Friday, November 07, 2008

• Congressional Activity on Comprehensive Health Reform Ramps Up

 

Congressional Activity on Comprehensive Health Reform Ramps Up
[Nov 07, 2008]

      Efforts to draft comprehensive health reform legislation are advancing in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Finance committees, according to several newspaper reports.

Senate HELP Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) plans to lead a unified Democratic effort to develop and pass legislation based on President-elect Barack Obama's health care proposal to expand health coverage to more U.S. residents, committee spokesperson Michael Myers told reporters Thursday at a Families USA briefing, CQ HealthBeat reports. Kennedy began organizing discussions between his staff and health care industry stakeholders this summer. The roundtable talks have mostly involved Democratic lawmakers, but Myers said staffers expect to begin meeting with Republicans now that the election is over.

Myers said that the committee has not yet begun to draft legislative language and has not settled on the final aspects of an overhaul. However, he said that a "one-bill" approach is central to Kennedy's strategy to pass an overhaul. "There's a growing recognition that the best way, maybe the only way, [is] for Democrats to unite around one bill," Myers said (Nylen, CQ HealthBeat, 11/6). Myers also said that Kennedy would act on "cues from the Obama White House" on health care and expects that Congress will act on an overhaul measure during Obama's first term (Marcus, Bloomberg, 11/6).

A comprehensive health care bill could require Congress to make exceptions to pay-as-you-go budgeting rules, Myers said at the briefing. According to Myers, "Certainly, there's a strong inclination within large quarters of Congress that (health reform) has to be substantially paid for, but whether it's every penny, every dime -- those discussions still have to happen."

Obama's plan is estimated to cost about $60 billion, according to his campaign's estimates. Obama during his campaign said that he would pay for his proposal with a combination of not renewing tax cuts enacted by President Bush and with costs savings from some of the proposals within the overall plan. Myers said that the funding issue "isn't settled yet," adding, "Certainly, President Obama and his White House will have a lot to say about how we address this within the budget" (Young, The Hill, 11/6).

Myers added, "The question is no longer whether we will pursue health reform, but when and exactly in what form" (Bloomberg, 11/6). The New York Times reports that party leadership is considering "who will take the lead on the issue of national health care policy given the precarious state of [Kennedy], ... who has brain cancer" (Herszenhorn/Hulse, New York Times, 11/7).

Analysts at a forum sponsored by Congressional Quarterly and the Public Affairs Council "played down the likelihood" that the Obama administration and Congress would even attempt to pass a unified overhaul bill. Robert Laszewski, president of Health Policy and Strategy Associates, said crafting an all-encompassing bill would be contentious, even within the Democratic party, and the "$1 trillion budget deficit this year" would stand in the way. Laszewski added that the Obama administration should not attempt to go too far with health care reform. "Harry and Louise are alive and well," he said (Nylen, CQ HealthBeat, 11/6).

Baucus
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) plans to release a white paper next week containing specific policy issues and proposals he sees as priorities for the newly elected Congress (Edney, CongressDaily, 11/6). In a letter sent on Thursday to Obama, Baucus wrote that the paper will "detail specific policy areas and proposals on which I believe the Congress must move forward to achieve successful health care reform -- from options for strengthening the employer-based system and reforming the delivery of health care for efficiency and quality to existing ideas on comparative effectiveness research and health information technology" (Carey, CQ HealthBeat, 11/6).

Baucus added, "Many of my reform objectives as Finance Committee Chairman will dovetail with your own health plan; in the places where our opinions and policy plan diverge, I am eager to work with you to achieve consensus." Finance Committee staffers currently are briefing Obama's transition team on the proposal, which is expected to contain insurance pooling arrangements to help businesses and consumers obtain affordable coverage; tax-code options designed to reduce inefficiencies and costs; a focus on preventive care; and Baucus' ideas about the roles to be played by individuals, employers and government in creating and funding an overhauled health care system, according to CongressDaily. Baucus has met with Kennedy to discuss the possibility of crafting a single health care overhaul bill (CongressDaily, 11/6).

SCHIP
In related news, key Democratic members of committees responsible for SCHIP have been meeting with lobbyists for child advocacy groups in recent weeks and are expected to pass a large expansion of the program early in the next congressional session, CQ Today reports. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday in an interview with National Public Radio said SCHIP legislation "will probably be one of the first bills we would put on President Obama's desk." Advocates say it is important to keep SCHIP separate from a comprehensive health overhaul bill.

