The Hill: ObamaCare Shows Resilience Despite Trump Attacks 
ObamaCare is showing signs of stability as its seventh open enrollment period draws to a close despite actions taken by the Trump administration to undermine the health care law. While signups for ObamaCare plans are down slightly from last year, experts say enrollment appears to be relatively stable, partly due to lower premiums and more insurer participation. (Hellmann, 12/15)

The Hill: Advocates Call For ObamaCare Open Enrollment Extension After Website Glitches
Democratic lawmakers and health care advocates are calling on the Trump administration to extend the deadline for ObamaCare open enrollment after reports of widespread glitches with the healthcare.gov website. For the 38 states that use healthcare.gov, Sunday is the last day to sign up for ObamaCare plans for coverage beginning Jan. 1, 2020. According to advocacy groups, technical problems with the website have been preventing people from signing up. (Weixel, 12/15)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: As New Orleans Court Prepares Ruling On Obamacare, Louisiana's Alternative Remains In Infancy 
A federal appeals court in New Orleans could declare Obamacare unconstitutional any day, setting up a U.S. Supreme Court showdown, but Louisiana’s effort to create a high-risk pool for the nearly 100,000 people who would lose health coverage in the individual market is still a long way from reality. Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, who is part of a group of GOP officials suing to overturn President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, ushered legislation through the state Legislature this year to create what he has branded as a Republican alternative to Obamacare. (Sledge and Karlin, 12/15)

Kaiser Health News: What Would Happen If The ACA Went Away?
Any day now, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans could rule the entire Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. At least it seemed that two of the three appeals court judges were leaning that way during oral arguments in the case, State of Texas v. USA, in July. Trump administration health officials have said they will continue to enforce the health law pending a final ruling from the Supreme Court. But that is not a guarantee that President Donald Trump won’t change his mind. That’s what he did in 2017 in canceling some payments to health insurers. (Rovner, 12/16)

The Hill: Two ObamaCare Taxes Likely To Be Repealed In Year-End Funding Deal
A year-end government funding package is likely to include repeal of ObamaCare’s Cadillac Tax and medical device tax, according to sources familiar with the talks. The move would mark a final blow to two taxes that were originally passed in the Affordable Care Act to help fund the law’s coverage expansion, but that have been repeatedly delayed and criticized by lawmakers in both parties. (Sullivan, 12/15)

Bloomberg: Manafort Mystery Lender’s Next Act Is An Obamacare End Run 
A health insurance plan that threatens to further erode Obamacare, one of President Donald Trump’s favorite targets, is awaiting the U.S. government’s sign-off. It comes from a group of little-known companies with an investor who’s had only one other turn in the spotlight -- as the guy behind a mysterious loan to Trump’s onetime campaign chairman, Paul Manafort. Although these companies aren’t tied to bold-faced names or big insurers, they have well-connected lobbyists and the support of Republican attorneys general of Georgia, Texas, Louisiana and four other states. What they’re proposing is health coverage, with a twist. In exchange for providing insurance, they’d harvest and sell online data, like web surfing activity, from those who buy into the plan. OGlovin, 12/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Will Mandate Health Coverage Next Year. Here’s What That Means
In a significant new change, California will require people to buy health insurance next year or pay a tax penalty.State-level mandates for health coverage already exist in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., which have sought to make sure all residents have insurance. In addition to California, Rhode Island and Vermont will implement health mandates next year. (Ho, 12/13)

The Associated Press: Iowa Democrats Worry 'Medicare For All' Hurts Key Industry
Kim Motl doesn’t work in the health insurance industry. But her friends and neighbors do. So when she saw Sen. Elizabeth Warren recently in Fort Dodge, Iowa, Motl pressed the Democratic presidential candidate about her “Medicare for All” plan, which would replace private insurance with a government-run system. “What about the little guys that work in the insurance business, that support our communities? The secretary that works for them, but maybe supports their family, what happens to them?” the 64-year-old housing advocate asked the senator. (Jaffe, 12/14)

NPR: Clarifying The Vocabulary That's Surrounding The Medicare For All Debate
Democratic presidential candidates are debating Medicare For All, but that term isn't a good descriptor of the plans being put forth. Clarifying this health care vocabulary helps the debate. (Simmons-Duffin, 12/11)

Des Moines Register: In Iowa, Bernie Sanders Calls Pete Buttigieg's Health Care Plan 'A Failed Idea'
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders said Saturday that South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg's "Medicare for all who want it" health care hybrid would be "unfair" to working families. ...Buttigieg, like many candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for president, outlined a health care plan that stops short of Sanders' goal. Instead, Buttigieg proposes giving people a choice between buying into a public option of health care coverage or private insurance. And that's its fatal flaw, Sanders said. It would overload the government with the most expensive patients, he said. (Coltran, 12/14)

The New York Times: Elizabeth Warren And Bernie Sanders Have A Problem: Each Other
Diane Chojnowski and Denyce Rusch were among the Iowans who braved light snowfall and temperatures in the teens to see Senator Bernie Sanders on Sunday afternoon, a few hours before Senator Elizabeth Warren was also due in this liberal pillar of eastern Iowa. But after Ms. Chojnowski and Ms. Rusch praised Ms. Sanders, they turned to a predicament far more bothersome than the winter weather: choosing between the two progressive candidates. (Martin, 12/16)

The Hill: Yang Unveils Plan To Address Care For Children And Adults With Disabilities 
White House hopeful Andrew Yang on Saturday unveiled a plan to address health care for children and adults with disabilities. Yang, an entrepreneur whose son is autistic, said his plan would expand care for those who have disabilities and ensure that plans cover preventative care for those who need it.  (Axelrod, 12/14)

Des Moines Register: Election 2020: Andrew Yang Renews Campaign Efforts In 5-Day Iowa Tour
During the tour, Yang also released a policy on controlling the cost of prescription drugs, which includes allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, as well as establishing public manufacturing facilities to make generic drugs. (Miskimen, 12/12)

Politico Pro: Democratic Group Counterpunches GOP Attack Ads
The House Democratic leadership PAC announced Friday it will spend $2.5 million on ads touting the caucus’ recent health care win — a significant ramp-up in battleground districts just ahead of next week’s impeachment vote. The spending from the House Majority PAC, which includes television and digital ads, marks its biggest buy of the 2020 cycle so far. And for many vulnerable Democrats, it’s much-needed reinforcement against the ever-escalating onslaught of GOP attack ads. (Ferris, 12/13)

Politico: Democrats Box In Republicans On Drug Pricing
After months of wrangling, House Democrats finally passed a massive bill aimed at lowering drug prices. And Senate Republicans are flummoxed at how to respond. The GOP is in a jam that makes action appear somewhere between unlikely and impossible. But if Republicans fail to act, it could easily become a major political liability for the party given the salience of high drug prices in public polling and President Donald Trump’s desire for sweeping reforms. (Everett and Owermohle, 12/16)

