The New York Times: How Pending Decision On Obamacare Could Upend 2020 Campaign
A federal appeals court in New Orleans is preparing a ruling on the Affordable Care Act that could put the law’s future front and center in the presidential race, overwhelming the current Democratic debate over Medicare for all and reigniting the health care-driven worries that helped Democrats win back the House last year. Three judges on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals are weighing whether to uphold a Texas judge’s ruling that the law’s requirement for most Americans to have health insurance is unconstitutional, and that the rest of the sprawling law cannot function without it. (Goodnough, 10/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Medicare For All Loses Support Amid Lack Of Detail On Costs To Voters
Support for Medicare for All is showing signs of slipping as top-tier Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders struggle to sell the proposal without providing specifics on the financial costs for voters. Meanwhile, an abundance of other health proposals aired by the Democratic primary field is complicating messaging efforts as polls show many voters still don’t understand what specific plans would do. (Armour, 10/17)

In other election news —

The Hill: Abortion Rights Group To Host Presidential Forum On Reproductive Rights 
NARAL Pro-Choice America will host a presidential forum focused on reproductive rights and abortion, the group announced on Thursday. The forum will take place in the second to last week in January in Des Moines, Iowa, a key primary state. The abortion rights campaign group said the forum would feature Democratic presidential candidates, but did not provide a list of who is expected to attend. (Hellmann, 10/17)

The Associated Press: Pelosi Moves On Drug Prices Despite Falling-Out With Trump
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is plowing ahead with her bill to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices despite a breakdown in relations with her chief bargaining partner on the issue — President Donald Trump. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated the legislation would save Medicare $345 billion over seven years, partly because some seniors would no longer have to skimp on costly medicines, and they'd stay healthier. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 10/17)

CNBC: Key House Committee Passes Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Sweeping Drug Pricing Bill
The main thrust of Pelosi’s bill will allow Medicare to negotiate lower prices on as many as 250 of the most expensive drugs per year and apply those discounts to private health plans across the U.S. The bill also includes a penalty on drugmakers that refuse to negotiate or fail to reach an agreement with the U.S. government, starting at 65% of the gross sales of the drug in question. Republican members on the committee expressed concerns with the legislation, particularly that it would discourage innovation for new medicines in the pharmaceutical industry. Some GOP members said the legislation was rushed and dead on arrival in the Senate. (Lovelace, 10/17)

Bloomberg: House Democrats Push Forward With Drug-Price Negotiation Bill 
The bill was approved by the House Education and Labor Committee by a 27-21 vote along party lines, as the Energy and Commerce Committee was still discussing it. A final vote is expected later Thursday. “I don’t believe I was elected to write bills that will never go anywhere,” said Representative Michael Burgess, a Texas Republican. “That’s exactly where this bill is headed.” (Ruoff, Stein and Porter, 10/17)

CQ: House Panels Advance Drug Bill Set For Floor Action This Month
Energy and Commerce adopted a bipartisan amendment from Reps. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., and Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., that would increase reimbursements for generic versions of complicated, expensive biotech drugs for five years. Under the part of Medicare that covers doctor visits, Part B, health providers buy the drugs and are reimbursed at a 6 percent markup of the drug’s average sales price. To encourage more widespread adoption of the generic versions of biologic drugs, known as biosimilars, the amendment would provide an 8 percent markup over a biosimilar’s average sales price.  (Siddons, Clason and McIntire, 10/17)

Stat: Pelosi: Democrats Will Name Marquee Drug Pricing Bill For Late Rep. Cummings
House Democrats’ signature legislation to lower the cost of prescription drugs will be named for the late Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday. Cummings, a longtime Baltimore politician, who passed away early Thursday at age 68, chaired the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and was a longtime champion for lowering drug prices. (Facher, 10/17)

Kaiser Health News: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Democrats Do Drugs (Prices)
Despite the turmoil from the ongoing impeachment inquiry, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are proceeding with work on a major prescription drug price bill crafted by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Meanwhile, broader health issues continue to be a point of contention among the Democratic presidential candidates.And courts around the country are dealing setbacks to many of the Trump administration’s health agenda items, including one that would make it harder for immigrants to get green cards if they use public programs. (10/17)

And in other pharmaceutical news —

Politico Pro: PhRMA Urges Trump Not To Deal Away Prized USMCA Provision
Brand-name drug manufacturers were one of the earliest supporters of the new North American trade deal, but now the industry’s prized provision is in danger of being weakened as President Donald Trump tries to get the agreement through Congress. The NAFTA replacement deal would provide 10 years of market exclusivity for biologic drugs, a new class of medicines developed from living organic molecules, rather than chemicals, that are used to treat numerous serious and life-threatening diseases such as cancer. (Palmer, 10/17)

The New York Times: Judge Summons Drug C.E.O.S For Talks On Sweeping Opioid Settlement
A mayor of a small West Virginia city brought to its knees by opioids and representatives of large cities and counties left reeling by the epidemic will gather in federal court here on Friday morning, to sit side by side with chief executives from the country’s largest drug distributors. Along with platoons of lawyers, including representatives from four state attorneys general, they have been summoned by Judge Dan A. Polster, who is trying to wrest a far-reaching, last-minute agreement to resolve thousands of lawsuits before the start of the first trial on Monday. (Hoffman, 10/18)

