The Hill: Trump Knocks 'Mini Mike Bloomberg' Over Health Care, 'False Advertising'
President Trump on Monday lashed out at former New York City Mayor and Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg, defending his administration's health care record. "Mini Mike Bloomberg is spending a lot of money on False Advertising," Trump tweeted. "I was the person who saved Pre-Existing Conditions in your Healthcare," he continued, adding that he would "always protect your Pre-Existing Conditions, the Dems will not!" (Sullivan, 1/13)

The New York Times: To The Contrary, Trump Has Tried To Weaken Protections For Pre-Existing Conditions
President Trump was not in Washington when the Affordable Care Act established a right to health insurance for Americans with pre-existing health conditions. His first legislative priority as president was a bill that would have repealed key parts of Obamacare and weakened such protections. His Justice Department is arguing in court that the entire law should be overturned. His tweets Monday morning, describing himself as “the person who saved pre-existing conditions,” contradict this record. (Sanger-Katz, 1/13)

The Associated Press Fact Check: No, Trump Didn't Save Preexisting Conditions
Trump's administration has been pressing in court for full repeal of the Obama-era law, including provisions that protect people with preexisting conditions from health insurance discrimination. With “Obamacare” still in place, preexisting conditions continue to be covered by regular individual health insurance plans. Insurers must take all applicants, regardless of medical history, and charge the same standard premiums to healthy people and those who are in poor health, or have a history of medical problems. (Yen, 1/13)

Politico: Trump Attacks Bloomberg On Health Care With Misleading Claim
Under Trump, the Justice Department also dropped its legal defense of Obamacare — a nearly unprecedented move that drove the senior DOJ lawyer on the case to resign in protest — and supported a lawsuit by Republican-governed states to scrap the law. A federal judge in December 2018 agreed with the GOP plaintiffs and ruled that the entire law should be struck down. The Trump administration earlier this month asked the Supreme Court to delay hearing appeals in the case until after the 2020 election. (Forgey and Diamond, 1/13)

The Washington Post Fact Checker: Trump’s Traffic Jam Of False Claims On Preexisting Conditions
Moreover, the Trump administration has issued new rules that promote the use of low-quality short-term plans that were prohibited under the ACA. These plans typically don’t have the same protections for people with existing health conditions, allowing insurance companies to deny coverage or charge higher prices. (A number of states, mainly Democratic-leaning, have acted to prohibit or limit these Trump plans.) (Kessler, 1/13)

Kaiser Health News: Team Trump Says Administration’s Action On Health Care ‘Is Working.’ Is It?
“That tweet is so far inconsistent with the direction of their policy push,” said Linda Blumberg, a health policy analyst at the Urban Institute, a think tank. “It’s just astounding to me.” The administration has attempted to or successfully undermined coverage, argued Blumberg and other policy analysts, pointing to the Affordable Care Act repeal effort, which the president championed and continues to prioritize, along with changes made to the individual marketplace, where people buy insurance. (Luthra, 1/13)

CNN: Fact Check: Trump Falsely Claims To Have 'Saved' Pre-Existing Conditions Protections
The White House defended Trump's actions, saying in a statement: "President Trump has repeatedly stated his commitment to protect individuals with pre-existing conditions and his track record shows that he has consistently done what is necessary to improve care for the vulnerable by opening affordable options for those who were priced out of the market by Obamacare, combating the opioid epidemic, protecting and improving Medicare, enacting Right-to-Try, advancing kidney health, approving more generic drugs than ever before, committing to end HIV/AIDs within 10 years, and much more. (Luhby, 1/13)

MSNBC: Freshman Dem Debunks Trump Claim About Pre-Existing Conditions
Freshman Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL) tells Lawrence O’Donnell that President Trump is making “empty promises” about protecting people with pre-existing conditions while promoting legislation to take away health care coverage for millions of Americans. (1/13)

The New York Times: What Happened When A State Made Food Stamps Harder To Get
In the early mornings, Chastity and Paul Peyton walk from their small and barely heated apartment to Taco Bell to clean fryers and take orders for as many work hours as they can get. It rarely adds up to full-time week’s worth, often not even close. With this income and whatever cash Mr. Peyton can scrape up doing odd jobs — which are hard to come by in a small town in winter, for someone without a car — the couple pays rent, utilities and his child support payments. Then there is the matter of food. (Robertson, 1/13)

Columbus Dispatch: 20,000 Poor Ohioans To Lose Food Stamps Under New Rules From Trump Administration 
Nearly 20,000 poor Ohioans are expected to lose food stamp benefits as federal regulators impose stricter work requirements on able-bodied adults. The estimate of disqualified adults was released by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services in response to the announcement of eligibility changes by President Donald Trump’s administration beginning April 1. (Candisky, 1/13)

In other news from the administration —

The Washington Post: Trump Restrictions On Fetal Tissue Research Unsettle Key Studies And Scientists
A recent Trump administration decision to limit funding of research that uses fetal tissue is already disrupting research into major diseases, including AIDS, Down syndrome and diabetes, scientists say. The controversial federal funding rules, announced seven months ago, are reshaping scientists’ research paths and the grants they seek from the National Institutes of Health. Graduate students cannot get training grants if their research involves fetal tissue. (Goldstein, 1/13)

Stat/Science: FDA And NIH Let Clinical Trial Sponsors Keep Results Secret
For 20 years, the U.S. government has urged companies, universities, and other institutions that conduct clinical trials to record their results in a federal database, so doctors and patients can see whether new treatments are safe and effective. Few trial sponsors have consistently done so, even after a 2007 law made posting mandatory for many trials registered in the database. In 2017, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration tried again, enacting a long-awaited “final rule” to clarify the law’s expectations and penalties for failing to disclose trial results. (Piller, 1/14)

