First Edition: February 28, 2019

Kaiser Health News: Despite 1991 Ruling, Foes Of New Family Planning Rules See Law On Their Side
State attorneys generals and women’s health advocates hoping to block in court new Trump administration rules for the federal family planning program face one major obstacle: The Supreme Court upheld very similar rules in 1991. Those rules were summarily canceled after a change in administrations. But the court is arguably more conservative than it was 28 years ago.Still, those who oppose the rules say that the ground has shifted enough to help them succeed this time. (Rovner, 2/28)

Kaiser Health News: There’s A New ‘Medicare-For-All’ Bill In The House. Why Does It Matter?
In many ways, the proposal sounds familiar: The government would establish a health plan that pays for basically all forms of medical care for all citizens. That’s how it gets the moniker “Medicare-for-all.” Under this plan, patients would not be responsible for any cost sharing of medical expenses, and the government coverage would include hospitals, doctors, preventive care, prescription meds and dental and vision care. Private insurers would not be allowed to sell plans that compete with the government program. Senior citizens would be folded into the new Medicare plan, which would be more generous than their current coverage, and the government would make sure any medical care they are getting is not disrupted. The bill leaves two other government health care payers intact: the Veterans Health Administration and the Indian Health Service. (Luthra, 2/27)

Kaiser Health News: Listening To Older Patients Who Want To Stop Dialysis
Dr. Susan Wong sat down with an 84-year-old patient in the hospital, where he’d been admitted with a flare-up of a serious autoimmune condition and deteriorating kidney function. The older man told her he wanted to go home; he’d had a good life and was ready for its end. He didn’t want aggressive care — including dialysis — having witnessed his wife and son die painfully in intensive care years ago. (Graham, 2/28)

The New York Times: As Over 100 House Democrats Embrace ‘Medicare For All,’ A Party Division Appears
Denouncing the profit motive in health care, more than 100 House Democrats rallied on Wednesday around a bill to replace most private health insurance with a national single-payer system, “Medicare for all.” The chief sponsor of the bill, Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington, said it would cure “a deep sickness within our for-profit system” of health care. But the bill highlights Democrats’ split over health policy going into the 2020 elections. (Pear, 2/27)

The Hill: Moderate Dems Revive Effort To Stabilize ObamaCare Markets
A group of moderate House Democrats will make a push this year to stabilize ObamaCare's markets, reviving an effort that fell to partisan bickering in 2017. The New Democrat Coalition, a caucus of 101 centrists, says the House should "immediately" work with Republicans to bring down ObamaCare premiums and reverse the Trump administration's "sabotage" of the health care law. (Hellmann, 2/27)

Bloomberg: Health Insurers Sink As `Medicare For All' Idea Gains Traction 
Health insurers are leading declines among health-care stocks as investors turned their focus to Democrats’ new “Medicare for all” bill that would replace almost all private plans and assessed the implications of a Senate hearing on surging drug prices. The S&P 500 Managed Health Care Index plunged as much as 4.9 percent, the most since Dec. 6, led by UnitedHealth Group Inc., Humana Inc. and WellCare Health Plans Inc. The broader health sector index fell 0.8 percent. (Darie, 2/27)

Politico: POLITICO's Pulse Check: Meet The Industry Group Fighting Medicare For All
More than 100 House Democrats on Wednesday, led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, unveiled their sweeping Medicare for All legislation. So what comes next — and why is the health care industry so opposed to it? First, POLITICO's Alice Miranda Ollstein joins Dan Diamond (starts at the 1:05 mark) on Capitol Hill to explain the state of play. (2/28)

The Associated Press/International Consortium of Investigative Journalists: Klobuchar Defends Her Record On Regulating Medical Devices
In her more than two terms as a U.S. senator representing Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar has built a reputation as an effective champion for consumer safety, sponsoring bills that improve swimming pool safety, ban lead in children's products and tackle the nation's opioid crisis. "Consumers deserve products that have been tested and meet strong health and safety standards," her website declares. (Forliti and Woodman, 2/28)

