The New York Times: House Votes To Give The Government The Power To Negotiate Drug Prices
The House, delivering on one of Democrats’ central campaign promises, passed ambitious legislation on Thursday to lower the rising cost of prescription drugs by empowering the federal government to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers. The bill, known as H.R. 3 — a numerical designation that reflects its position on Democrats’ priority list — would make significant changes to the federal Medicare program, which provides health coverage to older Americans. It passed largely on party lines, 230 to 192, and includes provisions to create new vision, dental and hearing benefits, and caps out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries at $2,000. (Stolberg, 12/12)

Reuters: Democrats Pass U.S. Bill To Lower Drug Prices That Trump Threatens To Veto
"I've seen grown men cry on the campaign trail because they cannot meet the prescription drug cost, whether they have a spouse that is ill or a child with a pre-existing conditions," Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told reporters ahead of the vote. "This will make all the difference in the world." The bill would cap prices for the country's most expensive drugs using an international index and impose hefty fines for manufacturers that do not negotiate. (Lambert, 12/12)

The Washington Post: House Democrats Pass Broad Prescription Drug Price Bill As Election Marker
It is also a marker for how Democrats would address rising prescription drug prices if they were to gain control of the White House and Congress. In addition, Democrats are seeking to highlight Trump’s failure to deliver on his 2016 campaign promise to allow Medicare to “negotiate like crazy.” The Democrats’ effort, which became broader as it made its way through committees, has spooked the pharmaceutical industry, which is vehemently opposed to the legislation and has said it would stifle innovation. (Abutaleb, 12/12)

Politico: House Passes Bill Requiring Drug Price Negotiations
[The bill] would mandate that the government negotiate the price of at least 25 Medicare Part D drugs annually, ultimately requiring federal officials to hammer out the cost of at least 50 medicines a year. Commercial insurers could also take advantage of the deals. A separate set of provisions would limit drug manufacturers’ ability to annually hike prices in Medicare, forcing them to rebate the portion of the increase that is above the rate of inflation. The bill envisions eventually expanding that requirement to the private sector under language that progressives led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal secured in negotiations with Pelosi just 48 hours ahead of the vote. (Cancryn and Owermohle, 12/12)

NPR: Nancy Pelosi's Prescription Drug Price Plan To Get A Vote
Right now, there's no limit for how much seniors and others on Medicare spend on drugs out of pocket — unlike in most insurance plans. This bill would set a limit for Medicare patients at $2,000 a year. It's not just seniors who get a break here. Right now, after enrollees have spent several thousand dollars on drugs, they're on the hook for 5% of ongoing costs, their prescription drug plan pays 15% and Medicare pays 80% — drug companies don't pay any part of it. Under the bill, that splitting gets changed around: Patients pay nothing after they hit the new cap, drug companies pay 30% and Medicare and health plans pick up the rest. (Simmons-Duffin, 12/12)

The Wall Street Journal: House Passes Bill To Reduce Drug Prices
Some Republicans and pharmaceutical lobbying groups have said the plan would discourage investment in research on new cures and treatments. Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the industry’s primary lobbying group. has said it would siphon $1 trillion or more from biopharmaceutical innovation over 10 years, leading to fewer drugs. Mrs. Pelosi pushed her legislation through despite initial objections from progressive members who said the bill wasn’t aggressive enough and didn’t open enough drugs in Medicare to negotiation. (Armour, 12/12)

Stat: House Passes Major Drug-Pricing Bill, A Democratic Salvo In A Showdown Far From Over
House Democrats on Thursday passed sweeping legislation to lower prescription drug prices, marking the latest volley in a health care debate that has animated progressives, Republican lawmakers, pharmaceutical industry groups, and the Trump administration throughout the year. With the GOP-majority Senate certain to ignore Democrats’ bill, however, the high-stakes showdown over drug prices is far from over. (Facher, 12/12)

KQED: Forget Impeachment — Democrats Want Voters To Focus On Bill To Lower Drug Costs
Even as the House Judiciary Committee was debating changes to the two articles of impeachment the full House could soon vote on, Democrats from swing districts want their constituents to think about something else: prescription drugs. Minutes after the House passed a bill by Speaker Nancy Pelosi along party lines aimed at reducing prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients — a bill probably destined to die in the Republican-controlled Senate — the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) unveiled digital ads they intend to run in districts they flipped from red to blue in the 2018 election. (Shafer, 12/12)

Modern Healthcare: House Passes Democrats' Government Drug-Price Negotiation Bill
"With today's vote, the House prioritized politics at the expense of innovation, American jobs and hope for patients. The bill is unprecedented in size and scope and just one part of the legislation would reduce revenue to the biopharmaceutical industry by $1 trillion," said Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America spokesperson Holly Campbell. But the excise tax enabled the Congressional Budget Office to estimate that the price negotiation mechanism would save the federal government $456 billion over the next 10 years. (Cohrs, 12/12)

The CT Mirror: CT Lawmakers Hail U.S. House Approval Of Prescription Drug Bill
The U.S. House on Friday approved an ambitious bill that would dramatically lower the cost of popular drugs, like insulin and other commonly prescribed medications, for Medicare patients and other Americans. All Connecticut House members voted for the bill, and three of them — Reps. John Larson, D-1st District, Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, and Jahana Hayes, D-5th District — were original co-sponsors. (Radelat, 12/12)

The Associated Press: Senate OKs Trump's FDA Nominee Despite Unclear Vaping Agenda
The Senate on Thursday confirmed Dr. Stephen Hahn to lead the Food and Drug Administration despite concerns about how he will confront the growing problem of underage vaping. Hahn, a cancer specialist and hospital executive, won confirmation to the role of FDA commissioner with a vote of 72-18. The move comes as key decisions about regulating electronic cigarettes, including how to keep them away from teenagers, remain unresolved. (Perrone, 12/12)

The New York Times: Senate Confirms Stephen Hahn To Head F.D.A.
Dr. Hahn, chief medical executive at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, was nominated by President Trump to replace Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who left the post in the spring. Since then, the F.D.A. has been run by two acting commissioners. In two recent appearances before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Dr. Hahn, 59, sidestepped questions on whether he supports the F.D.A.’s proposal to ban most flavored e-cigarettes. Although President Trump promised to do so in September, he has since backed away from that plan, flummoxing public health lobbyists and industry executives alike. (Kaplan, 12/12)

