First Edition: March 19, 2015
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Battle Over Dementia Drug Swap Has Big Stakes For Drugmakers, Consumers
Executives at drug company Actavis knew they had to move fast to avoid a plunge in sales of their top-selling drug, Namenda, a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease which would lose patent protection in July. When that happened, generic knockoffs would flood the market and doctors and pharmacists could switch patients to the lower-cost equivalents. (Appleby, 3/19)
Kaiser Health News:
Most Americans Unaware Obamacare Subsidies Are At Risk
Kaiser Health News staff writer Phil Galewitz reports: "Despite months of news coverage, most people say they have heard little or nothing about a Supreme Court case that could eliminate subsidies helping millions of Americans afford coverage under the federal health law, according to a poll released Thursday. But when respondents were told about the case, King v. Burwell, about two-thirds said that if the court strikes down the subsidies, then Congress or state officials should step in to restore them, according to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation." (Galewitz, 3/19)
Kaiser Health News:
Blue Shield of California Loses Its State Tax Exemption
California tax authorities have stripped Blue Shield of California, the state’s third largest insurer, of its state tax exemption and ordered the company to file returns dating to 2013, potentially costing the company tens of millions of dollars. At issue in the unusual case is whether the company is doing anything different from its for-profit competitors to warrant its tax break. As a nonprofit company, Blue Shield is expected to work for the public good in exchange for the state tax exemption. (Gold, 3/18)
The New York Times:
Senate Republicans Rebuff House Colleagues With Their Budget Plan
Senate Republicans on Wednesday released an austere budget that maintains strict caps on military spending and cuts trillions of dollars from health care and welfare, sending a rebuff to their House colleagues. ... Over all, the Senate version hews closely to the budgetary intent of the House proposal. It repeals the Affordable Care Act, turns Medicaid and food stamps into block grants and cuts domestic programs to balance the budget by 2025 without tax increases. The Senate budget also relies on a significant gimmick: It repeals the health law but also assumes that $2 trillion from the law’s tax increases continues to flow into the Treasury. (Weisman, 3/18)
Los Angeles Times:
Obama Touts Economic Policies As Republicans Fight Internally Over Budget
Noting that Republican House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio often asks, "Where are the jobs?," Obama told a crowd in Cleveland he was there to "not only answer that question" but also to renew a central debate over the two major parties' economic visions. Obama said that his administration's policies, such as investing in manufacturing and the landmark Affordable Care Act, have helped the nation emerge from a deep recession but that the Republican budget would "double down" on the theory that wealth trickles down from the rich to the rest. (Memoli and Mascaro, 3/18)
The Wall Street Journal:
Senate GOP Plan Seeks To Balance Budget In 10 Years
Senate Republicans unveiled a 2016 budget blueprint on Wednesday that will match the House GOP’s ambition to eliminate the annual federal deficit over a decade, but provided fewer details on how safety-net programs would be changed to provide the savings. ... The Senate Republican budget would reduce spending by $5.1 trillion over 10 years, slightly less than the House’s proposal for $5.5 trillion in reductions over that period. Both chambers rely on repealing the Affordable Care Act, shifting more responsibility to the states for Medicaid and food stamps, and making changes to Medicare for the bulk of their savings. (Peterson and Timiraos, 3/18)
The Wall Street Journal:
Republicans Put Entitlements On The Table
House and Senate Republicans have resurrected efforts to curb spending for Medicare and other safety-net programs, releasing budgets this week that bring government entitlements back to the center of political conversation. ... The plan, the first budget from Senate Republicans since they took control of the chamber, provides few details on how or where Congress would produce those savings from Medicare and other so-called entitlement programs. ... The plan provides a measure of political protection to Senate Republicans who could face tough 2016 re-election contests in swing and Democratic-leaning states. (Hook and Peterson, 3/18)
Los Angeles Times:
GOP Budgets Don't Agree On How To Boost Military, Cut Medicare
Differences over military money, and other aspects of the Republican budgets -- including a Medicare overhaul -- risk leaving the GOP unable to pass their budget, something they criticized Democrats for failing to do when they controlled Congress. The setback would derail not only the GOP goal of increasing the Pentagon coffers, but also other party priorities this year -- including the effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. (Mascaro, 3/18)
USA Today:
Senate GOP Unveils First Budget In Nearly A Decade
