First Edition: Feb. 9, 2023

KHN: ‘The Country Is Watching’: California Homeless Crisis Looms As Gov. Newsom Eyes Political Future 
Driving through the industrial outskirts of Sacramento, a stretch of warehouses, wholesale suppliers, truck centers, and auto repair shops northeast of downtown, it’s hard to square California’s $18 billion investment in homeless services with the roadside misery. Tents and tarps, run-down RVs, and rusted boats repurposed as shelter line one side of the main thoroughfare. More tents and plywood lean-tos hug the freeway underpasses that crisscross Roseville Road, and spill into the nearby neighborhoods and creek beds. (Hart, 2/9)

KHN: Congress Told HHS To Set Up A Health Data Network In 2006. The Agency Still Hasn’t
In early 2020, as they tried to fight covid-19 across two rural counties in North Carolina, the staff of Granville Vance Public Health was stymied, relying on outdated technology to track a fast-moving pandemic. Lisa Macon Harrison, the agency’s health director, said her nurses’ contact-tracing process required manually entering case information into five data systems. One was decades old and complicated. Another was made of Excel spreadsheets. None worked well together or with systems at other levels of government. (Whitehead, 2/9)

KHN: Community Resurrects Colorado Birth Center Closed By Private Equity Firm 
When a private equity firm closed Seasons Midwifery and Birth Center in Thornton, Colorado, in October, the state lost one of its few non-hospital birthing centers and 53 families with pregnancy due dates in November and December were left scrambling to find providers. But then staffers and community advocacy groups stepped in to fill the void for the suburban Denver community and its patients, many of whom rely on Medicaid, the federal-state insurance program for people with low incomes. They reorganized Seasons as a nonprofit organization and struck a note of triumph and defiance in announcing its reopening in January as the free-standing Seasons Community Birth Center. Seasons has five deliveries scheduled in February and 30 in March. (Cleveland, 2/9)

KHN: Centene Agrees To $215 Million Settlement With California For Alleged Medicaid Overbilling 
Centene Corp. has agreed to pay more than $215 million to California over allegations it overcharged the state for pharmacy services — the biggest payout to date by the nation’s largest Medicaid insurer over its drug pricing practices. The agreement announced Wednesday makes California at least the 17th state to settle pharmacy billing claims totaling $939 million with the St. Louis-based insurance giant. Centene reported $144.5 billion in revenue in 2022, up 15% from the previous year. (Young, 2/8)

KHN and PolitiFact: Health Policies Were A Prominent Theme In Biden’s State Of The Union Speech 
President Joe Biden on Tuesday delivered his State of the Union address to a politically divided Congress for the first time, calling for permanent fixes on policy priorities like unaffordable health costs. In one marked difference from his earlier speeches, attendance in the House chamber was at capacity with no covid-19 limitations in effect. And the lawmakers in the audience, both supporters and opponents, seemed to be in a raucous mood. Our partners at PolitiFact fact-checked a variety of Biden’s statements — ranging from Medicare, Social Security, and the health of the economy to infrastructure and a possible assault weapons ban — during the 73-minute speech. (2/8)

KHN: Listen To The Latest ‘KHN Health Minute’ 
“Health Minute” brings original health care and health policy reporting from the KHN newsroom to the airwaves each week. (2/7)

Reuters: In Wisconsin, Biden Touts 'Deal' With Republicans On Social Security
Fresh off a State of the Union speech to Congress that challenged opposition Republicans to help unite the country, President Joe Biden embarked on a tour of U.S. states crucial to his expected 2024 re-election bid. In Wisconsin, the Democratic president told workers at a union training facility "it looks like we negotiated a deal last night" on Social Security. (Holland and Hunnicutt, 2/8)

Politico: Biden On Republicans: ‘Their Dream Is To Cut Social Security And Medicare’
A jubilant President Joe Biden kicked off his post-State of the Union blitz on Wednesday, buoyed after a night of touting his wins from the past two years and challenging Republicans. “Folks, I hate to disappoint them, but the Biden economic plan is working,” the president told a crowd gathered inside a union training center. “It’s working.” (Lemire and Ward, 2/8)

