First Edition: July 31, 2019

Kaiser Health News: In A Messy Democratic Presidential Debate, Facts About Medicare For All Get Tossed About 
Delaney: “It’s been well documented that if all the bills were paid at Medicare rate, which is specifically — I think it’s in section 1,200 of their bill — then many hospitals in this country would close. I’ve been going around rural America and I ask rural hospital administrators one question: ‘If all your bills were paid at the Medicare rate last year, what would happen?’ And they all look at me and say, ‘We would close.’” Delaney made this argument to attack Sanders’ Medicare for All plan, which he referred to as “bad” policy in his opening statement. He made this claim about rural hospitals during last month’s debates, too. We rated it False. (Huetteman, 7/31)

Kaiser Health News: This Indiana Clinic Has Patient-Care Stats Worth Bragging About
When I visited Dr. James Gingerich, he launched into some of the nerdiest bragging I’ve ever heard. We were chatting in front of his stand-up desk at Maple City Health Care Center, the clinic he founded and runs in Goshen, Ind. “Here’s our data,” he said, and started clicking through a set of preventive care benchmarks. (Weissmann, 7/31)

Kaiser Health News: Genetic-Testing Scam Targets Seniors And Rips Off Medicare
The 86-year-old woman in rural Utah doesn’t usually answer solicitations from strangers, she said, but the young couple who knocked on her front door seemed so nice. Before long, she had handed over her Medicare and Social Security numbers — and allowed them to swab her cheek to collect her DNA. She is among scores of older Americans who have been targeted in a scam that uses DNA tests to defraud Medicare or steal personal information. Fraudsters find their victims across the country through cold calls, door knocking, email, Facebook ads and Craigslist. (Bailey, 7/31)

Kaiser Health News: Trump Administration Moves To Make Health Care Costs More Transparent
Shopping around for the best deal on a medical X-ray or a new knee? The Trump administration has a plan for that. On Monday, it proposed new rules that would provide consumers far more detail about the actual prices hospitals charge insurers. It comes amid growing calls from consumer advocates, who argue transparency can help tackle rising health care costs. But the plan also has the potential to overwhelm patients with data. (Appleby, 7/31)

The New York Times: Democratic Debate Turns Ferocious Over Health Care
It took only one question — the very first — in Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential primary debate to make it clear that the issue that united the party in last year’s congressional elections in many ways now divides it. When Jake Tapper of CNN asked Senator Bernie Sanders whether his Medicare for All health care plan was “bad policy” and “political suicide,” it set off a half-hour brawl that drew in almost every one of the 10 candidates on the stage. Suddenly, members of the party that had been all about protecting and expanding health care coverage were leveling accusations before a national audience at some of their own — in particular, that they wanted to take it away. “It used to be Republicans that wanted to repeal and replace,” Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana said in one of the more jolting statements on the subject. “Now many Democrats do as well.” (Goodnough, 7/30)

The Washington Post: Evolution Or Revolution? Democrats’ Ideological Divisions Broke Into The Open In Their Detroit Brawl
The targets Tuesday were two of the most liberal and leading candidates in the field, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (Vt.), who were accused of embracing “free-everything . . . fairy tale” policies and making “impossible promises” that could compromise the party’s chances of winning back voters they lost in 2016 — a loss that cost them the White House. Warren and Sanders more than stood their ground during two spirited hours of sharp and passionate exchanges. (Balz, 7/31)

The New York Times: Sanders And Warren Battle Accusations Of ‘Fairy Tale’ Promises As Intraparty Rift Flares
The most protracted exchanges of the night, and by far the most substantive ones, concerned Mr. Sanders’s signature proposal to replace private health insurance with a single-payer system of the kind employed in Canada and a number of European countries. Mr. Delaney and the other moderates attacked the proposal from the first minutes of the debate, calling it a politically toxic idea that would void the health care plans of union members and of employees of private businesses. “We don’t have to go around and be the party of subtraction, and telling half the country, who has private health insurance, that their health insurance is illegal,” Mr. Delaney said. (Burns and Martin, 7/30)

Politico: Moderates Go After Progressives In Dem Debate
Warren added that Democrats aren’t trying to take away health care from Americans. “That’s what the Republicans are trying to do,” she said. “And we should stop using Republican talking points in order to talk with each other about how to best provide that health care.” (McCaskill, 7/30)

