Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: June 5, 2015
Kaiser Health News: Growing Pains For State Obamacare Exchanges
The states that set up their own insurance marketplaces have nothing to lose in King V. Burwell, the big Supreme Court case that will be decided by the end of June. But that doesn’t mean those states are breathing easy. With varying degrees of difficulty, all of the state-based exchanges are struggling to figure out how to become financially self-sufficient as the spigot of federal start-up money shuts off. Here are dispatches from Minnesota, Colorado and Connecticut on this tricky transition. (6/4)
Kaiser Health News: Anti-Abortion Activists See Mixed Results In Texas Legislature
If you’re keeping score, anti-abortion groups were 1 for 2 during this year’s legislative session in Texas, which ended Monday. One major bill they wanted failed, but another passed. The new law will tighten rules for girls under 18 who are asking a judge to grant an abortion — a small but politically significant fraction of those who seek the procedure. Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has until June 21 to veto the legislation, but observers say that’s highly unlikely given his longstanding opposition to abortion. (Feibel, 6/5)
The Wall Street Journal: HHS’s Burwell Sees Spike In Uninsured If Supreme Court Rules Against Health Law
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said Thursday that a potential Supreme Court decision voiding the health law’s tax credits would create widespread disruption, but that federal officials were prepared to work with states to mitigate the effects. (Radnofsky and Burton, 6/4)
USA Today: White House: Medicaid Expansion Would Save Billions, 5,200 Lives
Hospitals' non-reimbursed costs for treating patients would be $4.5 billion lower next year if Medicaid coverage was expanded to the poorest residents in states that haven't done so, according to a new White House report out Thursday. The 28 states that have already expanded Medicaid -- the polarizing healthcare program for the poor and disabled -- are on track to reduce these uncompensated care costs by almost the same amount, an estimated $4.4 billion in 2016, the White House Council of Economic Advisers said. (O'Donnell and Ungar, 6/4)
The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: House GOP Group Unveils Plan For Replacing Obamacare
The Republican Study Committee unveiled its blueprint for overhauling U.S. health-care if the Supreme Court cripples the federal health law in a decision expected later this month. The official plan from the group of 170 House conservatives would repeal the entire 2010 Affordable Care Act starting Jan. 1, 2016. It would then replace the ACA’s centerpiece tax credits to help low and modest income people pay premiums and its requirements that insurers sell coverage to everyone regardless of their medical history with tax deductions and new insurance plans for people with pre-existing conditions. (Radnofsky, 6/4)
The Associated Press: House Conservatives Offer Plan To Replace Obama's Health Law
House conservatives offered their plan Thursday for repealing President Barack Obama's health care overhaul and replacing it with tax breaks and other changes. But they're divided over whether to replace that law's subsidies for lower-earning people should the Supreme Court annul them this month, underscoring potential problems ahead for the GOP. (6/4)
The Washington Post: Bill Would Undermine Protections For All VA Workers
Congressional efforts to significantly cut workplace protections for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employees — with clear implications for the rest of the federal workforce — are moving apace even as the largest federal union mounts a vigorous attack on the legislation. At the same time, the Obama administration is telling agency heads to rein in the use of paid administrative leave that at times has left non-working employees on the payroll for months. (Davidson, 6/5)
The Wall Street Journal's Pharmalot: Amgen Subpoenas A Journalist As It Fights A Shareholder Lawsuit
As an outgrowth of ongoing litigation between Amgen and some of its shareholders, the biotech has subpoenaed a journalist whose stories eight years ago revealed negative clinical trial results for a best-selling product. And the journalist, Paul Goldberg of The Cancer Letter, is fighting back by insisting that the First Amendment shields him from providing the information Amgen is seeking. (Silverman, 6/4)
The Washington Post: FDA Advisory Panel Recommends Approval Of ‘Female Viagra’
The first-ever "female Viagra" came one step closer to coming to market, as a key advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration voted Thursday afternoon to recommend that the FDA approve the drug with conditions. The committee voted 18-6 to recommend that the FDA approve flibanserin, a drug designed to boost the low sexual desire of otherwise healthy women. (Schulte, 6/4)
The Washington Post's Fact Checker: Walker’s Claim That A Controversial Abortion Law Allows A Choice Of Ultrasounds
Gov. Scott Walker, who plans to seek the GOP presidential nomination, caught some flak recently when he described ultrasound photographs of fetuses as a “cool thing out there.” He made that remark as part of a defense of signing a 2013 law that requires women considering an abortion to receive an ultrasound before undergoing the procedure. (We won’t get into the debate, but anti-abortion advocates argue that an ultrasound might convince a woman not to have an abortion—a theory disputed by others.) In a recent New Hampshire appearance, Walker was challenged by a voter who asked why he thought it was cool to have a transvaginal ultrasound. (Kessler, 6/5)
USA Today: Planned Parenthood Sues Arizona Over New Abortion Law
Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed suit in federal court Thursday to block a section of a new Arizona law requiring doctors to tell patients it is possible to reverse drug-induced abortions. "The measure we are challenging today writes junk science into law," said Bryan Howard, CEO of Planned Parenthood Arizona. "It puts the health and safety of women at risk." (Bacon, 6/4)
The Associated Press: Planned Parenthood Sues Arizona Over New Abortion Law
Arizona abortion providers asked a federal judge Thursday to block part of a recently passed law that would require doctors to tell women they can reverse the effects of a drug-induced abortion. Planned Parenthood and Star Family Planning filed the complaint in federal court, arguing the new law violates abortion providers' First Amendment rights by forcing them to repeat a state-mandated message against their medical judgment. (6/4)
NPR: Gloucester, Mass., Police Program Provides Treatment For Drug Users
Drug addicts have begun turning themselves into the police department in Gloucester, Mass., after the police chief announced an amnesty program. Addicts who turn themselves in and hand over their drugs will go right into treatment, without criminal charges. (Becker, 6/4)