The Hill: Trump Asks Supreme Court To Let Immigrant 'Public Charge' Rule Take Effect
The Trump administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to move forward with a rule aimed at cutting back benefits for immigrants while litigation plays out in court. The Justice Department, on behalf of the administration, asked the justices to lift a nationwide halt on President Trump’s "public charge" rule that links immigrants’ legal status to their use of public benefits. (Kruzel, 1/13)

CNN: Trump Asks Supreme Court To Allow Public Charge Rule To Go Into Effect
In Monday night's filing, Solicitor General Noel Francisco urged the court to lift the injunction while the appeals process plays out. Noting other legal challenges to the rule in other cases, Francisco said the nationwide injunction hurts "this Court's interest in allowing an issue to percolate in the lower courts." The acting director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Ken Cuccinelli, whose agency is responsible for adjudicating immigration applications, has defended the "public charge" rule as "well within the law." "This rule is well within the boundaries of the law and the legal tradition," he told CNN's Erin Burnett in August. "Self-sufficiency is a central part of America's proud heritage and we proudly stand behind that tradition." (de Vogue, Sands, Alvarez and LeBlanc, 1/13)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Administration Makes Supreme Court Appeal On Immigration Plan
Several federal trial judges issued preliminary rulings last October that blocked the regulations from going into effect, finding they likely crossed legal boundaries. In the case at the center of the administration’s emergency appeal, U.S. District Judge George Daniels in the Southern District of New York found the rule departed from longstanding U.S. policy without legal justification and “is repugnant to the American dream of the opportunity for prosperity and success through hard work and upward mobility.” (Kendall, 1/13)

CBS News: Family Separation Ruling: Court Refuses To Further Curtail Administration's Power To Separate Migrant Families
A federal judge in California on Monday refused to create new guidelines to further restrict the government's power to separate migrant families, issuing a ruling reaffirming the discretion immigration officials have in deciding whether to separate children from their parents in certain circumstances. Judge Dana Sabraw of the U.S. District Court in San Diego, which has overseen litigation surrounding separations of migrant families since 2018, issued a rare order largely supporting the Trump administration's defenses for the family separations that came after officials discontinued the controversial "zero-tolerance" crackdown along the U.S.-Mexico border. (Montoya-Galvez, 1/13)

And in other immigration news —

ProPublica: Six Children Died In Border Patrol Care. Democrats In Congress Want To Know Why.
After a ProPublica investigation into the death of a teenager in Border Patrol custody, House Democrats are ramping up pressure on the Trump administration to explain how six migrant children died after entering the U.S. “I find it appalling that (Customs and Border Protection) has still not taken responsibility for the deaths of children in their care,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. (Moore, 1/13)

The Hill: Appeals Court Skeptical Of Trump Rule On TV Drug Ads
The Trump administration urged a federal appeals court Monday to overturn that ruling, arguing it has the authority under the law to run the Medicare and Medicaid programs efficiently. The health care programs for the elderly and the poor paid about $240 billion for prescription drugs in 2016. (Hellmann, 1/13)

Modern Healthcare: Rule Requiring Drug Prices In TV Ads Meets Skepticism On Appeal
A Trump administration attorney argued that Congress implicitly gave HHS authority to require list price disclosure to ensure the "efficient administration" of Medicare and Medicaid. Ethan Davis of the U.S. Justice Department said that drug prices are a significant cost for the CMS, so lowering those costs would help the programs run more efficiently. But three D.C. Circuit judges appeared to disagree during oral arguments. Congress did not explicitly mention regulating TV advertisements for prescription drugs in the law in question. (Cohrs, 1/13)

The Wall Street Journal: Drugmakers Test New Ways To Pay For Six-Figure Treatments
Drugmakers are experimenting with new ways to get paid for their most expensive medicines, as resistance to escalating prices builds and the collection and analysis of patient data improves. Now that six-figure price tags are common, drug companies are finding creative ways to get reimbursed, from installment plans and subscriptions to more complex value-based contracts that tie payment to when a drug helps a patient. (Hopkins, 1/13)

Stat: High Cost Of MS Medicines Forcing Patients To Take 'Drastic Actions'
The high cost of multiple sclerosis treatments has forced 40% of patients to take “drastic actions” and alter their use of the medicines, such as cutting back or skipping dosages altogether. And many report the financial burden is not only hurting their lifestyle, but impairing their ability to save for retirement or college for their children, a new survey found. For instance, 14% reported they switched to a generic, despite being satisfied with their existing treatment; 12% stopped using their medication for a period of time; 9% skipped or delayed filling a prescription; and 8% took less of their medicine than prescribed, according to the survey by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. (Silverman, 1/13)

Stat: AstraZeneca Fish Oil Drug Fails, Leaving Amarin As Last Drug Standing
AstraZeneca (AZN) said Monday that it would stop a large clinical study of a fish-oil-derived heart drug, Epanova, after an independent committee concluded it was “unlikely to demonstrate a benefit to patients.” The news removes the most likely competitor for Vascepa, the first heart drug derived from fish oil to be approved to reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and hospitalizations due to heart problems in patients with high levels of triglycerides. (Herper, 1/13)

Reuters: Novartis To Speed Access To $10 Billion Heart Drug Via NHS Deal
Novartis and Britain's National Health Service (NHS) on Monday announced a pact that will clear the way for accelerated review by the country's health watchdog NICE for heart drug inclisiran, which could make it broadly available as soon as 2021. Novartis hopes the NHS deal will boost sales of cholesterol-lowering inclisiran, which the Swiss drugmaker bought in a deal announced last year for nearly $10 billion (£7.70 billion) and predicts will be a top seller. (1/13)

The Associated Press: Oklahoma Attorney General Sues Distributors Of Opioids
Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter on Monday brought a lawsuit against three distributors of opioids after winning a lawsuit against one drug manufacturer and reaching pretrial settlements in other cases. Hunter filed the lawsuit in Cleveland County District Court against Cardinal Health Inc., McKesson Corp. and AmerisourceBergen Corp. (1/13)

