Trump administration limits fetal tissue research
Volume 393 Number 10189 15 June 2019
WORLD REPORT The move could threaten medical research advances, say scientists, as acquisition of new fetal tissue for research is substantially hindered. Susan Jaffe reports.
“Many discoveries now in clinical practice and wide research use have come from human fetal tissue”, said Irving Weissman, director of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. “For these, there was—and still is—no substitute for human fetal tissue.”
…Anti-abortion groups praised the new policy, which would “separate federal research funding from the abortion industry”, said Melanie Israel, a research associate at the conservative Heritage Foundation… Yet how the new Trump research policy would reduce abortions is still unclear. “They are conflating pro-life issues and abortion with research”, said Jennifer Zeitzer, public affairs director at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. “But there’s no evidence that women are getting abortions so they can donate fetal tissue for research.” [Continued here.]
Legal battles over abortion heat up in the USA
Volume 393 Number 10184 11 May 2019
WORLD REPORT Changes to Title X, several legal challenges, and a change to the Supreme Court composition could mean drastic changes for access to abortion in the USA. Susan Jaffe reports.
“We are the department of life…from conception until natural death, through all of our programmes”, US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary Alex Azar said earlier this year…. The government’s anti-abortion efforts have ignited lawsuits from Maine to California. Eventually, one or more of these cases are expected to reach the Supreme Court. With its newest arrival—Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whose nomination by Trump was championed by abortion opponents—the Supreme Court’s ideological balance has now shifted towards a conservative majority [raising] opponents’ hopes that a sympathetic court will diminish, if not overturn, Roe v. Wade...
Late last week, lawyers for the HHS appealed decisions by two federal court judges in Oregon and Washington state to temporarily halt new administration rules that would limit the information about abortion services that federally funded health-care providers can tell their patients.
“We are fighting back in the courts, we are fighting back in Congress and in state legislatures all across the country”, said Planned Parenthood president Leana Wen, noting that one in four women in the USA will have an abortion in their lifetime. “The public is with us when it comes to defending access to safe legal abortion, which people understand is part of the full spectrum of reproductive health care, which is health care.” [Continued here.]
Doctors arrested in US crackdown on illegal opioids
Volume 393, Number 10182
27 April 2019
WORLD REPORT The multiagency operation hit five states and led to the arrest of 60 people. Perpetrators face up to
50 years’ prison sentence if found guilty. Susan Jaffe reports.
Arrests of 31 doctors, pharmacists, and other health care professionals for allegedly prescribing and distributing illegal opioids affected some 28,000 of their patients. That’s why Department of Justice officials are working with state health departments, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services to help patients by “… bringing enforcement and [opioid addiction] treatment closer together…than ever before,” says Benjamin Glassman, the US attorney for the southern district of Ohio. [Continued here.]
Scott Gottlieb steps down from US FDA leadership
Volume 393, Number 10176
16 March 2019
WORLD REPORT The announcement came as a surprise, prompting many to ask: Can the US FDA commissioner’s policies continue without him? Susan Jaffe reports.
Unlike some government agencies that can toil peaceably in relative obscurity, the FDA is frequently in the headlines. It is responsible for ensuring the safety of products that account for about 20 cents of every dollar US consumers spend—or US$2·5 trillion annually. …When Gottlieb became commissioner in 2017, the agency had an estimated 1000 vacancies which has now risen to 1400.[Continued here.]
US lawmakers seek cuts in prescription drug prices
Volume 393, Number 10175
9 March 2019
WORLD REPORT A committee brought together Senators and drug company representatives to discuss why drug pricing in the USA is so high, but little progress was made, Susan Jaffe reports.
A much-publicized Trump Administration proposal allows — not requires — pharmaceutical companies to pass large rebates on to Medicare patients. Savings as much as 30 percent for seniors depend on companies’ voluntarily cutting prices but several top drug makers tell Senate committee they can’t promise to do so. [Continued here.]
CMS lost $84M in two years for ineligible nursing home stays
IG investigators said such improper payments are accumulating year after year.
By Susan Jaffe | Modern Healthcare | February 20, 2019
The CMS pays millions of dollars a year to nursing homes for taking care of older adults who don’t qualify for coverage, according to an investigation by HHS’ inspector general.
The IG’s report, released Wednesday, includes steps the CMS should take to fix the problem; but in a written response, CMS Administrator Seema Verma rejected some key recommendations. [Continued here.]
USA sets goal to end the HIV epidemic in a decade
Volume 393, Number 10172
16 February 2019
WORLD REPORT The unexpected announcement in the State of the Union address could set the start of a realistic agenda to end HIV/AIDS in the USA, provided funds are secured. Susan Jaffe reports.
