First Edition: April 11, 2018

Kaiser Health News: Is There Such A Thing As Normal Aging?
For 93-year-old Joseph Brown, the clearest sign of aging was his inability the other day to remember he had to have his pants unzipped to pull them on. For 95-year-old Caroline Mayer, it was deciding at age 80 to put away her skis, after two hip replacements.And for 56-year-old Dr. Thomas Gill, a geriatric professor at Yale University, it’s accepting that his daily 5½-mile jog now takes him upward of 50 minutes — never mind that he long prided himself on running the distance in well under that time. (Horovitz, 4/11)

Kaiser Health News: KHN On C-SPAN: Current Capitol Hill Thinking On Combating The Opioid Crisis
Kaiser Health News correspondent Shefali Luthra was interviewed as part of C-SPAN’s in-depth examination of recent developments regarding the nation’s opioid crisis. Luthra talked about ideas circulating around Capitol Hill — in hearings, in legislation and in budget measures — to combat the problem, as well as how states have been responding, among other things. The program first aired April 5. (4/11)

The New York Times: Trump Signs Order To Require Recipients Of Federal Aid Programs To Work
President Trump quietly signed a long-anticipated executive order on Tuesday intended to force low-income recipients of food assistance, Medicaid and low-income housing subsidies to join the work force or face the loss of their benefits. The order, in the works since last year, has an ambitious title — “Reducing Poverty in America” — and is directed at “any program that provides means-tested assistance or other assistance that provides benefits to people, households or families that have low incomes,” according to the order’s text. (Thrush, 4/10)

The Associated Press: Trump Signs Executive Order Pushing Work For Welfare
"Part of President Trump's effort to create a booming American economy includes moving Americans from welfare to work and supporting and encouraging others to support common-sense reforms that restore American prosperity and help them reclaim their independence," he said. The order focuses on looking for ways to strengthen existing work requirements and exploring new requirements for benefits such as food stamps, cash and housing assistance programs. (Colvin, 4/10)

The Washington Post: Trump Executive Order Strengthens Work Requirements For Neediest Americans
The executive order is the strongest statement Trump has made about the country’s social safety net program since his February budget proposal to slash billions of dollars in food stamps, health insurance and federal housing subsidies. Trump indicated at the time that he would push legislation to institute broad work requirements for families receiving housing vouchers, expanding on moves by some states to require recipients of Medicaid and food stamps to work. (Jan, 4/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Signs Executive Order For Revamp Of Federal Aid Programs
Democratic and liberal critics of the policies have countered that many programs help low-income families that are already working, and additional requirements would increase bureaucracy for them and for local and state governments. “The evidence shows that such requirements have few long-term positive effects on employment and often result in families losing help they need to afford the basics,” said Sharon Parrott, a senior fellow at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (Radnofsky, 4/10)

The Washington Post: Trump Says Veterans Wait Too Long For Health Care. VA’s 33,000 Vacancies Might Have Something To Do With That.
The Department of Veterans Affairs, facing intense scrutiny amid reports of widespread dysfunction and a push by the Trump administration to outsource more medical care, has tens of thousands of full- and part-time vacancies nationwide, according to data compiled by veterans advocates, lawmakers and federal unions. Most urgently, the agency’s health-care network needs thousands of primary care physicians, mental-health providers, physical therapists, social workers — even janitorial staff, Sen. Jon Tester (Mont.), ranking Democrat of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, told The Washington Post in an interview. Of equal concern, he said, VA lacks enough human resources personnel to vet candidates and make the hires. (Wax-Thibodeaux, 4/10)

The Hill: VA Privatization Fight Could Erupt In Confirmation Hearing 
Long-simmering tensions about privatizing the Department of Veterans Affairs could erupt into a confirmation battle over President Trump's pick to lead the department. Trump’s decision to oust former VA Secretary David Shulkin late last month and replace him with White House physician Ronny Jackson stoked speculation that the White House wants to allow veterans more access to private-sector health care providers. (Weixel, 4/11)

