First Edition: April 12, 2024

KFF Health News: Nearly 1 In 4 Adults Dumped From Medicaid Are Now Uninsured, Survey Finds 
Nearly a quarter of adults disenrolled from Medicaid in the past year say they are now uninsured, according to a survey released Friday that details how tens of millions of Americans struggled to retain coverage in the government insurance program for low-income people after pandemic-era protections began expiring last spring. The first national survey of adults whose Medicaid eligibility was reviewed during the unwinding found nearly half of people who lost their government coverage signed back up weeks or months later — suggesting they should never have been dropped in the first place. (Galewitz, 4/12)

KFF Health News: As Bans Spread, Fluoride In Drinking Water Divides Communities Across The US
Regina Barrett, a 69-year-old retiree who lives in this small North Carolina city southeast of Charlotte, has not been happy with her tap water for a while. “Our water has been cloudy and bubbly and looks milky,” said Barrett, who blames fluoride, a mineral that communities across the nation have for decades added to the water supply to help prevent cavities and improve dental health. (Newsome, 4/12)

KFF Health News: California Fails To Adequately Help Blind And Deaf Prisoners, US Judge Rules 
Thirty years after prisoners with disabilities sued the state of California and 25 years after a federal court first ordered accommodations, a judge found that state prison and parole officials still are not doing enough to help deaf and blind prisoners — in part because they are not using readily available technology such as video recordings and laptop computers. U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken’s rulings on March 20 centered on the prison system’s need to help deaf, blind, and low-vision prisoners better prepare for parole hearings, though the decisions are also likely to improve accommodations for hundreds of other prisoners with those disabilities. (Thompson, 4/12)

KFF Health News: KFF Health News' 'What The Health?': Arizona Turns Back The Clock On Abortion Access 
The Arizona Supreme Court shook up the national abortion debate this week, ruling that a ban originally passed in 1864 — before the end of the Civil War and decades before Arizona became a state — could be enforced. As in some other states, including Florida, voters will likely have the chance to decide whether to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution in November. (4/11)

Iowa Public Radio: Iowa Supreme Court To Decide If 6-Week Abortion Ban Can Take Effect 
The state asked the Iowa Supreme Court Thursday to let Iowa’s law that bans abortions as early as six weeks of pregnancy take effect, as lawyers for abortion providers argued the law is unconstitutional and must be permanently blocked. It was the second time in as many years the Iowa Supreme Court heard oral arguments over what supporters call a “fetal heartbeat” law in the state. The seven Republican-appointed justices are now poised to decide by the end of June if the Iowa Constitution allows for a strict abortion ban. (Sostaric, 4/11)

The Hill: Harris To Warn In Arizona After Abortion Ruling A Second Trump Term Would Mean ‘More Bans, More Suffering’ 
Vice President Harris will rally supporters in Arizona on Friday, where outrage is brewing among Democrats over a court ruling that upheld an 1864 law and made performing abortion a felony. Harris will take direct aim at former President Trump in her remarks, according to excerpts shared by the Biden campaign. The vice president will say Trump “is to blame” for the wave of restrictions on abortion following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and she will warn a second Trump term would mean more restrictions. (Samuels, 4/12)

AP: Former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey Says The Abortion Ruling From Justices He Chose Goes Too Far
A ban on nearly all abortions in Arizona doesn’t sit well with the Republican former governor whose expansion of the state Supreme Court allowed him to appoint the four conservative justices whose ruling cleared the way for it. Doug Ducey is among Republicans in several states who are wrestling with the consequences of their opposition to abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. He expanded the state court in 2016, but thinks its ruling this week went too far. (Gruver, 4/11)

CBS News: Arizona Supreme Court's Abortion Ruling Sparks Fear, Uncertainty
Camelback Family Planning in Phoenix is the busiest abortion clinic in Arizona, according to its founder Dr. Gabrielle Goodrick, seeing some 350 patients a month. But following the Arizona Supreme Court ruling Tuesday that clears the way to reinstate an 1864 law that would ban nearly all abortions, Goodrick says she's worried about what could happen. (Shamlian, 4/11)

