First Edition: Monday, Nov. 25, 2024

KFF Health News: Anti-Fraud Efforts Meet Real-World Test During ACA Enrollment Period
Unauthorized switching of Affordable Care Act plans appears to have tapered off in recent weeks based on an almost one-third drop in casework associated with consumer complaints, say federal regulators. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which oversees the ACA, credits steps taken to thwart enrollment and switching problems that triggered more than 274,000 complaints this year through August. (Appleby, 11/25)

KFF Health News: Journalists Reflect On Trump Picks, Racism And Public Health, And Unnecessary Dental Implants
KFF Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media in the last two weeks to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances. (11/23)

The New York Times: Dr Martin Makary Chosen To Head The FDA
President-elect Donald J. Trump announced on Friday that he would nominate Dr. Martin A. Makary, a Johns Hopkins University surgeon with a contrarian streak, to be commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Makary, 54, rose to prominence more than a decade ago as a critic of the medical establishment, speaking out about patient safety and working with hospitals to improve practices. He also gained attention during the pandemic, weighing in on herd immunity, vaccines and masks in 2021, roiling some doctors who were still contending with packed I.C.U.s and hundreds of deaths a week. (Jewett, 11/22)

Politico: Trump To Nominate Makary To FDA 
Makary emerged during the Covid pandemic as a critic of the FDA — first on how long it took the agency to review data leading up to its approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and then for not considering changes to recommendations for children in light of the risk of a rare heart condition in young males that’s been linked to the shot. His suggestion that the agency slow-walked the first Covid vaccines to undermine then-President Trump prompted fierce pushback from agency leaders. Four years later, Makary, a Johns Hopkins gastrointestinal surgeon who advised the first Trump White House, stands to be recognized for his vociferous support of the president-elect’s pandemic response. (Gardner and Lim, 11/22)

ABC News: Trump Picks Johns Hopkins Surgeon Who Argued Against COVID Lockdowns To Lead FDA 
After the pandemic, Marty Makary began turning back to his initial focus railing against an overpriced health care system. He's long argued that the system is broken, overcharging patients and running unnecessary tests. He also began speaking more critically about America's food system, echoing a message embraced by Trump's pick for health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "We've got a poisoned food supply. We've got pesticides. We've got ultra-processed foods and all sorts of things that have been in the blind spots in modern medicine," Makary told Fox News this September. (Flaherty and McDuffie, 11/22)

Stat: Trump’s Pick To Run FDA Is Top Exec Of Company That Provides Compounded Weight-Loss Drugs
Martin Makary is an executive of the telehealth company Sesame, which connects consumers to physicians who can prescribe compounded weight-loss drugs. If confirmed as FDA commissioner, Makary would take the lead of the agency as it grapples with high-stakes policy issues that could impact Sesame’s business. The FDA — and patients — have been caught in the middle of a fight between the makers of branded drugs used to treat obesity and pharmacies that have been compounding cheaper versions of those drugs for more than two years. (Wilkerson, Zhang and Palmer, 11/24)

Stat: ‘We Dodged A Bullet’: Biotech And Pharma React To Selection Of Marty Makary For FDA Commissioner
STAT reporters reached out to key figures in biotech, pharma, and medical devices to find out what they think about President-elect Trump’s pick of Johns Hopkins pancreatic surgeon Martin “Marty” Makary as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. (DeAngelis, Feuerstein, Herper, Lawrence, St. Fleur and Wosen, 11/23)

Politico: Trump Picks Former Florida Rep. Dave Weldon To Lead CDC 
President-elect Donald Trump has tapped former Florida Rep. Dave Weldon, a physician and vaccine safety skeptic, to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While in Congress, Weldon introduced legislation to move oversight of vaccine safety from the CDC to an independent agency within HHS. He has also repeatedly voiced serious reservations about the independence of the federal government’s vaccine safety review process, and previously suggested that a mercury-based preservative once commonly used in vaccines, thimerosal, is linked to a rise in autism. (Messerly, 11/22)

Florida Today: Trump Nominates Former Space Coast Congressman Weldon To Head Centers For Disease Control
During his tenure in Congress, Weldon championed religious and anti-abortion causes, gun rights and strengthening American national security. Weldon helped secure money to construct the East Central Florida VA Clinic. He also supported multiple bills to criminalize human cloning ad sat on the Appropriations, Science, and Health and Human Services committees, among others. (Berman, 11/23)

