The New York Times: Examining Conflicting Claims About ‘Medicare For All’
Since Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont drove the idea of “Medicare for all,” or a single-payer health system, to the center of the political debate, few other issues have so divided the Democratic presidential candidates and voters. The result has been a cascade of competing assertions, estimates and statistics about the costs and effects of what would amount to a fundamental overhaul of the size and role of the government and the way Americans receive care. Here’s a fact check of some of these claims. (Qiu, 11/9)

Reuters: Exclusive: Economist Who Backed Warren Healthcare Plan Has Doubts About Her Wealth Tax
A leading economist who vouched for Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren's healthcare reform plan told Reuters on Thursday he doubts its staggering cost can be fully covered alongside her other government programs. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, also voiced skepticism that the wealth tax provision in Warren's plan - a key funding mechanism - will produce predicted levels of revenue because those targeted by the tax will seek to dodge it. (Reid, 11/8)

The Hill: Strategists Say Warren 'Medicare For All' Plan Could Appeal To Centrists
Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s “Medicare for All” funding plan has come under fire from her rivals for the Democratic nomination, but some in her own party say her framing of the issue could ease the concerns of centrist voters. The Massachusetts senator and leading Democratic presidential candidate said when she released her funding plan earlier this month that it “doesn’t raise middle-class taxes by one penny.” (Jagoda, 11/9)

NBC News: Doctors, Hospitals Take Up Arms Against Democrats' Health Care Changes
Across months of debates, stump speeches, TV appearances and position papers, the face of everything wrong with the U.S. health care industry for Democratic candidates has mostly come down to two groups: private insurers and pharmaceutical companies. But in focusing on those industries, candidates may be leaving supporters unprepared for the fight it would take to pass "Medicare for All" or create a public insurance option. In fact, Democratic proposals already face opposition from well-funded groups representing doctors, specialists and hospitals, many of which would be asked to accept major revenue cuts to finance expanded coverage. (Sarlin, 11/10)

CNBC: Investors Are Shrugging Off Fear Of Medicare For All – For Now
Ending private health insurance has been one of the rallying cries of Elizabeth Warren’s presidential bid and her rise in the polls has made health care investors nervous. Yet the week after the leading Democratic contender detailed how she’d pay for her Medicare for All plan, prompting widespread debate, investors are seemingly to shrugging off the news altogether. The S&P 500 Managed Care index rose more than 3% last week. Six straight weeks of gains have the large-cap health insurance sector up more 19% for the fourth quarter. (Coombs, 11/10)

The Associated Press: Harris Zeroes In On Health Care Before Powerful Nevada Union
Presidential candidate Kamala Harris zeroed in on the Democratic Party's debate over health insurance Friday as she made her pitch to one of Nevada's most powerful political forces, the casino workers' union. Leaders and members of the Culinary Union and its parent organization, Unite Here, have made it clear they don't favor "Medicare for all" plans like those proposed by Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren that would eliminate private insurance. (Price, 11/8)

WBUR: 'Just The Right Policy': Pete Buttigieg On His 'Medicare For All Who Want It' Plan
Buttigieg would offer public health insurance to those who want it while also keeping private health care plans available. Other candidates' proposals, including "Medicare for All" — backed by Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — would replace the current system with a single-payer, government-run program and eliminate private insurance altogether. (Simon and Glenn, 11/8)

Stat: More Than Ever, Democratic Presidential Hopefuls Want To Take On Pharma. Here’s How They’d Do It
President Trump has made drug pricing a key policy tenet of his three-year tenure in the White House. And as his drug pricing policy has grown more aggressive in the past year, his Democratic challengers in the 2020 election have responded in kind. The increasingly aggressive Democratic platform follows roughly a decade of stagnation. Since the mid-2000s, Democratic lawmakers have focused far more on expanding access to health insurance than they have on prescription drug policy. (Facher, 11/11)

The New York Times: Vaping Illnesses Are Linked To Vitamin E Acetate, C.D.C. Says
A form of vitamin E has been identified as a “very strong culprit” in lung injuries related to vaping THC, health officials reported on Friday, a major advance in a frightening outbreak that has killed 40 people and sickened 2,051. Many patients with the mysterious illness have wound up hospitalized in intensive care units, needing ventilators or even more desperate measures to help them breathe. Most are young, male adults or even teenagers. (Grady, 11/8)

Reuters: U.S. CDC Reports 'Breakthrough' In Vaping Lung Injury Probe As Cases Top 2,000
In a telephone briefing on Friday, Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), called Vitamin E acetate "a very strong culprit of concern" and referred to the discovery as "a breakthrough" in the investigation. She cautioned that more work is needed to definitively declare it a cause, and said studies may identify other potential causes of the serious injuries as well. (11/8)

The Washington Post: Vitamin E Acetate Found In Lung Fluid Of Vaping-Related Patients
Vitamin E acetate has already been identified in previous testing by the Food and Drug Administration and state laboratories in vape products that contain THC. New York state’s Wadsworth Center lab was the first to discover it about two months ago in samples from sick patients. Of 595 vaping-product samples linked to patients that have been tested by the FDA, 70 percent contained THC. Half of those THC-containing products also had vitamin E acetate, with concentrations as high as 88 percent, the FDA said Friday. (Sun, 11/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Investigators Find Clue To Mysterious Vaping Injuries
Adding the oil can increase profits, because each product won’t need to have as much THC. The substance is safe to ingest but potentially dangerous to inhale, the CDC said. New York state health officials highlighted vitamin E acetate as a substance of concern in early September, when they found high concentrations in THC products submitted by lung illness patients. Investigators from at least one other state, Utah, have also noted finding the substance in THC-containing products. THC is the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. (Abbott and Maloney, 11/8)

CNN: Breakthrough In CDC Vaping Illness Investigation: Vitamin E Acetate Linked To THC May Be To Blame
During the press briefing, CDC's Dr. James Pirkle described vitamin E acetate as "enormously sticky" when it goes into the lungs, and it "does hang around." Pirkle said it wouldn't be unusual for THC to be absent from some of the samples because it leaves the lungs faster. He added finding THC in 82% of the samples from 28 patients was "noteworthy." (Christensen, 11/8)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Vaping Illnesses: Outbreak Of Lung Injuries Linked To THC Additive
Jim Pirkle, director of the laboratory science division at CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health, described vitamin E acetate found in the lungs as a sticky coating that was like "honey" in the lungs of sick patients. (Spicuzza and Rutledge, 11/8)

CNBC: CDC Says It's Made A Breakthrough In Finding Possible Cause Of Vaping Illness
Schuchat said Friday that the number of lung illness cases appears to be declining, but added some states are still being hit hard and public health officials continue to be very active in the investigation. The CDC is recommending that consumers stop vaping, particularly THC and especially anything bought off the street. Until the relationship of vitamin E acetate and lung health is better characterized, it is important that the compound not be added to e-cigarette or vaping products, the CDC said. (Lovelace, 11/8)