The Washington Post: Divisions On Health Care Separate Liberals And Moderates In Contentious Democratic Debate
The battle lines were drawn in the first half-hour of the debate, as an impassioned and prolonged exchange broke out over whether to abolish private health insurance in favor of a single-payer system favored by Sanders and Warren. When Sanders was asked how he would respond to Delaney, who described Medicare-for-all as bad policy, the senator offered a blunt retort: “You’re wrong!” “Why do we got to be the party of taking something away from people?” Delaney asked him in return. “We don’t have to do that. We can give everyone health care and allow people to have choice.” Warren quickly jumped in, saying candidates who favor Medicare-for-all are not trying to take anything away from the American people. (Olorunnipa, Viser and Wang, 7/31)

The Washington Post: Who Talked The Most During The Second Democratic Debate
Traditionally a noncombatant debater, Hickenlooper on Tuesday warned that Sanders’s policies would be a “disaster at the ballot box.” He continued: “You might as well FedEx the election to Donald Trump.” He added that he is more pragmatic about health care: “It comes down to that question of Americans being used to being able to make choices, to have the right to make a decision.” (Fuchs et al, 7/30)

NPR: Delaney, Moderates Target Warren And Sanders At Democratic Debate
Warren took a more measured, reasoned approach, while Sanders showed more outrage, throwing his hands up in disgust during one exchange with Hickenlooper. But the two never went after each other. At one point, when Sanders accidentally interrupted Warren, he stopped himself and apologized — a courtesy he didn't afford other opponents. (Taylor, 7/31)

Los Angeles Times: At Debate, Warren And Sanders Spar With Centrists Over Party Direction, How To Beat Trump
“I don’t understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States to talk about what we really can’t do and shouldn’t fight for,” Warren said after several candidates argued that she and Sanders would doom the party. Several of their opponents argued that there was too much at stake to risk giving any advantage to Trump and that a more pragmatic approach would sway a wider swath. (Bierman, Mehta and Halper, 7/30)

The Washington Post: Here Are The Democrats’ Three Key Disputes About Medicare-For-All
Sanders has said that his single-payer plan would raise taxes on the middle class but that amount would be more than offset because people would no longer pay deductibles, co-payments or premiums for health insurance. Sanders has said one option to fund Medicare-for-all would be from a 4 percent tax on employees, exempting families earning less than $29,000. Warren appeared to join Sanders in making that argument under pressure from CNN’s Jake Tapper to answer whether she supports raising middle-class taxes to pay for the plan. ... But other candidates have sought to embrace proposals that are less expensive. (Stein, 7/31)

The Wall Street Journal: Sanders, Warren Fight Back Against Moderates In Second Democratic Debate
Moderate Rep. Tim Ryan (D., Ohio) said that Mr. Sanders didn’t know that benefits under Medicare for All would be as good as or better than private insurance. “I do know that. I wrote the damn bill,” Mr. Sanders responded. (McCormick and Parti, 7/30)

The Washington Post Fact Check: Fact Check Of Second Democratic Debate
“Tonight in America as we speak, 87 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured but the health-care industry made $100 billion in profits last year," said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). In the first part of his statement, Sanders is quoting from a 2019 report from the Commonwealth Fund. The report said that the number of people who are uninsured — 24 million — had declined since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, but that more people are “underinsured.” That term refers to out-of-pocket costs that exceed 10 percent of income (or 5 percent of income if low-income, as well as deductible that were more than 5 percent of income. It also covers people who may have had a gap in insurance coverage. The report said that 43.8 million people had insurance but were underinsured, while 19.3 million people had a coverage gap. (Kessler, Rizzo and Kelly, 7/30)

The New York Times: Pete Buttigieg On Gun Violence: ‘I Was Part Of The First Generation That Saw Routine School Shootings’
Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Gov. Steve Bullock on Tuesday night both spoke in stark terms about how the epidemic of gun violence had personally affected them. During the Democratic presidential debate, Mr. Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind., recalled being in high school when two students killed 12 classmates and a teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999. “I was part of the first generation that saw routine school shootings,” Mr. Buttigieg said. “We have now produced the second school shooting generation in this country. We dare not allow there to be a third.” (Corasaniti, 7/30)

Sacramento Bee: 2020 Debate: Gilroy Victim Stephen Romero, 6, Invoked On Guns
A candidate debating gun control at Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primary debate invoked the youngest victim of the mass shooting Sunday at a garlic festival in Gilroy, California. “When that little 6-year-old boy died, Stephen Romero, when his dad said, ‘he’s only 6 years old’ — all I can say is: He’s 6 years old. We have to remember that,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., as she called for gun control measures such as universal background checks. (Gilmour, 7/30)