Stat: Senate Confirms Stephen Hahn, Oncologist And Political Newcomer, As FDA Commissioner
That reluctance to be candid, however, has already earned him some foes on Capitol Hill, namely the top Democrat on the health committee, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, who publicly announced last week she would vote against his nomination. “Dr. Hahn refused to commit to implementing a strong policy to clear non-tobacco flavored e-cigarettes that have not undergone FDA review from the market — like the Trump Administration promised to do before it heard from the tobacco industry and reversed course,” Murray said in Dec. 3 statement. “That’s a big red flag for me, and why I will be voting against his confirmation.” (Florko, 12/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Hahn Confirmed As New FDA Chief
One prominent Democrat in the e-cigarette debate, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, said in a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday that he would vote to confirm Dr. Hahn, but urged him to take strong action on youth vaping. “Dr. Hahn may find himself in a compromised position soon, and I told him as much,” Sen. Durbin said. “Dr. Hahn said to me that he doesn’t want to be known in history as the head of the FDA who saw this epidemic grow dramatically when it comes to vaping by young people.” (Burton, 12/12)

CNN: Senate Confirms Dr. Stephen Hahn As FDA Commissioner
Hahn agreed with senators that "this is an important, urgent crisis in this country," but he stopped short of making promises, saying, "I'm not privy to those decision-making processes, but I very much agree and support that aggressive action needs to be taken to protect our children." He said he has not discussed these views with the president regarding vaping flavors. (Howard, 12/12)

The Hill: Senate Confirms Trump's Nominee To Lead FDA 
Sens. Tim Kaine (Va.), Bob Menendez (N.J.), Chris Murphy (Conn.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) and Chris Van Hollen (Md.) are among the Democrats who also voted for Hahn. Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the ranking member of the Senate Health Committee, was among the Democratic "no" votes, along with Minority Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Sens. Maggie Hassan (N.H.), Brian Schatz (Hawaii), Tom Udall (N.M.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.). (Hellmann, 12/12)

The Washington Post: Senate Confirms Stephen Hahn As FDA Commissioner
Robert Califf, FDA commissioner during the Obama administration, said key issues facing Hahn include the ongoing opioid epidemic and declines in life expectancy caused in part by chronic disease, suicide and depression. He also urged Hahn to press forward with agency efforts to incorporate “real world evidence " — information from sources such as electronic medical records — in evaluating drugs. “We need much better evidence about medical products in practice,” he said. (McGinley, 12/12)

Meanwhile, in news on vaping —

The Associated Press: Vaping Illness Death Count Surpasses 50 In US
The death toll in the vaping illness outbreak has topped 50, U.S. health officials said Thursday. The 52 deaths in 26 states are among the 2,409 hospitalized cases that have been reported across the nation this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Hospitalized cases have been most common in the Midwest, with some of the highest rates in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. (Stobbe, 12/12)

The Associated Press: Illinois Sues E-Cigarette Maker Juul Over Youth Marketing
Illinois has become the latest state to sue the country's biggest e-cigarette maker, alleging in a lawsuit filed Thursday that Juul Labs Inc., used deceptive marketing practices to entice minors and misrepresented the amount of nicotine in its products. State Attorney General Kwame Raoul said the company designed its products to lure teens, making them sleek and easy to conceal, offering flavors like fruit medley and relying on celebrities and social media influencers. (Tareen, 12/12)

WBUR: The State's Vape Ban Has Ended. But Some Shops Are Still Looking To Rebrand — Or Relocate
Customers can once again buy some vaping products in Massachusetts, after Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration lifted a ban on the sale of nicotine vape products Wednesday. Retail shops are still prohibited from selling flavored nicotine under a new state law. But businesses can once again sell unflavored or tobacco-flavored vaping products. For many vape shops, that still doesn't mean it's back to business as usual. (Enwemeka, 12/12)

The New York Times: South Carolina Is The 10th State To Impose Medicaid Work Requirements
Although the courts have so far blocked President Trump’s attempts to impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients, his administration announced on Thursday that it would allow a 10th state, South Carolina, to condition Medicaid eligibility for many poor adults on proving that they work or engage in other activities, like volunteering. It is the first time the Trump administration has approved such rules in a state whose working-age Medicaid population consists almost entirely of poor mothers. Unlike most of the other states that have won approval for work requirements, South Carolina chose not to expand Medicaid to most of its low-income adult population, as the Affordable Care Act had encouraged. (Goodnough, 12/12)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration Approves Medicaid Work Rules For S. Carolina
South Carolina is planning to impose its work rules on two groups of low-income people who did not qualify before under that state’s stringent eligibility rules. Specifically, those groups are parents or other caretakers with incomes slightly higher than the state’s threshold of 67 percent of the federal poverty level, plus certain adults who are homeless, need drug treatment or are involved with the criminal justice system. For this reason, the CMS says that the program will add an estimated 45,000 additional South Carolinians to the rolls, even if some of the newly eligible people fail to meet the requirements. (Goldstein, 12/12)

The Hill: Trump Administration Approves Medicaid Work Requirements In South Carolina
“South Carolina’s economy is booming, wages are up, and our unemployment rate is at an all-time low,” Gov. Henry McMaster (R) said in a statement. “Competition for workers is fierce and businesses are struggling to fill vacancies. In this economy there is no excuse for the able bodied not to be working.” (Weixel, 12/12)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Approves South Carolina's Medicaid Work Requirement
In its approval letter, the CMS said it authorized the five-year demonstration to evaluate whether encouraging employment improves health and wellness, helps people become financially independent, and reduces healthcare costs. It did not estimate how many people would lose coverage due to the work requirement. "South Carolina's requirements — complete with appropriate protections — will lift South Carolinians out of poverty by encouraging as many as possible to participate in the booming Trump economy," Verma said. (Meyer, 12/12)

The Greenville News: Medicaid Recipients Face Work Requirements In SC After Federal Waivers
The Republican governor said the initiative will help fill 64,000 to 70,000 private-sector jobs in South Carolina. He said while the state's economy is booming, some businesses have been forced to close or unable to expand because they can't find enough employees, and he said this change will help. (Brown, 12/12)

Post And Courier: Trump Administration Approves New Work Requirements For Low-Income Medicaid Adults In SC
More than 1 million people are enrolled in Medicaid in South Carolina; most of them are children, for whom the work requirements will not apply. South Carolina is one of a few remaining states that has not expanded Medicaid eligibility to more adults under the Affordable Care Act. Here, adults without children rarely qualify for coverage, no matter their poverty level. (Floyd, 12/12)

