NPR: Bernie Sanders Won't Yet Explain Details Of How To Pay For Medicare For All
Bernie Sanders doesn't plan on releasing a detailed plan of how to finance his single-payer Medicare for All plan, he told CNBC's John Harwood on Tuesday. "You're asking me to come up with an exact detailed plan of how every American — how much you're going to pay more in taxes, how much I'm going to pay," he said. "I don't think I have to do that right now." The Vermont senator explained that before getting to his detailed financing plan, he wants Americans to understand that they currently pay more for health care than people in other countries. (Kurtzleben, 10/29)

CNN: Bernie Sanders Says He Doesn't Need To Come Up With 'Exact Detailed Plan' Right Now On How To Pay For 'Medicare For All'
His comments come after Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she would put out a plan in the coming weeks on how to pay for Medicare for All, which she has endorsed. Warren's announcement came after being repeatedly pressed on how she would pay for the sweeping national health insurance plan without raising taxes on the middle class. A recent study by the Urban Institute said federal spending on health care would increase by roughly $34 trillion under a single-payer plan similar to Medicare for All. That number is in line with earlier studies that pegged the cost at around $32 trillion. (Sullivan, Grayer and Luhby, 10/29)

The Hill: Sanders: 'I Don't Think I Have To' Release Details On Paying For 'Medicare For All'
Sanders has been upfront that Medicare for All would involve raising taxes on the middle class as well as on the wealthy but has not fully explained where the revenue for his plan would come from. Sanders last spring released a list of financing suggestions for his updated Medicare for All legislation, but the list would only cover about half the cost. A conservative group estimated Medicare for All would cost about $33 trillion over a decade, but Sanders has said that amount is inflated. (Weixel, 10/29)

Meanwhile, Americans are split on what plan they like —

The New York Times: How Americans Split On Health Care: It’s A 3-Way Tie
When Americans are asked whether they support a “Medicare for all” system that would replace all current insurance with a generous government program, a majority often say yes. But when they’re asked follow-up questions, they often reveal that they’re not familiar with the details of that plan — or that they would also be happy with other Democratic policy proposals. ... We asked a panel of 2,005 adults to pick their favorite plan from three choices. One resembled the Medicare for all proposal; one was like more incremental Democratic proposals; and one was like a plan proposed by congressional Republicans, which would reduce federal involvement in the health system and give more money and autonomy to states. The share of the public supporting each option wound up being almost identical — around 30 percent each. (Sanger-Katz, 10/30)

And many don't understand what's even in their coverage plans now —

Houston Chronicle: Don't Understand Health Insurance? You're Not Alone 
If deciphering your health insurance paperwork gives you a headache you are in good company. A new national survey shows that more than one in four people have actually skipped medical care because they were unsure what their health plan covered. The third annual health coverage survey by Policygenius, an online insurance marketplace, also found the confusion over the state of the nation's health insurance is getting worse. This year, 85 percent did not know what health benefits must be included in their plans to be compliant with Affordable Care Act rules, such as mental health and maternity coverage. (Deam, 10/29)

The Hill: Number Of Uninsured Children Rises For Second Year, Tops 4 Million 
The number of uninsured children in the U.S. increased for the second year in a row and now tops four million, the highest numbers since ObamaCare became law, according to a new report released Wednesday. According to the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, the number of uninsured children increased by more than 400,000 between 2016 and 2018. (Weixel, 10/30)

CNN: 400,000 More Children Are Uninsured Since Trump Took Office
Roughly 4.1 million children were uninsured in 2018, up from a low of 3.6 million in 2016, according to the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families, citing US Census Bureau data. Their uninsured rate jumped to 5.2% last year, up from 4.7% in 2016.Another Census study shows a similar increase, with the uninsured rate for kids increasing to 5.5% last year, up from 5.0% two years earlier. The trend is particularly troubling because it comes during a period of economic growth when more Americans are gaining employment, said Joan Alker, the center's executive director. She fears even more children will lose coverage if the economy falters. (Luhby, 10/30)

