Raleigh News & Observer: Affordable Care Act Enrollment Deadline Nears For Coverage To Start Jan. 1. What To Know
People who need to enroll in, re-enroll in or make changes to health coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace will need to meet the Dec. 15 deadline to ensure coverage starts on Jan. 1.Those who already have marketplace coverage in 2021 and want to keep their same plan in 2022 should also update their application to reflect any changes to their incomes or households, as they may qualify for more savings or may be able to find a plan that better fits their needs, according to HealthCare.gov. (Aldridge, 12/13)

AP: Deadline Time For HealthCare.Gov Coverage That Starts Jan. 1
Consumers seeking government-subsidized health insurance for next year have through Wednesday to sign up if they want their new plan to start Jan. 1.Independent experts say HealthCare.gov’s sign-up season doesn’t seem to be drawing as many new customers this year — 8% to 9% fewer than last year— but it’s too early to draw final conclusions because deadlines drive much of the enrollment. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 12/15)

Newsweek: What To Know About Enrolling For Health Insurance As Deadline Looms
The deadline is approaching for Americans enrolling in health coverage through the Affordable Care Act during 2022. Though enrollment, which began in November, runs until January 15, 2022, to have coverage that begins on January 1, U.S. citizens have to sign up by Wednesday. Americans who miss this December 15 deadline will not be covered until February 1, while people who fail to sign up by January 15 won't get coverage during 2022. This is unless they qualify for a Special Enrollment Period. (Lea, 12/15)

WDET: What You Need To Know About Signing Up For Healthcare Under The ACA Ahead Of Wednesday's Deadline 
Charles Gaba is a Bloomfield-based healthcare data analyst and founder of ACAsignups.net, which tracks healthcare signups on Healthcare.gov. He says that people should still try to sign up for plans before the December 15 deadline if they are able to. ... Gaba says the most important thing for people to consider this year is that they might be eligible for thousands of dollars more in federal help than in previous years. “I cannot stress this enough,” he says. “Thanks to the American Rescue Plan, which was passed last spring… the financial subsidies for paying for covering your premiums, if you enroll in an ACA plan, has been dramatically expanded and improved so that millions more people nationally are now eligible for financial help. And those who are already eligible are now eligible for far more generous financial subsidies to slash down on your premiums — and in a lot of cases, your deductibles and co-pays and things like that as well.” (12/14)

In related news —

Noticias Telemundo: A Push To Enroll Latinos In Health Insurance 
U.S. Latino civil rights groups are running bilingual campaigns to get as many eligible people as possible to sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act before the end of the year. Latinos are one of most uninsured groups in the country, whether through public plans like Medicaid or private plans through employers. (Franco, 12/14)

In other health insurance news —

Modern Healthcare: Goldman Sachs Projects Positive 2022 For Big Insurers
Global investment bank Goldman Sachs on Tuesday kicked off its equity coverage of publicly traded U.S. health insurers with a lengthy inaugural report that generally gave a rosy outlook for the sector. Goldman initiated coverage of 10 insurers, half of which received 'buy' ratings in the newest report: UnitedHealth Group, Anthem, CVS Health, Molina Healthcare and Alignment Healthcare. Another four were rated 'neutral:' Humana, Cigna, Centene and Bright Health Group. Just one, Oscar Health, got a 'sell' rating. (Bannow, 12/14)

News4Jax.com: Despite Having Health Insurance, Local Mother Received $26K Bill After Son Flown To Hospital
On April 15, in the middle of the night, a police officer came to Stacie Jackson’s door. “He just said that, ‘Your son’s been shot in the abdomen, and he’s on his way to Halifax hospital right now via medevac,’” Jackson told the News4JAX I-TEAM. “So immediately when I hear that he went via medevac, my head’s just running wild with you know, ‘Is my son going to be OK?’ ”Fortunately, he was. Jackson’s 17-year-old son was flown 26 miles from Flagler County to a hospital in Daytona Beach. He had a fractured rib and a contusion on his lung, but he was released in less than a day. “After I got over that, the initial shock, and I realized he was going to be OK, I did start to think about the medical bills,” Jackson said. (Maxwell, 12/14)

News8000.com: White Bagging: Eau Claire Woman Fights Health Insurance Companies To Ban Practice In The State
Imagine facing a life-threatening diagnosis only to be told by your insurance company that you can’t get the medicine you need when you need it. It’s a practice known as white-bagging and it’s happening to people all over the state. And now, a proposed law named after an Eau Claire woman is hoping to put an end to it. Koreen Holmes of Eau Claire is a wife, mom, and a fighter. In January at 35 weeks pregnant, she found out she had stage 3-C triple negative breast cancer. (Thompson, 12/13)

KHN: Mattresses And Mold Removal: Medi-Cal To Offer Unconventional Treatments To Asthma Patients 
Growing up amid the dusty agricultural fields of the Central Valley, Ruby Marentes-Cabrera can’t recall a time when it wasn’t difficult to breathe. Diagnosed with asthma early in childhood, the ninth grader has come to detest the pistachio trees that surround her home because the dust, pesticides and other allergens that blow off the orchards often trigger an asthma attack — even infiltrating her home so that simple chores like vacuuming can be dangerous. (Hart, 12/15)

USA Today: 800,000 COVID Deaths: US Continues Climb Toward 1 Million Fatalities
"There is no question that we will reach 1 million deaths sooner rather than later," Robert Glatter, an emergency medicine physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, told USA TODAY in an interview. "At the current trajectory we may reach it much sooner than expected, with cases, hospitalizations and deaths significantly increasing in the past two months." Such a death toll may be inevitable, but "we can still do a lot within our means to prevent that from happening," said Ogbonnaya Omenka, an assistant professor and director of diversity at the Butler University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. (Bacon, 12/14)

Also —

PBS NewsHour: Nurse Who Got First Authorized U.S. COVID Vaccine: ‘We Cannot Continue To Live Like This’
One year ago, nurse Sandra Lindsay sat down in a slate blue chair at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York, rolled up her white sleeve and made history. Lindsay arrived at work that Monday knowing she would be among the first people in her hospital – and the United States – to get vaccinated against the deadly coronavirus. But she had no idea she would be the first, outside of clinical trials. (Santhanham, 12/14)

Fox News: Omicron COVID-19 Variant Now Accounts For 2.9% Of All Cases In The United States
The omicron variant of COVID-19, which was first detected in the United States at the beginning of this month, now accounts for 2.9% of all cases in the country, according to data released by the CDC on Tuesday. The delta variant is still dominant, accounting for 96.7% of all cases for the week that ended on Dec. 11, but omicron is gaining ground as it accounted for just 0.4% the previous week. Omicron was originally discovered in South Africa, where it is currently driving a surge in infections, and was named a variant of concern by the World Health Organization on Nov. 26. (Best, 12/14)

