This Year, GOP Drops National Attacks On Health Law, Focuses Instead On Key Congressional Races
The Washington Post reports that Republicans are highlighting the withdrawal of several major insurers from health law online marketplaces and premium increases that will likely be announced just days before Election Day, especially in states with competitive Senate races. Also, a new study from the Urban Institute finds that unsubsidized policies in those online marketplaces are still cheaper than the full cost of employer-provided coverage.
The Washington Post:
Republicans Seize On Obamacare Woes To Help Save Congressional Majority
Republicans have found an issue on which they can play a rare bit of offense in their quest to hang on to their Senate and House majorities: Obamacare.Criticism of the landmark health-care law has been a staple of GOP campaigns since its party-line passage in 2010. But unlike six years ago, in the first election after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, Republicans aren’t running a national campaign against federal government overreach. Instead, they’re lobbing localized attacks in key states on issues plaguing the state insurance exchanges mandated by the law. (DeBonis and Weigel, 9/19)
The Washington Post:
Skyrocketing Obamacare Premiums Still Lower Than Employer-Sponsored Insurance
People who warn that President Obama's health-care law is in dire straits often point to rising health insurance premiums as proof. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has called premium increases on Affordable Care Act exchanges "astronomically high." Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) says premiums have "skyrocketed." But are these growing premiums actually high? (Johnson, 9/19)
In other national health care news —
The New York Times:
F.D.A. Approves Muscular Dystrophy Drug That Patients Lobbied For
The Food and Drug Administration approved the first drug to treat patients with the most common childhood form of muscular dystrophy, a vivid example of the growing power that patients and their advocates wield over the federal government’s evaluation of drugs. The agency’s approval went against the recommendation of its experts. The main clinical trial of the drug was small, involving only 12 boys with the disease known as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and did not have an adequate control group of boys who had the disease but did not take the drug. A group of independent experts convened by the agency this spring said there was not enough evidence that it was effective. (Tavernise, 9/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
CDC Study Finds Increased Use Of Powerful Antibiotics At U.S. Hospitals
A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found more widespread use by U.S. hospitals of powerful antibiotics designed to fight infections when less-robust antibiotics fail, a “worrisome” development as bacteria grow increasingly immune to treatment, the researchers said. Medical experts said the study, which examined prescribing between 2006 and 2012, appeared to be the first national, multiyear estimate of U.S. hospital antibiotic use. The results underscore other studies that point to the rising use of antibiotics once considered a last resort, even as calls for cautious prescribing grow more urgent. Antibiotic overuse gives evolving bacteria more opportunities to adapt and develop drug resistance. (Evans, 9/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
Study Raises New Questions About Fetal Ultrasounds
A new study suggesting that first-trimester fetal ultrasound may contribute to the severity of autism symptoms heightens a dilemma facing obstetricians: How to halt the widespread overuse of fetal ultrasound without scaring women away from this important medical procedure. The study, published Sept. 1 in the journal Autism Research, is the latest in a series of highly limited studies that raise questions about the safety of fetal ultrasound. (Helliker, 9/19)