And in related news —

PBS NewsHour: Could Greater Access To Medicaid Reduce High Death Rates For New Moms?
The United States ranks as one of the most dangerous developed nations to become pregnant and give birth, especially for women of color — and data shows the life-threatening risk doesn’t end once mom and baby have left the hospital. Bipartisan legislation that is currently working its way through Congress aims to help lower those risks by ensuring that women have access to care longer after giving birth, given the high incidence rates of potentially fatal postpartum health challenges. (Santhanam, 12/12)

The Wall Street Journal: FCC Approves Making ‘988’ A National Suicide-Prevention Hotline Number
Americans would be able to dial 988 to reach a suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline under a proposal approved Thursday by the Federal Communications Commission. The new three-digit dialing code is designed to be an easier-to-remember version of an existing toll-free number, 1-800-273-TALK, known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Dialing 988 would connect callers to the lifeline, which routes calls to a nearby crisis center run by an organization designated to answer the call. (Tracy, 12/12)

The Hill: FCC Moves To Designate 988 A National Suicide-Prevention Hotline Number
All five FCC commissioners on Thursday voted in favor of a proposal to designate 988 as the country's national suicide-prevention hotline number, arguing that having a 911-like option for people who are experiencing mental health crises could help combat the rising rate of suicides in the U.S. "The need for suicide prevention services has never been greater in modern times," FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said at the FCC's open meeting on Thursday. (Birnbaum, 12/12)

The Associated Press: Regulators To Set Up 3-Digit Suicide Hotline Number Like 911
A law last year required the Federal Communications Commission to study assigning a three-digit number for suicide prevention. The FCC said in a report that there is overwhelming support for a three-digit number because it would be easier for distressed people to get help. (Anderson, 12/12)

CNN: FCC Unanimously Approves Proposal For New 3-Digit Number As Suicide Prevention Hotline
During the public meeting Thursday, FCC commissioner Michael O'Rielly shared that his brother-in-law died by suicide and thanked the agency's staff for the "hard work." "These are about those that we can convince. These are about those willing to listen that can be driven in a different direction, that can be shown a path where life matters. So I pray that this item has the impact that we expect it to," O'Rielly said. (Stracqualursi, 12/12)

USA Today: 988: Suicide Prevention Three-Digit Number Gains FCC Approval
“The three-digit number is really going to be a breakthrough in terms of reaching people in a crisis,” said Dwight Holton, CEO of Lines for Life, a suicide prevention nonprofit. “No one is embarrassed to call 911 for a fire or an emergency. No one should be embarrassed to call 988 for a mental health emergency." (Shannon, 12/12)

The New York Times: Federal Watchdog Questions Billions Of Dollars Paid To Private Medicare Plans
A government report released Thursday found health insurance companies had combed through patient charts to obtain billions of dollars of additional payments from the federal Medicare program. The report, from the federal inspector general’s office, examined payments billed by insurers for those covered by private Medicare Advantage plans, which are increasingly popular and heavily promoted by the Trump administration. The findings showed that insurers were adding on conditions like diabetes and even cancer, reporting that patients were sicker, to receive higher payments from Medicare. (Abelson, 12/12)

Politico Pro: HHS OIG Says Medicare Advantage Plans Collected $6.7B In Improper Payments
The OIG flagged that insurers, in more than 99 percent of cases, added diagnoses of serious conditions like diabetes and vascular disease to their enrollees' medical charts even when the clinician records didn't justify it. They deleted diagnoses less than 1 percent of the time. The OIG said it’s not just concerned about the accuracy of the data the plans use to bill the government: If patients are as seriously sick as the insurers say, doctors’ own records aren’t showing they get the care they need. The OIG reviewed only patient data from 2016. Insurers pointed out that the auditors didn't look at patients' full medical history. (Luthi, 12/12)

Modern Healthcare: Chart Reviews Boost Medicare Advantage Payments By $6.7 Billion
"Chart reviews can be a tool to improve the accuracy of risk-adjusted payments by allowing (Medicare Advantage organizations) to add and delete diagnoses in the encounter data based on reviews of patients' records," the OIG wrote. "However, chart reviews—particularly those not linked to service records—may provide MAOs opportunities to circumvent the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' face-to-face requirement and inflate risk-adjusted payments inappropriately." (Livingston, 12/12)

On other news on CMS and Medicare —

Modern Healthcare: CMS To Repay Hospitals For Doctor's Visits
The CMS Thursday said it will pay hospitals the money it owes them for doctor's visits in 2019. A federal judge ruled in September that the Trump administration had exceeded its authority when it implemented its so-called site-neutral payment at off-campus hospital clinics. The American Hospital Association, which filed the lawsuit, estimated that the policy cost providers about $380 million in 2019. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer in Washington did not require the CMS to repay the funds at the time, instead asking the AHA and the CMS to file a joint status report. The CMS' decision is a big win for hospitals. (Brady, 12/12)

Modern Healthcare: HCAHPS Isn't Enough To Measure Patient Experience, Report Finds
Hospitals that used a comprehensive approach to measuring their patients' experience saw better clinical outcomes and brand recognition than their peers that only used federal survey requirements, according to a new analysis. While the CMS' Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey is a valuable tool in assessing and improving care quality, patient experience management firm Service Management Group said healthcare organizations that establish their own measurement strategies were more likely to see improvement. (Johnson, 12/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Medicare Enrollment Can Be Confusing And Lead To Unexpected Costs
As more Americans postpone retirement, a growing number are experiencing Medicare enrollment problems that can saddle them with hefty penalties and monthslong coverage gaps. The roots of the problem are Medicare’s complex rules and a lack of notice from the program explaining the steps older workers must take to enroll once they leave their jobs. In recent decades, Americans have remained in the workforce longer, for reasons including concerns about savings and a desire to keep working, with many putting off taking Social Security payments. (Tergesen, 12/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Slow VA Payments Left Veterans Facing Collection Agencies
A whistleblower at the Department of Veterans Affairs spurred an investigation that found hundreds of millions of dollars in improper travel claims and a deeply flawed system used when veterans seek care outside the VA, according to an internal VA investigation made public Thursday by the Office of Special Counsel. The top federal whistleblower-protection agency, which ordered the VA to conduct the investigation after reviewing the whistleblower’s allegations, called the hundreds of millions spent on improper travel claims a “gross waste of funds” and expressed concern that the VA has known since 2014 that veterans are being sent to collection agencies because of problems with the system used by the administration to pay private doctors. (Kesling, 12/13)

ProPublica: Inside Public Housing Where Cockroaches Drop From The Wall And Kids Are Getting Sick
Taft Homes has failed three of its five most recent inspections by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Peoria Housing Authority has delayed major repairs at the property even as it has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars over more than a decade to consultants and developers for plans that have yet to materialize, records and interviews reveal. Peoria’s case is extreme. But in many ways, the Taft Homes exemplifies the plight of publicly subsidized housing throughout Illinois. (Parker, 12/12)

