First Edition: January 28, 2020

Kaiser Health News: Conceived Through ‘Fertility Fraud,’ She Now Needs Fertility Treatment
When Heather Woock was in her late 20s, she started researching her family history. As part of the project, she spit into a tube and sent it to Ancestry, a consumer DNA testing service. Then, in 2017, she started getting messages about the results from people who said they could be half siblings. “I immediately called my mom and said, ‘Mom, is it possible that I have random siblings out there somewhere?'” said Woock, of Indianapolis. She recalled her mom responded, “No, why? That’s ridiculous.” (Bavis and Harper, 1/28)

Kaiser Health News: An Attack Ad That Claims Michigan Sen. Gary Peters Supports ‘Medicare For All’ Doesn’t Hold Up
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who is running for a second term as Michigan’s junior senator, is the subject of an attack ad that takes issue with his position on “Medicare for All.” The ad claims that “Peters supports Medicare for All, siding with radical liberals.” But Peters’ legislative record and public statements suggest otherwise. One Michigan advocate for this single-payer approach even said Peters has never been a part of their cause. (Knight, 1/28)

California Healthline: California Reopens The Single-Payer Debate
California Gov. Gavin Newsom was a single-payer candidate.The Democrat campaigned hard for the creation of one public insurance program for all Californians. And within hours of taking office last year, he called on the federal government to allow California and other states to create single-payer programs. On Monday, some of the biggest names in California health care policy are convening in Sacramento to fulfill that promise. (Bluth, 1/27)

The New York Times: Supreme Court Allows Trump’s Wealth Test For Green Cards
The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to move forward with plans to deny green cards to immigrants who are thought to be likely to make even occasional and minor use of public benefits like Medicaid, food stamps and housing vouchers. The vote was 5 to 4, with the court’s conservative justices in the majority. The court’s brief order gave no reasons for lifting preliminary injunctions that had blocked the new program. Challenges to the program will continue to move forward in courts around the nation. (Liptak, 1/27)

The Associated Press: Supreme Court Allows Enforcement Of New Green Card Rule
The justices' order came by a 5-4 vote and reversed a ruling from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York that had kept in place a nationwide hold on the policy following lawsuits against it. The court's four liberal justices, Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor, voted to prevent the policy from taking effect. (Sherman, 1/27)

Reuters: U.S. Supreme Court Lets Hardline Trump Immigration Policy Take Effect
In imposing an injunction blocking it, Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge George Daniels on Oct. 11 called the rule "repugnant to the American Dream" and a "policy of exclusion in search of a justification." The administration asked the high court to let the rule go into effect even before the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules on Trump's appeal of the injunction. The 2nd Circuit is considering the matter on an expedited basis, with legal papers to be submitted by Feb. 14 and arguments expected soon afterward. (Chung, 1/27)

The Washington Post: Supreme Court Allows Trump Administration To Proceed With ‘Wealth Test’ Rules For Immigrants
Under the new policy, immigrants would be suspect if they are in the United States legally and use public benefits — such as Medicaid, food stamps or housing assistance — too often or are deemed likely to someday rely on them. The new criteria provide “positive” and “negative” factors for immigration officials to weigh as they decide on green-card applications. Negative factors include if a person is unemployed, dropped out of high school or is not fluent in English. Immigrant groups have protested the rules and denounced the Supreme Court’s action. “It’s a sad day in America when the U.S. Supreme Court affirms a completely discriminatory policy that measures the worth of a person — not by the strength of his or her character — but by the size of the person’s bank account,” said a statement from the National Partnership for New Americans. (Barnes and Sacchetti, 1/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Supreme Court Allows Trump To Implement Income-Based Restrictions On Immigration
The White House called the court’s order a “massive win for American taxpayers, American workers and the American Constitution. This decision allows the government to implement regulations effectuating longstanding federal law that newcomers to this country must be financially self-sufficient.” (Kendall and Hackman, 1/27)

Modern Healthcare: Supreme Court Allows Trump Administration To Enact Public Charge Rule
Leaders of many healthcare organizations, including the American Hospital Association, America's Essential Hospitals, the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Academy of Pediatrics, have warned that the rule will hurt public health efforts and reduce providers' ability to serve millions of low-income children and families. They point to evidence that fear created by the proposal already has reduced participation in health programs. (Cohrs, 1/27)

The New York Times: Are You Good Enough At Paperwork To Be A Poor American?
Take this quiz to see whether you make the kinds of mistakes that can cost poor families food or health insurance. (Emily Badger and Margot Sanger-Katz, 1/28)

