August 10, 2017 

Volume 4, Number 14

In This Issue

Doctor’s Note for Sunscreen

PA Insurer Collapse

First ACA Enrollment of Trump Era

Better Alzheimer’s Tests

No Clear Path on Obamacare

Employer-Based Health Coverage

Right-To-Try Drug Bill

TJG On Facebook

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The Washington Post: Some Schools Don't Let Kids Bring In Sunscreen Without A Doctor's Note State Rep. Craig Hall of Utah has four redheaded children, lives in the state with the highest rate of melanoma in the country and buys sunscreen “in the Costco size.” He is an unabashed proponent of sun protection. But when Hall, a Republican, introduced legislation this year to allow kids to bring sunscreen to school — which starts Aug. 21 in his district — he said his fellow lawmakers were less enthusiastic. “My colleagues’ first reaction to this bill was mostly ‘Seriously? We need a bill for this?’" (Moore, 8/7)

Source: The Washington Post

California Healthline: Why A Pennsylvania Insurer’s Collapse Could Whack Californians In The Wallet Among all the reasons for rising health insurance premiums, this one might be the most obscure: A long-term care insurer in Pennsylvania just went belly-up. Health insurers across the country are on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in losses stemming from the recent insolvency of Penn Treaty American Corp., of Allentown, Pa., and its two subsidiaries. (Terhune, 8/7)

Source: California Healthline

The Washington Post: The First Affordable Care Act Enrollment Season Of The Trump Era Is Still A Mystery As the fate of the Affordable Care Act dangled dramatically in the Senate last month, the Trump administration abruptly canceled contracts with two companies that have helped thousands of Americans in 18 cities find health plans under the law. The suspension of the $22 million contracts, which ends enrollment fairs and insurance sign-ups in public libraries, is one of the few public signs of how an administration eager to kill the law will run the ACA’s approaching fifth enrollment season. (Goldstein and Winfield Cunningham, 8/6)

Source: The Washington Post

NPR: Better, Cheaper Alzheimer's Tests In The Works Efforts to develop a treatment that stalls the memory-robbing devastation of Alzheimer's disease have so far been unsuccessful, but scientists are making strides in another important area: the development of better tests to tell who has the condition. Their aim is to develop more accurate, cheaper and less invasive tests to detect the biological markers of Alzheimer's-induced changes in the brain. (Wang, 8/4)

Source: NPR

Politico: Republicans Leave Town With No Clear Path On Obamacare Republicans are leaving Washington Thursday for a month of recess with no clear direction on what they’ll do next on Obamacare. Senate leaders want to just drop the issue altogether. Conservatives say they’re still fighting for repeal. Moderates want to launch a bipartisan effort to fix the shaky Obamacare system. The reality is that, after seven years of unity on repealing Obamacare, Republicans are rudderless on how to talk about or address the defining domestic policy issue of nearly the past decade for their party, and they have no clear plans despite holding all the levers of power in Washington. Now, they face a month away from the Capitol, answering to their home-state voters about their lack of progress. (Haberkorn and Demko, 8/3)

Source: Politico

The Associated Press: Employer-Based Health Coverage Likely To Stay Awhile If you are like roughly half of Americans who get their health insurance through an employer, relax. The turmoil around "Obamacare" all but guarantees you'll still be able to do that. The reasons? Unemployment is low, skilled workers are hard to find — and people expect employers to provide health care. (8/4)

Source: The Associated Press

Politico: Libertarians Score Big Victory In 'Right-To-Try' Drug Bill The bill, S. 204 (115), passed swiftly and easily in a Senate bitterly divided over health care. The powerful pharmaceutical lobby, which had quietly opposed an earlier version, kept an unusually low profile. The industry has been focused on fighting off any efforts to go after drug pricing, which President Donald Trump has said he would tackle. (Karlin-Smith, 8/3)

Source: Politico

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