What We're Reading: Surgeon General Nominee; Patient Assistance Charity; Medicaid Under Senate Bill

Trump Administration Nominates New Surgeon General

Indiana health commissioner Jerome Adams, MD, has been nominated to be the country’s next surgeon general. STAT reported that Vice President Mike Pence appointed Adams to his current role when Pence was still governor. Adams would replace former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, MD, who was pushed out by the Trump administration in April. Similar to Murthy, Adams has been an advocate for addressing the opioid epidemic.

Investigation Into Patient Assistance Charity

The IRS is investigating whether a patient-assistance charity improperly benefited pharmaceutical companies. The probe is trying to determine whether the charity Good Days returned most of the money pharmaceutical companies donated as payments for their drugs, according to Reuters. Good Days operates a copay assistance program and the IRS claims that in 2011 about 95% of the assistance provided to patients was spent on drugs made by companies that had made donations.

CBO Releases Addendum to Initial Senate Health Bill Report

An addendum from the Congressional Budget Office released Thursday detailed the impact of the Senate health bill on Medicaid over 2 decades. The addendum to the initial analysis was released at the request of Democratic senators who wanted to see an estimate past the 10-year window typically provided. The CBO found that in the first 10 years, Medicaid funding would decrease 26%, and by the end of the second decade, Medicaid spending would be 35% lower.