Modern Healthcare: US Uninsured Rate Hits 7.6%, CDC Report Shows
The share of Americans lacking health insurance has remained largely steady in recent years, but questions remain about the future. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Friday shows 7.6% of Americans, or 25.3 million people, lacked health insurance during the time of data collection from April to June. Although the rate represents a 0.4 percentage point increase from the year-ago period, it is consistent with 2023's full-year uninsured rate — a historic annual low. (Berryman, 11/11)

Cigna and Humana won't pursue merger —

Bloomberg: Cigna Says It Won’t Pursue Combination With Rival Humana
Cigna Group said it won’t pursue a combination with rival insurer Humana Inc. The two health insurance giants held talks about a deal last year, but Cigna walked away after the two companies failed to agree on a price, Bloomberg News reported in December. The discussions were revived as the US government intensified its effort to control Medicare costs that have eaten away at Humana’s finances and market value, Bloomberg News reported last month. (Tozzi, 11/11)

Forbes: Why Cigna Deal With Humana Made Little Sense To Begin With
Despite speculation in certain media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, such a deal really made little sense to begin with, especially given Cigna’s move to get out of the Medicare business. Cigna is nearing the completion of the sale of its Medicare business to Health Care Service Corp. by early 2025. Humana operates one of the nation’s largest Medicare operations, selling an array of products for seniors including Part D drug plans and Medicare Advantage plans that contract with the federal government to provide coverage available in traditional Medicare plus extra benefits and services to seniors, such as disease management and nurse help hotlines with some also offering vision, dental care and wellness programs. (Japsen, 11/11)

In other health insurance news —

The Wall Street Journal: The Sickest Patients Are Fleeing Private Medicare Plans—Costing Taxpayers Billions
A Wall Street Journal analysis of Medicare data found a pattern of Medicare Advantage’s sickest patients dropping their privately run coverage just as their health needs soared. Plans run by the private insurers in the Medicare Advantage system are supposed to offer old and disabled people the same benefits they would get from traditional Medicare. The plans can be a bargain for people because they limit out-of-pocket expenses and often offer extra benefits such as dental care. As recipients get sicker, though, they may have more difficulty accessing services than people with traditional Medicare. (Mathews, Weaver and McGinty, 11/11)

Fortune Well: Shopping For A 2025 Medigap Policy? There May Be Some Good News For You
In all but four states—Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and New York—if apply for a Medigap policy after the first six months of Medicare eligibility, the insurer can reject you due to a pre-existing condition or charge you more because of it. (A pre-existing condition could be anything from high blood pressure to diabetes to Alzheimer’s, according to a recent KFF health research group report.) “A Medigap insurer can generally turn you down for whatever reason they see fit,” says Ryan Ramsey, associate director of health coverage and benefits at the National Council on Aging. (Eisenberg, 11/11)

WSBTV-2 Atlanta: Multimillion-Dollar Scheme Leaves GA Families With ACA Coverage With Changed Or No Insurance
Tiesha Foreman says every trip to the doctor has become difficult because she never knows if her health insurance will be there when she goes to settle up. “It’s stressful and scary and it’s embarrassing because you have them looking back at you like, why? Why are you giving us this card saying that you’re covered and you’re not again?” Foreman told Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray. The Douglas County mother said for months now, when she goes to pay her health insurance premium, it gets returned. The family had to pay for an MRI out of pocket and even thought an emergency surgery might not be covered. (Gray, 11/11)

The Texas Tribune: Texas DACA Recipients Qualify For Affordable Care Act Insurance
When Victoria Elizondo first went to see a doctor about her symptoms at Legacy Community Clinic, a low-cost clinic in Houston, she didn’t know what was wrong with her but she knew something wasn’t right. Her hands would shake uncontrollably, her heart would beat fast even while resting and she suffered from insomnia. (Moore, 11/12)

On hospital costs and transparency —

Modern Healthcare: OIG Report Finds Holes In Hospital Price Transparency Compliance
Many hospitals are not publishing their prices in accordance with the price transparency law, a federal watchdog's new report found. More than a third of the 100 hospitals reviewed by the Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Inspector General did not post machine-readable pricing data files correctly, or at all, as required by the 2021 federal law, according to the report released Friday. Most of the violations were related to disclosing the rates hospitals negotiated with insurers, metadata errors and outdated information. Five hospitals did not post any machine-readable files. (Kacik, 11/8)

