Axios: Scoop: GOP Spends $2 Million Trying To Flip The Script On Medicare
A group closely aligned with House Republican leadership is spending over $2 million to accuse President Biden of being the one who truly wants to cut Medicare, Axios has learned. It's some of the earliest spending of the 2024 election cycle and signals that Republicans plan to go on offense, rather than just defend against Biden's claims that the GOP wants to slice into Medicare and Social Security. (Solender and Knight, 3/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Health Insurers Square Off With Biden Administration Over Medicare Payments 
Health insurers are tussling with the Biden administration over a proposal that could curtail federal payments for some private Medicare plans, a high-stakes issue for the industry because the business represents a growth engine. In a continuing effort that included a Super Bowl ad, insurers and their allies argue that the administration plans a payment cut next year for the popular health plans, which are known as Medicare Advantage. The tagline for the commercial, from the industry-backed Better Medicare Alliance, was “Tell the White House: Don’t cut Medicare Advantage.” The group has also rallied Medicare Advantage enrollees to call members of Congress, and it has set up a site at dontcutmedicareadvantage.com. (Mathews, 3/2)

Stat: The Other Way The Government Is Privatizing Medicare
A new approach to paying doctors and hospitals — originally billed as a way to bolster traditional Medicare — might be speeding the public health insurance program’s privatization. Medicare Advantage typically gets credited, or blamed, for moving beneficiaries into a system run by private health insurers. The program has grown rapidly since its inception; nearly half of people on Medicare are now in a private plan. But there may be another wave of privatization coming. (Wilkerson, 3/3)

USA Today: Better Social Security, Medicare Options May Be Available, Manchin Says
Sen Joe Manchin, D-WVa, repeated his support Thursday to keep Social Security and Medicare intact amid worries about its long term solvency but said there might be a “better program” to consider for future beneficiaries. The West Virginia Democrat — and key Senate swing vote — indicated his opposition to Social Security and Medicare cuts. But in an interview on FOX News on Thursday, he also didn’t close the door on a finding a different way to help future beneficiaries. (Elbeshbishi, 3/2)

Healthcare Finance: Medicare Advantage Margins Higher For Insurers Despite Dip
Payers saw their Medicare Advantage margins revert back to pre-pandemic levels in 2021, yet those margins were still double those seen in other markets, according to a new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation. By the end of 2021, gross margins per enrollee had returned to pre-pandemic levels in the Medicare Advantage market, while gross margins in the individual and group markets were lower and Medicaid margins were higher, the data showed. (Lagasse, 3/2)

AP: N. Carolina Legislators Reach Medicaid Expansion Deal 
North Carolina legislative leaders announced Thursday an agreement to expand Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of additional low-income adults through the Affordable Care Act. The deal, which likely won’t be voted on until later this month at the earliest, marks a milestone for Republican lawmakers, most of whom opposed expansion for a decade until recently, and for hospitals and patient advocates who sought it all that time. (Robertson, 3/2)

Raleigh News & Observer: Medicaid Expansion Agreement Would Also Change Law Governing Health Care Facilities
The deal that would expand Medicaid health insurance coverage in North Carolina hinged in part on agreement to change a state law that determines where hospitals, clinics and other health care facilities are built. Top lawmakers in the House and Senate say they have agreed to allow construction or expansion of certain facilities without a “certificate of need” from the state Department of Health and Human Services. The facilities would include those that provide inpatient treatment of behavioral health problems and chemical dependence. (Stradling, 3/2)

Also —

AP: More Medicaid For Moms Gets Missouri Nod After Abortion Deal 
New mothers in Missouri could gain Medicaid health care coverage for up to a year under legislation passed Thursday by the state Senate, part of a national movement of expanded care that began during the coronavirus pandemic. The bill also would extend coverage to those who have miscarriages or abortions necessary to save their lives. Senators passed the legislation only after inserting wording intended to exclude women who get elective abortions. Missouri has banned most abortions since June. (Lieb, 3/2)

Billings Gazette: Bill To Fully Fund Medicaid Providers Gets Initial OK In House
A bill to bring the state’s Medicaid reimbursement rates in line with a recent study commissioned by the state won a substantial, bipartisan endorsement in the House. The preliminary vote on House Bill 649 followed an impassioned debate about the state’s role in ensuring adequate health care for the elderly, disabled and other vulnerable populations in Montana. The bill cleared a second reading by a 65-35 margin. (Schabacker and Wilson, 3/2)