Stat: CDC Data Indicate Omicron Is Starting To Eat Into Delta's U.S. Dominance
Experts have said it appears Omicron is taking over faster than Delta did as it became dominant globally earlier this year. Current data from South Africa — which had some of the first detected Omicron cases — indicate that Omicron is causing milder infections than other forms of the coronavirus, perhaps not because of a change in the virus’ inherent virulence, but because prior infections and vaccinations are keeping people from developing serious illness. But experts caution that by leading to more cases overall, better spreading viruses can cause higher numbers of severe infections, even if the rate of serious disease is lower. (Joseph, 12/14)

CNBC: Omicron Is Spreading Faster Than Any Other Covid Variant, WHO Warns
The World Health Organization on Tuesday warned the new Covid-19 omicron variant is spreading faster than any previous strain, and it is probably present in most countries of the world. “Omicron is spreading at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a Covid update in Geneva. “Seventy-seven countries have now reported cases of omicron. And the reality is that omicron is probably in most countries, even if it hasn’t been detected yet.” (Kimball, 12/14)

Bloomberg: WHO Warns Against Underestimating The Omicron Threat
The World Health Organization is concerned that the omicron variant is being dismissed as mild, even as it spreads at a faster rate than any previous strain of Covid-19. The recently detected variant has been reported in some 77 nations, though it’s probably in most countries already, said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “We’re concerned that people are jumping to a conclusion that this is a mild disease,” Bruce Aylward, senior adviser at the WHO, told journalists at a briefing on Tuesday. “A more transmissible virus can do just as much damage -- or more -- than one which is more severe but less transmissible.” (Gretler, 12/14)

In other news about the spread of the omicron variant —

USA Today: COVID Variant Worries Some Experts: 'Happening Every Place At Once'
The omicron variant of COVID-19 is moving faster than surveillance systems can track it and has so unnerved some medical experts they're starting to put the brakes on preparations for their holiday gatherings. "Personally, I'm reevaluating plans for the holidays," Bronwyn MacInnis, director of pathogen genomic surveillance at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University, said on a call with reporters Tuesday. "It's the responsible thing to do and what feels right given the risk." She and a handful of other Massachusetts-based researchers on the call said they've been stunned by the pace by which omicron has been crowding out other variants and taking over the pandemic. (Weise and Weintraub, 12/14)

The Atlantic: T Cells Might Be Our Bodies’ Best Shot Against Omicron
Enough preliminary data have been gathered to show that Omicron can undermine some of the defenses that immunized bodies have built. The variant’s spike protein—the molecular key that the virus uses to unlock cells, and the centerpiece of most of the world’s COVID-19 shots—sports more than 30 mutations compared with the original SARS-CoV-2. Last week, several teams of scientists, as well as Pfizer, released early laboratory data suggesting that these tweaks might make the variant up to 41 times better at sidestepping the neutralizing antibodies roused by vaccines. In an actual body, that could make it easier for Omicron to kick-start an infection. (Wu, 12/14)

Stat: Top Covid Experts On The Questions They Want Answered About Omicron
For some Covid experts, what’s most unsettling about the Omicron variant is all the uncertainty surrounding it. That’s what keeps John Moore, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College, up at night. “I’ve lost more sleep worrying about answering questions about Omicron than over Omicron itself,” he said during a panel at STAT’s “A Look Ahead at Biotech 2022”event last week. (St. Fleur, 12/14)

CNN: Cornell University Reports More Than 900 Covid-19 Cases This Week. Many Are Omicron Variant Cases In Fully Vaccinated Students
Cornell University reported 903 cases of Covid-19 among students between December 7-13, and a "very high percentage" of them are Omicron variant cases in fully vaccinated individuals, according to university officials. The school's Covid-19 dashboard was updated late Tuesday afternoon, accounting for the jump in case numbers reported. "Virtually every case of the Omicron variant to date has been found in fully vaccinated students, a portion of whom had also received a booster shot," said Vice President for University Relations Joel Malina in a statement. (Stuart and Boxer, 12/14)

The Chronicle for Higher Education: ‘Tip Of The Spear’: As New Variant Spreads, One Campus All But Shuts Down Amid Covid Surge
Then came the Omicron variant, which scientists believe is much more transmissible than previous variants. In addition to Cornell, George Washington and Georgetown Universities said this week that they had detected the Omicron variant in their communities. GWU, along with Smith College and Wesleyan, Brown, and Syracuse Universities, are among the small number of colleges that will require a Covid-19 booster shot. Meanwhile, dozens of colleges have revoked employee vaccine requirements since a federal judge blocked the Biden administration’s order that required some colleges, as institutions that contract with the federal government, to issue vaccine mandates. “We feel like we’re sort of at the tip of the spear,” said Benjamin Cornwell, chair of the sociology department at Cornell. “Campus is eerily empty. It’s like being in an airport at night — and it should be.” (Gluckman, 12/14)

AP: Colleges Go Back To Drawing Board — Again — To Fight Virus
After a fall with few coronavirus cases, officials at Syracuse University were “feeling pretty good” about the spring term, said Kent Syverud, the upstate New York school’s chancellor. “But omicron has changed that,” Syverud said. “It has made us go back and say, until we know more about this variant for sure, we’re going to have to reinstate some precautions.” Last week, Syracuse announced that all eligible students and employees must get COVID-19 booster shots before the spring term. Students will also face a round of virus tests when they return, and officials are weighing whether to extend an existing mask mandate. (Binkley, 12/15)

In other updates on school mandates —

Los Angeles Times: LAUSD Approves Student Vaccine Mandate Delay To Fall 2022 
The Los Angeles school board agreed Tuesday to delay enforcement of its student COVID-19 vaccine mandate from Jan. 10 to fall 2022, citing concerns over disrupting learning and the monumental task of transferring tens of thousands of students into independent study. The decision came after interim Supt. Megan K. Reilly laid out a plan Friday to push back the deadline because the district was confronted with the reality that about 28,000 students had not complied and under the rules would be barred from in-person schooling and enrolled in independent study. (Gomez, 12/14)

WPXI: Pennsylvania Senate Approves Bill To Prevent COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement For Schools 
The Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Senate approved legislation Monday to prevent kids from being required to get a COVID-19 vaccination to go to school. “It’s just a measure to be sure parents have the choice to determine the health care of their own children,” said Pennsylvania State Senator Camera Bartolotta. The Republican-backed bill, SB937, passed along party lines. Senators say this bill has nothing to do with the efficacy of the vaccine, but rather everything to do with giving power to the parents. (Raymond, 12/15)

