“The GOP intends to cripple Medicare — which serves 55 million Americans — and the party’s deficit-boosting tax reform bill is the first installment in its three-part strategy.” More …
Healthcare
How Medicare Could See a Cut Thanks to the GOP Tax Plan
“The tax plan that congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump are pushing may do more than cut taxes — it could also cut spending for programs including Medicare and student loans. Here’s why: Budgetary rules known as statutory paygo (short for pay-as-you-go) call for automatic spending cuts if Congress enacts bills that have the net effect of increasing the deficit by the end of the year.” More …
Trump Health Official Seema Verma Has a Plan to Slash Medicaid Rolls
“With a broad overhaul of Obamacare stalled in Washington, one of President Trump’s top health care leaders is drawing the outlines of sweeping changes to Medicaid that could pare enrollments and cut costs without congressional approval. Seema Verma, director of the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is promising to give states an “unprecedented level of flexibility” to design their Medicaid programs as they see fit. In an appearance in Cleveland this week, she pledged to reduce scrutiny of state requests for waivers from federal rules meant to preserve access and quality standards.” More …
Trump Strikes Again: ACA Silver Plan Premiums Up Average of 34 Percent
“As online window shopping on HealthCare.gov went live Wednesday, an independent analysis found that premiums for the most popular health plans under the Affordable Care Act are rising by an average 34 percent next year. The analysis of newly released government data by the consulting firm Avalere Health found that the Trump administration’s actions are contributing to the price hikes, adding instability to the underlying problems of the health law’s marketplaces.” More …
Trump Blindsides Advisers with Promised Opioid Plan
“Officials are scrambling to produce an emergency declaration by next week. Blindsided officials are now scrambling to develop such a plan, but it is unclear when it will be announced, how or if it will be done, and whether the administration has the permanent leadership to execute it, said two administration officials.” More …
Engulfed in Opioid Deaths, Ohio Turns to Science
“State attempts to accelerate high-tech solutions after treatment and law enforcement fail to stem overdose fatalities.” More …
Georgia Lawmaker, Wife of Tom Price, Suggests People with HIV Could Be Quarantined
“Republican state Rep. Betty Price, a former anesthesiologist who represents people living in the northern Atlanta area, asked in a hearing this week ‘what are we legally able to do’ to limit the spread of HIV throughout the state. ‘I don’t want to say the quarantine word — but I guess I just said it,’ Price said to Dr. Pascale Wortley, director of the Georgia Department of Public Health’s HIV epidemiology section. ‘Is there an ability, since I would guess that public dollars are expended heavily in prophylaxis and treatment of this condition, so we have a public interest in curtailing the spread. … Are there any methods legally that we could do that would curtail the spread?'” More …
9 Ways Trump Is Undercutting Obamacare Without Congress
9 ways the president is trying to dismantle the law without help from Congress. More …
EPA Says Higher Radiation Levels Pose ‘No Harmful Health Effect’
“In the event of a dirty bomb or a nuclear meltdown, emergency responders can safely tolerate radiation levels equivalent to thousands of chest X-rays, the Environmental Protection Agency said in new guidelines that ease off on established safety levels. The EPA’s determination sets a level ten times the drinking water standard for radiation recommended under President Barack Obama. It could lead to the administration of President Donald Trump weakening radiation safety levels, watchdog groups critical of the move say.” More …
The Secretive Sackler Family Making Billions from the Opioid Crisis
“You’re aware America is under siege, fighting an opioid crisis that has exploded into a public-health emergency. You’ve heard of OxyContin, the pain medication to which countless patients have become addicted. But do you know that the company that makes Oxy and reaps the billions of dollars in profits it generates is owned by one family by the name of Sackler?” More …