Appeals Court Strikes Administration’s Rule Barring Alternative Type Of Health Insurance
The decision applies to a provision that kept insurers from offering insurance that pays a fixed dollar amount, such as $500 a day for hospital care. The administration said these policies do not meet the federal health law's standards.
The New York Times:
Court Strikes Down Obama Health Care Rule On Insurance Standards
A federal appeals court has ruled that consumers must be allowed to buy certain types of health insurance that do not meet the stringent standards of the Affordable Care Act, deciding that the administration had gone beyond the terms of federal law. The court struck down a rule issued by the Obama administration that barred the sale of such insurance as a separate stand-alone product. (Pear, 7/5)
In other national health care news —
The Associated Press:
Report: VA Health Care Still Has 'Profound Deficiencies'
Two years after a scandal over long wait times for veterans seeking health care, the Department of Veterans Affairs still has "profound deficiencies" in delivering health care to millions of veterans, a congressional commission says in a new report. The Commission on Care says in a report to be released Wednesday that the VA delivers high-quality health care but is inconsistent from one site to the next, and problems with access remain. (7/6)
The Associated Press:
Apple Urges Organ Donation Via New iPhone Software
Apple wants to encourage millions of iPhone owners to register as organ donors through a software update that will add an easy sign-up button to the health information app that comes installed on every smartphone the company makes. CEO Tim Cook says he hopes the new software, set for limited release this month, will help ease a critical and longstanding donor shortage. He said the problem hit home when his friend and former boss, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, endured an "excruciating" wait for a liver transplant in 2009. (7/5)
The Washington Post:
Pfizer Agrees To Truth In Opioid Marketing
Pfizer, the world’s second- largest drug company, has agreed to a written code of conduct for the marketing of opioids that some officials hope will set a standard for manufacturers of narcotics and help curb the use of the addictive painkillers. Though Pfizer does not sell many opioids compared with other industry leaders, its action sets it apart from companies that have been accused of fueling an epidemic of opioid misuse through aggressive marketing of their products. (Bernstein, 7/5)
The Washington Post:
Could Your Cavity-Filled Tooth Repair Itself With Stem Cells In The Future?
Walking into a dentist’s office could be less of a frightening thing in the future if scientists Kyle Vining, of Harvard, and Adam Celiz, of the British University of Nottingham, have anything to do with it. ... Vining and Celiz have just won a prize at the Royal Society of Chemistry’s emerging technology competition for creating a synthetic biomaterial that stimulates stem cells native to your teeth to repair them. That’s right — the substance appears to somehow make that area regenerate pulp tissue and the critical bony material of your tooth known as dentin. (Cha, 7/5)