Politico: Biden To Push For Universal Insulin Price Cap In State Of The Union 
President Joe Biden will call for expanding a new cap on insulin prices to all Americans as part of his State of the Union address, the White House said Monday. During the Tuesday speech, Biden plans to tout his administration’s efforts to make health care more affordable, which included imposing a $35-per-month limit on insulin that took effect in January. (Cancryn, 2/6)

Axios: Biden To Push For Expanded Insulin Caps, Medicaid Coverage In SOTU
President Biden's State of the Union address will include calls for insulin cost caps for privately insured patients and a renewed bid to close the Medicaid coverage gap in Republican-controlled states that haven't accepted the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion. (Bettelheim, 2/7)

WBUR: Here Are The Key Issues To Watch For In Biden's State Of The Union 
President Biden has been able to deliver on many of his promises from last year, and he will almost certainly be touting those accomplishments: Fewer Americans are uninsured than ever before, thanks in part to increased subsidies on the Obamacare exchanges. 988, the national suicide prevention hotline, launched last year, along with historic investments in mental health. (2/7)

AP: Biden Aims To Deliver Reassurance In State Of Union Address
With COVID-19 restrictions now lifted, the White House and legislators from both parties are inviting guests designed to drive home political messages with their presence in the House chamber. The parents of Tyre Nichols, who was severely beaten by police officers in Memphis and later died, are among those expected to be seated with first lady Jill Biden. Other Biden guests include the rock star Bono and the 26-year-old who disarmed a gunman in last month’s Monterey Park, California, shooting. Biden is shifting his sights after spending his first two years pushing through major bills such as the bipartisan infrastructure package, a bill to promote high-tech manufacturing and climate legislations. With Republicans now in control of the House, Biden is turning his focus to implementing the massive laws and making sure voters credit him for the improvements rather than crafting major new initiatives. (Miller and Kim, 2/7)

Politico: White House Struggles To Explain The Fate Of Title 42
President Joe Biden has called for a bipartisan immigration policy since he stepped into office. He’s likely to make another appeal at Tuesday’s State of the Union. But it’s questionable whether he’ll address the one Trump-era policy currently overseeing all others at the southern border, Title 42. That’s because the White House won’t fully explain where it stands. (Ward, 2/6)

How the president copes with his stutter —

The New York Times: Biden’s State Of The Union Prep: No Acronyms And Tricks To Conquer A Stutter 
As President Biden prepared to deliver one of the biggest speeches of his presidency, he met with a close group of aides at the White House and read drafts aloud from top to bottom. He practiced in front of teleprompters at Camp David, making sure the language was relatable and clear. And, in quiet moments ahead of the State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, he marked up his speech with subtle lines and dashes that he has long used as a signal to take a breath, pause between his words or steer through a tricky transition. Mr. Biden is the first modern president to have a stutter, which he has navigated since childhood and still speaks of in emotional terms. (Rogers, 2/6)

ABC News: New York City To End COVID Vaccine Mandate For City Workers
New York City workers will no longer need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to be employed by the city, Mayor Eric Adams announced Monday. The mayor said the vaccine mandate for city employees will end Friday, nearly 15 months after his predecessor, Bill de Blasio, implemented the policy, during a vote by the city's Department of Health. Adams said 96% of the city workforce has received both shots so the mandate for current and prospective employees served its purpose. (Pereira, 2/6)

Politico: Lawyers For U.S., Navy Seals Battle Over Revoked Covid-19 Vaccine Mandate
A lawyer representing Navy Seals who do not want to be vaccinated against Covid-19 told a federal appeals court Monday that their lawsuit over a now-withdrawn vaccine mandate isn’t moot even though Congress passed legislation last December ordering the policy canceled. During arguments before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, attorney Heather Hacker said the service members still face the possibility of discipline over their refusal to get vaccinated and the government has not ruled out taking vaccination status into account when doling out future assignments. (Gerstein, 2/6)

In related news about covid misinformation —

The Washington Post: Conservative Doctors Were More Likely To View Ivermectin As Effective 
It turns out that doctors who are politically conservative were actually more likely to consider hydroxychloroquine as an effective treatment, despite the understood research. (Bump, 2/6)