The Washington Post: Landmark Opioid Trial Could Be Averted If Friday Meeting Ends In Settlement
CEOs of the major companies are expected be present — an unusual circumstance for a settlement conference. Attorneys general of North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Tennessee also will participate, along with the lead lawyers for the counties, cities, Native American tribes and other groups that have filed suit against the drug companies. They will discuss a settlement currently valued at about $50 billion in cash and drug treatment medications, according to those close to the negotiations who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks are at a critical stage. (Benstein, Higham, Horwitz and Davis, 10/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Talks To Settle Opioid Lawsuits Intensify
Reaching a truly comprehensive resolution has proved challenging for the drug companies because of the many plaintiffs’ competing agendas. In addition to 2,500 lawsuits filed by cities, counties, hospitals and Native American tribes in federal court, virtually every state attorney general has filed their own lawsuit in state courts. Attorneys general in Tennessee, Texas, North Carolina and Pennsylvania are leading the current round of talks, causing tension with some other states that feel cut out of the process. Some plaintiffs’ lawyers representing cities and counties don’t support the deal currently under discussion, a person familiar with the matter said. (Randazzo and Hopkins, 10/17)

Bloomberg: McKesson CEO Among Four Summoned To Court For Opioid Talks 
The CEOs of McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and two other companies seeking to settle legal claims over their handling of opioid painkillers were summoned to meet with a judge in hopes of hammering out a final deal, according to two people familiar with the matter. U.S. District Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland, who is overseeing the first federal trial over the U.S. opioid epidemic, demanded that the chief executive officers appear in his court on Friday to discuss their settlement proposals, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential. (Feeley and Griffin, 10/17)

The Associated Press: Jury Seated In Opioid Case, But Settlement Talks Go On
A jury was seated Thursday for the first federal trial on the opioid crisis, but the push to settle the case before opening arguments next week continued, with company officials expected to gather for further talks. (Gillispie and Mulvihill, 10/17)

In other news on the opioid crisis —

Los Angeles Times: Opioid Addiction Can Be Overcome With Mindfulness, Study Suggests
The ancient practice of mindfulness may be a powerful tool in fighting the modern-day epidemic of opioid addiction, new research suggests. In a series of studies, an eight-week course in mindfulness techniques appeared to loosen the grip of addiction in people who had been taking prescription painkillers for years and experienced powerful cravings for the drugs. (Healy, 10/17)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: While Millions Are Spent To Fight The Opioid Epidemic, A Meth Crisis Quietly Grows In Wisconsin
Jess Przybylski had never really dealt with loss. Then the father of her children was killed in a car crash. In 2011, her friends offered her methamphetamine to distract from the grief. Soon after, Przybylski lost her job. Her two children were taken from her once, then once more when she was caught faking a drug test. A growing rap sheet eclipsed her college degree as she lost cars, relationships — and nearly her life.   (Schorr, 10/17)

The Associated Press: J&J Agrees To $117M Settlement Over Pelvic Mesh Devices
Johnson & Johnson has agreed to a $117 million multistate settlement over allegations it deceptively marketed its pelvic mesh products, which support women's sagging pelvic organs. Ohio's attorney general said Thursday an investigation found that J&J, the world's biggest health products maker, violated state consumer protection laws by not fully disclosing the devices' risks. (Johnson, 10/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Johnson & Johnson To Pay $117 Million Over Surgical Device Marketing
J&J and its subsidiary were allegedly aware of the possibility for medical complications from the devices but didn’t adequately warn consumers or surgeons, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said Thursday about the multistate settlement. The settlement involves no admission of liability or misconduct on the part of Ethicon, a spokeswoman said in an email, adding that the company “remains focused on meeting the significant surgical care needs of health care providers and patients. (Sebastian, 10/17)

The New York Times: Johnson & Johnson Settles Pelvic Mesh Sale Claims For $117 Million
Pelvic mesh products have been at the heart of roughly $8 billion in personal-injury settlements between several manufacturers and tens of thousands of women in the United States. This year, the Food and Drug Administration, after years of complaints, stopped the sale of pelvic mesh to treat a condition called organ prolapse. Johnson & Johnson had stopped selling pelvic mesh to treat that condition in 2012, but it and other manufacturers still sell similar products to treat urinary incontinence in women. (Goldstein, 10/17)

ProPublica: We Found Over 700 Doctors Who Were Paid More Than A Million Dollars By Drug And Medical Device Companies
Back in 2013, ProPublica detailed what seemed a stunning development in the pharmaceutical industry’s drive to win the prescription pads of the nation’s doctors: In just four years, one doctor had earned $1 million giving promotional talks and consulting for drug companies; 21 others had made more than $500,000. Six years later — despite often damning scrutiny from prosecutors and academics — such high earnings have become commonplace. (Ornstein, Weber and Jones, 10/17)

The New York Times: Union Says G.M. Strike Won’t End Until Workers Vote On Deal
The longest strike against General Motors in half a century isn’t over yet. Leaders of union locals voted Thursday to approve a tentative contract agreement with the automaker, but said the strike — already a month old — would continue until workers voted to ratify the deal. After meeting for more than five hours in Detroit, the group said voting by the 49,000 members of the United Automobile Workers at G.M. plants would begin on Saturday and be completed within a week. (Boudette, 10/17)