NPR: CDC Finds Possible Culprit In Outbreak Of Vaping-Related Lung Injuries
Since the outbreak started in March, scientists have struggled to find a shared cause. The lung injuries have been most commonly linked to products containing THC, but some patients became ill after they reported vaping only nicotine. (Aubrey and Kennedy, 11/8)

Stat: Officials Identify Possible Culprit Behind Vaping Illnesses: Vitamin E Acetate
It isn’t clear how widespread the use of vitamin E acetate is in e-cigarette and vaping products. Schuchat said the substance might be unintentionally introduced to vaping products or intentionally added to dilute vaping liquids and cut down on the amount of THC added to a product.(Silverman, 11/8)

Bloomberg: U.S. Focusing On Vitamin E As Cause Of Vaping Lung Injuries
Regulators had signaled in recent weeks that the outbreak was likely tied to the use of black-market vaping products containing THC, though they hadn’t drawn a direct link to any one product, behavior or ingredient. There are hundreds of devices and ingredients at play in the vaping market, and not all are legal, which has made identifying the source of the outbreak much more difficult. (Cortez, 11/8)

Reuters: U.S. To Raise Age Limit For Vaping To 21, Trump Says Ahead Of Action Next Week
The United States plans to raise the age limit for vaping to 21, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday, adding that his administration would issue its final report on such products next week. Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, did not give further details about the administration's regulatory plans or give a specific date for any announcements. (11/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Supports Raising E-Cigarette Purchase Age To 21
The White House is still working out the details of a policy to pursue legislation raising the minimum purchase age for e-cigarettes, according to a person familiar with the matter. It could include traditional cigarettes and other tobacco products, the person said. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell earlier this year introduced legislation that would raise the minimum age to purchase all tobacco products to 21, a move that public-health advocates and tobacco companies hope would curb the use of e-cigarettes among teens. Similar bills have been introduced in the House. More than a dozen states have passed or enacted laws raising the minimum age to 21 for all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. (Maloney and Leary, 11/8)

CNBC: Trump Says Administration Plans To Raise The Vaping Age To 21 In US
Trump and top health officials said in September that the administration was readying a ban on flavored e-cigarettes. Trump’s comments Friday suggest the administration may be backing off those plans amid intense pressure from vaping advocates who say flavors help adults stop smoking cigarettes and that removing flavors would force vape shops around the country to close. “We have a lot of people to look at, including jobs, quite frankly,” Trump said. “Because, you know, it’s become a pretty big industry.” (LaVito, 11/8)

CQ: White House Signals Exceptions To Vaping Flavor Ban
Conservative groups, the owners of small vaping shops and vaping enthusiasts have been warning the White House that a prohibition on all flavors could result in small businesses closing and would risk alienating some Trump voters. The groups are lobbying the administration to exclude adults-only vaping shops from the flavor ban, and limit restrictions on flavors to e-cigarettes sold in places like gas stations and convenience stores that are not age restricted — products like the e-cigarette Juul, which is disproportionately popular among teenagers. (Siddons, 11/8)

CNN: Trump Says Vaping Age Might Rise To 21 In US
Several cities and states, including California, Oregon, Virginia, Massachusetts and others, limit sales of tobacco products to people age 21 and older. In April, Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette introduced the Tobacco to 21 Act, which would prohibit the sale of tobacco products to people younger than 21. In May, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced the Tobacco-Free Youth Act, which would increase the minimum age for sale of tobacco products to 21. (Kounang, Howard and Gumbrecht, 11/8)

Bloomberg: With Vape Curbs Pending, White House Questions FDA Tobacco Role 
Regulating tobacco is a waste of time for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a top White House official said, as the Trump administration prepared to unveil new measures designed to curtail an alarming surge in nicotine vaping by teenagers. Joe Grogan, the head of the White House Domestic Policy Council, called the FDA’s regulation of tobacco “a huge waste of time” and said the agency should focus on approving and monitoring new drugs. He said the agency had been “sucked in the mud” dealing with tobacco rather than approving more drugs or focusing on serious illnesses. (Grogan, 11/8)

Stat: Top Trump Official Suggests Tobacco Regulation Distracts From FDA Mission
“I hate tobacco issues, I always have,” Grogan said. “And FDA shouldn’t be regulating this stuff in the first place.” Tobacco products should be regulated, Grogan argued — just by a different agency, though he did not specify an alternative. But he drew a line between therapeutic medical products and vices like tobacco. Tobacco “shouldn’t be regulated by a health agency,” Grogan said, since it has “no redeeming qualities.” Grogan clarified that the remarks reflected his personal views, not formal administration stances. (Facher, 11/8)

The Baltimore Sun: ’We’re Being Killed’: Maryland Vape Shops See Declining Revenue Due To ‘Public Confusion’
As U.S. health officials and lawmakers continue to sound the alarm on vaping-related illnesses, Baltimore area vape shop owners say their businesses have unduly suffered, and they blame what they say is misinformation. For Mike Becker and Lisa Barkhorn, owners of B&B’s Vape Café in Parkville, selling e-cigarette and coffee products is a second job. In the past five or six months, Becker said business has dropped by at least 20% to 25%. (DeVille, 11/11)

Politico: The VA At A Crossroads
The Veterans Administration is facing an existential question. The effort to bring electronic health records to the VA and a push to make it easier for veterans to see doctors outside the VA system are aimed at improving access to care. But some worry those changes will put the VA on the road to privatization. How will the VA preserve its essence and live up to its founding promise even as it seeks to modernize and provide veterans with better care? Join Dan Diamond and Arthur Allen as they examine that question in a series of conversations on the Pulse Check podcast. (11/11)

CNN: This Army Veteran Is Helping To Take The Fight To Lung Cancer
An Army combat veteran who is facing the fight of her life has joined forces with a former NFL player to raise awareness in the battle against lung cancer. Retired Lt. Col. Angela Downs served 21 years in the Army, including a 2006 deployment to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. One year ago this month Downs was on the receiving end of a personal bombshell when she was diagnosed with a form of lung cancer. (Kennedy, 11/10)

WTOP: In Honor Of Veterans Day, Doctors Encourage Ear Health
Veterans are honored around the country every Nov. 11 — and in honor of the nation’s living active, former and retired service members, an audiologist is encouraging both veterans and civilians to keep tabs on their ear health. “Our veterans and our active duty military personnel have very noisy jobs,” said Kyle Acker, with Starkey Hearing Technologies. (Anderson, 11/11)

The Washington Post: Homeless Veterans Set To Move Into Permanent Digs, With A Touch Of Stardom
Clifton Braxton sat in his Buick Encore in the parking lot of Washington’s VA Medical Center last week and showed how he could transform the vehicle into a bedroom. An Air Force veteran who served during the Vietnam War, he struggled with substance abuse for many years and has been homeless off and on for a quarter-century. Each night he parks in a different lot in the District or Maryland. (Bahrampour, 11/10)

