First Edition: March 7, 2023

KHN: Biden Administration Urged To Take More Aggressive Steps To Relieve Medical Debt 
Dozens of advocates for patients and consumers, citing widespread harm caused by medical debt, are pushing the Biden administration to take more aggressive steps to protect Americans from medical bills and debt collectors. In letters to the IRS and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the groups call for new federal rules that among other things would prohibit debt for medically necessary care from appearing on consumer credit reports. (Levey, 3/7)

KHN: For Young People On Medicare, A Hysterectomy Sometimes Is More Affordable Than Birth Control
Sam Chavarría said her doctor was clear about the birth defects her medication could cause if she became pregnant but agreed to keep her on it as long as she had an IUD. As she was waiting to get her contraceptive intrauterine device replaced at her local clinic, however, the billing nurse told her that her insurance wouldn’t cover the removal — or a new IUD. Chavarría didn’t understand why not. “Then she said very delicately, ‘Well, people on this insurance typically tend to be older,’” Chavarría recalled. (Jimenez, 3/7)

KHN: Covid Aid Papered Over Colorado Hospital’s Financial Shortcomings 
Less than two years after opening a state-of-the-art $26 million hospital in Leadville, Colorado, St. Vincent Health nearly ran out of money. Hospital officials said in early December that without a cash infusion they would be unable to pay their bills or meet payroll by the end of the week. The eight-bed rural hospital had turned a $2.2 million profit in 2021, but the windfall was largely a mirage. Pandemic relief payments masked problems in the way the hospital billed for services and collected payments. (Hawryluk, 3/7)

Reuters: Walgreens To Dispense Abortion Pills In States Where Legal 
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. said on Monday that it plans to dispense abortion pill Mifepristone in any jurisdiction where it is legally permissible to do so. "Once we are certified by FDA, we will dispense this medication consistent with federal and state laws," the company said in a statement. (3/6)

Yahoo Finance: Walgreens Statement On Mifepristone
We want to be very clear about what our position has always been: Walgreens plans to dispense Mifepristone in any jurisdiction where it is legally permissible to do so. Once we are certified by the FDA, we will dispense this medication consistent with federal and state laws. Providing legally approved medications to patients is what pharmacies do, and is rooted in our commitment to the communities in which we operate. (3/6)

Los Angeles Times: Newsom Says California Will End Business With Walgreens
In an attempt to counter GOP efforts to limit reproductive rights, Gov. Gavin Newsom said California will cut ties with Walgreens over the company’s decision to stop selling abortion medication in 20 Republican states. “California won’t be doing business with Walgreens — or any company that cowers to the extremists and puts women’s lives at risk,” Newsom tweeted Monday. “We’re done.” (Luna, 3/6)

KHN: Watch: Walgreens Won’t Sell Abortion Pill In 21 States Under GOP Threat Of Legal Action
Walgreens has announced it would not dispense the abortion pill mifepristone in 21 states where Republican attorneys general threatened legal action against the company, which is the nation’s second-largest pharmacy chain. KHN senior correspondent Sarah Varney joined PBS NewsHour co-anchor Amna Nawaz in a report on the move and its ramifications for women in those states, many of which have outlawed or severely restricted abortion. In four — Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, and Montana — Walgreens could legally sell the pills but has said it will not. (Varney, 3/6)

Politico: Walgreens In The Hot Seat 
“They caved,” California Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta complained. “For millions of Americans, this is a lifeline, it’s a key to a better future. So I’m disappointed that Walgreens has decided to give in to political pressure and debunked legal theories and cut off access to those medications.” California has announced it is “reviewing all relationships between Walgreens and the state.” (Ollstein, 3/6)

Fox News: Michael Moore Demands Nationwide Boycott Of Walgreens For Not Selling Abortion Pill: 'Bigotry And Misogyny'
Filmmaker Michael Moore has called for a nationwide boycott of Walgreens after the pharmacy chain announced it would not sell abortion pills in 20 states. ... "This decision by Walgreens to further cement women's status as second-class citizens must be met forcefully by each and every one of us. Every day of our silence since last Thursday is another day of you and I enabling this bigotry and misogyny," Moore wrote. (Lanum, 3/6)

The New York Times: Five Women Sue Texas Over The State’s Abortion Ban 
Five women who say they were denied abortions despite grave risks to their lives or their fetuses sued the State of Texas on Monday, apparently the first time that pregnant women themselves have taken legal action against the bans that have shut down access to abortion across the country since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The women — two visibly pregnant — plan to tell their stories on the steps of the Texas Capitol on Tuesday. Their often harrowing experiences will put faces to what their 91-page complaint calls “catastrophic harms” to women since the court’s decision in June, which eliminated the constitutional right to abortion after five decades. (Zernike, 3/6)

