First Edition: November 6, 2017

Kaiser Health News: Enriched By The Poor: California Health Insurers Make Billions Through Medicaid
Medicaid is rarely associated with getting rich. The patients are poor, the budgets tight and payments to doctors often paltry. But some insurance companies are reaping spectacular profits off the taxpayer-funded program in California, even when the state finds their patient care is subpar. A unit of Centene Corp., the largest Medicaid insurer nationwide, raked in $1.1 billion in profits from 2014 to 2016, according to state data obtained and analyzed by Kaiser Health News. Anthem, another industry giant, turned a profit of $549 million from California’s Medicaid program in the same period. (Terhune and Gorman, 11/3)

Kaiser Health News: Sickle Cell Patients Suffer Discrimination, Poor Care — And Shorter Lives
For more than a year, NeDina Brocks-Capla avoided one room in her large, brightly colored San Francisco house — the bathroom on the second floor. “It was really hard to bathe in here, and I found myself not wanting to touch the walls,” she explained. The bathroom is where Brocks-Capla’s son Kareem Jones died in 2013 at age 36, from sickle cell disease. (Gold, 11/3)

California Healthline: Health Companies Race To Catch UnitedHealth As Amazon Laces Up
As soon as news surfaced last week about the potential merger of CVS Health and Aetna, all eyes turned to the looming threat from Amazon. The online retailer’s flirtation with the pharmacy business is a factor, no doubt. But many industry experts say CVS and Aetna have another huge competitor on their minds: UnitedHealth Group. (Terhune, 11/3)

The Associated Press: House GOP Weighs Repeal Of Health Mandate In Tax Bill
Republicans are weighing a repeal of a key tenet of the Obama-era health care law in their tax overhaul as the House's tax-writing committee begins work on shaping the bill. Speaker Paul Ryan said Sunday Republicans are discussing whether their tax plan should include a repeal of the Obama health law's requirement that people have insurance coverage or face a penalty, a step pushed by President Donald Trump but seen by some GOP lawmakers as possibly imperiling a much-needed legislative victory. (11/6)

Politico: Conservatives Push To Repeal Obamacare Mandate In Tax Package
Conservatives are attempting to revive efforts to gut Obamacare’s individual mandate as part of the Republican overhaul of the tax code. But the House's top tax writer, while leaving the door open to a measure President Donald Trump supports, said Friday that such a move would complicate the tax package's prospects, particularly in the Senate. (Demko and Cancryn, 11/3)

CQ: Health Industry Officials Monitoring Tax Bill
Health care industry lobbyists are watching closely to see if tax writers may add a repeal of the requirement to get medical coverage to the House tax bill. A key committee chairman suggested Friday that it is a possibility, as conservatives and the president push for its inclusion. The issue is one of several the industry is monitoring in the bill. House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said he expects to release on Monday another version of the bill with substantial changes. He said Friday that tax writers asked congressional scorekeepers for an updated cost estimate of the provision. (McIntire, 11/3)

The Washington Post: They Spent Years Planning To Live With Alzheimer’s Disease. The GOP Tax Bill Threatens Those Plans.
When Diane Thorsen began to show signs at an early age of the Alzheimer’s disease that had stolen her mother’s mind, she and her husband, Richard Davis, were as ready as they could be. They sold their house in California to prepare for the cost of care and moved to Minnesota to live with one of Thorsen’s daughters. Davis planned their finances methodically; once Thorsen’s long-term care insurance ran out, the daunting $98,000 bill for her nursing home would be manageable — because they could deduct medical expenses from their tax bill. (Johnson, 11/4)

The New York Times: Children’s Health Bill Clears House As States Struggle To Keep Programs Afloat
The House passed a bill on Friday that would provide five years of funds for the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program, over vehement objections from Democrats who opposed the way it would be financed. The vote, 242 to 174, came a month after funds for the program expired. (Pear, 11/3)

Bloomberg: House Passes Children's Health Bill, Sending Measure To Senate
It’s funded by taking money from the Prevention and Public Health Fund, a program under the Affordable Care Act that finances public health efforts and tries to improve quality of care. It also limits federal subsidies to Medicare beneficiaries making more than $500,000. (Rausch, 11/3)

