Brianna Labuskes
Happy first day of March! Yours actually might barely sustain with all of the information coming off Capitol Hill this week (sure, there have been different issues occurring moreover a sure high-profile listening to, as laborious as that’s to consider). So let’s get proper to it!
Seven Big Pharma executives have been hauled in entrance of Congress this week throughout a Senate Finance Committee listening to on excessive drug costs. Everyone anticipated fireworks. The executives have been lawyered to the gills, getting ready for a public flogging the likes of which Big Tobacco and Big Banks have obtained in years previous. Lobbyists packed the room, media jostled for positions, advocates of all stripes have been watching with bated breaths. And then … nothing. Those fireworks amounted to nothing however fizzled sparklers. So what went down?
The executives’ technique entering into was basically their model of: don’t hate the participant, hate the sport. The rebate system is damaged, they argue. It’s not our fault, it’s the pharmacy profit managers who’re the basis of all evil. In response to any powerful line of questioning, they pivoted to previous arguments, ensuring to spotlight the innovation and cures popping out of their firms.
Overall, the listening to lacked the grandstanding that’s been par for the course for lawmakers who see it as a profitable concern with voters. Muted and respectful gave the impression to be the commonest descriptors, and on the finish of the day, not a lot was resolved, leaving some questioning what precisely the purpose was.
Stat: In Muted Hearing, Pharma Execs Dodge Attempts to Pin Blame for High Prices
Stat: Who Shined and Who Sank: How 7 Executives Fared in Defending Pharma
Side observe: Even although the listening to has handed, this Stat piece on the “dark and elaborate art” of getting ready for a congressional grilling is a enjoyable learn.
Stat: How Pharma Executives Are Preparing for Tuesday’s Congressional Grilling
To a lot fanfare, progressive Democrats within the House rolled out their formidable “Medicare-for-all” plan this week. Here’s the meat of the invoice: well being care can be accessible to all Americans with out premiums, copayments, deductibles or related prices. There can be a two-year span of shifting shoppers over to a authorities insurer, after which individuals can be routinely enrolled at beginning. It can be unlawful for a personal well being insurer or an employer to supply the identical medical insurance coverage advantages as the brand new program. And the invoice features a crackdown on the pharmaceutical business aimed toward decreasing drug costs, in addition to the creation of a brand new government-run long-term care program to assist individuals with disabilities.
The laws is usually symbolic, because it faces sure loss of life within the Senate. But it additionally serves because the sign that progressives are drawing battle strains, as cracks proceed to deepen within the Democratic Party. Leadership is strolling a tightrope attempting to maintain the far-left glad, but additionally to mitigate any political fallout that would come from the aggressive proposal. Progressives, in the meantime, thrilled and invigorated from their announcement, are charging full-tilt within the course they see their voters desirous to go.
The New York Times: As Over 100 House Democrats Embrace ‘Medicare For All,’ A Party Division Appears
Politico: Establishment Dems Give Medicare-For-All the Brush Off
As that each one performs out, the well being business is quietly assembling a small military of lobbyists to kill the concept.
The New York Times: Health Care and Insurance Industries Mobilize to Kill ‘Medicare for All’
The House handed two gun management payments (each closing gaps in background checks) this week in what’s the most sweeping laws on the problem in a long time. That sounds spectacular, and is greater than lawmakers have tried prior to now, however advocates say that Democrats, regardless of feeling extra emboldened on weapons, are nonetheless rigorously and strategically choosing their fights. And these fights often should do with low-hanging fruit, such because the above-mentioned restrictions on background checks or the “boyfriend loophole,” which permits some home abusers to personal weapons.
CNN: House Passes ‘Charleston Loophole Bill’ on Gun Background Checks
Scott Lloyd, former head of the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement and a controversial determine who has prevented testifying in entrance of Congress for months, lastly confronted lawmakers Tuesday. During the listening to, Lloyd admitted he hadn’t handed on data to his superiors concerning the psychological trauma of the separations. It additionally emerged that there have been no less than four,500 accusations of sexual abuse and harassment of migrant kids in government-funded shelters over the previous 4 years.
The Associated Press: At Least 4,500 Abuse Complaints at Migrant Children Shelters
Meanwhile, the House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Trump administration officers over the household separations. “I believe this is a true national emergency,” mentioned Chairman Elijah Cummings of Maryland. Federal officers nonetheless, say they’ve already despatched over hundreds of pages of paperwork and wrote off the subpoenas as a “political stunt.”