Dallas Morning News: Texans Hold Their Own ‘Public Hearing’ At The Capitol To Demand Medicaid Expansion
On Thursday, advocacy groups organized their own “public hearing” at the Capitol to demand state lawmakers expand Medicaid to cover an estimated 1.4 million low-income adults who are uninsured. Dozens of Texans squished into a windowless committee room as people aired their anxieties about trying to balance their budgets with medical needs. Boyd couldn’t attend in person, so a speaker read out her testimony as the Houston resident watched on through the video app FaceTime. (Morris, 3/2)

KHN's 'What The Health?' Podcast:: March Medicaid Madness
With Medicare and Social Security apparently off the table for federal budget cuts, the focus has turned to Medicaid, the federal-state health program for those with low incomes. President Joe Biden has made it clear he wants to protect the program, along with the Affordable Care Act, but Republicans will likely propose cuts to both when they present a proposed budget in the next several weeks. (3/2)

Politico: Walgreens Won’t Distribute Abortion Pills In Some States Where They Remain Legal 
The nation’s second-largest pharmacy chain confirmed Thursday that it will not dispense abortion pills in several states where they remain legal — acting out of an abundance of caution amid a shifting policy landscape, threats from state officials and pressure from anti-abortion activists. Nearly two dozen Republican state attorneys general wrote to Walgreens in February, threatening legal action if the company began distributing the drugs, which have become the nation’s most popular method for ending a pregnancy. (Ollstein, 3/2)

Abortion updates from Wyoming, Utah, Michigan, and Ohio —

Wyoming Public Radio: New Abortion Bill Awaits Governor’s Signature But Some Question Its Constitutionality
A bill that defines abortion as not healthcare and criminalizes providers who perform abortions has passed both houses in the Wyoming Legislature. If signed by the governor, this bill immediately becomes law and the current abortion ban that is being held up in the courts will be void. Lawmakers for and against it have stated that this bill will most likely be immediately questioned. (Kudelska, 3/2)

Salt Lake Tribune: GOP Lawmakers Pass Abortion Clinic Ban In Utah, Gov. Cox Expected To Sign Into Law
Abortion clinics are expected to be banned in Utah starting next year after the Senate approved a bill that builds on and refines Utah’s blocked trigger law, while abortion providers say the legislation may force elective abortions in the state to end as soon as May. (Anderson Stern, 3/3)

Detroit Free Press: House Repeals Still-On-Books Abortion Ban After Prop 3 Passage
The Michigan House of Representatives on Thursday moved to repeal Michigan's 1931 ban on abortion, which remains on the books even though it was rendered unenforceable when the state's voters overwhelmingly approved Proposal 3 to enshrine the right to an abortion in the constitution. Representatives voted 50-38 to remove the laws from Michigan's books, with two Republican lawmakers — state Reps. Thomas Kuhn, R-Troy, and Donni Steele, R-Orion Twp. — joining Democrats in voting in favor of the repeal. (Lobo, 3/2)

AP: Ohio AG Approves Language In Abortion Protection Petition 
The Ohio Attorney General’s Office approved summary language Thursday in a petition to enshrine abortion rights in Ohio’s state constitution, advancing the closely watched amendment to its next step. Republican Attorney General Dave Yost determined that the summary submitted by a pair of abortion rights groups is a fair and truthful representation of the proposed change to Ohio law. Yost said that a certification of the summary is being sent to the Secretary of State’s Office. (3/2)

From Arizona, Texas, and Latin America —

AP: Obstetrician Appeals Decision Over Arizona Abortion Law
The medical director of anti-abortion pregnancy centers in metro Phoenix has asked the Arizona Supreme Court to review a lower court’s decision that concluded abortion doctors couldn’t be prosecuted under a pre-statehood law that bans the procedure in nearly all cases. In an appeal filed Wednesday, Dr. Eric Hazelrigg seeks to reverse an Arizona Court of Appeals ruling that said doctors couldn’t be charged for performing abortions in the first 15 weeks of pregnancy because other Arizona laws passed over the years allow them to perform the procedure. (Billeaud, 3/2)

The 19th: Texas Abortion Funds Could Resume Support After New Court Ruling. But Will They?
Texas-based abortion funds — nonprofits that offer financial support for people seeking to end a pregnancy — are weighing whether to resume helping people leave the state for care, a decision that could expand Texans’ ability to access abortion. (Luthra, 3/2)

NPR: These Texas DAs Refused To Prosecute Abortion. Republican Lawmakers Want Them Stopped
Texas is at the center of an ongoing, nationwide struggle between state and local authorities. It's an escalating dispute over who has what power — and when.The newest battle centers on criminal district attorneys in Texas' big cities, who are mostly Democrats. Some of these chief prosecutors have told their communities they will use their inherent discretion and not zealously pursue criminal cases against women who seek abortions or families who obtain gender-affirming health care for their children. (Several later said they would make decisions on a case-by-case basis.) (Jaspers, 3/3)

