The New York Times: Democrats Increasingly Vocal In Calling ‘Medicare For All’ A Political Liability
Prominent Democratic leaders are sounding increasingly vocal alarms to try to halt political momentum for “Medicare for all,” opting to risk alienating liberals and deepening the divide in the party rather than enter an election year with a sweeping health care proposal that many see as a liability for candidates up and down the ballot. From Michigan to Georgia, North Dakota to Texas, Democratic elected officials, strategists and pollsters are warning that the party’s commitment to the Obama-era Affordable Care Act — widely seen as critical to electoral gains in 2018 and 2019 — could slip away as a political advantage in 2020 if Republicans seize on Medicare for all and try to paint Democrats as socialists on health care. (Lerer and Glueck, 11/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Democratic Hopefuls Face Growing Scrutiny Over Health Plans
With public support for Medicare for All slipping, opponents are ramping up attacks on more moderate alternatives from former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Those Democratic presidential hopefuls are up against industry groups, Republicans and Democratic challengers criticizing their proposals to let people buy coverage in a government-run health plan. The Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, an industry group that includes hospitals and insurers, recently released a study that found a public option would increase the number of people without health coverage. (Armour, 11/25)

Politico: Medicare For All’s Jobs Problem
Deanna Mazur, the daughter of a retired steel mill worker who works as a medical billing manager, finds some things to like about the “Medicare for All” policy that she’s been hearing politicians talk about. She likes the notion that all Americans would have health insurance. And it would simplify her own job quite a bit if there were only one place to send medical bills, instead of the web of private companies and government programs that she deals with now. “It would definitely be easier,” Mazur says. Then again, if it were that easy, her job might not exist at all. (Pradhan, 11/25)

The Associated Press: Harris To Propose Doubling Mental Health Treatment Beds
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris wants to double the number of mental health treatment beds available across the country and increase access to virtual mental health counseling. Harris will roll out her mental health platform Monday at a South Carolina event with radio host Charlamagne Tha God, who has spoken about his own mental health struggles. (11/25)

Politico: How Kamala Harris Will Address The Mental Health Crisis
Harris says her Medicare for All plan will provide direct access to mental health professionals without deductibles or copays, and it would expand access to telemedicine services, especially in rural areas. Her plan will ensure home or community-based comprehensive long-term services are available for patients who need them. Mental health providers would also get a pay increase. The plan would eliminate the decades-old Medicaid restriction on funding care for patients staying at large mental health institutions. (Ehley, 11/25)

The Hill: Harris Proposes Doubling Mental Health Treatment Beds
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.) on Monday said she wants to double the number of mental health treatment beds across the country and rely on Medicare to cover mental health services. As part of her mental health platform unveiled Monday, Harris said she wants to focus on vulnerable populations such as veterans and children and remove “roadblocks” such as surprise billing for out-of-network providers or higher charges for mental health services. (Weixel, 11/25)

The Washington Post: Searching For A Killer: Inside The CDC’s Scramble To Solve A Mysterious Vaping Disease
Scientists were ecstatic. The test results were in. For the first time, the lab team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had direct evidence that a chemical compound, vitamin E acetate, was a likely culprit in the disease that has sickened nearly 2,300 people and killed 47. Officials set a date to share the news. But as the lab team raced to test a last batch of lung fluid samples, the tool needed for the chemical analysis suddenly crashed. Scientists feared their precious samples would be destroyed. (Sun, 11/25)

In other vaping news —

Kaiser Health News: The Complex Realm Of Cloud Chasers, Coil Builders And Other Vape Moders
A Juul pod is not an e-cigarette is not a vape pen is not a mod. Ask any serious vaper, but then, what kind of vaper to ask? There are the nicotine casuals and those drawn to THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. There are the hobbyists with all their sub-genres: do-it-yourselfers, cloud chasers, sub-ohmers, coil builders and other device modifiers, called moders, not to mention vape lifestyle models and social media influencers. (Giles, 11/26)

The Washington Post: CDC Recommended That Migrants Receive Flu Vaccine, But CBP Rejected The Idea
As influenza spread through migrant detention facilities last winter, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that U.S. Customs and Border Protection vaccinate detained migrants against the virus, a push that CBP rejected, according to a newly released letter to Congress. The CDC recommendation was revealed in a letter from the agency to Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.), chair of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees funding for the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes CDC. (Moore, 11/25)

CNN: CDC Urged US Customs And Border Protection To Vaccinate Migrants, But They Rejected The Idea
Redfield responded to her letter November 7, saying the CDC has been discussing the issue of child deaths with CBP since the beginning of 2018. He also wrote the CDC provided written recommendations to the Department of Homeland Security in January 2019 and, beginning in late May through July 4, the CDC spoke with CBP weekly about the flu cases in migrant facilities. In the 2018-2019 flu season, at least three children died of the flu while in CBP custody. (Vera, Alsup and Jones, 11/26)

Meanwhile, in Virginia —

The Associated Press: Health Officials: It’s Not Too Late. Get The Flu Vaccine
State officials are reminding Virginians it’s not too late to get their flu vaccine. The Virginia Department of Health encourages all Virginians older than 6 months to receive the vaccine. State health officials gathered last week for an event in Richmond to highlight the importance of the vaccine and get a flu shot themselves. (11/25)

