First Edition: November 19, 2014
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Big Changes For 2015 Workplace Plans: Watch Out For These Six Possible Pitfalls
You don’t get a pass this year on big health insurance decisions because you’re not shopping in an Affordable Care Act marketplace. Employer medical plans — where most working-age folks get coverage — are changing too. Rising costs, a looming tax on rich benefit packages and the idea that people should buy medical treatment the way they shop for cell phones have increased odds that workplace plans will be very different in 2015. (Hancock, 11/19).
Kaiser Health News:
California’s Managed Care Project For Poor Seniors Faces Backlash
California’s experiment aimed at moving almost 500,000 low-income seniors and disabled people automatically into managed care has been rife with problems in its first six months, leading to widespread confusion, frustration and resistance. Many beneficiaries have received stacks of paperwork they don’t understand. Some have been mistakenly shifted to the new insurance coverage or are unaware they were enrolled. And 44 percent of those targeted for enrollment through Oct. 1 opted out. (Gorman, 11/19)
USA Today:
Smoother Start, But Some Struggle With HealthCare.gov
Sign-ups have generally gone more smoothly than last year for HealthCare.gov, although some consumers and insurance agents are having problems with the site that are reminiscent of last fall's open enrollment experiences. Numerous log-in and password failures were reported Monday, but federal officials call these cases the exception. (O'Donnell and Ungar, 11/18)
USA Today:
What Makes An Obamacare Website Work? Ask Kentucky
Kentucky's online health insurance marketplace has run pretty smoothly since Obamacare open enrollment launched Saturday, even as many others have faltered. The federal HealthCare.gov site, which melted down last year during the first launch, is still suffering a spate of problems. Washington state, which like Kentucky developed its own exchange, had to take its site offline temporarily over the weekend because tax credits were being calculated inaccurately. Several angry California residents posted comments Tuesday on Covered California's Facebook page saying they were having problems with the site. And Maryland had to revamp its website completely after last year because its software didn't work. (Ungar and O'Donnell, 11/18)
Los Angeles Times:
Top Insurers Overstated Doctor Networks, California Regulators Charge
Bolstering a chief complaint about Obamacare coverage, California regulators said two major health insurers violated state law by overstating the number of doctors available to patients. More than 25 percent of physicians listed by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of California weren't taking Covered California patients or were no longer at the location listed by the companies, according to state reports released Tuesday. (Terhune, 11/18)
The New York Times' You're The Boss:
Regulators Warn Against Reimbursing Employees For Health Premiums
Since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, many small businesses have been intrigued by the possibility that they might be able to stop dealing with health insurance entirely and instead offer their employees a stipend to go buy insurance on the individual exchanges. But in a clarification issued in early November, the federal government appears to have taken a stand against that strategy. (Mandelbaum, 11/18)
The Wall Street Journal's Total Return:
Good News For Boomers Buying Health Plans
Here’s some good news for boomers in need of health insurance: Premiums for the most popular plans available under the Affordable Care Act are slated to rise by a relatively modest 3% to 4% in 2015. Open enrollment runs from Nov. 15 through Feb. 15. The data comes from Avalere Health, a health-care consulting firm in Washington D.C., which priced the three cheapest policies in the 30-plus states where consumers purchase policies through federally run exchanges. (The data doesn’t include premium prices in the 13 states that run their own exchanges. Nor does it include data from Oregon, Nevada, and New Mexico, which run their own programs but use the federal government’s healthcare.gov site.) (Tergesen, 11/18)
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire:
House Republicans Hire Jonathan Turley To Pursue Obama Lawsuit
GOP leaders have said the lawsuit is expected to focus on the White House’s decision last year to give employers a one-year reprieve on enforcing a requirement under the Affordable Care Act that they offer health coverage or pay a penalty. That requirement was originally delayed until 2015 and then subsequently revised to say that employers with between 50 and 99 full-time workers wouldn’t have to comply or pay a fee until 2016. Some rank-and-file lawmakers have suggested the lawsuit should be expanded to include any executive actions taken by Mr. Obama on immigration, something GOP leaders have previously contemplated. Mr. Boehner’s spokesman said there is no current plan to expand the lawsuit, but that it remains an option depending on what actions are taken by the White House. (Crittenden, 11/18)
Politico:
Steve Rattner: Jonathan Gruber Was 'The Man' On Obamacare
Jonathan Gruber was “the man” behind Obamacare, according to a former adviser to President Barack Obama. “The problem is not that Gruber helped them put Obamacare together, because he was the man,” Steve Rattner, who worked as Obama’s lead adviser in 2009 for the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry, said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “The problem is what he said in the last two weeks and how the White House has handled it,” Rattner added. (Breitman, 11/18)
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire:
White House: Gruber’s Role In Health Law Was Limited To Economics
The White House continued to distance itself from a controversial adviser Tuesday, suggesting that Jonathan Gruber had a narrow role focused on economic issues when he worked on the development of the Affordable Care Act. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Mr. Gruber, who received about $400,000 from the Department of Health and Human Services for his work, advised the administration on the economics of health care – not on the logistics of getting the law passed. (McCain Nelson, 11/18)
The Wall Street Journal's Pharmalot:
FDA Delays Final Rule On Allowing Generic Drug Makers To Update Labels
A controversial new rule for updating generic drug labeling that the FDA was expected to finalize next month will not be published until the fall of 2015, an agency spokeswoman says. The rule, which the FDA proposed last year, would allow generic drug makers to independently update safety warnings, something that only brand-name drug makers can currently do before receiving FDA permission. (Silverman, 11/18)
The New York Times:
Payout From Drug Raises Questions For Cystic Fibrosis Group
About 15 years ago, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation made what was considered a risky foray for a nonprofit organization into the world of business. It began giving money to a small biotechnology company to entice it to develop drugs for the deadly lung disease. But that funding, a total commitment of $150 million, has now paid off enormously. The foundation is to announce on Wednesday that it will receive $3.3 billion from selling the rights to the royalties to those drugs. That is 20 times the foundation’s budget last year. (Pollack, 11/19)
The Washington Post:
Cost To Treat Ebola In The U.S.: $1.16 Million For 2 Patients
It cost more than $1 million to treat two Ebola patients at the Nebraska Medical Center, said Jeffrey Gold, chancellor of the hospital’s academic partner. That’s the direct cost of providing the care, Gold said Tuesday during a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce oversight and investigations subcommittee. It doesn’t include the opportunity cost of taking those 10 beds out of service, which he estimated was close to $148,000 so far. (Sun, 11/18)
NPR:
Americans Think Ebola Is A Top Health Care Problem
A new poll shows Ebola is the one of the top health concerns of Americans, below access to health care and affordable health care. Robert Siegel talks to Frank Newport, editor in chief at Gallup. (11/18)