Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
First Edition: Oct. 14, 2022
KHN: Weight Loss Gadgets: They Provide Data To Help Consumers Achieve Diet Goals, But It Still Won’t Be Easy
I felt a special kind of awe, then panic, watching my glucose levels skyrocket for the first time after relishing a cold beer on a sweltering summer evening. It was a biological push notification from the fluid just beneath my skin that the carbohydrate-packed beverage was interfering with efforts to maintain my health and weight. For years, people with Type 1 diabetes have worn continuous glucose monitors, or CGMs, to track blood sugar spikes and make sure they’re getting enough insulin. CGMs are small patches with tiny needles for sensors that prick the skin and are generally worn on the stomach or back of the arm. (Norman, 10/14)
KHN: 5 Things To Know About Colorado’s Psychedelics Ballot Initiative
Colorado could become the second state after Oregon to allow the use of certain psychedelic substances that are illegal under federal law. But while Oregon voters in 2020 approved the supervised use of psychedelic mushrooms, the citizen initiative on the Colorado ballot in November goes further. Proposition 122 would allow the personal use of psilocybin mushrooms and certain plant-based psychedelic substances by adults 21 and over but would ban sales except in licensed “healing centers,” where people could ingest them under the supervision of trained facilitators. (Hawryluk and Volz, 10/14)
KHN: Will Covid Spike Again This Fall? 6 Tips To Help You Stay Safe
Last year, the emergence of the highly transmissible omicron variant of the covid-19 virus caught many people by surprise and led to a surge in cases that overwhelmed hospitals and drove up fatalities. Now we’re learning that omicron is mutating to better evade the immune system. Omicron-specific vaccines were authorized by the FDA in August and are recommended by U.S. health officials for anyone 5 or older. Yet only half of adults in the United States have heard much about these booster shots, according to a recent KFF poll, and only a third say they’ve gotten one or plan to get one as soon as possible. In 2020 and 2021, covid cases spiked in the U.S. between November and February. (Gounder, 10/14)
KHN: Lawsuit By KHN Prompts Government To Release Medicare Advantage Audits
Federal health officials have agreed to make public 90 audits of private Medicare Advantage health plans for seniors that are expected to reveal hundreds of millions of dollars in overcharges to the government. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services agreed to release the records to settle a lawsuit filed by Kaiser Health News against the agency in September 2019 under the Freedom of Information Act. (Schulte, 10/14)
KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Finally Fixing The ‘Family Glitch’
The Biden administration this week issued regulations aimed at fixing the Affordable Care Act’s “family glitch,” which has prevented families that can’t afford their employer insurance from getting subsidized coverage from the insurance marketplaces. The Obama administration had decided that only Congress could fix the glitch. Meanwhile, open enrollment for Medicare begins Oct. 15, when beneficiaries can join or change private Medicare Advantage plans or stand-alone prescription drug plans. (10/13)
Reuters: Biden To Sign Order Seeking New Prescription Drug Cost Savings - Official
President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Friday pushing federal officials to drive prescription drug costs down during a pre-election trip designed to promote Democrats' health policies, an official said. The order requires the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) to outline within 90 days how it will use new models of care and payment to cut drug costs, according to the White House official, who declined to be identified previewing the president's action. (Hunnicutt, 10/14)
AP: Biden Pushing Lower Prescription Drug Costs In Midterm Press
President Joe Biden is set to highlight his administration’s efforts to lower prescription drug costs on Friday as part of his three-state Western tour this week, as he confronts a sobering inflation report in the waning weeks before midterm elections. (Long, 10/14)
Axios: The Biden Administration's Next Challenge: Paying For Discount Drug Mistakes
Four months after it lost a high-profile dispute at the Supreme Court, the Biden administration has yet to figure out how it will reimburse hospitals for as much as $10 billion in unlawful cuts to Medicare outpatient drug payments. (Goldman, 10/14)
Axios: Democrats' New Medicare Negotiations Law Attempts To Marry Drug Prices To Value
Democrats' new law giving Medicare the authority to negotiate some drug prices attempts to do something critics say is often lacking in today's market: Tying what the government pays to the treatments' value. (Owens, 10/14)
Fox News: Biden Expanding Access To Taxpayer-Funded 'Gender-Affirming Care' For Federal Employees
The Biden administration is expanding the range of taxpayer-financed "gender-affirming" health care options available to federal employees, starting in 2023, according to an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) explanation of federal benefits released in late September. (Hauf, 10/13)
CNBC: U.S. Extends Covid Public Health Emergency
The U.S. has extended the Covid public health emergency through Jan. 11, a clear demonstration that the Biden administration still views Covid as a crisis despite President Joe Biden’s recent claim that the pandemic is over. (Kimball, 10/13)
Yahoo News: The Next U.S. COVID Wave Is Coming. Why It Will Be 'Much Weirder Than Before'
The orderly succession of individually dominant variants we’ve come to expect over the last two years — think Alpha, then Beta, then Delta, then Omicron — may also be a thing of the past. Instead, what scientists are seeing now is a bunch of worrisome Omicron descendants arising simultaneously but independently in different corners of the globe — all with the same set of advantageous mutations that help them dodge our existing immune defenses and drive new waves of infection. Experts call this “convergent evolution” — and right now, there’s a “fairly unprecedented amount” of it going on, according to Tom Peacock, a virologist at Imperial College London. (Romano, 10/13)
