OVERNIGHT HEALTHCARE: Medical cures bill hits setback

by Sarah Ferris and Peter Sullivan - 05/20/15 7:00 PM ET

The House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday abruptly delayed a markup of its bipartisan medical cures bill for 24 hours over the question of how to pay for the legislation.

The 21st Century Cures measure, aimed at streamlining the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process for new cures, was scheduled for a markup Wednesday morning, but the committee delayed it until Thursday with less than two hours’ notice.

The committee’s chairman, Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), told reporters Wednesday that members are still in talks about cuts to mandatory spending programs in order to offset the cost of the bill.

{mosads}”We could simply just raise the authorization level but there’s no guarantee the appropriators will ever spend it,” Upton said. “So what we have to do is create a fund in essence from mandatory spending cuts.”

The details of what the offsets will be have been closely held. Asked if the debate is over how much of the money will come from drug companies, Upton replied, “No, not really.”

Democrats have asked for another 24 hours to review the proposed offsets. Read more here.

INSURER BREACH EXPOSES PATIENT RECORDS: Health insurer CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield revealed Wednesday that hackers infiltrated a database with the records of 1.1 million customers.

It’s the third major health insurance data breach in 2015, following mammoth hacks at Anthem and Premera BlueCross that exposed over 90 million customers’ records and Social Security numbers.

CareFirst said the breach occurred last June, but was only discovered recently during a security upgrade in the wake of the Anthem and Premera incidents.

Wednesday’s disclosure is likely to reignite worries about the cyber defenses in the health insurance industry.

Fortunately for CareFirst’s customers, no credit card information, financial data or Social Security numbers were exposed in the cyberattack, lowering the risk of identity theft.

Still, CareFirst warned the database does contain enough sensitive information — including names, birth dates, email addresses and subscriber identification numbers — that its customers are at risk of credit fraud and identity theft. Read more here.

‘UNDERINSURED’ POPULATION DOUBLES One-quarter of people with healthcare coverage are paying so much for deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses that they are considered underinsured, according to a new study.

An estimated 31 million insured people are not adequately protected against high medical costs, a figure that has doubled since 2003, according to the 2014 national health insurance survey by the Commonwealth Fund.

Rising deductibles — even under ObamaCare — are the biggest problem for most people who are considered underinsured, according to the 22-page report.

“The steady growth in the proliferation and size of deductibles threatens to increase underinsurance in the years ahead,” the report warns.

The data is an early warning sign for the Obama administration, which has promised that the millions of people who gained insurance under the president’s law would have affordable access to healthcare.

The survey found that millions of people are paying into the insurance system but are largely unable to reap the benefits.

People who purchase the lowest-quality health insurance are also less likely to see a doctor when they are ill or injured because they fear their high out-of-pocket costs.

“People who have high deductibles do tend to skimp on healthcare,” the study’s lead author, Sara Collins, told reporters. Read more here.

Thursday’s schedule

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a mark-up for its 21st Century Cures bill.

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