The Associated Press: Report: US Health Spending Hits $3.5T But Growth Slows
The nation’s health care tab hit $3.5 trillion last year, or $10,739 per person, the government reported Thursday. But behind those staggering figures was some fairly good news: The rate of growth slowed for the second year in a row, according to economic experts at the federal Health and Human Services department. Health care spending increased by 3.9 percent in 2017, following a 4.8 percent increase in 2016. Private insurance spending grew more slowly in 2017, and so did Medicaid, while Medicare costs grew at about the same rate. The overall economy grew faster than health spending. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 12/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Growth In U.S. Health-Care Spending Slows
The report, published in the journal Health Affairs, said the slowdown may be linked, in part, to the lack of growth in health insurance enrollment. The insured rate of the population edged down to 90.9% last year from 91.1% in 2016. The report also pointed to changes in various health sectors, including a shift to lower-priced generic drugs and less use of high-price specialty medications. ... The new spending data are likely to fuel further discussions in Congress, where lawmakers have been wrapping up hearings on the high cost of health care. Health care was a central issue in the midterm elections, with polls showing many Americans worried about the price of care and the potential for losing benefits. (Armour, 12/6)

The New York Times: Growth Of Health Care Spending Slowed Last Year
But the rate of increase for the major categories — drugs, doctors and hospitals — was more modest than in recent years. For the first time in several years, health spending grew at about the same rate as the economy as a whole in 2017. So the share of the economy devoted to health care stabilized. By contrast, over the past few decades, health spending has generally grown faster than the economy. (Pear, 12/6)

The Hill: US Health-Care Spending Topped $10,739 Per Person In 2017: Report 
It’s the slowest increase in spending since 2013, before most parts of the Affordable Care Act took effect, including the expansion of Medicaid to more low-income adults. (Hellmann, 12/6)

Also,  a new study looks at what state officials see as priorities for changes in the health system --

The Fiscal Times: Fixing U.S. Health Care: Can States Step Up Where Washington Has Failed?
The midterm elections may have focused extensively on health care, but the results have done little to clarify where health care reform is headed. “The future of U.S. health care reform is muddier now than at any point in the past two decades,” write researchers from the Boston University School of Public Health, University College London and the Milbank Memorial Fund in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine. (Rosenberg, 12/6)

The New York Times: Why Is Obamacare Enrollment Down?
More than halfway through the sign-up period for Obamacare health plans, fewer people have enrolled in coverage than during the same stretch last year. Enrollment through the federal website Healthcare.gov, which manages insurance marketplaces in 39 states, is down 11 percent compared to 2017, according to government figures released Thursday. Given President Trump’s assault on the law, many people are watching this year’s enrollment closely for clues to its durability. While it is too soon to draw any firm conclusions, there are several reasons sign-ups could be lower — and not all of them spell trouble for the landmark legislation. (Abelson and Sanger-Katz, 12/6)

The Associated Press: Obama Health Law Sign-Ups Lagging For 2019
With open enrollment ending next week, the government says sign-ups for coverage under former President Barack Obama’s health care law are lagging when compared with last year. Figures released Thursday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services show that about 3.2 million people have signed up so far for subsidized private insurance, compared with about 3.6 million at the same time last year. Open enrollment ends Dec. 15. Health law supporters are concerned. The number of new customers is down nearly 18 percent. (12/6)

The Hill: ObamaCare Enrollment Down 11 Percent From Last Year
Enrollment in ObamaCare plans is down by 11 percent compared to last year, according to new sign up numbers released by the Trump administration. In the first five weeks of this year's sign up period, about 3.2 million people have signed up for ObamaCare plans, compared to the 3.6 million who had signed up by this point last year. (Hellmann, 12/6)

Maine's Medicaid expansion fight is also in the news —

Bangor (Maine) Daily News: Judge Rejects LePage Bid To Stall Medicaid Expansion
A judge has denied Gov. Paul LePage’s administration’s request to stay an order forcing it to implement voter-approved Medicaid expansion, but pushed the deadline to do so back to after the Republican leaves office. The Thursday ruling effectively hands the long-running political and legal fight over implementing a policy that voters approved in 2017 to Gov.-elect Janet Mills, a Democrat who has said fully implementing the expansion plan is a top priority. (Bleiberg, 12/6)