Newsweek: Yolk Defense Against COVID? Chicken Egg Shortage Fuels Conspiracy Theories
A number of prominent social media accounts have suggested, explicitly or implicitly, that eggs are disappearing off the shelves because they could provide natural protection from coronavirus, a solution that is seemingly blocked by the government and Big Pharma. Many of these comments include a link to the same scientific study, titled "Chicken Egg Yolk Antibodies (IgYs) block the binding of multiple SARS-CoV-2 spike protein variants to human ACE2," or a screenshot of the paper's abstract. (Kuklychev, 2/2)

AP: Study Doesn’t Prove Egg Yolks Protect Against COVID-19
CLAIM: A protein naturally found in egg yolks protects against COVID-19 in humans, which is why there is an egg shortage. AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The claim misrepresents a 2021 study by a group of Chinese researchers who immunized hens with part of the coronavirus spike protein in order to extract antibodies from yolks in the hens’ eggs. Experts say these antibodies would not be very useful for humans, nor do eggs naturally provide these antibodies. Further, the current egg shortage is caused by an avian flu outbreak leading to reduced egg production and a rise in prices. (Tulp, 2/6)

In news about mask-wearing —

Bloomberg: Face Masks’ Ability To Stop Viruses Needs Study, Review Finds
More than three years after Covid-19 emerged, and despite influenza outbreaks that kill thousands of people annually, there’s still not definitive proof on how much — or whether — wearing masks slows the transmission of respiratory viruses. That’s the takeaway message from a 2023 Cochrane Review, the gold standard analysis of medical research that’s intended to help shape future health care decisions. (Fay Cortez, 2/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: FDA Asks People To Report Home Test Results
With a majority of people now using over-the-counter coronavirus tests at home, public health officials are having a hard time tracking COVID-19 case trends. To that end, the Food and Drug Administration on Monday encouraged people to start submitting their test results on the website MakeMyTestCount.org. (Beamish and Vaziri, 2/6)

The Hill: ‘Tripledemic’ Infected Nearly 40 Percent Of Households, Survey Finds 
The winter’s “tripledemic” of respiratory viruses impacted nearly 40 percent of U.S. households, with someone there getting sick with the flu, COVID-19 or respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), according to a new survey from KFF released Tuesday. The flu and RSV hit much harder and earlier this year than in years past, as viruses kept at bay during the height of the pandemic began infecting people again following the resumption of every-day activities. (Weixel, 2/7)

CIDRAP: Healthy Pre-Infection Lifestyle Linked To Lower Risk Of Long COVID In Women 
Women who maintained a healthy weight, didn't smoke, exercised regularly, got adequate sleep, ate high-quality food, and consumed alcohol in moderate amounts were at roughly half the risk of long COVID as those who followed none of these recommended practices, concludes a prospective study today in JAMA Internal Medicine. (Van Beusekom, 2/6)

Axios: Immunocompromised Worry They're Getting Left Behind Again
The end of the COVID public health emergency is near, but that's small consolation to the estimated 7 million to 10 million immunocompromised Americans who are soldiering on with a dwindling number of tools to protect them. (Reed and Moreno, 2/7)

KHN: A Secret Weapon In Preventing The Next Pandemic: Fruit Bats
More than four dozen Jamaican fruit bats destined for a lab in Bozeman, Montana, are set to become part of an experiment with an ambitious goal: predicting the next global pandemic. Bats worldwide are primary vectors for virus transmission from animals to humans. Those viruses often are harmless to bats but can be deadly to humans. Horseshoe bats in China, for example, are cited as a likely cause of the covid-19 outbreak. And researchers believe pressure put on bats by climate change and encroachment from human development have increased the frequency of viruses jumping from bats to people, causing what are known as zoonotic diseases. (Robbins, 2/7)

Politico: Federal Judge Says Constitutional Right To Abortion May Still Exist, Despite Dobbs
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., suggested Monday that there may be a constitutional right to abortion baked into the 13th Amendment — an area she said went unexplored by the Supreme Court in its momentous decision last year overturning Roe v. Wade. In a pending criminal case against several anti-abortion activists, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization concluded only that the 14th Amendment included no right to abortion but stopped short of definitively ruling out other aspects of the Constitution that might apply. (Cheney and Gerstein, 2/6)

