First Edition: October 28, 2019
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Employers Are Scaling Back Their Dependence On High-Deductible Health Plans
Everything old is new again. As open enrollment gets underway for next year’s job-based health insurance coverage, some employees are seeing traditional plans offered alongside or instead of the plans with sky-high deductibles that may have been their only choice in the past. Some employers say that, in a tight labor market, offering a more generous plan with a deductible that’s less than four figures can be an attractive recruitment tool. (Andrews, 10/29)
Kaiser Health News:
Moved Overseas For School, Stayed For Insulin
Every now and then, Katie West considers returning to the United States. She moved to Germany for graduate school three years ago and now works as a health systems researcher in Hamburg. Her family is an ocean away. Then she remembers why she stays. West, 30, has had Type 1 diabetes since she was 3. Back in Seattle, where she used to live, she typically paid $70 per month for insulin and another $130 for pump supplies. That was a relative steal in the U.S., made possible by her excellent health insurance, which she got through her employer. But still, it was a financial strain. (Luthra, 10/29)
Kaiser Health News:
Hospitals Take Shot At Opioid Makers Over Cost Of Treating Uninsured For Addiction
While thousands of cities and counties have banded together to sue opioid makers and distributors in a federal court, another group of plaintiffs has started to sue on their own: hospitals. Hundreds of hospitals have joined in a handful of lawsuits in state courts, seeing the state-based suits as their best hope for winning meaningful settlement money. (Farmer, 10/29)
The Wall Street Journal:
Here’s How Elizabeth Warren Could Pay For Medicare For All
As Sen. Elizabeth Warren develops her proposal for financing Medicare for All and reshaping how Americans pay for health care, she faces a complex set of challenges. The Democratic presidential hopeful from Massachusetts could propose a plan to partly pay for a single-payer system by finding ways to reduce health-care costs, expanding budget deficits or adding new levies on the richest Americans. But replacing insurance premiums would likely require taxes on individuals and businesses. (Rubin, 10/28)
The Hill:
Budget Watchdog Group Outlines 'Medicare For All' Financing Options
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) on Monday released a paper providing its preliminary estimates for various ways to finance "Medicare for All," as the issue of how to pay for such a health plan has taken center stage in the Democratic presidential primary. "Policymakers have a number of options available to finance the $30 trillion cost of Medicare for All, but each option would come with its own set of trade-offs," the budget watchdog group wrote. (Jagoda, 10/28)
The Hill:
Harris: 'I Knew I'd Be Called A Flip-Flopper' On 'Medicare For All'
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) says she knew she would be “called a flip-flopper” when she backed away from her initial support for "Medicare for All" in favor of developing her own health care plan. Harris has come under criticism in the Democratic presidential race for shifting her position on Medicare for All, originally saying in January, “Let’s eliminate all that,” in reference to private insurance. (Sullivan, 10/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
Hearings On Single-Payer Health-Care Plans Draw Crowds Around New York
New Yorkers are waiting hours and lining up down the street to tell state legislators the same refrain: fix health care. Workers, physicians, nurses, parents, business owners, the elderly and the infirm have been testifying at hearings around the state about the New York Health Act, which would establish universal, guaranteed health care across the state with a single-payer plan. During the most recent forum, at a public library in the Bronx last week, people filled a 150-seat auditorium to hear testimony that ultimately ended when the library closed for the day. (West and Vielkind, 10/28)
The New York Times:
With California Ablaze, Firefighters Strain To Keep Up
At one smoldering end of California, Capt. Alex Arriola and hundreds of other firefighters charged up flaming hillsides in the middle of the night Monday to battle a brush fire that exploded on the tinder-dry edge of West Los Angeles. As helicopters doused the hills to protect the priceless artworks at the nearby Getty Center and homes went up in flames, the fire crews on the ground began attacking the blaze to keep it from leaping across the street and taking out other multimillion-dollar houses. (Arango, Fuller, Del Real, Healy, 10/28)
The Washington Post:
California Wildfires Are Getting Worse, But People Are Taking Evacuations More Seriously
As fire blazed just eight miles away from Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital, its chief executive Mike Purvis received a phone call from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office and Cal Fire, the state’s fire agency. The hospital was officially being ordered to evacuate. Within minutes of the Saturday evening call, his staff was in motion. They went into an incident command center in an empty conference room and started calling other hospitals to find a place for each patient. (Kelly, Wilson and Lanzendorfer, 10/28)
The New York Times:
California Blackouts Hit Cellphone Service, Fraying A Lifeline
California’s recent power shut-offs, meant to reduce the risk of potentially catastrophic fires, have had an unwelcome side effect. The blackouts have also cut power to many cellphone towers, blocking the main communications source for many in harm’s way. “You don’t appreciate how essential cellphone service is until you lose it,” said Chris Ungson, deputy director for communications and water policy for the California Public Advocates Office, an independent agency within the state’s Public Utilities Commission. “It’s not just a matter of inconvenience; it’s a matter of public health and safety. It’s a lifeline to many, many people.” (Pogash and Chen, 10/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
California Fires: Tens Of Thousands Flee Los Angeles Blaze
Collectively, the fires and blackouts contributed to a sense of a state under siege, with almost nowhere in California operating free from threat. The brush fire in Los Angeles began Monday before 2 a.m. and spread to 618 acres by noon, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. More than 10,000 homes and businesses in West Los Angeles were under mandatory evacuation orders as more than 1,000 firefighters battled flames on the ground and in the air. (Lovett, Calfas and Carlton, 10/28)
Los Angeles Times:
Getty And Kincade Fires Pollute Air From LA To Bay Area
Even for those miles away from the flames and power outages, smoke plumes from California’s wildfires are disrupting people’s lives, degrading air quality from the Bay Area to L.A.'s Westside and contributing to widespread school closures. More than 10,000 students across the Santa Monica and Malibu areas were forced to stay home Monday after being alerted about 6:30 a.m. that all schools in their district would be closed because of the Getty fire. (Barboza, 10/28)
The New York Times:
Should You Wear A Face Mask For Wildfire Smoke?
