First Edition: August 2, 2018

Kaiser Health News: How Rival Opioid Makers Sought To Cash In On Alarm Over OxyContin’s Dangers
As Purdue Pharma faced mounting criticism over deaths linked to OxyContin, rival drugmakers saw a chance to boost sales by stepping up marketing of similarly dangerous painkillers, such as fentanyl, morphine and methadone, Purdue internal documents reveal. Purdue’s 1996-2002 marketing plans for OxyContin, which Kaiser Health News made public this year for the first time, offer an unprecedented look at how that company spent millions of dollars to push opioids for growing legions of pain sufferers. A wave of lawsuits demanding reimbursement and accountability for the opioid crisis now ravaging communities has heightened awareness about how and when drug makers realized the potential dangers of their products. (Schulte, 8/2)

Kaiser Health News: Listen: Why Red States Challenging ACA Tread Precariously On A Popular Protection
States seeking to overturn the Affordable Care Act must do a delicate dance. That’s because most of them have higher-than-average rates of residents with preexisting conditions — a group specifically protected under the ACA. The 2010 health law prohibits insurers from charging more or denying coverage for such conditions, and that provision remains popular across the country and party lines. Twenty GOP state attorneys general and governors filed a challenge to the constitutionality of the ACA in February. Last month, the Department of Justice under Attorney General Jeff Sessions sided with them and decided not to defend key portions of the ACA, including the preexisting conditions provision. (8/2)

California Healthline: Moms Fight Back Against Violence In Their Communities
More than three years have passed since Asale Chandler’s teenage son was murdered in San Francisco. But Chandler said it feels as though it has been only three days. The anguish doesn’t get better, said Chandler, a 55-year-old community activist from San Francisco at a rally here Tuesday. “It gets worse.” Chandler’s 19-year-old son, Yalani Chinyamurindi, was one of four young black men who were shot and killed in January 2015 while sitting in a Honda Civic in the city’s Hayes Valley neighborhood. One man has been arrested in connection with the shooting. (Matthews, 8/1)

The New York Times: ‘Short Term’ Health Insurance? Up To 3 Years Under New Trump Policy
The Trump administration issued a final rule on Wednesday that clears the way for the sale of many more health insurance policies that do not comply with the Affordable Care Act and do not have to cover prescription drugs, maternity care or people with pre-existing medical conditions. President Trump has said that he believes that the new “short-term, limited-duration insurance” could help millions of people who do not want or need comprehensive health insurance providing the full range of benefits required by the health law. (Pear, 8/1)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration Widens Availability Of Skimpy, Short-Term Health Plans
The short-term plans “may not be the right choice for everybody,” Azar said at an afternoon news briefing. But, he said, “we believe strongly in giving people options here.” Azar and other federal health officials predicted short-term, limited-duration plans will appeal mainly to middle-class people who do not qualify for government subsidies for ACA health plans — especially people who are young or healthy. With the law still in place despite Trump’s and congressional Republicans’ hostility toward it, “we are looking to do everything we can to take incremental steps that will make insurance coverage more affordable,” said Jim Parker, director of HHS’s Office of Health Reform. (Goldstein, 8/1)

NPR: Trump Administration Allows Scaled-Down Health Insurance Plans
The Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan research office that estimates the budget effects of policy proposals, gave a larger figure, estimating that about 2 million mostly healthy people will buy short-term plans. This could have the effect of driving premiums slightly higher on the ACA exchanges, because healthier people will leave the market, according to the CBO. (Kodjak, 8/1)

The Washington Post: Consumers Getting More Options For Short-Term Health Plans
Democrats immediately branded Trump’s approach as “junk insurance,” and a major insurer group warned that consumers could potentially be harmed. Other insurers were more neutral, and companies marketing the plans hailed the development. It’s unclear how much mass-market appeal such limited plans will ultimately have. State insurance regulators also have jurisdiction, and many states may move to impose their own restrictions. Federal officials said they anticipate a slow take-up, not sweeping changes. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 8/1)

The New York Times: What To Know Before You Buy Short-Term Health Insurance
The Trump administration has just completed rules that will allow people to shop for a new kind of health insurance. So-called short-term plans will be offered for relatively long periods — just under a year at a time, with renewals for up to 36 months — and they will be marketed extensively in most states. They will tend to have substantially lower prices than the insurance people can buy in Obamacare markets, and for some people they may look like a better option. But the plans are cheaper for a reason: They tend to cover fewer medical services than comprehensive insurance, and they will charge higher prices to people with pre-existing health problems, if they’ll cover them at all. (Sanger-Katz, 8/1)

Politico: Trump’s Losing Fight Against Obamacare
President Donald Trump can’t kill Obamacare, no matter how hard he tries. His administration’s latest threat to the law, unveiled Wednesday, expands the availability of short-term health plans that critics deride as “junk” insurance. However, despite the administration’s unrelenting efforts to sideline Obamacare, more insurers are signing up to sell 2019 coverage, and premium increases will be the lowest in years. (Demko and Cancryn, 8/1)

