Viewpoints: The Meaning Behind UnitedHealth’s Obamacare Exit; High Court Consideration Of Health Care And False Claims
A selection of opinions from around the country.
The Wall Street Journal:
A Big ObamaCare Exit
President Obama claimed credit at a Los Angeles fundraiser last week for “the steady progress that happens when people who love this country decide to change it,” and reality is unlikely to darken his farewell tour. But for everyone else, note that the largest U.S. health insurer is quitting ObamaCare. ... Liberals claim this doesn’t matter because UnitedHealth was insufficiently committed to ObamaCare, as if it preferred to leave money on the table. The insurer didn’t plunge head-first into the exchanges in year one of the law like the larger industry, but the latecomer expanded to 34 states in 2016 from 23 in 2015 and four in 2014. Mr. Hemsley has been more vocal than most insurance CEOs about the long-term importance of retail, customer-facing coverage outside of the employer business. (4/19)
Los Angeles Times:
While UnitedHealth Pulls The Plug On Obamacare, Data Shows Where And Why It Failed
UnitedHealth Group, the nation's largest commercial health insurer, made good on a six-month-old threat and announced Tuesday that it will pull out of Affordable Care Act exchanges in all but "a handful of states" after this year. The questions that raises, as we observed a couple of weeks ago, are will that hurt, and if so, who does it hurt? United had previously announced its withdrawal from Arkansas, Michigan, and Georgia (although a subsidiary, Harken, will continue to serve some Georgia counties). Other early reports said the company would leave Oklahoma and Louisiana. United has filed a rate request for 2017 in Virginia, albeit for HMOs only, so it appears to be staying in that state at least for one more year. (Michael Hiltzik, 4/19)
Forbes:
Abandon Ship: UnitedHealth To Exit 'Unsustainable' Obamacare Exchanges In 34 States
UnitedHealth Group, America’s largest health insurer, announced today that it would be abandoning Obamacare’s insurance exchanges, after absorbing hundreds of millions in losses. While the exchanges can continue to function without United, United’s departure could represent the “canary in the coal mine”: a signal that other insurers will not be able to remain in these highly unstable markets. (Avik Roy, 4/19)
The Washington Post:
Obamacare In Its Present Form Won’t Survive
The Post reports, “UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest health insurer, said Tuesday that in 2017 it will exit most of the 34 states where it offers plans on the Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges.” The concept of an exchange — a marketplace with some consumer choice (albeit one highly regulated by the government in required benefits) — was at the heart of Obamacare. No longer. ... Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), who represents a great number of rural Obamacare participants — the group likely to be impacted the most — was livid. In a statement, he bashed the president. “This isn’t about spreadsheets and quarterly reports — it’s about the President’s broken promise that families would have more choices under ObamaCare. (Jennifer Rubin, 4/19)
Bloomberg:
Whistle-Blowers, Health Care And U.S. Law
How should the government police the health-care industry? That question is before the Supreme Court on Tuesday as the justices hear arguments in an important case about the False Claims Act. Under the law as interpreted in most of the country, any time a health-care provider submits a bill to the government -- which is to say, millions of times a day -- the provider can be sued for a false claim if it’s failed to follow any of the myriad state and federal regulations governing the field. The law is meant to encourage citizens to blow the whistle on fraud, so it lets anyone bring a claim with the promise of receiving statutory damages up to three times the cost of the violation. (Noah Feldman, 4/19)
The Des Moines Register:
Congressional 'Fix' Causes More VA Problems
Every time you turn around, a member of Congress is criticizing the Veterans Administration health care system. What you don’t hear lawmakers say: We are responsible for a good share of the problems. But they are. In response to a national scandal over waiting lists for care at VA clinics, in 2014 Congress created the Veterans Choice program. The goal was to make it easier for veterans to get care at private facilities if no care was quickly available at a nearby government one. Except the “fix” is creating more problems for veterans, according to a recent story by Register reporter Tony Leys. (4/20)
Modern Healthcare:
Revisiting Hillary Clinton's Record On Healthcare
With her solid victory over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the New York presidential primary Tuesday, Hillary Clinton took a big step toward clinching the Democratic Party nomination and taking her ambitious healthcare agenda into the November general election. (Harris Meyer, 4/19)
STAT:
Pharma And Biotech Companies: Don't Just Merge, Innovate
There’s a definite art to combining two companies into one. Done right it can spark innovation; done not-so-right it can slow or stifle progress. (Ulf M. Schneider, 4/20)
Politico:
What The Cancer 'Moonshot' Needs To Fix
Vice President Joe Biden’s new “moonshot” effort against cancer is an unexpected and exciting boon for those of us searching for a cure for this deadly disease. But it is also an opportunity to target these new funds at the most deadly forms of cancer — something the current funding streams fail to do. (Bruce Zetter and Lara Maggs, 4/20)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Vegas Firm Plays Hardball With Emergency Room Bills.
In the first sentence of her story in Sunday’s Post-Dispatch about lawsuits filed against patients who’ve used SSM Health emergency rooms, reporter Samantha Liss used the phrase “Las Vegas-based collection firm.” That looked ominous, especially for low-income patients now being squeezed by debt collectors. SSM, the area’s second-largest health care system, outsourced emergency room care at most of its area hospitals to Schumacher Clinical Partners of Lafayette, La., in 2008. SSM retained responsibility for emergency care at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital. Last September, it acquired St. Louis University Hospital from Tenet Healthcare Corp. and runs the ER there as well. (4/19)
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Editorial: State Health Care Regulators Failing Missourians
Why was a dentist convicted of child sex offenses even being considered for work at a family dentistry practice where children would likely be present? Something seems badly broken in medical permitting if such a scenario had been allowed to proceed. (4/19)
The Arizona Republic:
Why KidsCare Is Particularly Critical For Those With Autism
KidsCare is the federal- and state-funded program to help children whose parents' income is between 138 percent and 200 percent of the federal poverty level. It will be 100 percent funded by the federal government for the next year and a half and probably two years longer, and at the very least 75 percent funded after that. Parents are required to pay premiums, unlike other Medicaid programs. (Tim Jordan, 4/19)
The New York Times:
States Lead The Way On Paid Family Leave
California and New York have taken very different paths to a $15 minimum wage. Now, they are differing on how to provide paid family leave, in ways that are instructive for other states and for the federal government. Since 2004, workers in California have been entitled to receive 55 percent of their wages for up to six weeks of leave to care for a new child or a seriously ill relative. Starting in 2018, a new law will lift that rate to 70 percent for the lowest-paid earners, defined as those making up to one-third of the state’s average weekly wage of $1,121 currently. For almost all other workers, the rate will rise to 60 percent, up to a maximum weekly benefit of about $1,200. (4/20)