The Washington Post: Who Is Trump's Proposed CDC Director Dave Weldon? 
Weldon, who served in Congress for 14 years from 1995 to 2009, attracted national attention for his involvement in the case of Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged Florida woman whose husband’s attempts to remove her feeding tubes and end her life attracted national attention — and prompted interventions by congressional Republicans. The attempt to remove Schiavo’s feeding tubes was a “grave injustice,” Weldon said on the floor of Congress in 2003. He petitioned her family in 2005 to personally review her case. (Sun, 11/22)

Politico: Trump Chooses Fox News Contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat For Surgeon General 
President-elect Donald Trump said Friday he has chosen Dr. Janette Nesheiwat to serve as surgeon general in his new administration. Nesheiwat is a Fox News medical contributor and serves as a medical director at CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey. Nesheiwat, who specialized in emergency and family medicine, has supported vaccines that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee for HHS secretary, has cast doubts about. But she at times seemed to criticize the CDC’s guidance about Covid vaccines. She has also called into question the standards of care for youth with gender dysphoria from the American Academy of Pediatrics. (Frazier and Payne, 11/22)

The New York Times: Trump Picks Dr. Janette Nesheiwat To Be Surgeon General
In a social media post, Dr. Nesheiwat pledged “to work tirelessly to promote health, inspire hope, and serve our nation with dedication and compassion.” A spokeswoman for CityMD said Dr. Nesheiwat has worked there for 12 years. The company has had a major impact on medical care in the city. Many New Yorkers now often find it more convenient to drop by one of its storefront clinics than book an appointment with their primary care doctor because they are open on weekends and into the evenings. ... In September 2022, Dr. Nesheiwat told NashvilleVoyager that she had taken care of more than 20,000 Covid-related patients over the past two years. (Goldstein, 11/23)

USA Today: Trump Picks Fox News Medical Contributor As US Surgeon General
A graduate of the University of South Florida, Nesheiwat completed her medical residency at University of Arkansas Medical Center in Fayetteville and completed ER rotations with Johns Hopkins University. She’s an author of “Beyond the Stethoscope: Miracles in Medicine,” which is touted as offering stories of miraculous recoveries, experiences in the ER, and global medical missions that illuminate the transformative power of prayer and unwavering dedication to healing and service, according to a description of the book by its publisher. (Ramaswamy, 11/23)

The Washington Post: Trump Health Picks Largely Untested In Fighting Disease Outbreaks
When the next pandemic strikes, Americans will again depend on a cadre of senior health officials to steer the nation’s response and reassure the public. But the team rapidly assembled by President-elect Donald Trump is largely untested, possesses scant infectious-disease expertise and has often questioned vaccines and other interventions overseen by the agencies they have been tapped to lead. (Sun, Diamond, Roubein and Nirappil, 11/24)

NPR: Trump Taps Brooke Rollins Of America First Policy Institute For Agriculture Secretary
President-elect Donald Trump has tapped Brooke Rollins, president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, to oversee the Department of Agriculture, one of the most sprawling federal agencies. ... As the new head of USDA she would oversee nearly 100,000 employees, and would oversee the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which makes up over half of its nutrition budget, as well as the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and school meal regulation. She would be the second woman to lead the department, following Ann Veneman who served under President George W. Bush. (Bustillo, 11/23)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Residency Slots Target Primary Care, Psychiatry
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is focusing on primary care and mental healthcare in its latest Medicare residency payments. CMS on Thursday released 200 new graduate medical education residency slots, many of which are set aside for students looking to pursue careers in primary care and psychiatry. (Early, 11/22)

Stat: UnitedHealthcare Pays Its Optum Providers Above-Market Rates
UnitedHealth Group is paying many of its own physician practices significantly more than it pays other doctor groups in the same markets for similar services, undermining competition and driving up costs for consumers and businesses, a STAT investigation reveals. (Herman, Ross, Lawrence and Bannow, 11/25)  

Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealth's Medicare Advantage Ratings To Be Recalculated
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services must recalculate UnitedHealthcare’s Medicare Advantage Star Rating for the 2025 plan year and immediately publish its updated score on Medicare.gov, a federal judge ruled Friday. Judge Jeremy Kernodle, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, ruled CMS violated the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 by improperly reviewing the UnitedHealth Group subsidiary’s foreign language call center services. (Tepper, 11/22)

