Health Headlines for Monday, January 22
Health insurer groups speak out against Medicare Part D policy proposal
Fierce Healthcare
While health insurers generally support the proposed rule for Medicare Advantage and Part D, they say one proposal “misses the mark” in its bid to tackle high drug prices.
Saratoga County sues more than 30 pharmaceutical companies
Schenectady Daily Gazette
Saratoga County filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in state Supreme Court against 31 pharmaceutical companies that manufacture, distribute and prescribe opioids.
Hospitals should accept the cuts to 340B drug payments
Washington Examiner
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rang in the new year by cutting what Medicare pays hospitals for certain drugs by nearly 30 percent.
Power, money and the high cost of drugs
Glens Falls Post Star
A single injection of a 65-year-old drug, H.P. Acthar gel, now comes with a price tag of more than $34,000, costing Medicare’s prescription drug program more than $500 million a year for fewer than 5,000 patients.
Hospital plan in Utica costly for nonprofits
Utica Observer Dispatch
Pastor Chris Tringali wants to spruce up the outside of his church, maybe by stuccoing over the peeling gray paint that partially covers the brick underneath.
Cuomo proposes allowing retail establishments to operate in-store medical clinics
New York Daily News
Basic medical care could be as easy as a trip to Walmart under a proposal being pushed by Gov. Cuomo.
Drugmaker Raises U.S. Price of Muscular-Dystrophy Treatment
Wall Street Journal (Subscription Required)
CDC to Scale Back Work in Dozens of Foreign Countries Amid Funding Worries
Wall Street Journal (Subscription Required)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to scale back or discontinue its work to prevent infectious-disease epidemics and other health threats in 39 foreign countries because it expects funding for the work to end, the agency told employees.
Anti-smoking plan may kill cigarettes — and save Big Tobacco
Stat
Imagine if cigarettes were no longer addictive and smoking itself became almost obsolete; only a tiny segment of Americans still lit up.
Twist to Kentucky’s Medicaid Work Rule: Pass a Course Instead
New York Times
If you’re on Medicaid in Kentucky and are kicked off the rolls for failing to meet the state’s new work requirements, Kentucky will be offering a novel way to reactivate your medical coverage: a health or financial literacy course you must pass.
Trump Gives Health Workers New Religious Liberty Protections
New York Times
The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it was expanding religious freedom protections for doctors, nurses and other health care workers who object to performing procedures like abortion and gender reassignment surgery, satisfying religious conservatives who have pushed for legal sanctuary from the federal government.