The Hill: Democrats Get The Health Care Fight They Want With Prescription Drug Bill 
Democrats looking for a health care fight in 2020 have found a key marker with the House drug pricing bill. The House on Thursday passed the legislation on a largely party-line vote of 230-192. The measure, which would allow the government to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs, has already been declared “dead on arrival” in the Republican-controlled Senate. (Weixel, 12/14)

In other pharmaceutical news —

Stat: Patent Office Removes Lawyer From Case Involving Gilead HIV Medicine
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has removed a senior legal adviser from a high-profile case after she tweeted contentious remarks about the right of AIDS activists to challenge a patent-term extension sought by Gilead Sciences (GILD) for an HIV medicine. A spokesman for the federal agency told us that Mary Till, a 14-year employee who reviews extension requests, is “no longer working on the matter.” (Silverman, 12/13)

The Associated Press: US Approves Fish Oil-Based Drug For Cutting Heart Risks
U.S. regulators on Friday approved expanded use of a fish oil-based drug for preventing serious heart complications in high-risk patients already taking cholesterol-lowering pills. Vascepa was approved years ago for people with sky-high triglycerides, a type of fat in blood. The Food and Drug Administration allowed its use in a far bigger group of adults with high, but less extreme, triglyceride levels who have multiple risk factors such as heart disease and diabetes. (Johnson, 12/13)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Approves Fish-Oil-Derived Drug For Use Preventing Heart Attacks, Strokes
The drug, Vascepa from Amarin Corp. PLC, now becomes a new tool for reducing the risk of heart attacks, strokes and deaths in millions of heart-disease or diabetes patients with elevated triglycerides while opening up a multibillion-dollar commercial opportunity for its maker. The expanded label could mean Vascepa sales surpass $3 billion, analysts say. Last year’s sales approached $230 million. Vascepa was approved in the U.S. in 2012 to treat adults with severe hypertriglyceridemia, or very high levels of triglycerides, which are fats that circulate in the blood. Since then, Amarin has been exploring whether the drug’s effect goes further by reducing the risk of heart disease. (Hopkins, 12/13)

Reuters: FDA Says Amarin Can Market Fish-Oil Derived Therapy For Reducing Heart Attack Risk
Vascepa, a highly purified form of omega-3 fatty acid, won U.S. approval in 2012 to lower high triglycerides - a type of blood fat that can increase the risk of heart disease. The expanded label allows the company to tap into a market of up to 15 million Americans at risk of developing cardiovascular complications despite being on statin treatment to lower cholesterol. (Joseph, 12/13)

Stat: FDA Approves Amarin Fish-Oil-Derived Drug To Prevent Heart Attacks And Strokes
The FDA decided to limit the use of Vascepa more than Amarin had initially requested. Vascepa will be approved for patients who already have established cardiovascular disease — meaning they have had a problem like a heart attack or chest pain that appeared quickly — or for those who have diabetes and two risk factors for heart attacks. Vascepa is approved for use in patients who have levels of triglycerides, or particles of fat in the blood, that are above 150 milligrams per deciliter, slightly higher than the 135 mg/dL Amarin requested. (Herper, 12/13)

The New York Times: To Prevent Deadly Infections, F.D.A. Approves The First Disposable ‘Scope’
Following a series of deadly outbreaks in hospitals around the country, the Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the first fully disposable version of the medical device implicated in the infections. Reusable versions of the device — a long, snakelike tube with a fiber-optic camera at one end, called a duodenoscope — are inserted in one patient after another to diagnose and treat diseases of the pancreas and bile duct, like tumors and gallstones. (Rabin, 12/13)

Past KHN coverage: The Throwaway Scope: A Way To Ditch Superbugs?

In other news about superbugs and the safety of medical device —

CNN: Scientists Develop Superbug-Resistant, Self-Cleaning Plastic Wrap
Researchers have developed a self-cleaning plastic wrap that repels bacteria -- and could be used to prevent the transfer of antibiotic resistant superbugs, and other forms of dangerous bacteria. A team of scientists from Canada's McMaster University used a combination of nano-scale surface engineering and chemistry to develop a plastic surface -- a treated form of transparent wrap -- which repels all kinds of bacteria. (Woodyatt, 12/13)

The Associated Press: Purdue Pharma’s Foreign Affiliate Now Selling Overdose Cure
The gleaming white booth towered over the medical conference in Italy in October, advertising a new brand of antidote for opioid overdoses. “Be prepared. Get naloxone. Save a life,” the slogan on its walls said. Some conference attendees were stunned when they saw the company logo: Mundipharma, the international affiliate of Purdue Pharma — the maker of the blockbuster opioid, OxyContin, widely blamed for unleashing the American overdose epidemic. (Galofaro and Gelineau, 12/15)

Concord Monitor: The $64 Million Question
Since October of 2018, New Hampshire’s governor and Executive Council have approved contracts for more than $64.5 million in federal money to create the Doorway system of referral and treatment for opioid addiction. The state was awarded $45.6 million for 2019 and 2020 in State Opioid Response funding from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and almost $12 million in additional funding for year one. (Solomon, 12/15)

And in another kind of prescription drug crisis —

The New York Times: The Hidden Drug Epidemic Among Older People
While news reports focus on an epidemic of opioid abuse among young adults, another totally legal and usually hidden drug epidemic is occurring at the other end of the age spectrum: the fistfuls of remedies — both prescription and over-the-counter — taken by older adults. According to the American Association of Consultant Pharmacists, people aged 65 to 69 take an average of 15 prescriptions a year, and those aged 80 to 84 take 18 prescriptions a year. (Brody, 12/16)

BuzzFeed News: Deaths, Surgeries, Drugs: Health Care For Jailed Immigrants Criticized In Memo About Secret ICE Whistleblower
Immigrants held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement jails around the US received medical care so bad it resulted in two preventable surgeries, including an 8-year-old boy who had to have part of his forehead removed, and contributed to four deaths, according to an internal complaint from an agency whistleblower. The allegations appear in an explosive Department of Homeland Security memo, obtained by BuzzFeed News, containing reports of detainees being given incorrect medication, suffering from delays in treating withdrawal symptoms, and one who was allowed to become so mentally unstable he lacerated his own penis and required reparative surgery. (Aleaziz, 12/12)

Axios: Report: Internal ICE Memo Details Allegations Of Medical Neglect
Details: The memo says the agency's inspector general received its first complaint in April 2018, which claims that detainees were subjected to "forcible medication injections as a means of behavior control" and "misdiagnosis of medical and mental health conditions," among other accusations. (Rummler, 12/13)

