First Edition: October 18, 2018

Kaiser Health News: Children’s Hospitals Again Cry For Help From Voters. But Are They Really Hurting?
Back in 2004, California’s children’s hospitals asked voters to approve a $750 million bond measure to help fund construction and new medical equipment. In 2008, they asked for $980 million more. Now they’re hoping voters will agree on Nov. 6 to cough up an additional $1.5 billion. The state’s 13 children’s hospitals treat California’s sickest kids — including those with leukemia, sickle cell disease, rare cancers and cystic fibrosis — so approving their fund-raising requests is an easy “yes” for many voters. (Ibarra, 10/18)

Kaiser Health News: Health Care Tops Guns, Economy As Voters’ Top Issue
Health care has emerged as the top issue for voters headed into the midterm elections, but fewer than half of them say they are hearing a lot from candidates on the issue, according to a new poll released Thursday. Seven in 10 people list health care as “very important” as they make their voting choices, eclipsing the economy and jobs (64 percent), gun policy (60 percent), immigration (55 percent), tax cuts (53 percent) and foreign policy (51 percent). (Galewitz, 10/18)

California Healthline: Family Doctors ‘Not Doing Enough’ To Curb STDs
Julie Lopez, 21, has been tested regularly for sexually transmitted diseases since she was a teenager. But when Lopez first asked her primary care doctor about screening, he reacted with surprise, she said. “He said people don’t usually ask. But I did,” said Lopez, a college student in Pasadena, Calif. “It’s really important.”Lopez usually goes to Planned Parenthood instead for the tests because “they ask the questions that need to be asked,” she said. (Gorman, 10/17)

Kaiser Health News: GOP Gubernatorial Candidate John Cox: Limit Government In Health Care
John Cox stood on a presidential debate stage and told the audience that he was glad abortion wasn’t legal in 1955.If it had been, he said, he wouldn’t have been born. “I wouldn’t be standing here before you today. This is personal to me,” Cox said in the 2007 GOP presidential primary debate, explaining that his biological father walked out on his mother. (Young, 10/17)

The Associated Press: Dems Shift Line Of Attack, Warning Of GOP Threat To Medicare
With the GOP tax plan contributing to rising federal deficits, Democrats are warning that Republicans will seek cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security to balance budgets if they keep control of Congress in the November election. It's a familiar message for Democrats, who have for years campaigned on the idea that Republicans want to gut the "entitlement" programs. Republicans say they want to put those benefit programs on better financial footing and tame the deficit. (Mascaro, 10/17)

The Washington Post: As Midterms Near, Democrats Accuse GOP Of Plotting To Cut Medicare, Social Security
“A vote for Republican candidates in this election is a vote to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid,” argued Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). Van Hollen and other Democrats pounced on comments from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in which the top Senate Republican blamed social programs for the growing deficit and said he hoped Congress would tackle spending on them “at some point here.” The Democrats’ alarm bells about deficits, which are reaching $1 trillion annually, came three weeks ahead of midterm elections that will decide control of Congress. President Trump himself expressed new concern about government spending Wednesday, telling members of his Cabinet that they should plan to cut 5 percent from their agencies’ budgets while offering few details except to say the Pentagon budget would largely be spared. As reporters looked on, Trump promised the cuts will “have a huge impact.” (Werner, Paletta and Weigel, 10/17)

The Washington Post: Trump Calls For 5 Percent Spending Cut In Some Programs
President Trump on Wednesday asked every major cabinet agency to draw up proposals to cut its budget by 5 percent next year, adding he could grant some exemptions to his request and suggesting he would not ask the Pentagon to cut the full 5 percent. “Get rid of the fat, get rid of the waste,” Trump said at a meeting with cabinet members. “I’m sure everybody at this table can do it.” ... Trump’s comments came one day after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said a much different approach was needed to address the deficit. McConnell blamed programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security for driving the deficit, but he said changes to those programs can’t happen unless Democrats took control of either the House or the Senate, because it would take leadership from both parties. (Paletta and Kim, 10/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Seeks 5% Budget Cuts From Cabinet Agencies
“There’s been a bipartisan reluctance to tackle entitlement changes because of the popularity of those programs,” Mr. McConnell told Bloomberg News. “Hopefully at some point here we’ll get serious about this. We haven’t been yet.” (Hughes and Rubin, 10/17)

