This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.
The Washington Post: The Dangerous Fiscal Path That Looms
Debt projections released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office illustrate three fiscal paths: dangerous, dumb and smart. ... President Obama has called for a balanced solution but has neither proposed serious tax reform nor adequately outlined the ways in which he would get entitlement spending, particularly Medicare, under control. The position of most Republicans, on the presidential campaign trail and in Congress, is wildly less responsible (1/31).
(San Jose) Mercury News: Budget Super Committee's Failure Puts Medical Research At Risk
As a result of the inability of the so-called congressional Super Committee to deliver a budget proposal, lawmakers are required to make $1.2 trillion in cuts, half from defense and half from domestic programs, including research sponsored by the NIH. Reducing our investment in medical research surely would slow the remarkable progress we have made in new fundamental discoveries that can ultimately improve the health of our nation's citizens (Dr. Philip Pizzo, 1/31).
Politico: If Mandate Dies, So Should ACA
One issue is what the Supreme Court should do with the law if it declares the government requirement for health insurance — the "individual mandate" — to be unconstitutional, as we believe it should. If the individual mandate is ruled unconstitutional, the rest of the law should be thrown out, too. The reason is simple: The individual mandate is so central to this misguided law that Congress did not intend for the PPACA to stand without it (Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Carrie Severino, 1/31).
The Wall Street Journal: Class Warfare
The House votes today on repealing one of the Affordable Care Act's major new subsidy programs, and the referendum deserves more attention than it will probably get. The important point is not merely eliminating one of ObamaCare's worst abuses, but that the entitlement state might shrink for the first time in generations. Known by the acronym Class, the long-term care insurance program for nursing homes and the like was grafted onto the health-care bill mostly to hide that bill's true costs (2/1).
Politico: Repeal CLASS Act Already
In principle, the CLASS Act addresses the real need for improved national approaches to the long-term care needs of an increasingly elderly population. The good news, unfortunately, ends there. It's not good policy. It offers no strategy for a flexible, market-based delivery of valued services to the homes of those needing assistance. Instead, there's another government check, theoretically financed by payroll taxes during the working years. ... This runs a real danger: Only those guaranteed to have the highest bills sign up for the CLASS Act — and then spending explodes (Douglas Holtz-Eakin, 1/31).
Politico: Implementing Health Reform
But the new health care law now calls for uniform health insurance summaries, available to all consumers starting in 2012. ... Every private health plan is required to provide this summary, so consumers for the first time will be able to compare options on an apples-to-apples basis. This holds true even if the options are from two different employers, or consumers are considering options on an individual basis. We expect a final ruling from the Office of Management and Budget soon. But the real question is: What will the rule, and ultimately the summaries, look like? Though the law is clear, strong objections from certain employer groups cast doubt on what consumers will likely get to see (Lynn Quincy, 1/31).
The Wall Street Journal: The Wealth Report: Occupy … Your Doctor's Office?
The medical profession, certainly, has its share of corruption, fraud, greed and over-compensation – sometimes at the expense of taxpayers through Medicare and Medicaid. Most voters would agree that medical costs have soared far too high, often benefitting the doctors. Yet using doctors to protest inequality would be a losing proposition. Bankers make for much better targets – even if they’re a smaller slice of the 1% (Robert Frank, 1/31).
Denver Post: Preserve Specialized Care
(W)e risk losing the excellence that distinguishes America's health care from others worldwide. ... We fear however, massive health system consolidation and homogenization; a zeal to decrease the testing and number of procedures performed; and the further commoditization of the physician/patient relationship (with providers having such a brief time with patients and families to actually listen to their needs), which will progressively worsen health care delivery and outcomes. Limiting or eliminating access to specialists or second opinions may reverse the astonishing gains we have made in treating some of the most deadly and chronic diseases (Michael Salem, 2/1).
Journal of the American Medical Association: Specialization In Medicine
Today, most individual physicians and surgeons are trained and qualified to provide only some kinds of care. Thus, the physician workforce has differentiated into a heterogeneous group of professionals. In 1960, there were only 18 specialty boards and a handful of subspecialties in the United States, but by 2011 there were 158 specialties and subspecialties. ... These differences raise the question of how much medical specialization is good for society. ... The criteria for certifying a new subspecialty appear to have been largely technology driven. There has been no requirement for empirical evidence that creating a specialty will do more good than harm (Dr. Allan S. Detsky, Stephen R. Gauthier and Victor R. Fuchs, 2/1).