KCUR: Health Insurers Have To Give Back $1.4 Billion, And Kansans Get The Fattest Checks 
A private insurer’s 2018 premiums in Kansas ran too high — at least compared to the medical bills it had to pay for customers that year. That means thousands of Kansans get money back this fall because they got overcharged last year. Sunflower, a subsidiary of Centene, ran afoul of rules in the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. That forced rebates of more than $25 million dollars to nearly 19,000 customers who bought Ambetter individual health plans. (Llopis-Jepsen, 10/17)

Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealthcare Outpatient Surgery Policy Threatens Hospital Revenue
UnitedHealthcare is ramping up a prior authorization policy intended to shift outpatient surgeries to lower-cost settings outside of the hospital, a move that could put a dent in hospital revenue. It's the latest volley in a battle over where care should be delivered. Other health insurers in recent years have begun refusing to pay for some services, such as MRIs, when they occur in hospitals, which generally charge higher prices than physician offices or ambulatory surgery centers. UnitedHealthcare's new policy takes an aggressive stance on planned surgeries. (Livingston, 10/17)

Modern Healthcare: GE Healthcare, Premier Explore Same-Day Breast Cancer Diagnosis Clinic
GE Healthcare and Premier are working together to develop a care model that would allow patients to receive diagnosis and treatment plan information for breast cancer in the same day. Right now, women often must wait several days or even weeks after a follow-up mammogram before they know the results. Then, another appointment is set up to discuss the diagnosis and treatment plan. (Castellucci, 10/17)

Boston Globe: AG Says Price Transparency Isn’t Helping Consumers Save On Health Care Costs
Years after Massachusetts health insurers launched websites to help consumers make sense of medical costs, the tools are seldom used and are failing to contain health spending as hoped, according to a report from Attorney General Maura Healey’s office. The analysis injects fresh skepticism into the popular theory that giving consumers more information about the cost of medical services will compel them to choose lower-cost health care providers. (Dayal McCluskey, 10/17)

Kaiser Health News: In Hamburg, ‘Gesundheit’ Means More Than A Wish For Good Health
Researchers around the world hail Germany for its robust health care system: universal coverage, plentiful primary care, low drug prices and minimal out-of-pocket costs for residents. Unlike in the U.S., the prospect of a large medical bill doesn’t stand in the way of anyone’s treatment. “Money is a problem in [their lives], but not with us,” said Merangis Qadiri, a health counselor at a clinic in one of Hamburg’s poorest neighborhoods. (Luthra, 10/18)

Kaiser Health News: Sen. Grassley Questions UVA Health On Findings From KHN Investigation
In response to a Kaiser Health News investigation into the University of Virginia Health System’s aggressive collection practices, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter Thursday demanding answers to questions about UVA’s billing practices, financial assistance policies and even its prices. Over six years, the state institution filed 36,000 lawsuits against patients seeking a total of more than $106 million in unpaid bills, a KHN analysis finds.The Finance Committee oversees federal tax laws, and Grassley wrote that it is “my job to make sure that entities exempt from tax are fulfilling their tax-exempt purposes.” (Lucas, 10/17)

The New York Times: Juul Suspends Online Sales Of Flavored E-Cigarettes
Juul Labs announced on Thursday that it would temporarily halt online sales of flavored e-cigarettes like mango, products the company had already stopped distributing to retail stores as public outrage mounted over the soaring rate of teenage vaping. Facing multiple federal and state investigations into its marketing practices, Juul said it decided to discontinue the sales for now until the Food and Drug Administration had reviewed the device and flavor cartridges. But the suspension, which also includes crème, fruit and cucumber, does not extend to menthol or mint. (Kaplan, 10/17)

The Washington Post: E-Cigarette Giant Juul Suspends Online Sales Of Mango And Three Other Flavors
The flavors mango, crème, fruit and cucumber, which have helped fuel Juul’s popularity, have been available only on its website to people 21 and older since late last year. Three other flavors — mint, menthol and tobacco — will continue to be sold online and in retail outlets. The company said it is reviewing whether to suspend sales of mint and menthol flavors. The action comes ahead of expected action by the Trump administration against flavored e-cigarettes. Last month, President Trump announced the Food and Drug Administration would ban all flavored e-cigarettes — except tobacco-flavored ones — in an effort to stem the increase in youth vaping. The plan has not been issued yet. (McGinley, 10/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Juul Halts Online Sales Of Some Flavored E-Cigarettes
The FDA, which regulates tobacco, has given e-cigarette manufacturers until May 2020 to submit for review any products they want to keep on the market after that date. If the agency implements its proposed ban on most vaping flavors, manufacturers can seek the FDA’s authorization to renew selling sweet and menthol-flavored products. But first they must demonstrate that the products provide a net benefit to public health. (Maloney, 10/17)

ABC News: Juul Suspends Sale Of Sweet Flavors Amid Mysterious Vaping Deaths, Criticism Over Teen Use
In a statement, Juul's new CEO, K.C. Crosthwaite, said that the company's products are intended for adult consumers. "We must reset the vapor category by earning the trust of society and working cooperatively with regulators, policymakers, and stakeholders to combat underage use while providing an alternative to adult smokers," the statement said. (Schumaker, 10/17)

