First Edition: March 8, 2019

Kaiser Health News: Despite Social Media, Generation Z, Millennials Report Feeling Lonely
Connor Wilton moved here for the music scene. The 24-year-old singer-guitarist “knew zero people in Austin” and felt pretty lonely at first. While this capital city is one of the nation’s buzziest places and ranks at the top of many “best” lists, Wilton wasn’t feeling it. He lived near the University of Texas at Austin but wasn’t a student; he said walking through “the social megaplex that’s UT-Austin” was intimidating, with its almost 52,000 students all seemingly having fun. (Jayson, 3/8)

Kaiser Health News: As Hospitals Post Price Lists, Consumers Are Asked To Check Up On Them
With much fanfare, federal officials required hospitals nationwide this year to post their “list” prices online. But it’s not yet clear how many are doing it, even as the government has taken the rare step of asking consumers to monitor hospital compliance. Most hospitals appear to be complying with the rule, according to hospital officials and a small sampling of websites. (Findlay, 3/8)

Kaiser Health News: In Hearing, Republicans, Democrats Spar Over How Best To Lower Drug Prices
While the high cost of prescription drugs seems to be a universally agreed-upon trouble spot in the American health system, a House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing Thursday showed that Democrats and Republicans are still miles apart on what to do about it. The hearing, focused on using Medicare to encourage affordability, competition and access to medicines, marked the first time since Democrats took control of the House that this panel has dug into a drug pricing issue. It is one of many hearings on the subject in both chambers of Congress this year. (Bluth, 3/7)

Kaiser Health News: Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ What’s Next For The FDA?
The resignation of Scott Gottlieb as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration caught many FDA watchers by surprise. Gottlieb has been an active regulator in a very anti-regulatory Trump administration. Unlike many Trump officials, Gottlieb’s work on e-cigarettes, nutrition, opioids and generic drugs has won him praise from both Democrats and Republicans. Meanwhile, efforts are underway on Capitol Hill and in the states to fix some problems with the Affordable Care Act. (3/7)

The Hill: Dem Leaders, Progressives Struggle Over Medicare For All 
Democratic leaders in the House are offering warnings about the high cost of Medicare for all, underscoring concerns in the party about moving forward with the single-payer healthcare proposal. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in an interview with Rolling Stone published last week said moving to a single-payer health system was the simplest way to bring about universal healthcare, but then noted an estimated $30 trillion cost. (Sullivan, 3/8)

The Hill: House Dems Renew Push For Funding Gun Violence Research At CDC 
House Democrats are poised to approve new funding for gun violence research in the face of what they say is a “public health emergency” killing thousands of Americans every year. If successful, it would be the first time in nearly 20 years that Congress has funded gun violence research after an amendment passed in the 1990s discouraged federal agencies from studying the issue. (Hellmann, 3/7)

The Washington Post: Health Advocates Worry About An FDA Without Scott Gottlieb
Scott Gottlieb, one of the most activist Food and Drug Administration commissioners in recent years, pushed ideas such as banning menthol in cigarettes and packaging opioids in small blister packs to prevent overuse. Those ideas seemed more startling because he was part of an anti-regulatory, pro-business administration. Now, with his surprise resignation, public health advocates are anxious about the fate of some of his more ambitious initiatives, whether his successor will embrace them — and whether the agency will get a permanent successor at all. (McGinley and Bernstein, 3/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Indian Health Service Head To Face Questions On Failure To Stop Doctor Who Abused Patients
Lawmakers summoned the U.S. Indian Health Service’s leader to answer for the agency’s failure to stop a pediatrician from sexually abusing his child patients and a slate of longstanding problems with the quality of the agency’s care, according to a letter from the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee. The letter, sent Thursday, asks Rear Adm. Michael Weahkee, the IHS’s acting leader, to brief committee staff on the failures. Members of the committee, which oversees the IHS, said in interviews they expect to hold oversight hearings on the agency later this year. (Weaver and Frosch, 3/7)

The Hill: Trump Administration Asks Pentagon To House Up To 5,000 Migrant Children
Pentagon officials on Thursday confirmed that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has asked the Department of Defense (DOD) for space to house up to 5,000 immigrant children through the end of the fiscal year. HHS Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan on Tuesday “requested DOD support to identify space to house up to 5,000 unaccompanied alien children on DOD installations, if needed, through September 30, 2019,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Jamie Davis said in a statement. (Mitchell, 3/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Administration Weighs Publicizing Secret Rates Hospitals And Doctors Negotiate With Insurers
The Trump administration is sounding out the medical industry on requiring hospitals, doctors and other health-care providers to publicly disclose the secretly negotiated prices they charge insurance companies for services, a move that would expose for the first time the actual cost of care. Mandating public disclosure of the rates would upend a longstanding industry practice and put more decision-making power in the hands of patients. Hospitals and insurers typically treat specific prices for medical services as closely held secrets, with contracts between the insurers and hospital systems generally bound by confidentiality agreements. (Armour and Wilde Mathews, 3/7)