ABC News: Biden To Warn That Republicans In Congress Will 'Undermine' Medicare, Social Security
Biden will travel to Tampa, Florida, on Thursday morning and deliver remarks at the University of Tampa in the afternoon. He will discuss his plan to fortify Social Security and Medicare as well as lower healthcare costs. The president will also "contrast his commitment to protecting and strengthening Medicare and Social Security and lowering prescription drug prices, with Congressional Republicans’ plans to cut these programs," the White House said. (Gomez and Winsor, 2/9)

The Washington Post: Social Security, Medicare Brawl Awaits Washington, Even If Not This Year
The ad-libbed exchange on Tuesday night encapsulated a newfound reality in Washington: Leaders of both parties have become unwilling to discuss potential changes to Social Security and Medicare — even as time dwindles before they reach financial insolvency and benefit reductions for tens of millions of American seniors will automatically go into effect. What used to be a routine point of at least nominal agreement on “hard choices” about the budget is, for now at least, off-limits as Washington grapples with GOP demands to cut federal spending in exchange for raising the nation’s debt limit. (Stein, 2/8)

The Hill: Medicare Social Security Sunset: What Republicans Have Said
Biden and Democratic lawmakers have repeatedly accused Republicans of attempting to target Medicare and Social Security in potential spending cuts that they hope to tie to a debt ceiling increase. However, Republicans have denied that the entitlement programs are at risk. But some prominent Republicans have previously suggested cuts to the programs. Here’s what they actually said about cuts and changes to Social Security and Medicare. (Shapero, 2/8)

The Hill: Scott Doubles Down On Sunsetting All Federal Programs After Biden’s Jab
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) on Wednesday defended his proposal to sunset all federal legislation after five years and slammed President Biden as “confused” in response to Biden’s claim at the State of the Union address that some Republicans want to sunset Social Security and Medicare. “In my plan, I suggested the following: All federal legislation sunsets in five years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again,” Scott said in a statement following Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress.  (Bolton, 2/8)

The Washington Post: Biden Names Republicans Seeking Changes To Medicare, Social Security
In his State of the Union address, Biden said some — but not all — Republicans want to target programs such as Social Security and Medicare, drawing jeers and catcalls from certain members of the GOP caucus. On Wednesday, the president used his speech at a labor training center in Wisconsin to identify the Republicans he was talking about Tuesday night, reading direct comments the lawmakers have made when proposing changes. (Alfaro and Bella, 2/8)

AP: Biden's Fentanyl Position Sparks Criticism From 2 Sides 
President Joe Biden’s calls in his State of the Union speech for strong criminal penalties in response to soaring deaths linked to the potent opioid fentanyl are being rebuked by harm reduction advocates who say that approach could make the problem worse, even as some in Congress jeered the comments and blamed the Democrat’s border policies for deepening the crisis. The reactions laid bare how preventing drug deaths touches on deep political, practical and philosophical differences even in addressing an unrelenting U.S. overdose crisis connected to more than 100,000 deaths a year. (Mulvihill, 2/9)

Stat: What Medicare Enrollees Can Expect After Covid Emergency Ends
People with Medicare will pay more for some Covid-19 tests and treatments after the public health emergency ends, according to the agency that oversees the program. The Biden administration will end the federal Covid-19 public health emergency declaration on May 11, bringing an end to some of the free services that lawmakers had guaranteed patients in various Covid-19 relief laws. (Cohrs, 2/9)

USA Today: An Experimental COVID Treatment Could Be A Promising Alternative To Paxlovid, Study Finds
An experimental COVID-19 antiviral appears to be effective at preventing hospitalizations without some of the downsides of other treatments. A study appearing Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine found that a shot of interferon lambda prevented 51% of hospitalizations among people who have been vaccinated — an already low-risk group and one that hasn't been proven to benefit from other treatments. (Weintraub, 2/8)

Bloomberg: Covid-19 Therapy Study Revives Debate Over Lack Of US Clearance
Positive results from an experimental Covid-19 therapy are rekindling questions about why it hasn’t gained authorization from US regulators, even as the availability of other treatments drops. Adults at high risk of severe Covid who were treated with Eiger BioPharmaceutical Inc.’s therapeutic, called peginterferon lambda, had a 51% lower risk of hospitalization than those who received a placebo, according to the study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Muller, 2/8)

