First Edition: January 31, 2019

Kaiser Health News: Ads For Short-Term Plans Lacking ACA Protections Swamped Consumers’ Online Searches
Consumers shopping for insurance online last fall — using search terms such as “Obamacare plans,” “ACA enroll” and “cheap health insurance” — were most often directed to websites that promote individual health plans that didn’t meet consumer protections of the Affordable Care Act, according to a new study. They also failed to get adequate information about those plans’ limitations, according to the analysis by researchers at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms. (Findlay, 1/31)

California Healthline: New Covered California Sign-Ups Plummet
The number of new enrollees in Covered California health plans plunged by nearly a quarter this year, largely because of the elimination of the federal tax penalty for people without insurance, officials announced Wednesday. The decrease was steeper than expected — and larger than the drop in new enrollment in the federal marketplace, healthcare.gov. It occurred even as Covered California, the state health insurance exchange, spent millions on advertising to entice people to sign up for coverage during the open-enrollment period that ended Jan. 15. (Ibarra, 1/30)

Kaiser Health News: Frail Seniors Find Ways To Live Independently
Pauline Jeffery had let things slide since her husband died. Her bedroom was a mess. Her bathroom was disorganized. She often tripped over rugs in her living and dining room. “I was depressed and doing nothing but feeling sorry for myself,” said the 85-year-old Denver resident. But Jeffery’s inertia faded when she joined a program for frail low-income seniors: Community Aging in Place — Advancing Better Living for Elders (CAPABLE). (Graham, 1/31)

California Healthline: Nonprofit Dental Insurer Under Scrutiny For ‘Flagrant’ Spending 
Dental insurance giant Delta Dental of California is facing mounting criticism for paying its CEO exorbitantly, flying board members and their companions to Barbados for a meeting, and spending a small fraction of its revenue on charitable work — all while receiving significant state and federal tax breaks because of its nonprofit status. Now, the company — which has 36.5 million enrollees in 15 states and the District of Columbia — is hoping to pay $155 million to acquire a 49.5 percent stake in for-profit medical and dental insurer Moda Health. (Barry-Jester, 1/30)

The Hill: ‘Medicare For All’ Opens Up Dem Divide 
The embrace of “Medicare for all” legislation by top 2020 Democratic presidential candidates has opened up a rift in the party. Democrats highlighted health care in the 2018 midterm elections and reclaimed the House majority by picking up 40 seats. But their message was focused on protecting ObamaCare, not implementing a single-payer system — which is favored by progressives. Some on the left maintain that backing Medicare for all legislation is a must for anyone who wants to secure the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020.  (Weixel and Hellmann, 1/30)

Politico: Harris Dives Into 'Medicare For All' Minefield
Medicare for All has become a litmus test for 2020 Democrats, but the party is struggling to balance the grassroots enthusiasm for the cause with the political challenges of making it a reality. Kamala Harris was the latest candidate to come under fire from the left, right and center. In a widely watched CNN town hall, the California senator quickly embraced “Medicare for All” and said she was ready to see the private health insurance industry killed off. But quickly, she and her staff offered a more nuanced story: Harris also backs many incremental, go-slow plans that aren’t as radical, and add up to something more like “Medicare for More” or a strengthened version of Obamacare. (Ollstein, 1/31)

NPR: 'Medicare-For-All' Endorsed By Some Democrats Considering A Run For President
"Medicare-for-all," once widely considered a fringe proposal for providing health care in the U.S., is getting more popular. Several Democratic presidential hopefuls are getting behind the idea. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., endorsed the approach Monday in a CNN town hall-style event, saying her aim would be to eliminate all private insurance. "Who of us has not had that situation, where you've got to wait for approval and the doctor says, well, 'I don't know if your insurance company is going to cover this,' " Harris said. "Let's eliminate all of that. Let's move on." (Kodjak, 1/30)

