First Edition: May 22, 2017
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Republicans Race The Clock On Health Care — But The Calendar Is Not Helping
Back in January, Republicans boasted they would deliver a “repeal and replace” bill for the Affordable Care Act to President Donald Trump’s desk by the end of the month. In the interim, that bravado has faded as their efforts stalled and they found out how complicated undoing a major law can be. With summer just around the corner, and most of official Washington swept up in scandals surrounding Trump, the health overhaul delays are starting to back up the rest of the 2018 agenda. (Rovner, 5/22)
Kaiser Health News:
New York State Wants Its Prescription Drug Money Back — Or Else
New York Medicaid regulators aim to use the threat of imposing increased scrutiny of prescription drugs — such as eyeing their relative effectiveness and their profit margins — to coax additional discounts from drugmakers. The rules, signed into law in mid-April as part of the state’s budget, don’t go as far as the surcharge that Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo originally sought to control the “skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs,” but they retain elements guaranteed to get under a pharmaceutical executive’s skin. (Appleby, 5/22)
California Healthline:
Blue Shield Has Highest Share Of Enrollees In Covered California
Blue Shield of California has the largest number of enrollees in the Covered California health insurance exchange, widening its lead over rivals Anthem Blue Cross and Kaiser Permanente, according to recently released data. The data, from Covered California, show that Blue Shield had 389,480 enrollees in the exchange as of December 2016, about 31 percent of the market. Anthem was next with 310,690 members, for a 25 percent share. Kaiser Permanente was third with 297,030 exchange enrollees, or 24 percent. Health Net and Molina Healthcare were fourth and fifth, respectively. (Terhune and Bazar, 5/22)
The Washington Post:
Trump To Propose Big Cuts To Safety-Net In New Budget, Slashing Medicaid And Opening Door To Other Limits
President Trump’s first major budget proposal on Tuesday will include massive cuts to Medicaid and call for changes to anti-poverty programs that would give states new power to limit a range of benefits, people familiar with the planning said, despite growing unease in Congress about cutting the safety net. For Medicaid, the state-federal program that provides health care to low-income Americans, Trump’s budget plan would follow through on a bill passed by House Republicans to cut more than $800 billion over 10 years. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that this could cut off Medicaid benefits for about 10 million people over the next decade. (Paletta, 5/21)
The Associated Press:
Huge Cuts To Food Stamps Part Of Trump’s Budget Proposal
Trump is also targeting the Medicaid health program that provides care to the poor and disabled, and nursing home care to millions of older people who could not otherwise afford it. The House had a bitter debate on health care before a razor-thin 217-213 passage in early May of a GOP health bill that included more than $800 billion in Medicaid cuts over the coming decade. Key Republicans are not interested in another round of cuts to the program. “I would think that the health care bill is our best policy statement on Medicaid going forward,” said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the program. (Taylor, 5/21)
The Associated Press:
Senate Republicans Quietly Working On Health Overhaul Bill
Remember the Republican health care bill? Washington is fixated on President Donald Trump's firing of FBI chief James Comey and burgeoning investigations into possible connections between Trump's presidential campaign and Russia. But in closed-door meetings, Senate Republicans are trying to write legislation dismantling President Barack Obama's health care law. (Fram, 5/22)
Politico:
McConnell Steps Into Obamacare Firing Line
Mitch McConnell has sidestepped the Russia controversy that’s dogged Donald Trump all year and eluded the wrath rained down on Paul Ryan over the GOP’s Obamacare repeal effort. But the health care reform battle is now squarely in McConnell’s court: He will decide the contents of the Senate’s plan, most likely behind closed doors. And he is on the hook for getting something through a sharply divided Senate Republican Conference in the midst of an increasingly imperiled presidency. (Everett and Haberkorn, 5/21)