Nearly an hour into his 90 min State of the Union address, President Donald Trump called for a government-run health-care programme “to eliminate the HIV epidemic in the United States within 10 years”.
Although the president has promised to get rid of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) along with its health insurance marketplaces and Medicaid expansion, these and other policies did not appear to dampen his enthusiasm. [Continued here.]
House Drug Price Hearing Takes Aim at Industry
By Susan Jaffe | Contributing Writer | MedPageToday | January 30, 2019
WASHINGTON — Pharmaceutical companies were pummeled during Tuesday’s hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. The panel’s first hearing of the 116th Congress examined the reasons for rising drug prices and follows committee chairman Elijah Cummings’ (D-Md.) launch of an aggressive investigation into pharmaceutical pricing issues.
“For the past decade I’ve been trying to investigate the actions of drug companies for all sorts of drugs — old and new, generic and brand name,” Cummings said. “We have seen time after time drug companies make money hand over fist by raising the prices of their drugs often without justification…” [Continued at MedPageToday]
NYC guarantees health care to all
Volume 393, Number 10169
26 January 2019
WORLD REPORT The mayor of New York City is not counting on Congress for solutions to its health-care problems, Susan Jaffe reports.
By encouraging patients to seek primary and preventive care instead of more expensive emergency care, city officials expect to save money and keep people healthy.
“From this moment on, in New York City, everyone is guaranteed the right to health care—everyone”, declared New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio as he unveiled his so-called NYC Care plan this month. People who cannot pay or are ineligible for health insurance—including undocumented immigrants—will be able to get the most comprehensive and affordable health coverage in the country, at little or no cost, the mayor said, speaking in both English and Spanish. “This is a way of getting people health care here and now, regardless of what happens on the state or the federal level”. [Continued here.]
Profile: Leana Wen, President of Planned Parenthood
Volume 393, Number 10168
19 January 2019
“If there is one thing that I can accomplish as the President of Planned Parenthood, it’s to make clear that reproductive health care is standard health care, that women’s health care is standard health care and that we must view all aspects of health care as a fundamental human right”, said Wen. [Continued here.]
State exemptions to the Affordable Care Act expanded
Volume 392, Number 10164
15 December 2018
WORLD REPORT In its latest blow to the ACA, the Trump administration provides guidance on how states can circumvent the health law. Susan Jaffe, The Lancet‘s Washington correspondent, reports.
In its most far-reaching move yet, the Trump administration has reinterpreted a provision of the landmark Affordable Care Act so that states can apply for exemptions to some requirements of the health law for states. [Continued here.]
Trumpeted New Medicare Advantage Benefits Will Be Hard For Seniors To Find
By Susan Jaffe | Kaiser Health News | November 9, 2018 | This KHN story also ran on 
For some older adults, private Medicare Advantage plans next year will offer a host of new benefits, such as transportation to medical appointments, home-delivered meals, wheelchair ramps, bathroom grab bars or air conditioners for asthma sufferers.
But the new benefits will not be widely available, and they won’t be easy to find.
Of the 3,700 plans across the country next year, only 273 in 21 states will offer at least one. About 7 percent of Advantage members — 1.5 million people — will have access, Medicare officials estimate.
That means even for the savviest shoppers it will be a challenge to figure out which plans offer the new benefits and who qualifies for them.
Medicare officials have touted the expansion as historic and an innovative way to keep seniors healthy and independent. Despite that enthusiasm, a full listing of the new services is not available on the web-based “Medicare Plan Finder,” the government tool used by beneficiaries, counselors and insurance agents to sort through dozens of plan options. [Continued at Kaiser Health News, NPR and CNN]
Prospects for health after the US mid-terms
Volume 392, Number 10161
24 November 2018
WORLD REPORT After the mid-term elections, Susan Jaffe, The Lancet‘s Washington correspondent, looks at the consequences for health-care legislation in the USA.
In the first national election since Donald Trump won the presidency promising, among other things, to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Americans went to the polls this month still concerned about health care. It was the most important issue for 75% of Democrats and 23% of Republicans who voted in the Nov 6 elections, according to exit polls. But, unlike in 2016, voters handed Democrats—the party responsible for the ACA—their largest victory since Republican Richard Nixon resigned as president after the Watergate scandal….
“Health care was on the ballot and health care won”, said the House of Representatives’ Democratic minority leader Nancy Pelosi of California, who is expected to become speaker of the house when the new Congress convenes in January. [Continued here.]
For years, most pharmacists couldn’t give customers even a clue about an easy way to save money on prescription drugs. But the restraints are coming off.