The Hill: Trump Appointee At Center Of Fight Over Religious Freedom 
Roger Severino is implementing strict rules at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) meant to protect religious rights — in part because of discrimination he says he has experienced firsthand. The son of South American immigrants, Severino, the director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR), grew up in Los Angeles, where he says “people attempted to close doors in front of me, and I’ve had to fight to pry them open.” (Hellmann, 4/10)

The Hill: Planned Parenthood Targets Judicial Nominee Over Abortion Comments 
Wendy Vitter, President Trump's judicial nominee for the eastern Louisiana U.S. District Court, is being targeted by Planned Parenthood as an anti-abortion extremist who should not be confirmed. In a five-figure digital ad campaign running nationally on Facebook and Twitter, Planned Parenthood is urging supporters to tell their senators to vote against her confirmation. (Hellmann, 4/10)

Stat: A New York Attorney Becomes The Face Of A Crucial Abortion Rights Case
Brigitte Amiri, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, was spending the weekend on Long Island with her family in late September when she got the call about Jane Doe. She wasn’t Jane Doe just yet. She was a pregnant 17-year-old immigrant from Central America being held in federal custody after entering the U.S. illegally. She’d obtained a judge’s permission to get an abortion. But the Office of Refugee Resettlement — a branch of the Trump administration responsible for unaccompanied immigrant minors — wouldn’t allow it. (Thielking, 4/11)

The Associated Press: Lawmakers Returning For Special Budget Session
Virginia lawmakers are coming back to the Capitol Wednesday seeking to pass a budget after failing to do so earlier this year. The hang-up: An intraparty feud between Republicans in the GOP-led General Assembly over whether to expand Medicaid. After five years of a near-unified opposition to expanding the healthcare program for the poor, Republicans are now split on the issue. (Suderman, 4/10)

The Washington Post: Virginia Lawmakers Return To The State Capitol On Wednesday To Hash Out A Budget In A Special Session
Momentum for extending the federal-state health-care program to an additional 400,000 low-income Virginians has been building in the Senate, with a second Republican state senator announcing last week that he would be willing to support it under certain conditions. But even the most fervent advocates for expansion say there is a long way to go, with Wednesday merely marking the start of what could be weeks of negotiations. “This is something that should have been done three or four years ago, but better late than never,” said Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax). “Between 350,000 and 400,000 Virginians will get the health care that’s needed.” (Vozzella, 4/10)

Stat: More Lawmakers Question FDA Over Probe Into Floridians Importing Medicines 
For the second time in recent months, congressional lawmakers are asking if the Food and Drug Administration reversed a policy that allows Americans to import medicines under select circumstances. In a letter to the agency, the lawmakers referenced a series of raids last year in which FDA investigators visited Florida stores with search warrants to warn the owners that importing drugs from foreign countries is illegal. This was the same series of searches that prompted several senators last December to write the FDA about any changes in its policy toward importation. (Silverman, 4/10)

The Washington Post: CVS Pharmacists Will Have New Tools To Help Patients Save Money On Drugs
CVS Health is rolling out a new tool to alert its 30,000 pharmacists to cheaper drug options when they fill patients' prescriptions. For years, pharmacists have substituted generic drugs for identical brand-name versions. But CVS Pharmacy's Rx Savings Finder program will enable pharmacists and consumers to question doctors' prescription choices to save patients money. (Johnson, 4/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Theranos Lays Off Most Of Its Remaining Workforce
Blood-testing firm Theranos Inc. laid off most of its remaining workforce in a last-ditch effort to preserve cash and avert bankruptcy for a few more months, according to people familiar with the matter. Tuesday’s layoffs take the company’s head count from about 125 employees to two dozen or fewer, according to the people familiar with the matter. As recently as late 2015, Theranos had about 800 employees. (Carreyrou, 4/10)