The Hill: Maine Judge Denies GOP Governor's Request To Stay Medicaid Expansion Order
The court on Thursday delayed a previous deadline it had set for enrollments in Medicaid expansion to begin from Dec. 5 to Feb. 1, meaning the new administration will be in place when enrollments start. “This is good news in that the court is denying the request for a stay, at the same time the court is extending the deadline for rulemaking and enrollment to February 1st,” said Robyn Merrill, executive director of Maine Equal Justice Partners, the advocacy group suing in favor of implementing Medicaid expansion. (Sullivan, 12/6)

The Hill: White House Requests Additional $190M For Housing Detained Migrant Children, Dem Lawmaker Says
The Trump administration has asked for an additional $190 million to operate immigrant detention facilities, according to a top House Democratic appropriator. “The White House has had the audacity to ask Congress for more money, even though we are done” with appropriations for the year, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) told reporters on a conference call Thursday. “Over my dead body will we provide another nickel for these folks to do what they’re doing." DeLauro is set to become head of the House Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), starting in January. (Weixel, 12/6)

The Texas Tribune: Future Of Tornillo Immigration Center Is Unclear After Contract Expires
With just weeks before a federal contract to operate a West Texas detention center for undocumented immigrant minors is set to expire, there is still no word whether the Trump administration plans to keep the site open into 2019. But the shelter operators maintain that another contract extension would be just one more short-term solution to a larger problem that needs a permanent fix. (Aguilar, 12/7)

The Washington Post: Apple Now Says Its Smartwatch Tech To Detect Atrial Fibrillation Is Not For Those With Atrial Fibrillation
The fine print on Apple’s latest foray into health care carries a seemingly strange caveat: its new Apple Watch technology to detect atrial fibrillation is not intended for people who have atrial fibrillation. The contradiction sums up the deeper questions raised by the introduction of a mass-market monitoring tool for the heart. Apple’s products are designed to inspire, with clean designs and seamless operation. But health care is messy and unpredictable. (Rowland, 12/6)

The Associated Press: EKG, Other Heart Health Features Come To Apple Watch
Apple Watch is now fulfilling its promise to let people take EKGs of their heart and notify them of any irregular heartbeat. Apple announced the heart features in September, but didn’t make them available until Thursday. The new features have been given clearance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and are for U.S. customers only. (12/6)

Related KHN coverage: In Grandma’s Stocking: An Apple Watch To Monitor Falls, Track Heart Rhythms (Bluth, 12/4)

Boston Globe: Involving Families And Patients In Hospital ‘Rounds’ Can Curb Medical Errors, Boston Researchers Find
Patient “rounds’’ — the crucial daily meetings when doctors and other caregivers determine treatment — often occur in hospital hallways and remote conference rooms. But a study led by Boston researchers concluded that it’s far safer to do rounds right at the bedside, with the full involvement of patients and families. (Kowalczyk, 12/7)

Stat: A New Way To Cut Medical Errors: Talk More To Patients And Families 
A new study suggests a simple idea could go a long way toward curbing dangerous medical errors: looping in patients and families about what’s happening with their care. It’s the latest evidence on the benefits of a long-running program to improve and streamline communications in hospitals. Called I-PASS, it was born at Boston Children’s Hospital and has since spread to dozens of hospitals around the country. (Thielking, 12/6)

Reuters: Special Report: After A Child's Dire Diagnosis, Hope And Uncertainty At The Frontiers Of Medicine
Natan was days away from a delicate surgery to remove part of the tumor that doctors had eventually found growing, weed-like, from his spinal cord. ... But even if successful, the surgery would be only a stop-gap measure, a starting point in a process that would propel our family to the forward edges of medical science. There, the genomics revolution, as it’s known, has made it possible to understand and confront what drives some cancers and other diseases. With tissue taken from the tumor, doctors told us, they would determine whether it was caused by a rare genetic mutation, which could radically change the course of his treatment. ... there was a slim chance Natan could beat back the tumor by merely swallowing a pill twice a day, with few, if any, side effects. (Gershberg, 12/6)

