Modern Healthcare: ACA's Impact On Racial Health Disparities Has Stalled
While black and Hispanic adult uninsured rates dramatically declined thanks to the Affordable Care Act, that progress has largely stalled in recent years and the overall uninsured rate has started to climb, according to a new study released Thursday. Since 2015, black adults in Medicaid expansion states were more likely to be insured than white adults in those states, according to the Commonwealth Fund report. More than 74% of black adults and 58% of Hispanic adults reported having a regular healthcare provider in 2018 compared to 71% and 55% in 2013, the study showed. (Johnson, 1/16)

ABC News: Progress Stalled On Closing Racial Gap In Health Insurance Since Trump Took Office
Between 2013 and 2016, the uninsured rate dropped from 24.4% to 13.7% among black adults, and from 40.2% to 25.5% among Hispanic adults, according to a report published Thursday by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit research foundation. Uninsured white Americans dropped from 14.5% to 8.2% during the same period. (Schumaker, 1/16)

US News: Obamacare Curbed Racial And Ethnic Coverage Gaps, But Progress Has Slowed
States that expanded their Medicaid programs saw the largest improvement overall. From 2013 to 2018, the black-white gap in insurance coverage dropped from 8.4 to 3.7 percentage points in expansion states, for example, while the Hispanic-white gap fell from 23.2 to 12.7 percentage points. Gains were so significant that the uninsured rate among blacks in expansion states in 2018 – 10.1% – was lower than the 12.3% rate among whites in non-expansion states, the report says. (Galvin, 1/16)

The CT Mirror: Racial Disparities Persist In CT Health Care, Two Groups Find
While Connecticut has led national efforts in public insurance reform, significant health disparities persist between the state’s residents of color and white residents, two research and advocacy groups concluded in reports released this week. Black and Latino residents are more likely than white residents to be uninsured, to die before reaching adulthood and to report being in poor health. (Carlesso, 1/15)

In other news on the health law —

The Hill: Health Insurers Urge Supreme Court To Take ObamaCare Case, Uphold Health Law
The health insurance lobby America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) on Wednesday filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to take up a case challenging ObamaCare and to rule to uphold the health law. The health insurers are siding with a group of Democratic-led states that have asked the high court to take up the GOP-led case challenging the Affordable Care Act (ACA) now. (Sullivan, 1/15)

The Associated Press: Groups Push For 'Medicare For All' Support As Primaries Near
"Medicare for All" has played a role in nearly every stage of the Democratic presidential campaign, but there's been some quibbling over how that phrase is defined. With just weeks until the first 2020 contests, several groups are organizing grassroots efforts aimed at convincing voters they should back candidates who fully support the legislation from which the phrase is derived. This week, as candidates descended on Iowa for Tuesday's debate at Drake University, U.S. Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Mark Pocan, co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, planned a Medicare for All town hall in Des Moines. (Kinnard, 1/15)

Elsewhere on the campaign trail —

The Hill: Bloomberg Vows To Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes If Elected President
Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg on Tuesday said he would ban the sale of all flavored e-cigarettes and raise taxes on traditional cigarettes if he wins the White House. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, said he would also push to reduce the amount of nicotine in traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes and other tobacco products to "nonaddictive levels." (Hellmann, 1/15)

CalMatters: Trump Hits And Misses As He Campaigns For Re-Election — Against California
The president clearly enjoys needling the nation’s most populous state. Since his inauguration, Donald Trump has taken aim at California for its policies on immigration and environmental protection, its left-leaning cultural institutions, its poverty rate (which, if you factor in the cost of living, is the highest in the nation), its crime rate (which isn’t), its most recent choice of governor and its alleged tolerance of voter fraud (a charge that’s completely unfounded). (Christopher, 1/14)

Reuters: UnitedHealth Bets On Government Health Plan Growth In 2020
UnitedHealth Group Inc, the largest U.S. health insurer, reported a better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday, and said it expects strong sales of its government health plans this year. The company also reported solid sales growth in its pharmacy benefits business. (Maddipatla, 1/15)

The Associated Press: Another Strong UnitedHealth Quarter, 2019 Profit At $13.84B
Growing Medicare Advantage coverage and fat profits from UnitedHealth’s Optum business, which strays beyond the company’s health insurance core, contributed to better-than-expected earnings in the quarter. Revenue grew 4% to $60.9 billion, just shy of analyst projections for $60.96 billion, according to FactSet. The insurer, a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, normally tops Wall Street expectations for earnings and revenue every quarter. (Murphy, 1/15)

Forbes: UnitedHealth Group Says Medicare Growth ‘Strongest Ever’
“We finished the year encouraged by continued performance improvement in Medicaid, early market interest in our new innovative line of employer-sponsored benefit offerings and 2020 individual Medicare Advantage annual enrollment results, which were our strongest ever,” UnitedHealth Group chief executive David Wichmann, told analysts Wednesday morning on the company’s earnings call. “Within our Medicare Advantage offerings, including dual eligible growth, we expect to serve 700,000 more people in 2020, nearer to the upper-end of the range of performance offered at the (December) investor conference.” (Japsen, 1/15)