NBC News: Arizona’s 1864 Abortion Ban Was Mostly A Result Of Power Struggles, Historians Say
Attempts to gain power mostly fueled Arizona’s near-total abortion ban in 1864, as male physicians sought to dominate health care over midwives and anti-abortion advocates felt threatened by immigrants, historians said. ... Back then, midwives predominantly performed abortions, using herbs or metal instruments, which caused resentment among male physicians, said Karissa Haugeberg, who teaches history at Tulane University in Louisiana. “Physicians marked midwives as competitors,” Haugeberg said. So they began campaigning to be the authorities on reproductive rights and health care. (Chan, 4/11)

The 19th: States That Restrict Divorce During Pregnancy Also Have Abortion Bans
Four states restrict divorce during pregnancy, and, with a decision by the Arizona Supreme Court this week, now all four also have near-total bans on abortion. It’s a combination that can be fatal, say experts on domestic violence. (Gerson, 4/11)

NPR: How The Comstock Act Could Be Used To Ban Abortion Nationwide 
According to legal experts, the Comstock Act could be used to stop virtually all abortion in the country, including in places it is currently legal. ... Here's what you need to know about the Comstock Act, and what the consequences would be if it is enforced the way some conservatives would like. (Kurtzleben, 4/10)

Politico: Anti-Abortion Groups Eye Challenge If Florida Voters Approves Ballot Measure 
Anti-abortion groups in Florida will try to block implementation of a ballot measure protecting the procedure if voters approve the initiative in November, signaling that the fight over abortion rights in the state will likely continue far past this year’s elections. Mat Staver, the founder of the anti-abortion group Liberty Counsel and who argued against the ballot measure before the state Supreme Court last winter, said on Thursday that if voters approve the initiative, “there is a prime lawsuit waiting to take it up to the Florida Supreme Court.” (Sarkissian, 4/11)

Axios: South Florida's Latino Population Could Swing Abortion Vote 
Even as Miami-Dade County has shifted right in recent years, support for abortion rights has remained resilient among its majority Latino population, despite the group's strong religious views and typically conservative politics. Where South Florida's Latino population stands on the issue could be vital to the outcome of November's referendum that would enshrine a person's right to an abortion in the state constitution. (Brugal, 4/10)

AP: Tennessee Senate OKs A Bill That Would Make It Illegal For Adults To Help Minors Seeking Abortions
Republican lawmakers in Tennessee on Wednesday advanced legislation making it illegal for adults to help minors get an abortion without parental consent, sparking objections from Democrats who counter that doing so could result in young victims needing approval from their parents who may have raped them in order to terminate the pregnancies. The GOP-controlled Senate signed off on the proposal 26-3. The bill is still advancing toward the floor in the House. (Kruesi, 4/10)

St. Louis Public Radio: Missourians Likely Won’t Vote On Abortion Until November 
One of the questions about a ballot measure legalizing abortion in Missouri is when the state’s voters would actually decide the initiative. Unless Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft uses a procedure aimed at speeding up the petition signature counting process, which his office says at this point he isn’t planning to do, it will be functionally impossible for signatures to be verified before the August primary. (Rosenbaum, 4/11)

The Hill: Maine Republican Blames Mass Shooting On Law Expanding Abortion Access
Maine State Rep. Michael Lemelin (R) on Wednesday said the Lewiston mass shooting in October that left 18 people dead was a consequence from God after state lawmakers passed a law expanding abortion access in the state. In a fiery floor speech Wednesday, Lemelin warned against passing LD 227 — which would protect individuals who get abortions or gender-affirming care in Maine from facing legal consequences in other states — saying, “LD 227 will have severe consequences.” (Fortinsky, 4/11)

