First Edition: April 16, 2024

KFF Health News: Lawsuit Alleges Obamacare Plan-Switching Scheme Targeted Low-Income Consumers
A wide-ranging lawsuit filed Friday outlines a moneymaking scheme by which large insurance sales agency call centers enrolled people into Affordable Care Act plans or switched their coverage, all without their permission. According to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, two such call centers paid tens of thousands of dollars a day to buy names of people who responded to misleading advertisements touting free government “subsidies” and other rewards. (Appleby, 4/16)

KFF Health News: Conservative Justices Stir Trouble For Republican Politicians On Abortion
Abortion opponents have maneuvered in courthouses for years to end access to reproductive health care. In Arizona last week, a win for the anti-abortion camp caused political blowback for Republican candidates in the state and beyond. The reaction echoed the response to an Alabama Supreme Court decision over in vitro fertilization just two months before. (Pradhan, 4/16)

KFF Health News: California Health Workers May Face Rude Awakening With $25 Minimum Wage Law
Nearly a half-million health workers who stand to benefit from California’s nation-leading $25 minimum wage law could be in for a rude awakening if hospitals and other health care providers follow through on potential cuts to hours and benefits. A medical industry challenge to a new minimum wage ordinance in one Southern California city suggests layoffs and reductions in hours and benefits, including cuts to premium pay and vacation time, could be one result of a state law set to begin phasing in in June. (Thompson, 4/16)

Reuters: Eli Lilly's Nationwide Insulin Pricing Settlement Called Off 
A settlement between Eli Lilly and purchasers of its insulin drugs that would have capped prices and provided $13.5 million to resolve claims that the company inflated the drugs' cost has fallen apart, after an unfavorable ruling from the judge overseeing the case. Lawyers for a proposed nationwide class of individuals who paid for Lilly's Humalog and other insulin drugs said in a filing in Newark, New Jersey, federal court on Friday that they and Lilly had decided not to go forward seeking approval for the deal, which they first proposed last May. Steve Berman, one of the lawyers, called the demise of the settlement, which would have capped patients' out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 per month for four years, a "potentially big loss for consumers." (Pierson, 4/15)

Stat: Insulin Affordability: Chuck Schumer’s Broken Promise
In February 2022, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stood alongside constituents in Buffalo, N.Y., and promised to hold a vote to cap costs for insulin at $35 per month for people with all types of insurance. Two years later, he hasn’t followed through. Democrats have achieved piecemeal progress in making insulin more affordable for millions of people during President Biden’s more than three years in office, but they’ve yet to do so for everyone. And despite Schumer’s repeated promises to hold a vote on whether to expand cost protections to people with all types of insurance, he hasn’t done it. (Zhang, 4/16)

The 19th: Pregnant Workers Fairness Act Regulations Include Time Off For Childbirth, Abortion
In what could be a groundbreaking shift in American workplaces, most employees across the country will now have access to unpaid time off to recover from childbirth or to access an abortion. These changes are part of new workplace protections made possible through the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act. (Carrazana, 4/15)

The New York Times: Under Pressure From Trump, Arizona Republicans Weigh Response To 1864 Abortion Ban 
Facing mounting pressure to strike down a near-total abortion ban revived last week by Arizona’s Supreme Court, Republican state legislators are considering efforts to undermine a planned ballot measure this fall that would enshrine abortion rights in the Arizona Constitution, according to a presentation obtained by The New York Times. The 1864 law that is set to take effect in the coming weeks bans nearly all abortions and mandates prison sentences of two to five years for providing abortion care. The proposed ballot measure on abortion rights, known as the Arizona Abortion Access Act, would enshrine the right to an abortion before viability, or about 24 weeks. Supporters of the measure say they have already gathered enough signatures to put the question on the ballot ahead of a July 3 filing deadline. (Cameron, 4/15)

AP: Indiana Limits Abortion Data For Privacy Under Near-Total Ban, But Some GOP Candidates Push Back
Indiana allows so few abortions that health officials stopped releasing individual reports to protect patient privacy — a move some Republicans are now fighting to reverse. The Republicans, including prominent candidates for office this year, want access to reports detailing each abortion still performed in the state. Advocates for abortion rights and some state officials warn that would jeopardize the privacy of physicians and patients who can only receive abortions under strict circumstances. (Volmert, 4/16)

The Hill: Rick Scott Supports 15-Week Florida Abortion Ban Over 6-Week Limit
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) says he would support replacing Florida’s six-week state abortion ban with a 15-week statewide ban that he believes would reflect broader consensus within the Sunshine State over how to protect unborn life. Scott says any 15-week statewide abortion ban should include the standard exceptions for cases of rape, incest and to protect the life of the mother. (Bolton, 4/15)

