The New York Times: What If The Road To Single-Payer Led Through The States?
As presidential hopefuls campaign on a national “Medicare for all” system, a California congressman is pushing for a different path to universal coverage: letting the states go first. Ro Khanna, a Democratic representative, will introduce legislation Friday that lets states bundle all their health care spending — including Medicare, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act dollars and more — to fund a state-level single-payer system. The policy could create something akin to Medicaid for all. It would be 50 separate programs, jointly funded by the state and the federal government, with local officials making decisions about whom to cover, how much to pay doctors, and what benefits to cover. (Kliff, 11/8)

The Associated Press: Warren Health Plan Departs From US 'Social Insurance' Idea
Sen. Elizabeth Warren's plan to pay for "Medicare for All" without raising taxes on the middle class departs from how the U.S. has traditionally financed bedrock social insurance programs. That might impact its political viability now and in the future. While echoing her party's longstanding call for universal health care, the Massachusetts Democrat is proposing to raise most of the additional $20.5 trillion her campaign believes would be needed from taxes on businesses, wealthy people and investors. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 11/7)

NPR: 'Just The Right Policy': Pete Buttigieg On His 'Medicare For All Who Want It' Plan
The field of 2020 presidential candidates with health care overhaul plans is crowded, and Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind., is drawing lines of distinction between his and his competitors' proposals. "I mean, the reality is, all these beautiful proposals we all put forward, their impact is kind of multiplied by zero if you can't actually get it through Congress, and it's one of the reasons why I do favor the approach that I have," he said. (Simon and Glenn, 11/8)

The Hill: Harris Says Her Health Care Plan Is 'Superior' To Warren's 
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.) said Thursday that she thinks her health care plan is “superior” to Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass.) “Medicare for All” plan. During an interview on MSNBC’s "Morning Joe," Harris said she doesn’t need to point out any of the inconsistencies in Warren’s Medicare for All funding plan because her own health care plan is better anyway. (Weixel, 11/07)

The New York Times: Hillary Clinton On Medicare For All: ‘The Goal Is The Right Goal,’ But It Won’t Pass
Hillary Clinton said Wednesday she hoped for a return to “boring, normal times” after the 2020 election, voicing skepticism of her party’s populist wing and predicting that Senator Elizabeth Warren’s proposal for single-payer health care would never get enacted. At The New York Times DealBook conference in New York, Mrs. Clinton said she saw two of the biggest policies embraced by the left in the 2020 Democratic primary — “Medicare for all”-style health care and a tax on the assets of the very wealthy — as unworkable or politically impractical. She said Democrats should pursue the goal of universal health coverage, but through other means. (Burns, 11/7)

The Hill: Hillary Clinton: Warren's 'Medicare For All' Plan Would Never Get Enacted
“I believe the smarter approach is to build on what we have. A public option is something I've been in favor of for a very long time,” Clinton said. “I don't believe we should be in the midst of a big disruption while we are trying to get to 100 percent coverage and deal with costs.” Amid the raging health care debate among the Democratic presidential candidates, Clinton, the party’s 2016 nominee, appears to line up more with former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who are pushing for an optional government insurance plan, rather than Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who are pushing government insurance for all. (Sullivan, 11/07)

Kaiser Health News: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Elections Matter
Big Democratic wins in the 2019 off-year elections could spell big changes for Medicaid and other health policies in Virginia and Kentucky. Meanwhile, on the campaign trail, Mass. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s new “Medicare For All” plan is getting hammered from all parts of the political spectrum, including most of her opponents for the Democratic presidential nomination. (11/7)

The New York Times: Juul Ends E-Cigarette Sales Of Mint-Flavored Pods
Juul Labs, the nation’s largest seller of e-cigarettes, said on Thursday that it would stop selling mint-flavored pods, which have become especially popular among teenagers. The move precedes an anticipated federal flavor ban that is to be announced soon, one that the Food and Drug Administration initially had said would include mint as well as menthol. In recent weeks, intense lobbying by the vaping and tobacco industries against a menthol ban has heightened speculation that menthol would be exempt from any prohibitions against flavors. (Kaplan, 11/7)

The Associated Press: Juul Halts US Sales Of Popular Mint-Flavored E-Cigarettes
The voluntary step comes days after new government research showed that Juul is the top brand among high schoolers who use e-cigarettes and that many prefer mint. "These results are unacceptable," said the company's CEO K.C. Crosthwaite, adding in a statement that the company must "earn the trust of society." Underage vaping has reached what health officials call epidemic levels. In the latest government survey, 1 in 4 high school students reported using e-cigarettes in the previous month, despite federal law banning sales to those under 18. (Perrone, 11/7)

The Washington Post: Sales Of Top-Selling Mint Vape Halted By Juul
Mint accounts for about 70 percent of Juul’s sales in the United States, compared with 20 percent for tobacco-flavored vapes and 10 percent for menthol, according to sales figures. Juul stopped selling its popular mango, fruit, creme and cucumber liquid-nicotine pods in brick-and-mortar stores last year and online in September. In a statement Thursday, Juul said it made the decision to halt mint sales “in light of” new data released this week showing mint’s popularity among underage vapers. The studies indicated that teens prefer Juul products and that mint is their favorite flavor. (McGinley, 11/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Juul To Stop Selling Mint E-Cigarettes
Juul’s move is voluntary, but it comes as the Food and Drug Administration is preparing to release details on a plan to remove most e-cigarette flavors from the market, including mint. Several major retailers, including Walmart Inc. and Walgreens, have already said they will discontinue all e-cigarette sales. (Maloney and Abbott, 11/7)