CNBC: Supreme Court Abortion Ruling Questioned By Judge
Kollar-Kotelly’s order told prosecutors and defense lawyers to file briefs by next month on the questions of whether the Supreme Court’s ruling only addresses the issue of whether abortion is not protected by the 14th Amendment, and if any other provision in the Constitution “could confer a right to abortion.” Her order in Washington District Court could end up being an invitation to federal legal challenges on 13th Amendment grounds to state laws that sharply restricted access to abortion in some states after the high court’s controversial decision overturning its 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade. (Mangan, 2/6)

In other news about abortion —

San Francisco Chronicle: Biden’s Justice Department Is Using A Law Meant To Protect Abortion Clinics In Defense Of A Crisis Pregnancy Center
A 1994 federal law that makes it a crime to intentionally damage property that provides “reproductive health services” has been used to prosecute people who try to trash abortion clinics. But the law has never been deployed in defense of abortion opponents — until now, with charges filed by President Biden’s Justice Department against two abortion-rights activists who spray-painted slogans on the walls of one of the thousands of anti-abortion facilities known as crisis pregnancy centers. (Egelko, 2/6)

AP: Tennessee Gov. Lee Proposes $100M For Anti-Abortion Centers 
Brushing aside calls to tweak one of the strictest abortion bans in the United States, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Monday unveiled plans to funnel tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to anti-abortion centers as he declared the state had a “moral obligation” to support families. Lee, a Republican, said he wants to create a $100 million grant program for nonprofits commonly known as “crisis pregnancy centers.” If approved, Tennessee would become one of the top spending states on such organizations known for dissuading people from getting an abortion. (Kruesi and Mattise, 2/7)

Iowa Public Radio: Iowa Anti-Abortion Groups, Lawmakers Announce Bill To Ban All Abortions
Iowa anti-abortion groups and some Republican lawmakers are starting the push for a “life at conception” bill that would ban all abortion in Iowa. Maggie DeWitte, who heads the Coalition of Pro-Life Leaders, announced the effort Monday at a Prayer for Life anti-abortion rally at the Statehouse. She said while they’re waiting for a court decision on Iowa’s “fetal heartbeat” law, anti-abortion groups believe it’s the right time to start pushing for more restrictions. (Sostaric, 2/6)

The Washington Post: Small Towns Rebel Against Abortion Rights In Left-Leaning New Mexico
When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer, Laura Wight, a liberal here in conservative eastern New Mexico, saw one small silver lining. Although abortion was illegal 10 miles away in Texas, she figured it remained safe in this blue state. It hasn’t felt that way to her lately. On a recent afternoon, Wight was at a small rally in a strip mall parking lot, waving a giant pink flag that read “PRO-WOMEN, PRO-CHOICE” at passing pickups. Other participants were collecting signatures in hopes of overturning an ordinance passed last month by the city commission aimed at keeping abortion — in pill or surgical form — out of Clovis. (Brulliard, 2/6)

Connecticut Public: CT Looks To Expand Abortion Access As More Patients Travel To New England
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, many New England states looked to protect and expand abortion access. Connecticut took an early lead, opening an information hotline, enacting new legislation that provides legal protections, and increasing the number of abortion providers. (Srinivasan, 2/6)

Also —

The Guardian: Google Targets Low-Income US Women With Ads For Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers, Study Shows 
Low-income women in some cities are more likely than their wealthier counterparts to be targeted by Google ads promoting anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers when they search for abortion care, researchers at the Tech Transparency Project have found. The research builds on previous findings detailing how Google directs users searching for abortion services to so-called crisis centers – organizations that have been known to pose as abortion clinics in an attempt to steer women away from accessing abortion care. (Noor, 2/7)

CIDRAP: US Cancer Screenings Slow To Recover From Initial Pandemic Dip 
As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in the United States in February and March 2020, observed rates of both lung and breast cancer screenings among Medicare enrollees were 24% and 17%, respectively, below expected rates, rising to -14% and -4% from March 2021 to February 2022, shows a study published late last week in JAMA Network Open. (Van Beusekom, 2/6)

WTOP: New Treatments Spur Hope After Lung Cancer Diagnosis But Screening Still Lags 
Lung cancer is by far the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States — in part, because many people don’t find out they have it until it’s already spread. Heidi Nafman-Onda was one of those people. A fitness trainer in her 50s, she was diagnosed with Stage 3a lung cancer in 2018. She and her husband, Pierre, started the White Ribbon Project, to advocate for more lung cancer screening, increased funding for research of new treatments and to eliminate the stigma of lung cancer. “One of the fastest growing demographics is younger people who have no smoking history,” said Nafman-Onda. (Augenstein, 2/6)

