First Edition: Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024

KFF Health News: Georgia’s Work Requirement Slows Processing Of Applications For Medicaid, Food Stamps
Deegant Adhvaryu completed his parents’ applications for Medicaid and food benefits in June. Then the waiting and frustration began. In July, his parents, Haresh and Nina Adhvaryu, received a letter saying their applications would be delayed, he said. In August, the Adhvaryus started calling a Georgia helpline, he said, but couldn’t leave a message. It wasn’t until September, when they visited state offices, that they were informed their applications were incomplete. The couple were mystified. They had Medicaid coverage when they lived in Virginia, before their recent move to metro Atlanta. (Miller, Rayasam and Whitehead, 12/5)

KFF Health News: 'An Arm And A Leg' Podcast: New Lessons In The Fight For Charity Care
Federal law requires that all nonprofit hospitals have financial assistance policies — also known as “charity care” — to reduce or expunge people’s medical bills. New research from Dollar For, an organization dedicated to helping people get access to charity care, suggests that fewer than one-third of people who qualify for charity care actually receive it. (Weissmann, 12/5)

KFF Health News: How Potential Medicaid Cuts Could Play Out In California
In 2017, the Republicans who controlled Congress tried mightily to slash federal spending on Medicaid, the government-funded health program covering low-income families and individuals. California, like other states, depends heavily on federal dollars to provide care for its poorest residents. Analyses at the time showed the GOP’s proposals would cut Medicaid funds flowing from Washington by tens of billions of dollars, perhaps even more, forcing state officials to rethink the scope of Medi-Cal. (Wolfson, 12/5)

The New York Times: Manhunt Enters Second Day After Health Executive Is Gunned Down in Manhattan
The killer arrived first. He stood in the cold predawn gloom outside the New York Hilton Midtown and waited. Even at that early hour, people passed by. He ignored them. They ignored him. At 6:44 a.m., he saw his man. Brian Thompson, 50, chief executive of UnitedHealthcare — the leader of one of the country’s largest companies — walking past in a blue suit toward the entrance to the Hilton. The killer popped out from behind a car and raised a pistol fitted with a long silencer. What followed was what the police would call a bold assassination, which shook the insurance industry and sent a jolt through an area packed with holiday tourists. By nightfall, a sprawling manhunt with police officers, dogs and drones spread citywide, bearing down on surveillance videos, a dropped cellphone and even Citi Bike data in search of the killer. (Wilson, Marcius, Cramer and Rennison, 12/4)

CNN: Police Race To Find Gunman Responsible For Killing UnitedHealthcare CEO. Here’s What We Know
Police are combing through surveillance video and examining clues the gunman may have left while fleeing the scene. The words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” were found on the shell casings discovered at the scene of the shooting, ABC News reported, citing police sources. Authorities have not found the gunman’s bike or weapon. They have, however, found a phone and bottle of water that may have been dropped by the suspect when he fled through the alley. (Tsui, Miller and Gingras, 12/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Slain Health-Insurance Executive Brought Small Town Geniality to Big Job
Brian Thompson, the health-insurance executive who was fatally shot in New York City on Wednesday, was an ambitious but affable leader who rose from small-town Iowa roots to run the largest health insurer in the U.S. Thompson, a 50-year-old father of two who was known to friends and colleagues as B.T., oversaw UnitedHealth Group’s UnitedHealthcare insurance arm, which had revenue of $281 billion last year and provides health coverage for more than 50 million people. (Mathews and Bauerlein, 12/4)

The New York Times: Brian Thompson Was a Veteran Executive at UnitedHealthcare
During Mr. Thompson’s tenure as chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, the company’s profits rose, with earnings from operations topping $16 billion in 2023 from $12 billion in 2021. Mr. Thompson received a total compensation package last year of $10.2 million, a combination of $1 million in base pay and cash and stock grants. He oversaw significant growth in one of the company’s key businesses, the sale of private insurance plans under Medicare Advantage, a program mainly for those 65 and older that receives federal funds and now covers roughly half of the 61 million people signing up. (Abelson, 12/4)