Crain's New York Business: Optum’s $168M Health Cost Database For NY Facing Major Delays 
Nearly a decade ago New York signed a lucrative contract with a health services firm to build a database to boost transparency on the pricing of medical procedures across health systems. It’s still not ready. The database was intended to pull together medical claims from Medicare and Medicaid, private insurers and hospitals to display the true cost of health services in New York. The database would help patients financially plan for upcoming procedures and aid policymakers in understanding and addressing the drivers of rising health costs.  (D'Ambrosio, 11/11)

Politico: RFK Jr. Crowdsources Names For Trump Appointees
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is working to crowdsource names for the more than 4,000 appointees under the second upcoming Trump administration. Kennedy, a former environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine crusader, launched a website that asks the public to submit names of candidates who might be qualified for positions in environmental, energy, agriculture, labor policies and beyond. (Borst, 11/11)

Reuters: RFK Jr Reviewing Resumes For Top Trump Health Jobs, Sources Say
Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the former independent presidential candidate, is reviewing candidate resumes for the top jobs at the U.S. government's health agencies in Donald Trump's incoming administration, a former Kennedy aide and a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. Kennedy, of the famed political family, has been asked to recommend appointees for all regulatory health agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration, said Del Bigtree, who was director of communications for Kennedy's campaign and remains close to the former candidate. (Kelly, 11/9)

Newsweek: RFK Jr. Suggests Replacing Hundreds Of Federal Health Employees
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said over the weekend that he intends to terminate 600 employees at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and replace them with a new group of workers. Speaking at the Genius Network Annual Event in Scottsdale, Kennedy highlighted his involvement in vetting candidates for President-elect Donald Trump's upcoming administration as part of his effort to overhaul America's health agencies significantly. (Whisnant, 11/11)

Roll Call: How RFK Jr.’s Health Proposals Would Stack Up In Practice 
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is lined up to advise the incoming Trump administration on its health policy agenda, has floated broad plans to “make America healthy again.” But how he will accomplish his wide-ranging agenda is still a question mark. Kennedy’s suggestions have ranged from gutting parts of the Food and Drug Administration to working to remove fluoride from the water supply. While it’s still unclear whether he will hold a formal position in Donald Trump’s cabinet or serve as an adviser, here’s a look at the viability of Kennedy’s major ideas. (DeGroot, 11/8)   

The Hill: RFK Jr.’s New Bully Pulpit Sends Public Health Shock Waves
Experts say there are institutional guardrails in place at federal agencies that would prevent some of the most radical changes from happening, such as having vaccines pulled off the market. Pushback from courts, industry and Congress could temper Trump and Kennedy’s vision for radical changes. But they are concerned Kennedy could still have an outsized impact. “I worry greatly for the future of public health, environment and science in the next four years,” said Lawrence Gostin, a global health law professor at Georgetown University Law Center. (Weixel, 11/10)

KFF Health News' 'What the Health?' Podcast: Trump 2.0 
Health care might not have been the biggest issue in the campaign, but the return of Donald Trump to the presidency is likely to have a seismic impact on health policy over the next four years. Changes to the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, and the nation’s public health infrastructure are likely on the agenda. But how far Trump goes will depend largely on who staffs key health policy roles and on whether Democrats take a majority in the U.S. House, where several races remain uncalled. (11/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Demands Republicans Allow Some Nominees To Bypass Senate
President-elect Donald Trump demanded that the next Republican leader of the Senate agree to allow him to push through at least some nominees without requiring a vote, a move that would give more power to the White House to get around congressional opposition. The statement by Trump, who prevailed on Election Day by winning all seven of the battleground states, showed him muscling the incoming Senate majority weeks before the Republicans are set to take over the chamber. The GOP senators, who are set to have a 53-47 margin in the next Congress, are voting on a new leader this week. (Hughes and Bravin, 11/10)