The New York Times: Why The Odds Are Stacked Against A Promising New Covid Drug 
Over the past year, America’s arsenal of Covid treatments has shrunk as new variants of the coronavirus have eroded the potency of drug after drug. Many patients are now left with a single option, Paxlovid. While highly effective, it poses problems for many people who need it because of dangerous interactions with other medications. But a new class of variant-proof treatments could help restock the country’s armory. Scientists on Wednesday reported in The New England Journal of Medicine that a single injection of a so-called interferon drug slashed by half a Covid patient’s odds of being hospitalized. (Mueller, 2/8)

CIDRAP: Study: 60% Of COVID-Infected Cancer Patients Report Viral Symptoms 6 Months Later 
A study published yesterday in eLife shows that 60% of cancer patients still have COVID-19 symptoms for 7 months after infection, similar to the general population. University of Texas researchers identified 312 patients at MD Anderson Cancer Center who tested positive for COVID-19 from Mar 1 to Sep 1, 2020, and followed up with them until May 2021. Participants completed daily questionnaires on viral symptoms for 14 days after infection, then weekly for 3 months, and then monthly thereafter. (Van Beusekom, 2/8)

Reuters: U.S. House Votes To End Foreign Air Traveler COVID Vaccine Requirement
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted to end a requirement that most foreign air travelers be vaccinated against COVID-19, one of the few remaining pandemic travel restrictions still in place. The vote was 227 to 201 with seven Democrats joining Republicans. No Republicans voted against the bill. (Shepardson, 2/8)

The New York Times: N.I.H. Leader Rebuts Covid Lab Leak Theory At House Hearing 
The acting director of the National Institutes of Health pushed back on Wednesday against Republicans’ assertions that a lab leak stemming from taxpayer-funded research may have caused the coronavirus pandemic, telling lawmakers that viruses being studied at a laboratory in Wuhan, China, bore no resemblance to the one that set off the worst public health crisis in a century. Those viruses “bear no relationship to SARS-CoV-2; they are genetically distinct,” the N.I.H. official, Dr. Lawrence A. Tabak, told a House panel, using the formal name for the virus. He added that to suggest otherwise would be akin to “saying that a human is equivalent to a cow.” (Stolberg, 2/8)

Reuters: World Should 'Calm Down' About China COVID Variants, Chinese Scientist Says
The world should "calm down" about the possibility of new COVID-19 variants circulating in China, leading Chinese scientist George Gao said. A paper by Gao and colleagues published in the Lancet medical journal on Wednesday showed that no new variants had emerged in the initial weeks of China's recent outbreak, after the end of its zero-COVID policy saw a huge wave of cases. (Master and Rigby, 2/8)

CIDRAP: Downed Spy Balloon May Muddy US-China Medical Supply Chains
As the US Navy examines the balloon and searches for its cargo, experts fear the incident's effects on the US-China medical supply chain, according to an article yesterday in Scrip. The United States relies on overseas manufacturing for 18 of 21 critical antibiotics and 72% of its active pharmaceutical ingredients. ... One urgent issue is the resumption of FDA inspections of Chinese drug manufacturing plants. For example, BeiGene, Ltd., which has interests in both China and the United States, is still awaiting approval of its cancer antibody tislelizumab, which was postponed in July 2022 because the United States couldn't conduct inspections in China amid its now-scrapped zero-COVID policy. (Van Beusekom, 2/8)

Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Voters Could See Abortion Issue On Ballot In 2023
When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, a swiftly implemented Ohio law cut off access to nearly all abortions. Those abortion restrictions are now on hold and the law's fate is in the hands of Ohio judges. But proponents of abortion access in the Buckeye State want voters to decide when and how abortions are performed − as soon as this November. (Balmert and BeMiller, 2/8)

AP: Maryland Governor, Officials Supporting Abortion Protections
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and state lawmakers are scheduled to announce support Thursday for measures protecting abortion rights, including a state constitutional amendment that would enshrine it. House Speaker Adrienne Jones and Senate President Bill Ferguson, who are both Democrats, will join the governor at a news conference to show their support for a measure that would protect patients and providers in Maryland from criminal, civil and administrative penalties relating to abortion bans or restrictions in other states. (Witte, 2/9)

AP: Indiana Lawmakers Look To Broaden Birth Control Access
Indiana lawmakers this session are eyeing ways to expand contraceptive access to prevent unintended pregnancies in the state after the Republican-led Legislature pushed through an abortion ban this past summer. A House committee on Tuesday considered a proposal that could permit pharmacists to prescribe birth control hours before state Senators approved a bill that would allow Medicaid recipients same-day access to long-acting reversible contraceptives. (Rodgers, 2/7)

