First Edition: Nov. 8, 2022

KHN: Pfizer’s Covid Cash Powers A ‘Marketing Machine’ On The Hunt For New Supernovas 
For drugmaker Pfizer, a fortune amassed in the covid pandemic is now paving the path to pharma nirvana: a weight loss pill worth billions. The company has reaped nearly $100 billion from selling covid-19 vaccines and treatments to U.S. taxpayers and foreign governments. With that windfall, it plans to get richer, sinking the cash into developing and marketing potential blockbusters for conditions like migraines, ulcerative colitis, prostate cancer, sickle cell disease, and obesity. (Allen, 11/8)

KHN: Listen: With Abortion Rights On The Ballot In Michigan, Women Tell Their Stories 
One patient had two toddlers already and was trying to extract herself from an abusive relationship. Another ended up in Michigan after trying to get care in her home state of Ohio; she was handed a Bible at a crisis pregnancy center but no abortion pills. A third thought her childbearing years were behind her and had been looking forward to rejoining the workforce. (Wells, 11/8)

KHN: Defense Department Health Plan Cuts Its Pharmacy Network by Nearly 15,000 Outlets
Doris Spatz takes a once-a-day pill, Kisqali, to keep her metastatic breast cancer in check. As a patient in the Defense Department health system, she can fill routine prescriptions at a military pharmacy without a copay but also has the option of using a regular pharmacy through Tricare, the Defense Department’s private health care program. Spatz found a local pharmacy in her Alexandria, Virginia, neighborhood and was getting the life-preserving medicine there. (Kime, 11/8)

Axios: Abortion, Medicaid Highlight State Health Ballot Tests
While inflation and the economy have been foremost on voters' minds across the nation this election cycle, some of the most high-profile health care battles are being decided at the state level on Tuesday. Voters in Michigan, Kentucky, Vermont, California and Montana are weighing abortion ballot questions that drive home how key reproductive rights battles post-Roe are being waged outside the federal realm. (Reed, 11/8)

Stateline: Abortion Access Hinges On State Elections
Five states — California, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont — will have abortion-related questions on the ballot, the most ever. And the outcome of gubernatorial and legislative races in six states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — will determine whether abortion is legal in those states. (Vestal, 11/7)

Reuters: Abortion And Voting Rights At Stake In Tight U.S. Governors' Races
Competitive governor contests are on the ballot in about a dozen states in Tuesday's U.S. midterm elections, with outcomes that hold far-reaching consequences on issues such as abortion, voting rights and guns. Democrats are fighting to keep control of governorships in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan to maintain the power to veto any legislation by the Republican-controlled legislatures that might curb abortion rights and voting access. (Reid and Borter, 11/7)

Los Angeles Times: How Abortion Rights Could Decide Michigan Governor's Race
Linda Ostrander has a dozen signs in her front yard supporting Republican candidates up and down the ballot, including Tudor Dixon, a former conservative news anchor running for governor. There’s one sign she won’t be adding: No on Proposal 3, the ballot initiative that would enshrine reproductive rights in the state constitution. She plans to vote yes. (John, 11/7)

Stat: 'Sick Of Watching Women Die': Michigan Docs Rally On Abortion Rights
Doctors are on the frontlines of a political battle raging across the country, as abortion rights are added to the ballot in the first election since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Michigan is at the heart of the struggle. (Goldhill, 11/7)

Reuters: Some In White House Worry Abortion Message Bungled Before Midterms 
Some senior White House officials have been second-guessing their messaging to voters around abortion in recent weeks, sources familiar with the matter said, as forecasts turned in Republicans' favor in the run up to the midterm elections. Many Democrats are no longer optimistic about retaining one or both houses of Congress in Tuesday's midterms, and some have asked if party leaders and the Joe Biden White House should have spent more time talking about the U.S. economy, and less about women's reproductive rights. (Bose, 11/7)

Modern Healthcare: This Election Day, South Dakota Votes On Medicaid Expansion
South Dakotans will vote Tuesday on whether to expand Medicaid coverage to low-income adults through a ballot initiative that's garnered endorsements from key players in the Mount Rushmore State's healthcare industry. (Berryman, 11/7)

Stat: Amid Concerns Over U.S. Democracy, Pharma Helped Finance Committees That Support Election Deniers 
As Americans head to the polls, some candidates continue to deny the results of the 2020 presidential election – and several of the largest players in the pharmaceutical industry have contributed to their campaigns. (Silverman, 11/7)

