Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: March 2, 2015
Kaiser Health News: When Health Care Is Far From Home
For decades, Hayfork had been fortunate. Well after the rise of urban health systems and their intricate business models, it had a tight-knit local "system" founded on the simple, generous commitment of two people: a general practitioner and a pharmacist. "He was everybody’s doctor," Barnett says of Dr. Earl Mercill, a GP who moved up from the Central Valley almost 50 years ago. "You never thought about going to anyone else." But it’s been years since Mercill retired. Now his clinic is staffed by doctors who rotate in from Weaverville once or twice a week, and otherwise it’s run by physician’s assistants. There are no hospitals for miles, though helicopters swoop in for emergencies when needed. (Hernandez, 3/2)
Kaiser Health News: The Extra Cost Of Extra Weight For Older Adults
Bayou La Batre calls itself the seafood capital of Alabama. Residents here depend on fishing and shrimping for their livelihood, and when they sit down to eat, they like most things fried. It’s here that former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin has been trying to reverse the nation’s obesity epidemic one patient at a time. Benjamin grew up near Bayou La Batre and has run a health clinic in this town of seafood workers and ship builders since 1990. As obesity became commonplace around the U.S., health care providers like Benjamin began seeing the impacts of obesity all around them. (Varney, 3/2)
Kaiser Health News: More Than One In Four Foster Kids Miss Required Checkups
Twenty-nine percent of children taken from their families and placed in foster care failed to receive at least one required medical checkup, the Health and Human Services Department Office of the Inspector General said in a report out today. Such screenings can help spot health problems, including troubles with vision, hearing, development and mental health issues. Those exams are particularly important for children in foster care because some have suffered neglect, abuse and other problems that could affect their health.(Appleby, 3/2)
The Washington Post: Six Words Might Decide The Fate Of Obamacare At The Supreme Court
When the Supreme Court takes up the latest challenge to President Obama’s health-care law this week, how the justices interpret a six-word phrase in the bill could determine its fate. The law, adopted in 2010, says the federal government can pay subsidies to help people afford insurance bought through “an Exchange established by the state.” (Rein, 3/1)
The Associated Press: AP EXPLAINS: Supreme Court Case Against Obama's Health Law
The U.S. Supreme Court this week hears a challenge to President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. If successful, the lawsuit would cripple Obama's prized domestic achievement, a program that has brought the U.S. as close as it has ever come to universal health care. The Affordable Care Act passed Congress in 2010 without a single Republican vote in favor. (3/2)
Los Angeles Times: If Supreme Court Rules Against Obamacare, States Have Few Options
With Supreme Court arguments in the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act just days away, a sense of impending crisis has hit state officials and patient advocates in many parts of the country. Many worry they have no good options. If the justices rule in favor of the challenge, it would wipe out insurance subsidies for millions of consumers in nearly three dozen states that use the federal HealthCare.gov marketplace established through the health law. (Levey, 3/2)
Politico: No Easy Fix If Supreme Court Halts Obamacare Cash
The Obama administration says it has no contingency plan for the 7 million to 8 million people who would lose health subsidies if the Supreme Court were to invalidate a key provision of Obamacare. On Wednesday, the high court will hear arguments in King v. Burwell, a case that will determine whether the health law’s premium subsidies are legal in 34 states that did not set up their own insurance exchanges and rely on HealthCare.gov to enroll their residents. If the court decides they’re not, an estimated 7 million to 8 million people would be cut off. (Pradhan and Norman, 3/2)
The Associated Press: GOP Senators Pledge Help If Court Bars Health Law Subsidies
Three leading Republican senators are promising to help millions of people who may lose federal health insurance subsidies if the Supreme Court invalidates a pillar of President Barack Obama's health care law. (3/1)
The Wall Street Journal: As Supreme Court Weighs Subsidies, Health-Law Opponents Face Hurdle
Opponents of the health-care law face a potential challenge Wednesday in persuading the Supreme Court to strike down nationwide insurance subsidies: Doing so could put the law at odds with part of the court’s blockbuster health-care decision three years ago. In 2012, the justices largely upheld the Affordable Care Act but ruled by a 7-2 vote that Congress couldn’t put excessive financial pressure on the states to implement a portion of the law that expanded Medicaid, the federal-state health-insurance program for the poor. That ruling was a consolation prize to conservatives who failed to win a broader decision gutting the health-care law. (Kendall and Bravin, 3/1)
The Washington Post: At Least 6 Republican States Revisit Their Stance Of Resisting Obamacare
Officials in several Republican states that balked at participating in President Obama’s health-care initiative are now revisiting the issue amid mounting panic over a possible Supreme Court decision that would revoke federal insurance subsidies for millions of Americans. The discussions taking place in state capitals around the country are part of a flurry of planning and lobbying by officials, insurance and hospital executives, and health-care advocates to blunt the possible impact of a court ruling. (Somashekhar, Millman and Sun, 2/27)
