First Edition: Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024

KFF Health News: Benefit Trend: Employers Opt To Give Workers An Allowance For Coverage
Dave Lantz is no stranger to emergency department or doctor bills. With three kids in their teens and early 20s, “when someone gets sick or breaks an arm, all of a sudden you have thousand-dollar medical bills,” Lantz said. The family’s health plan that he used to get as the assistant director of physical plant at Lycoming College, a small liberal arts school in central Pennsylvania, didn’t start to cover their costs until they had paid $5,600 in medical bills. (Andrews, 10/2)

KFF Health News: Harris’ Emphasis On Maternal Health Care Is Paying Dividends With Black Women Voters
Vice President Kamala Harris is seeing a surge of support from Black women voters, galvanized in part by her work on health care issues such as maternal mortality, reproductive rights, and gun control. The enthusiasm may be key for Democratic turnout at the polls in critical battleground states. Black women have always been among the most reliable voters in the Democratic base and were central to former President Barack Obama’s victories in 2008 and 2012. (Armour, 10/2)

KFF Health News: Letters To The Editor: Setting The Record Straight On The FDA'S Authority Over Drug Ads
While several inaccuracies in the recent opinion piece about direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertisements by KFF Health News’ Elisabeth Rosenthal have been corrected in response to FDA’s direct requests, in this letter the FDA seeks to provide additional information about the agency’s oversight to readers and correct any misimpressions that may remain (“Perspective: With TV Drug Ads, What You See Is Not Necessarily What You Get,” Sept. 9). (10/2)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute'
“Health Minute” brings original health care and health policy reporting from the KFF Health News newsroom to the airwaves each week. (10/1)

Politico: Trump Vows To Veto Any Federal Abortion Ban — After Previously Refusing To Commit 
Former President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would veto a federal abortion ban after previously declining to say whether he would do so. “Everyone knows I would not support a federal abortion ban, under any circumstances, and would, in fact, veto it, because it is up to the states to decide based on the will of the their voters,” Trump wrote in an all-caps message he posted across social media platforms as his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), was pressed on the issue during the vice presidential debate. (Kashinsky and Messerly, 10/1)

Time: J.D. Vance Pretends He’s Moderate On Abortion
J.D. Vance attempted to distort his own position on abortion in the vice presidential debate on Oct. 1, suggesting that he “never supported a national ban.” In the past, he has said that he “certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally” and was “sympathetic” to the view that a national ban was needed to stop women from going to another state to get an abortion. Vance appeared to understand the political unpopularity of the Republican position on abortion. “My party, we’ve got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people’s trust back on this issue where they frankly just don’t trust us," he said, while maintaining that he agrees with his running mate Donald Trump that abortion rights should be decided at a state level. (Alter, 10/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Walz Defends Minnesota Law Allowing Abortion Throughout Pregnancy
Tim Walz defended his record on abortion as Minnesota governor, seeking to capitalize on one of Democrats’ strongest issues heading into November. Antiabortion groups have sought to portray Walz as an extremist on abortion. As Minnesota governor, Walz signed legislation enshrining abortion access in the state throughout pregnancy, which Republicans said left virtually no limits on the procedure. Walz said the bill restored Roe v. Wade, which provided a right to abortion until a fetus was viable outside the womb, or about halfway through a typical pregnancy. (Kusisto, 10/1)

HuffPost: JD Vance Completely Rewrote History On Donald Trump And Obamacare
In the presidential debate three weeks ago, GOP nominee Donald Trump made a breathtaking claim about his record on health care: He said that he had tried to “save” the Affordable Care Act when he was president. During Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, JD Vance repeated that claim and then took it one step further: that Trump had not only tried to save the health care law, but did so with help from Democrats. (Cohn, 10/2)

Arizona Republic: VP Debate: Tim Walz Credits John McCain For Saving Affordable Care Act. What To Know
After Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, made the misleading claim that Donald Trump saved the Affordable Care Act from destruction, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, responded by referring to a memorable vote by the late Sen. John McCain in July 2017. While McCain was not known as a health care champion, he cast a "thumbs down" vote that blocked the repeal of portions of the Affordable Care Act that is widely considered to be a pivotal moment in U.S. health care history. (Innes, 10/1)

