Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: Dec. 1, 2023
KFF Health News: ‘Forever Chemicals’ Found In Freshwater Fish, Yet Most States Don’t Warn Residents
Bill Eisenman has always fished. “Growing up, we ate whatever we caught — catfish, carp, freshwater drum,” he said. “That was the only real source of fish in our diet as a family, and we ate a lot of it.” Today, a branch of the Rouge River runs through Eisenman’s property in a suburb north of Detroit. But in recent years, he has been wary about a group of chemicals known as PFAS, also referred to as “forever chemicals,” which don’t break down quickly in the environment and accumulate in soil, water, fish, and our bodies. (Norman, 12/1)
KFF Health News: In Congress, Calls Mount For Social Security To Address Clawbacks
An investigation by KFF Health News and Cox Media Group gained further traction on Capitol Hill this week as additional members of Congress formally demanded answers from the Social Security Administration about billions of dollars it mistakenly paid to beneficiaries — and then ordered they repay. Two members of a Senate panel that oversees Social Security sent a letter to the agency’s acting commissioner, Kilolo Kijakazi, urging her to do more to prevent overpayments and “limit harm to vulnerable beneficiaries” when trying to recover the money. (Hilzenrath and Fleischer, 11/30)
KFF Health News: KFF Health News' 'What the Health?': Trump Puts Obamacare Repeal Back On Agenda
Former president and current 2024 Republican front-runner Donald Trump is aiming to put a repeal of the Affordable Care Act back on the political agenda, much to the delight of Democrats, who point to the health law’s growing popularity. Meanwhile, in Texas, the all-Republican state Supreme Court this week took up a lawsuit filed by more than two dozen women who said their lives were endangered when they experienced pregnancy complications due to the vague wording of the state’s near-total abortion ban. (11/30)
The Washington Post: GOP Lawmakers Grill CDC Director On China’s Respiratory Virus Spike
In her first appearance before Congress as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Mandy Cohen faced a barrage of questions Thursday from Republicans about a new spike in respiratory illness in China and whether the agency had erred in its early recommendations to contain the coronavirus. The hearing represented one of Cohen’s first public opportunities to restore trust in the agency, which became a punching bag for Republicans who opposed school closures, vaccine mandates and masking requirements in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Cohen’s appearance came as clusters of pneumonia in Chinese children emerge as the latest public health issue enmeshed in geopolitical conflict. (Nirappil, 11/30)
CNN: The Threat Of Respiratory Illnesses Is Underway, CDC Director Says, And Hospitalizations Are On The Rise
Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, updated a congressional subcommittee Thursday about cases of respiratory illness in the US due to three viruses: flu, the coronavirus and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. “RSV season is in full swing,” Cohen told the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. (Goodman and McPhillips, 11/30)
Fox News: Childhood Pneumonia Outbreak Reported In Southwestern Ohio
A pediatric pneumonia outbreak has been reported in Warren County, Ohio, which is located in the southwestern portion of the state. The Warren County Health District (WCHD) has recorded 142 cases of childhood pneumonia since August, which exceeds the average number seen in the county. "We do not think this is a novel/new respiratory disease but rather a large uptick in the number of pneumonia cases normally seen at one time," a WCHD spokesperson said in a Wednesday press release. (Rudy, 11/30)
Connecticut Public: RSV Vaccine Shortage Forces Some CT Pediatricians To Ration Doses
Hospitals and pediatricians are facing a “severe shortage” of a vaccine meant to protect children from respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health officials in Connecticut. “We have requested doses and not received all of the vaccines that we’ve requested from CDC,” according to Dr. Jody Terranova, deputy commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health. (Polansky, 11/30)
AP: Don’t Eat Pre-Cut Cantaloupe If Source Is Unknown, CDC Says
Consumers shouldn’t eat pre-cut cantaloupe if they don’t know the source, U.S. health officials said Thursday, as the number of illnesses and recalls tied to a deadly salmonella outbreak grows. At least 117 people in 34 U.S. states have been sickened by contaminated cantaloupe, including 61 who were hospitalized and two who died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Another 63 illnesses, 17 hospitalizations and one death tied to the same outbreak have been reported in Canada. The illnesses are severe, with more than half of infected people hospitalized, including residents of long-term care centers and children in day care, the CDC said. (Aleccia, 11/30)
The New York Times: DeSantis And Newsom Debate Fact-Check: A Spirited Discussion, Different Sets Of Facts
