First Edition: Friday, November 1, 2024

KFF Health News: Dentists Are Pulling ‘Healthy’ And Treatable Teeth To Profit From Implants, Experts Warn
Americans are getting dental implants more than ever — and at costs reaching tens of thousands of dollars. Experts worry some dentists have lost sight of the soul of dentistry: preserving and fixing teeth. (Kelman and Werner, 11/1)

KFF Health News: Trump Wants Harris To Pay A Political Price For Generous Immigrant Health Policies
Democratic-led states such as Illinois are increasingly opening public insurance programs to immigrants lacking permanent legal status. A dozen had already covered children; even more provided prenatal coverage. But now more states are covering adults living in the country without authorization — and some are phasing in coverage for seniors, who are more expensive and a harder political sell than kids. The expansions recognize the costs that patients living here illegally can otherwise impose on hospitals. But the policies are under harsh attack from former President Donald Trump and other Republicans who seek to make his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, the face of reckless immigration policies. (Kenen, 11/1)

KFF Health News: Paid Sick Leave Is Up For A Vote In Three States
Voters in Missouri, Nebraska, and Alaska will soon decide whether workers in those states should be entitled to paid sick leave. If approved, the ballot measures would allow many workers to accrue paid time off, a benefit supporters say means workers — especially those with low-paying jobs — would no longer have to fear losing wages or possibly the jobs themselves for getting sick. Proponents say such policies benefit the broader public, too, allowing workers to stay home when sick or to care for ill family members to stem the spread of infectious diseases. (Liss, 11/1)

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?' Podcast: The Campaign’s Final Days
It’s the final days of the 2024 campaign, and Republicans are suddenly talking again about making changes to the Affordable Care Act if former President Donald Trump wins. Meanwhile, new reporting uncovers more maternal deaths under state abortion bans — and a case in which a Nevada woman was jailed after a miscarriage. Lauren Weber of The Washington Post, Shefali Luthra of The 19th, and Jessie Hellmann of CQ Roll Call join KFF Health News’ Emmarie Huetteman to discuss these stories and more. Also this week, KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner interviews Irving Washington, a senior vice president at KFF and the executive director of its Health Misinformation and Trust Initiative. (10/31)

AP: 'Obamacare' Enrollment Opens, As Republicans Threaten The Health Insurance Program Used By Millions
Americans can start signing up Friday for health care coverage offered through the Affordable Care Act marketplace for 2025, days before a presidential election that could threaten eligibility and raise costs for millions of those in the program. The future of ‘Obamacare’ has emerged as a key issue in the closing days of the presidential campaign, with a top GOP leader promising this week to overhaul the program should Republican Donald Trump win the presidency. (Seitz, 10/31)

NBC News: DACA Recipients Are Able To Sign Up For Obamacare For The First Time
When Camila Bortolleto was 9 years old, her parents brought her from Brazil to the U.S. Bortolleto’s parents are undocumented, but in 2013 she was approved for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed her to get a job and, with it, job-based health insurance. ... DACA recipients have been barred from receiving government-funded health insurance. That changed Friday, when tens of thousands of DACA recipients became able to sign up for health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act for the first time. (Lovelace Jr., 11/1)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Says Obamacare 'Sort Of Sucks' But He Won't End It
Donald Trump said the Affordable Care Act “sucks” but denied that he wanted to end the healthcare law, commonly known as Obamacare. Vice President Kamala Harris has charged that Trump and Republicans want to kill the politically polarizing program, which broadened health coverage for Americans and protected people with pre-existing medical conditions. (Andrews, 11/1)

The New York Times: How A Second Trump Term Could Recast Public Health
The Covid pandemic dominated the last years of Donald Trump’s presidency, and the discontent it caused most likely contributed to his loss in 2020. But on the campaign trail this year, Mr. Trump rarely talks in depth about public health, dwelling instead on immigration, the economy and his grievances. Still, Project 2025, the blueprint for a new Republican administration shaped by many former Trump staff members, lays out momentous changes to the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health. (Mandavilli, 10/31)