The New York Times: Gun Death Rate Rose Again In 2016, C.D.C. Says
The rate of gun deaths in the United States rose in 2016 to about 12 per 100,000 people, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report released on Friday. That was up from a rate of about 11 for every 100,000 people in 2015, and it reflected the second consecutive year that the mortality rate in that category rose in the United States. (Hauser, 11/4)

The Washington Post: Trump Says Texas Shooting Is A Problem Of Mental Health, Not Guns
President Trump declared that the shooting in Sutherland Springs, Tex. that left at least 26 people dead was not “a guns situation,” saying instead he believed that “mental health” was the problem. Trump’s comments came at a news conference in Tokyo, when he was asked about the shooting at a South Texas church and if stricter gun laws were the answer. (Parker, 11/6)

Politico: Trump: Texas Shooting Result Of ‘Deranged Individual,’ ‘Isn’t A Guns Situation’
“This is a mental health problem at the highest level,” the president said during a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe when asked what policies he would propose in response to the tragedy. “This was a very deranged individual,” Trump said, adding, “We have a lot of mental health problems in our country, as do other countries. This isn’t a guns situation.” (Restuccia, 11/6)

The New York Times: C.D.C. Reports A Record Jump In Drug Overdose Deaths Last Year
Deaths by drug overdose in the United States surged last year by more than 17 percent over 2015, another sign of the growing addiction crisis caused by opioids, according to a report released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preliminary data from the 50 states show that from the fourth quarter of 2015, through the fourth quarter of 2016, the rate of fatal overdoses rose to nearly 20 people per 100,000 from 16.3 per 100,000. (Kaplan, 11/3)

The Wall Street Journal: China Plays Down Role In U.S. Opioid Crisis Ahead Of Trump’s Visit
A Chinese narcotics control official played down China’s role in the distribution of synthetic opioid drugs, though U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to press the issue at a summit in Beijing next week. Wei Xiaojun, a top officer in the Ministry of Public Security’s Narcotics Control Bureau, told reporters on Friday that Beijing is determined to stem exports of drugs like the opioid fentanyl that are made in China. (Areddy and Dou, 11/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Anthem Confirms Joseph Swedish To Step Down As CEO
Anthem Inc. Chief Executive Joseph R. Swedish will step down, and veteran managed-care executive Gail K. Boudreaux will take over as the insurance giant’s next leader Nov. 20. Ms. Boudreaux will take the titles of chief executive and president, the company said. She will also join Anthem’s board. Mr. Swedish will remain as executive chairman until May 2018 and will be a senior adviser through May 2020. (Wilde Mathews, 11/3)

The Hill: Anthem Insurer’s CEO To Step Down Amid Failed Acquisition Talks
Swedish led Anthem in an effort to buy Cigna Corp., a health industry rival, which was ultimately shut down in court due to antitrust concerns raised by its defense attorneys. Anthem and Cigna are now embroiled in litigation, each suing the other for billions of dollars over the negotiations regarding the acquisition agreement. The larger company alleged that Cigna's executives deliberately torched the plan. (Delk, 11/4)

The Wall Street Journal: Koch Groups To Mount Hard Press To Expand Private-Sector VA Services
A conservative goal of opening more of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ medical services to the private sector is due to get a push from the well-funded Koch brothers’ network. Brothers Charles and David Koch, whose network is planning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to advance its conservative agenda across the government and protect vulnerable congressional Republicans, will mobilize several affiliates and subgroups to battle for its vision of the future of the VA, Koch representatives said this week. (Kesling, 11/3)

The New York Times: Veterans Groups Push For Medical Marijuana To Treat PTSD
Among critics of the federal prohibition of marijuana — a diverse and bipartisan group that includes both criminal justice reform advocates and Big Alcohol — the American Legion and its allies stand out. For more than a year, the stalwart veterans group has been working to reframe the debate as a question of not only moral and economic imperatives, but also patriotic ones, arguing that access to medical marijuana could ease suffering and reduce suicide rates among soldiers who return from the horrors of war. (Ugwu, 11/3)

The Washington Post: Chasing A Killer
Along a narrow, winding river, a team of American scientists is traveling deep into the Congo rain forest to a village that can be reached only by boat. The scientists are from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and they have embarked on this watery journey to solve a decades-old mystery about a rare and fatal disease: monkeypox. (Sun and Mara, 11/3)