Reuters: Senator Blumenthal Seeks Criminal Investigation Of Shoddy Military Housing
U.S. senators demanded accountability for slum-like housing conditions on military bases across the country Thursday, with one calling for a criminal investigation of private landlords granted vast power over tenant housing. "There are clear indications of fraud," Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, drawing applause from the crowd. "I would recommend that these issues be referred to the United States Department of Justice." (Januta, Nelson and Pell, 3/7)

The Associated Press: Military Leaders Apologize For Problems In Family Housing
Top leaders of the U.S. military services apologized to Congress on Thursday for allowing substandard living conditions in military family housing. They acknowledged failing to have fully understood the problem earlier and promised to fix it. At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, the civilian and uniformed leaders of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps laid blame largely on the private contractors who built the homes and are obliged to keep them in good repair. The officials vowed to renegotiate the long-term, multibillion-dollar contracts to ensure more accountability. (Burns, 3/7)

The New York Times: Facebook Announces Plan To Curb Vaccine Misinformation
Facebook announced Thursday its first policy to combat misinformation about vaccines, following in the footsteps of Pinterest and YouTube. The social network is adopting an approach similar to the one it uses to tackle fake news: The company will not remove incorrect content, but it will aim to reduce the reach of that content by making it harder to find. “Leading global health organizations, such as the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have publicly identified verifiable vaccine hoaxes,” Monika Bickert, Facebook’s vice president for global policy management, said in a statement Thursday. “If these vaccine hoaxes appear on Facebook, we will take action against them.” (Caron, 3/7)

The Washington Post: Facebook Says It Will Take Action Against Anti-Vaccine Content. Here’s How It Plans To Do It.
The tech giant rolled out its plan to combat anti-vaccine content after mounting public pressure culminated in a Capitol Hill hearing this week, when a Senate panel issued a dire warning about the public health danger that vaccine misinformation poses. There, 18-year-old Ethan Lindenberger testified that his mother, an anti-vaccine evangelist, relies on Facebook or Facebook-linked sites for all of her information on the subject. And she’s certainly not alone. In a blog post, Monika Bickert, Facebook’s head of global policy management, said the company is “working to tackle vaccine misinformation on Facebook by reducing its distribution and providing people with authoritative information on the topic.” (Thebault, 3/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Facebook Cracks Down On Vaccine Misinformation
In its crackdown, Facebook will ban ads that include misinformation about vaccines and will tweak its algorithms so pages that spread this type of content are no longer recommended. It will also downgrade those pages in the platform’s news feed and search results so they don’t spread as easily. The effort is expected to start Thursday, but it will take several weeks to take full effect. It will also extend to Instagram, where the company will stop displaying antivaccine messages on its Instagram Explore and hashtag pages. (McMillan and Abbott, 3/7)

The New York Times: Measles Outbreak: 1 Student Got 21 Others Sick
Public officials and health experts had given several warnings: Do not allow a student in school if they had not been vaccinated against measles. Still, during New York City’s largest measles outbreak in a decade, a school in Brooklyn ignored that advice, resulting in one student infecting at least 21 other people with the virus. (Pager, 3/7)

The Hill: More Than 800 Students Ordered To Stay Away From School Amid Measles Outbreak In Washington
More than 800 students in the Washington county that is battling one of the nation’s largest measles outbreaks have been ordered to stay away from classrooms for up to three weeks, The Seattle Times reported Wednesday. Students deemed to have been exposed to the measles have been told to stay away from schools, the paper reported. (Gstalter, 3/7)

CNN: Anti-Vaxers' Adult Son Gets Measles; Now, He Has This Message For The World
Three years ago, Joshua Nerius, a 30-year-old software product manager in Chicago, developed a high fever and a rash. Doctors prescribed antibiotics, but Nerius just got sicker and sicker. Joshua went to the emergency room, where a doctor said it looked a lot like the measles. Had he been vaccinated as a child? Nerius texted the question to his mother. She sent back a thumbs-down emoji. (Cohen, 3/8)

