Our Scorecard ranks every state’s health care system based on how well it provides high-quality, accessible, and equitable health care. Read the report to see health care rankings by state.
Drugmakers kicked off 2019 with price increases in the United States on more than 250 prescription drugs, including the world’s top-selling medicine, Humira, although the pace of price hikes was slower than last year. The industry has been under pressure by President Donald Trump to hold their prices level as his administration works on plans aimed at lowering the costs of medications for consumers in the world’s most expensive pharmaceutical market. (Michael Erman, Reuters)
House Dems Announce Sweeping Investigation of Drug Pricing
House Democrats announced a sweeping investigation Monday of the pharmaceutical industry’s pricing practices, jockeying for the upper hand with the Trump administration on an issue that concerns Americans across the political spectrum. Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings said he’s sent letters to 12 major drugmakers seeking detailed information and documents about pricing practices for brand-name drugs to treat diseases including cancer, diabetes, kidney failure, and nerve pain. The committee also is seeking information on what the manufacturers do with revenue and what steps can be taken to reduce prescription drug costs. (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press)
County by County, Researchers Link Opioid Deaths to Drugmakers’ Marketing
Researchers sketched a vivid line Friday linking the dollars spent by drugmakers to woo doctors around the country to a vast opioid epidemic that has led to tens of thousands of deaths. The study, published in JAMA Network Open, looked at county-specific federal data and found that the more opioid-related marketing dollars were spent in a county, the higher the rates of doctors who prescribed those drugs and, ultimately, the more overdose deaths occurred in that county. (Victoria Knight, Kaiser Health News)
No-Cost Birth Control, Now the Norm, Faces Court Challenges
Millions of American women are receiving birth control at no cost to them through workplace health plans, the result of the Obama-era Affordable Care Act (ACA), which expanded access to contraception. The Trump administration sought to allow more employers to opt out because of religious or moral objections. But its plans were put on hold by two federal judges, one in Pennsylvania and the other in California, in cases that could eventually reach the Supreme Court. (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press)
Court Rules Texas Can Bar Planned Parenthood from Medicaid
A federal appeals court panel on Thursday lifted a lower-court ban that prohibited Texas from eliminating Planned Parenthood from the state’s Medicaid program. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans issued the ruling that removes the preliminary injunction U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks of Austin imposed on the state of Texas in February 2017. The three appeals judges agreed that Sparks didn’t follow proper standard in deciding to impose the ban sought by five Planned Parenthood affiliates and seven individuals. (Associated Press)
The Trump administration on Thursday announced proposed rule changes that would lead to a modest premium increase next year under the Affordable Care Act, potentially handing Democrats a new presidential-year health care issue. The roughly 1 percent increase could feed into the Democratic argument that the Trump administration is trying to “sabotage” coverage for millions. The administration said the proposal is intended to improve the accuracy of a complex formula that affects what consumers pay for their premiums. (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Associated Press)
For over a decade, we’ve been waiting for Washington to solve our health care woes, with endless political wrangling and mixed results. Around 70 percent of Americans have said that health care is “in a state of crisis” or has “major problems.” Now, with Washington in total dysfunction, state and local politicians are taking up the baton. (Elisabeth Rosenthal, New York Times)
Administration Sued Over New Kentucky Medicaid Work Requirements
More than a dozen Medicaid beneficiaries in Kentucky have filed another lawsuit against the Trump administration over its re-approval of the state’s controversial Medicaid waiver. The lawsuit comes after a federal judge in June blocked Kentucky’s efforts to impose work requirements and premiums on beneficiaries days before the waiver was set to go into effect. (Nathaniel Weixel, The Hill)
Medicaid Block Grant Waiver Reports Revive Hospitals' Funding Worries
Hospitals are furious that the Trump administration is reportedly exploring allowing states to convert their Medicaid programs into block grants, a policy the industry fervently fought when Congress tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act. If states take advantage of the block-grant flexibility, first reported in Politico, it would cap federal spending for Medicaid in those states and could leave them on the hook for any expenditures over that limit. States would either have to cut their Medicaid rolls or payments to disproportionate-share hospitals and nursing homes to curb spending, some experts said. (Robert King, Modern Healthcare)