Bloomberg: Trump’s Reliance On US House To Fill His Cabinet Strains Likely Majority
President-elect Donald Trump is raiding the House of Representatives as he stocks his cabinet, threatening to cut into what’s likely to be a razor-thin majority for Speaker Mike Johnson in the early days of his new administration. On the House side, Trump has selected Mike Waltz, a Florida congressman who served multiple tours in Afghanistan, to serve as his national security advisor, according to people familiar with the choice. Waltz joins Elise Stefanik, the New York congresswoman and chair of the Republican caucus, as lawmakers primed to leave Capitol Hill for a job working for the incoming president. The loss of two Republicans will tighten margins considerably for Johnson. (Leonard and Lowenkron, 11/11)

President-elect Donald Trump picks more people for his Cabinet —

The Wall Street Journal: Trump’s New Border Czar Championed Family-Separation Policy In First Term
Donald Trump has chosen a pugnacious anti-illegal immigration hard-liner, Tom Homan, to oversee the president-elect’s proposed mass deportation campaign, picking a key figure from his first term who makes no apologies for some of its most controversial policies, including the separation of migrant parents from their children. Homan, who served as the acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from 2017 to 2018, will take on the role of “border czar,” Trump announced late Sunday night. (Hackman, Restuccia and Vipers, 11/11)

The New York Times: Trump Chooses Lee Zeldin To Run E.P.A. As He Plans To Gut Climate Rules
President-elect Donald J. Trump announced on Monday that he would nominate former Representative Lee Zeldin, Republican of New York, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, a position that is expected to be central to Mr. Trump’s plans to dismantle landmark climate regulations. During Mr. Zeldin’s tenure in the House, he voted against clean water legislation at least a dozen times, and clean air legislation at least half a dozen times, according to the League of Conservation Voters scorecard. (Davenport and Friedman, 11/11)

The Washington Post: Tracking Who Trump Has Picked To Fill His Cabinet, Administration 
Here are the people Donald Trump has picked or is considering to fill his Cabinet and key positions in his administration, including potential picks for Health and Human Services. (11/11)

The Washington Post: Women Stockpile Abortion Pills Before Trump Term 
Women are seeking out abortion medication in higher-than-usual numbers ahead of a Donald Trump presidency that they fear could severely curtail access to reproductive care. Aid Access, one of the largest suppliers of abortion pills, reported receiving 10,000 requests for the medication in the 24 hours after the election was called for the Republican nominee early Wednesday — roughly 17 times the 600 that the organization typically gets in a day. (Iati, 11/11)

Time: Why Abortion Rights Won In Three States That Voted For Trump 
Experts say the results demonstrate a "cognitive dissonance" on how people feel about abortion and the candidates they choose to elect. (Lee, 11/11)

The New York Times: Was The Trump Election A Setback For Women? Even Women Do Not Agree. 
To many left-leaning Americans, it is resoundingly clear that women who backed Donald J. Trump in the presidential election voted against their own self-interest. Liberal women, in particular, have spent recent days practically stunned, stewing over how other women could have rejected Kamala Harris, who would have been the first woman to lead the nation in its nearly 250-year history. Instead, they chose a candidate who spews misogyny seemingly with glee. For the second time. (Searcey, 11/12)

KFF Health News: Many Voters Backed Abortion Rights And Donald Trump, A Challenge For Democrats 
Voters in three states — Arizona, Missouri, and Nevada — chose on Tuesday to advance protections for abortion rights in their state constitutions. Donald Trump, meanwhile, is likely to win all three states in his victorious bid for the White House. It’s a conundrum for Democrats, who expected ballot initiatives on abortion rights in those states to boost the prospects of their candidates, including Vice President Kamala Harris. But data from VoteCast, a large survey of U.S. voters conducted by The Associated Press and partners including KFF, found that about 3 in 10 voters in Arizona, Missouri, and Nevada who supported the abortion rights measures also voted for Trump. (Varney, 11/8)

ABC News: A State-By-State Breakdown Of Where Abortion Stands After Ballot Initiatives Pass
Here is a state-by-state breakdown or where abortion laws stand in each state, according to a review of state laws, ballot measure results and the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that focuses on sexual and reproductive health. (Kekatos and Kindelan, 11/12)