Bloomberg: Juul Suspends Sale Of Most E-Cigarette Flavors In U.S.
Juul said the new sales restriction comes out of a review led by the new chief executive officer, K.C. Crosthwaite, who joined last month from tobacco giant Altria Group Inc. As part of that review, Juul said last month it would stop all U.S. advertising, refrain from supporting a proposition to voters in San Francisco that would reverse an e-cigarette ban and stop lobbying the government about legislation related to flavors. Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, funds anti-vaping advocacy initiatives, including one to defeat the San Francisco ballot measure. (Huet and Armstrong, 10/17)

USA Today: Juul Suspends All US Sales Of Flavored E-Cigarettes
Vaping watchdog Robert Jackler, a professor at Stanford University, said the latest move is "a step in the right direction." But, he added, the November 2018 discontinuation of Juul's flavored e-cigarette sales at stores led American teens to migrate to Juul's mint- and menthol-flavored nicotine pods. "If JUUL leadership is serious about containing the viral youth use of its product, it should be sold only in unsweetened tobacco flavor," Jackler said in an email. (Bomey, 10/17)

The Associated Press: Juul Halts Sales Of Fruit, Dessert Flavors For E-Cigarettes
Still, the company's latest step is unlikely to satisfy its critics. The flavors affected by Thursday's announcement — mango, crème, fruit and cucumber — account for less than 10% of Juul's sales. The flavors had only been sold through Juul's website, after the company pulled them from stores last November. (Perrone, 10/17)

NPR: Juul To Stop Selling Most Vape Flavors, Except Tobacco And Menthol
At a time when 25% of high school seniors surveyed in the U.S. say they've vaped within the last 30 days, the company is also under pressure to limit marketing and advertising to youth. (Aubrey, 10/17)

Reuters: U.S. Ramps Up Testing In Search Vaping Illness Cause As Cases Near 1,500
U.S. health officials on Thursday reported another 180 cases of vaping-related lung illnesses and announced plans to start testing aerosols produced by e-cigarettes and vaping products as they search for the source of the nationwide outbreak that has so far killed at least 33 people in 24 states. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said it plans to start testing lung cells collected from people who became sick in the outbreak. (Steenhuysen, 10/17)

The Hill: Number Of Vaping-Related Lung Illnesses Nears 1,500 
The 33 deaths have occurred in 24 states, including three fatalities each in California, Indiana and Minnesota. (Hellmann, 10/17)

The Washington Post: Vaping-Linked Deaths, Illnesses Rise As Officials Expand Lab Testing, CDC Says
Announcing the latest increase in illnesses, the CDC reiterated its conclusion that products containing THC, the psychoactive component of marijuana, are a main culprit and should be avoided. About 78 percent of patients say they used vaping products containing THC, according to the CDC, and nearly a third of patients reported using only THC products. Ten percent said they vaped only nicotine, although doctors caution that people may be reluctant to admit to using marijuana. (Knowles, 10/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Vaping-Related Injury Cases Near 1,500, With 33 Deaths
Many of the people who had vaped THC obtained their products from unregulated sources, leading some investigators to suspect that contaminants in illicit THC products are driving the illnesses. In its search for a cause, CDC said it is now testing lung-tissue samples from patients. The agency said it is figuring out how best to test blood, urine and other fluid samples that it has started to receive. (Abbott, 10/17)

Politico: E-Cig Industry Fractures Over Looming Laws As Big Tobacco Plays The Long Game
The Trump administration’s effort to ban flavored e-cigarettes and place other restrictions on the industry threatens to put thousands of small vaping concerns out of business nationwide while the biggest tobacco companies in the world — which already control the lion’s share of the vaping market — could only grow bigger. The high bar anticipated in forthcoming FDA requirements for e-cigarettes to stay on the market, combined with the Trump White House’s push to ban flavors in the meantime, threaten to whittle the e-cigarette industry down to just a few big players. (Owermohle, 10/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Public-Health Puzzle: Young People Having Less Sex, Contracting More STDs
It sounds contradictory: Young people, we’re told, are having less sex than older generations did at the same age. But they’re also contracting more sexually transmitted diseases than any other group, and the rates of infection are accelerating at an alarming pace. Last year, combined cases of syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia reached an all-time high with half the reported infections occurring in adolescents and young adults ages 15 to 24. (McGinty, 10/18)

Stateline: CBD May Be Natural, But Is It Safe? 
Hemp cannabidiol (CBD), a cannabis extract largely unknown a few years ago, has become so popular that some Americans take a spoonful every day. People are vaping CBD, drinking CBD-infused coffee and snacking on CBD-infused chocolates in the hopes of easing their aches, pains and anxiety. But the health benefits of cannabidiol are unclear, and many products hitting the market haven’t been made in clean, permitted facilities or tested for toxic pesticides, heavy metals and bacteria, according to state officials, hemp businesses and news reports. (Quinton, 10/19)