North Carolina Health News: ECU, VA Clinic Offers Dental Care To Vets 
Male homeless vets listed dental care as one of their top four unmet needs in a 2017 survey. For the women surveyed, it was rated as the third highest unmet need. ...Passed by Congress in 2018 and signed into law by President Donald Trump, the law allows veterans to seek care in their community under VA benefits if there is a long wait, if their VA care provider refers them or if that service is not available at the VA center closest to them. A joint project with [East Carolina University] also could offer another avenue for veterans in eastern North Carolina ineligible for VA dental benefits to receive care at a reduced rate at the university’s main clinic on campus or at various clinic sites across the state. (Blythe, 11/11)

Kaiser Health News: Sit, Heal: Dog Teaches Military Med Students The Merits Of Service Animals
The newest faculty member at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences has a great smile — and a wagging tail. Shetland, not quite 2 years old, is half golden retriever, half Labrador retriever. As of this fall, he is also a lieutenant commander in the Navy and a clinical instructor in the Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology at USUHS. (Rovner, 11/11)

The Washington Post: A Tiny Pharmacy Is Identifying Big Problems With Common Drugs, Including Zantac
The escalating global recall of Zantac, the heartburn pill that once ranked as the world’s best-selling drug, has its roots not in government oversight or a high-profile lawsuit, but in a tiny online pharmacy here whose founders feared that U.S. drugs might not be as safe as people think. The pharmacy, Valisure, is a start-up with only 14 full-time employees. But since its scientists alerted American regulators that Zantac and its generic form, ranitidine, contained a chemical thought to cause cancer, more than 40 countries from Australia to Vietnam have either stopped sales, launched investigations or otherwise stepped in to protect consumers from possible health risks. (Johnson, 11/8)

Miami Herald: How Zantac Tested For Carcinogen, What Zantac Got Recalled
More prescription-strength and hospital-used ranitidine, sold over the counter under the brand name Zantac, has been recalled for having too much of carcinogen NDMA. Though the run of recalls on the heartburn drug continues, FDA testing should calm some stomachs. (Neal, 11/10)

The New York Times: Who Owns H.I.V.-Prevention Drugs? The Taxpayers, U.S. Says
After years of prodding by patient advocates, federal officials on Wednesday sued the drug maker Gilead Sciences, charging that it had infringed government patents on the idea of preventing H.I.V. with a daily pill. The suit, by the Department of Health and Human Services, came as a pleasant shock to many critics of the company, including Democratic members of Congress who had pressed the administration to act. (McNeil and Mandavilli, 11/8)

Modern Healthcare: HHS Defends Its Authority To Cut 340B Payments
HHS urged a federal appeals court on Friday to uphold its reimbursement cuts to providers under the 340B drug program, saying Congress gave it the authority to make the changes. Although a lower court ruled in May that the payment changes were unlawful, HHS said it can change 340B drug reimbursements just like any other payments under the Outpatient Prospective Payment System. (Brady, 11/8)

Modern Healthcare: Drug Pricing And Surprise Billing Issues Top Health Lobbying Priorities
Healthcare industry groups spent considerable time and money this year lobbying members of Congress on two hot-button issues: surprise billing and drug pricing. It's likely that the debate will continue into the election year and the next Congress. According to data from the Senate Office of Public Records, the list of the 25 biggest spenders in health lobbying as of Sept. 30 is largely composed of pharmaceutical companies and trade associations, including top spender Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America with $22.5 million in the first three quarters of 2019. (caruso and Cohrs, 11/8)

CQ: White House Policy Chief Pushes Senate Finance Drug Price Bill
The White House top domestic policy aide on Friday called the Senate Finance Committee’s bipartisan drug pricing bill the most likely path this year to lowering prescription drug prices. Joe Grogan, the Domestic Policy Council director, told reporters that the bill would be “the surest route to a bipartisan solution that would be a real win for Democrats, Republicans, the president and, more importantly, the American people." (McIntire, 11/8)

Kaiser Health News: Voters Say Congress Needs To Curb Drug Prices, But Are Lawmakers Listening?
House Democrats are poised to pass sweeping legislation to lower drug prices using strategies President Donald Trump has endorsed. A Trump aide urged the Republican-controlled Senate to vote on a different package curbing drug prices that was drafted by a senior Republican. But at least right now, neither measure appears likely to attract enough bipartisan support to become law. (Huetteman, 11/11)

The Associated Press: Medicare's Outpatient 'Part B' Premium Going Up To $144.60
Medicare's "Part B" premium for outpatient care will rise by nearly 7% to $144.60 a month next year, officials said Friday. They blamed rising spending on medications. The $9.10 monthly increase follows a smaller $1.50 rise this year. It comes after Social Security announced a modest cost-of-living raise for 2020 that works out to about $24 a month for the average retired worker. (11/8)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare Premiums And Deductibles To Increase In 2020
Meanwhile, the average deductible for Medicare Part A, which covers inpatient hospital care and services at skilled-nursing facilities, is slated to rise 3.2%, or $44, to $1,408 in 2020. The deductible covers beneficiaries' share of costs for the first 60 days they are in the hospital. After that, beneficiaries must pay coinsurance of $352 per day through the 90th day. About 99% of Medicare beneficiaries don't pay premiums for Part A coverage because they have at least 40 quarters of Medicare-covered employment, the CMS said. (Livingston, 11/8)

In other Medicare news —

Modern Healthcare: Deadline Looms For Providers To Join Medicare Bundled-Pay Program
The CMS’ late delivery of performance results and the Thanksgiving calendar could reduce provider participation in Medicare’s largest bundled-payment demonstration program. Hospitals and physician groups already participating in the Bundled Payment for Care Improvement Advanced program have until Dec. 1 to decide whether to shrink or expand the number of conditions for which they’ll receive fixed payments covering the entire episode of care. Providers wanting to join the program face the same deadline for selecting from 33 inpatient and four outpatient conditions. (Meyer, 11/9)

Reuters: Kaiser Permanente CEO Bernard Tyson Dies Unexpectedly At 60
Bernard J. Tyson, chairman and chief executive officer of not-for-profit health insurer Kaiser Permanente, died unexpectedly in his sleep on Sunday, aged 60, the company said in a statement. Tyson, who held the top job since 2013, was Oakland, California-based Kaiser Permanente's first black chief executive and a strong proponent for affordable and accessible healthcare. (11/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Bernard Tyson, Chairman And CEO Of Kaiser Permanente, Dies At 60
Kaiser named Gregory Adams, an executive vice president and group president, as interim chief executive and chairman. Mr. Tyson joined Kaiser Permanente roughly 30 years ago and held roles in hospital and health plan operations before succeeding George Halvorson as CEO, Kaiser said. As he rose through the ranks at Kaiser Permanente, Mr. Tyson become a prominent voice for the type of integrated care the nonprofit system delivers, with the health-insurance, hospital and doctor services all closely tied together. (Evans, 11/10)