The Guardian: Artwork Referring To Abortion Removed From Idaho Public College Exhibition 
A public college in Idaho is coming under pressure to explain why it has removed from an upcoming exhibition in its Center for Arts & History several artworks dealing with reproductive health and abortion. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Coalition Against Censorship have jointly written to Lewis-Clark State College expressing “alarm” at the decision to remove several pieces. Their letter says that the college’s response demonstrated the potential abuses of new laws that have come into effect in Idaho banning the use of public funds to “promote” or “counsel in favor” of pregnancy terminations. (Pilkington, 3/7)

AP: 4 Kidnapped Americans Crossed Into Mexico For Health Care 
Four Americans who traveled to Mexico last week to seek health care got caught in a deadly shootout and were kidnapped by heavily armed men who threw them in the back of a pickup truck, officials from both countries said Monday. The four were traveling Friday in a white minivan with North Carolina license plates. They came under fire shortly after entering the city of Matamoros from Brownsville, at the southernmost tip of Texas near the Gulf coast, the FBI said in a statement Sunday. ... Zalandria Brown said her brother, who lives in Myrtle Beach, and two friends had accompanied a third friend who was going to Mexico for a tummy tuck surgery. A doctor who advertises such surgeries in Matamoros did not answer calls seeking comment. (Penz and Barakat, 3/7)

CNN: 4 Americans Missing In Mexico Identified By Family Members As A South Carolina Mother And Her Friends Who Were Traveling For A Medical Procedure 
Latavia “Tay” Washington McGee, 33, drove to Mexico with Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown and their friend Eric for the procedure but she never made it to her doctor’s appointment on Friday, her mother Barbara Burgess told CNN. ... Investigators believe the Americans were mistakenly targeted by a Mexican cartel that likely mistook them for Haitian drug smugglers, a US official familiar with the ongoing investigation tells CNN. The US citizens have no concerning criminal history that has been identified by investigators, the source said. ... This was the second time Washington McGee, a mother of six children, had gone to Mexico for a medical procedure, her mother said. About two to three years ago, Burgess said, her daughter traveled to the country for a surgery. (Wolfe, Suarez, Williams, Lesh and Jackson, 3/7)

The Washington Post: What We Know About The Americans Kidnapped In Matamoros, Mexico 
Why do Americans cross the border for health care? Pharmacies, dentists and optometrists begin appearing almost as soon as you cross the border into northern Mexico. Numbers are difficult to come by, but Americans regularly cross the border for health care, as well as cosmetic surgeries, experts said. One of the most common health-care reasons for Americans to cross the border is to visit a dentist, according to academics studying the U.S.-Mexico border. (Javaid and Villegas, 3/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID Survey Finds 1 In 4 Parents Lied About Children Being Infected
About a quarter of parents have lied to others about their child’s COVID-19 positivity status, according to a study published Monday in the medical journal JAMA Network Open. The national, online, noprobability survey in December 2021 asked parents if they had ever engaged in seven types of misrepresentation and nonadherence behaviors regarding COVID-19 public health measures for their children: Yes, they'd been dishonest about their child’s health or vaccination status, roughly 1 in 4 told the researchers. And 1 in 5 allowed their child to break quarantine rules at the height of the pandemic. (Vaziri and Beamish, 3/6)

CIDRAP: Survey: 26% Of Parents Lied About Child's COVID Status, Flouted Public Health Rules
The most common untruth was not telling someone who was going to spend time with their child that they knew or suspected the child had COVID-19 (63 of 263 [24.0%]), and the most common adherence failure was allowing their child to break quarantine rules (67 of 318 [21.1%]). A total of 19.4% of parents didn't have their child tested for COVID-19 when they suspected infection. Just over half of parents who lied (52.4%) said they exposed others to their ill child because they wanted to exercise their parental autonomy, while others said their child didn't feel very sick (47.6%), they didn't want to miss a fun event to stay home (44.4%), or they didn't want their child to miss school (42.9%). (Van Beusekom, 3/6)

Bloomberg: Bivalent Booster Covid Protection Fades After 2 Months In Elderly
Covid-19 bivalent boosters’ protection against death and hospitalization in elderly people began waning as soon as two months after vaccination, according to a preprint study. (Muller, 3/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Moderna CEO Defends Pricing Plans For Covid-19 Shot 
Moderna Inc. Chief Executive Stéphane Bancel pushed back against criticism of the company’s pricing plans for its Covid-19 vaccine at Monday’s Wall Street Journal Health Forum. ... The chief executive said the company’s mRNA platform was funded by investors, not the government, and the public funding accelerated development of the vaccine. (Hopkins, 3/6)