The Associated Press: House Targets Family Separations in First Trump Subpoena
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a 2020 hopeful, has constructed a status for herself as a champion for shoppers. But her lengthy historical past with the medical gadget business might throw a wrench in that specific speaking level.
There was a lot motion within the states this week on abortion that I’m going to hyperlink you guys to the publication roundups as a substitute of particular person tales. One pattern to notice is that pink states are getting a transfer on with “trigger laws.” The measures would basically ban — to totally different extents, relying on the state — abortion the minute Roe v. Wade have been overturned. It is likely to be posturing, however the uptick offers perception into simply how excessive the anti-abortion motion’s hopes are nowadays. At the federal stage, Democrats blocked a invoice that will have threatened jail for docs who don’t attempt saving the lifetime of infants born alive throughout abortions.
Oklahoma Moves Forward Measure That Would Automatically Ban Abortions In State If Roe Is Overturned
The Associated Press: Dems Block Senate GOP Bill On Infants Surviving Abortions
And in case you missed it late final week: The Trump administration introduced that it’s going to reduce off household planning funding for organizations that provide abortion referrals. The transfer was largely seen as focusing on Planned Parenthood, and it has already drawn courtroom challenges.
Time’s Up for the well being care business: The group shaped by girls within the leisure business to take care of sexual harassment and assault is popping its consideration to well being care. After a string of surprising tales about docs’ inappropriate habits, advocates say it’s vital to have a look at the surroundings that spawned them. “They had a rich petri dish,” says Dr. Esther Choo, one of many docs within the eight-person steering committee main the hassle. Choo went on to liken the ambiance in hospitals and medical amenities to that of locker rooms.
In Style: Time’s Up Takes on Sexual Abuse and Discrimination in Healthcare
Stat: Time’s Up Targets Gender Bias and Harassment in Health Care
On that observe, a science convention sparked fierce backlash when it made the purpose to ask solely girls to talk on the occasion. Critics mentioned it violated anti-discrimination insurance policies, however the organizers defended the choice as wanting to indicate that it could possibly be performed.
Stat: A Science Conference Invited Only Women on Stage. Then Came a Backlash
In this very busy information week, I’ve fairly a full miscellaneous file for you:
• Why are there so many tales of uber-successful bosses exhibiting bullying habits? It’s been proven that it’s a horrible administration fashion by way of eking out productiveness from staff, and but the habits persists.
The New York Times: When the Bully Is the Boss
• If you aren’t following together with the Insys opioid trial in Massachusetts, you’re doing your self a disservice. It is a prepare wreck of horrible revelations, together with this week’s, which is that the decision heart designed to assist sufferers with reimbursements was basically constructed all on lies.
Bloomberg: Insys Call Center Revealed at Trial as Hotbed of Opioid Lies
• Speaking of revelations, the soiled laundry between Anthem and Cigna is being aired at courtroom continuing over their failed merger, and Anthem isn’t pulling any punches. The firm says Cigna did every little thing in its energy to sabotage the deal, calling Cigna CEO David Cordani a “bully.” It’s an attention-grabbing peek contained in the interior workings of an enormous well being care merger.
Bloomberg: Anthem Says Bid to Save $49 Billion Deal Was ‘Cut Off at Knees’
• Readers of The Friday Breeze are effectively conscious that medical scams and too-good-to-be-true “miracle cures” are thick on the bottom nowadays. So how do you defend your self?
The Washington Post: How to Stay Up-to-Date on Medical Scams, Quackery, Deadly Treatments
• While on the subject of scams: Check out this hilarious article a few well being care reporter who was provided a “Top Doctor” award for the low, low value of $289. (Hint: He shouldn’t be a health care provider.)
ProPublica: I’m a Journalist. Apparently, I’m Also One of America’s ‘Top Doctors.’
• Why do hospital sufferers who’ve scheduled procedures get prioritized for hospital beds over precise emergencies? If you guessed for monetary causes, you’d be proper.
• And a fast plug for KHN’s new database that allows you to lookup in case your hospital was hit with a penalty from Medicare. It’s tremendous snazzy, so make sure that to test it out!
Look Up Your Hospital: Is It Being Penalized By Medicare?
Have an awesome weekend, and be secure for those who’re on the market strolling round! Pedestrian deaths have skyrocketed to the very best price in a long time.
Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a nationwide well being coverage information service. It is an editorially unbiased program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which isn’t affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.