First Edition: November 30, 2018
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Is Trump Pushing Health Insurance Innovation Or An ACA Rollback?
Policy experts predict the ideas would further foster a parallel market of cheaper, less robust coverage that could draw younger or healthier consumers, but drive up premiums for those who remain in ACA market plans. “Invariably, the coverage is going to be more expensive for people who really need comprehensive coverage,” said Timothy Jost, a retired Washington and Lee University law professor who follows the ACA closely. (Appleby, 11/29)
Kaiser Health News:
Listen: Paying More For Your Health Insurance? Depends On Where You Live
Open enrollment is underway in the sixth year of the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplaces, with some regions of the country experiencing unexpected drops in premiums and others weathering higher prices. In California, premiums for plans sold through the state’s health insurance exchange, Covered California, will rise an average of 8.7 percent next year, although individual rate increases — or decreases — depend on a variety of factors, including where you live, what plan you choose and your income. Many consumers can save money by switching plans. (11/29)
Kaiser Health News:
Short On Federal Funding, Obamacare Enrollment Navigators Switch Tactics
Enrollment is down sharply on the federal health insurance marketplace this fall, and the consumer assistance groups that help with sign-ups think they know why. They don’t have the staff to help as many customers as before because the Trump administration slashed funding. The federal government is spending $10 million this year on navigators who help individuals enroll in coverage. The government spent $36 million in 2017 and $63 million in 2016. (Galewitz, 11/30)
Kaiser Health News:
Sales Reps May Be Wearing Out Their Welcome In The Operating Room
In the operating room, surgical masks and matching scrubs can make it hard to tell who’s who — at least for outsiders. Patients getting wheeled in might not realize that salespeople working on commission are frequently present and sometimes even advise the clinical team during surgery.Who are these salespeople, and why are they there? (Farmer, 11/30)
Kaiser Health News:
Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Reading The Tea Leaves In Blue Wave’s Wake
This week, “What the Health?” panelists discuss, among other things, how the House Democrats’ leadership battle could affect the congressional health policy agenda. The panelists are Mary Agnes Carey of Kaiser Health News, Margot Sanger-Katz of The New York Times, Alice Ollstein of Politico and Anna Edney of Bloomberg News. (11/29)
The New York Times:
Federal Subsidies Could Expand To Health Programs That Violate Obamacare
The Trump administration said Thursday that states could bypass major requirements of the Affordable Care Act by using federal funds for a wide range of health insurance programs that do not comply with the law. Federal officials encouraged states to seek waivers from provisions of the law that specify who is eligible for premium subsidies, how much they get and what medical benefits they receive. (Pear and Goodnough, 11/29)
The Washington Post:
New Insurance Guidelines Would Undermine Rules Of The Affordable Care Act
The Trump administration is urging states to tear down pillars of the Affordable Care Act, demolishing a basic rule that federal insurance subsidies can be used only by people buying health plans in marketplaces created under the law. According to advice issued Thursday by federal health officials, states should be free to redefine the use of those subsidies, which began in 2014. They represent the first help the government ever has offered middle-class consumers to afford monthly premiums for private insurance. (Goldstein, 11/29)
The Wall Street Journal:
Trump Administration Details Health-Law Waivers For States
“The specific examples laid out today show how state governments can work with HHS to create more choices and greater flexibility in their health insurance markets, helping to bring down costs and expand access to care,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. The flexibility being offered to states marks a fundamental shift in approach, health analysts say. The Obama administration sought to make sure people had a minimum level of coverage, while the waivers show the focus now is on making sure people have access to some kind of coverage. (Armour, 11/29)
Modern Healthcare:
Mental Health Coverage Limits In Self-Insured Plans Hang On Judge's Ruling
A federal judge is set to decide how much flexibility insurers that administer self-insured health plans have in limiting coverage for treatment of mental health and substance use disorders. The decision could have wide ramifications in terms of holding insurers to a standard in what has to be covered in the fast-growing behavioral healthcare segment. The case stems from two consolidated class action lawsuits filed in 2014 against United Behavioral Health, the nation's largest behavioral health insurer, that went to trial in October 2017 before U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Joseph Spero in San Francisco. (Meyer, 11/28)
The Hill:
HHS Says It May Take A Month To Retroactively Fingerprint Workers At Migrant Tent City