The Wall Street Journal: UnitedHealth Group Reports Higher Revenue In Latest Quarter
UnitedHealth’s results will likely reassure managed-care investors that medical costs aren’t seeing a big uptick due to strong flu activity. The medical loss ratio—the percentage of premium revenue spent on health care—at its insurance unit was 82.5%, lower than analysts had expected. On a call with analysts, UnitedHealth said flu had a “very modest impact” on its fourth-quarter insurance results, with some increase in outpatient care but inpatient activity close to normal. (Barba, 1/15)

Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealthcare Expects Big Medicare Advantage Gains In 2020
Medicare Advantage, the privatized alternative to the traditional federal insurance program for seniors, has been a boon to health insurers' bottom lines in recent years. That trend shows no signs of slowing in 2020, if UnitedHealth Group's projections are any indication. David Wichmann, CEO of UnitedHealth, the parent company of the nation's largest health insurer UnitedHealthcare, said Wednesday that the latest Medicare Advantage open enrollment period was its "strongest ever." The company expects to serve nearly 700,000 more individual Medicare Advantage members in 2020. Last year, it grew enrollment in the individual and group Advantage businesses by 325,000 to 5.3 million compared with 2018. (Livingston, 1/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Investors Shouldn’t Risk Skipping Health Insurance
Health-care investors don’t have to fear Medicare for All. U.S. health insurers’ stocks are trading near all-time highs, but the looming 2020 election has resulted in some volatile trading: The sector sold off on Monday after an influential poll released last week showed Sen. Bernie Sanders gaining ground among Iowa caucus-goers. (Grant, 1/15)

The New York Times: Overwhelmed By Medical Bills, And Finding Help On TikTok
When severe pain sent Eva Zavala to an emergency room last March, her treatment involved an ultrasound and some blood work. Her visit left her with a medical bill for more than a thousand dollars, after insurance. It was an overwhelming cost for Ms. Zavala, 22, a medical assistant in Oregon. She had barely made a dent in the total amount she owed when, several months later, she came across a video on TikTok. (Fortin, 1/16)

KHN's Bill Of The Month: Check out KHN's special coverage on surprisingly high medical bills. 

In other health care costs news —

Modern Healthcare: Hospital Costs Targeted By New State Policy Center
A nonpartisan health policy brain trust is shifting gears in 2020 to help state lawmakers tackle hospital costs, and the switch is funded by a Texas billionaire couple who have become major players in the national healthcare policy debate. The National Academy for State Health Policy late last year created a new center to help states address healthcare system costs. The center plans within the next month to release between eight and 12 pieces of model legislation to help states lower healthcare spending, academy Executive Director Trish Riley said. (Cohr, 1/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Juul Scales Back Overseas Expansion
Juul Labs Inc. told staff this week it may exit the South Korean market and has postponed its planned launch in New Zealand, as the troubled e-cigarette company scales back its expansion outside the U.S. The company aggressively pushed to enter new markets last year, but, in the rush to expand, it made missteps that resulted in embarrassing setbacks, according to current and former employees. In China, for example, online retailers pulled Juul off their sites just days after the company had launched there. (Maloney, 1/15)

The Associated Press: Vape Shop Owners Oppose New Hampshire Flavor Ban Proposal
New Hampshire vape shop owners came out in force Wednesday against a proposal to ban flavored products, arguing it would force them out of business and harm the health of adult customers who will return to smoking. The Trump administration announced this month that it will prohibit fruit, candy, mint and dessert flavors from small, cartridge-based e-cigarettes favored by high school and middle school students. But menthol and tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes will be allowed to remain on the market, and the targeted flavor ban entirely exempts large, tank-based vaping devices, which are primarily sold in vape shops that cater to adult smokers. (Ramer, 1/15)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Bills To Outlaw E-Cigarettes, Flavored Vaping Products Go Before N.H. House Committee
Bills to outlaw e-cigarettes and ban all flavored vaping products, save for menthol, went before a New Hampshire House committee today. According to the Centers for Disease Control, New Hampshire teens vape at a rate that's nearly twice the national average, and lawmakers are looking hard at tightening standards. (Rogers, 1/15)

Stat: A Court Struck Down A Ban On Pharma ‘Price Gouging.’ One State Wants To Revive It — And Others Could Follow
In one of their first acts of 2020, state lawmakers will attempt to bring a vanquished bill back from the dead. Lawmakers in New Hampshire next month are set to consider a proposed ban on generic drug “price gouging” — the latest in a series of attempts by statehouses to tackle prescription drug costs. But as most state legislatures around the country pursue new, aggressive ideas to lower drug prices, the Granite State is revisiting a bill largely left for dead after a federal court struck down Maryland’s version two years ago. (Facher, 1/16)

And more pharmaceutical news coming out of JP Morgan's Health Conference —

Stat: Regeneron’s Yancopoulos Is Bitter Over Praluent. Can Novartis Do Better?
George Yancopoulos, Regeneron Pharma’s top scientist, is still a bit bitter about the commercial flop of its cholesterol-lowering PCSK9 inhibitor Praluent. At an event on the sidelines of J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Tuesday, he also threw a tiny bit of shade at Novartis, which believes it can do better with a longer-acting PCSK9 inhibitor it acquired through the $10 billion buyout of The Medicines Company. (Feuerstein, 1/15)

Stat: Verily Tangos With A Health Tech Partner — And Steps On A Few Toes
Verily was one of the most-talked-about debutants at this year’s J.P. Morgan ball. For the first time in its five-year history, the Alphabet life sciences spinout presented to some of the 9,000 health care executives and investors who descended upon Union Square, and Verily’s mercurial CEO, Andy Conrad, faced pressure both to impress and entertain. (Brodwin, 1/16)

