First Edition: March 8, 2018

Kaiser Health News: Of ‘Miracles’ And Money: Why Hemophilia Drugs Are So Expensive
When Landon Morris was diagnosed with hemophilia shortly after birth, his mother, Jessica Morris, was devastated. “It was like having your dreams — all the dreams you imagined for your child — just kind of disappear,” she recalled. Hemophilia, a rare bleeding disorder caused by a gene mutation that prevents blood from clotting properly, is typically passed from mother to son. Morris’ grandfather had it, and she remembered hearing how painful it was. “It was almost like he was bubble-wrapped,” she said. “He was coddled, because his mom didn’t want him to get hurt.” (Gold, 3/8)

Kaiser Health News: Mind Over Body: A Psychiatrist Tells How To Tap Into Wisdom And Grow With Age
We’ve all seen it happen: An older friend or family member retires, is diagnosed with a serious illness or loses a spouse. Suddenly, this individual’s world is altered, sometimes seemingly beyond recognition. He has reached a fork in the road; will he get stuck or find a way to regroup and move on? In a new book, “The End of Old Age,” Dr. Marc Agronin, a geriatric psychiatrist, calls this moment an “age point” — an event that disrupts an older person’s life and challenges the person’s ability to cope while also offering the potential for new growth. (Graham, 3/8)

California Healthline: Use Of HIV-Prevention Drug Grows, But Lags Among Non-Whites
Eric Russell, 24, recently joined a health support group for young Latino and black gay men, where he learned about the HIV-prevention pill known as PrEP. He resisted the medication at first, convinced he didn’t need it and fearful that taking it would stigmatize him. But after Russell learned more about PrEP, short for pre-exposure prophylaxis, he decided it would be a good investment in his health. The Los Angeles man started taking the drug this year and now encourages other young minority men to do the same. (Gorman, 3/7)

Kaiser Health News: Wildfire Smoke Pollutes Indoor Air And Fuels The Need For Filters To Protect Public Health
As dense smoke from wildfires spread through communities across western Montana last summer, public health agencies faced an indoor problem, too: Residents suddenly needed filters to clean the air inside homes and public spaces, but there was no obvious funding source to pay for it. Ellen Leahy, the health officer in charge of the Missoula City-County Health Department, said that in the past, when wildfire smoke polluted the air outside, nobody really talked about air filters. (Saks, 3/8)

The New York Times: Amazon Offers Prime Discount For Medicaid Recipients
Amazon has had no problem getting affluent households to buy from its online store. But people with low incomes have been less loyal to the retailer. Now, Amazon is taking another step to persuade them to spend their money on the site. Starting Tuesday, the company will offer a discount on its Prime membership program to the millions of recipients of Medicaid, the public health insurance program for low-income Americans. They can receive the benefits of Prime — including free fast shipping and video streaming — for $5.99 a month, less than half the standard monthly fee of $12.99. (Wingfield, 3/7)

Reuters: Amazon Offers Discount Prime Membership To Medicaid Recipients
Any push by Amazon into poorer demographics comes at a time when traditional brick-and-mortar suppliers like Walmart Inc have been fighting the online shopping giant's arrival by seeking to attract more high-spending shoppers. The Medicaid connection may also stir more nerves among healthcare companies worried about tentative moves by Amazon to sell and distribute some medical supplies and drugs. (Mathias, 3/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Amazon Targets Medicaid Recipients As It Widens War For Low-Income Shoppers
Lower-income consumers have been the fastest-growing segment of online shoppers, analysts say, but still face potential impediments. They may lack internet access, banking resources like credit cards—SNAP cards can’t be used to pay online—and safe places to deliver a package. (Stevens, 3/7)

The New York Times: Florida House Passes Gun Control Bill, Defying N.R.A.
Florida lawmakers gave final passage to a $400 million gun control and school safety bill on Wednesday in defiance of the National Rifle Association, which opposed the legislation’s firearm restrictions. ... The legislation, which passed the State Senate on Monday and now heads to the governor, would raise the minimum age to purchase any firearm to 21 from 18; impose a three-day waiting period on gun purchases; fund school police officers and mental health counselors; and allow local school districts and sheriffs to arm certain school personnel. It would also ban so-called bump stocks, which make guns fire faster, and give law enforcement more power to commit people deemed a threat. (Mazzei, 3/7)

