Administration Dips Into NIH Funds As Congress Refuses To Budge On Zika
HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell announced that the administration is moving $81 million away from biomedical research and other health programs to continue Zika vaccine development funding, which would run out by the end of the month otherwise.
The New York Times:
With Congress Deadlocked, White House Diverts Funds To Fight Zika
The Obama administration on Thursday said it was shifting $81 million away from biomedical research and antipoverty and health care programs to pay for the development of a Zika vaccine, resorting to extraordinary measures because Congress has failed to approve new funding to combat the virus. Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the secretary of health and human services, told members of Congress in a letter that without the diverted funds, the National Institutes of Health and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority would run out of money to confront the mosquito-borne illness by the end of the month. (Davis, 8/11)
In other national health care news —
The Wall Street Journal:
Obama Administration Counters Insurer View On Healthcare Law’s Costs
The Obama administration on Thursday issued a data analysis saying insurers’ costs for people who buy health-care coverage on their own remained essentially the same between the first and second years of the Affordable Care Act, partly because of a healthier mix of customers on exchanges created by the law. The analysis is one way the administration is seeking to counter insurers seeking substantial premium increases for 2017. Health insurers already have filed proposed rates for the year ahead with state regulators, and big plans across the country are seeking hefty premium increases because of what they say are substantial losses in the first few years of the law’s implementation. (Radnofsky, 8/11)
Modern Healthcare:
DeSalvo Out, Washington In At ONC
Dr. Karen DeSalvo, who had been wearing two hats at HHS, is stepping down from her role as the nation's top health information technology official. Effective Friday, Dr. Vindell Washington, the agency's principal deputy national coordinator, will take over as head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. DeSalvo will remain at HHS as acting assistant secretary for health. (Conn, 8/11)
Stat:
IRS Is Urged To Investigate Gilead For 'Dodging' US Taxes
An advocacy group is urging the US Internal Revenue Service and the US Treasury Department to investigate Gilead Sciences for allegedly shifting billions of dollars of income offshore in order to avoid paying taxes. The request from Americans for Tax Fairness comes one month after the group released a report accusing the drug maker of dodging $10 billion in taxes. The move also comes shortly after the federal government went to court to force Facebook to respond to summonses in connection to an investigation into whether the firm shifted certain property rights to an Irish subsidiary. (Silverman, 8/11)
The Washington Post:
Do The New Merck HPV Ads Guilt-Trip Parents Or Tell Hard Truths? Both.
Merck, which is running its first television commercials on human papillomavirus (HPV) in half a dozen years, has ignited a fierce debate over whether the pharmaceutical giant is trying to "shame" parents into getting their children vaccinated for the most common sexually transmitted infection. The ads, which first aired June 28, are running on major network and cable channels, in day time and prime time, including during the Olympics, when a lot of people are watching TV with their families. They don't mention Merck's Gardasil, the most widely used vaccine for HPV. Instead, they take aim at a tender spot: parents' worries about doing right by their kids. (McGinley, 8/11)
Stat:
US Babies Born Addicted To Opioids Has Tripled, CDC Says
The number of babies being born in the United States addicted to opioids has tripled in a 15-year stretch, according to a government report published Thursday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its most recent Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that the findings, based on hospital data, are likely underestimates of the true problem and point to an urgent need for public health efforts to help pregnant women deal with addiction. The CDC found that the incidence of neonatal abstinence syndrome jumped to 6 per 1,000 hospital births in 2013, up from 1.5 per 1,000 in 1999. The data came from 28 states with publicly available data on opioid addiction. (Ross, 8/11)