The Hill: Memo Reveals Improper Medical Care By ICE Led To Deaths, Surgery For Child's Partial Forehead Removal 
A memo from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) whistleblower alleges that four migrants died in U.S. custody after receiving “grossly negligent” medical care, in addition to two who received preventable surgeries and two who were given incorrect medication. One of the preventable surgeries included an 8-year-old boy who had to have part of his forehead removed, according to the internal complaint, BuzzFeed News first reported. (Pitofsky, 12/12)

WBUR: While Others Wait, One Teen In Boston Is Granted Medical Deferred Action
Months after federal immigration officials reinstated deferred action for medical cases, a family in Boston who feared they'd be removed from the U.S. — even as their son continued to need life-saving treatments — now has clarity.Originally from Honduras, the Sanchez family came to Boston three years ago seeking proper health care for their 16-year-old son, Jonathan, who has cystic fibrosis. About three weeks ago, Jonathan, his mother and father received news that the government had approved their application for so-called medical deferred action. (Dooling, 12/12)

North Carolina Health News: In Short-Term Insurance Sites A 'Wild West' 
As thousands of North Carolinians sign up for health insurance for next year, many of them may receive robocalls or encounter ads and websites for policies marketing themselves as being affordable, but which actually cover very little. Websites with names like “Trump Health Care,” “Obamacare Plans” and “Provide Health Coverage” tout open enrollment, inviting consumers to search a variety of plans that may seem good on the surface. Upon closer examination, these plans have spending caps, exclude pre-existing conditions or don’t cover important services, such as prenatal care or prescription drugs. (Engel-Smith, 12/13)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia-Based Health Insurance Alternative Under Investigation
As open enrollment closes Sunday for plans sold on Affordable Care Act exchanges, most people will be able to get premiums that are subsidized and affordable, or even cost nothing at all. But those who face the brutal full cost of premiums are looking for alternatives. One of them is health sharing. (Hart, 12/12)

Miami Herald: Trump’s Actions Keep Obamacare Popular In Florida
As Florida leads the nation once again in sign-ups for Affordable Care Act plans, experts say the health insurance marketplace known as Obamacare has stabilized in part because the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the law have backfired and made coverage more affordable for many. After years of political wrangling, the health insurance marketplace set up under the Affordable Care Act appears to have stabilized in Florida, which leads the nation in sign-ups again this year by a healthy margin. (Conarck, 12/13)

The Associated Press: More People Signing Up For Health Insurance In California
More than 130,000 people have purchased health insurance through California's state-run marketplace for the first time, a 16% increase from last year now that the state is offering more money to help people pay their monthly premiums and will begin taxing people next year who refuse to buy insurance. Covered California released the numbers on Thursday ahead of a Sunday deadline for people to purchase insurance and have their plans effective Jan. 1. Plans purchased after Sunday would take effect Feb. 1. California's open enrollment period closes Jan. 31. (12/12)

California Healthline: Californians Without Health Insurance Will Pay A Penalty — Or Not
Californians, be warned: A new state law could make you liable for a hefty tax penalty if you do not have health insurance next year and beyond. But some of you need not worry: The law contains several exemptions that will allow certain people to avoid the penalty, among them prisoners, low-income residents and those living abroad. (Wolfson, 12/11)

California Healthline: Some Rejoice Over New California Health Insurance Subsidies. Others Get Shut Out.
Syd Winlock bought one of the cheapest health insurance policies he could find for himself and his wife, Lisa, this year: a high-deductible plan with lousy coverage and a $1,500-per-month price tag. For coverage next year, the Elk Grove, Calif., resident qualifies for new state-funded health insurance subsidies totaling about $870 per month. This aid allows him to buy a better plan with a lower deductible for about $1,200 per month. That’s still high, he said, but any help is welcome. (Ibarra, 12/12)

The Wall Street Journal: DOJ Charges 10 Ex-NFL Players With Health Care Fraud
The federal government charged 10 former National Football League players on Thursday with participating in a scheme that stole $3.4 million from an NFL health care fund for retired players. The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday announced charges against Robert McCune and nine other ex-players, including Clinton Portis and Correll Buckhalter, for two conspiracies that were linked to the same scheme to defraud the plan. The agency also said it also intends to charge Joe Horn and one other player. (Radnofsky and Gurman, 12/12)

CNBC: Clinton Portis, Other NFL Players Charged With Health Claims Fraud
“By defrauding the plan and treating it like their own personal ATM machine, sadly, the defendants placed the plan’s tax-exempt status at risk and threatened the ability of law-abiding former players to continue to receive tax-free reimbursements for legitimate medical expenses for themselves or their families,” said assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski. (Mangan, 12/12)

The Washington Post: Clinton Portis, 9 Others Charged In NFL Health Care Fraud Case
The players allegedly submitted false claims to the Gene Upshaw NFL Player Health Reimbursement Account Plan for reimbursement for medical equipment — such as hyperbaric chambers, cryotherapy machines, ultrasound machines used to conduct women’s health exams and electromagnetic therapy devices designed for use on horses — costing between $40,000 and $50,000. According to the indictments, the players fabricated documents, including invoices and prescriptions, to execute the plan. (Kilgore and Maese, 12/12)

CNN: Clinton Portis Is Among 12 Retired NFL Players Accused Of Health Benefits Scam Worth Over $3 Million
In addition, some defendants recruited other retired players to participate in the scheme in exchange for kickbacks and bribes that ranged from a few thousand dollars to $10,000 or more per claim, prosecutors said. McCune and Buckhalter even called the health benefits plan's phone line and impersonated other players to check on the status of the claims, the press release states. Health insurance company Cigna flagged anomalies in the types of claims being filed and referred the fraud to federal investigators, Benczkowski said. (Levenson, Kupperman and Martin, 12/12)

ABC News: 10 Former NFL Players Charged By DOJ In Alleged Health Care Fraud Scheme
Robert McCune, 36, John Eubanks, 36, Rogers and Brown were all arrested, according to a department official, while six others named in the indictments surrendered voluntarily. The maximum sentence for the charges range from 10 to 20 years, and DOJ noted that all are presumed innocent until proven guilty. (Mallin, 12/12)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Joe Horn, 9 Other Former NFL Players Accused Of Defrauding Health Care Program For League Retirees 
Joe Horn, a former standout wide receiver for the New Orleans Saints, is among several former NFL players who have been implicated in an alleged plot to defraud a health care program designed to help retired pro football players and their families. Horn, 47, faces one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in a case being pursued by the office of U.S. Attorney Robert Duncan in the Eastern District of Kentucky. His alleged misdeeds are spelled out in a bill of information, which suggests he is cooperating with prosecutors and may already have negotiated a plea deal. (Vargas, 12/12)