Psychology Today: The Mental Health Impact Of Cancer Screening 
Vinay Prasad, an oncologist and researcher at Oregon Health and Science University, has argued in numerous papers that screening may do as much harm as good at the population level. As Prasad has shown, screening seems to have some benefit in terms of preventing death from the screened-for cancer—say, prostate cancer. When you compare a large sample of people who had been screened for prostate cancer versus a sample of those who weren't screened, the ones who were screened are less likely to die of prostate cancer. The problem is that the overall risk of death from any cause is about the same whether you are screened or not. (Graham, 2/6)

In other cancer news —

CNN: Cancer Is Striking More People In Their 30s And 40s. Here’s What You Need To Know
A surprising number of new diagnoses are in people under 50, according to a 2022 review of available research by Harvard University scientists. Cases of breast, colon, esophagus, gallbladder, kidney, liver, pancreas, prostate, stomach and thyroid cancers have been increasing in 50-, 40- and even 30-year-olds since the 1990s. (LaMotte, 2/4)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Tumor Boards Are Revolutionizing Cancer Care By Bringing Your Case To A Panel Of Leading Experts. Here’s How
Patient X had cancer. The case was complicated, and the doctor, Temple’s Joseph Friedberg, wanted a second opinion. So he brought the case to a panel of leading cancer experts from around the world. The doctors, who meet regularly to review such cases, considered the patient’s medical history, CT scan, biopsy results, and other pertinent health information. Ideas and what-ifs flowed. By the end of the meeting, the group had agreed on the best approach to treatment. (Bauers, 2/7)

The Conversation: Five Reasons Physical Activity Is Important For Cancer Patients
While patients were previously told to rest during cancer treatment, the overwhelming body of evidence now shows that physical activity is safe and beneficial throughout cancer treatment and beyond. The World Health Organization also endorses physical activity for those with chronic conditions, including cancer. Here are five ways physical activity could be beneficial to patients during and after cancer treatment. (2/6)

Stat: Patient's Race And Method Of Dialysis Linked To Risk Of Infection
Hispanic, Latino, and non-Hispanic Black Americans on dialysis for end-stage kidney disease have a higher risk of developing life-threatening bloodstream infections, a new report says. (Cueto, 2/6)

CIDRAP: CDC Analysis Finds More Staph Bloodstream Infections In Blacks, Hispanics 
Another key step is to more equitably promote lower-risk access types, Shannon Novosad, MD, MPH, the CDC's dialysis safety team lead, said. "Our data show that use of a central venous catheter as a vascular access type had six times higher risk for staph bloodstream infections when compared to the lowest-risk access, a fistula." (Schnirring, 2/6)

In other pharmaceutical developments —

Stat: Eisai Reports First U.S. Sales Of Treatment For Alzheimer's Disease
Japanese drugmaker Eisai reported Monday the first U.S. sales of Leqembi, its treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, although exact numbers were not provided and people taking the drug appear to be paying out of pocket because insurance coverage has not yet been established. (Feuerstein, 2/6)

Stat: FDA Grants Priority Review To Sage Fast-Acting Depression Treatment
Sage Therapeutics said Monday that U.S. regulators accepted a marketing application for its rapid-acting antidepressant and granted it priority review with a decision date set for early August. The Food and Drug Administration will assess the efficacy and safety of the Sage drug, a once-daily pill called zuranolone, for the treatment of people with major depressive disorder and postpartum depression. (Feuerstein, 2/6)

The Washington Post: Need A New Drug? You May Be Asked To ‘Fail’ An Old Drug First
Many patients seeking better drug treatments are being rejected by their insurance companies. The reason: Patients must first “fail” at typically older, cheaper medications, including those they’ve tried before. The policy, which is known as “step therapy,” is touted by insurers as a way to control runaway prescription drug costs and help patients find the most appropriate treatments. But critics say it can delay symptom relief and allow medical conditions to irreversibly worsen. (Zimmerman, 2/6)