The New York Times: Veterans Will Have More Access To Private Health Care Under New V.A. Rules
Veterans who live as little as a 30-minute drive from a Veterans Affairs health care facility will instead be able to choose private care, the most significant change in rules released Wednesday as part of the Trump administration’s effort to fix years-old problems with the health system. Veterans who can prove they must drive for at least 30 minutes to a Department of Veterans Affairs facility will be allowed to seek primary care and mental health services outside the department’s system. Current law lets veterans use a private health care provider if they must travel 40 miles or more to a V.A. clinic. (Steinhauer, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: VA Issues New Rules Expanding Access To Private Care
The new rules, announced by VA Secretary Robert Wilkie, make it far easier for many veterans to turn to private clinics and hospitals. For instance, the rules slash the time a veteran is required to wait before opting out of the VA hospital system to use the private sector for an appointment, and would cut the maximum distance a veteran must travel to obtain care. Those changes are among the first tangible effects of a sweeping law passed last year that aimed to improve the way health care is delivered to veterans. (Kesling, 1/30)

The Hill: VA Unveils Proposal To Expand Private Health Care For Veterans
“Most Americans can already choose the health care providers that they trust, and President Trump promised that veterans would be able to do the same,” VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said in a statement Wednesday. “With VA’s new access standards, the future of the VA health care system will lie in the hands of veterans — exactly where it should be.” (Kheel, 1/30)

Reuters: Senate Hearings To Probe Unsafe Housing Of U.S. Military Families
Troubled by widespread health and safety hazards uncovered by a Reuters investigation into U.S. military housing, Congress will hold hearings next month to ensure that “what we’re seeing now can never happen again,” said Michigan Democrat Gary Peters, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. During the hearings, tentatively scheduled for Feb. 13, lawmakers will question the Department of Defense and private contractors who house thousands of U.S. military families on bases across the country, according to Senate staff familiar with the plans. (Schneyer and Pell, 1/30)

The New York Times: A Merciless Cold Lingers In The Midwest
A merciless cold crippled the Midwest on Wednesday, halting planes and trains, shuttering schools and prompting officials in Detroit, Minneapolis and Chicago to open emergency warming centers for the homeless and vulnerable. The bitter weather was believed to be tied to the deaths of at least eight people, including a man thought to have collapsed after shoveling snow and frozen to death in his Milwaukee garage. Hospitals saw a steady stream of patients reporting symptoms of frostbite. (Bosman and Davey, 1/30)

The Washington Post: With Frigid Weather, Concern Heightens For The City’s Homeless
On the eve of winter’s coldest punch of the season so far, with temperatures due to plunge to low single digits, two of the thousands of homeless people in the nation’s capital, James Bernard and June Lewis, sat huddled in the shallow doorway of a stone building Wednesday and predicted they’d survive, because they always have. “We’re going to make it unless we die” was how Bernard, 46, put it. Lewis, 64, said, “If we die, we die.” (Duggan and Jamison, 1/30)

The Washington Post: Polar Vortex: As Many As Six Deaths, USPS Delivery Suspended, School Canceled Across Midwest
For the region’s most vulnerable — even those hardened to the Upper Midwest’s long winters — this polar vortex has been especially perilous. Karen Andro, director of Hope’s Home Ministries at the First United Methodist Church in Madison, has spent much of the past few days coordinating with other nonprofits and government agencies to arrange transportation, hot meals and warming centers for the city’s homeless residents. She reflected on past winters, when one person froze to death on the steps of a local church and another had a heart attack walking between shelters, and said that services here have improved. (Mettler, Horton, Wang and Fritz, 1/30)

NPR: How To Stay Safe In Extreme Cold
Parts of the Dakotas and Minnesota dove to -27 degrees F or lower this week, according to the National Weather Service. That's not just uncomfortable — that kind of cold can be dangerous and even deadly, especially if you don't take precautions in how long you're out and how you dress. "I've seen patients develop frostbite within approximately 10 to 15 minutes after being exposed to these extreme temperatures," Dr. Jeff Schaider tells NPRs Ari Shapiro on All Things Considered. Schaider is chief of emergency medicine at the John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital in Chicago and the head of emergency medicine at Cook County Health. (Neighmond, 1/30)

