First Edition: Monday, Dec. 2, 2024

KFF Health News: Who Gets Obesity Drugs Covered By Insurance? In North Carolina, It Helps If You’re On Medicaid
After losing and regaining the same 20-plus pounds more times than she could count, Anita Blanchard concluded that diets don’t work. So when the University of North Carolina-Charlotte professor learned that Ozempic — developed to treat Type 2 diabetes — helped people lose weight and keep it off, Blanchard was determined to try it. The state employee’s health insurance initially covered the prescription with Blanchard kicking in a $25 copayment. (Newsome, 12/2)

KFF Health News: Homebound Seniors Living Alone Often Slip Through Health System’s Cracks
Carolyn Dickens, 76, was sitting at her dining room table, struggling to catch her breath as her physician looked on with concern. “What’s going on with your breathing?” asked Peter Gliatto, director of Mount Sinai’s Visiting Doctors Program.“I don’t know,” she answered, so softly it was hard to hear. “Going from here to the bathroom or the door, I get really winded. I don’t know when it’s going to be my last breath.” (Graham, 12/2)

KFF Health News: Journalists Dish On New Weight Loss Drugs, RFK Jr.'s Fluoride Claims, And Reproductive Health
KFF Health News chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner discussed a proposed weight loss drug rule by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services on CBS News’ “CBS News 24/7” on Nov. 26. (11/30)

The Washington Post: Supreme Court Poised To Enter Fray Over Regulation Of Flavored Vapes 
The Supreme Court is scheduled Monday to consider the regulation of flavored e-cigarettes in a case that illustrates an enduring public health conundrum: how to keep kids away from sweet-flavored, addictive vapes while giving adult smokers better options to help them quit cigarettes. The justices will hear arguments about the Food and Drug Administration’s rejection of some of the products, and they could upend how the agency handles e-cigarettes, adding to the court’s curbing of the federal government’s regulatory powers. The hearing comes as President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to protect the vaping industry. (Ovalle and Roubein, 12/1)

AP: Supreme Court To Hear Arguments About Tennessee Gender-Affirming Care Ban
Advocates for transgender rights are turning to a conservative-dominated Supreme Court after a presidential election in which Donald Trump and his allies promised to roll back protections for transgender people. The justices on Wednesday are taking up the issue of gender-affirming care for transgender minors, which has been banned by Tennessee and 25 other Republican-led states. (Sherman and Mulvihill, 11/29)

AP: First Transgender Attorney To Argue Before The Supreme Court, Challenging Health Care Ban For Minors
When the Supreme Court this week wades into the contentious issue of transgender rights, the justices will hear from an attorney with knowledge that runs deep. Chase Strangio will be the first openly transgender attorney to argue before the nation’s highest court, representing families who say Tennessee’s ban on health care for transgender minors leaves their children terrified about the future. (Whitehurst, 12/2)

The New York Times: Long A ‘Crown Jewel’ Of Government, N.I.H. Is Now A Target 
The National Institutes of Health, the world’s leading public funder of biomedical research, has an enviable track record. Research supported by the agency has led to more than 100 Nobel Prizes and has supported more than 99 percent of the drugs approved by federal regulators from 2010 to 2019. No surprise, then, that the agency has been called “the crown jewel of the federal government.” But come January, when President-elect Donald J. Trump and congressional Republicans take charge, the N.I.H. may face a reckoning. (Rosenbluth and Anthes, 12/1)

Stat: Former FDA Chief Scott Gottlieb Trying To Undermine RFK Jr.’s Senate Confirmation
Scott Gottlieb, who served as Food and Drug Administration commissioner in the first Trump administration, is raising concerns with Senate Republicans about the president-elect’s selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, he said in a television appearance Friday. Gottlieb maintained that there is “skepticism in the Republican caucus [on RFK Jr.’s nomination], more than the press is reporting right now.” (Zhang, 11/29)

The Wall Street Journal: How RFK Jr. Transformed From Green Hero To Vaccine Skeptic
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been a crusader for decades, first for the environment and then about vaccines, often clashing with the medical establishment in his quest. He once brought his own PowerPoint presentation to meet with Dr. Anthony Fauci, to convince the nation’s then-top infectious-disease expert that scientifically proven and widely accepted childhood vaccines weren’t actually safe. Now his distrust of authority has taken him to the unlikely pinnacle of that establishment—if he can convince lawmakers that he will be a responsible steward of the U.S. health system.  (Peterson, Whyte and Andrews, 12/2)