The Washington Post: Oklahoma Files Suit Against Three Major Opioid Distributors 
Oklahoma State Attorney General Mike Hunter (R) said the three companies — McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen — delivered more than 34 billion doses of narcotics to Oklahoma and the rest of the United States between 2006 and 2012, failing to halt plainly suspicious drug orders because they were making so much money. “Defendants fueled the opioid crisis by supplying massive and patently unreasonable quantities of opioids to communities throughout the United States, including Oklahoma,” attorneys wrote in court papers filed in Cleveland County, the site of the previous court battle. (Bernstein, 1/13)

The Hill: Oklahoma Sues Three Major Opioid Distributors
McKesson told The Hill the lawsuit mischaracterizes the company's "important but limited" role in the drug supply chain. "Any suggestion that McKesson drove demand for opioids in this country reflects a fundamental misunderstanding and mischaracterization of our role as a distributor. We will continue to fight that mischaracterization and defend ourselves in the litigation," the company said. (Weixel, 1/13)

The Oklahoman: Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter Files Lawsuit Against Opioid Distributors
The lawsuit doesn't specify the amount of damages the state is requesting. Hunter said a good benchmark for the state to use in negotiations would be the $215 million that the three companies agreed to pay last October to two Ohio counties with about 1.7 million people. The amount should be adjusted to apply to Oklahoma's population of about 4 million, he indicated. That would put the amount the state is seeking at a little over $500 million. (Ellis, 1/14)

In other news on the opioid crisis —

NH Times Union: There Are Up To 60 Sober Living Houses In Manchester, Fire Chief Says
The city hosts 50 to 60 loosely regulated sober living houses, which provide supportive situations for people battling drug and alcohol addiction, a top city official said. Fire Chief Dan Goonan, long a critic of the lax regulation of such homes, said last week his Fire Prevention Bureau has compiled a list of sober living homes. Residents of some homes claim they are just friends living together in sobriety, the chief said. The list is based on what firefighters discover when they go on calls, sometimes for overdoses, Goonan said. ...“It’s completely unregulated. It’s in some ways a Wild West out there,” said Goonan, who is backing legislation that would reduce fire and safety standards (such as sprinkler systems) on recovery homes if they register with the state. (Hayward, 1/12)

The Associated Press: Shareholders Entitled To Opioid Distributor's Board Records 
A Delaware judge has ordered one of the world's largest distributors of opioid painkillers to turn over corporate records to shareholders investigating whether the company engaged in wrongdoing. The judge ruled Monday that shareholders of AmerisourceBergen have demonstrated that they have proper purposes to conduct an inspection of company records and have established their right to inspect "formal board materials." (1/13)

NPR: Direct Primary Care, More Affordable 'Concierge' Medicine, Is Hard To Scale Up 
Some people pay $200 a month on the golf course or a fancy cable TV package, says David Westbrook, a hospital executive in Kansas City, Mo. His splurge? He pays Dr. John Dunlap $133 a month for what he considers exceptional primary care. "I have the resources to spend a little extra money on my health care to my primary care physician relationship," Westbrook says. "Because I have that access — and am very proactive in managing my personal health — I think I'm going to be healthier." (Simmons-Duffin, 1/13)

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals Sue To Stop Site-Neutral Payment Policy In 2020
The American Hospital Association, Association of American Medical Colleges and several hospital systems on Monday sued the Trump administration over its site-neutral payment policy for 2020. The lawsuit is the latest in a string of legal actions hospitals have taken to fight the pay cuts. A federal judge ruled in September that the Trump administration had exceeded its authority when it implemented its so-called site-neutral payment policy at off-campus hospital clinics in 2019, but the administration included the policy in its final 2020 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System rule anyway. (Cohrs, 1/13)

Modern Healthcare: Self-Insured Employers Go Looking For Value-Based Deals
A growing number of self-insured employer groups are pushing to transform how healthcare is priced, steering their employees to high-value providers and negotiating prices as a percentage of Medicare payment rates. Faced with sharp premium increases—more than double the rate of inflation in 2019, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation—smaller and midsize employers increasingly want to identify lower-cost, high-quality hospitals and physician groups and design their health plans to encourage employees to go to those providers. They aim to narrow the large gap between commercial and Medicare payment rates. Public and private employers in Colorado, Connecticut, Michigan, Montana, Texas and Wisconsin are adopting that approach. (Meyer, 1/11)

PBS NewsHour: The Hidden Health Costs Of Eviction
Millions of Americans are forced from their homes every year. Evictions are usually considered in economic terms -- an outcome of housing supply and income levels -- but what about their physical and emotional impact? Research increasingly shows housing insecurity takes an enormous toll on people’s health. (Brangham and Fritz, 1/13)

Kaiser Health News: Loopholes Limit New California Law To Guard Against Lofty Air Ambulance Bills
Kathleen Hoechlin lost control as she crested a small jump on her final ski run of the day at California’s Mammoth Mountain two years ago. She landed hard on her back, crushing one of the vertebra in her lower spine “like a Cheerio,” she said. An air ambulance flew Hoechlin, then 32, to an airport near Loma Linda University Medical Center in Southern California’s Inland Empire. There she underwent emergency 12-hour surgery to remove bone fragments and replace the crushed vertebra with a metal cage that was fused to the rest of her spine with rods and screws to provide structure and stability. (Andrews, 1/14)

Columbus Dispatch: Disabled Couples Navigate Red Tape On Way To Altar
The Scioto County couple, both of whom have severe developmental disabilities, finally found a way to wed and combine households without losing a big chunk of the disability benefits they rely on. But the so-called marriage penalty remains an obstacle for many couples in the United States. The new Mr. and Mrs. Adams, who took their fight to marry public with an online petition drive in 2016, vow to keep pushing for what they and others see as a matter of civil rights. (Price, 1/13)