The New York Times: Epstein Suicide: Guards Say They’re Scapegoats For A Broken System
Two jail guards who were on duty when Jeffrey Epstein killed himself browsed the internet and napped during the night before his body was found, instead of checking on him every half-hour as they were required to do, prosecutors have said. The guards then lied, prosecutors said, on official logs, indicating that they had made the rounds when they had not. ... But lawyers for the guards, who have been criminally charged, suggested in court on Monday that their clients were being made into scapegoats for larger problems in the federal prison system that contributed to Mr. Epstein’s death. (Weiser, 11/25)

The New York Times: Barr Says Epstein’s Suicide Resulted From ‘Perfect Storm Of Screw-Ups’
Attorney General William P. Barr said in an interview published on Friday that the death of Jeffrey Epstein, the financier accused of sex trafficking, in a secure federal prison resulted from “a perfect storm of screw-ups,” rather than any nefarious act. Mr. Barr’s statement refuted suggestions from members of Mr. Epstein’s family that he may have been murdered. His remarks came the same week that two prison guards were criminally charged, accused in an indictment of failing to check on Mr. Epstein every half-hour as they were required to and then lying about it on prison logs. (Benner, 11/22)

ProPublica: The $11 Million Dollar Medicare Tool That Gives Seniors The Wrong Insurance Information
The federal government recently redesigned a digital tool that helps seniors navigate complicated Medicare choices, but consumer advocates say it’s malfunctioning with alarming frequency, offering inaccurate cost estimates and creating chaos in some states during the open enrollment period. Diane Omdahl, a Medicare consultant in Wisconsin, said she used the tool Friday to research three prescription drug plans for a client. The comparison page, which summarizes total costs, showed all but one of her client’s medications would be covered. When Omdahl clicked on “plan details” to find out which medicine was left out, the plan finder then said all of them were covered. (Johnson, 11/25)

In other Medicare news —

The Star Tribune: UnitedHealthcare Opening Centers In Walgreens Stores 
UnitedHealthcare is launching new service centers for Medicare beneficiaries in more than a dozen Walgreens stores — a second partnership in as many years between the pharmacy giant and Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth Group, which is parent company to United's large health insurance business. Scheduled to open in January, the service centers will offer information about coverage options plus the chance to schedule an annual wellness visit within pharmacies in the Las Vegas, Phoenix, Cleveland, Denver and Memphis markets. (Snowbeck, 11/25)

Modern Healthcare: Surprise Billing Negotiations Revived In Congress
After months of stalemate in Congress, committee negotiations on legislation to address surprise medical bills are moving again in both the House and Senate. Bicameral negotiations are ongoing between leaders of the Senate health committee and the House Energy & Commerce Committee as other lawmakers in each chamber lobby to get their approaches incorporated into a compromise. Senate health committee Chair Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said he is optimistic that his negotiations with Senate health Ranking Democrat Patty Murray (Wash.), House Energy & Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Energy & Commerce Ranking Republican Greg Walden (Ore.) will be productive. (Cohrs, 11/25)

Modern Healthcare: Health Insurers' Debt Has Reached Highest Point In A Decade
Debt issued by publicly traded health insurers has soared over the past decade as the companies have looked to the bond market to raise money for large-scale mergers and acquisitions. Combined short and long-term debt among nine publicly traded insurers reached its highest point in at least 10 years at $115.5 billion in 2018 compared with $24.8 billion in 2009, according to a recent report by credit rating agency AM Best. (Livingston, 11/25)

Modern Healthcare: Sutter Health Postpones Financial Filing
Sutter Health announced Monday it's postponing the release of its third quarter financial results until the court allows it to share the terms of a recently announced settlement agreement in a high-profile antitrust lawsuit. The not-for-profit health system last month reached a tentative settlement in a class action lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court alleging anticompetitive contracting practices. In the notice on Monday, Sutter said it is bound by court-ordered confidentiality requirements and will delay the financial disclosure until the court allows it to share the terms of the settlement. (Bannow, 11/25)

Modern Healthcare: Gender Pay Gap At Healthcare Associations Mirrors The Industry
The gender pay gap in the upper echelons of the healthcare industry is mirrored by the associations that support it. The latest example of this can be seen in the American Medical Association's recently released tax form, which covers calendar 2018. The trade group's 25-person senior leadership team is almost evenly split between men and women. Of those, only three of the nine highest-paid executives listed on the tax form were women. They made an average of about $888,000 in total compensation last year. (Bannow, 11/25)

The CT Mirror: Statewide Health Exchange Must Have Critical Mass, Financial Stability, Report Finds
As Connecticut prepares to launch a statewide health information exchange, its success will hinge on organizers’ ability to achieve a critical mass of participants and develop plans for long-term financial sustainability, a report by the Connecticut Health Foundation has concluded. The state is making a fourth attempt to implement an exchange that allows doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other health providers to access and share patients’ vital medical information electronically – a system meant to improve the speed, quality and cost of care. (Carlesso, 11/25)

The CT Mirror: The Gray Area In The 'Qualifying Life Event'
Many of us have experienced this gray area, the loss of coverage. Most of us who have experienced this go without coverage. This is not an ideal solution, but it is a solution nonetheless. What if you have a preexisting condition that requires medication? What if you have a car accident? What if you become ill? Then the dreaded cost analysis, number crunching, gut-wrenching decision happens. (Harrison, 11/26)