The Washington Post: RFK Jr. Eyes A Major Food, Health Role In Potential Trump Administration
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is poised to have significant control over health and food safety in a potential Trump administration, with discussions about some Cabinet and agency officials reporting to him, according to four people familiar with the planning process who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail private conversations. Kennedy has been privately meeting with Trump transition officials to help draw up an agenda for a new administration, which could involve the longtime anti-vaccine activist taking a role as a White House czar rather than attempting to win Senate confirmation to lead an agency, the people said. (Diamond, Weber, Dawsey, Scherer and Roubein, 10/31)

The Wall Street Journal: RFK Jr. Won’t Be Health And Human Services Secretary If Trump Is Elected, Transition Leader Says
Trump transition team co-chair Howard Lutnick said during a Wednesday interview on CNN that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wouldn't head the Health and Human Services department if former President Donald Trump wins the election. The comments came after Kennedy told supporters at a virtual event on Monday that Trump had “promised” him control of several health-focused governmental offices, including HHS. (Martinez, 10/31)

The New York Times: Trump’s Transition Team Head Says R.F.K. Jr. Converted Him To Vaccine Skeptic
Howard Lutnick, the head of the team planning former President Donald J. Trump’s potential White House transition, said on Wednesday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had persuaded him to embrace Mr. Kennedy’s anti-vaccine claims, which have been widely debunked. Mr. Trump has indicated that he might give Mr. Kennedy a position in his administration if he wins the election, something that could have profound implications for public health policy. (Astor and Mandavilli, 10/31)

AP: RFK Jr. Wants Federal Health Data So He Can Show Vaccines Are Unsafe, Trump Transition Co-Chair Says
A co-chair of Donald Trump’s transition team said Trump supporter Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants access to federal health data so he can show vaccines are unsafe and lead to them being pulled from the market in a second Trump administration. Howard Lutnick echoed a number of Kennedy’s debunked anti-vaccine talking points in a CNN interview Wednesday, including falsehoods about the vaccine schedule and the disproven theory that vaccines cause autism. (Smith, 10/31)

The New York Times: Harris And Trump Trade Gender Attacks As He Floats RFK Jr. For ‘Women’s Health’
Vice President Kamala Harris attacked former President Donald J. Trump on Thursday for claiming that he would protect American women “whether the women like it or not.” Later, her campaign pounced on a new Trump remark that his ally Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would “work on women’s health” in his administration. (Rogers, Gold, Browning and Epstein, 10/31)

Los Angeles Times: Trump: I’ll Protect Women Whether They ‘Like It Or Not.’ Harris Calls That ‘Offensive To Everybody’
Kamala Harris said Thursday that Donald Trump’s comment that he would protect women “whether [they] like it or not” showed that the Republican presidential nominee does not understand women’s “agency, their authority, their right and their ability to make decisions about their own lives, including their own bodies.” “I think it’s offensive to everybody,” the Democratic nominee and vice president said before setting out to campaign in Arizona and Nevada, two swing states. (Weissert and Long, 10/31)

The New York Times: Republicans Shift Message On Abortion, Sounding More Like Democrats
Across the country’s most competitive House races, Republicans have spent months trying to redefine themselves on abortion, going so far as to borrow language that would not feel out of place at a rally of Vice President Kamala Harris. Many Republicans who until recently backed federal abortion restrictions are now saying the issue should be left to the states. At least a half-dozen Republican candidates have put out direct-to-camera ads declaring their opposition to a federal abortion ban. Instead, they say, they support exceptions to existing state laws and back protections for reproductive health care, such as I.V.F. (McCann and Li, 10/31)

AP: Abortion-Rights Groups Raising More Than Opponents On Ballot Measures
The groups promoting ballot measures to add amendments to the constitutions in nine states that would enshrine a right to abortion have raised more than $160 million. That’s nearly six times what their opponents have brought in, The Associated Press found in an analysis of campaign finance data compiled by the watchdog group Open Secrets and state governments. (Mulvihill, 10/31)