Modern Healthcare: Kaiser CEO Bernard Tyson Dies Unexpectedly At 60
"An outstanding leader, visionary and champion for high-quality, affordable healthcare for all Americans, Bernard was a tireless advocate for Kaiser Permanente, our members and the communities we serve," the health system said in a statement. (Teichert, 11/10)

The Hill: Kaiser Permanente CEO Bernard Tyson Dies At 60
"On behalf of our Board of Directors, employees and physicians, we extend our deepest sympathies to Bernard’s family during this very difficult time. An outstanding leader, visionary and champion for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans, Bernard was a tireless advocate for Kaiser Permanente, our members and the communities we serve. Most importantly, Bernard was a devoted husband, father and friend. We all will miss his tremendous presence in our lives," it continued. (Bowden, 11/10)

Bloomberg: Bernard Tyson, CEO Of Insurer Kaiser Permanente, Dead At 60 
Tyson’s ascent to the CEO role coincided with the implementation of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, a transformative time in American health care. The insurer’s revenue grew during his tenure, from $53 billion in the year he took the reins to $79.7 billion last year, according to the company’s website. It oversees health plans for more than 12 million customers, with about two-thirds of those in California. (Melby, 11/10)

Sacramento Bee: Strike Against Kaiser Put On Hold After CEO’s Death
A planned five-day strike this week by roughly 4,000 members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers was postponed Sunday after the sudden news of the death of Kaiser Permanente’s CEO Bernard Tyson. Officials from the Oakland-based health care giant confirmed Sunday morning that Tyson, 60, had died unexpectedly in his sleep. (Anderson, 11/10)

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals Fall Short Of Patient Safety Goals 20 Years After 'To Err Is Human'
At Signature Health, a safety-net hospital in Brockton, Mass., daily huddles take place at every staff shift change to discuss mistakes and near-misses. The goal is to raise awareness and anxiety about errors. In 2010, CEO Kim Hollon implemented the Lean method of process improvement throughout his organization. He added a safety-management system three years ago to improve how staffers think while performing potentially dangerous tasks, to protect both patients and themselves from harm. Among other things, that led to staff more consistently using patient bar codes during medication dispensing, which they would sometimes skip to save time. (Meyer, 11/9)

The New York Times: With Medical Bills Skyrocketing, More Hospitals Are Suing For Payment
When a judge hears civil cases at the courthouse in this southwest Virginia town two days a month, many of the lawsuits have a common plaintiff: the local hospital, Ballad Health, suing patients over unpaid medical bills. On a Thursday in August, 102 of the 160 cases on the docket were brought by Ballad. Among the defendants were a schoolteacher, a correctional officer, a stay-at-home mother and even a Ballad employee — all of whom had private insurance but were still responsible for a large share of their bill, the result of large deductibles and co-payments. (Kliff, 11/8)

KCUR: Rural Kansas Loves Its Hospitals, But Keeping Them Open Only Gets Harder 
Shrinking populations mean fewer patients. Those who remain are typically older, poorer and sicker, making them more expensive to treat. Many people in rural areas also lack health insurance. In some southwest Kansas counties, the uninsured rate approaches 19%, more than twice the statewide rate of 8.5%, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Mismanagement along with state and federal policies also figure in the mix. Congress ordered cuts in Medicare payments in 2011 to trim the federal deficit and Kansas lawmakers have rejected the expansion of Medicaid the last several years. (McLean, 11/9)

Modern Healthcare: Top White House Adviser Says Hospital Price Transparency Rule Coming Soon
The Trump administration could release a proposed rule that aims to force hospitals to disclose payer-negotiated rates before the end of the year, White House Domestic Policy Council chief Joe Grogan said Friday. "Hopefully we will have another announcement this month, maybe in December, but I am hopeful this month, that is going to gore a lot of oxen," Grogan told reporters at a briefing hosted by the Alliance for Health Policy. (Cohrs, 11/8)

The New York Times: Deaths Of 3 Infants Traced To Contaminated Equipment, Hospital Says
The infants at the Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa., neonatal intensive care unit were tiny, with some born 27 weeks premature. In July, some started to get ill. One by one, the number of sick babies climbed to eight. Between August and September, bacterial infections claimed the lives of three of them. At a news conference last month, officials at the hospital, which is about 150 miles northwest of Philadelphia, said they were at a loss about the source of the infections. (Ortiz, 11/8)

The Washington Post: 3 Infants Dead After Bacteria Infections From Donor Breast Milk At Geisinger Hospital
“I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and I’ve seen a lot, and I have not seen conduct like this from a medical provider,” said Matt Casey, a Philadelphia-based lawyer representing Cepeda’s parents, as well as another family who lost one of their twins. Casey says findings that Geisinger’s breast milk measurement materials led to the infections have reinforced his belief that Geisinger — which runs sites around Pennsylvania — was negligent both in cleaning its equipment and in taking steps to save lives once red flags surfaced. (Knowles, 11/8)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Hospitals’ Patient Classification System Can Add Hundreds Of Dollars To Your Bill
Whether you are classified as an observation patient or an inpatient can make a big difference to your hospital bill, especially for people on Medicare. Depending on health insurance, outpatients can wind up paying more for X-rays, prescriptions and lab tests in the hospital. (Washington, 11/10)

Boston Globe: Second Major Hospital Chain Agrees To Pay Millions To Resolve Concerns Over Concurrent Surgery
For the second time this week, a major hospital chain has agreed to pay millions of dollars to resolve a lawsuit related to concurrent surgery, the controversial practice in which a doctor oversees more than one operation at a time. Northwell Health of New York agreed to pay $12.3 million to settle a claim by the federal government and three whistle-blowers that Dr. David Samadi, a former urologist at Manhattan’s Lenox Hill Hospital, allowed trainees to perform surgery without proper supervision while he operated on patients in another room. (Saltzman, 11/8)

The Associated Press: Oklahoma Abortion Clinic Takes On 'Physicians Only' Laws
An Oklahoma City abortion clinic filed a lawsuit Friday challenging longstanding state laws that allow only physicians to perform abortions in Oklahoma, marking the sixth time in five years that the state's abortion restrictions have ended up in court. The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of the Trust Women clinic, contends that such laws are unconstitutional because they restrict access to abortions without any valid medical basis. (11/8)

The Associated Press: Texas: Evangelical Women's Health Group Owes State $1.5M
An anti-abortion group that has come under fire for failing to fulfill its promise to provide health services to thousands of low-income Texas women owes the state more than $1.5 million for reimbursement payments that were either inflated or that the state shouldn't have paid at all, according to state investigators. The office of the health inspector general announced Thursday that it had uncovered "serious contractual violations" and was expanding its probe of the Heidi Group, an evangelical nonprofit that started promoting alternatives to abortion in the 1990s, the Houston Chronicle reported. (11/8)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Court Won't Let Wisconsin GOP Lawmakers Intervene In Abortion Case
A federal appeals court this week ruled Wisconsin's Legislature can't intervene in a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood, leaving it to the Democratic attorney general to defend the state's abortion laws. The ruling by a three-judge panel is a victory for Attorney General Josh Kaul and a setback for Republican lawmakers who have tried to chip away at Kaul's authority over the last year. Kaul and lawmakers remain at odds over how to handle a host of other cases. (Marley, 11/8)

