Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Viewpoints: Examining The Proposed $69B CVS-Aetna Merger; Is Medicare Next On GOP Chopping Block?
Los Angeles Times: CVS And Aetna Say Their Huge Merger Will Be Great For Consumers. Here's Why You Should Be Skeptical
The CEOs of drug retailer CVS and health insurer Aetna were marvelously in sync Sunday when they jointly announced their companies’ $69-billion merger deal. The deal will “dramatically further empower consumers,” Aetna’s Mark Bertolini said. It will “create a platform that is easier to use and less expensive for consumers,” according to Larry J. Merlo, president and CEO of CVS Health. They repeated these mantras to the press in a series of joint interviews. All that was missing was a clue to how, exactly, this nirvana of better, cheaper healthcare was to be reached. (Michael Hiltzik, 12/4)
Los Angeles Times: Less Choice, Higher Prices Feared In CVS' Takeover Of Health Insurer Aetna
CVS Health says that its $69-billion takeover of insurance giant Aetna will be good for consumers. That, of course, is unlikely. For the deal to benefit consumers, it would have to result in lower drug prices or lower insurance costs. If past mergers are anything to go by, this won't happen. (David Lazarus, 12/4)
Stat: Retail Health Care Lacks Personal Connections That Patients Want And Need
Retail thinking has its place in health care today because there are some services and products that people need quickly and which do not require a personal touch or someone who understands them as unique individuals. Such services might be low-level acute care (think strep throat), flu shots and immunizations, and some forms of simple chronic disease management, such as blood sugar checks or foot and eye exams for people with diabetes, especially if they are guideline driven. There’s no question that retail thinking can also create purchasing opportunities for things patients find useful, if not always essential, and perhaps do so in ways that are cost-effective or convenient for us. But retail health care is impersonal, lacks relational warmth, and isn’t what patients really want. (Timothy J. Hoff, 12/4)
The Kansas City Star: Tax Cuts Are Only The Start. Social Security And Medicare Could Be Next On The Chopping Block
Early Saturday morning, every Republican in the U.S. Senate — save one — endorsed a budget-busting tax cut that will do irreparable harm to the economy over the next decade. Their work isn’t done. A committee must hammer out differences between the House and Senate legislation, but that task now seems easy. Expect a tax bill to be signed before Christmas. As frustrating as that reality is, the worst may be yet to come. Cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are likely to be next on the agenda. (12/4)
The Minneapolis Star Tribune: House, Senate Tax Bills Will Make America Sicker
The Senate bill’s likely effects on typical health policy concerns are substantial and devastating: 13 million people could lose health insurance due to the repeal of the ACA individual mandate, and large future cuts to Medicaid and Medicare are likely in order to compensate for the ballooning deficit. But these consequences on health insurance only scratch the surface of the legislation’s potential public health impacts. By promoting the interests of the wealthy while shortchanging investments in the social factors that promote health for all of us, the House and Senate tax bills are even more damaging to our nation’s health than repealing the ACA. (Sarah E. Gollust, 12/4)
Axios: ACA Mandate Repeal May Be Less Popular Than GOP Thinks
The tax bill that just passed the Senate eliminates the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate, and the House is likely to go along when Congress writes the final version. ... Our polls have consistently shown that the mandate is the least popular element of the ACA and in the abstract, more Americans (55%) would eliminate the mandate than keep it (42%). Yes, but: When people know how the mandate actually works, and are told what experts believe is likely to happen if it's eliminated, most Americans oppose repealing it in the tax plan. (Drew Altman, 12/5)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The Misunderstood Social Safety Net
The social safety net, or welfare system, consists of a handful of programs. They include Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (better known as food stamps), housing and disability assistance programs, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and several others. The programs are designed to provide stopgap assistance until households are able to get back on their feet, and in order to qualify, individuals must be close to or living in poverty. (Mark R. Rank, 12/4)
The New York Times: Why A Lot Of Important Research Is Not Being Done
We have a dispiriting shortage of high-quality health research for many reasons, including the fact that it’s expensive, difficult and time-intensive. But one reason is more insidious: Sometimes groups seek to intimidate and threaten scientists, scaring them off promising work. By the time I wrote about the health effects of lead almost two years ago, few were questioning the science on this issue. But that has not always been the case. (Aaron E. Carroll, 12/4)
Miami Herald: Miami’s Bascom Palmer: Offering Eye Care In Battered Puerto Rico
Bascom Palmer Eye Institute’s clinical professionals know that every natural disaster has a unique impact on the delivery of sight-saving vision care. After Hurricane Katrina in 2006, our physician-led team spent two weeks in Louisiana and Mississippi providing eye care to residents and first responders. Within 48 hours after the 2010 earthquake, a team from Bascom Palmer arrived in Haiti with ophthalmic equipment and supplies to offer general medical aid and eye surgery. The following year, we transported the Vision Van, our mobile eye clinic, across the Pacific to serve as a base for Japanese ophthalmologists caring for victims of the deadly earthquake and tsunami. (Eduardo C. Alfonso, 12/5)