Gordon Whitman, spokesperson for PICO National Network, said, "I think there's a growing understanding ... that given the economy, you should do SCHIP quickly, and it actually builds momentum for broader reform and doesn't step on it."

Child advocates said they think the legislation will be similar to $35 billion expansion that President Bush vetoed in 2007, except with more funding -- potentially as much as $50 billion over five years -- to reflect inflation. The bill could include one "controversial tweak" that would lift a prohibition on legal immigrant women and children enrolling in Medicaid or SCHIP for their first five years in the U.S.

According to CQ Today, Democrats will face several challenges, including how to fund the expansion -- a previously-proposed increase in the tobacco tax intended to pay for the expansion would not be enough -- and a deadline to enact the legislation. New spending on SCHIP is authorized only through March (Wayne, CQ Today, 11/6).

Stimulus
Also in related news, Democrats are developing a $100 billion economic stimulus package that could be considered this month if Bush agrees to enter negotiations on the matter. The package is expected to include additional funds for state Medicaid programs. However, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said, "We've long said that the package that they have put forward so far was not something we thought that we could support."

Another stimulus bill, to be drafted after Obama takes office in January, "could grow to well over $100 billion," the Washington Post reports (Montgomery/Marr, Washington Post, 11/7).

Opinion Piece
"If you believe what the pundits are saying, enacting universal health insurance in the next year won't be difficult: It will be impossible" because "it would cost too much money, antagonize too many interest groups" and "require too much raw political muscle," columnist Jonathan Cohn writes in The New Republic. He notes that while the Senate Finance, HELP and Budget committees have formed working groups to discuss reform legislation, "It's easy to see how the emerging consensus could break down as the congressional Democrats settle on details." Cohn continues, "But that's no reason for Obama to think small."

Cohn writes, "Obama and his allies also need to realize that delaying action on health care is a gamble of its own." Cohn writes, "The good news is that all the talk about health care has put Obama in a perfect position to push it," adding, "He can legitimately claim his election is a mandate for that change" (Cohn, The New Republic, 11/19).

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Dingell Counters Waxman's Bid for Chair of House Energy and Commerce Committee
[Nov 07, 2008]

      House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.) countered House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair Henry Waxman's (D-Calif.) bid to seek Dingell's position on Thursday by sending a letter to all Democratic caucus members asking for their support, CQ Today reports. In the letter, Dingell cited his track record for moving "enormously complex and difficult legislation" as the chief reason why he should remain chair (Davenport, CQ Today, 11/6). The letter also laid out Dingell's plans to aggressively take up health care, climate change and food and drug safety legislation (Newmyer, Roll Call, 11/6). Both Dingell and Waxman began telephoning other lawmakers to garner support.

According to CQ Today, Waxman's challenge might be intended to incite debate over Dingell's high-profile global warming legislation, on which the committee likely will focus next year. Waxman is expected to gain support from the more liberal members of the caucus who have pressed for stronger legislation on climate change in the past and want to seize the opportunity to achieve this goal. CQ Today reports that Waxman also has a "strong interest in health care financing," another issue which is expected to be a priority of the committee in 2009 (CQ Today, 11/6).

Roll Call reports that sources said Democrats might strike a deal with Waxman to avoid an "embarrassing public showdown between the two Democratic titans, just as the party prepares to usher in a strengthened majority." Some Democrats reportedly have suggested offering Waxman the position in the next Congress in return for a concession now (Roll Call, 11/6).

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Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Highlights News Coverage of Prospects for FDA, Rule Changes on Health Care Issues in New Administration
[Nov 07, 2008]

      Summaries of several recent developments related to prospects for FDA and rule changes on health care issues in the new administration of President-elect Barack Obama appear below.

• FDA: Obama could seek to increase FDA oversight of imported foods and medications and expand the authority of the agency to regulate additional products, such as tobacco, the AP/Miami Herald reports. Obama campaign adviser Neera Tanden said that he will make food safety a priority for FDA. According to AP/Herald, Obama "is being urged to move quickly to appoint a FDA commissioner," and some possibilities include Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Steven Nissen; Susan Wood, former director of FDA's Office of Women's Health; and Baltimore Health Commissioner Joshua Sharfstein (Alonso-Zaldivar, AP/Miami Herald, 11/6). Nissen and Sharfstein "are among candidates being backed by consumer advocacy groups critical of the agency," and FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Director Janet Woodcock, a fourth possibility for agency commissioner, "is the top choice of drugmakers," Bloomberg reports (Blum, Bloomberg, 11/7).
  