The Hill: On Gun Violence, Vance Presses For School Security While Walz Emphasizes Commitment To Second Amendment
Asked about American gun violence at their vice presidential debate on Tuesday, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) backed increased security at schools while Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) emphasized that solutions need to respect Second Amendment rights. Vance first brought up school security after he was asked if parents should face charges for gun crimes committed by their children. He said it would depend on the situation if parents should be responsible, then added, “I don’t want my kids to go to school in a school that feels unsafe.”  ... Walz argued that there are clear solutions that work, as other countries, such as Finland, do not see the school shootings the U.S. experiences. He spoke about his personal experience as a gun owner, alluded to Vice President Harris’s gun ownership and said solutions aren’t about taking guns away from law-abiding citizens. (Cochran, 10/1)

CBS News: Harris Courts Latinos With Health Care-Focused Ads Slamming Trump
Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign is ramping up its efforts to win over Latino voters across battleground states with a health care-focused ad blitz attacking former President Donald Trump, as recent polls show her advantage over him among these voters is significantly smaller than President Biden's was in 2020. Starting Tuesday, Harris will have ads up arguing Trump would "rip health care away" from millions of Latinos, and in the process take money out of their pockets. (Cavazos, 10/1)

The Hill: Trump Downplays Troop Injuries In 2020 Missile Strike: ‘You Mean Because They Had A Headache?'
Former President Trump on Tuesday dismissed injuries sustained by U.S. troops during a 2020 Iranian missile strike on an Iraqi base as he argued he has been tougher than the Biden administration on Tehran. Trump fielded questions from reporters during a campaign stop in Milwaukee and was asked by one journalist whether he should have responded more strongly to Iran after it launched missiles at U.S. forces stationed at a base in Iraq in 2020, leaving dozens with traumatic brain injuries. “So first of all, injured. What does injured mean? Injured means — you mean because they had a headache? Because the bombs never hit the fort,” Trump said. (Samuels, 10/1)

The Atlantic: The Next President Will Have To Deal With Bird Flu
Presidents always seem to have a crisis to deal with. George W. Bush had 9/11. Barack Obama had the Great Recession. Donald Trump had the coronavirus pandemic. Joe Biden had the war in the Middle East. For America’s next president, the crisis might be bird flu. The United States is in the middle of an unprecedented bout of bird flu, also known as H5N1. (Florko, 10/1)

Modern Healthcare: Why 2024 Election Is Keeping Digital Health VCs Cautious
Next month's presidential election is making digital health investors cautious. The election has caused many investors to predict a challenging funding environment for the rest of the year, but they are confident that 2025 will present new opportunities. (Turner, 10/1)

AP: Helene Death Toll Now At Least 166 As Biden Plans To Visit Ravaged Carolinas
President Joe Biden will survey the devastation in North and South Carolina on Wednesday as rescuers continue their search for anyone still unaccounted for after Hurricane Helene caused catastrophic damage across the Southeast and killed at least 166 people. (Verduzco, Amy and Kruesi, 10/2)

Reuters: China, US Health Officials Agree On More Cooperation Following Rare Talks 
Chinese and U.S. health officials have agreed to strengthen communication, cooperation and coordination on global health affairs, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported late on Monday, following rare talks in Washington. China is willing to increase policy communication and coordination with the United States and collaborate in medical issues including cancer prevention and treatment, said Cao Xuetao, deputy head of the National Health Commission, after the recent talks. Strengthening health cooperation between China and the United States benefits both nations, Cao was cited as saying following the first ministerial-level visit by China's health authorities to the United States since 2017. (10/1)

The Hill: Watchdog Cracking Down On Medical Debt Collectors
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Tuesday issued a consumer advisory to combat families being targeted by “illegal medical debt collection tactics.” The CFPB’s cited tactics violating federal law that debt collectors have employed when it comes to medical bills, including double billing for services covered by insurance; collecting amounts that exceed federal or state caps; falsifying or exaggerating charges; collecting on unsubstantiated bills; and misrepresenting payment obligations and consumers’ ability to contest bills. (Choi, 10/1)