The Hill: Bullock To Warren On Immigration: 'You Are Playing Into Donald Trump's Hands'
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) on Tuesday accused Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) of playing into President Trump’s hands on immigration by calling to decriminalize illegal border crossings. In a heated exchange during Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate, Warren argued that the law criminalizing border crossings allowed Trump to separate families and jail children. “We need to fix the crisis at the border, and a big part of how we do that is we do not play into Donald Trump’s hands, but he wants to stir up the crisis at the border, because that’s his overall message,” Warren said. (Elis, 7/30)

CBS News: Democratic Debates 2019: Which Candidates Would Decriminalize Crossing The Border Illegally?
Pledges to repeal Section 1325 of Title 8 of the U.S. code — which makes "improper entry" into the U.S. a federal misdemeanor crime — have gained traction among some of the more progressive candidates in the large Democratic primary field after Obama-era Housing Secretary Julián Castro pressed fellow Texan Beto O'Rourke on his opposition to repealing the law during the debate last month. Under the widely criticized and now discontinued "zero tolerance" policy, the Trump administration employed Section 1325 to prosecute thousands of migrant parents who crossed the southern border illegally and forcibly separate them from their children.  (7/30)

The New York Times: Who Won Night 1 Of The Democratic Debate? Experts Weigh In
Lower-polling candidates did have their moments, though none outshone the top two. The self-help author Marianne Williamson got applause, and a huge surge of attention online, for her comments on racism and reparations. Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., drew a forceful contrast with President Trump. Gov. Steve Bullock of Montana, on the debate stage for the first time, made a case for himself as a voice of moderation. (Astor, 7/31)

The Fix: Transcript Of Second Democratic Debate Night 1
Democratic presidential candidates took the stage for the first night of their second set of debates on Tuesday in Detroit. [Here] is a transcript that will be updated throughout the evening. (7/30)

Politico: Democrats Brawl Over 'Medicare For All' During Debate
The Tuesday debate will tee up an an even starker contrast on health care on Wednesday, when former Vice President Joe Biden is again likely to advocate for a more incremental health plan that pulls the party back from its leftward lurch and Sen. Kamala Harris promotes her new twist on Medicare for All. Harris' new plan, which she released on Monday, could upend the dynamics of an issue that's energized Democratic voters — but one that more moderate Democrats worry will hurt the party’s shot at defeating President Donald Trump. (Pradhan and Cancryn, 7/30)

NPR: Democratic Debate Schedule And Key Questions: A Guide To Round 2, Night 2
Expect health care to be a big issue, as it was on Night 1. Sen. Kamala Harris of California unveiled her "Medicare for All" plan on Monday, presenting a middle ground between more progressive candidates' stances looking to replace private health insurance and that of Biden, who wants a public option. (Montanaro, 7/31)

The Washington Post: ACLU: U.S. Has Taken Nearly 1,000 Child Migrants From Their Parents Since Judge Ordered Stop To Border Separations
Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union told a federal judge Tuesday that the Trump administration has taken nearly 1,000 migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border since the judge ordered the United States government to curtail the practice more than a year ago. In a lengthy court filing in U.S. District Court in San Diego, lawyers wrote that one migrant lost his daughter because a U.S. Border Patrol agent claimed that he had failed to change the girl’s diaper. (Sacchetti, 7/30)

The New York Times: No More Family Separations, Except These 900
Family breakups have been imposed with even greater frequency in recent months under the Trump administration’s most widely debated immigration policy, ostensibly to protect the welfare of the children, but in many cases because of relatively minor criminal offenses in a parent’s past, such as shoplifting or public intoxication, according to tallies the Justice Department provided to the American Civil Liberties Union, which is challenging the separations. Earlier this month, the acting Homeland Security secretary, Kevin McAleenan, said in testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee that separations were “rare” and made only “in the interest of the child.” (Jordan, 7/30)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Administration Has Separated 900 Migrant Children Despite Order To Stop Practice
The ACLU has been receiving monthly updates from the government on new separations over the past year. Of the 911, 678 were based on criminal conduct, 71 on gang affiliation, 20 for allegations of unfitness or safety concerns, 46 for unverified familial relationship and 24 for parental illness.The government’s explanations don’t get more specific than that in many cases, although the ACLU has been rounding out the record with sworn declarations from the network of attorneys who have been representing separated families. One father was separated with his three young daughters because he has HIV, according to one attorney. Another mother who broke her leg at the border did not immediately have her 5-year-old child returned once she was released. (Davis, 7/30)

