Gregg's Top Three Health Policy Articles

Health policy impacts everyone, but it can be hard to know what is important.  If you can only read three things about health policy this week, I suggest...

The Top Three...

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Maternal Mortality Hits Highest Level Since 1965 The number of women who died during pregnancy or shortly after rose 40% to 1,205 in 2021, compared with 861 in 2020 and 754 in 2019, the National Center for Health Statistics said Thursday. The increase pushed the maternal-mortality rate to 33 deaths per 100,000 live births, the highest since 1965, compared with 24 in 2020 and 20 in 2019. (Toy, 3/16)

Axios: Millions Could Lose Health Coverage During Medicaid Redetermination About 15 million people may drop off Medicaid rolls in the coming year as states redetermine program eligibility with the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, a Kaiser Family Foundation survey of state officials found. (Dreher, 3/16)

Stat: Biden Admin To Fine Drug Makers For Price Hikes The Biden administration will fine drugmakers who hiked prices faster than the rate of inflation on 27 medications administered in physicians’ offices, the agency said Wednesday. Pfizer had the most drugs on the list of any manufacturer, with five. Seagen’s bladder cancer drug Padcev, which also garnered penalties, will likely soon be in Pfizer’s portfolio, too, after the pharma giant completes its $43 billion acquisition of the Washington state company. (Cohrs, 3/15)

For a Deeper Dive...

Becker’s Hospital CFO Report:  Biden's $6.8T budget: 15 healthcare takeaways This article includes 15 healthcare takeaways from President Joe Biden proposed a $6.8 trillion budget March 9, including plans to extend Medicare's solvency by 25 years and making COVID-era ACA subsidies permanent. (Cass, Kayser and Wilson, 3/15)

Modern Healthcare: Nonprofit Hospital Tax Exemptions Top $28B: KFF Nonprofit hospitals received $28 billion in taxpayer subsidies in 2020 but only provided $16 billion in free or discounted care, a new analysis found. (Kacik, 3/15)

AP: Biden Says He's Focused 'Intensely' On Lowering Drug Costs President Joe Biden on Wednesday said his administration was focused “intensely” on lowering health care costs and took aim at “MAGA” Republicans who he said are intent on dialing back Medicare coverage for millions of Americans. Biden used a speech in Las Vegas where he was wrapping a three-day Western swing to make the case there are stark differences in how Democrats are tackling skyrocketing drug prices compared to their Republican counterparts. (Seitz and Miller, 3/15)

The Hill: Biden Administration Names First Round Of Drugs To Face Medicare Rebate Penalties In a press briefing, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said her agency will invoice the drugmakers for these rebates beginning in 2025. “The Medicare prescription drug inflation rebate program is strengthening Medicare by making prescription drugs affordable for millions of people and discouraging drug companies from increasing prices faster than inflation,” Brooks-LaSure said. “It’s also protecting Medicare for our children and grandchildren.” (Choi, 3/15)

Modern Healthcare: Silicon Valley Bank Failure Could Impact Digital Health Investments The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's decision to take over Silicon Valley Bank on Friday is likely to leave many digital health companies scrambling to pay employees and suppliers. SVB, the nation's16th largest bank and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, was a big bank for tech companies, startups and venture capital firms. The bank said on its website that it had $78.8 billion in healthcare deposits and investments as of December. (Turner, 3/10)

NBC News: Sanofi Announces Insulin Price Cap Of $35 Per Month Out-Of-Pocket Sanofi will cap the out-of-pocket cost of its most popular insulin, Lantus, at $35 per month for people with private insurance, the French drugmaker said Thursday. The change will take effect Jan. 1, 2024. Sanofi is the last of three major insulin makers in the United States to cut or cap the price of the drug. Both Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk announced changes to how they price their insulin this month. Together, the three drugmakers make up roughly 90% of the insulin market in the U.S. (Lovelace Jr., 3/16)

Roll Call: OB-GYN Workforce Shortages Could Worsen Maternal Health Crisis A patchwork of state laws in the aftermath of a Supreme Court decision overturning the right to an abortion, combined with pandemic-related burnout and low reimbursement rates, could exacerbate an already looming national shortage of obstetrician-gynecologists, experts say. (Raman and Cohen, 3/16)

CIDRAP: Shortages Of 4 Drugs May Complicate Cancer Care Amid shortages of three generic drugs widely used to treat common cancers in both adults and children, hospital officials worry that they may have to treat patients with less-effective medications or lower-than-recommended doses, Endpoints News reports. Injectable methotrexate, cisplatin, and fluorouracil are all in shortage, according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). Methotrexate comes in both oral and injectable forms, while the other two drugs are available only as injectables. (Van Beusekom, 3/16)

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?

-Gregg S. Margolis, PhD