Abortion updates from Wisconsin, Florida, Missouri, Georgia, and Illinois —

The Washington Post: Wisconsin’s High Court Hears Case Set To Decide State’s Abortion Rights 
Wisconsin’s highest court heard oral arguments Monday for a case set to shape the future of reproductive rights in the state, hinging on a question: Does a law inked before the Civil War ban abortion today? Chances are solid for abortion rights advocates, given the bench’s 4-to-3 liberal majority. A decision is expected in early 2025.The hearing marked the first state battle over the fate of abortion access since Donald Trump won reelection as president — after sending mixed messages on restrictions — and the courtroom volleys quickly turned tense. (Paquette, 11/11)

USA Today Network: Top Republican Says Florida Lawmakers Won't Revisit Abortion Issue
Unbowed by the failure of the proposed abortion-rights amendment to reach the required 60% approval by voters last week, proponents are calling upon the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature to repeal the state's six-week abortion ban next year. Don't count on it. The ACLU of Florida called Amendment 4's failure a "temporary loss," but the incoming Florida Senate president said in a statement he will not look to change anything, suggesting the current abortion ban will stand. (Goñi-Lessan, 11/11)

Missouri Independent: GOP Lawmaker Cites Abortion Comments In Push To Replace Incoming Missouri House Speaker 
In the days before Missourians voted to enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution, incoming House Speaker Jon Patterson declared lawmakers should respect the people’s choice, whatever the outcome. Now, with abortion set to become legal in Missouri, Republican Rep. Justin Sparks of Wildwood is mounting a long-shot challenge seeking to block Patterson from the top leadership position in the Missouri House, arguing that he is not up for the job of defending anti-abortion values. (Spoerre, 11/11)

CNN: Bleeding And In Pain, A Woman Endures A Harrowing Wait For Miscarriage Care Due To Georgia’s Restrictive Abortion Law
In early October, Avery Davis Bell learned that she was about to lose the baby she and her husband very much wanted. The 34-year-old geneticist had been hospitalized in Georgia after repeated episodes of bleeding, and she and her doctors all knew exactly what was needed to manage her miscarriage and prevent a life-threatening infection. They also knew why she wasn’t receiving that care immediately. (Christensen, 11/11)

NBC News: Study Maps How Nonprofit Religious Groups Set Up Facilities Near Abortion Clinics
When patients who have appointments at the Planned Parenthood in Carbondale, Illinois, are late, staff members often know where to find them — at the crisis pregnancy center right next door. “We have stories all of the time of patients who are misled. They actually think they’re at a Planned Parenthood Health Center and then, not until after they’re on the table getting an ultrasound, they realize it’s not,” said Cristina Villarreal, chief external affairs officer for Planned Parenthood of Illinois. (Brooks, 11/8)

Bloomberg: Prison Health Firm Wellpath Declares Bankruptcy
Wellpath Holdings Inc., one of the largest providers of health-care services to prisons and jails across the US, has filed bankruptcy after failing to meet its debt obligations while grappling with high labor costs. The H.I.G. Capital-backed firm, which filed for Chapter 11 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, listed assets and liabilities between $1 billion to $10 billion each. In a separate statement, Wellpath said it has secured a $522 million debtor-in-possession financing facility from some lenders and plans to sell some businesses. (Ma and Phakdeetham, 11/11)

Modern Healthcare: Kaiser Permanente Streamlines Operations To Cut Costs 
Kaiser Permanente has continued implementing cost-cutting measures in an attempt to quell losses stemming in part from high medical expenses. Kaiser has reduced administrative expenses, implemented controls on discretionary spending and streamlined business operations to help offset costs attributed to higher-than-expected utilization, increased patient acuity and pharmaceutical spending, the nonprofit health system said Friday in its third-quarter earnings report. (Hudson, 11/8)

Crain's Detroit Business: Henry Ford Health’s Integrated Insurer Makes CEO Change
Dr. Michael Genord is out as the top executive at Henry Ford Health’s integrated insurer Health Alliance Plan. The Detroit-based health system announced Monday that President and CEO Genord has left the company, effective immediately. It’s unclear whether Genord resigned or was terminated from HAP; and the system declined to elaborate on his departure. (Walsh, 11/11)