Noticias Telemundo for Axios: U.S. Abortion Rights Advocates Host Latin American "Green Wave" Leaders In Historic First
U.S. abortion rights advocates this week met with their Latin American counterparts in Washington, D.C., to learn about the successful strategies they've used to dramatically increase access in several countries. While U.S. courts and states have gutted or chipped away at abortion rights, a movement in Latin America known as the "Green Wave" (Marea Verde) has helped increase abortion access in several countries across the majority Catholic region through protests and legal action. (Gonzalez and Franco, 3/2)

In related news about OTC birth control —

Roll Call: FDA Could Widen Path For OTC Birth Control, Statins
A Biden administration proposal to broaden access to over-the-counter medications is drawing interest from manufacturers of products as varied as birth control, erectile dysfunction and cholesterol medication. But while some companies are already altering plans to fit the proposal’s requirements, the idea is also raising concerns among consumer advocates over cost and safety issues. (Clason, 3/2)

Axios: Walmart Health Eyes Medicare Advantage Business With Planned Expansion
Walmart Health is eyeing more Medicare Advantage business as it prepares to nearly double the footprint of its in-store clinics. The big retailer said Thursday it's planning to add 28 additional health clinics — which offer primary care, behavioral health services, vision checks and dental care within select Walmart stores — in 2024. The new clinics are planned for Walmart Supercenters in Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and Kansas City, Missouri. (Reed, 3/3)

Modern Healthcare: Walmart Health Adds 28 Centers, Expands To Missouri, Arizona
Walmart Health is expanding into two new states and opening 28 centers in 2024, the retailer announced Thursday. The company said it will open six centers in the Phoenix metro area and four in metro Kansas City, adding Arizona and Missouri to its footprint. It will also add 10 locations in the Dallas region and eight in metropolitan Houston, totaling more than 75 centers nationwide by the end of 2024. (Hudson, 3/2)

Reuters: Best Buy, Walmart, Other Major US Retailers Tout Health Services
Electronics retailer Best Buy recently kicked off a partnership with Atrium Health, part of Advocate Health, one of the country’s largest nonprofit hospital systems, Best Buy Chief Executive Officer Corie Sue Barry announced Thursday on a call with analysts. The partnership combines Atrium's hospital-at-home program with Best Buy’s technological services, she said. (Masters, 3/2)

Modern Healthcare: BetterHelp Shared Consumer Health Info With Facebook, Snapchat 
The Federal Trade Commission has fined digital mental healthcare provider BetterHelp $7.8 million for sharing the personal health information of millions of consumers with advertisers like Facebook, Snapchat, Criteo and Pinterest during a seven-year period. (Turner, 3/2)

In other health care industry news —

Philadelphia Inquirer: St. Luke's Upper Bucks Hospital Expansion Includes Birth Center Amid Shrinking Maternity Options
St. Luke’s University Health Network has doubled the size of its Upper Bucks campus with a $79 million, three-story addition that expands access to obstetrics, a service that has been shrinking in the Philadelphia region. (Gantz, 3/2)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Nemours Children's Hospital Delaware Expands Sickle Cell Disease, Cancer Treatment And Research With $78 Million Donation
A $78 million gift to Nemours Children’s Health will expand the health system’s research and clinical care for children with cancer and blood disorders, the Delaware health system said Thursday. The donation from the Lisa Dean Moseley Foundation of Wilmington will pay for 48 new inpatient beds, including isolation areas for immunocompromised patients, a meditation room, and additional treatment space. (Laughlin, 3/2)

Modern Healthcare: Presbyterian Healthcare Services, UnityPoint Health To Merge
Presbyterian Healthcare Services and UnityPoint Health announced plans Thursday to merge, creating an organization with roughly $11 billion in annual revenue. The combined nonprofit organization would have 48 hospitals, a health insurance plan offered through Presbyterian and 40,000 employees. (Kacik, 3/2)

KHN: Shaved Costs, High Risk, Maximum Profits: Regulators Worry About Florida’s Butt Lift Boom
In hindsight, Nikki Ruston said, she should have recognized the red flags. The office in Miami where she scheduled what’s known as a Brazilian butt lift had closed and transferred her records to a different facility, she said. The price she was quoted — and paid upfront — increased the day of the procedure, and she said she did not meet her surgeon until she was about to be placed under general anesthesia. “I was ready to walk out,” said Ruston, 44, of Lake Alfred in Central Florida. “But I had paid everything.” (Chang, 3/3)