AP: United Healthcare CEO Kept A Low Public Profile. Then He Was Shot To Death 
Brian Thompson led one of the biggest health insurers in the U.S. but was unknown to millions of people his decisions affected. When Thompson did occasionally draw attention, it was because of his role in shaping the way Americans get health care. At an investor meeting last year, he outlined his company’s shift to “value-based care,” paying doctors and other caregivers to keep patients healthy rather than focusing on treating them once sick. ... Thompson also drew attention in 2021 when the insurer, like its competitors, was widely criticized for a plan to start denying payment for what it deemed non-critical visits to hospital emergency rooms. (Geller and Murphy, 12/4)

Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson's Killing Shocks Industry 
Through statements, emails and social media posts, rival healthcare companies, trade associations, analysts, policymakers, government officials and other industry leaders have expressed their shock and sadness upon hearing the news. (Berryman, 12/4)

Stat: UnitedHealthcare CEO’s Killing Lays Bare Rising Security Risks Facing Health Care Leaders
The killing of Brian Thompson, the CEO of the insurance division of UnitedHealth Group, provided a window into the vitriol that prominent health care leaders have been facing. Workers across health care face safety risks. People employed in the industry are about five times more likely than people in other private industries to experience workplace violence, according to federal data. (Merelli and Wosen, 12/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Some Supreme Court Justices Appear Ready To Allow Bans On Transgender Care. Gorsuch Is A Mystery. 
Several Supreme Court justices signaled a willingness Wednesday to let states prohibit transgender teenagers from obtaining puberty blockers and other treatments, but the outcome of the case appeared uncertain after one closely watched justice, Neil Gorsuch, said nothing during more than two hours of proceedings. The court heard arguments to decide the constitutionality of a 2023 ban enacted in Tennessee. The families of three transgender teens, along with the Biden administration, argued that the measure discriminates based on sex, therefore violating the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. Their argument hinges on the fact that Tennessee forbids medical treatment only for what practitioners call gender dysphoria but allows use of the same hormones and drugs for other conditions.  (Bravin and Kusisto, 12/4)

CNN: Takeaways From The Historic Transgender Care Arguments At The Supreme Court
Several of the court’s conservatives appeared heavily focused on so-called detransitioners – individuals who regret receiving gender-affirming treatments earlier in their lives – as they expressed skepticism toward arguments that transgender Americans should receive heightened protection under the law. Justice Samuel Alito, in particular, was interested in the question of whether transgender status is “immutable.” Historically, the court has considered immutability to be a key aspect of the characteristics of a group deserving of more protection. (Cole, Fritze and Sneed, 12/4)

The New York Times: Outside The Supreme Court, America’s Culture Wars Play Out.
Even before arguments got underway, the undercurrents of America’s culture wars pulsed through the crowd. Speakers from both sides blasted their speeches over microphones, each trying to drown out the other. Senator Ed Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, was nearly shouting when he said it was a “moral obligation” to defend the rights of transgender people. ... Outnumbered, the supporters of the Tennessee law more often expressed their perspective through posters than chants. Standing before a sign reading “Stop the Harm,” they framed the measure as an effort to protect children from “barbaric doctors.” (Kim and Kavi, 12/4)

USA Today: The Science Behind The Transgender Minors Supreme Court Case
Gender-affirming care is a range of social, psychological, behavioral and medical interventions designed to support a person in affirming their gender identity, according to the World Health Organization. The American Medical Association, which represents more than 250,000 U.S. doctors, passed a resolution last year calling for protection for this type of care. More than 30 major medical associations and health organizations worldwide support health care for transgender adults and youth, which they say can help prevent suicide in this vulnerable population. (Rodriguez, 12/5)

The Washington Post: How RFK Jr. Could Affect Child Gender-Affirming Care As Trump’s HHS Secretary 
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has speculated herbicide chemicals are turning kids transgender. He called puberty blockers “repurposed castration drugs.” Kennedy’s comments, made in the last two years, have plunged him into the debate over transgender care since President-Elect Donald Trump, who campaigned against transgender rights, tapped him last month to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. (Nirappil, 12/4)

