SOTU Healthcare Speed-Read

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In State of the Union address last night, President Trump did mention a couple things about health care (not much new).

Key SOTU quotes:

  • “We repealed the core of disastrous Obamacare — the individual mandate is now gone.” (Fact check: The mandate is not gone yet; it disappears next year.)
  • “We must get much tougher on drug dealers and pushers if we are going to succeed in stopping this scourge. My administration is committed to fighting the drug epidemic and helping get treatment for those in need.”
  • “Patients with terminal conditions should have access to experimental treatments that could potentially save their lives … It is time for the Congress to give these wonderful Americans the ‘right to try.'”
  • “One of my greatest priorities is to reduce the price of prescription drugs. In many other countries, these drugs cost far less than what we pay in the United States. That is why I have directed my administration to make fixing the injustice of high drug prices one of our top priorities for the year. And prices will come down substantially.”

Yes, but: Standard caveats apply on drug prices — those other countries pay less, in many cases, because of government-imposed price controls that Republicans staunchly oppose implementing here.

Notable: There was no push, even rhetorically, to repeal the rest of the Affordable Care Act.

This is America on drugs: A visual guide

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/23/health/heroin-opioid-drug-overdose-deaths-visual-guide/index.html?utm_campaign=KHN%3A+Daily+Health+Policy+Report&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=34947841&_hsenc=p2ANqtz–YrF401_rgY2Eu0quZOGu9hf5HBQemDWKYHgHZO3RCn4jyYo6VVlHRZJMTNcd5dddYZkCJpItslmEaGArXyBnjA1Y4IA&_hsmi=34947841

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In modern history, few things have caused such a sharp spike in US deaths as drug overdoses.

CNN reached out to every state for the latest statistics on drug deaths, with half providing data from 2015. It found that drugs deaths continue to rise rapidly in many states.