The New York Times: M.L.B. Updates Drug Policy To Include Opioid Testing
After a season that saw the opioid-overdose death of a 27-year-old pitcher, Major League Baseball and the players’ union on Thursday announced that players will be tested for opioids and cocaine starting in spring training under an updated drug policy. The update to the drug policy takes a treatment-based approach, rather than a punitive one, as players will only be disciplined if they violate a prescribed treatment plan after a positive test. (Wagner, 12/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Major League Baseball Players To Face Mandatory Opioid Testing
While MLB has long tested players for performance-enhancing drugs like anabolic steroids, under the previous protocol it could only test for opioids and other so-called drugs of abuse if it had “reasonable cause” to do so. Now all players will be subject to random testing for opioids, the drugs at the center of the public health crisis, as well as cocaine and synthetic THC. (Diamond and Radnofsky, 12/12)

The Associated Press: Tramadol Is An Odd, Unpredictable Opioid, Scientists Say
Scientists who’ve studied the curious chemistry of the opioid tramadol use an array of adjectives to describe it: “unpredictable,” “messy,” “crazy.” Tramadol is unlike most other opioids in that it must pass through the liver to be metabolized into its most potent form. At the same time, it releases another type of drug that acts as an antidepressant because it increases levels of serotonin in the brain, which elevates mood. (12/13)

The Associated Press: Another Opioid Crisis Is Raging Through The Developing World
Reports rolled in with escalating urgency — pills seized by the truckload, pills swallowed by schoolchildren, pills in the pockets of dead terrorists. These pills, the world has been told, are safer than the OxyContins, the Vicodins, the fentanyls that have wreaked so much devastation. But now they are the root of what the United Nations named “the other opioid crisis” — an epidemic featured in fewer headlines than the American one, as it rages through the planet's most vulnerable countries. (12/13)

Kaiser Health News: In The Fight For Money For The Opioid Crisis, Will The Youngest Victims Be Left Out?
Babies born to mothers who used opioids during pregnancy represent one of the most distressing legacies of an opioid epidemic that has claimed almost 400,000 lives and ravaged communities. In fact, many of the ongoing lawsuits filed against drug companies refer to these babies, fighting through withdrawal in hospital nurseries.The cluster of symptoms they experience, which include tremors, seizures and respiratory distress, is known as neonatal abstinence syndrome, or NAS. Until recently, doctors rarely looked for the condition. (Farmer, 13/13)

The Associated Press: Court Won't Halt Lawsuits Against Doctor In Murder Case
An Ohio hospital doctor who pleaded not guilty to murder in 25 patients' deaths was unsuccessful in his latest bid to pause more than a dozen related lawsuits while the criminal case is pending. A state appeals court dismissed the appeals from William Husel and his former employer, the Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System, for procedural reasons in the past two weeks. (12/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: Drug Treatment Admissions Dropping In SF Even As Overdoses Spike. Here’s Why
Admissions to addiction treatment programs in San Francisco have dropped by 20% over the past five years, even as drug use and overdose deaths have exploded, according to public health data published this week. Combined with recent reports of treatment center vacancies — on some nights, 1 in 4 beds is empty in San Francisco’s residential treatment facilities — the admissions data suggest that certain addiction programs are being underutilized at a time when the city is in a drug use crisis, some public health and elected officials say. (Allday, 12/12)

Bloomberg: Pittsburgh’s Insurance-Free Doctor Charges $35 Per Visit 
This fall, Dr. Timothy Wong opened the doors to iHealth Clinic, inviting patients for $35 walk-in appointments, seven days a week. The clinic’s hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. The sole staffer, he does everything from running the website to answering the phone to cleaning the exam room. (Cohen, 12/13)

In other insurance news —

Bloomberg: New York Union Blames Out-Of-Network Doctors For Millions In Costs 
[The union health plan called the 32BJ Health Fund] says markups by outside physicians inflate costs by millions of dollars each year. Thousands of times a year, the health plan pays a higher price because some doctors don’t take the same insurance as the hospitals where they practice. Over three years, 32BJ has paid more than $10 million to out-of-network doctors at New York hospitals in its network, according to data shared with Bloomberg News. Employers fund the plan, which is jointly governed by representatives of labor and management. (Tozzi, 12/12)

Stat: FDA Approves Sarepta's Once-Rejected Muscular Dystrophy Drug 
The Food and Drug Administration reversed its decision on a treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy from Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT), approving a previously rejected drug without explaining what the problem was in the first place. The therapy, called Vyondys 53, is approved to treat the roughly 8% of Duchenne patients whose disease results from a specific DNA error. In a clinical trial, Sarepta’s drug produced a small increase in an important muscle protein called dystrophin that is normally missing in children with Duchenne. (Garde, 12/12)

Stat: Chris Garabedian On Sarepta's Legacy And Biogen's Future At The FDA
This September marked the third anniversary of a pivotal moment in biotech. Back in 2016, Sarepta Therapeutics (SRPT) convinced the Food and Drug Administration to approve a treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy based on preliminary evidence from a tiny clinical trial. Critics — and there were many — argued that Sarepta hadn’t done enough to prove that its drug could actually help patients. And there were countless tweets and editorials claiming that the FDA had set a dangerous precedent by approving the company’s medicine. (Feuerstein, Garde and Robbins, 12/13)

In other pharmaceutical news —

Stat: PhRMA Sues Oregon Over Drug Pricing Laws, Calling Them 'Unconstitutional'
The trade group for the pharmaceutical industry has filed a lawsuit alleging a pair of Oregon laws is unconstitutional, the latest bid to push back against state efforts to shed more light on the rising cost of prescription medicines. One law required drug makers to notify the state when list prices rise by at least 10% or a new medicine is introduced that costs more than $670 for a month’s supply. (Silverman, 12/12)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Delayed Treatment, Missed Diagnoses Tied To Deaths Of 3 Inmates
Only four years ago, revelations of deaths due to negligence at Pulaski led to the dismissal of its medical director, Dr. Yvon Nazaire, and a state report focused on improving healthcare for women in the prison system. Now, with yet another wave of deaths, new concerns have emerged, with at least one physician contending that she tried to warn state officials that a crisis was looming. (Robbins, 12/13)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Pulaski State Prison: Eight Women's Deaths In Ten Months
These eight women have died at Pulaski State Prison from cancer and other medical conditions in the past 10 months. (Robbins, 12/13)

