First Edition: April 29, 2015

Kaiser Health News: Florida House Goes Home Early Over Medicaid Impasse
The Florida House – at odds with the state Senate over the expansion of Medicaid – abruptly ended its session three days early on Tuesday, leaving hundreds of bills unrelated to health care unfinished. Shortly after the adjournment, Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, filed a lawsuit against the federal government over the same issue. (Hatter, 4/29)

The New York Times: Corker Stops Progress Of Budget Deal, Even As Pressure For More Spending Builds
A single senator on Tuesday stopped the advance of a House-Senate agreement that would ostensibly deliver the first balanced budget of this century, but the deal’s fate faced far greater obstacles than just his objections. Even before its official unveiling, the agreement is already threatened with irrelevance amid a bipartisan clamor for more spending in a new era of loosening belts. ... A bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing measures to speed the Food and Drug Administration’s approval process for drugs and medical devices, which would probably require additional spending. ... From the outside, Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker and a co-author of the balanced budget agreement of 1997, called for doubling the National Institutes of Health’s budget. All of those efforts would conflict with the strict domestic spending caps established by the Budget Control Act of 2011 — which the Republican budget accord did nothing to change. (Weisman, 4/28)

Politico: Budget Still Blocked By Corker Over ‘Gimmick’
Sen. Bob Corker has slammed the brakes on a much-awaited budget deal that was supposed to sail to passage this week — taking on Republican leadership, budget negotiators and appropriators alike over what he calls a spending “gimmick” that produces billions in fantasy savings. The Tennessee Republican on Tuesday said he would not sign the final budget deal because the agreement would let appropriators take unspent money from mandatory programs — like a crime victims fund or children’s insurance account — and use it to pay for other congressional priorities. Because the money was never going to be spent anyway, lawmakers like Corker think it’s dubious to count it as “savings.” (Bade, 4/29)

The New York Times: Florida’s House Adjourns Early In Quarrel With Senate Over Medicaid
A fight over Medicaid expansion among Republicans in the Florida Legislature turned rancorous Tuesday after the House of Representatives adjourned three days early, leaving in limbo the state’s $77 billion budget, a trail of unfinished bills and an unresolved feud with the Senate over the federal program. The surprise announcement means that the House speaker and Senate president, both Republicans, must agree to a special session. They must also overcome their differences on Medicaid expansion — the House opposes it, the Senate supports it — to finish the state’s budget by the June 30 deadline. (Alvarez, 4/28)

The Associated Press: Scott Files Lawsuit Against Obama Over Medicaid Expansion
Florida Gov. Rick Scott sued the Obama administration Tuesday, charging that federal officials are coercing the state to expand Medicaid in order to get $1 billion in federal hospital funds. The Republican governor points to a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision saying the federal government can't coerce states to expand Medicaid, which is exactly what he says the Obama administration is doing by withholding hospital funds. (Kennedy, 4/28)

The Washington Post: Senator Wants Answers From VA Secretary On The Poor Treatment Of VA Whistleblowers
The poor and punishing treatment of whistleblowers inside the Department of Veterans Affairs has been described as part of a “corrosive culture” that Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald has vowed to change. But whistleblowers say that change, one year later, has still not happened. (Wax-Thibodeaux, 4/28)

The Washington Post: Bill Called ‘Breakthrough’ In Punishing Retaliators Against VA Whistleblowers
David Tharp, a Department of Veterans Affairs psychologist, says he was so distraught by retaliation he suffered as an agency whistleblower that he went to war for relief. After his complaints about research deception and other corruption at a VA facility in Waco, Tex., “the pressure of hostilities was so intense, my wife and I decided my only options were to quit the VA or deploy to a war zone,” said Tharp, who also is a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve. “At least in Kandahar, Afghanistan, I knew who my enemy was. At the VA, I come back and it’s been a minefield ever since — and continues.” ... The Veterans Affairs Retaliation Prevention Act provides specific penalties for supervisors who take revenge against whistleblowers. Retaliators would be suspended for at least 14 days for the first offense and fired for a second. (Davidson, 4/28)