The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: Cleveland’s Former St. Vincent Charity Hospital Now Set To Be Demolished 
Paperwork has been submitted to the city of Cleveland Department of Building and Housing to demolish St. Vincent Charity Community Health Center -- formerly known as St. Vincent Charity Medical Center. A clerk at the Department of Building and Housing confirmed Monday that paperwork had been received and said it would take several weeks to process. This comes almost exactly two years after St. Vincent ended all-inpatient and emergency room care. (Sims, 11/11)

Colorado Sun: Denver Health Was Losing 90% Of N₂O To Leaks. So It Cut The Gas.
Deep inside Denver Health’s main building, on a locked floor that even most doctors who work at the hospital have never visited, around giant tanks of oxygen and under low-hanging ductwork and plumbing, there is a cramped room with eight tall, blue cylinders of compressed gas. (Ingold, 11/8)

Also —

Stat: Hospitals, Pharma Companies Increasingly Turning To OpenAI
The company behind ChatGPT didn’t set out to tackle health care. But despite ongoing concerns about its technology’s tendency to hallucinate, OpenAI is already inking deals with health care customers desperate to use it to speed up workflows without burdening their staff. (Ravindranath, 11/12)

Axios: Robot Learned Surgical Tasks From Videos And AI
A research team used videos of surgeries and the machine learning architecture behind ChatGPT to successfully train a robot to do basic tasks like manipulate a needle, lift body tissue and suture. Showing a robot can perform with the skill of a doctor opens up new possibilities for devices like the widely used da Vinci surgical system and reduce the risk of medical errors, the Johns Hopkins-led scientists said. (Bettelheim, 11/12)

Reuters: 23andMe Cuts 40% Of Its Workforce, Discontinues All Therapy Programs
Genetic testing firm 23andMe said on Monday it is reducing about 40%, or 200 employees, from its workforce and discontinuing further development of all its therapies as part of a restructuring program. “We are taking these difficult but necessary actions as we restructure 23andMe and focus on the long-term success of our core consumer business and research partnerships,” said CEO Anne Wojcicki. The company said it is evaluating strategic alternatives, including licensing agreements and asset sales, for its therapies in development. (11/11)

Stat: The End Of 23andMe’s Drug Discovery Dream
23andMe, the genetics startup that has repeatedly captured the public imagination and then faced nearly fatal business challenges, announced Monday that it would halt its efforts to develop new medicines and lay off 40% of its workforce, focusing instead on selling genetic tests to consumers and using the resulting data for research. (Herper, 11/11)

On cancer research —

Stat: AstraZeneca Has To Resubmit Closely Watched Cancer Drug To FDA
AstraZeneca said Tuesday it has had to resubmit a closely watched medicine for U.S. approval in a different form of lung cancer, a step that will delay the drug’s arrival on the market and that will add to questions about how widely it could be used. (Joseph, 11/12)

Stat: Pfizer Cancer Research Trial Shows Promise Of Digital Tech Wearables
Pfizer’s promising research on a treatment for a dangerous cancer-related condition is also helping prove out the value of wearables in clinical trials. (Aguilar, 11/12)

NPR: The New Face Of Cancer Survival Is Younger, With A Challenging Road Ahead 
On Halloween morning of 2020, Lourdes Monje, 25 at the time, felt a strange bump on their left breast. An agonizing series of scans and biopsies revealed cancer that had spread to spots on the lung. That devastating diagnosis narrowed Monje's vision of any future to a small, dark point. But at the next appointment, Monje's oncologist explained that even an advanced diagnosis is not a death sentence, thanks to revolutionary changes in cancer care. (Noguchi, 11/11)

On research animals —

AP: South Carolina Lab Recaptures 5 Escaped Monkeys. 13 Still Loose
Employees at a South Carolina compound that breeds monkeys for medical research have recaptured five more animals that escaped last week from an enclosure that wasn’t fully locked. As of Monday afternoon, 30 of the 43 monkeys that made it outside the Alpha Genesis facility in Yemassee are back in the company’s custody unharmed, police said in a statement. (11/11)