NPR: Genetic Tests For Psychiatric Drugs Now Covered By Some Insurers
As a teenager, Katie Gruman was prescribed one mental health drug after another. None seemed to help her manage symptoms of anxiety and bipolar disorder, so she self-medicated with alcohol and illicit drugs. It would take five years, and trying more than 15 different medications, before she found meds that actually helped. (Dangor, 10/17)

Stat: Competitor Accuses 23andMe Of 'False Negatives' In Cancer-Gene Testing
When 23andMe received government permission in 2017 to sell health-related genetic testing, it came with several conditions, including that the company tell customers that its brand of testing can miss disease-causing variants. Now, in a study presented on Thursday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics, a competitor has analyzed the likelihood of such “false negatives,” concluding that in some ethnic groups the chance that 23andMe’s tests will miss a cancer-causing DNA variant is 100%. 23andMe pushed back hard on that conclusion from DNA testing company Invitae (NVTA). “It is patently wrong to state that 23andMe delivers ‘false negatives’ for variants that it does not test nor claim to test for,” said a company spokesman. “This is a false and misleading characterization of 23andMe’s test.” (Begley, 10/17)

The New York Times: Parents Should Limit Sports Participation For Children, Trainers Say
Too many children are risking injuries, even lifelong health problems, because they practice too intensively in a single sport, and parents should set limits on their participation, according to a leading organization of athletic trainers. New recommendations issued by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association urge parents to ensure that children and adolescents postpone specializing in one sport for as long as possible, that they take at least two days off each week for rest and that they not play a single sport for more than eight months a year. (Rabin, 10/17)

WBUR: Childhood Obesity Is Rising 'Shockingly Fast' — Even In Poor Countries
High rates of childhood obesity are a problem in a rising number of low- and middle-income countries, according to a new global assessment of child malnutrition by UNICEF. It's the agency's most comprehensive nutrition report in two decades. The report paints a complex, dire picture of the state of children's health. (McDonnell, 10/17)

The New York Times: A Nazi Version Of DDT Was Forgotten. Could It Help Fight Malaria?
What if, after the Allies won World War II, world health officials had employed a Nazi version of DDT against mosquitoes that transmit malaria? Could that persistent disease, which still infects more than 200 million people a year and kills 400,000 of them, have been wiped off the planet? That is one of the musings of chemists at New York University who came across an insecticide that had been developed by German scientists during World War II in the course of conducting abstract research on another topic. (Chang, 10/17)

The Washington Post: How The Baby Food Industry Hooks Low-Income Toddlers On Sugar, Salt And Fat
Leading health organizations recently released their first consensus recommendations about what young children should be drinking: only breast milk or, if necessary, infant formula until a baby is six months old, with water introduced around then, and plain cow’s milk at around their first birthday. That’s it. No juice, no flavored or plant-based milks, no caffeinated beverages or sodas. The good news is parents of infants seem to be on the right track — breastfeeding is on the rise. But once children get into the toddler zone, it’s pandemonium. (Reiley, 10/17)

The New York Times: You’re Only As Old As You Feel
Not long ago, Stephanie Heller, a New Jersey realtor, was leaving her gym after a workout when she noticed a woman in the parking lot struggling to bend down. “I don’t know if she dropped something and had to pick it up, or if her shoe was untied,” Ms. Heller said, but she eagerly bounded over to help. The woman blamed old age for her incapacity, explaining that she was 70. But Ms. Heller was 71. (Laber-Warren, 10/17)

The New York Times: Can Personality Affect Dementia Risk?
Your personality in high school may help predict your risk of dementia decades later. Researchers reached this conclusion using a 150-item personality inventory given to a national sample of teenagers in 1960. The survey assessed character traits — sociability, calmness, empathy, maturity, conscientiousness, self-confidence and others — using scores ranging from low to high. For their study, in JAMA Psychiatry, scientists linked the scores of 82,232 of the test-takers to Medicare data on diagnoses of dementia from 2011 to 2013. (Bakalar, 10/17)

Modern Healthcare: Verma: Drug 'Innovation Doesn't Mean Anything' If It's Too Costly
CMS Administrator Seema Verma said Thursday that the healthcare system should encourage innovation, but that "innovation doesn't mean anything" if people can't afford and access new drugs and therapies. Verma said that she's worried about the cost and access challenges posed by curative therapies during a discussion panel about healthcare costs at the TIME 100 Health Summit in New York. Curative therapies upend the traditional paradigm of managing disease by curing them instead, but the treatments are costly and unavailable to many patients who could benefit from them. (Brady, 10/17)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Will Crack Down On Nursing Home Inspectors
The CMS announced Thursday that it would bolster the system it uses to hold nursing home inspectors accountable. The agency said in a statement that it will carry out a number of changes to the State Performance Standards System (SPSS) to address concerns about infrequent and ill-timed nursing home inspections. The SPSS will update how it evaluates the performance of state survey agencies who actually inspect nursing homes, as well as update the SPSS assessment tools. (Brady, 10/17)

