GOP Targets Inauguration Day For ‘Repeal’ Part Of Plan, But ‘Replace’ May Be Delayed
Some Republicans are champing at the bit to get legislation dismantling the health law on Donald Trump's desk the minute he's sworn into office. However, the strategy may mean pushing the "replace" part of the plan back until after the midterm elections so they don't face backlash for taking away voters' insurance.
Politico:
Republicans Aim To Start Obamacare Repeal In January
Republicans on Capitol Hill are growing confident that they can begin to repeal Obamacare once President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in, along with a pledge to replace it later. “We have an Obamacare emergency right now,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the Senate HELP Committee. “I think we could move forward in January on some aspects of repeal but we need to make sure that we are helping people and that we do no harm.” (Haberkorn, 11/16)
In other national health care news —
ProPublica:
High-Dollar Prescribers Proliferate In Medicare’s Drug Program
The number of doctors who each prescribe millions of dollars of medications annually in Medicare’s drug program has soared, driven by expensive hepatitis C treatments and rising drug prices overall, federal data obtained by ProPublica shows. The number of providers who topped the $5 million mark for prescriptions increased more than tenfold, from 41 in 2011 to 514 in 2015. The number of prescribers—mostly physicians but also nurse practitioners–exceeding $10 million in drug costs jumped from two to 70 over the same time period, according to the data. (Ornstein and Jones, 11/17)
The Wall Street Journal:
Patients May Still Get A ‘Surprise’ Bill After An In-Network ER Visit, Study Finds
Patients who get emergency care at a hospital in their insurance network have nearly a 1 in 4 chance of being treated by an out-of-network ER physician who may send a “surprise” bill, according to an analysis in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study, by two Yale University economists, is one of the first to quantify the surprise-bill issue that has caused patient uproar and stoked friction between ER doctors and insurers. (Beck, 11/16)
Reuters:
Surgeon General Calls For Action To Fight Drug, Alcohol Abuse
The U.S. Surgeon General issued a call to action on Thursday to end what he said was a public health crisis of drug and alcohol addiction that is both underappreciated and undertreated. Dr. Vivek Murthy issued the first-ever Surgeon General's report on substance abuse and said he hopes it will galvanize work on the issue the way a similar report 50 years ago sparked decades of effort to combat smoking. (Clarke, 11/16)
Modern Healthcare:
Commonwealth Fund Says Americans Are Sicker, Skip Care More Than Citizens Of Other High-Income Nations
Despite major coverage expansions under the Affordable Care Act, Americans are sicker and have more trouble affording care than 10 other high-income countries, a new survey shows. Moreover, almost half of the poorest U.S. adults can't get the care they need, and many resort to the emergency room for treatment, according to the Commonwealth Fund study. The non-partisan group surveyed almost 27,000 adults across 11 high-income countries about their health and experience with their country's healthcare system. The nations surveyed included Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. (Livingston, 11/16)
The Associated Press:
Drug Prices Don’t Budge Even After Pressure From Congress
Congress’s routine of publicly shaming drug company executives over high prices works no better than a placebo: It may make some people feel better, but it doesn’t treat the problem. In the last two years, House and Senate committees issued more than a dozen subpoenas to price-hiking drugmakers, collecting hundreds of thousands of documents and berating executives for more than 16 hours of public hearings. (Perrone, 11/16)