The Associated Press: 4 Health Company Executives Accused In $1B Fraud Scheme
Four former executives of a Chicago-based health-information company are accused in a $1 billion fraud scheme. An indictment unsealed Monday in Chicago federal court says Outcome Health billed clients for full ad campaigns when only some ads were placed. The company allegedly falsified ad performance statements, later using them to help secure millions in loans. (11/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Former Outcome Health Executives Charged In Alleged $1 Billion Fraud Scheme
The criminal indictments of the startup’s former chief executive, Rishi Shah, as well as ex-president Shradha Agarwal and previous finance chief Brad Purdy, conclude a two-year investigation by the Justice Department. The case was sparked by a 2017 Wall Street Journal report that the company—which displays pharmaceutical ads in doctors’ offices—had misled some customers with inflated data and fake reports. In the indictment unsealed Monday, the three executives were each charged with multiple counts of mail and wire fraud and two counts of bank fraud. Mr. Shah, 33 years old, also faces two counts of money laundering and Mr. Purdy, 30, one count of making a false statement to a bank. On the most serious charges, the three each face a maximum prison sentence of 30 years if convicted. (Winkler, 11/25)

Reuters: U.S. Charges Former Outcome Health Executives In $1 Billion Fraud
Prosecutors said the defendants maintained a facade of “extraordinary revenue growth” through a scheme from 2011 to 2017 in which Outcome overstated its industry connections, billed clients for ads that never ran and inflated revenue. They said this enabled Chicago-based Outcome to raise $487.5 million of equity financing and borrow $485 million, with investors that included affiliates of Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Google parent Alphabet Inc and Pritzker Group. (Stempel, 11/25)

The Salt Lake Tribune: BYU-Idaho Reverses Course On Medicaid Ban And Apologizes ‘For The Turmoil Caused By Our Earlier Decision’
In a surprising reversal and with an apology “for the turmoil caused by our earlier decision,” Brigham Young University’s campus in Idaho announced Monday night that it will retract its new policy on health insurance and return to allowing students to use Medicaid. The change came in an email sent campuswide less than two weeks after the school originally publicized the decision on Nov. 12. Shortly after that, hundreds of students had immediately and loudly criticized the university, with many saying they couldn’t afford other coverage and some saying they’d have to drop out over it. (Tanner, 11/25)

East Idaho News: BYU-Idaho Reverses Medicaid Decision, Apologizes For Community Turmoil
“We have decided that Medicaid, as it has in previous years, will meet the health coverage requirement at BYU-Idaho,” the email says. The email goes on to say that because of its limited capacity and scope of services, the Student Health Center will continue not serving as a Medicaid service provider. “The well-being of our students and their families is very important to us,” the notice said. “We are grateful for the feedback we have received from our campus community and for the input of the local medical community. We apologize for the turmoil caused by our earlier decision.” (Grossarth and Price, 11/25)

NPR: After Complaints, BYU-Idaho Reverses Medicaid Decision
Brigham Young University-Idaho faced a backlash after it introduced a policy barring students from using Medicaid to meet requirements for health coverage to enroll in the school. (Dawson, 11/26)

The Wall Street Journal: New Drugs Emerge To Treat Sickle Cell Disease
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new drug for sickle cell disease Monday, adding to a new wave of treatments that promise relief from the life-threatening blood disorder that largely afflicts African-Americans. Oxbryta, a once-daily pill from Global Blood Therapeutics Inc., GBT 6.79% blocks a process in blood cells that can lead to anemia and organ damage, hallmarks of sickle cell disease. It is the second treatment to get FDA approval in recent weeks, after the agency approved Novartis AG ’s Adakveo to reduce the frequency of bouts of pain that sickle cell patients can suffer. (Loftus, 11/25)

Stat: Global Blood Secures FDA Approval For New Pill To Treat Sickle Cell Disease
Oxbryta will cost $125,000 per year before discounts, Global Blood said. Oxbryta was approved based on results from a clinical trial that enrolled 274 patients with sickle cell disease and treated them with one of two doses of Oxbryta or a placebo. The results: 51% patients on the higher dose of Oxbryta achieved a hemoglobin response, defined as an increase in hemoglobin of at least one gram per deciliter after 24 weeks. Just over 6% of the placebo patients had the same hemoglobin response. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant. (Feuerstein, 11/25)

FiercePharma: Global Blood Therapeutics Scores FDA Nod For Oxbryta, Forecasts 'Paradigm Shift' In Sickle Cell Disease
The nod comes months ahead of the drug’s February 2020 action date at the FDA. Oxbryta scored an FDA breakthrough therapy designation, a priority review and accelerated approval, indicating how the agency viewed the new option compared with existing treatments. In recent months, the FDA has approved meds that significantly advance patient care ahead of their decision dates. (Sagonowsky, 11/25)

Stat: Generic Trade Group Sues California For An ‘Unconstitutional’ Law Banning Pay-To-Delay Deals
A newly enacted California law that bans so-called pay-to-delay deals between drug makers would reduce competition and consequently lead to higher prices for medicines, according to a lawsuit recently filed by a trade group for generic drug companies. In these deals, a brand-name drug maker settles a patent lawsuit by paying cash or transferring something else of value to an erstwhile generic rival, which agrees to delay launching a copycat medicine until a specific date in the future. This gives the brand-name drug maker more time to sell its medicine without lower-cost competition. (Silverman, 11/25)