The New York Times: Opioid Lawsuits Are Headed To Trial. Here's Why The Stakes Are Getting Uglier.
Just over a year ago, opioid lawsuits against makers and distributors of the painkillers were proliferating so rapidly that a judicial panel bundled all the federal cases under the stewardship of a single judge. On a January morning, Judge Dan Aaron Polster of the Northern District of Ohio made his opening remarks to lawyers for nearly 200 municipal governments gathered in his Cleveland courtroom. He wanted the national opioid crisis resolved with a meaningful settlement within a year, proclaiming, “We don’t need briefs and we don’t need trials.” That year is up. (Hoffman, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Family Behind OxyContin Maker Made Billions, Say Court Papers
The controlling family behind the maker of opioid painkiller OxyContin took home billions of dollars over the past decade, even as sales of the drug waned, newly revealed parts of court documents show. More than $4 billion was paid out between 2008 and 2016 to members of the Sackler family, owners of drugmaker Purdue Pharma LP, according to redacted portions of a civil complaint brought by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey against Purdue for allegedly contributing to the state’s opioid crisis. (Hopkins and Randazzo, 1/30)

ProPublica and Stat: OxyContin Maker Explored Expansion Into “Attractive” Anti-Addiction Market
Not content with billions of dollars in profits from the potent painkiller OxyContin, its maker explored expanding into an “attractive market” fueled by the drug’s popularity — treatment of opioid addiction, according to previously secret passages in a court document filed by the state of Massachusetts. In internal correspondence beginning in 2014, Purdue Pharma executives discussed how the sale of opioids and the treatment of opioid addiction are “naturally linked” and that the company should expand across “the pain and addiction spectrum,” according to redacted sections of the lawsuit by the Massachusetts attorney general. (Armstrong, 1/30)

CNN: Opioid Maker Purdue Pharma Fights To Prevent Documents Involving Sackler Family From Going Public
Purdue Pharma filed a motion Wednesday to stay a Massachusetts judge's order that could expose details about one of America's richest families and their connection to the nation's opioid crisis. The Sacklers and some employees of their company, Purdue Pharma, have been named in a lawsuit that accuses them of profiting from the opioid epidemic by aggressively marketing the painkiller OxyContin, claims denied by attorneys for the family and Purdue. (1/30)

Stat: Drug Makers Looking To Replace Opioids Try To Keep Some Pain In The Picture
Tim LaBranche and his colleagues at the drug maker Pfizer had operated on a group of lab rodents to replicate the effects of osteoarthritic joint damage. They had also given some of them a new pain drug, called an NGF inhibitor, while others got a placebo. The researchers wanted to know if the drug would not only blunt the rats’ chronic pain, but also some useful pain, the kind that reminds humans to steer clear of a hot stove — or to stop walking on a damaged knee. The idea was to see whether the inky footprints of rats that had been treated were thicker than those of the control group, evidence that they were overburdening an injured leg. (Garde, 1/31)

The Associated Press: ICE Force-Feeding Detainees On Hunger Strike
Federal immigration officials are force-feeding six immigrants through plastic nasal tubes during a hunger strike that's gone on for a month inside a Texas detention facility, The Associated Press has learned. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says 11 detainees at the El Paso Processing Center have been refusing food, some for more than 30 days. Detainees who reached the AP, along with a relative and an attorney representing hunger strikers, said nearly 30 detainees from India and Cuba have been refusing to eat, and some are now so weak they cannot stand up or talk. (1/30)

The Associated Press: E-Cigs Outperform Patches And Gums In Quit-Smoking Study
A major new study provides the strongest evidence yet that vaping can help smokers quit cigarettes, with e-cigarettes proving nearly twice as effective as nicotine gums and patches. The British research, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, could influence what doctors tell their patients and shape the debate in the U.S., where the Food and Drug Administration has come under pressure to more tightly regulate the burgeoning industry amid a surge in teenage vaping. (1/30)