The Associated Press: GOP On Defense To Explain Pre-Existing Condition Protections
In ads and speeches, Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill is pounding Missouri voters with a single message: Her Republican challenger wants to end health insurance protections for people with pre-existing conditions. The Republican, Attorney General Josh Hawley, says it's not true and has been forced to defend himself. (Ballentine, 10/17)

The Hill: Cruz Softens ObamaCare Attacks, Underscoring GOP Shift 
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) pledged to protect people with pre-existing conditions at a debate Tuesday night, illustrating just how dramatically Republicans have changed their stance on the issue. Cruz is perhaps most well known for tenaciously opposing ObamaCare at every turn. But now, facing a surprisingly tough reelection race against Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D), he is speaking up in favor of one of ObamaCare’s core provisions: protections for those with pre-existing conditions. (Sullivan, 10/18)

The Washington Post: Growing Number Of Republicans Sounding A Lot Like Democrats Ahead Of Elections
A growing number of Republican candidates are sounding a lot like Democrats as they face midterm elections, co-opting Democratic talking points on issues such as health care, education funding and the #MeToo movement. Republicans around the country have begun campaigning on safeguarding insurance protections for people with preexisting medical conditions, a pillar of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act — even though the GOP spent years trying to repeal the law. (Werner and Weigel, 10/17)

Politico: Home Health Aides Test Political Clout In Georgia Governor's Race
The country's fastest growing sector of workers is mobilizing as a political force for the first time by rallying behind Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams’ bid to become the first black woman governor in the United States. The National Domestic Workers Alliance claims a membership of more than 2.5 million home health aides, nannies and housekeepers and has ambitions of one day matching the political footprint of labor unions that have long been a pillar of the Democratic Party. Leaders of the group see a logical ally in Abrams, who has championed expanding Medicaid, raising the minimum wage and strengthening funding for rural health care. (Ollstein, 10/17)

The Associated Press: In Governor's Race, Issues Of Age, Health And Forthrightness
Gubernatorial challenger Walt Maddox's introductory television ad aimed to convey crucial details to voters. He described rebuilding tornado-ravaged Tuscaloosa as the city's mayor and called his politics "pro-life and pro Second Amendment." He also emphasized his age. "I'm Walt Maddox. I'm 45 years old," Maddox said at the ad's start. (Chandler, 10/17)

Reuters: McConnell Says Senate Republicans Might Revisit Obamacare Repeal
Republicans could try again to repeal Obamacare if they win enough seats in U.S. elections next month, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday, calling a failed 2017 push to repeal the healthcare law a "disappointment." In a forecast of 2019 policy goals tempered by uncertainty about who would win the congressional elections, McConnell blamed social programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, for the fast-rising national debt. (Morgan, 10/17)

The Washington Post: McConnell: GOP May Take Another Shot At Repealing Obamacare After The Midterms
“If we had the votes to completely start over, we’d do it. But that depends on what happens in a couple weeks. . . . We’re not satisfied with the way Obamacare is working,” McConnell said. Republicans are optimistic about their chances of maintaining control of the Senate next month, while polls suggest that a Democratic takeover of the House is increasingly likely. (Sonmez, 10/17)

The Associated Press: Kobach Proposes Tougher Work Rules For Welfare In Kansas
Republican Kris Kobach promised Wednesday to push for tougher work requirements for welfare and state health coverage recipients in Kansas, building on existing policies that have populist appeal but draw criticism as punitive toward the poor. Kobach outlined a plan to increase work requirements for able-bodied adults receiving food stamps and cash assistance. It would impose a work requirement — and drug testing — for the state's Medicaid program, which provides health coverage to the needy. (10/17)