Bloomberg: Teva, Drugmakers In Talks With U.S. To End Generics Probes 
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and other generic drugmakers have held talks with the U.S. Justice Department in the past six months about resolving a long-running criminal antitrust probe of alleged price-fixing by the companies, according to people familiar with the matter. Among the possible outcomes that have been discussed are deferred prosecution agreements in which the companies would admit to certain allegations but would be shielded from indictment in exchange for cooperating with the investigation and paying fines. (Griffin, Court and McLaughlin, 11/25)

Stat: How A Billionaire Couple Greased The Skids For Pelosi’s Drug Pricing Bill
When House Democrats pass legislation next month that would slash prescription drug spending to the tune of $1 trillion, they’ll have John and Laura Arnold to thank. The Texas billionaires, who in recent years have used their wealth to turbocharge America’s drug pricing debate, have brought their advocacy to a peak as Congress edges closer to enacting drug-price reforms. (Facher, 11/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Big Splash By Novartis Won’t Break Investors’ Hearts
There is a method to the madness of Novartis chief executive Vas Narasimhan’s deal strategy. The Swiss pharmaceuticals giant is paying nearly $10 billion for Medicines Co., the developer of a promising new cholesterol drug called inclisiran. That price is bound to turn heads considering that the main attraction isn’t expected to start generating sales until 2021. Novartis said the purchase would modestly lower earnings over the “next few” years. This comes after Novartis’s 2018 purchase of gene therapy startup AveXis for $8.7 billion. (Grant, 11/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Novartis To Buy Cholesterol-Drugmaker Medicines Co.
Novartis AG agreed to buy cholesterol-drugmaker Medicines Co. for nearly $10 billion, in a pricey bid to expand its reach in the lucrative market for heart treatments. The pharmaceutical giant will pay $85 a share, the companies said Sunday, confirming an earlier report by The Wall Street Journal. That implies a fully diluted equity value of $9.7 billion, they said. (Cimilluca, Lombardo and Rockoff, 11/24)

Stat: Some Brain-Boosting Supplements Contain An Unapproved Drug
New research led by Dr. Pieter Cohen of Harvard Medical School documents five supplement brands for sale in the U.S. that contain various amounts of piracetam, a drug prescribed in European countries for cognitive impairment in dementia but not approved in the U.S. The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t allow piracetam to be sold as a dietary supplement and has issued warning letters in the past to other companies marketing supplements that contain it. Though the drug is approved in Europe, evidence for using piracetam to improve cognition was “inadequate,” a Cochrane Review analyzing 24 studies that enrolled more than 11,000 patients concluded in 2012. (Cooney, 11/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Activist Investor Takes Stake In CVS
Activist investor Starboard Value LP has taken a stake in CVS Health Corp. and held talks with the drugstore-and-insurance giant’s management, according to people familiar with the matter. The stake appears to be relatively small and the people said the talks, held recently, are amicable. How much Starboard currently owns and what it has discussed with the company couldn’t be learned. But Starboard is one of the top activist-investment firms and its presence in a stock usually causes a company to sit up and take notice. (Driebusch, 11/25)

Bloomberg: CVS Gains After Report Activist Starboard Took Small Stake 
Shares of CVS Health Corp. rose after a report that activist investment firm Starboard Value LP had taken a small stake in the drugstore chain and held talks with management. Shares of the company, which runs almost 10,000 drugstores across the U.S., closed up 1.7% Monday after the Wall Street Journal’s report. (Langreth, 11/25)

The Oregonian: Pharma Execs: Thirst For Profit Drives High Drug Prices 
Oregon State University pharmacy professor Daniel Hartung has long suspected that corporate greed is behind skyrocketing prescription drug costs, not pharmaceutical companies’ investment in research as company executives regularly claim. Now, Hartung and his research team have the evidence straight from some of those responsible for growing drug costs, revealed in anonymous interviews with four pharmaceutical executives and published Monday in the journal Neurology. (Zarkhin, 11/25)

Politico: PhRMA Ends Funding For High-Profile Addiction Treatment Group
A nonprofit that made ambitious promises to help people addicted to opioids is losing its biggest financial backer — the drug lobby. PhRMA, which has provided the Addiction Policy Forum with about 90 percent of its funding, cut its donation from $8.1 million to $6 million this year. The lobby will end all support in 2020, PhRMA and the forum’s CEO, Jessica Hulsey Nickel, confirmed. (Owemohle,11/25)

NPR: Across The Opioid Divide: Balancing Addiction Risk And Pain Relief
When Matthew Braun gets out of medical school, he'll be able to prescribe opioids. A decade ago, he was addicted to them. "The first time I ever used an opioid, I felt the most confident and powerful I'd ever felt," Braun says. "So I said, 'This is it. I want to do this the rest of my life.' "Opioids took away his anxiety, his inhibitions, his depression. And they were easy to get. (Hamilton, 11/26)