The New York Times: Tennessee House Passes Bill To Ban Abortion After Detection Of Fetal Heartbeat
The Tennessee House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday that would ban abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, mimicking laws in other states that have been struck down by the courts and drawing the criticism of both advocates and opponents of abortion rights. The measure, House Bill 77, would tightly restrict the window of time within which a woman could seek an abortion, because a fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. That is before many women even realize they are pregnant. (Stack, 3/7)

The Associated Press: Texas Picks Up Anti-Abortion Efforts Blocked In US Senate
The Texas Legislature is reviving efforts similar to those blocked in the U.S. Senate last month that threatened doctors who don’t try saving the life of infants born alive during abortions. Republican state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst said Thursday that “where D.C. is unclear, we’re going to be very clear here in Texas.” Her bill is among first prominent anti-abortion measures this year in Texas, where GOP leaders have largely shied from divisive issues after a rough 2018 midterm election. (3/7)

The Hill: Georgia House Committee Approves 'Heartbeat' Abortion Bill
A Georgia House committee passed legislation Wednesday that would ban abortions in the state after a fetus has a detectable heartbeat. The Associated Press reported that the state's House Health and Human Services Committee passed the restrictive measure in a 17-14 vote following a tense hearing filled emotional displays from activists and others. (Samuels, 3/7)

The Associated Press: Kansas Medicaid Expansion Push Hasn't Cracked GOP Roadblock
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and other advocates have ramped up a campaign for her proposal to expand Medicaid in Kansas after conservative lawmakers showed they currently hold enough power to block it. Kelly held a news conference Thursday with four business leaders and kicked off a two-hour seminar on the potential economic benefits of expanding state health coverage for the needy. About two-dozen religious leaders also were at the Statehouse, partly to lobby for expansion, and supporters plan a March 19 rally. (3/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Martin Shkreli Steers His Old Company From Prison—With Contraband Cellphone
From a top bunk in a 12-person prison cell in Fort Dix, N.J., Martin Shkreli is at work on a big second act. Wielding little more than a contraband smartphone, the disgraced pharmaceutical executive remains the shadow power at Phoenixus AG, the drug company that became a national lightning rod for jacking up the prices of rare drugs under its former name, Turing Pharmaceuticals AG. Mr. Shkreli still helps call the shots. A few weeks ago he rang up his handpicked chief executive during a safari vacation—to fire him, according to a person familiar with the exchange. This is the secret life of inmate 87850-053, 16 months into a seven-year sentence for securities fraud. (Copeland and Hope, 3/7)

Stat: Sanofi Falls Short In Efforts To Win Broad Backing On Dengue Vaccine
Sanofi on Thursday suffered a major setback in its bid to market a controversial dengue vaccine in the United States, as a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee recommended against approval for adults. The drug makers had asked the FDA to approve Dengvaxia for people aged 9 to 45. But the advisory panel recommended the agency license the vaccine only for people ages 9 to less than 17. (Branswell, 3/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Hedge Fund Tosses Family That Controls Maker Of OxyContin
The billionaire family that controls OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP, already facing mounting legal and financial pressure, has been tossed out of a large hedge fund for its alleged role in fueling the opioid crisis. Investment entities of the Sackler family were told late last year by Hildene Capital Management that it was no longer comfortable managing their money. Hildene said last week that someone known by members of the firm had suffered an opioid tragedy. (Chung, Randazzo and Zuckerman, 3/7)

The Associated Press: Judge Orders FDA To Create Graphic Cigarette Warnings
A federal judge in Boston has ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to create graphic health warnings for cigarette packs and related advertising by next year. The Boston Globe reports that the judge ordered Tuesday that the agency must complete a study of the graphic warnings by April 15, submit a rule mandating the warnings for publication by Aug. 15, and have the warnings ready by March 15, 2020. (3/7)

The New York Times: For Alex Trebek, The Toughest Question: Can He Face Down Pancreatic Cancer?
The cancer that has struck Alex Trebek, the 78-year-old host of the television quiz show “Jeopardy!,” is uncommon and devastating: a Stage 4 malignancy of the pancreas, the insulin-producing organ that lies behind the stomach. Pancreatic cancer strikes about 55,000 people each year in the United States, accounting for 3 percent of all cancers but 7 percent of all cancer deaths. That’s because it can be so difficult to detect and treat. Stage 4, unfortunately, is the most advanced level. (Kolata, 3/7)