Stateline: Fatal Anomaly Exception Didn’t Spare Alabama Mom Who Needed An Abortion
Kelly Shannon was grieving a pregnancy she would need to terminate because of multiple fetal anomalies when she got the call that Alabama doctors wouldn’t approve an abortion procedure despite exceptions in the law. That meant she would have to leave the state. Shannon, 36, was about 16 weeks along in January 2023 when genetic testing — and confirmation from an amniocentesis — showed her fetus likely had Trisomy 21, better known as Down syndrome. (Moseley-Morris, 4/15)

The Washington Post: Supreme Court Allows Idaho To Enforce Ban On Gender-Affirming Care For Minors 
The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for Idaho to broadly enforce a ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors, the first time the justices have intervened on the contentious issue of transgender health treatments. While the underlying case concerns the constitutionality of a ban on gender-affirming medical care for minors, the court’s order did not address the merits of the issue — only whether the law could take effect for now. The state’s restrictions will not immediately apply to the two transgender teens who sued the state. (Parks and Marimow, 4/15)

Axios: Biden Faces Deadline To Finalize Key Health Care Rules
The Biden administration has just weeks to finish health policy regulations on Medicaid, tobacco, reproductive care and other key areas, to avoid any chance of them being repealed by the next Congress. (Knight, 4/15)

Houston Chronicle: More Than 2 Million Texans Lost Medicaid Coverage In Past Year, At Double The National Rate
Texas continues to disenroll Medicaid recipients at one of the highest rates in the country, part of a broader trend that has seen state health departments across the nation move unqualified recipients off their rolls after a surge in enrollment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Texas has so far removed 2.1 million Medicaid recipients from its rolls, which works out to 49% of the cases it has reviewed, more than twice the national average and a higher proportion than all but six other states, according to analysis by the nonprofit KFF. (Osborne, 4/15)

Modern Healthcare: Health Sector Wary As Congress Starts Change Hearings
This week, Congress will begin considering longer-term strategies in response to the Change Healthcare ransomware attack, raising the question: What do healthcare industry stakeholders think legislators should do? Many of them simply are not sure. Numerous industry groups offered a common response when asked what they would like — and not like — from Congress: They are still weighing their options while UnitedHealth Group's Optum subsidiary keeps working to restore its Change Healthcare systems. (McAuliff, 4/15)

Modern Healthcare: Prior Authorization Crackdown May Be Coming: CMS’ Brooks-LaSure
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid is evaluating whether it needs to take further steps cracking down on health insurance companies' prior authorization requirements. Patient and provider annoyance with prior authorization has boiled over in recent years, which CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure acknowledged at the American Hospital Association's annual conference in Washington, D.C., on Monday. (McAuliff, 4/15)

Modern Healthcare: Cerebral Fined $7M By FTC Over Social Media Data Disclosure
Digital mental health company Cerebral, based in Walnut, has agreed to pay more than $7 million in fines, limit how it shares sensitive patient data and provide consumers an easier way to cancel its services. The Department of Justice, through a referral by the Federal Trade Commission, issued a proposed order on Monday that fined Cerebral more than $7 million for allegedly disclosing consumers' sensitive personal health information and failing to honor its easy cancellation promises. (Turner, 4/15)

The New York Times: U.S. Scrutiny Of Chinese Company Could Disrupt U.S. Supply Chain For Key Drugs
A Chinese company targeted by members of Congress over potential ties to the Chinese government makes blockbuster drugs for the American market that have been hailed as advances in the treatment of cancers, obesity and debilitating illnesses like cystic fibrosis. WuXi AppTec is one of several companies that lawmakers have identified as potential threats to the security of individual Americans’ genetic information and U.S. intellectual property. A Senate committee approved a bill in March that aides say is intended to push U.S. companies away from doing business with them. (Jewett, 4/15)

NPR: U.S. Drugmakers Lower U.S. Taxes By Shifting Profits To Overseas Subsidiaries
Corporations are supposed to pay a nominal tax rate of 21%. But in recent years, the biggest pharmaceutical companies had an average effective tax rate of less than 12%, according to an analysis by the Senate Finance Committee. (Lupkin, 4/15)

