First Edition: April 9, 2015
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Politico:
Obamacare Group Slashes Staff
The main national organization promoting Obamacare enrollment is cutting 100 jobs amid a major retrenchment as key funders turn to other health care priorities. It’s the beginning of the end for Enroll America, which was set up by liberal advocates of the Affordable Care Act to run a sophisticated, political-style campaign to persuade Americans to get covered. The group, led by veterans of President Barack Obama’s campaigns and administration, was never intended to last forever, but a precipitous drop in funding forced it to scale back to half of its peak size after only two seasons of Obamacare sign-up. That’s a far more rapid throttling back than its founders anticipated. (Norman, 4/9)
The Associated Press:
FACT CHECK: Is Paul’s Call To Balance The Budget Plausible?
He is neither the first, nor certainly the last, to hold out the hope for a balanced budget — while at the same time glossing over what happens if the government is truly made to live within its means. Some combination of Social Security, Medicare, the armed forces, domestic security, roads, medical research and much more wouldn’t look the same if that happened. (Woodward and Elliott, 4/9)
The Associated Press:
Democratic Rep. Capps Of Calif. Announces Plans To Retire
Democratic Rep. Lois Capps, in her 10th term representing a congressional district along California's Central Coast, said Wednesday that she will not run for re-election. ... A former nurse, the 77-year-old Capps has served on the influential House Energy and Commerce Committee. Over the years, she has often focused on health issues with legislation that included increasing the availability of emergency defibrillators, expanding opportunities for people to get into nursing and improving Medicare coverage for patients suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease. (4/8)
Los Angeles Times:
Rep. Lois Capps Of Santa Barbara Announces She Will Retire In 2016
The Santa Barbara Democrat was elected to Congress in a 1998 special election to replace her husband, Walter, after his death. She said in a video that “it is time for me to return home, back to the community and family that I love so much.” ... Capps’ most notable work has been in healthcare and nursing. For example, she wrote a provision in 2000 giving grants for children’s dental care and a 2002 law providing scholarships and grants designed to train more nurses. (Bierman, 4/8)
Politico:
California Rep. Lois Capps Retiring
One Democrat quickly jumped into the race Wednesday afternoon. Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider praised Capps and said she plans “to pursue an agenda that focuses on helping Californians reach their full potential by creating more good paying jobs, growing the middle class, advancing more progressive environmental protection policies, investing in our infrastructure and education, defending Medicare and Social Security, and ensuring equal pay for equal work for all Americans.” (Schneider, 4/8)
The Wall Street Journal:
Gilead’s $1,000 Pill Is Hard For States To Swallow
A pricey pill made by Gilead Sciences Inc. caused Medicaid spending on hepatitis C treatments to soar last year, even as most states restricted access to the drug, leaving many low-income patients untreated. State Medicaid programs spent $1.33 billion on hepatitis C therapies through the third quarter of last year, or nearly as much as the states spent in the previous three years combined, a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal data shows. (Walker, 4/8)
NPR:
With Discounts For Healthy Behavior, John Hancock Courts Privacy Concerns
John Hancock announced a new program promising discounts for policyholders who wear a fitness tracker, exercise more and go to the doctor. The life insurance company says that if people live longer healthier lives, everybody wins. But privacy advocates worry about all the electronic monitoring. (Arnold, 4/8)
The Washington Post:
Meet The Cancer Patient In Room 52: His Name Is Joseph, But Call Him Joe
Hooked up to machines and a breathing tube, Joseph Mox, 55, can’t talk to the doctors and nurses bustling around a Johns Hopkins intensive care unit. But they know he likes to be called Joe, enjoys “NCIS” and relied on his Catholic faith through bouts of colon and esophageal cancer. ... Such questions aren’t normally asked in ICUs, where nurses and doctors are often rushing to keep desperately ill patients alive. But the questions are part of an ambitious experiment at Hopkins and three other hospitals to retool the ICU not only to make it safer but also to make it more humane. The goal is to redesign the workflow, culture and behavior to reduce “preventable harms” to patients. (Sun, 4/8)
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire:
Jeb Bush Calls For Privatizing Elements Of Veterans Health Care
While Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) was formally launching his 2016 presidential campaign Tuesday, still-not-a-candidate Jeb Bush was in Colorado, where he called for privatizing some parts of veterans’ health care. Mr. Bush, sitting in front of an untouched breakfast at an IHOP in Colorado Springs, told a group of veterans that he favors transferring some elements of veterans’ care to private hospitals from government-run Veterans Affairs facilities. (Epstein, 4/8)
Los Angeles Times:
Former Blue Shield Executive Sues Insurer Over Dismissal, $450,000 Bonus
Former executive at Blue Shield of California has sued the health insurance giant, claiming he was wrongly fired right before he was due a $450,000 bonus. Aaron Kaufman, the insurer's chief technology officer since 2013, sued Blue Shield on Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court for wrongful termination and breach of contract. (Terhune, 4/8)
The Washington Post:
D.C. Home Health-Care Workers File Class-Action Suit Alleging Wage Theft
D.C. home health-care workers filed a class action lawsuit against four agencies Wednesday, alleging that they were cheated out of wages and denied overtime and sick pay. The suit against four local agencies — Capitol View Home Health Agency, Human Touch, T&N Nursing and VMT Home Health — comes a week before home health-care workers and other low-wage workers across the country are expected to rally for a $15 wage on April 15 as part of the “Fight for 15 movement.” (Stein, 4/8)
The Associated Press:
Ex-Mental Health Providers In NY To Pay $3M To End Suit
A federal judge has approved a $3 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit by patients at a former state-licensed mental health facility in Putnam County alleging abuse. The suit filed in 2007 alleges patients were illegally restrained, assaulted, punished and isolated by SLS Residential staff, while the facility falsely advertised compassionate care and effective treatment and received up to $900 a day from patients' insurance companies. (4/8)
Los Angeles Times:
State Senate Panel OKs Bill Limiting Vaccination Waivers At Raucous Hearing
A bill that would make childhood vaccinations harder to avoid survived its first legislative test Wednesday, after a three-hour hearing marked by raw emotion on both sides of the issue and a packed rally at which Robert F. Kennedy Jr. denounced the measure. The measure, which would end parents' ability to obtain vaccination waivers for their children based on personal beliefs, passed the state Senate Health Committee on a 6-2 vote. (McGreevy, 4/8)
The Associated Press:
Oklahoma Approves Ban on Second-Trimester Abortion Method
Oklahoma would ban a common second-trimester abortion procedure that critics describe as dismembering a fetus under a measure that lawmakers overwhelmingly approved Wednesday, a day after Kansas became the first state to prohibit the same procedure. (4/8)