Bloomberg News: Consumers Made 2,600 Health Complaints To Juul About E-Cigarettes, FDA Says
Juul Labs Inc. received roughly 2,600 complaints about adverse health effects related to its e-cigarette during its first three years in operation, with customers citing issues such as burning sensations in the lungs, blistered lips, and vomiting, according to an internal Food and Drug Administration report. The report, released to Bloomberg News under the federal Freedom of Information Act, contains few details about the anonymous complaints or health outcomes. It cites only one “serious adverse event”: A woman reported that her throat bled after she used a Juul product. (Etter, 1/13)

The Hill: Senate Democrats Blast Exemptions In Trump Vaping Ban
More than 30 Senate Democrats on Monday criticized the Trump administration’s new vaping ban for exempting menthol flavored e-cigarettes and any e-liquids that are not in a cartridge. In a letter to newly appointed Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Stephen Hahn, the 31 Democrats, led by Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), said the omissions in the policy will place millions of children at risk of addiction. (Weixel, 1/13)

The Wall Street Journal: New Jersey Legislature Passes Flavored-Vape Ban
New Jersey lawmakers approved a legislative package strengthening regulations on e-cigarettes, including a ban on flavored-vaping products, in a growing campaign to fight tobacco use among young people. One measure stiffens penalties for retailers selling tobacco and vaping products to people under the age of 21, while another forbids the use of coupons or discounts to purchase tobacco and vaping products. The sale of vaping liquid that contains nicotine in a concentration of more than 2% will also be prohibited. (De Avila and Grayce West, 1/13)

CBS News: New Jersey Flavored Vaping Ban: Lawmakers Pass Bill Banning Sale Of Flavored Electronic Cigarettes Today
The bill prohibits the sale and distribution of electronic smoking devices with a "distinguishable flavor, taste or aroma." The legislation would also impose a minimum fine of $250 for a first offence, $500 for a second offense and $1,000 for each subsequent offense. The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 22-15 and the Assembly approved the bill 53-11, with eight assembly members abstaining. The law would go into effect 90 days after being signed by the governor. (Freiman, 1/13)

Lohud: Vaping: Why A Judge Struck Down New York Flavored E-Cigarette Ban
A judge struck down New York’s emergency ban on flavored e-cigarettes, in part ruling that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and authorities exceeded their authority in an attempt to curb the teen vaping crisis. Acting state Supreme Court Justice Catherine Cholakis late Friday sided with a vaping trade group that argued the ban was “an impermissible administrative transgression" into lawmaking and policy actions reserved to the Legislature by the State Constitution. (Robinson, 1/13)

The New York Times: Bill To End Religious Exemptions For Vaccinations Collapses In N.J.
It began as one of the nation’s broadest proposed bans on religious exemptions to childhood vaccines. But after weeks of sustained and boisterous protests by vaccine skeptics, as well as a last-minute effort to amend the proposed bill to win over key New Jersey lawmakers, the effort collapsed on Monday in the State Senate. The Senate president, Stephen M. Sweeney, continued to maintain that science, not the protesters, would eventually emerge victorious. (Tully, 1/13)

The Hill: NJ Bill To Eliminate Religious Vaccine Exemptions Dies, Supporters Vow To Try Again
State law since 2008 has allegedly allowed parents to abstain from mandatory vaccinations for their children if they write a letter saying it would vaccinate their religious beliefs, with no further explanation required. Parents secured exemptions for 14,000 children in the last school year. However, recent outbreaks of preventable diseases have caused widespread alarm in the area. (Budryk, 1/13)

CNN: Future Uncertain For Bill That Would Eliminate Religion As A Reason Not To Vaccinate Public Schoolchildren In New Jersey
The bill remains a divisive point as an increasing number of parents in the United States are citing faith to avoid getting their children vaccinated, according to a new study -- even though no major religion opposes vaccination. According to the CDC, childhood vaccination is "essential because it helps provide immunity before children are exposed to potentially life-threatening diseases." (Haider, 1/13)

Stat: Scientists Bring Personalized Medicine To The Biology Of Aging
One 50-year-old has the nimble metabolism of a teenager, while another’s is so creaky he developed type 2 diabetes — though his immune system is that of a man 25 years his junior. Or one 70-year-old has the immune system of a Gen Xer while another’s is so decrepit she can’t gin up an antibody response to flu vaccines — but her high-performing liver clears out alcohol so fast she can sip Negronis all night without getting tipsy. (Begley, 1/13)

The Wall Street Journal: 9/11 Responders Have Higher Rates Of Leukemia, Study Shows
Researchers found an elevated incidence of leukemia in first responders and other workers at the World Trade Center site after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks compared with the general population. The study, by New York researchers, is the first to show an increase in the incidence of the blood cancer, which can occur years after exposure to carcinogens. (Grayce West, 1/14)

Stat: Woman In Thailand Is First Case With Novel Pneumonia Virus Outside China
Health authorities on Monday identified a pneumonia case caused by a previously unknown virus in Thailand — the first known infection outside of China, where the virus is thought to have begun spreading last month. The patient is a Chinese tourist from Wuhan, the city where the outbreak is occurring, health officials said. Thai authorities identified her as a 61-year-old woman who was recovering at a hospital in Nonthaburi province, the Bangkok Post reported. (Joseph, 1/13)

The New York Times: Longing For Stability After A Childhood Spent In Hospitals
Silas Waller has measured his life in hospital stays. He has neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes tumors to form on nerve tissue. The condition makes it hard for him to walk. “My childhood was a constant string of going to and from hospitals,” said Mr. Waller, 18. “My first year of high school, I had over 50 absences, purely because I had that many doctor’s appointments.” (Brown, 1/14)

CNN: Burnout Linked To Potentially Deadly Irregular Heartbeat, Study Says
If you're feeling bone-deep mental and physical exhaustion, or what is otherwise known as burnout, new research suggests you could be at a higher risk for a potentially fatal heart flutter. Atrial fibrillation, also called AFib or AF, is the most common heart rhythm disorder and the leading cause of stroke in Europe and the United States; it affects more than 33 million people worldwide. In the US, AFib is responsible for approximately 130,000 deaths and 750,000 hospitalizations every year. (LaMotte, 1/13)