Reuters: Special Report: Learning About Targeted-Therapy Options
When we were told our son had a potentially life-threatening brain tumor, our family was lucky to have world-class doctors and hospitals close to home and health insurance that covered nearly all his medical expenses and prescription drug costs. These resources helped us make a difficult decision regarding treatment, a scenario many more families may face as modern medicine evolves. Here are some questions they may want to consider, based on our experience and interviews with cancer experts. (Gershberg, 12/6)

The Associated Press: Nobel Laureates: Despite Progress, Cancer Won't Be Wiped Out
The winners of this year’s Nobel Prize for Medicine say they expect substantial advances toward treating cancer in the next several decades, although it is unlikely the disease could be eradicated. “Soon we’ll get close with some cancers,” [James] Allison said, citing progress against some forms including melanoma. But, he said, “the world will never be cancer-free.” (Bzganovic, 12/6)

USA Today: Romaine Lettuce E. Coli Outbreak: Nine More Sickened, CDC Says
Nine more people have become sick after eating romaine lettuce amid an E. coli outbreak, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The total of people infected is now 52 across 15 states, the CDC said Thursday. The highest number of cases have been reported in California and New Jersey, each reporting 11 people sick. Seven people in Michigan, and six each in New Hampshire and New York were reported. Other states affected include: Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.  (May, 12/7)

The Hill: CDC: Romaine Lettuce Still Making People Sick
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says romaine lettuce grown in the U.S. continues to sicken Americans with symptoms related to an E. coli outbreak. In a news release Thursday afternoon, the CDC reported nine additional victims of illnesses related to the E. coli outbreak, bringing the total to 52 nationwide. No deaths have been reported, but 19 people have been hospitalized related to the outbreak. (Bowden, 12/6)

The Associated Press: School Lunch Rules OK Refined Grains, Low-Fat Chocolate Milk
The U.S. school lunch program is making room on menus again for noodles, biscuits, tortillas and other foods made mostly of refined grains. The Trump administration is scaling back contested school lunch standards implemented under the Obama administration including one that required only whole grains be served. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday only half the grains served will need to be whole grains, a change it said will do away with the current bureaucracy of requiring schools to obtain special waivers to serve select refined grains foods. (Choi, 12/6)

The Associated Press: Study That Took Aim At 'Joy Of Cooking' Is Retracted
More work by a prominent food researcher, including a study that took aim at the “Joy of Cooking,” has been retracted because of problems with the data. The Annals of Internal Medicine retracted a study that said the book’s recipes changed with updated editions to include more calories and bigger portions. It said a reanalysis by co-author Brian Wansink resulted in numbers that differed — “many substantially so” — from the published versions. ... The retraction is the latest for Wansink, who resigned from Cornell University in September after a school investigation found he engaged in academic misconduct, including misreporting of data. (12/6)

Bloomberg: One In 40 U.S. Children On Autism Spectrum: Demographic Trends 
An estimated one in 40 American children have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, according a study published in this month’s edition of the journal Pediatrics. ...The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder has increased over the past 30 to 40 years, most likely a result of “broadening diagnostic criteria, increased provider ascertainment at earlier ages, increased parent awareness, and an increase in some risk factors such as births to older parents,” the study said. (Tanzi, 12/6)

The Hill: CDC: 58M Americans Exposed To Secondhand Smoke 
An estimated 58 million American nonsmokers are exposed to secondhand smoke from others' burning tobacco products, according to new figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The data, gathered from 2013 to 2014, show that progress in reducing the public’s exposure to secondhand smoke has stalled in recent years, despite major declines in past decades. (Weixel, 12/6)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How Cesarean Births Became A Global Epidemic, And What Should Be Done
How did this major abdominal surgery — which poses significant risks — become mainstream in less than a generation? Many factors, including new obstetric technology, the effect of that technology on malpractice threats and costs, and changes in the way doctors are trained converged to make cesareans seem less risky than vaginal births, changing both obstetricians’ and pregnant women’s notions of what constitutes “normal” and “necessary” medical treatment during childbirth. (Wolf, 12/6)

USA Today: Suicide Survivor Answers Questions On How She Prevents Another Attempt
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new numbers last week showing that the nation's suicide rate is up 33% in less than 20 years. Suicide is a growing problem, yet stigma often prevents people from talking openly about it. Shelby Rowe attempted to take her own life almost 10 years ago, but she survived. She is one one of millions of Americans who survive suicide attempts and go on to live full, healthy lives. USA TODAY enterprise reporter Alia Dastagir interviewed Rowe, a leader in the field of suicide prevention, for USA TODAY's Surviving Suicide project. Rowe and Dastagir answered questions about suicide during a Reddit AMA Monday. (Dastagir, 12/6)

