First Edition: September 4, 2019

Kaiser Health News: Trump Promises ‘Phenomenal’ Health Plan. What Might That Mean?
While many Capitol Hill Republicans want to avoid a repeat of the Affordable Care Act repeal debate, President Donald Trump keeps promising a health plan that will be “phenomenal” and make the GOP “the party of health care.” Last month, Medicare chief Seema Verma said, “We’re actively engaged in conversations” on what to do. Earlier in August, Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway indicated an announcement might come this month. Behind the pronouncements lies a conundrum: whether to stray beyond efforts underway to improve the nation’s health care system — loosening insurance regulations, talking about drug prices, expanding tax-free health savings accounts — to develop an overarching plan. (Appleby, 9/4)

California Healthline: A Young Woman, A Wheelchair And The Fight To Take Her Place At Stanford
Sylvia Colt-Lacayo is 18, fresh-faced and hopeful, as she beams confidence from her power wheelchair. Her long dark hair is soft and carefully tended, and her wide brown eyes are bright. A degenerative neuromuscular disease, similar to muscular dystrophy, has left her with weak, underdeveloped muscles throughout her body, and her legs are unable to support any weight. Each time she needs to get in or out of her wheelchair — to leave bed in the morning, use the bathroom, take a shower, change clothes — she needs assistance. (Gold, 9/3)

California Healthline: California Tries Again To Make Medication Abortions Available At Its Colleges
When Jessy Rosales was a sophomore at the University of California-Riverside, she had a boyfriend and was taking birth control pills. Then, out of nowhere, she started feeling sick. “I just thought it was the stomach flu,” she said. “It turns out I was pregnant.”Rosales was sure she was not ready to have a baby. She wanted a medication abortion that would involve taking one pill at a health clinic, and a second one at home a day or two later to induce a miscarriage. (Dembosky, 8/30)

The New York Times: Walmart To Limit Ammunition Sales And Discourage ‘Open Carry’ Of Guns In Stores
Walmart stepped forcefully into the national gun debate on Tuesday, saying it would stop selling ammunition that can be used in military-style assault rifles, would discourage its customers from openly carrying guns in its stores and would call on Congress to increase background checks and consider a new assault rifle ban. One month ago, a gunman killed 22 people at a Walmart store in El Paso, a massacre that put pressure on the company to respond to the wave of mass shootings across the country. It is the nation’s biggest retailer, and a large seller of firearms and ammunition. (Corkery, 9/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Walmart To Stop Selling Ammunition For Assault-Style Weapons
The policy change takes effect immediately, with stores ceasing to offer those products after selling through existing inventories. The retailer stopped selling handguns in all U.S. stores except those in Alaska over two decades ago but will now cease such sales in that state as well. “As a company, we experienced two horrific events in one week, and we will never be the same,” Walmart Chief Executive Doug McMillon wrote in an email to employees Tuesday. “Our remaining assortment will be even more focused on the needs of hunting and sport-shooting enthusiasts.” (Nassauer, 9/3)

Los Angeles Times: Walmart Drops Handgun Ammunition: Small Risk, Big Statement
Walmart is a major player in the $2-billion U.S. ammunition market: Its approximately 20% share means it sells about $400 million of ammunition a year. Chief Executive Doug McMillon predicted its market share will drop to between 6% and 9% after the changes. The Bentonville, Ark., company does not break out sales figures for firearms and ammunition. (Masunaga and Peltz, 9/3)

The Associated Press: McConnell Says He's Waiting On Trump To Chart Path On Guns
Congressional Republicans are waiting for the White House to chart a path forward on gun violence legislation, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday, effectively putting the burden on President Donald Trump to decide the GOP's legislative response to the spate of mass shootings that included another deadly attack in Texas over the weekend. Asked about prospects for a Senate vote on legislation passed by the Democratic-controlled House to expand background checks for gun purchases, McConnell said, "The administration is in the process of studying what they're prepared to support, if anything." (Daly, 9/3)