The Associated Press: Report: Whistleblower Says ICE Denied Healthcare To Migrants
At the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, a man who was bleeding through his skin continued to receive aspirin even though he had extremely thin blood. The man was eventually taken to a hospital in critical condition and not expected to survive, according to a report summarizing the complaint that was delivered to ICE leadership in March. In Arizona, a detainee at the Eloy Federal Contract Facility had “worsening psychosis-related symptoms, but the psychiatrist failed to treat him,” the report says. (12/13)

The Hill: Memo Reveals Improper Medical Care By ICE Led To Deaths, Surgery For Child's Partial Forehead Removal
In December 2017, the boy’s mother reportedly told officials at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, that her son’s earache had worsened for weeks. Medical personnel diagnosed him with swimmer’s ear and gave him ear drops, but two weeks later the boy had seizures and doctors at a local hospital diagnosed him with Pott’s puffy tumor, a rare infection in the skull. Doctors had to remove part of the boy’s forehead to treat the infection, and the whistleblower alleged that “inadequate medical care provided by [the detention center] was a contributory factor resulting in harm.” (Pitofsky, 12/12)

In related news —

BuzzFeed News: ICE Destroyed Footage Of A Trans Asylum-Seeker Who Died In Custody Despite A Request To Save It
Federal immigration officials were asked to retain footage of a transgender detainee 10 days after her death — yet roughly three months later they said it no longer existed, according to a new internal email reviewed by BuzzFeed News. The video of 33-year-old Roxsana Hernández Rodriguez, who died in US custody on May 25, 2018, was requested by an investigative division of ICE as part of a review into her death. In the June 4, 2018, email, an analyst with ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility requested a number of records related to Hernández's death, including footage of her time at the Cibola County Correctional Center (CCCC) in Milan, New Mexico, on May 16–17. (Flores, 12/12)

The New York Times: Military Families Say Base Housing Is Plagued By Mold And Neglect
Sandy Gerber was excited when she and her husband, Scott Gerber, an Army colonel, moved into a stately house near the parade field at Fort Meade, Md. — their first on-base home since they were newlyweds in the mid-1990s. “When you come in the Army, you think, ‘Oh wow, I hope someday I can live there,’” Mrs. Gerber said. “But for us, the problems started literally the day we walked in the door.” A broken water line in the kitchen had flooded the house. Pulling up damaged linoleum flooring revealed rotting wood underneath. On rainy days, water streamed into every room. “And the smell of mold was overwhelming,” Mrs. Gerber said. (Ismay, 12/13)

NBC News: A 'Forever Chemical' Contaminates Drinking Water Near Military Bases
Hope Grosse and Joanne Stanton have fond memories of the childhood they shared in the Philadelphia suburbs. They spent their days outside playing football, riding bikes and — when the Blue Angels came to town — they watched the skies. For kids in Horsham and Warminster Townships, that was just one of the perks of growing up near two active military bases. Grosse, who lived across the street from the Naval Air Warfare Center in Warminster, remembers watching, rapt, as Navy personnel torched airplanes during weekly fire drills and doused the flames with a white, bubbly foam. (Rappleye, Douglas and Thompson, 12/16)

Sacramento Bee: Military Families Could Sue Government For Missed Diagnosis
Legislation named after a Fort Bragg, N.C., soldier that will allow some members of the military to file claims to be compensated by the government for medical malpractice is one step closer to being signed into law, after the House of Representatives passed the bill Wednesday. It is a significant departure from decades of existing law — guided by the Feres Doctrine, so called because of a 1950 Supreme Court case — which prevents military service members from suing for compensation for injuries that were a result of military negligence. (Copp, 12/13)

ProPublica/Boston Globe: The Law Says She Should Have Been Protected From Birth. Instead, She Was Left In The Care Of Her Drug-Addicted Mother, Who Killed Her.
The adults in her life began failing Jasmine Irwin before she ever left the hospital. Born severely underweight — just 4 pounds, 3 ounces — to a mother with a history of dealing and abusing methamphetamine, Jasmine might have been exposed to drugs in the womb, doctors believed, which should have jump-started intensive efforts to keep her safe. But hospital records show staff never followed up, failing to conduct drug tests on the baby or her mother, Tami Mann, before letting Mann take Jasmine home to the family’s trailer in this small town north of the state capital. (Palmer and Huseman, 12/13)

ProPublica/Boston Globe: The Price Of America’s Inability To Track Child Deaths From Abuse And Neglect? Sometimes, More Lives.
Experts have long suspected that the United States badly undercounts the number of children who die from abuse and neglect. The voluntary reporting system relied on for decades may be off by at least 200%, they say, missing thousands of fatalities. In 2012, Congress moved to make information about the deaths more accessible to the public by requiring states to release detailed reports on child fatalities and near-fatalities. But when The Boston Globe and ProPublica set out to collect these reports, it turned into a frustrating, three-year slog through child welfare offices from Maine to Hawaii. (Huseman, Palmer and Schroering, 12/13)

ProPublica/Boston Globe: Nobody Knows How Many Kids Die From Maltreatment And Abuse In The U.S.
In 2016, ProPublica and The Boston Globe requested records for every child who died from child abuse between 2011 and 2015. We got around 7,000 records in response, a number that’s already slightly higher and much more detailed than the information available to the public from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System — the main source of this data since the 1980s — over the same period. But experts agree that it’s still a substantial undercount and that child fatalities may be three times higher. (Fung and Huseman, 12/13)

In other news on children's health —

Kansas City Star: Why Do Former US Foster Children Often Become Homeless?
Every year, roughly 20 percent of the young adults who age out of foster care in America — more than 4,000 — immediately become homeless, studies show. And thousands more — rising to as much as 40 percent in some parts of the country — are homeless within four years of aging out. (Bauer and Thomas, 12/15)

Kansas City Star: Foster Kids Have Low High School & College Graduation Rates
The Star spent the past year examining the long-term outcomes for kids who age out of foster care. It found that many will end up homeless, jobless and in prison because, in part, they were shortchanged on education. Shuffled from home to home, often sent outside their original school districts, they fall behind early and don’t catch up. In every pocket of the nation, the graduation rates for foster children are significantly lower than for all other “special population groups,” including homeless students and those with disabilities. (Bauer, 12/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Research Fuels Debate Over E-Cigarettes As Smoking-Cessation Device
Researchers and public-health experts are locked in a debate about whether e-cigarettes should serve as a harm-reduction tool for smokers, as a new generation of young people becomes addicted to nicotine and roughly half a million people in the U.S. die each year of smoking-related causes. New regulations and reports keep fueling the debate, including an editorial in a prestigious academic journal last week that said the prohibitionist vaping bans threaten public health. (Abbott, 12/16)