Atlanta Magazine: For Sheriffs, Healthcare For Inmates Can Be A Burden. For One Doctor, It Has Been The Opportunity Of A Lifetime.
The lives of doctors often revolve around their patients. On a brisk week in early December 2014, Carlo Musso was no exception. On Tuesday, he headed south on Interstate 75 beyond the edges of Atlanta’s sprawl. Not far past where the city fades to country, he pulled off the highway and drove toward the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison in Jackson. There, beyond the razor wire and sentry towers, a single patient awaited him. Robert Wayne Holsey, a 49-year-old inmate, had just a few hours left to live. Nineteen years earlier, Holsey had killed a sheriff’s deputy after a robbery at a convenience store outside Milledgeville. Now Holsey’s long fight for a reprieve was nearly over. Georgia law required a doctor to oversee his execution. That doctor would be Musso. (Blau, 12/12)

Bloomberg: Flu Season Is Already Here, And It’s Coming For Your Kids 
The flu is out in force. And so far this season, it’s been hitting children the hardest. ...Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said flu-like symptoms started spurring higher than normal doctor visits in the U.S. in early November—weeks earlier than other recent flu seasons. The disease has also shown up in and shut down elementary schools across the South and West, in states such as Texas, Idaho, Oregon and Alaska. Much of the Northeast, a traditional hotbed for flu-induced misery, remains largely unscathed for now. (Cortez, 12/13)

NPR: The Psychological Science Accelerator Pushes For Large-Scale Global Research
In 2008, psychologists proposed that when humans are shown an unfamiliar face, they judge it on two main dimensions: trustworthiness and physical strength. These form the basis of first impressions, which may help people make important social decisions, from whom to vote for to how long a prison sentence should be. (Chawla, 12/13)

The New York Times: You Could Die Today. Here’s How To Reduce That Risk.
Everyone dies, but almost nobody expects to die today. Yet, accidents do happen. In 2017, accidents and unintentional injuries were the third-most-common cause of death of Americans. Although we live in a remarkably safe world by historical standards, many of us needlessly increase our risk of sickness, injury and even death without realizing it. Let’s look at a hypothetical day and see which choices have the greatest potential benefits to our well-being. (Webb, 12/12)

The New York Times: New Zealand Seeks Human Skin To Treat Volcano Burn Victims
To treat more than two dozen tourists severely burned in a volcanic explosion earlier this week, doctors in New Zealand are rushing to obtain a unique medical export from the United States. The doctors are buying nearly 1,300 square feet of human skin. At a briefing on Thursday in Auckland, health officials outlined the desperate task before them. The volcanic explosion on White Island left 27 visitors with severe burns, some covering up to 95 percent of their bodies. Twenty-two are in critical condition. (Rabin, 12/12)

MPR: A New HIV Vaccine Effort With A Different Kind Of Strategy
The method behind their potential vaccine mimics a rare process detected in the immune systems of some people with HIV — a process the reduces the amount of virus in the body. The team from Duke and Harvard behind the work, which appears this month in the journal Science, says there is still a long road ahead before an actual vaccine is ready for large-scale field trials. But scientists in the field are more optimistic than they've been for some time. (Huang, 12/12)

The New York Times: Why Hospital Workers Fear Moving 50 Criminally Insane Patients
Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center in New York City has long been a place of mystery, with little known about what goes on behind the razor-wire fences. As a result, the state-run facility for the dangerously mentally ill — located on Wards Island in Manhattan — has gone all but unnoticed for decades, despite having held some of the city’s most notorious criminals, including serial killers and cannibals like Daniel Rakowitz, the so-called Butcher of Tompkins Square Park. (Correal, 12/13)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Concern Grows As Rate Of Uninsured Missouri Children Keeps Climbing 
Child advocates are concerned about a new nationwide report that places babies, toddlers and preschoolers in Missouri at the top of an alarming health care trend. Over the past two years, Missouri saw the biggest increase in the country in the rate of uninsured young children, according to a new analysis by Georgetown University. After reaching its lowest rate this decade in 2016, the percentage of uninsured children younger than 6 rose from 3.6% to 5.3% between 2016 and 2018, the report by the university’s Center for Children and Families showed. (Munz, 12/12)

Boston Globe: Partners HealthCare Is Launching A $100 Million Digital Health Initiative
Boston-based Partners HealthCare is spending at least $100 million on a broad new digital health initiative designed to improve the patient experience and make care more efficient, part of a growing movement to infuse 21st-century technology into health care. Partners officials said the five-year initiative will allow patients to book appointments online, communicate with providers through video and text, and access doctors’ notes. (Dayal McCluskey, 12/12)

The Associated Press: Judges Nixes Lawsuit About Toxic Mold At Mississippi Airbase
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a military family who says they were sickened by toxic mold at an air force base in Mississippi. U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr.'s ruling dismissed one of 14 lawsuits filed against Hunt Southern Group and Hunt MH Property Management, the owner and property manager of housing at the Keesler Air Force in Biloxi, The Sun Herald reports. (12/12)

Modern Healthcare: HealthPartners Sheds More Than 400 Jobs Across Three Rounds Of Cuts
Minnesota's HealthPartners has announced plans to cut about 445 jobs in various parts of the organization as the health plan and health system responds to declining Medicare reimbursement and other issues. The Bloomington, Minn.-based organization on Thursday confirmed it will close a home care division, a move that will eliminate 70 jobs. That's on top of the not-for-profit organization's announcement in November that it will close its retail pharmacies in early 2020, taking with them another 300 positions. (Bannow, 12/12)

ProPublica and Chicago Tribune: A 7-Year-Old Complained About A Scary Office At School. This Is The Video His Parents Saw — A Month Later.
This week, ProPublica Illinois and the Chicago Tribune co-published an investigation about Gages Lake School, a therapeutic day school in Lake County for students in kindergarten through fifth grade with emotional and behavioral disabilities. It is our latest story in “The Quiet Rooms,” an investigation into the way schools across Illinois have used — and often misused — seclusion. Over the 15-month period reporters examined, Gages Lake used seclusion more than almost any other Illinois school included in the analysis. We also published a video, based on surveillance footage from Gages Lake, of a 7-year-old boy, Staley Sandy-Ester, who was routinely put in the school’s seclusion rooms last spring. (Cohen and Smith Richards, 12/13)