Reuters: U.S. Prepares For Biggest-Ever Agent Orange Cleanup In Vietnam
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday visited a former American air base in southern Vietnam that will soon become the biggest-ever U.S. cleanup site for contamination left by the defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. Standing near a skull-and-crossbones warning sign meant to keep people away from toxic soil, Mattis was briefed by Vietnamese officials about the massive contamination area. (Stewart, 10/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Study Challenges Hospitals’ Use Of Accrediting Watchdogs
U.S. hospitals that pay to get accredited by federally approved organizations such as the Joint Commission don’t have lower mortality rates than those inspected by state agencies, according to a Harvard University study that raises questions about the benefits of the multimillion-dollar accrediting industry. (Armour, 10/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Proposed Rule Requiring Drug Prices In TV Ads Could Impact Marketing Strategies
Pharmaceutical marketers already follow a stack of rules when they advertise, which includes listing dangerous possible side effects to a sometimes unnerving length. Now a newly proposed requirement to disclose list prices for drugs on-screen during television commercials could add yet another headache for one of Madison Avenue’s most important categories. Health-care ad executives don’t expect a broad pullback in pharmaceutical advertising on TV, but they said the rule could create sticker shock among consumers and push drugmakers to rethink their marketing strategies. (Bruell, 10/17)

Stat: The Trump Administration Hints At New Drug Pricing Regulations 
The White House on Wednesday provided the clearest evidence yet that, eventually, some drug makers might not have to cut Medicaid the best deal on prescription drugs. It would be a big win for drug makers, who say the current rules — which require every drug company to give Medicaid programs the lowest possible price, or “best price,” for any drug they sell — don’t give them the flexibility to test new payment ideas, like paying for drugs based on how well they work. (Florko, 10/17)

Stat: Gilead's HIV Prevention Pill Can Greatly Reduce New Infections 
For the first time, a study has confirmed that using the HIV-prevention pill can effectively thwart the virus in uninfected men by a significant amount, a finding that patient activists argue should spur public health officials to more aggressively push for wider access to the medicine. By giving men the PrEP pill on a rapid and targeted basis, the HIV diagnosis rate fell by 25 percent in just one year, from 295 cases in the fall of 2016 to 221 cases the following year, according to the study, which was published in The Lancet HIV journal. (Silverman, 10/17)

Reuters: Express Scripts Covers Amgen, Lilly Migraine Drugs, Excludes Teva
Express Scripts Holding Co, one of the largest U.S. prescription benefits managers, will cover new migraine drugs from Eli Lilly and Amgen Inc, but exclude a rival medication from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd after price negotiations with all three manufacturers. The decision represents a setback for Israel-based Teva , which is in the midst of a corporate restructuring and had hoped to capture a sizable share of the multibillion-dollar migraine market. Express Scripts is also taking steps to limit use of the Amgen and Lilly migraine drugs to patients it says are most likely to benefit from them. (Beasley, 10/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Novartis To Buy Cancer-Drug Maker Endocyte For $2.1 Billion
Novartis AG on Thursday said it would pay $2.1 billion for Endocyte Inc., a U.S. company developing a new treatment for prostate cancer, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant’s latest move to double down on high-value prescription drugs. Endocyte specializes in so-called radiopharmaceuticals, a new class of drug that carries radioactive substances directly to cancer cells so they can kill tumor cells at close range. (Roland and Mancini, 10/18)

The Associated Press: Obituary For Woman With Opioid Addiction Inspires Donations
A powerful obituary for a Vermont woman with opioid addiction has inspired more than 100 donations to a local recovery center from around the country and as far away as Denmark. The family of 30-year-old Madelyn Ellen Linsenmeir posted an obituary for her after she died Oct. 7 that appeared in several newspapers and has been widely shared. (Rathke, 10/17)

