Yesterday, the CMS Actuary issued its report on 2018 National Healthcare Expenditures.

Total national healthcare spending in 2018 grew 4.6 percent, which was slower than the 5.4 percent overall economic growth as measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to a study conducted by the Office of the Actuary at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and published today ahead of print by Health Affairs.

According to the report, private health insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid experienced faster growth in 2018.  The faster growth for these payers was influenced by the reinstatement of the health insurance tax which was applied to private health insurance, 

The health insurance tax was suspended for 2019 but it is poised from reinstatement next year / month. 

Healthcare Dive reports that “More than 1,000 employers [including insurers and trade associations] wrote to Senate leadership Thursday pleading for it to take up legislation to repeal a controversial excise tax on high-cost employer-based health plans [a/k/a the Cadillac tax] slated to go into effect in 2022.”  The letter is referring to the House enacted bill HR 748 providing for a clean repeal of the Cadillac tax. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Congress repealed all three senseless ACA taxes, the Cadillac tax, the Health Insurance Tax, and the Cadillac Tax. Congress could treat the lower healthcare spending as an offset against the lost federal revenue.

Adding some perspective to the Becker’s Hospital Review report on vaping illnesses having spread across the country which the FEHBlog noted yesterday, the Wall Street Journal encouragingly reports today that

The rate of new hospital admissions for vaping-related illnesses has dropped in the past several weeks, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suggesting that the outbreak is on the decline.

Doctors, cannabis-industry analysts and other experts say the trend is most likely explained by wider awareness, changing consumer habits and a potential shift in the illicit market.

“The national picture seems to be trending in the right direction,” said Peter Briss, the medical director at the CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, who is managing the outbreak investigation. “I’m cautiously optimistic that all of the information sharing and communication may have helped.”

The HHS Office for Civil Rights which enforces the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules has issued its Fall 2019 Cybersecurity Newsletter. which focuses on ramsonware. 

How time flies, CVS Health issued a press release yesterday on the one year anniversary of its acquisition of health insurer, Aetna. Maazal tov.