First Edition: Nov. 1, 2022

KHN: This Open Enrollment Season, Look Out For Health Insurance That Seems Too Good To Be True
Complaints about misleading health insurance marketing are soaring. State insurance commissioners are taking notice. They’ve created a shared internal database to monitor questionable business practices, and, in the future, they hope to provide a public-facing resource for consumers. In the meantime, consumers should shop wisely as open enrollment season begins. (Sable-Smith, 11/1)

KHN: Medicare Fines For High Hospital Readmissions Drop, But 2,300 Facilities Are Still Penalized
Federal officials said they are penalizing 2,273 hospitals, the fewest since the fiscal year that ended in September 2014. Driving the decline was a change in the formula to compensate for the chaos caused by the covid-19 pandemic. (Rau, 11/1)

KHN: Look Up Your Hospital: Is It Being Penalized By Medicare?
Each year, Medicare punishes hospitals that have high rates of readmissions and high rates of infections and patient injuries. Check out which hospitals have been penalized. (10/31)

KHN: What Looks Like Pot, Acts Like Pot, But Is Legal Nearly Everywhere? Meet Hemp-Derived Delta-9 THC
The 2018 farm bill that legalized hemp created a loophole for an unregulated copycat of marijuana. A form of delta-9 THC — the psychoactive substance in pot — doesn’t face the same laws and regulations as marijuana because it comes from hemp. The drug is poised to upend the cannabis industry. (Berger, 11/1)

Axios: Medicare Expands Special Enrollment Periods For Extenuating Circumstances
People who miss Medicare's open enrollment next year because of extenuating circumstances will get a special sign-up period to ensure continuous coverage under a rule finalized Friday. (Goldman, 10/31)

The Hill: Why The Fate Of Medicare And Social Security Is A Midterm Issue
The fate of Social Security and Medicare is back in the spotlight less than two weeks before the midterms. The White House and Democrats have made both entitlements central to their closing pitch to voters, sounding the alarm that a Republican majority in the House would look to cut programs that millions of Americans rely on in a bid to reduce spending. (Samuels, 10/31)

Stat: If Republicans Take Congressional Control, Science Is On The Line
In this year’s midterms, the future of federal science policy is in Republicans’ crosshairs. Some of the most vocal critics of scientists and science agencies like the NIH and the CDC, including Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, are poised to ascend to powerful committee chairmanships that will enable them to conduct sweeping investigations and put health officials on public trial. (Owermohle and Cohrs, 11/1)

AP: Missouri Investigates Hospital Denial Of Emergency Abortion
Missouri’s health department is investigating whether a hospital violated federal health care rules in denying a woman an emergency abortion, an agency spokeswoman confirmed Monday. Missouri Health and Senior Services spokeswoman Lisa Cox in a statement said the agency launched an investigation into southern Missouri’s Freeman Health System’s treatment of Mylissa Farmer. (Ballentine and Ungar, 10/31)

AP: Judge Keeps North Dakota Abortion Ban From Taking Effect
A North Dakota judge ruled Monday that he will keep the state’s ban on abortion from taking effect, saying there’s a “substantial probability” that a constitutional challenge to the law will succeed. Judge Bruce Romanick’s ruling means abortion is still legal in North Dakota, though the state’s only clinic — the Red River Women’s Clinic of Fargo — shut down as it challenged the ban and has moved across the border to neighboring Minnesota. (MacPherson and Kolpak, 10/31)

AP: Kentucky Voters Asked Whether There's A Right To An Abortion
Kentucky voters are being asked to decide whether to amend the state constitution to declare outright that it doesn’t protect the right to an abortion. The question reads: “To protect human life, nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to secure or protect a right to abortion or require the funding of abortion.” (Schreiner, 11/1)

USA Today: Abortion Policy Is Major Issue In Midterms. Where Are Progressive Men?
Many men are, of course, affected by pregnancy, with some becoming unwilling fathers forced to pay for a child's care and others seeing their priorities shift as a result of unplanned fatherhood. But for some male voters, there’s a lack of understanding about what abortion and the right to it entails or a feeling of detachment about what often is labeled a women’s issue, regardless of their political affiliation, activists said. (Keveney, 11/1)