The New York Times: Mayor Adams to New York City Shoppers: Drop That Mask
Not long ago, New Yorkers were required to wear a face mask if they wanted to enter a store. But Mayor Eric Adams has now said the city’s shopkeepers should adopt the opposite approach: People who refuse to pull down their mask when they first come into a store should be barred, in case they plan to rob the place. “We are putting out a clear call to all of our shops, do not allow people to enter the store without taking off their face mask,” the mayor said in a radio interview on 1010 WINS on Monday. “And then once they’re inside, they can continue to wear it if they so desire to do so.” (Stack, 3/6)

AP: Arkansas Tyson Workers Sue Over Lack Of COVID Protections
Thirty-four Tyson Foods employees, former employees and family members filed a lawsuit against the company Monday, saying it failed to take appropriate precautions at its meat-packing plants during the early days of the COVID pandemic. In the lawsuit, filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court in Tyson’s home state of Arkansas, the plaintiffs said Tyson’s negligence and disregard for its workers led to emotional distress, illness and death. Several of the plaintiffs are the spouses or children of Tyson workers who died after contracting COVID. (Durbin, 3/6)

Roll Call: COVID-19 Origins Probe Plods On With No Clear Resolution
Republicans are continuing the search for answers on the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but the path forward is mired in stalled investigations, classified documents and stonewalling from the Chinese government. Top Republicans are increasingly convinced the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China and are once again homing in on U.S. intelligence in the wake of a report that another federal agency believes the virus may have escaped from the lab. (Clason, 3/6)

The Washington Post: A Mile-Long Line For Free Food Offers A Warning As Covid Benefits End
For those waiting in line for food in Kentucky, the last year has been jarring. Some said they can now only afford to eat once a day. Others limit expensive items like meat for specific family members like growing teenage boys. All described feeling hunger. (Craig, 3/4)

The New York Times: U.S. Considers Vaccinating Chickens as Bird Flu Kills Millions of Them
The Biden administration, keeping a watchful eye on an outbreak of avian influenza that has led to the deaths of tens of millions of chickens and is driving up the cost of eggs — not to mention raising the frightening specter of a human pandemic — is contemplating a mass vaccination campaign for poultry, according to White House officials. The bird flu outbreak, which began early last year, is the biggest in the nation’s history, affecting more than 58 million farmed birds in 47 states, as well as birds in the wild. It has already spilled over into mammals, such as mink, foxes, raccoons and bears, raising fears that the virus that causes it, known as H5N1, could mutate and start spreading more easily among people. (Stolberg and Anthes, 3/6)

Bloomberg: Moderna Eyes Testing Mpox, Bird Flu Vaccines In Humans This Year
Moderna Inc. is eyeing possible human testing of shots to fight mpox and bird flu this year, as the Covid-19 vaccine maker expands into more public-health immunizations. The company is exploring messenger RNA vaccines for a number of such pathogens, most of them in the early stages of development, President Stephen Hoge said Monday in an interview. Moderna expects to advance its vaccines for mpox and bird flu to clinical trials after completing initial work on them, he said. (Peebles, 3/6)

NPR: A Promising MRNA Vaccine-In-The-Works Could Finally Knock Out TB
Tuberculosis may seem like a relic of the past in wealthy countries, yet it still kills more people worldwide than any other infectious disease besides COVID – with about 1.6 million people dying from TB annually. And the one approved vaccine – invented more than a century ago – is only reliably protective when given to children. Now, scientists at South Africa's University of Cape Town have taken a major step toward creating an mRNA vaccine against TB that could work for people of all ages. (Aizenman, 3/6)

AP: GOP Panel Ready To Block New Student Vaccination Mandates 
Wisconsin Republicans are preparing to again block a new policy from Democratic Gov. Tony Evers that requires students to get vaccinated twice against meningitis and tightening student chickenpox vaccination mandates. The Legislature’s GOP-controlled rules committee is set to hold a public hearing on the policy Tuesday. A committee vote to block the policy could soon follow, perhaps within days. (Richmond, 3/7)

Modern Healthcare: House Investigating PBMs Caremark, Express Scripts, OptumRx
A key House panel has joined the chorus of critics railing against pharmacy benefit managers, increasing government pressure on several major healthcare companies. Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) is the latest official to launch an investigation into what he called “anti-competitive tactics" that increase healthcare spending and disadvantage patients, the committee announced in a news release Wednesday. (Tepper and Nzanga, 3/6)