Also —

AP: Documents Detail EMTs' Failure To Aid Tyre Nichols 
Two Memphis Fire Department emergency medical technicians who were fired and had their licenses suspended for failing to give aid to Tyre Nichols for 19 minutes while he struggled with injuries from being brutally beaten by police, did not check his vital signs or perform other basic medical examinations, documents released Thursday showed. (Sainz, 3/2)

CBS News: Flu And COVID Combo Shots Won't Come In Time For This Year, FDA Official Says 
Vaccines that offer protection against both COVID-19 and influenza with a single shot will likely not be ready in time for this year, a top federal official said Wednesday. However, tweaks to update the current COVID vaccines and drugs are expected soon. The Food and Drug Administration's top vaccines official, Dr. Peter Marks, had previously said in September that vaccines to cover both viruses could be deployed this year. (Tin, 3/2)

San Francisco Chronicle: Vaccines Will Hit Commercial Market With Next Virus Strain
In an update to the potential timeline for commercialization of COVID-19 medical countermeasures, including vaccines, the federal Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) said it expects that to happen once the doses are reformulated for the next coronavirus lineage. (Vaziri, 3/2)

CIDRAP: 35 Years Of US Investment In Research Led To Development Of MRNA COVID Vaccines
In the three decades leading up to the pandemic, the US government invested $31.9 billion in research that supported the development of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines in 2020, $337 million of which was invested before the pandemic, finds a Brigham and Women's–led study published yesterday in The BMJ. The researchers searched public databases for government-funded grants on four foundational innovations that directly led to the development of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, including lipid nanoparticle, mRNA synthesis or modification, spike protein structure, and mRNA vaccine biotechnology from January 1985 to March 2022. (Van Beusekom, 3/2)

In other health news from across the U.S. —

San Francisco Chronicle: Long COVID Linked To Lower Brain Oxygen Levels
Long COVID is associated with reduced brain oxygen levels, worse performance on cognitive tests and increased psychiatric symptoms, according to a new study. In an analysis of two parallel studies — a laboratory study involving cognitive testing and imaging and a population survey — researchers from the University of Waterloo found that individuals who experienced symptomatic COVID-19 illness showed impaired brain function compared to those who had not been infected. (Vaziri, 3/2)

In other pandemic news —

Dallas Morning News: Ted Cruz Tells CPAC That Fauci Should Be Jailed Over COVID-19 ‘Lies’ And Mandates
Sen. Ted Cruz demanded prosecution for Dr. Anthony Fauci, telling conservative activists Thursday that the nation’s most prominent public health expert lied about COVID-19′s origin and “destroyed” lives by encouraging closure of schools and businesses and prodding Americans to wear masks and get vaccinated. (Gillman, 3/2)

The Boston Globe: How A Study Sparked Questions Around Masking And COVID — Again
You may have thought the question of masking was settled, or at least that we had all agreed to disagree, but no such luck. The debate over whether masks limit COVID-19 transmission recently reignited after a new review of the research came out, drawing out skeptics and defenders, and — as so often happens — leaving the ordinary citizen befuddled. (Freyer, 3/2)

Fox News: More Than Half The World's Population Will Be Obese Or Overweight By 2035, Says New Report
A startling new report may be putting a lot of people on notice. Without significant action to change this trajectory, more than half the world's population will be overweight or obese by 2035, according to a new report. The World Obesity Federation's 2023 atlas is predicting that 51% of the world, or more than 4 billion people, will be obese or overweight within the next 12 years, according to Reuters. (Mackey, 3/2)

Stat: Report: Obesity Could Cost World $4 Trillion A Year By 2035
The costs of obesity are projected to soar globally, in step with rising prevalence, according to a new report from the World Obesity Federation, the only global group focused solely on tracking obesity and a partner of the World Health Organization. Over half the world’s population will be either overweight or have obesity by 2035, the report projected, while the economic impact of a high BMI could reach $4.32 trillion annually, if current trends continue and policy inertia around the disease remains in place. (Belluz, 3/2)

More on nutrition and eating disorders —

Bloomberg: Big Food Brands Led By Kraft Heinz Struggling To Kick Junk Addiction: Survey
The bulk of food and drinks sold by four out of five global producers across three major markets are unhealthy, according to a survey, with Kraft Heinz Co. faring the worst. (Afanasieva, 3/3)

Houston Chronicle: Healthiest Fast Food Cheeseburger? Whataburger Takes Top Spot
A whole bunch of media outlets breathlessly transcribed a fast-food health ranking compiled by a gambling website. The ranking, a top 10 of the healthiest fast food cheeseburgers, put Whatburger at the top of the list followed by In-N-Out and Checker's. Scores were generated by weighing sugar, sodium and fat and calories against the weight of the burger. (Perera, 3/2)