The New York Times: The Medicine Is A Miracle, But Only If You Can Afford It 
April Crawford never thought she’d be begging for help on GoFundMe, but she has run out of options. She has multiple sclerosis, and Mavenclad, the drug that could slow her decline, has a list price of $194,000 a year. Her Medicare insurance will pay for most of it, but she has a co-pay of $10,000.Ms. Crawford, 47, doesn’t have $10,000 and has no way to get it. A law signed last year will put a $2,000 annual limit on out-of-pocket costs for Medicare patients like her — but not until 2025. Even at that price, money is tight in her household. She and her husband, who is disabled with COPD, live in Oliver Springs, Tenn., with a nephew who was disabled by a traumatic brain injury. All three of them rely on federal disability payments. (Kolata and Paris, 2/7)

NBC News: Adderall Shortage: Other ADHD Drugs Affected. When Will It End?
As the nationwide Adderall shortage enters its fifth month, people who rely on medication to help manage attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder are finding few, if any, available alternatives. There’s no sign of relief yet, and no easy solution to the problem, pharmacy experts say. Widespread scarcity has hit Adderall alternatives, too. (Hopkins, 2/6)

Axios: Why Amazon's RxPass Is A Bigger Deal Than You Think
Amazon's new RxPass prescription service further increases the downward pressure on the cost of generic drugs, the Wall Street Journal reports. Last month, Amazon announced the new benefit to its Prime subscription service, allowing members access to unlimited prescriptions for generics for more than 80 conditions for $5 a month. (Reed, 2/6)

Consumer Reports: Researchers Say Taking Any Of These 10 Dietary Supplements Is Risky
One-third of Americans say they believe supplements have been tested by the Food and Drug Administration for safety, according to a 2022 nationally representative survey by Consumer Reports of 3,070 adults in the United States. But the FDA doesn’t approve or test the safety or effectiveness of any supplement before it enters the U.S. market. After consulting with a panel of doctors and researchers, Consumer Reports says you should avoid these 10 risky supplements. In general, risk increases the larger the dosage and the longer the supplement is taken. Also beware of illegal or unapproved drug ingredients, such as tianeptine, methylsynephrine and phenibut. (Gill, 2/6)

Modern Healthcare: Headwinds Didn't Quell Healthcare Private Equity Deals In 2022
Private equity firms had one of their strongest years yet for healthcare services deal activity in 2022, according to an analysis PitchBook published Monday. An estimated 863 healthcare services private equity deals were announced or closed last year. That's a nearly 15% decrease from 2021, but a more than 18% increase from 2020, the market research firm reported. PitchBook extrapolated the annual estimate using recorded deals through the third quarter and historical data to approximate fourth quarter transactions. (Hudson, 2/6)

The Wall Street Journal: CVS Nearing $10.5 Billion Deal For Primary-Care Provider Oak Street Health
CVS Health Corp. is close to an agreement to acquire Oak Street Health Inc. for about $10.5 billion including debt, a deal that would rapidly expand the big healthcare company’s footprint of primary-care doctors with a large network of senior-focused clinics, according to people with knowledge of the matter. (Mathews, Thomas and Cooper, 2/6)

On staff shortages —

Stateline: States Strive To Reverse Shortage Of Paramedics, EMTs
Last year, the turnover rate for full-time emergency medical technicians, known as EMTs, was 36% and for full-time paramedics, it was 27%, according to an American Ambulance Association survey. The turnover rate includes both resignations and firings, but nearly all of the EMTs and paramedics who left did so voluntarily. More than one-third of new hires don’t last through their first year, the survey found. (Mercer, 2/6)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Hospitals Launch Marketing Campaign To Grow Workforce
The Maryland Hospital Association and the state’s 60 hospitals and health systems launched a digital marketing campaign Monday to encourage students and others seeking new opportunities to join the health care field. The campaign, slugged as JoinMdHealth, includes outreach on social media, as well as a website that lists open health care jobs across the state, education requirements for certain hospital jobs, and advice on how to afford higher education. (Roberts, 2/7)

Modern Healthcare: Remote Prescribing In Limbo As Federal COVID-19 Emergency Ends
The coming end of the COVID-19 public health emergency and pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities could rattle an already besieged behavioral health system and force providers to make ethical decisions. The public health emergency, which President Biden will end May 11, allowed clinicians to prescribe controlled substance medications via telehealth without an office visit. (Perna and Turner, 2/6)

