Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: February 5, 2018
Kaiser Health News: Indiana Gets Federal Approval For Medicaid Plan That Could Slice Enrollment
Indiana on Friday became the second state to win federal approval to add a work requirement for adult Medicaid recipients who gained coverage under the Affordable Care Act, but a less debated “lockout” provision in its new plan could lead to tens of thousands of enrollees losing coverage. The federal approval was announced by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar in Indianapolis. ... Medicaid participants who fail to submit in a timely manner their paperwork showing they still qualify for the program will be blocked from enrollment for three months, according to the updated rules. (Galewitz, 2/2)
Kaiser Health News: Skip The Rocking Chairs For These Rock Stars Of Aging
If people can age with class, then Harlene Goodrich, 80, and Dorothy Kelly, 91, should be considered aging’s rock stars. These women — two strangers from opposite ends of the country and the poles of politics — agree on the basics on how to age well. (Horovitz, 2/5)
California Healthline: California To Drug Users: We’ll Pay For You To Test Your Dope
Michael Marquesen first noticed about a year ago that fentanyl, a dangerous synthetic opioid, had hit the streets of Los Angeles. People suddenly started overdosing after they shot up a new white powder that dealers promised would give them a powerful high. “In Hollywood, they’re like ‘Everybody’s dropping … everybody’s overdosing!’” said Marquesen, director of the Los Angeles Community Health Project, which provides support services for people dealing with drug addiction. (Bartolone, 2/2)
The Wall Street Journal: States Look At Establishing Their Own Health Insurance Mandates
At least nine states are considering their own versions of a requirement that residents must have health insurance, a move that could accelerate a divide between Democratic states trying to shore up the Affordable Care Act and Republican states intent on tearing it down. Congressional Republicans in December repealed the so-called individual mandate, a pillar of the ACA, as part of their tax overhaul. That cheered conservatives who say people shouldn’t be forced to buy insurance, but it has now energized liberals who say a mandate is needed to ensure coverage and keep premiums low. (Armour, 2/4)
The Hill: 9 States Considering Individual Mandate Rules: Report
Nine states are considering laws that would require their residents to purchase health insurance, the The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. The proposals come less than two months after Republicans, as part of a sweeping tax code overhaul, voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) mandate requiring individuals to have health insurance. (Greenwood, 2/3)
The Associated Press: Record Number Enrolled Through NY Health Plan Marketplace
More New Yorkers than ever are signed up for health coverage under the state's health insurance marketplace. State health officials say 4.3 million New Yorkers are now enrolled through the marketplace following the end of open enrollment on Wednesday. That's an increase of 700,000 from 2017. (2/2)
Politico: Trump Administration Approves Second Medicaid Work Requirement, For Indiana
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Friday granted Indiana permission to add work requirements to its Medicaid program, making it the second state to tie health coverage to employment for certain low-income enrollees. Azar, days after being sworn in, touted the work requirement plan as an innovative approach to boosting employment and lifting poor adults out of poverty. (Cancryn, 2/2)
The Washington Post: Indiana Wins Federal Permission To Adopt Medicaid Work Requirements
Federal officials’ approval Friday came almost exactly three years after the Obama administration allowed Indiana to test novel rules within its Medicaid program — among them, charging insurance premiums to even those in deep poverty — but rejected the state’s attempt to impose work requirements. Blocked in 2015 from compelling people on Medicaid to hold or prepare for jobs, Indiana officials created a voluntary “Gateway to Work” as part of their expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The state has been referring people working fewer than 20 hours a week to programs that could help them train or search for jobs. (Goldstein, 2/2)