The Wall Street Journal: Insurers Seek Smaller Rate Increases On ACA Plans
After years of big rate increases on Affordable Care Act plans, insurers in many states are seeking smaller hikes and even some reductions, according to new federal data that provide the broadest view so far of next year’s health-law markets. Major insurers in states including Mississippi and Florida are seeking single-digit increases, according to preliminary rate requests published on Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Big marketplace players in states including Texas, Illinois, Arizona and North Carolina have proposed to cut some premiums for 2019. (Wilde Mathews and Walker, 8/1)

The Wall Street Journal: New York Pushes Back Against Insurance Premium Increases
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is pushing back against health insurers that want to raise premiums after the federal repeal of financial penalties for those who lack insurance, while New Jersey officials said they avoided such hikes by making the coverage mandate state law. On Monday, Mr. Cuomo directed the state Department of Financial Services to reject the portion of insurers’ proposed rate increases that are tied to the federal changes, saying the companies are seeking to “gain windfall profits” from changes to the Affordable Care Act under President Donald Trump. (King, 8/1)

The Hill: GOP Attempt To Block Funding For DC's Individual Mandate Fails In Senate
A Republican attempt to include a provision in a government funding bill that would block the District of Columbia from using money to implement its own individual health-care mandate failed in the Senate on Wednesday. Senators voted 54-44 to table the amendment from GOP Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas). The vote effectively pigeonholes the proposal with the Senate poised to pass the larger funding bill on Wednesday. (Carney, 8/1)

The Hill: Meet The Group Funding The Fight To Expand Medicaid In Red States
Voters in Idaho, Nebraska and Utah may have the chance to achieve something their Republican state lawmakers oppose: expand Medicaid to thousands of residents. After years of being told “no” by GOP-controlled state legislatures, health-care advocacy groups have spent much of 2018 leading campaigns to put the question on the ballot in November. (Hellmann, 8/2)

Stat: Medicare Could Save $2.8 Billion In A Single Year If Prices Could Be Negotiated 
By allowing the federal government to negotiate with drug makers, Medicare and its beneficiaries could save an estimated $2.8 billion in a single year for the top 20 most commonly prescribed medicines, according to a new analysis by Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. In crunching the numbers, the committee staff found that other government agencies that are permitted to negotiate with drug companies — such as the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense — were able to secure pricing that rose at “significantly lower rates” than wholesale prices for the most widely prescribed brand-name drugs in Medicare Part D. (Silverman, 8/1)

Bloomberg: Facing Wave Of Opioid Lawsuits, Drug Companies Sprinkle Charity On Hard-Hit Areas 
The drug industry is dishing out millions in grants and donations to organizations in cities, counties and states that have sued the companies over the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic. The efforts could help makers and distributors of prescription painkillers, who face hundreds of lawsuits by communities across the country, reduce their tax bills and build goodwill ahead of a potential multibillion-dollar settlement over their role in a crisis that kills more than 100 Americans a day. (Hopkins, 8/2)

Stat: Hundreds Claim Abilify Triggered Uncontrollable Urges To Gamble
[Denise] Miley, 41, filed a lawsuit in January 2016 against the drug makers Bristol-Myers Squibb and Otsuka, alleging the drug — one of the best-selling in the world — caused compulsive behavior. The suit contends that the companies knew or should have known it could create such urges, and didn’t adequately warn the thousands of people in the U.S. who use the medication each year. Hundreds more people have since sued the companies, claiming that the drug caused them to gamble, eat, or have sex compulsively. And the Food and Drug Administration signaled its own concern in a 2016 safety warning, saying that uncontrollable urges to gamble, binge eat, shop, and have sex had been reported with use of the antipsychotic. (Thielking, 8/2)

USA Today: 3D-Printed Guns: Are They Are A Serious Threat To U.S. Communities?
If gun rights activist Cody Wilson gets his way in his legal battle, soon anybody – including convicted felons and the mentally ill – with a few raw materials and access to an industrial 3D printer could build a plastic firearm, gun control advocates say. But will people, particularly a criminal or someone else intent on carrying out violence, bother to make the effort? Tech experts and stakeholders in the gun control debate are divided on whether the emergence of 3D-printed plastic guns presents an immediate safety threat to U.S communities. (Madhani and Wolfson, 8/1)

Stat: Pair Of Studies Raise Hopes For Safer Treatment Of Latent Tuberculosis
Treatment of latent tuberculosis has never been a simple affair. Nine months of a drug known as isoniazid, taken daily, is the standard of care and can help clear the infection. But it also causes liver damage in a fairly significant percentage of cases. Now, researchers say, a pair of studies that were conducted across multiple countries have shown that four months of therapy with another drug, rifampin, is as effective as the standard of care. Furthermore, the shorter course of treatment meant patients were more likely to follow the regimen to the end. (Branswell, 8/2)