Stat: It’s The Insulin, Stupid: 2020 Democrats Zero In On Insulin Costs
Presidential candidates can’t stop talking about insulin. At a campaign stop here on Sunday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar retold the now-familiar story of Alec Smith, whose highly publicized death from insulin rationing in 2017 sparked nationwide outrage. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has vowed to lower the drug’s price on her first day in office, lambasted Eli Lilly, one of just three U.S. insulin manufacturers, at an Iowa rally the day before. And since July, when Sen. Bernie Sanders joined a highly publicized “insulin caravan” seeking cheaper prices in Canada, he has flooded this state with television ads that picture him brandishing an insulin vial in outrage. (Facher, 1/28)

The New York Times: Chinese Officials Race To Contain Anger Over Virus
The Chinese government scrambled to contain not only the coronavirus epidemic but also growing expressions of public fury over the management of the crisis as the death toll rose on Tuesday to at least 106. China’s National Immigration Administration on Tuesday encouraged Chinese citizens to reconsider the timing of overseas travel to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, it said on its WeChat account. That came as the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged American citizens to avoid nonessential travel to China. (Buckley and Myers, 1/27)

The Associated Press: Wuhan Officials Face Questions, Anger Over Virus Response
Last Wednesday evening, top officials in the central Chinese city of Wuhan settled into their seats at an auditorium for a Lunar New Year gala — even as a new virus that originated in their city was spreading rapidly. Dozens of actors, actresses and musicians performed, some despite having sniffles and sneezes, the Hubei Folk Song and Dance Ensemble said in a now-deleted social media post. (Kang, 1/28)

The Wall Street Journal: China Strains To Stamp Out Coronavirus Criticisms At Home
With criticism of the government spreading on social media, Mr. Xi has repeatedly instructed authorities to “strengthen the guidance of public opinions”—language seen as a call for censorship in Communist Party-speak. State media outlets have been told to publish only information released through official channels, Chinese journalists say. They have also been instructed to focus on promoting “positive energy” and to avoid any critical reporting of officialdom, they say. (Wei, 1/28)

Los Angeles Times: Efforts To Contain Coronavirus Outbreak Test Xi Jinping's Control
The outbreak is a critical test for President Xi Jinping, offering insights into how Beijing’s central authority works — or doesn’t work — in times of alarm. Chinese social media usually censor criticism of government officials. But angry posts blaming Wuhan officials’ ineptitude and dishonesty for exacerbating the coronavirus outbreak have been allowed to come to a boil online, a strategic ploy by the central government to find a scapegoat. (Su, 1/27)

The Washington Post: As Deadly Coronavirus Spreads, U.S. To Expand Screening Of Passengers From China At 20 Airports
Late Monday, a top U.S. health official criticized Chinese authorities for not inviting U.S. and other international investigative agencies to join them in researching the new virus. While China has been more transparent than it was during the 2003 SARS outbreak, U.S. officials are still getting their information through press briefings rather than from direct transfer of scientific data, said Anthony S. Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. (Shih, Sun, Denyer and Achenbach, 1/27)

The New York Times: ‘What If We All Get Sick?’: Coronavirus Strains China’s Health System
After suffering from a fever and breathing problems for more than 15 days, Xiao Shibing, a 51-year-old resident of Wuhan, China, finally sought help at a hospital. Despite the symptoms, he was not tested for the new coronavirus — a lapse suggesting that there may be far more cases of the virus than are being officially reported. Instead, Mr. Xiao was told that he had a viral chest infection, so he went back home. As he grew sicker, he went to three other hospitals. (Wee, 1/27)

Stat: Trump Is Facing His Biggest Outbreak Emergency — And Experts Are Worried
When Ebola was spreading in West Africa in 2014, Donald Trump took to Twitter. “STOP THE FLIGHTS!,” he blasted in all capital letters. “NO VISAS FROM EBOLA STRICKEN COUNTRIES.” He even cast doubt on the honesty of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tweeting: “Ebola is much easier to transmit than the CDC and government representatives are admitting. Spreading all over Africa — and fast.” (Fox, 1/28)

The Associated Press: As US Rescues Some From Virus In China, Others Left Behind
As hundreds of Americans prepare to evacuate Wuhan, the central Chinese city at the heart of a new virus outbreak that has killed over 100, San Francisco native Doug Perez is staying behind. It’s not that he’s unconcerned. Perez, 28, and his girlfriend have hunkered down in their apartment for the past five days. They’ve argued. They’ve fretted over missed food deliveries. They’ve dubbed their Labrador, Chubby, “Apocalypse Dog,” venturing out for short walks on deserted streets only after fitting him with a mask. (Kang, 1/28)