The New York Times: Opinionator: Finally, Good News About School Lunches
Thirty-two million kids — 10 percent of the American population, and the future of the country — are about to start eating better. That's the bottom line of the new Department of Agriculture (U.S.D.A.) guidelines for government-subsidized school meals, announced last week. The new rules are the first changes to the program in 15 years, and come as part of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act (Mark Bittman, 1/31).
Kaiser Health News: Taking Steps To Overcome Alzheimer's Disease
More than 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 each day -- that's one every eight seconds, a pattern expected to continue until 2029. As these baby boomers age, one of out of eight of them will develop Alzheimer's -- a devastating, costly, heartbreaking disease. It is time for a national strategic plan to address this disease, which today is the sixth leading cause of death and the only one among the top 10 causes without a way to cure, prevent or even slow its progression (Robert Egge, 2/1).
Kaiser Health News: The National Alzheimer's Plan: An Opportunity For Action
The National Alzheimer's Project Act provides an historic opportunity to develop and act on a comprehensive approach to the detection of memory disorders and the management of Alzheimer's disease. ... But the draft framework is somewhat vague even as it contains excellent goals and begins to focus the minds and resources of key stakeholders on these issues (Dr. Rachelle S. Doody, 2/1).
HealthyCal: Helping Californians Access, Afford And Adhere To Quality Health Care Will Have Dramatic Benefits
Difficult economic times are forcing many Californians to make difficult choices every day about whether to continue taking medication or to feed their families and pay rent, while many Californians are simply unable to afford quality health care. Governor Brown's recently proposed budget cuts, including reducing reimbursement rates and shifting more Californians into managed care, will make the strain even greater (Eric Glassman, 1/31).
Boston Globe: On Health Care, Legislature Shouldn't Hurt Its Own Reform
Even before this year's grand debate about containing health care costs begins on Beacon Hill, a pointed disagreement has broken out among key players in the state health care arena. The health plans fear that legislative meddling is opening holes in the very cost-controlling arrangements that a recent law required, while legislators contend they are simply looking out for individuals who might be hurt by policy changes. There is nothing wrong with trying to minimize disruptions on patients from changes to their insurance plans, but the recent proposal to give certain patients the right to keep receiving treatment at higher-cost hospitals is too broadly written (2/1).
Houston Chronicle: Time For Some Innovative Thinking In The War On Cancer
Instead of concentrating all of our funding on research to develop weapons of mass destruction against cancer, we could use more funds to identify the risk factors that lead to cancer's development and ways to intervene before cancer arises. And we know many of these already: smoking, obesity, radiation, sexually transmitted diseases and asbestos exposure far outweigh innate genetic syndromes as causes of human cancer. We have some choices to make (Dr. Leonard A. Zwelling, 1/31).
The Sacramento Bee: State Must Grapple With Aging Prisoners
A new report issued last Friday, "Old Behind Bars: The Aging Prison Population in the United States" by Human Rights Watch, puts the California situation in national perspective. In 1990, California state prisoners age 55 or older were a manageable 2.1 percent of the prison population. In 2009, they were 7.1 percent – taking up 38 percent of prison medical beds. By 2019, the state expects older prisoners to be 15 percent of the prison population. … Dealing with geriatric populations behind bars is costly, especially since prisoners are not eligible for federal health insurance programs for the elderly – Medicare and Medicaid. The state picks up the tab (2/1).
This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.
A selection of health policy stories from around the United States.
Los Angeles Times: Monterey County Hospital Group To Award More Large Retirement Packages
A Monterey County hospital district, which came under fire last year for giving its chief executive one of the largest public pensions in California history, announced this week that several other top officials are receiving generous retirement packages (Allen, 2/1).
The Associated Press: Vt. Struggles To Rebuild Mental Health System
The remnants of Hurricane Irene did what policymakers hadn't been able to accomplish for more than a decade — close the state's antiquated psychiatric hospital. The storm flooded much of the state Aug. 28, including the complex containing the Vermont State Hospital in the north-central town of Waterbury, but it's still raining down on the mental health system (Gram, 1/31).
Politico Pro: Mass. Lawmakers Counter Medicare Charges
Members of Massachusetts's congressional delegation on Tuesday pushed back against charges that their hometown hospitals had gamed Medicare for billions of dollars by shifting scores of medical centers into a higher wage index rate — and making hospitals across the country pick up the fiscal slack. In a letter to the White House, 11 of the state's 12 congressional members counter accusations that Bay State hospitals unfairly benefited under an Affordable Care Act provision that meant that when certain hospitals gain, the losses get spread out to other hospitals nationwide to preserve budget neutrality (DoBias, 1/31).