The Associated Press: Florida, Virginia Among Sites For Child Migrant Facilities
The Trump administration is scouting sites in central Florida, Virginia and Los Angeles for future facilities to hold unaccompanied minors who have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sent letters to Florida lawmakers Monday saying it is looking for vacant properties in those locations to build permanent licensed facilities for children under age 18 who have entered the United State illegally without a parent or guardian. (Schneider, 7/30)

The Associated Press: Planned Parenthood And ACLU Suing Over Missouri Abortion Law
Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union are suing the state of Missouri to stop a law that bans abortions beyond the eighth week of pregnancy from taking effect Aug. 28. The organizations allege in the federal lawsuit filed Tuesday that the abortion bill signed in May by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson that does not include exceptions in cases of rape or incest is part of an "unrelenting campaign to deny patients the health care they seek and to which they are entitled." (7/30)

The Hill: Planned Parenthood's New Chief: 'We're Not Political By Nature, But We've Been Politicized' 
Planned Parenthood's new president said Tuesday that the organization has been “politicized” by abortion opponents and that it is first and foremost a health group. “We are primarily a health care provider. We provide access to sexual and reproductive health, in some cases primary care,” Alexis McGill Johnson told CBS News in her first interview since becoming head of Planned Parenthood. (Pitofsky, 7/30)

Reuters: Gilead, Novartis Cancer Therapies Losing Patients To Experimental Treatments
Unusually high numbers of U.S. lymphoma patients are choosing experimental treatments over expensive cell therapies sold by Gilead Sciences Inc and Novartis AG, new data shows, helping explain why sales of the two products have not met rosy expectations. Both Gilead's Yescarta and Novartis's Kymriah - which are part of a class of therapies known in the medical field as “CAR-T” - were approved in 2017. (7/30)

Reuters: Mylan Reaches $30 Million Settlement In SEC's EpiPen Probe 
Mylan NV has reached a tentative agreement to pay $30 million to resolve a probe by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission related to its emergency allergy shot EpiPen, which became the center of a firestorm over price increases. The drugmaker in a regulatory filing on Monday disclosed that it had reached an agreement-in-principle with the SEC's enforcement staff to resolve the investigation that dated back to 2016. Mylan said it will neither admit nor deny wrongdoing as part of the accord. (7/30)

ProPublica: 'Humbled': Nonprofit Christian Hospital Dials Back Aggressive Debt Collection And Raises Wages After Our Investigation
Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare will raise the minimum wage it pays employees, dramatically expand its financial assistance policy for hospital care and stop suing its own employees for unpaid medical debts, hospital officials announced Tuesday. The broad reforms were prompted by a MLK50-ProPublica investigation that detailed how the nonprofit hospital system used aggressive collections tactics, including the courts, to pursue unpaid medical bills from poor patients, including its own employees. “We were humbled to learn that while there’s so much good happening across our health system each day, we can and must do more,” Methodist CEO and president Michael Ugwueke said on a call with reporters Tuesday. (Thomas and Douglas, 7/30)

ProPublica/MLK50: Stop Suing Patients, Advocates Advise Memphis Nonprofit Hospital System
As the region’s largest hospital system wraps up a 30-day review of its collection and charity care policies, consumer advocates encouraged officials to make fundamental changes that will lift the threat of lawsuits or even wage garnishments for low-income patients who cannot afford their hospital debts. “They could immediately decide to stop suing patients,” Jenifer Bosco, a staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center, said in a commentary piece for MLK50 this month. “They could decide to stop garnishing wages. It’s not that they have to do those things.” (Thomas, 7/30)

The Washington Post: Sen. Josh Hawley Proposes A New Bill ‘To Curb Social Media Addiction’
The youngest senator in Congress, and one of its toughest crusaders against Big Tech, proposed a bill Tuesday meant to curb social media addiction by regulating the techniques that prolong engagement on the platforms. Freshman Sen. Josh Hawley’s bill, the Social Media Addiction Reduction Technology (SMART) Act, would make it illegal for social media companies such as Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat to use infinite scroll, autoplay video or techniques like Snapchat’s “streaks,” which reward a user with badges for repeated use. (Mettler, 7/30)