Meanwhile, in Medicare news —

Kaiser Health News: Whistleblower Alleges Medicare Fraud At Iconic Seattle-Based Health Plan
Group Health Cooperative in Seattle, one of the nation’s oldest and most respected nonprofit health insurance plans, is accused of bilking Medicare out of millions of dollars in a federal whistleblower case. Teresa Ross, a former medical billing manager at the insurer, alleges that it sought to reverse financial losses in 2010 by claiming some patients were sicker than they were, or by billing for medical conditions that patients didn’t actually have. As a result, the insurer retroactively collected an estimated $8 million from Medicare for 2010 services, according to the suit. (Schulte, 10/18)

The Star Tribune: Medicare Health Plans Adding More Counties In Minnesota, U.S. 
Insurers that sell Medicare Advantage health plans are pushing to extend the coverage into hundreds of new counties across the country next year, a competitive boost that's coming to Minnesota. Minnetonka-based UnitedHealthcare is expanding its Medicare Advantage service area by more than 100 counties next year — an increase of about 6% — and much of the growth comes from Minnesota, where the company is expanding from nine to 43 counties. (Snowbeck, 10/17)

The Associated Press: Border Patrol's Growing Presence At Hospitals Creates Fear
An armed Border Patrol agent roamed the hallways of an emergency room in Miami on a recent day as nurses wheeled stretchers and medical carts through the hospital and families waited for physicians to treat their loved ones. The agent in the olive-green uniform freely stepped in and out of the room where a woman was taken by ambulance after throwing up and fainting while being detained on an immigration violation, according to advocates who witnessed the scene. (Gomez Licon, 10/17)

In other immigration news —

Politico's Pulse Check: When Immigration And Health Care Collide, With Mark Greenberg And Scott Lloyd
President Donald Trump has repeatedly relied on HHS to help carry out his sweeping immigration agenda, and a new order that would limit visas to people who aren't "health care burdens" could be the latest dramatic change. Mark Greenberg, who served as the acting assistant secretary for children and families during the Obama administration, sits down with POLITICO's Dan Diamond to discuss HHS' role in immigration and why he's so worried about Trump's recent order. (10/17)

Los Angeles Times: Cheating Scandal Causes Uproar Among Pharmacists
Cheating, protests and outrage have upended the otherwise buttoned-up world of pharmacy in California. California officials have invalidated more than 1,000 pharmacists’ test scores because of cheating on a state exam, a move that has caused an uproar among pharmacists who say they have lost wages and job opportunities as a result. Layla Mina, 28, of Anaheim said her job offer to be a pharmacist at CVS was rescinded because she could not become licensed without her exam scores. (Karlamangla, 10/17)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Reckoning Comes To VA Atlanta Hospital After Years Of Problems
It suspended routine surgeries in late September after a string of incidents that exposed mismanagement and dangerous practices. It hopes to resume normal operations by early November as it struggles to retrain staff and hire new nurses. The partial shutdown came about two weeks after Joel Marrable, a cancer patient in the same VA complex, was found covered with more than 100 ant bites by his daughter. (Quinn, 10/17)

The Associated Press: Michael Jordan Opens First Of 2 Medical Clinics In Charlotte
An emotional Michael Jordan unveiled the first of two medical clinics he and his family funded to provide care to underprivileged members of the community. The six-time NBA champion and Hornets owner was on hand Thursday for the grand opening of the $7 million Novant Health Michael Jordan Family Medical Clinic. Tears streamed down Jordan's cheeks as he said, "This is a very emotional thing for me to be able to give back to a community that has supported me over the years." (10/17)

Detroit Free Press: Mental-Health Counselors Win Passage Of Bill Allowing Them To Practice
A bill that would allow licensed professional counselors to continue to diagnose and treat mental-health patients passed with unanimous support in the state Senate Thursday and is headed to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who is expected to sign it into law. The bill and its swift passage were the result of a concerted push by the counselors, who provide services to some 150,000 people, to stop rules proposed by the state Department of Licensing and Regulation that would have impacted the counselors’ ability to officially diagnose and treat patients. (Gray, 10/17)

The CT Mirror: What Is Connecticut's Religious Exemption From Vaccines? Here Are Five Things To Know About The Controversial Provision
Democratic legislators ignited controversy last spring when they suggested the state repeal its religious exemption to mandatory vaccinations, a longstanding provision in Connecticut law that allows parents to refrain from immunizing their school-aged children on the basis of religious belief. (Carlesso, 10/18)

The Associated Press: Suit: Hospital Mishandled Infection That Killed 3 Babies
The parents of a newborn who died in a Pennsylvania hospital's neonatal intensive care unit allege in a lawsuit that hospital officials failed to protect their son from a lethal bacterial infection that had already killed two other premature babies. Geisinger knew the neonatal intensive care unit of its flagship hospital in Danville was "dangerous, defective and contaminated" but continued filling its beds with premature infants and hid the obvious danger from parents, according to a wrongful death suit filed Thursday. (10/17)

The Oregonian: Measles Risk At Portland International Airport After Sick Person Passes Through 
A person who passed through the Portland International Airport on Saturday has become sick with measles, the Multnomah County Health Department reported on Thursday. The health department said people who were in the airport during that time may have been exposed to the virus. Lisa Ferguson, the communicable diseases manager for the health department, said the person passed through international arrivals and went through customs and immigration between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 12. (Ramakrishnan, 10/17)