And more on the spread of covid in schools —

Indy Star: COVID-19 Cases Continue To Rise In Schools
Newly-reported COVID-19 cases among Indiana's school children continued to climb last week, extending a worrying trend in rising cases just as many schools are preparing to end mask mandates. Schools reported more than 5,000 cases to the Indiana State Department of Health's dashboard, which tracks cases reported in K-12 schools each week. Some of the cases dated back to earlier in the year, but the vast majority occurred last week. (Herron, 12/14)

NPR: School Enrollment Drops Again As COVID Disruption Continues
The troubling enrollment losses that school districts reported last year have in many places continued this fall, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt public education across the country, an NPR investigation has found. We compiled the latest headcount data directly from more than 500 districts in 23 states and Washington, D.C., including statewide data from Massachusetts, Georgia and Alabama. We found that very few districts, especially larger ones, have returned to pre-pandemic numbers. Most are now posting a second straight year of declines. This is particularly true in some of the nation's largest systems. (Kamenetz and Turner, 12/15)

Billings Gazette: School Districts Get $2.7 Million For COVID Surveillance Programs
The state has distributed $2.7 million in federal funding to public and private schools for rapid COVID-19 testing screening programs. The funding comes through a partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state Department of Public Health and Human Services. (Michels, 12/14)

AP: Idaho Officials: 1 In 4 COVID Deaths Was In Nursing Homes 
One out of every four COVID-19 deaths in Idaho was among residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, public health officials said Tuesday. “Just a few days ago on Friday, Dec. 2, the state crossed the grim milestone of 1,000 COVID deaths among long-term care residents,” Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Director Dave Jeppesen said during a briefing on Tuesday. “I would encourage all of those who live or work at a long-term care facility to choose to get vaccinated.” (Boone, 12/15)

In related news —

AP: Healey Appeals Dismissal Of Charges In Veterans' Home Case 
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said Tuesday she’s seeking to reverse the dismissal of criminal neglect charges against two former leaders of a veterans’ home where nearly 80 veterans died after contracting the coronavirus, in one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in a long-term care facility in the nation. A Massachusetts judge dismissed the charges in November against former Holyoke Soldiers’ Home Superintendent Bennett Walsh and former Medical Director Dr. David Clinton, saying there was a lack of evidence that their actions led to the deaths. (12/14)

Modern Healthcare: Hospitals Innovated Safety Practices To Keep Patients From Harm During Pandemic
The novel coronavirus forced hospitals to quicken the pace when it comes to safety improvement, which was a departure from what's normally a glacial pace. As the virus continues to mutate, hospital administrators now see that some of the changes they implemented to react quickly back in 2020 should stay in place. From allowing patients to sleep longer to instituting daily escalation huddles, there are processes that will likely stick around long even after COVID-19's severe consequences fade because they've enhanced safety and quality. (Gillespie, 12/14)

In other news about the spread of covid —

Axios: COVID May Qualify As Disability Under ADA, EEOC Says 
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated guidance on COVID-19 on Tuesday stating that employees who have had the disease may be protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The updated guidance expands on previous announcements that people with long-haul COVID could qualify for disability resources. Not everyone who tests positive will qualify and the EEOC said that employers must individually evaluate each employee to determine if they meet the requirements. (Frazier, 12/14)

USA Today: More Than 40% Of People With COVID-19 Never Show Symptoms, Study Finds. What Experts Have Learned About These Cases
Health officials have long wondered how many people who get COVID-19 show no symptoms. Because those who don't feel sick rarely get tested, experts have only been able to estimate the number of such asymptomatic cases. But new research now shows more than 40% of those who tested positive for COVID-19 were asymptomatic, according to the study published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open. Researchers looked at 95 studies from January 2020 to February 2021 consisting of nearly 30 million people in Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Africa. More than 60% of confirmed COVID-19 cases among people under 20 were asymptomatic; nearly 50% in people 20 to 39; about 32% in people 40 to 59, and about 33% in those over 60. (Rodriguez, 12/14)

KHN: Colorado Hospitals In ‘Critical Condition’ As State Weathers Another Surge
Harold Burch’s home has a spectacular view in Paonia, a rural part of Colorado’s Western Slope at the foot of Mount Lamborn. But the landscape has been little consolation to the 60-year-old as he has battled a cascade of health problems during the pandemic. “It’s been a real rodeo,” Burch said. “It’s been a lot of ups and downs and lately it’s been mostly just downers.” Burch has battled chronic osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis and has had two major intestinal surgeries. One specialist he was seeing left her practice last year. Another wouldn’t accept his insurance. Then, Nov. 1, he started experiencing major stomach pain. (Daley, 12/15)

Stateline: More States To Provide Free Home COVID Test Kits
New Jersey announced yesterday that it is joining New Hampshire and Washington state in sending free COVID-19 testing kits to the homes of residents who request them. New Hampshire made rapid tests available late last month, while Washington state began offering them to residents of nine counties starting in mid-November. Meanwhile, Massachusetts announced today that it will send 2 million free rapid test kits to 102 cities and towns in the state that have the highest proportion of families living in poverty, so officials can distribute to them residents. (Ollove, 12/14)

Also —

Axios: Fighting COVID Misinformation Among Latinos With Cartoons 
Latinos are using cartoons to combat the coronavirus-related misinformation that is prominent in their communities. The project, "COVID Latino," aims to disseminate COVID-related information to U.S. Latinos through art and social media posts that prominently feature visual staples of Latino culture, with an emphasis on the U.S. Southwest. (Reyes, 12/14)

Stat: Pfizer's Covid Pill Remains 89% Effective In Final Analysis, Company Says
Paxlovid, Pfizer’s pill to treat Covid-19, retained its 89% efficacy at preventing hospitalization and death in the full results of a study of 2,246 high-risk patients, the company said Tuesday. In early November, Pfizer had released interim results from the first 1,219 patients in the study. But another oral antiviral targeting Covid, from Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, had seen estimates of its efficacy at preventing hospitalization drop from 50% to 30% between an interim result and a final one. A panel of experts advising the Food and Drug Administration on Nov. 30 recommended 13-11 that the Merck pill, molnupiravir, should be authorized for emergency use. The FDA has not announced a decision. (Herper, 12/14)

NPR: Pfizer COVID-19 Pill Data Shows Effectiveness Against Severe Disease
The company also looked at the effect of the drug on suppressing the amount of virus in the body, the so-called viral load, and found it led to a tenfold drop compared with a placebo. A reduction in viral load could reduce people's infectiousness. (Hensley, 12/14)

