Some Democrats Aren’t Giving Up on Universal Health Care

https://morningconsult.com/2016/06/20/some-democrats-arent-giving-up-on-universal-health-care/?utm_campaign=KHN%3A+Daily+Health+Policy+Report&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=30825191&_hsenc=p2ANqtz–5Khvbin0eqd8lOVYUGjQOCkwHgK5yFJ0JfrGJu02u5DsX0eb2C2YyRqxE3kUAn9t8R_u1LZq77IAcdplSGjmcrsJmqA&_hsmi=30825191

Rob Kunzig/Morning Consult

Democrats should push for universal health coverage ahead of the November election, several health care advocates urged the committee drafting the Democratic National Committee’s platform at a recent session focused on health policy.

Their liberal health care proposals echo a similar theme from an environment-themed session the same day, in which activists criticized DNC members for not pushing harder on climate change.

The hearing was part of a series of regional events held by the Democratic Platform Drafting Committee “designed to engage every voice in the party.”

Too many people are still uninsured six years after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, said many of the advocates who spoke before the committee in Phoenix on Friday. Still more are underinsured, they said, and people are struggling to pay for rising premiums and to afford prescription drugs.

Proposal to Reduce Medicare Drug Payments Is Widely Criticized

An Obama administration proposal to reduce Medicare payments for many prescription drugs has run into sharp bipartisan criticism, suggesting that it is easier to diagnose the problem of high prices than to solve it.

As Valeant’s CEO Apologizes, the Rest of the Industry Keeps Hiking Drug Prices

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2016/04/27/Valeant-s-CEO-Apologizes-Rest-Industry-Keeps-Hiking-Drug-Prices?utm_campaign=541c47950e351dbe08037e5f&utm_source=boomtrain&utm_medium=email&bt_alias=eyJ1c2VySWQiOiJmNzlkMTEyZi03NTg3LTQwMGMtYWNjNC04ZDBiMTQwZmM0YTUifQ%3D%3D

“It used to be the drug companies only took one price increase a year,” Dr. Steve Miller, chief medical officer at Express Scripts, a major drug-benefit manager, told the Times. “Now what they’re doing is taking multiple price increases multiple times a year.”