Stat: U.S. Patent Office Pulls Controversial Rule To Curb Pharma Patent Abuse
In an unexpected move, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has withdrawn a controversial proposal that was designed to prevent pharmaceutical companies from abusing the patent system. Specifically, the proposed rule was crafted to stem the use of so-called patent thickets, which are wielded by drug companies to delay the arrival of lower-cost generic medicines in the marketplace. Essentially, thickets are collections of numerous patents that critics contend add only incremental changes to a drug and, therefore, produce little to no additional benefit to patients. (Silverman, 12/4)

The New York Times: E.P.A. Again Seeks Limits On A Harmful Pesticide
Almost 25 years after federal regulators curbed household use of a pesticide linked to learning disorders in children, and three years after a total ban on its use on food crops, the chemical is again being applied to everything from bananas to turnips in most states. The saga of this pesticide, which has the unwieldy name chlorpyrifos, is a stark reminder of why so many Americans are alarmed about industrial farming and the food supply. The concern helped propel Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential candidacy and subsequent selection to head the Department of Health and Human Services. (Rabin, 12/4)

Stateline: U.S. Education Department Pings States, Schools To Set Policies On Cellphone Use
The U.S. Education Department called on every state, school and district on Tuesday to adopt policies on cellphone use in schools. The department asks schools to have well-thought-out policies on the matter, but does not dictate exactly what those policies should be. An accompanying resource for schools notes the risk social media can pose to students’ mental health. (Miranda, 12/4)

Stat: Congressional Talks Over Big End-Of-Year Health Package Heat Up
Negotiations over a large health care policy package are heating up this week as Congress hurtles toward a government funding deadline at the end of the month. Congressional Republicans on Tuesday made an offer to Democrats that included a three-year extension of pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities in Medicare, some reforms in how pharmacy middlemen operate, a Medicare pay bump for doctors, funding for community health centers, and extensions of public health programs in Medicare and Medicaid, according to a copy obtained by STAT. (Zhang, 12/4)

The New York Times: Mike Johnson’s Newest Headache: The Smallest House Majority In History 
Republicans will be down to a 217-215 majority, on par with the narrowest controlling margin in House history. If all Democrats are present and united in opposition to a measure, Mr. Johnson won’t be able to afford a single defection on the House floor until those vacancies are filled later this spring. Even then, no more than three Republicans can break ranks without dooming a bill’s passage. (Edmondson, 12/4)

The Hill: Johnson Eyes Spending Cuts To PBS And Planned Parenthood
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on Wednesday he’d like to cut government spending for PBS and for Planned Parenthood, but he noted he might face some push back from Congress first. “I would like to. That’s for sure,” Johnson said in an interview on Fox News’s “The Story with Martha MacCallum,” when asked whether he plans to axe the two organizations. (Fortinsky, 12/4)

The Hill: Jamie Foxx Pushes For More NIH Funding For Down Syndrome Research
Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx joined lawmakers on Capitol Hill Wednesday to push for more funding for the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) research program on Down syndrome.  The DeOndra Dixon INCLUDE Project Act, named after Foxx’s late sister who had Down syndrome, has already passed the House and been introduced to the Senate. (Haner, 12/4)

The New York Times: Trump Picks Frank Bisignano To Lead Social Security Administration 
President-elect Trump announced on Wednesday night that he had chosen Frank Bisignano, the chairman of the payment processing behemoth Fiserv, to be the commissioner of the Social Security Administration, a sizable federal agency with more than 1,200 field offices and almost 60,000 employees. (Kim, 12/4)

The Washington Post: Hegseth’s History With Alcohol Shadows Pentagon Selection
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick as secretary of defense, would lead a military that has severe penalties for being intoxicated on duty. ... Trump has stood by numerous aides and appointees accused of sexual assault or indiscretion, but he has long disdained the abuse of alcohol by those around him dating back to the death of his brother, Fred Trump Jr., who suffered from alcoholism and died from related diseases at the age of 42. (Kranish, Lamothe, Ellison and Hudson, 12/4)

