First Edition: January 15, 2020

Kaiser Health News: Warren And Klobuchar Say They Can Lower Drug Prices Without Congress’ Help
On Tuesday, two Democrats running for president promised to do — each by herself — what Washington has so far proven unable to do: lower the prices of prescription drugs. Speaking during the last Democratic debate before the Iowa caucus on Feb. 3, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said, if elected president, they would each act immediately to directly reduce the cost of certain drugs. (Huetteman, 1/15)

Kaiser Health News: Sanders Targets Health Industry’ Profits. Are His Figures Right?
At the January Democratic debate, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders zeroed in on the question of profits in the health care industry. Under “Medicare for All,” he said, “We end the $100 billion a year that the health care industry makes.” (Luthra, 1/15)

Kaiser Health News: No Shield From X-Rays: How Science Is Rethinking Lead Aprons
Patients have come to expect a technician to drape their torsos with a heavy lead apron when they get an X-ray, but new thinking among radiologists and medical physicists is upending the decades-old practice of shielding patients from radiation. Some hospitals are ditching the ritual of covering reproductive organs and fetuses during imaging exams after prominent medical and scientific groups have said it’s a feel-good measure that can impair the quality of diagnostic tests and sometimes inadvertently increase a patient’s radiation exposure. (Jaklevic, 1/15)

The Washington Post: Democratic Debate Highlights
For two hours, six Democratic presidential candidates focused on issues of foreign policy, healthcare and the question of electability — particularly the issue of whether a woman could defeat President Trump —in the last primary debate before Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3. On stage were former vice president Joe Biden; former South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg; Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.); Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.); investor Tom Steyer; and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). (1/15)

The Wall Street Journal: January Democratic Debate In Iowa: The Moments That Mattered
Health care was expected to come up in the debate after Mr. Trump this week tweeted that he had saved pre-existing conditions. The Trump administration has backed a lawsuit that would invalidate the Affordable Care Act, which bars insurers from denying people health coverage because of past and current medical issues. ... Candidates sparred over the costs of their proposals, with Mr. Sanders saying the average family would ultimately benefit from Medicare for All whereas Mr. Biden called for reinstating Obamacare with the addition of a public option. Ms. Klobuchar’s point, echoing that of many moderate critics, was that the debate over Medicare for All was largely irrelevant because it is so unlikely to ever pass through Congress. (Siddiqui and Glazer, 1/15)

Los Angeles Times: Candidates Tear Into One Another Over ‘Medicare For All’
Warren tried to make the case that every plan proposed by every candidate on the stage is an improvement over the Trump administration’s policy of dismantling Obamacare. But she aggressively attacked the moderates on the stage when they took aim at her proposal. “The numbers the mayor is offering just don’t add up,” Warren said of Buttigieg’s argument that transformational change can happen in healthcare without spending the tens of trillions Sanders and Warren envision. She said the Buttigieg plan simply would not provide the needed relief to a low-income family struggling with medical bills that average $12,000 per year. “You can’t cover that with the kind of money the mayor is talking about,” Warren said. Buttigieg took exception. “It’s just not true that the plan I am proposing is small,” he said. He complained of a “Washington mentality” that he said judges the bigness of a plan by how many trillions it cost and the boldness is judged by “how many Americans you can alienate.” (Halper, 1/14)

Politico: What We Learned About The Democratic Field From Tuesday's Debate
As in every debate, there was a lengthy domestic policy discussion anchored by health care. The moderators on Tuesday night zeroed in on one of the broad philosophical disagreements between the candidates that rarely gets spelled out: to what extent should the government subsidize healthcare, college, and childcare for all Americans? The use of means testing — requiring those with higher incomes to contribute more for government services — varies across the proposals of the candidates. Sanders is the most consistent, arguing for the largest welfare state across all those categories with the least amount of means testing. His argument is that for government programs to enjoy wide popularity they need to be available to all Americans regardless of income. Buttigieg and Klobuchar, who, for instance, frequently attack free college plans as subsidizing tuition for millionaires, are on the other side of the spectrum. (Lizza, 1/15)

