Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles

The Top Three...

With so much going on, it can be hard to know what to read. If you can only read three things about health policy this week, I suggest...

Healthcare Dive: Senate Dems reach draft deal to extend ACA premiums, lower drug costs Late Wednesday, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced he reached a deal with Senate Democrats to pass a bill that would extend boosted premiums granted by the American Rescue Act into 2025. The bill, a slimmed-down version of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better package, also allows Medicare to negotiate select prescription drug prices beginning in 2026 and caps Medicare Part D out-of-pocket costs in 2025. The premium extension and Medicare negotiations are part of a more than $300 billion package that includes funding for climate and energy programs and a tax hike for corporations. (Halleman, 7/29)

The Hill: Veterans’ Groups Lash Out After GOP Blocks Toxins Bill: ‘I’m Sick And Tired Of This Bulls—’ Veterans’ advocacy groups lashed out on Thursday after Senate Republicans blocked a much-anticipated bill aimed at expanding care for veterans who were exposed to toxins during military service. The Sgt. First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our PACT Act was the product of a year of negotiations between the House and the Senate, and Wednesday’s vote was largely expected to be a victory for veterans in need of care. (Williams, 7/28)

Politico: House Passes Telehealth Rules Extension Through 2024 The House overwhelmingly passed legislation by Wyoming Republican Liz Cheney Wednesday that would extend eased telehealth rules through the end of 2024. The 416-12 vote was a significant win for telehealth advocates. The bill would allow Medicare and federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics to continue covering telehealth visits from patients’ homes, as well as audio-only telehealth under Medicare. The measure would also extend a waiver permitting mental health patients to avoid having to go to in-person visits. (Leonard, 7/27)

For a Deeper Dive...

Politico: What's In The Manchin-Schumer Deal Here’s what’s in the agreement, with estimates from the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional Budget Office: Total raised: $739 billion. $313 billion — The legislation will raise revenues in part by imposing a corporate minimum tax of 15 percent. $288 billion — The agreement calls for prescription drug pricing reform, which will allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. Out-of-pocket costs will be capped at $2,000, the agreement summary says. (Ward, 7/27)

Modern Healthcare: Teladoc Posts Nearly A $10B Loss In First Half Of 2022 Teladoc Health’s acquisition of Livongo continues to haunt its balance sheets as the Purchase, New York-based company posted significant losses in the first half of 2022. Teladoc said it posted a net loss of $3.1 billion in the second quarter of 2022 and a $9.7 billion loss for the first half of the year. The losses are primarily due to a non-cash goodwill impairment charge related to the Livongo acquisition that totaled $9.6 billion in the first half of 2022. (Turner, 7/27)

Stat: Health Care's High Rollers: As The Pandemic Raged, CEOs' Earnings Surged The CEOs of approximately 300 health care companies collectively took home more than $4.5 billion in 2021, according to a STAT analysis of hundreds of financial filings. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals CEO Leonard Schleifer represented 10% of that total on his own, pulling in an astounding $453 million. (Herman, Sheridan, Parker, Feuerstein and Ravindranath, 7/18)

KHN: Health Insurance Price Data: It’s Out There, But It’s Not For The Faint Of Heart Data wonks with mighty computers are overjoyed. Ordinary consumers, not so much. That’s the reaction about three weeks into a data dump of enormous proportions. Health insurers are posting their negotiated rates for just about every type of medical service they cover across all providers. (Appleby, 7/27)

Healthcare Dive: Amazon will see you now: reading between the lines of the One Medical acquisition Amazon sent shockwaves through the health tech sector when it announced plans to buy primary care network One Medical in a deal valued at $3.9 billion. The acquisition, which brings almost 190 clinics, a subscription telehealth service, an electronic health record and contracts with thousands of employer clients under Amazon’s umbrella, should fast-track the e-commerce giant’s goal of assembling a vertically integrated healthcare business to penetrate the employer market, experts said. (Pifer, 7/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Big Hospitals Provide Skimpy Charity Care—Despite Billions In Tax Breaks Nonprofit hospitals get billions of dollars in tax breaks in exchange for providing support to their communities. A Wall Street Journal analysis shows they are often not particularly generous. These charitable organizations, which comprise the majority of hospitals in the U.S., wrote off in aggregate 2.3% of their patient revenue on financial aid for patients’ medical bills. Their for-profit competitors, a category including publicly traded giants such as HCA Healthcare Inc., wrote off 3.4%, the Journal found in an analysis of the most-recent annual reports hospitals file with the federal government. (Wilde Matthews, McGinty and Evans, 7/25)

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