Modern Healthcare: Number Of Uninsured Kids Continued To Climb In 2018
Joan Alker, executive director of the Center for Children and Families, said during a call with news media Tuesday that the decline in coverage is "due in large part to the Trump administration's actions or inactions that have made health coverage harder to access or have deterred families from enrolling their eligible children in Medicaid or (the Children's Health Insurance Program). "The increase in uninsured kids can be explained in part by Trump administration actions and rhetoric that have led immigrant families to keep from enrolling eligible kids in government programs for fear of being deported, separated from their children, or having trouble in the future adjusting their status, she said. (Livingston, 10/30)

Georgia Health News: Uninsured Rate For Georgia Children Shows Troubling Rise
Georgia had a spike in its rate of uninsured children between 2016 and 2018, according to a report released Wednesday.The state in 2018 had an uninsured rate among children of 8.1 percent, up from 6.7 percent two years before. Only Tennessee’s rise of 1.5 percentage points was a greater increase in the U.S. over that time. (Miller, 10/30)

WUSF News: Florida’s Rate Of Uninsured Children Continues To Increase
Florida’s rate of uninsured children exceeded the national average, increasing from 6.6 percent to 7.6 percent between 2017 and 2018. The state was one of 15 to show statistically significant increases in the number and or rate of uninsured children. (Miller, 10/30)

The New York Times: Alabama Abortion Ban Is Temporarily Blocked By A Federal Judge
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked a near-total ban on abortions from taking effect next month in Alabama, ensuring the procedure remains legal and available in the state while the case winds its way through the courts. In ruling against the Alabama law — the most far-reaching anti-abortion measure passed by state lawmakers this year — Judge Myron H. Thompson of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama wrote that it violates Supreme Court precedent and “defies” the Constitution. (Rojas and Blinder, 10/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Restrictive Alabama Abortion Law
In his order, Judge Thompson said the law violated Supreme Court precedent that determines the right to an abortion before a fetus reaches viability, a period that ranges from 24 to 28 weeks of pregnancy. The judge said the measure also defied the U.S. Constitution and would leave many patients in the state without options. “Enforcement of the ban would yield serious and irreparable harm, violating the right to privacy and preventing women from obtaining abortions in Alabama,” said Judge Thompson, who was appointed in 1980 by former President Carter. (Calfas, 10/29)

The Associated Press: Federal Judge Blocks Alabama's Strict Abortion Ban
"Alabama's abortion ban contravenes clear Supreme Court precedent," Thompson wrote in an accompanying opinion. "It violates the right of an individual to privacy, to make choices central to personal dignity and autonomy. It diminishes the capacity of women to act in society, and to make reproductive decisions. It defies the United States Constitution." Energized by new conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court, Alabama and other conservative states have attempted to enact new restrictions on abortion in the hopes of getting Supreme Court justices to reconsider Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide. (Chandler, 10/29)

Reuters: Federal Judge Blocks Alabama Abortion Ban From Being Enforced
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, a Republican, had signed the bill into law in May and it was due to come into effect on Nov. 15. A Christian, she invoked God in support of the law, saying it would protect his creation, while opponents said it came at the expense of women's health and constitutional rights. Those performing abortions would be committing a felony, punishable by up to 99 years in prison. A woman who receives an abortion would not be held criminally liable. The law makes no exceptions even for rape and incest. (10/29)

The Washington Post: Bill’s Sponsors Had Called It A Direct Challenge To Roe V. Wade
Passage of the law in May was celebrated as a major victory for the antiabortion movement. The bill’s author, state Rep. Terri Collins, has said it was intended to serve as a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that the Constitution protects a woman’s right nationwide to have an abortion. Collins earlier said she wanted the law to be strong enough to force federal court intervention — something she and others hope will lead to national restrictions on abortion. “Today’s ruling is both expected and welcomed,” Collins said in an interview, explaining the decision “is merely the first of many steps on that legal journey." (Cha and Wax-Thibodeaux, 10/29)

CBS News: Alabama Abortion Law: Federal Judge Blocks Near-Total Abortion Ban From Taking Effect Today
Steve Marshall, Alabama's attorney general, said the decision "was not unexpected," noting that the point of the law was to potentially overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide. (Smith, 10/29)