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says it could take a month to retroactively fingerprint workers at the migrant tent city in Texas. The pledge comes days after an HHS watchdog report raised concerns that none of the staff at a refugee camp in Tornillo, Texas were subject to an FBI fingerprint checks. More than 2,300 teens are currently being held at the tent city, the AP reported. (Birnbaum, 11/29)
CNN:
Record Numbers Of Migrant Kids In US Custody
Juan is caught in a record backlog that has 14,000 children experiencing longer detention times in shelters across America, according to a Department of Health and Human Services official. About 11,900 children were detained in June, that number rose to 12,800 in September. As detention times increase, with some staying up to a year, caretakers have seen children exhibit mental health and behavioral problems, according to a source inside a large detention service provider. This source adds that the unaccompanied children are considered higher risk. And while, in years past, child shelters used to be mission-driven (to serve children), now they are at full capacity and more policy driven. (Flores, Edwards, Said and Schneider, 11/30)
The Washington Post:
An Experiment Requiring Work For Food Stamps Is A Trump Administration Model
Starting this month, [Deatre] McNeal joins a large swath of poor Wisconsinites who need to document that they are working or striving to get a job for at least 80 hours a month. They must do so to receive FoodShare, the state’s version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — food stamps. Wisconsin — with its work requirement set to expand next year and a focus on employment and training — is a role model for the Trump administration’s vision of food aid for poor Americans who could go hungry, ratcheting up what many of them are expected to do to get government help. (Goldstein, 11/29)
The Associated Press:
Abortion Foes Seek Trump's Help To Offset Midterm Setback
Anti-abortion leaders are seeking help from the Trump administration as they shift their political strategies now that the U.S. House will be controlled by Democrats who support abortion rights. Under Republican control, the House tried repeatedly, though unsuccessfully, to halt federal funding for Planned Parenthood, and it passed a bill that would have banned most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The Democratic-led House that takes office in January is likely to push legislation that would expand access to abortion, even if such measures die in the GOP-controlled Senate. (11/29)
Modern Healthcare:
HHS Finalizes Long-Awaited 340B Drug Price Rule
HHS on Thursday said it will allow a rule imposing ceiling prices on the 340B drug discount program to go into effect next year, after years of delays. The long-postponed rule will go into effect on Jan. 1, instead of the earlier-announced July 1, 2019 date, according to a finalized rulemaking. HHS has delayed the effective date of the ceiling price rule five times. The change will cap the prices drugmakers can charge hospitals that participate in 340B. (Dickson, 11/29)
Stat:
An FDA Approval Could Come At A Major Cost For Patients
But [Vickie] Moored, along with others who share her rare neuromuscular disorder, are concerned that their fortunes could change. The cost of the treatment will likely skyrocket — from next to nothing to potentially more than $100,000 without insurance — now that the Food and Drug Administration has approved a medicine to treat their disease, Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome. ...The reality is that physicians have been prescribing 3,4-DAP, a nearly identical treatment, off-label, since the 1980s. It was never formally approved by the FDA; instead, LEMS patients pay about $300 to $500 a month to get the drug from a compounding pharmacy. That, or they’ve been supplied with the drug — for no charge — from the New Jersey-based Jacobus Pharmaceutical Co. (Keshavan, 11/30)
The Hill:
GOP Lawmakers Air Concerns With Trump Drug Pricing Move In Meeting With Health Chief
Republican lawmakers who worked as doctors expressed their concerns about President Trump's controversial proposal to lower drug prices with the president's health chief Thursday. The lawmakers in the GOP Doctors Caucus questioned Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar in the meeting about a proposal Trump put forward in October to lower certain Medicare drug prices by tying them to lower prices paid in other countries. (Sullivan, 11/29)
Bloomberg:
Bayer To Cut 12,000 Jobs, Exit Vet Unit Amid Drag From Suits
Bayer AG plans to cut 12,000 jobs and exit its animal health business in an effort to mollify Wall Street, which has punished the company over the tidal wave of lawsuits that came alongside the $63 billion takeover of Monsanto Co. The German company announced a rash of moves, including exiting the sun-care and foot-care segments, that it said would boost its core pharma and agricultural businesses. The cuts, including a significant number in Germany -- where layoffs are politically sensitive -- represent about 10 percent of the workforce. The shares fell 2.3 percent as of 5 p.m. in Frankfurt trading, erasing initial gains after the announcement. (Loh and Kresge, 11/29)
Reuters:
U.S. Judge Raises Prospect Of Not Approving CVS-Aetna Deal
In an unusual move on Thursday, a federal judge raised the prospect of not approving CVS Health Corp's deal to buy insurer Aetna Inc, which closed earlier this week, during a routine portion of the legal process. Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia objected to what he said was the government’s and companies’ treatment of him as a "rubber stamp" for the deal, noting that CVS had closed its deal to buy Aetna for $69 billion on Wednesday. (11/29)