Modern Healthcare: Florida Provider To Pay $85K Fine For Not Sharing Timely Patient Records
A Florida provider has agreed to pay HHS' Office for Civil Rights $85,000 million for allegedly neglecting to share a patient's medical records with their preferred third party, even after the agency assisted, the OCR said Thursday. The incident marks the second settlement the OCR has reached as part of its "Right of Access Initiative," an effort the agency launched earlier this year to ensure patients have access to their medical records as mandated under HIPAA. (Cohen, 12/12)

Georgia Health News: Hospital Transparency Rules Approved; State Gives Update On Waiver, Grady Flooding Crisis
Despite objections from hospital groups, Gov. Brian Kemp’s administration has stuck to its tough financial transparency rules for nonprofit hospitals. The board of the Department of Community Health, meeting in Atlanta on Thursday, gave final approval to new financial requirements that hospitals must follow, including disclosing top salaries, property holdings and business ventures. (Miller, 12/12)

Kaiser Health News: San Francisco Hopes To Improve Care For People With Mental Illness Living On Streets
San Francisco Mayor London Breed has promised to tackle her city’s homelessness crisis, a vexing situation involving drug abuse and mental illness that is compounded by the city’s high housing costs. Breed has asked Dr. Anton Nigusse Bland, most recently the medical director for psychiatric emergency services at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, to help solve the problem. In March, she appointed him to the newly created position of director of mental health reform. His main role is to help the city improve its mental health and addiction treatment for people experiencing homelessness. (Krans, 12/13)

The Oregonian: Fatal Portland Police Shooting Highlights Failures Of Mental Health System, Chief Says 
Prior to being shot and killed by Portland officers on Sunday, Koben Henriksen had several recent encounters with local police, all of which ended without police force and with Henriksen in a medical facility. On Thursday, four days after Henriksen’s death, Portland police released information describing prior encounters with the Portland man, noting that his death highlights failures in Portland’s mental health system. (Ramakrishnan, 12/12)

South Bend Tribune and ProPublica: A New Study Prompted By Our Reporting Confirms Elkhart, Indiana, Police Department Lacks Accountability
An outside study of the police department in Elkhart, Indiana, ordered after a series of reports last year by the South Bend Tribune and ProPublica, has found that a lack of accountability has tarnished the force’s reputation, with officers viewed in the community as “cowboys” who engage in “rough treatment of civilians.” The study, made public Thursday, provided a long list of recommendations to make officer discipline more consistent, promotions less political, citizen complaints easier to file and the department’s workings more transparent. (Sheckler and Armstrong, 12/12)

New Hampshire Union Leader: Judge Dismisses Littleton Hospital's Suit Over Walk-In Clinic 
Citing lack of jurisdiction, a judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by Littleton Regional Healthcare that sought to undo the approval by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services of a license for ConvenientMD Urgent Care, which operates a competing walk-in clinic. In his order, dated Dec. 10, Judge Lawrence MacLeod also denied Littleton Regional Healthcare’s request for an injunction to prevent DHHS from giving ConvenientMD Urgent Care a license for its facility at 551 Meadow St. in Littleton, which is about three miles from the hospital. (Koziol, 12/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: Kaiser Mental Health Workers To Begin Five-Day Strike Across California Monday
Kaiser Permanente’s mental health workers plan to begin a five-day strike across California Monday, a week after the Oakland health care nonprofit announced a new CEO. Around 4,000 unionized therapists, psychologists, social workers and other employees will form picket lines starting at 6 a.m. Monday outside Kaiser locations in the state. The action had been postponed for a month following the death of CEO Bernard Tyson. (Narayan, 12/12)

Houston Chronicle: Kevin Leago, Houston Firefighter Who Fought City For Benefits, Succumbs To Cancer 
Kevin Leago, the trailblazing Houston firefighter with cancer who fought City Hall to provide workers compensation benefits for his illness — and won — died Thursday. He was 40. Leago’s victory in court over city lawyers who argued his illness was unrelated to on-the-job carcinogen exposure set a precedent for dozens of current and retired Houston firefighters stricken with cancer, Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association President Marty Lancton said. (Despart, 12/12)

MPR: Environmental, Nuclear Worries Force Prairie Island Tribe To Seek New Lands
Prairie Island last year bought 1,200 acres near Pine Island, Minn., about 35 miles south on U.S. Highway 52. The tribe wants Congress to put the land into trust, adding it to the reservation. In return, the tribe would give up rights to sue the government over flooding caused by the lock-and-dam system. While it’s a logical step for a tribe that continues to grow and prosper, the relocation plan has reopened old wounds over the displacement of Native American people and white encroachment on Native lands. (Richert, 12/13)

Texas Tribune: A Houston Police Death And The Debate Over Who Should Have Guns In Texas
Here in Texas, there’s talk of “red flag” laws that would allow judges to temporarily seize the guns of people deemed dangerous to themselves or others. Expanding required background checks to include person-to-person sales between strangers. (Ramsey, 12/13)

PBS NewsHour: Ambitious Louisville Study Seeks To Understand Impact Of Trees On Our Health
Trees can add beauty and serenity to a neighborhood -- but can they also improve the health of its residents? In Kentucky, the University of Louisville — with help from the National Institutes of Health and The Nature Conservancy — aims to find out. Called Green Heart Louisville, the initiative involves a large-scale scientific study of how greenspaces affect public health. (Yang, 12/12)

The New York Times: A Runner Suddenly Developed Asthma. It Was Stranger Than It Seemed.
It was chest pain that brought the 34-year-old woman to the emergency room at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. She’d been coughing for days, but that morning the pain was so bad she was worried that it had turned into pneumonia. She tried to tough it out, but when it was no better by the end of the day, she decided to go to the E.R. It took a few hours, but finally the physician assistant caring for her in the E.R. brought some good news. She didn’t have pneumonia; she didn’t have a clot in her lungs. (Sanders, 12/12)

The Washington Post: My Terminally Ill Mother Wanted To End Her Own Life. What Would It Take To Fulfill Her Last Wish?
On a Sunday evening in July 2018, my 81-year-old mother raised a small red glass to her lips. In it was a mixture of water, grape juice and 10,000 milligrams of Seconal powder, a massively fatal dose of a barbiturate most commonly used for insomnia. She was sitting up in a hospital bed in her Washington, D.C., home, bathed in warm early evening light and wearing a thin white nightgown. She had spent the weekend calling close friends and loved ones to say goodbye, and chatting and passing time with me, my sister and all her grandchildren. A matriarchal figure, always vocal in her opinions, she took the time to dispense some final grandmotherly advice. “Don’t drink too much in your first year of college.” “Stop worrying so much about applying to college.” “No more tattoos.” (Zimmermann, 12/11)