Earlier this year, Mr. DeSantis signed a measure banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy — before most women know that they are pregnant, as Mr. Newsom said. But the claim that it “criminalizes women” is not established. The governor and his campaign have called that claim a “lie” and Mr. DeSantis has repeatedly said that is not the intent. (Fichera and Hubler, 11/30)
San Francisco Chronicle: DeSantis Holds Up S.F. ‘Poop Map’ During Debate With Newsom
“This is a map of San Francisco,” DeSantis said, holding a map up for the cameras to see Thursday night as he debated Gov. Gavin Newsom on Fox News. “There’s a lot of plots on that, you may be asking, ‘What is that plotting?’ Well, this is an app where they plot the human feces that are found on the streets of San Francisco, and you see how almost the whole thing is covered.” (Fan Munce, 11/30)
The Washington Post: Sen. Rand Paul Performs Heimlich On Sen. Joni Ernst During Luncheon
While hosting a luncheon Thursday featuring dishes from her state, Senate Republican Joni Ernst of Iowa choked on some of the food, a spread of corn, rib-eye and pork chops. But Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) came to the rescue, Senate colleagues said, moving swiftly to perform the Heimlich maneuver. Ernst later joked about the incident in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, thanking Paul. (Somasundaram, 11/30)
Side Effects Public Media: The White House Is Urging Schools To Address A Rise In Fentanyl Exposure Among Teens
Narcan, also known by its generic name naloxone, is a life saving medication that reverses opioid overdoses. But in two-thirds of adolescent overdose deaths the medication wasn’t used even though there was someone nearby. The main driving factor behind these overdose deaths is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is so potent even a tiny amount can be fatal. (Li, 11/30)
Stat: Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy Settlement Reaches Supreme Court
After weeks of anticipation, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday will hear arguments to decide the fate of a controversial bankruptcy deal in which the owners of Purdue Pharma would contribute up to $6 billion in exchange for immunity from further lawsuits. (Silverman, 12/1)
The Texas Tribune: Paxton Sues Pfizer For Not Ending Pandemic Sooner
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused drugmaker Pfizer of fear-mongering and lies about the effectiveness of its COVID-19 vaccine, which the company insinuated would end the pandemic, according to a lawsuit Paxton announced Thursday. “In a nutshell, Pfizer deceived the public,” reads the 54-page lawsuit, filed in a Lubbock state district court. (Harper, 11/30)
CNBC: Covid Vaccine Rates Are Falling In U.S.
Three years into the Covid-19 pandemic, few Americans are rolling up their sleeves to get a Covid vaccine. Only 15.7% of U.S. adults had received the newest Covid shots from Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax as of Nov. 18, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those jabs, some of which won approval in mid-September, are designed to target the omicron subvariant XBB.1.5. (Constantino, 11/30)
CIDRAP: Meta-Analysis Reveals High Rates Of Heart Complications In Long-COVID Patients
A review and meta-analysis of long-term cardiac complications of long COVID finds a high prevalence of chest pain and abnormal heart rhythms (arrythmias). ... The most widely examined cardiac complications were chest pain and arrhythmias. When study quality and characteristics were disregarded, the estimated prevalence of chest pain and arrhythmias were 9.8% and 8.2%, respectively. Less-examined complications were stroke (0.5%), heart abnormalities (10.5%), thromboembolism (1.4%), high blood pressure (4.9%), heart failure (1.2%), myocardial injury (1.3%), myocarditis (0.6%), abnormal ventricular function (6.7%), edema (2.1%), coronary disease (0.4%), ischemic heart disease (1.4%), valve abnormalities (2.9%), pericardial effusion (0.8%), atrial fibrillation (2.6%), and impaired diastolic function (4.9%). (Van Beusekom, 11/30)
Reuters: AIDS Response 'Under Threat' Amid Human Rights Backlash - UN
The global response to AIDS is "under threat" because of an unprecedented backlash against human rights that is stigmatizing the groups most at risk of HIV infection, the head of the United Nations AIDS programme has warned. Winnie Byanyima, executive director of UNAIDS, said countries where there are laws against LGBTQ people, or which criminalise sex work or personal drug use, are largely the places seeing a rise or plateau in new infections. (Rigby, 11/28)
BBC News: Preventative HIV Drug Highly Effective, Study Says
A drug which stops HIV infecting the body has proved to be a highly effective "real-world" preventative treatment, a study has confirmed. The results of the research on 24,000 people taking it across England, have been described as "reassuring". Thousands of people are already taking PrEP through sexual health clinics. (Foster, 11/30)
Reuters: Novo Nordisk Finds Compounded Wegovy Up To 33% Impure, Sues Florida Pharmacies
Novo Nordisk said on Thursday it sued one compounding pharmacy and refiled a lawsuit against another after finding their products claiming to contain the active ingredient for its in-demand weight-loss drug Wegovy were impure, some by as much as 33%. The Danish drugmaker said it found impurities in all the drugs tested from Wells Pharmacy and Brooksville Pharmaceuticals, both based in Florida. Novo first sued Brooksville in July, and discovered a substance called BPC-157 in samples from Wells. (Wingrove, 12/1)