The New York Times: Japan Confirms First Case Of New Chinese Coronavirus 
Japan on Thursday reported its first case of a new coronavirus that has sickened at least 41 people in China, adding to concerns about the spread of the virus beyond China’s borders ahead of a major holiday. Japan’s Health Ministry said that a Chinese man in his 30s tested positive for the mysterious pneumonia-like coronavirus. The man, a resident of Kanagawa Prefecture, just south of Tokyo, returned to Japan on Jan. 6 after traveling to the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak. The man, who came down with a fever on Jan. 3, was hospitalized on Friday but was discharged five days later because he had recovered, according to the Health Ministry. (Wee, 1/15)

The Associated Press: Patient In Japan Confirmed As Having New Virus From China
Eiji Hinoshita, an official at the ministry’s infectious disease section, told reporters that the man told officials he did not go to the fish market in Wuhan linked to the pneumonia outbreak, but had “close contact” with at least one person with pneumonia symptoms at a place where he stayed during the visit. Ministry officials are checking further the patient’s activity and people he had contact in China and in Japan since his return, Hinoshita said. (Yamacuchi, 1/16)

CBS News: China Virus Outbreak Of Wuhan Pneumonia Could Spread Between Humans Officials Say Today As US Warns Travelers
While preliminary investigations indicate that most of the patients had worked at or visited a particular seafood wholesale market, one woman may have contracted the virus from her husband, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said in a public notice. The commission said the husband, who fell ill first, worked at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market. Meanwhile, the wife said she hasn't had any exposure to the market. (1/15)

The Associated Press: Chinese Health Officials Can't Rule Out Person-To-Person Spread Of New Virus
The threat of human-to-human transmission remains low, Chuang said, as hundreds of people, including medical professionals, have been in close contact with infected individuals and have not been infected themselves. She echoed Wuhan authorities’ assertion that there remains no definitive evidence of human-to-human transmission. (1/15)

CNN: China's New SARS-Like Coronavirus Has Spread To Japan, But We Still Know Very Little About It
The new strain of coronavirus, in the same family as the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), originated in Wuhan, the largest city in central China. It was confirmed Thursday to have been detected in Japan, a few days after Thailand confirmed its first case of infection. The outbreak has cast a shadow over Lunar New Year celebrations and put the rest of Asia on alert. Virologists around the world are now studying its genome sequence shared by Chinese researchers, but many questions still remain. (Gan, 1/16)

The New York Times: How Anti-Vaccine Activists Defeated A Bill To End Religious Exemptions
As a measles outbreak raged last year, New York lawmakers passed a bill ending all nonmedical exemptions to immunization, handing supporters of such efforts across the nation a major victory. Then the focus shifted to New Jersey, where an even more sweeping bill had been making its way through the State Legislature that would have barred nearly all exemptions to vaccines for students at any public or private school, including colleges, which were not covered by the New York law. (Tully, Otterman and Hoffman, 1/16)

Stat: New Heart Transplant Method Being Tested For The First Time In The U.S.
More than 250,000 people in the U.S. are currently at the end stages of heart failure, up to 15% of whom are in desperate need of a transplant. A new method of “reanimating” donor hearts from those who have died from cardiac failure is currently being tested in the U.S., and may soon ease that burden. As part of the new procedure, known as “donation after cardiac death,” or DCD, transplants, organs are retrieved from those who have died because their heart stopped — either naturally or because physicians discontinued life support. (Chakradhar, 1/16)

Stat: Study: Mutations In Stem Cells Of Young Donors Can Be Passed To Recipients
Doctors use stem cell transplants to treat patients with certain cancers or blood disorders. And donors, whose blood or bone marrow is used for the procedures, are typically young, for a variety of reasons. But a pilot study released Wednesday raised the possibility that such donors are also passing along mutations in stem cells that could lead to health problems for some recipients. (Joseph, 1/15)

NPR: Embryo Research In Mexico Raises Ethical Concerns
Researchers have conducted a controversial study that involved paying dozens of young women at a hospital near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to get artificially inseminated so their embryos could be flushed out of their bodies and analyzed for research purposes. The study showed that embryos created that way appear to be as healthy genetically as embryos created through standard in vitro fertilization. Physically, the embryos appear to, possibly, even be healthier, the study found. (Stein, 1/15)

Modern Healthcare: Solutions To Loneliness Elusive For Hospitals
Do you have someone who loves you and cares for you? Do you have a source of joy in your life? Do you have a sense of peace today? Since mid-2018, staff at AdventHealth have asked patients in outpatient settings those three questions in an attempt to identify health needs beyond the physical realm. In response, patients often say that they don’t have anyone who cares for them, or they feel isolated from their community. In other words, they’re lonely.“ A top trend (among our patients) is loneliness,” said Angela Augusto, director of mission integration at the Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based health system. “And we are not seeing it in any particular age demographic. It’s as prevalent with our young patients as our older generation of patients.” (Castellucci, 1/11)

The New York Times: Rich People Don’t Just Live Longer: They Also Get More Healthy Years
Yes, indeed, it’s good to be rich in old age. According to a new study, wealthy men and women don’t only live longer, they also get seven to nine more healthy years after 50 than the poorest individuals in the United States and in England. “It was surprising to find that the inequalities are exactly the same,” said Paola Zaninotto, a professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London and a lead author of the study. (Murphy, 1/16)