CBS News: Why The U.S. Medical Field Is Pushing For More Black Doctors
As a child, 40-year-old Dontal Johnson dreamed of becoming a doctor, but never saw himself represented in the profession. "I had never seen a Black doctor growing up, and one of the crazier things is I never saw a Black doctor until I hit college," Johnson said. Johnson decided to apply to medical schools in Texas, but when a friend told him about a potential school in Nashville, Tennessee, full of Black students, he was in disbelief. (Duncan, 11/22)

The Washington Post: From The ER To Your House: Why Hospitals Are Treating Patients At Home 
An IV bag dangled from a curtain rod, pumping fluids into the patient. A paramedic drew a blood sample as an Olympic women’s rugby match blared on the television facing the woman’s bed. Lucia Louis was home. Not that long ago, she lingered in an emergency room, stricken with a painful salmonella infection. Rest in the ER proved elusive. Doors slammed, and a patient profanely told a nurse to shut up. Urine drenched a shared toilet. Louis yearned to lay on her reclining Sleep Number king-size mattress rather than a flimsy hospital bed that made her back ache. (Nirappil, 11/25)

The New York Times: So Many Days Lost At The Doctor’s Office
Medical care can be wearying and time-consuming, especially for seniors. Researchers are beginning to quantify the burdens. (Span, 11/23)

USA Today: Singulair May Be Linked To Severe Mental Health Side Effects: FDA Study
A new study on a drug widely prescribed for asthma is binding itself to receptors in the brain and is linked to severe mental health issues and suicide, according to new research. The Food and Drug Administration presented the preliminary results of a study on the asthma drug Singulair, which is sold generically as montelukast, to a "limited audience" at the American College of Toxicology meeting in Austin, Texas on Nov. 20, according to Reuters, which reviewed the scientific presentation. (Gomez, 11/24)

AP: As Many As 1 In 5 People Won’t Lose Weight With GLP-1 Drugs, Experts Say
In clinical trials, most participants taking Wegovy or Mounjaro to treat obesity lost an average of 15% to 22% of their body weight — up to 50 pounds or more in many cases. But roughly 10% to 15% of patients in those trials were “nonresponders” who lost less than 5% of their body weight. Now that millions of people have used the drugs, several obesity experts told The Associated Press that perhaps 20% of patients — as many as 1 in 5 — may not respond well to the medications. It’s a little-known consequence of the obesity drug boom, according to doctors who caution eager patients not to expect one-size-fits-all results. (Aleccia, 11/23)

The Guardian: Nine People Hospitalized In Listeria Outbreak Linked To South Carolina Food Processor 
A listeria outbreak linked to ready-to-eat meat and poultry products from a South Carolina food processor has caused 11 illnesses in four states, with nine hospitalizations, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A woman who was pregnant with twins was also sickened. Both of the fetuses died, but listeria was found in a sample from only one. The CDC said seven listeria cases had been reported in California, two in Illinois, and one each in New York and New Jersey. Seven people said they shopped in person or online at markets where Yu Shang products were sold and two people said they ate Yu Shang ready-to-eat chicken. (Helmore, 11/23)

NBC News: Florida's Surgeon General Advises Against Adding Fluoride To Drinking Water
On Friday, Florida’s Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced that communities in the state shouldn’t add fluoride to drinking water because of what he called the “neuropsychiatric risk associated with fluoride exposure.” Fluoride has long been proven to drive down tooth decay by strengthening teeth, which Ladapo acknowledged in the guidance. But he added that there are also possible “safety concerns related to systemic fluoride exposure,” including reductions in IQ. While some studies have suggested potential links, the research is considered preliminary and far from definitive. (Edwards, 11/23)

The Mercury News: Santa Clara County Activates Hotline For Non-Police Crisis Response
Heading into the holiday season, which experts and authorities say has long coincided with an uptick in stress, anxiety and depression, Santa Clara County has streamlined access to a program that responds to instances of serious emotional distress without police intervention. About a year after it was initially proposed, the county has established a direct phone line to its Trusted Response Urgent Support Team, or TRUST. By contacting 408-596-7290, callers will be relayed straight to the program, which provides over-the-phone counseling support, and has four community-staffed field teams to help South Bay residents in person. (Salonga, 11/24)

The Daily Yonder: Rural Residents Struggle More With Medical Debt
According to new research from the University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center, rural residents are not significantly more likely to be worried about their medical bills than their urban counterparts, but they are more likely to have trouble paying them. (Carey, 11/23)

