Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles

If you can only read three things about health policy this week, I suggest...

The Top Three...

Bloomberg: CDC To Escalate Ebola Response After WHO Declares Emergency The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is escalating its response to the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, after the World Health Organization labeled the outbreak a public health emergency. The agency plans to deploy additional staff to the affected countries and will provide technical support including laboratory testing, contact tracing and surveillance through its country offices, said Satish Pillai, the CDC’s Ebola response incident manager, on a call with reporters Sunday. It has also activated its emergency response center. (Nix, 5/17)

MedPage Today: HHS Panel That Aims To Reshape U.S. Healthcare Holds Its First Meeting A new HHS health advisory committee met very briefly Monday to introduce its members and outline its broad goals for reshaping large parts of the healthcare system. The Healthcare Advisory Committee, whose existence was announced on March 26, says on its website that its purpose is to "advise HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator [Mehmet Oz, MD, MBA] on ways to improve how care is financed and delivered across Medicare, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program [CHIP], and the [Affordable Care Act] Health Insurance Marketplace. The committee will provide non-binding recommendations to inform federal healthcare policy and program administration." (Frieden, 5/18)

AP: RFK Jr. Fires Leaders Of Group That Sets Guidelines For Health Screenings The Trump administration has fired the two leaders of an influential health group that determines when insurance must provide free preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies, for millions of Americans. In letters dated May 11, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. notified the two doctors who chaired the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that he was terminating their appointments immediately, before the end of their multiyear terms. (Neergaard, 5/20)

For a Deeper Dive...

CNN: US-Bound Flights With Passengers Who Were In Ebola-Affected Region Must Land At Dulles Airport For Health Screening US-bound flights carrying passengers who were recently in an Ebola-affected region of Africa must land at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, where they will undergo health screening. (Tirrell, Cooper, Hansler and Kottasova, 5/21)

MedPage Today: Who Will Replace Cassidy On The Senate's Health Committee? Two physician senators -- Sen. Rand Paul, MD, (R-Ky.) and Sen. Roger Marshall, MD, (R-Kan.) -- are among the leading contenders to take over Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD, (R-La.)'s role as chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee after his primary loss. Paul is the next Republican in line for the position, though it's worth watching to see if he instead opts to stay on in his role as chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, as reported by Axios. ... But Politico has reported that Marshall, a big fan of Kennedy, is angling to become chair of the HELP committee. (Henderson, 5/19)

The Washington Post: Millions May Lose Their ACA Coverage As Costs And Premiums Spike, Report Finds The affordability crisis for many people who have health insurance under the Affordable Care Act came into sharper focus Tuesday, with a new analysis projecting that higher premiums will cause millions more people to lose insurance this year. Another sign of economic distress: Average deductibles for policyholders are now the highest ever, a result of people switching to the exchange’s cheapest “bronze plans” in response to premium hikes, according to the report released Tuesday by KFF, a health policy research organization. (Rowland, 5/19)

The Washington Post: Health Worker Shortage Will Worsen With Student Loan Limit, 25 States Say In Suit A coalition of 25 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia sued the Education Department on Tuesday over new graduate student loan limits, arguing the restrictions will worsen the health care workforce shortage. (Douglas-Gabriel, 5/19)

Bloomberg: RFK Jr. Taps Stephanie Haridopolos As Temporary Surgeon General Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. enlisted health official Stephanie Haridopolos to temporarily take on some of the responsibilities of the US surgeon general, he said in an email to staff viewed by Bloomberg News. The Trump administration has not had a confirmed surgeon general because two nominees for the role were pulled before confirmation votes in the Senate. President Donald Trump nominated radiologist and former Fox News contributor Nicole Saphier to the role last month. (Nix and Cohrs Zhang, 5/19)

Politico: Hospitals Are Taking The Fall For High Health Care Costs Two of the most powerful lobbies in the country are turning on a third in the hopes of deflecting Washington’s wrath and securing bigger shares of the $5 trillion Americans spend on health care each year. Drugmakers and insurers are aiming to take advantage of lawmakers’ worries about affordability to convince them it’s the hospitals they should regulate, and not them, if they want to bring down Americans’ bills. Some of the changes the drugmakers and insurers are pursuing would pad their own profits. (Chu, 5/17)

MedPage Today: Many States Not Prepared To Respond To Public Health Emergencies, Report Finds Even as hantavirus cases on a cruise ship continue to cause concern, about one-fourth of states are not fully prepared to manage a public health emergency if one should come their way, a report found. "The nation faced the most severe flu season in nearly a decade, the highest annual measles case count since 1991, and devastating weather-related emergencies, even as federal public health funding, staffing, and operational support were destabilized," J. Nadine Gracia, MD, president and CEO of the Trust for America's Health (TFAH), which sponsored the report, said in a press release. (Frieden, 5/15)

For the Visual Among Us...

A few years ago I started a weekly e-mail for friends and colleagues who want to keep up on major federal health policy developments but did not have time to plod through all the minutiae--they were busy doing important things like running organizations and taking care of patients! Much to my surprise, it became pretty popular. I have now converted to a weekly newsletter format so you can manage your own subscription preferences and forward to others that might be interested.

These summaries represent my judgement on health policy issues that may not on the front pages, but are relevant to clinicians, administrators, and educators. I monitor many news sources and clipping services to identify content for this newsletter and I try hard to be as factual, balanced, and non-partisan as possible. While the articles are written by others (with credit attributed), the choice of what to include is entirely mine. If you are interested in receiving a daily summary of health policy news, you might consider signing up for the KHN Morning Briefing. If you enjoy podcasts, I suggest What the Health? and Tradeoffs.

-Gregg S. Margolis, PhD