Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: December 18, 2014
Kaiser Health News: Public Easily Swayed On Attitudes About Health Law, Poll Finds
Just days before the requirement for most large employers to provide health insurance takes effect, a new poll finds the public easily swayed over arguments for and against the policy. Six in 10 respondents to the monthly tracking poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation (Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent program of the foundation) said they generally favor the requirement that firms with more than 100 workers pay a fine if they do not offer workers coverage. But minimal follow-up information can have a major effect on their viewpoint, the poll found. (Rovner, 12/18)
Kaiser Health News: Too Little, Too Late For Many New Yorkers Seeking Hospice
WNYC's Fred Mogul, working in partnership with Kaiser Health News and NPR, reports: "But despite evidence that hospices can greatly relieve discomfort, extend life and save money, and despite a generous hospice benefit available through both Medicare and Medicaid, relatively few people in New York take advantage of it, compared to elsewhere in the country. The reasons for this local gap are complicated, but Jeanne Dennis, senior vice president of hospice and palliative care at the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, says one place to start is with patients’ fears." (Mogul, 12/17)
Politico: ACA Employer Mandate: Not As Bitter In Better Economy
Obamacare’s employer mandate looks a whole lot different during a job-growing economic recovery. The cost of compliance when the mandate takes effect Jan. 1 doesn’t seem quite as onerous when compared to the need to attract and retain workers. Alternative coverage strategies offer businesses a better chance to keep budgets in check without risking the law’s penalties. (Norman, 12/18)
Los Angeles Times: New Obamacare Enrollments In California Top 144,000
California's health insurance exchange said 144,178 people have newly enrolled in Obamacare coverage during the first month of sign ups. During the initial rollout of the federal health law, 1.2 million people purchased a private health plan through the Covered California exchange. State officials are trying to hold on to most of those existing policyholders during the renewal process now and add about 500,000 more to finish open enrollment Feb. 15 with 1.7 million consumers. (Terhune, 12/17)
The Associated Press: Governor Abandons Single-Payer Health Care Plan
Calling it the biggest disappointment of his career, Gov. Peter Shumlin said Wednesday he was abandoning plans to make Vermont the first state in the country with a universal, publicly funded health care system. (12/17)
Politico: Vermont Bails On Single-Payer Health Care
Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin on Wednesday dropped his plan to enact a single-payer health care system in his state — a plan that had won praise from liberals but never really got much past the framework stage. “This is not the right time” for enacting single payer, Shumlin said in a statement, citing the big tax increases that would be required to pay for it. (Wheaton, 12/17)
The Wall Street Journal's Moneybeat: Genworth Investors Seeing Red Again; Insurer Delays Results Of Reserve Review
Shares of Genworth Financial Inc. are taking another dive after the insurer delayed the completion of an annual review of its reserves for the long problematic line of long-term-care insurance. Some Wall Street analysts interpreted the delay as bad news, following the worse-than-expected third-quarter charge disclosed in November for the initial part of the annual review. (Scism, 12/ 17)
The Wall Street Journal's Pharmalot: A Flip Flop? CME Payments To Doc Must Be Reported To Sunshine Database
In what appears to be an about face, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has revised a controversial provision of the Open Payments program and will now require companies to report payments to physicians who speak at, or attend, continuing medical education seminars. The change comes less than two months after the agency declared there are circumstances in which such payments would not have to be disclosed. In fact, this marks the fifth time that CMS has offered yet another interpretation of its final rule on disclosing CME payments. (Silverman, 12/17)
The Associated Press: NY Medicaid Proposal For Covering Transgender Treatment
New York officials have proposed authorizing coverage for transgender treatment under the state's Medicaid program for low-income New Yorkers. Regulations proposed Wednesday would cover hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery. For surgery, patients would need a medical referral and to have counseling and document a year of hormone therapy and living in the gender role consistent with his or her identity. (12/17)
Los Angeles Times: 14 Indicted In Deadly 2012 Meningitis Outbreak
Fourteen people connected to a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy have been arrested on charges stemming from the 2012 meningitis outbreak that killed 64 people who received tainted drugs, officials said Wednesday. In the high-profile criminal case involving contaminated medicine, Barry Cadden, a co-founder of the New England Compounding Center of Framingham, Mass., and Glenn Adam Chin, a pharmacist who was in charge of the sterile room, face the most serious charges, according to the 131-count indictment. (Muskal, 12/17)
The Wall Street Journal's Pharmalot: Compound Pharmacy Owners And Employees Arrested For Meningitis Outbreak
Fourteen former owners or employees of the New England Compounding Center were charged in connection with a 2012 meningitis outbreak that killed 64 people nationwide and was traced to tainted drug injections made by the pharmacy, according to a federal indictment. (Silverman, 12/17)