The New York Times: New York Braces For Coronavirus: ‘It’s Inevitable’
With isolated cases of the dangerous new coronavirus cropping up in a number of states, public health officials say it is only a matter of time before the virus appears in New York City. As a result, hospitals have been on the lookout for patients with recent travel involving Wuhan, the Chinese city where the coronavirus is believed to have originated. And they have urged anyone who recently traveled there — or who have been in contact with someone who has — to quickly seek medical care if they have any respiratory or flulike symptoms. (Goldstein and Singer, 1/27)

NPR: Coronavirus Preparation And Prevention In U.S. Draws From Other Recent Outbreaks
When the first U.S. case of a new coronavirus spreading throughout China was confirmed last week in Washington state, public health workers were well prepared to respond, building on lessons learned during the outbreak of measles that sickened 87 people in the state in 2019. As of Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had confirmed five cases of infection from the new coronavirus in the U.S., including two in California, one in Illinois and one in Arizona. (Stone, 1/28)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Prompts CDC To Expand Travel Warning To All Of China; Top U.S. Health Official Urges Beijing To Admit Disease Experts
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised its travel warning Monday to a level 3, its highest alert level, urging U.S. citizens to avoid all nonessential travel to China. (Shih, Denyer, Taylor and Thebault, 1/27)

Politico: CDC: 110 People In U.S. Under Investigation For Wuhan Coronavirus
Nancy Messonnier, director of CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters on a call that officials are expected to soon announce travel recommendations amid the growing outbreak. As of Sunday, there are more than 2,000 confirmed cases worldwide — the majority in China — and 56 have been confirmed deaths. The CDC is advising against nonessential travel to Wuhan, and it recommends people traveling more broadly throughout China take enhanced precautions. (Ehley, 1/27)

Reuters: WHO Chief Says Confident In China's Ability To Contain Virus, Urges Calm
The head of the World Health Organization said on Tuesday he is confident in China's ability to contain a new coronavirus that has killed 106 people and he called for calm, saying he did not think foreigners should be evacuated, Chinese media reported. As concern mounted about the impact of the coronavirus on the world's second-biggest economy, Chinese authorities reported a surge in cases, while the United States warned citizens against travel to China and financial markets wilted. (1/28)

Stat: The Coronavirus Questions That Scientists Are Racing To Answer
When are people contagious? One of the luckiest breaks the world got with the SARS outbreak of 2002-2003 was that people weren’t contagious until they developed symptoms. The same is true of MERS. As a result, it became easier for health officials to try to limit spread once they identified a new case. Public health experts watching this outbreak unfold have been hoping 2019-nCoV, which is a member of the same virus family, would follow that pattern. Now they’re not so sure. (Branswell and Joseph, 1/28)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Drugmakers Ship Therapies To China, Seeking To Treat Coronavirus
U.S. drugmakers are shipping antiviral drugs to Chinese health authorities to assess whether the medicines could help contain the explosion of respiratory virus infections sweeping the country. AbbVie Inc. and Johnson & Johnson are among the drugmakers that have begun shipping drugs approved to treat HIV, while Gilead Sciences Inc. is exploring whether it should send an antiviral therapy it is developing. (Hopkins, 1/27)

Politico: Trump’s Beloved Market Rally Gets Walloped By The Coronavirus
The Wuhan coronavirus is starting to infect President Donald Trump’s beloved market rally. The president weighed in on the coronavirus Monday just as markets tumbled worldwide, including a drop in U.S. stocks that erased this month’s gains. Meanwhile, China’s financial regulators said they will suspend trading on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges for a longer period of time after a long holiday as fear over the extent of the outbreak spread. (White, 1/27)

The Washington Post: Coronavirus Live Updates: Asia Faces Massive Economic Hit From Outbreak
Global markets saw heavy losses on Monday with the Dow plunging 1.6 percent. That trend is continuing across Asia on Tuesday as markets are opening down after the Lunar New Year’s holiday. Both South Korea and Japan’s markets have dropped nearly 3 percent. (Shih and Denyer, 1/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Tests Market’s Faith In Global Economy
Anxiety over the outbreak hit financial markets around the world Monday, sending stocks from Japan to Germany to the U.S. to their worst days in months. “We always say that, barring an exogenous event, things look fine,” said Michael Farr, president and chief executive of investment-management firm Farr, Miller & Washington. “I don’t think markets anticipated how contagious this disease has proven to be and how quickly it’s spreading.” (Otani, 1/28)

