First Edition: October 15, 2024

KFF Health News: California Hospitals Scramble On Earthquake Retrofits As State Limits Extensions
More than half of the 410 hospitals in California have at least one building that likely wouldn’t be able to operate after a major earthquake hit their region, and with many institutions claiming they don’t have the money to meet a 2030 legal deadline for earthquake retrofits, the state is now granting relief to some while ramping up pressure on others to get the work done. (Sciacca, 10/15)

KFF Health News: Journalists Talk Obesity, Oximeters, And Severe Weather's Impact On Public Health
KFF Health News and California Healthline staff made the rounds on national and local media in recent weeks to discuss topical stories. Here’s a collection of their appearances. (10/12)

CNN: Changes In Store For Medicare Advantage As Open Enrollment Starts
Attention, Medicare Advantage enrollees: It’s a good idea to review your plans during open enrollment, which begins Tuesday, so you don’t get caught by surprise next year. Although the swiftly growing market remains stable overall, insurers are making a flurry of changes that could leave some senior citizens hunting for new policies, paying more out of pocket or getting skimpier supplemental benefits. (Luhby, 10/14)

CNBC: Health-Care Costs Hit Post-Pandemic High. Open Enrollment Moves Can Help
About 165 million Americans get their health insurance through work, and yet most don’t spend much time considering what their employer is offering in the way of benefits and what it will cost. In fact, employees only spent about 45 minutes a year, on average, deciding which benefit options suit them best, a report from Aon found. Open enrollment season, which typically runs through early December, is an opportunity to take a closer look at what’s at stake. And, for starters, costs are going way up. (Dickler, 10/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Health Costs And Flat Raises Are Set To Squeeze Paychecks
Paychecks are set for a big squeeze next year. Merit raises in 2025 are projected to remain largely flat, with an average bump of 3.3%, according to a new survey of more than 1,100 companies by benefits advisory firm Mercer. Meanwhile, the cost of employer-provided health insurance, which rose 7% in 2024 for a second straight year, is likely to rise again. Companies’ total health-benefit cost for an employee is expected to increase an average of 5.8% in 2025, according to a separate Mercer survey. (Smith, 10/14)

AP: Expect Employers To Get More Picky About Who You See For Care
A health care spending surge looms in the new year, and Business Group on Health is helping employers understand it. The nonprofit found in a recent survey that large employers expect the cost to treat patients will jump nearly 8% next year before they make coverage changes to address it. That’s the highest growth rate in a decade. (Murphy, 10/14)

The Washington Post: Are High Deductible Health Insurance Plans A Good Deal For You?
One of the biggest shake-ups in recent years is the growth of high deductible plans, which offer lower monthly premiums but require consumers to pay most initial medical costs out of pocket before the plan’s coverage kicks in. While their cheaper premiums may look like a bargain, consumers risk paying much more if they have unexpected illnesses or failed to budget well for more routine care. Here’s what you need to know when it’s time to choose a health insurance plan. (Dooley Young, 10/14)

Los Angeles Times: Doctor Deems Harris In 'Excellent Health.' Her Team Aims To Contrast With Trump
Vice President Kamala Harris is in “excellent health” and “possesses the physical and mental resiliency” required to serve as president, her doctor said in a letter released Saturday that summarizes her medical history and status. Dr. Joshua Simmons, an Army colonel and physician to the vice president, wrote that Harris, 59, maintains a healthy, active lifestyle and that her most recent physical last April was “unremarkable.” (Superville, 10/12)

CBS News: More Than 230 Doctors And Health Care Providers Call On Trump To Release Medical Records
More than 230 doctors, nurses and health care professionals, most of whom are backing Vice President Kamala Harris, are calling on former President Donald Trump to release his medical records, arguing that he should be transparent about his health "given his advancing age." "Trump is falling concerningly short of any standard of fitness for office and displaying alarming characteristics of declining acuity," the 238 signatories wrote in a letter dated Oct. 13 and first obtained by CBS News. "In the limited opportunities we can examine his behavior, he's providing a deeply concerning snapshot." (Navarro, 10/14)

The Hill: Trump Says National Abortion Ban Is ‘Off The Table,’ But ‘We’ll See What Happens’
Former President Trump said Sunday that a national abortion ban is “off the table,” but he left the door open on the conversation by saying “we’ll see what happens.” “Let me just tell you, I think that it’s something that’s off the table now, because I did something that everybody has wanted to do, I was able to get it back to the states,” Trump said on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” (Irwin, 10/13)

