Health Law Enrollment Numbers See Slight Dip From Last Year, But It’s Too Early To Call It A Trend
Some experts are worried the slower rate is a grim sign of things to come, but others say there are reasons the numbers might be lower -- such as consumers being distracted by the election in early November.
The Hill:
ObamaCare Enrollment Down Compared To Last Year
Fewer people are signing up for ObamaCare plans this year compared to a similar period last year, according to data released Wednesday by the Trump administration. About 1.2 million people signed up for ObamaCare plans in the first ten days of this year's sign up period, which began Nov. 1. In the first nine days of last year's enrollment period, 1.5 million people signed up for plans — a different of more than 300,000. (Hellmann, 11/14)
In other national health care news —
The Hill:
Incoming Dem Chairman: Medicare Negotiating Drug Prices Is A Priority
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), who is slated to be the next chairman of a House committee overseeing drug prices, said Wednesday that his top priorities on the issue are allowing Medicare to negotiate prices and speeding the approval of cheaper generic drugs. Pallone, who is set to become chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in January, pointed to President Trump’s support for those two policies in expressing hope for a bipartisan deal. (Sullivan, 11/14)
The Wall Street Journal:
To Curb Wasteful Health Spending, Walmart To Send Employees Traveling For Spine Surgery
Walmart Inc. said it will require its employees to use certain hospitals for costly spine surgeries, an effort to weed out unnecessary procedures and lower its health-care spending. The retailer has been trying since 2013 to encourage employees to undergo the surgeries at hospital systems known for their quality by offering to pay the full cost of the procedures and travel. But not all workers took Walmart up on the offer, and the retailer continued to pay for surgery elsewhere. (Evans, 11/14)
The Wall Street Journal:
Big Tobacco Warns It May Fight FDA Over A Menthol Ban
The possibility of a nationwide ban on menthol cigarettes puts the tobacco industry into an all-too-familiar spot: having to defend the minty smokes, which are popular among younger smokers and African-Americans. Menthol-flavored cigarettes account for nearly a third of the roughly 250 billion cigarettes sold annually in the U.S., and the industry has a long history of marketing them to blacks and in minority neighborhoods. More than a dozen municipalities have adopted bans on menthols but cigarette makers have so far avoided federal restrictions. (Maloney and McGinty, 11/15)
Modern Healthcare:
CMS May Allow Hospitals To Pay For Housing Through Medicaid
HHS Secretary Alex Azar on Wednesday said Medicaid may soon allow hospitals and health systems to directly pay for housing, healthy food or other solutions for the "whole person." In a speech supported by the Hatch Foundation for Civility and Solutions and Intermountain Healthcare in Washington, Azar said Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation officials are looking to move beyond existing efforts to partner with social services groups and try to manage social determinants of health as they see appropriate. (Barr and Dickson, 11/14)
Stat:
Obtaining Abortion Pill From Pharmacies And Online Gains Support Among Women
As debate intensifies in the U.S. over abortion, a new survey finds nearly half of all women support alternatives to visiting a medical facility in order to obtain the abortion medicine to terminate pregnancies. And the findings suggest there is potential to expand access to abortion care, if regulators can be persuaded to loosen regulations governing access to the medicine, according to the researchers. Currently, women in the U.S. must obtain mifepristone at a doctor’s office, clinic, or hospital under a risk management program required by the Food and Drug Administration. The restrictions were imposed when the drug was approved in 2000 and stipulate Mifeprex may not be sold in pharmacies and health care providers must complete a certification process. (Silverman, 11/15)
Stat:
FDA Official Hints At A Tough Road Ahead For ‘Right To Try’
A top Food and Drug Administration official seemed to suggest that the new “right-to-try” law, which skirts around the FDA’s traditional authority to help patients get access to unapproved therapies, might have harmful consequences. Dr. Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said the agency’s experience with stem cell clinics might foreshadow its future with right to try. He pointed to some clinics that purported to treat patients for a variety of conditions and instead ended up blinding them or causing tumors. (Swetlitz, 11/14)
The Hill:
Physicians Push Back On Trump Plans To Redefine Gender
The American Medical Association (AMA) is pushing back against a potential new policy from the Trump administration that could eliminate federal protections for transgender individuals. The country's largest physician lobbying group said Tuesday during its interim meeting that it will “oppose efforts to deny an individual’s right to determine their stated sex marker or gender identity.” (Weixel, 11/13)
Stat:
Covering Pricey Therapies Like CAR-T Is ‘Not Sustainable,’ Hospital Chief Says
Hospitals are thrilled that they’re now able to offer cancer patients pioneering CAR-T treatments, but they’re also running into the omnipresent problem surrounding these and other next-generation therapies: cost. In a speech Wednesday at the Personalized Medicine Conference, Dr. Betsy Nabel, the president of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said her hospital and others in the Partners HealthCare system are not being reimbursed fully when they treat patients with CAR-T therapies, leaving the providers to subsidize the treatments. (Joseph, 11/14)
PBS NewsHour:
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Of Picking Medicare Advantage Plans
Nearly half of all new Medicare enrollees are signing up for Medicare Advantage plans, which now account for about 35 percent of the entire Medicare market. The other 65 percent of Medicare beneficiaries are in what’s called original Medicare, which consists of Part A (hospital, nursing home) and Part B (doctors, equipment, outpatient expenses). Those patients usually have a private Part D drug plan, and a quarter have a private Medigap supplement policy. Anyone can get a Medicare Advantage plan or switch to one during open enrollment.Medicare Advantage (MA) plans must cover everything that original Medicare covers, and they can’t discriminate against people who are ill or have preexisting conditions. Anyone, regardless of their health, can get an MA plan or switch to one during open enrollment, which continues through Dec. 7. (Moeller, 11/14)