The Washington Post: Florida Legislature Backs New Gun Restrictions After Parkland School Shooting
Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), who supports most but not all of the provisions in the state bill and is exploring a U.S. Senate bid, reiterated his opposition to arming teachers Wednesday but stopped short of threatening a veto. “I am going to read the bill, and I am going to talk to parents,” he told reporters in the state capitol. “My goal is that this never happens again to a parent in our state.” (Scherer, 3/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Florida Lawmakers Approve Gun-Control Bill
Gun-rights groups denounced the new firearm restrictions as violating the Second Amendment. Marion Hammer, the National Rifle Association’s Florida lobbyist, implored members to pressure lawmakers to vote against the measure. “House leadership is trying to bully Second Amendment supporters,” she wrote in one email. (Campo-Flores, 3/7)

The New York Times: Florida Gun Bill: What’s In It, And What Isn’t
The gun control bill that the Florida Legislature passed on Wednesday was, in many respects, a major victory for the new activists of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. It was passed in defiance of the National Rifle Association and, if Gov. Rick Scott signs it, will be the first successful gun control measure in Florida in more than 20 years. But it left out many of the biggest provisions the students and their supporters had sought, including bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Here is a look at what is in the final bill, and what is not. (Astor, 3/8)

The Washington Post: Why More Civilians Are Now Learning Military-Grade Techniques To Save Lives
Laura Auel winced as Clif Castleman tightened a bright orange training tourniquet around her upper arm. “There we go,” Castleman said as he constricted the veins and arteries in the 21-year-old college student's right arm. “In some cases, and in some I’ve done in real life, people have said the tourniquet hurts more than the wound itself,” Castleman explained to nearly 50 residents of Poolesville, Md., gathered in an elementary school cafeteria. (Martin, 3/7)

The Hill: Dem AGs Rip Proposed Trump Rule On Health Plans 
A coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general is blasting a proposed Trump administration rule to allow health plans to circumvent certain ObamaCare rules. The group, led by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, said the proposal is a thinly veiled attempt to undermine the health-care law. (Weixel, 3/7)

The Hill: House Conservatives Brace For ObamaCare Payments In Funding Bill 
House conservatives are bracing for ObamaCare payments to be included in a coming government funding bill, despite their opposition. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said Wednesday that he expects the controversial ObamaCare payments aimed at stabilizing markets to be included in the omnibus government funding bill, which must pass by March 23 to avoid a shutdown. (Sullivan, 3/7)

Politico: Planned Parenthood Defunding Threatens Government Spending Package
House Republicans are demanding a series of controversial abortion and health care policies in the annual health spending bill, setting up a showdown with Democrats and threatening passage of an omnibus spending package to keep the government open. Democrats are vowing to block the slew of long-sought conservative priorities. The riders would cut off federal funding to Planned Parenthood, eliminate a federal family planning program and ax the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, according to sources on Capitol Hill. Republicans also want to insert a new prohibition on funding research that uses human fetal tissue obtained after an abortion. (Haberkorn and Ferris, 3/7)

The Hill: Ellison Replaces Conyers On Dem Single-Payer Bill 
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) has replaced former Rep. John Conyers Jr. as the main sponsor of the House Democrats’ single-payer health-care bill. Ellison on Wednesday received unanimous consent from the House to assume leadership of H.R. 676, the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act, which has the support of a majority of the House Democratic Caucus. (Weixel, 3/7)

The Associated Press: Watchdog Report: Failed VA Leadership Put Patients At Risk
"Failed leadership" at the Department of Veterans Affairs during the Obama years put patients at a major hospital at risk, an internal probe finds — another blow to Secretary David Shulkin, who served at the VA then and is fighting to keep his job. The 150-page report released Wednesday by the VA internal watchdog offers new details to its preliminary finding last April of patient safety issues at the Washington, D.C., medical center. (Yen, 3/7)

The Washington Post: VA Chief Outlines Changes At Hospitals Nationwide Following Report On Alleged D.C. Center Mismanagement
Veterans Affairs Secretary David J. Shulkin on Wednesday announced an overhaul of the senior leadership overseeing almost two dozen troubled hospitals across the country following the release of a searing investigation into what the agency watchdog said were management failures that put patients at VA’s flagship medical center in the District at risk. Shulkin said one senior regional official has been reassigned and two others retired as the agency cleans up management of large hospitals and clinics in the Washington area, New England, Phoenix and parts of California. He also said he has appointed 24 new facility directors in the last year, including in Maryland and Virginia, after outside teams identified low-performing hospitals. (Rein and Wax-Thibodeaux, 3/7)