The Washington Post: Takeaways From The January Democratic Debate
Klobuchar on health care: Medicare-for-all has come up so much in these debates that bringing it up often elicits groans from people who cover these things. Little of it seems new anymore. But Klobuchar carved out her niche on it Tuesday night. “This debate isn’t real,” she said. “I was in Vegas the other day, and someone said don’t put your chips on a number on the wheel that isn’t even on the wheel. That’s the problem. Over two thirds of the Democrats in the U.S. Senate are not on the bill that [Sanders] and Senator Warren are on.” Klobuchar then went a step further, pointing to concrete things she’s done and would do, including on drug importation and a bipartisan bill on lowering drug prices. (Blake, 1/14)

CNN: Fact Check Of The January Democratic Debate
In defending her plan to build on the Affordable Care Act instead of pushing for the more sweeping Medicare for All plans proposed by her rivals, Klobuchar pointed out that more people support Obamacare than approve of President Donald Trump. "I would also note practically, that the Affordable Care Act right now is 10 points more popular than the president of the United States," the Minnesota Democrat said at CNN's debate on Tuesday night. Facts First: While no poll directly compares the two, it's true that Obamacare is better liked. (Luhby, 1/15)

Stat: Democrats Zero In On High Drug Prices In Iowa Debate
Until Tuesday, nearly every single Democratic primary debate has focused on the same health care issue: “Medicare for All.” So when Democrats got the chance to talk about their plans to lower drug prices, they jumped. Candidates uniformly criticized drug companies as examples of corporate irresponsibility and outsize political influence. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), in particular, doubled down on a pledge to lower drug prices on her first day as president, using executive action to make it easier for generic drug makers to move in on brand-name drugs that were created using federally-funded research. (Facher, 1/14)

The Associated Press Fact Check: Trump Distorts Data, Dems Cut Some Corners
BERNIE SANDERS: “Medicare for all ... will cost substantially less than the status quo.” THE FACTS: There’s no guarantee that “Medicare for All” will cost less. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in a report last year that total spending under a single-payer system like Sanders is calling for “might be higher or lower than under the current system depending on the key features of the new system. ”Those features have to do with the design of the system, questions like payment rates for hospitals and doctors, and whether patients are required to pay part of the cost of their care. (Woodward, Boak and Yen, 1/14)

The New York Times: Fact-Checking The January Democratic Debate
WHAT MR. SANDERS SAID: “Medicare for all will end the absurdity of the United States paying by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs and health care in general.” This is exaggerated. Mr. Sanders is correct that nearly every kind of medical service costs more in the United States than in other developed nations. Many health economists believe it is these higher prices paid in the United States that explain the bulk of why the American health care system is so unusually expensive. A Medicare for all plan like the one Mr. Sanders has proposed would have the power to lower such prices by making the government the only purchaser of health care services. (1/14)

The Washington Post: Fact-Checking The Seventh Democratic Primary Debate
“You got 500,000 people going bankrupt because they cannot pay their medical bills.” — Sanders. Sanders often repeats this talking point, asserting that 500,000 people go bankrupt every year because of medical bills. That’s approximately two-thirds of the 750,000 total bankruptcies per year. We’ve previously given Three Pinocchios to Sanders for this claim, which he keeps repeating. (Kessler, Rizzo and Kelly, 1/14)

The New York Times: Democratic Debate Recap: Gender, War And Taking On Trump
Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. came under far less scrutiny than his standing as the national front-runner might have merited in the final debate before voting begins in Iowa on Feb. 3. Just as notable, Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., who has slipped in Iowa, seemed satisfied to make his own case without sharply criticizing his top rivals. New polls in Iowa show that Democratic voters are roughly split between four top candidates: Mr. Biden, Mr. Sanders of Vermont, Ms. Warren of Massachusetts and Mr. Buttigieg. (Goldmacher and Martin, 1/14)

NPR: Democratic Debate: Often-Used Health Care Terms Defined
If the last few Democratic presidential debates are any guide, tonight's will likely delve into health care proposals. Do voters know what we're talking about when we talk about various plans and concepts, including "Medicare for All?" Or any of the other health policy terms that get thrown around? Pretty much no. (Simmons-Duffin, 1/14)

CNN: Watch The Full CNN/Des Moines Register Democratic Debate
Six presidential candidates took the stage in Des Moines, Iowa, for the last debate before voting begins in February. (1/15)