Denver Post: New Regional Behemoth In Health Care Will Be Called University Of Colorado Health
The University of Colorado Hospital and the Poudre Valley Health System said Tuesday that they are joining forces to form a health care system called University of Colorado Health. With annual net revenue of $1.5 billion, the venture will be one of the region's largest locally owned health systems, with nearly 10,000 employees (Pankratz, 2/1).
San Francisco Chronicle: Kaiser Workers Stage 24-Hour Walkout
About 4,000 Kaiser mental health and optical workers went on strike Tuesday at Kaiser hospitals throughout the state as part of 24-hour work stoppage to protest their frustration over working conditions and proposed benefit cuts. Thousands of registered Kaiser nurses in the California Nurses Union joined the workers, who are represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, in an act of solidarity. Some 650 facility maintenance workers from Stationary Engineers Local 39 also agreed to the sympathy strike, bringing the total to 22,000 workers and making it one of the largest strikes in Kaiser's history (Colliver, 2/1).
HealthyCal: California Website Offers Help On Long Term Care Coverage
As California's population continues to age, state officials are urging residents to do something human beings frequently find agonizing: Plan for that time in their twilight years when they may need assistance getting out of bed, visiting the bathroom and dressing themselves. That's the impetus behind the five-month-old website RUReadyCA.org, which is managed by the California Partnership for Long-Term Care, a joint venture of the state Department of Health Care Services and a trio of insurance companies that sell long-term care policies in the state (Sample, 1/31).
Health News Georgia: Doctors Get Paid More For "Medical Home"
WellPoint, the parent company of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia, announced a plan last week for raising primary care pay. Blue Cross, Georgia's largest health insurer with more than 2 million members in the state, said it will launch this "patient-centered medical home"’ payment plan in the state next year. … Meawhile, Aetna, a Hartford, Conn.-based insurer with 600,000 members in Georgia, announced a plan Monday to pay some primary care physicians an extra $2 to $3 per member per month. In both cases, the insurers are focusing on the medical home concept, which designates a specific primary care doctor's practice as the patient's "home" (Miller, 1/31).
Kansas Health Institute: Nursing Home Administrators Pan Abuse Hotline
Nursing home administrator Greta Wakefield called the state's Adult Protective Services hotline after a man told her his wife would be better off dead than in the nursing home and refused to let her stay any longer. "He said 'If she's lucky, she'll just die on the way home,'" Wakefield said Tuesday, testifying before the House Aging and Long-term Care Committee. The hotline is administered by the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. People are encouraged to use it to alert officials of actual or potential abuse or neglect of elderly or disabled persons (Ranney, 1/31).
This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.
Supporters of a proposed Connecticut health plan for poor adults say it should be implemented soon to help support state efforts to expand coverage under the federal health law in 2014. Also, a report in Wisconsin finds that the Medicaid program will run short of funds over the next year and a half.
The CT Mirror: Health Reform Choice: For Those Just Above Medicaid Limit, Private Insurance Or A State-Run Plan?
Advocates for low-income residents want the state to create a new health program for poor adults who don't get Medicaid coverage, and they say legislators must commit to doing so this year to make it work as part of federal health reform. "We should take this opportunity and we need to take it now," Jane McNichol, executive director of the Legal Assistance Resource Center of Connecticut, ... said the plan, an option available to states under federal health reform, could provide affordable health care coverage to 75,000 to 95,000 low-income residents and, if structured right, be affordable for the state (Levin Becker, 2/1).
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: State Medicaid Programs Face $141 Million Shortfall, Report Says
Wisconsin's health programs for the poor have a $141 million shortfall in state money over the next year and a half, new estimates show. So far, GOP Gov. Scott Walker's administration has saving plans that would more than cover that potential deficit in the state's Medicaid health programs. But a new report by the Legislature's nonpartisan budget office questions whether all of the saving will materialize (Stein, 1/31).
In other Medicaid news:
Medscape: Judge Blocks 10% Medicaid Cut For Physicians In California
A federal judge in Los Angeles [Monday] temporarily blocked a 10% cut in Medicaid reimbursement rates in California for physicians, dentists, and other providers, saying that the reduction could cause too many of them to close their doors to beneficiaries. In her ruling, US District Judge Christina Snyder wrote that the Obama administration approved the rate reduction for Medi-Cal — the name of California's Medicaid program — without adequately evaluating its effect on either providers or patients as required by law (Lowes, 1/31).
