Latest California Healthline Stories
Viewpoints: Unheeded Warnings On CHIP; Californians Risk Losing Care Under Lawmaker Plans
A selection of opinions on health care developments from around the state.
FDA Aims For Swifter Approvals Of Cancer Drugs With ‘Outsized’ Promise: Gottlieb
“We’re going to see more such cases, where a new drug offers an outsized survival benefit in a selected population of patients in a smaller, early-stage clinical trial,” Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb tells a House panel during a hearing on the 21st Century Cures Act.
Oxycontin Maker In Lawsuit ‘Negotiations’ With State Attorneys General
Purdue Pharma becomes the first opioid manufacturer to confirm discussions on suits filed by 41 states, including California. In other news on the toll of the national opioid epidemic: more kids are being placed in foster care in large part due to parental drug abuse, and a Navy admiral wages a new battle after he lost his son to addiction.
‘Time To Act Is Now’: Report Recommends Government Actions To Lower Drug Costs
Negotiating Medicare drug pricing and withdrawing tax deductions for pharmaceutical ads are among the steps the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s report urges the federal government to take soon.
Potential $66B Deal For CVS To Buy Aetna Would Create Mammoth Health Care Company
CVS Health Corp. may pay $200 to $205 per share to acquire Aetna Inc., the Wall Street Journal reports, but the deal isn’t final yet. In other industry news, Express Scripts’ CEO says the company isn’t shopping for its own insurer deal but is open to the idea, as well as partnering with Amazon.
Hospital Roundup: Shuttered Tulare Hospital Seeks Funding To Reopen; The Air Pollution Problem
News outlets cover stories on hospitals and medical centers from around California.
CMS Considers Alternate Payment Models To Curb Costs On High-Price Treatments, Gene Therapy
“We are trying to do whatever we can to increase competition and give the (health insurance) plans more tools so that they can be better negotiators on our behalf,” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services chief Seema Verma tells Reuters. In other CMS news, Verma also comments on 1332 waivers.
A Closer Look At Trump’s Pick To Lead HHS
Alex Azar, President Donald Trump’s nominee to succeed Tom Price, spent three years on the board of the Indianapolis Airport Authority. During that time, he defended the behavior of its CEO, who came under fire for spending public money on everything from travel and steak dinners to Super Bowl tickets. Meanwhile, Azar is supportive of experimental Obamacare payment programs that Price ended.
In The Senate, Deal Making Surrounds GOP Leaders’ Efforts To Pass Tax Bill
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is scrambling to hold 50 votes on the bill, is making promises to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) that the measure will not result in Medicare cuts and that he will advance separate legislation to stabilize the Obamacare insurance markets. But it is not clear how these assurances will play out in the House.
Republican Tax Bill Proves Congress Wasn’t Done With Health Policy
The GOP tax plan includes a range of health-related provisions — key among them is language that would eliminate the tax penalty created by the Affordable Care Act for not having health insurance. In addition, it threatens to trigger across-the-board cuts to Medicare and other domestic programs. A number of stakeholders and advocacy groups are expressing concerns about the impact of this and other changes that Republican lawmakers are advancing.