The New York Times: This Strange Microbe May Mark One Of Life’s Great Leaps
A bizarre tentacled microbe discovered on the floor of the Pacific Ocean may help explain the origins of complex life on this planet and solve one of the deepest mysteries in biology, scientists reported on Wednesday. Two billion years ago, simple cells gave rise to far more complex cells. Biologists have struggled for decades to learn how it happened. (Zimmer, 1/15)

Los Angeles Times: CTE Rears Its Ugly Head Again With New Aaron Hernandez Documentary
A new Netflix documentary promises a look inside the mind of Aaron Hernandez. Any look inside the mind of the onetime New England Patriots tight end who was convicted of murder and later killed himself will certainly delve into the topic of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Following his death at age 27, Hernandez was diagnosed with Stage 3 CTE by doctors at Boston University’s CTE Center, which studies repetitive head trauma in athletes and military personnel. (Schilken, 1/15)

Bloomberg: Health Scares Slow The Rollout Of 5G Cell Towers In Europe
In the small Alpine town of Wohlen, a fierce backlash against the latest generation of mobile phone technology is under way. The Swiss municipality won’t allow Sunrise Communications AG or other phone companies to build masts to broadcast 5G, citing concerns about health risks from the towers’ electromagnetic radiation. Activist group Frequencia, which calls for limits on 5G’s rollout in part because of fears about cancer risks, attracted hundreds of people to a mass protest outside the parliament in Bern in September. (Seal and Torsoli, 1/15)

NPR: Mighty Mice In Space May Help Disabled People On Earth
In early December at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, two anxious scientists were about to send 20 years of research into orbit. "I feel like our heart and soul is going up in that thing," Dr. Emily Germain-Lee told her husband, Dr. Se-Jin Lee, as they waited arm-in-arm for a SpaceX rocket to launch. A few seconds later the spacecraft took off, transporting some very unusual mice to the International Space Station, where they would spend more than a month in near zero gravity. (Hamilton, 1/16)

NPR: In The Lead Up To Menopause, Depression And Anxiety Can Spike
Hines knew she was likely going through perimenopause, that is the years leading up to menopause, when women's monthly hormonal cycles become erratic as their bodies prepare to stop menstruating. What she didn't realize — and many women don't know — is that the hormonal changes of perimenopause can bring with it changes in mood, and for some of us, a heightened risk of anxiety and depression. (Chatterjee, 1/16)

Kaiser Health News: What The 2020s Have In Store For Aging Boomers
Within 10 years, all of the nation’s 74 million baby boomers will be 65 or older. The most senior among them will be on the cusp of 85. Even sooner, by 2025, the number of seniors (65 million) is expected to surpass that of children age 13 and under (58 million) for the first time, according to Census Bureau projections. “In the history of the human species, there’s never been a time like [this],” said Dr. Richard Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging, referring to the changing balance between young people and old. (Graham, 1/16)

The Hill: CDC Lifts Warning About E. Coli Outbreak In Romaine Lettuce
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is lifting its warning about E. coli in romaine lettuce, saying the outbreak seems to be over. Since November, the CDC has been warning people not to eat romaine lettuce from the Salinas Valley growing region in California because of the risk of E. coli infection. The CDC is now removing that warning, saying, “This outbreak appears to be over.” (Sullivan, 1/15)

CNN: It's OK To Eat Romaine Lettuce Again As Officials Declare E. Coli Outbreak Over
The romaine, which came from Salinas, California, infected a total of 167 people in 27 states. This included 85 hospitalizations, including 15 patients who developed a type of kidney failure -- hemolytic uremic syndrome -- known to be associated with this particular type of bacteria, E. coli O157:H7. The toxin produced by the bacteria typically causes symptoms such as vomiting, stomach cramps and bloody diarrhea. No deaths have been linked to the outbreak. (Ries and Nedelman, 1/15)

USA Today: Romaine Lettuce Outbreak: CDC Says E. Coli Outbreak Appears To Be Over
The ages of those who fell ill ranged from infancy to 89 years old, with a median age of 27. Several people in Canada also may have been affected. The CDC was able to interview 113 people who fell ill, with 83% of them saying they'd eaten romaine lettuce, much higher than a survey of healthy adults. Frank Yiannas, FDA deputy commissioner for food policy and response, said in a statement that the investigation is ongoing and they are "doing everything possible to find the source or sources of contamination." (Tyko, 1/15)

North Carolina Health News: Legislative Mini-Session Produces Little Movement On Health Care Issues, Despite New Call For Medicaid Expansion
By the time he reached Raleigh after six hours of driving, Dale Wiggins was angry that the lawmakers he was coming to see had already skipped town. Wiggins, the chair of the Graham County Board of Commissioners, came to Raleigh Tuesday to speak to legislators about enacting Medicaid expansion. But by the time he and several other officials from their rural far western county made it to the capitol, lawmakers who had come to the General Assembly for a “mini-session” had wrapped up their work after only a few hours, and left. They won’t be back until late April. That frustrated Wiggins, a Republican, who wanted to tell his party leaders about the needs of his constituents in a county where wages are low and rates of uninsurance are high. (Hoban, 1/16)