Reuters: Senate's McConnell Expects To Hear White House Position On Gun Control Soon
"The administration is in the process of studying what they are prepared to support, if anything. And I expect to get an answer to that next week," McConnell, a Republican, said in the interview. Congress returns to work next week after its August recess. "I said several weeks ago that if the president took a position on a bill so that we knew we would actually be making a law and not just having serial votes, I’d be happy to put it on the floor," McConnell said. (9/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Gun-Policy Talks Await Signal From Trump
White House officials have been meeting with lawmakers and their staffs for weeks about improving background checks, temporarily taking firearms away from dangerous people and boosting mental-health services. But Mr. Trump has yet to endorse a specific legislative package, raising doubts that anything will get done. With 2020 elections looming, fellow Republicans are looking to the president to provide them political cover if they are to support legislation that would restrict gun ownership. (Andrews and Restuccia, 9/3)

Politico: McConnell Vows To Bring Up Gun Legislation — As Long As Trump Backs It
Among the ideas under discussion are so-called red flag laws, which would allow a family member or a law enforcement official to petition a court for an order to take guns from individuals who may be a threat to themselves or others. But Democrats say those laws are not enough and have called on McConnell to bring up the House’s universal background checks bill, which passed earlier this year. That bill so far has no Republican support. (Levine, 9/3)

The Associated Press: Texas Shooter Got Gun At Private Sale; Denied In 2014 Check
The gunman in a West Texas rampage that left seven dead obtained his AR-style rifle through a private sale, allowing him to evade a federal background check that blocked him from getting a gun in 2014 due to a “mental health issue,” a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official spoke to The Associated Press Tuesday on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation. The person did not say when and where the private sale took place. (Weber, Bleiberg and Balsamo, 9/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Texas Shooter Had Been Banned From Buying Firearms Because Mentally Unfit
A man who went on a deadly mass shooting spree across West Texas on Saturday was barred under federal law from owning or buying firearms because a court had previously determined he was mentally unfit, according to law-enforcement officials. Authorities on Tuesday were looking into whether the gunman, 36-year-old Seth Aaron Ator, bought the AR-15 style rifle used in the attack through a private sale, thus avoiding a background check, the officials said. The gunman had tried to buy a gun in January 2014 but failed because a nationwide criminal background check system flagged the mental health determination by a local court and prevented the purchase, according to the officials. (Frosch and Gurman, 9/4)

Politico: Democrats Bet Big On Obamacare To Win Virginia Statehouse
Virginia Democrats are betting health care will help them take control of the state legislature in November, following their rout of Republicans two years ago that nearly eliminated the GOP’s hold on the Virginia statehouse. Democrats are already pouring tens of thousands of dollars into ads targeting the health care records of GOP incumbents in newly competitive races, hoping to capitalize on recently redrawn legislative districts seen as more favorable to Democrats. And new polling data says health care ranks high for potential voters. (Pradhan, 9/4)

Stat: Pharma CEOs Shower GOP Senators With Campaign Cash
Top pharmaceutical CEOs have targeted a small group of Republican senators with roughly $200,000 in campaign donations in the past year, according to a STAT review of campaign finance disclosures. The focus on Congress comes as drug executives are holding back on donations to presidential candidates. No major industry executive has contributed to a Democratic presidential contender or President Trump’s reelection campaign, according to the review. Only one — David Ricks, the CEO of the Indiana-based drugmaker Eli Lilly — has given to a committee associated with Vice President Mike Pence, who once served as Indiana’s governor. (Facher, 9/3)

Stat: Vertex's Next Act: A Billion-Dollar Bet On A Cure For Type 1 Diabetes
Vertex Pharmaceuticals announced Tuesday that it plans to acquire an ambitious startup for $950 million, betting the company’s early-stage science could lead to a functional cure for type 1 diabetes. The Boston company is buying Semma Therapeutics, a nearby firm turning stem cells into insulin factories. Based on the work of Harvard University stem cell scientist Douglas Melton, Semma’s approach involves turning moldable stem cells into beta cells, the insulin-producing machinery that is mistakenly attacked by the immune system in type 1 diabetes. (Garde, 9/3)

Stat: Pharma's Image Among Americans Has 'Fallen To A New Low'
The pharmaceutical industry is now the most poorly regarded industry in the U.S., ranking last among industries that are measured in the latest Gallup poll. Americans are more than twice as likely to rate drug makers negatively as positively — 58% versus 27%, to be exact. Just 15% held a neutral view, yielding an overall score of negative 31. Even the federal government fared better. (Silverman, 9/3)