Reuters: Indiana To Impose Medicaid Work Requirements
Pregnant women, medically frail enrollees, students, some caregivers and people in substance use treatment are among those that are exempted from the requirements. Kentucky became the first state to impose work requirements on its Medicaid recipients last month. (Erman, 2/2)
The Hill: Trump Approves Indiana Medicaid Work Requirements
Standing beside Gov. Eric Holcomb (R), Azar touted the work requirements as an important way to boost employment and to improve people’s "well-being." “Indiana's vision and ours goes beyond the provision of quality health care," Azar said. “Work is a key component of well-being.” (Weixel, 2/2)
The Associated Press: In Drug Crisis Hotbed, Hoping For Action On Trump's Words
President Donald Trump heads to Ohio on Monday to make Cincinnati-area stops focusing on the new tax overhaul — though some in a state with one of the nation's highest overdose rates would rather hear more about his plans for the drug crisis. In Newtown, outside Cincinnati, Police Chief Tom Synan said he found Trump's comments on opioids in his State of the Union address to be "much of the same. There are very convincing words and there's yet to be very convincing actions." (Sewell, 2/4)
Politico: As Opioid Overdoses Rise, Colleges Supply Reversal Drug
Colleges are increasingly stocking up on an easy-to-use opioid overdose antidote as the number of incidents keeps rising with young adults among those most at risk. Opioids killed nearly 4,000 Americans ages 15 to 24 in 2016, nearly a third more than the year before. And while over 30 percent of college students said they knew someone who had overdosed on pain pills or heroin, even more — over 37 percent — reported not knowing what to do if they were present, a survey by the Hazelden Betty Ford Institute for Recovery Advocacy and The Christie Foundation found. (Sanchez, 2/2)
The Hill: Bipartisan Senate Group Opposes Cuts To Anti-Drug Office
Senators are urging the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and appropriators in the upper chamber to block major changes to an anti-drug office the Trump administration is reportedly weighing. Last month, Politico reported that OMB was planning to propose moving two major grants at the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). Under the plan, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and Drug-Free Communities programs would be moved to the Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services, respectively. (Roubein, 2/2)
The Hill: Heroin Task Force Presses Congress For More Funding To Fight Opioid Epidemic
The Bipartisan Heroin Task Force is calling on congressional leaders to funnel more federal dollars into combating the opioid epidemic, which now causes more deaths per year than car accidents. In October, President Trump declared the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency — a move the administration recently extended for another 90 days. Advocates have expressed concern the declaration hasn’t had much of an impact, adding that more funding is needed for it to be effective. (Roubein, 2/2)
The New York Times: U.S. Pays Billions For ‘Assisted Living,’ But What Does It Get?
Federal investigators say they have found huge gaps in the regulation of assisted living facilities, a shortfall that they say has potentially jeopardized the care of hundreds of thousands of people served by the booming industry. The federal government lacks even basic information about the quality of assisted living services provided to low-income people on Medicaid, the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, says in a report to be issued on Sunday. (Pear, 2/3)
The Associated Press: New Report Details Misuse Of Antipsychotics In Nursing Homes
U.S. nursing homes have significantly reduced the use of powerful antipsychotic drugs among their elderly residents, responding to pressure from many directions. Yet advocacy groups insist that overmedication remains a major problem, and want the pressure to intensify. According to the latest data from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, known as CMS, the percentage of long-term nursing home residents being given antipsychotic drugs dropped from about 24 percent in late 2011 to under 16 percent last year. Decreases were reported in all 50 states, with the biggest in Tennessee, California and Arkansas. (Crary, 2/5)
The New York Times: If Immigrants Are Pushed Out, Who Will Care For The Elderly?