Miami Herald: Florida’s Medicaid Changes Worry People With Disabilities
Florida lawmakers are proposing changes to a Medicaid program for people with disabilities this year that would contract out some of its functions and support services, the latest in a years-long effort to restrain state spending on some of its most vulnerable Floridians. Advocates for people in the program say they fear the move could hurt the care they receive and add bureaucratic red tape to an already convoluted process. (Koh, 1/15)

Health News Florida: Lawmakers Consider Continuing Controversial Medicaid Change
Florida legislators this year will weigh whether to continue a controversial policy that limits the length of time people have to apply for the Medicaid program. But lawmakers will have to decide without financial data that the Legislature last year directed the state Agency for Health Care Administration to collect. And that worries some senators. (Sexton, 1/15)

Kansas City Star: Parson Pledges To Combat Violent Crime, Blasts Medicaid Expansion
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson affirmed the need to combat violent crime in his annual address before state lawmakers Wednesday, but only after stressing his Second Amendment bona fides, including his lifelong membership in the National Rifle Association. The speech, which focused mainly on the state’s economy, laid out his legislative agenda to lawmakers, but also reflected how he most likely will appeal to voters as he seeks a full-term as governor in November. (Thomas, 1/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Physician Burnout Is Widespread, Especially Among Those In Midcareer
Physicians between the ages of 40 and 54 experience a higher rate of burnout than older or younger doctors, according to a recent survey of more than 15,000 physicians who cited administrative tasks and work hours as key drivers of their stress. Nearly half of Generation X physicians who were surveyed said they felt burned out, compared with 39% of baby boomers, ages 55 to 73, and 38% of millennials, ages 25 to 39. Roughly half of all the doctors surveyed also said that they would be willing to take a substantial pay cut to achieve a better work-life balance. (Abbott, 1/15)

The New York Times: Where Surgeons Don’t Bother With Checklists
Ten years ago, checklists for surgeons were all the rage. Inspired by the preflight routines of airline pilots, surgical checklists were shown to prevent tragic errors, reduce infections and save lives. Dr. Atul Gawande, a Harvard-trained surgeon, championed them in The New Yorker and wrote a book about them, “The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right.” (McNeil, 1/15)

The Baltimore Sun: Dozens Come To Annapolis For Hearing On Bill Proposing Background Checks For Rifle, Shotgun Transfers 
Dozens of Marylanders of differing perspectives on gun rights turned up at the State House as three gun-related bills were heard by three separate committees Wednesday afternoon. One would create a fund for the state to buy back legally possessed assault weapons, another would classify .223 and .300 caliber AM-15 rifles as “regulated firearms,” effectively prohibiting them, and the third bill would require background checks for the private transfer of rifles and shotguns, also called long guns. (Sanchez, 1/15)

CBS News: Lobby Day Richmond: Virginia Governor Declares State Of Emergency In Advance Of Capitol Pro-Gun Demonstration
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency in Virginia from January 17-21, amid plans by pro-gun groups to hold a rally at the Capitol on January 20. Northam said law enforcement officials have identified "credible threats of violence surrounding the event," including white nationalist rhetoric and plans by out-of-state militia members to attend. The measure will temporarily ban guns from the Capitol grounds in Richmond. (Linton, 1/15)

The New York Times: Life In A Troubled Mississippi Prison, Captured On Smuggled Phones
The cellphone rang once before someone picked up. On the other end was an inmate inside Unit 29 of the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman. “Hello,” he said. Then, in a steady voice that competed against a cacophony of rowdy conversations and a fuzzy signal, he urgently described to a complete stranger the turmoil he said existed on the inside. Some inmates needed medical attention, he said. All of them could use a hot shower. (Rojas, 1/16)

The New York Times: Trial Of 6-Year-Old’s Killer Exposes Lapses In City’s Child Welfare System
Zymere Perkins limped into his kindergarten class one day in April 2016, his legs so badly beaten he could barely walk, the latest in a series of injuries his teacher had seen. Not for the first time, the school contacted the city’s child welfare agency. Later, a social worker gently coaxed the story from the boy: His mother and her boyfriend had hurt him repeatedly. (Palmer, 1/15)

Texas Tribune: Three More Texans Towns Try To Ban Abortion
Three Texas towns recently voted in favor of anti-abortion ordinances, extending the reach of a campaign to create “sanctuary cities for the unborn” across the state. The city councils of Big Spring and Colorado City — with populations around 28,000 and 4,000, respectively — voted Tuesday for a version of the controversial ordinance, which started popping up in small towns in East Texas last year. (Walters, 1/15)

Sacramento Bee: California Governor Urges Crackdown On Mental Health Parity
Leaders of the National Union of Healthcare Workers applauded Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday for committing to crack down on health care companies that fail to provide patients with mental health care comparable with that they provide for physical illnesses. During his budget address Friday, Newsom said the state’s Department of Managed Health Care was “getting in the business of real enforcement, not tacit enforcement.” He added that he would highlight any company found to show a lack of accountability on parity for mental health patients. (Anderson, 1/15)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Assembly Comes Up Short In Overriding Veto Of Training For Nurse Aides
The Assembly came up short Wednesday of overriding a veto of legislation for nurse aides after three Democrats flipped their stance on the legislation. The failed attempt to override the veto was a victory for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and a setback for Republicans who control the Assembly. (Marley, 1/15)