NPR: Vaping Edged Out Nicotine Gum And Patches In Smoking-Cessation Study
People who use vaping to quit smoking have milder cravings, he says. They also get pleasure from the act of vaping, which may contribute to its success as a tobacco-quitting aid. And over time, many people gradually reduce the dose of nicotine they are receiving through these devices, Hajek says, so that makes it easier for people who want to quit vaping. (Harris, 1/30)

The New York Times: E-Cigarettes Are Effective At Helping Smokers Quit, A Study Says
The success rate was still low — 18 percent among the e-cigarette group, compared to 9.9 percent among those using traditional nicotine replacement therapy — but many researchers who study tobacco and nicotine said it gave them the clear evidence they had been looking for. “This is a seminal study,” said Dr. Neal L. Benowitz, chief of clinical pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco, an expert in nicotine absorption and tobacco-related illnesses, who was not involved in the project. “It is so important to the field.” (Hoffman, 1/30)

The Washington Post: E-Cigarettes More Effective Than Nicotine Replacement To Help Smokers Quit, Study Finds
But two editorials in the same publication threw some cold water on the trial’s results. One editorial, by Boston University researchers, said e-cigarettes should be used only when Food and Drug Administration-approved treatments do not work. Those approved therapies, as well as drugs such as bupropion, have higher effectiveness rates than the new study suggested, and much more is known about their side effects, said Belinda Borrelli, a Boston University researcher who co-wrote the editorial. She noted e-cigarettes pose some serious risks, including potential harm to the lungs caused by flavorings — as well as the possibility that some people will end up using both regular cigarettes and the electronic versions. (McGinley, 1/30)

NPR: Stroke Risk Higher Among E-Cigarette Users, Study Finds
The use of e-cigarettes is associated with an increased risk of heart attack, heart disease and stroke, according to research that is scheduled to be presented Feb. 6 at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference in Honolulu. Concern around the health effects of e-cigarette use has grown in recent years, fueled by a surge in their popularity and a belief that they're safe alternatives to normal cigarettes. (Lambert, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: New York City Council Weighs Ban On Flavored E-Cigarettes, Menthols
In November, the Food and Drug Administration announced it would seek a nationwide ban on menthol cigarettes, and placed restrictions on the sale of e-flavored cigarettes. Also in November, the administration of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said it would seek to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes. The rate of youth cigarette use in New York City dropped from 18% in 2001 to 5% in 2017, according to Oxiris Barbot, commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. (West, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: New Details On Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, JPMorgan Health Venture Emerge In Court Battle
Health giant UnitedHealth Group Inc. went to court Wednesday to try to stop a former executive from working for a company it sees as a competitor, the health-care venture launched last year by Amazon.com Inc., Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. The scope of the still-unnamed venture remains hazy beyond stated goals to improve health care and rein in costs for employees. But filings related to the case and court testimony offer some fresh clues about the closely watched effort, including that it may build its own solutions if what it needs isn’t available elsewhere. (Kamp and Wilde Mathews, 1/30)

Stat: In Court, Gawande's New Company, Optum Fight To Keep Their Own Secrets
The executive in the middle of an intense legal fight between UnitedHealth Group and the new health venture helmed by Dr. Atul Gawande testified Wednesday that he did not attempt to steal trade secrets from the United subsidiary, Optum, and was taken aback by the ferocity of the legal allegations against him. “I was fairly surprised by, frankly, all of this,” David Smith said in U.S. District Court in Boston, where Optum was seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent him from starting work for Gawande’s company, which was formed by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase. (Sheridan and Ross, 1/30)

