Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: December 15, 2014
Kaiser Health News: Small Businesses Drop Coverage As Health Law Offers Alternatives
For two decades Atlanta restaurant owner Jim Dunn offered a group health plan to his managers and helped pay for it. That ended Dec. 1, after the Affordable Care Act made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Health-law subsidies for workers to buy their own coverage combined with years of rising costs in the company plan made dropping the plan an obvious – though not easy – choice. (Hancock, 12/15)
The Associated Press: Crunch Time Again For Health Insurance Sign-Ups
President Barack Obama’s health insurance program faces another big test Monday. This time it’s more than just getting the website to work. Monday is the deadline for new customers to pick a health plan that will take effect Jan. 1. For current customers, it’s the deadline to make changes that could reduce expected premium increase ahead of the new year. (12/14)
USA Today: State, Federal Insurance Sites Seem Ready For Late Rush
The first big Affordable Care Act 2015 open enrollment deadline is here and this time it looks like it won't be a bust. The federal HealthCare.gov website and state sites seem to be working well enough to get people enrolled or re-enrolled by midnight Monday if they want coverage to be effective on Jan. 1. The final deadline for enrollment for coverage in 2015 — and to avoid penalties at tax time in 2016 for not having insurance — is Feb. 15. (O'Donnell and Ungar, 12/14)
The Associated Press: NY Health Exchange Extends Registration Deadline
New York's health exchange is extending its registration deadline for the coming year by five days until Dec. 20. The state Health Department says the extension applies to enrolling or renewing health insurance coverage for the second year of the state-run marketplace. (12/14)
Los Angeles Times: Uninsured Rates Fell Under Obamacare, But Who's Reaping The Benefit?
Hospitals and health insurers have reaped a financial windfall from the 2014 rollout of the federal health law, even beyond what was expected. Now, employers and consumers are seeking a share of the Obamacare dividend. For years, insurance companies and hospitals told Americans that one reason their insurance bills were so high was because they were paying the hidden cost of medical care for the uninsured. The Affordable Care Act sought to remedy much of that by unleashing the biggest expansion of insurance coverage in half a century. Ten million Americans became newly insured, and federal officials estimate that $5.7 billion in uncompensated care was wiped out this year as hospitals received more paying patients. Now it's time to share the bounty from Obamacare, said Bill Kramer, director of national health policy at the Pacific Business Group on Health, which represents big employers like Wells Fargo and Chevron. (Terhune, 12/13)
The Wall Street Journal: Health Law Hurts Some Free Clinics
Some free health clinics serving the uninsured are shutting their doors because of funding shortfalls and low demand they attribute to the Affordable Care Act’s insurance expansion. Nearly a dozen clinics that have closed in the past two years cited the federal health law as a major reason. The closings have occurred largely in 28 states and Washington, D.C., which all expanded Medicaid, the federal-state insurance program for low-income people, and are being heralded by some clinic officials as a sign the health law is reducing the number of uninsured. But the closures have irked some patients and left pockets of uninsured people not covered by the law with fewer venues for care. Some of the roughly 1,200 U.S. free and charity clinics are struggling with a drop in funding because donors believe there is no longer a need for free or low-cost care in the wake of the health law. (Armour, 12/12)
The Washington Post: More Senate GOP Staffers Face Losing Federal Worker Health Care Coverage
More Senate staff members stand to be forced out of the health plan for federal workers under a policy adopted Wednesday by Senate Republicans. The Senate Republican Conference accepted a resolution from Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) to add to the number of Capitol Hill staff already made ineligible for the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program because of the Affordable Care Act. The resolution makes it the policy of Senate Republicans to make staff members they employ ineligible for the FEHBP “regardless of whether they work in a member’s personal office, committee office, leadership office, the cloakroom or any other office.” (Yoder, 12/12)
The Wall Street Journal: Centene Gives Strong Guidance For Next Year
Centene Corp. on Friday gave a stronger-than-expected outlook for next year, as the Medicaid-focused health insurer benefits from expansions into big states like Florida and Ohio and from surging membership rates. (Dulaney, 12/12)
The Wall Street Journal: House Budget-Panel Chief: Debt-Ceiling Showdown Possible
Price said he will propose a budget in early 2015 that aims to eliminate the budget deficit over 10 years, meaning he will equalize the levels of government spending and revenue. ... He said, for example, that he would continue to propose changes to Medicare that create a “premium support” option, which would allow seniors to purchase private insurance with government stipends as opposed to using the Medicare program. (Paletta, 12/12)
The New York Times: In Final Spending Bill, Salty Food And Belching Cows Are Winners
A typically arcane provision of the bill provides relief to nonprofit Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, which have special tax breaks that were threatened by the Affordable Care Act. Blue Cross is not mentioned by name in the relevant section of the 2015 spending bill, titled “Modification of treatment of certain health organizations.” But the deduction in question is available only to Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, which have been lobbying Congress for a clarification since the Affordable Care Act was signed in 2010. (Pear, 12/15)
The Wall Street Journal: Pension Bill Seen As Model For Further Cuts
The measure “would set a terrible precedent,” said Karen Friedman, executive vice president of the Pension Rights Center, a group that advocates for wider pension coverage and opposes benefit cuts. The bill could encourage similar cutbacks in troubled state and local pension plans, and possibly even Social Security and Medicare, she said. (McKinnon, 12/14)
The Wall Street Journal: Patty Murray To Become Top Democrat On HELP Committee
Sen. Patty Murray will become the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee next year, just as the GOP gains control of the Senate with plans to redouble its attention to the federal health law. Ms. Murray is taking the committee seat being vacated by Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, who is the panel’s current chairman and is retiring after nearly 40 years in Congress. With GOP takeover, Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee will be HELP Committee chairman. (Radnofsky, 12/12)
The Wall Street Journal: Rep. Issa’s Committee Subpoenas Gruber Over Obamacare Work
A congressional committee has subpoenaed Jonathan Gruber, seeking information on his work and income related to the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Gruber, the MIT economist who apologized this week on Capitol Hill for comments he made on the health law, declined at the same hearing to provide information on his income related to work on the Affordable Care Act. (Armour, 12/12)
The Washington Post: Issa Subpoenas MIT Economist Jonathan Gruber For Obamacare Documents
Economist Jonathan Gruber apologized before a congressional panel this week for controversial comments he made about the political process behind the Affordable Care Act, but he declined to say how much the Obama administration paid him for consulting work on the health-care law. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) isn’t letting him off the hook. As one of his final acts as chairman of the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, he issued a subpoena Thursday demanding that Gruber hand over all documents and communications with government officials related to his work on the health-care law. (Hicks, 12/12)
The New York Times: Brownback’s Tax Cuts Not Set In Stone As Kansas Faces Budget Shortfall
Most of Mr. Brownback’s solution to fill the current hole comes through transferring more than $200 million from various state funds, such as one for highway projects and another for early-childhood education programs, into the state general fund. He also ordered a 4 percent budget cut to many, though not all, state agencies. He spared things like classroom funding and Medicaid, which would have sparked a lot of controversy if they were cut. (Eligon, 12/14)
The Washington Post: Johns Hopkins Team Wins U.S. Award For Improved Suit To Fight Ebola
For health-care workers taking care of Ebola patients in West Africa, one of the biggest logistical problems has been the “moon suits” they must wear to protect against being infected by the deadly virus. The suits are hot. Taking them off is a meticulous, multistep process that can leave no room for error. Now, a protective suit designed by a team from Johns Hopkins has been chosen as one of the winners in a global competition for solutions to increase the protection and comfort of front-line workers battling Ebola. (Sun, 12/13)
