wrote. (Galewitz, 6/19)
Stat:
Biden Wants To Cure Cancer. Now Trump Does, Too. But Cancer, Like Health Care, Is Complicated
As a crowd of 20,000 looked on, laughing, Donald Trump Jr. on Tuesday mocked his father’s emerging rival Joe Biden for the ambitious pledge he made recently to “cure cancer” if elected president. “I’m going to cure cancer,” Trump Jr. said contemptuously, throwing his arms above his head. “Wow! Why the hell didn’t you do that over the last 50 years, Joe?” Once President Trump took the stage at his campaign kickoff rally in Orlando, he made his own pledge: He, too, would cure cancer once and for all. (Facher and Joseph, 6/19)
The Associated Press:
Biden Anti-Cancer Groups Could Pose Influence Concerns
Joe Biden was on friendly turf when he appeared in January 2018 at a San Francisco health care conference to call for urgency in the search for a cancer cure. He had come before an invitation-only crowd of 2,000 health care industry leaders and investors to tout the work of his Biden Cancer Initiative, the nonprofit that has been his defining venture since leaving the Obama White House more than two years ago. (Braun, 6/19)
The Washington Post Fact Checker:
Joe Biden’s Claim That ‘Almost Half’ Of Americans Live In Poverty
What does it mean to be poor? Biden took an expansive view at a presidential candidate forum hosted by anti-poverty advocates. The Census Bureau calculates the poverty rate in different ways. Using the official poverty measure, 12.3 percent of U.S. residents were below the federal poverty line in 2017. Using the supplemental poverty measure, the rate was 13.9 percent. Biden says it’s much more: almost half the country. We surveyed several leading researchers on poverty, and almost all agreed Biden was including people who are not poor. (Rizzo, 6/20)
Politico:
How Kamala Harris Would Prevent The Spread Of HIV
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) released a plan Thursday that would seek to slow the spread of HIV by making a preventive drug more accessible. What’s the reason for the plan? Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) has been found to reduce the risk of contracting HIV by up to 92 percent for those who take it on a daily basis. But the drug cost more than $20,000 a year in 2018, according to Harris' office. (Levine, 6/20)
The Associated Press:
House Passes $1T Spending Bill As Budget Talks Resume
The Democratic-controlled House passed a $1 trillion spending bill Wednesday that amounts to an opening bid in a guns vs. butter fight with the Trump administration, with both sides trying to avert the return of drastic automatic spending cuts or a budgetary impasse that could put federal agencies on autopilot. The House voted along party lines to pass the bill, which blends military spending that’s a priority for Republicans with Democratic-sought funding increases for health and education programs. (Taylor, 6/19)
Politico:
House Backs $1T Spending Bill Amid Fears Of A Fall Shutdown
House Democrats cheered the exhausting legislative feat, having worked on the floor past 4 a.m. in recent days to finish the massive funding package. Democratic leaders know, however, that their measure will be headed to the shredder if a bipartisan budget deal isn’t struck soon. Congressional leaders from both parties and Trump administration officials were set to meet later Wednesday in the hopes of negotiating the parameters of a compromise that would ward off the fiscal chaos later this year. (Emma and Scholtes, 6/19)
The Associated Press:
White House Offers Budget Freeze If Dems Don’t Agree To Deal
Trump administration bargainers offered a one-year budget freeze and said Democratic spending demands remained too high as talks with congressional leaders aimed at averting deep cuts in defense and domestic programs seemed no closer to resolution Wednesday. After White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney took shots at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrats said White House involvement in the negotiations was hindering progress and rejected the proposed freeze. The exchange suggested the two sides were not near a handshake to avert automatic cuts and instead boost both defense and domestic programs, perhaps for two years. (Taylor and Fram, 6/19)
The Hill:
Key Senators Release Bipartisan Package To Lower Health Care Costs
A pair of key senators on Wednesday unveiled a revised version of their bipartisan package aimed at lowering health care costs, ahead of a committee markup expected next week. Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) released the package, which takes steps to protect patients from receiving massive “surprise” medical bills when they get care from an out-of-network doctor. It also cracks down on anti-competitive clauses in hospital contracts with insurers that can drive up costs, and encourages the introduction of cheaper generic drugs. (Sullivan, 6/19)
Politico:
HELP Committee Leaders Back Benchmark For 'Surprise' Billing
