First Edition: September 20, 2019

Kaiser Health News: Hill Hodgepodge: Pelosi Draws From Democrats, GOP And Trump For Drug Plan
Outlining how the HHS secretary would determine which drugs to negotiate, the plan says HHS would identify the target drugs each year with the highest aggregate cost, meaning they would take into account the price and the volume of sales. HHS would be required to negotiate the price of insulin, the proposal adds, singling out the lifesaving diabetes medication with sky-high costs that have spurred outrage at drugmakers this year. The legislation would aid negotiations by creating a maximum price called the Average International Market price. (Huetteman, 9/20)

Kaiser Health News: How Cruise Ship Passengers Should Prepare For Sickness Or Injury At Sea
Royal Caribbean’s gargantuan Oasis of the Seas boasts four outdoor pools and an 82-foot zip line and made quite a splash shortly after its 2014 refurbishment when it added the first Tiffany & Co boutique at sea. But in January 2019, the cruise ship, which bills itself one of the world’s largest, produced less cheerful news: Hundreds of passengers fell ill from the highly contagious norovirus stomach flu. (Horovitz, 9/20)

California Healthline: Invasive Mosquitoes Plunge Deeper Into California
Two invasive species of mosquitoes that can carry Zika, dengue, yellow fever and other dangerous viruses are spreading in California — and have been found as far north as Sacramento and Placer counties. There are now 16 counties where Aedes aegypti, commonly known as the yellow fever mosquito, has been detected, according to the state Department of Public Health. Five of those counties have also detected Aedes albopictus, the Asian tiger mosquito. (Rowan, 9/19)

Kaiser Health News: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Tennessee Seeks Medicaid Changes
Tennessee wants to convert its Medicaid program to a block grant. But is its plan legal? Meanwhile, Congress continues to struggle with legislation to rein in prescription drug prices and surprise medical bills. This week, Anna Edney of Bloomberg News, Jennifer Haberkorn of the Los Angeles Times and Kimberly Leonard of the Washington Examiner join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these issues and more. Rovner also interviews Dr. Marty Makary, author of the new book “The Price We Pay” about why health care costs so much. (9/19)

The New York Times: Pelosi’s Drug Plan Would Let U.S. Negotiate Prices Of 250 Medications
Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday released her long-awaited plan to curb soaring prices of prescription drugs, a political chess move that could prod the Senate to move and heat up congressional negotiations with the White House on a popular but elusive goal. Ms. Pelosi’s plan, which she laid out at a morning news conference, would allow the government to negotiate the price of insulin and as many as 250 name-brand drugs each year for Medicare beneficiaries — an idea that many Republicans hate but that President Trump embraced during his 2016 campaign. Drug companies would also have to offer the agreed-on prices to private insurers or face harsh penalties, which could give the package broader appeal with voters. (Goodnough, 9/19)

The Associated Press: Pelosi Offers Medicare Negotiation Plan To Curb Drug Prices
The plan would limit copays for seniors covered by Medicare's "Part D" prescription drug program to $2,000. Medicare-negotiated prices would be available to other buyers, such as employer health plans. It's shaping up as a high-stakes gamble for all sides in Washington. Polls show that high drug prices have Americans worried, and regardless of party affiliation, they want Congress to act. As a candidate, President Donald Trump called for Medicare negotiations but later seemed to drop the idea. (9/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Pelosi Wants Government To Negotiate Prices Of Costliest Drugs
“I want the biggest number we can possibly get, but I don’t want to promise something that we won’t have a deliverable within the next year on,” Mrs. Pelosi said. The pharmaceutical industry denounced the proposal and said other options, such as lowering consumers’ coinsurance and increasing patient-cost transparency, are preferable. (Armour and Duehren, 9/19)

Stat: Pelosi’s Drug Pricing Plan Would Allow Negotiation For Up To 250 Drugs
Pelosi’s final proposal, in some ways, is more aggressive than prior concepts that had circulated among lobbyists and congressional staff this year. It abandons a proposal to use binding arbitration to settle negotiation disputes, which progressives had opposed. Prior versions also did not include an international price index, which has become an unexpected point of agreement between Trump and progressives.(Facher, 9/19)