Politico: ‘We Took A Broken System And Just Broke It Completely’
President Donald Trump last year hailed a multibillion-dollar initiative to create a seamless digital health system for active duty military and the VA that he said would deliver “faster, better, and far better quality care.” But the military’s $4.3 billion Cerner medical record system has utterly failed to achieve those goals at the first hospitals that went online. Instead, technical glitches and poor training have caused dangerous errors and reduced the number of patients who can be treated, according to interviews with more than 25 military and VA health IT specialists and doctors, including six who work at the four Pacific Northwest military medical facilities that rolled out the software over the last year. (Allen, 3/8)

The Hill: FDA Commissioner Says 'Rigged' System Raises Drug Costs For Patients, Discourages Competition 
Complex and secret deals between drug distributors, pharmacies, insurers and other key players have kept less expensive drugs off the market, he argued during a speech at a conference Wednesday for major health insurance companies. “The rigged payment scheme might quite literally scare competition out of the market altogether,” Gottlieb said. (Hellmann, 3/7)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Puts Drug Supply Chain On Notice
Granted, the FDA isn’t capable of directly regulating drug prices. Investors shouldn’t take comfort in that fact, however. The Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the FDA, can take actions without waiting for legislation and has stated that high drug prices are a priority for the administration. The Council of Economic Advisers sharply criticized the market concentration of pharmacy-benefit managers in a report earlier this year as a factor in keeping drug prices high. Investors shouldn’t forget that midterm elections are only eight months away and that drug prices are a big issue for voters. Individual states also can create headaches for the industry. (Grant, 3/7)

The Associated Press: FDA Did Not Issue New Statement On Vaccines And Autism
Some health websites have misrepresented the fine print on an old vaccine label to falsely claim that the "FDA announced that vaccines are causing autism." Vaccines do not cause autism and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not make any new statement this week about the long-debunked claim. Autism was listed as one of many "adverse events" on the 2005 label of Sanofi Pasteur's Tripedia childhood vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. (3/7)

The Wall Street Journal: The Federal Government Spends A Lot More On The Elderly Than On Children. Should It?
The U.S. government spends far more on social programs for the elderly than it does on children, even though a growing body of research suggests investments in early childhood can have substantial long-term benefits for individuals and society, according to a new study. The federal government in 2015 spent roughly $35,000 per elderly person, much of it via Social Security and Medicare, and around $5,000 per child through programs like food stamps, Medicaid and tax credits, according to a paper to be presented Thursday at the Brookings Institution. Accounting for spending on public elementary and secondary schools—$11,222 per pupil in the most recent available data, mostly from state and local governments—narrows the gap, but doesn’t close it. (Leubsdorf, 3/8)

The Hill: Oklahoma Exploring Plan For Medicaid Work Requirement 
Oklahoma will develop a plan within the next six months on how to add work requirements into its Medicaid program. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) on Tuesday issued an executive order requiring the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, which manages the state’s Medicaid program, to file the plans to her and the state legislature. (Roubein, 3/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Hospitals Fund Potential Game-Changers In Health Tech
Luis F. Romo is chasing the startup dream, developing a device that disinfects operating rooms and stretchers by zapping them with ultraviolet rays. The 30-year-old Mr. Romo has a catchy name for his invention, “PurpleSun,” and a solid but untraditional backer: a hospital. Northwell Health, of New Hyde Park, N.Y., has put about $3 million into Mr. Romo’s idea and may invest more in coming years. As hospital-acquired infections have become the scourge of modern institutions, Northwell officials are eager to put the germ-fighting device to work in their 23 hospitals. They also hope to make back their investment—and more—if other hospitals want to use PurpleSun. (Lagnado, 3/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Cigna Agrees To Buy Express Scripts For More Than $50 Billion
Health insurer Cigna Corp. plans to buy Express Scripts Holding Co. in a cash-and-stock deal worth $52 billion, excluding debt, that the companies say will expand their health care offerings and help them control costs. ... The deal has a total transaction value of $67 billion, which includes Cigna’s assumption of $15 billion of Express Scripts’ debt. (Mattioli and Cimilluca, 3/8)