Boston Globe: Marijuana Legalization And The 2020 Presidential Race: Where The Candidates Stand
All 12 official Democratic candidates, as well as the potential Republican hopeful and former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld, told the Globe they now support full nationwide legalization, Canada-style. President Trump, meanwhile, has said he supports states’ rights to legalize. (Martin and Pindell, 2/27)

Reuters: U.S. House Approves Expanded Background Checks For Gun Sales
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill that would expand background checks for gun sales to include firearm purchases at gun shows and over the internet, a measure likely to face Senate and White House opposition. The background check bill, which was approved by a 240-190 vote, is the first gun control measure taken up by Democrats since they regained control of the House in the 2018 congressional midterm elections. (Becker, 2/27)

Politico: House Passes Most Sweeping Gun Control Legislation In Decades
The background checks legislation faces stiff opposition in the GOP-controlled Senate, and President Donald Trump — who has strong backing from the National Rifle Association and other gun rights groups — has vowed to veto the bill if it ever reaches his desk. But House Democrats insist that some federal action must be taken to address the growing toll of gun violence. In addition to Wednesday's vote, they will move legislation on Thursday to close the "Charleston loophole," which allows people to buy guns before background checks are completed, and extend the time period for any background checks from three days to as long as 20 days. White supremacist Dylann Roof was able to buy a gun in 2015 despite pending drug charges, and he later killed nine African-Americans at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. (Bresnahan, 2/27)

The Washington Post: Hard-Charging Democrats’ Cautious Strategy On Gun Control Reflects Limits Of Political Change
For six years, Rep. Mike Thompson’s job as House Democrats’ point man on combating gun violence amounted to stretches of obscurity punctuated by tragedy. As leader of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, he convened countless meetings of lawmakers, experts, advocates and victims, trying to build support for some kind — any kind — of gun control legislation. And when a mass shooting occurred, he stepped forward alongside Democratic leaders to explain the need for the kind of action the House Republican majority had no interest in taking. (DeBonis, 2/27)

The Associated Press: FBI: Vet Shoots, Wounds Doctor Before Mental Health Check 
The FBI says a 59-year-old U.S. Army veteran has shot and wounded a doctor just before a mental health evaluation at a U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Riviera Beach, Florida. The FBI told news outlets Wednesday night that Larry Ray Bon, of Michigan, arrived at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center that morning and was combative for hours. They say he was about to undergo the evaluation that evening when he pulled out the gun and shot the doctor in the neck. (2/28)

The New York Times: Patient Shoots Doctor At Florida Veterans Affairs Hospital, Officials Say
The F.B.I. took over the investigation of the shooting because it occurred in a federal building, Agent Leverock said. Mr. Bon was scheduled to appear in federal court on Thursday. The West Palm Beach V.A. Medical Center, about 75 miles north of Miami on Florida’s eastern coast, is a general medical, psychiatric and surgical facility, according to its website. The 153-bed facility opened in 1995 and “provides health services to veterans throughout South Florida,” both at the main facility in West Palm Beach and six contractor-operated outpatient clinics, a 2017 report said. The facility also operates a 108-bed “community living center” and a 13-bed “blind rehabilitation service,” according to the report. During the 2017 fiscal year, the facility served about 60,000 veterans, the report said. (Jacobs and Stevens, 2/27)

Stat: Did Some Pharma Execs Give Misleading Answers To Senate Panel? 
During Tuesday’s Senate hearing on drug pricing, each of the seven pharma execs insisted their companies have never withheld samples from generic rivals, a step that has raised concerns about unfairly thwarting competition. This is because generic companies need samples to develop copycat medicines and, sometimes, run tests to show a product is bioequivalent in order to win regulatory approval. Yet a recent Food and Drug Administration list of drug makers that withheld samples includes two companies  — Pfizer (PFE) and AstraZeneca (AZN) — whose chief executives testified samples were, in fact, not withheld. (Silverman, 2/27)