  
• Rule changes: Congressional Democrats and their health care advisers have begun to prepare a list of executive orders, rules and regulations issued by the Bush administration that they hope Obama will overturn after he takes office, the Washington Post's "44" reports. According to the Post's "44," the "most obvious target is lifting federal restrictions on embryonic stem cell research." Congressional Democrats also hope to overturn a policy directive issued last year by HHS that limits the ability of states to expand their SCHIP programs (Connolly, "44," Washington Post, 11/6).

Opinion Pieces
Summaries of several recent opinion pieces that addressed health care issues in the Obama administration appear below.

• Paul Krugman, New York Times: "Right now, many commentators are urging Mr. Obama to think small" on his agenda in part because they maintain that the "financial and economic crisis leaves no room for action on, say, health care reform," but Obama should have the "good sense to ignore this advice," Times columnist Krugman writes. According to Krugman, "standard textbook economics says that it's OK, in fact appropriate, to run temporary deficits in the face of a depressed economy," and "one or two years of red ink, while it would add modestly to future federal interest expenses, shouldn't stand in the way of a health care plan that, even if quickly enacted into law, probably wouldn't take effect until 2011." He adds, "Helping the neediest in a time of crisis, through expanded health and unemployment benefits, is the morally right thing to do; it's also a far more effective form of economic stimulus than cutting the capital gains tax." A "serious progressive agenda -- call it a new New Deal -- isn't just economically possible, it's exactly what the economy needs," Krugman writes, adding, "The bottom line, then, is that Barack Obama shouldn't listen to the people trying to scare him into being a do-nothing president" (Krugman, New York Times, 11/7).
  
  
• Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), Philadelphia Inquirer: The question of whether Obama will "be led to the left by Congress" on health care and other issues or "will ... lead in a more moderate direction" remains unanswered, Santorum writes in an Inquirer opinion piece. Santorum writes, "If he is led, our economy will struggle under greater taxes on investors and higher-income workers," federal "domestic spending would explode" and employees of "small businesses would get Medicaid-like government health insurance, paid for by taxing their employers." In addition, if Obama is led by Congress, he would "require businesses to provide paid family medical leave," and embryonic stem cell research would "get federal funding, as would cloning of human beings for research purposes," Santorum writes (Santorum, Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/6).
  
  
• Bret Swanson, Wall Street Journal: "If Barack Obama ran for president by calling for a heavier hand of government, he also won by running one of the most entrepreneurial campaigns in history," but questions remain about whether Obama will "come to see that unleashing the entrepreneur is the best way to raise the revenue he needs for his lofty priorities," such as health care, Swanson, a senior fellow and director of the Center for Global Innovation at the Progress & Freedom Foundation, writes in a Journal opinion piece. He writes, "We are not going to 'solve' the entitlements crisis by gouging American producers to pay for the current Medicare/Medicaid abomination," adding, "Much better to transcend the issue with medical innovations and an entrepreneurial, consumer-driven market where more physicians go into medical technology, more nurses replace doctors, more technologies replace doctor visits, and with properly-aligned incentives and real prices, more citizens take better care of their own health and thus their pocket books." According to Swanson, the "only way to escape current predictions of scarcity is the unforeseen abundance that entrepreneurship can bring" (Swanson, Wall Street Journal, 11/7).

Broadcast Coverage
NPR's "Morning Edition" on Thursday examined the prospects for the health care and other industries under the Obama administration. The segment includes comments from Les Funtleyder, a health care strategist for Miller Tabak, and Bruce Josten, chief lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (Keith, "Morning Edition," NPR, 11/6).

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MedPAC Adopts Recommendations To Improve Transparency of Financial Ties Between Industry, Physicians
[Nov 07, 2008]

      The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission on Thursday adopted five recommendations to Congress that would require disclosure of the health care industry's financial ties to physicians and other health care professionals, CQ HealthBeat reports. MedPAC will present the recommendations to Congress in March. According to the recommendations:

• Congress should require all manufacturers, distributors and their subsidiaries to report to HHS financial relationships with physicians, pharmacists, pharmaceutical benefits managers and their employees, as well as with hospitals, medical schools and medical or health organizations;
  
  
• Congress should direct the HHS secretary to post the information on a public Web site;
  
  
• All details regarding no-cost drug samples provided to physicians should be posted on the Web site so researchers can study the impact samples have on prescribing decisions;
  
  
• Congress should require all hospitals and other entities that bill Medicare for services to "annually report the ownership shares of each physician who directly or indirectly owns an interest in the entity (excluding publicly traded corporations)" and post the information on the Web site; and
  
  
• Lawmakers should require HHS to submit a report on the "types and prevalence of the financial relationships between hospitals and physicians."
  