The New York Times: The F.B.I.’s New Approach To Combating Domestic Terrorism: Straight Talk
As a group of prominent black pastors listened, the top federal prosecutor in northern Ohio, Justin E. Herdman, spoke recently at Mount Zion church about the prospect that a gunman could target one of their congregations. The subtext was clear. Mr. Herdman is among a group of federal law enforcement officials who have begun speaking more forthrightly about fighting domestic terrorism from the front lines. They want to reassure a skeptical public that the Justice Department is forcefully combating racist and politically motivated violence in the Trump era, amid their own mounting concerns about a possible surge in attacks sparked by the 2020 election. (Goldman, 11/10)

NPR: Mass Shootings And Lack Of Health Care Access Lead To High Stress In Latinos
Mass shootings, health care concerns and the upcoming 2020 presidential election top the list of Americans' worries these days. That's according to a new survey out this week from the American Psychological Association. Overall, 71% said mass shootings were a significant source of stress in their lives, up from 62% last year. Hispanic adults were most likely to report stress over mass shootings (84%). (Neighmond, 11/9)

The Hill: Survey Finds Hispanic Community Worries More Than Other Groups Mass Shootings, Healthcare: Report
The survey found that mass shootings were a source of stress for 84 percent of Hispanic respondents, 79 percent of black respondents, 77 percent of Asian respondents, 71 percent of Native American respondents and 66 percent of white respondents. The survey was conducted around the time that 22 people were killed in a mass shooting that was allegedly motivated by anti-Hispanic sentiments. (Frazin, 11/9)

The Washington Post: Suicide Screening In ER Could Save Lives
Edwin Boudreaux remembers the first time he was left in charge of a patient as a graduate student training to be a psychologist. The patient had come in for routine diabetes treatment but it quickly became apparent she was suicidal. “She was so suicidal, I had to walk her from our clinic to the emergency department just to make sure nothing would happen in between,” Boudreaux said. (Wan, 11/8)

The New York Times: A New Generation Stakes Out A New Path For Charitable Giving
This week, the Huntsman family — one of the most philanthropic in the United States — made a $150 million gift to the University of Utah to establish the Huntsman Mental Health Institute. The gift was a continuation of the large-scale charitable giving by the family’s patriarch, the billionaire industrialist Jon Huntsman Sr., who died last year, and his wife, Karen. Mr. Huntsman was one of the most philanthropic men of his generation. He was among the first to give away over $1 billion in his lifetime — long before Warren Buffett and Bill Gates created the Giving Pledge to induce billionaires to commit to donating at least half of their fortune to charity. (Sullivan, 11/8)

Reuters: Culture Change Is The Cutting Edge Of Mental Health Benefits At Work
Many companies offer employee assistance programs, mindfulness apps or in-office counseling. But experts say a culture shift toward openness, from the C-suite on down, is most effective. That translates to peer counseling, colleagues sharing their experiences and open dialogue. Companies take a myriad of approaches to this challenge. At SAP, considered a thought leader on employee mental health, the company calls its system the Employee Care Cycle. That starts with prevention and destigmatization, said Torsten Paul, SAP's director digital health & well-being. (11/8)

KQED: Minds Scarred By Wildfire: How Disasters Linger
Recovering from the physical losses has been a challenge, but the emotional ones have proved tougher for Hanes due to her history of trauma. Natural disasters like the Camp Fire can reopen those old wounds or create new ones, experts say, bringing up trauma symptoms like insomnia, worry and hopelessness. (Klivans, 11/8)

Stat: Neglected Gene Plays Bigger Role In Alzheimer's Than Suspected 
Just days after news that an ultra-rare form of a cholesterol-related gene called APOE protected a Colombian woman from developing early-onset Alzheimer’s disease (as one of her other genes supposedly fated her to), a second study is providing even stronger evidence that APOE might be the basis for preventing or treating Alzheimer’s. In the largest and clearest calculation yet of how the three different forms of APOE affect the risk of old-age Alzheimer’s (not the rare form that strikes in people’s 40s), scientists found that one variant raises the risk more than previously estimated. A second lowers it more than less rigorous studies reported — by a whopping 99.6% compared to the highest-risk DNA. (Begley, 11/11)

The New York Times: Experts Back Mandatory Bike Helmets But Not All Cyclists Are Sold
It is a message that was drilled into bicyclists when they were children learning to ride for the first time: Wear your helmet so that you do not crack your skull. In some states, that is the law — for minors, anyway. But there are no statewide laws mandating that all cyclists, including grown-ups, wear helmets. The National Transportation Safety Board begs to differ. (Fortin, 11/9)

The Washington Post: Hypnotherapy As An Alternative To Anesthesia? It's Used In Some Places For Minimally-Invasive Surgeries, Preoperative Anxiety, Pain
Diane Fresquez rests on an operating table at Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc hospital in Brussels, a pale blue cap on her head. She’s having her two tiny parathyroid glands removed. But for this operation, Fresquez is awake. Cradling her head with two hands and stroking her forehead is Fabienne Roelants, an anesthesiologist who is using hypnosis to get Fresquez through the procedure. (Bruno, 11/9)

The Washington Post: My Mom Kept Her Breast Cancer Diagnosis A Secret From Me. It’s An All-Too-Common Tale.
Just before my junior year of high school, as the last precious days of summer vacation shrank away, my mom sat me down for a serious conversation. She calmly told me that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer — a year earlier. I must’ve looked at her as if I’d just witnessed someone get hit by a truck. She quickly explained that it had been localized stage one, which meant she hadn’t needed chemotherapy, just a small operation and seven weeks of radiation. She said she didn’t tell me because she didn’t want to worry me over something that was no big deal. (Hirschlag, 11/9)

Kansas City Star: Breakthrough Drug Wards Off One Of Deadliest Forms Of Cancer
They are called PARP inhibitors and they’re causing a stir of excitement and hope in cancer circles.The pills are used after surgery and chemotherapy in ovarian cancer patients like Jestila who have the BRCA gene, or so-called “breast cancer gene.” But new clinical trials found that the drugs markedly reduced the chance the cancer will come back in other patients as well. (Gutierrez, 11/9)

Stat: FDA Says It Goofed Granting Orphan Status To Opioid Addiction Treatment
In an unusual move, the Food and Drug Administration has acknowledged a mistake and revoked orphan drug status for an opioid addiction treatment that was approved two years ago, clearing the way for another injection of buprenorphine to possibly reach the market. Specifically, the agency withdrew orphan designation and exclusivity for Sublocade, which was approved nearly two years and hailed as a potential game changer for combating the opioid crisis. But the move generated controversy because of a quirk in the law that critics complained should not have allowed the manufacturer, Indivior, to win orphan status and crowd out competitors. (Silverman, 11/8)