Sacramento Bee: Dignity Lays Off CA Health Care Workers, Citing Budget Woes
Dignity Health announced layoffs this week to employees from Sacramento northward to Mount Shasta, saying that the health care company is not meeting its financial projections. ...Dignity spokesman William Hodges would not disclose the total number of employees who would lose their jobs. (Anderson, 10/17)

St. Louis Public Radio: St. Louis-Area LGBTQ Workers Prepare For ‘Terrifying’ Supreme Court Rulings In 2020
The court could rule next year that federal civil rights law doesn’t prevent employers from firing people for being gay, bisexual or transgender. If the court decides against the employees in the cases, Missouri’s estimated 180,000 LGBTQ adults would be left with little recourse against discrimination in the workplace. (Petrin, 10/18)

St. Louis Public Radio: Missouri Commission Wants Legislators To Scrap Nuclear Plant-Funding Law
The Missouri Air Conservation Commission is asking state legislators to repeal a decades-old law that controls how companies fund new nuclear power plants. The Construction Work in Progress law, passed by Missouri voters in 1976, prohibits utility companies from charging customers to cover the cost of building nuclear plants until the facilities are up and running. (Farzan, 10/18)

Sacramento Bee: Feds: Doctor Did Needless Vein Procedures, Reused Catheters
A Southern California doctor was found guilty on Wednesday of performing unnecessary vein procedures and giving his patients contaminated but repackaged single-use catheters. Following a six-day trial, a federal grand jury convicted Dr. Donald Woo Lee, 54, of Temecula on seven counts of health care fraud and one count of adulterating a medical device, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release Thursday. His sentencing is scheduled for March. (Gilmour, 10/17)

Iowa Public Radio: North Iowa Food Program Offers Bounty Box Option
The Bounty Box program is the latest project for North Iowa Fresh, a group of farm partners providing produce for 20 weeks starting in May. Jan Libbey is a founding member of that group and explained the Bounty Box is ideal for families and individuals who find it difficult to get to a farmer’s market. (Blank, 10/18)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Covington Ethylene Oxide Emissions Concern State Regulators
State regulators said Thursday that high levels of a carcinogenic gas detected in Covington are “very concerning,” and expressed regret about not informing the public earlier about the risks posed by a chemical used as a sterilizer and in manufacturing. The joint meeting between the Cobb and Fulton county legislative delegations was intended to focus on emissions from Sterigenics, a Cobb company that uses ethylene oxide to sterilize single-use medical equipment. (Kass, 10/17)

North Carolina Health News: Pittsboro Drinking Water Forum Draws A Crowd 
Roughly 200 people turned out Wednesday evening for a forum in Pittsboro to learn more about contaminants in the town’s drinking water. Those who spoke asked state regulators and university researchers about the water coming out of their taps. Whether they needed filtration systems in their homes. Whether it’s safe to eat vegetables from their gardens. Some wanted to know more about a temporary spike of a likely carcinogen called 1,4 dioxane in the town’s drinking water. (Barnes, 10/18)

The New York Times: The China Connection: How One D.E.A. Agent Cracked A Global Fentanyl Ring
Around 3 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2015, Laura and Jason Henke awoke with a start at their home in Minot, N.D. Their dog was barking wildly. At the door, in the early morning shadows, they found a police officer and, behind him, a pastor. The officer asked to see Laura’s ID to confirm that he was at the correct address. Then he told them that their 18-year-old son, Bailey, was dead. The officer didn’t have many details. Bailey Henke was living in Grand Forks, three hours east of his parents’ home in Minot, and the police there were working the case. The officer gave Laura the phone number for a detective in Grand Forks. She called and wrote down what he said: overdose, fentanyl. Laura had never heard of fentanyl; she wasn’t even sure how to spell it. (Palmer, 10/16)

Boston Globe: The Angel On Methadone Mile
Last year the number of people experiencing homelessness in Massachusetts grew to 20,068 — the highest in five years. And 616,090 people are grappling with hunger. That’s 1 in 11 people. The numbers are not shocking to the 26-year-old Tibbitt. As a public health nurse for the last five years, she works for Health Innovations. (Osterheldt, 10/15)

Politico: Why We Don’t Know Much About Pot
To fully grasp the absurdity of U.S. marijuana policy, step into one of the two Dodge Sprinter vans that University of Colorado at Boulder researchers have equipped as mobile research labs — tiny desks mounted to the floor, outfitted with syringes, heart rate monitors, cognition games and binders to track hundreds of volunteer research subjects. Although pot is fully legal in 10 states, effectively so in 22 others that permit some form of medical marijuana, and consumed by nearly half of American teens and adults at some time in their lives, there is surprisingly little information about its effects on users. (Owermohle, 10/14)

The Atlantic: Why Eating Meat Is Unhealthy
Eating red and processed meat, the headlines declared, was no longer unhealthy. It seemed—at a glance—that a bad thing was now a good thing. The stories were based on a recently published analysis of existing evidence in which one group of researchers recommended that “adults continue their current levels of meat consumption.” This conclusion—which the journal that published the research called “guidelines”—was written by a group called NutriRECS. The group was formed recently, and has not previously made recommendations about eating meat. Some of its founders, however, published a similar article in 2016 saying that evidence was too weak to justify advising people to eat less sugar. (Hamblin, 10/10)

