Read today’s Kaiser Health News
In other news:
House passes Trump’s agenda bill: 6 things to know A good summary of the Bill’s health provisions.
GOP budget bill would slash Medicare funding by $490B: CBO: According to a May 20 report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the legislation is projected to add $2.3 trillion to the national debt, triggering automatic budget cuts under federal law.
The CBO estimates that an average annual increase of $230 billion in the deficit will occur each year under the legislation, resulting in a need to reduce spending by that amount annually. The first round of sequestration could take place in 2026.
Medicare spending is limited to a 4% reduction each year, which would amount to $45 billion in cuts for fiscal year 2026. Although Medicare is capped at these 4% reductions, the rest of the federal budget would face even larger cuts. Some programs, such as Social Security and low-income assistance programs, are exempt from sequestration, leaving other federal programs to shoulder the remaining cuts.
About health insurance/insurers
CMS plans ‘aggressive’ Medicare Advantage audits: MS will audit every Medicare Advantage plan for potential overpayments annually, in what the agency called an “aggressive” plan to step up oversight. According to a May 21 news release, the agency plans to audit each of the more than 500 MA plans each year. Currently, the agency audits around 60 plans each year.
About pharma
Moderna 'voluntarily' pulls FDA application for combo flu/COVID-19 vaccine: Moderna said Wednesday that it has voluntarily withdrawn an application with the FDA seeking approval of its combination influenza/COVID-19 vaccine mRNA-1083 for adults aged 50 years and older. While the submission had a target review date in November, the company recently pushed back the mRNA-based jab's timeline after the FDA said that it required Phase III flu efficacy data.
Judge approves Rite Aid assets sale: On May 21, a federal judge approved Rite Aid’s bankruptcy plan to close stores and sell most of its pharmacy assets to other national chains, according to court documents reviewed by Becker’s.
CVS, Walgreens, and grocery store chains Albertsons, Kroger, Giant Eagle and others have entered into separate transactions to buy Rite Aid’s assets, including prescription services and 810 of its 1,240 pharmacy locations.
GoodRx to directly contract with independent pharmacies: In June, GoodRx will provide a cost-plus model offering to independent community pharmacies through direct contracts, the company said May 22.
Dubbed GoodRx Community Link, it will allow locally owned and operated pharmacies to contract with its integrated savings program. The program compares a medication’s copay with GoodRx’s discount price to offer the lowest available price.
2025 Prescription Drug Expenditure Projections for Health System Leaders: The overall prescription drug spending in the United States in 2025 is predicted to rise between 9% and 11% higher than 2024 spending, which totaled $806 billion, according to a recently published paper on national trends in prescription drug expenditures and projections for 2025 in the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy.
Drug spending at clinics in 2025, the paper predicts, will likely be higher than spending at hospitals, with an 11.0% to 13.0% increase. Lead author Eric Tichy, Pharm.D., M.B.A., vice chair of pharmacy formulary at Mayo Clinic Health System, explained there has been an effort to move more care into the outpatient setting. Additionally, innovation is allowing more drugs to be approved that can be administered in the ambulatory setting.
About the public’s health
Nutritional Content of Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereals Marketed to Children: Analysis of newly launched children’s RTE cereals from 2010 to 2023 revealed concerning nutritional shifts: notable increases in fat, sodium, and sugar alongside decreases in protein and fiber. Children’s cereals contain high levels of added sugar, with a single serving exceeding 45% of the American Heart Association’s daily recommended limit for children. These trends suggest a potential prioritization of taste over nutritional quality in product development, contributing to childhood obesity and long-term cardiovascular health risks.
U.S. Global Health Country-Level Funding TrackerA very interesting chart of where the U.S. spends its global health dollars (by country) and on what programs.
Exclusive: Opioid use disorder costs almost $700K per case: State of play:
Opioid use disorder — defined as frequent opioid use and unsuccessful efforts to quit — is estimated to affect more than 6 million people in the United States.
The cumulative economic burden on patients, including years of life lost and reduced quality of life, exceeded $3 trillion in 2024, Avalere estimated.
Private businesses absorbed more than $467 billion in costs from lost productivity and health insurance costs while the federal government bore about $118 billion in Medicare and other federal insurance costs, lost taxes and criminal justice expenses.
It cost state and local governments more than $94 billion, with about $42 billion of that going toward criminal justice costs.
The Trump administration in March released its own analysis that estimated illicit opioids cost the U.S. about $2.7 trillion in 2023.
About healthcare IT
In lawsuit over teen’s death, judge rejects arguments that AI chatbots have free speech rights: A federal judge on Wednesday rejected arguments made by an artificial intelligence company that its chatbots are protected by the First Amendment — at least for now. The developers behind Character.AI are seeking to dismiss a lawsuit alleging the company’s chatbots pushed a teenage boy to kill himself.
The judge’s order will allow the wrongful death lawsuit to proceed, in what legal experts say is among the latest constitutional tests of artificial intelligence.
About healthcare personnel
61% of nurses plan job change within 1 year: Report: Within the next 12 months, 61% of more than 12,000 nurses surveyed by AMN Healthcare said they plan to leave their current employer, switch departments, retire, return to school, or work part-time, per diem or in a virtual role.
High levels of burnout, stress and dissatisfaction continue to foment workforce instability. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing’s biennial 2024 National Workforce Study, which surveyed more than 800,000 U.S. nurses, found that 40% of RNs plan to exit the field by 2029.