Also —

Axios: Biden Orders Enough Pfizer Antiviral Pills To Treat 10 Million Americans 
President Biden said Tuesday his administration has ordered enough of Pfizer's COVID-19 antiviral pills to treat 10 million Americans, after the company reported the drug reduced the risk of hospitalization or death by 89% in high-risk adults. Oral antiviral drugs designed to prevent or treat COVID-19 could be key pandemic-fighting tools — something Biden noted in his announcement hours before the coronavirus death toll surpassed 800,000 in the U.S. (Falconer, 12/14)

Bloomberg: J&J Shot Loses Antibody Protection Against Omicron In Lab Study
Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine produced virtually no antibody protection against the omicron coronavirus variant in a laboratory experiment, underlining the new strain’s ability to get around one pillar of the body’s defenses. The vaccine appears to provide some defense against omicron, perhaps via other means such as stimulation of immune cells, according to Penny Moore, a South African virologist. The findings are consistent with other studies that show a partial loss of potency against Covid-19 for a number of vaccines, with J&J’s antibody protection looking particularly weak in the lab test. (Sguazzin, 12/14)

Bloomberg: Sinovac Provides Inadequate Shield Against Omicron, Studies Show
The vaccine made by Sinovac Biotech Ltd., one of the most widely used in the world, doesn’t provide sufficient antibodies in two doses to neutralize the omicron variant and boosters will likely be needed to improve protection, initial lab findings showed. While the first two studies to be released on the Chinese shot and omicron diverged on how much the vaccine’s immune response is degraded, they both indicated the standard two-dose course would not be enough, raising uncertainty over a shot relied on by millions of people in China and the developing world to protect against Covid-19. (Hong, 12/14)

In other news about the vaccine rollout —

AP: Toll-Free Number Launches For Homebound Vaccine Requests 
Delaware health officials are launching a toll-free number to help homebound people request at-home coronavirus vaccines. People who can’t get to vaccination locations because of disability, age or severe illness can call the toll-free number to be assessed and schedule a vaccination, the Department of Health and Social Services announced Tuesday. (12/14)

AP: Over 11 Million COVID Vaccine Doses Given In WA In Past Year 
Since the first COVID-19 vaccine shipment arrived in Washington state one year ago, more than 11.3 million doses of vaccine have been administered across the state, according to state heath officials. The Washington state Department of Health said Tuesday that over 5.4 million Washington residents have received at least one vaccine dose. As of Monday, 81.7% of the population age 12 and older in Washington has received at least one dose and 75.3% is fully vaccinated, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard. (12/14)

Stat: Will We Always Need Covid-19 Boosters? Experts Have Theories 
With the world facing the latest in a seemingly endless stream of coronavirus variants — and with bullish talk from manufacturers about a need for even more vaccine shots — you wouldn’t be alone if you were wondering: Are Covid boosters always going to be a fixture in our future? The simple truth is that, at this point, there’s no definitive answer to that question. (Branswell, 12/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: San Francisco Offices, Gyms Granted Reprieve From State Mask Mandate As California Clarifies Rules
San Francisco offices and gyms where everyone is fully vaccinated will not need to return to masking, after California on Tuesday granted last-minute exemptions from its new, universal face mask rule to some counties. “This refinement acknowledges the hard work of the people of San Francisco throughout the pandemic, including the ways in which we have maintained reasonable protections heading into the holiday season,” San Francisco’s Department of Public Health said in a statement. (Kost, DeFeliciantonio and Ho, 12/14)

And Amtrak eases its mandate requirement to avert staff shortages —

In other mandate updates —

Dallas Morning News: Tenet Healthcare, Medical City’s Parent Among Hospitals Dropping Vaccine Mandate For Workers
A number of hospitals are walking away from vaccine requirements for their staffs in the wake of court rulings that have blocked the White House’s vaccine rule for many health care centers. These hospital groups include Farmers Branch-based Tenet Healthcare, Christian medical center AdventHealth, the Cleveland Clinic and Nashville-based HCA Healthcare, which operates the Medical City hospitals in Dallas-Fort Worth. Together, the companies comprise more than 300 hospitals and 500,000 employees. (12/14)

AP: Kroger Cuts Benefits For Some Staffers
Kroger, the country's biggest traditional grocery chain, is ending some benefits for unvaccinated workers as big employers attempt to compel more of their workforce to become vaccinated with cases of Covid-19 again rising. (12/15)

CNBC: Google Employees To Lose Pay If Don't Comply With Vaccination Policy
Google has told its employees that they will lose pay — and will eventually be fired — if they don’t comply with the company’s Covid-19 vaccination policy, according to internal documents viewed by CNBC. A memo circulated by leadership said employees had until Dec. 3 to declare their vaccination status and upload documentation showing proof, or to apply for a medical or religious exemption. The company said after that date it would start contacting employees who hadn’t uploaded their status or were unvaccinated, as well as those whose exemption requests weren’t approved. (Elias, 12/14)

The Boston Globe: As Pressure Mounts For A New Statewide Mask Mandate, Experts Are Divided On Whether They Work
Amid growing calls for a statewide mask mandate to blunt surging COVID-19 cases and rising hospitalizations, more communities are starting to take action. Several, including Georgetown, Lowell, Chelsea, and Salem, have in the past two weeks reimposed mask rules for indoor public spaces. And on Tuesday, the state’s leading medical group, the Massachusetts Medical Society, added its voice, calling for a statewide requirement for masks in indoor public spaces. (Lazar, Freyer and Carlin, 12/14)

Politico: ‘They’re Sick Of Masks’: Democratic Governors Fight Covid Fatigue 
Democratic governors were already barreling straight into a perilous midterm election. But a building winter Covid surge is putting many of them in a greater bind. The party’s defeat last month in Virginia — and closer-than-expected victory in New Jersey — has many Democrats searching for an off-ramp to the pandemic that allows them to sell a brighter future to voters next November. (Montellaro, 12/15)

Politico: Biden’s FDA Pick On Track For Confirmation With GOP Help
Republican senators appear poised to help confirm President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration, even as some Democrats appear wary over what they see as repeated failures by the agency to rein in the opioid epidemic. Several Senate HELP Committee Republicans — including Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Roger Marshall of Kansas — told POLITICO following Robert Califf’s confirmation hearing Tuesday they back returning the cardiologist to the commissioner post he held at the tail end of the Obama administration. Their support would likely push Califf through a committee vote and, later, a full Senate vote on the nomination. (Gardner, Lim and Foley, 12/14)

