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An official publication of the ACR and the ARP serving rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals

Stripping Americans of Health Insurance Could Be Deadly

Ronnie Cohen  |  

(Reuters Health)—Health insurance saves lives—that’s the conclusion of a report released on Monday, just in time to weigh into the debate among Senate Republicans considering a bill that could strip millions of Americans of coverage. “Overwhelming scientific evidence shows that lack of insurance is sometimes deadly,” co-author Dr. David Himmelstein, a professor at the City…

U.S. Republican Leaders in Fierce Push for Senate Healthcare Vote

Susan Cornwell & Richard Cowan  |  

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—Republican leaders were in a fierce push on Tuesday to shore up support for a healthcare bill in the U.S. Senate after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said 22 million Americans would lose insurance over the next decade under the measure. Vice President Mike Pence is expected to travel to Capitol Hill on Tuesday…

Rituximab for Fatigue & Oral Dryness in Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome

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These researchers investigated whether rituximab, an anti-B cell therapy, improves symptoms of fatigue and oral dryness in patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome (SS). The multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial included a health economic analysis. There were no significant improvements in any outcome measure with rituximab except for unstimulated salivary flow. The study concludes that rituximab is neither clinically effective nor cost effective in this patient population…

ACR: Senate Healthcare Bill Falls Short of Protecting Americans Living with Rheumatic Diseases

Sharad Lakhanpal, MBBS, MD
, ACR President   |  

The American College of Rheumatology has always stood for affordable and accessible healthcare coverage for the 54 million Americans living with rheumatic diseases. We are concerned the discussion draft of the Better Care Reconciliation Act introduced by Senate leadership this morning falls short of that goal. We stand ready to work with the Senate leadership…

Medical Education Evolves

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Medical education programs are changing. Tiffany Lin, MD, discusses a curriculum designed around patient-centered case studies and why a new accreditation process is a welcome change…

Disease-Activity-Guided TNF Inhibitor Dose Reduction Works Long-Term in RA

Reuters Staff  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—In patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), disease-activity-guided dose reduction of a tumor necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) is safe and effective in the long-term and leads to a large reduction in TNFi use, according to three-year data from the DRESS study. Implementation of this strategy would “vastly improve the cost-effective use of TNFi,” conclude Dr….

Senate Republicans Unveil Obamacare Replacement Bill with Tough Debate Expected

Richard Cowan and Susan Cornwell  |  

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—U.S. Senate Republicans on Thursday unveiled their version of legislation that would replace Obamacare, proposing to kill a tax on the wealthy that pays for it and reduce aid to the poor to cut costs. With Democrats deeply opposed to Republican attempts to overhaul former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, the route to…

Humana Out of Individual Market, With or Without Obamacare Repeal

Reuters Staff  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters)—Humana Inc. will not return to the individual insurance market after it exits the Obamacare exchanges this year, a market that Republicans are trying to repeal and replace through new legislation, Humana’s top executive said on Thursday. Republicans in the U.S. Senate released a draft of their bill to undo Obamacare, officially called…

U.S. FDA Moves to Prevent Pharma from “Gaming” Generic Drug System

Toni Clarke  |  

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The U.S. Food and Drug Administration moved on Wednesday to prevent pharmaceutical companies from “gaming” the system to block or delay entry of generic rivals. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a blog post that the agency plans to hold a public meeting on July 18 to identify ways pharmaceutical companies are using FDA…