CNN: Juul Stops Sales Of Mint-Flavored Pods
Matthew L. Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, responded to Juul's announcement in a statement, saying the move "follows the tobacco industry playbook of making changes only when it has absolutely no choice, and then to make a change that will have far less impact than it appears," adding, "with mint removed, kids will almost certainly shift to Juul's menthol pods, and other e-cigarette companies will continue to sell mint as long as the federal government allows." (Christensen, 11/7)

CNBC: Juul Halts Sales Of Its Popular Mint Flavor
Juul will now sell just three flavors in the U.S.: menthol, Virginia tobacco and classic tobacco. The company last month suspended sales of its other sweet flavors — mango, creme, fruit and cucumber — nearly a year after pulling them from convenience stores, vape shops and other retailers amid pressure from the Food and Drug Administration. (LaVito, 11/7)

The Hill: Juul To Stop Selling Mint Flavor 
Juul has dominated the e-cigarette market with their sleek, flash drive-shaped devices, and the popularity of their fruity flavors has led public health experts and federal health officials to blame the company for the current teen vaping "epidemic." (Weixel, 11/07)

The Associated Press: More Than 2,000 In US Diagnosed In Vaping Illness Outbreak
New government figures show more than 2,000 people have been diagnosed with vaping illnesses in the still-unsolved U.S. outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday said 2,051 confirmed and probable cases have been reported. Illnesses have occurred in every state but Alaska. Forty people in 24 states have died. (Stobbe, 11/7)

Reuters: U.S. Vaping-Related Deaths Climb To 39, Illnesses To 2,051
Investigators have not linked the cases to any specific product or compound, but have pointed to vaping oils containing THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, as being especially risky. (11/7)

CNBC: CDC Says Vaping Lung Illness Cases Now Top 2,000
Two top health officials will testify before Congress on the response to the outbreak next week. CDC Principal Deputy Director Anne Schuchat and the director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, Mitch Zeller, will appear before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Wednesday. (LaVito, 11/7)

The Hill: Vaping Illness Tops 2,000 Patients As Spread Slows 
The CDC said people should consider refraining from using any vaping products, since the specific compound or ingredient causing lung injury are not yet known. The agency has also recommended that the best way to avoid potentially harmful effects is to not use THC, including through e-cigarette products. (Weixel, 11/07)

And in other news —

Wyoming Public Radio: Pinedale Bans The Sale Of Flavored Vaping Products
The Pinedale Town Council has approve an ordinance that bans the sale of flavored vaping products within town limits. The council voted unanimously in favor of the ordinance, despite some members' concerns about the rights of businesses and consumers. (Maher, 11/7)

California Healthline: Flavor Bans Multiply, But Menthol Continues To Divide
As states and communities rush to ban the sale of flavored tobacco products linked to vaping, Carol McGruder races from town to town, urging officials to include what she calls “the mother lode of all flavors”: menthol. McGruder, co-chair of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, has tried for years to warn lawmakers that menthol attracts new smokers, especially African Americans. Now that more officials are willing to listen, she wants them to prohibit menthol cigarettes and cigarillos, not just e-cigarette flavors, to reduce smoking among blacks. (Ibarra, 11/7)

Reuters: UPS Liable For Shipping Contraband Cigarettes In New York, Damages Reduced: Court
A federal appeals court found United Parcel Service Inc liable to New York state and New York City for shipping hundreds of thousands of cartons of untaxed cigarettes, but reduced its payout for damages and unpaid taxes to about $97.6 million from $247 million. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan agreed with a trial judge that UPS violated a federal anti-cigarette trafficking law and New York's public health law by shipping the contraband cigarettes, which often came from Indian reservations. (11/7)

Boston Globe: Cannabis Board Declines To Uphold Baker’s Medical Marijuana Vape Ban, But Products May Stay Off Shelves
The state Cannabis Control Commission on Thursday declined to uphold Governor Charlie Baker’s ban on sales of medical marijuana vaping products, but a top official said the products could remain off store shelves. A judge ruled earlier this week that the medical marijuana vape ban would end at noon Tuesday unless the commission voted to keep it. (Martin, 11/7)

The Washington Post: At Height Of Crisis, Walgreens Handled One In Five Of The Most Addictive Opioids
At the height of the opioid epidemic, Walgreens handled nearly one out of every five oxycodone and hydrocodone pills shipped to pharmacies across America. Walgreens dominated the nation’s retail opioid market from 2006 through 2012, buying about 13 billion pills — 3 billion more than CVS, its closest competitor, according to a Drug Enforcement Administration database of opioid shipments. Over those years, Walgreens more than doubled its purchases of oxycodone. (Abelson, Williams, Tran and Kornfield, 11/7)

The Washington Post: Statements From The Five Pharmacy Chains That Handled The Most Opioids
Five pharmacy chains ordered 33 billion pills containing oxycodone and hydrocodone from 2006 through 2012. This accounts for almost half of the prescription pain pills distributed in the United States, according to a Washington Post analysis of data compiled by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Below are statements issued by the five pharmacy chains. (Abelson, 11/7)

In other news on the crisis —

Bloomberg: Drug Distributor Cardinal Marks $5.6 Billion For Opioid Suits 
Cardinal Health Inc., one of the three major pharmaceutical distributors in the U.S., said it will put aside $5.6 billion for a potential settlement over the company’s alleged role in an epidemic of pain pill addiction that has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. States, cities, counties and their lawyers have been negotiating for months with each other and with the health-care companies they accuse of fueling the epidemic over a settlement that could eventually total in the tens of billions of dollars. (Armstrong, 11/7)

