Friday Five: Top 5 healthcare business news items from the MCOL Weekend edition

Every business day, MCOL posts feature stories making news on the business of health care. Here are five we think are particularly important for this week:

Trump’s Nominee For Agriculture Has Key Health Role

Kaiser Health News reports: Amid the cacophony of confirmation hearings for Cabinet nominees, President-elect Donald Trump reportedly has settled on former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue to fill the final Cabinet-department vacancy: Secretary of Agriculture. Although consumers may simply think of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) as responsible for overseeing the farming industry, it also plays a key role in promoting health.

Kaiser Health News

Friday, January 20, 2017

How Large Employer Health Plans Could Be Affected By Obamacare Overhaul

NPR reports: If you think that you wouldn't be touched by a Republican overhaul of Obamacare because you get health insurance through your job at a big company, think again.

NPR

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Anthem aims for 30% reduction in number of opioid prescriptions by 2019

Becker's Hospital Review reports: Indianapolis-based Anthem said it wants to reduce the amount of opioids prescribed to policyholders by 30 percent by the end of 2019. The insurer said in a Wednesday news release it is also committed to helping its affiliated health plans double the number of consumers who receive counseling as part of medication-assisted therapy for opioid addiction.

Becker's Hospital Review

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Health Law Repeal Could Cost 18 Million Their Insurance, Study Finds

The New York Times reports: Eighteen million people could lose their insurance within a year and individual insurance premiums would shoot upward if Congress repealed major provisions of the Affordable Care Act while leaving other parts in place, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday.

NY Times

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Drugmakers Manipulate Orphan Drug Rules To Create Prized Monopolies

Kaiser Health News reports: More than 30 years ago, Congress overwhelmingly passed a landmark health bill aimed at motivating pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs for people whose rare diseases had been ignored. By the drugmakers’ calculations, the markets for such diseases weren’t big enough to bother with.

Kaiser Health News

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

These and more weekly news items on the business of healthcare are featured in the MCOL Weekend edition, along with the MCOL Tidbits, and more, for MCOL Premium level members.