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...

The Washington Post: Abortion Has Upended The Midterms As Sprint To November Begins Cat Thomas used to call herself politically independent. But she registered as a Democrat the moment she turned 18 this summer, fearful that Republicans in Pennsylvania would ban abortion. Hope Pierotti, 20, hurried to re-register in her new swing-state home days after Roe v. Wade was overturned, similarly anxious about abortion rights. The procedure is legal in Pennsylvania, but Republicans could pass sweeping new restrictions if they win the governor’s race and keep control of the statehouse. (Knowles and Kitchener, 9/5)

Stat: DHS Issues Rule To Revise Trump’s ‘Public Charge’ Policy, Easing Access To Health Services For Immigrants The Department of Homeland Security on Thursday issued a new rule to revise a Trump administration policy that effectively discouraged non-citizen immigrants from using government-funded health services. The new rule clarifies that DHS will not classify non-citizens as “public charges” — a classification that could result in them being denied green cards — based on their use of health-related benefits and government services. (Trang, 9/8)

The New York Times: Texas Judge’s Ruling Puts Free Preventive Care In Jeopardy A federal judge in Texas ruled Wednesday that the Affordable Care Act’s process for determining what kinds of preventive care must be fully covered by private health insurance is unconstitutional, ramping up yet another legal battle over the 12-year-old law. The ruling, by Judge Reed O’Connor of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, could jeopardize millions of Americans’ access to preventive services, including cancer screenings, alcohol abuse counseling and drugs that prevent H.I.V. infection. It does not take effect immediately, however, and legal experts said the Biden administration would almost certainly appeal. (Stolberg, 9/7)

For a Deeper Dive...

The Hill: About 1 In 4 Young Adults Getting Mental Health Care: CDC Almost a quarter of all young adults received mental health care treatment last year, according to recently released data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The number of adults aged 18 to 44 who received mental health care in the past 12 months saw the biggest increase from 2019, rising from 18.5 percent to 23.2 percent. The percentage of all adults who received mental health treatment also increased from 19.2 percent in 2019 to 21.6 percent in 2021. (Gans, 9/7)

Modern Healthcare: End of federal support means big COVID-19 costs for insurers Health insurance companies are urging regulators to establish price ceilings for COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics, cautioning that costs will skyrocket without them. Once the federal supply of coronavirus vaccines and treatments runs out, health insurers, employers and pharmacy benefit managers must strike deals with pharmaceutical companies on the prices for the Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson and Novavax vaccines and treatments such as Pfizer’s Paxlovid and AstraZeneca’s Evusheld. The federal government anticipates that vaccine and drug procurement and distribution will shift to the private sector as soon as January. (Goldman, 9/7)

Healthcare Dive: OIG report suggests telehealth fraud rare in Medicare The government quickly removed barriers to telemedicine visits in the early days of COVID-19, as the pandemic winnowed access to in-person medical care. As a result, the use of telehealth skyrocketed in the first year of the pandemic. More than 28 million Medicare beneficiaries — roughly two in five — used virtual care in that year. As telehealth use increased dramatically, the HHS also temporarily paused several program integrity activities, including reviews of medical claims. . According to a new report from the HHS Office of Inspector General a small but concerning proportion of providers billed Medicare inappropriately for telehealth early in the coronavirus pandemic. (Pifer, 9/8)

Politico: White House: Covid-19 Boosters Will Become Annual Shot, Just Like The Flu Vaccine “This week, we begin a new phase in our COVID-19 response. We are launching a new vaccine – our first in almost two years – with a new approach. For most Americans, that means one COVID-19 shot, once a year, each fall,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. His remarks show that the administration is now validating a change in the nation’s Covid response policy, which officials have telegraphed for several months. At a White House press briefing earlier Tuesday Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical adviser, had suggested that the policy change was coming soon. (Gardner, 9/6)

Roll Call: Doctors Lobby Congress For Medicare Payment Bump, Again Doctors are again ramping up what has become a perennial lobbying campaign to urge Congress to increase Medicare payments in order to offset cuts scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1. (Hellmann, 9/7)

AP: CVS To Buy Home Health-Care Provider Signify For $8 Billion The acquisition would continue CVS’ effort to grow from its pharmacy-chain roots to other sectors of the health industry. In 2018, the Woonsocket, Rhode Island, company purchased health insurer Aetna for $69 billion. CVS will pay $30.50 per share in cash for Signify. According to a CVS presentation, the deal has a stock value of $7.6 billion, with the total transaction rising to about $8 billion with debt, equity appreciation rights and other items are included. (9/5)

Modern Healthcare: Medicaid, CHIP Enrollment To Undergo Big Changes Applying for Medicaid or Children's Health Insurance Program benefits would become much easier under a proposed rule the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published Wednesday. The draft regulation includes several policies that would ease access to the low-income health programs, such as limiting eligibility checks to once every 12 months, requiring renewal forms to be pre-populated with certain information and establishing consistent processes across states. The plan also includes measures to help qualified beneficiaries remain on the programs from year to year. (Goldman, 8/31)

AP: FTC Investigating Amazon's $3.9B Purchase Of One Medical The Federal Trade Commission is investigating Amazon’s $3.9 billion acquisition of the primary health organization One Medical, a move that could delay the completion of the deal. Both One Medical and Amazon received a request for additional information Friday in connection with an FTC review of the merger, according to a filing made with securities regulators by One Medical’s parent, San Francisco-based 1Life Healthcare Inc. (9/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Profit From America’s Healthcare Bloat It’s no secret America has one of the least-efficient healthcare systems in the world, far outspending other wealthy countries for poorer results. The high cost of everything from medical procedures to cancer drugs often gets much of the blame. But just as bad are the incentives baked into it. Most wealthy countries have government-controlled health systems that encourage doctors to keep costs down by directing patients to less invasive approaches at first. America’s works the opposite way. (Wainer, 9/4)

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NEJM. Science, Competing Values, and Trade-offs in Public Health — The Example of Covid-19 and Masking. S.C. Dupont and S. Galea

Fortune: 7 Tips For Getting More Out Of Your iPhone’s Health App From analyzing your sleep patterns to monitoring an aging parent’s steadiness, your iPhone’s health app can be a valuable way to track and share important health information. Apple’s highly customizable app allows you to pick and choose which health categories are most important to you and, in some cases, prompt you to make various lifestyle choices. Here’s a closer look at how to use some of the best features of the health app. (Mikhail, 9/5)

For the Visual Among Us...