Stat: Many Doctors Uncertain About FDA Approvals — And Dislike Off-Label Marketing 
In the wake of debate over regulatory approval standards for medicines, a new survey finds that most physicians favorably view the approaches taken by the Food and Drug Administration, but a key “disconnect” also exists between their perceptions and the reality of the approval process. Of nearly 700 respondents, 80 percent agreed that the FDA process helps “protect the public from ineffective or dangerous drugs.” And 65 percent reported they were satisfied with the standards used by the FDA to approve medicines, while only 24 percent indicated approval standards are too high, according to a research letter in JAMA Internal Medicine. (Silverman, 1/30)

The Associated Press: FDA OKs 1st Generic Version Of Popular Advair Asthma Inhaler
The first generic version of the popular Advair asthma inhaler has been approved by U.S. regulators. The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved Mylan's version in three strengths for ages 4 and up. The inhalers are used twice daily to keep airways open and prevent flare-ups of wheezing, shortness of breath and other symptoms of asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. About 42 million Americans have those conditions. (Johnson, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Despite Raising Prices, Big Pharma Is Selling Drugs For Less
Drug companies may be raising list prices in the U.S., but discounts mean the actual price of many drugs is falling. Novartis AG on Wednesday said net prices—the sum it gets after discounts to the list price—slipped last year and would continue to fall in 2019. Although drug companies are still raising list prices, they are under growing political pressure to limit those increases. At the same time, companies are offering bigger discounts to the middlemen who manage prescriptions for health plans, as the drug companies try to win favorable treatment of their products, such as lower patient co-payments. The upshot: drug prices after the discounts, know as rebates, are going down. (Roland, 1/30)

Stat: Romney To Speak Before Closed PhRMA Board Meeting 
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) plans to deliver an address to a closed meeting of the drug industry’s powerful lobbying group on Thursday, a clear sign of the industry’s interest in courting the newly minted lawmaker. Romney’s plans to speak at the upcoming board meeting of PhRMA — to be attended by CEOs from major drug makers like Merck, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson — were described to STAT by three drug lobbyists. He is scheduled to appear for 30 minutes. (Florko, 1/30)

CNN: To Save His Parents Money, This Diabetic Teen Cut Back On His Insulin
Dillon Hooley loves his parents, so when he heard last year they were struggling to pay for his insulin, he wanted to help out any way he could. The high school senior came up with an idea: He would cut back on his insulin by about a third. Dillon, who has type1 diabetes, is supposed to keep his blood sugar levels between 130 and 150. After he started rationing insulin, his levels jumped as high as 300. (Cohen and Bonifield, 1/30)

The Associated Press: New Prescription Business Helps Fuel Anthem 2019 Forecast
The Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurer Anthem topped fourth-quarter earnings expectations and unveiled a better-than-expected 2019 forecast, helped by an early start for its prescription drug coverage business. Shares of the nation's second-largest health insurer soared after Anthem said Wednesday that it will start moving customers into its new business in this year's second quarter, several months ahead of schedule. (Murphy, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Anthem’s PBM Plans Boost Earnings Expectations
Anthem said that the earlier transition comes because of Cigna Corp.’s CI 0.71% recent acquisition of Express Scripts Holding Co., Anthem’s previous pharmacy-benefit manager, which allowed Anthem to terminate their contract well before the end of 2019, when the break had been expected. Anthem said it will exit the Express Scripts contract on March 1 and begin a yearlong process of transition the next day, with members beginning to migrate in the second quarter. Anthem reiterated previous estimates that, on a full-year basis, switching to its own PBM will generate approximately $4 billion in savings a year, with approximately 20% of that dropping to Anthem’s bottom line. (Wilde Mathews and Prang, 1/30)

The New York Times: Hopeful Would-Be Parents Shop Jobs For I.V.F. Coverage
A little over a year ago, Haley Burns, 29, was trying to get pregnant and was also becoming restless in her job. An information technology specialist for Sharp HealthCare in San Diego, she began searching for another position (while trying to get pregnant), and checking out the benefits of Sharp’s competitors (while also trying to get pregnant). The last time she had been on the job market, Ms. Burns said, “I wanted the ability to work remotely, and of course I wanted the biggest paycheck I could get.” Now she had a different priority: fertility coverage. (Grigoriadis, 1/30)