The Associated Press: Sleep Apnea Company Pays $37.5M To Settle Kickback Lawsuits
ResMed, a San Diego-based company that sells sleep apnea machines, will pay $37.5 million to settle allegations that it provided kickbacks to obtain customer referrals, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday. The settlement covers five whistleblower lawsuits filed on behalf of the federal government. The lawsuits say that the company provided free services and equipment to medical equipment suppliers, sleep labs and other health care providers in violation of the federal False Claims Act. (1/15)

Dallas Morning News: Dallas County Reports 3 More Flu Deaths, Bringing Season Toll To 9
Dallas County reported its seventh, eighth and ninth flu-related deaths of the 2019-20 season on Wednesday. The three victims were 73, 65 and 64 and all had pre-existing medical conditions, according to the county’s Health and Human Services department. All three were Dallas County residents. The victims’ names were not released. (Branham, 1/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: ‘We’re Forced To Turn To The Police:’ SF Advocates, Police Commissioners Want Fewer Officers Responding To Homeless
As the twin crises of homelessness and mental illness grip San Francisco’s streets, nearly every city department — from Public Health to Public Works — has boosted resources and staff to address the issue. Now, a chorus of police commissioners and homeless advocates say officers are spending far too much time responding to people who would be better served by social workers. (Thadani, 1/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Mayor Poised To Meet 1,000-Shelter-Bed Goal With Deal For Navigation Center
San Francisco officials have selected a vacant administrative building once used by City College of San Francisco as the site for a 200-bed Navigation Center that will provide shelter and services for the homeless. Mayor London Breed is expected to announce the city’s intent to lease the site at 33 Gough St. on Wednesday. (Fracassa, 1/15)

The Mercury News: Elizabeth Holmes' Theranos Case: Feds Claim Patient Harms
Federal prosecutors this week attacked in dramatic fashion a move by fallen Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes to quash felony fraud charges related to patients who paid for the company’s blood tests. The bombshell court action by the prosecution came in response to a mid-December motion by Holmes to get a judge to dismiss the four counts in her indictment that concern patients. The other seven counts relate to investors allegedly defrauded of more than $700 million. Holmes is accused of fraud in connection with failed Palo Alto blood-testing startup Theranos, which she founded as a Stanford University dropout in 2003. (Baron, 1/14)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Cleveland No Longer Site For Nonprofit’s Migrant Children Foster Care Program
A federal office that oversees the care of migrant children in the U.S. said a Columbus-based social services nonprofit has scuttled its plans to provide foster care services and up to 40 beds for children it would have sent to Cleveland. National Youth Advocate Program will instead provide services for the children in its care at an additional site in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida suburb of Davie, Florida, according to a statement issued late Tuesday by the Administration for Children and Families. (Heisig, 1/15)

Cincinnati Enquirer: St. Elizabeth Healthcare Clocks In 10,000 CT Scans For Lung Cancer
The St. Elizabeth program uses computed tomography, or CT, to take X-rays of the body from different angles. A person eligible for the scans is between 55 and 77 with a pack-a-day habit for 30 years who smoked within the past 15 years. A patient gets a baseline CT scan and an annual scan for five years. From late 2013 until this spring, the program performed 6,500 CT scans on eligible patients. (Saker, 1/15)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Abuse Of Elderly Is Focus Of DeKalb Initiative
DeKalb County launched an initiative on Wednesday to combat abuse of elderly and disabled adults. The DeKalb At-Risk Adult (DARA) multidisciplinary team, headed by District Attorney Sherry Boston’s office, will try to improve coordination and communication among law enforcement, regulators, advocates and social service agencies to ensure allegations of harm come to light and are investigated. (Schrade, 1/15)

KQED: Fleet Of Cars To Collect Block-By-Block Air Quality Data In Bay Area
A fleet of Toyota Priuses equipped with sensors to detect greenhouse gases, particulate matter and other pollutants is monitoring air quality across the Bay Area. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District announced this month that the hybrids will collect block-by-block data from all nine Bay Area counties, spanning more than 5,000 square miles of public roads. (Arcuni, 1/15)

Health News Florida: Court Wades Into Marijuana Licensing Dispute
A Tampa-based orchid grower seeking to enter Florida’s highly restricted medical-marijuana market tried to convince a state appeals court Tuesday that health officials erred in granting a handful of medical-marijuana licenses to competing firms last year. Louis Del Favero Orchids, Inc. is challenging a settlement agreement between the Florida Department of Health and what are known within the industry as “one-pointers.” (Kam, 1/15)

Commonwealth Fund: How ACA Narrowed Racial Ethnic Disparities Access To Health Care
The insurance coverage expansion ushered in by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has significantly increased Americans’ ability to get the health care they need since the law’s main provisions went into effect in 2014. Research also indicates that the ACA narrowed racial and ethnic disparities in insurance coverage — a key objective of the law, and one that enjoys substantial public support.2In this brief, we examine how much the ACA also has reduced disparities in access to health care among black, Hispanic, and white adults. (Baumgartner, 1/16 et al)

JAMA Internal Medicine: Assessment Of Cardiovascular Diagnostic Tests And Procedures Offered In Executive Screening Programs At Top-Ranked Cardiology Hospitals
Very few screening tests have been reported to reduce mortality in asymptomatic individuals. Nevertheless, there is an enduring belief in the benefit of using diagnostic tests to find disease in its earliest stages. Hospitals have responded to the demand for early diagnosis by establishing executive screening programs targeted to wealthy individuals who are able to pay directly for screening tests that are generally not covered by insurance. (Ge and Brown, 1/13)

