Brianna Labuskes
Tucked away in an obit on a physicist’s death this week was the newest actuality check-slash-gut punch on the state of spending in our well being system. Leon Lederman, aka the person who coined the phrase “God particle,” died Wednesday at 96. Just a few years again, he auctioned off his Nobel Prize medal for $765,000 to assist pay for his well being care prices. What occurs once you don’t have a kind of mendacity round?
Do you want a psychological break from following the play-by-play of the Supreme Court battle? Well right here’s what you’ll have missed in well being care.
If you suppose you possibly can escape the phrases “Medicare-for-All” or “preexisting conditions” over the subsequent few weeks, I’m sorry to interrupt the dangerous information. Both sides have homed in on these key speaking factors, and we’ll be listening to so much on each subjects for the foreseeable future.
On the Republican facet: Candidates are urging voters to imagine they’ll protect the favored insurance coverage protections on preexisting situations, but it surely’s tough to convey that message whereas there’s a GOP lawsuit underway that may strip them away. To attempt to get forward of the difficulty, some Republican lawmakers launched a (non-binding) decision vowing to maintain the ensures. But with no particulars on how they’ll accomplish it (seems it’s laborious to get insurers to simply supply desserts with out consuming your veggies, too), the subject stays a thorn of their facet.
The Hill: Vulnerable House Republican Unveils Resolution on Pre-Existing Conditions’
(Side observe: President Donald Trump did supply a option to cowl prices for assured preexisting situations protection: getting “a little more money from China.” From The Washington Post.)
Over to the Dems, who’ve their very own vulnerabilities: “Medicare-for-All” has turn out to be one thing of a litmus check for Democrats, particularly for progressive candidates, however that doesn’t imply the plan hasn’t left them open to assault from the fitting. At the identical time, moderates within the social gathering would like to concentrate on shoring up the well being legislation.
The Wall Street Journal: Some Democrats Want Medicare for All. Others Aren’t So Sure
And, should you’d like a blast from the previous (or a peek into the long run?), try the preexisting situations guidelines for Iowa Farm Bureau plans (those the state can promote that don’t fall below well being legislation restrictions).
The Hill: Iowa to Sell Health Plans That Can Disqualify People Based on Pre-Existing Conditions
Quite a lot of information protection nowadays focuses on the person market, however a take a look at shifting prices for individuals who obtain insurance coverage by means of their employers paints a grim image of why well being care issues to many citizens. Not solely has the variety of employees who face an annual deductible grown, however the common deductible has crept increased and better for greater than a decade.
The Associated Press: Survey: Companies Continue to Pass Health Costs to Workers
So, I’m not a negotiator. But apparently, should you can haggle, there are all kinds of profitable clauses, facet offers and kickbacks baked into the system that you should utilize to your benefit to get decrease prices for care. Good luck! I’ll be over right here questioning why we will’t all get that worth.
NPR/ProPublica: Health Insurance Industry Insider to Employers: Learn to Negotiate
Hundreds of detained migrant youngsters are being roused in the course of the evening for under-the-cover-of-darkness journeys to a tent metropolis in West Texas. Advocates are alarmed that they’re being moved from shelters with formal colleges and visits from authorized illustration to a pop-up tent metropolis that has few such laws in place.
The New York Times: Migrant Children Moved Under Cover of Darkness to a Texas Tent City
Meanwhile, a disturbing inspector normal report discovered quite a few security violations at an immigration detention middle in California, together with nooses produced from bedsheets in 15 of 20 cells (which had been “not a high priority” to take away, guards stated, per LAT’s protection); detainees’ rotting enamel from delays to see dentists (and solutions that they use string from their socks to floss); and extra.
Pharma failed to connect to the fast-moving opioid laws its much-desired “doughnut hole” change, which might have let firms off the hook for paying to cowl extra drug prices for Medicare beneficiaries. But the trade shouldn’t be giving up — and Congress may be extra keen to play ball within the lame-duck session post-midterms.
Politico: Why Congress Is Poised to Give the Drug Industry a $4B Windfall
One avenue over. That’s all it took in a Washington state neighborhood for kids to have a greater likelihood of being lifted out of poverty. One avenue. A brand new, detailed (and really fascinating) map appears to be like at how location performs a component within the financial outcomes of youngsters in low-income households. It’s additionally leaving advocates and metropolis planners questioning if providing incentives to maneuver into the neighborhoods with higher statistics can be sufficient to alter these households’ futures.
The New York Times: Detailed New National Maps Show How Neighborhoods Shape Children for Life
In the miscellaneous must-read file:
• Missouri is now down to at least one abortion clinic, and a few of its legal guidelines are poised to land within the Supreme Court. Understanding the high-stakes authorized developments that obtained the state to the place it’s a roller-coaster experience.
KCUR: Timeline: Abortion Restrictions in Missouri on a Possible Path to the U.S. Supreme Court
• Is a bit of radiation good for you? Like daylight? That’s at the very least what Trump administration officers are betting on.
The Associated Press: Proposed Rule Change Worries Some About Radiation Regulation
• The lawsuits towards Purdue Pharma have been likened to Big Tobacco’s reckoning within the 1990s. But consultants see a giant distinction: The painkiller-maker will possible not must pay almost as a lot within the anticipated settlement.
Stat: Opioid Settlement Will Take Time, But May Cost Less Than the Big Tobacco Deal
• Time and once more, following the cash proves fairly fascinating. Here’s a take a look at the trade behind “hardening” colleges for mass shootings, and the way it had stalled earlier than the bloodbath in Parkland, Fla.
The Associated Press: Lawmakers Buy Industry Fix to Stop Mass School Shootings
• Australia is on observe to all however remove cervical most cancers within the coming a long time. How did they do it? (Hint: It has to do with aggressive vaccination insurance policies.)
The New York Times: In Australia, Cervical Cancer Could Soon Be Eliminated
Speaking of vaccinations, right here’s your reminder to get your flu shot! Winter is coming.
Have a fantastic weekend!
Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nationwide well being coverage information service. It is an editorially impartial program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which isn’t affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