The Associated Press: Number, Severity Of Brain Injuries Raises Dementia Risk
A large study offers more evidence of a link between traumatic brain injuries and dementia later in life, with repeated injuries and severe ones posing the greatest danger. Researchers analyzed 36 years of health records of 2.8 million people in Denmark, where a national health system makes it possible to explore connections in a far-reaching way. Overall, the risk was small. About 95 percent of people who suffered a brain injury never developed dementia. (Johnson, 4/10)

The New York Times: Traumatic Brain Injuries Are Tied To Dementia
T.B.I. has a wide range of severity. It extends from a mild sports concussion — an elbow to the head in a basketball game, for example — that results in very brief or no unconsciousness and no structural harm to the brain, to the most severe brain injuries that can cause extended unconsciousness, coma or even prove fatal. The study, in Lancet Psychiatry, used Danish health databases that included all residents as of Jan. 1, 1995, who were at least 50 years old at some time during the 36-year follow-up, from 1977 to 2013. Among 2,794,852 people, they found 258,827 who had had at least one T.B.I. (Bakalar, 4/10)

The Associated Press: 5 Years On, Marathon Bomb Survivors Inspire Medical Advances
In the five years since the Boston Marathon bombing, medical science has made promising advances in amputations and artificial limbs, in part because of lessons learned from the victims and research dollars made available as a result of the attack. Some of the 17 people who lost limbs in the April 15, 2013, bombing could, like many other amputees, benefit from these developments, since many are coming to a crossroads in their treatment. A number still struggle with pain, and others may be looking to replace their prostheses, which are approaching the end of their useful life. (Marcelo, 4/11)

NPR: Medicine That Can Prevent HIV Infection Is Still Widely Unknown
A big part of Washington D.C.'s plan to get its HIV rate down is to get more uninfected people on PrEP, a two-medicine combination pill that's also sold under the brand name Truvada. When taken daily by people who are at high risk for contracting HIV via sex or shared needles with someone who is infected, this pre-exposure prophylaxis can cut the risk of HIV infection by 92 percent, studies show. (Simmons-Duffin, 4/10)

Los Angeles Times: What Ails America? The Answer Varies From State To State
The state of the union's health is improving. But it is doing so very unequally, and recent signs of progress are in danger of being reversed by diseases of excess and despair, including obesity, depression, suicide and substance abuse. Those are the broad conclusions of a new roundup of Americans' vital signs published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. (Healy, 4/10)

The Wall Street Journal: How Death Strikes Around The U.S.
A grim tally of “years of life lost” shows that substance abuse, suicides and diabetes drove a rise in premature deaths in nearly half the country, according to researchers who mapped variations in death rates among people 20 to 55 years old. The research offers a detailed look at the trends pulling down life expectancy among young and middle-aged Americans in recent years. So-called “deaths of despair,” including drug overdoses, have been on the rise, especially among white Americans, according to recent studies. (McKay and Rigdon, 4/10)

Los Angeles Times: How Single-Payer Healthcare Has Divided Democrats In California's Race For Governor
When Gavin Newsom campaigns on his support for a California single-payer healthcare system, he's talking about more than the virtues of universal care. He's trying to sell himself as a bold visionary. When Antonio Villariagosa warns of the financial calamity that awaits if the state adopts single payer, he's trying to send a different message — that he's a fiscally responsible realist who won't make promises he can't keep. (Willon, 4/11)

Politico: Texas Health Group Cashes In On State’s Rural Hospital Crisis
The Hashmi group’s hospitals don’t accept commercial insurance, charge unusually high rates and have run afoul of state inspectors. But the rural community of Bowie, Texas, felt like it got a lifeline when the Dallas for-profit offered to buy its shuttered hospital. The North Texas town of 5,000 — which was hit hard by a drop-off in oil and gas production and rejected a property tax increase to keep the former Bowie Memorial Hospital afloat — had few options. Without a hospital, residents would have to drive nearly 30 miles for emergencies and the town would lose high-paying medical jobs. (Rayasam, 4/10)