NBC News: Trump’s Pick For FBI Director Promoted Vaccine 'Detox' Supplements
President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for FBI director, Kash Patel, promoted a supplement line this year that purports without evidence to help people “detox” from Covid vaccines. Patel plugged the supplements in posts on Truth Social — the social media platform owned by Trump Media & Technology Group — in February and April. (Bendix, 12/4)

The New York Times: Trump Has ‘Lost Faith’ In N.R.A., Says Gun Group Official 
President-elect Donald J. Trump has “lost faith” in the National Rifle Association, according to a top official at the gun organization, who argued in a recent letter to fellow board members that the N.R.A. needed to regroup so that it could help protect the Republican Party’s new edge in Congress in the midterm elections in 2026.Bill Bachenberg, the group’s first vice president and a staunch Trump ally, also told fellow board members that during this year’s election Mr. Trump was upset that the N.R.A. had not committed to doing more to help him win. (Hakim, 12/4)

The Guardian: Mexico Announces Record Drug Seizure One Week After Trump Threatens Tariffs 
Mexican security forces have impounded more than a ton of fentanyl pills in what officials have called the biggest seizure of the synthetic opioid in the country’s history. Soldiers and marines found the fentanyl at two properties in the northern state of Sinaloa, late on Tuesday – exactly a week after Donald Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico unless the two neighbouring countries cracked down on the flow of immigrants and drugs across their borders with the US. (12/4)

The New York Times: Most Rural Hospitals Have Closed Their Maternity Wards, Study Finds 
Over 500 hospitals have closed their labor and delivery departments since 2010, according to a large new study, leaving most rural hospitals and more than a third of urban hospitals without obstetric care. Those closures, the study found, were slightly offset by the opening of new units in about 130 hospitals. Even so, the share of hospitals without maternity wards increased every year, according to the study, published on Wednesday in JAMA, a prominent medical journal. Maternal deaths remained persistently high over that period, spiking during the pandemic. (Kliff, 12/4)

The Guardian: US Trails Developed Democracies In Healthcare Costs For Older Adults 
Older Americans spend more on healthcare than peers in 10 other developed democracies, a new Commonwealth Fund report found. The new report highlights how Medicare, the public health insurance program for people older than 65 and people who are disabled, has significant cost-sharing requirements – including co-pays, deductibles and no ceiling on out-of-pocket costs. (Glenza, 12/4)

Modern Healthcare: CVS Closes All MinuteClinic Sites In Utah
CVS Health will close its three MinuteClinic locations in Utah by Saturday. A CVS spokesperson said Wednesday the company regularly evaluates its MinuteClinic footprint to align with patient demand, and the Utah closures will help support future growth plans. (Hudson, 12/4)

AP: Prenatal Blood Test Can Sometimes Hint At Cancer In Moms-To-Be 
Many moms-to-be opt for blood tests during pregnancy to check for fetal disorders such as Down syndrome. In rare instances, these tests can reveal something unexpected — hints of a hidden cancer in the woman. In a study of 107 pregnant women whose test results were unusual, 52 were ultimately diagnosed with cancer. Most of them were treated and are now in remission, although seven with advanced cancers died. (Johnson, 12/4)

Reuters: US FDA Approves Merus' Therapy To Treat Lung, Pancreatic Cancers 
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Merus NV's therapy that targets a particular gene, offering a treatment option for patients with hard-to-treat type of lung and pancreatic cancers, the health regulator said on Wednesday. The therapy, branded as Bizengri, targets the NRG1 gene, which is associated with formation and progression of several tumors. (12/4)