The Washington Post: Pancreatic Cancer: How The Disease Is Diagnosed And Survival Rates
In 2016, the disease became the third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, overtaking breast cancer, and it is expected to overtake colorectal cancer to become the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the country by 2020, according to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. (The leading cause remains lung cancer.) (Wan, 3/7)

The Associated Press: Monthly Shots Control HIV As Well As Pills In 2 Big Studies
Monthly shots of HIV drugs worked as well as daily pills to control the virus that causes AIDS in two large international tests, researchers reported Thursday. If approved by regulators in the United States and Europe, the shots would be a new option for people with HIV and could help some stay on treatment. Instead of having to remember to take pills, patients instead could get injections from a doctor or nurse each month. (3/7)

The New York Times: The Battle Against One Of The Worst Ebola Epidemics Ever Is In Trouble
The family of a young woman who died from Ebola last month in the Democratic Republic of Congo dressed her body, put makeup on her face and propped her up in a car, hoping to make her look alive so they could drive her through checkpoints set up to prevent spread of the disease. It was dangerous: Corpses are highly infectious. But they wanted to bury her in another town, next to her husband, who also had died of Ebola. Their desperate ploy failed. They were stopped at a checkpoint, according to a report from the country’s Ministry of Health. (Grady, 3/7)

The Associated Press: US Regulators Outline Oversight On Meat Grown In Lab Dishes
Burgers made by growing cow cells in a lab dish have a clearer path to reaching supermarkets as U.S. regulators on Thursday outlined how the emerging food category will be monitored. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said meat from cultured animal cells will have to undergo agency inspection, as with other meat and poultry products. Carmen Rottenberg of the USDA said she expects inspections to be similar to those for other meat-processing plants, but noted that a lot remains unknown since companies haven't yet scaled up to commercial production. (3/7)

NPR: New Approach To Flu Treatment Mimics Antibodies
Compared to most disease-causing viruses, influenza is a particularly hard nut to crack. A two-dose vaccine in childhood protects you from measles for life. Smallpox is similarly preventable with a single vaccine. But to evade the flu virus, we need a different vaccine each year which, even at its most effective, can fail to protect against all strains of the virus. (Lambert, 3/7)

The New York Times: Secondhand Smoke Exposure Tied To Kidney Disease
Exposure to secondhand smoke increases the risk for chronic kidney disease, a new study has found. Korean researchers studied 131,196 nonsmokers, dividing them into three groups: those who had more than three days a week of exposure to secondhand smoke; those who had less than three days a week; and those with no exposure at all. Their average age was 53, and 75 percent were women. The study is in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. (Bakalar, 3/7)

The New York Times: Statins May Increase Risk Of Diabetes
The link between statin use and the development of Type 2 diabetes may be even stronger than previously believed, a new study suggests. Researchers prospectively studied 8,567 men and women whose average age was 64. All were free of diabetes and not taking statins when the study started. In a follow-up of up to 15 years, about 12 percent of the group started taking statins, most using either Zocor or Lipitor (simvastatin or atorvastatin) and the rest either Pravachol or Lescol (pravastatin or fluvastatin). (Bakalar, 3/7)

NPR: Phenylketonuria Treatment Using Modified E. Coli. Gets Tested
Instead of eating a typical breakfast every day, Jonah Reeder gulps down a special protein shake. "The nutrients in it like to sit at the bottom, so I usually have to shake it up and get all the nutrients from the protein and everything," says Reeder, 21, of Farmington, Utah, as he shakes a big plastic bottle. (Stein, 3/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Connecticut Democrats Propose Public Health-Insurance Option
Democratic lawmakers in Connecticut introduced legislation Thursday that would create a public option for health-care coverage, allowing individuals and small businesses to buy insurance through the state. Under the proposal, Connecticut would create multiple plans that small businesses and their employees could buy starting in July, leveraging the state’s existing purchasing power to lower costs. And in 2021 Connecticut would begin offering a new health-insurance option that any state resident would be able to join. (De Avila, 3/7)

The Associated Press: New Group Aims To Reduce Drug, Alcohol Abuse At Universities
A new committee has been formed in Virginia to try to reduce alcohol and drug abuse at the state’s colleges and universities. The Virginia Higher Education Substance Use Advisory Committee is made up of representatives from public and private institutions of higher education, student leaders, state agencies and statewide partners. (3/8)

The Associated Press: Governor Signs Law Banning All Tobacco Products At School
School boards must ban any tobacco or other forms of nicotine products from all school property and school-sponsored events under legislation signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Ralph Northam. (Zernik, 3/7)