Kansas Health Institute: No Information Released On KanCare Bidders
The first of two deadlines for Medicaid managed care proposals to be submitted to Kansas purchasing officials was today. But no information about the KanCare bidders will be released until the second and final filing deadline, which is next month. Feb. 22 is when interested companies must have turned in the financial information accompanying the plan proposals submitted today (1/31).
This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.
The White House continues to defend its new insurance coverage rule, which requires religiously affiliated nonprofit groups to provide free birth control coverage to women. Also in the news, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who is considered to be on the GOP short list for vice president, introduced legislation Tuesday that would vastly expand the opt-out ability of religious or faith-based employers.
Reuters: White House Defends Birth Control Rule Against Religious Protest
The White House on Tuesday defended a new federal rule requiring religiously affiliated nonprofit groups to provide free birth control coverage to women, as opponents ratcheted up pressure to alter the provision. ... "While there are those who take issue with the decision, millions and millions of Americans -- American women will have access to preventive services, as they should," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at a briefing. "The president concurs in the decision," he added (Morgan, 1/31).
The Atlanta Journal Constitution: Catholics Upset By Federal Health Insurance Mandate
Atlanta Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory is urging area Catholics to press their elected officials to reverse a federal mandate that requires church-affiliated institutions to offer health coverage that includes birth control services. On Sunday, area priests read a letter to parishioners during masses, in which Gregory called the decision a "direct attack on our religious freedom and our First Amendment rights." "As a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled either to violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so)," Gregory said in the letter. "The administration's sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply (Poole, 2/1).
Fox News (Video): Holy War Over Health Care Law? Obama Angers Catholic Leaders
While President Obama will deliver another speech on the economy Wednesday in Northern Virginia to keep the focus on jobs, Catholic leaders across the country are warning another issue may blow up in his face come November. Catholics are fired up over new rules implementing Obama's health care reform law forcing Catholic universities, hospitals, and charities to provide insurance for their employees covering contraception -- even though that violates church teachings. ... In an extraordinary move this past weekend, New York Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan and other archbishops throughout the nation had their priests read letters denouncing the Obama administration policy from the pulpit at Sunday Mass (Henry, 1/31).
CBS: White House Defends Birth Control Coverage Policy As Conservatives Push Back
White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters today that the policy decision was made after "very careful consideration" of the concerns of religious groups. President Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius believe the policy "strikes the appropriate balance" between protecting religious freedoms and providing women with access to preventive health services, Carney said (Condon, 1/31).
Politico: Rubio Jumps Into Birth Control Dispute
Amid growing rancor between the Catholic hierarchy and the White House, Republican rising star Sen. Marco Rubio is pushing a bill that takes a swipe at the Obama administration's stance on expanding access to birth control. The Florida senator, widely considered on the short list for the GOP vice presidential pick, introduced legislation Tuesday that would vastly expand the ability of religious or faith-based employers to opt out of a health reform law requirement that health plans cover all FDA-approved contraceptives without any co-pay. The administration had offered a narrow exemption to religious organizations, which the U.S.Conference of Catholic Bishops said was unacceptable (Millman, 1/31).
This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.
Though the Obama administration has made clear that it is not proceeding with efforts to implement this long-term care insurance program, the White House and most Democrats are still opposed to its repeal.
Politico: CLASS Act: Abandoned Yet Defended
The Obama administration has abandoned health reform's long-term care insurance program, saying it can't figure out how to make the program solvent and isn't going to try. And yet, it says it's not interested in repealing the program for good. So when the House votes on Wednesday to wipe the CLASS Act off the books, the White House — and most Democrats — will be against it (Norman and Haberkorn, 1/31).
The Hill: Thune: CLASS Repeal Dead On Arrival In The Senate
Legislation to repeal the health care law's long-term-care program isn't going anywhere in the Senate, a top Republican acknowledged Tuesday. House Republicans are expected to easily repeal the CLASS Act on Wednesday. But Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, told reporters the bill won't get the 60 votes it needs to pass in the Senate — if Democrats allow it to come up for a vote at all (Pecquet, 1/31).
This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.
Today's headlines feature news about the high court's consideration of how the medical leave law applies to state government workers and reports from the GOP presidential primary campaign trail.