USA Today: Legal Vapes Bought In Stores Made People Sick. But The CDC Doesn't Ask Where They Were Sold
After new reports of lung illnesses linked to legal THC vapes, cannabis advocates and opponents can agree on one thing: Government officials should give consumers more information about where the dangerous products were purchased. The warnings about vaping, prompted by the national lung injury outbreak the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday has sickened 2,409 and left 52 dead, began with no distinction between nicotine and marijuana-based THC. (O'Donnell, 12/13)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Is Ground Zero Of The Vaping Epidemic
Nearly 2,300 people have been hospitalized since June and 47 people have died from vaping related illnesses. The majority vaped THC derived from marijuana, but some reported vaping nicotine alone. There is no direct connection yet to products produced by the e-cigarette industry leader, San Francisco-based Juul Labs, Inc. But Juul remains the company most directly responsible for the epidemic of youth vaping. (Maa, 12/13)

The New York Times: Frail Older Patients Struggle After Even Minor Operations
The patient, a man in his 70s, had abdominal pain serious enough to send him to a VA Pittsburgh Healthcare hospital. Doctors there found the culprit: a gallstone had inflamed his pancreas. Dr. Daniel Hall, a surgeon who met with the patient, explained that pancreatitis can be fairly mild, as in this case, or severe enough to cause death. Recovery usually requires five to seven days, some of them in a hospital, during which the stone passes or a doctor uses a flexible scope to remove the blockage. (Span, 12/13)

The New York Times: A Research Nonprofit Shutters TB Vaccine Effort And Lays Off Scientists
The future of a tuberculosis vaccine and research into other neglected diseases is in limbo after a Seattle institute abruptly laid off about one-third of its researchers, citing a financial crisis. The sudden staff cutbacks late last month at the Infectious Disease Research Institute have baffled many of the scientists — who were also working on a vaccine for leprosy and research into tropical diseases. (Thomas, 12/13)

NPR: Is Social Anxiety Keeping You From Parties? Here's How To Cope
"If I say the word 'circus,' it means I'm ready to leave the party." That's what Angie Ebba, 39, of Portland, Ore., tells close friends when she's at a holiday soiree. It might sound strange, but coming up with a code word is one way Ebba tames her social anxiety. "If I need to leave, having a word I can slip into conversation is a discreet way to let my friends know," Ebba explains. (Fraga, 12/14)

USA Today: Weed And Psychosis: Does High THC Lead To Suicide, Schizophrenia?
Early one morning in March, Madison McIntosh showed up on his day off at the Scottsdale, Arizona, driving range and restaurant where he worked. The 24-year-old sat in his car until the place opened, then wandered around all day, alternating between gibberish and talk of suicide as co-workers tried to keep him away from customers. When he was still there 12 hours later, the manager contacted McIntosh’s father in Las Vegas, who called police and rallied other family members states away to converge at the young man’s side. (Hughes, Innes and O'Donnell, 12/15)

The Washington Post: Feeling Tired Is Normal, But There Are Times When It Is A Sign Of Trouble
Tired? Join the club. Feeling tired or fatigued is a common experience. Yet health-care providers often dismiss complaints about tiredness — both because the symptom is universal and because it can be challenging to evaluate medically, says Michael Grandner, director of the University of Arizona’s Sleep & Health Research Program in Tucson. (Sohn, 12/15)

NPR: Could Migraine Pain Relief Be Found In The Color Green?
Ann Jones tried everything short of surgery for her chronic migraines, which have plagued her since she was a child. "They've actually gotten worse in my old age," says Jones, who is 70 years old and lives in Tucson, Ariz. Jones would have as many as two dozen migraines a month. (Stone, 12/15)

CNN: Flu Deaths: There Have Been At Least 1,300 In The United States So Far This Season, CDC Estimates
At least 1,300 people have died from the flu so far this season, according to a preliminary estimate released Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been at least 2.6 million flu illnesses and 23,000 flu-related hospitalizations, according to the analysis. So far this season, the CDC has received reports of 10 children who have died from the flu, four more than the week before. (Bonifield and Gumbrecht, 12/13)

CNN: Top 10 Health Questions America Asked Dr. Google In 2019
Google users in the United States had a lot of questions about blood pressure, the keto diet and hiccups in 2019. Those topics were among the 10 most-searched health-related questions on the search engine this year, according to new data from Google. The list was based on search terms collected between January and early December. (Howard, 12/13)

The Washington Post: Bob Harper Says ‘The Biggest Loser’ Is Shifting To Focus On ‘Getting Healthy’
“The Biggest Loser” had a big problem. Since the reality show debuted on NBC in 2004, it had been slammed as a fat-shaming mockery that also harmed the health and long-term weight-management efforts of its contestants. After dropping pounds at an incredible rate on the show, many participants gained back much of the weight in the years that followed. Enter the reboot, which the program plans to roll out for its 18th season in January: Instead of talking about “getting skinny,” host Bob Harper told People Magazine that the show will focus on “getting healthy.” (Iati, 12/13)

The Washington Post: WHO Measles Statistics: These Five Countries Have The Most Cases, But The U.S. Is Struggling With The Disease, Too.
As measles sweeps through Samoa, overwhelming health officials and killing at least 70 people so far, public health experts again find themselves doing battle with a vaccine-preventable disease. In a recent update, the World Health Organization called measles a “staggering global challenge” and called for increased vaccination to stem measles worldwide. According to the latest figures released by the agency, almost half of last year’s measles cases came from five countries: Congo, Liberia, Madagascar, Somalia and Ukraine. (Blakemore, 12/14)

Modern Healthcare: Poor Moms Struggle With Prenatal Care In Some States
Access to prenatal care for soon-to-be mothers on Medicaid differs considerably across states, according to new federal research. More than two-thirds of women began prenatal care during the first trimester of their pregnancy, according to new research presented by the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission's staff at a meeting on Friday. Over three-quarters of pregnant women on Medicaid received at least nine prenatal care visits. (Brady, 12/13)

Kaiser Health News: Promising Greater Safety, A Tiny Widget Creates Chaos For Tube Feeders
Rachel Glenn loves to puree food and put it in her 4-year-old’s feeding tube. The Arkansas mom said her thick concoctions of fruit, vegetables, meat and grains provide the concentrated nutrition he needs. When he was on formula, Asher, who can’t swallow due to a brainstem condition, vomited several times a day. Since his mom started making his meals in a blender, when he was about 15 months old, that has stopped and Asher has more energy. Plus: “He gets his two cups of greens a day and he doesn’t argue about it.” (Jaklevic, 12/16)