The Washington Post: A Year After D.C. Passed Its Controversial Assisted Suicide Law, Not A Single Patient Has Used It
Nearly a year after the District enacted a law allowing terminally ill patients to end their lives — over the objections of congressional Republicans, religious groups and advocates for those with disabilities — not a single patient has used it. And just two of the approximately 11,000 physicians licensed to practice in the District have registered to help patients exercise their rights under the law. Only one hospital has cleared doctors to participate. (Nirappil, 4/10)

The Associated Press: Free-Range Parenting Laws Letting Kids Roam Could Catch On
After Utah passed the country's first law legalizing so-called free-range parenting, groups in states from New York to Texas are pushing for similar steps to bolster the idea that supporters say is an antidote for anxiety-plagued parents and overscheduled kids. Free-range parenting is the concept that giving kids the freedom to do things alone — like explore a playground or ride a bike to school — makes them healthier, happier and more resilient. (4/10)

The Associated Press: Hogan Signs Bills On Health Care, School Safety
Gov. Larry Hogan signed legislation on Tuesday that takes a unique approach to stabilize health insurance rates in the state health care exchange’s troubled individual market. The bill taps about $380 million that health insurance companies no longer have to pay in federal taxes due to changes in the federal tax code to help prevent rising premiums for about 150,000 people. A separate bill the governor already has signed creates a long-term plan to preserve the exchange through a reinsurance program. (Witte, 4/10)

The Associated Press: State Appeals Abortion Ruling For Minors In Alabama
Attorneys for the state of Alabama and one of its few abortion clinics faced off before federal judges Tuesday, debating the state’s effort to reinstate a law that let judges put minors seeking abortions through a trial-like process. The state’s legislators in 2014 changed the process for minors to get abortions through a court order instead of parental consent. The new law let judges appoint a lawyer for the fetus and required minors to notify district attorneys, who could call witnesses to decide whether the minor was mature enough to have an abortion. Parents could attend the hearing if they already knew about it. (Moench, 4/10)

The Associated Press: Virginia Jail Opens Unit For Those With Mental Health Issues
A Virginia jail has opened a new unit that aims to provide more attention and resources to men with mental health issues. The Roanoke Times reports four inmates at the Roanoke City Jail will move into the unit on Tuesday. The jail repurposed two general population inmate areas into the unit as part of its ongoing efforts to better identify and help those with mental health issues. (4/10)

The Associated Press: Fake Pot Likely Tainted With Rat Poison Kills 3, Sickens 100
Fake marijuana likely contaminated with rat poison has killed three people in Illinois and caused severe bleeding in more than 100 others, including a few in four other states. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has alerted doctors nationwide that patients with severe, unexplained bleeding may be additional cases. (4/10)

The Associated Press: Delaware Officials Warn Addicts Of Potentially Lethal Heroin
Delaware public health officials are advising drug users to be aware that the heroin they’re looking to obtain could be laced with fatal amounts of the synthetic painkiller fentanyl. The warning was issued Tuesday in the wake of 12 recent overdoses in Camden, New Jersey, on Friday, four of which were fatal. Officials note that Interstate 95 allows the flow of illicit drugs into Delaware from New Jersey and other neighboring states. (4/11)

Los Angeles Times: Protesters Fight Against Homeless Moving To Irvine: 'We Will Decide Who Comes Into The City'
They wanted to make an impact by filling up the City Council chambers Tuesday to fight against the homeless moving to Irvine, but officials turned most of the crowd away at an unexpectedly short meeting. No matter, organizers had planned a protest in the plaza outside City Hall, and with about 100 people gathered, they kept chanting: "All our kids deserve better! All our kids deserve better!" (Do, 4/10)