The New York Times: Thousands Of Immigrant Children Said They Were Sexually Abused In U.S. Detention Centers, Report Says
The federal government received more than 4,500 complaints in four years about the sexual abuse of immigrant children who were being held at government-funded detention facilities, including an increase in complaints while the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant families at the border was in place, the Justice Department revealed this week. The records, which involve children who had entered the country alone or had been separated from their parents, detailed allegations that adult staff members had harassed and assaulted children, including fondling and kissing minors, watching them as they showered, and raping them. (Haag, 2/27)

The Associated Press: Transgender Troops Tell Congress They Excel In Military
Transgender troops testifying for the first time to Congress on Wednesday said transitioning to another sex made them stronger, while Pentagon officials defended the Trump administration's desire to bar people like them from enlisting in the future. Army Capt. Alivia Stehlik, an infantry officer and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. and Ranger School, told lawmakers she became a more "effective soldier" after she transitioned from male to female in 2017. (2/27)

The Washington Post: In First, Transgender Troops Testify Before House As Trump Administration Seeks To Limit Their Service
Army Capt. Alivia Stehlik commissioned as an infantry officer from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., graduated from Ranger School and lived a “soldier’s life,” she said, spending long periods in the field before becoming a physical therapist in the service. After the Obama administration rescinded a ban in 2016 on serving while transgender, she wanted to do something else as a soldier, too: transition from male to female. (Lamothe, 2/27)

Reuters: Most Americans Back Transgender Troops: Reuters/Ipsos Poll
Nearly 60 percent of Americans said transgender people should be allowed to serve in the U.S. armed forces, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll conducted ahead of a congressional panel's review, set for Wednesday, of Trump administration curbs on transgender service. The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 22 ruled in favor of letting the Trump administration enforce its policy of barring many transgender people from the military. Implementation of the policy has been delayed by legal wrangling in a lower court case that the Supreme Court did not directly address. (2/27)

The Associated Press: Missouri House Passes Wide-Ranging Abortion Restrictions
The Missouri House on Wednesday took steps to outlaw most abortions in the state should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, an effort that's part of a broader Republican push amid renewed optimism that the high court might be more open to increased restrictions, and possibly an outright ban, on the procedure. (Ballentine, 2/27)

The Associated Press: Evers' Official: Ex-Planned Parenthood VP Has No Legal Say
Gov. Tony Evers' pick to lead the Wisconsin Department of Health Services on Wednesday defended naming a former vice president at Planned Parenthood as a top deputy, saying she won't have any involvement in lawsuits challenging the state's abortion laws. Secretary-designee Andrea Palm was asked about the pick of Nicole Safar during a confirmation hearing before the state Senate's health committee. (Bauer, 2/27)

The Associated Press: Weeks After 2030 HIV Pledge, Report Shows US Headway Stalled
Three weeks after President Donald Trump announced a campaign to end the U.S. HIV epidemic by 2030, new government data show that progress against the disease stalled recently. After declining for several years, the estimated number of new HIV infections held about steady from 2013 to 2016, the latest available data, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday. (Stobbe, 2/27)

The Hill: CDC: Progress In Preventing HIV 'Stalled' 
The report comes three weeks after President Trump announced a new campaign to end the HIV epidemic in the U.S. within 10 years. Eugene McCray, director of the CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, framed the report as evidence the campaign is needed. “After a decades-long struggle, the path to eliminate America’s HIV epidemic is clear,” McCray said in a statement. “Expanding efforts across the country will close gaps, overcome threats, and turn around troublesome trends.” (Rodrigo, 2/27)

The Associated Press: How 'Completely Avoidable' Measles Cases Continue To Climb
The U.S. has counted more measles cases in the first two months of this year than in all of 2017 — and part of the rising threat is misinformation that makes some parents balk at a crucial vaccine, federal health officials told Congress Wednesday. Yet the vaccine is hugely effective and very safe — so the rise of measles cases "is really unacceptable," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious disease chief at the National Institutes of Health. (2/27)

