First Edition: January 17, 2018

Kaiser Health News: If Poor Neighborhood = Poor Health, Relocation Is One Solution
When low-income Americans are concentrated in substandard homes in struggling or violent neighborhoods, it has tangible consequences for well-being. Research confirms that moving families into less segregated neighborhoods improves overall health, and some communities are giving families vouchers to relocate. Kaiser Health News correspondent Sarah Varney and PBS Newshour producer Jason Kane filed this story that begins in St. Louis. (Varney, 1/17)

Kaiser Health News: When Food Stamps Pass As Tickets To Better Health
Rebeca Gonzalez grew up eating artichokes from her grandmother’s farm in the central Mexican state of Tlaxcala. But for years after emigrating to the U.S., she did not feed them to her own kids because the spiky, fibrous vegetables were too expensive on this side of the border. When she prepared meals at her family’s home in Garden Grove, Calif., Gonzalez would also omit avocados, a staple of Mexican cuisine that is often costly here. (Perkes, 1/17)

The New York Times: G.O.P. To Use Children’s Health Insurance As Lure For Averting Shutdown
With little hope of an immigration agreement this week, Republicans in Congress are looking to head off a government shutdown this weekend by pairing another stopgap spending measure with long-term funding for the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program, daring Democrats to vote no. (Kaplan and Pear, 1/16)

Politico: House Republicans Coalesce Behind Plan To Avert Shutdown
Speaker Paul Ryan unveiled a plan at a House GOP Conference meeting to fund the government through Feb. 16, and numerous rank-and-file members quickly endorsed it despite their frustration with another short-term patch. To further sweeten the pot, the Wisconsin Republican’s bill also includes a delay of several Obamacare taxes and a six-year extension of a popular health care program for children. (Bade, Ferris and Scholtes, 1/16)

The Associated Press: Conservatives Balk At GOP Plan To Avert Government Shutdown
House Republican leaders tried to win over wary conservatives with a promise to repeal unpopular taxes as part of the bill preventing a shutdown. They sweetened the plan with a two-year delay on implementation of unpopular taxes on medical devices and generous employer-subsidized health care plans. The taxes, also unpopular with many Democrats, are part of former President Barack Obama's marquee health law. The temporary funding bill would also include a long-delayed, six-year renewal of a popular health insurance program for children of low-income families. It would fund the government through Feb. 16. (1/17)

The Hill: Lawmakers Weigh Measure To Fight High Drug Prices 
Lawmakers are considering adding a measure aimed at fighting high drug prices to an upcoming spending deal, in what would be a rare defeat for the powerful pharmaceutical industry. The measure, known as the Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples Act, is intended to prevent branded drug companies from using tactics to delay competition from cheaper generic drugs. It is co-sponsored by a set of unusual bedfellows in both parties. (Sullivan, 1/17)

The Associated Press: Kentucky Governor Readies For Medicaid Legal Challenge
Gov. Matt Bevin says he will end Medicaid benefits for more than 400,000 Kentuckians if the courts stop him from requiring many of them to work. Kentucky was among 32 states that expanded Medicaid under President Barack Obama's health care law, and many more people signed up than forecast. The program now covers more than a quarter of the state's population. Federal spending covers almost all the cost of the expanded program. But the state's share is poised to grow and Bevin, a Republican who took office after the expansion, says Kentucky can't afford to maintain it without changes. (Beam, 1/16)

Politico: Administration To Shield Health Workers Who Refuse To Perform Abortions Or Treat Transgender Patients
The Trump administration is planning new protections for health workers who don't want to perform abortions, refuse to treat transgender patients based on their gender identity or provide other services for which they have moral objections. Under a proposed rule — which has been closely guarded at HHS and is now under review by the White House — the HHS office in charge of civil rights would be empowered to further shield these workers and punish organizations that don’t allow them to express their moral objections, according to sources on and off the Hill. (Diamond and Haberkorn, 1/16)

The New York Times: Trump Has Perfect Cognitive Test Score, White House Physician Says
President Trump’s White House physician said Tuesday that the president received a perfect score on a cognitive test designed to screen for neurological impairment, which the military doctor said was evidence that Mr. Trump does not suffer from mental issues that prevent him from functioning in office. “I’ve found no reason whatsoever to think the president has any issues whatsoever with his thought processes,” Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, a rear admiral in the Navy and the White House physician, told reporters on Tuesday. (Shear and Altman, 1/16)

Los Angeles Times: White House Doctor Says Trump Scored Perfect Marks On Cognitive Test, Needs To Lose Weight
"There's no indication whatsoever that he has any cognitive issues," Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, the chief White House doctor, whose tenure treating presidents began with George W. Bush, told reporters during a lengthy White House briefing. "He's very sharp. He's very articulate when he speaks to me." "Absolutely, he's fit for duty," Jackson said. Jackson also said Trump should try to lose 10-15 pounds — he's at the borderline of obesity — and added that he's trying to encourage the president to start an exercise routine, perhaps with some help from First Lady Melania Trump. (Bierman, 1/16)

