By Alex Lash; Xconomy ~ Jan 19, 2016

Anyone reading this column should be familiar with the fight over drug prices. Many of you would argue that drug makers are too easy a target in political debates and the media, getting little credit for developing lifesaving drugs. Others of you believe that prices have gotten out of hand, and that price gouger Martin Shkreli, now a target of federal fraud prosecution, is the tip of the iceberg. Many of you would say yes to both arguments, as well as to the gray area between.

By Leslie Small; FierceHealthPayer ~ Jan 19, 2016

Though its other business lines continue to perform well, UnitedHealthcare lost $720 million on its Affordable Care Act-compliant plans in 2015, the country’s largest insurer said in its fourth-quarter earnings report Tuesday.

That includes a $245 million loss in the fourth quarter for what the insurer calls the “advance recognition of 2016 losses.” As a result, the company’s full-year 2015 earnings from operations of $6.8 billion decreased by $238 million compared to 2014, as operating margins declined to 5.1 percent.

By Olivia Lowenberg; The Christian Science Monitor ~ Jan 19, 2016

1. The IRS now has the power to take away your passport
Got federal tax debt of $50,000 or more? The IRS now has the power to take away your passport, thanks to a transportation bill passed in December.

The IRS law, titled “Revocation or Denial of Passport in Case of Certain Tax Delinquencies,” grants the IRS the ability to revoke passport privileges from taxpayers whose tax debt equals $50,000 or more by sending a message to the State Department. The law takes effect this month.

By Tony Pugh; Miami Herald ~ Jan 13, 2016

Highlights
Georgia representative criticizes Obama and annual budget wrangling

Price says growth in federal entitlement tab is squeezing discretionary spending

He wants to rewrite congressional budget rules

WASHINGTON – House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga., said Wednesday that he was “terribly disappointed’ in President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union speech and similarly frustrated by the annual process of trying to develop a federal budget.

By Alex Koma; StateScoop ~ Jan 13, 2016

AT&T will soon begin installing Internet of Things-enabled technology in several of the country’s largest cities as part of a push to spread “smart city” innovations nationwide.

The massive telecom company unveiled a plan last week at its Developer Summit in Las Vegas to develop a new “smart cities framework,” working with Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and the Georgia Institute of Technology to install connected devices in sections of those cities and on the university’s campus.

By Susan Jaffe; Kaiser Health News ~ Jan 12, 2016

Daphne Brown, 65, was putting away the dishes in her Washington kitchen when she fell to the floor. Jane Bulla, 82, fell at home in Laurel, Maryland, but managed to call for help with the cellphone in her pocket. Susan Le, 63, who has trouble walking due to arthritis, hurt her leg when she tripped on a pile of leaves in Silver Spring. And late one night when no one was around, Jean Esquivel, 72, slipped on the ice in the parking lot outside her Silver Spring apartment.

By Seung Lee; Newsweek ~ Jan 10, 2016

Going to the doctor’s office may start being a thing of the past, thanks to a rise in virtual doctor appointments. At least that’s what some experts argued at the Consumer Electronics Show last week.

A small minority of doctors and physicians in the United States are currently using webcam chats and other tele-medicinal means to get in touch with their patients. But upcoming policy changes to the health care system could encourage doctors to take their appointments virtually, according to Jill Thorpe, a health care industry partner for law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

Effects on care quality less certain
By Cheryl Clark; MedPage Today ~ Jan 10, 2016

A decade ago, when concierge-style practices emerged, “it was primarily for physicians in the second half of their careers, looking to shrink their practices a bit,” said James Williams, MD, a physician in Washington, D.C., who recently adopted the model. Today, younger doctors are switching “as a survival technique, a way to fight back against all the changes in primary care, meeting demands for meaningful use and electronic health records,” he said.

By Robert Powell; USA TODAY ~ Jan 09, 2016

The wait is over. The Fed has made its move. Now you can revisit your retirement plan and, best case, tweak it or, worst case, overhaul it. And what you do might depend on the degree to which you already prepared for the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, as it did a little over a week ago, from near zero, to a range of 0.25% (one-quarter of 1%) to 0.50% (one-half of 1%).

By Deena Beasley; Reuters ~ Jan 08, 2016

Pfizer Inc (PFE.N), which plans a $160-billion merger with Ireland-based Allergan Plc (AGN.N) to slash its U.S. tax bill, on Jan. 1 raised U.S. prices for more than 100 of its drugs, some by as much as 20 percent, according to statistics compiled by global information services company Wolters Kluwer.

Pfizer confirmed a 9.4 percent increase for heavily advertised pain drug Lyrica, which generated $2.3 billion in 2014 U.S. sales; a 12.9 percent increase for erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, which had 2014 U.S. sales of $1.1 billion; and a 5 percent increase for Ibrance, a novel breast cancer drug launched last year at a list price of $9,850 per month, or $118,200 per year.