Stat: Califf Sails Through Confirmation Hearing For FDA Job, Despite Tensions Over Opioids
Robert Califf escaped largely unscathed from a two-hour hearing Tuesday vetting him to be commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. He gushed about his love of high-quality data, skillfully navigated questions on hot-button topics like abortion and drug pricing, and even had personal anecdotes about Covid-19 testing and opioid prescribing at the ready. His only stumble came when he clearly frustrated lawmakers with his responses to pointed questions about the FDA’s approach toward approving opioid drugs, including its general reluctance to crack down on long-term prescribing of opioids and its recent decisions to approve new high-dose opioids. (Florko, 12/14)

The New York Times: Senators Question Califf, The F.D.A. Nominee, On Opioid Crisis And Pandemic Response
Ranking members of the panel expressed solid confidence in Dr. Califf, 70, signaling that his confirmation to the commissioner’s post for a second time might receive bipartisan support by the full Senate. Dr. Califf is familiar to most members of the Senate: He had been F.D.A. commissioner in the last year of the Obama administration, confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 89-to-4. If confirmed this time around, Dr. Califf would assume command of an agency that has been led on an interim basis by Dr. Janet Woodcock for nearly a year. It is unlikely that he would be confirmed before 2022, as the United States heads into its third pandemic year and anticipates vaccines for children younger than 5 and new Covid-19 treatments. (Jewett, 12/14)

The Hill: Manchin, Sanders Will Oppose Biden FDA Nominee Califf
Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Tuesday said they will oppose the nomination of Robert Califf to lead the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), meaning he will need Republican support to get confirmed in the upper chamber. Califf, a cardiologist and Duke University researcher, was previously confirmed in 2016 when he was nominated by former President Obama. Since he left government, Califf has advised Google Health and its spinoff, Verily Life Sciences. (Weixel, 12/14)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

The Hill: House Clears Bill To Raise Debt Limit 
The House cleared legislation early Wednesday morning to raise the debt limit through next year’s midterm elections, staving off an unprecedented federal default just in time for the deadline set by the Treasury Department. The bill, which lawmakers passed 221-209, with one Republican voting yes, raises the federal debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion to increase the limit to close to $31 trillion. ... “I want to be very clear: raising the debt ceiling is not about incurring new debts but rather enabling the federal government to keep its existing commitments. By raising the debt limit, we are meeting our existing obligations to members of the military, veterans and recipients of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security," said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee. (Marcos and Folley, 12/15)

USA Today: Congress Passes Bill To Raise Debt Ceiling By $2.5 Trillion; Bill Heads To Biden For Signature
Congress early Wednesday voted to raise the nation's debt limit by $2.5 trillion, officially staving off default and the economic peril that would come if the U.S. were unable to pay its bills. The House passed the legislation early Wednesday in a vote of 221-209, hours after the Senate approved the measure in a 50-49 party-line vote. The bill now heads President Joe Biden's desk for signature. (Behrmann, 12/15)

Also —

CNBC: Inflation, Medicare Will Cut Social Security Cost-Of-Living Adjustment
News that inflation rose to a historic high in November probably comes as no surprise to retirees. But they may be in for another shock when they receive their monthly Social Security checks in January. The Social Security Administration announced in October that beneficiaries will get a 5.9% boost to their checks in 2022 — the biggest annual cost-of-living adjustment in four decades. Yet since then, another key measurement for inflation — the Consumer Price Index — has also reached historic highs. ... For retirees who have been living on a fixed income for a long period of time, higher prices can cut into their ability to pay for rent, food and prescriptions. (Konish, 12/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Arizona Asks Supreme Court To Reinstate Abortion Law 
The state of Arizona asked the Supreme Court Tuesday for an emergency order reinstating a law passed earlier this year that imposes criminal penalties for abortions performed because of fetal genetic abnormalities. Lower courts, noting the law likely violated Supreme Court precedents entitling women to end unwanted pregnancies, have blocked enforcement of the measure while a challenge filed by abortion providers and allied nonprofit organizations proceeds. (Bravin, 12/14)

And from Wisconsin —

AP: Wisconsin Attorney General Won't Enforce Any Abortion Ban
Wisconsin’s Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul said in an interview Tuesday that he would not investigate or prosecute anyone for having an abortion should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade and a currently unenforceable state ban takes effect. The comments to The Associated Press are Kaul’s strongest to date about how he would react to the Supreme Court undoing the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. A Wisconsin ban enacted in 1849 has been unenforceable under Roe v. Wade, but would take effect again if conservative Supreme Court justices decide to overrule Roe, as they suggested during oral arguments this month in a case over Mississippi’s 15-week ban on abortions. A decision is expected this summer. (Bauer, 12/14)

In related news about abortion rights —

Los Angeles Times: Supreme Court On Verge Of Ending Right To Abortion 
The Supreme Court is ending the year starkly split on abortion, with the five conservatives showing all signs they will overturn Roe vs. Wade and let state lawmakers decide whether women may legally end a pregnancy. Until this fall, it was at least possible to foresee a moderate-conservative majority coming together to set new limits on abortions later in a pregnancy, while upholding the constitutional protection for a woman to end a pregnancy in the early months. (Savage, 12/15)

Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Ahead Of Supreme Court Decision, Pro-Choice Groups Map Path Forward
Even as pro-choice activists protested here at “Ground Zero” for the nation’s fight over abortion, they were already shaping strategies for a post-Roe v. Wade world. National pro-choice organizers at NARAL had wanted Mississippians to demonstrate in Washington, D.C., outside the U.S. Supreme Court building on Dec. 1 as the nation’s high court heard arguments in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The case challenges the state’s law that bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. (Cunningham, 12/13)

Delaware News Journal: Seaford Ordinance Appears To Circumvent Delaware Abortion Law
Only four days after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a restrictive Texas law banning abortion at six weeks of pregnancy, a small city in western Sussex County passed an ordinance that would further regulate abortion services. In a 3-2 vote Tuesday, Seaford City Council passed a measure that would require the burial or cremation of “fetal remains” from any abortion performed in the city. Critics argue the ordinance creates extra barriers for women trying to access abortion services. The executive director of the ACLU in Delaware said the ordinance imposes "a host of unnecessary administrative and financial burdens" on clinics legally performing abortions. (Lytle, 12/14)

In news about "forever chemicals" —

Philadelphia Inquirer: Willingboro's Drinking Water Exceeded A ‘Forever Chemical’ Standard And A Well Had To Be Closed
The Willingboro Municipal Utilities Authority is notifying residents that drinking water recently exceeded a state level set for PFOS, one of the “forever chemicals” that do not break down in the body or environment. The MUA said PFOS was detected at 15 parts per trillion based on a running annual average. The state allowable maximum is 13 ppt. The agency, which also provides water for neighboring Westampton Township, posted the notice Dec. 8 on its website. Officials for the MUA could not be reached immediately Tuesday for comment. (Kummer, 12/14)

