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: Cigna, Humana In Talks For Blockbuster Insurance Merger In Stock-And-Cash Deal Cigna and Humana are in talks for a combination that would create a new powerhouse in the health-insurance industry. The companies are discussing a stock-and-cash deal that could be finalized by the end of the year, assuming the talks don’t fall apart, according to people familiar with the matter. While the structure and terms under discussion couldn’t be learned, a merger of the managed-care providers would be huge, and give rise to a company worth some $140 billion given Cigna’s market value Wednesday morning of about $83 billion and Humana’s of roughly $62 billion. (Thomas, Mathews and Cooper, 11/29)

CNN: US Life Expectancy Rebounded In 2022 But Not Back To Pre-Pandemic Levels Life expectancy in the United States has started to rebound after historic drops earlier in the Covid-19 pandemic, but it’s far from recovering. In 2022, a 1.1-year increase brought overall life expectancy at birth to 77.5 years, according to provisional data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But that offsets less than half of the 2.4 years of life lost in the first two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, and life expectancy is still lower than it’s been in about 20 years. (McPhillips, 11/29)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Suicides Reached A Record High Last Year America’s mental-health crisis drove suicides to a record-high number last year. Nearly 50,000 people in the U.S. lost their lives to suicide in 2022, according to a provisional tally from the National Center for Health Statistics. The agency said the final count would likely be higher. The suicide rate of 14.3 deaths per 100,000 people reached its highest level since 1941. (Wernau, 11/29)

For a Deeper Dive...

KFF Health News: Medicare Advantage Increasingly Popular With Seniors — But Not Hospitals And Doctors A hospital system in Georgia. Two medical groups in San Diego. Another in Louisville, Kentucky, and nearly one-third of Nebraska hospitals. Across the country, health care providers are refusing to accept some Medicare Advantage plans — even as the coverage offered by commercial insurers increasingly displaces the traditional government program for seniors and people with disabilities. As of this year, commercial insurers have enticed just over half of all Medicare beneficiaries — or nearly 31 million people — to sign up for their plans instead of traditional Medicare. The plans typically include drug coverage as well as extras like vision and dental benefits, many at low or even zero additional monthly premiums compared with traditional Medicare. (Appleby, 11/29)

WTTW: Senate Judiciary Committee Weighs Whether Gun Violence Is A Public Health Emergency As America grapples with gun violence, members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee grappled with whether that violence has become such a crisis that it should be a considered a public health emergency, with emergency room doctors and other health care professionals on the front lines. “In cities like Chicago dealing with the constant drumbeat of gun violence, it has turned these public health officials into battlefield experts,” said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), who chairs the committee. “They’ve seen the aftermath of bullets tearing through bone like it’s tissue paper.” With “132 Americans every day dying from gun violence,” he said, “gun violence is a public health epidemic, plain and simple.” (Vinicky, 11/28)

KFF Health News: In Congress, Calls Mount For Social Security To Address Clawbacks An investigation by KFF Health News and Cox Media Group gained further traction on Capitol Hill this week as additional members of Congress formally demanded answers from the Social Security Administration about billions of dollars it mistakenly paid to beneficiaries — and then ordered they repay. Two members of a Senate panel that oversees Social Security sent a letter to the agency’s acting commissioner, Kilolo Kijakazi, urging her to do more to prevent overpayments and “limit harm to vulnerable beneficiaries” when trying to recover the money. (Hilzenrath and Fleischer, 11/30)

Politico: 'It Was Stunning': Bipartisan Anger Aimed At Medicare Advantage Care Denials Enrollment in Medicare’s private-sector alternative is surging — and so are the complaints to Congress. More than 30 million older Americans are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, wooed by lower premiums and more benefits than traditional Medicare offers. But a bipartisan group of lawmakers is increasingly concerned that insurance companies are preying on seniors, and, in some cases, denying care that would otherwise be approved by traditional Medicare. (King, 11/24)

Modern Healthcare: How Hospital Unions Are Advancing Health Equity Healthcare unions have scored major contract wins amid a wave of labor action across the U.S. and used their muscle to push beyond priorities such as pay and staffing and secure guarantees that their employers will take action to promote health equity. ... While those contracts include pay boosts and similar provisions, they went further by creating power-sharing arrangements, accountability structures, and policies and programs related to racial justice and community health. (Hartnett, 11/28)

WUSF: Lawmaker Proposes Funds For TGH To Build Affordable Housing Florida lawmaker has asked the state to budget $25 million to help Tampa General Hospital build a 160-unit, multifamily housing project for health care workers in the greater Tampa Bay region. The hospital plans to use the development to help attract and retain health care workers by providing affordable rental units, according to a budget request filed Nov. 14 by Sen. Jay Collins, R-Tampa. (Mayer, 11/28)

MedPage Today: Biden Administration Announces Actions To Strengthen The Drug Supply Chain "I'm proud to announce that I'll be invoking what's known as the Defense Production Act to boost production of essential medicines in America by American workers," Biden said. "You notice that people have to get certain kinds of shots overseas" because they're not available in the U.S. "Well, that supply chain is going to start here in America. "President Biden also will issue a Presidential Determination giving HHS the authority to invest in domestic manufacturing of essential medicines and medical countermeasures. "HHS has identified $35 million for investments in domestic production of key starting materials for sterile injectable medicines," according to a White House fact sheet. ( Frieden, 11/27)

Modern Healthcare: Cigna Medicare Advantage Future Murky Amid Sale Speculation Reports that Cigna is eyeing a major Medicare Advantage move have provoked speculation about the health insurance company's plans for the lucrative market. Citing sources in the banking sector, Reuters reported this month that Cigna was seeking a buyer for its Medicare Advantage business. Subsequently, an analyst at the investment bank Stephens wrote that such a deal may be a precursor to a bold action: acquiring Humana, the second-largest Medicare Advantage carrier by membership. Medicare makes up a meager portion of Cigna's business. The insurer has about 600,000 Medicare Advantage enrollees this year, which amounts to 2% of the market, according to federal data compiled by KFF. Humana's 5.5 million members and 18% share are the most behind UnitedHealth Group subsidiary UnitedHealthcare's 8.9 million and 29%. (Berryman, 11/29)

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