Stat:
NIH Director Says There's Work To Do On Regulating Genome Editing
The apparent birth this month of the first genetically modified babies is “a lesson in the potential for human hubris to overtake us,” Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, told STAT Thursday, but he said there is little U.S. officials can do to influence how China sanctions the rogue scientist who claims to have led the ethically dubious scientific breakthrough. (Facher, 11/29)
The Associated Press:
Fear That Uproar Over Gene-Edited Babies Could Block Science
Scientists working on the frontiers of medicine fear the uproar over the reported births of gene-edited babies in China could jeopardize promising research into how to alter heredity to fend off a variety of disorders. Researchers are rapidly learning how to edit DNA to fight such conditions as Huntington's, Tay-Sachs and hereditary heart disease, conducting legally permissible experiments in lab animals and petri dishes without taking the ultimate step of actually creating babies. Now they worry about a backlash against their work, too. (Neergaard, 11/30)
The Washington Post:
Bloomberg Philanthropies Will Donate $50 Million To Battle Opioid Epidemic
Bloomberg Philanthropies will donate $50 million to states fighting the opioid epidemic, an effort to support current programs and encourage new approaches. Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is scheduled to announce the three-year program Friday morning during the second day of a health conference in Washington hosted by another of his ventures, the Bloomberg American Health Initiative. (Bernstein, 11/30)
Bloomberg:
Drugmakers Oppose Separate Opioid Case For Addicted Children
Companies making and distributing opioid painkillers opposed a proposal to separate lawsuits filed on behalf of addicted babies from local governments’ cases aimed at recouping costs of battling the public-health crisis spawned by the drugs. Attorneys for thousands of babies born to opioid addicts asked a panel of federal judges Thursday to carve their cases out of more than 1,400 suits consolidated before an Ohio judge. The suits, filed by U.S. cities and counties, seek billions of dollars in reimbursement for treatment and policing costs. Drugmakers, such as Purdue Pharma LP and Johnson & Johnson, along with distributors such as McKesson Corp. and Cardinal Health Inc., say the move is unnecessary. (Feeley, 11/29)
CNN:
Destroyed: How The Trashing Of Rape Kits Failed Victims And Jeopardizes Public Safety
A CNN investigation into the destruction of rape kits in dozens of agencies across the country found that police trashed evidence in 400 cases before the statutes of limitations expired or when there was no time limit to prosecute. The number is likely higher and was arrived at through an analysis of the departments’ own records. The destruction occurred since 2010 and followed flawed and incomplete investigations that relegated rape kits to shelves in police evidence rooms until they were destroyed. Dozens were trashed mere weeks or months after police took custody of the evidence, records showed. (Fantz, Hernandez and Vashi, 11/29)
CNN:
Why Have Police Destroyed Rape Kits?
In the era of #MeToo and stories about the alleged perpetrators of sexual violence, CNN's exclusive investigation "Destroyed" turns the spotlight on those responsible for protecting the public. An examination into the destruction of rape kits in dozens of agencies across the country found that police trashed evidence in 400 cases before the statutes of limitations expired or when there was no time limit to prosecute.The number is likely higher and was calculated by analyzing the departments' own records. (Fantz, Hernandez and Vashi, 11/29)
The New York Times:
Why New York Lags So Far Behind On Natural Childbirth
Lisa Binderow had envisioned her labor a thousand times. She bought a birthing ball, hired a doula and even practiced hypnotherapy. Her plan was to deliver at the Mount Sinai West Birthing Center, an area of the hospital marked by pastel curtains, family-size beds and large birthing tubs. Separated from the regular labor and delivery floor, it is for women who want a natural childbirth with minimal medical intervention. Yet after arriving in triage, Ms. Binderow, 35, was made to wait. And wait. (Satow, 11/30)
NPR:
Meth Use On The Rise Among Pregnant Women
Kristen Philman had already been using heroin and prescription painkillers for several years when, one day in 2014, a relative offered her some methamphetamine, a chemical cousin to the stimulant amphetamine. "I didn't have any heroin at the time," says Philman, a resident of Littleton, Colo. "I thought, 'Oh this might make me feel better.'" It did, she says. Soon, she was using both heroin and methamphetamine on a regular basis. (Chatterjee, 11/29)
The Associated Press:
Parkland High School Shooting Generating Change In Florida
Past gun violence produced few lasting changes in Florida, but the Parkland mass shooting has prompted swift new laws and a high-profile committee that is generating action. When 14 students and three staff members were gunned down Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School near Fort Lauderdale, the state quickly raised the age for buying a rifle from 18 to 21, tightened other laws and formed a panel to investigate shortcomings in law enforcement and at the school — prompting personnel changes even before filing its initial report. (11/29)
