By End Of 2015, Obamacare Enrollment Off Target By 3 Percent
Over the course of the year, the number of people signed up and paying premiums on exchange plans went down 25 percent, from 11.7 million to 8.8 million.
The Associated Press:
Obama Health Law Missed 2015 Enrollment Target
Last year's final enrollment numbers under President Barack Obama's health care law fell just short of a target the administration had set, the government reported Friday. The report from the Health and Human Services Department said about 8.8 million consumers were still signed up and paying premiums at the end of last year. HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell had set a goal of having 9.1 million customers by then. So the administration didn't miss its target by much — about 3 percent. (3/11)
The Associated Press:
ACA Co-Ops Lose Millions In 2015; Some Expect 2016 Profits
The Affordable Care Act's health insurance co-ops absorbed deep financial losses last year, and 2016 is shaping up to be a make-or-break year for these nonprofit alternatives to traditional insurers. Officially called Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans, these still-fledgling insurers were devised during the ACA's creation to inject competition into insurance markets. But they have struggled from the start to build a customer base from scratch and deal with higher-than-expected expenses, among other problems. (3/11)
In other national news —
The Washington Post:
Rattled By Drug Price Increases, Hospitals Seek Ways To Stay On Guard
Doctors at the University Hospitals of Cleveland see an immediately recognizable symbol pop up alongside certain drugs when they sign in online these days to prescribe medications for patients: $$$$$. The dollar signs, affixed by hospital administrators, carry a not-so-subtle message: Think twice before using this drug. Pick an alternative if possible. The Zagat-like approach is just one of the strategies hospitals nationwide are using to try to counter drug costs. (Dennis, 3/13)
Los Angeles Times:
Voter Anger Over Surging Prescription Drug Costs Has Generated A Campaign Issue
[The] concern about the cost of prescription drugs has emerged as a big issue in the presidential campaign, prompting candidates in both parties to sharpen their rhetoric against pharmaceutical companies and put curbing drug prices at the center of their healthcare plans. The message is particularly resonant here in Florida, which holds its primary Tuesday and where people over 60 make up more than a third of registered voters. At the Democratic debate in Miami on Wednesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders repeatedly castigated drug companies for “ripping off” the American public. Hillary Clinton has vowed to rein in drug prices and is running an ad in Florida specifically focusing on the “predatory” pricing of one embattled pharmaceutical company, Valeant. (Mason, 3/11)
The New York Times:
Test Of Zika-Fighting Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes Gets Tentative F.D.A. Approval
The federal government on Friday moved to clear the way for the release of genetically engineered mosquitoes into the wild for the first time in the United States, tentatively approving a field test that might help slow the spread of the Zika virus. The genetically engineered insects, which contain a gene that will kill their offspring, have already shown effectiveness in small tests in Brazil and other countries in suppressing the populations of the mosquitoes that transmit both Zika and dengue fever. (Pollack, 3/11)