Chicago Tribune: Dry January Isn’t For Everyone, Experts Say
The holiday parties are over, the New Year’s resolutions are in and many likely revolve around a healthier 2020. For those who may have been overserved during December’s festivities, or are just looking for a challenge, that could include cutting out the glass of wine with dinner or the cocktails during nights out with friends. Dry January has become an annual trend in the past several years, prompting many to abstain from alcohol for the inaugural month of the year. (Thayer, 1/13)

Stat: Consumer Genetic Testing: What Do You Get For Your Money?
There are about 6.4 billion individual letters in the human genome. More and more, advertisements for consumer genetic tests promise to help regular people parse the information encoded in these genes. Companies offer a wide range of services, such as decoding ancestry and predicting disease risk. But we still don’t know what a lot of the human genome is for — so even though you’ll get a bunch of data, it might not actually be that useful as of yet. (Garde and Hogan, 1/14)

The Washington Post: Can You Really Speed Up Your Metabolism?
Diet and exercise are all well and good, but what if you could also control your weight just by reading this article in a comfortable chair? That’s the promise of dietary supplements and lifestyle hacks that claim to speed up your metabolism. These products and processes, it’s said, will increase your resting metabolic rate, and voilà, you can lose weight with less calorie counting and exercise. (Douglas, 1/13)

WBUR: Is It Wrong To Volunteer At An Orphanage?
For decades, spending time in orphanages has been a popular voluntourism activity. Critics call it "orphanage tourism." Sometimes it's a preplanned trip with a full week at the institution, arranged by an organization, church or travel agency. Other times, a vacationer might just set aside a couple hours to visit an orphanage and play with the kids. Although the unregulated nature of orphanage tourism means there are no reliable numbers on how many volunteers participate each year, the practice is widespread enough that the U.K. and Australia as well as the U.S. have taken public stands. (Lu, 1/13)

The New York Times: How Insects Cope When Blood Rushes To Their Heads
You wouldn’t think gravity would be a big worry for insects. They’re so small. So light. An ant that fell from a second-floor balcony and landed on its head wouldn’t even get a bruise. Consequently, scientists have not concerned themselves greatly with what gravity does to insects. But a group of scientists who routinely put grasshoppers into the linear accelerator at the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois decided to take a closer look. (Gorman, 1/13)

WBUR: Addicted To Sugar? This Doctor Says It's 'The New Tobacco'
Caffeine and sugar are two well-known ingredients in Coca-Cola — but many soda drinkers may not realize the fizzy beverage also contains salt. But why add salt into a sugary drink? To make consumers thirsty and ready to buy more, says Dr. Robert Lustig, professor of pediatric endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco. (Young, 1/13)

The New York Times: Why Is Air Pollution So Harmful? DNA May Hold The Answer
The threat of air pollution grabs our attention when we see it — for example, the tendrils of smoke of Australian brush fires, now visible from space, or the poisonous soup of smog that descends on cities like New Delhi in the winter. But polluted air also harms billions of people on a continuing basis. Outdoors, we breathe in toxins delivered by car traffic, coal-fired plants and oil refineries. Indoor fires for heat and cooking taint the air for billions of people in poor countries. Over a billion people add toxins to their lungs by smoking cigarettes — and more recently, by vaping. (Zimmer, 1/13)

Grist: ‘I’ve Quit Drinking The Water’: What It’s Like To Live Next To America’s Largest Coal Plant
Without Tony Bowdoin’s grandfather, Georgia Power might never have come to the quiet town of Juliette. The central Georgia hamlet, just off the Ocmulgee River and a little over an hour’s drive south of Atlanta, is mostly known as home to some of the state’s best shoal bass fishing. Juliette’s only other claim to fame is its turn as the setting for the 1991 Oscar-nominated film Fried Green Tomatoes. (Blau, 1/13)

CNN: Warmer Temperatures Linked To Increase In Injury Deaths In US, Study Says
A temperature increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit -- as predicted under the Paris Climate Agreement without a mitigation plan -- would cause an additional 1,600 injury deaths every year in the United States, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine. The majority of those deaths, 84%, would impact men, the study said. (Lin Erdman, 1/13)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: City Council Gives OK For Cleveland To Seek SCHIP Funding To Abate Lead Issues In Up To 20 Homes
City Council gave its approval Monday for the city to pursue $500,000 from the state that would pay to help eliminate lead contamination issues in up to 20 houses in Cleveland. The grant would target homes where Medicaid-eligible children live. Lead contamination in homes can cause brain damage in children, who often are exposed to the toxin in older houses such as those found in Cleveland. (Higgs, 1/13)

Stat: Livongo To Integrate Continuous Glucose Monitor Into Its Diabetes Program
For companies that monitor and coach patients with chronic disease, there are few things more valuable than data on how those patients are faring at any given moment. Now, one of those companies, Livongo (LVGO), is about to have vastly more information on thousands of its members with diabetes. Livongo announced Monday that it will integrate a continuous glucose monitor made by Dexcom (DXCM), the big manufacturer in the space, into its system. (Robbins, 1/13)

In other health and technology news —

Modern Healthcare: Teladoc To Buy InTouch Health For $600 Million
Telehealth giant Teladoc Health on Sunday said it plans to purchase InTouch Health, a telehealth company that serves the provider market, for $600 million. Teladoc officials said the acquisition of InTouch Health, which works with more than 450 hospitals and health systems, will better position the company in the provider market. Through the acquisition, Teladoc plans to create a virtual-care solution that spans provider-to-provider telehealth capabilities for inpatient care, as well as consumer-to-provider applications for outside the hospital. (Cohen, 1/13)