The New York Times: Trump Rule Would Limit E.P.A.’s Control Over Water Pollution
The Trump administration is expected to put forth a proposal on Tuesday that would significantly weaken a major Obama-era regulation on clean water, according to a talking points memo from the Environmental Protection Agency that was distributed to White House allies this week. The Obama rule was designed to limit pollution in about 60 percent of the nation’s bodies of water, protecting sources of drinking water for about a third of the United States. It extended existing federal authority to limit pollution in large bodies of water, like the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound, to smaller bodies that drain into them, such as tributaries, streams and wetlands. (Davenport, 12/6)

The Associated Press: Trump EPA Acts To Roll Back Control On Climate-Changing Coal
The Environmental Protection Agency acted again Thursday to ease rules on the sagging U.S. coal industry, this time scaling back what would have been a tough control on climate-changing emissions from any new coal plants. The latest Trump administration targeting of legacy Obama administration efforts to slow climate change comes in the wake of multiplying warnings from the agency’s scientists and others about the accelerating pace of global warming. (Knickmeyer, 12/6)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio Senators Delay Vote On Abortion Heartbeat Bill, Raising Questions Of Whether It’ll Become Law
On Thursday morning, Ohio Senate Health, Human Services and Medicaid Committee had convened for an expected vote on House Bill 258, which could have advanced the bill to the Senate floor later in the day. But committee chairman Sen. David Burke said there were several amendments and lawmakers needed more time to study them. (Hancock, 12/6)

Georgia Health News: Legislators Plan A Broad Revamp Of State’s Powerful CON Laws 
The influential House Rural Development Council on Thursday announced recommendations for legislation in the upcoming General Assembly session. These ideas include replacing [certificate of need regulatory system] CON with an accreditation and “rigorous licensing system’’ for health care providers. (Miller, 12/6)

Boston Globe: House Approves Bill That Would Set Up Benefits For Locked Out Utility Workers
With locked out National Grid workers facing the loss of unemployment benefits in January, the Massachusetts House on Thursday approved and sent to the Senate a potentially precedent-setting bill calling for the state to set up benefits for any utility employee locked out in a labor dispute. Under the bill, which lawmakers hope will force an end to the National Grid lockout and a contract agreement with natural gas workers, the state labor and workforce development secretary would be required to establish “a benefit program for any individual who is involuntarily unemployed during the period of the negotiation of a collective bargaining contract because of an employer’s lockout.” (Norton, 12/6)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Ochsner Raising Minimum Wage To $12 An Hour For 1,200 Employees 
Ochsner Health System is raising the minimum wage rate for 1,200 employees across the system starting Jan. 20. The pay increase will boost minimum wages from $8.10 per hour to $12 per hour for employees working in various areas such as environmental services, patient care and patient services, the health system said. Ochsner conducted a comprehensive human resources assessment of employee needs in 2017, which included improving the overall financial well-being of employees, according to an Ochsner spokesperson. (Clark, 12/6)

Denver Post: Longmont United Hospital Offers Nitrous Oxide For Labor Pain
Expecting mothers are often only given three options for pain relief during labor — intravenous narcotics, an epidural or nothing at all — but there is another option: nitrous oxide. Most people know nitrous oxide as the laughing gas administered in their dentist’s office, but other countries such as Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and Finland have used it as an analgesic during labor for over a century. (Spina, 12/6)

The New York Times: Getting Past The Barriers: When A Mother Is In Prison
Currently, over 200,000 women are imprisoned in the United States, the majority for nonviolent drug or property offenses, which have recently skyrocketed in connection with the opioid crisis. The number of children in foster care or living with relatives has soared as well. According to the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit research organization, women are the country’s fastest-growing prison population, and 80 percent of them are mothers. The overwhelming majority were the primary caregivers of their children. (Valencia, 12/6)

St. Louis Public Radio: Appeals Court Upholds Class Action Status For Thousands Of Missouri Inmates With Hepatitis
The American Civil Liberties Union and the MacArthur Justice Center sued the state on behalf of three inmates with the virus in 2016. The plaintiffs allege that the state didn’t treat their condition properly or quickly enough and only gave treatment to the people with the most serious symptoms. (Fentem, 12/6)