Bloomberg: Cancer, ALS Drugs That Don't Work Are Costing Americans Billions
One ALS drug made $400 million in sales for its maker. It doesn’t work. A cancer treatment brought in $500 million. That one turned out to have no effect on survival. A blood cancer medication made nearly $850 million before being withdrawn for two of its uses. That drug had been linked to patient deaths years prior. All of them were allowed to be sold to Americans because of the US Food and Drug Administration’s drive to get new drugs to patients quickly — sometimes even before they’re done testing. (Langreth, Rutherford, and Meghjani, 4/15)

Stat: Thanks To CVS, A Humira Biosimilar Is Grabbing Huge Market Share 
The number of new prescriptions written for biosimilar versions of the Humira rheumatoid arthritis treatment, one of the best-selling medicines in the U.S., surged to 36% from just 5% during the first week of April, thanks to the expanding reach that CVS Health has over the prescription drug market. ... The changes underscore the complicated jockeying taking place to capture the enormous of money in play, according to Chris Brown, who heads McAteer, a consulting firm that specializes in drug pricing. (Silverman, 4/15)

The Mercury News: Abbott Laboratories To Close Bay Area Site; Almost 200 Jobs To Be Cut
Fairfield Abbott Laboratories has given notice that it will be closing its Fairfield location later this year, meaning the loss of nearly 200 jobs. A Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification has been filed with the state, indicating that 195 employees will be laid off and the plant will be closed. Founded in 2004, the Illinois-based health and nutrition manufacturing company — known for brands including Similac infant formula, Pedialyte electrolyte drinks and Ensure shakes — also manufactures human and veterinary prescription drugs. (McConnell, 4/15)

CNN: Melatonin Industry Asked To Voluntarily Tighten Standards After Dramatic Rise In Childhood ER Visits
Makers of melatonin supplements have 18 to 24 months to voluntarily add child-deterrent packaging and improve cautionary language on labels of over-the-counter products, according to the Council for Responsible Nutrition, the leading trade association for the dietary supplement and functional food industry. (LaMotte, 4/15)

Reuters: More Than 250 Websites Selling Fake Weight-Loss Drugs Reported By Anti-Counterfeit Firm
The cybersecurity firm BrandShield has taken down more than 250 websites selling fake versions of popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs in the GLP-1 class, the company’s CEO Yoav Keren told Reuters. BrandShield, which shared this information exclusively with Reuters, said that out of the 279 pharmacy websites the company closed last year for selling drugs intended to treat metabolic conditions, more than 90% were related to GLP-1 medicines, according to Keren. (Wingrove, 4/15)

NBC News: CDC Investigating Botched Botox Shots In 9 States
At least 19 women in nine states reportedly became sick after they got Botox, either having gotten the injections from people who were never licensed or trained to give the shots or received them in "non-healthcare settings," including homes or spas, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. Nine of the 19 patients were hospitalized, the CDC said. Four "were treated with botulism antitoxin because of concerns that the botulinum toxin could have spread beyond the injection site." (Edwards, 4/16)

Reuters: WHO Warns Of Falsified Cough Syrup Ingredients Seized In Pakistan
The World Health Organization issued an alert on Monday warning drugmakers of five contaminated batches of propylene glycol, an ingredient used in medicinal syrups, that appear to have been falsely labelled as manufactured by Dow Chemical units in Asia and Europe. The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) issued three alerts between January and March over high levels of ethylene glycol (EG), an industrial solvent known to be toxic, found in drums purportedly made by subsidiaries of Dow Chemical in Thailand, Germany and Singapore. (Wingrove, 4/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: Pressure Mounts To Save East San Jose’s Regional Medical Trauma Center
Elected officials and residents in the Bay Area’s largest county are trying to stop the impending closure of a trauma center that treats thousands of people annually for severe heart attacks, major car accidents and strokes. Opponents of the closure say it could lead to delayed care and worse outcomes for patients, many of whom are lower-income or uninsured. (Ho, 4/15)

Axios: Physician Assistants' Push For Title Change Gains Momentum
Physician assistants have won the first round in an unusual push to rebrand themselves as physician associates. And doctors aren't amused. The title change reflects PAs' growing prominence in the health care system amid a nationwide physician shortage, and dovetails with other efforts to increase PAs' autonomy. (Goldman, 4/16)

CIDRAP: Many Healthcare Workers Unsure About COVID Vaccine Boosters For Themselves, Kids
A survey of more than 4,100 healthcare personnel (HCP) at a New York healthcare system from 2021 to 2022 reveals that 17% were hesitant to receive the recommended COVID-19 vaccine booster, and 33% were unsure about vaccinating their children. Many of the HCP polled held unsubstantiated beliefs not only about COVID vaccines but also childhood vaccines. (Van Beusekom, 4/15)