Reuters: US Justice Dept Backs Workers’ Antitrust Lawsuit Against Pittsburgh Medical Center
The U.S. Justice Department is backing current and former workers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center who are suing Pennsylvania's largest private sector employer for allegedly suppressing wages and restricting job mobility. The Biden administration expressed its views in a “statement of interest” filed on Monday in a proposed class action lawsuit in federal court in Erie, Pennsylvania, that alleges the medical center violated U.S. antitrust law. (Scarcella, 10/1)

Reuters: Health Insurers Unveil Medicare Advantage Plans For 2025 
Health insurers Cigna, CVS Health, Humana, Centene, and UnitedHealth on Tuesday released details on their government-backed health insurance plans for next year for people aged 65 and above. The announcements come ahead of the beginning of enrollment for Medicare Advantage plans on Oct. 15, which will continue through Dec. 7. (10/1)

Modern Healthcare: Tenet Sells Majority Stake In 5 Hospitals To Orlando Health
Tenet Healthcare Corporation completed the sale of its majority stake in Brookwood Baptist Health to Florida-based Orlando Health. The deal includes five hospitals and related operations in Alabama: Brookwood Baptist Medical Center, Citizens Baptist Medical Center, Princeton Baptist Medical Center, Shelby Baptist Medical Center and Walker Baptist Medical Center, according to a Tuesday news release. (Eastabrook, 10/1)

The Wall Street Journal: CVS, Considering A Breakup, Will Find It’s Hard To Do
Separating the pieces would be difficult, with a danger of orphaning units that might struggle to flourish on their own, analysts said. “The risk is if breaking up the business creates lost customers, lost revenue, translating into lost profit,” said Leerink Partners analyst Michael Cherny. But running the intact company is also a challenging path forward for CVS Chief Executive Karen Lynch and the rest of the company’s leadership.  (Mathews, 10/1)

Bloomberg: CVS Management, Board Have Been Weighing Options For Months
CVS Health Corp. has been reviewing its strategic options for months, including a potential breakup, according to a person familiar with the talks, as rising medical costs in its Aetna insurance arm weigh on the health-care conglomerate. The entrance of hedge fund Glenview Capital Management, which approached the company a few weeks ago about improving the business, made the conversation public and ratcheted up pressure on Chief Executive Officer Karen Lynch. (Koons and Rutherford, 10/1)

AP: Sam Schmidt Opens Paralysis Center In Indianapolis To Rehabilitate Trauma Victims
Paralyzed in a racing accident nearly 25 years ago, Sam Schmidt has spent much of the last quarter century trying to prove to others that there is a way to have a meaningful life with a traumatic spinal cord injury. (Fryer, 10/1)

Reuters: Kidney Transplant Policy Spurs Lawsuits Claiming Racial Discrimination 
A growing number of lawsuits claim the nonprofit that administers the nation’s organ transplant network used a racist calculation to require Black people with kidney failure to be sicker before they could receive a transplant. At least 10 lawsuits have been filed against United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees the nation's network of organ transplant programs at hospitals, in federal courts across the country since April 2023. Lawyers involved say they expect the volume of cases to grow as more people learn they were affected. (Jones, 10/1)

Bloomberg: Humira Cost Slashed As California Insurer Bypasses Drug Fees
A top California health plan is set to offer one of the world’s biggest-selling drugs for free in a bid to show the medicine can reach Americans affordably without going through the middlemen that typically control its flow. Blue Shield of California struck an unusual deal to buy a lower-cost version of Humira directly from a manufacturer, bypassing the giant pharmacy benefit managers that normally determine which maker’s drug will go to tens of millions Americans. (Tozzi, 10/1)

AP: Florida Enacts Tough Law To Get Homeless Off The Streets, Leaving Cities And Counties Scrambling 
As the sun rose Tuesday, Robert Robinson pulled himself from the sidewalk outside Fort Lauderdale’s bus depot. It’s where he’d slept — and become a violator of Florida’s newest law. Under a statute that took effect Tuesday, it is now illegal in Florida to sleep on sidewalks, in parks, on beaches or in other public spaces — one of the strictest anti-homelessness measures in the nation. “Where are they going to put all these people?” Robinson asked, pointing to several other homeless persons nearby. Fort Lauderdale and Florida’s other cities and counties only have three months to figure it out. (Spencer and Payne, 10/1)