The 10-year fiscal blueprint achieves balance, raises no new taxes, repeals Obamacare, but keeps Medicare and Social Security intact. ... It is a more modest vision than the House GOP budget unveiled Tuesday, which reaches balance faster, includes deeper spending cuts to domestic programs, and fundamentally overhauls the Medicare system. The House plan would convert Medicare from a guaranteed benefit to a "premium support" system where future retirees would purchase insurance with government subsidies on the private market. (Davis, 3/18)
Politico:
GOP Aims To Sink Obamacare With Reconciliation
Senate Republicans want to use a powerful budget maneuver known as reconciliation to go after President Barack Obama’s health care law — particularly if the Supreme Court strikes down key provisions of Obamacare this June. Using the fast-tracking procedure offers some advantage for Republicans, largely because a reconciliation package can’t be filibustered. (Kim, 3/18)
The Associated Press:
Boehner, Pelosi See Victories In Fixing Medicare Docs' Fees
An uncharacteristic joint effort by House Speaker John Boehner and his usual nemesis, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, to resolve a gnawing problem about how Medicare pays doctors underscores the political victories each sees in finally sweeping the issue off the deck — if they can. Boehner, R-Ohio, has taken the unusual step of working with Pelosi toward a compromise he can offer Republican lawmakers. (3/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
Obama Slams GOP Budget Plans as Hurtful to Middle Class
The president used his speech in Cleveland to counter the newly released budgets proposed by House and Senate Republicans. The plans reflect each party’s values and priorities, he said in the midst of a scathing critique of GOP policies. ... While the Senate plan includes fewer details about how to achieve the savings, both chambers have called for making changes in Medicare, repealing the Affordable Care Act, and shifting more responsibility to the states for Medicaid and food stamps to achieve the bulk of the reductions. The White House has said that the proposed changes amount to an attack on the American health-care system. (McCain Nelson, 3/18)
The Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Recovers $3.3 Billion In Federal Health-Care Fraud
The government recovered $3.3 billion in fiscal 2014 from individuals and companies that tried to defraud federal health programs, part of an effort by the Obama administration to improve enforcement and prevent abusive billing practices. The administration recovered $7.70 for every dollar spent investigating health-care-related fraud and abuse in the past three years, according to a report to be released Thursday by the Health and Human Services Department and Justice Department. That marks the third-highest return on investment since the antifraud program was launched nearly two decades ago, the report said. (Armour, 3/19)
The New York Times:
Poll On Health Care Law Shows Increased Support
The latest Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, conducted in early March by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health policy research group, found that 43 percent of respondents had an unfavorable opinion of the law, while 41 percent viewed it favorably. Though more Americans continue to reject the law than embrace it, the margin has narrowed considerably even since last July, when 53 percent viewed it unfavorably in the Kaiser poll and 37 percent viewed it favorably. (Goodnough, 3/19)
The Associated Press:
Poll: Many See Negative Impact If Court Nixes Health Law Aid
With a decision due by summer in a Supreme Court case that could unravel President Barack Obama's health care law, a new poll finds many Americans have heard nothing about the case. But when the potential fallout is explained, most say it would hurt the country and they would look to Congress or the states to fix it. Even after recent oral arguments before the Supreme Court got national media attention, 53 percent said they were unfamiliar with the case. Opponents of the law say its precise wording allows the government to subsidize coverage only in states that set up their own insurance markets, or exchanges. Most have not done so, defaulting to the federal HealthCare.gov. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 3/19)
The Associated Press:
Health Care Law Paperwork Costs Small Business Thousands
Complying with the health care law is costing small businesses thousands of dollars that they didn't have to spend before the new regulations went into effect. Brad Mete estimates his staffing company, Affinity Resources, will spend $100,000 this year on record-keeping and filing documents with the government. He's hired two extra staffers and is spending more on services from its human resources provider. (Rosenberg, 3/18)
The Washington Post:
Sen. Ted Cruz Seeks To Upend D.C. Laws On Contraception Coverage, Gay Rights
One, the Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act of 2014, would prevent employers from taking action against workers based on their decision to use birth control or seek an abortion. (Davis and DeBonis, 3/18)
Los Angeles Times:
Why Did It Take 7 Months To Learn Blue Shield Lost Tax-Exempt Status?