The Wall Street Journal: What To Know About The New Chinese Coronavirus
Very little is still known about this virus, which for the moment carries the scientific name 2019-nCoV, meaning “novel coronavirus.” Scientists are racing to learn more. Key questions to answer are how long the incubation period is, how long someone is infectious, and whether or not people can be asymptomatic and spread the virus, says Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. (McKay, 1/27)

The New York Times: Doctors Could Face Criminal Charges For Treating Transgender Teens
A “bathroom bill” to regulate the restroom choice of transgender people has failed in South Dakota. So has a bill that would have required high school athletes to play on a sports team according to their sex at birth, not their gender identity. But it is a new year and a new legislative session, and a group of South Dakota lawmakers is trying to pass a new restriction on transgender teenagers that the lawmakers say would prevent unnecessary medical procedures. (Bosman and Smith, 1/27)

The New York Times: Guantanamo Testimony Exposes Role Of Doctors In C.I.A. Interrogations
When the C.I.A. strapped down Khalid Shaikh Mohammed at a secret site in Poland in 2003, those inside the cell included a three-man waterboarding team, black-masked guards — and a doctor. The doctor’s stated role was to monitor the health of the detainee. He also kept count of each near drowning. (Carol Rosenberg, 1/27)

Los Angeles Times: CIA Psychologist Says He Threatened To Kill 9/11 Plotter's Son
A CIA psychologist testified here Monday that he told self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed that if there was another attack on America, he would kill Mohammed’s son. James Mitchell, who designed, oversaw and often carried out the harsh interrogation program in the CIA’s secret black-site prisons, said that in retrospect the threat was probably made in poor judgment but added that “I wanted him to remember it.” (McDermott, 1/27)

The New York Times: Martin Shkreli Faces New Accusations Over High-Priced Drug
Martin Shkreli, a former pharmaceutical executive serving a seven-year prison sentence for defrauding investors, was accused on Monday of trying to maintain a monopoly over the lifesaving drug Daraprim through anticompetitive tactics. The Federal Trade Commission and the office of the New York attorney general, Letitia James, jointly sued Vyera Pharmaceuticals and the company’s owners, Mr. Shkreli and Kevin Mulleady, in a federal court in Manhattan. (Kang, 1/27)

Stat: Roche Is Fined By Romania For Thwarting Competition To Its Cancer Drugs
Following a two-year investigation, Roche (RHHBY) was fined $14 million by antitrust authorities in Romania for using different tactics to impede competition to a pair of its cancer medicines, the latest effort by European governments to crack down on anti-competitive practices. In one instance, Roche allegedly monopolized the market for Rituxan and Herceptin by undercutting rival bidders in auctions that were held to supply a national program for cancer medicines as well as hospitals. Specifically, the drug maker sold the medicines at higher wholesale prices to two distributors, which were also bidding, than to its own subsidiary, making it difficult for these companies to compete. (Silverman, 1/27)

The Associated Press: US Attorney Announces $145M Settlement In Opioid Case
A San Francisco-based health information technology company will pay $145 million to resolve criminal and civil charges that it helped set up an electronic health records system that encouraged physicians to prescribe opioids to patients who might not need them, federal prosecutors in Vermont said Monday. Vermont U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan said the company Practice Fusion, Inc., took kickbacks from a major opioid company in exchange for using its software to influence physicians to prescribe opioid pain medication. (Ring, 1/27)

Modern Healthcare: Allscripts Subsidiary To Pay $145 Million To Resolve Opioid Kickback Allegations
The DOJ said the case marks the first criminal action taken against an EHR vendor. Allscripts Healthcare Solutions, which purchased Practice Fusion in 2018, said the settlement involves conduct from before the acquisition. Practice Fusion admitted to soliciting and receiving kickbacks of nearly $1 million from a "major opioid company" that the Justice Department didn't name in exchange for creating a clinical decision-support alert that would "cause doctors to prescribe more extended release opioids," according to the agency. (Cohen, 1/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Health Systems Look To AI To Prevent Sepsis Deaths
Sepsis is killing one in five people globally each year, according to an analysis published in the Lancet this month, more than twice the previous estimate. Some top health-care organizations are tapping machine learning to spot the illness before it turns deadly. Also called blood poisoning, sepsis is an out-of-control immune response to an infection that can lead to multiple organ failure and death. Anyone can develop sepsis, though it is more common among the very old or very young and people with compromised immune systems. (McCormick, 1/28)