The Associated Press: New York Judge Sets Opioid Crisis Trial For January
A New York judge on Wednesday scheduled what could be the second state-level trial in the U.S. on the toll of opioids. Judge Jerry Garguilo set a trial date of Jan. 20 for claims brought by the state attorney general and the Long Island counties of Nassau and Suffolk against a group of drug manufacturers and distributors. The judge has selected those claims to move ahead while dozens of other cases he is overseeing from local New York governments are on hold. (11/7)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Inside Look At New Orleans' Sobering Center: New Facility Offers Alternative To Jail, Hospital 
Mayor LaToya Cantrell on Thursday helped to open the city’s new Sobering Center, a 25-bed facility at St. Ann Street and North Claiborne Avenue where nonviolent intoxicated people can dry out instead of being sent to the city's jail or hospital emergency rooms. Inside, the center looks something like a preschool nap room, but with full-size beds. Four rows of pastel-blue plastic bins hold 25 mattresses, each made up with crisp white sheets and white cotton blankets. (Reckdahl, 11/7)

The Washington Post: A New Chain Of Christian Pregnancy Centers Will Provide A Controversial Service: Contraception
When a low-income woman searches for reproductive care, she often goes to a Planned Parenthood clinic, where she’s treated as a patient with an array of medical options. Or she might go to a Christian pregnancy center, where she is counseled to carry a pregnancy to term. But some Christians now see an opening for a third way to reach women — before they become pregnant — that also enables them to compete for federal money Planned Parenthood has decided to relinquish. Eight independent Texas-based pregnancy centers merged earlier this year to form a chain called The Source. (Bailey, 11/7)

Houston Chronicle: Anti-Abortion Group Ordered To Repay More Than $1.5 Million 
An anti-abortion group that came under fire for failing to provide services to thousands of Texas women must repay $1.5 million in overpayments and prohibited costs, state investigators said Thursday. The findings, announced by the office of the health inspector general, are a new blow to the Heidi Group. The organization had hoped to replace Planned Parenthood as a top family planning provider, but was cut off from millions in funding last year after failing to serve tens of thousands of low-income women. (Blackman, 11/7)

The Hill: Second Federal Judge Strikes Down Trump 'Conscience Protection' Rule For Health Care Providers 
A federal judge in Washington State on Thursday struck down a Trump administration rule intended to allow health providers to refuse to provide care based on moral or religious reasons. The latest ruling marks the second time in as many days that a judge has ruled against the administration's policy, and “provides an extra layer of protection against appeal” by the Trump administration, said Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson. (Weixel, 11/07)

The Spokesman-Review: Spokane Judge Becomes Second To Block Trump Administration’s ‘Conscience Rule’
The state had sued the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, which announced the rule in May; it was scheduled to begin later this month. A wide array of people that provides medical services to a patient would be allowed to refuse services, even in a medical emergency, for religious or moral reasons. Federal health care funding could be cut off if federal officials believed the state violated the rule. On Wednesday, a federal judge in New York ruled in a similar case challenging the rule brought by 19 states, the District of Columbia and several large cities. (Camden, 11/7)

Modern Healthcare: GOP States To Swerve As Medicaid Work Requirements Hit Legal Wall
The Trump administration and red states haven't given up on curbing Medicaid enrollment and imposing work requirements after recent setbacks, but they are going back to the drawing board to figure out how they can reach their goals. The fall season hasn't been kind to the administration and its allies, who have sought to require able-bodied Medicaid beneficiaries work, volunteer or search for employment as a condition of coverage. Three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit signaled last month that it would jettison work requirement waivers in Arkansas and Kentucky because the CMS didn't take into account their effects on health coverage when it approved the waivers. (Brady, 11/7)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Petition To Place Medicaid Expansion On Ballot Is Quarter Of Way There, Organizers Say 
Organizers of a campaign to expand Medicaid in Missouri said Thursday they have collected a quarter of the 172,000 signatures required to place the issue on the November ballot next year. About a dozen doctors, including Dr. Timothy Eberlein, director of Siteman Cancer Center, also spent part of the day knocking on doors and collecting more signatures in the Tower Grove South neighborhood in St. Louis. The doctors say patients without insurance forgo screenings or wait until problems are severe before seeking care, which ends up being more expensive in the long run. (Munz, 11/7)

Casper Star Tribune: Wyoming Health Officials Say Medicaid Expansion Would Likely Cover 19,000 Within Two Years
An estimated 19,000 people would be covered within two years if Medicaid were expanded in Wyoming, according to an analysis presented to lawmakers Thursday, just days before legislators will again consider expansion. Wyoming stands almost alone among its neighbors in the West in not expanding Medicaid, which would extend the joint state and federal program to include those at 138 percent of the poverty line, which is roughly $26,000 a year for a family of four. The Legislature here has repeatedly rejected attempts to expand Medicaid, often killing bills before they see the light of day. (Klamann, 11/7)

Portland Press Herald: Maine Looks To Overhaul Its $83 Million Medicaid Transportation System
Maine is looking to revamp its $83 million Medicaid transportation system, taking the step six years after thousands of Mainers needing rides to their medical appointments were left at the curb. The overhaul could include consolidating an array of transportation services – including rides to doctor’s appointments, for child welfare services and for those with intellectual disabilities or mental illness – into one system. (Lawlor, 11/8)

Stat: Urgent Care, But With Robots 
The pod — it looks something like an oversized phone booth — is a free-standing telehealth clinic, stocked with all the instruments a virtual practitioner might need to diagnose run-of-the-mill illnesses or dole out common prescriptions. On the wall, there’s a roughly 3-foot-tall video screen where a nurse practitioner can pop up for a chat. There’s a high-resolution camera on a cord, waiting to drop down from the ceiling if a provider needs to see a problem up close. And there’s even a hidden little robotic pharmacy — the highly secured vault — stocked with basic prescription medicines, plus a credit card reader that lets patients pay for them. (Thielking, 11/8)

