Despite repeated Congressional and Executive branch efforts, the full Affordable Care Act is still in place. That means insurance-shopping season is nearly upon us: Open Enrollment begins Nov. 1 (and ends Dec. 15). But there’s less money being spent on advertising and outreach this year, which means even the basics can be hard to get solid information about. So here’s our when-and-where of getting yourself covered for 2018. [More]
Pharma Medicine
5 Things Experts Say You Should Know About Obamacare Open Enrollment
By 10.30.17
If anything is true of 2017, it is this: Confusion reigns. And nowhere do we see that more than in healthcare, where failed repeal attempts, executive orders, sudden, out-of-the-blue policy changes, and general unpredictable chaos have dominated the news.
But the fact remains that Americans still need access to medical care, and for those who don’t have insurance through their employer or the government, the 2018 Open Enrollment period for individual insurance plans officially begins on Nov. 1. So what are the things everyone should know, but which may have been overlooked amid the maelstrom? [More]
More Than Half Of Opioid Overdose Deaths Now Involve Synthetic Drugs Like Fentanyl
By 10.27.17
If you’ve had any doubt that America is in the throes of an opioid epidemic, perhaps a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will hit the point home. [More]
Amazon Has Obtained Pharmaceutical Wholesaler Licenses In 12 States
By 10.26.17
There are a few things left that Amazon.com doesn’t sell, and one of them is prescription drugs. Yet for most of the last year, analysts and retail-watchers have speculated that Amazon may be looking to get into the prescription drug business. Now there’s proof that the retailer has taken more official steps toward becoming a mail-order pharmacy. [More]
CVS Reportedly Looking To Buy Aetna Insurance For $66 Billion
By 10.26.17
Earlier this year, health insurance giant Aetna was left broken-hearted when its $37 billion merger with Humana fell through because federal antitrust regulators apparently hate to see two mammoth insurers so in love with each other. But in this autumn season, there’s a rare bloom of corporate romance peeking out, as Aetna has reportedly found itself a suitor in the form of CVS Health. [More]
White House Declares Opioid Crisis Is Public Health Emergency. Now What?
By 10.26.17
It’s pretty clear to anyone who has been paying attention that the opioid abuse epidemic in America has reached emergency status. But it’s one thing for people to casually use that term and another for the White House to actually declare a “Public Health Emergency.” Here’s why. [More]
Most Walgreens Pharmacies Now Offering Overdose Antidote Narcan Over-The-Counter
By 10.26.17
Opioid overdoses can, and do, happen just about anywhere, from schools to public parks, from homes to workplaces, restaurants, and night clubs. Narcan (naloxone) is a drug that can be used to halt an overdose, and it’s increasingly being used to save lives by people other than police, first responders, or emergency room staff. In fact, the demand for Narcan is such that Walgreens will now be stocking the treatment and selling it over-the-counter at its pharmacies. [More]
Report: Chocolate Industry Paid For Research Showing That Chocolate Is Healthy
By 10.19.17
Chocolate isn’t just delicious (although it definitely is); according to some studies out there, it’s good for your health, too. But as you’ve probably guessed, the research supporting that idea isn’t exactly objective: It was commissioned by chocolate makers [More]
Most Eye Drops Are Too Big For The Human Eye, Wasting Money And Medicine
By 10.19.17
When you’re using eye drops and feel like you’re spilling half of each dose down your face, it’s not because you’re clumsy. You are, in fact, spilling what can be pricey medicine down your cheeks or into your sinuses, because most eye drop bottles dispense at least twice as much as you need. [More]
Senators Propose Bipartisan Compromise To Restore Insurance Subsidies
By 10.17.17
President Trump recently announced that he was pulling the plug on $7 billion a year in federal cost-sharing subsidies to insurance companies selling individual policies to lower-income Americans, but today a pair of influential senators announced a bipartisan compromise that, if approved, would restore those payments for two years, while also giving states more flexibility with rules under the current law. [More]
Trump Cuts Off Billions Of Dollars In Cost-Sharing Payments To Insurers, Putting Obamacare Marketplaces At Risk
By 10.12.17 — Updated: 10.13.17
Only hours after signing an executive order that undermines several key aspects of the current health care law, President Trump has made good on his repeated threat to pull the plug on billions of dollars in subsidies provided by the federal government to insurers in the individual plan market. [More]
California Sues To Stop Trump Administration Rollback Of Insurance Birth Control Requirement
By 10.6.17
Within hours of the Trump Administration announcing two new rules that would allow businesses to opt out of offering their employees insurance that covers birth control, the attorney general for the state of California has filed a lawsuit to block the regulations from going into effect. [More]
Trump Administration Undoes Birth Control Requirement For Employer-Sponsored Insurance
By 10.6.17
Under current law, most employer-sponsored health insurance plans have to include birth control coverage, but that will soon change, with the Trump administration announcing today that it is rescinding this requirement, allowing employers to decide whether they want to include this coverage in the policies they offer. [More]
4 Things The Trump Administration Has Done To Ensure Obamacare Enrollment Is More Difficult This Year
By 10.2.17
Tom Price failed to get the Affordable Care Act repealed and replaced during his brief tenure as Health and Human Services Secretary, but the surgeon-turned-congressman did manage to do some real damage to the annual ACA enrollment process before he left — making sure people have less time to sign up, less help getting through the process, and fewer reminders that the process has gotten more difficult this year. [More]
Health & Human Services Secretary Tom Price Resigns Amid Private Jet Scandal
By 9.29.17
Tom Price, the physician-turned-congressman who recently became Donald Trump’s first Health and Human Services Secretary, has officially resigned in the middle of a scandal involving Price’s apparent overuse of private jets for government — and possibly personal — travel. [More]
State Says OxyContin Maker “Conducted Uncontrolled Experiment On American Public”
By 9.28.17
The state of Washington and the City of Seattle filed separate lawsuits today against Purdue Pharma, maker of controversial opioid pain medication OxyContin, alleging that the drug company lied to doctors, regulators, and the public about the efficacy and safety of a drug that many place at the center of the ongoing opioid epidemic. [More]
The Average Nursing Home Room Now Costs Nearly $100K Per Year
By 9.27.17
Sure, you might be a spry 30-something living your best life, leaving the future for the future. But a new report suggests you might want to start planning for you later years, as the costs of long-term care are surging and don’t appear to be stabilizing anytime soon. [More]
Which Chain Restaurants Are Still Failing At Reducing The Use Of Antibiotics?
By 9.27.17
Feeling pressure from customers, scientists, doctors, and public health advocates, a growing number of fast food and fast-casual restaurant chains are now taking steps to eliminate at least some medically unnecessary antibiotics from the animals they source for their meat. At the same time, nearly all of these positive changes have only focused thus far on curbing antibiotic overuse in chickens, and nearly half of the industry’s biggest players still have no plan in place to deal with this issue at all. [More]