The New York Times: Dr. Dave Weldon, Trump’s CDC Pick, Wasn’t On Anyone’s Radar 
Dr. Dave Weldon, a former Republican congressman who is President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has been off the political stage for more than 15 years. Now running a private medical practice in Malabar, Fla., Mr. Weldon was hardly regarded as a leading candidate to run the federal agency, a $9 billion behemoth with a staff of more than 13,000 that has become a locus of conservative rage. (Mandavilli and Mueller, 11/29)

Stat: Cardiologist In Charge Of YouTube Health Fights Misinformation 
YouTube plays a unique role in people’s everyday lives, says Garth Graham, the company’s global head of healthcare and public health. “People come to us to learn how to fix their fridge and to learn about medicines,” he said in an interview. “There’s a lot of responsibility, and we take that seriously. Responsibility is at the core of how YouTube works and how we treat sensitive information, particularly around health.” (St. Fleur, 11/29)

The Hill: Joe Biden Decries 'Stigma' And 'Misinformation' On World AIDS Day
President Biden called for a fight against “stigma” and “misinformation” on World AIDS Day in remarks at the White House. “We stand united in the fight against this epidemic,” Biden said Sunday. “It matters, it matters. … I remember as senator, when this epidemic was raging, the stigma, the misinformation, the government failing to act and acknowledge the dignity of [LGBTQ] lives and the seriousness of the AIDS epidemic.” ... “It caused serious harm,” the president said Sunday of the government’s inaction at the time. “It compounded pain and trauma for a community watching a generation of loved ones and friends perish. It was horribly, horribly wrong.” (Suter, 12/1)

AP: Biden Displays AIDS Memorial Quilt At White House To Observe World AIDS Day
President Joe Biden on Sunday displayed the AIDS Memorial Quilt on the White House South Lawn for the first time in observance of World AIDS Day. Gathered with the president and his wife, Jill, were survivors, family members and advocates to memorialize the lives lost to the epidemic. The president emphasized the federal government’s support for the 1.2 million people in the United States living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which can lead to AIDS. (Boak, 12/1)

The New York Times: A. Cornelius Baker, Champion Of H.I.V. Testing, Dies At 63 
A. Cornelius Baker, 63, who spent nearly 40 years working with urgency and compassion to improve the lives of people with H.I.V. and AIDS by promoting testing, securing federal funding for research and pushing for a vaccine, died on Nov. 8 at his home in Washington. Mr. Baker — who was gay and who tested positive for H.I.V. — became active in Washington in the 1980s, during the early years of the AIDS epidemic. In 1995, as the executive director of the National Association of People with AIDS, he helped establish June 27 as National H.I.V. Testing Day. (Sandomir, 11/30)

Stateline: Arizona Voters Said Yes To Abortion Rights, But Old Restrictions Are Still On The Books
Arizonans overwhelmingly voted to make abortion a fundamental right, but overturning the state’s current 15-week gestational ban — and multiple other anti-abortion laws still on the books — isn’t automatic. Just an hour after she joined Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Republican Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Ann Timmer on Monday to certify the results of the 2024 general election, Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes said that officially nullifying the 15-week ban will need to take place in the courts. (Gomez, 11/28)

The Hill: How The Morning-After Pill Has Been Pulled Into Abortion Battles
The morning-after pill is legal across the U.S., even in the states with the strictest abortion bans — but many Americans don’t know that, in part due to a mistaken belief that the pill is abortion medication.  Nearly a third of American adults are unsure if emergency contraception like the morning-after pill is legal in their state and 5 percent think it is illegal there, according to a 2023 survey from health policy nonprofit KFF.  (O'Connell-Domenech, 12/1)

The Boston Globe: BrownHealth Integrates Saint Anne’s, Morton Hospitals After Steward Buyout
On the count of three, Governor Maura Healey and Brown University Health chief executive John Fernandez unfurled the banner outside St. Anne’s Hospital. The old sign reading “Steward Family Hospital” was covered by a spiffy new BrownHealth logo. The ceremony in November marked the $175 million handoff of St. Anne’s and Morton Hospital in nearby Taunton to Rhode Island’s largest health care system. (Weisman, 12/2)

Stat: New Cancer Treatment May Be Hamstrung By ‘Talent Shortage’
Radiation is a core part of cancer treatment, and has been for generations. But over the last couple of years, there’s been a surge of interest in a new type of treatment, one that is testing drug developers and health care practitioners alike. (DeAngelis, 12/2)

NBC News: Depression Affects A Third Of Cancer Patients. Experts Say It’s One Of The Biggest Gaps In Oncology
About a third of cancer patients struggle with depression, anxiety and other psychiatric disorders, although these conditions often go undetected and undiagnosed. ... Mental health has long been deprioritized, with health care centers losing money caring for psychiatric patients. But this neglect comes at a significant cost, with mortality rates up to 39% higher among cancer patients with depression when compared to those without mental illness. Research also shows that the risk of suicide is 13 times higher in the week following a cancer diagnosis — and three times the average even a year later. (Bajaj, 11/29)