NBC News: Oregon Votes On Stricter Gun Laws, The Only Ballot Measure Nationwide That Addresses Gun Violence
The gun-control initiative, which critics say is the nation’s “most extreme,” requires people to obtain permits and complete safety training to acquire a firearm. It also bans high-capacity magazines and calls for State Police to create and maintain a searchable database of gun ownership. (Chan, 11/7)

AP: S. Carolina Legislature's Final Effort To Tweak Abortion Law
After a dozen meetings and sessions over the summer and fall, South Carolina lawmakers are almost out of time to do something to change the state’s abortion laws during a special session prompted by the overturning of Roe v. Wade. A conference committee of state senators and House members will meet one last time Wednesday morning to try to sort out a compromise between the House, which wants a near total abortion ban, and the Senate, which wants to tweak the current law that amounts to a ban about six weeks after conception. (Collins, 11/8)

Reuters: New Mexico City Passes Ordinance To Block Abortion Clinics From Operating
A New Mexico town near the Texas border on Monday unanimously passed an ordinance designed to ban abortions, despite the procedure being legal in the state. The so-called "sanctuary city for the unborn" ordinance blocks abortion clinics from operating and its passage by the Hobbs city commission marks a first for a town in a state controlled by the Democratic Party, according to anti-abortion advocates. (Brooks, 11/7)

The Hill: VA To Prioritize Veterans With Cancer In Line For Benefits From New Toxic Exposure Law
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will give priority to veterans with cancer when it begins processing benefits claims under the landmark toxic exposure law signed this summer, VA Secretary Denis McDonough announced Monday. “I’m proud to announce for the first time today, on National Cancer Awareness Day, that we’re expediting benefits delivery for veterans with cancer conditions covered by law,” McDonough said during an appearance at the National Press Club. (Mitchell, 11/7)

Reuters: Supreme Court Rebuffs U.S. Veteran's Disability Case, One Conservative Justice Dissenting
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a dispute involving an Air Force veteran's bid to reinstate certain disability benefits denied by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, prompting a sharp dissent by conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch. (Chung, 11/7)

Reuters: U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Bristol Myers Cancer-Drug Patent Fight With Gilead 
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rebuffed a bid by Bristol Myers Squibb Co's Juno Therapeutics Inc to reinstate a $1.2 billion award it won in its patent fight with Gilead Sciences Inc subsidiary Kite Pharma Inc over a lymphoma drug. (Brittain, 11/7)

The New York Times: Covid Patients Coming Off Ventilators Can Take Weeks To Regain Consciousness 
The brains of unconscious Covid patients bear a striking resemblance to those of turtles that spend the winter encased in ice, argued Dr. Nicholas Schiff, a neurologist at Weill Cornell Medicine, and his collaborator, Dr. Emery Brown, a computational neuroscientist at M.I.T. The turtles survive by putting their neurons into an unusual quiet state that lasts for months. Dr. Schiff and Dr. Brown believe that the combination of Covid and sedatives prompts a similar response in people. (Zimmer, 11/7)

The Washington Post: Did Pandemic Stress Change Women’s Periods? 
During the pandemic, many women experienced high levels of stress as they took on a disproportionate share of child care and housework and dropped out of the labor force in large numbers. Now, a new study suggests that all of this extra stress may have changed women’s menstrual cycles in a variety of ways. Some women who reported high levels of stress also reported early or delayed periods. Others had heavier menstrual flow or increased spotting between cycles. Some women said that during pandemic stress, their periods lasted more days than usual, while others said their periods got shorter. (Morris, 11/7)

The Wall Street Journal: A U.S. Research Station In Antarctica Is Stopping Travel After Covid-19 Outbreak 
The National Science Foundation is shutting down travel to McMurdo Station in Antarctica after nearly 10% of the population tested positive for Covid-19. All travel to the U.S. outpost on Antarctica will be paused for the next two weeks due to the outbreak, the National Science Foundation said over the weekend. The halt on travel doesn’t apply to essential travel for health and safety reasons, the foundation said. (De Avila, 11/7)

San Francisco Chronicle: COVID In California: Positive-Test Rate Creeps Back Up In S.F.
The seven-day rolling coronavirus test positivity rate in San Francisco has started to creep back up after falling steadily since July. It was 5.1% as of Oct. 31, the most recent date with reliable data, after dropping as low as 4.5% the previous week. (Fracassa and Vaziri, 11/7)

Stat: Could NASCAR Vaccine Sites Persuade People To Get Covid Shots?
Under the bright lights of the Phoenix Raceway, as 100,000 people gathered to watch NASCAR drivers hurtle toward this year’s championship, a small battalion of nurses and trainees took on an even more daunting challenge: convincing attendees to get vaccinated against Covid-19. (Owermohle, 11/7)