Undark: Medical Advice From A Bot: The Unproven Promise Of Babylon Health
Hamish Fraser first encountered Babylon Health in 2017 when he and a colleague helped test the accuracy of several artificial intelligence-powered symptom checkers, meant to offer medical advice for anyone with a smartphone, for Wired U.K. Among the competitors, Babylon’s symptom checker performed worst in identifying common illnesses, including asthma and shingles. Fraser, then a health informatics expert at the University of Leeds in England, figured that the company would need to vastly improve to stick around. “At that point I had no prejudice or knowledge of any of them, so I had no axe to grind, and I thought ‘Oh that’s not really good,’” says Fraser, now at Brown University. “I thought they would disappear, right? How wrong I was.” (Hsu, 12/9)

The New York Times: When Dad Turns Out To Be The Fertility Doctor
Scores of families, using commercial DNA testing kits, have learned in recent years that, decades ago, their doctors lied to them. The doctors told infertile couples seeking artificial insemination that they would use sperm from a medical student, from someone who resembled the husband or simply from an anonymous donor. Instead, the doctors used their own sperm — a disturbing and profound violation of medical ethics. It’s called fertility fraud. But is it unlawful? (Liptak, 12/11)

The New York Times: The Unexpected Freedom That Comes With Freezing Your Eggs
At first glance, egg-freezing seems like an ideal technological solution to a longstanding human conundrum: What if women could postpone having children to the exact time in their lives that made the most sense for them? And the rising popularity of egg-freezing and the easy-breezy marketing surrounding it — “egg-freezing for the price of a healthy snack,” according to one ad featuring açaí berries and a smiling cartoon egg — make it seem as if the prospects of having a child were essentially a given. (Lampert, 12/11)

The Washington Post: Pete Buttigieg’s Disingenuous Attack On Medicare-For-All
When South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg released a list of the clients he worked for while at powerhouse consultant McKinsey a decade ago, one immediately leaped out to observers: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. After bringing the firm on, the nonprofit insurer downsized employees. When asked about it by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Tuesday night, Buttigieg denied having anything to do with those decisions, pointing out the downsizing came after he ceased working on that project. He then answered a question he wished had been asked. “What I do know is there are some voices in the Democratic primary right now who are calling for a policy that would eliminate the job of every single American working at every single insurance company in the country.” (Helaine Olen, 12/12)

The Washington Post: All Nations Should Have Universal Health Care
In the aftermath of the Second World War, Japan knew that the task of rebuilding a nation would require investments not only in new infrastructure but also in human capital. Japan made a political choice: a choice to invest in the health of its population through a universal health insurance scheme that ensured everyone was covered. Today, Japan has the world’s longest life expectancy and the world’s third-largest economy. (Shinzo Abe and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, 12/12)

USA Today: Court Striking Down ACA Would Not Leave People Without Health Insurance
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas is expected to rule soon on the constitutionality of Obamacare. While its decision will have significant implications for American health care policy, it won't affect people's health coverage for at least a couple of years as the appeals process plays out. In the meantime, a ruling striking down Obamacare would give the country the opportunity and the impetus to unite behind a health care reform plan that actually lowers costs, increases choices and improves the doctor-patient relationship. (Thomas Price and Alfredo Ortiz, 12/12)

Fox News: A Health Care Revolution Is Coming – It Could Give You 24/7 Access To A Doctor
In Washington’s increasingly toxic atmosphere – filled with impeachment hearings, the jostling of the Democratic primary, and an obsession with trivial gaffes and scandal over substance – it can be hard to notice when members of both parties collaborate to try and achieve something positive. Fortunately, it does still happen. One example is a bipartisan bill in the House and Senate to expand telehealth services in Medicare. (Former U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich and Joe DeSantis , 12/12)

Los Angeles Times: The House Takes A Much-Needed Swipe At Lowering Your Drug Prices 
Although lawmakers and President Trump have talked a good game about bringing down prescription drug prices, they’ve managed to take few, if any, steps toward that goal. Trump’s most dramatic proposals — tying the price of certain Medicare drugs to their prices overseas and barring payments from drug manufacturers to middlemen — have either been dropped or held up by internal bickering. And a Senate committee’s proposal to rein in drug price hikes, which garnered a rare degree of bipartisan support, has been stalled by opposition from Republican senators. (12/13)

The Detroit News: Lowering Prescription Drug Costs Is Urgent
For the last two years, the single most common issue Michiganians have raised with me hasn’t been ripped from the headlines. It is an issue that is dominating our kitchen-table conversations about family expenses: the price of prescription drugs. And Michiganians, regardless of party, are demanding that Congress do something about it. That’s why, shortly after being sworn in, I established advisory boards made up of seniors, patients, doctors, nurses and pharmacists to figure out how to tackle our skyrocketing drug prices. It quickly became clear that we needed to address three key areas: increasing transparency in drug pricing, driving down costs, and improving Medicare coverage. (U.S. House Rep. Elissa Slotkin, 12/12)

Boston Globe: We’re Desperately Short Of Psych Beds. We Could Fix That — If We Wanted To
Though several Boston hospitals have their own psychiatric units, none has enough beds to take everyone who comes in through its emergency department. Because of low reimbursement for mental health care, hospitals lose money on psychiatric services. As a result, they tend to have fewer psychiatric beds than medical and surgical beds. (Garrett Johnson, 12/12)

The New York Times: Would You Let A Robot Take Care Of Your Mother?
After Constance Gemson moved her mother to an assisted living facility, the 92-year-old became more confused, lonely and inarticulate. Two full-time private aides, kind and attentive as they were, couldn’t possibly meet all their patient’s needs for connection. So on a visit one day, Ms. Gemson brought her mom a new helper: a purring, nuzzling robot cat designed as a companion for older adults. “It’s not a substitute for care,” says Ms. Gemson, whose mother died last June at age 95. “But this was someone my mother could hug and embrace and be accepted by. This became a reliable friend.” (Maggie Jackson, 12/13)

The CT Mirror: Treating 'Chronic Lyme Disease:' Is It Medical Fraud?
There are few better examples of health care fraud than the promotion of so called “chronic Lyme disease.” Defined as “…a crime that involves misrepresenting information, concealing information, or deceiving a person or entity in order to receive benefits, or to make a financial profit,” this fraud is being perpetrated by a small group of physicians who profiteer by offering unproven treatment at high cost to people worriedly searching for answers for unexplained symptoms. (Lawrenace Zemel and Paul Auwaerter, 12/13)