House Republicans’ Budget Plan Would Put Medicare In The Cross Hairs
While its not clear the measure would actually get to the floor before the midterm elections, the House Budget Committee's blueprint shows where Republicans' priorities lie in the coming years. The budget plan would remake Medicare by giving seniors the option of enrolling in private plans that compete with the traditional program.
The Washington Post:
House GOP Plan Would Cut Medicare, Social Security To Balance Budget
House Republicans released a proposal Tuesday that would balance the budget in nine years — but only by making large cuts to entitlement programs, including Medicare and Social Security, that President Trump vowed not to touch. The House Budget Committee is aiming to pass the blueprint this week, but that may be as far as it goes this midterm election year. It is not clear that GOP leaders will put the document on the House floor for a vote, and even if it were to pass the House, the budget would have little impact on actual spending levels. Nonetheless the budget serves as an expression of Republicans’ priorities at a time of rapidly rising deficits and debt. (Werner, 6/19)
In other national health care news —
The New York Times:
Veterans Owe The D.O.D. Thousands For Survivor Benefits. Why Can’t They Opt Out?
On an afternoon in late February, Staff Sgt. John Daniel Shannon, who goes by Dan, got in his truck and drove down the dirt road near his house in Westcliffe, Colo., to meet his son’s school bus at the bottom of the hill. It is one of few tasks Dan, who is 54 and retired, can still manage on his own after being wounded in Iraq in 2004. As he waited, he checked his mailbox, where he found a letter addressed to him from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, an office within the Defense Department. When he opened the letter, his stomach dropped. It said Dan owed the government money for something called the Survivor Benefit Plan and that the department would start deducting the program premiums from his monthly entitlement for combat-related disabilities. The notice also said he owed $23,451 in unpaid premiums, plus interest, that he was expected to pay. (Jerving, 6/20)
Stat:
FDA Says Drug Shortages Fell Last Year, But Don't Blame The Agency For Persistent Problems
There’s good news and bad news in the latest report on shortages from the Food and Drug Administration. There were fewer ongoing shortages at the end of last year, but the number of new shortages rose in 2017. To be specific, the number of new shortages totaled 39 drugs and biologics, bucking a downward trend that was registered during each of the previous two years, when new shortages amounted to 26, according to a new FDA report. On the bright side, this is also much less than the 251 new shortages that occurred in 2011. (Silverman, 6/19)
USA Today:
Feds Oppose Public Reporting Of Hospital Infections
Federal health regulators will have to stop releasing data on hospital infections — which affect one in 25 hospital patients every day — under a proposal set to take effect in November, according to an analysis by patient safety advocates. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) plan, part of a complex 500-page proposed rule, could halt the public disclosure of the "super bug" MRSA, post-operative sepsis and surgical site infections, as well as accidents and injuries ranging from bedsores to respiratory failure after surgery. (O'Donnell, 6/19)
Stat:
Facebook To Redirect Users Searching For Opioids To Federal Crisis Help Line
Facebook users attempting to purchase opioids or seeking out addiction treatment will be instead be redirected to information about a federal crisis help line, the company announced Tuesday, a major step for an industry leader facing pressure to more aggressively police illicit drug sales on its platform. The announcement comes a week before an “opioids summit” convened by the Food and Drug Administration to get Facebook and other tech companies, including Twitter and Google, to take additional measures to help curb the nation’s opioid crisis. (Facher, 6/19)
The New York Times:
More Whites Dying Than Being Born In A Majority Of U.S. States
Deaths now outnumber births among white people in more than half the states in the country, demographers have found, signaling what could be a faster-than-expected transition to a future in which whites are no longer a majority of the American population. The Census Bureau has projected that whites could drop below 50 percent of the population around 2045, a relatively slow-moving change that has been years in the making. But a new report this week found that whites are dying faster than they are being born now in 26 states, up from 17 just two years earlier, and demographers say that shift might come even sooner. (Tavernise, 6/20)
NPR:
A Top Bioterror Danger: Making Existing Bacteria And Viruses More Virulent
New genetic tools are making it easier and cheaper to engineer viruses and bacteria, and a report commissioned by the Department of Defense has now ranked the top threats posed by the rapidly advancing field of "synthetic biology." One of the biggest concerns is the ability to recreate known viruses from scratch in the lab. That means a lab could make a deadly virus that is normally kept under lock and key, such as smallpox. (Greenfieldboyce, 6/19)