NPR: Pelosi Borrows A White House Idea To Lower Drug Prices
In gridlocked Washington, both Democrats and Republicans have signaled there's potential for a deal when it comes to lowering prescription drug prices. Now, there's an idea both Congressional Democrats and the White House seem to like: They want to base U.S. prices on something called an international price index. "The basic idea is to peg what the United States pays for a particular drug to the price paid in some set of other countries," says Rachel Sachs, an associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis who specializes in drug pricing policy. (Simmons-Duffin, 9/19)

The Hill: Progressives Push For Changes To Pelosi Drug Pricing Plan
Progressive House lawmakers are pushing for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) bill to lower drug prices to go further. The lawmakers have not denounced the bill and praised its overall approach, but say that important changes need to be made to make it stronger before it goes to the House floor. (Sullivan, 9/19)

Stat: Our 9 Biggest Questions About Nancy Pelosi’s Drug Pricing Bill
As Pelosi works to appease her progressive flank, she also needs to worry about the moderates in her caucus, who may see this plan as too anti-industry. Pelosi attempted to sell the plan Wednesday to Democrats’ main moderate caucuses, the Blue Dog and the New Democrat coalitions. “Everybody wants to ensure that innovation continues to happen, that cures continue to happen, everyone wants to make sure those cures are accessible and affordable for their constituents as well,” said Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.), chair of the New Democrats. “And that’s the narrow needle that needs to be thread in this conversation.” (Florko and Facher, 9/19)

The Washington Post: Pelosi Rolls Out Long-Awaited Bill To Lower Prescription Drug Costs
Even if there is no deal with the White House, the Democrats’ bill is a baseline for future efforts to address prescription drug costs under a Democratic president and Senate. The measure would require the Health and Human Services secretary to negotiate the prices of up to 250 drugs in Medicare that do not have competitors and would impose severe financial penalties on drug companies that failed to come to an agreement. The negotiated prices would be available to all purchasers, not just Medicare beneficiaries. (Abutaleb and DeBonis, 9/19)

Los Angeles Times: Pelosi Hopes Prescription Drug Bill Will Impress Voters In 2020
Democrats in 2018 seized control of the House of Representatives in large part because they convinced voters that they would be the party to protect Americans’ healthcare. But now, as the 2020 presidential campaign narrows the window for passing significant legislation and dominates headlines, rank-and-file Democratic House members have little to show on healthcare, an issue that is still top of mind for voters. (Haberkorn, 9/19)

Politico: McConnell Warns Pelosi's Drug-Pricing Plan Is DOA
Senate Republicans are warning Speaker Nancy Pelosi that her much-anticipated drug pricing plan is dead and will not be considered in the Senate. In an interview, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) ruled out any action on the bill, which would call for Medicare to negotiate drug prices for a minimum of 25 medicines and target drugs that cost the American health system the most. Pelosi rolled out the plan on Thursday to intense opposition from the drug industry, and McConnell. (Everett, 9/19)

Stat: Trump Says It’s ‘Great To See’ Pelosi’s Drug Pricing Plan
President Trump on Thursday broke with most Republicans on Capitol Hill on the issue of drug pricing, saying on Twitter that it was “great to see” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduce a bill that many GOP lawmakers derided earlier in the day as “socialist.” In the tweet, Trump also reiterated his support for an existing, bipartisan drug pricing package currently before the Senate, and encouraged lawmakers to pursue a bipartisan solution. (Facher and Florko, 9/19)

The New York Times: Vaping Illnesses Increase To 530 Probable Cases, C.D.C. Says
The number of vaping-related lung illnesses has risen to 530 probable cases, according to an update on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a Missouri man became the eighth to die from the mysterious ailments. During a news briefing, Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the C.D.C., said officials expect more deaths because some people are suffering from severe lung illnesses. (Richtel and Kaplan, 9/19)