Vox: 43 Lab Monkeys Escaped In South Carolina. They Have A Legal Claim To Freedom.
The animal protection group Stop Animal Exploitation Now, which for years has filed federal complaints against the facility, has called on the USDA to prosecute Alpha Genesis as a repeat violator of its duty to keep the animals secure. In one way, this is a story about what looks like a corporate failure. But there is another way to understand this situation, both legally and morally. What if these intrepid macaques, who the lab has said pose no threat to the public and carry no infectious diseases, have a legal claim to freedom? (Fernandez and Marceau, 11/11)

North Carolina Health News: Helene Washed Away One Of This Rural County's Only Dental Clinics
When your house is flooded and all your soggy belongings are piled on the street in front of your home, having a cavity or a toothache might seem like a small problem. But it could become a bigger problem for residents of Avery County, where one of the primary dental clinics was inundated with floodwaters generated by the remnants of Hurricane Helene in late September. (Baxley, 11/11)

American Homefront Project: In Carolina Mountains, The VA Makes House Calls To Vets Still Isolated From Helene
More than a month after Helene wreaked havoc on western North Carolina, the regional Veterans Affairs' health care system is still sending teams to visit veterans who remain isolated and in need of vital supplies. Some of the biggest initial issues like road access have improved, said Matthew Bain, a nurse who was part of three VA outreach teams roving the mountains on a recent day. But things are still far from normal. (Price, 11/10)

Carolina Public Press: Aftermath Of Helene Making WNC Survivors Sick 
One week after Tropical Storm Helene hit western North Carolina, Asheville resident Sonya Lynn woke up with stomach cramps that she could only compare to going into labor. “The cramps woke me out of a dead sleep,” Lynn told Carolina Public Press. “I started noticing severe bloating, constant diarrhea and nausea.” Lynn went to Mercy Urgent Care, where she was diagnosed with E. coli. The facility put her on antibiotics, but a few days later she was in the emergency room with extreme dehydration. (Sartwell, 11/9)

In other health news from across the U.S. —

The Missouri Independent: Judge Rules Missouri Hospital Violated Sunshine Law
A judge on Friday found a northeast Missouri hospital board guilty of “gross violations” of the Sunshine Law and voided all the actions taken during illegal closed meetings in August 2022. Circuit Judge Rick Roberts also ruled that Scotland County Hospital must also pay a civil fine of $5,000 and attorneys fees to its former CEO, Dr. Randy Tobler. (Keller, 11/11)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Judge Gives NH More Time To End ER Boarding Of Psychiatric Patients
A federal judge has again given the state more time to end its practice of holding mental health patients in emergency departments for prolonged periods. For over a decade, people held involuntarily for mental health treatment have faced lengthy waits in the emergency room – often days or longer – before they’re transferred to an appropriate inpatient facility, because the state has too few psychiatric beds. (Cuno-Booth, 11/10)

The Texas Tribune: Strapped Texas Counties To Seek State EMS Funding 
County Commissioner Rick Bailey knows immediately when one of his Johnson County constituents has suffered a health scare. That’s typically when the calls and texts roll in from residents wanting to know more about ambulance service for those living outside the city limits of Cleburne or Burleson. “I do get complaints if there has been an accident or a heart attack, saying ‘Hey, why did it take so long?’” Bailey said. (Langford, 11/11)

KFF Health News: California Dengue Cases Prompt Swift Response From Public Health Officials 
Jason Farned and his team at the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District had spent years preparing for the likely arrival of dengue, a dangerous virus typically found in tropical climates outside the mainland United States. They’d watched nervously as invasive Aedes mosquito species that can carry the virus appeared in Los Angeles about a decade ago and began to spread, likely introduced by international trade and enticed to stay by a warming climate that makes it easier for mosquitoes to thrive. (Boyd-Barrett, 11/12)

On opioids and addiction —

Stat: Many Opioid Recovery Groups Offer Rejection Instead Of Refuge 
The last time Mark Palinski went to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, he was asked to leave and never come back. He stills remembers the argument: All he had done was advocate for the use of the “gold standard” treatment opioid addiction, a common medication called buprenorphine. To Palinski, buprenorphine is a godsend. It helped him finally beat opioid addiction decades after he was prescribed Vicodin for a schoolyard kickball accident, leaving him hooked on painkillers at age 11. (Facher, 11/12)