In Dallas, a 93-year-old is worried about the woman who, for years, has come to her house four days a week to help with shopping, laundry, housecleaning and driving. “She’s just a wonderful person, someone I feel I can trust completely,” said the older woman. But because her helper is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, both women increasingly fear that she’ll be detained and deported. (Span, 2/2)
The Wall Street Journal: Paul Ryan Pushes To Keep Overhaul Of Safety-Net Programs On GOP Agenda
House Speaker Paul Ryan, speaking at a GOP policy retreat, called for overhauling government-aid programs to be a legislative priority in 2018, though his plan is likely to face difficulties getting through the Senate and to be delayed by fights over government spending, the nation’s debt limit and immigration. Mr. Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, focused on tightening workforce requirements for welfare and food-stamp programs in his presentation Wednesday to GOP lawmakers and “getting people the skills and opportunities to get into the workforce,” as a measure of helping people, not as a budget-cutting exercise, according to a person in the room. A follow-up discussion on Thursday echoed some of the speaker’s ideas. (Andrews, 2/4)
The New York Times: Flu Patients Arrive In Droves, And A Hospital Rolls Out The ‘Surge Tent’
By mid-January, the flu season at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest here in Allentown was bad enough to justify dragging out the “surge tent.” The Band Aid-colored structure in the parking lot — an inflatable military-style hospital ward a bit like a bouncy castle — is outfitted with cots, oxygen tanks and heart monitors. Sandwiched between the ambulance helipad and the E.R. doors, the tent is mostly used as a holding area for walk-in patients who need monitoring. The extra space lowers the risk of infections in the main waiting room when the coughing and sneezing is at its worst. (McNeil, 2/2)
The Washington Post: This Flu Season's Hospitalizations Are Highest In Nearly A Decade
This year's flu season has now sent more people to the hospital with the illness than in nearly a decade, federal health officials said Friday. Nationwide, during the fourth week of January, 16 more children died of the virus. So far this season, influenza has caused the deaths of at least 53 children, rivaling the death toll of the especially severe 2014-2015 flu season. Eighty percent of the children had not had a flu shot. (Sun, 2/2)
NPR: Children Have Been Hit Hard By The Current Flu Season
The current flu season is still getting worse, federal health officials said Friday. And it continues to take a toll on children.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an additional 16 flu deaths among children, bringing the nationwide total this season for youngsters to 53. About half of those children apparently had been healthy and had no special vulnerability to this viral disease, said Dr. Anne Schuchat, acting director of the CDC. And the risk is not going away. (Harris, 2/2)
NPR: Researchers Examine How The Flu Virus Spreads By Studying Students
On a blustery winter day, Dr. Don Milton and his undergraduate research assistants, Louie Gold and Amara Fox, are recruiting students for his new study on how the flu — and other viruses — spread. As incentives, they have vouchers for the school convenience store and free hot chocolate. (Simmons-Duffin, 2/2)
Reuters: Florida Nurse's Choice Words To Avoid Flu: 'Wash Your Stinking Hands'
A Florida nurse has offered some frank advice for people whose lax hygiene is contributing to a deadly flu outbreak, including "wash your stinking hands!" In the six-minute video entitled "After Work Thoughts", which has been watched more than 6 million times since it was posted on Facebook last weekend, Katherine Lockler unloaded her frustrations after long shifts in the emergency room. (Dobuzinskis, 2/2)
The Hill: The 2018 Flu Epidemic: What You Need To Know
This year’s flu season is one of the worst on recent record, and federal officials warn it’s not getting better anytime soon. There have been 53 children who have died of the flu this season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the children who died, about half had no underlying medical conditions. (Weixel, 2/5)
The Associated Press: Abortion Is A Focus Of Early Action In Legislative Sessions
Republicans who control a majority of the nation’s statehouses are considering a wide range of abortion legislation that could test the government’s legal ability to restrict a woman’s right to terminate pregnancy. The Mississippi House passed a bill Friday that would make the state the only one to ban all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. In Missouri, lawmakers heard testimony earlier in the week on a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks. (Foley, 2/3)