Detroit Free Press: MSU Research Puts A New Face On Who Is At Risk For Eating Disorders
A new study is adding to myth-busting research about who is most prone to developing an eating disorder. Researchers at Michigan State University found that children living in disadvantaged circumstances are at elevated risk for developing disordered eating, especially if they have underlying genetic risk. (Brookland, 3/3)

In other health and wellness news —

AP: Baby's Death Tied To Contaminated Breast Pump, CDC Says 
Federal health officials are warning parents of newborns to sterilize equipment used for both bottle- and breast-feeding after a baby died last year from a rare infection tied to a contaminated breast pump. The infant, a premature boy, was infected with the bacteria Cronobacter sakazakii, the same germ that sparked a recall and nationwide shortage of powdered infant formula last year, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Thursday. (Aleccia, 3/2)

USA Today: Oyster Recall: Salmonella Outbreak In Three States Linked To Shellfish
The Florida Department of Health is warning consumers to check where their oysters came from on the heels of a salmonella outbreak across three southeastern states. Oysters harvested in the small island city of Cedar Key from Dec. 16 through Feb. 24 are associated with the outbreak sickening people in Florida, Georgia and Alabama, the state agency reported Wednesday. As of Thursday, at least eight people had contracted the disease in those three states. (Neysa Alund, 3/2)

Philadelphia Inquirer: THC Gummies From Montco Tobacco Huts Didn’t Show Fentanyl When Tested In Lab
Three days after the Montgomery County District Attorney stood behind a podium and held up packages of THC gummies that he warned contained heroin and fentanyl, his office said subsequent lab tests did not confirm the presence of illicit drugs in the unregulated THC products. (Gutman and Whelan, 3/2)

KHN: Guns Are The Biggest Public Health Threat Kids Face. Why Aren’t They Getting The Message?
I still remember the raspy voice of the wizened cancer patient with the hole in her throat. So addicted to the poison that was killing her — cigarettes — she interspersed her words of warning about the dangers of smoking with taking puffs of a cigarette through her tracheostomy hole. It was a short, disturbing public service video shown in my sixth-grade classroom as part of an anti-smoking campaign linked to a U.S. surgeon general’s report, which for the first time officially linked smoking to cancer and heart disease. That night, I flushed my father’s cigarettes down the toilet. The woman’s image haunted my nightmares for years. After seeing that video, I never lighted up. (Rosenthal, 3/3)

NBC News: Permanent Daylight Saving Time Bill Gets Renewed Push In Congress
Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., has introduced companion legislation in the House. “There are enormous health and economic benefits to making daylight saving time permanent," Buchanan said in a statement. "Florida lawmakers have already voted to make daylight saving time permanent in my home state and Congress should pass the Sunshine Protection Act to move Florida and the rest of the country to year-round daylight saving time.” (Zhao, 3/2)

CBS News: CDC Says 20,000 People May Have Been Exposed To Measles At Asbury University Religious Revival
An estimated 20,000 people attended a large religious gathering in Kentucky on the same days as a resident who was infected with measles last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday, with potential contacts who may have been exposed to the highly transmissible virus now spanning multiple states and countries. (Tin, 3/1)

In other health news from across the U.S. —

The Wall Street Journal: Tennessee Governor Signs Bill Restricting Transgender Healthcare For Minors 
Tennessee’s governor on Thursday signed legislation that blocks physicians from providing treatments to minors related to their gender identity, one of dozens of bills moving through legislatures that would impose limits on access to transgender healthcare for children and teenagers. (Timms and Kusisto, 3/2)

AP: Missouri Tries To Ease Access To Breast Cancer Screenings
Missouri patients won’t be charged a copay for a second mammogram to diagnose breast cancer or another illness under a bill the state House approved on Thursday. The GOP-led chamber voted 126-29 to send the measure to the Senate. Some female lawmakers noted that most of those opposed are men. (Ballentine, 3/2)

WMFE: Stomach Bug Cases Increasing In Central Florida As CDC Warns Of A Drug-Resistant Bacteria
Reports of stomach bugs are growing throughout the country. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health warning regarding Shigella bacteria, which is drug-resistant and causes severe, bloody diarrhea. It is commonly spread through fecal matter either in person-to-person contact or contaminated food. Orlando Health, Nemours Children Hospital and Central Florida AdventHealth have not observed any Shigella hospitalizations. (Pedersen, 3/2)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Wants To Ban Delta-8, But Veterans Are Pushing Back
Texas veterans have pledged to come out in force at the Capitol in the coming months to vouch for delta-8, the hemp derivative that provides a soothing effect similar to marijuana, as state officials argue it’s illegal in court and lawmakers consider banning it. (Goldenstein, 3/3)