WBUR: Opioid Overdose Deaths In Mass. Continue To Trend Down
Opioid-related overdose deaths have dropped again in Massachusetts, but the presence of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl is on the rise. New data from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health show an almost 6% decrease in opioid-related overdose deaths in the first nine months of 2019, compared with the same period in 2018. (Becker, 11/25)

Boston Globe: Opioid-Related Overdose Deaths Continue Slow Decline, But Toll From Fentanyl Rises
“This is progress and this is significant, and I’m encouraged by it,” said Dr. Monica Bharel, the state’s public health commissioner. “This means that our public health approach to this medical illness is working. We still have a lot of work to do but we’re heading in the right direction.” (Freyer and Lukpat, 11/25)

Boston Globe: Construction Firm Launches Program To Aid Addicted Workers
Overdoses are the leading cause of workplace deaths in Massachusetts. And among Massachusetts workers who died of opioid-related overdoses from 2011 to 2015, a quarter worked in construction. With these startling facts in mind, Commodore Builders, a Boston construction management firm, on Monday rolled out a program to help its employees and their family members navigate the addiction treatment system. (Freyer, 11/25)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: More Ohioans Seeking Out-Of-Network Mental Health, Addiction Treatment, Despite Federal Insurance Law
Private insurance reimbursement rates to Ohio mental health providers appear to be going down, according to a new report, and more state residents are seeking inpatient and outpatient mental health and addiction treatment outside of network. (Hancock, 11/25)

The Associated Press: Stop! Washing Your Thanksgiving Turkey Could Spread Germs
Go ahead and rinse your cranberries, potatoes and green beans. But food experts say don’t — repeat don’t — wash the turkey before popping it in the oven on Thanksgiving Day. They say that could spread the germs lurking on your turkey in the kitchen sink or nearby food. But it’s been a challenge trying to convince cooks to stop rinsing off raw poultry. (Choi, 11/25)

Previous KHN coverage: ‘Don’t Wash That Bird!’ And Other (Often Unheeded) Food Safety Advice

CNN: Thanksgiving Dinner: Check Your Pantry And Fridge For These Recalled Foods
If you're hosting Thanksgiving festivities this year, it's time to check your pantry and fridge. Federal health officials are warning people to avoid some foods due to a series of issues -- from E. coli to lack of inspection. Here are the foods to keep away from your holiday table. (Karimi, 11/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Inside The Mass-Tort Machine That Powers Thousands Of Roundup Lawsuits
In late 2016, a group of plaintiffs’ lawyers took the stage at the year’s largest gathering of their colleagues to talk up a promising new target. For 30 minutes, they laid out arguments linking the popular weedkiller Roundup to cancer. An arm of the World Health Organization had pegged Roundup’s main chemical ingredient as a probable carcinogen the year before, and it was quickly becoming a focus of the plaintiffs’ bar. Some product-liability lawyers in the audience in Las Vegas were skeptical. Tying exposure from everyday products like Roundup to cancer often is less straightforward than linking illness to medications or medical devices, said Chase Givens, a lawyer with the Cochran Firm who attended the event. (Randazzo and Bunge, 11/25)

The New York Times: They Love Football. They Try Not To Think About C.T.E.
The human brain is hard-wired to manage conflicting thoughts and emotions. We know drinking alcohol can cause liver damage and burning fossil fuels is bad for the environment, but many of us still drink alcohol and still buy gas-guzzling vehicles. Most people have generally accepted that playing football, in addition to teaching life lessons about teamwork and dedication, can lead to long-term brain damage, like any activity that involves a lot of collisions with other human beings or crashes with the ground. (Lawrence, Cardenas and Futterman, 11/26)

The Washington Post: In Helping Elderly Parents, Caregivers Get A Peek At Their Futures — And Are Inspired To Plan For Old Age
Even after Myrtle Lewis’s mother reached her late 90s and could no longer drive or care for herself, she insisted on remaining in her home in Northeast Washington. Lewis, who was helping care for her mother, arranged for her to have a live-in companion, another older woman, named Kizzie. But watching her mother’s world shrink as she knocked around a too-big house clarified a few things for Lewis, now 76. “After a while it just became she and Kizzie. They’d go to bed at 6:30,” she said. (Bahrampour, 11/25)

Los Angeles Times: Researchers Have A Plan To Prevent Bias In Computer Algorithms
Scientists say they’ve developed a framework to make computer algorithms “safer” to use without creating bias based on race, gender or other factors. The trick, they say, is to make it possible for users to tell the algorithm what kinds of pitfalls to avoid — without having to know a lot about statistics or artificial intelligence. With this safeguard in place, hospitals, companies and other potential users who may be wary of putting machine learning to use could find it a more palatable tool for helping them solve problems, according to a report in this week’s edition of the journal Science. (Khan, 11/23)

Reuters: Study Shows Half Of Middle-Aged Americans Fear They’ll Get Dementia, Use Unproven Supplements
About half of middle-aged Americans believe they’re “somewhat” or “very likely” to develop dementia, a survey suggests, and many try to beat the odds with supplements such as ginkgo biloba and vitamin E that aren’t proven to help. Researchers examined data from the University of Michigan’s 2018 National Poll on Healthy Aging, a nationally representative survey of adults 50 to 80. Overall, 44.3 percent of respondents said they were at least somewhat likely to develop dementia, and 4.2 percent said they were very likely to develop dementia. (11/26)