The New York Times: Is It Time To Quit Vaping?
Allegations of illegal marketing tactics. More than 500 cases of severe lung illness in 38 states. Eight deaths. A proposed federal ban of most flavored e-cigarettes, and new efforts in many states to counter an epidemic of youth vaping. There’s been an avalanche of vaping news this month, which leaves many users facing a crucial question: Is it time to quit? Here’s a look at the issues. (Zraick and Fortin, 9/19)

The Associated Press: US Vaping Illnesses Top 500, Missouri Man Is 8th Death
The man who died in Missouri told his family he started vaping in May for chronic pain, but investigators have not yet determined if he was vaping THC, according to a spokeswoman at Mercy Hospital St. Louis. Two-thirds of the cases involved 18- to 34-year-olds. Three-quarters are men. Some of the first cases appeared in April. CDC hasn't said when most people got sick. A congressional subcommittee will hold a hearing on the outbreaks on Tuesday. (9/19)

The Washington Post: CDC Reports 530 Cases Of Vaping-Related Lung Injury; FDA Says Enforcement Arm Now Involved
In a sign of the seriousness of the e-cigarette investigation, officials disclosed that the enforcement arm of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been conducting a probe in parallel with the public health investigation led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Officials said they still do not know the cause of the lung injuries that are making people so sick. There have been seven confirmed deaths. (Sun, 9/19)

Stat: Number Of Vaping-Related Illnesses In U.S. Has Spiked, CDC Says
The Food and Drug Administration’s law enforcement arm, the Office of Criminal Investigations, is contributing to the efforts to try to find answers, Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, revealed. The group has special investigative powers that can be helpful in cases like this, he said, stressing the FDA isn’t seeking to prosecute individual vapers who may have used illicit substances in their e-cigarettes. Many of the patients are known to have vaped THC — the active ingredient in cannabis — which is legal in some states but is not in others. (Branswell, 9/19)

NPR: Vaping Illness Cases Rise To 530. Long-Term Health Effects Are Unknown
"We at CDC are very concerned about the occurrence of life-threatening illness in otherwise healthy, young people," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC's principal deputy director, during a call with reporters. She said this is an ongoing outbreak: "States continue to get new cases reported." (Aubrey, 9/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Vaping-Related Lung Ailments Rise To 530, Officials Say
The FDA is also encouraging the public to submit detailed reports of any health or products issues through their online safety reporting portal. The FDA and the CDC have previously warned consumers not to purchase illicit vaping products or modify the products that they have purchased legally. (Abbott and McKay, 9/19)

Politico: Vaping Illnesses Hit 530 As FDA Reveals Criminal Investigation
Many people who have gotten sick reported vaping THC, some said they used nicotine and others reported using both. No one specific product or substance has been identified in all cases. “This is a complex investigation. It spans many states, involves hundreds of cases and a wide variety of substances and products,” Schuchat said. Consumers concerned about their health should consider not using e-cigarette products, she said, and warned against buying any off the street or modifying them in any way. (Ehley, 9/19)

Politico: White House Abruptly Cancels Meeting With Vaping Advocates
The White House abruptly organized — and then quickly canceled — a meeting Thursday with frustrated conservative policy leaders, to try to tamp down anger about a sweeping vaping ban that’s inflamed the Trump administration’s traditional allies, four individuals with knowledge of the meeting told POLITICO. President Donald Trump last week announced a ban on flavored e-cigarettes, a policy that officials portrayed as a response to an epidemic of teen vaping amid a potentially unrelated outbreak of a mysterious vaping-related disease that’s stricken 530 and killed seven people. (Lippman and Diamond, 9/19)

Politico: Senate Eyes E-Cigarette Crackdown 
The White House has its knives out for the e-cigarette industry — and so does Capitol Hill. Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) have penned a bill that largely tracks with President Donald Trump’s crackdown on vaping, according to a draft obtained by POLITICO. The response from Congress comes amid health concerns over widespread use among teenagers of products such as e-cigarettes and vape oils that have been linked to deaths and illnesses in recent weeks. (Everett, 9/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Altria’s Bet On E-Cigarettes Is Burning Its Stock
America’s biggest tobacco company is being burned by its investment in e-cigarettes. Altria Group Inc. shares have tumbled 19% in 2019 to a roughly five-year low, with selling accelerating in recent weeks after health officials and politicians stepped up scrutiny of e-cigarette device Juul. (Otani, 9/19)