Modern Healthcare: Mayo Clinic, Philips Collaborate To Speed Up Cardiac MRI With AI 
Mayo Clinic and Philips are collaborating to investigate ways artificial intelligence can make cardiac MRI scans faster. Mayo Clinic will combine its proprietary AI technology with Philips’ proprietary deep learning-based AI technology that is currently in development. Philips' AI will optimize the workflow and post-processing of cardiac MRI scans and Mayo Clinic's AI models will improve image acquisition and reconstruction speed. Reconstruction is the process of converting the raw data collected during the MRI scan into high-quality images that clinicians can use for diagnosis. (Dubinsky, 12/4)

ProPublica: GOP Lawmakers Are Already Trying To Overturn Missouri’s Right To Abortion
One month after Missouri voters approved a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to abortion, Republican lawmakers in the deeply red state are already working to overturn it — or at least undermine it. One measure would ask voters to amend the state constitution to define life as beginning at conception, declaring that embryos are people with rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The result would be to classify abortion as an unlawful killing. (Kohler, 12/5)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Senate To Pursue THC Ban, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick Says 
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announced Wednesday that lawmakers in the state Senate would move to ban all forms of consumable tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, in Texas. Patrick, who presides over the Senate and largely controls the flow of legislation in the chamber, said the THC ban would be designated as Senate Bill 3 — a low bill number that signals it is among his top priorities for the upcoming legislative session. (Scherer and Martinez, 12/4)

The Hill: House Democrats, Republicans At Odds Over Final COVID Report
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic held its final meeting on Wednesday and while Republicans signaled a feeling of accomplishment, Democrats maintained their belief that not enough was done in the subcommittee’s two years. Leading up to the markup hearing on Wednesday, both Republicans and Democrats on the subcommittee released their final reports. (Choi, 12/4)

The Mercury News: Raw Milk Dairy Sickened Children For Years Before Bird Flu Detection
Even after state officials found multiple batches of raw milk products contaminated by the bird flu virus from Fresno-based Raw Farm, triggering the dairy’s eighth product recall in recent years, CEO Mark McAfee remains defiant about the safety of unpasteurized milk. “It is certain that decades-old FDA anti-raw-milk policies will shift soon,” according to a statement released to the press by McAfee, who said he has been asked to apply for a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory position by the transition team for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a long-time Raw Farm customer and President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. (Krieger, 12/4)

CIDRAP: Ferret Study Suggests Connection Between H5N1 Shedding In Air And Transmissibility 
A recent mammal H5N1 avian flu strain and an H5N1 virus strain from an infected Texas dairy worker showed low but increased ability to transmit by air compared to older H5N1 strains, according to a ferret study published yesterday by a research team based at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands. (Schnirring, 12/3)

The Washington Post: Splash Pads Linked To Thousands Of Waterborne-Disease Cases, CDC Finds 
Splash pads found in public parks across the United States are linked to thousands of cases of waterborne diseases that leave a calling card of diarrhea, fever and vomiting, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week. More than 10,000 children became ill from 1997 to 2022 after using splash pads, and most of those outbreaks were attributed to cryptosporidium, a parasite that causes diarrhea and spreads through contaminated water. (Malhi, 12/4)

MedPage Today: CTE Evident In Brains Of Deceased Ice Hockey Players 
The number of years an athlete played ice hockey correlated with his risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a study of deceased male brain donors found. The study included brains from 77 hockey players who died at a median age of 51 years. Overall, 54.5% had CTE, including 27 of 28 professional players. Evidence of CTE -- a degenerative brain disease that can be diagnosed only at autopsy -- was found in 19.2% of donors who played hockey for less than 13 years, 51.9% of those who played for 13 to 23 years, and 95.8% of those who played for more than 23 years, reported Jesse Mez, MD, MS, of Boston University, and co-authors. (George, 12/4)

USA Today: How Leaded Gas Has Created A Mental Health Crisis For Gen X
Gen X bears an extra burden of conditions such as depression, anxiety, ADHD and neurotic behavior because of the leaded gasoline they were exposed to as children, according to a study published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Leaded gas was banned in the United States in 1996, but the study said years of exposure during development made them particularly vulnerable. Lead gas peaked from the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s, and children born during that era would later develop some of the highest rates of mental health symptoms, the study said. (Alltucker, 12/4)