The New York Times: In France, Dying At Home Can Mean A Long Wait For A Doctor
Her mother’s death had been expected. Terminally ill with breast cancer, she lay in a medical bed in her living room, visited daily by a nurse. But when Sandra Lambryczak’s 80-year-old mother died earlier this year, in the predawn hours of a Saturday morning, the daughter suddenly discovered a growing problem in France’s medical system: By law, the body couldn’t be moved until the death was certified by a medical doctor, but a shortage of personnel can sometimes force families to keep their deceased loved ones at home for hours or even days. (Onishi, 12/16)

In case you missed it: Researchers See Hopeful Trend In More People Dying At Home Rather Than In A Hospital Setting

The Washington Post: DIY Diabetes Tech Gains Popularity With Patients And Parents Fed Up With Clunky Mainstream Medical Devices
One night, 18-month-old Hazel Lumpkin woke up with her diaper completely soaked with urine. Her parents, Matt and Melody Lumpkin of Pasadena, Calif., rediapered her in a larger size, hoping that would fix the issue. But Hazel continued to saturate diaper after diaper. As a childhood fan of  “The Baby-Sitters Club” — a book series featuring a young girl with Type 1 diabetes — Melody recalled the connection between frequent urination and diabetes in children. (Kim, 12/14)

The Washington Post: Virtual Reality, Robots, Interactive Apps, Other New Tech Help People With Dementia And Their Caretakers
Doris Moss has always loved dancing. Now in her 80s and suffering from a form of dementia, it has become more important than ever, as hearing a good beat will spur her to get up and move around. And so her daughter, Angela Pearson, who lives with her mother in Ellenwood, Ga., and is her primary caretaker, has turned to a new technology for people with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia: a touch-screen application known as SimpleC Companion, that can be set to play some of Moss’s favorite music — along with recorded reminders to drink water and take medication — at various points of the day when Pearson is away from the house. (Kalter, 12/15)

The Washington Post: Data Catch-22: How Tech Gadgets For Exercise Sometimes Do More Harm Than Good
When Bri Cawsey began running in 2008, she quickly got hooked on the sport and wanted to get faster. So she did what many runners do and bought a GPS watch that would give her real-time feedback on her pace, mileage and other metrics. First, she enjoyed the data readout. Before long, she connected her watch to an app that helped her track calories, as well. Then she added a second watch, more sophisticated than the first, and began comparing the data from the two for better accuracy. By about 2012, Cawsey found she couldn’t do anything without a tracking watch on her wrist. (Loudin, 12/14)

The Washington Post: New Prosthetic Can Help People Who Have Lost A Limb Feel Again, And May Reduce Phantom Pain
Phantom pain was all that Keven Walgamott had left of the limb he lost in an accident over a decade ago — until he tried on the LUKE Arm for the first time in 2017, and told researchers that he could “feel” again. The arm is a motorized and sensorized prosthetic that has been in development for over 15 years by a team at the University of Utah. Researchers around the world have been developing prosthetics that closely mimic the part of the human body they would replace. (Dhar, 12/14)

The Associated Press: Large Hospital System Says It Was Hit By Ransomware Attack
New Jersey’s largest hospital system said Friday that a ransomware attack last week disrupted its computer network and that it paid a ransom to stop it. Hackensack Meridian Health did not say in its statement how much it paid to regain control over its systems but said it holds insurance coverage for such emergencies. (12/13)

The Wall Street Journal: New Jersey Hospital System Hit By Cyberattack
Attacks on hospitals and health systems, who have been digitizing their operations and record-keeping, have proven to be hugely disruptive, in some cases leaving small physician groups unable to recover. Victims have been forced to cancel some elective procedures, shut down computer networks to prevent further spread of the virus and temporarily revert to using paper records. (Evans, 12/13)

Stat: 7 Startups Acquired By Apple That Are Central To Its Health Strategy 
The Apple Watch continuously monitors numerous health metrics and doubles as a virtual clinical trial site. AirPods, Apple’s wireless ear buds, function as basic hearing aids, and its health record app lets users pull in data from health care providers. ...Over the past decade, Apple has nabbed roughly half a dozen startups with specialties that could prove critical for health care disruption, from speech recognition and sleep tracking to health record consolidation and hospital mapping. (Brodwin, 12/16)

Modern Healthcare: As Health Inequities Mount, Hospitals Step Up Economic Development Initiatives
Large healthcare organizations around the country are stepping up their efforts to reduce socio-economic, racial and ethnic disparities in health outcomes in their communities. Leaders recognize that far more than clinical care, socio-economic factors largely determine people’s health and well-being. So progressive-thinking executives like former Kaiser Permanente chairman and CEO Bernard Tyson, who died in November, have spearheaded investments and partnerships in affordable housing, job-creating economic development, education, nutrition, healthy behaviors, and other social determinants of health. (Meyer, 12/14)

Modern Healthcare: Cleveland Clinic Laundry Cooperative Draws Interest From Other Systems
Cleveland Clinic was seeing a decline in the cleanliness of its annual 18 million pounds of laundered linens. Supply chain managers there were scrambling because they were receiving as little as half the clean linens they needed for patients. So, two years ago, the health system explored alternatives to its laundry outsourcing contract with industry giant Sodexo, which was scaling back its healthcare laundry business. (Meyer, 12/14)

Modern Healthcare: Lawmakers Seek Great Transparency Of Provider Insurer Contracts
To the dismay of hospital leaders, the House-Senate compromise legislation to end surprise out-of-network bills includes bans on secret contract terms between providers and health plans that critics say are anti-competitive and drive up prices. Earlier this month, three key Senate and House committee leaders announced a bipartisan deal on surprise bill legislation that covered a broader range of issues, though it's unclear whether that will be included in the year-end government funding package. (Meyer, 12/13)

New Hampshire Union Leader: New Medical Co-Op Aimed At Saving Health Care Costs 
A former state health commissioner and owner of a surgery center has launched a cooperative aimed at reducing costs for independent physicians and health care providers. Independent physicians and health care providers are struggling to stay afloat with rising costs and more competition from hospital-based networks, said Nick Vailas, cofounder of Bedford Ambulatory Surgical Center. He launched Patriot Health Partners in September to help even the playing field. The cooperative allows practices to band together to reduce costs, he said. (Phelps, 12/15)

The Advocate: Oceans Mental Health Hospital Gets $1.4M Grant Approved 
Baton Rouge Metro Council unanimously approved an economic incentive agreement with a Plano-based mental health provider for $1.4 million as a grant in exchange for a new niche psychiatric hospital in the parish. The Oceans Behavioral Health Care hospital is slated to be built at Howell Place near Harding Boulevard and Interstate 110. (Mosbrucker, 12/13)