On data breaches —

AP: Florida Hospital Taking Expectant Moms, Delaying Surgeries 
A major regional hospital system based in northern Florida resumed seeing patients at its clinical practices on Monday, days after a security problem forced it to take its IT network offline. But Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare was still being forced to use paper documentation, and non-emergency surgeries and out-patient procedures were canceled on Monday. (2/6)

Reuters: Three U.S. Data Breaches Show Varied Healthcare Exposure Risks 
Three recent data breaches from across the United States show that the risks of data breaches can come from multiple sources for healthcare providers. Employees, third-party vendor tools and cybercriminals all create data breach risks. (Berry, 2/6)

On quality of care —

Bay Area News Group: Major Violations Found At Santa Clara County’s Main Hospital
State regulators have discovered a slew of violations at Santa Clara County’s main hospital in San Jose, according to documents obtained by the Bay Area News Group. The deficiencies, identified in an October survey of Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, puts the hospital at risk of losing its ability to receive Medicare reimbursements, which would leave the facility in a financially perilous position. (Greschler, 2/6)

AP: Hurricane Deaths At Nursing Home: Accident Or Manslaughter? 
A Florida nursing home administrator charged with causing the overheating deaths of nine patients after Hurricane Irma in 2017 went on trial Monday, with a prosecutor calling him a “captain who abandoned ship” while his attorney said he’s a “scapegoat” for failures of the electric company to restore power. Prosecutor Chris Killoran told the six-member jury that Jorge Carballo is guilty of manslaughter because he failed to give adequate direction to his staff at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills after power to the facility’s air conditioning system was lost. He said Carballo went home even as it became “ridiculously hot” inside the 150-bed, two-story facility and failed to order his patients’ evacuation to Memorial Regional Hospital across the street, which had working air conditioning. (Spencer, 2/6)

North Carolina Health News: Some Providers Ignore Psych Patients' Directives
In late summer 2021, Sue came home from work to find her 24-year-old son Michael confused. He shrugged in response to most questions and muttered words that didn’t make much sense. Sue knew something was wrong because this wasn’t the first time this had happened. Michael was involved in the Eagle program at Atrium Health, an outpatient project designed to support young people in Charlotte after an initial psychotic episode. Sue called the Eagle program nurse, and they suggested that Michael go to the hospital before his symptoms got worse. (Knopf, 2/7)

CNN: An 82-Year-Old Woman Was Found Alive At A New York Funeral Home After She Was Pronounced Dead Hours Earlier, Police Say
An 82-year-old woman who’d been pronounced dead at nursing home on Long Island, New York, was found to be alive nearly three hours later at a funeral home, authorities said, spurring investigations by police and health officials. (Frehse, 2/7)

Bangor Daily News: Widow Sues Bangor Hospital Claiming Wrong Medication Killed Her Husband
The widow of a Winterport composer has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor claiming that Ralph “Russ” Joseph Lombardi died in 2021 when he was given medication intended for another patient. The medication, cisatracurium, paralyzes the skeletal muscles, including those in the diaphragm that are necessary for spontaneous breathing, the complaint said. (Harrison, 2/6)

In obituaries —

The Washington Post: Charles Silverstein, Who Helped Declassify Homosexuality As Illness, Dies At 87 
Charles Silverstein, a psychologist who helped achieve one of the most significant victories of the gay rights movement by persuading the American Psychiatric Association in 1973 to declassify homosexuality as a mental illness, died Jan. 30 at his home in New York City. He was 87. He had lung cancer, said his executor, Aron Berlinger. (Langer, 2/7)

The Wall Street Journal: What Doctors Are Learning About Marijuana And Surgery 
There’s a surprising side effect of a marijuana habit that many people don’t know: Regular users may need more anesthesia during medical procedures to remain sedated. As more states allow people to smoke pot and eat edibles legally, more doctors say they are asking about marijuana use—and urging honesty—before surgeries or procedures because habitual users may need more anesthesia and painkillers. In one study, people who reported they used cannabis required more anesthesia than people who didn’t use it. (Reddy, 2/6)