NPR: Ronny Jackson: The White House Doctor Who Oversaw Trump's Physical
The presentation was both folksy and matter-of-fact, as Jackson described the president's eyesight, cognitive skills and heart function as excellent, despite Trump's lack of exercise and fondness for fast food. "It's called genetics," Jackson said. "Some people have just great genes. I told the president that if he had a healthier diet over the last 20 years he might live to be 200 years old." (Horsley, 1/16)

Politico: The Media Poke And Prod At Trump’s Health
Plenty of important questions were posed Tuesday to Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, President Donald Trump’s personal physician, during his nearly hourlong briefing on Trump’s health. But the longer it went on, the more opportunity it gave reporters to exhaust every question they could think of — leading some on the right to paint the media as unwilling to accept that the president is in good health. Donald Trump Jr. weighed in on Twitter, saying, “Watching media trying to ask the Rear Admiral Jackson (The White House Dr) questions in ways that leaves an opening to attack @realDonaldTrump's health after an amazing report, cognitive & otherwise, is like watching Dumb & Dumber 1:1,000,000 ‘So you're saying there's a chance!’” (Schwartz, 1/16)

Politico: Trump's 2018 Physical Exam Results
The following is a memo released by Dr. Ronny Jackson, physician to the president, on Tuesday: President Donald J. Trump has completed his first periodic physical examination as President of the United States. I performed and supervised the examination with appropriate specialty consultations and diagnostic testing. The exam was conducted January 12, 2018 at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. (1/16)

The Hill: CDC Director To Miss Fourth Hearing Because Of Potential Ethics Issues 
The director of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) has had to cancel another appearance before Congress because of ethics issues, a committee aide told The Hill. This is the fourth time that CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald has been unable to testify because of potential conflicts of interest. Fitzgerald was appointed to the position in July. (Hellmann, 1/16)

The Washington Post: FDA To Release More Clinical Trial Information For Newly Approved Drugs
The Food and Drug Administration is taking steps to make it easier for doctors, patients and researchers to get access to clinical trial data amassed during the process of approving new drugs, Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Tuesday. Gottlieb announced the actions just before a speech on FDA transparency at a Washington forum. The meeting, attended by researchers and academics, focused on 18 recommendations for making the agency's decision-making less opaque. The suggestions were part of a report called Blueprint for Transparency. (McGinley, 1/16)

The Hill: Pentagon, FDA To Speed Up Approval For Battlefield Medical Products 
The Defense Department and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday new steps aimed at expediting the approval of medical devices and drugs for use on the battlefield. The plan is being carried out in line with a law passed last year in the wake of a controversy over whether the Pentagon should be allowed to approve products for battlefield use. (Kheel, 1/16)

The Associated Press: Health Coalition Pushes Ban On Brand-Name Drug Price Gouging
Brand-name medication and specialty drugs would be protected from price gouging under a proposal by a Maryland health care coalition. The Maryland Health Care for All! Coalition on Tuesday in Annapolis announced its intention to make prescription drugs more affordable, building off the success of a 2017 price gouging law.Last year, that law became the first in the nation to prohibit price gouging of generic and off-patent drugs. (Whooley, 1/16)

The Associated Press: Tax Break Helps UnitedHealth 4Q Earnings, 2018 Guidance Soar
UnitedHealth Group's earnings more than doubled in the final quarter of 2017, and the nation's largest insurer hiked its forecast well beyond expectations largely due to help from the federal tax overhaul. UnitedHealth said Tuesday that it added $1.2 billion in 2017 non-cash earnings, as its fourth-quarter and full-year corporate tax rates were cut. (Murphy, 1/16)

The Wall Street Journal: UnitedHealth Says Tax Overhaul To Boost 2018 Earnings
The health-care giant also beat analysts’ expectations on its fourth-quarter earnings, but investors are likely to focus even more closely on the first concrete preview of the tax law’s impact on the managed-care industry. UnitedHealth said the overhaul would likely boost its cash flow by about $1.7 billion this year. The company also said it thought benefits of the tax overhaul would be sustainable over time, though it refrained from offering details of its 2019 outlook. UnitedHealth raised its 2018 earnings outlook to between $11.65 and $11.95 per share, from $10 to $10.30 previously; the new net earnings projection amounts to a range of $11.48 billion to $11.78 billion. The company’s adjusted earnings guidance became $12.30 to $12.60 a share, compared with $10.55 to $10.85 previously. (Wilde Mathews, 1/16)