Reuters: US FDA Probes Quality Issues With China-Made Plastic Syringes
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Thursday it is looking into reports of leaks, breakages and other quality problems with plastic syringes manufactured in China. The agency was conducting further investigations along with federal partners and may prevent plastic syringes made in China from entering the U.S. market, if necessary, it said. (11/30)
Reuters: AbbVie Seeks Lift From 'Guided Missile' Cancer Drug With $10 Bln ImmunoGen Deal
AbbVie will buy ImmunoGen for $10.1 billion in cash, it said on Thursday, the latest major drugmaker to acquire a maker of promising "guided missile" cancer therapies as its top-selling treatment Humira faces newer rivals. ImmunoGen's Elahere belongs to a new class of treatments called antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) that precisely targets cancer cells, potentially reducing toxicity for other cells. (Leo and Mishra, 11/30)
The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: Sweet Solution: UH Researchers Find The Key To Killing Cancer Cells May Be Sugar
Too much sugar isn’t good for you. There isn’t a nutritionist anywhere who will say otherwise. Overconsumption of sugar leads to diabetes, obesity, inflammation, a weakened immune system - even wrinkles. But that bad could be turned into a good, when it comes to combating cancer. Sugar as it turns out, is bad for the cells in the body in a lot of ways, and now a group of researchers studying pancreatic cancer at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer has discovered it’s bad for cancer cells too. (Kroen, 11/30)
Bloomberg: Otsuka Buys US Supplement Maker Bonafide Health For $425 Million
Japanese drugmaker Otsuka Holdings Co. bought US supplement maker Bonafide Health LLC for $425 million to bolster its product lineup in the world’s largest market. The acquisition will add to the existing women’s health and food products of US subsidiary Pharmavite LLC, Otsuka said in a statement Friday. Pharmavite sells vitamins and minerals through brands such as Nature Made. (Matsuyama, 11/30)
Stat: Site-Neutral Cuts To Hospital Payments Draw New GOP Opposition
On its face, a minor policy to make sure Medicare pays hospitals the same as physician offices to administer medications has broad, bipartisan support from think tanks, stakeholders, and academics. But Republicans in the House and Senate are divided over the issue, creating a major obstacle to passage anytime soon. (Cohrs, 12/1)
Modern Healthcare: High-Needs Medicaid Market Presents Investment Opportunities
A cooling market for Medicare Advantage has some investors seeing opportunities in Medicaid. Investors have long been drawn to Medicare Advantage, but that segment has become crowded, dominated by a handful of big companies and less appealing amid regulatory changes. At the same time, states have invited innovation by creating incentives to attract companies willing to take on high-risk Medicaid beneficiaries. (Hartnett, 11/30)
Axios: New Doctors Just Aren't That Interested In Geriatrics
Doctors specializing in care for older adults are increasingly in demand as the country ages — but America's newer physicians aren't that interested in geriatric medicine. Less than half of 348 post-residency fellowships for geriatric internal medicine filled up in the initial matching process this year, according to new data from the National Resident Matching Program, the nonprofit that oversees placement of physicians in training. (Goldman, 12/1)
Stat: Radiology Is Caught Between AI's Potential And Concern For Patients
Radiology has long led the way in the application of artificial intelligence in medicine. More than three-quarters of AI and machine learning devices authorized by the Food and Drug Administration work with medical images — and that dominance was evident at this year’s meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, where AI vendors gathered to tout their latest offerings. (Palmer, 11/30)
Modern Healthcare: How ChatGPT Has Changed Healthcare In Just 1 Year
Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of OpenAI's release of the public version of ChatGPT. The healthcare industry is still buzzing over the technology. Health tech industry leaders saw the generative artificial intelligence text application as a possible game-changer almost immediately after its release. ... While some decision-makers remain thrilled about using ChatGPT—and generative AI more broadly—in healthcare, others are concerned about its potential to perpetuate racism and advance misinformation. (Perna, 11/30)
Reuters: Ex-US Marine Pleads Guilty To Firebombing California Abortion Clinic
An ex-U.S. Marine pleaded guilty on Thursday to federal charges that he firebombed a women's health and abortion clinic in Southern California last year and admitted in court to plotting several other acts of "domestic extremism," prosecutors said. Chance Brannon, 24, was on active duty stationed at the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base in San Diego County when he hurled a Molotov cocktail at the entrance to a Planned Parenthood clinic in the early morning hours of March 13, 2022, according to a federal indictment. (Gorman, 11/30)