Bloomberg Law: FDA Updates Human Cell, Tissue Guidance For Hospitals, Labs
Hospitals can bypass the FDA’s cell and gene therapy requirements if they’re only using them for non-clinical, scientific, or educational purposes or are performing bone marrow transplants or similar surgeries without sharing or distributing them. The Food and Drug Administration issued a final guidance document Monday that aims to help small entities comply with the agency’s regulation of human cellular and tissue-based products, or HCT/Ps. (Baumann, 10/31)

The Washington Post: Pfizer’s RSV Vaccine, Given During Pregnancy, Protects Infants From Severe Illness
Pfizer announced Tuesday that its maternal RSV vaccine, given during pregnancy, protected infants from developing severe symptoms during the first six months after birth — a critical window of vulnerability. The company plans to apply for approval of the vaccine before year’s end, with the hope that the shot could be the first vaccine to help protect infants against RSV — respiratory syncytial virus — as soon as next winter. (Johnson, 11/1)

CNN: New RSV Vaccines May Soon Put An End To Rough Seasons
There’s also hope around a promising long-acting injection designed to be given right after birth to protect infants from the virus for as long as six months. In a recent clinical trial, the antibody shot was 75% effective at heading off RSV infections that required medical attention. Experts say the therapies look so promising, they could end bad RSV seasons as we know them. And the relief could come soon: Dr. Ashish Jha, who leads the White House Covid-19 Response Task Force, told CNN that he’s “hopeful” there will be an RSV vaccine by next fall. (Goodman, 10/31)

The Washington Post: Covid Uses Our Proteins Against Us. A New Strategy Seeks To Block That
With the United States headed into its third full winter of the pandemic amid fears that new variants will evade immunity from vaccines and prior infections, some scientists are seeking ways to blunt the coronavirus’s slippery evolution by blocking the human proteins it uses against us. If the strategy works, it has the potential to address several shortcomings of current treatments and vaccines, including their inability to prevent infections and maintain effectiveness in the face of a changing virus. (Johnson, 10/31)

CIDRAP: More Severe COVID-19 May Raise Risk Of Long COVID
A large study released today suggests that people who experience worse COVID-19 symptoms may be more likely to subsequently develop notable symptoms 12 weeks or more after the initial infection. Also, most patients went on to have long COVID, regardless of the severity of their original illness. (Soucheray, 10/31)

CNBC: Long Covid Is Affecting Women More Than Men, National Survey Finds
Long Covid is more common among women than men, according to federal data. More than 17% of women have had long Covid at some point during the pandemic, compared with 11% of men, according to data from U.S. Census Bureau and National Center for Health Statistics published this month. (Kimball, 10/31)

AP: CDC Director Tests Positive For COVID Again
The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tested positive again for COVID-19. Dr. Rochelle Walensky had mild symptoms Sunday and is isolating at her home in Massachusetts, the CDC said Monday. Walensky, 53, first tested positive on Oct. 21. She took a course of the antiviral pill Paxlovid, and later tested negative. But the symptoms returned and Walensky is again in isolation, working and holding virtual meetings, the CDC said. (Stobbe, 10/31)

Stat: Why Inaccuracies With Pulse Oximeters Were Ignored For So Long
A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee Tuesday will take up the issue of whether pulse oximeters, the ubiquitous medical devices that became a mainstay for assessing patient oxygen levels during the Covid-19 pandemic, need to be regulated differently — or even completely reconceived — based on research showing the devices are less accurate in people with darker skin. (McFarling, 11/1)

The New York Times: The Pandemic Generation Goes To College. It Has Not Been Easy. 
Colleges are now educating their first waves of students who experienced pandemic learning loss in high school. What they are seeing is sobering, especially because the latest dismal results from the national exam of fourth and eighth graders suggest that they could face year after year of incoming students struggling to catch up. ... In interviews across the country, undergraduates discussed how their disjointed high school experiences have trailed them in their first years of college; some professors talked about how grades are down, as well as standards. Many students are tentative and anxious. (Fawcett, 11/1)

The Wall Street Journal: Drugmakers Fight Over Lucrative Pneumonia Vaccines
Rival drugmakers are seeking to upend Pfizer Inc.’s dominance of the $7 billion worldwide market for pneumonia vaccines, launching what is shaping up to be one of the industry’s fiercest battles. Merck & Co. has already introduced a new competitor to Pfizer’s Prevnar vaccine franchise, while GSK PLC and Vaxcyte Inc. are among companies developing shots that aim to win sales by protecting against even more strains of the pneumonia virus. (Hopkins, 10/31)