The Hill: Democrats Warn Against Tennessee Medicaid Block Grant
A pair of Democrats from the House and Senate want a government watchdog to make sure Tennessee does not abuse funding if the Trump administration approves the state’s request to block-grant Medicaid. In a letter sent Tuesday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) urged the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General to “exercise vigorous oversight” if Tennessee’s waiver request is granted. (Weixel, 1/14)

Politico: Trump To Lift Hold On $8.2B In Puerto Rico Disaster Aid
The Department of Housing and Urban Development will allow Puerto Rico to access more than $8 billion in blocked disaster aid funding, ending a monthslong hold by the Trump administration, according to people familiar with the matter. Puerto Rico, which suffered devastating losses from Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, has received just $1.5 billion of the roughly $20 billion in congressionally authorized disaster funds that HUD is supposed to administer. (O'Donnell, 1/15)

The Washington Post: More Than 100 Billion Pain Pills Saturated The Nation Over Nine Years
Newly disclosed federal drug data shows that more than 100 billion doses of oxycodone and hydrocodone were shipped nationwide from 2006 through 2014 — 24 billion more doses of the highly addictive pain pills than previously known to the public. The data, which traces the path of every pain pill shipped in the United States, shows the extent to which opioids flooded the country as deaths from the epidemic continued to climb over nine years. The Washington Post and the company that owns the Charleston Gazette-Mail in West Virginia first obtained the data, collected by the Drug Enforcement Administration, from 2006 through 2012 after waging a year-long legal fight. (Rich, Higham and Horwitz, 1/14)

The Hill: House GOP Reopens Investigation Into Opioid Manufacturers Over Role In Crisis
The top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee is reopening an investigation into three drug companies that make opioids over their role in the epidemic of overdose deaths. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), along with Reps. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) and Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), sent letters on Tuesday to the companies with new questions about whether they could have done more earlier to stem the tide of opioid-related deaths. (Sullivan, 1/14)

The Associated Press: Amid Doc's Murder Case, Lawsuits Reflect Battle Over Blame
In the year since an Ohio hospital system announced an intensive care doctor had ordered excessive painkillers for dozens of patients who then died, the allegations led to murder charges against him, lawsuits, firings and potential disciplinary action for some of his colleagues. As the criminal case moves toward possible trial this year, related pending lawsuits reflect a battle over blame. A look at where things stand. (Franko, 1/14)

The Hill: CDC: More People Obtain THC Vapes From Family, Friends Than Dispensaries
A large majority of the people suffering from a vaping-related lung illness said they used products containing THC, and most of them obtained the products through “informal” sources, according to new federal data released Tuesday. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), obtaining products from only informal sources was substantially more common for THC products than for just nicotine-containing products while obtaining products only from commercial sources was much more common for nicotine than for THC-containing products. (Weixel, 1/14)

USA Today: Vaping: CDC Warning Includes Products From More Legal Marijuana Vendors
One-sixth of patients who developed lung injuries after vaping marijuana obtained the product from legal dispensaries, a new federal report says, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said reinforced its current recommendations to not use THC-containing e-cigarette, or vaping, products. (Bacon and O'Donnell, 1/14)

The Hill: Police Investigating Teens Who Filmed 2-Year-Old Vaping
Pennsylvania State Police announced Tuesday they are investigating a video posted to social media of a 2-year-old appearing to vape. The video, circulated through Snapchat, depicts the child inhaling from a vaping device before coughing and crying, with two teen girls heard laughing. State police said the two were a 17-year-old who was babysitting the toddler and an 18-year-old who was also present. (Budryk, 1/14)

The Hill: House Panel Set To Examine Federal Marijuana Policies
A House panel on Wednesday is set to examine some of the barriers to marijuana research amid a growing disconnect between federal and state policies. “There is a chasm between the federal laws and what over 30 states are doing,” Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) told The Hill in an interview Tuesday. (Weixel, 1/14)

ProPublica: Border Patrol Officials Dodged Congress’ Questions About Migrant Children’s Deaths 
The Trump administration sought to “conceal information” about the death of a 16-year-old Guatemalan boy in Border Patrol custody, a House subcommittee chairwoman said at a hearing Tuesday. Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., said the Department of Homeland Security has “consistently failed to maintain transparency by stymying congressional inquiries. (Moore, 1/14)