Politico Pro: FDA's Abernethy: Tech Overhaul Opens Door To New Structure
The FDA is drawing inspiration from the Pentagon as well as agile tech companies in a push to modernize its IT infrastructure and data strategies, FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Amy Abernethy told POLITICO. The oncologist, who joined the FDA a little under a year ago from the Roche-owned health tech company Flatiron Health, is heading up a three-pronged tech modernization plan aimed at overhauling the agency’s mountains of data and eventually speeding up review processes. (Owermohle and Allen, 1/14)

The CT Mirror: Hospitals, Nonprofits Tackle Social Determinants Of Health With Digital Network Of Providers
Doctors have long acknowledged that social factors – transportation, housing, access to wholesome food and dietary information, personal safety, and employment – influence people’s health outcomes. But addressing those issues can be complicated. Some hospitals hand out brochures for food pantries or housing agencies. A few place calls to social service groups on the patients’ behalf. And some have set up appointments to survey people’s living conditions. (Carlesso, 1/14)

Los Angeles Times: If L.A. Wants Trump's Money For Homelessness, Strings Will Be Attached
A sweeping proposal by the Trump administration to help Los Angeles’ growing homeless population may come with strings attached, raising questions about whether a deal can be worked out between the city and the White House. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson told Mayor Eric Garcetti in a letter last Thursday that Trump officials are prepared to offer Los Angeles an array of resources, including emergency healthcare services and federal land. The Times obtained the letter through a public records request. (Smith, Oreskes and Bierman, 1/13)

Los Angeles Times: Homeless Task Force Proposes Punishment For Cities With People Remaining On The Street
With public and political pressure mounting to get homeless people off the streets of California, a task force appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom is recommending that local governments face tough new legal sanctions for failing to make progress. In a report released Monday, the Council of Regional Homeless Advisors is calling for an amendment to the California Constitution that would create a legally enforceable mandate to reduce the homeless population. The Legislature would have to craft the plan, which would then appear as a statewide ballot measure in November. (Chabria, Oreskes and Luna, 1/13)

Reuters: California Governor's 'Homelessness Tour' Seeks Money, Solutions To Crisis On Streets
California's governor began a week-long "homelessness tour" on Monday seeking $750 million to address growing numbers of people living on the streets, stopping first in a rural community to show his state's problems extend beyond the big cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom last week asked state lawmakers to create the $750 million fund as part of his 2020-21 budget and plans to petition the federal government for additional money to help California's Medicaid program improve services for the homeless. (1/13)

In other health news out of California —

The Associated Press: California Rejects Unique Intersex Surgery Ban For Some Kids
California lawmakers have rejected what would have been a first-of-its-kind ban on medically unnecessary treatment for infants born with ambiguous or conflicting genitalia. The measure would have banned all procedures on intersex children 6 and under unless they were deemed medically necessary by the Medical Board of California. (1/13)

Los Angeles Times: Bill To Ban Surgery On Intersex Children Fails In California Senate
Advocacy groups for intersex people, who have differences in their reproductive or sexual anatomy, have been seeking legislation in California that would postpone genital surgeries, which they say do more harm than good. The groups say infants born with atypical genitalia often undergo surgeries to “normalize” their body, which can lead to incorrect gender assignment or an irreversible loss of physical sensation. Senate Bill 201 by state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), would have required that a child be at least 6 years old before a doctor could perform genital surgery that is not medically necessary. The bill faced opposition from doctors who said medical decisions should be left up to parents and the physicians treating a patient. (Gutierrez, 1/13)

The Washington Post: Four Firearms Bills Advance In Virginia’s Newly Gun-Free Capitol
Four gun-control bills sailed out of a Senate committee Monday as the General Assembly's new Democratic majority took up firearms legislation for the first time. In a visible show of opposition to the bills, gun rights activists swarmed the Capitol, where firearms were banned last week. But the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced most of the gun legislation proposed by Democrats, who wrested control of the state House and Senate from Republicans in November after a campaign season largely focused on guns and public safety. (Vozzella and Schneider, 1/13)

The Oregonian: Oregon Asks For $20 Million To Tackle Mental Illness Crisis
Oregon’s top health administrator has asked state lawmakers for $20 million to help ensure that people who need mental health treatment get it, particularly those who have been charged with a crime. Monday’s request comes after more than a year of struggles by state health officials to handle an ever-growing volume of criminal defendants needing treatment for schizophrenia and other disorders. Lawmakers must decide whether to take up the request as they meet starting Feb. 3 for a 35-day short session. Under a 2003 federal court order, defendants deemed in need of treatment before proceeding through the criminal justice system must be sent to the Oregon State Hospital within seven days of a judge’s order. But patients have repeatedly had to wait longer than that when the hospital has been full. (Zarkhin, 1/13)

The Baltimore Sun: Planned Parenthood Annapolis Expands Its Health Center To Serve More Patients
Planned Parenthood of Maryland expects a 66% jump in the number of patients seeking treatment over the next two years at its newly expanded facility in Annapolis. The center is unveiling a $2 million expansion Wednesday, a renovation intended to meet growing demand in the region for low-cost family planning services. As family planning clinics across the country fight to keep their doors open because of a loss of federal Title X funding, the Annapolis center is the first in a series of renovations and expansions Planned Parenthood will make at centers across the state. (Price, 1/14)

Modern Healthcare: Advanced Practice RN Autonomy Bill Wins FTC Support
The Federal Trade Commission encouraged Kansas' and Ohio's legislatures on Monday to pass bills that would allow advanced practice registered nurses to treat patients without physician oversight. Both of the bills look to remove the requirement that advanced practice RNs need to have doctors sign off on prescriptions before prescribing them to patients. In its letters, the FTC pointed to research indicating that advanced practice RNs are as safe and effective as independent doctors and that autonomous advanced practice RNs and doctors have comparable prescribing patterns and ultimately patient outcomes. (Kacik, 1/13)