AP: 'Forever Chemicals' Found In Some Central Maine Chicken Eggs
Chicken eggs from two homesteads in central Maine contain elevated levels of toxic industrial compounds that are associated with serious health conditions, the state’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention has found. The Bangor Daily News reported the egg contamination on Tuesday, just three weeks after authorities said deer harvested by hunters in the same Fairfield area should not be consumed as food because of elevated levels of the compounds. (12/14)

North Carolina Health News: To Understand PFAS, Residents Submit Blood Samples 
Hundreds of Pittsboro residents volunteered hours over one weekend last month to be poked, prodded, weighed and measured in an attempt to learn more about the presence of chemicals in their bodies and, by extension, in their water systems. The effort was the latest iteration in what’s become a long-term study of per- and poly-fluoralkyl substances, a class of thousands of chemicals known collectively as PFAS, in North Carolina residents who’ve been exposed via water and, at times, air pollution. (Hoban, 12/15)

In other public health news —

Stat: New High-Dose Treatments For Opioid Overdoses Raise Questions
At a time when a record number of Americans have died from drug overdoses — with the vast majority involving opioids — the recent approval of two new forms of naloxone, a drug that reverses opioid overdoses, would seem to be welcomed. Instead, the medicines are opening a fierce debate over whether they could make matters worse. (Farah, 12/15)

CIDRAP: Nebraska Confirms First Locally Acquired Cases Of Lyme Disease
Nebraska health officials yesterday reported the state's first two locally acquired Lyme disease infections and the first detection of Borellia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes the disease, in Nebraska's black-legged tick populations. In a joint statement with other health departments, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (NDHHS) said the two patients were likely exposed around the same time at nearby sites in Thurston County in northeastern Nebraska. (12/14)

NPR: Ex-NFL Player Phillip Adams Who Killed 6 People Had CTE, Doctors Say
A former NFL player who shot and killed six people and then took his own life in April was suffering from a severe medical condition brought on by repeated head trauma, doctors announced Tuesday. Boston University neuropathologists said Phillip Adams had CTE — or chronic traumatic encephalopathy — a degenerative brain disease found in many former football players. "Phillip Adams had an extraordinary amount of CTE pathology in the frontal lobe, the area of the brain behind the forehead. Frontal lobe damage is associated with violent, impulsive or explosive behavior, a 'short fuse,' and lack of self-control," Dr. Ann McKee, director of the Boston University CTE Center, said in a statement. (Hernandez, 12/14)

Also —

CNN: Rocket Scientists And Brain Surgeons Not Necessarily Smarter Than Public, Study Finds 
Brain surgeons and rocket scientists are not necessarily smarter than the general public, researchers reported Monday, as they tried to settle the argument of whether the phrase "it's not brain surgery" or "it's not rocket science" is most deserved. Researchers sought to find out if one profession had intellectual superiority, and found they were pretty much equally matched. (Woodyatt, 12/14)

San Francisco Chronicle: San Francisco Becomes First City To Require Sick Leave For Nannies, Cleaners, Gardeners
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously passed ground-breaking legislation to provide paid sick leave for cleaners, nannies, gardeners and other domestic workers. The measure — the first of its kind in the country — would affect some 10,000 people in San Francisco who work in private homes to clean, cook, tend children, garden, do personal organizing, or provide non-medical care for disabled people or seniors. This workforce is typically low-paid with many women and immigrants, supporters said. (Said, 12/14)

In other news from across the U.S. —

The Boston Globe: R.I. Child Advocate Sounds The Alarm, Saying ‘It Has Never Been This Bad’
Rhode Island’s child advocate sounded the alarm Tuesday, telling a state Senate committee that children in state care are not getting the services they need and are often being shipped out of state. Jennifer Griffith noted that she and others had come before the Senate oversight committee two months ago, warning about a mounting crisis within the state Department of Children, Youth and Families. “When I tell you that the situation has become much more dire and frankly dangerous in the last 60 days, I am telling you the truth,” Griffith said. “I am telling you that we are at an extreme level of desperation.” (Fitzpatrick, 12/14)

Georgia Health News: Georgia Health Proposals Hang In The Balance As Biden Official Visits 
A top federal official in charge of negotiating with Gov. Brian Kemp on Georgia’s high-stakes health care proposals visited Atlanta on Tuesday to talk about maternal health and other topics. But Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, had no answers for when any of the half-million adults uninsured under current Georgia Medicaid rules might have a pathway to coverage. (Hart and Miller, 12/14)

Billings Gazette: Commissioners Vote To Send Recreational Pot Question Back To Voters
Yellowstone County residents will get another vote on recreational marijuana. County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday morning to take the question of whether to allow recreational marijuana businesses to operate within the county back to voters in June. (Rogers, 12/14)

WUSF Public Media: Hillsborough Health Officials Issue A Warning About Fake Pot That Causes Severe Illness 
The Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County is warning people about a form of synthetic marijuana that is causing severe illness. The agency has received multiple reports of people who smoked the drug, also known as spice, and then developed a condition known as coagulopathy, which impaired their blood’s ability to clot. Symptoms include bruising, nose bleeds, bleeding gums and vomiting blood. (Ochoa, 12/14)

In news about the housing crisis in Idaho and Maine —

Idaho Statesman: Boise Org Releases Plan To House Hundreds Of Homeless People
Boiseans may be familiar with “housing first” programs, which provide housing to homeless individuals regardless of their background, sobriety or mental health status. Now, local officials are planning to establish even more of these living units in the next five years. More than 500 people and families need these kind of living spaces in Ada County, according to a plan released by local shelter organization. The organization, Our Path Home, is now leading a charge to create the living units to meet this demand — but it’s going to take a lot of community involvement and a lot of money to make it happen. (Land, 12/14)

Bangor Daily News: Bangor Residents Demand Change In Homeless Policy After Deadly Fire
The tragedy has drawn attention to the growing homeless problem in Bangor, with the hour-and-a-half public comment period drawing in activists, non-profit employees and current and former members of the city’s homeless community. (Marino Jr., 12/14)

AP: EU Official: Omicron To Be Dominant Variant By Mid-January
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that omicron is expected to be the dominant coronavirus variant in the 27-nation bloc by mid-January. The head of the EU’s executive branch said the bloc is well prepared to fight omicron with 66.6% of the European population now fully vaccinated against the virus. Von der Leyen said she is confident the EU has the “strength” and “means” to overcome the disease, although expressing her disappointment that once again year-end celebrations will be disturbed by the pandemic. (Petrequin, 12/15)