MedPAC Chair Glenn Hackbarth said, "This is about transparency. It's not about condemnation" (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 11/6).

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Hospitals Experience Decline in Admissions as Some Patients Delay Elective Treatments
[Nov 07, 2008]

      Some hospitals have said they are experiencing a decline in patient admissions as the recent economic downturn might have led some patients to defer major procedures and elective treatments that are among the most lucrative for hospitals and "tend to subsidize the charity care and unpaid medical bills that are increasing as a result of the slow economy," the New York Times reports.

Overall inpatient hospital admissions were down by 2% to 3% in September compared with a year earlier, according to a survey by Citi Investment Research analyst Gary Taylor of 112 not-for-profit hospitals. Taylor said that during the economic downturn, the "only way [patients] are going to tap the health care system is through the emergency room," when they no can longer delay treatment. Some hospital industry experts say that patient admissions seem to have declined "more sharply" as "the economy has slid more steeply toward recession in recent weeks," the Times reports.

According to the Times, admission declines "may still seem relatively slight," but "hospital executives and consultants say it is already having a profound impact on many hospitals' profitability," because as "fewer paying customers show up, there has been a steady increase in the demand for services by patients without insurance or other financial wherewithal, many of whom show up at hospital emergency rooms." The Times reports, "The situation is exposing a main vulnerability" of U.S. hospitals: "When there is a decline in profitable procedures paid for by private insurance, hospitals have less money to offset the relatively lower fees they receive from government insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid." Richard Gundling, an executive at the Healthcare Financial Management Association, said, "Hospitals have to balance the mix of patients in order to survive."

Hospitals are trying to reduce costs by laying off workers, consolidating or closing facilities and halting new construction and development projects -- "an abrupt change for an industry traditionally seen as insulated from economic woes," the Times reports. In addition to declining admission rates, credit market problems are affecting not-for-profit hospitals that rely on raising capital for new developments through the municipal bond market. "Making matters worse for some hospitals has been a slowdown in bill payments, particularly by state Medicaid programs," the Times reports.

David Rock, a health care consultant at Carl Marks, predicts that hospitals soon will begin to re-evaluate and scale back on services they provide, paying particular attention to costly elective procedures, such as bariatric surgery. He said "It's safe to say hospitals are no longer recession-proof" (Abelson, New York Times, 11/7).

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U.S. Automakers Seek Additional $25B in Federal Loans To Help Fund Future Retiree Health Care
[Nov 07, 2008]

      Executives from United Auto Workers, General Motors, Chrysler and Ford on Thursday in a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and other congressional leaders asked for $25 billion in additional federal loans for health care payments for retirees, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports. The money from the loans would help cover the companies' contributions to a health benefit trust, or a voluntary employees' beneficiary association, for union retirees (Thomas, AP/Houston Chronicle, 11/6).

Under contracts negotiated last year, the automakers agreed to contribute about $56.5 billion to the VEBA, which UAW will manage. The VEBA, which will take effect in 2010 and remain operational for 80 years, will reduce retiree health benefit liabilities for the automakers by about $100 billion (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 4/4). The contracts stipulate that the companies in January 2010 must contribute $15 billion to the VEBA and an additional $15 billion by 2012.

Alan Reuther, legislative director for UAW, said the additional $25 billion in federal loans would provide the companies a better chance of immediately lining up other financing because their payments to the VEBA already would be covered. According to the AP/Chronicle, the executives also are seeking a share of the recent $700 billion bailout for Wall Street firms. Reuther said the meeting allowed the union and companies to make the case for additional federal assistance "to help the companies through this severe economic credit crisis" (AP/Houston Chronicle, 11/6).