Bloomberg: Elizabeth Warren's Medicare For All Plan Will Need Higher Taxes
Even many Democrats are criticizing Senator Elizabeth Warren for refusing to admit, in plain words, that her Medicare for All plan will require taxes to increase. They’re right to complain. The point could hardly be simpler: All presidential candidates owe voters an honest accounting of what their ideas will cost and how they’ll be paid for. Up to now, under repeated questioning, Warren has refused to go further than saying that her health plan will lower costs for most Americans, without ever explaining what she means by costs. A program as expensive as this instantly raises the question of affordability in voters’ minds. There’s only one plausible answer: Taxes will have to go up. (10/18)

The New York Times: We Don’t Need To Raise Taxes To Have ‘Medicare For All’
As Democratic presidential candidates debate the merits of Medicare for All, a Green New Deal or free college, a chorus of scolds from across the political spectrum will chime in to tell you we can’t afford it. All these ambitious policies of course will come with a hefty price tag. Proposals to fund Medicare for All have focused on raising taxes. But what if we could imagine another way entirely? Over 18 years, the United States has spent $4.9 trillion on wars, with only more intractable violence in the Middle East and beyond to show for it. (Lindsay Koshgarian, 10/17)

The Hill: Why Isn't Mayor Pete Talking About The Indiana Program That's Superior To Single Payer?
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has a strange blind spot when it comes to health care reform. Despite being the mayor of one of Indiana’s most famous cities, he appears to be completely unaware that the state of Indiana has already come up with two health insurance systems that both work much better than the single-payer variants that he, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) are proposing. The first system has been offered to state employees since 2007, while the second has been available to Indiana Medicaid recipients since 2011. They are both wildly popular with participants and just as effective as traditional insurance systems in providing quality health care. Even better: Both have also been shown to reduce medical spending by 35 percent relative to tradition forms of private or government health insurance, including PPOs, HMOs and Medicaid. (Sean Flynn, 10/17)

The New York Times: What The Medicare For All Fight Is Really About
Like a Boston family relitigating its annual Thanksgiving argument over whether to sell Grandma’s house on the Cape and how to split the profits, the Democratic presidential candidates spent Tuesday night picking the same fight about health care. At issue, as always, was Medicare for All — Senator Bernie Sanders’s health care plan, which Senator Elizabeth Warren also supports, that promises universal coverage without co-pays, premiums, deductibles or haggling over claims, under a single government-run insurance system. (Spencer Bokat-Lindell, 10/17)

Military Times: Community Partners And Support Key To Veteran Suicide Prevention
As the leaders of the Veterans Health Administration and the President’s Roadmap to Empower Veterans and End a National Tragedy of Suicide (PREVENTS) Task Force, we fear the oft-repeated, “one suicide is too many” will one day lose its impact.Suicide is a national problem that disproportionately affects veterans. President Donald Trump authorized the PREVENTS task force to address the Department of Veterans Affairs’s top clinical priority, suicide prevention, and to provide a template for the nation to do the same. (Richard Stone and Barbara Van Dahlen,10/18)

USA Today: With Veteran Suicide Rate Increasing, Look To Heal Moral Injury
A 2018 Ruderman Family Foundation report noted that first responders are more likely to die by suicide than in the line of duty.The statistics on active duty military and veteran suicides are also telling. The largest number of active duty military suicides since the Department of Defense began collecting the data occurred last year, with 325 deaths. Veteran suicide rates are well above those in the general population and is rising for young veterans. Nationally, the suicide rate in the United States has increased 30% from 2000 to 2016. What more can be done to save lives? We believe a significant factor in suicides remains invisible and largely unaddressed. That factor is moral injury. (Rita Nakashima Brock and Ann Kansfield, 10/18)

The New York Times: How To Reduce Abortion
The recent decline in Delaware’s abortion rate is pretty stunning. Between 2014 and 2017 — the latest years for which data exist — the rate fell 37 percent. There is now only about one abortion for every 100 women of childbearing age each year in the state. This decline was the biggest of any state in the country. It was also in keeping with a larger trend: The abortion rate has fallen to its lowest level since the Supreme Court legalized abortion nationwide, according to the Guttmacher Institute. (David Leonhardt, 10/17)

Stat: Motherhood And Medicine Should Mix. So Why Is It Such A Struggle?
Women who become doctors must often choose between motherhood and medicine. I’m a mother and a surgeon. I never thought of choosing between the two, even though my employers often asked me to. Today I work as a trauma surgeon in a busy practice. It’s been a long journey since the day five years ago when I sat outside the office of the chairman of surgery at a prestigious hospital to interview for my first job.As my husband and I dressed our children for day care that morning, I felt proud to show them that their mom could follow her dreams. After six years of grueling training, I was finally going to be a trauma surgeon. (Qaali Hussein, 10/18)

New England Journal of Medicine: Will Emergency Holds Reduce Opioid Overdose Deaths?
Some state lawmakers are contemplating enacting laws that permit certain patients with severe substance use disorder to be involuntarily detained for short-term observation and, in some cases, treatment. Such laws raise ethical, legal, medical, and practical questions. (Elizabeth A. Samuels, Otis U. Warren, Corey S. Davis, and Paul P. Christopher, 10/17)