NPR: Programs Help Incarcerated Moms Bond With Their Babies In Prison
Sonya Alley is the Correctional Unit Supervisor overseeing the Residential Parenting Program at WCCW. She says the program gives women a tangible way to turn their lives around. "It gets them out of their addictive past and co-dependency on drugs, or alcohol or relationships," she says. "It seems oxymoronic but there's some clarity when forced to do a prison sentence and forced to be a parent. It starts to shift the way the women think about themselves, their environments and wanting the best for themselves and their child." (Corley, 12/6)

WBUR: Former Speaker DiMasi Reemerges As Advocate For Prisoners
Two years after his battle with cancer resulted in a shortened prison term, former House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi is stepping back into the public eye, offering harsh criticism of the federal Bureau of Prisons and indicating a desire to be an advocate for the better treatment of prisoners. The former North End politician said Wednesday that the cancer that led to his "compassionate release" from federal prison was in remission, and he called the Federal Bureau of Prisons a "rogue, rogue agency." (Murphy, 12/6)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio Infant Deaths In 2017 Second Lowest On Record, Disparity Rises
Ohio’s infant mortality rate fell in 2017 with 42 fewer infant deaths overall than the previous year, according to a report released today by the Ohio Department of Health. It’s only the second time since the state started recording these statistics in the 1930’s that fewer than 1,000 Ohio babies died (the first time was in 2014). (Zeltner, 12/6)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Health Clinic Still Withholding Family Planning Services
Family planning is still not being offered at the city's Southside Health Center, nearly a year after the crucial service was disrupted. The Journal Sentinel first reported months ago that family planning services — as well as cancer screenings — overseen by the troubled Milwaukee Health Department had been interrupted. (Spicuzza, 12/6)

Detroit Free Press: Feds: 6 Detroit Area Doctors Ran $500 Million Opioid Scam
In what federal prosecutors are calling one of the largest health care scams in U.S. history, six doctors from across Metro Detroit have been charged with running a $500 million opioid scheme out of Macomb County. The lead defendant is  Dr. Rajendra Bothra, 77, a well-connected Bloomfield Hills surgeon,  philanthropist and politician who owns the pain clinics at the center of the case: The Pain Center USA in Warren and Eastpointe; and Interventional Pain Center in Warren. (Baldas, 12/6)

Boston Globe: Mass. Medical Marijuana Program To Be Overseen By Cannabis Control Commission
The Massachusetts medical marijuana program will transfer hands from one state agency to another later this month, giving the Cannabis Control Commission oversight of both recreational and medical marijuana programs in the state. Effective on Dec. 23, the commission will oversee the medical marijuana program, rather than the Department of Public Health, which has run the program since it started in 2014. (Gans, 12/6)

Stat: A Nonprofit Wants To Test Pig Skin To Help Burn Victims Recover 
Somewhere in North Grafton, Mass., lives a drove of remarkable miniature pigs. They’ve been specifically bred for more than 40 years to help save humans’ lives. In a few weeks, they’ll be put to the test for the first time. For years, scientists have sought some way to protect raw, burned flesh — and some think these pigs can help. Without something covering burned skin, a person’s body loses water and protein and is more vulnerable than usual to infection. (It also hurts like hell.) Pig skin is more available than human skin, the covering of choice. But due to concerns about pieces of an ancient virus that lurk in pigs’ DNA, it hadn’t been explored in a clinical trial. (Sheridan, 12/7)

CQ: Supervised Injection Site Implementation Faces Uphill Climb
A growing number of cities are seeking to fight the opioid epidemic by providing people with an addiction a place to inject drugs with sterile needles, despite questions about the practice’s legality under federal law. The trend suggests a showdown with the Justice Department may come if one of these cities is able to pass legislation and find funding to open a supervised injection site, which could happen as soon as next year. (Raman, 12/7)

The New York Times: ‘A Witness That They Were Here’: Los Angeles Honors 1,457 Of Its Unclaimed Dead
They are the forgotten people of Los Angeles — 1,457 people, to be exact. Old, poor, homeless, babies born premature and abandoned. They may have died alone, but they were buried together, in a mass grave, and were honored together this week in an interfaith ceremony that has been an annual ritual in Los Angeles for more than a century. (Arango, 12/7)