Health Affairs: Effects Of Medicaid Expansion On Postpartum Coverage And Outpatient Utilization
Timely postpartum care is associated with lower maternal morbidity and mortality, yet fewer than half of Medicaid beneficiaries attend a postpartum visit. Medicaid enrollees are at higher risk of postpartum disruptions in insurance because pregnancy-related Medicaid eligibility ends sixty days after delivery. We used Medicaid claims data for 2013–15 from Colorado, which expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, and Utah, which did not. We found that after expansion, new mothers in Utah experienced higher rates of Medicaid coverage loss and accessed fewer Medicaid-financed outpatient visits during the six months postpartum, relative to their counterparts in Colorado. (Gordon et al, 1/1)

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation: The Coverage Gap: Uninsured Poor Adults In States That Do Not Expand Medicaid
While millions of people have gained coverage through the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), state decisions not to implement the expansion leave many without an affordable coverage option. Under the ACA, Medicaid eligibility is extended to nearly all low-income individuals with incomes at or below 138 percent of poverty ($17,236 for an individual in 2019). This expansion fills in historical gaps in Medicaid eligibility for adults and was envisioned as the vehicle for extending insurance coverage to low-income individuals, with premium tax credits for Marketplace coverage serving as the vehicle for covering people with moderate incomes. While the Medicaid expansion was intended to be national, the June 2012 Supreme Court ruling essentially made it optional for states. As of January 2020, 14 states had not expanded their programs. (Garfield, Orgera and Damico, 1/14)

The New York Times: Blood Pressure Patterns Are Different For Women
Blood pressure begins to increase at younger ages in women than in men, and it goes up at a faster rate, a new study reports. On average, women who develop heart disease are about 10 years older than men who develop it. But this report, published in JAMA cardiology, suggests that high blood pressure, one of the most important controllable risk factors for cardiovascular disease, begins at a younger age in women than men, and rises faster. The physiological processes that lead to heart disease, the findings suggest, may start earlier in women than in men. (Bakalar, 1/15)

The New York Times: Another Disability Disaster In The Making
On Nov. 18, the Social Security Administration announced its proposal to conduct roughly 2.6 million additional eligibility reviews of adults and children currently receiving Social Security disability benefits in the next decade. If undertaken, the change would be likely to result in the loss of benefits for many thousands of disabled citizens of all ages — raising the specter of a failed attempt by the Reagan administration in the early 1980s to shrink federal spending on assistance programs. For reasons both political and humane, President Trump and his policymakers should not make the same damaging mistake. (Jonathan M. Stein, 1/16)

The Washington Post: Elizabeth Warren And Bernie Sanders Are Pulling Apart In More Ways Than One
If you watched the debate closely, however, you realized that they’re also pulling apart in other ways. Despite similar-sounding critiques of corporate power, and nearly identical Medicare-for-all plans, the two of them actually offer quite different theories of politics, government and power — and of what sort of coalition the Democrats might put together to oust President Trump from the Oval Office. The distinction was clearest in their answers on health care, where Sanders issued yet another rousing defense of Medicare-for-all. (Megan McArdle, 1/15)

Stat: Why Black Doctors Like Me Are Leaving Academic Medicine
Adecade ago, the Department of Health and Human Services made “to achieve health equity, eliminate disparities, and improve the health of all groups” one of its goals for Healthy People 2020. It didn’t come close. Black Americans continue to experience some of the worst health outcomes of any racial group. Black men have the shortest life expectancies. Black women have the highest maternal mortality rates. Black babies have the highest infant mortality rates. (Uche Blackstock 1/16)

The Hill: Reframing The Antimicrobial Resistance Crisis
Antimicrobials are special amongst classes of pharmaceuticals for several reasons, including their use in the treatment of infections and prevention for myriad medical procedures that range from chemotherapy to organ transplantation. Antimicrobials also have a national security role as they are a vital component of the medical countermeasures to be used during a biological attack. The public health police power of the government may also require antimicrobials to intervene during contagious infectious disease outbreaks effectively. (Dr. Amesh A. Adalja and Greg Salmieri, 1/15)

The Hill: Improving Federal Law For Pregnant Workers
Congress passed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act 41 years ago, but as we enter a new decade, pregnancy discrimination is still alive and well. Across industries — from retail workers to police officers — unfair treatment is all too common. The reality is that pregnant workers, especially those in low-wage and physically demanding jobs, are still being treated like second class citizens, facing unique — and often insurmountable — legal hurdles to get the modest accommodations they need to remain healthy and on the job. (Dina Bakst, 1/15)

Los Angeles Times: Despite Almost No Evidence Of Abuse, Trump Plans To Narrow Medicaid Eligibility
For all that President Trump loves to portray himself as a protector of Americans’ healthcare — witness his fatuous new claim to have “saved Pre-Existing Conditions in your Healthcare,” when he’s actually undermined those safeguards — perhaps the most consistent administration healthcare policy has been an attack on Medicaid. The new year brings the opening of a new front in this war on the government program specifically aimed at bringing coverage to low-income households. The White House says it’s planning to tighten eligibility rules for Medicaid. (Michael Hiltzik, 1/14)