The Washington Post: Omicron Variant Spreads To 77 Countries, 35 U.S. States 
The omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly across the United States and the globe, reaching at least 35 U.S. states and 77 countries less than a month after being designated as a “variant of concern” by the World Health Organization. U.S. officials said Tuesday that omicron could fuel a new wave of infections as soon as next month. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that omicron is expected to become the dominant variant in the European Union by mid-January. China this week became one of the latest countries to report omicron cases, and WHO officials said the variant was partially responsible for an 83 percent rise in coronavirus cases in Africa over the past week. (Jeong, Timsit and Francis, 12/15)

In other global news about covid and vaccines —

The Washington Post: CDC Puts Italy On Its Level 4 Travel List 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has warned people not to travel to Italy, placing one of Europe’s top tourist destinations on its highest-risk category for the coronavirus. The agency also added the Danish autonomous territory of Greenland and the small African island of Mauritius to its avoid travel list. (Villegas, 12/14)

Bloomberg: Germany Vaccine Shortage: Health Minister Karl Lauterbach 'Surprised'
Germany’s new Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said he’s in direct contact with manufacturers of Covid-19 vaccines to increase deliveries after discovering the country is short supplies for early next year. “We have a shortage of vaccine for the first quarter and I have already been working for several days to correct it,” Lauterbach, who took office last week, said late Tuesday in an interview with ARD television. “I hope I can communicate a positive message about this in the next few days,” he added. “But it’s right that we have too little vaccine and that surprised many when we did the inventory, myself included.” (Rogers, 12/15)

AP: Vaccine Alliance Chief: Omicron Could Trigger 'Inequity 2.0'
The head of vaccine alliance Gavi, which is leading a U.N.-backed push to get COVID-19 vaccines to developing countries, said that he’s seen early signs that rich countries are beginning to withhold donations out of fears about the omicron coronavirus variant — warning any new hoarding could lead to “Inequity 2.0.” Gavi chief executive Dr. Seth Berkley took stock of the nearly two-year fight against the pandemic as the alliance released the latest update to its supply forecast for COVID-19 vaccines that it has repeatedly downscaled, largely because of export bans and vaccine hoarding by some producer countries that critics say it should have foreseen. (Keaten, 12/15)

Reuters: Pfizer Set To Oust AstraZeneca As Top Supplier Of COVID-19 Shots To Poor Nations
Pfizer and BioNtech are set to displace AstraZeneca as the main suppliers of COVID-19 vaccines to the global COVAX programme at the start of 2022, a shift that shows the increasing importance of their shot for poorer states. The expected change comes with headaches for receiving countries that lack sufficient cold storage capacity to handle the Pfizer vaccine, and amid risks of a shortage of syringes needed to administer that shot. (Guarascio, 12/15)

Reuters: Sanofi, GSK Delay Data On COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Candidate Til 2022
Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline said on Wednesday they expect data from late-stage clinical trials of its booster dose of their COVID-19 vaccine candidate in the first quarter, instead of this year, another delay for the potential shot. The news came as the French and British partners said preliminary data from trials showed the single-dose booster provided strong immune responses. (Van Overstraeten, 12/15)

Public News Service: West Virginians Rally For Fair Prescription Drug Prices
West Virginians concerned about the rising cost of drug prices say they want Sen. Joe Manchin - D-W.Va. - to Vote for the Build Back Better Act, which contains provisions that would lower the cost of prescription drugs and expand Medicare coverage. West Virginia Organizer Troy Miller with the group Social Security Works explained the legislation would allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices on behalf of recipients. He said that could be a game changer for many grandparents who are primary caregivers for their grandchildren - and are seeing their household budgets further squeezed by rising drug prices. (Ramlagan, 12/13)

In other news about drug pricing —

NJ.com: House Democrats Make New Push To Lower Drug Prices With Report Blaming Big Pharm
House Democrats are ratcheting up pressure on their Senate counterparts in their effort to stem the price of prescription drugs, releasing a report highlighting pharmaceutical company practices that raised prices. The House Oversight Committee report, released Friday, said drug companies raise prices to increase profits and trigger bonuses for their executives and take advantage of rules imposed by congressional Republicans in 2003 that prevent Medicare negotiations to raise prices in the U.S. while lowering them elsewhere. The report also said the companies spend a lot more money on stock buybacks than research and development. (Salant, 12/14)

MarketWatch: ‘Grandma And Grandpa Aren’t Going To Figure This One Out.’ Prescription-Drug Savings Vanish In The Medicare Shuffle
For Medicare patients struggling to afford the Biogen multiple sclerosis drug Tecfidera, the arrival last year of far cheaper generic competitors should have been great news. Instead, it has become a cautionary tale about the Medicare prescription-drug benefit’s complexities proving costly to patients and taxpayers, drug-pricing researchers say. Looking at Medicare prescription-drug plans offering any coverage of Tecfidera or its generic equivalent as of the third quarter of this year, drug-pricing research nonprofit 46brooklyn Research found that more than half of enrollees had access only to the brand-name drug—despite the fact that multiple lower-cost generic options have been available for about a year. Even when plans did cover the generic, the cost was generally far higher than the cheapest generic’s list price, the researchers found. (Laise, 12/11)

U.S. News & World Report: The Maddeningly High Price Of Prescription Drugs 
Insulin is a medical marvel, saving the lives of millions of people who would otherwise perish from diabetes. It can also be prohibitively pricey, costing up to $300 a vial for newer versions of the treatment, which diabetes patients need two to three times a month. For patients with less common ailments, the sticker shock can be much worse. Have a small child with spinal muscular atrophy, a rare genetic disorder that weakens muscle, causes movement problems over time and can be fatal? The good news is that the Food and Drug Administration in 2019 approved a drug, Zolgensma, a one-time curative therapy. The bad news is that it costs more than $2.1 million – and may not be covered by insurance – making it the costliest drug in the world. (Milligan, 12/9)

Also —

Stat: Moderna, Amgen Among Biotech Heavyweights Pulling Out Of JPM Event
Some of the biggest names in biotechnology, including Amgen, Moderna, and Sarepta Therapeutics, have pulled out of the upcoming J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco due to safety and travel concerns related to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to people close to the companies. Additional biopharma companies are weighing whether to do the same. J.P. Morgan, one of Wall Street’s largest investment banks and the organizer of what is the biggest conference on biotech’s calendar, has insisted that CEOs attend the January event in person, resisting calls to allow for virtual presentations. That has pushed some companies, wary of the close-quarters interactions the meeting is known for, to break with decades of tradition. (Feuerstein and Garde, 12/14)