WBUR: Antibiotics For Animals May Work For You, But Experts Say It's A Terrible Idea
When phlegm invades Andy Shecktor’s face or chest, he says he knows if the culprit is a bacterial infection. ...But on these occasions, Shecktor, a 63-year-old man from Berwick, Pennsylvania, doesn’t go see a doctor, and he doesn’t get a prescription for antibiotics. Instead, he pulls out a stash of medicine from his fridge that is clearly marked — not for human consumption. It's for fish. (Chen, 11/26)

CNN: Explosive Growth In Screen Use By Toddlers, Studies Say
Use of screen time explodes between 12 months and three years in the United States, and most Canadian preschoolers between the ages of two and three are not meeting World Health Organization recommendations for appropriate use of television, computers and other screens, according to two new studies published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics. (LaMotte, 11/25)

The New York Times: He Had A Temporary Blast Of Amnesia. What Was Going On?
“Where am I?” the 68-year-old man asked. His daughter explained again: He was at Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut. He had been found on the ground in the parking lot of the grocery store near his apartment. The man nodded, as if taking it all in, but minutes later asked again: Where am I? He had never had any memory issues before, but now he couldn’t remember that it was Saturday. Didn’t remember that he spent the morning moving the last of the boxes he had stored at his daughter’s house to his new apartment. He didn’t even remember that he had spent the past few months hashing out a pretty messy divorce. (Sanders, 11/26)

The Washington Post: One Judge’s Tough Approach To Foster Care: It’s Only For The Really Extreme Cases
The courtroom looks more like a preschool than a command center for dismantling the city’s foster care system. A stuffed penguin perches above the judge’s bench. A bookcase is filled with children’s favorites. And dozens of stuffed animals — teddy bears, polar bears, pandas — are scattered around the room. Juvenile Court Judge Ernestine S. Gray gives each child who appears before her a bear and a book. She believes it makes what can be the worst day of their lives just a little easier. (Webster, 11/25)

The Washington Post: This Top Pediatric Allergist Swears By Meditation And Thinks It Can Fight Medical Burnout
Physician Hemant Sharma has worked at Children’s National Hospital for 11 years and serves as its chief of allergy and immunology. The 44-year-old Howard County, Md., resident commutes daily to Washington and rotates between four of the hospital’s facilities, treating patients, teaching and mentoring younger physicians, overseeing administration, and conducting clinical research. He’s aware of how so many demands might affect his well-being and believes addressing burnout is a vital issue for the medical profession — and others. “I think a number of professions now are facing this challenge, where the chronicity of our daily stress is preventing us from giving 100 percent of what we want to the populations that we’re serving.” (Carefoot, 11/25)

The New York Times: The Costly, Life-Disrupting Consequences Of Poor Diabetes Care
Diabetes, whether Type 1 or Type 2, may be the most underappreciated, misunderstood and poorly treated of all common medical problems, and many of the more than 30 million Americans affected by it are paying dearly with their health and lives as a result. Contrary to what many people think, diabetes is not just a disease of abnormal blood sugar control caused by a lack of insulin or an inadequate response to this crucial hormone. (Brody, 11/25)

PBS NewsHour: How Removing ‘Likes’ From Instagram Could Affect Our Mental Health
Today, 500 million people will check their Instagram. And many will keep checking, and checking and checking because humans seem to crave the platform’s visual and social rewards. But excessive social media use can be problematic, leading to sleep disruption, productivity loss and interpersonal conflicts. While “social media addiction” remains a highly contested term in the scientific community, the similarities between online interactions and addictive behaviors are raising concerns. (Leventhal, 11/25)

The San Francisco Chronicle: As Group Home Closes, Mentally Ill May End Up In Shelter
Despite City Hall’s efforts to save San Francisco’s board-and-care homes, the facilities for the homeless, mentally ill and drug addicted are still rapidly closing around the city — and officials are running out of places to send the residents. South Van Ness Manor, a board-and-care home for 27 mentally ill and homeless residents, can no longer sustain its expenses and plans to close Sunday. (Thadani, 11/25)

The CT Mirror: Legislators Looking To Expand PTSD Benefits To More Emergency Responders
After striking a landmark compromise this spring on post-traumatic stress disorder benefits for police and firefighters, lawmakers will consider expanding projections next year to cover more emergency personnel. Democratic Sens. Cathy Osten of Sprague and Julie Kushner of Danbury announced they would introduce legislation in the regular 2020 General Assembly session — which begins Feb. 5 — to expand workers’ compensation coverage for emergency medical personnel, dispatchers and state prison guards. (Phaneuf, 11/26)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: CDC Trauma Report: Spend Now On Kids Or Pay For Hospital, Prison Costs
The root causes of incarceration, addiction, homelessness, suicide and poverty often begin with psychological trauma inflicted during childhood. New data is clear on that, which begs the question: How is society supposed to react? (Schmid, 11/25)

Kaiser Health News: A Young Immigrant Has Mental Illness, And That’s Raising His Risk Of Deportation
When José moved his family to the United States from Mexico nearly two decades ago, he had hopes of giving his children a better life. But now he worries about the future of his 21-year-old-son, who has lived in central Illinois since he was a toddler. José’s son has a criminal record, which could make him a target for deportation officers. KHN is not using the son’s name because of those risks and is using the father’s middle name, José, because both men are in the U.S. without legal permission. (Herman, 11/26)

