#37 • A Healthy Dose of Healthcare News • July 16, 2021
Drug overdoses jumped 30% in 2020, Senate Democrats introduce $3.5T package with more Medicare benefits, two healthcare systems say "no" to Aduhelm, NY COVID fatality count missed 11,000, and more
The big story this week is as tragic as it was foreseeable: drug overdoses spiked in 2020, the result of isolation, fear, and economic distress due to COVID-19 and the associated lockdowns. More below.
Internationally, pressure is mounting for people to get vaccinated — and to get vaccinated again. In France, President Emmanuel Macron just mandated a COVID-19 health pass for most public venues. To go to a cafe or shopping mall, people must show proof of a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours. Starting in October, those tests will cost 50 euros (59 dollars) a piece. That makes for an expensive cup of coffee. French people are taking to the streets to protest the new rules. And in Israel, adults with weak immune systems are receiving a third Pfizer shot. Meanwhile, in the US, cases are rising in 48 states.
In this edition, you will read about:
#37.1. A 30% increase in drug overdoses in 2020,
#37.2. Senate Democrats’ $3.5 trillion plan with new Medicare benefits,
#37.3. Two major health systems saying “no” to Aduhelm,
#37.4. 11,000 missing from NY COVID-19 fatality count,
#37.5. Neurological syndrome warning for J&J’s COVID-19 vaccine, and
#37.6. West Virginia’s opposition to Purdue settlement.
#37.1. U.S. Drug-Overdose Deaths Soared Nearly 30% in 2020, Driven by Synthetic Opioids (Wall Street Journal)
Predictably, the loneliness and distress caused by severe shutdowns and economic disruptions caused a spike in “deaths of despair.” An estimated 93,331 Americans died from drug overdoses last year—30% more than in 2019. 57,550 of them died of overdoses from synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, which is 50 times more powerful than heroin and is often mixed with other drugs without the user’s awareness. By way of comparison, 375,000 deaths were attributed to COVID-19 in 2020. Lawsuits against opioid manufacturers are ongoing. Meanwhile, China remains the primary source of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances tracked through international mail.
#37.2. Senate Democrats Agree On $3.5T Spending Deal That Would Boost Medicare (Kaiser Health News)
This budget reconciliation bill comes on the heels of the infrastructure bill, which contains $600 billion in new spending, bringing the total to $4.1 trillion. The bill has yet to be drafted, but it is expected to contain expanded coverage for dental, vision, and hearing for seniors. “The Biden administration will support whatever expansions to Medicare Congress is willing to make,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said Tuesday.
#37.3. Cleveland Clinic, Mount Sinai won't prescribe controversial Alzheimer's disease drug Aduhelm (Fierce Healthcare)
The Aduhelm saga continues. In June, the FDA approved the first-ever drug against Alzheimer against the recommendation of its internal advisory committee. Criticism over the decision concerns both the efficacy of the drug and its handsome price tag of $56,000 a year. Two major hospital systems, Cleveland Clinic and Mount Sinai, are now refusing to prescribe and administer the drug. A representative of Cleveland Clinic stated that their decision was made over concerns about the safety and efficacy of the drug. Mount Sinai’s reasoning differed slightly: they are concerned about the close relationship between the manufacturer (Biogen) and the FDA’s staff and the ways in which it might have influenced the approval. The FDA requested an independent investigation into the matter.
#37.4. Discrepancy between New York's COVID-19 death count and federal numbers widens (The Hill)
The Associated Press found an additional 11,000 deaths from COVID-19 that the state of New York failed to include in their data. The discrepancy is hiding in plain sight: the state gave the federal government 54,000 death certificates, but its health department is only counting 43,000. That’s because the state only looks laboratory-confirmed deaths in hospitals, nursing homes, and adult-care facilities. It doesn’t count deaths likely related to COVID-19, which many other states do. It also doesn’t count deaths that occurred at home, hospices, state-run homes for people with disabilities, and state prisons. The state says that they are “fully transparent as to what data is on there” and that they “never said it was the full death count.” The chief of the Mortality Statistics Branch at a CDC center qualified the method as being “a little strange.” “They’re providing us with the death certificate information, so they have it. I don’t know why they wouldn’t use those numbers,” he said. This is just the latest development in the controversies surrounding Governor Cuomo, including his decision to send COVID-infected patients back to nursing homes and the cover-up of the deaths that resulted from it.
#37.5. FDA Adds Rare Neurological Syndrome Warning to Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine (U.S. News & World Report)
Johnson & Johnson added a warning to its COVID-19 vaccine’s label: inoculation may increase the patient’s risk of developing Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disorder that causes the body’s immune system to attack the nerves and affects between 3,000 and 6,000 people in the US every year. While most people (93 to 96%) recover from Guillain-Barre syndrome, treatment generally requires hospitalization, and 20 to 40% of patients are still unable to walk six months after developing it. The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) has noted 100 incidences of the syndrome so far, most of them occurring about two weeks after vaccination and mostly in men aged 50 years and older.
#37.6. West Virginia opposes Purdue Pharma bankruptcy plan (Associated Press)
Last week (#36.4.), I noted that 15 states had dropped their opposition to a settlement by OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma. West Virginia was not one of them. This week, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced his decision to oppose the bankruptcy plan. AG Morrisey is “vigorously opposed to a proposed allocation formula that would distribute settlement funds largely based on a state or local government’s population.” This statement makes sense when one knows that, despite being the 11th least populated state, West Virginia has had the country’s highest fatal opioid overdose rate for years. Nine other states and the District of Columbia likewise haven’t agreed to the plan either.