�鶹Ů��

Medicare enrollees next year could save on dozens of medications under a federal law that penalizes pharmaceutical companies if they raise prices faster than the rate of inflation, the Biden administration announced Thursday. Officials with Medicare, the federal health program for adults 65 and older, issued a list of 48 drugs including blood thinners, antibiotics and cancer medications administered at a doctor's office, clinic or hospital, saying that potential savings on these "Part B" medications would range from $1 to $2,786 per dose, beginning Jan. 1, depending on an individual's coverage. (Alltucker, 12/14)

President Joe Biden looked to rally support among seniors with an event highlighting new government caps on prescription drug prices, saying the effort would help “crack down on price gouging.” “Simply it’s a rip off,” Biden said Thursday at the National Institutes of Health, targeting pharmaceutical makers who raise the price of drugs at a faster rate than inflation. “They’re ripping off Medicare. They’re ripping off the American people.” (Jacobs and Sink, 12/14)

Americans 65 and over are playing a larger role in the labor force, shifting the composition of U.S. workers and reflecting a new reality where retirement has become a more gradual process for many. The share of older Americans who are working, by choice or necessity, has doubled in the past 35 years, according to a report released Thursday by the Pew Research Center. Workers 65 and over also are working longer hours and making more money than they were in the past. (Bhattarai, 12/14)

You can now use your pretax dollars to pay for certain types of healthful foods, gym memberships and even fitness trackers. Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Flexible Savings Accounts (FSAs) allow you to set aside money on a pretax basis to pay for “qualified medical expenses,” including medical, dental, prescription and vision bills. But many people don’t realize they may be eligible to spend the funds on a range of other options, including certain meal kits, gym memberships, protein powders, supplements, fitness trackers and even saunas. (O'connor and O'Hagan, 12/13)

Former drug company executive Martin Shkreli on Thursday urged a U.S. appeals court to strike down an order permanently banning him from the pharmaceutical industry. Shkreli's attorney Kimo Peluso told a 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in New York that the ban, imposed last year over Shkreli's efforts to curb generic drug competitors, was too broad. (Scarcella, 12/14)

Rep. Anna G. Eshoo’s decision to retire at the end of this term will leave a key Democratic vacancy on the powerful Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, and while it’s unclear who will take over her post, early signs point to longtime committee member Diana DeGette of Colorado. (Cohen and Clason, 12/14)

Tucked within Congress’ colossal annual defense bill is a priority a vocal group of Texas conservatives has long pushed: Using psychedelics to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. The U.S. House voted Thursday to pass the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which sets the spending caps and policy priorities for the Defense Department. Included in the bill was U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s Douglas Mike Day Psychedelic Therapy to Save Lives Act, legislation that will direct the Defense Department to create grants for studying psychedelic treatments for active duty service members. (Choi, 12/14)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has a new corporate target: the food industry. Sanders held a hearing today on diabetes that implicated both the food and drug industries in what the American Diabetes Association estimates is a $413 billion annual cost to the health care system. That’s up 27% over the past six years, he said, and he warned that new weight loss drugs could send health care spending to the stratosphere. (Wilkerson, 12/14)

�鶹Ů�� Health News and Cox Media Group: ‘Until It Is Fixed’: Congress Ramps Up Action On Social Security Clawbacks 

The Senate Finance Committee is ramping up oversight of Social Security’s overpayment problem and plans to meet with the agency every month “until it is fixed.” The Social Security Administration assured lawmakers in the past that it had been addressed, but “what you all found in your reporting is that the problem hadn’t been fixed,” Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in an interview. (Hilzenrath and Fleischer, 12/15)