Columbus Dispatch: Athens Rehabilitation Center Helps People Transition From Psychiatric Hospitals To Home 
Andrew Green was being released from Summit Behavioral Healthcare in Cincinnati in May, but he wasn’t quite ready to go to his Athens County home. So he checked into the Adam-Amanda Mental Health Rehabilitation Center in Athens, the only clinic in the state designed specifically for people being discharged from psychiatric hospitals who could still use a little inpatient care. ...Too often, people who aren’t ready to function without the support of inpatient care end up back in the hospital, on the streets, in prison or dead, mental health experts say. And the suicide rate for individuals leaving a psychiatric hospital within the first 90 days after they’ve been released is 14 times higher than the general population, said Margaret Sterling, clinical coordinator for the Adam-Amanda Mental Health Rehabilitation Center. (Henry, 12/16)

The CT Mirror: How They Came To A $1.8 Billion Hospital Settlement
The administration of Gov. Ned Lamont pulled back the curtain Friday on the negotiations that produced a tentative settlement of a massive hospital tax lawsuit that would pay Connecticut’s hospitals $1.8 billion over seven years, while costing the state $872 million. Administration officials told lawmakers in an informational hearing that the settlement is structured to limit the state’s liability by leveraging $1 billion in federal funds. It raises Medicaid rates by 14 percent over seven years, and it makes supplemental payments the officials say are Medicaid eligible. (Pazniokas and Carlesso, 12/13)

Sacramento Bee: Kaiser’s 4,000 Behavioral Health Workers Launch 5-Day Strike
Kaiser Permanente’s behavioral health clinicians will be picketing Monday outside the health care giant’s Sacramento Medical Center on Morse Avenue, joining in a weeklong labor strike that will affect services at more than 100 facilities around California Roughly 4,000 psychologists, psychiatric nurses and other behavioral health workers — members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers — say they want the company to shorten wait times for return appointments and reduce therapist caseloads. (Anderson, 12/15)

Modern Healthcare: Nurses Vote To Unionize At Struggling Chicago Hospital
Registered nurses at Community First Medical Center, a Medicaid-dependent hospital on the Northwest Side of Chicago struggling with staff and supply shortages and malfunctioning equipment, voted yesterday to unionize after failing in several previous attempts. The vote was 207-16 in favor of joining the National Nurses United union. Flyers backing the push cited a string of workplace complaints, such as five years without a raise; suspension and cancellation of insurance coverage despite continuing premium deductions; and security doors that won't close. (Strahler, 12/13)

Georgia Health News: Kemp’s Emergency Action To Bring 30-Bed Mobile Unit To Grady
Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency Friday over flood damage at Grady, which will speed the transfer of a 30-bed mobile unit to the Atlanta hospital. The emergency declaration allows the state to use Georgia Emergency Management Agency funding to bring the mobile unit, owned by the state of North Carolina, to the Grady campus. (Miller, 12/13)

The New York Times: How 2 Drifters Brought Anti-Semitic Terror To Jersey City
The first body was found stuffed inside the trunk of a Lincoln Town Car. It was a brutal crime, a 34-year-old livery driver beaten in the head and his body hidden in a sedan on a residential street in Bayonne, N.J. But the discovery offered no hint of what was to come. A bulletin with details about the man’s death circulated among local law enforcement. It mentioned a moving van. (Knoll, 12/15)

Modern Healthcare: Northwell Health Pledges $1 Million Investment In Gun Violence Prevention
New York-based Northwell Health on Thursday said it plans to invest $1 million in efforts related to gun violence prevention. Northwell CEO Michael Dowling said during a forum on gun violence hosted by the system that it will commit funding. The New Hyde Park-based health system is still determining how the money will be used, which could include research and advocacy efforts, according to spokesman Terry Lynam. (Castellucci, 12/13)

Health News Florida: No Quick Fix On Pensacola Shooting ‘Loophole’
State officials aren’t finding an easy fix to a federal “loophole” a Saudi national used in obtaining a Florida hunting license and legally buying a handgun before killing three people last week at a Pensacola naval base. Members of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission acknowledged Thursday the issue is more complicated than they thought. (Turner, 12/13)

Health News Florida: Statewide Grand Jury Slams ‘Systemic’ School Safety Issues
A statewide grand jury has issued a report painting a dire picture of how Florida school districts are implementing security measures passed in response to a mass shooting at a Broward County high school nearly two years ago. In an 18-page report released late Wednesday, the grand jury found ongoing “turf wars” between local jurisdictions, law enforcement agencies and schools are hampering officials’ ability to respond to potential school threats. (Ceballos, 12/13)

The Oregonian: Wheeler, Multnomah County Point Fingers After Portland Police Shoot Mentally Ill Man 
A debate about the state of Multnomah County’s mental health services raged on Friday as politicians traded criticisms over who should take responsibility for the death of a homeless man with mental illness killed by Portland police near Mall 205. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said he agreed with comments made the day before by Police Chief Danielle Outlaw that systemic failures in the county’s services played a key role in Koben Henriksen’s death at the hands of police. (Goodykoontz, 12/13)

The Associated Press: Mississippi 15-Week Abortion Ban Is Blocked By Appeals Court
A federal appeals court declared Friday that Mississippi's ban on abortion at 15 weeks is unconstitutional, dealing a blow to those seeking to overturn the landmark Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves ruled correctly when he blocked the Mississippi law from taking effect in 2018. (Wagster Pettus, 12/13)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Federal Appeals Court Agrees To Another Review Of Ohio’s Down Syndrome Abortion Ban
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati will review a preliminary injunction from a U.S. District Court, which stopped a 2017 law that bans abortions in cases where a test shows the fetus likely has Down syndrome. In October, a three-judge panel for the 6th Circuit upheld the lower court’s decision, but Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost asked the full court to take up the case. (Pelzer, 12/13)

The Associated Press: Audit: Medical System Board Was 'Deeply Compromised'
The University of Maryland Medical System paid $500,000 to buy the self-published books of Baltimore's now disgraced ex-mayor, but there's no evidence any system executives ever read them or that a process was in place to determine their fair market value, an audit released Friday said. The audit comes amid a scandal that rocked the medical system this year and after former Mayor Catherine Pugh, a former board member of the system, pleaded guilty to federal charges related to her “Healthy Holly" books. (12/13)

The Baltimore Sun: New Audit Says Top Medical System Officials Never Read Pugh’s ‘Healthy Holly’ Books Before Paying Her $500,000 
An audit commissioned by new members of the University of Maryland Medical System’s board of directors has determined that top system officials never read former Mayor Catherine Pugh’s “Healthy Holly” books for children or checked to see if they were printed before paying her $500,000 in five installments. “There is no evidence that any UMMS executive ever read one of the installments to support a belief that the books would serve that population health goal,” concluded the audit, released Friday. (Broadwater, 12/14)

