The Individual Mandate Actually Still Exists, And That Technicality Is At Heart Of Latest Suit To Bring The Law Down
Two Texas plaintiffs say they feel morally obligated to follow the law despite there being no financial penalty to not buying insurance next year. The men are the faces of the lawsuit that conservatives hope will finally be the one to kill the law. Meanwhile, more rate hikes have come out and they're in the double-digits.
Politico:
Texas Plaintiffs Personalize Uphill Legal Challenge To Overturn Obamacare
Two self-employed Texans, John Nantz and Neill Hurley, have leading roles in the latest legal effort to kill Obamacare. The men are the named plaintiffs in a lawsuit by 20 states that argues Congress fatally undercut the law when it repealed the individual mandate penalty in tax cut legislation. Nantz and Hurley say the mandate compels them to buy costly insurance that doesn't fit their needs — even though the financial penalty for not complying is disappearing next year. (Rayasam, 6/4)
In other national health care news —
The Washington Post:
Trump Administration Inaugurates Medicaid Scorecard For State Programs
The Trump administration is embarking on a basic change to Medicaid that for the first time evaluates states based on the health of millions of Americans and the services they use through the vast public insurance program for the poor. Seema Verma, administrator of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, announced on Monday an initial version of a “scorecard” that compiles and publicizes data from states for both Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), a companion for youngsters in working-class families. (Goldstein, 6/4)
California Healthline:
Verma Unveils State Medicaid Scorecard But Refuses To Judge Efforts
The Trump administration Monday released a Medicaid “scorecard” intended to show how the nation’s largest health program is performing. But the nation’s top Medicaid official didn’t want to draw any conclusions. “This is about bringing a level of transparency and accountability to the Medicaid program that we have never had before,” said Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.Yet in a meeting with reporters, Verma refused to discuss the findings in any detail or comment on any individual states that performed poorly or exceptionally. (Galewitz, 6/5)
The Associated Press:
Long Waits Under VA's Private Health Program
A health care program being expanded by the Trump administration to give veterans greater access to private doctors has failed to provide care within 30 days as promised due to faulty data and poor record-keeping that could take years to remedy. That's according to a government investigation. The Government Accountability Office found veterans often waited between 51 and 64 days for appointments with private doctors under the Choice program. The scheduling process took as long as 70 days. (6/4)
The New York Times:
She Went To Jail For A Drug Relapse. Tough Love Or Too Harsh?
As soon as Julie Eldred was granted probation for stealing jewelry to buy drugs, she got busy fulfilling the judge’s conditions. She began an intensive all-day outpatient treatment program. She even went an extra step and started daily doses of Suboxone, a medication that can quell opiate cravings. Then she relapsed and snorted her drug of choice — fentanyl.To stop from plunging into free fall, she asked her doctor for a stronger dose of Suboxone. She stayed clean the next day. And the next. (Hoffman, 6/4)
The Washington Post:
Researchers Use Immune-Cell ‘Army’ To Battle Another Tough Cancer
A Florida woman diagnosed with advanced breast cancer, generally considered incurable, is free of the disease two-and-a-half years after a novel therapy used her own immune cells to target her tumors, researchers said Monday. Striking recoveries were reported earlier for a patient with deadly liver cancer and another with advanced colon cancer. The three patients were treated by a team at the National Cancer Institute led by Steven Rosenberg, an immunotherapy pioneer who is chief of the surgery branch. For each patient, the team sequenced the genomes of their tumors to find mutations, then tested immune cells extracted from the cancers to identify which ones might recognize the defects. Those cells were expanded by the billions in the laboratory, then infused back into the patients, where they attacked the tumors. (McGinley, 6/4)
Los Angeles Times:
'I Have Definitely Hit The Jackpot.' Advanced Breast Cancer Disappears After New Immunotherapy
The patient’s “complete durable cancer regression” followed a single infusion of her own immune cells, which were painstakingly chosen for their ability to recognize and fight her tumors — then expanded into an army of 82 billion identical cells. More than three years later, the patient, Judy Perkins, is not only alive, but seemingly cancer-free, according to a report published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine.“I have definitely hit the jackpot,” said Perkins, a retired engineer from Port St. Lucie, Fla. In the fast-moving world of cancer research, the new report is being hailed as a development that could open a broad new front in cancer immunotherapy. (Healy, 6/4)