By David Lazarus; Los Angeles Times ~ Dec 04, 2014

Express Scripts, which handles prescription-drug benefits for millions or people nationwide, is dropping coverage for 66 brand-name drugs next month in an effort to keep costs down. Rival CVS Health is dropping 95 drugs from its own list of covered drugs.

Happy holidays.

Soaring drug prices remain one of the chief reasons Americans pay more for healthcare than people in any other country. Prescription meds account for about 11% of the roughly $3 trillion in annual U.S. healthcare spending.

By Carol Wilson; Light Reading ~ Dec 03, 2014

NEW YORK– Mobile Network Security Strategies — AT&T is changing the way it protects its enterprise networks, taking advantage of virtualization to add a layer of security “shrink-wrap” around network assets, applications and data stores, Chief Security Officer Ed Amoroso said here today.

These micro-domains don’t replace AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T)’s security perimeter, he noted later in an interview with Light Reading, but they protect assets from breaches of that perimeter, which are all too common in the highly connected, collaborative and mobile enterprise of today.

“The promise that virtual brings, with the proper licensing model, is that you can do this quickly and easily at provisioning time,” Amoroso said in his keynote. Virtualized security — software-based firewalls and intrusion protection systems, for example — can be turned up at the same time virtual assets are spun up so that applications, hypervisors or any network asset can become its own micro domain, where security is concerned, and be connected to a network of security command and control modules.

By Tom Murphy; The Associated Press ~ Dec 03, 2014

Millions of Medicare Advantage customers are fast approaching a deadline for a task they’d rather avoid: Researching and then settling on coverage plans for 2015.

The annual enrollment window for the privately run versions of the government’s Medicare program for the elderly and disabled people closes on Sunday. This is the main opportunity most customers have each year to adjust their health coverage, and it may be worth paying extra attention to the details.

Insurers frequently tweak their coverage plans from year to year, but brokers and other industry insiders say they’re seeing more changes over the past few years as companies weed out lower-quality coverage and adjust to government funding cuts.

By Janet Adamy; The Wall Street Journal ~ Dec 03, 2014

The Obama administration on Wednesday strengthened Medicare’s authority to kick doctors and other medical providers out of the federal program for abusively billing the government.

The move represents a significant shift in how the government tackles waste in Medicare, the insurance program for the elderly and disabled. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimates that for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, the main part of Medicare issued $45.8 billion in improper payments, representing nearly 13% of its total spending.

The Supreme Court should take up this case contesting the panel’s vast powers over Medicare.

By Tom Coburn & Phil Roe; The Wall Street Journal ~ Dec 03, 2014

In the four years since the Affordable Care Act was passed, health care in our country has become more complicated and expensive. The law has many troubling aspects, but the Independent Payment Advisory Board is among the worst and most dangerous. This is why, on Thursday, several members of the House will file an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up Coons v. Lew. This lawsuit, filed by the Goldwater Institute on behalf of Dr. Eric Novack, an orthopedic surgeon, and Nick Coons, an Arizona businessman, challenges the constitutionality of IPAB.

Why is this board dangerous? Because there is nothing “advisory” about its vast powers. IPAB’s mandate is to deliver on one of ObamaCare’s central promises: Medicare cost-containment. The law gives this board sweeping authority to do so, with virtually no constraints.

By Stephen Ohlemacher; The Associated Press ~ Dec 03, 2014

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s pick to head the Social Security Administration could be stalled over the agency’s handling of a $300 million computer project that doesn’t work.

A group of Republican senators said Wednesday they will try to block the nomination of Carolyn W. Colvin until an investigation into the troubled computer project is concluded.

A senior Democratic senator agreed that Colvin’s confirmation should be delayed until she answers questions about the project, increasing the likelihood that a vote will be pushed into next year, when Republicans take control of the Senate.

By Richard Cowan; Reuters ~ Dec 02, 2014

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The senior Senate Republican on Tuesday raised the possibility of Congress writing comprehensive healthcare legislation if the Supreme Court next year strikes down a subsidy provision of Obamacare.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who will lead the chamber starting in January, told reporters: “If the court would rule the way they might, we could be in a very large comprehensive revisitation” of U.S. healthcare policy.

The nation’s highest court is expected to rule by the end of June on a conservative challenge to an important part of President Barack Obama’s 2010 Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare.

By Jill U. Adams; The Washington Post ~ Dec 02, 2014

Aspirin is one of the oldest drugs out there. And yet researchers are still learning what it can — and cannot — do.

It’s clear that daily aspirin can be beneficial for people who have had a heart attack or an ischemic stroke. Scores of studies have shown that this simple treatment reduces the chance of having a repeat heart attack or stroke.

Researchers have long wondered whether the drug might also prevent first heart attacks or first strokes. A new study followed 14,000 Japanese people age 60 and older who had high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes — three major risk factors for atherosclerosis, which can block arteries and cause heart attack and stroke.

By Dan Weber; The Hill ~ Dec 02, 2014

Much has been said already about the president’s executive action on immigration. But here is a cautionary note. The new Congress must stay positive, not go negative at once. AMAC represents more than a million older Americans, and a recent survey of our membership produced a startling number. Fully 97 percent of the AMAC respondents put at number one – when it came to immigration reform – a credible defense of America’s southern border, specifically including a fence or similar barrier that ended the influx of illegal foreigners into the U.S. Let’s make that the first immigration priority.

By Siobhan Hughes; The Wall Street Journal ~ Dec 02, 2014

WASHINGTON—Congress looks set to avert a clash over tax policy with a temporary patch to reinstate dozens of tax breaks that expired earlier this year.

A Republican House bill set for a vote Wednesday includes more than 50 provisions benefiting businesses, some individuals and nonprofit groups. Lawmakers from both parties had pushed for a longer-term deal, but that drive collapsed last week.

Among the biggest items in the House bill are a tax credit for business-related research and experimentation, and a provision that allows companies to deduct more of the cost of new equipment in the year in which it was purchased, providing an immediate tax boost.