The New York Times: India Plans To Ban E-Cigarettes, As Global Backlash Intensifies
India on Wednesday moved a step closer to a nationwide ban on electronic cigarettes, part of a global backlash amid growing concern about the health risks posed by vaping. The ban could shut the door to a lucrative market for e-cigarette manufacturers such as Juul at a time when they are facing increased scrutiny and regulation in the United States. (Abi-Habib and Venugopal, 9/19)

Reuters: Democratic Presidential Candidate Buttigieg Unveils Health Plan
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg on Thursday unveiled his plan to reform the U.S. healthcare system by offering everyone coverage under the federal Medicare program, but not forcing people to give up private health insurance plans. (9/19)

The Associated Press: Buttigieg Calls Warren 'Extremely Evasive' On Health Taxes
Buttigieg is accusing his 2020 rival Elizabeth Warren of being "extremely evasive" when it comes to explaining how she'd finance a universal health care plan. Speaking on CNN on Thursday, Buttigieg issued his most pointed attack yet on the Massachusetts senator, saying she "was extremely evasive when asked that question, and we've seen that repeatedly." (9/19)

CNN: Buttigieg Swipes At Warren For Being 'Evasive' On Health Care
Buttigieg's proposal -- unlike Sanders' plan -- would not force people onto government health coverage but instead would offer a public option for people who choose to enroll. Buttigieg has argued this would force private insurers to compete with the government-backed plan on price. Warren, on the other hand, is running on a bill that she first signed on to in 2017: Sanders' "Medicare for All" single-payer legislation. "I'm with Bernie," Warren has said more than once in recent months when asked about her vision for the American health care system. (Ehrlich, 9/19)

Politico: Buttigieg Pops Warren Over ‘Evasive’ Answers On Health Care Plan
In the editorial, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., wrote that his plan would allow the country to achieve “universal health care and a public alternative without raising taxes on the middle class.” Buttigieg goes on to say in the op-ed: “Anyone who lets the words Medicare for All escape their lips should tell us just as plainly how they plan to get there.” (Oprysko, 9/19)

The New York Times: Purdue Says Sacklers May Walk From Opioid Deal If Judge Does Not Block Cases
Members of the Sackler family could withdraw their pledge to pay $3 billion as part of a nationwide deal to address the opioid crisis if a bankruptcy judge does not block outstanding state lawsuits against them and their company, Purdue Pharma, Purdue lawyers said in a legal complaint. Whether the threat is posturing or real, the move by Purdue, the maker of OxyContin, to inject it into the company’s bankruptcy proceeding could jeopardize the tentative settlement it reached last week with representatives of thousands of local governments that have brought lawsuits against it. Two dozen state attorneys general who have sued the company in their own courts have signed on to the agreement, too. (Hoffman, 9/19)

The Washington Post: Who Are The Sacklers, The Family Behind Maker Of OxyContin?
For a family with its name on a wing of one of the world’s most famous museums and a school at a prestigious university, members of the Sackler clan have done a remarkable job of vanishing from public life. The family owns OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, which filed for bankruptcy this week as part of an effort to settle some 2,600 lawsuits accusing it of helping spark the national opioid crisis that has killed more than 400,000 people in the U.S. in the last two decades. (Mulvihill, 9/19)

NPR: As Drugmakers Face Opioid Lawsuits, Some Ask: Why Not Criminal Charges Too?
Purdue Pharma, facing a mountain of litigation linked to the opioid epidemic, filed for bankruptcy in New York this week. The OxyContin manufacturer and its owners, the Sackler family, have offered to pay billions of dollars to cities and counties hit hard by the addiction crisis. But that's not good enough for critics such as U.S. Rep. Max Rose. (Mann, 9/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Purdue Led Its Opioid Rivals In Pills More Prone To Abuse
Purdue Pharma LP’s bankruptcy filing this week punctuates a fall from its perch as one of the pharmaceutical industry’s most recognizable marketers of opioid pain pills. At its height, Purdue’s signature OxyContin product notched billions of dollars in annual sales, fueled in part by booming demand for high-dose pills. Purdue made about 10% of pills containing oxycodone—the active ingredient in OxyContin—that were purchased by U.S. pharmacies from 2006 to 2012, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of opioid sales data maintained by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. (Walker and Hopkins, 9/19)