The Washington Post: California Stem Cell Company, Liveyon, Halts Sales Of Product After Getting FDA Warning
A California stem cell company on Friday announced the immediate suspension of sales of umbilical cord blood-derived products, a week after federal regulators said the treatments were unapproved drugs and posed safety risks. In a letter to clients, Liveyon LLC Chief Executive Officer John Kosolcharoen said the company has halted distribution of its products, Pure and Pure Pro, to “focus its efforts” on getting the nod from the Food and Drug Administration to conduct a clinical trial and eventually apply for approval of the products. (McGinley, 12/13)

The Wall Street Journal: Facing A ‘Food Desert,’ Oklahoma City Wants Dollar Stores To Sell Fresh Food
In the nine square miles that cover the 73111 ZIP Code in northeast Oklahoma City, there isn’t a single grocery store. The last one closed over the summer. There are, however, four dollar stores in the area, where 32% of the 11,000 residents live below the poverty level—roughly three times the national average. “That ZIP Code is one of the unhealthiest in our city,” said Oklahoma City Councilwoman Nikki Nice. “Changing that starts with access to food.” (Ansari, 12/15)

Reveal: Dozens Of Senior Care Homes That Broke Labor Laws Continue To Get Medicaid Funds
Medicaid funding has continued to flow to dozens of senior care-home operators in four states cited for stealing workers’ wages or breaking other labor laws, an investigation by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting has found. Earlier this fall, Medicaid funding went to at least 45 care homes previously cited for labor violations in California, Florida, Oregon and Wisconsin. The bulk of those cases occurred in California, where at least 35 facilities continued to receive Medicaid reimbursements in October after being penalized by state or federal labor regulators. (Gollan, 12/14)

The Washington Post: New Jersey Bill To Restrict Vaccine Exemptions Faces Hundreds Of Anti-Vaccine Protesters
Hundreds of anti-vaccine activists arrived at the New Jersey legislature Thursday to protest a bill that would dramatically restrict exceptions for inoculations. Protesters, composed of parents and religious leaders, demonstrated outside the capitol in Trenton and flooded its halls, bearing signs with slogans such as “When there is forced medicine, there is no liberty,” and “We deserve an education." (Epstein, 12/13)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Autopsies: Cobb Inmates Died Of ‘Natural Causes’ While In Custody
The autopsies on Steven Davis and William John Kocour show the manner of death for both men to be natural causes. However, that’s where the similarities end. The Medical Examiner’s Office classified Davis’s cause of death to be undetermined while Kocour died from cirrhosis of the liver, according to the reports released by the office. The two men are among seven Cobb County Adult Detention Center inmates who have died after experiencing medical emergencies at the facility. The deaths have sparked criticism from residents, local activists and civil rights organizations, which are calling on Sheriff Neil Warren to address their concerns about medical care for inmates and jail staffing levels. (Dixon, 12/16)

San Francisco Chronicle: Oakland Councilwoman Wants To Put Homeless On Cruise Ship, But Port Not On Board
Oakland City Council President Rebecca Kaplan wants to bring a cruise ship to the city’s port to house up to 1,000 homeless people, an idea officials at the Port of Oakland called “untenable.” At Tuesday’s council meeting, Kaplan told council members she has been contacted by cruise ship companies about providing a ship for emergency housing. Homelessness has spiked in Oakland in the past two years with an increase in the number of unsheltered people from 1,902 to 3,210. (Ravani, 12/11)

The CT Mirror: Most OB-GYN Practices Fall Short In Caring For Women With Disabilities
An estimated 207,100 female residents of Connecticut have at least one disability, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The disabilities range from barely noticeable to those that render women unable to see, speak, move freely, or make sound decisions. But no matter the type of disability, all women need access to gynecological health care. (Heubeck, 12/15)

Des Moines Register: Cologuard Test Can Preclude Insurance Coverage For Follow-Up Colonoscopy
In the medical community, Cologuard has generally been considered a good thing: It detects genetic mutations commonly seen in colon cancer and detects blood in the stool. Medicare and many private insurance plans cover the test if it’s performed once every three years. But agreeing to that cheaper, easier DNA screening for colorectal cancer can cost consumers much more in the end. Because if that test comes back positive, as mine did, some insurers and Medicare will no longer cover as a preventive service the colonoscopy that your doctor will inevitably order next. (Rood, 12/14)

The Associated Press: Inmate's Suicide Shows Need For Reforms, Advocates Say
The final two months of Cachin Anderson’s life in New York’s prison system were filled with warnings he was a man in crisis. He climbed on a sink and dove headfirst at the floor, saying he “wanted to end it and go home.” He urinated on guards. He hurled a can at one corrections officer and punched another in the face, knocking him out. (12/15)

The Star Tribune: North Memorial Partners With Elder Care Provider To Screen Patients For Problems 
A new care coordination program to predict and address the health needs of North Memorial’s elderly patients is different from prior attempts, its leaders said, in one key way. ...Under the new program, a group of North Memorial’s elderly patients is screened for risks of chronic diseases and complications, and high medical spending. High-risk patients then receive home visits from LifeSprk nurses to identify solutions to maintain or improve their health, even if those solutions have nothing to do with medicine. (Olson, 12/14)

The Oregonian: Oregon’s Mental Health System Is Broken. This Reformer Thinks He Can Fix It. 
Oregon’s new mental health chief Steve Allen is used to harsh winters as a long-time resident of Wisconsin and Minnesota, but has yet to experience Oregon’s damp and dangerous cold. ...For the past several years, Oregon has had the highest rate of people with mental illness in the country – one in four. It is also one of the worst at providing access to treatment and keeping people in care. The system has been so troubled that the U.S. Department of Justice has been demanding reform for more than a decade. The Oregon Health Authority’s director has been open about some of the mental health system’s persistent failures. (Harbarger, 12/14)

KQED: In The Expensive Bay Area, Artists Navigate Unique Mental Health Challenges
Grueling tour schedules, financial ups and downs, performance anxiety, fear of failure—musicians face unique job pressures that can make them more prone to mental illness. A 2019 survey of nearly 1,500 independent musicians conducted by music distributor Record Union found that 73 percent of respondents struggled with anxiety and depression, and 33 percent grappled with panic attacks. (Fraga, 12/12)

North Carolina Health News: Fighting Childhood Obesity By Teaming Up 
The program is the brainchild of Sarah Armstrong, a pediatrician at Duke University Medical Center, and her colleagues. Armstrong, who has dedicated much of her professional life to the growing epidemic of child obesity, routinely sees young patients presenting with conditions that used to be reserved for later in life: 8-year-olds with Type 2 diabetes and in need of daily insulin shots, 10-year-olds on blood pressure medicine. (Ovaska-Few, 12/16)