CIDRAP: Nasal Cells Offer Clues About Why COVID-19 Is Typically Milder In Children 
Severe outcomes from COVID-19 infections are much less common in children than in older adults, and new research suggests that important differences in how the nasal cells of young and elderly people respond to the SARS-CoV-2 virus could explain why children typically experience milder COVID-19 symptoms. The cell-culture study is published in Nature Microbiology and is based on nasal epithelial cells (NECs) collected from healthy participants, including children (0 to 11 years), younger adults (30 to 50 years), and the elderly (over 70 years). (Soucheray, 4/15)

CIDRAP: Analysis Spotlights Sperm Defects In Month After COVID Infection, But Not At 90 Days
In the 30 days after COVID-19 infection, total sperm count, sperm concentration, total sperm motility (movement), and progressive motility were significantly reduced in a cohort of Chinese men, with the most severe effects in those with moderate to high fever, researchers from Sichuan Provincial Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital report in Scientific Reports. (Van Beusekom, 4/15)

The Mercury News: California's COVID Deaths: How Who Is Dying Has Changed
Four years after the start of the COVID pandemic, the age and race of its victims in California have dramatically shifted: Now, a Bay Area News Group analysis finds, those who are dying from the virus are much older, and more often White than Latino, a notable switch. While COVID deaths in California have plunged across all race and age groups, a comparison of deaths from the first six months of the pandemic to the most recent six months of data compiled by the California Department of Public Health shows 70% of those dying nowadays are 75 or older. (Blair Rowan, 4/15)

CIDRAP: US Measles Cases Top 120 As LA County Tracks Case With Multiple Exposures
Eight more measles cases have been reported, putting the nation's total at 121 so far this year, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in its latest weekly update. The number of affected jurisdictions remained the same, at 18. ... Of the cases this year, 47% occurred in children younger than 5 years old. Young children also had the highest level of hospitalizations (65%). And. of people infected, 82% were unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status. (Schnirring, 4/15)

Reuters: High Risk Of Animal-To-Human Diseases Developing In Some China Fur Farms, Animal Protection Group Says
An investigation of five fur farms in China housing foxes, raccoon dogs and mink found a high risk of diseases developing that could jump from animals to humans, said animal protection group Humane Society International who conducted the study at the end of 2023. The farms in China's northern Hebei and Liaoning provinces each held between 2,000 and 4,000 animals in intensive conditions, including in close proximity to poultry, HSI said. (4/15)

Stat: Bill Pushed By Grocers Would Gut FDA Food Safety Rules, Critics Say 
In the last decade, Americans have been sickened by salmonella from cucumbers, listeria from Mexican-style cheese, and E. coli from romaine lettuce. Now, it would seem that Washington is finally getting serious about making sure the Food and Drug Administration has the power to promptly investigate and respond to foodborne outbreaks. (Florko, 4/16)

The Mercury News: Why Tortillas Sold In California May Be Forced To Add A New Ingredient
Folic acid has long been used to prevent serious birth defects and help babies develop. Medical and public health experts advise daily consumption during pregnancy, but also in the months before becoming pregnant. This B vitamin is so important the federal government requires folic acid in certain foods such as enriched breads and cereals. Now a California lawmaker is carrying a bill that would require manufacturers of corn masa flour — used to make many classic Latino foods — to also add folic acid to their products. (Ibarra, 4/15)

USA Today: Bladder Botox? It's Not What It Sounds Like: Why The Injection Can Be Life Changing
It’s safe to assume that most people don’t associate Botox with overactive bladders, but doctors who use it to treat just a sliver of the 33 million people in the U.S. struggling with uncontrollable urges to pee and leaks say the injections could be life changing. Steph Aiello, 33, has felt the benefits firsthand. She used to receive Botox injections into her bladder twice annually for six years after a car accident in 2010 left her paralyzed from the neck down. (Camero, 4/15)

AP: Weedkiller Manufacturer Seeks Lawmakers' Help To Squelch Claims It Failed To Warn About Cancer 
Stung by paying billions of dollars for settlements and trials, chemical giant Bayer has been lobbying lawmakers in three states to pass bills providing it a legal shield from lawsuits that claim its popular weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Nearly identical bills introduced in Iowa, Missouri and Idaho this year — with wording supplied by Bayer — would protect pesticide companies from claims they failed to warn that their product causes cancer, if their labels otherwise complied with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s regulations. (Fingerhut and Lileb, 4/16)