With wildfires raging up and down the state of California on Monday, smoke filled the air in many places, ash fell from the sky, and residents were once again left to wonder whether the very air they were breathing was safe. The largest, the Kincade fire in Sonoma County north of San Francisco, nearly doubled in size in 24 hours and was just 5 percent contained on Monday, prompting volunteers downwind in the Bay Area to scramble to hand out masks and check on homeless residents. (Mervosh, 10/28)
The New York Times:
Maps: Kincade And Getty Fires, Evacuation Zones And Power Outages
Two major wildfires burned through hundreds of acres in Sonoma County and Los Angeles County on Monday, forcing evacuations and prolonging planned blackouts meant to deter future fires. (Bloch and Lai, 10/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
Juul To Cut About 500 Jobs
Juul Labs Inc. plans to cut roughly 500 jobs by the end of the year, according to people familiar with the matter, reversing the embattled e-cigarette maker’s rapid staff growth as the company braces for a proposed ban on flavors that make up more than 80% of its U.S. sales. The number of positions to be eliminated could range from 10% to 15% of the workforce but isn’t final, the people said. (Maloney, 10/28)
CNBC:
Juul Plans To Cut About 500 Jobs By The End Of The Year
In a statement to CNBC, the company said the cuts were part of a broad review of the company’s practices and policies by its CEO K.C. Crosthwaite. The cuts will represent about 10 to 15% of Juul’s workforce. The San Francisco-based company currently employs about 4,100 people. Juul was hiring about 300 people a month as it grew from a small start-up in 2015 to a company valued at $38 billion late last year. (Setty, 10/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
Vitamin-Based Vaping Products Proliferate Online
Sherry Musso doesn’t like swallowing pills. To take her vitamins, she inhales them from a penlike device that vaporizes them. “I puff on the B12 as soon as I get up. It gives me that little boost of energy and helps me wake up,” said the 31-year-old former smoker from an Atlanta suburb. Her vaporized vitamins are part of her wellness regimen. At night, she puffs melatonin. (Hernandez and Falk, 10/28)
The Associated Press:
Florida Child Migrant Detention Facility Shuts Down
The Trump administration announced Monday that it is shutting down one of the largest U.S. facilities for child migrants, which had come under intense criticism because of its regimented conditions and the contractor's ties to a freshly departed White House official. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement that it has reduced bed capacity from 1,200 to zero and the contract with Comprehensive Health Services Inc. is set to end on Nov. 30. About 2,000 workers will be let go in the coming days. (Gomez Licon, 10/28)
McClatchy:
HHS To Shutter Homestead Detention Center On November 30
Caliburn, the contractor that operates the facility on land owned by the Department of Labor, will not have its federal contract renewed when it expires on Nov. 30 — though the facility will be placed into “warm status,” which means HHS will retain access to Homestead and can reopen it. The remaining staff members at Homestead will be released in the next five to seven days, and the facility’s bed capacity will be reduced to zero, according to the email. (Daugherty and Madan, 10/28)
Reuters:
Senior House Republican Walden Will Not Seek Re-Election
U.S. Representative Greg Walden, the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said on Monday he will not seek re-election in November 2020, the latest Republican to announce his retirement. Walden, 62, who previously chaired the committee and oversaw many legislative efforts, said in a statement released by his office that he believes he would have been re-elected if he had run. Walden, who is from Oregon, has been in Congress since 1999 and is deputy chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. (10/28)
Bloomberg:
Top House Energy And Commerce Republican Greg Walden To Retire
The Energy and Commerce Committee oversees health care, telecommunications, energy and environmental policymaking. Among his achievements, he cited passage of legislation to deal with the opioid crisis, expand broadband service and improve the health of forests. (Wasson, 10/28)
