Billions wasted as livesaving meds are literally thrown away. Patients are paying the price. Nightly news begins right now. From nbc news World Headquarters in new york, this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. Good evening. President obama has made his move and is tonight locked into had a highstakes staredown contest with Senate Republicans over the future of the Supreme Court. The president has nominated federal Appeals Court judge Merrick Garland regard as a moderate to replace the late conservative justice the late antonin scalia, but even as the president warned against braintree split sizing the processes, the Senate Majority leader said there would be no action taken on the nomination. Republicans demanding the choice be left to the next president. Our justice correspondent Pete Williams has late details. Reporter the president introduced Merrick Garland as a judge who is decent, his long commitment to Public Service have earned him the respect and admiration of sides of the
Greatest honor of my life other than leanne agreeing to marry me 28 years ago. Reporter one of his two daughters missed the moment, hiking in the mountains. Out of cell service range when the president called. Reporter grandson of russian immigrants garland grew up in chicago. My name is merrick garland. Reporter as a federal prosecutor he led the team that brought Oklahoma City bomber Timothy Mcveigh to trial. Ononhe bench hes been a moderate voting to uphold environmental laws but often tough on criminals. Ideologically merricicgarland is in the center, maybe a little bit to the left. He seems mostly to be a judicial craftsman. Figure out what the law is, not what he might want the lawo be. Reporter at 63, garland is the oldest Supreme Court nominee in nearly 50 years, but when nominated for the federal Appeals Court in 1997, he was confirmed 7623 with 32 republican votes, i point the administration now emphasizes. I simply ask republicans in the senate to give him a air hearing. Rep
[ applause ] thank you very much for that, pat. That was very inspiring to think about health as being much bigger than health kcare and trying to find the solutions to get us there. Now we are going to turn to avic roy who has just returned from his money moon. Hes the opinion editor at forbes. He has an interesting back glund includes both medicine and finance. Hes a leading conservative change agent and a sought after president ial campaign advisor. Hes currently advising senator marco rubio and has previously advised rick perry and mitt romney. Hes the principal author of the apothecary, the influential forbes blogs. And he also serves on the Advisory Board. Join me in welcoming avik roy. [ applause ] thanks, nancy, and let me just second what you just said there. Its i really enjoyed what andrew and pat had to say. I think its inspiring to see some people focused on improving the quality of the delivery of care. Its been a tough problem, as you all know, and its been actually diff
Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by and by bnsf railway. And with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff afghanistans military fought today to take back a provincial capital, the first major city captured by the taliban in 14 years. The militants stormed kunduz yesterday, in a major setback to the government. Today, afghan troops and militiamen launched a counter offensive, with u. S. Air support, and a promise of more help, from president ashraf ghani, in kabul. translated Afghan Security force made achievements today in kunduz province. They have recaptured some parts of the government buildings. New reinforcements have reached kunduz and baghla and a battalion from the National Army will get to kunduz soon. Woodruff the taliban disputed those claims of success, and later reports told of taliban fighters
Hepatitis c, diabetes and oncology are the primary drivers of the spending growth. Prescription growth is 1. 2 for the year. That is a substantial reduction from last year. The primary effect is the rescheduling of hydrocodone to more restrictive schedule which cut that market by 30 . And also you have more chronic care prescriptions are 90day prescriptions. 75 is on specialists. You cant look at that market here or everywhere around the World Without talking specialty. And next year we expect crestor to go off. So these are whats driving spending growth. You can see hepatitis at the top followed by diabetes, oncology, autoimmune, multiple sclerosis, hiv, respiratory, nervous system, and so forth. Almost all of the big five are in the specialty area. And if you look closely at the slide, and i assume youll get copies of this later, what the significant impacts are in each of these things and we break it down by new brands, whats going on with protected brands, with generics and patents