NPR: Meditation Reduced The Opioid Dose She Needs To Ease Chronic Pain By 75%
There's new evidence that mind-body interventions can help reduce pain in people who've been taking prescription opioids — and lead to reductions in the drug's dose. In a study published this month in JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers reviewed evidence from 60 studies that included about 6,400 participants. They evaluated a range of strategies, including meditation, guided imagery, hypnosis and cognitive behavioral therapy. (Aubrey, 11/11)

Kaiser Health News: How Germany Averted An Opioid Crisis
In 2016, 10 times as many Americans as Germans died as a result of drug overdoses, mostly opiates. Three times as many Americans as Germans experienced opioid addiction. Even as the rates of addiction in the U.S. have risen dramatically in the past decade, Germany’s addiction rates have been flat.That contrast, experts say, highlights a significant divergence in how the two countries view pain as well as distinct policy approaches to health care and substance abuse treatment. (Luthra, 11/11)

MPR: How One Minnesota Clinic Slashed Its Number Of Opioid Prescriptions
Health experts say the epidemic in its early years was fueled by prescription painkillers like Oxycontin or Vicodin. Some of the state's highest numbers of opioids were prescribed in Douglas County in west-central Minnesota, where Alexandria is the county seat. But after revolutionizing its approach to treating pain and addiction, Alexandria Clinic has reduced the amount of opioids it prescribes by nearly two-thirds. (Collins, 11/11)

St. Louis Public Radio: Giving St. Louis Drug Users Syringes Could Help Curb HIV, Other Diseases
Addiction treatment providers in St. Louis could soon begin distributing clean syringes to intravenous drug users under a program overseen by the city’s health department. Alderwoman Cara Spencer, D-20th Ward, introduced a bill supporting the proposal on Friday. The board sent the bill to the Health and Human Services Committee, which could consider it next week. (Fentem, 11/8)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: St. Louis Aldermen Consider Stronger Legal Backing For Needle/Syringe Exchanges
Privately run needle and syringe exchange programs for drug abusers aimed at preventing hepatitis C and other communicable diseases could be legalized in the city under a bill introduced Friday at the Board of Aldermen. The measure would cover such efforts if they are part of a proposed city health department pilot program also aimed at getting drug abusers into treatment for their addiction. (Schlinkmann, 11/9)

Modern Healthcare: Louisiana Sued For Not Providing Medicaid-Eligible Kids Mental Healthcare
Five families sued the Louisiana Department of Health on Thursday for allegedly failing to provide their Medicaid-enrolled children with necessary mental health services. The lawsuit in Louisiana federal court alleges the state health department and its secretary, Dr. Rebekah Gee, didn't provide an accessible statewide mental health system of intensive home- and community-based services. (Livingston, 11/8)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Mentally Ill Children In Louisiana Do Not Receive Adequate Services Through Medicaid, Lawsuit Says 
In Louisiana, children on Medicaid have few options when they experience a mental health crisis, according to the lawsuit. Children should have access to professionals trained in crisis prevention to de-escalate a situation and prevent parents from seeking law enforcement as a last resort. In many rural areas, there are no such centers or programs, or they have long waiting lists. "The ... option they have is to call 911, which can result in getting juvenile justice involved," said Victor Jones, senior supervising attorney for the SPLC. "The other option is to have the child institutionalized." (Woodruff, 11/9)

The Star Tribune: Costly Medicaid Missteps Could Foretell Bigger Problems At DHS 
A top official at the Minnesota Department of Human Services has told Legislative Auditor James Nobles that recent overpayments to two Indian bands represented just “one example” of wider dysfunction in the agency’s oversight of millions of dollars in state and federal money...The revelation could foretell additional improper payments that have not yet come to light at the troubled department, which serves more than 1 million Minnesotans and oversees a budget exceeding $12 billion. But it also paints a picture of an agency where competing factions failed to cooperate or respect internal lines of authority — a struggle that may help explain a series of fiscal missteps revealed since this summer. (Howatt and Serres, 11/10)

Nashville Tennessean: TennCare Hacked: Magellan Data Breach Leaves Nearly 44,000 People At Risk
The private information of nearly 44,000 TennCare members may have been stolen by a hacker who breached the email system of the agency’s pharmacy management vendor, officials announced on Friday. The private information that was potentially compromised includes names, social security numbers, member IDs, health plans, provider names and the names of drugs members have been prescribed. (Kelman, 11/8)

The Washington Post: Exploring The Long Fight Against Lead Poisoning In The United States
Pure. Healthy. Modern. Today, you might see those words on a product in a natural foods store or an upscale juice bar. But in the early 20th century, they were used to describe lead. Cheap and durable, lead was ubiquitous in everything from paint to gasoline to plumbing. But though the dangers of lead poisoning were known in the United States, regulation lagged for decades. Meanwhile, lead poisoning became a public health crisis. (Blake, 11/9)

Connecticut Public Radio: Lawmakers, Health Experts Call For Stricter Limits On Heavy Metals In Baby Food
Researchers at Healthy Babies Bright Futures, a national nonprofit alliance, tested 168 baby foods from 61 brands. They found that 95% of tested products contained chemicals and metals like lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium — elements that can affect brain development. Experts said they want the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to adopt stricter limits and guidelines in order to reduce heavy-metal intake by infants. (Leonard, 11/8)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Smyrna Lawmaker Proposes New Regulations For Ethylene Oxide
State Rep. Erick Allen (D-Smyrna) announced Friday that he intends to introduce legislation next year that would tighten state oversight of ethylene oxide, a toxic gas used by several industrial facilities across the state. Ethylene oxide has been the focus of community concern since a July report by WebMD and Georgia Health News highlighted potential increased cancer risks in the Smyrna and Covington areas, where medical sterilizing companies are legally permitted to use and emit the carcinogenic chemical. (Lutz, 11/8)

Georgia Health News: EPA Proposal On Ethylene Oxide Attacked As ‘Weak’
The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed its first of two new rules to curb emissions of cancer-causing ethylene oxide. Environmental advocates and legislators, however, say the federal agency’s plans won’t do enough to protect people who are exposed to the gas because they live near factories that make it. (Goodman and Miller, 11/9)

The Associated Press: Besieged Portland, Oregon, Paramedics Get Defense Training
[Trisha Preston's] experience is part of a rash of attacks in recent months on paramedics in this Pacific Northwest city as they respond to a growing number of 911 calls for patients in mental health or drug-related crises. The uptick in violence is so severe that the private ambulance company that holds Portland's 911 contract is training more than 500 of its employees in defensive tactics. The company is trying to better understand what's happening in the field. "The frequency appears to be increasing. The severity appears to be increasing," said Robert McDonald, an operations manager with American Medical Response. (11/11)

The CT Mirror: Charges Of Secrecy, Sniping Follow Health Care Savings Initiative
Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano has insisted for months that Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont’s budget is unbalanced and relies on hundreds of millions of dollars in questionable savings and risky assumptions. Fasano has now leveled a new charge against the administration and its allies, however: that they have responded to his criticisms by moving deliberations about one of the largest components of the budget — health care costs — behind closed doors. (Phaneuf, 11/11)