Reuters:
Missouri Cites 'Serious Concerns' About Safety In Seeking To Shut Abortion Clinic
The fate of Missouri's only abortion clinic was at stake on Monday, as a state arbiter heard arguments from Planned Parenthood and state officials who have threatened to close it and make Missouri the sole U.S. state without legal abortion services. Planned Parenthood, the women's healthcare and abortion provider that operates the facility, sued the state health department in June for its refusal to renew the St. Louis clinic's license. The state court judge presiding over the case referred the matter to the Administrative Hearing Commission, an independent arbiter. (Langellier, 10/28)
Reuters:
Justice Department Issues Grand Jury Subpoenas In J&J Opioid Probe: Filing
Johnson & Johnson received grand jury subpoenas in August from the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York related to its opioid medication policies, the company said in a regulatory filing on Monday. J&J said the subpoenas were related to anti-diversion policies and procedures and the distribution of its opioid medications developed by its Janssen pharmaceuticals unit. (10/28)
The Associated Press:
Doctor Gets 2 Years Prison In Bribe Scam Over Painkiller
A doctor once honored for his efforts in relieving patients’ chronic pain was sentenced to two years in prison Monday for accepting kickbacks in the form of speaking fees from a pharmaceutical company to prescribe large amounts of a highly addictive painkiller.
Todd Schlifstein was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kimba M. Wood after pleading guilty to a conspiracy charge. She also ordered him to forfeit $127,100, the amount of money he received in the scheme. (Neumeister, 10/28)
Reuters:
Exclusive: Google Owner Alphabet In Bid To Buy Fitbit-Sources
Google owner Alphabet Inc has made an offer to acquire U.S. wearable device maker Fitbit Inc, as it eyes a slice of the crowded market for fitness trackers and smartwatches, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. While Google has joined other major technology companies such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd in developing smart phones, it has yet to develop any wearable offerings. (Roumeliotis and Dave, 10/28)
The Associated Press:
Walgreens To Shutter In-Store Clinics, Add Jenny Craig Sites
Walgreens will shutter nearly 40% of the clinics in its stores as the drugstore chain cuts costs and shifts to other businesses it believes will draw more people through its doors. The company said Monday that it will close 150 Walgreens-run clinics by the end of the year, but it will keep open more than 200 that are run in partnership with health care providers. (Murphy, 10/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
Walgreens To Scale Back In-Store Clinics
Walgreens and rival CVS Health Corp. both see establishing themselves as treatment centers for chronically ill patients as a way to offset slowing revenue from prescription drugs and competition from online retailers. The two chains are taking different approaches. Walgreens has increasingly sought partnerships with other companies and health systems, while CVS is executing its plan through acquisitions or by building its own new business. (Terlep, 10/28)
The New York Times:
New TB Vaccine Could Save Millions Of Lives, Study Suggests
In what may be a watershed moment in the fight against tuberculosis, the world’s most lethal infectious disease, an experimental new vaccine has protected about half the people who got it, scientists reported on Tuesday. While a 50 percent success rate is hardly ideal — the measles vaccine, by contrast, is about 98 percent protective — about 10 million people get tuberculosis each year, and 1.6 million die of it. Even a partly effective vaccine may save millions of lives. (McNeil, 10/29)
The Associated Press:
Vaccine Shows Promise For Preventing Active TB Disease
There is a TB vaccine now, but it's given only to very young children and partly prevents severe complications. Researchers have been seeking a vaccine that also works in adults, to curb spread of the disease. GlaxoSmithKline's experimental vaccine was tested in nearly 3,600 adults in Africa. Results were reported Tuesday at a conference in India and published by the New England Journal of Medicine. (10/29)
The New York Times:
Is Crispr The Next Antibiotic?