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Minnesota Receives Waiver To Continue SCHIP Coverage for Some Parents
[Nov 07, 2008]

      HHS has granted Minnesota a waiver to allow the state to continue providing SCHIP coverage for some parents through June 2011, according to Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R), the AP/St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. The Bush administration has opposed the use of SCHIP funds for adults, but under the waiver the state will use SCHIP funds to cover kids and use Medicaid to cover about 18,000 parents, according to the AP/Pioneer Press. Without the waiver, the state would have lost up to $130 million in federal matching funds over the next three years (AP/St. Paul Pioneer Press, 11/6).

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Computer Glitch Improperly Drops Thousands of Florida Children From KidCare
[Nov 07, 2008]

      Thousands of children in Florida's KidCare program over the past five months may have been improperly dropped from the program's rolls because of a glitch in the state's computer system, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports. According to the News-Journal, Rich Robleto -- executive director of Florida Healthy Kids, which administers KidCare -- said 62,500 children left the program or were terminated from May to October, about 25,000 more than normal.

Child advocates and officials with Florida Healthy Kids said that notices to some families about premium due dates or enrollment renewal were sent late or not at all. In other cases, letters were not properly sent to inform parents that additional documentation was required to maintain coverage. Robleto said that some of the enrollment data may not have transferred properly when the new system was put in place in May. Robleto said eventually, the new system will "significantly improve service."

Florida Healthy Kids officials have started contacting the families of all 62,500 children, although it is unknown how many children were affected by the problem. The Florida Healthy Kids board recently reinstated some of the policies effective Nov. 1, for at least 30 days, until staff can determine that the cancellations were not caused by the computer problem, Robleto said (Circelli, Daytona Beach News-Journal, 11/5).

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Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Feature Highlights Recent Blog Entries
[Nov 07, 2008]

      While mainstream news coverage is still a primary source of information for the latest in policy debates and the health care marketplace, online blogs have become a significant part of the media landscape, often presenting new perspectives on policy issues and drawing attention to under-reported topics. To provide complete coverage of health policy issues, the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report offers readers a window into the world of blogs in a roundup of health policy-related blog posts. "Blog Watch," published on Tuesdays and Fridays, tracks a wide range of blogs, providing a brief description and relevant links for highlighted posts.

The American Prospect's Ezra Klein discusses his interview with Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.), where Baucus signaled his openness to using the budget reconciliation process, which limits debate to 20 hours and requires only a simple majority vote, to avoid the need to get 60 votes in the Senate to pass health reform legislation. Klein calls this "an implicit threat to Republicans" that they must be "constructive" in a debate over health reform.

Jeff Goldsmith on the Health Affairs blog examines three approaches President-elect Barack Obama could take to reform health care in the current economic environment, ranging from laying the groundwork for reform to a "Finish the New Deal" proposal. The Health Business Blog's David Williams says, considering job losses and depleted savings because of the market downturn, "I think it's quite possible that a consensus may emerge from the grassroots level in favor of a single-payer health care system," although he "[doesn't] want to see single-payer." Gooz News' Merrill Goozner writes, "Curbing the growth of health care spending will reassert itself as an issue next year because it is key to restoring this nation to economic competitiveness."

Michael Cannon of Cato@Liberty looks at a recent New York Times article that reported that women pay higher health insurance premiums than men on the individual market and says, "[I]f charging different premiums based on sex is wrong, why only look at health insurance? Men pay higher premiums for life and auto insurance." Cannon adds that "risk-based insurance premiums are an essential tool for containing health care costs" because higher premiums create pressure to be cost-conscious.

Niko Karvounis on the Century Foundation's Health Beat Blog writes that Obama's "National Health Insurance Exchange" gives "single-payers and free-marketeers a health care system close to their cherished principles" by offering a public plan while preserving a choice of private health insurance options.

Judith Graham of the Chicago Tribune's Triage blog points to a study by the Illinois Hospital Association that found Medicare's new non-payment policy for medical errors "will have little, if any, financial impact on hospitals" in part because Medicare still pays for complications resulting from some medical errors and payments will not be reduced for patients with other underlying medical complications.

Bob Laszewski on Health Care Policy and Marketplace Review lists bipartisan health legislation that could be enacted in the near-term, including SCHIP reauthorization, helping small businesses pay for health insurance, changing payments to Medicare Advantage plans and health information technology adoption. Laszewski says if the new president and Congress commit to bipartisanship, they can "break the gridlock on health care and make some modest progress."

