Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
White House Plans To Repeal Limits On Air Pollution From Power Plants, Sources Say
The Trump administration plans to announce Monday that the United States will no longer limit the planet-warming pollution that power plants pump into the air while burning coal and gas, according to two people familiar with the proposal. The shift by the Environmental Protection Agency would complete the administration鈥檚 erasure of the most consequential climate policies of Presidents Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Barack Obama. If the move survives expected legal challenges, it could also prevent future administrations from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. (Joselow, 9/13)
More health news from the Trump administration 鈥
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has awarded $383.4 million to strengthen behavioral health treatment, prevention and crisis-response services nationwide. The grants, distributed through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), include $252 million for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, suicide-prevention programs and mobile crisis services.聽An additional $81.4 million will support substance-use treatment and prevention, while $50 million will fund other mental-health initiatives. (Bender, 9/9)
In his first interview after taking the reins of the FDA鈥檚 Oncology Center of Excellence (OCE), Angelo de Claro, M.D., is outlining a regulatory agenda that prioritizes organizational strength and continued regulatory modernization.聽Stepping into one of the most heavyweight leadership roles in U.S. drug evaluation, de Claro faces the tall order of succeeding an FDA legend, Richard Pazdur, M.D. In his first interview, the new oncology chief vowed to build on Pazdur鈥檚 foundation while pioneering frameworks to integrate artificial intelligence into regulatory reviews, streamline drug development, and boost U.S. trial participation. (Liu, 9/11)
The projected savings from a highly touted Trump administration plan to lower Medicare drug costs may be drastically reduced 鈥 by as much as 80% 鈥斅爐hanks to secretive deals cut with more than two dozen pharmaceutical companies, according to a new analysis. (Silverman, 9/13)
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights found Duke鈥檚 School of Medicine to have intentionally discriminated against white and Asian applicants in its admissions practices. (Halper, 9/10)
A federal judge in California sided with a labor union on Friday in its lawsuit against the Trump administration, saying the Department of Homeland Security 鈥渁rbitrarily鈥 moved to slash the Federal Emergency Management Agency鈥檚 staff by 50% earlier this year. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled that DHS acted 鈥渃apriciously鈥 when it revoked FEMA鈥檚 long-standing authority to renew contracts for its Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery, or CORE employees. CORE employees are on-the-ground contacts who are dispatched across the country and remain in communities years after a disaster. (Orellana Hernandez, 9/12)
吃瓜不打烊: A Generation Of Kids Suffer As Trump Destabilizes Immigrant Families
The little girl stared up at Norma G贸mez from the doorway of her neighbor鈥檚 apartment, her sad, brown eyes suddenly flashing with hope. 鈥淎re you the person who鈥檚 going to bring my mom back?鈥 she asked. G贸mez struggled to find an answer. It was a December morning, and she鈥檇 brought food, diapers, baby wipes, and clothes 鈥 items she hoped would help the 6-year-old girl, her baby brother, and the neighbor who had stepped in to care for them. The children were left alone after federal immigration agents arrested their parents outside their apartment in Oxnard, a mostly Latino agricultural community on the Southern California coast. But G贸mez had no power to bring the parents back. (Boyd-Barrett, 9/14)
On Medicare and the high cost of healthcare 鈥
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is expanding Medicare coverage of transcatheter aortic valve replacement to more patients. The new national coverage determination broadens coverage for patients with severe aortic stenosis, a condition where the heart鈥檚 aortic valve narrows. During a TAVR procedure, a doctor threads a thin, flexible catheter through the leg or chest to the heart and delivers a replacement valve. (Dubinsky, 9/11)
Last summer, Republican lawmakers were worried. They were planning to cut $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade, and they knew hospitals in their districts and states would suffer.聽Before passing their tax-cut law, they added in $50 billion over the next five years. This rural health fund was intended to help health care providers prepare for the new challenges ahead. (Payne, 9/14)
吃瓜不打烊: 吃瓜不打烊鈥 鈥楢n Arm and a Leg鈥: The Meltdown In Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance
Employer-sponsored health insurance covers more than 165 million Americans. It can entice someone to work at one company over another, or be a set of golden handcuffs that keeps them locked into a job they may not enjoy. But rising costs are straining that system like never before. As premiums balloon, employers have started to pass on more costs to their workers, and the percentage of small businesses offering employees health insurance has dropped significantly. (Weissmann, 9/14)