AP: Arkansas Medical Marijuana Supporters Sue State Over Decision Measure Won't Qualify For Ballot
Organizers of an effort to expand medical marijuana in Arkansas sued the state on Tuesday for its decision that the proposal won’t qualify for the November ballot. (DeMillo, 10/1)

Reuters: Striking Boeing Union Asks CEO To 'Truly Engage' After Workers' Health Coverage Cut 
Boeing's largest union urged new CEO Kelly Ortberg on Tuesday to get more involved in contract negotiations to end a strike by around 33,000 U.S. West Coast workers, after the U.S. planemaker cut off their healthcare benefits. (Lampert and Shepardson, 10/2)

Reuters: Walmart's Firing Of Pregnant Worker Suggests Widespread Bias, Complaint Says 
Walmart was accused on Tuesday of firing an employee at an Ohio store because she was pregnant, which a nonprofit group said is likely part of a broader pattern of discrimination by the largest private U.S. employer. The National Women's Law Center filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and its state-level counterpart in Ohio on behalf of Corrissa Hernandez, who said she was fired earlier this year after requesting a part-time schedule and permission to sit while working as a cashier. (Wiessner, 10/1)

Los Angeles Times: COVID Worsened Depression Among Southern California Youths
Children, teens and young adults in Southern California had been grappling with rising rates of depression and anxiety for years before the pandemic. Then COVID-19 came along and made their mental health struggles even worse. Among 1.7 million young patients who were part of the Kaiser Permanente Southern California health system, the prevalence of clinically diagnosed depression was 60% higher in 2021 than it had been five years earlier, according to a new study. The prevalence of anxiety among young patients who did not have depression also rose by 35% during that period, researchers found. (Kaplan, 10/1)

USA Today: COVID-19 Tests Available Again Amid New CDC Data On Variants, Cases
Almost 60% of positive infections in the United States are from COVID-19 variant KP.3.1.1, the latest projections from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show. The agency's Nowcast data tracker, which displays COVID-19 estimates and projections for two-week periods, reflected that the KP.3.1.1 variant accounted for 58.7% of positive infections, followed by KP.2.3 at 9.4% in the two-week stretch starting on Sept. 15 and ending on Sept. 28. (Forbes, 10/1)

Politico: Control Smartphones Like Tobacco, Says Leading WHO Expert 
Countries should consider regulating digital devices like smartphones in a similar way to tobacco products, to combat social media's rising negative impact on young people's mental health, the World Health Organization’s Natasha Azzopardi Muscat said. With increasing evidence that problematic gaming and social media behavior is on the rise among adolescents in Europe, countries should take inspiration from other areas of public health where legislation has helped address potentially damaging habits — such as tobacco laws, she said. (Chiappa, 10/2)

USA Today: Apple Cider Warning: Fall Treat Could Sicken, Even Kill, FDA Says
Apple cider has become synonymous with the start of fall, but health officials are warning consumers that drinking the cozy beverage is not without risk. The Ogle County Health Department in Illinois, for instance, has issued a seasonal health advisory to warn people about the dangers of unpasteurized apple cider, which has the potential to cause "serious illness or even death," if consumed, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (Encinas, 10/1)

AP: Ex-Jaguars Worker Who Stole $22M From Team Sues FanDuel, Saying It Preyed On His Gambling Addiction 
A former financial manager for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars who stole $22 million from the team is suing FanDuel for $250 million, saying the betting company preyed on his gambling addiction. Amit Patel, who is serving a 6 1/2-year prison sentence in South Carolina, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in federal court in New York claiming that FanDuel ignored its own responsible gambling and anti-money laundering protocols. ... The lawsuit claimed FanDuel gave Patel over $1.1 million in gambling credits, and besieged him with enticements to gamble more, including having his personal host contact him up to 100 times a day. (Parry, 10/1)

CNN: China: Woman With Rare Double Uterus Gives Birth To Twins
A woman with the rare condition of two uteruses delivered twins, one from each womb, last month at a hospital in northwestern China, according to health officials and state media. The mother, identified only be her last name Li, welcomed a boy and a girl via caesarean section, the Xi’an People’s Hospital in Shaanxi province said, calling it a “one in a million” occurrence. (10/1)