Boston Globe: At Major San Francisco Conference, It’s Mass General Brigham, Not Partners
Barely six weeks after Partners HealthCare announced that it was changing its name to Mass General Brigham in an expensive rebranding, top executives of Massachusetts’s largest health care system debuted the new moniker at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. Addressing hundreds of health care industry employees and investors in an overflowing ballroom on the 32nd floor of the Westin St. Francis Hotel, Dr. Anne Klibanski, the new chief executive of the company, said she has received many questions about the change. (Saltzman, 1/13)

MPR: In Rural Minnesota, A Scarcity Of Beds For People In Crisis
The shortage of mental health care in rural areas means patients in need of inpatient psychiatric care are often waiting days to be transferred to beds far from home. It’s a situation that’s challenging for patients, families and health care providers, one with no obvious solution. (Roth, 1/13)

Health News Florida: Florida Health Officials Continue To Encourage Flu Vaccinations
The first week of flu season in Florida this year was a tough one. Health officials documented more cases than they saw during the 2017-2018 season, which was one of the worst on record. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that, nationwide, for the 2019-2020 season so far, there have been at least 6.4 million cases of influenza, more than 55,000 associated hospitalizations and approximately 2,900 related deaths. (Miller, 1/13)

Dallas Morning News: Bishop Lynch Student’s Death Blamed On Flu Complication
The students and staff of Bishop Lynch High School are grieving after a 16-year-old student who had the flu died suddenly last week. Dallas County health officials are working to confirm Teresa “Reese” Termulo’s death was related to the flu after the Catholic school in Far East Dallas said she had died Friday from a complication of the illness. Six confirmed flu-related fatalities — all of them adults — have been reported to the county this season. Officials are also investigating whether a 10-year-old boy’s death in Coppell was the result of the disease. ...Teresa’s father, Cesar Termulo, told mourners at a prayer service Saturday that as a pediatrician, he has cared for many children suffering from the flu. “I tell them about how dangerous it could be that you could die from it,” he said. “But yet, it’s just a shock that it happened to my own daughter, and it happened so fast.” (Branham and Smith, 1/13)

The Baltimore Sun: After Corruption Scandal, Baltimore City Council Committee Will Consider Government Reform Measures 
Less than two months after Baltimore’s former mayor pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax evasion charges, the City Council is pushing forward on a slate of government reform measures that include giving itself the power to oust a mayor for misconduct. Council members introduced a number of charter amendments in the wake of the wide-ranging “Healthy Holly” scandal, in which former Democratic Mayor Catherine Pugh sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of self-published children’s books to companies that did business with the city. Pugh pleaded guilty to federal fraud and tax charges and is awaiting sentencing. (Richman, 1/13)

St. Louis Public Radio: Missouri Lawmakers To Crack Down On Seclusion Rooms, Restraint In School
For the second year, legislation aiming to limit the use of seclusion rooms and restraint in Missouri schools has been filed. But this year, with Republican support in the GOP-dominated Legislature and more media attention, the chances of it passing appear more promising, backers say. (Driscoll, 1/13)

Iowa Public Radio: Volunteer Pilots Provide "LifeLine" For Patients In Need
Traveling hundreds or even thousands of miles to seek medical attention is just one of many potential barriers to receiving care. One Midwestern organization is working to break down that barrier, and they're doing it at no cost to the patients in need. On this hour of Talk of Iowa, host Charity Nebbe talks with Lindsey Kerr, the Executive Director of LifeLine Pilots, an Illinois-based organization that provides free flights to patients in need of out-of-town medical care. (Nebbe, Harrop and Digiacomo, 1/13)

The Associated Press: Lawsuit Over Teen's Diagnosis, Treatment Heads To Trial 
A lawsuit filed by the family of a Connecticut teen who was placed into state custody after a dispute over her diagnosis and put in psychiatric unit is scheduled to start Tuesday. The suit was brought by the parents of Justina Pelletier against Boston Children's Hospital and those who treated their daughter, The Boston Globe reported Monday. (1/13)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Homicide Drop: Mayor, Chief Credit Collaboration
Five years ago, homicides in Milwaukee spiked to levels not seen since the 1990s. Now, the city has closed out its second year in a row with fewer than 100 homicides — and officials are focused on maintaining that progress. (Luthern, 1/13)

The Washington Post: Why Trump Has To Lie About Health Care
What’s notable here isn’t the lie that “I was the person who saved Pre-Existing Conditions in your Healthcare.” He didn’t, of course — in fact, it was the Affordable Care Act that for the first time protected people with preexisting conditions, and Trump tried to repeal the ACA in Congress and now supports a lawsuit that would overturn that law root and branch. No, what’s interesting is that he feels the need to make this preposterous claim. (Paul Waldman, 1/13)

The New York Times: Trump’s Plot Against Health Care Continues
Make no mistake: Health care will be on the ballot this November. But not in the way ardent progressives imagine. Democrats running for president have spent a lot of time debating so-called Medicare for all, with some supporters of Bernie Sanders claiming that any politician who doesn’t demand immediate implementation of single-payer health care is a corporate tool, or something. But the reality is that whatever its merits, universal, government-provided health insurance isn’t going to happen anytime soon. (Paul Krugman, 1/13)

Axios: The Affordable Care Act Is Doing OK Without The Individual Mandate
The Affordable Care Act’s insurance market has not been materially affected by the elimination of the individual mandate penalty — undercutting a key argument in the lawsuit urging the courts to strike down the health care law. The big picture: Healthy enrollees have not left the market in droves, premiums have not spiked and there has been no market death spiral. (Drew Altman, 1/14)

Forbes: Republican Health Care Reform: The Congressional Republicans' Irrational Opposition To Medicaid
Congressional Republicans have consistently, if not unanimously, opposed Obamacare's expansion of Medicaid. Their opposition is irrational. It is also unpopular with voters. ... While Obamacare's individual health insurance reforms and subsidies have been a disaster for the middle class, the Medicaid expansion in the states that have approved it has covered millions of people that would never have been covered otherwise––at a cost that could never have been less. (Robert Laszewski, 1/13)