The Wall Street Journal: How The Antiabortion Movement Became A Cause Without A Candidate
That relationship is now in tatters, and the movement to end abortion in America finds itself struggling not to be written off as a political liability by Trump and the Republican Party, which are facing a public backlash to the rollback of abortion access. Antiabortion groups also have lost seven consecutive ballot referendums and appear on track to lose most of the 10 measures to protect abortion rights that are on state ballots in this election, including in conservative states such as Florida and Missouri. (Kusisto, 10/31)

AP: Trump Makes Anti-Trans Attacks Central To His Campaign's Closing Argument
While often overshadowed by Trump’s emphasis on migrants, his broadsides against LGBTQ people have seemed to grow more frequent and ominous in the campaign’s final days, intended both to stir his core supporters and coax votes from more moderate voters who may not mesh with Trump on other matters. It’s part of an overall campaign in which Trump has pushed his own brand of hyper-masculinity, most recently referring several times to CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, who is gay, by a woman’s name, “Allison Cooper.” Harris has largely ignored Trump’s attacks but has pushed back on his characterization of her stances, noting that federal policy giving U.S. military personnel access to gender-affirming medical care and transgender surgery was in place during Trump’s presidency. (Barrow, 11/1)

Politico: Republicans Are Betting Big On Trans Issues. Following Through Could Prove Harder.
Donald Trump is spending more on ads criticizing Kamala Harris’ support for transgender rights than he is on any other subject in the campaign’s closing days — and down-ballot Republicans are following suit, believing the issue can tip close races. But nationwide, the GOP is finding it’s easier to oppose trans rights in theory than in reality — when it means kicking a child off a team or blocking parents from proceeding with medical care recommended by a doctor. Some Republicans are even warning their party’s stance conflicts with conservative values on individual and parental rights. (Payne, 10/31)

The New York Times: Vance Tells Rogan: Teens Become Trans To Get Into Ivy League
Senator JD Vance of Ohio criticized what he called “gender transition craziness,” spoke dismissively of women he claimed were “celebrating” their abortions and said that studies “connect testosterone levels in young men with conservative politics” during a three-hour episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” that was released on Thursday. (Cameron, Levien and Vigdor, 10/31)

AP: Opponents Use Parental Rights And Anti-Trans Messages To Fight Abortion Ballot Measures
As voters in nine states determine whether to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions, opponents are using parental rights and anti-transgender messages to try to undermine support for the ballot proposals. (Fernando, 10/31)

ProPublica and Minnesota Reformer: In Minnesota, The Mayo Clinic Sometimes Called The Shots With Gov. Tim Walz
The governor’s ties to the Mayo Clinic raise questions about the world-renowned hospital’s potential influence on federal health care reform. (Nesterak and Lussenhop, 10/30)

ProPublica: Nevaeh Crain Died During A Miscarriage After Trying To Get Care In Texas Hospitals
Candace Fails screamed for someone in the Texas hospital to help her pregnant daughter. “Do something,” she pleaded, on the morning of Oct. 29, 2023. Nevaeh Crain was crying in pain, too weak to walk, blood staining her thighs. Feverish and vomiting the day of her baby shower, the 18-year-old had gone to two different emergency rooms within 12 hours, returning home each time worse than before. (Presser and Surana, 11/1)

AP: Texas Hospitals Will Ask About Immigration Status
Texas hospitals must ask patients starting Friday whether they are in the U.S. legally and track the cost of treating people without legal status following an order by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott that expands the state’s clash with the Biden administration over immigration. Critics fear the change could scare people away from hospitals in Texas, even though patients are not required to answer the questions to receive medical care. (11/1)