Modern Healthcare: Home Health Provider Medicare Pay To Rise
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has tossed a plan to reduce home health reimbursements by $810 million next year and will give providers a 0.7% pay increase that amounts to $125 million. CMS published on Monday the final rule setting Medicare fees for home health services next year. Home health industry groups strenuously objected to the proposed cuts and threatened to sue if CMS carried them out. (Kacik, 10/31)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Increases ESRD Facilities 2023 Payment
Dialysis providers will receive a 3.1% pay increase from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in 2023, the agency announced in a final rule issued Monday. CMS will hike the base rate paid for dialysis services by $7.67 to $265.57. Hospital-based end-stage renal disease providers will receive an estimated 3.1% increase in payments and freestanding facilities will receive 3%, according to CMS. Come 2023, the agency will also permanently bar ESRD facilities from decreasing workers’ wages by more than 5% annually, regardless of the circumstances causing the decline, according to the rule. (Tepper, 10/31)

USA Today: Fact Check: No, FDA Won't Be Approving Dietary Supplements
A Senate bill would require greater transparency in dietary supplement manufacturing. It wouldn't affect the FDA's authority over products. (Hudnall, 10/31)

The Washington Post: One In 10 Older Adults In U.S. Has Dementia, Research Suggests
One in 10 U.S. adults over 65 has dementia, a study suggests, while 1 in 5 has cognitive difficulties. Published Oct. 24 in JAMA Neurology, the research updates 20-year-old estimates of the number of older Americans with dementia and mild cognitive impairment. (Blakemore, 10/31)

NPR: Tennessee Offers A Window Into The Political Fight Over Trans Health Care
Transgender kids have found themselves at the center of a ballooning culture war this election season. In several cities and states — from Boston to Seattle — specialized clinics at academic medical centers have been targeted. Doctors have been harassed, despite following the evolving standards of care for trans teens. Last month, hundreds of conservatives and anti-trans activists gathered outside the Tennessee Capitol for what they billed as "The Rally to End Child Mutilation." Over shouts of counter protesters, state lawmakers vowed to ban gender-affirming surgeries in Tennessee, claiming families were rushing into life-altering and irreversible decisions. (Farmer, 11/1)

NPR: Voters Decide Pot In Arkansas, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Maryland
Voters in five states, including four that are among the most conservative in the country, are deciding on whether to legalize recreational marijuana this election. If passed in each state, Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota would join 19 other states and the District of Columbia where cannabis has already been legalized for personal use. (Westervelt, 10/31)

The New York Times: Inflammatory Radio Ads From 2 Trump-Aligned Groups Are Airing In Battleground States
One of the biggest radio ad blitzes in the final stretch of the midterm elections is a provocative package of advertisements aimed at deepening cultural divides over transgender care for children and racial tensions. Financed by two groups run by former Trump administration officials, the ads have been placed with Black and Hispanic radio stations, along with conservative talk radio stations. (Bender, 11/1)

The Washington Post: A New Tool To Help Prevent Malaria Shows Promise: Antibody Drugs
A single dose of an antibody drug provided strong protection against malaria infections during the six-month rainy season in Mali, an international team of researchers announced Monday. The promising result, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, lays the groundwork for a new tool to help defeat a parasitic disease that last year killed more than 600,000 people — mostly children. (Johnson, 10/31)

The New York Times: Cholera Outbreaks Surge Worldwide As Vaccine Supply Drains
A record number of cholera outbreaks around the globe, driven by droughts, floods and armed conflicts, has sickened hundreds of thousands of people and so severely strained the supply of cholera vaccines that global health agencies are rationing doses. (Nolen, 10/31)

The Wall Street Journal: Pig’s Heart Took Longer To Generate A Beat In Transplant Patient
A genetically modified pig heart transplanted into a severely ill person took longer to generate a heartbeat than those of typical pig or human hearts, research showed, another potential challenge for doctors aiming to conduct clinical trials of pig-organ transplants. (Dockser Marcus, 10/31)

CNN: Drinking Caffeine While Pregnant Impacts Child's Height: Study
Starting the day with a hot cup of caffeinated coffee or tea may sound divine to some, but it could have negative impacts for the children of people who are pregnant, according to a new study. Children who were exposed to small amounts of caffeine before birth were found on average to be shorter than the children of people who did not consume caffeine while pregnant, according to the study published Monday in JAMA Network Open. (Holcombe, 10/31)