The New York Times: ‘It Was Horrible’: Man Killed In Gruesome Brawl At Homeless Shelter
Edwin Rivera was woken up early on Sunday morning by loud thuds coming from the floor above him. He thought it was probably a fist fight. After getting out of his bed in the homeless shelter on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, Mr. Rivera went upstairs to break up the brawl and found a gruesome scene: Blood was splattered on the walls, and one of the men who had been fighting was gasping for life. (Goldbaum, 11/10)

The Associated Press: 10 Hospitalized From Oklahoma Facility After Flu Shot Mix-Up
Ten people at an Oklahoma care facility for people with intellectual disabilities were hospitalized after they were apparently accidentally injected with what's believed to be insulin rather than flu shots, authorities said. Emergency responders were called Wednesday afternoon to the Jacquelyn House in Bartlesville, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) north of Tulsa, on a report of an unresponsive person and found "multiple unresponsive people," Bartlesville Police Chief Tracy Roles said. (11/8)

The Associated Press: Georgia High School Students Sickened By Unknown Substance
Four high school students outside Atlanta were being treated Friday at area hospitals after ingesting an unknown substance and one student was arrested. In a statement, Henry County Schools spokesman J.D. Hardin says emergency personnel and school resource officers responded to a medical emergency at Locust Grove High on Friday morning. (11/8)

The Advocate: Two Longtime Baton Rouge Healthcare Professionals Competing For House District 67 Seat
Both candidates in a runoff election for the state's House District 67 seat are longtime local health care professionals and lifelong Baton Rouge residents, and both promise to help some of the community's most disadvantaged residents. Democrats Larry Selders and Leah Cullins emerged as the top two vote-getters after a four-way contest in the Oct. 12 primary. Selders received 38 percent of the vote with Cullins trailing at 29. (Skene, 11/9)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio Nurses Group Wants Legislation On Medical Aid In Dying
For the first time, an Ohio organization of medical professionals has decided to support letting terminal patients in the state get medical help in dying. The Ohio Nurses Association, the largest nurses’ union in the state with 11,000 members, convened in Cincinnati last month and approved sweeping language calling for legislation and more education for nurses to help patients at life’s end. (Saker, 11/10)

Columbus Dispatch: Prescribing Vegetables? Partnership Looks To Improve Patient Health By Prescribing Healthy Foods 
Organizers say they are seeing signs of success from a program that partners health-care practitioners with Mid-Ohio Foodbank pantries to provide patients in need with prescriptions for fresh fruits and vegetables. Patients who receive prescriptions can access produce at any of a dozen of pantries on a weekly basis as opposed to the standard monthly schedule. A partnership between the Mid-Ohio Foodbank and a handful of care providers is looking to reduce chronic health conditions by arming patients with prescriptions that give them more frequent access to fresh fruits and vegetables. (Viviano, 11/11)

Houston Chronicle: SHSU Physicians Opens Clinic Near Upcoming Med School In Conroe 
The Sam Houston State University College of Osteopathic Medicine announced the opening of SHSU Physicians, a medical clinic in Conroe. The clinic, which opens Tuesday at 690 South Loop 336 West, Suite 200, is close to SHSU College of Osteopathic Medicine 's facility under construction in the Grand Central Park community. Dr. Craig Boudreaux, an SHSU assistant professor of family medicine, serves as medical director of SHSU Physicians. (Feser, 11/10)

The Associated Press: Authorities Accuse Virginia Doctor Of Unnecessary Surgeries
Federal prosecutors are accusing a Virginia physician of performing unnecessary surgical procedures on women without their knowledge or consent. A U.S. magistrate ordered 69-year-old Javaid Perwaiz of Chesapeake held without bond until at least an upcoming detention hearing. The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk reported Perwaiz was arrested Friday and charged with one count each of health care fraud and making false statements relating to health care matters. (11/9)

The Oregonian: Homeless With HIV: A Lack Of Housing Makes A Preventable Disease Deadly In Oregon 
Oregon is four years into a five-year, federally sponsored program to end HIV transmission by testing vulnerable Oregonians, alerting them of their HIV status and providing them with treatment and preventative medication. ...While the uptick in new cases is driven by drug use, it is difficult to contain because of homelessness. Few places nationwide have seen such a wave of new HIV cases as Multnomah County, where the number has more than tripled to 71 over the past two years. In this year alone, 37 people have been diagnosed – close to equaling the total for 2016 and 2017 combined. (Harbarger, 11/10)

Miami Herald: Thousands Of Florida Blue Members Affected By Data Breach
A data breach at Magellan Health, Inc. has put the personal information of Florida Blue members at risk, the company announced Friday. Florida Blue says “less than 1 percent” of its approximately 5 million members were affected. (Smalls II, 11/8)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: State Health Officials Confirm Measles Case In Metro Atlanta
The Georgia Department of Public Health has confirmed a case of measles in Cobb County, officials said Saturday in a statement. Health officials said an unvaccinated Cobb County resident was confirmed to have the measles and might have exposed others to it between Oct. 31 and Nov. 6. (Burns, 11/10)

The Associated Press: Nursing Home Settles Allegations Of Improper Care For $381K
A Delaware nursing home operator has agreed to pay $381,000 to settle allegations of providing substandard and worthless services to residents. The Delaware Department of Justice said Friday that the settlement resolves allegations that, from 2011 through 2017, Newark Manor Manor Nursing Home, also known as Premiere Healthcare Inc., persistently failed to provide adequate nursing care and supervision. (11/8)

NPR: First Medical Cannabis Graduate Program Offered In Maryland
Summer Kriegshauser is one of 150 students in the inaugural class of the University of Maryland, Baltimore's Master of Science in Medical Cannabis Science and Therapeutics, the first graduate program of its type in the country. This will be Kriegshauser's second master's degree and she hopes it will offer her a chance to change careers. (Austermuhle, 11/9)

Sacramento Bee: Why CA Isn’t Safer Year After Deadly Camp Fire In Paradise
Chainsaws were humming and backhoes were beeping. Wood frames were being hammered into place. It was the sound of Paradise rebuilding, one nail at a time.“I love it up here — it’s beautiful,” said Holly Austin, watching from a camper as her husband and a small crew worked on their new garage on Paradise Avenue. (Kasler and Sabalow, 11/8)