The Wall Street Journal: A Tennessee Pharmacy Bought Nearly A Million High-Dose OxyContins In 2008
A grocery-store pharmacy in Knoxville, Tenn., bought nearly one million high-dose OxyContin pills in 2008, third-most in the nation, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of data from the Drug Enforcement Administration. The Journal obtained the data from plaintiffs’ attorneys representing municipalities in lawsuits against Purdue and other pharmaceutical-supply-chain players for their alleged roles in the opioid crisis. Sales data for other years hasn’t been made public. (Walker, 9/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Fentanyl Drug Finds New Home In First Opioid Crisis Bankruptcy Deal
Insys Therapeutics Inc. won bankruptcy-court approval Thursday to sell Subsys, the opioid that spawned criminal racketeering charges against its top executives and set off investigations and lawsuits that plunged the company into bankruptcy. It is believed to be the first bankruptcy sale of a pharmaceutical drug that played a role in fueling the nationwide opioid epidemic, said Judge Kevin Gross of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. (Brickley, 9/19)

The Associated Press: House OKs Measure To Prevent Possible End-Of-Month Shutdown 
The House passed a short-term bill Thursday to prevent a federal shutdown when the budget year ends Sept. 30, and give lawmakers until the Thanksgiving break to negotiate and approve $1.4 trillion for federal agencies. The Senate is expected to approve the stopgap bill next week. The vote in the Democratic-run House on the bipartisan plan was 301-123. (9/19)

The New York Times: House Approves Short-Term Spending Bill That Would Stave Off Shutdown
The spending bill would extend funding through Nov. 21 not only for all federal government departments and agencies, but also for a number of health care and community programs, including the National Flood Insurance Program and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. But its success in the House, by a 301-to-123 vote, is only a temporary salve to the bitter feuds that are standing in the way of a broader agreement over federal spending for next year. The Senate, in the midst of drafting and debating its own yearlong funding bills, has struggled to break through partisan spats over spending on President Trump’s promised wall at the southwestern border. (Cochrane, 9/19)

The Washington Post: House Passes Short-Term Spending Bill, Punting Shutdown Fight To November
Major differences between the parties remain, though, particularly over whether taxpayers should finance construction of a border wall and whether Congress should agree to a demand from Democrats to direct more money for health programs, among other things. (Werner, 9/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Houses Approves Short-Term Spending Bill 
The stopgap funding, called a continuing resolution, will keep the government open until Nov. 21, several weeks beyond the end of the federal fiscal year on Sept. 30. The legislation also extends several health-care programs and other expiring measures, including the National Flood Insurance Program and the U.S. Export-Import Bank. (Duehren, 9/19)

Politico: DHS Walks Back Decision To Halt Medical Deportation Relief
Acting Homeland Security Department Secretary Kevin McAleenan has directed federal immigration officials to resume processing deportation relief requests for people receiving treatment for serious medical conditions. The decision reverses an earlier move by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to put a freeze on the requests, known as “deferred action.” The earlier decision made an exception for military members and their families, but sought to deny relief to other applicants. (Hesson, 9/19)

The New York Times: Deportation Exemptions To Resume For Immigrants Needing Medical Treatment
The unannounced termination last month of much of the so-called deferred action program generated public outrage and drew sharp rebuke from the medical establishment. Among those ordered to leave the country in 33 days or face deportation was Maria Isabel Bueso, who had been involved in clinical trials that led to the approval of a drug to extend the lives of those with her rare genetic disease. Last week, Ms. Bueso and other young immigrants with serious illnesses told a House Oversight subcommittee that their survival depended on staying in the country, and pleaded for reinstatement of the program. (Jordan, 9/19)