Modern Healthcare: October-Reported Healthcare Breaches Exposed 311,000 Patients' Data
More than 300,000 people had data exposed in healthcare breaches reported to the federal government last month. In October, providers, health plans and their business associates reported 47 data breaches affecting 311,430 patients to HHS' Office for Civil Rights, the agency that maintains the government's database of healthcare breaches. The 36 data breaches reported in September, by contrast, compromised data from nearly 2 million people. (Cohen, 11/7)

The Wall Street Journal: How To Use The HSA, For Medical Or Retirement Savings
The health savings account, or HSA, can be a powerful savings tool—if you approach it the right way. These accounts, which Congress authorized in 2003, are more than just a simple savings tool for medical emergencies. Retirement planners laud the HSA’s triple tax advantage and its use as a complementary savings vehicle to 401(k) plans. Oftentimes when people first hear of HSAs, it is during this time of year. For companies with policies that start in January, open enrollment typically happens in the fall. During this period, many employees are already stressed about choosing and selecting other benefits. (Carpenter, 11/7)

In other health industry news —

Modern Healthcare: Tenet Proposes $66 Million Settlement In False Claims Case
Tenet Healthcare Corp. has agreed in principle to pay the federal government about $66 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit alleging it billed public programs for services provided by physicians who had improper financial relationships with an Oklahoma hospital partly owned by Tenet. The qui tam lawsuit, filed in 2016 and unsealed last year, alleges violations of the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Stark law and the Oklahoma False Claims Act. (Meyer, 11/6)

Modern Healthcare: Patients Feel The Pain Of Hospital-Physician Consolidation
Medicare beneficiaries are struggling with higher cost-sharing stemming from health systems snapping up physician practices and shifting many services to their outpatient departments, according to new federal research. The CMS' payment policies have put the pressure on hospitals to buy physician practices to take advantage of better reimbursement rates for their sites of care, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's staff said at a meeting on Thursday. The share of physicians employed by hospitals increased from 26% in 2012 to 44% in 2018. (Brady, 11/7)

ProPublica: They Are Racist; Some Of Them Have Guns. Inside The White Supremacist Group Hiding In Plain Sight.
In the hours after the slaughter in El Paso, Texas, on Aug. 3, a final toll emerged: 22 dead, most of them Latinos, some Mexican nationals. A portrait of the gunman accused of killing them soon took shape: a 21-year-old from a suburb of Dallas who had been radicalized as a white supremacist online and who saw immigrants as a threat to the future of white America. While much of the country reacted with a weary sense of sorrow and outrage, word of the mass killing was processed differently by members of Patriot Front, one of the more prominent white supremacist groups in the U.S. (Schaeffer and Zimmermann, 11/8)

Stat: After Difficult Childbirth Experiences, Parents Seek Healing By Speaking Out
A 2019 study of more than 2,100 U.S. mothers found that 1 in 6 reported “mistreatment” during childbirth, including being ignored, threatened or berated, or losing their autonomy. Women of color were even more likely to report such experiences. It can be hard for parents to speak up after a difficult childbirth. But a small number of health care providers and others are beginning to encourage them to speak up — and to provide feedback about their experiences. In some cases, the process is helping give parents closure, and may even bring about change. In other cases, looking forward may prove better than looking back. (Preston, 11/8)

NPR: Treatment For Meth Addiction? Some Clinicians Try Naltrexone
Melinda McDowell had used drugs since she was a teenager. But she didn't try methamphetamine until one fateful night in 2017 after her mother died suddenly of a stroke. She went to a neighbor's house and he had crystal meth. "I tried it and I was hooked from the first hit," McDowell says. "It was an explosion of the senses. It was the biggest high I'd ever experienced." Afterward, McDowell says, that big high started getting more elusive. But she kept using the drug frequently, and it took a toll. (Kukakis, 11/7)

The New York Times: Wash Your Hands In The Kitchen And The Bathroom
While it’s important to wash your hands carefully after handling raw chicken, it may be even more important to wash them after going to the bathroom. The most dangerous antibiotic-resistant strains of E. coli, called ESBLs, are transmitted not through food, according to new research, but through contact of human feces with human mouths. British researchers examined many strains of ESBL-E. coli in human blood and feces, sewage, farm slurry, live animals, and raw meat, fruits and vegetables. (Bakalar, 11/7)

Boston Globe: Tossing And Turning? Walking More May Help, According To New Study
Get in enough steps and you may get better Zs. A new study led by researchers from Brandeis University found that walking and generally being active is related to better sleep, particularly in women. (Finucane, 11/7)

NPR: Math In The Brain Looks The Same For Young Boys And Girls
There's new evidence that girls start out with the same math abilities as boys. A study of 104 children from ages 3 to 10 found similar patterns of brain activity in boys and girls as they engaged in basic math tasks, researchers reported Friday in the journal Science of Learning. (Hamilton, 11/8)

Connecticut Public Radio: Lawmakers, Health Experts Call For Stricter Limits On Heavy Metals In Baby Food
A recent report that showed the presence of varying amounts of toxic heavy metals in baby foods has caused Connecticut lawmakers and public health experts to call for better safety standards from federal agencies in order to limit long-term risks to children. Researchers at Healthy Babies Bright Futures, a national nonprofit alliance, tested 168 baby foods from 61 brands. They found that 95% of tested products contained chemicals and metals like lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium — elements that can affect brain development. (Leonard, 11/8)

WBUR: What Are PFAS Chemicals, And Should I Be Freaking Out About Them?
The chemicals called “PFAS” have been in the news a lot lately — like the recent revelation that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was allowing PFAS-contaminated water to be treated in Lowell and discharged into the Merrimack River, or the news that chemical giant 3M is suing the state of New Hampshire over the state’s strict PFAS drinking water standards. So, what are these chemicals, anyway? And should we be worried about them? (Moran, 11/8)

