Read today’s Kaiser Health News
About health insurance/insurers
Massive Medicaid cuts would ripple through nonprofit sector, too Great summary of the topic, including the effect on Easter Seals.
Veterans' VA Referrals to Private Medical Care Will No Longer Require Additional Doctor Review: The Department of Veterans Affairs has changed its process for veterans to get medical care from non-VA providers, removing a requirement that a referral to community care be reviewed by another VA doctor.
The VA announced Monday that it is enacting a provision of the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act that will help ease veterans' access to medical services from private providers.
About pharma
HHS sets ‘pricing targets’ to lower US drug costs: HHS is taking “immediate steps” to implement President Donald Trump’s executive order, Delivering Most-Favored-Nation Prescription Drug Pricing to American Patients — a key initiative aimed at reducing healthcare costs…
Under the executive order, HHS has until June 11 to develop and communicate drug pricing reduction goals with pharmaceutical manufacturers. If meaningful progress is not made, the department is instructed to begin the rulemaking process to enforce most-favored-nation pricing. However, the order does not outline a clear legal mechanism for mandating lower drug prices, and it remains uncertain how the directive would intersect with ongoing Medicare drug price negotiation efforts under the Inflation Reduction Act.
Pfizer pays $1.25B upfront for rights to PD-1/VEGF bispecific from China's 3SBio: Top Story: Pfizer signed a licensing deal potentially worth over $6 billion with 3SBio, securing ex-China rights to the latter’s PD-1/VEGF-targeting bispecific antibody SSGJ-707 in oncology indications. The agreement — which includes an upfront payment of $1.25 billion — marks Pfizer's second recent move into the PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody space.
About the public’s health
Kennedy’s placebo requirement for vaccine testing could cost lives:Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in his hearing before Congress last week doubled down on his plans to revamp the vaccine approval process. The health and human services secretary claimed that no vaccines other than the coronavirus shots had been tested against a placebo, which he vowed to “remedy.” An HHS spokesperson previously characterized conducting placebo-controlled trials as “a radical departure from past practices.”
These statements are flat-out wrong. Many vaccines are, in fact, tested against placebos. Those that aren’t always have a specific ethical and scientific rationale. Changing existing practice won’t make immunizations safer, but it will delay access and impede disease prevention.
Other related articles:
An Evidence-Based Approach to Covid-19 Vaccination and
FDA will limit Covid vaccines to people over 65 or at high risk of serious illness, leaders say
Nebraska to ban soda and energy drinks from SNAP under first USDA waiver: Nebraska is the first state to receive a federal waiver to ban the purchase of soda and energy drinks under the benefit program for low-income Americans long known as food stamps.
The move, announced Monday by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, would affect about 152,000 people in Nebraska enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which helps families pay for groceries.
“There’s absolutely zero reason for taxpayers to be subsidizing purchases of soda and energy drinks,” Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen said in a statement. “SNAP is about helping families in need get healthy food into their diets, but there’s nothing nutritious about the junk we’re removing with today’s waiver.”
Six other states — Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Indiana, Iowa and West Virginia — have also submitted requests for waivers banning certain foods and drinks or, in some cases, expanding access to hot foods for participants, according to the USDA.
World Health Assembly adopts historic Pandemic Agreement to make the world more equitable and safer from future pandemics: The WHO Pandemic Agreement sets out the principles, approaches and tools for better international coordination across a range of areas, in order to strengthen the global health architecture for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. This includes through the equitable and timely access to vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics.
About healthcare personnel
Private funder HHMI pauses postdoc fellowship : The Hanna Gray fellowship, created by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, supports postdoctoral researchers from diverse backgrounds in their transition to heading their own labs. During normal times, the opportunity was transformative, but in an era of cuts to research funding and uncertainty at universities, some saw it as a lifeline to an academic career…
HHMI, the largest private funder of biomedical research, announced it would no longer be considering applications for the upcoming cycle. It’s the latest retrenchment by HHMI, which had become a leader in efforts to make the science workforce more diverse, amid the Trump administration’s attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.