Los Angeles Times: Border Patrol To Begin Screening Migrant Families
Border Patrol agents, rather than highly trained asylum officers, are beginning to screen migrant families for “credible fear” to determine whether applicants qualify for U.S. protection, the Los Angeles Times has learned. The first Border Patrol agents arrived last week to start training at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, the nation’s largest immigrant family detention center, according to lawyers working there and several employees at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. (O'Toole, 9/19)

The Associated Press: Trump Says Gun Bill Negotiations Going 'Very Slowly'
President Donald Trump on Thursday poured cold water on prospects for a bipartisan compromise on gun legislation, even as Attorney General William Barr circulated a draft plan on Capitol Hill to expand background checks for gun sales. In a Fox News interview, Trump said no deal is imminent, more than six weeks after mass shootings in Texas and Ohio killed more than 30 people. "We're going very slowly," Trump said, adding that while he doesn't want "bad people" to have weapons, he won't allow any plan to move forward that takes guns away from law-abiding people or restricts Second Amendment rights. (9/19)

The New York Times: For Trump, A Time Of Indecision
“No, we’re not moving on anything,” Mr. Trump said. “We’re going very slowly in one way because we want to make sure it’s right.” The result is that almost two months after the back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso and in Dayton, Ohio, when Mr. Trump said he wanted to pass “very meaningful background checks,” warnings from gun rights advocates and Republican lawmakers about the political blowback that would result from doing that have led to indecision about what to do and what the time frame is for sharing it. (Karni and Haberman, 9/19)

Politico: O'Rourke Rips Schumer For Doing 'Absolutely Nothing' On Guns
Beto O’Rourke lit into Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on gun control on Thursday, accusing him of doing “absolutely nothing” on the issue. “Ask Chuck Schumer what he’s been able to get done,” the Democratic presidential candidate told reporters after a town hall here, responding to Schumer’s recent dismissal of O’Rourke’s call for a mandatory buyback of assault weapons. “We still don’t have background checks. Didn’t have them when he was in the majority, either. So the game that he’s played, the politics that he’s pursued have given us absolutely nothing and have produced a situation where we lose nearly 40,000 of our fellow Americans every year.” (Siders, 9/19)

The Washington Post: Colt Suspends AR-15 Production For The Civilian Market, Citing 'Adequate Supply'
Colt, a U.S. firearms company that traces its history to the 1830s, announced Thursday that it would suspend the production of rifles for the civilian market — including the AR-15, a weapon infamous for its popularity among the country’s mass shooters. There are already so many of the weapons in the country that the market is saturated and executives decided “it is good sense to follow consumer demand,” the manufacturer’s president and chief executive said in a statement. (Thebault, 9/19)

The Washington Post: HUD Secretary Ben Carson Makes Dismissive Comments About Transgender People, Angering Agency Staff
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson expressed concern about “big, hairy men” trying to infiltrate women’s homeless shelters during an internal meeting, according to three people present who interpreted the remarks as an attack on transgender women. While visiting HUD’s San Francisco office this week, Carson also lamented that society no longer seemed to know the difference between men and women, two of the agency staffers said. (Jan and Stein, 9/19)

The New York Times: Scientists Identify Neurons That Help The Brain Forget
One afternoon in April 1929, a journalist from a Moscow newspaper turned up in Alexander Luria’s office with an unusual problem: He never forgot things. Dr. Luria, a neuropsychologist, proceeded to test the man, who later became known as subject S., by spouting long strings of numbers and words, foreign poems and scientific formulas, all of which S. recited back without fail. Decades later, S. still remembered the lists of numbers perfectly whenever Dr. Luria retested him. (Sheikh, 9/19)

The New York Times: Abortions In Clinics Decline, But Abortions With Black-Market Pills Are Rising
The number of abortions performed in American clinics was lower in 2017 than in any year since abortion became legal nationwide in 1973, new data showed this week. But that does not count a growing number of women who are managing their abortions themselves, without going to a medical office — often by buying pills illicitly. These “invisible” abortions are hard to measure, so it’s unclear how much higher the true abortion rate is. (Miller and Sanger-Katz, 9/20)