Politico: Pot Is Making People Sick. Congress Is Playing Catch-Up
Recognition of marijuana’s medical benefits, the harms of punitive drug policies, and the prospect of new tax revenue to fund popular services, have driven that change in attitudes and led 21 states to legalize recreational sales. But the policymakers overseeing legalization were flying surprisingly blind about its effect on public health. Only recently has a steady flow of data emerged on health impacts, including emphysema in smokers and learning delays in adolescents. Lawmakers’ reaction to the bad news raises the prospect that the loosely regulated marijuana marketplace, worth $13.2 billion last year and growing 15 percent annually, could come under pressure. (Leonard, 2/6)

News Service of Florida: Florida Recreational Pot Proposal Clears Initial Hurdle
Backers of a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow recreational use of marijuana have passed a preliminary hurdle to get on the 2024 ballot, submitting more than enough petition signatures to trigger a Florida Supreme Court review of the measure. (Kam, 2/4)

Bloomberg: Fake Vapes, Counterfeit Cannabis Products Threaten New York Legal Weed
Kyle Kazan, from his company’s headquarters in Southern California, often gets texts from acquaintances in Brooklyn asking him to authenticate a package of weed that really shouldn’t be anywhere near New York City. (LaPara, 2/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: You Could Sip A Latte And Smoke Cannabis In The Same Cafe Under Proposed California Law
Local California governments could allow cannabis businesses to serve food and nonalcoholic drinks and host live music performances under a bill introduced in the California Legislature. The measure aims to allow for the kind of cannabis cafes that have become popular in Amsterdam. Assembly Member Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, who introduced the measure, said it could help pot shops struggling to compete with the illegal market attract new customers. (Bollag, 2/6)

Also —

Reuters: Ban On Marijuana Users Owning Guns Is Unconstitutional, U.S. Judge Rules 
A federal law prohibiting marijuana users from possessing firearms is unconstitutional, a federal judge in Oklahoma has concluded, citing last year's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that significantly expanded gun rights. (Raymond, 2/6)

The New York Times: Toxic Fumes Are Released From Burning Train That Derailed in Ohio
A rail operator on Monday released toxic fumes from several derailed train cars that it said were at risk of exploding in East Palestine, Ohio, after the authorities ordered residents on both sides of the state’s border with Pennsylvania to evacuate to avoid a deadly threat. ... “We are ordering you to leave,” Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio said on Monday at a news conference. “This is a matter of life and death.” He added that there was “grave danger” of inhaling fumes from chemicals produced by the release, which the authorities identified as phosgene and hydrogen chloride. In high concentrations, both chemicals can cause severe and life-threatening respiratory issues. (Hauser and Albeck-Ripka, 2/6)

NPR: Ohio Crews Conduct A 'Controlled Release' Of Toxic Chemicals From Derailed Train Cars
"We know the smoke looked alarming, but we are being told that everything was carried out according to plan," Pennsylvania's emergency management agency said on Monday evening. The agency said environmental monitors had "detected nothing alarming" in air and water measurements. Pennsylvania's governor urged those within the evacuation zone to stay inside. (Kim, 2/6)

On Medicaid coverage in Texas and Pennsylvania —

The Texas Tribune: Texans Brace For End Of Pandemic-Era Medicaid Coverage In April
One day, Alexandria Robertson’s carefully crafted life suddenly started falling apart. She returned from vacation in January 2020 to learn she’d been laid off from her corporate job in the Austin area. Her car was totaled in an accident. At the same time, she found out she was pregnant with her first child. “I was pregnant. I had no job. I had no car. And I had no health insurance,” Robertson said. “I at the time just did not have money for the expenses of having a baby.” (Klibanoff, 2/7)

AP: Resuming Medicaid Case Checks Confronts 3.6M In Pennsylvania
The federal government’s pandemic-era prohibition against kicking people off Medicaid is ending, meaning that hundreds of thousands of people in Pennsylvania face losing the free health insurance in the coming year. Many people who stand to lose Medicaid coverage don’t know the changes are coming, say officials at advocacy organizations who do outreach to the poor. That could mean people — parents of school-age children, for instance — find out they have no coverage when they go to fill a prescription or see a doctor for a sick child. (Levy, 2/6)