Kaiser Health News: Do No Harm – And Keep An Eye On Costs
Kaiser Health News staff writers report that the American College of Physicians hit a nerve when it released an updated ethics manual calling for doctors to provide "parsimonious care" – in other words, "to practice effective and efficient health care and to use health care resources responsibly." … KHN talked with physicians and health policy experts about this notion of "parsimonious care." Their edited comments follow (1/11).
Kaiser Health News: Health On The Hill: United Against Health Law, Medicare Reforms Divide GOP Presidential Candidates (video)
Kaiser Health News staff writers Mary Agnes Carey and Marilyn Werber Serafini talk with Jackie Judd about Tuesday's New Hampshire GOP primary. The GOP field is united in their opposition against Obama's Health Law, but differences remain in how they would reform Medicare (1/11). Watch the video or read the transcript.
Kaiser Health News: Capsules: Gym Memberships In Medicare Advantage Plans Cater To Health Seniors
Now on the blog, Shefali S. Kulkarni writes: "Despite federal regulations that prohibit health insurance plans from cherry-picking their beneficiaries, some Medicare Advantage plans may be doing just that, only indirectly. A new study from the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that when Medicare Advantage plans alter their benefits to include perks like gym memberships, they tend to attract healthier seniors" (Kulkarni, 1/11). Check out what else is on the blog.
The Hill's Healthwatch: Nearly 500 State Lawmakers To Press Supreme Court To Uphold Healthcare Mandate
More than 480 state lawmakers plan to file a brief Thursday urging the Supreme Court to uphold President Obama's healthcare law. The group includes at least one lawmaker from every state, including the 26 states whose attorneys general are suing to overturn the healthcare law's individual insurance mandate. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in March and will likely rule on the law this summer (Baker, 1/11).
The Hill's Healthwatch: Patient Groups Seek Delay On 'Essential Benefit' Rules
A group of 75 patient organizations asked the Health and Human Services Department to allow more time for public comment on its proposal for defining "essential health benefits." The healthcare law directs HHS to define a package of essential benefits that all insurance plans will have to cover beginning in 2014 (Baker, 1/11).
The Associated Press/Washington Post: High Court Wrestles With How Medical Leave Law Applies To Millions Of State Government Workers
The Supreme Court wrestled Wednesday with how a federal law that grants workers time off for family and medical reasons applies to state government workers in a case that could affect millions of them. The case argued before the high court was brought by a Maryland state employee who says he was wrongly fired for trying to take a 10-day medical leave to deal with hypertension and diabetes. But Daniel Coleman’s damage suit against state officials for a reported $1.1 million was thrown out (1/11).
NPR: Gingrich, Romney Go At It Over Abortion
The latest abortion battle doesn't pit those on opposite sides of the issue against each other. Rather, it features two of the leading GOP candidates for president, each charging the other is less than pure as the race heads to socially conservative South Carolina (Rovner, 1/12).
The Washington Post: The Fact Checker: New Gingrich's Claim That Romney Governed As A 'Pro-Abortion' Governor
Gingrich, still justifiably angry at a tough ad by a Romney-affiliated Super PAC that mischaracterized his position on abortion, has counterattacked with his own ad that calls into question Romney's support for restrictions on abortion. Romney, of course, has spoken openly about his conversion on the abortion issue, so Gingrich must prove that Romney was an inconsistent convert to the cause of fighting abortion. Romney's record was certainly inconsistent but was it indeed "pro-abortion"? Let's look at some of the claims in this ad (Kessler, 1/11).
The Wall Street Journal: Appellate Ruling Upholds Texas Abortion Law
The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a Texas law that requires women seeking an abortion to have a sonogram exam and to listen to a physician's detailed description of the fetus, including whether it has developed limbs or internal organs. Supporters of the law, enacted last year, say it is designed to ensure that women are fully informed about abortions and, ultimately, to discourage them from undergoing the procedure (Koppel, 1/12).
The Associated Press/Washington Post: FDA Probing J&J Delays In Reporting Serious Injuries Among Users Of Its Animas Insulin Pump
The lapses are hard to reconcile with J&J's image: It’s the company that decades ago set the textbook standard for protecting public safety with a nationwide recall of Tylenol bottles that an outsider had poisoned. And its executives still cite the corporate credo, prominently displayed at headquarters, stressing the company's responsibility to the doctors, patients and parents who use its products (1/11).
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This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.