The Washington Post: Texas State Rep. Bill Zedler Suggests Antibiotics Treat Measles
Amid a relentless anti-vaccine movement and measles outbreaks across the United States, a Texas lawmaker has falsely suggested that antibiotics can be used to treat the deadly childhood disease. Texas state Rep. Bill Zedler (R), an anti-vaxxer who is promoting legislation to allow parents to more easily opt out of vaccinations for their children, said he had measles when he was a child. "When I grew up, I had a lot of these illnesses,” Zedler recalled, according to the Texas Observer. “They wanted me to stay at home. But as far as being sick in bed, it wasn’t anything like that.” (Bever, 2/27)

The Associated Press: Study: US Pedestrian Deaths Hit Highest Number Since 1990
The number of pedestrians killed on U.S. roads last year was the highest in 28 years, according to a report from a safety organization. Using data reported by states, the Governors Highway Safety Association estimates that 6,227 pedestrians were killed last year. That’s up 4 percent from 2017 and 35 percent since 2008. The association blames the increase on factors that include distracted or impaired drivers, more people walking to work, and more SUVs on the road, which cause more severe injuries in collisions with people on foot. (2/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Pedestrian Deaths Reach Highest Level In Nearly 30 Years
Pedestrian deaths now account for about 16% of motor-vehicle crash deaths, up from 12% a decade ago. In that span, all other traffic deaths grew by less than 5%. “We’re killing way too many pedestrians. This has got to be a high priority,” said Jonathan Adkins, executive director of the nonprofit Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents state highway-safety offices and commissioned the report. (Calvert, 2/28)

The Washington Post: ‘Miraculous’ Stem Cell Therapy Has Sickened People In Five States
Over the past year, at least 17 people have been hospitalized after being injected with products made from umbilical cord blood, a little-known but fast-growing segment of the booming stem cell industry, according to state and federal health officials and patient reports. Sold as a miracle cure for a variety of in­trac­table conditions, the injections have sickened people in five states, prompting new warnings from health officials about the risks of unproven stem cell treatments. (Wan and McGinley, 2/27)

The Wall Street Journal: New Cancer Drugs Aim To Offer Alternatives To Chemo
Michelle Lowry was a healthy baby until a pea-sized lump appeared on her neck when she was two. Within weeks it had swelled into a life-threatening tumor obstructing her breathing and she was hospitalized at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “Her right arm and hand stopped working,” recalled her mom, Christina Lowry, who lives in Simi Valley, Calif. “Her face was swollen, her eye was almost swollen shut. The tumor was almost all the way around her neck.” A test showed her tumor was caused by a so-called NTRK fusion, which happens when a gene known as NTRK fuses with another unrelated gene. (Reddy, 2/27)

Stat: New Study Finds No Link Between Flu Shots And Miscarriages, Allaying Fears
A new study looking at whether women who are pregnant face an increased risk of a miscarriage if they get a flu shot found no link between the vaccine and pregnancy loss. The reassuring finding contradicts an earlier study by the same researchers that raised questions about the safety of getting a flu shot during pregnancy. An overview of the study findings was presented Wednesday at a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which guides vaccination policy for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Branswell, 2/27)

Stat: Study: Guardant Blood Test Might Replace Biopsies In Some Cancers 
Could a blood test help more lung cancer patients get drugs that are targeted to the genetic weaknesses of their tumors? Yes, according to summary results of a 282-patient clinical trial being made available Wednesday. The result is a boon for Guardant Health, the San Francisco-based startup that sells the test, Guardant360, which is a “liquid biopsy” that works by detecting fragments of DNA in the bloodstream. The full study will be presented in full at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in early April. (Herper, 2/27)

The Associated Press: In Tobacco State, Students Testify About Youngsters' Vaping
Twelve-year-old Hannah Piedad first encountered vaping — an electronic form of smoking — at a New Year's party. It was the smell that got her attention. "I was intrigued because it smelled just like maple syrup," she said. Now the student at Johnson County Middle School in eastern Kentucky has testified before lawmakers in this tobacco state that e-cigarettes have become commonplace at her school despite a state law requiring a person to be at least 18 to buy them. (2/27)

