Category: HealthReform

MEwens
Obama isn’t anti-business, Aetna CEO Williams said, but the administration may lack an understanding of what it takes to run a business. In the interview, Williams also talked about the company’s recent deal with CVS Caremark and reiterated that the deal was the best option for the company and its shareholders (rather than […]

JGrimes
Members of Generation X, or those born between 1965 and 1981, may be the group of consumers who actually do prod the health-care system into changing its ways.
Read more this great post here

JGrimes
Mercer analyzed data from its annual survey of employer health plans and found that only 38% of retailers don’t have potential problems under three requirements of the new law.
Read more this great post here

JGrimes
Under health-care overhaul legislation, failure to buy the mandated insurance coverage means penalties, and now we have an official estimate of how many people might be affected. The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that about 4 million people will get dinged in 2016, according to the Associated Press.
That doesn’t mean only 4 million […]

JGrimes
Global pharmaceutical sales are expected to grow by an average of 5% to 8% annually over the next five years, with drugs to treat cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis and HIV projected to outpace the market, according to IMS Health. The market research firm is sticking to its projection of 4% to 6% growth […]

JGrimes
The controversy over gene patents is not going away anytime soon. As the WSJ reports, a Duke University study concludes that exclusive licensing of gene-based diagnostic tests can keep patients from benefiting from genetic discoveries and often leads to legal wrangling.
And current disagreements surrounding gene patents –- such as the recent federal court […]

JGrimes
A few items of interest involving the FDA:
Congress last year added the tobacco industry to the FDA’s regulatory mix and today a panel of health experts making up the agency’s new Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee is kicking off a two-day meeting. First on the agenda: how menthol flavoring in cigarettes affects smokers’ […]

JGrimes
If a Mercer webcast today is any sign, employers (over 5,000 of them who logged in) are scratching their heads to figure out what they need to do to comply with the new health bill.
Mercer consultants said their offices are flooded with questions. How will the bill affect health costs, a chief concern […]

JGrimes
Student loans appear to be a health overhaul headache: the reconciliation bill is going back to the House for a vote, thanks to Senate Republicans who found two provisions in the document — including one related to student loans — that violate its rules and can’t be included in the final bill.
Some 16 […]

JGrimes
This post by WSJ’s Peter Landers also is appearing on the Washington Wire blog.
The fate of the Democrats’ health bill is likely to come down to the House, and the vote there hinges on wavering Democrats. The Associated Press surveyed all 39 Democrats who voted against the version of the health overhaul approved […]