Miami Herald: USNS Comfort In Haiti Where Thousands Are Seeking Care
One man needed a hernia operation that he could not afford. A young girl came to seek help for her 3-year-old cousin whose skin was inexplicably covered with sores. And a mother of four needed help with a chronic allergy reaction. They all took the chance to travel miles away from home to the Haitian Coast Guard base Killick on Thursday in search of medical care from the U.S. Navy ship Comfort, the floating U.S. naval hospital that arrived Monday. It was a rare calm following two months of sustained protests, burning tires and impassable barricades. (Charles, 11/7)

The New York Times: Rapper T.I.’s Daughter Should Never Have Had A ‘Virginity Test’
The rapper and actor T.I. prompted widespread outrage after revealing on a podcast that he has accompanied his daughter, now 18, to a yearly doctor’s appointment to ensure that her hymen is still intact. Scientists have long condemned so-called virginity testing as a violation of a woman’s rights, as well as a sham procedure unsupported by evidence. “A virginity exam does not exist,” said Dr. Maura Quinlan, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University in Chicago. (Rabin, 11/7)

The Washington Post: Rapper T.I. Says He Takes His Teen To The Gynecologist To Confirm Her Hymen Is ‘Still Intact’
As someone who damaged her hymen while riding a bicycle at 11 years old, Jenn Jackson, an assistant professor for political science at Syracuse University, found T.I.'s anecdote particularly troublesome. She said Harris’s experience likely resonates with many women, especially black women from religious families, who are led to believe their sexual organs are tied to their value and self-worth. These women are often told that for someone to love them they need to be “pure” and “intact,” as if engaging in sexual activity means something is wrong with them, said Jackson, who also conducts research in black politics, gender and sexuality. (Brice-Saddler, 11/7)

Georgia Health News: Fewer Georgia Hospitals Earn ‘A’ Safety Rating In New Leapfrog Report
One in four Georgia hospitals earned an “A’’ grade in the latest safety ratings by the Leapfrog Group, released Thursday.That percentage is lower than the one-third of Georgia hospitals scoring an A in the spring 2019 Leapfrog report. The new rate dropped Georgia from 15th among states to 34th for its percentage of hospitals getting a top grade. (Miller, 11/7)

Times Leader: Hospital Safety Grades: Group Gives Wilkes-Barre General A D, Geisinger An A
Wilkes-Barre General Hospital got a D in this year’s Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade report released Thursday. Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hazleton and Geisinger Wyoming Valley both received A grades. The Leapfrog Group bills itself as “an independent, national not-for-profit organization founded more than a decade ago by the nation’s leading employers and private health care experts.” The single letter grade is derived from 28 measures, the data coming from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Leapfrog’s own hospital survey, and other sources. (Guydish, 11/7)

NJBIZ: Leapfrog Releases Fall Hospital Safety Grades
New Jersey hospitals fared well in The Leapfrog Group’s Fall 2019 Hospital Safety Grades. According to Leapfrog, 55 of 69 hospitals graded received an A or B grade (80 percent) – 5.6 percent lower than last round. 9 hospitals went up in their grade, 12 hospitals went down a grade. NJ again had the highest rate of Leapfrog Hospital Survey participation for regions with over 50-targeted hospitals at 100 percent participation. (Vecchione, 11/7)

Dover Post: Beebe Healthcare Earns 'A' In Fall 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade
Beebe Healthcare was awarded an “A” in the fall 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, a national distinction recognizing Beebe’s achievements in protecting patients from harm and providing safer healthcare.Leapfrog announced grades for the fall 2019 update Nov. 7. (11/8)

Santa Fe New Mexican: Christus St. Vincent’s Safety Grade Drops
Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center’s safety grade slipped to a C in the nonprofit Leapfrog Group’s fall report of hospital safety rankings released Thursday, after earning its first A from the organization in the spring. The grade is largely based on 2016-18 data, however, which predates what Christus St. Vincent administrators call a “cultural shift” since Lillian Montoya became president and chief executive in June 2018. (Vitu, 11/7)

Patch: Kaiser Permanente: A-Grade For Safety In SM County
Kaiser Permanente's two San Mateo County Medical Centers, KP Redwood City and KP South San Francisco, have been awarded an "A" grade, the highest possible, for patient safety from The Leapfrog Group. (Sonkin, 11/7)

Daily Herald: Silver Cross Receives 'A' Grade From Leapfrog
For the 10th consecutive time, Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox has been awarded an "A" for patient safety from The Leapfrog Group. The designation recognizes Silver Cross' efforts in protecting patients from harm and providing safer health care. (11/7)

The New York Times: They Called 911. Then N.Y.P.D. Workers Sold The Data, Officials Say.
For years, Angela Meyers, a 911 operator with the New York Police Department, fielded emergency calls, then filed reports about the calls within the department. But according to court documents, when someone called 911 after a car accident, Ms. Meyers did something else: She also passed victims’ information to an insurance fraud ring in Queens. (Watkins, 11/7)

The Oregonian: Oregon Advocate Concerned And Heartened By Rising Child Sexual Abuse ER Visits
More than twice as many sexually abused adolescents checked into emergency rooms in 2016 than 10 years ago, according to a new national analysis. That’s not the finding lead author Jesse Helton of Saint Louis University expected when he did what he believes was the first-ever analysis of child sexual abuse emergency visits using data from across the U.S. (Zarkhin, 11/7)

The Associated Press: Elevated Lead Levels Found In 27 Virginia Beach Schools
Virginia Beach City Public School officials say elevated lead levels have been detected at 27 of its schools. News outlets report the school district sent a notice to families Wednesday to share the results of tests conducted over the summer. They found 61 drinking and food-prep water sources had lead levels greater than state and federal limits. (11/7)