Reuters: U.S. Judge Orders Big Drug Companies To Face Opioid Trial
A U.S. judge on Tuesday rejected efforts by major drugmakers, pharmacies and distributors to dismiss claims that they caused the nation's opioid crisis, clearing the way for a scheduled landmark trial even as he pushes for a nationwide settlement. U.S. District Judge Dan Polster, who oversees roughly 2,000 opioid lawsuits by states, counties and cities, said the plaintiffs can try to prove that drugmakers' deceptive marketing of the painkillers caused a harmful, massive increase in supply that pharmacies and distributors did not do enough to stop. (Stempel, 9/3)

Reuters: OxyContin Maker Prepares 'Free-Fall' Bankruptcy As Settlement Talks Stall
OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP is preparing to seek bankruptcy protection before the end of the month if it does not reach a settlement with U.S. communities over widespread opioid litigation, three people familiar with the matter said, after some states balked at the company's $10 billion to $12 billion offer in August to end their lawsuits as part of a negotiated Chapter 11 case.  On Friday, Purdue lawyers had documents prepared for a Chapter 11 filing at a moment’s notice, Reuters has learned. (Spector and DiNapoli, 9/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Insys Sells Subsys, Opioid At Center Of Racketeering Case
Insys Therapeutics Inc. is selling the fentanyl painkiller Subsys out of bankruptcy, unloading the opioid drug at the center of racketeering convictions against the drugmaker’s former top brass. (Scurria, 9/3)

The Washington Post: New York City Declares End To Largest Measles Outbreak In Nearly 30 Years
New York City’s largest measles outbreak in nearly 30 years is over, city officials said Tuesday. The city spent over $6 million, deployed more than 500 staff and issued a mandatory vaccination order for people living and working in four Brooklyn neighborhoods. The outbreak of a highly contagious and potentially life-threatening disease was heavily concentrated in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, where misinformation about the safety and effectiveness of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine has spread, officials said. (Sun, 9/3)

The Wall Street Journal: New York City Declares Measles Outbreak Over
“Ending the measles outbreak required extensive collaboration with community organizations and Jewish leaders,” Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, said in a statement Tuesday. He urged people to get vaccinated, especially as school starts up again. City officials said 654 people have been diagnosed with measles since the outbreak began in October. The outbreak was concentrated in ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn, including South Williamsburg and Midwood. It was the largest outbreak in the country and was part of the worst nationwide since 1992, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Honan, 9/3)

The New York Times: Get Vaccinated Or Leave School: 26,000 N.Y. Children Face A Choice
Jacquelynn Vance-Pauls, a real-estate lawyer in upstate New York, has a 14-year-old son with autism who was recently kicked out of his private special needs school. Her 9-year-old twins and her high-school senior are also on the verge of being expelled from their public schools. The children did not do anything wrong, nor are they sick. Instead, Ms. Vance-Pauls has resisted complying with a new state law, enacted amid a measles outbreak, that ended religious exemptions to vaccinations for children in all schools and child care centers. (Otterman, 9/4)

The Associated Press: California Advances Crackdown On Bogus Vaccine Exemptions
California's state Assembly approved legislation Tuesday designed to crack down on doctors who sell fraudulent medical exemptions for vaccinations. But Gov. Gavin Newsom's office said immediately after the vote that he will seek additional amendments affecting one of this legislative session's most hotly debated issues. The bill by Democratic Sen. Richard Pan of Sacramento would allow state public health officials to investigate doctors who grant more than five medical exemptions in a year and schools with vaccination rates of less than 95%. (Thompson, 9/3)

Los Angeles Times: SB 276: Stricter California Vaccine Bill Advances 1 Step Closer To Newsom's Desk
Newsom’s office said in a message posted on Twitter that the governor wants a few “technical — but important” revisions to state Senate Bill 276, which would tighten the state’s school immunization law. However, a brief description of the requested changes — which would be added to a separate bill — provided by the governor’s office indicates they would be fairly significant. Tuesday marked the second time Newsom has asked for the legislation to be watered down after he raised concerns in June that SB 276 would create an immunization bureaucracy that could interfere with doctor-patient relationships. (Gutierrez and Luna, 9/3)

