Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Food-Is-Medicine Programs Expand But Won't Offset Pending SNAP Cuts
Modern Healthcare: Food-Is-Medicine Programs Gain Momentum As SNAP Cuts Loom
Food-is-medicine programs are gaining more support from insurers, hospitals, states and the Trump administration but the efforts aren’t expected to offset dramatic cuts to federal food assistance. (DeSilva, 7/24)
More on the high cost of healthcare and prescription drugs —
Fierce Healthcare: HCA Execs: ACA Dropoffs 'Almost One For One' Became Uninsured
HCA Healthcare on Friday affirmed its earlier warnings about Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchange subsidies fallout, telling analysts that patients who dropped off marketplace plan coverage due to increased premiums have "migrated almost one for one" to uninsurance. (Gleeson, 7/24)
Healthcare Dive: Rise Of Uninsured Patients Hits CHS’ Finances In Q2
Uninsured patients, largely those who dropped Affordable Care Act plans, are hitting for-profit hospital operator Community Health Systems’ bottom line harder than anticipated. (Halleman, 7/24)
The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: Trump Says He’s Fighting Medicaid Massive Fraud. In Ohio, That Means Hyping Tiny Cases.
An Elyria woman accused of carrying out $1,524 in Medicaid fraud. A Cleveland home health aide charged in connection with a $2,411 fraud. A Pennsylvania woman accused of submitting $3,727 in false timecard entries to defraud Medicaid. Federal and state prosecutors trumpeted those small cases and dozens of others across the country in recent weeks as part of a blitz of press conferences, news releases and social media posts spotlighting healthcare fraud prosecutions. (Ferrise, 7/26)
North Carolina Health News: NC Attorney General: Medicaid Rule Change Will Cost Counties Millions
Congress included an exemption in last year’s federal Medicaid work requirement law for people who are “medically frail” — a category that encompasses people with serious or complex medical conditions like cancer, Parkinson’s disease, cystic fibrosis and other illnesses that can make it difficult to maintain employment. The provision was intended to ensure that some of the nation’s sickest Medicaid beneficiaries would not lose their health coverage because they could not meet an 80-hour monthly work requirement. (Baxley, 7/27)
Politico: Your Health Care Bill Is Incomprehensible. Congress Is Stepping In.
Figuring out who’s offering the best deal on heart surgeries or routine physicals isn’t the most pressing issue for everyday Americans. That hasn’t stopped lawmakers on Capitol Hill from trying to turn that kind of price transparency into their marquee bipartisan health care goal this year. (Levien, 7/26)
WP Intelligence: Agencies Push Changes That Intensify Fight Over $100 Billion Drug Discount Program
A battle between pharmaceutical giants and hospitals is escalating, as two federal agencies consider sweeping changes to a program that has ballooned to $100 billion in discounted drug purchases. Hospital industry officials call one Trump administration move “shocking,” while the drug industry calls it just a start, saying that a bolder overhaul is needed. The discount program, known as 340B, was created in 1992 to support safety-net providers, such as hospitals and clinics that treat many low-income people, by forcing drugmakers to cut the prices of medicines that these providers buy. (Adams, 7/24)