The Associated Press: Groups Sue To Block Medical Marijuana Compromise In Utah
A pair of advocacy groups in Utah sued Thursday to block a compromise agreement legalizing medical marijuana, accusing the Mormon church of unconstitutional domination and interference in a process that led to the gutting of a measure approved by voters. The lawsuit alleges the revised initiative creates overwhelming obstacles for suffering patients who want to obtain the drug. It also asks a judge to set aside the revision passed by lawmakers and keep the original version that won with 53 percent of the vote in November. (McCombs and Whitehurst, 12/6)

USA Today and Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Violated: How The Indian Health Service Betrays Patient Trust And Treaties In The Great Plains
Dozens of patients have died needlessly due to errors made in IHS hospitals in South Dakota alone. Thousands more in the state’s rural Indian reservations face limited access to primary care providers, long wait times for basic medical treatments and outstanding medical debt for necessary care sought outside the federally-funded facilities. The federal government has largely ignored the deplorable conditions. Even well-intentioned lawmakers representing states with significant Native American populations have failed to make meaningful change, including South Dakota’s Congressional delegation. Meanwhile, the U.S. government remains in violation of its treaty promise to provide health care to Native Americans. (Ferguson, 12/6)

NPR: Robot Punctures Can Of Bear Repellent At Amazon Warehouse, Sickening Workers
Twenty-four workers at an Amazon warehouse in New Jersey were taken to area hospitals after being exposed to bear repellent on Wednesday morning, when a robot punctured a can of the aerosol spray. One woman was reported to have been critically injured in the incident, which caused at least 54 workers to have difficulty breathing, and burning throats and eyes, NJ.com reports. The warehouse, which is ventilated, measures about 1.3 million square feet. (Wamsley, 12/6)

Kaiser Health News: More Than Half Of California Nursing Homes Balk At Stricter Staffing Rules
More than half of California’s nursing homes are asking to be exempted from new state regulations that would require them to spend more time directly caring for their patients. The state’s new staffing requirements for nursing homes, quietly passed in last year’s budget bill, seem universally unpopular. Patient advocates say the new regulations don’t go far enough and that residents remain at risk in poorly staffed homes. Nursing home operators say they can’t hire enough staff to comply. (Feder Ostrov, 12/7)

The New York Times: The Ticking Time Bomb Under Obamacare
Yes, the Democrats reclaimed the House. But you should not assume that your health care coverage is now safe. The biggest threat is President Trump himself: His administration has been relentlessly assaulting the Affordable Care Act for two years, and that threat has not abated. Democrats may have made significant electoral gains by running on the protection of the pre-existing-conditions guarantee to insurance, but Republicans apparently aren’t listening. The president and his party remain focused on taking health care away. (Abbe R. Gluck and Erica Turret, 12/6)

Detroit News: Reasons Why Congress Must Revisit Preexisting Conditions
According to conventional wisdom, the recent congressional elections demonstrate that the Affordable Care Act’s rules requiring insurers to cover people with preexisting conditions are politically untouchable. Democrats made preserving those rules their number-one campaign issue. Voters responded by handing Democrats control of the House of Representatives. This assessment might be correct—if the election had clearly presented voters both the costs and benefits of those rules. Unfortunately, that did not occur. (Michael F. Cannon, 12/5)

The New York Times: To Make America Richer, Help Poor Children
Recent Republican attempts to weaken the social safety net have one big thing in common: The pain they would inflict on poor children could last a lifetime. This is not only miserly but also shortsighted. Research shows that safety net programs keep children in school and out of trouble, and increase their chances of being healthier and living longer. All of this has a positive effect on our economy. In August, the Trump administration said it was considering a rule that would penalize green card applicants if anyone in their family had ever relied on a safety net program, such as food stamps or Medicaid. It’s estimated that in New York City alone, a million immigrants would be affected by the new rule and perhaps forced to choose between their green cards and putting food on the table. The public comment period on it ends next week. (David L. Kirp, 12/6)