NPR: FDA Drug Approvals Are Faster But Rely On Less Evidence Than They Used To
The Food and Drug Administration has gotten faster at approving new prescription drugs over the past four decades, but the evidence it relies on in making those decisions is getting weaker, according to new research published Tuesday. As a result, there are more cures and treatments on the market but less proof that they are safe and effective. (Lupkin, 1/14)

The Hill: Big Pharma Looks To Stem Losses After Trade Deal Defeat
The powerful pharmaceutical industry is trying to cope with a rare loss in the North American trade deal now moving through the Senate. Drug companies are protesting the elimination of a provision that would have given them 10 years of market exclusivity for an innovative type of drug called biologics. That measure was dropped from the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) at the behest of House Democrats, who warned it could have locked in higher drug prices. (Sullivan, 1/14)

Stat: At JPM, Debate On Alzheimer’s, Family Drama In Oncology, And A Glum CEO
While the early hours of biotech’s biggest annual meeting didn’t bring any of the 10-figure transactions that tend to please investors, the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference offered plenty to debate when it comes to the future of medicine. Here are some of the highlights so far, including a hot-button issue in Alzheimer’s disease, some family drama in oncology, and a reliably upbeat CEO forced to reckon with undeniably bad news. (Feuerstein and Herper, 1/14)

Stat: After A Big Stock Surge, Patrick Soon-Shiong Makes His Case To Investors
Not many investors had pegged the long-stagnant immunotherapy developer NantKwest as one of the big stock winners of this week. But on Monday, the first day of the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, the stock soared 91% after the company’s founder and CEO, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, gave an unusual television interview. (Robbins, 1/14)

Stat: Proteus Digital Health, Maker Of 'Smart Pills,' Sees Key Pharma Pact Unravel
It was supposed to be a showcase for the way in which technology can revolutionize how some patients take their medications — and ultimately improve health outcomes. It has proven far more complicated. Proteus Digital Health, a Silicon Valley company, raised close to $500 million and soared to a valuation of $1.5 billion on the promise that its sensor technology could be used to monitor whether patients with a wide range of health conditions have taken their pills. Then, late last year, the company’s funds fell dangerously low. (Robbins, 1/14)

The Associated Press: US Drinking More Now Than Just Before Prohibition
Americans are drinking more now than when Prohibition was enacted. What’s more, it’s been rising for two decades, and it’s not clear when it will fall again. That’s the picture painted by federal health statistics, which show a rise in per-person consumption and increases in emergency room visits, hospitalizations and deaths tied to drinking. (1/14)

The Hill: Americans Drink About 2.3 Gallons Of Alcohol A Year: Study
Consumption by the average American was just over 2 gallons per year at the time, according to the AP, which noted that the number of deaths per year (88,000) associated from excessive drinking actually ranks higher than the opioid crisis in terms of total deaths. “Consumption has been going up. Harms (from alcohol) have been going up,” Dr. Tim Naimi, an alcohol researcher at Boston University, told the AP in an interview. “And there’s not been a policy response to match it.” (Bowden, 1/14)

The Hill: Lawmakers Express Alarm Over Rise In Cocaine Overdose Deaths
The bipartisan leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee are raising alarm over an increase in overdose deaths from cocaine and methamphetamine. The lawmakers wrote to the Trump administration requesting a briefing on the fight against these drugs by Feb. 4. (Sullivan, 1/14)

Reuters: U.S. Warns Citizens In China Against Pneumonia Outbreak
The U.S. State Department warned Americans in China about an outbreak of pneumonia in the central city of Wuhan believed to be caused by a new strain of coronavirus, and which has killed one person. Wednesday's notice referred to an alert by the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention urging citizens in China travelling to Wuhan to avoid contact with animals, animal markets or animal products, among other precautions. (1/15)