The Associated Press: Virginia Abortion Feud Erupts; Governor Blasted For Comments
A push by Virginia Democrats to loosen restrictions on late-term abortions is erupting into a fierce partisan clash because of a viral video in which a lawmaker acknowledges her legislation would allow abortions up until moments before birth. Gov. Ralph Northam added gas to the fire Wednesday by describing a hypothetical situation in a radio interview where an infant who is severely deformed or unable to survive after birth could be left to die. That prompted accusations from prominent Republicans that he supports infanticide. (1/30)

The Washington Post: Failed Abortion Bill Draws GOP Outrage Against Va. Gov. Northam, Democratic Legislators
Northam, whose spokeswoman said his words were being taken out of context by Republicans, called the notion that he would approve of killing infants “disgusting.” “I have devoted my life to caring for children, and any insinuation otherwise is shameful and disgusting,” he said. (Schneider and Vozzella, 1/30)

The New York Times: 120,000 Pounds, Recalled: What’s Happening To America’s Chicken Nuggets?
Tyson Foods, one of the United States’ largest meat producers, recalled more than 36,000 pounds of chicken nuggets on Tuesday after pieces of rubber were found in the food. A day earlier, another large meat supplier, Perdue, recalled more than 16,000 pounds of chicken nuggets because of misbranding and undeclared allergens. The nuggets contain milk — a common allergen — but it was not clearly specified on the packaging, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. (Garcia, 1/30)

The Washington Post: Tyson Nuggets Recall: 36,000 Pounds May Have Been Contaminated With Rubber
Tyson Foods said consumers contacted the company after they found small pieces of soft, blue rubber in the nuggets. The company said that rubber was found in a “very small number” of packages but that it decided to recall 36,420 pounds of product “out of an abundance of caution.” (Phillips, 1/30)

The New York Times: Was C.T.E. Stealing His Mind? A Gunshot Provided The Answer
The blast from upstairs shattered the quiet of a small-town weeknight. It was all so sudden. Or had it been coming for years? Jason Hairston had just been downstairs with his young son and daughter, who could not understand why their father was acting so strange. His wife, on the phone from across the country, was desperately trying to get her husband to say something, anything. (Branch, 1/31)

Stat: U.S. Scientist Played Instrumental Role In ‘CRISPR Babies’ Project 
An American scientist at Rice University was far more involved in the widely condemned “CRISPR babies” experiment than has previously been disclosed. Most notably, STAT has learned that Rice biophysicist Michael Deem was named as the senior author on a paper about the work that was submitted to Nature in late November. Deem’s prominent authorship indicates that a respected American researcher played an instrumental role in the controversial project, which sparked a worldwide furor. His involvement could have encouraged volunteers to join the experiment and lent credibility to He Jiankui, the Chinese scientist who led the work. (Qui, 1/31)

The New York Times: Rotavirus Vaccine May Protect Against Type 1 Diabetes
The vaccine that prevents rotavirus, which can cause severe gastric problems in children, may have another benefit: lowering the risk for Type 1 diabetes in toddlers. Rotavirus can leave children badly dehydrated and is sometimes fatal. Fortunately, there are two vaccines for the disease, easily administered by putting drops in the child’s mouth at ages 2 months, 4 months and (for one version of the vaccine) 6 months. Both vaccines are more than 90 percent effective. (Bakalar, 1/30)

The New York Times: Searching For The Genetic Underpinnings Of Morning Persons And Night Owls
Early to bed and early to rise is a maxim that’s easy to follow for some people, and devilishly hard for others. Now, in a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications, researchers curious about the genetic underpinnings of chronotype — whether you are a morning person, a night owl or somewhere in between — looked at about 700,000 people’s genomes. They identified 351 variations that may be connected to when people go to bed. While these variants are just the beginning of exploring the differences in chronotypes, the study goes on to suggest tantalizing links between chronotype and mental health. (Greenwood, 1/30)