ProPublica: Health Officials In 'Cancer Alley' Will Study If Living Near A Controversial Chemical Plant Causes Cancer
Louisiana health officials plan to knock on every door within 2.5 kilometers of the controversial Denka Performance Elastomer plant in St. John the Baptist Parish in hopes of determining exactly how many people in the neighborhood have developed cancer. Neighbors say the inquiry, first announced in late August, is long overdue. The Denka plant is the only one in the country that emits chloroprene, which was classified as a likely carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2010. (Russell, 11/25)

KCUR: Missouri Adds More Ways To Report Elder Abuse After 1000s Of Calls Went Unanswered 
Missouri’s reporting system for adult abuse and neglect is undergoing significant changes after an investigation by the state’s attorney general. The investigation ended Monday, Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office told KCUR. It recommended seven changes, including a new online reporting system in order to address the thousands of unanswered calls to the state’s hotline, as well as redirecting callers who are simply looking for information about local resources — not calling to report abuse. (Okeson-Haberman, 11/25)

Politico: New Jersey Takes Step Toward Banning ‘Gay Panic’ Murder Defense
New Jersey could soon bar a legal defense tactic in murder cases known as “gay panic,“ under a bill the state Assembly approved on Monday without opposition or debate. The defense has been used to attempt to downgrade charges against defendants who argued that they killed because they were provoked by the disclosure of the victim’s gender identity or sexual orientation. (Friedman, 11/25)

The Associated Press: Tech Service Provider For Nursing Homes A Ransomware Victim
A Milwaukee-based company that provides technology services to more than 100 nursing homes nationwide is the victim of a ransomware attack, and hackers are demanding $14 million before they’ll restore the company’s access to its hijacked servers. Virtual Care Provider Inc. informed its clients about the attack in a letter Nov. 18, which was a day after the attack was discovered. In it, the company said it was working to determine if any client data had been compromised. (11/25)

Iowa Public Radio: Planned Parenthood Launches Online Tool For Abortion Services
Iowans will now have a new online tool to find the nearest clinic that offers abortions. Planned Parenthood launched the new online database, called the "Abortion Care Finder." In addition to help locate clinics, it also provides information about abortion options based on state regulations and requirements and how far along they are in their pregnancy. (Krebs, 11/25)

NH Times Union: Parents' Protest Postpones Vaccine Grant Vote
In response to a rush of emails and texts and with almost two dozen parents protesting outside, the Executive Council yielded to public pressure, postponing consideration of a $1.5 million federal grant supporting the state’s voluntary immunization program. Families were opposed to what they called a “vaccine registry,” maintaining that it would violate personal privacy and could put the state on the road to mandating vaccines for all children in the future. (Landrigan, 11/25)

California Healthline: California’s Working Mothers Get Stronger Support For Workplace Lactation
Katie Woody’s firstborn, Oliver, struggled from birth to latch onto her breast, so she had little choice but to pump her milk and feed it to him from a bottle. After a three-month maternity leave, Woody returned to her job as a sous-chef for a meal delivery service in Los Angeles, expecting to have access to the sole office in the rented building to pump her breast milk — an agreement she had made with the building manager. But a male shift supervisor who occupied the office would not let her use it. (Krans, 11/25)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Census Hopes Programming Ups African American Count
The U.S. Census Bureau will rely on a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign, a hiring spree and partnerships to tackle a stubborn problem ahead of the 2020 census: getting a complete count of African-Americans. There is a lot at stake with the once-a-decade count for Georgia, where nearly a third of the population is black. (Redmon, 11/25)

The Advocate: With Increased HIV Testing, Baton Rouge Sees Significant Drop In New AIDS Diagnosis Rates
Baton Rouge has shed its status as No. 1 in the country for its rate of new AIDS diagnoses, in part, due to a significant uptick over the last three years in the number of HIV-tests provided at area hospitals. The increase in testing has made it easier to identify people living with HIV and direct them towards medical care and public health resources before the virus progresses into AIDS. (Paterson, 11/25)

Politico Pro: Liberal California Looks To Get Tougher On Homelessness
California has had enough with its homeless problem. The liberal stronghold is losing patience with the sprawling homeless encampments, the growing ranks of people with mental illnesses and substance abuse on the streets, and the deteriorating quality of life that comes with it — human waste, trash and open-air drug dealing. (Colliver, 11/26)

The Advocate: Lafayette General To Renovate, Reopen Downtown Health Care Clinic Early Next Year
Lafayette General Health will reopen the old Lafayette Community Health Care Clinic beginning early next year. Officials with Lafayette General Health and the Lafayette General Foundation announced during the hospital's annual Health Care Heroes gala that proceeds would go toward funding the $1 million renovation of the building at 1317 Jefferson St. More than $500,000 has already been raised for the project. (Boudreaux, 11/25)

Boston Globe: More Deadly Mosquito Trouble May Be Ahead, Federal Officials Warn
Federal public health officials are sounding the alarm about Eastern equine encephalitis, saying this year’s outbreaks in multiple states, including one that killed three people in Massachusetts, may be a warning sign of future trouble from the deadly disease and other insect-borne viruses. (Finucane, 11/25)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Road To Recovery Offers Rides — And More — To Cancer Patients
As many as 30 percent of all patients skip doctor appointments, and a key reason, especially for the elderly, is trouble getting to them, according to reports by SCI Solutions, a health care technology firm, and the American Hospital Association. When it comes to cancer, those missed appointments can have a real impact on outcome, doctors say. (Oliviero, 11/26)

