Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: August 25, 2017
Kaiser Health News: Writing Your Way Through Cancer
When Lynn Scozzari wrote the beginning lines of [the] poem “The Offering” in 2013, she was staring at a photo of a naked woman seated on a rock, her arms thrust open to a valley below. Scozzari herself was in a conference room of the cancer center at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla, Calif., seated at a table stocked with coffee and tissues. The year before, Scozzari had finished treatment for stage 4 breast cancer. Now, she was meeting with other patients and survivors who were also writing about their cancer experiences. (Jacewicz, 8/25)
The Associated Press: Insurer Fills Last Hole In Health Law Marketplaces For 2018
The lone U.S. county still at risk of leaving shoppers with no choices next year on the federal health law's insurance marketplace has landed an insurer. Ohio-based insurer CareSource will step up to provide coverage in Paulding County, Ohio, in 2018, the company and the state Department of Insurance announced Thursday. (Smyth and Murphy, 8/24)
The Washington Post: The Nation’s Final Bare Spot For Affordable Care Act Health Plans Is Filled In
Although insurers could still defect in the next month, before they must sign federal contracts to sell ACA coverage for the coming year, the move by CareSource to sell marketplace health plans in Paulding County, on the western edge of Ohio, appears to end a recent scramble by officials in seven states to persuade insurance companies to participate in a total of 81 counties. Those potential bare spots emerged mainly as large, nationwide insurers have withdrawn from all or most of the ACA marketplaces they once served — a result of sicker and more expensive customers than they had expected and uncertainties bred by Republican efforts to overturn much of the 2010 health-care law. (Goldstein, 8/24)
The Wall Street Journal: All U.S. Counties To Have An ACA Plan After Ohio Plugs Last Gap
CareSource’s chief executive, Pamela Morris, said the decision “was the right thing to do as a mission-driven company.” CareSource was able to agree to offer exchange plans in Paulding County because it has a presence in a neighboring county in the adjacent state of Indiana and thus has a network of health-care providers there. Ms. Morris said CareSource, which offers exchange plans in four states, was “fully committed” to those marketplaces, despite uncertainty about federal decisions related to the health-law marketplaces. (Wilde Mathews, 8/24)
Politico: Ohio Insurer Fills Obamacare’s Last ‘Bare’ County
Despite President Donald Trump's claims that Obamacare is "dead" and repeal efforts in Congress, the Ohio announcement is the latest evidence that the health care law's insurance markets are proving to be resilient. (Demko, 8/24)
Reuters: Last 'Bare County' In U.S. To Get Health Insurer Next Year
Insurers such as UnitedHealth Group Inc, Aetna Inc and Humana Inc have exited most of the states where they sold Obamacare plans, leaving hundreds of U.S. counties at risk of losing access to private health coverage in 2018. ... But other insurers, like Centene Corp, have filled those gaps, expanding into new counties that had lost their coverage options. (Erman, 8/24)
Los Angeles Times: Trump Foes, Questioning His Mental Fitness, Are Citing The 25th Amendment. So How Does That Work?
