Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: January 8, 2016
Kaiser Health News: Incentive Worth $550 Fails To Motivate Obese Workers To Lose Weight
Promising workers lower health insurance premiums for losing weight did nothing to help them take off the pounds, a recent study found. At the end of a year, obese workers had lost less than 1.5 pounds on average, statistically no different than the minute average gain of a tenth of a pound for workers who weren’t offered a financial incentive to lose weight. (Andrews, 1/8)
The New York Times: Obama Administration Optimistic About Health Plan Goal
The Obama administration said Thursday that 11.3 million people had signed up for health insurance so far during the Affordable Care Act’s third open enrollment period, with indications of a strong desire for coverage among young adults and others who were not enrolled last year. “We’re seeing unprecedented demand for marketplace coverage,” said Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the secretary of health and human services, who released the data just hours after the Republican-controlled Congress cleared legislation to repeal the health care law. (Pear, 1/7)
The Washington Post: More Than 11.3 Million Americans Signed Up For Obamacare, HHS Says
The total includes 8.6 million people (76 percent) through last Saturday in the 38 states using the federal marketplace, HealthCare.gov, as well as 2.7 million people (24 percent) who enrolled in coverage as of Dec. 26 in the 13 state insurance exchanges. Enrollment is well ahead of the figures announced in late 2014, when more than 7.1 million people had signed up for 2015 health plans – 6.5 million via HealthCare.gov and 633,000 in the 14 states that were then running their own marketplaces. (Sun, 1/7)
Reuters: U.S. Says 11.3 Million Americans Have Signed Up For 2016 Obamacare Plans
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said that total included about 4 million people under age 35. U.S. health insurers, including UnitedHealth Group Inc, have said that they are losing money on the exchanges because many of their patients are older or have high medical costs. (Humer, 1/7)
The Wall Street Journal: Young Adult Health Insurance Sign-Ups Disappoint
The Obama administration so far is making little progress in getting more young adults to sign up for health policies on the federal insurance exchange, according to figures released Thursday. Twenty-six percent of people who signed up for coverage as of Dec. 26 in the 38 states that use the federal exchange were ages 18 to 34, according to a report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which administers the law. (Armour, 1/7)
The Associated Press: US Seeks Strong Finish On Health Care Sign-Ups Amid Doubts
Seeking a strong showing in President Barack Obama's last year in office, the administration said Thursday 11.3 million people have enrolled for health law coverage with three weeks still left in the sign-up season. But a major independent survey out simultaneously showed that progress reducing the number of uninsured Americans stalled last year. (1/7)
The Wall Street Journal: New Year, New Tax Rules: What You Need to Know
For people who don’t have ACA-approved health insurance, the payment is rising steeply once again. Such taxpayers often owe a “shared responsibility payment” that is either a flat assessment or a percentage of income, whichever is higher. Roberton Williams, a tax specialist with the Tax Policy Center in Washington, says the percentage method will apply to virtually all higher-income households and even many single filers earning above $40,000. In 2016, the flat assessment more than doubles. It is now $695 per individual, up from $325 last year, with a maximum of $2,085 per household. (Saunders, 1/8)
The Washington Post: Planned Parenthood Will Make Unprecedented Primary Endorsement Of Hillary Clinton
The political arm of Planned Parenthood will endorse Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire on Sunday, a Clinton campaign official confirmed. The endorsement marks the first time in the organization's 100-year history that Planned Parenthood Action Fund has endorsed a candidate in a primary. (Phillip, 1/7)
The Wall Street Journal: GOP Health Plans Are Works In Progress
President Barack Obama’s expected veto of Republican legislation to repeal his signature health law is a reminder that as long as there is a Democrat in the White House, the Affordable Care Act isn’t going away. It is a point Republicans on the campaign trail are happy to make. The question is what their alternatives would be. Every GOP presidential candidate’s health-policy platform begins with repealing the law, but for most, that’s also where it ends, at least for now. (Radnofsky, 1/7)
Los Angeles Times: Doctor Gets 9 Years In Prison For His Role In Glendale Clinic Fraud Case
A doctor who pre-signed thousands of blank prescription slips for a sham medical clinic in Glendale that defrauded Medicare and Medi-Cal of $9 million has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison, officials said. Kenneth Johnson, 49, was convicted in 2014 of fraudulently prescribing expensive antipsychotic medications, which were later used to generate $20 million in fraudulent billings to Medicare and Medi-Cal, according to the U.S. attorney's office. (Tchekmedyian, 1/7)
NPR: We Eat Too Much Sodium Because Companies Keep Dumping It In Our Food
An analysis appearing in this week's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report reveals that 89 percent of U.S. adults were consuming more than the recommended 2,300 milligrams of sodium a day in the years 2009-2012, according to National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, or NHANES. (Barclay, 1/7)
NPR: Advocates Push Public Health Campaign To Combat Gun Violence
What if we treated gun violence as a public health issue the way there were campaigns against drunk driving? Or safer sex practices during the HIV/AIDS pandemic? NPR's Kelly McEvers talks with Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research about what this would look like, and the political and personal challenges to doing research on gun violence. (1/7)
The Associated Press: Calif. Budget Plan Boosts Spending But Democrats Seek More
On its face, Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed $122.6 billion California budget plan would seem to please Democratic interests by pumping billions of new dollars into public schools, health care for the poor and public infrastructure, even as it bolsters the state’s rainy day fund. ... Brown’s proposal includes a $1.1 billion compromise on a new tax on health insurers to replace one expiring in June. Brown said the tax is critical to maintaining the state health care program for the poor, Medi-Cal, which is projected to cover 13.5 million people by 2017, nearly a third of the state’s population. Republicans whose votes are needed signaled opposition. (Thompson and Williams, 1/8)
Los Angeles Times: Gov. Jerry Brown's Budget Helps Schools And The Poor -- And Saves A Lot For A Rainy Day
In the areas where the governor’s new budget really opens up the state’s checkbook, it’s largely to dole out dollars linked to decisions made years, even decades, earlier. That would be an additional $1.4-billion more for the Medi-Cal program that provides healthcare for low-income Californians to cover expansion sparked by the Affordable Care Act; $3.1-billion in proceeds from the sale of greenhouse gas pollution credits; and $8 billion in mandatory payments to the pension funds of government workers and teachers. (Myers, Mason and Mai-Duc, 1/7)