Los Angeles Times: The Salinas Lettuce Recall Is What Happens With A Rollback Of Food Safety Rules
Once again, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning us to steer clear of romaine lettuce contaminated with the deadly E. coli O157:H7. This time it’s lettuce grown in California’s Salinas Valley that has hospitalized 28 people in 16 states. This marks the fourth outbreak of E. coli in romaine lettuce in just the last two years. These outbreaks lay bare an alarming truth that contradicts a century of germ consciousness and progress in public health in the United States: Our food system still is not safe. And the Trump administration’s aversion to safety regulations means that this will not be the last outbreak. (Frederick M. Cohan and Isaac Klimasmith, 11/25)

USA Today: Ban Flavored Vapes? That's Just A Start.
In just a few years, vaping has surged among teenagers and others. By some estimates, as many as 1 in 4 teens has vaped, which shouldn’t come as a surprise when vaping products are marketed in flavors like strawberries and cream, watermelon and root beer float. After initially saying he would back a ban on most flavored vaping products, President Donald Trump backed off after meeting with industry lobbyists and being told that such a ban would be unpopular with his base. Then he held a reality TV-like meeting Friday in which vaping advocates and opponents got into a shouting match. What the White House will decide remains unclear.In reality, a ban on flavored vapes, and a limited one at that, is only a start. (11/25)

USA Today: Don’t Destroy The Nicotine Vaping Industry
The vaping community is in crisis for all the wrong reasons. There has been a torrent of bad news over the past few months regarding illnesses and deaths caused by illegal vaping products. It has caused the government to do what the government does: respond to hysterical media coverage with a “ban first, ask questions later” mentality. When President Donald Trump announced his support of a flavor ban on nicotine vaping products in September, he was under the impression that “vaping” in general was killing people. Today, we know that the focus of the Centers for Disease Control investigation is not store-bought nicotine vaping products, but illicit marijuana oil cartridges containing a dangerous contaminant called vitamin E acetate. (Gregory Conley, 11/25)

The Wall Street Journal: PG&E Refuses To Get Burned
My physician’s office called to have me come in right away. I had scheduled a flu shot for the following morning, but the office had been informed that PG&E would cut power within an hour. The refrigerator would warm and the serum would be spoiled before day’s end. That early October shutdown affected almost a million households or establishments in California and was repeated two weekends later. PG&E is in a difficult spot. The last thing the company wants is to ignite a fire that causes loss of life and property. Yet it is also aware that people rely on it for power, which is no mere convenience. With temperatures near or below freezing in some locations, failing to provide power for heat puts Californians at risk—particularly the elderly, the infirm and children. Businesses close, food spoils and drugs become unusable. (Edward P. Lazear, 11/25)

Fox News: 'Medicare-For-All' Is Still Dems' Goal – Don't Be Fooled By Candidates' Dodges 
“Medicare-for-all" is growing increasingly unpopular among the American people as they learn more about this cleverly named government takeover of our health insurance system and the serious harm it would bring about, polls show.As a result, many of the Democrats competing for their party’s presidential nomination are scrambling to soften their support for this radical restructuring of our health care system or highlighting their opposition to it. (Sally Pipes, 11/25)

USA Today: Superbugs Resistant To Antibiotics Are Killing Us But We Can Beat Them
By some estimates, antibiotic-resistant bacteria are already killing more Americans than car accidents and even opioid overdoses. And the situation is getting worse. In a report this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 35,000 Americans die from drug-resistant infections each year. Yet for a variety of reasons — including that hospitals often report cause of death as the illness that first brought a patient to the hospital rather than the resistant bacteria they acquired there — the CDC’s estimate is likely still too conservative. Other estimates place the number of annual deaths in the U.S. at 100,000 or more. (Andrew Read, 11/25)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Ga. Still Has Time To Improve Health Plans
This Medicaid proposal forces Georgians to work to get healthy, when it should be the other way around. It also leaves money on the table: the state could receive 90 percent of the funding to fully expand Medicaid, but the federal government only pays 67 percent for partial expansion. The state has requested the 90 percent rate but does not expect to receive it. (Taifa Smith Butler, 11/25)

Seattle Times: Opioid Treatment In King County Jails Can Reduce Crime And Suffering
Why are thousands of individuals suffering from opioid-use disorder passing in and out of our jails without getting help? Without appropriate treatment while incarcerated, addicted inmates will suffer harsh withdrawal symptoms and resort back to using drugs upon release. Worse yet, they may overdose, unaware their tolerance diminished while in jail. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, using medications in criminal justice settings “decreases opioid use, opioid-related overdose deaths, criminal activity, and infectious disease transmission.” Addiction experts now recognize this as the single best intervention for breaking the cycle and essential to recovery. The results of these programs speak for themselves: Benton County Jail’s MAT program is achieving a stunningly low recidivism rate of around 6% after treating more than 1,200 patients since January. (Dorothy Bullitt, 11/25)