The Associated Press: State Legislative Action So Far This Year On Abortion Policy
Abortion policy has been a hot topic in state legislative sessions that began or resumed last month. A look at some of the actions. (2/3)
The Associated Press: Mississippi Pushes Abortion Ban At 15 Weeks, Earliest In US
Mississippi lawmakers pushed ahead Friday with a bill to ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, which would be the earliest ban nationwide and create a possible court challenge. Mississippi already bans most abortions after 20 weeks. It's tied with North Carolina for the nation's earliest ban. (Amy, 2/2)
Politico: California Billboards Aim To Discredit 'Abortion Reversal'
A campaign to challenge so-called crisis pregnancy clinics that promote “abortion reversal” will appear Monday on billboards throughout the San Francisco Bay Area — not your typical place for battles over reproductive rights. Abortion controversies more often emanate from states like Texas. But liberal California has found itself on the front lines recently. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments next month in a free-speech challenge from anti-abortion groups to a state law requiring providers to post information about state-funded abortion services. And California's state nursing board invited controversy recently, reversing itself and allowing continuing education credits on the unproven reversal process. (Colliver, 2/4)
The Hill: Groups Sue HHS For Docs On Blocking Abortions By Undocumented Teens
Watchdog groups are suing the Department of Health and Human Services for information related to the agency's blocking of undocumented minors from obtaining abortions. Campaign for Accountability and Equity Forward, represented by American Oversight, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Thursday, arguing that HHS failed to comply with an information request in a timely manner. (Hellmann, 2/2)
The Associated Press: Not Just Boy And Girl; More Teens Identify As Transgender
Far more U.S. teens than previously thought are transgender or identify themselves using other nontraditional gender terms, with many rejecting the idea that girl and boy are the only options, new research suggests. The study looked at students in ninth and 11th grade and estimated that nearly 3 percent are transgender or gender nonconforming, meaning they don't always self-identify as the sex they were assigned at birth. That includes kids who refer to themselves using neutral pronouns like "them" instead of "he" or "she." (2/5)
The Washington Post: Ryan Anderson’s Book On Transgender People Is Creating An Uproar
Ryan T. Anderson’s new book isn’t even out yet, but it has already hit Amazon bestseller lists. In “When Harry Became Sally,” Anderson, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, makes what some feel is an inflammatory case against transgender people. He argues that American society’s growing acceptance of transgenderism has more to do with ideology than science. (Cha, 2/2)
The New York Times: Cancer Risk From Cellphone Radiation Is Small, Studies Show
Do cellphones cause cancer? Despite years of research, there is still no clear answer. But two government studies released on Friday, one in rats and one in mice, suggest that if there is any risk, it is small, health officials said. Safety questions about cellphones have drawn intense interest and debate for years as the devices have become integral to most people’s lives. Even a minute risk could harm millions of people. (Grady, 2/2)
The Washington Post: Cellphone Radiation Study Finds Mixed Effects In Rodents, Without Clear Implications For Human Health
John Bucher, a senior scientist involved in the 10-year study, was cautious in his interpretation of the results in a conference call with journalists Friday. Given the inconsistent pattern of the findings, the fact that the subjects were rats and mice rather than people and the high level of radiation used, he said, he could not extrapolate from the data the potential health effects on humans. “At this point we don’t feel that we understand enough about the results to place a huge degree of confidence in the findings,” he said. (Cha, 2/2)
Los Angeles Times: Radiation From Cellphones Is Not Hazardous To Your Health, Government Scientists Say
"The reports don't go much further than what we had reported earlier, and I have not changed the way I use a cellphone," NTP senior scientist John Bucher said in a briefing. Dr. Otis Brawley, the chief medical and scientific officer for the American Cancer Society, said that the new evidence should not alarm wireless phone users. "The evidence for an association between cellphones and cancer is weak, and so far, we have not seen a higher cancer risk in people," Brawley said in a statement. (Kaplan, 2/2)