The Wall Street Journal: The Bad Bet That Insurers Can’t Shake
General Electric Co.’s looming $6.2 billion charge in its GE Capital unit is one of the biggest yet in a corner of the insurance industry that has reeled from pricing miscalculations made decades ago. About 7.3 million of the policies are in consumers’ hands, some with generous lifetime benefits. Although GE sold much of its financial-services operations after the 2008 financial crisis, it kept on its books responsibility for billions of dollars of coverage for long-term-care policies that had been sold by other insurers to consumers. Those policies—about 300,000 of them—promise to pay for nursing homes and other care for individuals. (Scism, 1/16)

NPR: Opioid Crisis Blamed For Sharp Increase In Accidental Deaths In U.S.
Accidental deaths in the United States rose significantly in 2016, becoming the third-leading cause of fatalities for the first time in more than a century – a trend fueled by the steep rise in opioid overdoses, the National Safety Council reports. Accidents — defined by the council as unintentional, preventable injuries — claimed a record 161,374 lives in 2016, a 10 percent increase over 2015. They include motor vehicle crashes, falls, drowning, chocking and poisoning, a category that encompasses accidental overdoses. (Neuman, 1/17)

The Washington Post: Companies Race To Gather A Newly Prized Currency: Our Body Measurements
The first step for a shopper buying a suit at the fast-growing menswear retailer Indochino is sharing his personal information: A salesperson armed with an iPad measures nearly everything on his body, from the distance between his belly button and rear to the circumference of his knees. The next step is getting a customized, made-to-measure suit delivered to his home within a few weeks. But his body data lives on: Company executives are hoping to build a “master data model” that would connect his measurements with his advertising, shopping and spending histories. (Harwell, 1/16)

The New York Times: The Parasite On The Playground
Millions of American children have been exposed to a parasite that could interfere with their breathing, liver function, eyesight and even intelligence. Yet few scientists have studied the infection in the United States, and most doctors are unaware of it. The parasites, roundworms of the genus Toxocara, live in the intestines of cats and dogs, especially strays. Microscopic eggs from Toxocara are shed in the animals’ feces, contaminating yards, playgrounds and sandboxes. (Beil, 1/16)

The New York Times: High-Fat Diet May Fuel Spread Of Prostate Cancer
Obesity is linked to prostate cancer, scientists know, but it’s not clear why. On Monday, researchers reported a surprising connection. When prostate cancers lose a particular gene, they become tiny fat factories, a team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston reported in a paper published in Nature Genetics. (Kolata, 1/16)

The New York Times: Breast-Feeding Tied To Reduced Risk Of Diabetes
Breast-feeding may reduce a woman’s risk for Type 2 diabetes, a new study reports. Researchers followed 1,238 women, average age 24 at the start, for up to 30 years. Each delivered at least one baby, and none had diabetes before the study began. The scientists collected data on health and lifestyle at interviews and physical examinations conducted seven times over the course of the project. The study is in JAMA Internal Medicine. (Bakalar, 1/16)

NPR: Man Ruptures His Throat By Stifling A Big Sneeze, Prompting Doctors' Warning
Now, there is ample reason for you to cover your nose when you sneeze. It's flu season, after all, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has made it quite clear it doesn't want you spreading your germs with reckless abandon. But let's not go overboard here, people. (Dwyer, 1/16)

The Washington Post: Calling Out Racists Is Actually Good For Your Health, According To Science. Here’s How To Do It.
Reports that an exasperated President Trump referred to Haiti, El Salvador and African nations as “shithole countries” during a meeting last week with lawmakers about immigration prompted widespread condemnation. In the days that followed, the leaders of many nations demanded that he apologize for the remarks. But what reportedly happened in that room in that moment was a high-stakes version of a dilemma faced by anyone who has heard a friend, a family member or even a stranger say something objectionable: remain silent or speak up in that moment? And if opting for the latter, how to do it? (Klein, 1/16)

The Washington Post: Va. Democrats Kill Hospital Bill After GOP Senator Rebuffs Them On Medicaid
Democrats trying to pressure a Republican state senator into supporting Medicaid expansion made good on a threat Tuesday to kill a bill intended to help a shuttered hospital in his poor Southwest Virginia district. The move inflamed tensions just as the bipartisan honeymoon for newly inaugurated Gov. Ralph Northam (D) seemed to be drawing to an abrupt end. (Vozzella, 1/16)

The Washington Post: Nurses At United Medical Center Say Babies Still Being Born There Despite Shutdown Of Obstetrics Unit By Regulators
Women continue to give birth at United Medical Center, the city’s troubled public hospital, even after regulators shut down the labor and delivery unit on Aug. 9 citing concerns about patient safety, an attorney representing nurses told the D.C. Council on Tuesday. Births are taking place in the emergency room, said Wala Blegay, a staff attorney at the D.C. Nurses Association, during a public roundtable Tuesday. Obstetrics nurses are no longer working at UMC, and that increases the risks for mothers and their babies, she said. (Chason, 1/16)