CNN: Medicaid: 20 Million People Lost Their Coverage In The Last Year. Here’s What Happened To Them 
Justin Gibbs had finally gotten his high blood pressure under control with a combination of three medications. But after he had his Medicaid coverage terminated in December amid a nationwide eligibility review, he had to go without one medication for a week and a second for several days, sparking fears that the delicate balance would unravel. (Luhby, 4/12)

Roll Call: CDC Moves Forward On Data-Sharing — Without Congress 
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and last year’s mpox outbreak, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Mandy Cohen is updating the agency’s data-sharing strategy for the next two years — with a focus on what the agency can do without congressional help. (Cohen, 4/11)

CIDRAP: CDC: Spike In Measles Cases Poses Threat To US Elimination Status 
A rapid rise in measles cases in the first months of 2024 threatens the United States' elimination status, a situation the nation hasn't faced since 2019, when prolonged outbreaks posed a similar problem, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today. CDC scientists from the group spelled out the warning today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). In their analysis of measles activity from January 1, 2020, to March 28, 2024, they said cases in the first quarter of 2024 have risen 17-fold compared to the mean first-quarter average from 2020 to 2023. (Schnirring, 4/11)

AP: US Measles Cases Are Up In 2024. What's Driving The Increase? 
Nationwide, measles cases already are nearly double the total for all of last year. The U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention documented 113 cases as of April 5. There have been seven outbreaks and most of U.S. cases — 73% — are linked to those flare-ups. Still, the count is lower than some recent years: 2014 saw 667 cases and 2019 had 1,274. The 2019 measles epidemic was the worst in almost three decades, and threatened the United States’ status as a country that has eliminated measles by stopping the continual spread of the measles virus. (Shastri and Stobbe, 4/11)

CNN: Avian Flu: What To Know About The Bird Flu Outbreak In The US, According To A Doctor 
A worker on a dairy farm in Texas tested positive for the avian flu, only the second case of a person in the United States who has contracted the H5N1 influenza strain. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the person was diagnosed with the H5N1 virus and was recovering with mild symptoms. (Hetter, 4/11)

NPR: What Bird Flu's Spread Among Dairy Cattle Tells Us About Its Risk To Humans
The outbreak of bird flu in dairy cattle is still unfolding. Both North Carolina and South Dakota have detected the virus in dairy herds, bringing the total number of states affected to eight. The unlikely spread among cattle and one dairy worker has scientists looking through the data to better understand this spillover. They say the risk to humans hinges on whether the virus can evolve in key ways to better infect mammals. (Stone, 4/11)

Reuters: Bird Flu Pushes US Dairy Farmers To Ban Visitors, Chop Trees 
Dairy farmers in the United States are raising their defenses to try to contain the spread of bird flu: banning visitors, cutting down trees to discourage wild birds from landing, and disinfecting vehicles coming onto their land. While the first cases appear to have been introduced to herds in Texas and Kansas by wild birds, the USDA said transmission among cattle was also possible. Agricultural officials in Michigan and Ohio said infected herds in those states received cattle from Texas. Reuters spoke to seven dairy farmers in five states who said they are reinforcing safety and cleaning procedures, with three producers exceeding government recommendations. (Polansek, 4/11)

NBC News: Chlamydia Vaccine Shows Promise In Early Trial
An early-stage clinical trial yielded promising results for a chlamydia vaccine, researchers reported Thursday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. There is currently no vaccine to protect against the sexually transmitted infection, which is the most common bacterial STI in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2022, there were more than 1.6 million cases. (Syal, 4/11)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Advantage Benefit Cuts Possible Following Rate Reduction 
A modest cut to the base Medicare Advantage payment rate next year may compel health insurance companies to carry out threats to scale back benefits, hike premiums and reduce provider payments. Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finalized a 0.16% cut to the benchmark Medicare Advantage rate, which excludes risk adjustment payments, in 2025. It was the second consecutive year the agency reduced payments and the first time since 2018 that it didn't offer a higher rate in the final rule than it proposed. (Tepper, 4/11)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Physician Pay Needs Fixes, Senators Say
Doctors have long lamented that Medicare fails to pay enough to meet rising costs. Key members of the Senate Finance Committee said Thursday they agreed, and pledged to do something about it. "The way traditional Medicare pays physicians to manage and treat these conditions has not kept up with the times," Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said at a hearing on bolstering pay for treating chronic care. "It is now time to act once more." (McAuliff, 4/11)

Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealth Behavioral Health Lawsuit Revived By Federal Court
A federal appeals court has revived a proposed class action lawsuit alleging UnitedHealth Group used an algorithm to more stringently review patient claims for substance abuse treatment compared with requests for medical or surgical procedures. (Tepper, 4/11)

Reuters: Prison Health Co. May Stay In Bankruptcy, But Needs New Deal, Judge Rules 
A U.S. judge on Thursday declined a bid to end Tehum Care Services' bankruptcy, but he said the prison healthcare company would need to come up with a new bankruptcy deal if it wants its restructuring to move forward. Opponents of Tehum's so-called "Texas two-step" bankruptcy, including prisoners who have sued over substandard medical care and the U.S. Department of Justice, had argued that the company's predecessor Corizon Health abused U.S. bankruptcy law when it created a new shell company, Tehum, and placed it into bankruptcy solely to halt lawsuits filed against it. They said the case must be dismissed because it was filed in a bad faith effort to protect YesCare, the new company that inherited Corizon's contracts and business assets. (Knauth, 4/11)

Minnesota Public Radio: Medical Providers Remain In Limbo As Cyberattack Impacts Continue
In late February, Emily Benson noticed something strange: her counseling practice was getting no checks from insurance claims. It was the start of a grating month and a half. Since then, her clinic in Edina has been making around five percent of the revenue it usually brings in. “It feels like COVID-19 all over again, but much, much worse,” Benson said. (Timar-Wilcox, 4/12)

The New York Times: Texas Surgeon Is Accused Of Secretly Denying Liver Transplants
For decades, Dr. J. Steve Bynon Jr., a transplant surgeon in Texas, gained accolades and national prominence for his work, including by helping to enforce professional standards in the country’s sprawling organ transplant system. But officials are now investigating allegations that Dr. Bynon was secretly manipulating a government database to make some of his own patients ineligible to receive new livers, potentially depriving them of lifesaving care. ... It was not clear what could have motivated Dr. Bynon. Reached by phone on Thursday, he referred questions to UTHealth Houston, which declined to comment. Dr. Bynon did not confirm he had admitted to altering records. (Rosenthal and Silver-Greenberg, 4/11)

Modern Healthcare: Kaiser Permanente Launches Food-Is-Medicine Hub
Kaiser Permanente launched a Food is Medicine Center of Excellence on Thursday, expanding the health system’s food and nutrition scanning methods, research, partnerships and clinical nutrition training, according to a news release. (DeSilva, 4/11)

Stat: New Precision Technique Helped Guide Pediatric Cancer Regimen 
It seemed as if Logan Jenner had the best possible chance for a cure. Diagnosed at age 3 with acute myeloid leukemia, an aggressive blood cancer, Logan happened to have a targetable mutation that occurs in a small minority of childhood AML cases, making it possible for him to receive a precision therapy drug that — with chemotherapy — got him to a point where he could receive a bone marrow transplant. (Chen, 4/11)

NPR: Lung Cancer Survival Rates Are Up Thanks To Immunotherapy, Other New Treatments
Denise Lee grew up in Detroit in the mid-1970s and went to an all-girls Catholic high school. She smoked her first cigarette at age 14 at school, where cigarettes were a popular way of trying to lose weight. Instead, her nicotine addiction lasted four decades until she quit in her mid-50s. "At some point it got up as high as 2.5 packs a day," Lee, 62, recalls. (Noguchi, 4/12)