The Washington Post: The Health-Care Industry Is Letting Surgeons Behave Like Muggers
We’ve been hearing a lot about surprising medical bills lately — horrible stories about wages being garnished because of large unpaid bills, people losing their homes, even people taking their own lives because of medical debt. Yet the public still seems largely unaware that such horrendous situations could happen to anyone — even those with great health-care plans. That’s because our health-care system is ripe for bad actors to abuse patients in emergency situations. I should know; it happened to me. (Cynthia Weber Cascio, 1/13)

The Hill: Mental Health Crisis: We Must Speak With One Powerful Voice In 2020
For many, the start of a new year represents a clean slate — a chance to take stock of what truly matters in life and course correct in search of a better path. Human resiliency is a powerful thing. Mental health and addiction professionals often say it’s why they do what they do. People can recover from their challenges and go on to lead productive, meaningful lives. (Former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, 1/13)

Stat: The Downside Of Strong Growth In Health Care Jobs: Higher Costs
Jobs growth soars (CNBC). November Job Growth Booms (USA Today). US economy smashes forecasts (Business Insider). That enthusiasm was the general reaction to the November jobs report tallying an increase of 266,000 jobs. (Ezekiel J. Emanuel and Bob Kocher, 1/14)

Health Affairs: Why Aren’t More Patients Electronically Accessing Their Medical Records? (Yet!)
In November 2019, Health Affairs published an article by Sunny C. Lin and colleagues that analyzed data on the number of patients who accessed their health records online as a result of the federal Promoting Interoperability Program (formerly known as Meaningful Use). The low proportion (10 percent of patients with online access to their records used it) led the authors to conclude that the patient access aspect of the program was a “public policy failure.” As consumer advocates, we strongly agree that the program’s patient access requirements should have been much stronger, and we advocated against the changes that weakened them substantially in previous years. But it’s also important to recognize — and address — the major underlying problems: misaligned financial incentives and significant gaps in usability. (Christine Bechtel, Lygeia Ricciardi, Dave deBronkart, Casey Quinlan and Donna Cryer, 1/13)

Boston Globe: In The ER? Sign Up To Vote
What if long emergency room wait times, an unfortunate fact of life, could also be a key to increasing voter participation among traditionally underrepresented groups in our electorate? The demographic overlap between those who most use the ER for their health care and those who don’t vote presents a potential opportunity. (Alister Martin and Cass R. Sunstein, 1/13)

The Hill: The War Against Cancer
The long war against cancer has not been won, but there is real progress, as we are finally graduating from having only primitive weapons to use like toxic chemotherapy. The new era of targeted therapies has changed the battlefield. Personalized immunotherapies and genetic treatments mean identifying abnormal proteins on the surface of the tumor that varies from one patient and one tumor to the next. (Dr. Marc Siegel, 1/13)

The Hill: New Nutrition Facts Labels Are Big Win For Consumers, Public Health And Bipartisanship
Do you know what you are eating? If you’ve looked at the back of a food package recently, you may have noticed that the Nutrition Facts label looks different. Calories are bigger and bolder. The serving size is more visible and more accurately reflects the amount people eat. There is also a new line for added sugars, along with a percent daily value that specifies how much of the day’s added sugar limit is in a serving. This is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) helping you to make informed and wise choices for the health of you and your family. (Dr. Karen DeSalvo and Andrew C. Von Eschenbach, 1/13)

Modern Healthcare: Care Coordination Needs To Be More Than Just A Goal
Patients in fragile health need a champion, and I had been by [my godmother's] side nearly every day for a month. Other relatives called for daily updates. But in those last moments with her, it finally occurred to me that we had never asked for a comprehensive care plan. I hadn’t asked if all of the clinicians, some of whom we only saw once during that last month, had a plan to keep my godmother alive. I don’t know if that would have made enough of a difference. But a friend whose own mother died in hospice during these past holidays had a completely different experience. (Aurora Aguilar, 1/11)

The Washington Post: What It’s Like For One Boy Living With Autism And Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
At the end of a long day at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, the Barber family sits in a dimly lit exam room. As cartoons play on a television in the background, J.J., a 13-year-old boy with Duchenne muscular dystrophy and autism, sits on an examination table while his father, James, sits in his son’s wheelchair and his mother, Lisa, sits in a chair. It’s one of the first moments of respite the family has had after a long day. They’ve been going nonstop since 8 in the morning. (Andrej Ivanov, 1/13)

The Washington Post: MLK Day: Volunteers Explain How Helping Others Improved Their Lives
Two months before he was killed, Martin Luther King Jr. described a mistake that wastes many lives. He called it the drum major instinct, “a desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade, a desire to be first.” In some ways, there is nothing more natural. Foals and shorebirds can fend for themselves the day they’re born, but human children remain helpless for years. They must crave attention; without it, they would die. (Jamil Zaki, 1/13)

Dallas Morning News: The Idea Of Bringing A Weapon To Church For Self-Defense Is A Punch In The Gut
I could have lived an entire lifetime without hearing the words that opened our Sunday morning worship service in church last week. A wonderful gentleman who we have befriended at our Collin County church stood before us and implored those in our congregation who have a State of Texas-approved concealed handgun permit to bring their weapons with them to worship. To be brutally honest, the message from our friend hit me like a punch in the gut. (John Kanelis, 1/12)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia's Maternal Mortality Crisis Is A Test For Pro-Life Lawmakers
After much work, one of the greatest contradictions of governmental policy in Georgia – political, theological and moral in aspect – has been crystallized into a 14-page report. Georgia is one of the 10 most dangerous states in the U.S. to be a new mother. Our maternal mortality rate is among the highest in the developed world. (Jim Galloway, 1/10)