USA Today: New COVID Booster's Human Trial Reveals Safe, Effective Results
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech announced Thursday that they now have data in adults one week after a 30-microgram booster that targets both variants. It is called a bivalent vaccine because it addresses two variants. Two groups of 40 adults each, one age 18-55 and the other over 55, both tolerated the new shot as well as earlier ones and had no unexpected side effects. (Weintraub, 10/13)
Bloomberg: Omicron Booster: Scientists Find Gene Variant Tied To Better Covid Shot Response
Scientists have identified an immunity gene variant in people with strong responses to Covid-19 vaccines who were less likely to get breakthrough infections, a finding that could improve future shot design. (Loh and John Milton, 10/13)
The Atlantic: The Masks We’ll Wear In The Next Pandemic
On one level, the world’s response to the coronavirus pandemic over the past two and half years was a major triumph for modern medicine. (Stern, 10/13)
Bloomberg: New Vaccine Against Respiratory Syncytial Virus Is 83% Effective In Older Adults
The experimental shot against respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, protected volunteers against a disease that causes hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations each year in a key trial. GSK said it plans to submit it for approval in the second half. (Fourcade, 10/13)
NBC News: Flu Off To An Early Start As CDC Warns About Potentially Severe Season
"We've noted that flu activity is starting to increase across much of the country," especially in the Southeast and south-central U.S., the CDC's director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, told NBC News. (Edwards, 10/13)
Fox News: New Study Indicates Dementia Signs Can Be Detected Nearly A Decade Before Diagnosis
A new study from researchers at the University of Cambridge indicates it may be possible to detect dementia within a patient nearly a decade before they are diagnosed. (Nieto, 10/13)
Stat: Brain Imaging Method Might Overcome Limitations Of MRI Scans
Research often proceeds in a logical progression, new studies building upon a detailed understanding of the underlying processes revealed by earlier work. But a new brain imaging technique that can directly track the activity of neurons emerged from one of academics’ favorite questions: “What would happen if we tried doing it this way?” (Trang, 10/13)
Axios: Minority Patients With Diabetes Likelier To Advance To Kidney Disease
Despite recent progress, there's still a high incidence of chronic kidney disease among adults with diabetes, particularly in minority communities, a new analysis in the New England Journal of Medicine finds. (Dreher, 10/13)
USA Today: CDC Study: Abuse, Violence, Other Events Linked To Poor Mental Health In Teens During COVID Pandemic
Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found nearly 3 out of 4 students reported at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE), like emotional abuse or food insecurity, between January and June 2021, according to the study published in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. (Rodriguez, 10/13)
The Washington Post: Hotter Days Bring Out Hotter Tempers, Research Finds
Two recent studies add to the idea by showing that when it gets hot out, people are more prone to hate speech and hostile behavior. One study found hate speech on social media escalated with high temperatures. Another reported an increase in workplace harassment and discrimination at the U.S. Postal Service when the temperature eclipsed 90 degrees. (Ajasa, 10/13)
The Boston Globe: Local Tech Firms Are Analyzing Sweat To Track Your Health
“It turns out there’s a lot of information in a single drop of sweat,” said Roozbeh Ghaffari, chief executive and cofounder of Epicore Biosystems, a Cambridge company backed by $10 million in funding from investors that include Chevron Technology Ventures and Alumni Ventures. (Bray, 10/13)
Stat: Documents Detail How Walgreens, CVS, Walmart Failed Patients On Opioids
In 2011, Walgreens executives were under pressure. Amid a growing addiction crisis, and with the country already awash in prescription painkillers, the federal government was demanding accountability from the pharmacy giant for filling thousands of opioid prescriptions written by doctors in suspiciously large quantities. (Facher, Sheridan and Silverman, 10/14)
Reuters: U.S. Supreme Court Rebuffs Novartis, Allows Generic Versions Of MS Drug
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday turned down Novartis' bid to block the launch of generic versions of the company's blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug Gilenya in a dispute with China's HEC Pharm Co Ltd and other generic drugmakers. (Brittain, 10/13)
Fierce Healthcare: Samsung Partners With HealthTap To Bring Virtual Primary Care To Smart TVs
Samsung is teaming up with a digital health company to bring virtual care into consumers' homes through their smart TVs. Through a new partnership with virtual primary care company HealthTap, Samsung Smart TV users can connect to the company's healthcare platform and visit with a doctor of their choice using the built-in camera on their television, according to the companies in a press release. Consumers can review doctor bios, credentials and video interviews to select a doctor and easily schedule an appointment, often within the same week. (Landi, 10/13)
Des Moines Register: 3-Year-Old Given Too Much Pain Medication After Cyberattack Shut Down MercyOne Computers, Parents Say
Three-year-old Jay Parsi appears to be just one of an unknown number of patients seriously affected by the massive cyberattack that started in early October. "It was an awful, awful experience," Kelley Parsi, Jay's mother, told the Des Moines Register. (Ramm, 10/13)
