This week, former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist penned an opinion editorial in The Hill detailing potential outcomes of cuts to the budget of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Frieden and Frist indicate proposed budgets from the Trump Administration and U.S. Congress stand to…
Read More »Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, M.D., appointed Brenda Fitzgerald, M.D., as the next Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). Fitzgerald has been the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Public Health…
Read More »This week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report revealing the amount of opioids prescribed in the U.S. peaked in 2010 and then decreased each year through 2015. However, the CDC notes providers are still prescribing opioids too often and for longer periods of time, increasing the risk of addiction,…
Read More »Senate Republicans Postpone Vote on ‘Better Care Reconciliation Act’ After releasing the ‘Better Care Reconciliation Act’ (BCRA) late last week, Senate Republicans faced stiff opposition, both from the public and within their party, forcing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to postpone the vote until after the July 4 Recess. On Monday, the Congressional Budget Office…
Read More »President Donald Trump announced this week his intent to nominate Indiana State Health Commissioner Jerome M. Adams, M.D., MPH as the next U.S. Surgeon General. Adams’ nomination must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The White House announcement is available here.
Read More »Yesterday, Senate Republicans released their discussion draft of the legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, deemed the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA). Only a handful of Republican Senators involved in the bill writing – that took place over the past several weeks – were privy to the details of the bill prior…
Read More »Senate Seeking to Gain Momentum to Overhaul the Affordable Care Act Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell publicly shared his goal for the Senate to vote on the Senate’s version of the Affordable Health Care Act (AHCA) prior to the Senate leaving for recess before July 4. Despite initial vows to conduct public hearings and to…
Read More »The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released their updated score on the American Health Care Act (AHCA) of 2017, passed by the House of Representatives on May 4, which considers provisions included in the MacArthur Amendment. The CBO estimates 14 million more individuals would be uninsured in 2018, 19 million in 2020, growing to 23 million…
Read More »On Wednesday this week, the Trump Administration released their FY 2018 Budget proposal. Please recall that in March the Administration released a budget blueprint, which only outlined President Trump’s discretionary funding proposals. The release of the full budget document now includes federal mandatory budget proposals; however, the released budget does not provide any details on…
Read More »Yesterday, House Republicans managed to pass the American Health Care Act with 217 ‘Yes’ votes and 213 ‘No’ votes and one member not present to vote. Events leading up to the House passage of the bill include: March 6 – House Republicans released the first iteration of the AHCA language; key provisions included: Medicaid Expansion….
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