The Baltimore Sun: UMMS Board Files First Disclosures Since ‘Healthy Holly’ Scandal Over Deals Rocked Hospital System And Baltimore 
Board members at the University of Maryland Medical System have filed financial disclosures with state regulators for the first time since news of deals between the system and a third of its directors rocked the hospital network, dismantled its leadership team and helped take down Baltimore’s mayor last spring. Among the 13 UMMS board members appointed this summer — 11 by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan and one each by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House of Delegates Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, both Democrats — only two, both appointed by Hogan, disclosed business with the system in the latest filings with the state Health Services Cost Review Commission. (Rector, 11/8)

Boston Globe: MGH Settles For $13M With Doctor Who Challenged Double-Booked Surgeries
Mass. General agreed to pay him $13 million and offered him his old job back to settle his wrongful termination lawsuit. MGH also agreed to honor Burke with a hospital safety initiative in his name, according to his lawyer, Ellen Zucker. (Saltzman, 11/7)

The Associated Press: Alien Grasses Are Making Wildfires More Frequent In The U.S., Study Finds
For much of the United States, invasive grass species are making wildfires more frequent, especially in fire-prone California, a new study finds. Twelve non-native species act as “little arsonist grasses,” said study co-author Bethany Bradley, a University of Massachusetts professor of environmental conservation. (11/7)

Nashville Tennessean: Police Officers' Mental Health At Center Of Federal Grant For Nashville
Federal law enforcement is sending $95 million to Tennessee to cut into a backlog of untested rape kits, to combat an influx of heroin and meth, and to continue the battle against the opioid epidemic, among other efforts. A slice of that funding focused on improving police officers' mental health hit close to home for Phil Keith, an administrator with the U.S. Department of Justice who came to Nashville on Thursday to announce the slate of federal grants. (Tamburin, 11/7)

Detroit Free Press: Detroit's Preterm Birth Rate Was 15.3% In 2018, The Highest Since 2005
Despite recent claims that the City of Detroit’s handpicked program to fight preterm birth is uniquely successful, the city’s preterm birth rate is now at a 13-year high, according to the latest statistics from the State of Michigan. The newest state data comes on the heels of Mayor Mike Duggan's vigorous public defenses of the Make Your Date program's efforts to fight preterm birth. The mayor was compelled to defend the program after a critical inspector general's report found that the mayor gave Make Your Date preferential treatment when teaming up five years ago. (Stafford, 11/7)

The Acadiana Advocate: Carencro Heights Elementary Closing Friday In Lafayette As Flu Outbreak Continues 
Carencro Heights Elementary will close Friday as the school system fights an influenza outbreak at the elementary school campus. The Lafayette Parish School System announced the closure Thursday morning after 85 confirmed cases of the flu were reported, up from 57 confirmed cases Tuesday, according to Jennifer Gardner, chief administrative officer for the Lafayette Parish School System. The sick students make up about 13% of the school's student population. (Gagliano, 11/7)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Cuyahoga County Proposes Tax Increase For Health And Human Services
Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish and County Council President Dan Brady want the council to place a tax increase on the March ballot for an additional $35 million for health and human services, but they won’t say precisely how the new tax money would be spent. The levy request comes on the heels of a $179-million cash windfall to the county from settlements with opioid manufacturers. (Astolfi, 11/7)

The Baltimore Sun: Penis Transplant Performed On Soldier At Johns Hopkins In Baltimore Considered A Success 
More than a year and a half after surgeons at Johns Hopkins Hospital performed a complex genital transplant on a soldier who also lost his legs in a bomb blast in Afghanistan, the man says he has normal functions and is “feeling whole.” The man, who chose to remain anonymous, received a donated penis, scrotum and part of an abdominal wall during a 14-hour surgery in April 2018. The progress report came Thursday in a letter to the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine from about two dozen doctors, mostly from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, but also from Cooper University Health Care in Camden, New Jersey, and Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina. (Cohn, 11/7)

Kaiser Health News: Bruising Labor Battles Put Kaiser Permanente’s Reputation On The Line
Kaiser Permanente, which just narrowly averted one massive strike, is facing another one Monday. The ongoing labor battles have undermined the health giant’s once-golden reputation as a model of cost-effective care that caters to satisfied patients — which it calls “members” — and is exposing it to new scrutiny from politicians and health policy analysts. (Almendrala, 11/8)

North Carolina Health News: NC's Peer Support Ecosystem Grows Rapidly 
In a state marked by a mental health care workforce shortage so severe that more than a quarter of all counties have no psychologists at all, another type of provider group is quietly growing. These professionals didn’t get their training in college or graduate school and they can’t prescribe drugs. What they do offer is first-hand experience in mental health or substance use disorders. And with that insight, they can support others having similar challenges. (Engel-Smith, 11/8)

Texas Tribune: Texas Opening Five Acres To House Austin Homeless
Crystal Brimm said she was gone all of 20 minutes. That's all the time it took for the Texas Department of Transportation to clean the encampment where she lives under U.S. Highway 290 and Ben White Boulevard on Wednesday, after Gov. Greg Abbott ordered homeless people to be removed from state overpasses in Austin. Abbott has spent months railing against Austin and its local leaders, accusing them of worsening what he calls a dangerous homelessness crisis by relaxing camping ordinances. (Rich and Pollock, 11/7)

The Star Tribune: HealthPartners Closing Pharmacies, Cutting 300 Jobs 
HealthPartners is closing 30 retail pharmacies as well as its mail-order pharmacy operations next year due to economic pressures that officials said give an advantage to larger operators in the industry. About 300 jobs will be eliminated with the closings, including positions for about 100 pharmacists. HealthPartners, which is a nonprofit health insurer that also runs clinics and hospitals in Minnesota and Wisconsin, said it will work with patients before the closures to make sure they continue to have access to needed medications. (Snowbeck, 11/7)