Axios: CDC Data Shows Births Rise Among 35+
Birth rates increased among women ages 25 and up — especially among those in their mid-to-late-30s — during the second year of the pandemic, according to final data released recently by the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. (Reed, 2/8)

USA Today: Autism Signs Detected By Algorithm In Month-Old Infants
Signs of autism can be picked up as early as the first month of life, according to a new study from Duke University that used children's health records to create an algorithm. Infants later diagnosed with autism were much more likely than neurotypical children to have seen an ophthalmologist or neurologist, have stomach or gastrointestinal problems, or to receive physical therapy, said study author Geraldine Dawson, who directs the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development. (Weintraub, 2/8)

NPR: Fabuloso Recall Affects 4.9 Million Bottles
Some Fabuloso cleaning products were recalled Wednesday over a risk of bacteria contamination, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. As of the recall, no incidents or injuries had been reported. The Colgate-Palmolive Company, the manufacturer of the popular brand, recalled about 4.9 million bottles in the U.S. and about 56,000 in Canada. Fabuloso says about 3.9 million of those bottles were never released for sale. (Radde, 2/8)

Modern Healthcare: Rural Hospitals Cut Maternity, Oncology Care Due Financial Strain
Community Medical Center had been delivering babies in Falls City, Nebraska, for more than a century until it shut down its obstetrics unit in November 2019. Annual delivery volumes had steadily declined at the critical access hospital, making it hard to attract and retain anesthesiologists, specialized nurses and surgeons, Community Medical Center CEO Ryan Larsen said. That meant administrators had to pay high rates for on-call physicians and practitioners, who were stretched thin. (Kacik, 2/8)

The Colorado Sun: Community Brings Back Colorado Birth Center Closed By Private Equity
When a private equity firm closed Seasons Midwifery and Birth Center in Thornton in October, Colorado lost one of its few non-hospital birthing centers and 53 families with pregnancy due dates in November and December were left scrambling to find providers. But then staffers and community advocacy groups stepped in to fill the void for the suburban Denver community and its patients, many of whom rely on Medicaid, the federal-state insurance program for people with low incomes. They reorganized Seasons as a nonprofit organization and struck a note of triumph and defiance in announcing its reopening in January as the free-standing Seasons Community Birth Center. (Cleveland, 2/8)

Reuters: Centene Reaches $215 Mln Settlement Addressing California Drug Overcharges 
Centene Corp has reached a $215.4 million settlement with California to resolve accusations it overcharged a state program for affordable healthcare by falsely inflating its costs for providing prescription drugs to patients. California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the settlement on Wednesday with the managed care company, which denied liability and wrongdoing but considered the settlement "fair, reasonable, and adequate." (Stempel, 2/8)

AP: 160 Patients Evacuated After Fire At Massachusetts Hospital
More than 70 ambulances showed up Tuesday to transfer about 160 patients evacuated from a Massachusetts hospital that lost power after an electrical transformer fire. The power was shut off at Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital for safety reasons, officials said. “We are removing some critically ill and injured patients,” Brockton Fire Chief Brian Nardelli said at a morning news conference. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency said about 160 patients were affected. Firefighters said 77 ambulances assisted in relocating them. (2/7)

Detroit Free Press: Plans Unveiled For Big Henry Ford Hospital Expansion, 550 Apartments
The Henry Ford Health system plans to build a major expansion to its Henry Ford Hospital campus in Detroit at about the same time as Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores undertakes two new nearby housing developments totaling at least 500 apartments. The projects, forecast to total $2.5 billion in costs and also to include a new joint medical research center with Henry Ford Health and Michigan State University, were unveiled Wednesday. (Reindl, 2/8)

WMFE: Some Of Orlando Health's Patients Can Now Receive Hospital Care At Home
Orlando Health on Thursday will launch its Hospital Care at Home program, allowing patients in need of acute care to be treated in the comfort of their homes. The program would treat patients suffering from cellulitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, urinary tract infection, heart failure, COVID-19, pneumonia and gastroenteritis. (Pedersen, 2/8)

AP: Mississippi Senate Passes Postpartum Medicaid Extension
Mississippi state senators passed a bill Tuesday that would let mothers keep Medicaid coverage for a year after giving birth, up from the current two months. “This is the exact same bill that we passed last session three times 45-5,” said Sen. Kevin Blackwell, a Republican from Southaven. State senators voted last year for an extension, but it failed in the House amid opposition from the Republican House Speaker, Phillip Gunn. (Goldberg, 2/8)

