Investors’ Deep-Pocket Push To Defend Surprise Medical Bills
By Rachel Bluth and Emmarie Huetteman
As lobbyists purporting to represent doctors and hospitals fight attempts to control surprise medical bills, it has become increasingly clear that the force behind the effort is not just medical professionals, but also investors from private equity firms.
Mysterious Vaping Lung Injuries May Have Flown Under Regulatory Radar
By Sydney Lupkin and Anna Maria Barry-Jester
Doctors who saw patients with a mysterious lung illness in the past suspected vaping as the cause but didn’t know where to report such cases. “It wasn’t that I didn’t want to report it, it’s that there’s no pathway,” said one California pulmonologist.
Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes
By Brianna Labuskes
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.
Addiction Clinics Market Pricey, Unproven Treatments To Desperate Patients
By Jake Harper, Side Effects Public Media
An amino acid infusion called NAD is not approved by the FDA to treat addiction. Yet patients with addiction can be desperate enough to try it, at prices as high as $15,000.
Daily Edition for Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Good morning. Lawmakers, politicians and the public continue to grapple with the three shootings that rocked the country over the span of only a few days. Read more on that below, but first here are your top California health stories for the day.
Drugmakers Now ‘Masters’ At Rolling Out Their Own Generics To Stifle Competition
By Jay Hancock and Sydney Lupkin
Known as “authorized generics,” in-house spinoffs of brand-name drugs quietly undermine the competition.
Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes
By Brianna Labuskes
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.
Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes
By Brianna Labuskes
Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes wades through hundreds of health care policy stories each week, so you don’t have to.
Stem Cell Company Persuades Employers To Steer Workers Toward Controversial Therapy
By Liz Szabo
Regenexx, which runs a string of clinics, says stem cell injections can save employers a lot of money, but critics say there’s no proof.
Analysis: A Health Care Overhaul Could Kill 2 Million Jobs, And That’s OK
By Elisabeth Rosenthal
Reform has a cost. But the point of a health care system is to treat patients, not to buttress the economy.