USA Today:
Gun Ban Dents Sales At Dick's Sporting Goods
While a decision to stop selling assault-style weapons in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting dented its overall sales, Dick’s Sporting Goods says that the dip reflects a broader weakness in the world of firearms. The nation's largest seller of sporting goods reported that consolidated same-store sales were down 3.9% in the third quarter, due in part to double-digit declines in the areas of electronics and hunting. (Jones, 11/29)
The New York Times:
As Measles Surges, ‘Decades Of Progress’ Are In Jeopardy
Reported cases of measles worldwide surged by nearly a third last year, partly because parents did not vaccinate their children, health organizations said Thursday. The increase in measles, a highly contagious scourge that had been nearly eradicated in many parts of the world just a few years ago, was “deeply concerning,” the organizations said in a report on the fight to eradicate measles. (Gladstone, 11/29)
NPR:
Experimental Brain Stimulation Relieved Depression Symptoms In Study
There's new evidence that mild pulses of electricity can relieve depression — if they reach the right target in the brain. A study of 25 people with epilepsy found that those who had symptoms of depression felt better almost immediately when doctors electrically stimulated an area of the brain just above the eyes, a team reported Thursday in the journal Current Biology. (Hamilton, 11/29)
The New York Times:
Less Barf, More Bleach: How To Prevent Nasty Stomach Bugs This Winter
“Mommy? I threw up.” The phrase is uttered so innocently, but it incites in me an immediate dark panic. I know right then — which way too often is in the middle of the night — that my vomiting child probably has a stomach virus, and that our family has just begun another weeklong round of ring-around-the-toilet. First it’ll be my son, then my daughter, then me, then my husband. My symptoms, for some reason, are the worst. The first time my husband saw me with a stomach bug, he said, “I really thought you were going to die.” (Moyer, 11/29)
The Washington Post:
New Tick Species Capable Of Transmitting Deadly Disease Is Spreading In The U.S.
A new invasive tick species capable of transmitting several severe diseases is spreading in the United States, posing an emerging threat to human and animal health, according to a pair of reports issued Thursday. The Asian longhorned tick is the first invasive tick to arrive in the United States in about 80 years. It’s native to eastern China, Japan, the Russian Far East and the Korean Peninsula and is now also established in Australia and New Zealand. (Sun, 11/29)
The New York Times:
Blacks Are Less Likely Than Whites To Get Treatment For Heart Disorder
African-Americans are less likely than white people to get the newest stroke-preventing medicines for atrial fibrillation, a new study found. Atrial fibrillation, often called A-fib, is the quivering or irregular heartbeat that increases the risk for stroke and other heart problems. The standard treatment is oral anticoagulants, or blood thinners, to prevent blood clots. (Bakalar, 11/29)
The New York Times:
Kevin Love Calls Speaking Out On Mental Health ‘The Biggest Thing’ In His Career
Kevin Love had always found refuge in basketball — a sport at which he excels. But his team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, was not playing very well early in the 2017-18 season. And the expectations had never been higher: Love and his Cavaliers teammates won an N.B.A. championship the year before and were widely expected to return to the N.B.A. Finals. (Stevens, 11/29)
The New York Times:
In California, Houses Burned. So Did The Toxic Chemicals They Contained.
The long, laborious process of returning Paradise and neighboring towns to a safe state will begin next month when crews in masks, Tyvek suits and booties begin combing through every last property in this town that was decimated by wildfire. Their targets are things like burned bottles of bleach, melted cans of paint, and corroded car batteries, which will be tagged and removed. Next, they will test the surrounding soil and, if needed, scrape away layers to get to clean earth, free from oil and gasoline. “You’d be surprised how much of that stuff survives a fire,” said Adam W. Palmer, an environmental scientist with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control who is helping lead the cleanup. (Nir, 11/29)
Los Angeles Times:
Rain Triggers Debris Flows As Storm Rolls Across Fire-Scarred Regions Of California
A cold front that brought wind and heavy rain to California on Thursday unleashed debris flows in fire-ravaged neighborhoods, triggering evacuations and school closures as crews up and down the state rescued people trapped in homes and cars and, in one case, a man clinging to a tree in the Los Angeles River. (Fry and Tchekmedyian, 11/29)
USA Today:
26-Year-Old On Face Transplant: 'It's Important To Share My Story'
A 26-year-old man from Yuba City, California revealed his new face to the world Thursday after undergoing a life-changing facial transplant in June 2018. Cameron Underwood was injured by a self-inflicted gunshot wound on June 27, 2016. Over the next year, he would undergo several "conventional" surgeries to try to reconstruct his face as he hid the damage to his cheeks, nose and mouth behind a medical mask. (Pitofsky, 11/29)