Republicans won a Senate majority in part by pledging to repeal Obamacare. Now they have to figure out what to do instead. Mitch McConnell, soon to be the Senate majority leader, has to strike a somewhat delicate balance on the 2010 health care law: satisfy the conservative base, as well as senators who campaigned on repeal, without appearing to use the GOP's total control of Congress solely to throw stones at the past. His critics on both sides will make life difficult: Some conservatives still won't accept anything short of the impossible, but the GOP won't be well positioned for 2016 if it can't convince voters that it is more than the anti-Obamacare party. Still, a plan to strike that balance is already taking shape.
Some Ebola patients need to forgo potentially life-saving treatments so researchers can see how they fare compared to people who get the experimental drugs, a Food and Drug Administration official said today. While randomized trials would be "challenging," they're needed to understand whether or how well the medicines work, said Edward Cox, director of the FDA's Office of Antimicrobial Products, at an American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene conference in New Orleans. Trials would compare "the best supportive care versus the best supportive care with a drug," he said.
Obamacare may not have played as great a role on Election Day as predicted, but President Obama's signature legislation has assumed a larger than anticipated role somewhere else this fall: health-sector stock performance. As third-quarter earnings reports roll in, the improvement in profits that hospitals and insurance companies attributed to the law three months ago as being maybe no more than a one-time pop are looking more durable. "People are coming around to the idea that maybe it's good,'' said Les Funtleyder, portfolio manager at New York hedge fund Esquared Asset Management and a former Wall Street health-care analyst. "Maybe it's not a flash in the pan but a theme going forward."
Republican victories in top governors' races have dashed Democratic hopes of expanding Medicaid in more states under ObamaCare. Voters reelected GOP governors in Kansas, Maine, Wisconsin and Florida on Tuesday night — all races that could have boosted hopes for expansion had Democrats won. Most but not every reelected GOP governor oppose expanding Medicaid under ObamaCare. Florida's Rick Scott, for example, backs the idea but has not pursued it. The election results might also threaten the alternative Medicaid expansion implemented in Arkansas under Gov. Mike Beebe (D), who was term-limited out of office.
Health insurers are unleashing a blizzard of ads, letters, live events and other efforts to reach consumers, as the industry ramps up for the reopening of the health law's marketplaces on Nov. 15. The companies' outreach task is more complicated than it was last fall, when the exchanges made their debut. Now, insurers are trying to hold on to an estimated 7.3 million existing enrollees, as well as dig out millions of new customers who declined to sign up before. At the same time, they are pushing for a share of an increasingly crowded market, as more competitors have emerged in a number of states. [Subscription Required]
Imagine you're an entrepreneur with access to a vast, largely untapped market worth billions of dollars that will continue to expand for years to come. This market is at your doorstep. It is Americans aged 50 and older, and it represents more than 100 million people responsible for $7 trillion in economic activity each year. If this market were a country, its gross national product would be exceeded only by the United States ($16.2 trillion) and China ($9.1 trillion), according to a study from market research firm Parks Associates. If it is not already, this "Longevity Economy," defined as the market involving Americans 50 and older, should be a priority for every entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and innovator in Silicon Valley and across the nation.