November 1, 2017 Legislation





The FDA has approved the second Car-T therapy.  This one is Yescarta for adults with two fialed chemo for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.  There iwll be many more approved in the future as this is the new wave.

President Trump has signed an executive order allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines and sell a more comprehensive group of plans.

President Trump has also said he will stop the insurance subsidies but as yet has not officially done it.  He believes, as do the courts to date, that such subsidies are illegal without congressional approval.  This is currently before the US Supreme Court.  Some states are also filing injunctions to try to force the feds to pay the subsidies that the president and congress have deemed illegal.  The states lost.

The administration has changed the Ocare rules to allow companies with religious objections to contraception to opt out of the rules requiring paying for contraception.  This will not have any effect in states where their constitution of laws require it.  The idiot California attorney general vowed to fight it (he will be running for higher office).  He forgot that California has such a rule protecting contraception in their constitution so his challenge is moot.

The administration has proposed new health insurance rules which will allow states to select coverage from another state and allows subsidies to those without access to job based coverage.

California Governor Moonbeam has signed into law two bills relating to healthcare in the state.  The first give Ocare enrollers more time to sign up.  They can do this as a state exchange versus the federal one.  The second allows patients who have acute condition, serious chronic conditions, terminal illnesses or are receiving maternal and infant care (everyone) whose insurance companies have left the dying Ocare market to continue to see their physicians for up to one year, even if the doctors are not part of their new insurers plan.  They do not say which company will pay for the visits.

Moonbeam also signed a pharmacy bill that makes companies notify the state prior to raising prices over 16% in two years and telling why they need the increase.  It does not keep them from raising prices all they want.  The price increase is on the full retail cost which almost no one pays.  Good politics in the state but meaningless.        Top


SAManage USA has been fined $264,000 by Vermont for a data breach of 660 people when a spreadsheet was allowed to be viewed publicly on line.     

The administration has declared a war on opiates and as part of that has relaxed HIPAA so physicians may talk to families of overdose victims.  They can now share information if the patient is in crisis or incapacitated.         Top 


In a decision they should be ashamed of CMS is attempting to take billing fed med away from a McKenzie physician, Dr. Bryan Merrick.  They have accused him of fraud for the princely total of $670 over three years.  Nobody would do that.  He has appealed and it was denied so now he has to spend money and time to go before an ALJ.  He is the only internist on the staff of the hospital and the only one to be able to read EKGs.  

Dr. Lars Aanning of South Dakota has had his license threatened by the state for admitting to lying for another physician in a med mal suit 20 years prior.  He can not be charged with perjury as the statute of limitations is long gone.  He did a whistleblowing against Dr. Allen Sossan who botched multiple surgeries and the Board did nothing.  Aanning is retired and has resigned his license.        Top