The Associated Press: Nearly Half Of US Adults Have Heart Or Blood Vessel Disease
A new report estimates that nearly half of all U.S. adults have some form of heart or blood vessel disease, a medical milestone that's mostly due to recent guidelines that expanded how many people have high blood pressure. The American Heart Association says that more than 121 million adults had cardiovascular disease in 2016. Taking out those with only high blood pressure leaves 24 million, or 9 percent of adults, who have other forms of disease such as heart failure or clogged arteries. (1/31)

The New York Times: He Swallowed A Toothpick. It Could Have Killed Him.
A young man nearly lost his life to a toothpick he didn’t even know he had swallowed, according to a harrowing report published Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine. The three-inch wood pick, from a sandwich, traveled through most of his digestive tract without doing any harm. But then it poked through the intestinal wall and pierced an artery, creating a conduit for bacteria to invade his bloodstream and damaging the artery enough to cause serious bleeding. (Grady, 1/30)

The New York Times: This Is Your Brain Off Facebook
The world’s most common digital habit is not easy to break, even in a fit of moral outrage over the privacy risks and political divisions Facebook has created, or amid concerns about how the habit might affect emotional health. Although four in 10 Facebook users say they have taken long breaks from it, the digital platform keeps growing. A recent study found that the average user would have to be paid $1,000 to $2,000 to be pried away for a year. (Carey, 1/30)

USA Today/Naples Daily News: Miami Doctor's Plastic Surgery Empire Becomes Florida's Deadliest Clinics
Just after dawn, the women arrive. They come in taxis and rental cars, to a strip mall clinic tucked between a barber shop and a discount shoe store. They fly in from across the country for deals they can’t get back home – thousands of dollars off cosmetic surgeries, available, if they like, on payment plans. Inside, the lobby looks like any other surgery center: polished white floors, sleek, modern furniture, a large flat screen flashing images of beautiful bodies. (Sallah and Perez, 1/31)

The Associated Press: Nurse Indicted On Charges Of Raping Incapacitated Woman
A nurse suspected of raping an incapacitated woman who later gave birth at a long-term care facility in Phoenix has been indicted on charges of sexual assault and abuse of a vulnerable adult. The document filed Tuesday mirrors charges that prosecutors filed last week against 36-year-old Nathan Dorceus Sutherland. Sutherland is expected to enter a plea to the charges at an arraignment hearing next Tuesday.His attorney, David Gregan, didn’t immediately return a call Wednesday seeking comment. (1/30)

The Associated Press: Patients In Northwest Measles Outbreak Traveled To Hawaii
A measles outbreak in the Pacific Northwest became more worrisome Wednesday with word that people infected with the extremely contagious viral illness traveled to Hawaii and central Oregon after being exposed. The revelation prompted public health officials in Oregon's Deschutes County and in Hawaii to issue alerts, although no cases were confirmed in either location. (1/30)

Los Angeles Times: A Bill Would End A $5 Co-Pay That Has Some California Inmates Choosing Between Buying Soap Or Seeing A Doctor
Thousands of California inmates like Watson struggle to cover their healthcare costs in prison every year, and Assemblyman Mark Stone (D-Scotts Valley) says the state should ease some of the burden. He has introduced a bill that would prevent the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from charging a co-pay for self-initiated medical and dental visits that has some inmates choosing between buying soap or visiting the doctor. (Ulloa, 1/29)

Los Angeles Times: California Lawmakers Grill Top Utilities Regulator Over Wildfire Prevention
Under intense questioning from state lawmakers, California’s top utilities regulator said the state is ill-equipped to deal with a new reality of destructive and deadly wildfires brought on by climate change. “I don’t think we are prepared for, in any way here in the state of California, for the enormity that we’re seeing,” said Michael Picker, president of the California Public Utilities Commission. “We need more. We need more thinking. We need more ideas.” Picker made the comments in testimony Wednesday during the agency’s annual oversight hearing in the state Assembly. (Luna, 1/30)