The Associated Press: Congressional Republicans Name New Budget Referee
Congressional Republicans Friday named economist Keith Hall to serve as Capitol Hill’s budget referee as director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. ... Hall replaces Doug Elmendorf, who was appointed by Democrats but earned the respect of lawmakers in both parties. He led CBO as it scored both the controversial Affordable Care Act and House Republicans’ contentious plan to overhaul Medicare. (2/27)
NPR: Poll Finds Factors Large And Small Shape People's Health
We often think of health as a trip to the doctor or a prescription to treat or prevent diseases. Or maybe it's an operation to fix something that's gone wrong. But a new poll by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health reveals that Americans perceive health as being affected by a broad range of social and cultural factors. Much of our series, What Shapes Health, explores how doctors and other health professionals pay little attention to early childhood experiences as a fundamental cause of health problems. We look at efforts to change this. (Neel, 2/2)
NPR: People With Low Incomes Say They Pay A Price In Poor Health
When you ask people what impacts health you'll get a lot of different answers: Access to good health care and preventative services, personal behavior, exposure to germs or pollution and stress. But if you dig a little deeper you'll find a clear dividing line, and it boils down to one word: money. People whose household income is more than $75,000 a year have very different perceptions of what affects health than those whose household income is less than $25,000. This is one key finding in a poll conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. One third of respondents who are low income say lack of money has a harmful effect on health. (Neighmond, 2/2)
The Washington Post: Preparing For The Next National Crisis — By Digging Through Insurance Claims
The Lewin Group, a health-care research consultancy based in Fairfax County, is looking for a managing consultant and health economist to help the federal government prepare for the next crisis. As a lead researcher with the firm’s national security and emergency preparedness practice, the new hire is to delve into insurance-claims data to help federal agencies learn more about the nation’s health-care system. Because Lewin is owned by UnitedHealth Group, one of the nation’s largest health insurers, the health economist will have access to troves of claims data not available to the public. (Gregg, 3/1)
The New York Times: Psychiatric Drug Overuse Is Cited By Federal Study
Federal investigators say they have found evidence of widespread overuse of psychiatric drugs by older Americans with Alzheimer’s disease, and are recommending that Medicare officials take immediate action to reduce unnecessary prescriptions. (Pear, 3/1)
Los Angeles Times: Scope Maker Olympus Faces Scrutiny Over Patient Deaths, Infections
Three years ago, Japanese electronics giant Olympus Corp. was in crisis amid a massive accounting scandal and plunging sales of its signature cameras. Executives vowed to save the 93-year-old firm by turning aggressively to healthcare and selling more medical scopes to doctors and hospitals in the U.S. and worldwide. The bet paid off: Medical sales soared 25% last year, and Olympus boasts a commanding 70% share of the global market for gastrointestinal endoscopes. But now the industry leader finds itself at the center of superbug outbreaks at U.S. hospitals, including UCLA, where two patients have died and nearly 180 more people may have been exposed to deadly bacteria on contaminated Olympus scopes. (Terhune and Peterson, 3/1)
The New York Times: Facing A Huge Deficit, Louisiana Governor Reconsiders Some Tax Credits
The proposed cuts are substantial, coming after years of routine and severe reductions. They would potentially result in the closures of community health care clinics and historic sites. Hospitals partly privatized by Mr. Jindal would get $142 million less than they had sought. Spending on higher education would be lower by $141 million, a further 6 percent reduction after years of cuts. (Robertson, 2/27)
Los Angeles Times: Christie Tells California GOP To Let Presidential Race Play Out
He did not mention these matters, instead touting his election -- twice -- in a blue state, five balanced budgets and tax cuts for businesses. He highlighted a healthcare and pension agreement with teachers unions last week as a way opposing forces can work together, an area where he said President Obama has failed. “We announced in New Jersey that we have signed a road map of reform with the teachers union to try to fundamentally change the way our pension and health systems work,” Christie said, to gasps of incredulity from the audience. (Mehta and Mason, 2/28)
The Associated Press: Concierge Medicine Grows In Maryland
Three years ago, Dr. Wayne Benjamin — then 67 years old — was considering retirement. He was worn out, frustrated with the daily grind of his family medicine practice and the increasing pressure to see “more and more patients in shorter and shorter” amounts of time. (Gulin, 3/1)
The Washington Post: Ebola Nurse To Sue Dallas Hospital Parent Company Over Training, Privacy Concerns
A 26-year-old nurse who contracted Ebola while caring for a patient says she plans to sue, alleging privacy issues and a failure to properly train the Texas hospital’s staff, the Dallas Morning News reports. “I wanted to believe that they would have my back and take care of me, but they just haven’t risen to the occasion,” Nina Pham told the newspaper. (Larimer, 3/1)