The benchmark is pegged to the median in-network rate for an area, the same approach advanced by House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders in a bipartisan discussion draft last month. HELP Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) wants to mark up the legislation next week. The committee's remedy for surprise bills is different than a proposal Alexander said on Tuesday he "instinctively" liked — requiring all physicians at the same facility to be considered in-network.Alexander in a statement acknowledged the change, noting that CBO indicated the benchmark approach is "the most effective at lowering health care costs." (Roubein, 6/19)
The Hill:
Grassley Announces Opposition To Key Trump Proposal To Lower Drug Prices
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) on Wednesday announced his opposition to one of President Trump’s signature proposals aimed at lowering drug prices. Grassley told reporters that he opposes a plan that Trump announced in October to lower the prices Medicare pays for certain drugs by tying them to lower prices paid in other countries, an idea known as the International Pricing Index. (Sullivan, 6/19)
Stat:
Senate Committee To Vote On Health Package With Plan To Lower Drug Prices
A key Senate committee is pushing forward with a surprisingly ambitious plan to lower drug prices as well as other health care costs. The bipartisan pair atop the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee formally introduced a major health care package Tuesday and simultaneously scheduled a vote on the measure for next week. It will be the first time a major Senate committee has taken up drug pricing legislation this year. (Flaherty, 6/19)
The Hill:
Chris Murphy May Oppose Bipartisan Health Bill Unless It Addresses ObamaCare 'Sabotage'
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Wednesday he may vote against a bipartisan measure to lower health care costs next week unless it addresses a GOP “sabotage” of ObamaCare. Murphy told reporters he is worried that there is “no language in the measure to counteract the massive sabotage campaign that's happening by the administration.” The measure is currently before members of the Senate Health Committee. (Sullivan, 6/19)
The Hill:
Trump Administration Defends Controversial Changes To Family Planning Program On Capitol Hill
The Trump administration faced fierce backlash from Democrats Wednesday when it defended its controversial decision to ban abortion providers from participating in a federally funded family planning program. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs Diane Foley, a Trump appointee, testified before Congress for the first time Wednesday about the administration’s changes to Title X, a decades-old grant program for family planning clinics that offer contraception and preventive health services to low-income women. (Hellmann, 6/19)
The Hill:
VA Chief Pressed On Efforts To Prevent Veteran Suicides
Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie told lawmakers his agency is stepping up efforts to prevent veteran suicides during testimony before a Senate panel Wednesday. Wilkie testified before a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, where he was pressed on efforts the Trump administration is taking to address what many have called a growing epidemic of suicide among former military servicemembers. (Slaughter, 6/19)
Modern Healthcare:
More Arkansans Uninsured, Unemployed Post-Medicaid Work Requirement
After Arkansas established a Medicaid work requirement last year, significantly fewer low-income adults subject to the mandate reported having health insurance than the year before, and fewer had a job or were engaged in other qualifying community engagement activities, a new study found. That contrasted with the experience of low-income adults in Arkansas who were not subject to the work requirement, as well as with comparable people in Kentucky, Louisiana and Texas, three states that did not impose a Medicaid work requirement. Those comparison groups all reported little or no change in their insurance rate from 2017 to 2018. (Meyer, 6/19)
Politico:
Trump-Approved Medicaid Work Rules Didn't Increase Employment, Study Finds
Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health found the uninsured rate also increased for Arkansans between 30 and 49 years old — the age range of the first Medicaid beneficiaries subject to the new work requirements. The findings could undercut one of the Trump administration's central arguments for approving the requirements — that mandating work as a condition of Medicaid coverage would spur employment and improve health. (Pradhan, 6/19)
The Washington Post:
Meet The New York Couple Donating Millions To The Anti-Vax Movement