NPR: 'Car Talk' Lives On In Medical Education, Teaching Med Students How To Diagnose
Ray and Tom Magliozzi, better known as "Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers," stopped recording new episodes of NPR's Car Talk in 2012. Tom passed away shortly thereafter, in 2014. But the spirit of the show lives on. And if you visit a doctor's office, you just might benefit from it. As it turns out, Ray and Tom's step-by-step method of diagnosing car trouble can be applied to more than just your broken down old jalopy. A handful of physicians are using the show to teach medical students how to diagnose disease. (Chisholm, 2/27)

The New York Times: High Blood Pressure In Teens Tied To Kidney Failure In Adulthood
High blood pressure in adolescence is associated with kidney failure in adults, a new study reports. Israeli researchers studied health records of more than 2.6 million healthy 16- to 19-year-old candidates for military service from 1967 to 2013. Almost 8,000 had a diagnosis of hypertension. Over an average follow-up of 20 years, 2,189 developed renal disease requiring dialysis or kidney transplant. (Bakalar, 2/27)

The New York Times: How To Support A Friend Or Loved One Who Has Been Sexually Abused
It’s an especially difficult time to be a survivor of sexual abuse or assault. On top of the daily struggle to stay safe and healthy, sexual abuse survivors also have to contend with an endlessly triggering news cycle. If you’re not a survivor yourself but you’re close to one — maybe a partner, friend or family member — you may not be able to fully understand what they’re going through, and you may feel confused or lost about how to best support them. Here’s what you need to know, and how you can be supportive. (Marin, 2/27)

The Associated Press: Company Leaders Are Faulted In Outbreak That Killed 11 Kids
A federal report says a viral outbreak that killed 11 children at a New Jersey nursing home was made worse because those in charge didn't plan for such an outbreak and didn't react fast enough. The Record reports the pediatric medical director of the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation didn't know how many children were infected with adenovirus or what his job entailed at the time of the outbreak last fall. (2/27)

Los Angeles Times: What It’s Like To Go To School When Dozens Have Been Killed Nearby
Jaleyah Collier had just said goodbye to Kevin Cleveland outside a doughnut shop a few blocks from Hawkins High School on a spring afternoon in 2017. Get home safe, she told him before walking away. Minutes later someone drove into an alley nearby, got out of the car and asked Kevin, 17, and two others about their gang affiliation. The gunman then sprayed them with at least 10 rounds, killing Kevin and injuring the others. Jaleyah, then a high school sophomore, barely had time to grieve when a month later, her best friend, Alex Lomeli, 18, was shot and killed when someone tried to rob a market about a mile from the same high school, located at 60th and Hoover streets. (Kohli and Lee, 2/27)

The Wall Street Journal: ThriveNYC, A Mental Health Initiative, Comes Under Scrutiny
Officials for the city’s ThriveNYC program, a mental health initiative, struggled to tell members of the New York City Council during testimony Wednesday how its annual budget of $250 million is spent and exactly how New Yorkers have benefited from the city’s services. The ThriveNYC initiative, now three years old, is the signature effort of Chirlane McCray, the wife of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. In January, Ms. McCray announced that the program would become its own office, which now has 21 employees with a $2 million office budget, according to Susan Herman, appointed to lead the office. (West, 2/27)

Los Angeles Times: Terminal Island Prison Inmates Went Without Heat During The Coldest February In Decades
Hundreds of inmates at the Terminal Island federal prison on the harbor front spent one of the coldest periods in decades in frigid cells with no heat and only blankets for warmth before they were transferred temporarily to another facility. As outside temperatures plunged into the low 40s at night, two units that housed more than 200 inmates lost heat after an underground steam line failed in January at the low-security federal lockup that sits at the entrance to Los Angeles Harbor in San Pedro. (Winton, 2/27)

Los Angeles Times: Should California Insure Itself Against Spending Too Much On Fighting Wildfires?
This would be a first for California: state government buying insurance to protect itself against overspending its budget. But before you start pelting the politicians and screaming fiscal irresponsibility, know that the budget-busting would be for fighting wildfires. (Skelton, 2/28)