Axios: Pharmaceutical Mergers Are Heating Up
The pharmaceutical industry is sitting on a lot of cash and is ready to make big deals. The big picture: Drug companies completed smaller deals during the pandemic and instead built up their cash reserves. But the prospect of federal legislation that could allow Medicare to set some drug prices and looming patent expirations will motivate many companies to start spending their pandemic windfalls. (Herman, 12/15)

Pamplin Media Group: Doctors Should Not Be Penalized For Prescribing Opioid Alternatives
In order to increase access to safe and effective non-opioids across America's health care landscape, we are pushing for passage of the bipartisan Non-Opioids Prevent Addiction in the Nation (NOPAIN) Act. This legislation would address the barriers within Medicare reimbursement policies that discourage providers from offering non-opioid pain management alternatives to patients undergoing surgery. (Jeff Merkley and David Russo, 12/9)

Also —

Idaho Statesman: Pharmacy Benefit Managers Drive Up Prescription Drug Costs 
Rising health care costs are of great concern for all Idahoans, but particularly for our seniors. This problem is most acute at the pharmacy counter where seniors are paying a greater share of their limited income for the medicines they need. A critical step toward lowering costs for patients at the pharmacy counter would be preventing pharmacy benefit managers from abusing their size and position in the drug supply chain. These middlemen drive up the cost of medications and services for everyone, including our most vulnerable patients. Pharmacists are often patients’ closest and most trusted health care providers, particularly in rural parts of Idaho. (Mike Briggs, 12/13)

New Hampshire Union Leader: We've Been Paying Too Much For Too Long
For too long, Granite Staters have had to pay too much to get the prescription drugs that we depend on. We pay three times more for the same medications as people do in other countries, and many of us are rationing pills or forgoing essential medications altogether because of cost. Today 1 in 4 NH residents do not fill a prescription due to cost. This is all while big drug and insurance companies keep bringing in record-breaking profits. The Build Back Better Act works to put an end to these injustices. (Jayme H. Simoes, 12/10)

The Washington Post: Will Republicans Really Stop Democrats From Lowering Insulin Prices? 
Republicans and Democrats have in recent years agreed on at least one thing: It’s important to tell voters you are very concerned about the ever-increasing price of prescription drugs. But now, with the Build Back Better bill, Democrats are actually proposing to do something about it — and Republicans might stand in the way. While a proposal to allow Medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs was drastically watered down (in its current form, Medicare will negotiate prices for a small number of drugs, though any resulting savings will not take effect until 2025), the bill limits the amount anyone on government or private insurance will pay for insulin to $35 a month. (Waldman, 12/13)

The Washington Post: Biden’s At-Home Covid Test Program Epitomizes Our Public Health Failures
Last week, with covid-19 cases surging and more Americans testing positive for the omicron variant, White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked at a news briefing why the United States doesn’t provide universal free at-home coronavirus tests. “Should we just send one to every American?” she retorted sarcastically. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, 12/14)

Chicago Tribune: Insurance Industry Must Make Difficult Business Decisions For The Unvaccinated 
An Illinois state legislator proposed a bill in which neither the state nor health insurance providers would have to pay for COVID-19-related medical care for those who choose to remain unvaccinated against COVID-19 and become infected. Such a bill clearly is government overreach. The legislator, Rep. Jonathan Carroll, subsequently withdrew the bill due to threats made against him, his family and his staff. Yet this proposal opens for discussion the risk calculus that goes into providing health care and how health insurance premiums are set. (Sheldon H. Jacobson, 12/14)

Bloomberg: What Will Covid Do Next? A Top Pandemic Doctor Has Some Ideas.
There are early signs that omicron will supplant delta and become the dominant virus, until something comes along to supplant omicron. There are also signs that the existing vaccines might not be as effective at protecting people from the new strain. If all this winds up being true, might we need a vaccine tailored to omicron and — if so — do we wind up chucking all the existing vaccine and return to Go, without collecting $200? Might not this happen over and over again — and we produce billions of doses of vaccines that don't get into people before the virus mutates around them?  (Michael Lewis, 12/13)

The Atlantic: America Is Passing 800,000 Dead From COVID-19 
This week, the United States is passing a harrowing marker: 800,000 people killed by COVID—and that official number, as enormous as it is, is likely an undercount. One in every 100 Americans 65 and older has been killed by the virus. For nearly two years, we have all been surrounded by a marathon of death. (Clint Smith, 12/14)

Chicago Tribune: COVID-19 Passports Have Worked For Other Countries. Maybe The US Needs Them. 
The omicron variant hit Chicago and much of the nation just as infections were already increasing. In Chicago alone, the number of cases has tripled, and the Illinois case positivity rate has soared. The plunging temperatures have moved us indoors for social activities and gatherings which increases the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Schools such as Gates Elementary in Aurora and DePaul University are choosing remote options to temper or prevent outbreaks. (Craig Klugman, 12/14)

The Boston Globe: Roe’s ‘Viability’ Standard Has Been Overtaken By Science 
In short, the 49 years since Roe was decided have seen modern science, technology, and prenatal medicine shift the “viability line” from the 28 weeks typical in 1973 to as few as 21 weeks now. With sophisticated care provided in a modern hospital’s neonatal units, it is possible today for a developing fetus to survive outside the womb at least a month and a half earlier than was the case in 1973. Sotomayor and her colleagues will have to decide what bearing that has on the legality of Mississippi’s law, which bans abortions after 15 weeks. This much, however, is clear: The Supreme Court’s abortion jurisprudence is scientifically out of date, and the gap is widening. (Jeff Jacoby, 12/15)

Stat: Many States Aren't Ready For A 988 Crisis Line. The Deadline Is Looming
America’s fragile mental health safety net all too often leaves people nowhere to turn but the police when a loved one is in the midst of a behavioral health or suicide crisis. The 988 system, a new alternative to calling 911, could change that, but states are lagging behind in implementing it. (Margarita Alegria, 12/15)

Los Angeles Times: Don’t Take Self-Determination From Mentally Ill 
Much ire has been directed at the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act, signed into law in 1967 by Gov. Ronald Reagan to provide for treatment of people unable to see to their own needs, while ensuring that they retain their right to self-determination to the greatest extent possible. LPS, as it is known, creates several steps of intrusion into a person’s life — ostensibly for the person’s own good and the good of others — beginning with the so-called “5150 hold” that permits police and other authorities to take a person into custody for up to 72 hours for evaluation and crisis intervention. (12/14)