Los Angeles Times: Male Doctors Are Disappearing From Gynecology. Not Everybody Is Thrilled About It
Some patients wait until Dr. Jerome Chelliah snaps on his gloves to make the request. Others blurt it out as soon as he walks in the exam room. “I’d rather see a female doctor,” they say. Chelliah thinks he can be a sensitive obstetrician-gynecologist even though he’s a man. But he has no choice but to comply. “I’ve been rejected many times over,” he said. “As a person of color, I face discrimination in other ways, but it’s not so blatant.… People have no problem saying they don’t want you.” (Karlamangla, 3/7)

The Washington Post: ’He Was Happy. So Far As I Know Of’: A Family Reels After An 11-Year-Old’s Suicide
After 11-year-old Rylan Thai Hagan hanged himself with a belt from his bunk bed three days before Thanksgiving, people wanted to know why he did it. He was a model sixth-grader at Perry Street Prep in Northeast Washington, where he received a stipend to tutor other students. He was a basketball player whose team had just qualified for a tournament at Walt Disney World. He played the trumpet. Standing in the room where her only child had taken his life less than two months earlier, that question tortured Nataya Chambers. The apartment, where she had not slept since his death, was in disarray, belongings spilling out of boxes as she prepared to search for a new start. (Moyer, 3/7)

NPR: Human Brains Unable To Add Neurons After Adolescence
A major study is challenging the widely held view that adult human brains make new neurons. The study of brain samples from 59 people of various ages found no immature neurons in anyone older than 13, scientists report online Wednesday in the journal Nature. "In all of the adult samples we looked at, we couldn't find any evidence of a young neuron," says Shawn Sorrells, the study's lead author and a senior researcher in the lab of Arturo Alvarez-Buylla at the University of California, San Francisco. (Hamilton, 3/7)

The New York Times: Probiotics And Fish Oil During Pregnancy May Curb Allergies In Kids
Probiotics and fish oil supplements during pregnancy and breast-feeding may reduce the risk for food allergies and eczema in early childhood, researchers report. In a review of hundreds of studies, they found 19 randomized controlled trials with strong evidence showing that compared to no supplements, probiotics taken after the 36th week of pregnancy and the first months of lactation were associated with a 22 percent reduction in the risk for eczema in children. (Bakalar, 3/7)

The Associated Press: Mississippi Could Test How Soon State Can Restrict Abortion
For decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has been telling states that they can't ban abortions before a fetus can survive outside the womb on its own. But states continue to try to restrict abortion before viability. One of the most recent is Mississippi, where lawmakers are on the brink of approving a measure that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks. (3/8)

The Associated Press: Indiana Legislature Approves Bill Toughening Abortion Rules
The Indiana Legislature on Wednesday sent a bill to Gov. Eric Holcomb's desk that would require medical providers who treat women for complications arising from abortions to report detailed patient information to the state. Though the bill is not as expansive as Indiana abortion laws passed in recent years — some of which have been thrown out in court — debate has unfolded along familiar lines. (3/7)

The Associated Press: Doctor-Assisted Suicide Measure Advances In Hawaii
The Hawaii House has approved a bill that would allow physicians to prescribe life-ending medication to terminally ill patients. The House’s action on Tuesday sends the measure to the Senate, which last year overwhelmingly approved a similar bill. The proposal would allow physicians to prescribe life-ending medication to a mentally-capable patient with less than six months to live. (3/7)

The Associated Press: Herbalist Charged In Death Of Diabetic Boy Treated With Oils
An herbalist who touted natural cures that helped him overcome cancer has been charged in the death of a 13-year-old diabetic boy who prosecutors said he treated with herbal oils instead of insulin. Timothy Morrow, 83, was charged with practicing medicine without a license and child abuse causing a death, the Los Angeles city attorney said Wednesday. His lawyer said he disputes the charges. (3/7)

The New York Times: Columbia Removes Thomas Jessell, Renowned Neuroscientist, From His Posts
Columbia University on Wednesday removed a top neuroscientist from his posts and announced plans to dissolve his lab after an internal investigation uncovered violations of “university policies and values. ”The scientist, Thomas Jessell, a professor of biochemistry, biophysics and neuroscience, is one of the world’s foremost researchers into the basic biology of brain cells. His work at Columbia focused on how sensory and motor neurons coordinate movements. (Carey, 3/7)

The Washington Post: Md. House To Vote To Add Medical Marijuana Grower Licenses
The Maryland House of Delegates is scheduled to vote on whether to expand the number of licenses allowed to grow medical marijuana to increase minority business ownership. The House is set to vote on the bill Thursday. The number of allowed growers would rise from 15 to 20. The measure also would cap the number of marijuana processors at 25. (Witte, 3/8)