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Paul Ryan declared that the War on Poverty had failed, so it was time to slash spending on anti-poverty programs. Last week the Trump Council of Economic Advisers declared not only that the War on Poverty has in fact substantially reduced poverty – which is what progressives have been saying all along – but that poverty is “largely over”. (Do these people ever visit the real world?) And because poverty is over, they say, we should impose lots of work requirements on Medicaid and food stamps, which would have the effect of slashing spending on these programs. Somehow a completely opposite reading of the facts leads to the same policy conclusion. Funny how that works. (Paul Krugman, 7/14)

According to a recent United Nations report on extreme poverty, things are pretty bad here in the U.S. The report, created by Australian Philip Alston, a U.N. special rapporteur, claims that “18.5 million Americans live in extreme poverty and 5.3 million live in Third World conditions of absolute poverty.” ... As VerBruggen points out, “the authors were unable to identify a single family with children that was extremely poor in their data.” (7/15)

As with so many curiously unwise decisions the Trump administration makes, this month’s announcement that it would abruptly halt important Obamacare payments leaves only two likely explanations: incompetence or sabotage. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) stunned the health-care world on July 7, revealing that it would stop collecting and paying out money under the Affordable Care Act’s risk-adjustment program. The program helps level out costs among insurers participating in Obamacare marketplaces. Those with inordinately healthy — and inexpensive — customers pay to compensate those with unusually sick — and costly — customers. Without such a program, insurance companies would compete to attract only healthy customers by narrowing benefits and finding other ways to discriminate against people who need care. Insurers who were unsuccessful in deterring sick people from signing up would have to raise premiums, leading to the loss of healthier customers and a downward financial spiral. With the program in place, on the other hand, the insurers in a given market are part of a big, effective insurance pool whose risks are spread across all. (7/14)

Undermining Obamacare can be nearly as effective as repealing Obamacare, after all. And relative to a big, splashy legislative vote, boring-sounding administrative actions are much more likely to fly under the radar. (Catherine Rampell, 7/12)

A St. Louis jury this week ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $4.69 billion, one of the largest amounts ever awarded in a product liability case, to 22 women and their families who say the company failed to warn people that its talcum-based baby powder contained dangerous levels of asbestos. The plaintiffs argued that years of daily use caused the women to develop ovarian cancer; six of them have died from the disease. (7/13)

A St. Louis jury sent a powerful message Thursday by awarding nearly $5 billion in damages over claims from women who alleged that Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder caused ovarian cancer. The company, which has vowed to appeal, instead should take a hard look at pulling its baby powder from shelves or should, at a minimum, warn consumers of its dangers. Educating the public about possible links between talc use and cancer is paramount. (7/14)

How much does a new hip cost in New York? The answer isn’t at all clear, despite Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s efforts to improve price transparency. Confusing insurance deductibles and balance billing mean that the actual amount patients pay can vary widely and unexpectedly, often with a painful shock. (Steve Cohen, 7/13)

Breast milk substitutes can be convenient and useful for mothers who can’t nurse their children. But research shows unequivocally that breast-feeding helps ward off infectious disease and is the best way to avoid deaths in children under 5 years old. This is why the World Health Organization has been striving for nearly four decades to promote breast-feeding for young children. The rationale is strong, but practices are still in flux. President Trump stepped into this health issue recently, and not for the better. (7/15)

A report by the Federal Emergency Management Agency has now confirmed, in brutal detail, what has long been evident: Its response to the killer hurricanes that struck Puerto Rico last fall was chaotic and tragically inadequate. (7/13)

Hospitals could make great strides in reducing the cost of delivering health care — particularly when it comes to drug costs — through a tight focus on their processes, especially the instructions that are often detailed in electronic health record systems. At many hospitals, drug costs are an expense second only to salaries. A 2016 survey of 712 hospitals by the American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals showed that inpatient drug spending rose 23 percent a year between 2013 and 2015, and by 39 percent on a per-admission basis. For 90 percent of the hospitals surveyed, these increases had a moderate or severe effect on the ability to manage the overall cost of patient care. (Patrick Yoder, 7/16)

Shaun Downs was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer and was given a year to live.  With no known cure, Shaun quickly exhausted all available treatment options. His situation is bleak. Stories like Shaun’s are tragically common.  According to the Pew Research Center, as of 2006, nearly 42% of Americans have a friend or relative with a terminal illness or who is in a coma. Among the most common terminal illnesses is cancer, which accounted for over 600,000 deaths in 2017. Fortunately for Shaun and others in similar situations, new legislation offers hope. (Raymond March, 7/13)

It takes only a glance at a hospital bill or at the myriad choices you may have for health care coverage to get a sense of the bewildering complexity of health care financing in the United States. That complexity doesn’t just exact a cognitive cost. It also comes with administrative costs that are largely hidden from view but that we all pay. Because they’re not directly related to patient care, we rarely think about administrative costs. They’re high. (Austin Frakt, 7/16)

The House Appropriations Committee marked-up the fiscal 19 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill. Rep. Robert Aderholt’s (R-Ala.) amendment to protect faith-based child welfare providers from government discrimination passed 29-23. (Mary Beth Waddell, 7/15)

The 2020 Census will have a tremendous impact on federal funding that states and localities receive for the next decade. And that means our kids are in jeopardy of being shortchanged on funding for programs that help them thrive. (Moira Kenney, John Dobard and Ted Lempert, 7/13)

When I got a puppy, I didn’t put her photo on social media for weeks because I was afraid she’d die or I’d have to give her back. I told hardly anybody I got a dog. I just cleared my schedule — already quite sparse if I’m being honest — and focused on taking care of this 12-week-old Great Pyrenees-Border collie mix with huge white paws that I’d picked up from a shelter in New Jersey just six days after I first thought, “Maybe I should get a dog.” Shadow turned 1 this month, the same week that Senator Elizabeth Warren got a new puppy. (Maeve Higgins, 7/14)