AP: Louisiana’s New Law On Abortion Drugs Establishes Risky Treatment Delays, Lawsuit Claims
Louisiana’s new law categorizing two widely used abortion drugs as “controlled dangerous substances” was challenged in a state court lawsuit Thursday by a physician, a pharmacist and others who say the legislation sets up needless, dangerous delays in treatment during medical emergencies. Although there already was a near-total abortion ban in Louisiana, including by medication, the reclassification of the drugs — mifepristone and misoprostol, which have other critical reproductive health care uses — went into effect earlier this month. (Cline and McGill, 10/31)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Drugmakers Are Breaking Up With Their Chinese Supply-Chain Partners
U.S. drugmakers and biotechs have come to rely on Chinese partners for manufacturing, research and ingredients. Now, some of them are looking for alternatives as geopolitical tensions rise. From big pharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca to small biotechnology firms like Amicus Therapeutics of New Jersey, which is looking for a non-Chinese company to supply raw materials for its rare-disease treatment, the companies say it is time to reduce China risk. (Hopkins and Leong, 11/1)

Politico: Once A Covid Star, Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo Stares Down Criminal Referral
Covid was Andrew Cuomo’s calling card. Now it threatens to upend his political comeback. A criminal reckoning awaits the former New York governor over his alleged lies to Congress, stemming from his administration’s reporting of critical nursing home data during the pandemic. (Resiman, 10/31)

NPR: Caregivers Suffer From Isolation And Stress And Often Find Little Support
Dawn Shedrick is matter-of-fact about the heartbreaks of caregiving. She is clear and calm when she describes its hardships and grief. She has looked after her mother, who has multiple sclerosis, for more than 30 years. ... Her situation is all too common. The latest estimate is that 106 million people do some kind of unpaid care for an adult in this country. But because family caregiving is not a public conversation, many of them — of us — feel invisible. Nearly half say they are lonely, more than twice the U.S. rate of 22%. (McGowan, 10/31)

USA Today: WHO Database Does Not Link Mpox To COVID-19 Vaccine | Fact Check
The WHO made no such admission. The COVID-19 vaccines cannot cause mpox, and the claim originated with a website that has repeatedly shared misinformation. (Trela, 10/31)

USA Today: Tuberculosis Patient Possibly Exposed Hundreds At Georgia School, Amid Global Rise
A student sick with tuberculosis could have exposed hundreds at a Georgia high school, amid an alarming global spread of the disease. Local public health officials identified the infected student at Walton High School, in Marietta, the Cobb County School District told USA TODAY in an email. (Cuevas, 10/31)

Stat: Sugar Limits In Infancy Tied To Better Health As An Adult, Study Finds
Britain’s hardships during World War II famously included weeks of bombing during the Blitz, the mass evacuation of children, and food rationing. That rationing, researchers report, holds cautionary lessons for today on the health impact of consuming sugar early in life. (Cooney, 10/31)

The New York Times: Sitting All Day Is Bad For Your Health. Here’s How To Counteract It. 
We’ve all heard that sitting too long is bad for you. We’re not evolved to do it, it can undermine our exercise gains, it causes dead butt syndrome. Sitting might not quite be “the new smoking,” but too much of it can still shorten your life. “Sitting is actually aging you faster,” said Katy Bowman, a biomechanist and author of “My Perfect Movement Plan.” Whether it’s bone or joint health, muscle mass or energy level, she added, “a lot of what you perceive as aging is going to be heavily influenced by your sitting time.” (Murphy, 10/31)

The New York Times: Zyn, Popular Nicotine Pouches, Are Redefining A Masculine Archetype
Men seem to be emerging as the most vocal and visible customers of Zyn. The product sits in a cultural nexus of frat life, hard partying and a dubious wellness space populated by figures like Andrew Huberman and Joe Rogan, who has made misleading statements about the product’s supposed health benefits. (The long-term effects of Zyn are not clear, but nicotine can raise blood pressure and spike a user’s heart rate, and at least some doctors are concerned about addiction to nicotine pouches.) (Brown, 10/31)