The New York Times: Living Near Oil And Gas Wells Tied To Heart Defects In Babies
Living near oil and gas wells may increase a woman’s risk of having a baby with a congenital heart defect. Researchers writing in Environment International reported on 3,324 infants born in Colorado from 2005 to 2011, comparing 536 babies with heart defects to 2,860 controls matched for sex, maternal smoking, race and ethnicity. (Bakalar, 7/30)

The Associated Press: Disney Star Cameron Boyce Died Of Epilepsy, Coroner Says
The Los Angeles County coroner’s office says Disney actor Cameron Boyce died unexpectedly from epilepsy. An autopsy report released Tuesday states the “Descendants” star was found unresponsive at home on July 6, and later pronounced dead at the scene. Boyce’s family said previously that the 20-year-old died due to an ongoing medical condition for which he was being treated, but did not reveal specifics. (Campione, 7/30)

The New York Times: Change Your Perspective To Change Your Life
Several years ago I found myself lost one night near Big Sur, Calif. Fog encircled me, erasing the full moon that would have helped me find the path to my friend’s house. I stopped and waited, anxiety building, when suddenly I took several steps into a gap in the fog. The moon, uncovered again, revealed the way forward. A few tiny steps and my entire perspective had changed. I understood the metaphor: Change your perspective to change your life. (Petrow, 7/31)

The Wall Street Journal: High-End Diapers Test How Much More Mom And Dad Will Pay
Diapers promising to soften babies’ behinds and digitally track their sleep are hitting the market. Billed as parental aids, the new products also are helping the biggest diaper makers lift prices.Demand for diapers has declined in the U.S. and is set to fall further as Americans have fewer babies, a dilemma for Procter & Gamble Co. , maker of Pampers and Luvs, and Huggies maker Kimberly-Clark Corp. The number of babies born in the U.S. last year fell to a 32-year low, dropping 2% from 2017 to 3.79 million births. (Terlep, 7/31)

The New York Times: Morning Exercise May Offer The Most Weight Loss Benefits
People who exercise in the morning seem to lose more weight than people completing the same workouts later in the day, according to a new study of workouts and waistlines. The findings help shed light on the vexing issue of why some people shed considerable weight with exercise and others almost none, and the study adds to the growing body of science suggesting that the timing of various activities, including exercise, could affect how those activities affect us. (Reynolds, 7/31)

Colorado Sun: Colorado Lawmakers Approved A Public Option For Health Insurance. Now The State Has To Figure Out How To Actually Build It.
State lawmakers this year passed a bill making Colorado one of the first states in the country to create such a plan. It would guarantee consumers have at least one comprehensive health insurance option across the state, even if private carriers pull out. It would offer coverage at prices competitive to or below current rates. Access and affordability were its buzzwords. But lawmakers left the rest of the details blank. It would be up to [Insurance Commissioner Michael] Conway and Kim Bimestefer, the head of the state’s Medicaid department, to make it all work, a task no state official anywhere in the country has ever actually done. (Ingold, 7/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Deputy Commissioner Fired After New York City Forced To Repay $7 Million To State
A deputy commissioner at New York City’s social-services agency was fired after a judge in a disciplinary trial ruled he inaccurately designated 30 employees as performing Medicaid work, forcing the city to repay more than $7 million to the state. In a decision last month, a city administrative judge found that Thomas Colon, 49 years old, wrongly designated employees as performing only Medicaid-related work, which is eligible for a state reimbursement. (Honan, 7/30)

The Associated Press: Alleged Phony Pharmacist Filled 745,000 Prescriptions
Authorities have charged a woman with impersonating a pharmacist and illegally filling more than 745,000 prescriptions in the San Francisco Bay Area. Charges against Kim Thien Le were announced Tuesday. Prosecutors say that from late 2006 through 2017, Le — who didn’t have a pharmacist license — used the license numbers of registered pharmacists in order to impersonate them and dispense prescriptions at Walgreens pharmacies in Santa Clara and Alameda counties. (7/30)

The Washington Post: Trump Says Baltimore Is ‘Worse Than Honduras’ In Terms Of Violent Crime
President Trump suggested Tuesday that Baltimore is “worse than Honduras” in terms of violent crime, escalating his criticism of the district of House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.). Trump made the remarks in an interview with The Washington Post. (Kranish and Sonmez, 7/30)