Native News Online: 'You Can’t Gangster A Horse': Native Youth Connect with Culture to Break Cycles of Addiction
Native Americans now have the highest rate of drug-overdose deaths among teenagers and young adults of any ethnic group. At a Portland-based Native American health-care nonprofit, prevention specialists and tribal elders are blending traditional horsemanship and other Native culture with clinical approaches to prevent addiction before it starts. (Wild, 11/11)

Crain's Detroit Business: Blue Cross Michigan To Pay Out $12.7M Over Vaccine Mandate 
Jurors in U.S. District Court in Detroit punished Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan for terminating an employee for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic, potentially setting a precedent for employers across the state. The jury awarded $12.7 million to former IT specialist Lisa Domski after the Detroit-based insurance giant denied her religious accommodation request to forgo vaccination, as the company required it as a condition of her employment. Domski claimed the vaccine mandate violated her Catholic beliefs. (Walsh, 11/11)

FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth: Shelley Luther, Former Dallas Salon Owner Jailed During COVID-19, Wins In TX House Dist. 62
Shelley Luther, the former Dallas salon owner who was jailed after reopening her salon during the COVID-19 pandemic, is heading to the Texas state house. (11/5)

More on covid and flu —

CIDRAP: Study Finds No Adverse Brain Development In Kids Exposed To COVID In Utero
A study of children exposed to maternal COVID-19 before birth found no adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes by 2 years and a slight increase in parent-reported infant self-regulatory behavior—a generally positive finding—at 6 months. (Van Beusekom, 11/8)

CIDRAP: CDC Reports Slight Flu Rise In Children, First Kid's Flu Death Of Season 
In its weekly flu season update today, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said though activity remains low nationally, there are slight increases in children, along with the first confirmed pediatric flu death of the 2024-25 season. (Schnirring, 11/8)

In global news about mpox and bird flu —

NPR: A Human Bird Flu Case Is Thought To Be Found In Canada For The First Time 
A case of H5 bird flu is believed to be detected in a human in Canada for the first time, health officials said Saturday. A teenager from the province of British Columbia tested positive for the virus and has been hospitalized, according to health officials from the province. The test is being sent to another lab to be confirmed. (Archie, 11/11)

CIDRAP: Africa CDC Launches Trial Of Smallpox Drug For Mpox
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced the launch of a trial of the antiviral smallpox drug brincidofovir for the treatment of mpox. The trial will be conducted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in partnership with Emergent BioSolutions. The announcement comes after yesterday’s milestone of 50,000 mpox cases across the continent. Brincidofovir has not yet been tested in double-blind, placebo-controlled studies for mpox, and there are currently no approved therapeutics to treat mpox. (Soucheray, 11/8)

The New York Times: Excessive Drinking Persisted In The Years After Covid Arrived
Americans started drinking more as the Covid-19 pandemic got underway. They were stressed, isolated, uncertain — the world as they had known it had changed overnight. Two years into the disaster, the trend had not abated, researchers reported on Monday. The percentage of Americans who consumed alcohol, which had already risen from 2018 to 2020, inched up further in 2021 and 2022. And more people reported heavy or binge drinking. (Rabin, 11/11)

On marijuana and cannabis —

The Wall Street Journal: A Surprising Source Of Dementia Relief: Cannabis 
More older adults are using marijuana for sleep, anxiety and pain. A small but growing number are taking it to manage their dementia symptoms. Doctors who prescribe cannabis to dementia patients say it can alleviate anxiety, agitation and pain, and improve sleep, appetite and mood. While there isn’t much definitive research on the use of cannabis for dementia, several small studies have backed its usefulness in soothing agitation. (Reddy, 11/11)

NPR: Trump Plans To Revoke Many Biden Policies. Where Does That Leave Marijuana?
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to come to the White House with a laundry list of policies he wants to change or reverse. The Biden administration has moved to ease longtime restrictions on cannabis — so, what might Trump's arrival mean for the push to legalize marijuana? There are signs that cannabis could be a rare issue on which Trump carries a Biden policy forward. (Chappell, 11/11)

