SIGN UP! If you’d like to continue receiving Washington Examiner’s Daily on Healthcare newsletter, SUBSCRIBE HERE: http://newsletters.washingtonexaminer.com/newsletter/daily-on-healthcare/

Trump administration introduces policies to lower Medicare drug prices. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services made several moves Monday aimed at lowering drug costs under Medicare for seniors. One of the policies would lower the maximum amount beneficiaries pay for “biosimilars,” which are similar to expensive biologic drugs. “This policy alone is expected to generate savings for the Medicare program of $10 million in 2019,” an administration official said on a call Monday with reporters. Other policies include boosting competition among pharmacies to increase the number of pharmacy options that enrollees have. Another policy seeks to eliminate procedural hurdles that prevent an insurance plan’s list of approved prescription drugs, called a drug formulary, from adding a new generic. The goal is to get the cheaper drugs onto plan formularies faster, meaning patients can start to benefit sooner.

Individual mandate has little impact on decision to buy health insurance: Poll. Most people with Obamacare plan to keep it even though the government will no longer punish them for going uninsured, according to a new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The organization’s polling showed that nine in 10 enrollees plan to keep their Obamacare coverage even though congressional Republicans repealed the fine for going uninsured as part of the tax bill that President Trump signed into law in December. Beginning in 2019, people are allowed to be uninsured without facing a penalty of 2.5 percent of income or $695 per person, whichever is higher. The survey found that the mandate ranked low among reasons why people said they bought their own health insurance in 2018. Among those polled, 34 percent said the mandate was a “major reason” they chose to buy coverage. Reasons that ranked higher: to protect against high medical bills, at 75 percent; for peace of mind, at 66 percent; and because the individual polled or someone in his family had health needs that required ongoing medical care, at 41 percent.

Welcome to Philip Klein’s Daily on Healthcare, compiled by Washington Examiner Managing Editor Philip Klein (@philipaklein), Senior Healthcare Writer Kimberly Leonard (@LeonardKL) and Healthcare Reporter Robert King (@rking_19).  Email [email protected] for tips, suggestions, calendar items and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list.

CMS issues final rates for Medicare Advantage, Part D. The Trump administration will raise Medicare Advantage and Part D payment rates by 3.4 percent in 2019, an increase of 1.84 percent from the proposed rates released in February. America’s Health Insurance Plans, the leading insurance lobbying group, commended CMS for finalizing a series of policies the group said “will strengthen and improve Medicare Advantage.” The rate announcement also included several policies aimed at curbing opioid use. CMS requires all Part D sponsors to limit initial opioid prescriptions for the treatment of acute pain to no more than a seven-day supply. It also expects all sponsors to “implement real-time safety alerts at the time of dispensing at a proactive step to engage both patients and prescribers about overdose risk and prevention.”

Are Americans getting fat because of pro sports? Sponsorship deals between food and beverage companies and professional sports leagues may be contributing to the nation’s obesity problem, according to National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins. He cited a study that examined how deals between major sports leagues such as the National Football League and Major League Baseball and food and beverage companies could create confusing messages about physical fitness and eating habits. The “vast majority” of ads promoting food and drinks “touted unhealthy items, including chips, candies, sodas, and other foods high in fat, sodium, or sugar, and low in nutritional value,” Collins wrote in a blog post.

​FDA orders mandatory recall of salmonella-infected kratom. ​The Food and Drug Administration is ordering a mandatory recall of kratom from Triangle Pharmanaturals LLC after the company failed to voluntarily remove its products. The FDA put out the order after finding the products were infected with salmonella. This is the third time FDA has issued a mandatory recall but the first that comes as a result of a company refusing to follow a voluntary request. Triangle Pharmanaturals did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been examining kratom after 87 people were sickened by salmonella. The FDA noted that Triangle Pharmanaturals’ products weren’t linked with the outbreak and said it was continuing its investigation.

House lawmakers press for answers on oversight of nursing homes. House lawmakers want the Trump administration to answer serious concerns they have about the federal oversight of nursing homes. Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee wrote Monday to CMS Administrator Seema Verma on recent media reports of abuse, neglect and patient harm at some nursing homes that participate in Medicare or Medicaid. The lawmakers referred to Hollywood Hills in Florida, where 14 residents died in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma last year, with the deaths being attributed partly to no air conditioning and delays from staff in calling 911. It also referred to media reports over the past year of nursing home residents being abused and neglected. The letter asked CMS for information on the agency’s role in overseeing nursing homes, including the Hollywood Hills facility. CMS did not immediately return a request for comment.

Senators demand answers on price spike of cancer drug. A trio of bipartisan senators want to know why a 40-year-old, off-patent cancer drug increased in price by 1,400 percent over four years. The drug is lomustine, which was approved in 1976 to treat brain tumors and Hodgkin lymphoma. It is the latest outcry by Congress over high drug prices. Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Sens. Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada sent the letter March 22 to the CEO of Tri-Source Pharma, whose subsidiary NextSource Biopharmaceuticals acquired and raised the price of lomustine.

Iowa governor signs bill letting insurers skip Obamacare mandates. Iowa’s Republican Gov. Kimberly Reynolds signed a law Monday that lets some insurers skirt Obamacare regulations. The law would let the Iowa Farm Bureau and Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield sell health plans to the farm bureau’s members that ignore the mandates, arguing that the plans aren’t considered insurance. The Obamacare mandates require insurers to cover essential health benefits such as maternity care or hospitalization and prevents insurers from charging sick people higher prices. Another part of the law would expound on a proposed regulation from the Trump administration to expand access to association health plans, which also skirt the law’s insurer regulations. Smaller employers and individuals can band together to buy the health plans. The Trump administration has not said if it will allow the Farm Bureau and Wellmark to offer the plans.

Manufacturing losses have fueled opioid addiction: Study. Job losses in the manufacturing industry have not only crushed overall employment levels, but also have boosted opioid use, according to a study published Monday. University of Chicago social scientists found that the decline of jobs in the sector during the 2000s could explain up to one-third of the decline in employment for working-age people since 2000. They also found that manufacturing job losses were associated with higher opioid overdose deaths. The study, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research Monday morning but not yet reviewed by peers, is a point of evidence in favor of the contested idea that opioid addiction is tied to economic losses, and that overdoses could represent “deaths of despair.”

White House lit up blue for World Autism Awareness Day. First lady Melania Trump on Monday shared a photo of the White House bathed in blue light to mark World Autism Awareness Day. “The @WhiteHouse is lit up in blue tonight in honor of #AutismAwarenessDay #LightItUpBlue,” the first lady tweeted. Earlier, President Trump released a proclamation that coincided with World Autism Awareness Day to show support for those with an autism spectrum disorder. “To maximize the quality of life across the entire autism spectrum, we must ensure that ASD is accurately identified and diagnosed in both children and adults,” the president’s statement read. “On World Autism Awareness Day, let us renew our commitment to support the entire international ASD community, including children and adults with ASD, their families, and caregivers,” he added.

RUNDOWN

The Hill Iowa law seen as breakthrough for Obamacare foes

NPR Health savings account change in 2018 could trip up some consumers

Bloomberg What it’s like living without health insurance in America

Reuters Justice Department seeks role in opioid settlement talks

CNBC Walmart is looking at buying online pharmacy PillPack for $1 billion

New York Times ‘I can’t stop:’ Schools struggle with vaping explosion

Modern Healthcare As healthcare.gov brokers plummet, Georgia passes bill to protect their commissions

Associated Press Old and new drugs creating deadly mixtures to raise opioid tolls