The Washington Post: Although The Number Of Zika Cases Has Fallen, The Virus Is Unlikely To Vanish
Less than a year after the World Health Organization declared that Zika is no longer a public health emergency, the virus seems to have fallen from public consciousness, at least outside heavily affected areas. The ­mosquito-borne virus staged a massive assault on the Western Hemisphere in 2015 and 2016, but this year, Zika appears to be in retreat. (Cunningham, 11/4)

Politico: Politically Connected Cancer Mogul Faces Questions Over His Genetic Tests
Patrick Soon-Shiong, the medical entrepreneur who has expanded his influence in Washington by cultivating close ties to both parties, has struggled to meet analysts’ expectations for sales of his GPS genetic test, the key to his plan to transform cancer treatment by matching patients with tailored drug treatments. At the same time, sales of the GPS test are being boosted by purchases from hospitals and clinics associated with doctors who have financial ties to his network of for-profit and non-profit companies. (Tahir, 11/4)

The New York Times: If You Tear A Knee Ligament, Arthritis Is Likely To Follow In 10 Years
When Jason Lalli tore his left anterior cruciate ligament at age 26, he thought he would be fine as soon as he had his knee repaired. As a soccer player who competed through college and then on recreational teams, he knew that A.C.L. injuries could be debilitating but also that orthopedists could fix them. He figured that he would miss a season, but that he could play and coach the game he loved for the rest of his life. (Kolata, 11/6)

Los Angeles Times: Survey Reveals Surprising Mismatch Between Perception And Reality Of Obesity In America
Nearly 40% of American adults and 20% of children carry enough extra weight to warrant a diagnosis of obesity. That’s the highest obesity rate among the world’s affluent nations, and it’s already shortening Americans’ lifespans by driving up rates of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancers, arthritis and dementia. (Healy, 11/3)

Bloomberg: U.S. Diabetes Patients Are About To Get Some High-Tech Relief
Diabetes devices may be having their iPhone moment. For decades, the daily routine of diabetics involved painful needles, finger-pricking lancets and imprecise glucose meters. Now, manufacturers have begun incorporating the slick and consumer-friendly designs of Silicon Valley, linking to phones and other tech devices. (Rausch, 11/3)

The Associated Press: Government Says Teen's Lawyers Misled Them In Abortion Case
Asking the Supreme Court to get involved, the Trump administration on Friday accused lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of misleading the Justice Department in the case of a pregnant immigrant teen who was able to obtain an abortion following a lawsuit. (11/3)

The Washington Post: ‘Veritas Will Be Blamed For This’: Ex-Hospital Official Says Consultants Interfered With Patient Safeguards
The consulting firm running D.C.’s only public hospital came under growing pressure Friday as the hospital’s chief medical officer and a former executive who oversaw quality of care said the firm has disregarded patients’ safety in an effort to preserve a lucrative contract with the District government. Veritas of Washington faced intense criticism at a public hearing by the D.C. Council’s health committee, as Maria Costino, who until several months ago was United Medical Center’s director of quality management and patient safety, said the firm’s employees repeatedly sought to handicap her work. (Jamison, 11/3)

The Associated Press: Immigrant Girl With Cerebral Palsy Released, Now With Family
U.S. authorities released a 10-year-old immigrant girl with cerebral palsy who had been detained by border agents after surgery because she is in the U.S. without legal permission. The American Civil Liberties Union and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro said that Rosa Maria Hernandez was returned to her family Friday. Her parents brought her into the U.S. from Mexico in 2007, when she was a toddler, and they live in the Texas border city of Laredo. (11/4)

The Washington Post: ‘She Won’t Be Quiet!!!!’: Teacher Accused Of Taping The Mouth Of A Student With Cerebral Palsy
In March 2016, Doreen Smith received a text message from her daughter’s teacher. It contained a picture of Rosa, her daughter, who has cerebral palsy. Rosa was grimacing as four pieces of tape covered her mouth. “Help. She won’t be quiet!!!!” the teacher wrote in a follow-up text message that included two emojis, according to court documents. (Phillips, 11/5)