The Boston Globe: Operator Of Addiction Treatment Centers In Mass., R.I. Charged In Multimillion Dollar Care Fraud Scheme
The visits for opioid addiction treatment were supposed to last 45 minutes, but they were so perfunctory, authorities allege, that the supervisory counselor at the Providence-based chain earned the nickname “the five-minute queen.” And the fraud scheme was so brazen that Recovery Connection Centers of America once billed taxpayers for 28.5 hours of psychotherapy by a single counselor in one 24-hour day, prosecutors say. (Amaral and Andersen, 3/2)

CBS News: Teachers Learn To Administer Narcan Amid Opioid Crisis
As the U.S. continues to contend with an opioid epidemic that has led to surge in accidental deaths among teens — largely due to fentanyl — some teachers are now being educated on the use of Narcan, a drug that reverses opioid overdoses. (Ruffini, 3/2)

San Francisco Chronicle: Sen. Dianne Feinstein Is Hospitalized In S.F. With Shingles
Sen. Dianne Feinstein is receiving treatment for shingles in a San Francisco hospital, her spokesperson told The Chronicle Thursday. Feinstein was diagnosed with the virus in late February and is expected to make a full recovery. Her staff did not disclose where she is receiving treatment. The shingles virus causes a painful rash and can require antiviral medications to treat. (Stein, 3/2)

AP: Toxic 'Forever Chemicals’ About To Get Their First US Limits
The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to propose restrictions on harmful “forever chemicals” in drinking water after finding they are dangerous in amounts so small as to be undetectable. But experts say removing them will cost billions, a burden that will fall hardest on small communities with few resources. Concerned about the chemicals’ ability to weaken children’s immune systems, the EPA said last year that PFAS could cause harm at levels “much lower than previously understood.” (Phillis and Peterson, 3/3)

KHN: Schools Struggle With Lead In Water While Awaiting Federal Relief 
On a recent day in this 19th-century mining town turned tourist hot spot, students made their way into the Granite High School lobby and past a new filtered water bottle fill station. Water samples taken from the drinking fountain the station replaced had a lead concentration of 10 parts per billion — twice Montana’s legal limit for schools of 5 parts per billion for the toxic metal. (Houghton, 3/3)

In updates on the Ohio train derailment —

Politico: EPA Orders Dioxin Testing At Ohio Train Crash Site 
EPA on Thursday ordered Norfolk Southern to begin testing for dioxins, a family of toxic chemicals that cause cancer and various other ailments, at the site of the East Palestine, Ohio, train crash. The order followed weeks of complaints by local residents that EPA wasn’t testing for dioxins, which can form when vinyl chloride is burned, as happened after the crash. (Guillen, 3/2)

The New York Times: Ohio Residents Confront Train Company Over Derailment As EPA Orders Tests 
Residents vented and pleaded, describing how their families were still living in hotels or experiencing lingering health problems, including repeated vomiting and rashes. They told the officials how they felt trapped, with few resources to move away from the homes they had spent their lives building, and demanded more answers about the validity of the testing done on their air, water and soil. (Lieszkovszky and Cochrane, 3/2)

Reuters: Ohio Derailment Probe Focuses On Valves; Residents Confront Company 
The investigation into the Ohio train derailment has found that aluminum parts on three tank cars may have melted and caused pressure relief devices not to function, contributing to the release of toxic chemicals last month, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Thursday. (Shepardson and Brooks, 3/2)

Also —

Axios: Study: Texas Kids On U.S.-Mexico Border More Likely To Die From Common Type Of Leukemia
Children in Texas who live along the U.S.-Mexico border have a 30% higher risk of death within five years of being diagnosed with the most common type of childhood cancer compared to those living elsewhere in the state, a new study found. Childhood cancer is the second-leading cause of death for kids under 16 years of age, and people who live in Texas border communities — about 80% are Hispanic — have long had less access to health care. (Galvan, 3/2)

Axios: DEA Rules On Prescribing Controlled Substances Roil Behavioral Health
A federal crackdown on overprescribing controlled substances via telehealth is causing confusion and consternation in the behavioral health community over an in-person prescribing requirement for drugs used to treat pain and opioid use disorder. (Moreno, 3/3)

In other pharmaceutical and research developments —

NPR: FDA Has New Power To Hold Drugmakers Accountable
The huge spending bill that became law last December also included fixes to a problem that has dogged the Food and Drug Administration for years. Drugmakers could get fast approval for certain drugs — with preliminary data — on the promise that they would do more research after the fact to make sure the drugs worked. But companies were often slow to follow through on these so-called accelerated approvals, leaving patients uncertain about their medicines. (Lupkin, 3/3)