USA Today:
Obamacare Subsidies At Stake In Monday Court Hearing
A Monday court hearing offers the Trump administration its best opportunity to prevent significant increases in health care costs for about 7 million lower-income Americans who buy their plans on the Affordable Care Act exchanges. The administration's next move could prevent these insurance marketplaces from imploding as insurers are deciding which states, if any, to sell insurance in and at what price. (O'Donnell, 5/19)
Politico:
Trump Tells Advisers He Wants To End Key Obamacare Subsidies
President Donald Trump has told advisers he wants to end payments of key Obamacare subsidies, a move that could send the health law's insurance markets into a tailspin, according to several sources familiar with the conversations. Many advisers oppose the move because they worry it would backfire politically if people lose their insurance or see huge premium spikes and blame the White House, the sources said. Trump has said that the bold move could force Congressional Democrats to the table to negotiate an Obamacare replacement. (Dawsey, Haberkorn and Demko, 5/19)
The Washington Post:
Nearly 700 Vacancies At CDC Because Of Trump Administration’s Hiring Freeze
Nearly 700 positions are vacant at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention because of a continuing freeze on hiring that officials and researchers say affects programs supporting local and state public health emergency readiness, infectious disease control and chronic disease prevention. The same restriction remains in place throughout the Health and Human Services Department despite the lifting of a government-wide hiring freeze last month. At the National Institutes of Health, staff say clinical work, patient care and recruitment are suffering. (Sun, 5/19)
NPR:
Poll: Doctors Are Prescribing Back Pain Treatments That May Do More Harm Than Good
More than half of people say they've suffered lower back pain in the past year, according to the latest NPR-Truven Health Analytics Health Poll. That's not a surprise; low back pain is very common, and one of the biggest reasons that people seek medical care. But people told us that they're making very different choices in how they treat that pain, with some stark differences among age groups and income levels. (Shute, 5/19)
The Washington Post:
A Devastating Story Of Lives Ruined And Ended By Opioids
America’s opioid crisis is starkly laid out in the opening moments of HBO Documentary Films’ “Warning: This Drug May Kill You.” There’s a guy slumped over on a bus. A woman passed out on a street. Another guy collapsed backward across a bench. Then there’s a doctor, in a Perdue Pharma promotional video from 1999, explaining that “we doctors were wrong in thinking that opioids cannot be used long-term. They can be. And they should be.” (Hallett, 5/20)
The Associated Press:
Philadelphia To Mull Safe Injection Sites In Opioid Fight
A task force charged with outlining ways for Philadelphia to combat its opioid epidemic has recommended the city consider allowing safe sites, where drug users could inject heroin. Gov. Tom Wolf was on hand Friday as Mayor Jim Kenney outlined the task force’s findings. Kenney convened the 23-member group in January. (de Groot, 5/19)
The Washington Post:
Planned Parenthood To Close 10 Health Centers Across Midwest, Southwest
Planned Parenthood affiliates announced the closures of 10 health centers across the Midwest and Southwest this week, citing a variety of reasons including political attacks by antiabortion lawmakers. Planned Parenthood of the Heartland said it planned to close four clinics across Iowa because of the recent budget signed into law by Gov. Terry Branstad, who pledged to “defund” the women’s health organization. (Somashekhar, 5/19)
The Associated Press:
Missouri Appeals Judge's Blocking Of Abortion Restrictions
Missouri is asking a federal appellate court to put on hold a judge's order blocking abortion-restricting rules in the state, arguing the judge "categorically refused even to consider the state's evidence justifying its regulations." (Suhr, 5/19)
The Associated Press:
Texas House Approves New Limits On Abortion
Texas’ Republican-controlled Legislature has advanced tough new limits on abortion, hitting back at a United States Supreme Court decision last summer that struck down most of the sweeping restrictions on the procedure that the state approved four years ago. (5/20)
The New York Times:
A Vital Drug Runs Low, Though Its Base Ingredient Is In Many Kitchens