The New York Times: Should You Keep Taking Zantac For Your Heartburn?
The heartburn drug Zantac has been on the market for decades, and was considered safe enough to be sold over the counter and regularly given to infants. But last week, the Food and Drug Administration said that it had detected low levels of a cancer-causing chemical in samples of the drug, which is also known as ranitidine. The agency advised patients who were taking over-the-counter versions of Zantac to consider switching to other medications. (Thomas, 9/19)

The New York Times: Banish Roundup From The Farm? It’ll Take More Than Lawsuits
From his farm in northwestern Wisconsin, Andy Bensend watched as first one jury, then another and another, delivered staggering multimillion-dollar verdicts to people who argued that their use of a weedkiller sold at nearly every hardware and home-improvement store had caused their cancer. Mr. Bensend has been using that product, Roundup, on his 5,000 acres for 40 years, but he said that those blockbuster awards would not alter his farm practices one whit. Neither would the 20,000 lawsuits still pending. (Cohen, 9/20)

NPR: Extremism Researchers Struggle With The Mental Toll Of Their Work
Charlie Winter, a London-based terrorism researcher, was dining with friends one recent evening when the conversation turned to whether it is ethical to eat meat. Someone brought up slaughterhouse conditions, Winter said, and he instantly grew uneasy. He stayed for a while longer, squirming, and then finally left the room. That word — "slaughterhouse" — had conjured images of one of the most gruesome ISIS videos he'd come across. The militants had filmed a mass execution in a slaughterhouse, casting their prisoners as the animals. (Allam, 9/20)

The New York Times: Silicon Valley Goes To Therapy
Silicon Valley told itself a good story, the best one, really: It was saving the world. For nearly a decade, this gave the modern tech worker purpose, optimism and self-confidence. Then came the bad headlines, followed by worse headlines — about the industry, about the country, about the world. In search of reassurance, tech workers commandeered the old hippie retreat Esalen, co-opted Burning Man, got interested in psychedelics and meditation. It wasn’t enough. (Bowles, 9/20)

ProPublica: Be Prepared: Find The ER You Want To Go To Before An Emergency Happens
To be prepared in the event of an emergency, you can use our newly updated ER Inspector (formerly called ER Wait Watcher) to help you evaluate the emergency rooms near you. Using data from the federal government, our interactive database lets you compare ERs on both efficiency measures, including how long patients typically spend in the ER before being sent home, and quality measures, such as how many violations related to ER care a hospital has had. (Groeger, 9/19)

The Washington Post: Autistic Self Advocacy Network Breaks With Sesame Street Over Autism Speaks Ties
An autistic “Sesame Street” muppet is caught in a conflict between the most prominent autism organization in the United States advocating for early intervention, and autistic adults who see the condition as a difference, not a disease needing to be cured. Since 2017, a Muppet named Julia has given children on the spectrum a role model and helped parents and peers understand the condition. (Bever, 9/19)

The Associated Press: US Awards $3M To Fill Gaps In Medical Marijuana Research
The U.S. government will spend $3 million to find out if marijuana can relieve pain, but none of the money will be used to study the part of the plant that gets people high. Nine research grants announced Thursday are for work on CBD, the trendy ingredient showing up in cosmetics and foods, and hundreds of less familiar chemicals. THC research was excluded. (9/19)

The Washington Post: Maryland’s Health-Care Premiums To Decline For Second Year
For the second year in a row, more than 190,000 people will see cheaper premiums for Affordable Care Act policies purchased on Maryland’s health insurance exchange. State officials announced Thursday that the price for individual plans will decline an average of 10.3 percent. (Cox, 9/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Vaccine Law Targeted In Potential Maine Ballot Question
Opponents of vaccination requirements in Maine are close to getting a question added to the March ballot that would ask voters to overturn a state law eliminating nonmedical vaccine exemptions for school children. The state legislature, which is controlled by Democrats, passed the law earlier this year amid worries about low immunization rates among students. The law still allows for medical exemptions, but no more for religious and philosophical reasons. The law gave children now enrolled in school until 2021 to get their required shots. (Kamp, 9/19)