CBS News: Firearm Suicides Reached "Unprecedented" High In 2022, CDC Data Shows
And while firearm suicide rates increased in all racial and ethnic groups during this period, the magnitude of the increase differed among groups, according to the report. "For example, whereas non-Hispanic White persons experienced the highest overall rate (11.1 during 2022), this rate represented a 9% increase from 10.2 during 2019. The largest rate increase (66%) occurred among (American Indian or Alaska Native) AI/AN persons, among whom the firearm suicide rate increased from 6.4 during 2019 to 10.6 during 2022," the authors wrote. (Moniuszko, 11/30)
Fox News: Depression Rates Higher Among College Students Than Their Peers, Study Suggests
College students may be at a greater risk of experiencing depression and anxiety compared to young people who are not in higher education, according to a new study published in The Lancet Public Health. Researchers from University College London analyzed data from two studies. The first study looked at 4,832 young people who were 18 and 19 years old between 2007 and 2009. (Rudy, 12/1)
The New York Times: Brain Study Suggests Traumatic Memories Are Processed As Present Experience
At the root of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a memory that cannot be controlled. It may intrude on everyday activity, thrusting a person into the middle of a horrifying event, or surface as night terrors or flashbacks. Decades of treatment of military veterans and sexual assault survivors have left little doubt that traumatic memories function differently from other memories. A group of researchers at Yale University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai set out to find empirical evidence of those differences. (Barry, 11/30)
Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Is Launching CARE Court. Here's What To Expect
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mental health program known as CARE Court arrives in Los Angeles County on Friday, with officials expressing optimism that it will help with the homelessness crisis. “We know that there are too many people with severe mental illness who are living on the streets,” Board of Supervisors Chair Janice Hahn said at a Thursday news conference. “We’ve all seen them, and so far, we’ve been unable to reach them or give them the care that they need. ... That’s why what we’re doing here today is so important.” (Cosgrove and Curwen, 11/30)
CNN: From ‘Menty B’ To ‘Grippy Socks,’ Internet Slang Is Taking Over How We Talk About Mental Health
In recent years, phrases like this have become ubiquitous, particularly online: “stressy depressy,” short for stressed and depressed, “menty b,” short for mental breakdown, and “suey,” short for suicidal, are just some of the jokey shorthand people have begun using to talk about mental health and mental illness. (Asmelash, 11/30)
St. Louis Public Radio: New Lawsuit Argues That Gender Dysphoria Is A Disability
The families of two transgender boys filed a federal lawsuit against the University of Missouri this month in an attempt to reverse its decision to stop providing gender-affirming care to minors. University of Missouri Health’s decision was a reaction to a state law that bars minors from beginning gender-affirming care. (Woodbury, 11/30)
The Washington Post: Women’s Brains Change Across The Menstrual Cycle, New Research Shows
A woman’s menstrual cycle is driven by the ebb and flow of hormones that prepare the body for pregnancy. This symphony of hormones not only transforms the reproductive organs, but, according to recent research, also reshapes the brain. Two studies released in October performed detailed brain scans of women at multiple points across the menstrual cycle, finding that the volume or thickness of certain regions change in sync with hormone levels. The areas of the brain highlighted by both studies are those in the limbic system, a group of brain structures that govern emotions, memory and behavior. (Kim, 11/30)
Stat: Congenital Heart Disease Patients Face New Threat Of Heart Failure
When Jennifer Case was living in Los Angeles in her early 30s, she was hospitalized 11 times. She had been born with two rare heart abnormalities, Ebstein anomaly and Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. Her parents were told that she probably wouldn’t live. She did live. But by her 30s, she had also developed heart failure, a condition in which the heart can’t pump blood throughout the body properly. She had dizziness and swelling in her legs, and at one point during work, she fainted. (Chen, 12/1)
WMFE: Small Planes Using Leaded Fuel Pose A Health Danger. What's Being Done To Help?
The EPA recently declared that emissions from aircrafts that use leaded fuel pose a danger to public health. The Engineering dean at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University explains. (Blake, 11/29)
CBS News: Pennsylvania Department Of Health Issues Warning About Children's Cups Recalled Due To High Lead Levels
The Pennsylvania Department of Health has issued a warning about children's cups recalled due to high levels of lead. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled PandaEarOpens, LAOION, and Green Sprouts stainless steel bottles and cups because their lead levels exceeded the federal content ban. (Guise, 11/30)
