Solicitor General Who Won Landmark Obamacare Case Stepping Down
Donald Verrilli Jr.'s two most important wins will most likely be remembered as the Supreme Court’s 2012 decision upholding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, and its decision last year declaring a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.
The New York Times:
Donald Verrilli Will Step Down As U.S. Solicitor General
The Justice Department announced on Thursday that Donald B. Verrilli Jr., who won historic Supreme Court rulings for the Obama administration on its signature health care law and on same-sex marriage, would be stepping down as the nation’s top appellate lawyer. Mr. Verrilli, 58, has been the solicitor general for five years, arguing the administration’s position before the justices during an unusual wave of contentious cases that drew attention far outside the legal world. (Lichtblau, 6/2)
In other national health care news —
The Associated Press:
Medicare Doesn't Cover Everything
Younger people may not realize it, but seniors know well that Medicare doesn't cover all health-related needs and expenses. Many Medicare beneficiaries have some kind of supplemental insurance that partly covers the gaps. But those policies mainly provide financial protection for the patient's share of costs for regular doctor visits and hospital care covered by Medicare. Until 2006, Medicare didn't cover prescription drugs. (6/2)
The New York Times:
Zika May Be Transmitted by Oral Sex, Scientists Find
Scientists raised the possibility that the Zika virus can be transmitted by oral sex — perhaps even by kissing — on Friday in a letter to The New England Journal of Medicine describing one such case in France. A single incident may seem trivial. But until early this year, there was only one known instance of sexual transmission of the Zika virus — a 2008 case in which a mosquito researcher just back from Africa infected his wife in Colorado. (McNeil, 6/2)
Stat:
In Treating Obese Patients, Too Often Doctors Can't See Past Weight
The persistent cough started when Rebecca Hiles was 16. She was an active high school senior, though, at 180 pounds, overweight for her height. She was diagnosed with airway irritation, given medicine, and advised to lose weight. But she was unprepared for how much those extra pounds would dog her over the course of the next seven years — overshadowing her doctors’ visits while a tumor grew undetected in her lung. (Adaeze Okewerekwu, 6/3)
The Wall Street Journal:
Family Caregivers Become More Crucial As Elderly Population Grows
Strain on family caregivers is alarming many lawmakers and social-service providers. They are pushing for new ways to assist the vast unpaid workforce of people who are crucial in part because they allow more seniors to age in place and reduce reliance on public subsidies such as Medicaid, a major funder of institutional health care for older Americans. “Families have always been the backbone of our system for caring for people,” said Kathy Greenlee, the assistant secretary for aging at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Really, if we didn’t have them, we couldn’t afford as a country to monetize their care and we couldn’t replace, frankly, the love they provide to family members.” (Levitz, 6/3)