Stat: Lower Back Pain: Empathetic Physicians Lead To Better Outcomes, Study Finds
Amid the many demands of practicing medicine, doctors can have less time and energy for their patients, and those relationships can suffer. Yet research has shown that when physicians show empathy, that can generally lead to better clinical outcomes, at least over the near-term. Now, a new study, published Thursday in JAMA Network Open, demonstrates that those benefits can extend longer and be even more effective than some clinical therapies in dealing with lower back pain, which affects half of the U.S. population in any given year. (Balthazar, 4/12)

CIDRAP: Study: Pathogens That Cause Surgical Infections May Be Coming From Patients' Skin
A study of patients who developed infections after spinal surgery found that for most, the bacteria causing the infection was present on their skin before surgery, researchers reported yesterday in Science Translational Medicine. (Dall, 4/11)

CBS News: Hundreds Of Drugs Are In Short Supply Around The U.S., Pharmacists Warn
A growing number of drugs are in short supply around the U.S., according to pharmacists. In the first three months of the year, there were 323 active medication shortages, surpassing the previous high of 320 shortages in 2014, according to a survey by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and Utah Drug Information Service. It also amounts to the most shortages since the trade group started keeping track in 2001. (Gibson, 4/11)

Axios: Medicare Floats Incentive For Hospitals To Offer New Sickle Cell Treatments
Hospitals within months could get extra federal money to administer pricey new gene therapies for sickle cell disease, including the first CRISPR-based treatment. The Medicare proposal would provide more incentive to offer the multimillion-dollar gene therapies when about half of those living with sickle cell are lower-income people on Medicaid. (Goldman, 4/11)

Stat: European Parliament Votes In Favor Of Updated Pharma Legislation
The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to adopt legislation that is supposed to transform the way medicines are brought to market and accessed across much of Europe. But the effort — which must still be approved by the European Council — drew mixed reactions from the pharmaceutical industry and consumer groups. (Silverman, 4/11)

AP: Terminally Ill Patients Ask States To Legalize Physician-Assisted Death 
On a brisk day at a restaurant outside Chicago, Deb Robertson sat with her teenage grandson to talk about her death. She’ll probably miss his high school graduation. She declined the extended warranty on her car. Sometimes she wonders who will be at her funeral. Those things don’t frighten her much. She didn’t cry when she learned two months ago that the cancerous tumors in her liver were spreading, portending a tormented death. But later, she received a call. A bill moving through the Illinois Legislature to allow certain terminally ill patients to end their own lives with a doctor’s help had made progress. Then she cried. (Bedayn, 4/12)

The Colorado Sun: Colorado Bill Would Make Hospitals Use Own Name On Debt Lawsuits
Colorado lawmakers are considering a bill that would prevent hospitals from publicly concealing their involvement in lawsuits against patients, following a joint Colorado Sun/9News investigation into the practice. The bill, House Bill 1380, would apply to all debt collection lawsuits broadly, not just those over medical debt. It would require that the owner of a debt be listed among the plaintiffs in any lawsuit seeking to collect on the debt. (Ingold, 4/12)

The Washington Post: D.C. Opioid Deaths Surge Past 500 In Worst Year On Record 
More than 500 District residents died of opioid overdoses last year, recent data shows, setting another grim record in the city’s struggle to combat the growing crisis. The number of deaths attributed to opioid use in the nation’s capital jumped 12 percent to 518 last year, the fifth consecutive year of increases since fentanyl became the predominant drug in overdoses, according to a March report from D.C.’s chief medical examiner. (Portnoy, 4/11)

Military.com: DoD To Expand Investigation, Cleanup Of 'Forever Chemicals' In Response To New EPA Standards 
The Department of Defense will expand its investigation into the prevalence of "forever chemicals" in base drinking water systems and neighboring water supplies following the Environmental Protection Agency's publication of stricter standards for the synthetic substances. ... Since 2016, the Defense Department has conducted assessments or investigated the use of PFAS and related contamination at 715 active and former military installations, National Guard facilities and other closed defense sites. As of December, the DoD had completed assessments of 707 installations, finding that 574 needed to proceed to the next step of the cleanup process, while no further action was required at 133 installations. (Kime, 4/11)