Half of the Department of Health and Human Services workforce — more than 40,000 people — would be told not to come to work in the event of a shutdown, according to the department’s planning documents.
Why it matters: The federal workforce isn’t just paper-pushers in Washington. A shutdown would freeze several major health care programs, including food safety inspections and monitoring flu outbreaks across the country.
Four not-for-profit hospital systems that own 10% of U.S. hospitals — Intermountain Healthcare, Ascension, SSM Health and Trinity Health — are banding together to create a new generic drug company. The Department of Veterans Affairs also is helping and has expressed interest as a purchaser.
Why it matters: Generic drug makers will have a new competitive threat with this first-of-its-kind hospital venture. Marc Harrison, a doctor and the CEO of Intermountain, said drug shortages and high drug prices spurred this action.
Congress is once again poised to delay the Affordable Care Act's "Cadillac tax" on high-value employer health plans, and many economists are once again disappointed by the decision.
Between the lines: Messing with employer health coverage is politically treacherous, and that's why the Cadillac tax may never go into effect. But it's the ACA's main cost containment measure — meaning health care costs will keep climbing without a check economists deem important.