Los Angeles Times: Dr. Bob Sears' Views On Vaccines Have Inspired Loyal Followers — And A Crush Of Criticism
Dr. Bob Sears sits at a worn wooden desk near a cushioned exam table designed for pediatric patients. The room has only a few other trappings — small molds of a child’s foot and hand, hanging from a wall — that suggest the routines of childhood. And there is nothing to suggest the notoriety that trails in his wake. But this office is a hub in a nationwide movement that the medical establishment contends is a threat to public health. Sears’ practice caters to parents the public largely labels as anti-vaxxers, people who no longer trust the scientists, doctors or government representatives who say vaccines are safe and that the risk of disease is far greater than the chance of an adverse reaction. (Gutierrez, 9/3)

The Washington Post: Michigan Becomes First State To Ban Flavored E-Cigarettes
Michigan on Wednesday will become the first state in the nation to ban flavored e-cigarettes, a step the governor said was needed to protect young people from the potentially harmful effects of vaping. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), in an interview, said the state health department found youth vaping constituted a public health emergency, prompting her to take the action. “My number one priority is keeping our kids safe and protecting the health of the people of Michigan,” Whitmer said. (McGinley, 9/4)

The New York Times: Aerobic Fitness May Trump Strength For Metabolic Health
Stamina may trump strength for improving metabolic health, according to an interesting and provocative new study of the molecular effects of different aspects of fitness. The study, which was published in August in JAMA Network Open, finds that people’s aerobic endurance — or lack of it — can influence their metabolisms more potently than their muscular weakness or might, a result with implications for anyone wondering which types of exercise could be most beneficial for health. (Reynolds, 9/4)

The Wall Street Journal: Psychedelic Drugs Draw Some Investor Attention—And Much Skepticism
Psychedelic substances are gaining legitimacy as a treatment for mental illnesses, prompting a handful of entrepreneurs and venture-capital investors to look for business opportunities in the nascent sector. Still, veteran health-care investors say it is too early to jump into the market given the legal ramifications. Psilocybin, found in “magic mushrooms,” has been decriminalized in countries including the Netherlands and Portugal, but remains illegal under U.S. federal law. “We would not invest in something where we were also betting that the illegality would change,” said Bryan Roberts, a partner at Venrock Associates, one of the U.S.’s oldest venture-capital firms. “But we would absolutely invest in something that was utilizing some novel understanding of biology and generating new research into drug development.” (Mack, 9/3)

The Washington Post: Junk Food Diet: Teen Goes ‘Blind’ After Seven Years Of Fries, White Bread And Ham
An extreme case of “fussy eating” caused blindness in a United Kingdom teenager, according to a report published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine. When Denize Atan, the study’s lead author, met the 17-year-old boy at Bristol Eye Hospital, his eyesight had been deteriorating for two years. But what shocked her most was “how long the patient’s eating behaviour had persisted,” Atan wrote in an email Tuesday to The Washington Post. “By the time I first met him, he had followed the same diet for [approximately seven] years.” (Paul, 9/3)

The New York Times: Getting Your Protein From Plants May Help You Live Longer
Getting your protein from plants instead of animals could prolong your life, a new study suggests. Researchers prospectively followed 70,696 Japanese men and women, average age 55, for an average of 18 years. All had completed detailed health and diet questionnaires, and none had a history of cancer or cardiovascular disease at the start. There were 12,381 deaths over the period. (Bakalar, 9/3)

The Wall Street Journal: New York City Opens Office To Combat Hate-Crimes Increase
A former executive of the Anti-Defamation League was named the director of a new office that will work to stem the surge in hate crimes in New York City, including two over Labor Day weekend at Rockaway Beach, city officials said Tuesday. Deborah Lauter will helm the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, a new agency that Mayor Bill de Blasio created as the city has seen a rise in hate-crime complaints this year, many of them anti-Semitic incidents. (Honan and Chapman, 9/3)

The Wall Street Journal: ER Visits Precede First-Time Entry Into New York Homeless Shelters, Study Shows
New York City physicians have long observed a higher-than-average use of the emergency department by the homeless. What was less understood is how visits to the emergency room are connected to first-time shelter use. In a new study to be published Tuesday, researchers found that 39.3% of first-time adult shelter users visited the emergency department for treatment or were hospitalized in the year before the shelter entry. In the year after departing a shelter, 43.4% of first-time shelter users went to the emergency department or were hospitalized. (West, 9/3)