Nearly 8 million people could lose up to $24 billion a year in health insurance subsidies in a Supreme Court case threatening President Barack Obama's law, according to a government report released Tuesday. The estimates by The Associated Press show what's at stake in the case. Health overhaul opponents argue that subsidies are illegal in states where the federal government took charge of running the health insurance marketplaces, or exchanges. The justices heard arguments last week, and the court's decision is expected in late June. Tuesday's report from the Department of Health and Human Services shows that about 7.7 million people in the 37 states with federally-run markets are getting an average of $263 a month to help pay premiums.
Scientists and public-health officials are a careful bunch who don't often paint doomsday scenarios. That is, unless they're talking about the issue of antibiotic resistance. More and more, as we learn that the threat of drug-resistant superbugs could literally spell our end, antibiotic resistance has become a worry akin to climate change: an overwhelming but intangible menace that can be difficult to rally around. Despite dire warnings about the health impact of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the issue is still abstract for many, industry has blocked efforts to tackle it, and legislation to address it has repeatedly flopped.
Prime Healthcare Services Inc.'s proposed deal to buy six financially struggling Roman Catholic hospitals has collapsed, raising questions about how the nonprofit chain will keep its doors open. The Ontario-based chain of 30 hospitals nationwide decided against the $843-million purchase of the hospitals, which include St. Vincent Medical Center and St. Francis Medical Center in L.A. County, according to a memo to employees from the hospitals' chief executive. Robert Issai, chief executive of Daughters of Charity Health System, wrote that Prime had found the conditions imposed by state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris on operating the hospitals too onerous.
The Office of Personnel Management's (OPM) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducts security audits on healthcare organizations participating in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). Following the massive HIPAA breach at Anthem., Inc last month, the OIG decided to conduct a new information technology security audit on the insurer. The OIG Information Technology security audits set out to determine if security vulnerabilities exist that could potentially be used by hackers to gain access to servers and internal computer systems. The audits are not comprehensive, instead that samples a small proportion of the organizations servers to help build an overall picture of data security and whether sufficient steps have been taken to prevent hackers from conducting malicious cyber attacks.
A cancer hospital company dropped a longshot bid Tuesday to win permission from lawmakers to expand its patient base in the state. Illinois-based Cancer Treatment Centers of America suggested in a statement that it might try again in the next legislative session. The company had sought to persuade lawmakers to let it go back on two pledges that sealed a deal with them in 2008 that cleared the way for a center in Newnan. Georgia hospitals vehemently opposed CTCA's expansion plans, casting that as an attempt to circumvent Georgia's "certificate of need" system that, among other things, regulates construction of new hospitals.
Prescription drugs spending jumped 13 percent last year, the biggest annual increase since 2003, according to the nation's largest pharmacy benefits manager. Express Scripts Holding Co. said the jump was fueled in part by pricey specialty drugs that accounted for more than 31 cents of every dollar spent on prescriptions even though they represented only 1 percent of all U.S. prescriptions filled. Specialty drugs are advanced medications that treat complex or chronic conditions like multiple sclerosis or certain forms of cancer. Many are seen as treatment breakthroughs, especially newer hepatitis C treatments like Sovaldi from Gilead Sciences Inc.