For decades, scientists and doctors have treated common bacterial and viral infections with fairly blunt therapies. If you developed a sinus infection or a stomach bug, you would likely be given a broad-spectrum antibiotic that would clear out many different types of bacteria. Antiviral drugs help treat viral illnesses in much the same way, by hindering the pathogen’s ability to reproduce and spread in the body. (Sheikh, 10/28)
Reuters:
GlaxoSmithKline Starts Late-Stage Trial For Experimental Antibiotic
GlaxoSmithKline Plc said on Monday it has begun a late-stage study testing its experimental antibiotic in patients with urinary tract infection and gonorrhoea, a type of sexually transmitted infection. The antibiotic, gepotidacin, is the first of a new class of drugs and is expected to treat the two common infections caused by bacteria - identified as antibiotic resistant threats by U.S. health regulators. (10/28)
The Associated Press:
Christians, Muslims, Jews Unite Against Assisted Suicide
Leaders from three of the world's major religions have joined forces against assisted suicide and euthanasia, in a declaration issued at the Vatican. The declaration, backed by leaders of Christianity, Islam and Judaism, states that no health care provider should be "coerced or pressured" into providing assisted suicide or any form of euthanasia. (10/28)
The New York Times:
Sugary Drink Ban Tied To Health Improvements At Medical Center
In recent years, hospitals and medical centers across the country have stopped selling sugar-sweetened beverages in an effort to reduce obesity and diabetes. Now a new study carried out at the University of California, San Francisco, has documented the health impact of a soda sales ban on its employees. Ten months after a sales ban went into effect, U.C.S.F. workers who tended to drink a lot of sugary beverages had cut their daily intake by about half. (O'Connor, 10/28)
NPR:
Genome Sequencing In NICU Can Speed Diagnosis Of Rare Inherited Diseases
When Nathaly Sweeney launched her career as a pediatric heart specialist a few years ago, she says, it was a struggle to anticipate which babies would need emergency surgery or when. "We just didn't know whose heart was going to fail first," she says. "There was no rhyme or reason who was coming to the intensive care unit over and over again, versus the ones that were doing well." (Harris, 10/28)
The Wall Street Journal:
When The Prescription For Teens Is More Social Media, Not Less
Psychologists have a new directive for anxious teens: Post selfies on Instagram and Snapchat. Most teens, it can seem to grown-ups, need to be pulled away from social media. Teens with anxiety disorders, however, may need to be pushed toward it. Social media and texting can be a minefield for any teen, but it is particularly daunting for those who struggle with anxiety: They might worry excessively about posting the “right” picture or comment, count the number of likes on their posts, or negatively compare their Saturday night at home with their peers’ festive party pictures. (Petersen, 10/28)
NPR:
How To Help A Child With Anxiety
Childhood anxiety is one of the most important mental health challenges of our time. One in five children will experience some kind of clinical-level anxiety by the time they reach adolescence, according to Danny Pine, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the National Institute of Mental Health and one of the world's top anxiety researchers. Pine says that for most kids, these feelings of worry won't last, but for some, they will — especially if those children don't get help. (Turner, 10/29)
The Washington Post:
Study: Taking Hypertension Meds At Bedtime Cuts Health Risks Significantly
When people take their hypertension medications at bedtime, blood pressure is better controlled during the night and the risk of death or illness due to cardiovascular disease is significantly lowered, a new study suggests. Researchers who followed nearly 20,000 patients for a median of six years found that patients who took their medications at bedtime cut their overall risk of dying from cardiovascular causes during the study nearly in half compared with those taking the drugs in the morning, the study found. (10/29)
The Wall Street Journal:
New York Kids Living Near Fast-Food Restaurants Have Higher Obesity Rates
The closer a child in New York City lives to a fast-food restaurant, the more likely the child is to be overweight or obese, according to a new analysis by researchers at New York University School of Medicine. It is the small distances—a half block or a block from a fast-food outlet—that matter the most, said Brian Elbel, of the Department of Population Health, NYU School of Medicine and Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. (West, 10/29)
The New York Times:
For Many Widows, The Hardest Part Is Mealtime
When her husband, Bill, died six years ago this month, Michele Zawadzki squared her shoulders to the grief. They had been together for 47 years — since high school, when they were prom dates — so she knew that life without him would be trying. Not just holidays, but even mundane matters like taking care of the car. When a pipe broke in her toilet, spraying water all over, Ms. Zawadzki, 68, didn’t know what valve to turn off or whom to call. Mail for him kept coming. (Nierenberg, 10/28)
The New York Times:
Texas Father Says 7-Year-Old Isn’t Transgender, Igniting A Politicized Outcry
A bitter custody battle in Dallas that centers on the gender identity of a 7-year-old child provoked an outcry among conservatives this month. The child’s mother, Anne Georgulas, had honored what she said was the child’s preference to live as a girl and sought to compel the father, Jeffrey Younger, to do the same, according to court documents. But Mr. Younger insisted that the child is a boy and said that Ms. Georgulas was manipulating the child’s identity. (Zraick, 10/28)
The Associated Press:
Police: Nebraska Mom Ended Son's Cancer Treatment And Fled
Authorities are urgently searching for a 4-year-old Nebraska boy and his mother, who has been charged with child abuse for allegedly ending her son's treatment for cancer and fleeing the state. A social worker reported that Prince Rehan missed several appointments at an Omaha hospital for treatment of Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare but treatable form of cancer that forms in the soft tissue, according to Lincoln police investigator Luis Herrera. (10/28)