Bloomberg: U.S. Needs To Cure The Health-Care Cost Disease 
By this point, everyone knows that the U.S. health-care system is fundamentally broken. But every plan to fix it runs into a fusillade of opposition. This dynamic could be seen in the reaction to the Affordable Care Act, which remained unpopular for years after its passage. The Obamacare system substantially reduced the number of Americans who were uninsured, but costs kept growing: ...Most recently, Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren’s plan to pay for national health insurance has drawn criticism from both the right and the left, largely because of its cost. Bernie Sanders, who envisions a similar insurance system, promises that his funding plan will be more progressive than Warren’s. The expense of his proposal will undoubtedly receive even more fire from centrists and conservatives. (Noah Smith, 11/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden’s Plan For Health Is Already A Failure
Most Democratic presidential candidates are supporting some version of Medicare for All, a radical proposal to put Washington in complete control of the health-care system. Joe Biden, however, promises to “protect and build on the Affordable Care Act,” the last Washington health-care experiment, which is better known as ObamaCare. Yet ObamaCare largely failed in its primary goal—to create a better market for individual health insurance. The ObamaCare exchanges are performing much worse than expected when they were launched in 2014. And this has nothing to do with the Trump administration. Rather, the law failed because of its perverse construction. (Brian Blase, 11/10)

The Hill: DeJà Vu All Over Again: Health-Care Spending Back On The Rise
As we approach the 10-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Democratic presidential candidates are sparring over what to do in its second decade. Should we build on the ACA? Or scrap it, relying instead on private markets or “Medicare for All”? As the debate heats up, it’s worth reflecting on what the ACA has accomplished so far — and what it hasn’t. The primary goal of the ACA was to expand health insurance coverage. In that sense, it has been wildly successful: despite recent declines in coverage, since 2010 nearly 20 million people became insured. A secondary goal was to lower spending growth. It’s right there in the name: make health care affordable. (Carrie Colla and Jonathan Skinner, 11/9)

The Hill: The Employer-Health Insurance Connection An 'Accident Of History'
Everyone likes the idea of fair competition. That’s why everyone supported the 2007 investigation of an N.B.A. referee who knowingly influenced the outcome of professional basketball games on which he or his associates had placed bets. There was an outcry by the players, the owners, the league, and the fans — because the idea of picking winners and losers betrays the concept of competition based on effort and value.Unfortunately, governments have made a regular habit of doing just that — especially in health care. (David Balat, 11/8)

Boston Globe: Massachusetts Senate Zeros In On Drug Costs
What matters on Main Street is that no one should have to cross our northern border to buy life-saving drugs. That no one should try to whip up a batch of insulin in the basement. That consumers know that the drugs they and their insurers are paying for will be assessed for both cost and value. (11/11)

USA Today: Veterans Day: The U.S. Military Is Losing To The War Called Suicide
As Americans honor veterans this holiday, it’s vital to remember the silent war being waged in homes and barracks and countless other places where soldiers, past and present, are dying by the thousands every year. They’re killing themselves in a war of self-destruction that the United States is losing. The tide of this struggle turned years ago, after the Sept. 11 attacks, when America’s all-volunteer military — a force of fixed and limited size, unable to expand through conscription — was pressed into fighting two extended wars at once, in Afghanistan and Iraq. (11/10)

The Washington Post: How Veterans Affairs Denies Care To Many Of The People It’s Supposed To Serve
In April, John Rios stood in the Veterans Affairs hospital in Newington, Conn., seeking treatment. For more than 20 years, he had struggled with the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. For the past eight of them, he had fought to have the Defense Department recognize his military service as honorable. Having finally prevailed, he went to VA seeking health care, his official paperwork in hand. The hospital turned him away, refusing to recognize him as a veteran. (Liam Brennan, 11/8)

Stat: Diabetic Foot Ulcers: A Silent Killer Of Veterans 
Veterans who survive the horrors of war or the other dangers of military service often die years later from a silent but deadly scourge: diabetic foot ulcers, open sores or lesions that typically start on the bottom of the foot.About 40% of people afflicted with this problem die within five years. The annual cost to America’s health care system for treating complications of these foot ulcers is greater than treating the five most common types of cancer, and are responsible for the vast majority of non-combat amputations seen among veterans. Yet too little is being done to prevent them. (David G. Armstrong, 11/11)

Bloomberg: Taxing E-Cigarettes Like Juul Is A Good Way To Stop Teen Vaping
Vaping among high school students has risen 135% in just two years, and the government deserves more than a little blame. The Food and Drug Administration has dragged its feet on regulation, and lawmakers have resisted reforms to make e-cigarettes less appealing to children. Government inaction has jeopardized one of America’s greatest public-health achievements of recent years: the drastic decline in teen smoking. The House of Representatives can help to put this right. It’s about to consider a new tax on e-cigarettes — a policy that’s long overdue. (11/7)

The Washington Post: New Doctors Try To Muzzle Their Emotions. But That Makes Them Less Kind To Patients.
Every July, a fresh group of newly minted doctors puts on their white coats. No more playacting “doctor” as they did moving through medical school — from here on, they’ll be trusted with keeping people alive. A close doctor friend told me the best piece of advice she could give me for my internship was to “externalize.” I’m training to be a psychiatrist, but my program has me rotate through several other fields, such as emergency room medicine, and for these tough, bloody months, my friend told me I had to leave my emotions at home. It was a survival tactic, she said: To do your best, you need to slip on a suit of armor. (Isobel Rosenthal, 11/10)

Los Angeles Times: Kaiser Permanente CEO Bernard Tyson's Death Comes At A Time Of Transition For The Huge System
Bernard J. Tyson, chairman and CEO of the giant nonprofit Kaiser Permanente health system, died suddenly Sunday morning, Kaiser announced. “Bernard was an exceptional colleague, a passionate leader, and an honorable man. We will greatly miss him,” said Edward Pei, chairman of the executive committee of the Kaiser board. The board named Executive Vice President Gregory A. Adams as interim chairman and chief executive. (Michael Hiltzik, 11/10)

Los Angeles Times: Treat L.A. Homelessness With The Same Urgency As 2028 Olympics
In the summer of 2028, hundreds of thousands of athletes, support staff and tourists will flood into Los Angeles for the 34th Olympiad, all needing a roof over their heads immediately. Within hours, they will all find one. Meanwhile, nearly 60,000 men, women and children continue to languish on L.A. sidewalks, underpasses, in cars and crowded shelters, their numbers growing every year — and our leaders say it will take years to find them shelter. (Rob Eshman, 11/10)

Los Angeles Times: More State Mental Hospitals Would Help Mentally Ill Homeless
The very term “homelessness,” as used to describe the problem that has changed the face of downtown Los Angeles and other West Coast cities, implies that there’s a single solution: housing. That thinking leads quickly to discussions about the high cost of real estate and the need for new approaches to the housing crisis, such as Facebook’s pledge to spend $1 billion to create affordable housing in Silicon Valley. Too often, however, this discussion ignores the needs of a large percentage of people living on the streets who are not capable of living independently because they suffer from serious mental health problems. Howard Husock, 11/11)

Los Angeles Times: Why Are Veterans Still Homeless In L.A.? 
There are 3,878 veterans who lack a “fixed, regular or adequate place to sleep” on any given night in Los Angeles County, according to the annual count of the homeless conducted in January. Like the rest of L.A. County’s homeless population, most of them live on streets and sidewalks while a smaller number find beds in shelters. About a dozen live in an encampment outside the gates of the VA’s campus in West L.A. (11/11)