In other health and wellness news —

NBC News: More Women Seek Testosterone Therapy, Prompted By Influencers, Doctors Say
Do women have a testosterone problem? Social media influencers believe they do. And with the rise of telemedicine and testosterone replacement clinics opening up across the country, access to the drug has never been easier. In the U.S., prescriptions for testosterone increased nearly 50% between 2013 and 2023, according to recent data from the health technology company IQVIA. Doctors say interest in the hormone isn’t being driven only by men, but also by women in their 40s and 50s. (Syal, 11/10)

The Washington Post: 4 In 10 U.S. Adults With Hypertension Don’t Know They Have It 
About 41 percent of U.S. adults with hypertension are unaware they have it, according to a report from the National Center for Health Statistics. Left untreated, high blood pressure can increase the risk for heart disease and stroke. The American College of Cardiology defines hypertension as having systolic blood pressure of 130 mm Hg or above, or diastolic blood pressure of 80 mm Hg or above. (McMahan, 11/11)

KFF Health News: Older Americans Living Alone Often Rely On Neighbors Or Others Willing To Help
Donald Hammen, 80, and his longtime next-door neighbor in south Minneapolis, Julie McMahon, have an understanding. Every morning, she checks to see whether he’s raised the blinds in his dining room window. If not, she’ll call Hammen or let herself into his house to see what’s going on. Should McMahon find Hammen in a bad way, she plans to contact his sister-in-law, who lives in a suburb of Des Moines. That’s his closest relative. Hammen never married or had children, and his younger brother died in 2022. (Graham, 11/12)

The New York Times: For Older Unmarried Couples, Caregiving Obligations Can Be Murky 
What should be expected of an intimate partner when a companion suffers a health crisis? Seniors and their families increasingly confront the question. (Span, 11/10)

The Washington Post: New PBS Kids Cartoon Features Main Characters With Autism
A new animated series for young children premiering Nov. 14 will be PBS Kids’ first to feature main characters with autism, the network reports. “Carl the Collector,” aimed at 4-to-8-year-olds, was designed to celebrate the variety and potential of neurodivergent kids, and to expand perspectives of autism. The show follows the adventures of avid collector Carl, a raccoon who has autism, and friends including an empathetic beaver, a squirrel with a tree nut allergy and a hypersensitive fox, who is also autistic. (Blakemore, 11/10)

Stat: Triple Rapid Tests Are Necessary To Contain Mpox, H5N1 Bird Flu 
This summer, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the rapid spread of mpox in Africa a public health emergency of international concern. The WHO has reported over 46,000 suspected cases and 1,000 deaths this year alone. Only 37% of suspected mpox cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been confirmed with lab-based testing. Meanwhile, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to express concern about the H5N1 bird flu virus circulating in American dairy cows, with 46 human cases reported so far. In both outbreaks, public health authorities worry we’re missing many unreported cases because of insufficient testing. (Janika Schmitt and Jacob Swett, 11/12)

Bloomberg: RFK Jr. Is Too Dangerous for Government
Through his support for Operation Warp Speed, Donald Trump helped oversee one of the great scientific breakthroughs of the 21st century. He should be celebrating that achievement, not undermining it. The best decision of his second term might be removing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from his list of administration hopefuls. (Former NYC Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, 11/12)

The Washington Post: RFK Jr.’s Views On Fluoride Aren’t As Crazy As You Might Think 
In the days before the election, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is expected to play a key role overseeing federal health agencies in the second Trump administration, alarmed many health officials by calling for the removal of fluoride from public drinking water. This would overturn decades of public health doctrine and is already incurring the wrath of some influential clinicians. (Leana S. Wen, 11/12)

CNN: The Risky Mix Of Antidepressants And College Life 
Is it safe to drink alcohol while taking antidepressant medications? What about using weed? What will happen if I skip a dose of my medicine so I can drink at a party? Are any over-the-counter meds off-limits if I get sick? As a family physician focused on college health, I get asked these questions all the time. (Dr. Jill Grimes, 11/11)

Stat: ADHD Has Profoundly Shaped My Scientific Journey 
Imagine a mind that’s constantly buzzing, leaping from one thought to the next, struggling to filter out the noise of a world that feels perpetually turned up to 11. That’s the experience of living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a reality I know intimately. It has profoundly shaped my journey as a scientist, from the setbacks of my early years to the discoveries I’ve made in my laboratory. (Jeff Karp, 11/12)