The New York Times: Early Facebook And Google Employees Form Coalition To Fight What They Built
A group of Silicon Valley technologists who were early employees at Facebook and Google, alarmed over the ill effects of social networks and smartphones, are banding together to challenge the companies they helped build. The cohort is creating a union of concerned experts called the Center for Humane Technology. Along with the nonprofit media watchdog group Common Sense Media, it also plans an anti-tech addiction lobbying effort and an ad campaign at 55,000 public schools in the United States. (Bowles, 2/4)
NPR: Migraine Relief May Be On The Way With New Therapies In Development
Humans have suffered from migraines for millennia. Yet, despite decades of research, there isn't a drug on the market today that prevents them by targeting the underlying cause. All of that could change in a few months when the FDA is expected to announce its decision about new therapies that have the potential to turn migraine treatment on its head. (Gravitz, 2/3)
The Washington Post: A Large Analysis Shows Coffee Is Mostly Good For You, Though Maybe Not If You're Pregnant
“It’s impossible that we still struggle to decide if coffee is healthy or unhealthy,” says Giuseppe Grosso, a nutritional epidemiologist at the University of Catania in Italy: Good for hypertension one week. Bad for hypertension the next. To address this vexing situation, Grosso and his colleagues collected all studies on the health effects of coffee, systematically reviewed the evidence, then offered up their bottom line in the Annual Review of Nutrition. (Powell, 2/4)
NPR: Diet Rich In Greens Linked To Less Age-Related Memory Loss
To age well, we must eat well — there's been a lot of evidence that heart-healthy diets help protect the brain. The latest good news: A study recently published in Neurology finds that healthy seniors who had daily helpings of leafy green vegetables — such as spinach, kale and collard greens — had a slower rate of cognitive decline, compared to those who tended to eat little or no greens. (Aubrey, 2/5)
The Washington Post: Which Dietary Supplements Work, And Which Don't. Some Research-Based Answers
Plenty of dietary supplements claim to help you get in shape or lose weight, but do they really work? Several new resources from the National Institutes of Health summarize what is known about the safety and effectiveness of popular supplement ingredients. For example, NIH has put together a fact sheet on ingredients in exercise supplements, which manufacturers often claim can improve users’ strength or endurance, or help them achieve their performance goals faster. (Rettner, 2/3)
The Washington Post: Many Doctors Are Wary Of Medical Marijuana. And Jeff Sessions Hasn’t Helped.
Gene Ransom’s day was ruined within minutes of Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s announcement that he was giving federal prosecutors more freedom to go after marijuana transactions in states that have legalized medical cannabis. “Our phones just blew up,” said Ransom, the chief executive of the Maryland State Medical Society. “We must have had 400 physicians calling to ask us what this was going to mean.” (Hendrix, 2/2)
The Washington Post: Regulators Who Targeted Anti-Vaccine Doctor May Pay Millions For Humiliating Him
Mark Geier built a medical practice in Rockville and a national reputation for propagating the discredited theory that vaccines cause autism. The Maryland Board of Physicians suspended his license seven years ago because he was treating autistic children with a drug considered dangerous for young people and not known to alleviate symptoms of the disorder. But the regulators who stripped Geier’s credentials are now in the hot seat, ordered to each personally pay tens of thousands of dollars in damages by a judge who says the board abused its power in an attempt to humiliate the doctor and his family. (Nirappil, 2/3)
The Associated Press: New Jersey Could Be First State To Ban Menthol Cigarettes
New Jersey could soon become the first state to outlaw the sale of menthol cigarettes. Legislation banning the cigarettes was approved Monday by the state Assembly's Health and Senior Services Committee and now heads to the Appropriations Committee for further consideration. Similar legislation has not yet been introduced in the state Senate. (2/4)
The Washington Post: How Hawaii’s Lepers Were Once Exiled To An Isolated Settlement
Molokai’s Kalaupapa peninsula seems like a peaceful haven. But it is home to a painful legacy — that of thousands of people with Hansen’s disease, or leprosy, who were once banished there to live and die in exile. “A Source of Light, Constant and Never-Fading,” an exhibition at the University of Hawaii — West Oahu, tells their stories. (Blakemore, 2/4)