A wealthy Manhattan couple has emerged as significant financiers of the anti-vaccine movement, contributing more than $3 million in recent years to groups that stoke fears about immunizations online and at live events — including two forums this year at the epicenter of measles outbreaks in New York’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. Hedge fund manager and philanthropist Bernard Selz and his wife, Lisa, have long donated to organizations focused on the arts, culture, education and the environment. But seven years ago, their private foundation embraced a very different cause: groups that question the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. (Sun and Brittain, 6/19)
Politico:
Study: Around The World, Troubling Levels Of Vaccine Mistrust
Declining confidence in government institutions is feeding a growing mistrust of vaccination around the world, according to a report out today based on the largest global survey of attitudes in science and health. The Wellcome Trust report, which relies on 2018 interviews with at least 1,000 people in each of 142 countries, shows that income inequality, lower education levels and lack of confidence in government contribute to mistrust of science. At the same time, high percentages of people in almost every country trust doctors and nurses. (Allen, 6/19)
The Associated Press:
Public To Weigh In On Revised California Vaccine Bill
Residents are getting their first chance to weigh in on a revised California measure giving state public health officials oversight of doctors who grant over five vaccination medical exemptions annually vaccinations and schools with vaccination rates less than 95%. Thursday's Assembly committee hearing is expected to draw hundreds of people against vaccines to the Capitol. (Thompson, 6/20)
Los Angeles Times:
2020 Hopeful Marianne Williamson Apologizes For Calling Vaccine Mandates ‘Draconian’ And ‘Orwellian’
Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson, an author and self-help guru who will appear on the Democratic debate stage next week, apologized Wednesday night after she attacked mandatory vaccinations as “draconian” and “Orwellian” at a Manchester, N.H., event. “To me, it’s no different than the abortion debate,” Williamson said at the event, according to a tweet from an NBC News reporter. “The U.S. government doesn’t tell any citizen, in my book, what they have to do with their body or their child.” (Pearce, 6/19)
The Associated Press:
1 In 6 ER Visits Or Hospital Stays Triggers 'Surprise' Bill
Roughly one in every six times someone is taken to an emergency room or checks in to the hospital, the treatment is followed by a "surprise" medical bill, according to a study released Thursday. And depending on where you live, the odds can be much higher. The report from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation finds that millions of people with what's considered solid coverage from large employers are nonetheless exposed to "out-of-network" charges that can amount to thousands of dollars. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 6/20)
The Wall Street Journal:
Two Abortion Clinics, 20 Minutes And A Legal Universe Apart
Two abortion clinics are just 20 minutes apart. But separated by the Mississippi River, they operate in political worlds that are very far from each other. The Hope Clinic for Women in Granite City, Ill., has hired more staff and doubled its number of doctors, and it is considering adding hours as an influx of patients from neighboring states with growing restrictions seek abortion procedures there, said Alison Dreith, the clinic’s deputy director. (Calfas, 6/20)
The Associated Press:
Anti-Abortion Ballot Drives To Start Within Days In Michigan
Groups backing two anti-abortion ballot drives in Michigan said Wednesday that they will begin collecting signatures within days after clearing procedural steps at the state elections board following a debate over what abortion-rights advocates complained are misleading and inaccurate summaries atop the petitions. The measures are citizen-initiated bills, meaning that if enough voters sign, the Republican-led Legislature could enact them into law without the signatures of Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who has vowed to veto similar proposals that were introduced as regular legislation. (6/19)
The New York Times:
Black Leaders Denounce Juul’s $7.5 Million Gift To Medical School
Earlier this month, Meharry Medical College, a 143-year-old historically black institution in Tennessee, proudly announced that it had received the second-largest grant in its history — $7.5 million to start a center to study public health issues that affect African-Americans. But the gift has prompted a vehement backlash from African-American health experts and activists because of the source of the funds: Juul Labs, the fast-growing e-cigarette company, now partially owned by the tobacco giant Altria. (Kaplan, 6/19)
The New York Times:
E-Cigarette Exploded In A Teenager’s Mouth, Damaging His Jaw
Kailani Burton bought a vaping kit for her teenage son Austin, hoping he would use it to quit smoking. In March of last year, she and her husband were sitting in the living room when they heard a loud pop. Austin raced in, holding his bloodied jaw. An e-cigarette had exploded in his mouth. “He was bleeding really bad,” Ms. Burton said in an interview. “It looked like a hole in his chin.” (Kaplan, 6/19)