The Hill: House Panel To Consider GOP Bill Banning Transgender Women, Girls From Team Sports
Federal legislation to ban transgender women and girls from competing on sports teams for women and girls will be heard for the first time Wednesday morning, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce announced Monday. The “Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act,” introduced in February by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), seeks to amend Title IX — the federal civil rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination — to recognize sex as that which is “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.” (Migdon, 3/6)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Senate Passes Bill To Limit Treatment For Transgender Youth
The Georgia Senate on Monday passed a bill that would prohibit medical professionals from giving transgender children certain hormones or surgical treatment that assists them in aligning with their gender identity. Senate Bill 140 passed on a 32-22 party-line vote, with Republicans supporting the measure. (Prabhu, 3/6)

Stat: Connecticut Creates New Program To Keep People Insured 
It’s hard to shop for health insurance. It’s harder still when there’s few options to help. Some Americans who can’t rely on a federal program or their employers’ HR department turn to brokers who are trained to help them navigate the complex web of deductibles, formularies, and subsidies. But in 2021 in Hartford, Bridgeport, and New Haven, Connecticut — as in many poorer areas in the U.S. — there were no licensed brokers, period. (Cohrs, 3/7)

Axios: As Cyber Attacks On Health Care Soar, So Does The Cost Of Cyber Insurance
Health systems buffeted by labor and supply chain costs and broader economic woes have another unwieldy financial problem: the soaring costs of cyber insurance. It may not be sexy — or the first thing you think about when cybercriminals wreak havoc on hospital infrastructure. But the sheer scope of the problem, and insurers' reluctance to cover losses stemming from ransomware attacks, is hitting hospitals in a very real way, Moody's Investors Services points out. (Reed, 3/6)

The Wall Street Journal: WeightWatchers Moves Into The Ozempic Market With Telehealth Deal 
WW International Inc., known as WeightWatchers, is buying digital health company Sequence, marking the diet company’s move into the hot market for diabetes and obesity drugs including Ozempic and Wegovy. Sequence is a subscription service that offers telehealth visits with doctors who can prescribe the drugs. WeightWatchers, which has long promised to help customers lose weight through food-tracking and lifestyle changes, is moving to also offer customers a medical weight-loss approach. (Petersen, 3/6)

Reuters: Talc Supplier Hit With $29 Mln Verdict In South Carolina Trial
A South Carolina jury has ordered former talc supplier Whittaker, Clark & Daniels to pay $29.14 million to a woman who said she developed mesothelioma from being exposed to asbestos-tainted talc in cosmetic products. The jury in Columbia on Friday also found that talc manufacturer IMI Fabi was not responsible for plaintiff Sarah Plant's illness, clearing it of liability, according to Jessica Dean, a lawyer for the plaintiff. (Pierson, 3/6)

CBS News: FDA Panel To Reevaluate The Most Common Over-The-Counter Decongestant, Phenylephrine, Criticized As Useless 
The Food and Drug Administration plans to ask a panel of its outside advisers to reconsider whether the most common decongestant ingredient available over the counter, phenylephrine, is effective. There has been a renewed petition to pull it from store shelves over studies showing it was no more effective than a placebo in pills and syrups. (Tin, 3/6)

Reuters: Altria To Revive Vaping Push With $2.8 Bln NJOY Bid After Juul Fiasco 
Altria Group Inc. said on Monday it would buy startup NJOY Holdings Inc for about $2.75 billion in cash, in a fresh bet by the Marlboro maker on the e-cigarette market after losing billions through its investment in Juul. ... Altria is betting that NJOY will prove to be an easier way to tap the market since six of the company's products have received full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (Sophia, 3/6)

The Washington Post: Nearly Everyone Is Exposed To Unhealthy Levels Of Tiny Air Pollutants, Study Says
Nearly everyone — 99 percent of the global population — is exposed to unhealthy levels of tiny and harmful air pollutants, known as PM 2.5, according a new study released Monday in Lancet Planet Health. The findings underline a growing urgency for policymakers, public health officials and researchers to focus on curbing major sources of air pollution, such as emissions from power plants, industrial facilities and vehicles. (Patel, 3/6)

The Boston Globe: Water Was Source Of Bacterial Deaths At Brigham And Women’s
An infectious disease clinician working closely with the cardiac surgery department had an inkling something was off. It was 2018, and she mentioned to colleagues at Brigham and Women’s Hospital the unusual occurrence of a suspicious bacteria, which had popped up several times in the last year and a half. The rare bacteria, Mycobacterium abscessus, can sometimes cause hospital-acquired infections, often from contaminated water. But the number of times hospitalized patients had tested positive for it struck her as odd. (Bartlett, 3/6)

Good Morning America: University Warns Of ‘Borg’ Drinking Trend After 28 Ambulances Called Over The Weekend
The University of Massachusetts Amherst announced Saturday that the town’s local fire department dispatched 28 ambulances in response to calls involving a “significant number of alcohol intoxication cases” linked to “borgs” or “blackout rage gallons” after weekend parties in the area. (Yu, 3/7)