The New York Times: 9/11 Workers May Be At Higher Cancer Risk
People who worked at ground zero after the World Trade Center attack in 2001 have higher rates of cancer than the general population, a new study has found. Since 2002, researchers have followed 28,729 people who worked on the debris pile or at the site immediately after the 9/11 attack. Average time working at the site was 52 days. (Bakalar, 1/27)

The Washington Post: U.S. Kids Getting More Well-Child Checkups, Having Fewer Sick Visits
Children in the United States have been getting more preventive checkups and having fewer sick visits in recent years, a new study suggests. Researchers examined data on more than 71 million pediatric primary care visits from 2008 to 2016 for children with private health insurance. During the study period, overall visits decreased 14.4 percent, driven by a decline in sick visits, researchers say in JAMA Pediatrics. (Rapaport, 1/28)

The New York Times: Access To Care May Explain Disparities In Prostate Cancer Outcomes
African-American men with prostate cancer are almost twice as likely to die from the illness as white men with the same disease. Disparities in medical care, rather than racial differences in the course of the cancer, may be a large part of the explanation, a new study suggests. In a six-year study, researchers followed 18,201 black and 41,834 white prostate cancer patients who all got the same care through the Veterans Affairs health care system. (Bakalar, 1/27)

The Washington Post: Kellogg’s Pledges To Reduce Glyphosate, Active Ingredient In Roundup, In Its Supply Chain
Kellogg’s, the multinational food manufacturer based in Battle Creek, Mich., is taking a stand. But very quietly. At the end of 2019, the company made a commitment to phase out by 2025 wheat and oats on which farmers have used glyphosate as a drying agent, according to Kellogg’s chief sustainability officer Amy Senter. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, the Bayer-Monsanto weedkiller that is the most heavily used herbicide in the United States. (Reiley, 1/27)

The Associated Press: Medical Board Complaint Filed Against Ohio State President 
Complaints against Ohio State University's president and one of its former student health directors were filed Monday with the State Medical Board of Ohio in relation to alleged sexual abuse by now-deceased team doctor Richard Strauss, one of his lead accusers said. Because of legal requirements about confidentiality, the medical board won't confirm or comment on such complaints or potential investigations unless they result in disciplinary action. (1/27)

The Associated Press: Kentucky Bill Requires Care For Infants Surviving Abortion
A bill that would require doctors and other health workers to provide life-sustaining care for an infant born alive after a failed abortion attempt was approved by the Kentucky Senate on Monday. The measure sailed through the Senate on a 32-0 vote and heads to the House next. It's the latest in a series of abortion-related bills to surface in the Republican-dominated legislature in recent years. (1/27)

The Washington Post: Virginia's Democratic Takeover: This Is What A Blue State Looks Like
One Republican delegate warns that Virginia is splitting in two. Another would support returning liberal Arlington and Alexandria to the District of Columbia. Lawmakers in West Virginia have offered to annex rural Frederick County, outside Winchester, to liberate it from its rapidly urbanizing home. The change that Democrats promised in last fall’s election campaigns is hitting Richmond with full force, casting new light on political and cultural divisions that have simmered for years. As leaders quickly advance gun control, women’s rights and LGBTQ protections, many Republicans charge that they’re trampling on the interests of a new minority: rural conservatives who long held sway in the Capitol. (Schneider, 1/27)

Los Angeles Times: As California's Homeless People Camp Out On Railroad Tracks, Train-Related Deaths Are Rising
Just after 8 on a warm evening in September, Janae Bell was shooting the breeze with two friends at the Hearst Avenue railroad crossing, sharing some pastries and talking bikes. Over the clanging bells of a Union Pacific freight train rumbling past on the opposite track, they didn’t hear the Amtrak barreling toward them. With seconds to spare, Bell, 41, looked up, screamed “Train!” and dove off the tracks. But when he turned to look for his friends, he said, “They were gone.” (Scheier, 1/27)

Los Angeles Times: Bill Could Force Utilities To Pay Customers For Power Outages 
California utilities could be banned from charging for electricity during power shut-offs and required to reimburse their customers for spoiled food or other financial losses under legislation that cleared the state Senate on Monday. Senate Bill 378, opposed by Pacific Gas & Electric and the state’s two other largest utilities, is a response to the power shut-offs that left millions in the dark last year, a tool the companies began using to reduce the risk of their electrical equipment starting wildfires. (Luna, 1/27)