Health Affairs: Cutting Medicaid Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Will Harm Community-Level Public Transportation
Medicaid’s non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) benefit is stuck in the crosscurrents of competing trends: On the one hand, the value of the benefit is increasingly apparent due to recent research and the increasing interest in NEMT as a tool to address social determinants of health. On the other, the Trump administration is persistently taken actions (including a Request for Information scheduled for this year and a regulation projected for 2021 that will have the effect of curtailing Medicaid NEMT) even as the administration advances policies to promote NEMT in other health care markets (including as a transportation supplemental benefit in Medicare Advantage). (Michael Adelberg, Scott Bogren and Alexandra King, 1/14)

The New York Times: How To Turn Depressing Social Media Into A Positive Influence
A friend of mine digitally disappeared recently. Dropped all social media. Several others mentioned they might do the same. No doubt you’ve seen similar posts from people you know (and people you don’t) about needing a break from their digital lives. On one hand, I can sympathize. The current state of the modern world is a billion voices screaming for your attention, and it’s easy to let the most negative ones filter through and bring you down. It can be exhausting, and if your real life is already a struggle, adding digital gloom can be overwhelming. (Geoffrey Morrison, 1/15)

The Washington Post: How Small Family Rituals Can Help Combat Too Much Screen Time
Every day after school when I was a teenager, my family performed this quirky little ritual of standing in the kitchen, snacking and talking about our day. It evolved from our mutual love of snacks, and from our shared hatred of having to put things on plates and walk more than two feet to enjoy them. I used to balance on one leg, tree pose-style, and regale my parents with school play gossip while they complained about their respective co-workers. The ritual would end with us fighting over whether to cook dinner or get delivery. (Ally Hirschlag, 1/15)

CNN: Reading Is Fundamental -- To The Family's Happiness
A couple of years ago, when my older daughter was 8, she gently told my wife and me that she'd gotten too old for us to read her books anymore. We didn't try to talk her out of it or numerate the many benefits of reading aloud to a child (even after they can do so themselves). We were disappointed but respected her agency. When she was a toddler, we began a nearly daily ritual called Milk & Books. It quickly became the best part of any ordinary day as we devoured picture and chapter books that ranged from hilarious Shel Silverstein poetry to the dramatic prairie recollections of Laura Ingalls Wilder. (David Allan, 1/16)

Lexington (Ky.) Herald Leader: Insulin Price Hikes Are Killing Kentuckians. The General Assembly Needs To Stop Them.
One in four Americans with diabetes admit to rationing insulin due to cost. For some, the cost of insulin was the cost of their lives. For others, sacrifices of life savings, money budgeted for rent, mortgage, utility bills, college education, and dream jobs are all too common. Kentucky #insulin4all advocates are asking the legislature to pass three bills in the 2020 session to ensure that every Kentuckian who needs insulin has it without searching for coupons or applying for assistance programs that rarely grant requests for help. (Sarah Ferguson and Angela Lautner, 1/14)

Louisville (Ky.) Courier Journal: We Won't Accept Extremist Kentucky Politicians Trying To Ban Abortion
Pregnant Kentuckians already face numerous abortion restrictions passed during the 2019 legislative session, and extremist politicians are working hard to make things worse in 2020, specifically with Kentucky’s own version of President Donald Trump’s "gag rule," presented in pre-filed bills for our Republican supermajority to consider: House Bill 142 is a "gag rule" in Kentucky that prevents public funding recipients (read: clergy, therapists and counselors) from referring patients for abortion care. This bill places an unconstitutional barrier on providers and is only meant to shame and harm pregnant people. (Kim Greene, 1/15)

Los Angeles Times: An Empty Hospital. An Exploding Homeless Crisis. Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking? 
When I texted L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti Monday night to ask about the chance of snapping up St. Vincent, he said he’d just gotten that same question in a supermarket parking lot. The problem, he said, is that the city and county don’t have enough cash sitting around to buy the place. But Garcetti said it wasn’t out of the question for the city, the county and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority to jointly lease or rent St. Vincent, and his staff is researching the possibility. (Steve Lopez, 1/15)

Huffington Post: Child Care Is Expensive. So Is Not Fixing Its Problems.
America’s child care system costs the country hundreds of billions of dollars every year, according to a new report. But Americans don’t realize it, the report says, because a big chunk of those costs come in the form of lost wages and opportunities for working parents and child care providers ― and shoddy care for the kids. (Jonathan Cohn, 1/15)

Health Affairs: Patient Influencers Paid By Pharmaceutical Companies Should Be Required To Disclose Industry Ties
An industry niche of vendors who identify, vet, and maintain patient recruits has developed; WEGO Health, for example, boasts of “a network of over 100,000 Patient Leaders spanning virtually every health condition and interest area” who “have a profound influence on how others navigate their health and health care.” ... An article on WEGO Health’s website defines individuals with 1,000 to 100,000 social media followers as micro-influencers who "may have a recognizable, celebrity-like reputation within a specific niche." ... One problem is that corporate support gives patients with industry-friendly views more visibility, allowing them to drown out opposing views. Another is that industry-aligned positions shared by patient leaders may be misleading and not based on evidence. A third problem is that for patient leaders, who have built their trusted communities without any outside resources, revenue from — and warm relationships with — industry may in fact influence what they believe. (Judy Butler and Adriane Fugh-Berman, 1/10)