February 5, 2018 

Volume 5, Number 3

In This Issue

Indiana Medicaid Drops Coverage

‘Right To Try’ Act Gains Momentum

Future Medicare Advantage Hikes

CDC Director Resigns

ObamaCare Fix

Amazon and Healthcare

Do Standing Desks Really Help?

TJG On Facebook

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Kaiser Health News: Indiana Medicaid Drops 25K From Coverage For Failing To Pay Premiums
As the Trump administration moves to give states more flexibility in running Medicaid, advocates for the poor are keeping a close eye on Indiana to see whether such conservative ideas improve or harm care. Indiana in 2015 implemented some of the most radical changes seen to the state-federal program that covers nearly 1 in 4 poor Americans — including charging some adults a monthly premium and locking out some of those who don’t pay for six months. (Galewitz, 2/1)

Source: Kaiser

The Hill: Right To Try Act Gains Momentum After Trump Pitch 
Advocates of “right to try” legislation have been given a jolt of momentum by President Trump’s decision to tout the bill during his State of the Union address. The legislation would allow patients with a serious illness to request access to experimental medicines that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hasn’t yet approved. (Roubein, 2/1)

Source: The Hill

Reuters: U.S. Government Proposes 1.84 Percent Hike In 2019 Payments To Medicare Insurers
The U.S. government on Thursday proposed an increase of 1.84 percent on average in its 2019 payments to the health insurers that manage Medicare Advantage insurance plans for more than 20 million elderly or disabled people. The proposed rate, which affects how much insurers charge for monthly healthcare premiums, plan benefits and ultimately, how much they profit, was near analyst expectations, and insurer shares were largely unchanged in after-hours trading. (Humer, 2/1)

Source: Reuters

The New York Times: Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, C.D.C. Director, Resigns Over Tobacco And Other Investments
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resigned on Wednesday, in the middle of the nation’s worst flu epidemic in nearly a decade, because of her troubling financial investments in tobacco and health care companies that posed potential conflicts of interest. (Kaplan, 1/31)

Source: The NY Times

The Hill: House GOP Warming To ObamaCare Fix 
Key House Republicans are warming to a proposal aimed at bringing down ObamaCare premiums, raising the chances of legislative action this year to stabilize the health-care law. House GOP aides and lobbyists say that top House Republicans are interested in funding what is known as reinsurance. The money could be included in a coming bipartisan government funding deal or in another legislative vehicle. (Sullivan, 2/1)

Source: The Hill

The New York Times: Amazon Wants To Disrupt Health Care In America. In China, Tech Giants Already Have.
Amazon and two other American titans are trying to shake up health care by experimenting with their own employees’ coverage. By Chinese standards, they’re behind the curve. Technology companies like Alibaba and Tencent have made health care a priority for years, and are using China as their laboratory. After testing online medical advice and drug tracking systems, they are now focused on a more advanced tool: artificial intelligence. (Wee and Mozur, 1/31)

Source: The NY Times

Bloomberg: Do Standing Desks Really Help You Lose Weight? 
Are standing desks really doing us any good? That question has divided workplaces since sitting started going out of fashion about five years ago. Our sedentary lifestyles were killing us, so standing, the thinking went, was the logical antidote. Sitting too long has been associated with diabetes, hypertension, some forms of cancer, anxiety and a generally greater probability of early death. However, a few years and hundreds of studies later, the naysayers began arguing that the benefits of standing had been exaggerated. (Greenfield, 2/1)

Source: Bloomberg

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