With impeachment of Trump an exceeding long shot — given the GOP’s firm grip on Congress — a small chorus of Democrats has suggested an even less likely antidote to a presidency they cannot and will not abide: removing Trump on the grounds he is mentally unsound. Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of San Jose has introduced a resolution urging Trump to seek a medical and psychiatric evaluation to determine his fitness for office. Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of Torrance has talked up legislation requiring a psychiatrist be stationed at the White House. The president’s spokeswoman has brushed aside questions about Trump’s mental health as beneath contempt. (Barabak, 8/25)
The New York Times: Trump Said The Opioid Crisis Is A National Emergency, But He Never Filed The Paperwork
Two weeks ago, in response to a reporter’s question, President Trump proclaimed that he considered the opioid crisis to be “a national emergency,” leading many news organizations to report that a national emergency had been declared. But the Trump administration, perhaps caught off guard by the president’s statement, has not yet taken the legal steps to give those words force. (Katz, 8/24)
USA Today: Obituaries Reveal Damage Caused By Opioid Addiction
Mary and Joe Mullin had no doubt they would put the circumstances of their son’s death in his obituary. The only question was what words they would use.“We wanted it truthful,” Joe Mullin said.“Mullin, Patrick Joseph, Irondequoit: Tuesday, March 7, 2017, at the age of 32 after a long battle with addiction.” (Singer, 8/24)
The Associated Press: Lawyers: Aetna Envelope Window Reveals Patients' HIV Status
Two legal organizations say health insurer Aetna revealed the HIV status of patients in several states by mailing envelopes with a large, clear window that showed information on purchasing HIV prescriptions. The Legal Action Center and the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania say some patients' relatives and neighbors learned of their HIV status as a result. (8/24)
Los Angeles Times: Naked, Filthy And Strapped To A Chair For 46 Hours: A Mentally Ill Inmate's Last Days
For 46 hours, Andrew Holland’s legs and arms were shackled to a chair in the San Luis Obispo County jail. The inmate, who suffered from schizophrenia, was left in his own filth, eating and drinking almost nothing. He was naked, except for a helmet and mask covering his face and a blanket that slipped off his lap, exposing him to jail staff who passed by his glass-fronted cell. (St. John, 8/24)
NPR: Sibling Survivors Of Suicide Are Often Sidelined
When Taylor Porco's brother, Jordan, died by suicide during his freshman year at college in February 2011, people told her to be strong for her parents who were incapacitated by their grief. Hardly anyone seemed to notice that Porco, only 14 at the time, was suffering and suicidal. "I was really depressed and in such extreme pain. Nothing literally mattered to me after he died. All I wanted was my brother back. I never loved someone as much as I loved him," she says. (Weinstock, 8/25)
The Washington Post: Fewer Antibiotic Prescriptions Are Being Filled, A New Analysis Finds
The use of antibiotics among Americans with commercial health insurance has decreased during the past several years, according to a new analysis that nevertheless shows lingering variations for different ages and in different parts of the country. The study released on Thursday provides the latest evidence of how doctors and patients have begun to heed warnings that excessive antibiotic use breeds dangerous drug resistance and “superbug” bacteria. (Goldstein, 8/24)
The New York Times: Gut Bacteria Can Fluctuate With The Seasons
In Tanzania, not far from the Serengeti, live the Hadza, a community of about 1,300 people. For such a small group, they attract a lot of scientific attention. Many of the Hadza live solely on the animals they kill, along with honey, berries and a few other wild foods. For the first 95 percent of our species’s history, there was no other way to live. (Zimmer, 8/24)
The New York Times: Mothers, Fathers And Obesity In Offspring
Studies have shown that obese women give birth to larger babies who are at risk for obesity and other metabolic problems later in life. Some have thought that the reason may be that obese mothers, whose bodies are rich in nutrients, somehow “overfeed” the fetus during gestation. A new study has found that this is unlikely. (Bakalar, 8/24)
NPR: Neuroscientists Pinpoint Brain Cells Responsible For Recognizing Intonation
It's not just what you say that matters. It's how you say it. Take the phrase, "Here's Johnny." When Ed McMahon used it to introduce Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, the words were an enthusiastic greeting. But in The Shining, Jack Nicholson used the same two words to convey murderous intent. Now scientists are reporting in the journal Science that they have identified specialized brain cells that help us understand what a speaker really means. These cells do this by keeping track of changes in the pitch of the voice. (Hamilton, 8/24)
The Wall Street Journal: NYC Calorie Count Is Under Legal Fire
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and city restaurant and convenience store organizations will attempt to have a New York City law requiring calorie counts on menus for certain food establishments overturned during a Friday hearing in federal court. The New York City calorie-labeling law was first established in 2008, making the city the first in the country to require restaurant calorie counts. Under current city provisions, chains with 15 or more stores must provide patrons with calorie counts and nutritional information on their products. (Alfaro, 8/24)
The Wall Street Journal: New York’S Largest Hospital System Is Closing Its Insurance Business
Citing financial losses wrought by inaction and uncertainty in Washington, New York State’s biggest hospital system is shuttering its four-year-old health insurance division that sold coverage, some of it via Obamacare. The division, CareConnect Insurance Co., insures 126,000 New Yorkers who will have to purchase coverage elsewhere when the hospital system, Northwell Health, phases out its insurance operation next year. (Nir, 8/24)