The Washington Post: Health Issues Motivating Black Women Voters For Harris
Vice President Kamala Harris, now on the presidential campaign trail, is making inroads with a key voting bloc: Black women, who are rallying behind her because of her work on issues such as preserving abortion access, curbing gun violence and reducing maternal deaths. (Armour and Beard, 10/14)

AP: Voters With Disabilities Are Feeling Ignored By Presidential Candidates
The disabled voting bloc is growing as the U.S. population ages, but voters and advocates say the hurdles that make people feel excluded from the electoral process aren’t being addressed. That ranges from inaccessible campaign materials to former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris seldomly mentioning how issues like COVID-19 impact the disability community, as well as Trump making a statement at a rally last month that advocacy groups considered discriminatory. (Hunter and Alexander, 10/14)

The Washington Post: JD Vance’s Mom Got Health Coverage Under Trump — By Using Obamacare
Donald Trump’s running mate has hit on a new strategy to defend the GOP’s oft-criticized health-care record: talk about his own family’s experience. “Members of my family actually got private health insurance, at least, for the first time … under Donald Trump’s leadership,” Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) said at this month’s vice-presidential debate, repeating a line he has used on the stump. ... Vance was referring to his mother, who purchased private health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplace run by Ohio after she overcame substance-abuse challenges, became financially stable and subsequently made too much money to remain on Medicaid, a campaign spokesman told The Washington Post. (Diamond and Stanley-Becker, 10/12)

AP: Florida Government Finds Fault With Abortion Ballot Measure Over Ads And Petitions
Separately, on Friday, the Office of Election Crimes and Security issued a report claiming a “large number of forged signatures or fraudulent petitions” were submitted to get the question on the ballot. The state also announced a $328,000 fine against the ballot-measure group. The campaign director for the group says that the campaign has been “above board” and that the state government is acting improperly to try to defeat the amendment. (Mulvihill, 10/14)

Stat: Yes On Abortion, No On Tester? A Democratic Senator’s Struggle Underscores His Party’s Conundrum
Montana's role as a safe haven for abortion care in the rural West is at stake in November's election. (Owermohle, 10/14)

NBC News: Crisis Pregnancy Center's Forms Give Rare Insight Into Anti-Abortion Practices
A free family planning center in Twin Falls, Idaho, asks its visitors for sensitive, private information, including nonmedical questions about religion and financial status, according to documents obtained by NBC News. While the Sage Women’s Center promises to protect the information of its clients, it isn’t bound by medical privacy laws and may be misleading women who are coping with unplanned pregnancies, consumer advocates say. (Brooks, 10/13)

The Washington Post: IV Fluid Shortage Due To Hurricane Prompts Hospitals To Postpone Surgeries
Hospitals across the United States are reeling from a shortage of IV fluids after Hurricane Helene struck a major manufacturing plant in North Carolina, prompting some to postpone elective surgeries and others to conserve supply by restricting use. The Food and Drug Administration formally declared a shortage for three fluid products Friday, allowing some hospitals and facilities to manufacture their own supply. The FDA last week had allowed shipments of IV fluids from other countries. But complications make it difficult to immediately end the shortage. (Nirappil and Roubein, 10/14)

Stat: Study: 130,000 U.S. Cancer Cases Went Undiagnosed In The Covid Pandemic
When the U.S. health care system pivoted to meet Covid-19 in 2020, routine health visits and screenings where many cancer cases would have been caught didn’t happen. It wasn’t ideal, but many health experts thought that as the country opened back up, screenings would help “catch up” to these missed cases. A new paper published Monday in JAMA Network Open suggests that didn’t happen as quickly as experts had hoped. Instead, the new analysis suggests that cancer diagnoses recovered to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2021 — but didn’t make up for any of the lost cases from earlier in the pandemic. That leaves a troubling mystery for epidemiologists, as it means experts still don’t know what happened with the roughly 130,000 cancer cases that were missed in 2020. (Chen, 10/14)

The Washington Post: Sacklers Lay Out Strategy For Defending Opioid-Related Lawsuits
The billionaire family that owns Purdue Pharma is signaling they intend to fight lawsuits against them by challenging the use of public nuisance laws, a legal strategy that has already led to billions of dollars in settlements between drug companies and communities ravaged by the opioid crisis. Attorneys for Sackler family members disclosed their lines of defense as part of a court filing Monday in the long-running bankruptcy saga of Purdue Pharma. Creditors are also seeking to recover billions of dollars they claim the Sacklers withdrew from the company in the years before the bankruptcy to evade future claims, an allegation the family denies. (Ovalle, 10/14)

