We tend to talk a lot about how the opioid epidemic has ravaged small towns and rural areas. And it certainly has done that. But over the past few years, the crisis has hit harder in big cities, and hardest in those big cities' suburbs.
Between the lines: Toward the beginning of the epidemic, when prescription painkillers were the primary driver of overdose deaths, the death rate was higher in rural areas than in cities or suburbs.
Johnson & Johnson today kicks off second-quarter earnings for a health care industry that has been fighting Wall Street jitters despite record-level profits.
The big picture: Wall Street has low expectations for all of corporate America in Q2, but health care may be different. A lot of the industry isn't affected by the Trump administration's trade war with China, and all available data suggests health care spending is not meaningfully slowing down.
Senate Republicans aren't sweating the prospect of the courts striking down the entire Affordable Care Act, insisting they'd be able to act quickly to repair the damage — despite their inability to coalesce around a replacement plan at any point over the past decade.
Driving the news: "Do I hope the lawsuit succeeds? I do," Sen. Kevin Cramer told Politico. "What I wish is we had some idea where we are going if it does succeed, as it looks more and more like it might."
Many generic drugs are "wildly overpriced" in Medicare, according to a new analysis of federal data from research firm 46brooklyn Research.
Why it matters: Health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers manipulate generic drug prices in Medicaid, and it appears more generics gaming occurs in Medicare — all on the back of taxpayers and patients.
Joe Biden rolled out a health care plan Monday whose policies and political priorities are both rooted firmly in the Affordable Care Act.
Details: The cornerstone of Biden's proposal is a new public insurance option, which would compete alongside private insurance. The public plan would be available to everyone, even people who get their coverage from an employer. That's an important difference from the one that was debated in 2010.