Modern Healthcare: Siemens Healthineers Releases 2 New Photon-Counting CT Scanners
Siemens Healthineers launched two new, more affordable photon-counting CT scanners on Dec. 1. The new models come three years after the company introduced its Naeotom Alpha, which was the first commercially available photo-counting CT available for clinical use. Photon-counting CT can produce higher-resolution images by counting each X-ray photon that travels through the patient and generating anatomical and functional information. It requires lower radiation doses than traditional CT and can detect small structures with fewer artifacts. (Dubinsky, 12/1)

The Atlantic: Imagine A Drug That Feels Like Tylenol And Works Like OxyContin
Doctors have long taken for granted a devil’s bargain: Relieving intense pain, such as that caused by surgery and traumatic injury, risks inducing the sort of pleasure that could leave patients addicted. Opioids are among the most powerful, if not the most powerful, pain medications ever known, but for many years they have been a source of staggering morbidity and mortality. (Friedman, 11/29)

CBS News: Health Data Of 600+ Veterans In Minnesota Taken In Cyberattack, VA Says
Private health information of over 600 veterans in Minnesota was obtained in a nationwide cyberattack, according to the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System. The agency says documents with information of 2,302 Veterans around the country were encrypted and potentially copied by a "malicious party." The documents were managed by the contracted medical transcription company DBP, Inc. and contained some or all of the following information: full names, medical record information and social security numbers. (Lentz, 11/29)

The Maine Monitor: Maine Proposes Major Staffing Increases For Assisted Living And Residential Care Facilities
In the first major update to assisted living and residential care regulations in more than 15 years, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services has proposed significantly increasing staffing requirements, among other changes. The proposed updates follow an investigation by The Maine Monitor and ProPublica into the state’s largest residential care facilities. It found dozens of violations of resident rights, including incidents of abuse and neglect, as well as more than 100 cases in which residents wandered away from their facilities and hundreds of medication and treatment violations. (Lundy, 11/27)

CBS News: Minnesota Office Of Cannabis Management Denies Petition To Add Inhalers, Flower And Concentrates To Medical Program
The Office of Cannabis Management says it will not add any additional delivery methods to the medical cannabis program in 2025. The office defines delivery method as the form in which a medication is taken. Three petitions to expand delivery method to include dry powder inhalation, infused flower and concentrates were presented to the office for review before the state's Dec. 1 deadline. (11/27)

AP: 2 Indianapolis Police Officers Face Trial In Black Man's Death During Mental Health Crisis 
Two Indianapolis police officers are set to stand trial in the death of Black man after being shocked with a Taser and restrained during a mental health crisis in his parents’ home. (Callahan, 12/2)

ProPublica: Idaho Has Failed To Reform Its Troubled Coroner System For Decades 
Idaho has known for at least 73 years that its frontier-era coroner system does not work. For just as long, the state has failed to make meaningful changes to it. In a review of legislative records and news archives going back to 1951, ProPublica found a pattern — repeating almost every decade — of reform-minded legislators, trade groups, members of the public, doctors, lawyers and even some coroners pushing to change how Idaho handles death investigations. (Dutton, 12/2)

Axios: Food Bank Demand Continues To Rise
Most food banks are seeing more demand than last year going into the holiday season, according to the nonprofit Feeding America's survey of 157 food banks. Food insecurity has steadily risen since before the pandemic, with 65% of food banks recording an increase in the number of people served in October 2024 compared to October 2023. (Rubin, 11/28)

The Wall Street Journal: A Generation Of Drug-Addiction Survivors Is Entering Old Age 
America’s drug crisis has many survivors. Jerry Schlesinger, 72, is among the longest tenured. He tried heroin at 15. Today, he has been sober for two years. In between, decades of illicit drug use wrecked his lungs and teeth and compromised his liver. America spent millions of dollars imprisoning, housing and treating him before he stopped using. “You’re not done until you’re done,” Schlesinger said. His is a living history of a drug crisis that has left millions of people in poor health and searching for purpose. The most senior are entering old age. Their struggles show how the damage wrought by addiction will linger long after the death toll drops. (Wernau, 12/1)