In other health news from California, Wisconsin, and Texas —

NBC News: Double Amputee, Anthony Lowe, Killed By Southern California Police Had Mental Health Crisis, Mother Says
A double amputee who was armed with a knife and suspected of having stabbed a passerby had experienced a mental health crisis hours before Southern California police fatally shot him 11 times last month, his mother said in an exclusive interview. (Victoria Lozano, 2/6)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kirsten Johnson, Milwaukee Health Commissioner Who Resigned, Is Appointed Wisconsin Department Of Health Services Secretary
Milwaukee Health Commissioner Kirsten Johnson has been appointed Wisconsin Department of Health Services secretary, Gov. Tony Evers announced Monday. Monday is her last day with the city, according to the Mayor's Office. When she announced her resignation in early January, she said March 3 would be her last day. (Hess and Dirr, 2/6)

Dallas Morning News: Fentanyl From A Carrollton Drug House Killed 3 Students, Hospitalized 6, Feds Say
The “one pill can kill” fentanyl epidemic has hit home. Three young Carrollton-Farmers Branch students are dead and six others have been hospitalized in a string of overdoses, most of them since December. Federal investigators say each of these tragedies traces back to a single Carrollton house, located just blocks from R.L. Turner High School, where juvenile dealers as young as 14 picked up the drugs and sold them to classmates. (Grigsby, 2/6)

The Washington Post: American Health Care Is Increasingly Unaffordable For All But The Rich 
This is American health care, circa 2023. It’s state of the art and then some — if you’ve got the money. For almost everyone else, any encounter with the medical industrial complex can result in severe financial harm. (Helaine Olen, 2/6)

Bloomberg: To End The US Nurse Shortage, Start With Nursing Schools 
The US is in the thick of a nursing shortage. And yet, nursing schools are turning away more qualified applications than ever. The main bottleneck, schools say, is that there aren’t enough instructors or training sites to accommodate the vast number of interested students. Restoring the pandemic-depleted health-care workforce depends on fixing this mismatch. (2/6)

The Washington Post: Should There Be An Annual Coronavirus Booster? It Depends
External advisers to the Food and Drug Administration met last month to discuss two key questions on coronavirus boosters: Should all vaccine shots be switched to the newer bivalent formulation, and should boosters be administered yearly along with doses of the flu vaccine? (Leana S. Wen, 2/7)

Stat: Needed: Another Breakthrough Year For Rare Disease Research
For the last decade or so, the number of accepted rare diseases has stood between 7,000 and 8,000, though the number had been ticking up. RareX’s Power of Being Counted report, published in June 2022, now puts the number of recognized rare diseases at 10,867, an increase of more than one-third. According to the report, the earlier estimates failed to represent the full spectrum of these diseases. (Bruce Bloom, 2/7)

Newsweek: The World Must Stop Female Genital Mutilation 
The sheer number of women and girls at risk of FGM simply cannot be ignored. UNICEF estimates that 4 million girls in the 31 countries where FGM is practiced are at risk. It gets worse. (Alyssa Milano, 2/6)

Modern Healthcare: What's Challenging Senior Care In America?
The number of people age 65 and older in the U.S. is projected to rise from more than 56 million now to over 73 million by 2030. Their care needs will grow along with their numbers. (Katie Smith Sloan and Joel Theisen, 2/6)

Stat: Tyranny Of The Inbox: What It's Like To Be A PCP With OCD 
Like so many health care workers, I have seriously considered giving up my clinical practice multiple times — even more since the onset of the pandemic. For me, wanting to bail out of my job as a primary care physician has nothing to do with the risk of contracting Covid-19 or any other communicable disease. The real reason is best summarized by the unimaginably annoying Lamb Chop’s Play-Along Song. This is the song that doesn’t end. Yes it goes on and on, my friend. (Russell Johnson, 2/7)

Stat: Mindstrong's Demise And The Future Of Mental Health Care
One of the shinier entrants to have emerged in the world of mental health startups abruptly announced last week it would wind down, right in the middle of an ongoing crisis in mental health care. Mindstrong, which had raised a total of $160 million from a who’s-who of blue-chip investors, and was led for a while by a former National Institute of Mental Health director, simply couldn’t find a way to make money delivering the low-cost, high-quality care it had promised. (Roy Perlis, 2/6)

The Tennessean: Childhood Vaccines Are Our Best Shot To Keeping Kids Healthy
The surge of viruses that caused pediatric hospitals across the nation to reach a breaking point and exceed their capacity has filled the national news this fall and winter. (Meghan Ghanayem, Cole Atkins, Rebecca England and Heeyum Kim, 2/6)