CMS Chief Puts Blame On The Court For Decision To Freeze Payments To Insurers
A federal court ruling in New Mexico found the Trump administration did not properly justify its formula for dispensing the funds. “We’ve been trying to figure out, is there a solution? We understand the impact to the market [but] we have to follow what the courts say,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma said.
The Hill:
Trump Health Chief Defends Suspending ObamaCare Payments
The Trump administration is bound by a federal court decision to suspend billions of dollars in ObamaCare payments, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma said Thursday. “We really are in a tough spot,” Verma told reporters. “I think that there’s been a lot of discussion about whether the Trump administration is making a decision. We’re not making a decision. The court has told us what to do here … at the end of the day, we have to abide by the court’s ruling.” (Weixel, 7/12)
The Hill:
House Panel Advances Bill That Would Temporarily Halt ObamaCare's Employer Mandate
The House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday approved legislation that would chip away at ObamaCare, including a measure that would temporarily repeal the law's employer mandate. The bill sponsored by GOP Reps. Devin Nunes (Calif.) and Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) would suspend penalties for the employer mandate for 2015 through 2019 and delay implementation of the tax on high-cost employer-sponsored health plans for another year, pushing it back to 2022. (Hellmann, 7/12)
In other national health care news —
Stat:
How Pfizer’s CEO Kept On Raising Prices — Until Trump's Tweet
As the CEO of Pfizer, the world’s largest drug maker, Ian Read followed a years-long pricing strategy that reaped billions for his company. It was like clockwork: jack up prices every six months. The moves did not go entirely unnoticed, but Pfizer generally escaped much flak because other pharma companies did the same thing. But Read’s pricing game plan didn’t seem so shrewd when President Trump entered the picture last week. Days earlier, Pfizer was virtually alone in raising prices for dozens of drugs — many by more than 9 percent — and it prompted a raging tweet from Trump. In a brief phone call with the president that Read sought on Tuesday night to defuse the uproar, the CEO backed down and deferred the hikes. (Silverman and Sheridan, 7/13)
The Associated Press:
FDA To More Aggressively Tackle Disruptive Drug Shortages
The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it wants to more aggressively fight medication shortages that have led to rationing of some drugs and disrupted patient care. The agency announced plans for a task force to find ways to improve the supply of crucial drugs. It’s a new approach for the drug regulator, which has very little control over drug makers’ operations. It generally can’t act until drug makers tell the agency that shortages are imminent or that it will stop making a drug. (7/12)
CNN:
Drug Shortages Prompt FDA To Form Task Force
"It's a patient safety issue," said Dr. James Augustine, chairman of the national clinical governance board for US Acute Care Solutions, a physician group that provides staffing for emergency rooms and hospitals across the country. Some patients, he said, are "scared to death for their life." (Nedelman, 7/12)
The New York Times:
Secret Service Issues Guide To Help Prevent School Shootings
Mock-shooting drills. Metal detectors. Bulletproof classroom shelters. As deadly school shootings continue to be a fixture in headlines and an everyday fear for districts and students, schools across the country have resorted to “hardening” their campuses. But a federal report released Thursday backs another model that school safety experts have for years supported as a way to save lives: the formation of “threat assessment teams” that employ mental health, law enforcement and education professionals to help identify and support troubled youths. (Yoon-Hendricks, 7/12)
The Washington Post:
How Adoption And Support Programs Failed The Hart Siblings And Ushered Them To Their Deaths
One day, she thought, the three kids would come back and find her. They would return to Houston and reunite with the woman who fought to keep their family together. Priscilla Celestine held on to that dream for years, long after the state of Texas took the children — all younger than 6 at the time — and sent them 1,300 miles away to live in a Minnesota town she didn’t know, in a home she didn’t know with a family she didn’t know. The interstate adoption, finalized in 2009, was in Devonte, Jeremiah and Ciera’s best interest, the state determined. They would be safe and cared for.The state was wrong. (Heim and Tate, 7/12)