AP: California Health Program Successfully Cut Hospital Visits
A five-year experiment aimed at improving care for some of California’s most at-risk Medicaid patients — including homeless people and people with severe drug addictions — resulted in fewer hospitalizations and emergency room visits that saved taxpayers an estimated $383 per patient per year, according to a review released Wednesday. The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research said that for every 1,000 people enrolled in California’s Whole Person Care pilot program, there were 45 fewer hospitalizations and 130 fewer ER visits when compared with a similar group of patients who were not in the program. (Beam, 2/9)

AP: Democrats Push To Let All Residents Buy Into MinnesotaCare 
Lawmakers went to work Wednesday on a proposal to allow all residents to buy into the state-run MinnesotaCare health insurance program, not just low-income workers struggling to get by. Democratic legislators and Gov. Tim Walz have been pushing for several years to expand MinnesotaCare into a low-cost “public option” for health insurance that would be available to everyone. Now that Democrats control both chambers of the Legislature and the governor’s office, expanding the program is one of their top priorities for the 2023 session. (Karnowski, 2/8)

AP: Residents Can Return After Air Deemed Safe From Derailment 
Evacuated residents can return to the Ohio village where crews burned toxic chemicals after a train derailed five days ago near the Pennsylvania state line now that monitors show no dangerous levels in the air, authorities said Wednesday. Around-the-clock testing inside and outside the evacuation zone around the village of East Palestine and a sliver of Pennsylvania showed the air had returned to normal levels that would have been seen before the derailment, said James Justice of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2/9)

AP: Sen. John Fetterman Hospitalized After Feeling Lightheaded 
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Democrat who suffered a stroke during his campaign last year, was hospitalized Wednesday night after feeling lightheaded while attending a Senate Democratic retreat, his office said. Initial tests at George Washington University Hospital did not show evidence of a new stroke, Fetterman’s communications director, Joe Calvello, said in a statement issued Wednesday night. Doctors were running more tests and the senator remained at the hospital for observation, according to the statement. (2/9)

AP: Organs In Exchange For Freedom? Bill Raises Ethical Concerns
A proposal to let Massachusetts prisoners donate organs and bone marrow to shave time off their sentence is raising profound ethical and legal questions about putting undue pressure on inmates desperate for freedom. The bill — which faces a steep climb in the Massachusetts Statehouse — may run afoul of federal law, which bars the sale of human organs or acquiring one for “valuable consideration.” It also raises questions about whether and how prisons would be able to appropriately care for the health of inmates who go under the knife to give up organs. (LeBlanc, 2/8)

NBC News: Eye Infections From Tainted Eyedrops May Be More Widespread, Doctors Worry
It was late last summer when Dr. Guillermo Amescua started noticing "something weird" about the eye infections he was seeing in his clinic. Amescua, a cornea specialist at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, had been well-versed in using antibiotics to treat bacterial eye infections. (Edwards, 2/9)

Reuters: WHO Sending Medics And Supplies To Turkey And Syria Earthquake Zone 
The World Health Organization is deploying expert teams and flights with medical supplies to Turkey and Syria after Monday's devastating earthquake. It will send a high-level delegation to coordinate its response as well as three flights with medical supplies, one of which is already on its way to Istanbul, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a media briefing on Wednesday. (2/8)

AP: How Long Can People Survive In The Rubble Of An Earthquake? 
How long can trapped people survive in the rubble of an earthquake? Up to a week or more, experts say, but it depends on their injuries, how they are trapped and weather conditions. Search teams from around the world have joined local emergency personnel in Turkey and Syria to look for victims from this week’s devastating earthquake that has killed thousands. (Tanner, 2/8)

AP: Court Denies Aid For Hiroshima A-Bomb Survivors' Children 
A Japanese court on Tuesday rejected a damage suit filed by a group of children of Hiroshima atomic bombing survivors seeking government support for medical costs, saying the hereditary impact of radiation exposure is still unknown. A group of 28 plaintiffs whose parents suffered radiation exposure in the Aug. 6, 1945, U.S. atomic attack were demanding the central government include them in the medical support available to survivors. (Yamaguchi, 2/7)