Roll Call: Possible End Of Emergency Spurs Debate On Medicaid
The potential end of the COVID-19 public health emergency has reinvigorated debate over the merits and costs of expanding Medicaid. A provision of a 2020 COVID-19 relief bill required that states keep people continuously enrolled in Medicaid through the end of the month in which the COVID-19 public health emergency ends in exchange for more federal funding. (Papp, 11/7)

CNN: Eating Disorders In Young People Skyrocketed During Pandemic, Study Shows 
Alongside the many impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on pediatric care, researchers have seen a stark increase in young adults seeking treatment for disordered eating behaviors. (Holcombe, 11/7)

The Hill: Half Of Dentists Say Patients Come To Appointments High
Fifty-two percent of dentists say patients have arrived to appointments high on marijuana or another drug, according to a new survey from the American Dental Association (ADA).  ... Of the 557 dentists included in the online survey, 56 percent said they’ve limited treatment to patients who were high, while 46 percent reported needing to increase anesthesia to treat these patients due to the combined effects of marijuana and anesthesia on the central nervous system. (Melillo, 11/7)

Axios: More Doctors Are Unionizing Amid Burnout, Industry Consolidation
Burnout and health industry consolidation are driving more doctors and doctors-in-training to unionize to demand better pay, benefits and working conditions. (Dreher, 11/7)

Modern Healthcare: Cross-Market Health System Mergers May Drive Higher Prices: Study
More than half of the 1,500 hospitals targeted by health systems between 2010 and 2019 were located in a different commuting zone than the acquirer, according to an analysis of American Hospital Association data published Monday in Health Affairs. There are 625 commuting zones across the country, ranging from a size of one county to 20 counties. (Kacik, 11/7)

Stat: After Years Of Lax Oversight, The NIH Is Starting To Contact Institutions About Unreported Clinical Trial Results
In recent weeks, the National Institutes of Health has begun emailing academic institutions that failed to submit results of clinical trials to a government database, a move that comes shortly after a federal watchdog harshly criticized the agency for lax oversight. (Silverman, 11/7)

Healthcare Dive: Mass General Brigham Adopts Patient Code Of Conduct 
Mass General Brigham has implemented a system-wide code of conduct for patients, in response to a rise in violent and hostile behavior toward healthcare providers around the country, a spokesperson told Healthcare Dive in an email Friday. Under the policy, words and actions that are “disrespectful, racist, discriminatory, hostile or harassing” may be grounds for patients to be asked to make other plans for their care, the hospital system said. (Kelly, 11/7)

CBS News: Former Wisconsin Hospice Nurse Accused Of Amputating Dying Man's Foot Without His Permission
A former Wisconsin hospice nurse is facing felony charges after allegedly cutting off a dying man's foot without his consent or permission from doctors. Mary Brown, 38, faces one count of physical abuse of an elderly person and one count of mayhem. (Martinez, 11/7)

Stat: FDA Places Clinical Hold On Verve Gene-Editing Treatment
Verve Therapeutics said Monday that its experimental gene-editing treatment for a common form of heart disease was placed on clinical hold by the Food and Drug Administration, potentially delaying an ongoing, early-stage clinical trial. (Feuerstein, 11/7)

NBC News: New Drug May Help People With Uncontrolled High Blood Pressure
Patients who took a daily dose of the drug, baxdrostat, were able to reduce their blood pressure substantially, compared to a people who got a placebo, according to the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the American Heart Association annual meeting on Monday. The new type of oral medication works by targeting a hormone that regulates the amount of salt in the body. (Carroll, 11/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Medtronic Blood-Pressure Device Curbs Hypertension, But Misses Top Goal In Study 
A Medtronic PLC medical device reduced the blood pressure of people with tough-to-treat hypertension in a closely watched study, but not significantly beyond what medications achieved. The device cut a crucial measure of blood pressure by only about two points more than the average reduction in study volunteers who didn’t get the procedure, researchers said Monday. (Loftus, 11/7)

Axios: Medicare Eyes Changes To Pay For Specialty Care
The Biden administration is getting serious about transforming Medicare payments for specialty care. Some doctors will be required to participate in programs that pay fixed amounts for care connected to certain surgeries and procedures. (Goldman, 11/8)

CBS News: The IRS Is Making Big Changes To FSAs And HSAs. Here's What To Know
In 2023, employees can put away as much as $3,050 in an FSA, an increase of about 7% from the current tax year's cap of $2,850. Meanwhile, single workers who want to fund an HSA can save up to $3,850 next year, a 5.5% increase from 2022, while families can save up to $7,750, up 6.2%. (Picchi, 11/7)