The Washington Post: Childhood Cancer Survivors Face ‘Financial Toxicity’
Kristi Lowery was 13 when physicians found a grapefruit-size tumor in her back — a rare cancer called Ewing sarcoma — and treated her with an aggressive regimen of radiation and chemotherapy. Years later, she developed breast and thyroid cancer, as well as heart and lung problems, probably as a result of the radiation. Today, Lowery undergoes a daunting number of regular cancer screenings to detect additional “late effects” — secondary cancers and other health problems caused by the powerful but toxic earlier treatment. (McGinley, 8/1)

Stat: Discovery Of Unknown Lung Cell Points To New Target For Cystic Fibrosis Drugs 
The researchers set out to take a census of all the cells that line our airway, a taxonomy of the tissue made possible by new technology. Perhaps, they thought, they would find different subtypes of cells they already knew existed or would come to better understand the cells’ functions. As the data came in, though, they pointed to a more intriguing finding: a previously unknown cell, one that was similar to a cell found in the gills of fish and skin of frogs. (Joseph, 8/1)

The Associated Press: For Better Sleep, Doctors Suggest Low-Tech, Cheap Solutions
Millions of people struggle to get enough sleep — and to stay alert the next day. Lots of apps, fitness trackers, smartwatches and even mattress motion sensors claim they can diagnose or treat sleep problems. But sleep disorder doctors say there’s little evidence consumer gadgets actually improve sleep. (Johnson, 8/1)

Los Angeles Times: When Hong Kong Commuters Take The Subway, Their Microbes Mix – And Spread
Humans aren’t the only commuters making use of the metro. A new study that examined the microbiome of the Hong Kong subway system found distinct bacterial “fingerprints” in each line during the morning – distinctions that blurred over the course of the afternoon. The findings, published in the journal Cell Reports, are part of a growing body of work that could have implications for a host of efforts, from managing the spread of disease to designing city infrastructure. (Khan, 8/1)

Reuters: Congo Declares New Ebola Outbreak In Eastern Province
Four people have tested positive for Ebola in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo just days after another outbreak that killed 33 people in the northwest was declared over, the health ministry said on Wednesday. Twenty people have already died from haemorrhagic fevers in and around Mangina, a densely populated town about 30 km (18 miles) southwest of the city of Beni and 100 km from the Ugandan border, the ministry said in its statement, without saying when the deaths occurred. (8/1)

Reuters: Michigan Governor And State Dismissed From Flint Water Lawsuit
A federal judge on Wednesday removed Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a former mayor of Flint, along with the state government from a list of defendants in a class-action lawsuit over the Flint water crisis. The lawsuit, brought by a dozen residents of Flint and three local businesses, involves 13 claims related to a decision in 2014 to pipe water from the Flint River, instead of water provided by Detroit Water and Sewerage. (Kvetenadze, 8/1)

Los Angeles Times: Newsom Cashes In On Primary Victory, Far Outraising Cox In California Governor's Race
Democrat Gavin Newsom emerged from California’s gubernatorial primary with a prodigious financial advantage over Republican rival John Cox, banking more than seven times as much money for the general election. As of June 30, California’s two-term lieutenant governor and the front-runner in the race, has more than $11 million in the bank, while Cox has $1.5 million, according to campaign finance reports filed with the state Tuesday. (Mehta and Willon, 8/2)

Reuters: Massachusetts Man Convicted Of Cyber Attack On Hospital
A Massachusetts man was convicted on Wednesday of carrying out a cyber attack on a Boston hospital's network on behalf of the hacking activist group Anonymous in protest of its treatment of a teenager at the center of a high-profile custody dispute. A federal jury in Boston found Martin Gottesfeld, 32, guilty of one count of conspiracy to damage protected computers and one count of damaging protected computers, prosecutors said. (Raymond, 8/1)

USA Today: Chicago Hopes Therapy In Jail Can Slow Gun Violence
The day's group therapy session for the young detainees at the county jail started with their behavioral health specialist testing them with a hypothetical scenario: They’ve cheated on a girlfriend and the other woman is pregnant. The participants – all facing serious charges and picked for the jail's intensive therapy program because they're deemed a high risk of getting caught in Chicago’s intractable gun violence once they leave custody – bristled at a push for honest talk. (Madhani, 8/2)

The Associated Press: Oklahoma Health Board Approved New Medical Marijuana Rules
Oklahoma health officials on Wednesday adopted new guidelines for the use of medical marijuana in the state after earlier rules hastily adopted last month came under harsh criticism from the attorney general and medical marijuana advocates. The state Board of Health voted unanimously to adopt new rules that amend or entirely revoke the previous guidelines, including eliminating a ban on the sale of smokable pot and requirements that a pharmacist be in every dispensary and that women of "childbearing age" undergo a pregnancy test. (8/1)