The Washington Post: Madelyn Ellen Linsenmeir: Emotional Obituary Details Decline Into Opioid Addiction
There were 12 unforgettable days. Twelve days at home with her loved ones. Twelve days watching children’s movies and chatting around the dinner table. Twelve days Madelyn Ellen Linsenmeir remained mostly sober after a years-long on-again, off-again relationship with opioids. Twelve days that gave them all hope. “We believed as we always did that she would overcome her disease and make the life for herself we knew she deserved,” a family member wrote. “We believed this until the moment she took her last breath. “But her addiction stalked her and stole her once again. Though we would have paid any ransom to have her back, any price in the world, this disease would not let her go until she was gone.” (Bever, 10/17)

The Hill: Melania Trump Meets With Families Affected By Opioid Withdrawal In Newborns 
First lady Melania Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Wednesday met with families affected by neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), a condition that afflicts babies exposed to opioids in the womb. The meeting took place in Philadelphia, where Trump and Azar toured a neonatal intensive care unit. (Hellmann, 10/17)

Stat: New England Journal Pulls A Paper, Probes Two Others From Stem Cell Scientist 
The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday retracted one paper from the lab of a controversial stem cell researcher and issued an “expression of concern” about two others published in its pages, dating to as long ago as 2001. The journal’s move comes three days after Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital told STAT and Retraction Watch they had recommended that 31 papers from Dr. Piero Anversa be retracted by medical journals. The medical school and the hospital did not name the journals where the work appeared. (Cooney, 10/17)

Stat: How 23andMe Thinks About Genetic Privacy In The Age Of Forensic Genealogy
These days, DNA testing is making headlines in politics and criminal justice — and genetic privacy is increasingly in the spotlight. At 23andMe, the industry’s best-known company, the executive tasked with thinking about safeguarding DNA is global privacy officer Kate Black. STAT recently sat down with Black at 23andMe’s headquarters here in Silicon Valley. Here’s what she had to say about her role, recent news stories, and 23andMe’s policies. (Robbins and Garde, 10/18)

Los Angeles Times: What Is AFM? Everything You Need To Know About The Polio-Like Virus Suddenly Affecting Children Across The U.S.
It’s mysterious, it’s dangerous and it’s got parents on edge from coast to coast. It’s a medical condition called acute flaccid myelitis, or AFM. The disease causes sudden, unexplained paralysis, usually in children. Its resemblance to polio has caused the public to take notice. Federal health officials have confirmed 62 cases of AFM in the U.S. this year, and 65 more are under investigation. There are four suspected cases in California, according to the state’s Department of Public Health. (Karlamangla, 10/17)

The New York Times: High Blood Pressure Of Pregnancy Tied To Dementia Later In Life
Having pre-eclampsia — dangerously high blood pressure during pregnancy — is linked to an increased risk for dementia later in life, according to a new study. Up to 5 percent of pregnant women develop pre-eclampsia, usually after the 20th week. In addition to hypertension, the condition can include signs of diminished kidney or liver function. (Bakalar, 10/17)

Los Angeles Times: What Civil War Soldiers Can Teach Us About How Trauma Is Passed From Generation To Generation
An experience of life-threatening horrors surely scars the person who survives it. It also may have a corrosive effect on the longevity and health of that person’s children and, in some cases, on the well-being of generations beyond. The latest evidence of trauma’s long shadow comes from the families of American Civil War veterans. Focused on the children of Union soldiers who were held in Confederate prisoner of war camps, it offers tantalizing clues about the means by which a legacy of misery is transmitted from parent to child — as well as a way to disrupt that inheritance. (Healy, 10/17)

NPR: Why Black Men Are Hesitant To Participate In Prostate Cancer Research
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer for men in the U.S. (other than non-melanoma skin cancer) and one of the most deadly. It's especially deadly for black men, who are more likely to get it and twice as likely as white men to die from it. Yet black men tend to be underrepresented in research for prostate cancer treatment. (Cohen, 10/17)

The New York Times: Omega-3s In Fish Oils Tied To Healthy Aging
Higher blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids, the fats found in fish, are linked to a healthier old age, according to a new study. Researchers tracked 2,622 adults, average age 74 and healthy at the start of the study, from 1992 to 2006, looking to see if they continued to live without chronic diseases and without mental or physical problems. The investigators measured blood levels of four common types of omega-3s: EPA and DHA, found in seafood; ALA, derived from plants; and DPA, which the body produces in small amounts. (Bakalar, 10/17)