Stat: 'How Long Do I Have?’ A Website On Cancer Survival Rates Seeks To Help
Talking about cancer is hard. Talking about your chances of surviving cancer is even harder. Now one of the entrepreneurs behind the drug-pricing information site GoodRx wants to make conversations about cancer easier with a new site called CancerSurvivalRates.com. Launched this month, its mission is to make information about cancer prognoses more accessible to patients and families. The idea is to improve on what people can find on the internet or even sometimes in their doctors’ offices, co-founder and drug supply chain veteran Stephen Buck said. (Cooney, 1/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Heart Disease Strikes Back Across The U.S., Even In Healthy Places
Colorado is ranked as one of the nation’s healthiest states. It often doesn’t feel that way to David Rosenbaum. The Colorado Springs cardiologist regularly sees men and women in their 30s and 40s with heart problems, such as high blood pressure, an irregular heart rhythm, heart attacks. A visit from a young patient was rare when he started practicing there 17 years ago. Not anymore. “People say, oh, Colorado, we’re so healthy,” said Dr. Rosenbaum, who works for UCHealth, a not-for-profit health-care system. “Not so much.” (McKay and Overberg, 1/14)

The New York Times: Run A First Marathon, And Your Arteries May Look 4 Years Younger 
Complete a first marathon and rejuvenate a major artery. That is the message of an inspiring new study of novice runners and their aortas. The study finds that training for and finishing a marathon can spruce up arteries, leaving them more flexible, healthy and biologically younger than before, even if runners are older or slow. But the study also raises some pointed questions about whether a lone marathon is the ideal goal for people hoping to improve their arterial health over the long term. (Reynolds, 1/15)

NPR: A New Solution For Postpartum Depression: A Help Line For Obstetricians
As a young woman, Jennifer Ford struggled with anxiety and depression. When she got pregnant, her physician advised her to stay on the antidepressant she took to manage her symptoms. Her first pregnancy and childbirth went smoothly, she says, but things were different after she gave birth the second time. "It's when I hit my wall," says Ford. She remembers feeling overcome by grief, immediately after she got home. (Chatterjee, 1/15)

The Associated Press: Kentucky Clinic Given OK To Apply For Abortion License
Kentucky officials are inviting a Planned Parenthood clinic to apply for a license to perform abortions after it was denied by former Gov. Matt Bevin's administration. If a license is approved for the Louisville clinic, it would become only the second abortion provider in the state. (1/14)

The Associated Press: Bills Seek To End 'Conversion Therapy' In Kentucky
Twice a week for four years when he was in high school, gay student Zach Meiners underwent “conversion therapy,” a practice that attempts to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. Once the sessions ended, it took almost 10 years before he started “to heal and learn to love" himself, Meiners said Tuesday during a rally to promote bills that would effectively ban conversion therapy in Kentucky. (1/14)

The Associated Press: Arizona Bill Banning Sex Ed Before 7th Grade Going Nowhere
A conservative Arizona Republican senator who was pushing a contentious proposal that would bar any sexual education instruction for students before the 7th grade and create new requirements for the subject conceded Tuesday that her proposal stood no chance of advancing. (1/14)

The Washington Post: The #MeToo Era Of Sex Ed: Teaching Middle School Students About Consent
Huddled around a table in their second-period health class, the seventh graders debated the scenario in a lesson about consent. It involved a story about a boy named Jack and a girl named Brenda. Jack is helping Brenda with her Spanish homework in the library. Suddenly, Jack starts kissing her. Brenda likes Jack, but she is worried about being caught. “Someone might see us,” she whispers to him. “So be quiet,” Jack responds. (Schmidt, 1/14)

The Associated Press: Michigan Sues 3M, DuPont Over ‘Forever’ Chemicals In Water
Michigan on Tuesday sued 3M, DuPont and other companies for financial damages from contamination caused by potentially harmful “forever” chemicals that are turning up in drinking water across the industrial state. The lawsuitfiled in state court alleges that 17 defendants deliberately concealed the dangers of a class of substances known collectively as PFAS. (Eggert, 1/14)

The Washington Post: Virginia Governor To Ban Guns On Grounds Of State Capitol
Gov. Ralph Northam on Wednesday will announce at least a temporary ban on firearms on the grounds of the state Capitol, two people briefed on his plans said late Tuesday. The move comes just days after newly empowered Democrats banned guns from the Capitol building and an adjacent legislative office building. And it comes just ahead of a gun rights rally planned for Monday, which organizers say will draw tens of thousands to Capitol Square. (Vozzella and Schneider, 1/14)