Stateline: Overdose Deaths Are Down Nationally, But Up In Many Western States
Despite an encouraging national dip in the past year, overdose deaths are still on the rise in many Western states as the epicenter of the nation’s continuing crisis shifts toward the Pacific Coast, where deadly fentanyl and also methamphetamine are finding more victims. Overdose deaths remain sharply higher since 2019. Many states are working on “harm reduction” strategies that stress cooperation with people who use drugs; in some cases, states are getting tougher on prosecutions, with murder charges for dealers. (Henderson, 10/14)

Stat: Biotech Finds Its Next Gold Rush In Autoimmune Disease Treatments
Biotech investors have been buzzing around new areas of drug development this year, such as the red-hot obesity market. But there’s one field that has seen an even more significant amount of activity: autoimmune diseases. Companies that are developing new medicines for autoimmune conditions, as well as other immune system disorders, have brought in more money and closed more deals so far this year than most other areas, including the cardiometabolic field, data from investment bank Oppenheimer show. (Oncology remains king when it comes to investment, driven in part by interest in new approaches like radiopharmaceuticals). (DeAngelis, 10/14)

NBC News: Compounding Pharmacies Can Resume Making Tirzepatide As FDA Reconsiders Shortage
The Food and Drug Administration said in a court filing late Friday that it would allow pharmacists to continue making compounded versions of tirzepatide — the active ingredient in Eli Lilly’s diabetes and weight loss drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound — while it reconsiders its decision to remove the drug from its nationwide shortage list. The surprise move is a major victory for compounding pharmacists and patients who were furious with the FDA after its announcement on Oct. 2 that the tirzepatide shortage was resolved. (Lovelace Jr., 10/14)

Politico: How ‘Green’ Inhalers Could Evade Biden’s Drug Pricing Legacy
President Joe Biden’s career-defining victories over Big Pharma — reforming Medicare to lower prices and capping inhaler costs for millions of Americans with lung disease — are facing an unlikely threat: drug companies going green. Drug companies are taking advantage of a global climate treaty to boost profits. The treaty, signed by some 120 countries nearly a decade ago, is now providing inhaler makers with a golden escape hatch from Biden’s reforms that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars annually. (Wittenberg, 10/14)

NBC News: Why Some Doctors See A Downside To Notifying Women About Dense Breasts
Mammogram studies show that almost half of women over age 40 have dense breasts. Going forward, women with dense breasts will be encouraged to talk to their doctors and told that “other imaging tests in addition to a mammogram may help find cancers.” Some health advocates argue that the notifications have oversimplified a complex issue. They argue that without clear, evidence-based instructions, women could be left scared, confused and frustrated. (Szabo, 10/12)

The Washington Post: 10 Million Pounds Of Meat Recalled Over Listeria Concern: What To Know
Several food items sold at some of the most popular U.S. grocery stores are included in a sweeping new recall of 9,986,245 pounds of meat and poultry products that may be contaminated with listeria, a bacteria that can cause illness in humans. BrucePac, a precooked meat producer, is recalling the items, which were produced from June 19 to Oct. 8 and have been distributed nationwide, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said last week. Big-name outlets including Walmart, Target, Kroger and Trader Joe’s are among those affected by the recall. (Ables, 10/15)

The Washington Post: Nutrition Should Play Bigger Role In Medical Training, Panel Asserts
A panel of experts identified 36 nutrition competencies for inclusion in undergraduate and graduate medical school and training in a new consensus statement in JAMA Network Open. The experts noted that diet is a strong behavioral influence on health risks and that “seven of the 10 leading causes of death in the US are directly affected by diet.” Yet, they wrote, nutrition is “limited or completely absent” from most medical education programs in the United States. (McMahan, 10/14)

USA Today: Diabetics Use Glucose Monitors. Should Non-Diabetics Use Them Too?
More and more people are talking abut the monitoring device, also known as CGM, for non-diabetics. But not everyone in the health field is so bullish on the prospects of CGMs for everyone, and they question whether digging in too much is worth the hassle. (Oliver, 10/14)

The Washington Post: How A ‘Climate Of Chaos’ Went Unchecked At Maryland’s Max-Security Psych Hospital
A Washington Post investigation found that officials didn’t act on staff complaints about facility violence, which culminated in a patient brawl, rape and death. (Mettler, 10/15)

The Atlantic: Human Embryo Models Are Raising Deep Ethical Questions
The little clump of cells looked almost like a human embryo. Created from stem cells, without eggs, sperm, or a womb, the embryo model had a yolk sac and a proto-placenta, resembling a state that real human embryos reach after approximately 14 days of development. It even secreted hormones that turned a drugstore pregnancy test positive. To Jacob Hanna’s expert eye, the model wasn’t perfect—more like a rough sketch. It had no chance of developing into an actual baby. (Brown, 10/8)