The New York Times: Coffee May Tame The Redness Of Rosacea
Yet another reason to drink coffee: A new study suggests it can be good for the complexion. Researchers studied the effect of coffee drinking on the risk for rosacea, a chronic skin disease that causes facial redness in about 5 percent of the population. (Bakalar, 10/17)

The Associated Press: Virginia Lawmaker Settles Suit; Seeks Mental-Health Reform
A Virginia lawmaker whose son stabbed him before killing himself has settled a lawsuit over the young man's mental-health care. The Roanoke Times reports that Sen. R. Creigh (KREE') Deeds and his family will be paid $950,000 by the state's risk-management fund to settle their suit against Michael Gentry, a former mental-health evaluator with the Rockbridge Area Community Services Board. (10/17)

The Associated Press: Woman: Michigan Pharmacist Refused To Give Miscarriage Drug
A woman says a Michigan pharmacist refused to fill a prescription to help her complete a miscarriage, telling her it was against his religion. Rachel Peterson of Ionia tells the Detroit Free Press the pharmacist worked at a Meijer store in Petoskey. She and her husband were in northern Michigan in July following the miscarriage of their twins. (10/17)

The Associated Press: Shoe-Shiner Who Gave $200K In Tips To Hospital Dies At 76
A part-time shoe-shiner who donated more than $200,000 in tips over 30 years to a Pittsburgh children's hospital died early Tuesday. Albert Lexie died of an undisclosed health condition, according to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center officials. He was 76. Every Tuesday and Thursday for more than three decades, Lexie left his home in Monessen around 5 a.m. to shine shoes at UMPC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh over 30 miles away. (10/17)

The Wall Street Journal: NYC Council Boosts Benefits For Pregnant Women And New Moms
In an effort to reduce maternal mortality in New York City and ease the postnatal transition for mothers, the City Council on Wednesday passed a package of bills addressing everything from the process of labor and delivery to child care. The legislation—which was introduced this year before Mother’s Day—authorizes studying how the city can provide subsidized child care for its employees. The bills will also require free wipes and diapers at homeless shelters and city-run child-care facilities, lactation rooms for mothers who visit jails or police precincts and revised procedures for reporting maternal mortality by the city health department. (West and Honan, 10/17)

The Associated Press: $1.6M Grant Toward Development Of A Prostate Cancer Scanner
A researcher at Tulane University in Louisiana has secured a $1.6 million grant to try to develop a scanner that could rapidly check after prostate cancer surgery whether all traces of cancer have been removed. The four-year grant from the National Cancer Institute will let J. Quincy Brown work with engineers, mathematicians and medical doctors on developing a rapid microscopy scanner, according to a Tulane news release Tuesday. The team includes doctors in California and Maryland. (10/17)

The Associated Press: California Surgeon, Girlfriend Face New Rape, Other Charges
A California surgeon and his girlfriend were charged Wednesday with crimes against five additional victims in addition to two women they were previously charged with drugging and sexually assaulting. (Taxin, 10/17)

Los Angeles Times: Newport Beach Surgeon Charged With Drugging And Raping 5 More Women
The accusations against the surgeon date to 2009. A woman, who was in her mid-20s at the time, told authorities she began dating Robicheaux after they met at a bar in Newport Beach in September that year. Prosecutors say the doctor raped her at his home after she told him she didn’t want to have sex. She told authorities that she knew Robicheaux had weapons and that she was afraid of him. The surgeon is accused of three felony counts of kidnapping with intent to commit a sexual offense, four counts of rape by use of drugs, two counts of assault with intent to commit a sexual offense, a count of forcible rape, a count of oral copulation by anesthesia or controlled substance, four counts of possession of a controlled substance for sale and two counts of possession of an assault weapon. Those charges could carry a sentence of more than 82 years in prison. (Winton and Sclafani, 10/17)