Health Populi's Jane Sarasohn-Kahn looks at new programs at retail outlets to lower the price of some prescription drugs. Sarasohn-Kahn notes "a rational economic decision may be an irrational one for health outcomes."

Insure Blog's Henry Stern looks at North Carolina's new state high-risk pool. Stern says, "Of all the plans we've seen so far, this one seems to me closest to dealing in a realistic way with at least the delivery of a reasonable product." However, he expresses concern over the "adverse effect it seems to pose to the commercial market" and concludes that "time will tell" whether the pool is a success.

The conversation continued on the National Journal's Health Care Expert Blog with new responses from Drew Altman, John Goodman, Len Nichols, Marilyn Werber Serafini, Donna Shalala and Rich Umbdenstock about how Tuesday's election has changed the health reform debate.

Paul Testa of the New America Foundation's New Health Dialogue looks at some health ballot initiative outcomes and says, in state health care initiatives "the federal government has had an important part to play."

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Editorials Address Supreme Court Case on Pre-Emption
[Nov 07, 2008]

      Three newspapers on Friday published editorials on Wyeth v. Levine, a case on which the U.S. Supreme Court heard opening arguments on Monday that could determine whether patients have the ability to file product liability lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies in state courts. Summaries appear below.

• Baltimore Sun: A decision in favor of Wyeth in the case could leave the next president "hamstrung by regulations locking in drug manufacturers' immunity from lawsuits" that "would thwart efforts to make the industry more accountable and leave thousands of consumers vulnerable to potentially harmful drugs for years to come," the editorial states. Meanwhile, the Bush administration, which "tried for years to win immunity for drug manufacturers in Congress," has "simply rewritten the FDA rules to reflect its wishes -- even though the FDA admits it doesn't have the staff or resources to thoroughly vet every new product on the market and has long relied on consumer complaints and lawsuits to alert it to potentially hazardous products that its inspectors miss." The editorial concludes, "The Bush administration's last-minute effort to take the country back to the unregulated era of 19th-century patent medicines, with their questionable ingredients and marginal or nonexistent benefits, is a throwback the country can't afford and the court must not permit" (Baltimore Sun, 11/7).
  
  
• Boston Globe: Wyeth seeks to "have the justices legislate from the bench by finding that an FDA-approved label gives the firm pre-emptive protection," and the court "should say no," a Globe editorial states. "For years, pharmaceutical companies have asked Congress to pass a law protecting them from liability lawsuits for drugs," and lawmakers, "knowing only too well the fallibility of the FDA in approving drugs and monitoring their safety after approval, have rightly refused," according to the editorial. The editorial adds, "Suits in state courts force drug companies to do better monitoring of drugs after approval, and the discovery process in such suits often reveals to the public and the FDA much of the internal data companies have on problems with a drug, both before and after its approval." The editorial states, "From the justices' questions Monday, it was unclear how they might rule," but the "court should not let the FDA be Wyeth's scapegoat" (Boston Globe, 11/7).
  
  
• New York Times: "The drug industry and its administration allies now want the court to ignore the absence of express legal language and grant drug companies immunity based on a phony assertion that state lawsuits improperly usurp federal regulatory authority," a Times editorial states. The editorial states, "For the court to broadly endorse the concept of 'implied pre-emption' in this case would show disrespect for the considered decisions of Congress and could foreclose injury suits involving" medications and other products. "The ultimate effect would be to undermine consumer safety," according to the editorial. The editorial states, "Far from usurping" the authority of FDA, "litigation aimed at holding drug companies liable for problems like those in this case complement the agency's efforts to protect the public." The editorial adds, "Only under President Bush did the agency overrule its top staff members and try to pre-empt such suits." The editorial concludes, "We hope this business-friendly Supreme Court will preserve the consumer protection that state tort actions often provide," or "the incoming president and Congress will need to pass corrective legislation" (New York Times, 11/7).

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Kaiser Family Foundation Issues New, Updated Resources on Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit
[Nov 07, 2008]

      New, updated resources, Kaiser Family Foundation: The Kaiser Family Foundation recently issued new and updated resources on the Medicare prescription drug benefit to coincide with the program's open enrollment period. The resources include three new data spotlights that analyze plan options, premiums, the so-called "doughnut hole" coverage gap and low-income subsidy plans; a new state-by-state fact sheet; and an updated Talking About Medicare consumer guide. These and additional resources related to the Medicare drug benefit are available online (Kaiser Family Foundation release, 11/6).

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