The New York Times:
The Court Cases That Changed L.G.B.T.Q. Rights
Beginning before Stonewall and continuing in the 50 years since, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have regularly turned to the courts for protection against mistreatment or to overturn laws that targeted them. From H.I.V.-based discrimination to the fight for marriage equality to President Trump’s attempt to ban transgender people from the military, courts across the country have played a key role in the story of L.G.B.T.Q. rights in America. (Geidner, 6/19)
The Associated Press:
Homophobia Study Shows Perception, Reality 'Disconnect'
Researchers say a survey of players in the Australian Ice Hockey League shows homophobic language is often used but that an even higher percentage of competitors would make a gay player feel welcome. It's an apparent contradiction the researchers call a "disconnect between perception and reality" because anti-gay comments can often be a cultural norm. (Passa, 6/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
Merck Seeks More Deals As It Expands Its Cancer Treatments Portfolio
Merck & Co. is searching for small and midsize deals, including more transactions aimed at expanding its portfolio of cancer treatments beyond the company’s top-selling product Keytruda, according to people familiar with the matter. Merck has been buying cancer drugmakers with promising therapies and technologies. This month, Merck bought Tilos Therapeutics Inc. for $773 million. In May, it agreed to acquire Peloton Therapeutics Inc. for $1.1 billion. (Hopkins, 6/19)
Reuters:
GSK Kicks Off Sale Of $1.2 Billion Consumer Health Drugs-Sources
GlaxoSmithKline has kicked off the sale of some consumer health brands as it seeks to raise about £1 billion before pressing ahead with a spinoff of its consumer healthcare business, sources told Reuters. The drugmaker has bundled the non-core drugs into three different portfolios and has hired boutique investment bank Greenhill to market the products to separate bidders, said three sources familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity. (6/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
FTC Approves UnitedHealth’s $4.3 Billion Purchase Of DaVita Physicians Group
Federal regulators approved UnitedHealth Group Inc.’s $4.3 billion purchase of DaVita Inc.’s physician group with the condition that the UnitedHealth UNH 1.83% sell one of its newly purchased health-care provider organizations in Nevada. The Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday UnitedHealth has agreed to divest a primary-care practice in the Las Vegas region known as HealthCare Partners Nevada to Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare. (Thomas, 6/19)
The Associated Press:
Oklahoma Medical Examiner Testifies In State Opioid Lawsuit
Oklahoma’s chief medical examiner shared tragic details about the opioid-related deaths of about three dozen residents during testimony in the state’s lawsuit alleging drug manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and some of its subsidiaries contributed to the epidemic. Dr. Eric Pfeifer testified Tuesday that the tragic narratives represent only a small portion of the autopsies his office has performed in recent years as overdose deaths skyrocketed. Attorney General Mike Hunter, who filed the case in 2017, has said curbing and ending the opioid epidemic in Oklahoma could cost billions of dollars. (6/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
Cities, States Denied Committee Seats In Opioid Maker’s Bankruptcy
Federal bankruptcy watchdogs turned a cold shoulder to states and cities battling the opioid epidemic, denying them seats on the official committee representing creditors of drugmaker Insys Therapeutics Inc. Lawyers for states and towns across the U.S. were sent packing Wednesday at a meeting in Wilmington, where a bankruptcy overseer from the Justice Department was picking which creditors would have the loudest voice in the first chapter 11 filing stemming from the opioid crisis. (Brickley, 6/19)
The Associated Press:
UN Health Agency To Remove Controversial Opioid Guidelines
The World Health Organization notified U.S. lawmakers Wednesday that it will discontinue two publications on prescribing opioid painkillers in response to allegations that the pharmaceutical industry influenced the reports. The pledge to remove the guidelines comes a month after U.S. Reps. Katherine Clark and Hal Rogers accused the WHO of being influenced by Purdue Pharma, the American manufacturer of the potent painkiller OxyContin. (6/19)
The Associated Press:
$4.5M In Settlements Over Deaths Tied To Doc In Murder Case
An Ohio hospital system has reached nearly $4.5 million in settlements so far over the deaths of patients who allegedly received excessive painkiller doses ordered by a doctor now charged with murder. Over two dozen wrongful-death lawsuits have been filed against the Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System and now-fired intensive care doctor William Husel.