Los Angeles Times: The Camp Fire Took My Home. Now I Understand That No One Ends Up Sleeping Under An Overpass By Choice
Since the fire that wiped out Paradise and Magalia, Calif., — and my house — on Nov. 8, I've thought about the homeless every single day. Until I joined their ranks, I had forged a tenuous truce with my conscience where the less fortunate were concerned, handing out spare change or writing a charity check with a mix of queasy self-pride and guilt. Then I became “less fortunate.” I wasn't reduced to sleeping in a tent on skid row, nor did I have to ask strangers for a handout, but I was humbled nonetheless, humiliated, daily, at being displaced, literally a refugee. Though I carried a credit card that wasn't maxed out, and though I still had a car, my status in the world had been redefined, and I felt the change. (Jaime O'Neil, 12/7)

USA Today: Food Irradiation Could Have Prevented Illness From Romaine, Beef
The United States is being hit by two large foodborne illness outbreaks — first, the E. coli outbreak in romaine lettuce, and now a salmonella outbreak in beef that has sickened more than 200 people. These high-profile cases underscore the inadequacy of the safety measures meant to protect our food supply. If we are serious about addressing this issue, we must implement food irradiation. (Alex Berezow, 12/7)

The Hill: Policymaker Action Required To Ensure Patient Access To Lung Cancer Treatments
Advances in treatment have completely transformed the way that Americans are living with lung cancer, something that was unthinkable even ten years ago. Since 2015, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved 26 new drugs and treatment indications for lung cancer, including 17 biomarker-driven therapies. While Lung Cancer Awareness Month was an opportunity to recognize the great progress we have made in treating this deadly disease, now is an important moment to consider the additional steps that policymakers can take to ensure patient access to these revolutionary treatments. (Andrea Ferris, 12/6)

JAMA: Does The Term Intensive Care Unit Promote Aggressive Treatment?
Six million Americans are admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) each year. Many receive aggressive efforts to return them to health that are appropriate and consistent with their values. Others are treated aggressively, despite a poor prognosis, even though many people indicate that they would not want burdensome treatment in such a situation. The term intensive care unit and its abbreviation, ICU, may contribute to this discrepancy by implying a default option of aggressive life-sustaining therapy. (Brian L. Block, 12/8)

USA Today: Why Conservatives Should Support Ban On Flawed Gay Conversion Therapy
About 700,000 LGBT adults were put through conversion therapy at some point in their lives and, under current law, it’s estimated that 77,000 more young people will receive it sometime before they turn 18. We can’t allow this to continue. It’s time for all conservatives to acknowledge that conversion therapy simply doesn’t work. (Brad Polumbo, 12/6)

The Hill: 41 Percent Of Americans Don’t Plan On Getting A Flu Shot — Don't Be One Of Them
 If you predictably knew that an event was about to occur in which thousands of Americans would be killed and you had a way to diminish the impact, would you do it? I know I and many people would, but apparently 41 percent of Americans disagree. What I am referring to is not some missile shield or tsunami warning system, but something much more important: the influenza vaccine. A new study by the University of Chicago reveals that in November, as we stand on the precipice of the flu season, 41 percent of American adults are not vaccinated against this season’s flu strains and do not plan to be. Making matters worse, 39 percent of those studied don’t plan to vaccinate their children. (Amesh Adalja, 12/6)

JAMA: Probiotic Safety—No Guarantees 
For centuries, people have consumed live bacteria in many foods, such as yogurt, cheese, kimchi, and sauerkraut. The mass-marketing of isolated live bacteria for their purported beneficial or “probiotic” properties, however, is a relatively recent phenomenon. The World Health Organization defines probiotics as “live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host.” Yet to be sold as a probiotic supplement in the United States, a live microorganism does not require evidence of efficacy or even safety. (Pieter A. Cohen, 12/8)

Stat: NIH's Ask To Remove One Exhibit Portrait Is Like Asking To Remove Them All
My friend and fellow rare-disease warrior, Patty Weltin, recently reached out to me on social media. “I’m so upset,” she said in a private message. “Beyond the Diagnosis isn’t going to the NIH.” “Beyond the Diagnosis” is an exhibit of portraits of people — mostly children — with rare diseases that have been created by a small army of volunteer artists. More than that, it’s a presentation of the colorful souls within those seemingly imperfect bodies and a bright, uplifting, safe way to display them. (Annette Maughan, 12/6)