The Wall Street Journal's Pharmalot: Medicare Part D Should Be Allowed To Obtain More Rebates For Drugs: Study
A new report is encouraging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Congress to pursue additional rebates for prescription drugs purchased for the Medicare Part D program. The suggestion comes from the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, which conducted a review of drug prices and rebates in 2012 for both Medicaid and Medicare Part D. And the OIG is advocating for added rebates after concluding the givebacks helped Medicaid save substantially more money than Medicare Part D was able to achieve. (Silverman, 4/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Can You Put A Little Palo Alto Into An Insurer In Louisville?
Insurance giant Humana Inc., whose earnings are under pressure from rising medical costs, has a prescription it hopes will bring it relief: helping its 13.8 million members improve their own health. That isn’t easy, given that people aren’t likely to stop smoking, eat better or get more exercise simply because a big company says they should. Humana is tackling these tough behavioral issues by reaching out to its customers where many of them more or less live—on their mobile phones. ... Across the street from its headquarters here, the insurer has set up a mobile-apps lab that designs tools like HumanaVitality, which lets people set personal health targets and challenge themselves or one another to fitness goals. (Loftus, 4/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Anthem Touts Results Of Effort To Cut Health Costs
Anthem Inc. said a major effort to overhaul how it pays primary-care doctors appears to be lowering overall health-care costs, as patients spend less time in the hospital. The second-biggest U.S. health insurer unveiled a high-profile program in 2012 that provided doctors with additional payments and an opportunity to earn more if they lowered the cost of patients’ care and met quality requirements. (Wilde Mathews, 4/28)

The Associated Press: Aetna Beats Profit Forecasts
Aetna has hiked its 2015 forecast beyond analyst expectations after booking a 17-percent jump in first-quarter earnings, as enrollment gains and moderate medical cost growth helped the nation's third-largest health insurer. (4/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Genworth Financial Operating Income Falls
Genworth Financial Inc., which has been hurt recently by charges related to its long-term care business, reported lower first-quarter operating income but said it made progress in its review of strategic options. The goals of Genworth’s review include strengthening its mortgage-insurance businesses and its long-term care insurance capital, earnings and sales. (Beckerman, 4/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Boston Scientific Reports Loss, Product Settlement
Boston Scientific Corp. swung to a loss in its first quarter, hurt by litigation costs and currency rate fluctuations. The medical-device maker on Tuesday also said it would pay $119 million to settle nearly 3,000 product liability lawsuits and claims related to its transvaginal surgical mesh products. More than 25,000 claims or suits over the devices have been made against Boston Scientific, the company has said in regulatory filings. (Walker and Beilfuss, 4/28)

The Associated Press: Genetic Testing Moves Into World Of Employee Health
Your employer may one day help determine if your genes are why your jeans have become too snug. Big companies are considering blending genetic testing with coaching on nutrition and exercise to help workers lose weight and improve their health before serious conditions like diabetes or heart disease develop. It's a step beyond the typical corporate wellness programs that many companies are using to make workers more aware of their risk factors and improve their health. (Murphy, 4/28)

Los Angeles Times: California Vaccination Bill Up In Third Committee Tuesday
Opponents of a bill requiring more schoolchildren in California to get vaccinated will bring in a legal scholar Tuesday to argue it is unconstitutional, but the controversial measure is likely to get out of the Senate Judiciary Committee this afternoon. The California Coalition of Health Choice plans an 11 a.m. rally on the Capitol steps Tuesday before the committee hearing. (McGreevy, 4/28)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. Files Suit Accusing Hawaiian Gardens Hospital Of Patient Dumping
The 38-year-old schizophrenic homeless woman — clad only in paper pajamas — showed up in front of the Union Rescue Mission one day in September, allegedly dropped off by a hospital van. She wandered without identification, money or medication through Los Angeles' skid row before someone at another shelter contacted the owner of the van, Gardens Regional Hospital & Medical Center in Hawaiian Gardens, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by L.A. City Atty. Mike Feuer. (Holland, 4/28)

The Associated Press: Medical Grant Program Provides Up To $10,000 For Sick Kids
The UnitedHealthcare Children’s Foundation in Maryland says families are eligible to receive up to $10,000 in medical care and services not covered by health insurance. (4/29)

USA Today/The Des Moines Register: Bird Flu Ebbs In Minnesota As Iowa Cases Rise
Even as Iowa struggles under the weight of a bird flu outbreak that has affected nearly 10 million birds in about a week, officials in Minnesota are hopeful they are finally making progress in dealing with the deadly virus in their state. Minnesota has reported only one new case since Friday, after averaging as many as four cases a day the previous week. The state expects to be caught up with its efforts to kill birds at infected facilities as soon as Thursday. (Eller and Doering, 4/28)

The Associated Press: CDC Official: HIV Outbreak Lessons May Spur 'Model Response'
National health officials hope to use the lessons learned from efforts to contain an HIV outbreak in southern Indiana as "a model response" for the nation in combatting future outbreaks tied to intravenous drug use, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leader said Tuesday. (4/28)

NPR: A Rural Police Chief Asks Citizens To Help Pick Up Used Syringes
As the last of the snow melts in New England, an assortment of debris is emerging — including heroin syringes. It's gotten so bad in this small town that the police chief asked civilians like Pezzati for help. Now that heroin has gotten cheaper and easier to find in rural towns like this, discarded syringes are turning up everywhere. Chip Dodge, the local police chief, says his small force can't keep up. (Brown, 4/28)