The Washington Post: New Menopause Benefits Are Showing Up In Some Company Health Insurance Plans 
A growing number of companies have begun to offer employees access to menopause-related benefits in their health insurance, including paid time off, access to health providers knowledgeable about menopause, coverage of medication for menopause symptoms, and even altered work schedules and relaxed dress code options. These benefits are meant to help employees cope with symptoms such as hot flashes, depression and other physical discomforts. (Kritz, 11/24)

The Guardian: Home Is The Most Dangerous Place For Women, Says Global Femicide Report
An estimated 140 women and girls across the world die at the hands of their partner or family member every day, according to new global estimates on femicide by the UN. The report by UN Women found 85,000 women and girls were killed intentionally by men in 2023, with 60% (51,100) of these deaths committed by someone close to the victim. The organisation said its figures showed that, globally, the most dangerous place for a woman to be was in her home, where the majority of women die at the hands of men. (Kelly, 11/25)

The Guardian: Makeup, Fragrance And Hair Dye Use In Pregnancy Leads To More PFAS In Breast Milk – Study
Higher usage of personal care products among pregnant or nursing women leads to higher levels of toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” in their blood and breast milk, new research shows, presenting a serious health threat to developing children. The new study helps connect the dots among previous papers that have found concerning levels of PFAS in personal care products, umbilical cord blood, breast milk and shown health risks for developing children. (Perkins, 11/23)

The Washington Post: Inside A Sleek Hotel, New Moms Find Postpartum Pampering And Sleep 
After hours upon hours of labor, an unplanned C-section, an impossibly long walk to the car and a jittery drive away from the hospital, Charlotte Campbell felt like most new moms: Overwhelmed. Exhausted. Anxious. Then she and her husband pulled up to a sleek Northern Virginia hotel, took the elevator to the 19th floor and entered Sanu Postnatal Retreat. (Shammas, 11/24)

CNN: Vaping Immediately Affects Vascular Health And Oxygen Levels, Study Shows, Even Without Nicotine 
Vaping has an immediate effect on how well the user’s blood vessels work, even if the e-cigarette doesn’t contain nicotine, according to new research. The research – which has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal but is a presentation at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago – showed that using an e-cigarette with or without nicotine also decreased a metric known as venous oxygen saturation, which may mean the person’s lungs were taking in less oxygen. (Christensen, 11/25)

CBS News: "Pink Cocaine" Is The Latest Street Drug. This Team Of Researchers Has Been Warning The Public About It For A Year
The death of music star Liam Payne. Sex trafficking allegations against Sean "Diddy" Combs. A deadly car crash involving an Instagram model. Many Americans have only recently learned of the drug known as "pink cocaine" from a deluge of celebrity horror stories. Joseph Palamar, an associate professor of population health at NYU Langone, would say they are late to the party. "A lot of people just think it's this new powder that's going around," Palamar said. "It's a pretty pink powder, and everyone's starting to use it, when it really started increasing was around mid-2023."  (Hanson, Geller and Sherman, 11/24)

NBC News: Cold Plunges May Have Fewer Benefits Than Hot Baths, New Study Suggests
Ice baths after exercise are hot, especially among influencers. But a new small study suggests that recreational athletes perform better if they soak in a hot tub rather than a frigid one, especially if there are breaks in their workouts, such as halftime in football and soccer, according to a report presented Thursday at the 2024 Integrative Physiology of Exercise Conference in University Park, Pennsylvania. (Carroll, 11/23)

AP: Russia Bans Adoption To Countries That Allow Gender Transition 
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed into law a bill banning adoption of Russian children by citizens of countries where gender transitioning is legal. The Kremlin leader also approved legislation that outlaws the spread of material that encourages people not to have children. The adoption ban would apply to at least 15 countries, most of them in Europe, and Australia, Argentina and Canada. Adoption of Russian children by U.S. citizens was banned in 2012. (11/23)

BBC: What Happened When A City Started Accepting - Not Evicting - Homeless Camps
As cities across North America grapple with homelessness, one Canadian city has taken a different approach by regulating tent encampments instead of banning them, as it tries to tackle what one official calls the issue "of the decade". (Yousif, 11/25)

NPR: Climate Change Linked To Rise Of Dengue Fever Worldwide
In 2023, some 6 million cases of dengue fever were reported worldwide — more than ever before. Then, 2024 blew that record away. More than 12 million cases have been reported worldwide so far this year. Case numbers had been rising for years before that, though. Now, a new study awaiting peer review suggests that climate change has likely played a significant role in the expansion of the disease from 1995 to 2014, according to an analysis presented in November at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene conference in New Orleans. (Borunda, 11/23)