Boston Globe: Lowell Water Treatment Plant To Stop Accepting Toxic Water From N.H. Landfill
Under pressure from lawmakers and environmental advocates, officials in Lowell said Thursday that they had suspended a contract with a New Hampshire landfill that sent a large volume of toxic runoff into the Merrimack River, a source of drinking water to more than a half-million people. Federal regulators had recently renewed a permit allowing Turnkey Landfill in Rochester, N.H., to send as much as 100,000 gallons of daily runoff to a Lowell treatment plant that empties into the long-polluted river. (Abel and Lovato, 11/7)

MPR: 5 Years Of Legal Marijuana Could Bring Minn. $300M In Revenue, Expert Says
Five years of legal recreational marijuana in Minnesota could generate $1.12 billion in sales, $300 million in tax revenue and 20,000 jobs, an industry expert estimates. MinnPost reports the analysis came from Sal Barnes of the Marijuana Policy Group, who spoke at the CannConMN Symposium, a conference on the impacts of cannabis legalization. (Nelson, 11/7)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio Medical Marijuana: Minority Quota For Dispensary Licenses Struck Down
Madison County judge has struck down a state law granting minority-owned medical marijuana businesses a leg up during the competitive licensing process. The ruling against Ohio's "racial quota" is the latest blow to state lawmakers' attempt at making the industry more diverse. It could lead to more dispensary licenses being issued beyond the current total of 56 statewide. (Borchardt, 11/7)

NBC News/Houston Chronicle: Doctors Trained To Spot Child Abuse Can Save Lives. But When They Get It Wrong, Families Are Torn Apart.
A panicked voice jolted Ann Marie Timmerman awake around 3 a.m. “There’s something wrong with Tristan. ”Her husband, Tim, stood over her, wide-eyed, holding their 4-month-old boy. Tim had been sitting up with the baby in another room, letting his nursing wife catch up on sleep. Now the infant was limp in his arms, pupils rolling back in his head. (Hixenbaugh and Blakinger, 9/19)

The Atlantic: What Your Tweets Say About Your Mood
For some people, posting to social media is as automatic as breathing. At lunchtime, you might pop off about the latest salad offering at your local lettucery. Or, late that night, you might tweet, “I can’t sleep, so I think I’m just going to have a glass of wine” without a second thought. Over time, all these Facebook posts, Instagram captions, and tweets have become a treasure trove of human thought and feeling. People might rarely look back on their dashed-off online thoughts, but if their posts are publicly accessible, they’re ripe for analysis. And some psychologists are using algorithms to figure out what exactly it is we mean by these supposedly off-the-cuff pronouncements. (Khazan, 11/6)

Wired: The Enduring Power Of Asperger's, Even As A Non-Diagnosis
Sixteen-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg is the symbol of a climate change generation gap, a girl rebuking adults for their inaction in preventing a future apocalypse. Thunberg’s riveting speech at the UN's Climate Action Summit has been viewed more than 2 million times on YouTube, and she was considered a viable contender for the Nobel Peace Prize. In a tweet, Thunberg explained what made her so fearless: “I have Aspergers and that means I’m sometimes a bit different from the norm. And—given the right circumstances—being different is a superpower. #aspiepower.” (Marill, 11/7)

The New York Times: Happy Friday! What If You Always Had It Off? Why Don’t You?
Nixon predicted it. Workers have asked for it. And businesses and governments have experimented with it for decades. The world has been talking about the four-day workweek for half-a-century, so what’s taking so long? The idea pops up every so often in expectant headlines. Just last week, Microsoft Japan inspired a flood of stories after reporting that, in a trial, shortened weeks had boosted productivity by about 40 percent. Yet the four-day workweek is the flying car of labor: a profound advancement that has seemed just around the corner for decades. (Chokshi, 11/8)

Reveal: The U Visa Is Supposed To Help Solve Crimes And Protect Immigrants. But Police Are Undermining It
Undocumented immigrants often are afraid to interact with law enforcement, for fear of being deported. The visa is meant to encourage them to report crimes so that criminals can’t strike with impunity. For Alcantara, the U visa would mean she could gain temporary status and someday apply for a green card. She could get a driver’s license and drive her kids to school when they were older. But after Alcantara’s months of cooperation, Miami police declined to verify that she helped investigators. (Morel, 11/7)

The Washington Post: In Other News — A Rare Political Victory For Poor And Sick Americans
With relatively little fanfare, poor and sick Americans around the country were just handed a series of sweeping victories. That’s because a growing number of states appear to finally be backing off from an organized effort to rip away their health care. I’m referring to Medicaid work requirements, policies that kick low-income people off their insurance if they don’t register sufficient work hours. Until recently, it looked as if these programs were on an unstoppable march, with two dozen states pursuing them. (Catherine Rampell, 11/7)

Stat: Not So Conscientious Objection: When Can Doctors Refuse To Treat?
In overturning the Trump administration’s attempt to expand the so-called conscience rule for health care workers this week, a federal judge has brought renewed attention to a long-simmering debate in medicine over when doctors can decline to provide treatment to patients without abdicating their professional responsibilities. The revised rule, issued last spring by the Department of Health and Human Services, was aimed at protecting doctors, nurses, and others from, in the words of HHS, being “bullied out of the health care field” for refusing to participate in abortions, gender reassignment surgery, or other medical procedures based on religious beliefs or conscience. Critics of the rule charge that it would enable discrimination by allowing providers to deny health care to certain patients, particularly women and LGBTQ+ individuals. (Sarah C. Hull, 11/8)