KCUR: Report: Kansas Put Your Health At Risk By Trimming Environmental Agency's Budget 
An environmental watchdog group says most states aren’t stepping up to fill the gap left by budget and staff cuts at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which could put Kansans at greater risk of exposure to harmful pollutants. ...The Kansas Division of Environment is responsible for a wide range of tasks. It monitors public drinking water and enforces clean water standards. It’s also responsible for cleaning up spills, such as toxic plumes created by chemicals that leaked into the ground from dry cleaners, and issues permits for dumps and trash disposal sites. (Grimmett, 12/13)

CNN: Video Shows North Carolina School Resource Officer Slamming And Dragging 11-Year-Old Boy
Surveillance video of a school resource officer slamming and dragging an 11-year-old boy is sparking outrage in Vance County, North Carolina. The video shows the Vance County Middle School resource officer grabbing and slamming the child to the ground, then picking him up and doing it again before yanking the child up and continuing to walk down the hall. The school alerted the Sheriff's Office minutes after the incident on Thursday. (Vera and Chen, 12/16)

Stat: Consumer Product Safety Commission: Act On Major Threats To Kids 
We know a lot about how to protect children from injury and death. Car seats help protect them during a crash. Vaccines prevent them from developing polio, meningitis, and a host of other infectious diseases.We know this because years of careful research and data collection prove it, and based on that information we’ve been able to advise families about ways to protect their children. As a pediatrician, it’s alarming to me how much the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) knows about two real and present dangers to children — crib bumpers and poisoning by liquid nicotine — and has failed to act on them. Action to make consumer products safer is the very mission of this government agency. This isn’t the only area in which the CPSC’s failure to act has put children at serious risk. Another threat on the market is liquid nicotine, the kind used to refill certain types of e-cigarettes. As e-cigarette use has become more and more common, these vials are found in a growing number of households across the country. (Kyle Yasuda, 12/16)

Nashville Tennessean: 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)

Axios: Private Health Insurance Costs Are Skyrocketing
The cost of private health insurance is out of control, compared to Medicare and Medicaid. You see that clearly if you take a long-term view of recently released federal data on health spending. Why it matters: This is why the health care industry — not just insurers, but also hospitals and drug companies — is so opposed to proposals that would expand the government's purchasing power. And it’s why some progressives are so determined to curb, or even eliminate, private coverage. By the numbers: Per capita spending for private insurance has grown by 52.6% over the last 10 years. Per-capita spending for Medicare grew by 21.5% over the same period, and Medicaid 12.5%. Private insurance generally pays higher prices for care than Medicare, which generally pays more than Medicaid. (Drew Altman, 12/16)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Administration Rings In The Season By Yanking Food From Vulnerable Americans. 
President Donald Trump likes to present himself as a tireless defender of Christmas. But in the most Grinchy policy decision in recent memory, the administration says it is moving forward with work requirements for food stamp recipients that ignore the real-world circumstances faced by the poor. The changes will cause almost 700,000 struggling Americans to lose their access to needed assistance. The rule change announced last week affects only childless, able-bodied adults, but there’s coal coming down the pike for other stockings as well: Additional restrictions expected to be announced later would affect another 3 million poor Americans — and close to 1 million children who could lose their subsidized school lunches. Merry Christmas, kids! (12/15)

Des Moines Register: Expand Medicare To Cover Cost Of Long-Term Care: It's A Crisis.
You work hard all your life, save some money and look forward to retirement. Maybe you'll take up a new hobby, volunteer or just putter around the yard. Then you have a massive stroke. Or a serious car accident. Or are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. All your plans change.Instead of taking care of grandchildren, you need a caregiver. Instead of bicycling with your wife, she’s pushing your wheelchair. The money saved for travel will be needed to pay for long-term care. (12/12)

Stat: Congress Needs To Stop The Health Insurance Tax Before It's Too Late
Washington again finds itself up against a deadline. This time, lawmakers must act before Dec. 31 to keep the government running and to extend critical tax provisions that individuals and businesses are counting on. One such provision is to delay the looming Health Insurance Tax (HIT), an annual fee placed on 142 million Americans’ health coverage. The tax is levied on health insurers based on their market share, and the Congressional Budget Office found that it would be passed along to consumers in the form of higher premiums. This tax will affect everyone with health insurance. But it has especially harsh consequences for the 24 million seniors who receive their coverage through Medicare Advantage. A 2018 study found that the Health Insurance Tax could equate to a premium increase per Medicare Advantage beneficiary of $3,052 over the next decade. (Allyson Y. Schwartz, 12/13)

Los Angeles Times: Don't Buy A Gun As A Christmas Gift
During my emergency medicine internship in the Midwest, one of my first patients was a 4-year-old boy with a gunshot wound. The bullet came from his father’s .357 magnum, which the youngster had found. As he played with the gun, he accidentally shot himself in the upper thigh. The bullet’s kinetic energy was so powerful in his tiny body, that despite being shot in the leg, many of the boy’s internal abdominal organs were traumatized. He died as we frantically tried to save his life. (Steven Sainsbury, 12/15)

The New York Times: Women Have Always Had Abortions 
Over the course of American history, women of all classes, races, ages and statuses have ended their pregnancies, both before there were any laws about abortion and after a raft of 19th-century laws restricted it. Our ignorance of this history, however, equips those in the anti-abortion movement with the power to create dangerous narratives. They peddle myths about the past where wayward women sought abortions out of desperation, pathetic victims of predatory abortionists. They wrongly argue that we have long thought about fetuses as people with rights. And they improperly frame Roe v. Wade as an anomaly, saying it liberalized a practice that Americans had always opposed. But the historical record shows a far different set of conclusions. (Lauren MacIvor Thompson, 12/13)

Louisville Courier-Journal: Planned Parenthood Forced Out Of Title X By Trump Administration
“When I lost my virginity, that same month the recession hit and my dad lost his job as an engineer. So we lost our insurance.” Riece Hamilton of Louisville was 15 years old when she realized she needed access to affordable birth control. Riece’s aunt told her she could get affordable birth control from Planned Parenthood. ...I proudly stand with Planned Parenthood because I believe all people deserve the ability to control their bodies and their lives. (Kim Greene, 12/16)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Drug Company Ripoffs Don't End With Price Gouging And Tax Dodging
Taming Big Pharma can also be a first step toward ensuring that all corporations contribute to society instead of preying on it. That’s how we build an economy and restore a democracy that works for all of us, not just those at the top. (Margarida Jorge and Frank Clemente, 12/16)

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)