Overnight Health Care: Arkansas Medicaid work requirements approved | HHS chief vows action on health costs | Shkreli ordered to forfeit $7.36M in assets | Jon Stewart pushes for 9/11 bill
Arkansas Medicaid work requirements approved
The Trump administration on Monday approved Arkansas’ request to impose work requirements on certain Medicaid beneficiaries, but punted on a controversial proposal that would have rolled back the state’s Medicaid expansion.
Arkansas became the third state to get permission to impose work requirements after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved a Medicaid waiver that included a requirement for recipients to work, participate in job training or job search activities for 80 hours a month.
But the administration did not make a decision on a request to roll back the eligibility level for Medicaid beneficiaries. CMS did not outright reject the provision, and Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said he is continuing to work with the administration on it.
If that provision had been approved, combined with the work requirements, an estimated 60,000 people were projected to lose coverage.
Hutchinson sought to restrict the program so that only people who are at the federal poverty level would be eligible. The federal poverty line this year is $12,140 for a single person, or $25,100 for a family of four.
HHS chief warns hospital execs change is coming on health care costs
President Trump’s new health secretary issued a warning Monday to a room of hospital executives about soaring health care costs: change is coming, whether you like it or not.
Speaking at the Federation of American Hospitals convention in D.C., Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar laid out a series of actions the administration will take that are aimed at lowering health care costs. And he said the administration wouldn’t be deterred by powerful special interests.
“Today is an opportunity to let everyone know that we take these shifts seriously, and they’re going to happen — one way or another,” Azar said. “The administration and this president are not interested in incremental steps. We are unafraid of disrupting existing arrangements simply because they’re backed by powerful special interests.”
The administration will make it easier for patients to access their health records, encourage health providers to be more transparent about costs of procedures and services and remove regulations that “impede” innovation. HHS will also “experiment” with payment models in Medicare and Medicaid to “drive value and quality,” he said.
Shkreli ordered to forfeit $7.36M in assets, could include Wu-Tang Clan album
A federal judge has ordered former drug company CEO Martin Shkreli to forfeit $7.36 million in assets, Reuters reported Monday.
Those assets could include a Picasso painting and a single-copy Wu-Tang Clan album Shkreli won at auction.
Judge Kiyo Matsumoto said that Shkreli could also hand over $5 million in a brokerage account and his stake in Vyera Pharmaceuticals, a pharmaceutical company he founded.
Matsumoto ruled last week that Shkreli would be held responsible for $10.4 million in financial losses linked to his time as head of Turing Pharmaceuticals.
Shkreli was convicted last August on three charges of deceiving hedge-fund investors. He will be sentenced on Friday, and could face up to 20 years in prison.
Jon Stewart makes Capitol Hill appearance for 9/11 bill
Former late-night host Jon Stewart joined New York lawmakers on Monday to call on the White House to withdraw a proposal to reorganize the health-care program for 9/11 first responders.
In a press conference outside the Capitol alongside first responders, Stewart said President Trump should “put a stop” to the effort.
“He’s a guy that has supported the first responders and veterans, he talks about how much he loves them,” Stewart said of Trump. “It’s a very simple thing. I’m sure he could put a stop to it this afternoon if he wanted to. And so I would urge him to do so.”
The Trump administration is considering a reorganization that would move the 9/11 health-care program from oversight under the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), a worker safety agency.
Stewart and the lawmakers argued that doing so would needlessly upend the program, which provides health care for first responders with cancer and other illnesses caused by exposure to materials at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
On a call with reporters, a senior administration official pushed back on the claims at the press conference, saying there is no effort to change services or funding through the 9/11 program.
Instead, the official says the administration is simply reorganizing the program to fit under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while NIOSH, which the official said is more research-focused, would be under the National Institutes of Health.
Manchin unveils bill to change controversial opioid enforcement law
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) unveiled legislation Monday aimed at helping the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) improve its ability to stop suspicious shipments of opioids from flooding communities.
Manchin’s bill changes a law that drew a firestorm of criticism after an explosive “60 Minutes”–Washington Post joint investigation reported the bill made it harder for the DEA to freeze opioid shipments from drug companies in the midst of a full-blown crisis.
The news reports named Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) as the chief advocate for the law, called the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act. He withdrew his nomination to serve as White House drug czar after receiving pushback over his role in the bill, which he argues hasn’t been framed correctly.
Manchin said the legislation wrongly weakened the DEA’s ability to enforce the nation’s drug laws.
“This bill will make sure that the DEA regains the legal authority that was wrongly stripped from the agency in 2016 to ensure that they can go after companies taking advantage of the system, including those companies that send millions of opioid pills to tiny towns in West Virginia,” Manchin said in a press release.
What we’re reading
Appeals court raises doubts on attempt to settle ObamaCare litigation (Politico)
Despite push for a universal flu vaccine, the ‘holy grail’ stays out of reach (Stat)
At new health office, ‘civil rights’ means doctors’ right to say no to patients (Kaiser Health News)
Trump’s hidden war on Medicaid (Vox)
State by state
State efforts to bring back individual mandate stall (Governing)
Kentucky could become the first state to tax opioid prescriptions (Stat)
States weigh response to proposed short-term health plan rule (CQ)
Changes to Arkansas’ Medicaid expansion program seen to save $356M (Arkansas Online)
From The Hill’s opinion page:
Big Pharma’s lobbyists are losing despite their ‘pass the buck’ campaigns
GOP’s proposed Medicare voucher program would lead to demise of the system
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