State Highlights: D.C. Residents Embrace Paid Family Leave, But Don’t Want To Pay For It, Poll Says; Judge Directs Ill. To Pay $13M In Insurance Costs For Home Health Workers

The Washington Post: D.C. Residents Love The Idea Of Paid Family Leave — Just Not Paying For It
An overwhelming majority of District residents support a proposal before the D.C. Council to give each worker in the city 16 weeks of paid time off to care for a newborn or for a dying family member, according to a Washington Post poll. There’s just one hitch: More than half of those polled also say they don’t want workers to have to pay for it themselves. (Davis and Clement, 11/30)

The Associated Press: Judge Orders Illinois To Pay $13M Owed For Health Care Workers' Health Insurance
A judge has ordered Illinois to pay more than $13 million to cover the cost of health insurance for home health care workers. SEIU Healthcare Illinois took legal action against Gov. Bruce Rauner and Comptroller Leslie Munger earlier this month to force the payments. The union says nearly 5,000 health care assistants could lose insurance Dec. 31 if the state doesn't pay. (11/30)

The Washington Post: McAuliffe Positive On Budget, Prepares For Showdown With GOP Legislature
Yet one area of major discord remains. McAuliffe’s goal of expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act is a nonstarter in the House. “I don’t see Medicaid expansion happening,” Jones said in an interview. “If that’s put in the budget, that won’t stay in the budget.” But health care — as well as education and economic development dollars — will be debated in the upcoming session. (Portnoy, 11/30)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Officer Returns To Work After Settling Pregnancy Suit
After a pregnant patrol officer was ordered to stay home during most of her pregnancy and exhaust all of her accrued vacation and sick days, pickets appeared at the South Jersey police station and protested the decision made by Pemberton Township's administrator. The police union representing Shannon Sawyer also jumped in, filing a grievance that led the Township Council to vote in February in favor of having her return to work immediately. Still, Sawyer was forced to remain home until after her baby boy arrived in late June. By then, she was on unpaid leave, but she wanted to spend some time with her newborn. (Hefler, 11/29)

Kaiser Health News: Aid-In-Dying Laws Only Accentuate Need For Palliative Care, Providers Say
More times than she can count, Dr. Carin van Zyl has heard terminally ill patients beg to die. They tell her they can’t handle the pain, that the nausea is unbearable and the anxiety overwhelming. If she were in the same situation, she too would want life-ending medication, even though she doubts she would ever take it. 'I would want an escape hatch,' she said. Earlier this month, California law became the fifth — and largest — state to allow physicians to prescribe lethal medications to certain patients who ask for it. (Gorman, 12/1)

The Messenger-Inquirer: Registry Flags Adult Caregivers With Substantial Abuse Claims
A registry that was created [in Kentucky] to flag people applying for adult care jobs who have been found to have abused their charges in previous settings has been quietly building since it was created last year. The caregiver misconduct registry was created after Gov. Steve Beshear signed Senate Bill 98, which passed unanimously in the House and Senate. The registry includes the names of paid employees and volunteers at adult care facilities such as nursing homes who have had complaints of abuse or neglect substantiated against them by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. (Mayse, 11/30)

Kaiser Health News: Sweet Name Of Kids’ Clinic Gives Some People Heartburn
The name that UNC Health Care is giving its children’s clinic in North Carolina has been raising a lot of eyebrows. The facility is slated to be renamed the Krispy Kreme Challenge Children’s Specialty Clinic. But criticism from the medical community at the University of North Carolina and elsewhere is making the health care system rethink that choice. (Tomsic, 12/1)

Marketplace: How Minnesota's Supporting People With Alzheimer's
With the annual number of new cases of Alzheimer’s and dementia-related diseases expected to double by mid-century, Paynesville is among a handful of Minnesota towns striving to be dementia-friendly for its aging population. Minnesota has a long tradition of taking the needs of the elderly seriously. In fact, Paynesville takes those needs so seriously, it greets visitors with a billboard announcing that it’s a dementia-friendly community. Programs offer shopping assistance at the local grocery store, education for first responders and training for local businesses. (Richert, 11/30)

Health News Florida: New Grant Coming To Help Addicted Moms In Volusia
The Healthy Start Coalition of Volusia and Flagler Counties has gotten a $240,000 grant to help with addicted mothers. The grant will go toward housing, long-acting birth control, mental health care, peer support – a litany of wrap-around services to help addicted mothers get clean and get their children back. Opiate addiction during pregnancy is a growing problem in Florida. The rate of drug-addicted newborns in Florida has grown tenfold in the last two decades, triple the national increase. (Aboraya, 11/30)

The Kansas City Star: Petition Drive Challenges Kansas E-Cigarette Restrictions
Yet another petition drive is underway in Kansas City, this time seeking to overturn restrictions on electronic cigarette use in enclosed public areas. The Kansas City Council voted Nov. 19 to support three ordinances restricting tobacco and e-cigarette use. Two ordinances were aimed at raising the legal age to purchase these products from 18 to 21. Those ordinances take effect Sunday. (11/30)

The Kansas City Star: Syphilis Cases Rise Sharply In KC Area Amid Nationwide Increase In STDs
Reported cases of syphilis more than quadrupled in the Kansas City area from 2010 to 2014 — from 43 cases to 220 — according to recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC data for 2014 reflected a dramatic national increase in sexually transmitted diseases, including chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. The rates of chlamydia in 2014 were some of the highest ever recorded nationally, with 1.4 million cases reported in the United States. That’s the highest “number of annual cases of any condition ever reported to the CDC,” according to the November report. (Guiterrez, 11/30)

The Associated Press: Private Company Canceling Prison Health Care Contract
The private company responsible for providing health care to most of Florida's prisons says it is terminating its contract. Corizon Health on Monday notified the Florida Department of Corrections that it wants to end a six-year $1.2 billion contract with the state. Corizon said in a letter it plans to end the contract by May 31 of next year. The Tennessee-based company is responsible for providing health care to inmates at prisons across a wide section of the state including those located in north and central Florida. (11/30)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: For South Jersey Podiatrist, House Calls Are Part Of The Practice
On his first day on the job, David Carrozzino found a note on his desk to make a house call on his way home. More than two decades and thousands of visits later, Carrozzino, a podiatrist, still makes house calls to homebound patients in South Jersey. Carrozzino is among a rare breed in health care these days. A prevalent practice decades ago, home visits by physicians have declined drastically and are more often made today in rural areas. (Burney, 11/30)

NPR: A Mother Asks If She's Selfless Enough To Care For A Son With Autism
Sophie Sartain had long worked in documentary filmmaking as a writer and editor. For her first film as a director, she turned the camera on her own family. Starting in 2009, she began filming her grandmother Mimi, then 92, who had cared for Sartain's aunt, Dona, for decades. Dona has an intellectual disability and "perhaps some undiagnosed autism," Sartain says. From there the film Mimi and Dona was born. It was released last week on PBS' Independent Lens. (Aliferis, 11/30)