KHN: Eli Lilly Slashed Insulin Prices. This Starts A Race To The Bottom.
When drugmaker Eli Lilly announced Wednesday it will slash the list price for some of its insulin products following years of criticism from lawmakers and activists that the price of the lifesaving hormone had become unaffordable, the news raised questions about what will happen to other efforts to provide low-cost insulin. Civica, a nonprofit drugmaker based in Utah, for example, has said it plans to begin selling biosimilar insulin for roughly $30 per vial by 2024 — $5 more than the new price of Eli Lilly’s generic insulin. (Sable-Smith and Young, 3/2)

Southern California News Group: Futuristic Vaccine To Prevent Alzheimer’s Starts Southern California Trial
A futuristic vaccine to prevent Alzheimer’s disease is in the works right here in Southern California. And it won’t even involve needles. Researcher Michael Agadjanyan at the Institute for Molecular Medicine in Huntington Beach, along with David Sultzer from UCI MIND and Lon Schneider from USC, received a $12 million grant from the National Institute on Aging to support clinical trials aiming to keep “the long goodbye” at bay. (Sforza, 3/2)

Stat: Fallout From CRISPR Baby Scandal Will Shape New Genome Summit
Next week, hundreds of scientists from around the world will convene in London for an international summit on genome editing. That technology, which enables scientists to easily excise, alter, or replace specific sections of DNA, was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. But the last time an event like this took place, in November 2018, carefully planned discussions about how it might be responsibly harnessed to treat genetic diseases were derailed by news that a team of researchers in China claimed to have already crossed a bright-red scientific rubicon — they’d used it to create the world’s first gene-edited children. (Molteni, 3/3)

The Baltimore Sun: ‘Night And Day’: Parkinson’s Symptoms Eased By Nonsurgical Procedure, University Of Maryland Medical Center Study Shows
The other day, Melanie Carlson took her 5-year-old daughter shopping for a bathing suit. Since they couldn’t find a suit in the first store, they stopped by a second. Then, Carlson drove them to a third store, acutely aware, the whole time, that this mundane afternoon would have been nearly impossible for her to experience less than a year earlier. (Roberts, 3/2)

The Washington Post: Hospital Food Is A Punchline. In New York, Fine-Dining Chefs Are Redefining It
The kitchens at these hospitals, including Lenox Hill, have undergone a dramatic transformation over the past five-plus years, ditching institutional frozen foods in favor of meals freshly prepared by chefs who previously spent their careers catering to heads of state and one-percenters, not patients in medical gowns. (Carman, 2/27)

Philadelphia Inquirer: A Jefferson Surgeon Ran Through The Philadelphia Half Marathon Route To Get A Liver For His Patient
With the clock ticking on his precious cargo of a human liver for transplant surgery, a van driver made good time on his way from New York to Philadelphia on a Saturday morning in November. Until he ran into thousands who were racing against a different clock: runners competing in the Dietz & Watson Philadelphia Half Marathon. (Avril, 2/24)

The New York Times: This Revolutionary Stroke Treatment Will Save Millions of Lives. Eventually
Kris Walterson doesn’t remember exactly how he got to the bathroom, very early on a Friday morning — only that once he got himself there, his feet would no longer obey him. He crouched down and tried to lift them up with his hands before sliding to the floor. He didn’t feel panicked about the problem, or even nervous really. But when he tried to get up, he kept falling down again: slamming his back against the bathtub, making a racket of cabinet doors. It didn’t make sense to him then, why his legs wouldn’t lock into place underneath him. He had a pair of fuzzy socks on, and he tried pulling them off, thinking that bare feet might get better traction on the bathroom floor. That didn’t work, either. (Holland, 3/1)

AP: How Officials Cracked Case Of Eyedrops That Blinded People
The investigation started in May in Los Angeles County, California. A patient who’d recently been to an ophthalmologist came in with a bad eye infection. A month later, local health officials got a second report. Another bad eye infection, same eye doctor. Two more cases were reported in the county before the summer was over. The patients’ eyes were inflamed with heavy yellow pus that obscured most of the pupil. Among the four, two had complete vision loss in the affected eye. (Stobbe, 2/28)

