John Clendenin and Scott Sundstrom, the top lawyers at Wellmark, last month held a teleconference with Trump administration health policy officials and an assistant to Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) to discuss pending rules on short-term health plans, according to lobbying meeting records. Wellmark and Rounds' office did not immediately answer questions about what was discussed.
Between the lines: New regulations on short-term health plans are expected to be released any day now. Large insurers like Wellmark have advocated for easing restrictions on short-term plans — and could be getting their wish.
The latest update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates the U.S. flu season remains "elevated" and deaths continue to rise. There were 84 flu-related pediatric deaths recorded between Oct. 1 and Feb. 10 — up from 63 announced the prior week.
Reminder: On Thursday, federal health officials urged people to get a flu shot, which is estimated to be 36% effective overall and 59% effective for children younger than 9. They say roughly three-fourths of children who died did not receive a vaccination.
The Pentagon’s Southern Command only has the resources to stop about a quarter of known narcotic shipments to the U.S., according to the command’s chief, Admiral Kurt Tidd, reports Defense News.
Why it matters: The rate of intercepted narcotics hasn't changed since the military command reported four years ago under leadership of Gen. John Kelly, president Trump's current chief of staff. Trump has declared the opioid epidemic a health emergency, but Trump's FY2019 budget request sharply cuts funding to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which is tasked with leading the response to the crisis.
Washington is still falling behind in helping to address the country's opioid crisis, some lawmakers and policy experts say, even as the epidemic rages on across the country. Congress recently provided $6 billion for the effort, and it's getting the ball rolling on another legislative push as well. But lawmakers aren't yet sure what that push will entail.
Why it matters: Roughly 64,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2016; the overwhelming majority of those cases involved some combination of prescription painkillers, synthetic opioids or heroin. Yet because the problem is so sweeping, the push for a policy response is being pulled in several directions — from immediate treatment to law enforcement to community rebuilding to new medical practices.
The current flu season is particularly deadly due to the specific virus strains combined with a "fluke" that rendered this year's vaccine less effective than desired, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, tells Axios. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today announced interim results of the vaccine's overall effectiveness, which is 36%.
Why this matters: Healthy individuals are being struck down by the flu this season and some communities have taken steps like shutting schools to combat the contagion, which has killed at least 63 kids in the U.S. since the start of this flu season in the fall. While the CDC will update its influenza data soon, authorities say early indications do not show a slowdown yet.
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter said last month he would let insurance companies sell policies that do not comply with the Affordable Care Act. And yesterday, Blue Cross of Idaho took him up on it.
The bottom line: This is a huge test for Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar. And if he doesn’t step in enforce the ACA now, the Trump administration could ultimately find itself tied up in just as much ACA litigation as the Obama administration. (Medicaid work requirements are also being challenged in the courts.)