Health insurance giant Blue Shield of California and state tax authorities both came under fire for not disclosing seven months ago a landmark decision taking away the insurer's tax-exempt status, which had been in place since 1939. The Times first reported Wednesday that the California Franchise Tax Board had quietly revoked Blue Shield's tax-exempt status in August after a lengthy audit of the nonprofit health plan. (Terhune, 3/18)
Los Angeles Times:
With Billions In The Bank, Blue Shield Of California Loses Its State Tax-Exempt Status
Authorities have revoked the tax-exempt status of nonprofit Blue Shield of California, potentially putting it on the hook for tens of millions of dollars in state taxes each year. The move by the California Franchise Tax Board comes as the state's third-largest health insurer faces fresh criticism over its rate hikes, executive pay and $4.2 billion in financial reserves. (Terhune, 3/18)
The Washington Post:
VA’s Colorado Hospital Has A ‘shocking’ Sticker Price: $1.7 Billion. Yes, Billion
The troubled new Department of Veterans Affairs medical center in Aurora, Colo., is expected to cost what Congress members are calling a “shocking” $1.73 billion, more than five times its original $328 million estimate, according to fresh estimates from VA officials. The hospital is one of four VA medical center projects — including sites in Las Vegas, Orlando and New Orleans — that were listed as behind schedule and over budget, with a total cost increase of $1.5 billion and an average increase of $366 million, according to a Government Accountability Office report in 2013. (Wax-Thibodeaux, 3/18)
USA Today/The Tennessean:
'Right To Try' Law Would Be No Miracle Cure
Marty Nord does not expect a miracle cure if Tennessee gives her the right to try experimental drugs for Lou Gehrig's disease. Her disease has progressed to the point that she uses a wheelchair and relies on a device to help with breathing. Nevertheless, she supports a Tennessee bill that would allow doctors to prescribe medicines not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — legislation being pushed by the Goldwater Institute, an organization that advocates for personal freedoms over federal regulations. (Wilemon, 3/19)
USA Today:
Deadly Bacteria Outbreak Inflames Disinfection Concerns
The outbreaks in Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago and other cities infected scores of patients with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, mostly a strain called CRE that has nightmarish mortality rates of 40% or more. And in each case, the hospital relied on an automated endoscope reprocessor, or AER, to disinfect the scopes between uses, an ongoing USA TODAY investigation finds. (Eisler, 3/18)
The Associated Press:
Ala. Abortion Law Lets Judges Appoint Lawyers For Fetuses
The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday asked a federal judge to block an Alabama law that allows a fetus to be represented in court when a minor is seeking judicial permission for an abortion. (3/18)
NPR:
Why Is Insulin So Expensive In The U.S.?
Dr. Jeremy Greene wondered why that was the case. Why was a medicine more than 90 years old so expensive? He started looking into the history of insulin, and has published a paper about his findings in this week's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The story of insulin, it turns out, starts back in the late 1800s. That's when scientists discovered a link between diabetes and damaged cells in the pancreas — cells that produce insulin. (Kelto, 3/19)