The Washington Post: A Writer With Aphasia Explains Its Devastating Effects On Communication 
Imagine that you’re trying to talk, but you can’t get the words out — and then, if you finally do, no one understands what you’re saying. And you don’t understand what others are saying to you. That’s what it’s like to live with aphasia. Aphasia results from damage to the brain that affects speech and language comprehension. Frequently, aphasia follows a stroke, but it can also result from a traumatic brain injury; in my case, I suffered a “coup contrecoup injury with diffuse axonal shearing of the brain” — and, consequently, aphasia — when a drunk driver plowed into a parked car that I was sitting in one Tuesday morning in 2006. (Weiss, 2/25)

The Wall Street Journal: How Peptide Injections Became The Answer To Everything
After decades of turning to diet pills, steroids and plastic surgery to alter their bodies inside and out, people are increasingly open to an alternative method: injecting themselves with peptides at home. Proponents say that peptides—a broad category of substances including FDA-approved drugs, supplements and experimental treatments—can help them build lean muscle, shed weight, increase energy and get a dewy glow. Though the term has appeared on a range of consumer products for years, injectable peptides are getting more attention as celebrity doctors and influencers share stories of physiological transformations that go beyond diet and exercise. (O'Brien, 3/2)

Politico: Dodgy Science, Poor Access And High Prices: The Parallel Medical World Of Medicinal Marijuana In America
Jayden Carter is one of Michigan’s 207 minors with medical marijuana cards. He’s been a cardholder since he was 9 years old, qualifying for nausea, migraines and eventually autism. Jayden was diagnosed with Asperger’s, ADHD and Oppositional Defiant Disorder when he was 2 years old. But the drug the Carters consider a lifesaver carries burdens of its own: Medical marijuana is legal for certain conditions in 39 states, four territories and the District of Columbia. Each has different requirements and regulations, but generally patients need a recommendation from one or two doctors to qualify for a medical marijuana card. Beyond that, however, patients who use medical marijuana in legal states do so almost entirely outside the traditional medical system. (Fertig, 2/27)

Reuters: Medical Tourism Looking Sickly As Patients Watch Their Spending
For years, travelling abroad to clinics in countries like Hungary and Turkey has been an option for British and North American patients who face long waits, high costs or both for dental and medical procedures at home. Operators had hoped for a rapid bounce back after curbs on travel were lifted. But inflation fueled by soaring energy and food prices since the Ukraine war started a year ago has left people with little money to spare, especially for cosmetic procedures. (Plucinska, 2/27)

The New York Times: I Grew Up Near A Toxic Disaster. I Have A Warning For East Palestine
It’s impossible to know what environmental and health challenges the residents of East Palestine, Ohio, will face in the years to come, but my worry is that they will know what I experienced from childhood onward: unease, loved ones getting sick and a fear of natural landscapes that should be local treasures. (Vanessa Ogle, 3/3)

Stat: Adoption Is Not A Simple Or Easy Alternative To Abortion 
"But aren’t you grateful to be alive”? That’s a question adoptees like me are often asked when we speak out against the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Like other adoptees, I hesitate to answer, feeling the pressure to respond as we’ve been trained to by society, “Yes, I’m grateful, so very grateful.” Adding anything else opens the door to the complexities of adoption that few people are willing to hear: that adoption isn’t a happy ending — it’s one family being torn apart to piece together another. And that adoptees are being used as pawns against reproductive rights while their own rights are denied. (Laura Goetz, 3/3)

Stat: How Physician Wellness Programs Keep Doctors Captive
Wellness programs don’t work — at least, not in the way that increases actual physician wellness. What they do instead is keep physicians indentured to the system that burns them out in the first place. (Though my focus in this essay is on physicians, my concerns about wellness programs also apply to nurses and other health care workers.) (Mark G. Shrime, 3/3)

Also —

Bloomberg: Covid-19 Lab Leak Theory Draws Attention To Research Security Needs
News that the US Department of Energy now believes that the virus that causes Covid-19 escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, won’t resolve the ill-tempered debate over how a pandemic that has killed nearly 7 million people began. But it should spur policymakers and scientists to stop politicizing the issue and get serious about preventing another catastrophe. (3/2)

The Washington Post: The Investigation Into Covid’s Origins Must Continue 
Americans were surprised to learn this week that the U.S. Energy Department has changed its initial assessment on the origins of the virus that sparked the covid pandemic. The department’s analysts now believe that a lab-related accident was most likely, albeit with “low confidence.” (Josh Rogin, 3/3)

The Washington Post: What Does It Mean To Hold China ‘Accountable’ For Covid? 
My column this week focused on the need to shift from single-mindedly pursuing covid-19’s origins to preventing the next pandemic, whether it is caused by laboratory accidents or animal-to-human spillover. I believe our energy is better spent shoring up future defenses than finger-pointing over the past. (Leana S. Wen, 3/2)