A two-hour nothingburger and other news
What I'm reading today after a mean-spirited and meaningless SOTU address
I’m busy this week working on a local (Chicagoland) story. I’ll be back on my usual schedule next week.
A two-hour nothingburger
I read over the transcript of President Trump’s state of the union address this morning. There was no mention of Medicaid. There was no mention of Medicare. The only thing he said about Social Security was that it was riddled with fraud because of all the people receiving benefits who were over 100 years old.
That was a flat out lie. As NPR immediately reported: Last month, acting Social Security commissioner Lee Dudek noted that the reported data involving seniors older than 100 "are people in our records with a Social Security number who do not have a date of death associated with their record. These individuals are not necessarily receiving benefits.”
There was one hypocritical highlight that focused on health. Trump pointed out cancer patient D.J. Daniel, a 13-year-old African-American sitting in the gallery whom he made an honorary member of the Secret Service. His “cancer likely came from a chemical he was exposed to when he was younger,” Trump said. He then praised Robert Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again campaign and promised “to get toxins out of our environment (and) poisons out of our food supply.”
The Lever reported this morning that the Trump administration plans to drop a lawsuit against a chemical maker accused of increasing cancer risks in nearby communities. Meanwhile, GOP members of Congress are pushing a proposal to block states from warning consumers about toxins in food.
Abortion access in Trump’s crosshairs
The Trump administration’s Justice Department on Tuesday bowed out of a years-old lawsuit seeking to void Idaho’s total abortion ban, which applies even in cases where the mother’s life is in danger. This clearly violates the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), signed by President Ronald Reagan. The Trump administration’s next move might be withdrawing the Biden administration’s 2022 guidance that hospitals must render stabilizing care in an emergency, including abortions when necessary.
Trump administration lawyers this week also asked the Supreme Court to let the government join oral arguments in South Carolina’s attempt to eradicate Medicaid funding for any service offered by Planned Parenthood. The reason? Anything Planned Parenthood does furthers abortion access, the government said.
United Healthcare has friends in high places
United Healthcare appears headed for victory in a whistleblower lawsuit alleging the company filed false illness diagnoses — so-called upcoding — to overcharge Medicare $2 billion for its Medicare Advantage plans. Kaiser Health News reported a special master will recommend the U.S. District Judge Fernando Olguin, appointed by President Obama in 2012, drop the case. The Department of Justice, which took up whistleblower’s case, can appeal. I doubt whether it will under its new leadership.
Quack treatments on order
The New York Times reported yesterday that the Health and Human Services Department is shipping cod liver oil to Texas to help curb the measles outbreak that has taken one child’s life and sickened at least 165 across five states. Kennedy told Fox News that Texas doctors had seen “very, very good results” by treating measles cases with steroids, antibiotics and cod liver oil.
Cod liver oil is “by no means” an evidence-based treatment, Dr. Sean O’Leary, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases, told the Times. Kennedy made no mention of sending vaccines to Texas and other states, which HHS officials reportedly shipped over the weekend.
More uninsured in the GOP pipeline
Becker’s Hospital Review reports Texas will see the biggest hit if Affordable Care Act premium tax credits expire at the end of 2025, according to a March 3 brief from the Commonwealth Fund. Texas encouraged low-income workers to purchase ACA plans rather than expand Medicaid to cover people earning up to 138% of poverty wages. While the federal government pays 90% of the cost of Medicaid, the state pick up the other 10%. The feds pay 100% of ACA subsidies.
The ACA’s expanded tax credits to purchase health coverage on the exchanges were originally authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 and extended by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. Without another congressional extension, the premium tax credits will expire, which the Commonwealth Fund estimates will cause 4 million people or 12.5% of all people on ACA plans to lose coverage.