The New York Times:
America’s Skies Have Gotten Clearer, But Millions Still Breathe Unhealthy Air
When asked about climate change, President Trump often shifts the focus to America’s “clean air.” “We have the cleanest air in the world in the United States and it’s gotten better since I’m president,” he said again this month while meeting with Prime Minister Leo Varadkar of Ireland. America’s air is much cleaner than it used to be, but it’s still not “the cleanest.” And recent data suggests that air pollution is ticking back up. (Popovich, 6/19)
The New York Times:
Rotavirus Vaccine May Help Protect Against Type 1 Diabetes
Rotavirus disease is a highly contagious virus that can cause severe illness and death in infants and young children, but there is a vaccine that is highly effective in preventing it. A large new study confirms previous research suggesting that the vaccine may have an added benefit: lowering the risk for Type 1 diabetes. About 1.3 million Americans have Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease that usually arises in childhood, and there are an estimated 40,000 new cases each year. (Bakalar, 6/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
New Study Links Toxic Sept. 11 Dust To Prostate Cancer
Physicians and researchers have long known that men exposed to toxic dust after the collapse of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, may have an increased risk of developing prostate cancer. The challenge has been to provide a link between exposure and the cancer. In a new study out Thursday, researchers from Mount Sinai found that World Trade Center responders with prostate cancer showed signs that inflammation was activated in the prostate after exposure to the toxic dust. (West, 6/20)
The New York Times:
Boarding Now: Parents Of Children With Food Allergies
A recent government ruling may transform air travel for passengers with life-threatening food allergies by extending to them the protections afforded other individuals with disabilities. In September 2016, gate agents for American Airlines refused Nicole Mackenzie’s request to preboard a flight from Portland, Ore., to Charlotte, N.C., to clean the area around the seat assigned to her seven-year-old daughter, who has life-threatening nut and seed allergies. (Rabin, 6/19)
The Washington Post:
Australian Researchers Find 'Horns' Growing On Young People's Skulls From Phone Overuse
Mobile technology has transformed the way we live — how we read, work, communicate, shop and date. But we already know this. What we have not yet grasped is the way the tiny machines in front of us are remolding our skeletons, possibly altering not just the behaviors we exhibit but the bodies we inhabit. (Stanley-Becker, 6/20)
The New York Times:
The Need For Clinical Trial Navigators
Since a Phase I trial has prolonged my life for almost seven years, I find it perplexing that fewer than 5 percent of adult American cancer patients enroll in clinical studies. Why do so few people — with various stages and types of cancer — participate in research that can improve care? One obstacle may be the baffling scaffolding scientists erect around their studies. For example, cancer is a disease of aging, but many clinical trials on cancer drugs exclude older people from participating. (Gubar, 6/20)
Los Angeles Times:
Activists Target Mayor Eric Garcetti With A Recall Campaign, Citing Homelessness Crisis
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is being targeted for removal from office over his handling of the homelessness crisis. On Wednesday, Alexandra Datig, a political commentator who is leading the effort, told reporters at a news conference outside City Hall that the mayor was served with a notice of intent for recall — the first step of a long-shot attempt. (Smith, 6/19)
The New York Times:
Final Push To Legalize Pot Fails In New York
New York’s plan to legalize marijuana this year collapsed on Wednesday, dashing hopes for a potential billion-dollar industry that supporters said would create jobs in minority communities and end decades of racially disproportionate policing. Democratic lawmakers had been in a headlong race to finalize an agreement before the end of the legislative session this week. But persistent disagreement about how to regulate the industry, as well as hesitation from moderate lawmakers, proved insurmountable. (Wang, 6/19)