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: Shutdown Risk Grows As GOP Rebuffs Schumer Health-Care Demands Republicans are moving forward with a plan to fund the government past an Oct. 1 deadline without making concessions to Democrats demanding health-care policy changes, setting up a standoff that risks a chaotic shutdown. The gambit to brush off Democrats, whose votes are needed in the Senate to pass the funding legislation, also lowers the chances of a deal to avert a large increase in Obamacare premiums that will affect millions of Americans starting Jan. 1. (Wasson and Dennis, 9/11)

The New York Times: Breaking Precedent, G.O.P. Changes Rules On Nominees Senate Republicans on Thursday bulldozed past Senate precedents and changed the rules to break a Democratic blockade of President Trump’s nominees, in an extraordinary move that is likely to undercut Congress’s future role in vetting executive branch officials. The change, pushed through along party lines, lowered the existing 60-vote threshold for considering a group of presidential nominees to a simple majority, weakening the ability of individual senators to block nominees they find objectionable. It was the latest step in a yearslong back-and-forth between the two parties that has eroded the filibuster, a once-potent Senate tool to protect the rights of the minority and force consensus. (Gold, 9/11)

NPR: Health Care Costs Are Soaring. Blame Insurers, Drug Companies — And Your Employer The United States has the most expensive health care in the developed world. Now it's about to get even more expensive. Some 154 million people get health insurance through their employer — and many could see their paycheck deductions surge next year, by 6% to 7% on average. Some will likely also see their out-of-pocket costs rise as employers pass along the spiking costs of care. (Aspan, 9/12)

For a Deeper Dive...

The New York Times: States Heading Toward Constitutional Showdown Over Abortion Shield Laws On Monday, the attorney general of New York, Letitia James, announced that she was stepping into a case filed in New York by the attorney general of Texas, Ken Paxton. The case stems from a lawsuit Mr. Paxton filed in December against a New York doctor, whom he accused of prescribing abortion pills to a patient in Texas. In court documents, Mr. Paxton argues that New York’s abortion shield law amounts to a “policy of hostility to the public acts/statutes of a sister state” and that it violates the Constitution’s Full Faith and Credit Clause, which says that states should generally respect other states’ laws. (Belluck, 9/8)

Bloomberg: FDA Official Vinay Prasad Regains Chief Medical Officer Title Top Food and Drug Administration regulator Vinay Prasad has regained his role as the agency’s chief medical and scientific officer after he abruptly departed and then came back to the agency, according to an update on the agency’s website Thursday. Prasad returned as the agency’s top regulator for vaccines and gene therapies as head of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research on Aug. 9. (Cohrs Zhang, 9/11)

The Hill: Republican Rep. Greg Murphy Pushes For Permanent Telehealth Coverage As Deadline Nears Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) Thursday called on federal lawmakers to reauthorize Medicare coverage for telehealth services, which is set to expire at the end of September. “We are still working on reauthorizing it, but it needs to be permanent and done,” Murphy said during The Hill’s event “Smarter Benefits: Redefining the Employer Role,” sponsored by Takeda. (O’Connell-Domenech, 9/11)

Fierce Healthcare: Census Bureau: 8% Of Americans Were Uninsured In 2024 Eight percent of Americans were uninsured in 2024, on par with the rate found for 2023, according to new federal data. The U.S. Census Bureau released this week its annual look (PDF) at insurance coverage across the country, finding that 92%, or 310 million people, were enrolled in coverage last year. The bulk, or 66.1%, were enrolled in a private health plan, while 35.5% had public coverage. (Minemyer, 9/11)

MedPage Today: Physicians Group Recommends All Adults Get A COVID Booster The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) split with federal health officials and recommended that all U.S. adults get an updated COVID-19 vaccine for the upcoming respiratory virus season. In particular, people 65 years or older, those at increased risk for severe outcomes, and anyone who has never received a COVID-19 shot before should be prioritized for vaccination, AAFP said. (Rudd, 9/9)

The Hill: Trump Defends RFK Jr. ‘He’s A Different Kind Of A Guy’ President Trump on Sunday defended Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has come under increasing criticism from Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill over his handling of vaccines and other issues. Trump has given somewhat conflicting messages over the last several days about Kennedy, defending his Cabinet member while also defending vaccines, including those for polio and COVID. (Swanson, 9/7)

CNN: US Death Rate Dropped Back To Pre-Covid Levels In 2024, CDC Report Says The death rate in the United States returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2024 as Covid-19 fell out of the top 10 leading causes of death, according to a report published Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (McPhillips, 9/10)

FiercePharma: Novo, Lilly Obesity Meds 'Highly Cost-Effective': Watchdog Report Amid a yearslong wave of enthusiasm and uptake for Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk's blockbuster obesity medicines, the drugs have scored a strong endorsement from an independent U.S. cost watchdog. In a draft report (PDF), the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) determined the drugs are "highly cost-effective" because of their ability to help patients lose weight, reduce metabolic risk factors and address obesity-related health complications. The group specifically looked at Novo's injectable semaglutide at the 2.4-mg dose, Novo's investigational oral semaglutide 25-mg dose and Lilly's injectable 15-mg dose of tirzepatide. (Sagonowsky, 9/9)

The Washington Post: Covid Vaccines Difficult To Find For Many Americans Despite RFK Jr.’s Assurances Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told senators last week that anyone can get a new coronavirus vaccine. But many Americans are finding the opposite. Confusion is rippling through the health care system as pharmacies and doctors try to adjust to providing a vaccine that is no longer broadly recommended. Americans’ experiences vary widely, from easily booking appointments to having to cross state lines to access the shots, according to more than 3,200 submissions to The Washington Post’s request for readers to share their experiences. (Ovalle and Winfield Cunningham, 9/7)

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