The New York Times: We Can Help Men Live Longer
All over the country, men are dying. Every kind of man: rich and poor, blue collar and white collar, men of all races, religions and ethnicities. In addition to sex, these dying Americans share another trait: They are no longer young. How can it be that men by the millions are dying while their female counterparts are not — and no one seems to notice or care? Overall in the United States, males make up 49 percent of the population. (Louise Aronson, 11/7)

The Hill: Violent Rhetoric Hinders Access To Abortion Services
With the election of President Trump, those who are more zealous in their opposition to abortion have become emboldened. As a direct result, just two days after Trump’s election, our Wichita clinic was vandalized. It was also reported across the country that threats to reproductive health clinics had immediately risen. Trump even went as far to say that women must face some form of punishment for having an abortion. In 2017, the National Abortion Federation (NAF) confirmed what we were then witnessing across the country. They reported that violent acts against abortion providers more than doubled from the prior year. (Julie Burkhart, 11/7)

The New York Times: Is There A Right Way To Be Deaf?
“Your whole life, they’ve been trying to take you away from me,” my father says to me, referring to the deaf community. But the deaf community could just as easily say the same about my father. More than 90 percent of deaf and hard-of-hearing children are born to hearing parents like mine, who have little to no experience interacting with deaf people. (Sarah Katz, 11/7)

Stat: A Plasma Product Keeps Me Alive. The Plasma Shortage Worries Me 
I’ve become something of a connoisseur of blood donation, especially plasma donation. That’s because my life depends on it. Nearly 20 years ago, when I was just out of college and beginning my career in Houston, where I still live, I was diagnosed with a primary immunodeficiency disease. Since then, I’ve relied on immunoglobulin (Ig), a type of protein extracted from plasma. Without it, I would likely suffer multiple and persistent serious infections, any one of which could be fatal. (Megan Ryan, 11/8)

Los Angeles Times: California Is Improving Obamacare, Not Trump
Open-enrollment season is now underway for health insurance plans across the country, which means many Americans will be receiving unpleasant news about how much more their coverage will cost in the coming year. But for one group of consumers, premiums will actually go down for the second straight year. Those would be individuals and families whose healthcare isn’t covered by their employers, and so shop in the insurance exchanges created by the 2010 Affordable Care Act (better known as Obamacare). At the 28 state exchanges run by the federal government, the average premium for the “benchmark” plan — a policy covering roughly 70% of a person’s expected medical expenses for the year — will be 4% less expensive in 2020 than it was this year. California, which runs its own insurance exchange, will see an average increase in its benchmark plans of a little less than 1% in 2020. (11/8)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Pa. College Should Look To N.J. On Student Mental Health Services
Voters in two suburban New Jersey public school districts approved ballot measures Tuesday to invest in mental health services for their students. Kudos to Collingswood and Metuchen for OK’ing a modest boost in their local property taxes to raise money to better serve young people, especially in this era of heightened national concerns about student safety, as well as addiction, depression, and suicide among the young.The forward-thinking message from New Jersey is in startling contrast to Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC), which has implemented an ill-conceived and ill-advised plan to reduce its $2.7 million budget deficit by $2.4 million through laying off 20 counselors and passing off student mental health services to outside providers. HACC, the largest community college in Pennsylvania, has 17,000 students across five campuses. (11/8)

The Washington Post: Kentucky Democrats Found Trump’s Kryptonite
Tuesday’s governor’s race in Kentucky showed there is kryptonite to beat President Trump even in red America, and that kryptonite is health care. Democrats should take that lesson to heart as the 2020 election nears. Democrat Andy Beshear, who claimed victory in the race on Tuesday, had one unmistakable advantage while running in the overwhelmingly Republican, pro-Trump state: an opponent who had made notable and consistent efforts to take health care from people. Like Trump, Gov. Matt Bevin (R) made cutting health care a top priority for his administration, seeking to end Kentucky’s insurance exchange and making the first attempt in the country to add work requirements to Medicaid. (Andy Slavitt, 11/7)

Los Angeles Times: Gun Control Wins Big In Virginia Elections 
Much of the focus on results from Tuesday’s off-year elections has been on whether they might be proxies for the 2020 prospects of President Trump and many of his fellow Republicans. But in Virginia, the bigger takeaway might involve a potentially seismic shift in gun policy.Virginia, to remind, has endured several mass shootings, generally defined as a single episode in which at least four people were wounded; that differs from a federal definition of at least four people killed. Unfortunately for Virginia, it has experienced a lot of both. (Scott Martelle, 11/6)

Meanwhile, views on ''Medicare For All'' proposals —

The Wall Street Journal: Universal Health Care Makes Politics Sick 
Elizabeth Warren is making socialized health care her signature campaign issue. Were British politicians not embroiled in their own election season, they might be weighing in with a question about this: Is she insane? Britain’s political class knows all too well the perils of a state-run health system. And I don’t mean the abysmal health outcomes the U.K.’s National Health Service delivers— cancer survival rates that lag far behind other European countries with more market-oriented health systems, winter crises, shortages of doctors and nurses, rationing and interminable waiting times. (Joseph C. Sternberg, 11/7)

The Washington Post: The Numbers On Elizabeth Warren's Health Care Plan Just Don't Add Up
The telltale sign of political flimflam is a promise to deliver all the benefits associated with a particular policy without any of the costs. Tax cuts that pay for themselves. A quick and easy military victory in Iraq. A border wall financed by Mexico. Now comes Elizabeth Warren with the false promise of national health insurance as good and as cheap as they have in France and Canada, but without the higher taxes, the wait times or the two-class health-care system. (Steven Pearlstein, 11/7)