Law Intended To Get Rid Of Bad Apples At VA Overwhelmingly Being Used Against Rank-And-File Employees
Since the legislation took effect, the VA has fired only four senior leaders. The other 1,700 terminated people were low-level staffers with titles such as housekeeper.
Politico/ProPublica:
Trump’s VA Is Purging Civil Servants
Last June, President Donald Trump fulfilled a campaign promise by signing a bipartisan bill to make it easier to fire employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The law, a rare rollback of the federal government’s strict civil-service job protections, was intended as a much-needed fix for an organization widely perceived as broken. “VA accountability is essential to making sure that our veterans are treated with the respect they have so richly earned through their blood, sweat and tears,” Trump said that day. “Those entrusted with the sacred duty of serving our veterans will be held accountable for the care they provide.” (Arnsdorf, 3/12)
In other national health care news —
Politico:
Right-To-Try Drug Bill Could Needlessly Raise Patients' Hopes, Experts Say
Congress may be on a speedy path to lifting the hopes of terminally ill patients. Whether it’s anything more than a feel-good exercise is an open question. The House of Representatives is expected to deliver the deciding vote for a right-to-try bill Tuesday that President Donald Trump touted in his State of the Union address and would give terminally ill patients — or those likely to die prematurely — access to experimental medicines without the FDA’s blessing. The Senate, which already passed its own bill, is considered likely to adopt the changes. (Karlin-Smith, 3/13)
Bloomberg:
Big Health-Care Players Are Turning Their Partners Into Prey
Over 20 years, Brian Komoto built a thriving pharmacy in California’s Central Valley. Each day, his nurses would travel the vast agricultural region’s roads to help hepatitis C patients take a grueling regimen of shots. Then, in 2016, 20 percent of Komoto’s business vanished, practically overnight. The insurer Centene Corp. purchased the health plan that covered his patients -- many of them Hispanic farm workers who had developed a level of trust with Komoto’s traveling nurses. Centene had its own mail-order pharmacy, and it told the patients to go there instead, he said. (Langreth, 3/12)
Politico:
Wendy Davis Leaves Door Open To Planned Parenthood Gig
Could Wendy Davis, the former Texas state senator who rose to national prominence after her marathon 2013 filibuster protesting an anti-abortion bill, be in the running to next head of Planned Parenthood? The prominent Democratic surrogate isn't ruling out the possibility. (Flores and Palmer, 3/13)
Kaiser Health News:
Medicaid Is Rural America’s Financial Midwife
Brianna Foster, 23, lives minutes away from Genesis Hospital, the main source of health care and the only hospital with maternity services in southeastern Ohio’s rural Muskingum County. Proximity proved potentially lifesaving last fall when Foster, pregnant with her second child, Holden, felt contractions at 31 weeks — about seven weeks too soon. Genesis was equipped to handle the situation — giving Foster medication and an injection to stave off delivery. After his birth four weeks later – still about a month early, at 5 pounds 12 ounces — Holden was sent to the hospital’s special care nursery for monitoring. (Luthra, 3/12)