Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
The New York Times: Health Policy Expert Is Confirmed As Medicare And Medicaid Administrator
The Senate on Monday confirmed Seema Verma, a health policy expert from Indiana, to lead efforts by the Trump administration to transform Medicaid and upend the Affordable Care Act. (Pear, 3/13)
The Associated Press: Senate Confirms Trump Pick To Head Medicare And Medicaid
Indiana health care consultant Seema Verma, a protégé of Vice President Mike Pence, was approved by a 55-43 vote, largely along party lines. She'll head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a $1 trillion agency that oversees health insurance programs for more than 130 million people, from elderly nursing home residents to newborns. It's part of the Department of Health and Human Services. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 3/13)
The Wall Street Journal: Seema Verma Confirmed As Head Of Centers For Medicare And Medicaid Services
Ms. Verma, a health policy consultant, made a name for herself as the architect of Indiana’s Medicaid expansion program under then-Gov. Mike Pence, which that state administered through a federal waiver. Ms. Verma struck a deal with the Obama administration allowing Indiana to charge enrollees under the expansion monthly premiums. (Hackman, 3/13)
The Associated Press: Minnesota Aims To Stem Health Rate Hikes, Stabilize Market
The Minnesota House on Monday approved plowing hundreds of millions dollars into a new program meant to tamp down health insurance costs and ensure plans are offered after years of instability and skyrocketing premiums. (3/13)
The Associated Press: FDA OKs New Novartis Drug For Type Of Advanced Breast Cancer
U.S. regulators have approved a new drug as an initial treatment for postmenopausal women with a type of advanced breast cancer. (Johnson, 3/13)
The New York Times: Zika Warning Is Issued Over Sperm Banks In The Miami Area
Women who are considering trying to become pregnant with semen from sperm banks in the Miami-Dade County area of Florida should consider the possibility that sperm collected as far back as mid-June might be infected with the Zika virus, federal health officials said Monday. (Belluck, 3/13)
Los Angeles Times: Dying Patients Want Easier Access To Experimental Drugs. Here's Why Experts Say That's Bad Medicine
Former firefighter Mike DeBartoli is a man desperate to rescue himself. He suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the degenerative nerve disorder better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, which usually kills within five years. He has already spent one year in a clinical trial, taking four pills a day that may have been a placebo. It didn’t help. (Healy, 3/13)
The New York Times: As Drug Deaths Soar, Mayor Offers Plan To Cut Toll
With fatal drug overdoses at alarming levels in New York City, particularly from opiates like heroin, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday vowed to reverse the tide and reduce the number of deaths by 35 percent over five years through a combination of outreach, treatment and law enforcement. (Goodman and Southall, 3/13)
The Associated Press: City Says Drugmaker Knowingly Let Pills Flood Black Market
As deaths from painkillers and heroin abuse spiked and street crimes increased, the mayor of Everett took major steps to tackle the opioid epidemic devastating this working-class city north of Seattle. (Le, 3/14)
The Associated Press: Cystic Fibrosis Patients Surviving Longer In Canada Than US
Canadians with cystic fibrosis survive about 10 years longer than Americans with the same genetic disease, according to startling new research that raises questions about how to improve care. (3/13)
The Wall Street Journal: Cystic-Fibrosis Patients In Canada Live A Decade Longer Than U.S. Patients, Study Says
The study’s researchers said they don’t know what accounts for the disparity, but a higher rate of lung transplants among Canadian patients and the country’s widely accessible health-care system may be among the factors. (Walker, 3/13)
Los Angeles Times: Your Kids Aren't Killing You; One Day They May Actually Help You Live Longer
Sometimes — a lot of times — it feels as if being a parent is shaving years off your life, but a new study suggests that’s not the case. In fact, just the opposite may be true. (Netburn, 3/13)