The New York Times: Mexican Cartels Lure Chemistry Students To Make Fentanyl 
The cartel recruiter slipped onto campus disguised as a janitor and then zeroed in on his target: a sophomore chemistry student. The recruiter explained that the cartel was staffing up for a project, and that he’d heard good things about the young man.“ ‘You’re good at what you do,’” the student recalled the recruiter saying. “‘You decide if you’re interested.’” In their quest to build fentanyl empires, Mexican criminal groups are turning to an unusual talent pool: not hit men or corrupt police officers, but chemistry students studying at Mexican universities. (Kitroeff and Villegas, 12/1)

NPR: People Who Take Obesity Drugs Lose The Taste For Alcohol, New Study Finds
Many social drinkers who take obesity medications, such as Wegovy or Mounjaro, say they don't enjoy alcohol as much. A new study of Weight Watchers members who take obesity drugs — and were in the habit of drinking — finds about half of them cut back after they started the medication. (Aubrey, 12/2)

CBS News: Hepatitis A Reported At Buffalo Wild Wings In LA County, Customers Told To Get Vaccinated
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is investigating a case of Hepatitis A at a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant in Monterey Park, the department announced Wednesday. Public health officials have told customers who visited the restaurant between Nov. 13 and Nov. 22 to get vaccinated for Hepatitis A, a liver infection caused by the highly contagious Hepatitis A virus. (Wenzke, 11/27)

Los Angeles Times: Fresno County Woman Dies After Bitten By Rabid Bat In Classroom
A Fresno County woman died after being bitten by a rabid bat in the middle school classroom where she taught art, according to public health officials and published reports. The Fresno County Department of Public Health reported last week that a county resident had died from rabies after being bitten by a bat in Merced County. Health officials did not name the victim, but friends identified her as Leah Seneng, 60, an art teacher at Bryant Middle School in the small Merced County city of Dos Palos, according to reports in the Fresno Bee and KFSN-TV. (Ormseth, 12/1)

Stat: Why Have U.S. Bird Flu Cases Been So Mild? Scientists Have Some Theories
Since the start of the bird flu outbreak in U.S. cattle more than eight months ago, health authorities have reported 55 human cases of H5N1 viral infections, a startling number in a country that had previously reported only one. All, though, have been mild. The fact that none has been severe has been a shock, though a welcome one, certainly. (Branswell, 12/2)

Los Angeles Times: With Bird Flu Cases On The Rise, Staff At California Lab Say They Are Overworked And Burned Out
On a recent Friday morning, Alyssa Laxamana arrived at a laboratory on the UC Davis campus to continue California’s race against bird flu. A note from her supervisor had alerted Laxamana that about 130 samples of cow milk and other dairy products were en route — a large but manageable workload. ... Laxamana’s plans, however, quickly went out the window. More samples kept popping up in a digital queue as another lab worker logged unexpected shipments. Around noon she had to draw a line. She calculated she could get through about 270 samples that day. The rest would have to wait. (Hussain, 12/1)

Bloomberg: New Zealand Says Bird Flu Found At Otago Egg Farm Not H5N1 Strain
New Zealand has halted all poultry exports after confirming its first case of bird flu on an egg farm in the southern region of Otago. Exports of poultry products worth about NZ$190 million ($112 million) a year will cease until New Zealand can once again attest to being free of bird flu, Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard said Monday in Wellington. (Brockett, 12/2)

The Washington Post: Costco Organic Eggs Recalled For Salmonella Risk 
A farm that supplies organic, pasture-raised eggs for Costco has issued a recall for more than 10,000 products sent to 25 retail locations in five southern states. Handsome Brook Farms said the eggs, which were sold in packs of 24 under the label of Kirkland Signature, could be contaminated with salmonella. The recalled eggs were sent to Costco stores in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, the farm said. The affected products were sent beginning Nov. 22 and bear the UPC 9661910680, along with the code 327 and a “use by” date of Jan. 5, 2025 printed on the side. (Heil, 11/29)

NBC News: Cucumbers Recalled In 26 States Over Possible Salmonella Contamination
An Arizona produce company is recalling all sizes of its whole, fresh American cucumbers in 26 states and parts of Canada because they could be contaminated with salmonella, it said. SunFed said in an announcement posted online Thursday by the Food and Drug Administration that cucumbers it sold from Oct. 12 to Nov. 26 were recalled because of the potential contamination, which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems. (Rudy, 11/29)

NPR: Belgium Makes History With Robust Labor Protections For Sex Workers
Belgium made history on Sunday as the first country in the world to allow sex workers to sign formal employment contracts — granting them access to sick days, maternity pay and pension. The new law also guarantees fundamental rights for sex workers, including the ability to refuse clients, set the conditions of an act, and stop an act at any moment. Lawmakers passed the law in May but it officially took effect on Sunday. (Kim, 12/1)