Hospitals around the country are scrambling to stockpile vials of a critical drug — even postponing operations or putting off chemotherapy treatments — because the country’s only two suppliers have run out. The medicine? Sodium bicarbonate solution. Yes, baking soda. (Thomas, 5/21)
The New York Times:
Pediatricians Say No Fruit Juice In Child’s First Year
The nation’s top pediatricians are advising parents to stop giving fruit juice to children in the first year of life, saying the drink is not as healthful as many parents think. In the past, the American Academy of Pediatrics had advised parents to avoid 100 percent fruit juice for babies younger than 6 months. On Monday, the group toughened its stance against juice, recommending that the drink be banned entirely from a baby’s diet during the first year. (Saint Louis, 5/22)
NPR:
No Fruit Juice Until Kids Are One, Doctors Recommend
"We want to reinforce that the most recent evidence supports that fruit juice should be a limited part of the diet of children," says Steven Abrams, a professor of pediatrics at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin, and an author of the guidelines, which were published Monday in Pediatrics. (Hobson, 5/22)
USA Today:
'Rory's Regulations' On Sepsis Require Hospital Checklists, Save Lives, Report Shows
New York regulations named after a 12-year-old victim of sepsis increased the chance of survival from the potentially deadly condition, a study out Sunday shows. "Rory's Regulations," named for the late Rory Staunton of New York City, requires hospitals to quickly perform a checklist of safety measures when people show up at hospitals with sepsis. A report in the New England Journal of Medicine Sunday found the faster hospitals completed the checklist of care and administered antibiotics, the lower the risk of death in hospitals from sepsis. With each additional hour it took, the risk of death increased 4%. (O'Donnell, 5/21)
NPR:
Scientists May Someday Fight Infertility With 3-D Printed Ovaries
The list of things that can be created with 3-D printers keeps getting longer: jewelry, art, guns, food, medical devices and, now, mouse ovaries. Scientists have used a 3-D printer to create a mouse ovary capable of producing healthy offspring. And researchers hope to create replacement human ovaries the same way someday. (Stein, 5/20)
The Washington Post:
Unable To Pump Breast Milk On The Job, Airline Employees Turn To Dirty Closets And Bathrooms
In the months after her daughter was born, Jo Roby faced a serious dilemma: She wanted to provide her infant daughter with breast milk, but Frontier Airlines — where she’d worked as a flight attendant for more than a decade — forbids employees from pumping breast milk during flights. To avoid health complications and keep her daughter supplied with milk, Roby, who lives in Boise, Idaho, needed to be able to pump every three or four hours. But long, 10-hour days in the air with unpredictable flight schedules made that goal nearly impossible. (Holley, 5/19)
NPR:
The Curious Case Of Phineas Gage's Brain
It took an explosion and 13 pounds of iron to usher in the modern era of neuroscience. In 1848, a 25-year-old railroad worker named Phineas Gage was blowing up rocks to clear the way for a new rail line in Cavendish, Vt. He would drill a hole, place an explosive charge, then pack in sand using a 13-pound metal bar known as a tamping iron. (Hamilton, 5/21)
The Washington Post:
People Love Probiotics, But Do They Really Help?
Probiotics are having a moment. They’re touted as the next big superstar in disease prevention and in treatment for ailments such as irritable bowel syndrome, gestational diabetes, allergies and obesity. Fans claim that these “good” bacteria will nourish your gut microbiome and crowd out the “bad” microbes. As a result, you’ll experience better digestion, a healthier immune system and a sunnier mood. (Yu, 5/20)
NPR:
Tips For Healthy Foreign Travel, From Pink Pills To Apps
When planning a summer trip abroad, it's easy to think, "Oh, I'll just hop over to a travel clinic, and they'll tell me everything I need to know — and do — to keep from getting sick." But that's not always the case. (Doucleff, 5/22)
The Associated Press:
Doctors Worry As Texas Lawmakers OK Vaccine Restrictions
Texas moved closer Friday to restricting emergency immunizations given to children removed from troubled homes, worrying doctors and handing a political victory for vaccination opponents in a state where the number of families forgoing shots is soaring. (5/19)