CNN: Federal Judge Blocks Alabama's Near-Total Abortion Ban
The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Alabama and Planned Parenthood Federation filed their lawsuit shortly after the bill was signed on behalf of Alabama abortion providers challenging the law. The groups cheered Tuesday's ruling. "Today's victory means people can still access the health care they need across Alabama -- for now," Alexis McGill Johnson, acting president of Planned Parenthood, said in a statement. (Kelly, 10/29)

The Hill: Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Alabama's Near-Total Abortion Ban 
The law is one of a number of restrictive abortion bills passed by GOP-led state legislatures in an attempt to get the Supreme Court to revisit Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that established a woman's right to abortion. (Frazin and Hellmann, 10/29)

The Associated Press: Missouri Agency Tracked Planned Parenthood Patients' Periods
Missouri's health department director on Tuesday said he tracked the menstrual cycles of Planned Parenthood patients as part of an effort to identify what the agency says were "failed abortions" at a St. Louis clinic. Department of Health and Senior Services Director Randall Williams made the revelation during the second day of an administrative hearing to determine whether Missouri's only abortion clinic will lose its license to perform the procedure. (10/29)

Kansas City Star: Missouri Health Director Kept Spreadsheet Of Planned Parenthood Patients’ Periods
The spreadsheet, which was based on medical records the investigator had access to during the state’s annual inspection, also included medical identification numbers, dates of medical procedures and the gestational ages of fetuses. The last column of the spreadsheet included the date of the last menstrual period of each patient calculated by the health department. The patient’s names were not included. The investigation eventually found four patients that had to return to Planned Parenthood more than once to have a successful surgical abortion. The failed abortions led the department to have “grave concerns” that caused it to withhold the St. Louis clinic’s license. (Thomas, 10/29)

CNN: Missouri Health Director Reportedly Maintained Spreadsheet Of Planned Parenthood Patients' Periods
Williams' testimony was part of an ongoing hearing in which the St. Louis Planned Parenthood clinic is fighting to continue performing abortions after the state refused to renew its license, which was supposed to expire on May 31. Testimony is expected to continue this week. (Alsup, 10/29)

KCUR: In Hearing On Abortion Clinic, State Lawyers Claim Planned Parenthood Put Patients At Risk 
On the first day of an administrative hearing that could determine the fate of Missouri’s sole abortion clinic, attorneys for the state questioned the safety of Planned Parenthood’s clinic and said state regulators acted with patients in mind when they did not renew its license. The lawyers spent hours attempting to prove through witness testimony the state’s Department of Health and Human Services acted legally when it did not issue a renewed license to Planned Parenthood Reproductive Health Services in St. Louis last June. (Fentem, 10/29)

Meanwhile, in Ohio —

The Associated Press: Abortion Clinic Seeks Court Order, New License To Stay Open
The Dayton area’s last abortion clinic is trying to avoid closure by pursuing a new state license and intervention by a federal court after the Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday again refused to hear its appeal. The state court’s decision meant Women’s Med Center faced losing its license as an ambulatory surgical facility because it didn’t meet certain Ohio requirements about hospital transfers and agreements with doctors who could help facilitate hospital care in an emergency. (Franko, 10/29)

Stat: FDA Panel Recommends Removing Makena For Preventing Premature Births
A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended that a controversial treatment for preventing premature births should be withdrawn from the market after reviewing a clinical trial that indicated the medicine, called Makena, is not effective. The agency is not required to follow the recommendations of its panels, but the 9-to-7 vote calls into question the future of a medication that has been the standard of care across the U.S. since it was approved eight years ago. At the time, the FDA required a followup study as a condition of endorsing the medicine under its accelerated approval process. (Silverman, 10/29)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Committee Recommends Withdrawing Treatment To Prevent Preterm Births From Market
A U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory committee recommended Tuesday that the standard treatment to prevent women from having another preterm birth, Makena, be withdrawn from the market in a 9-to-7 vote following a public hearing. The FDA approved the treatment, now made by AMAG Pharmaceuticals Inc., in 2011, contingent upon completing a follow-up study. That study, published last week in the American Journal of Perinatology, found that the weekly synthetic progestin injections didn’t decrease recurrent preterm births in women who took it versus a placebo. (Reddy, 10/29)

Philadelphia Inquirer: FDA Advisors Recommend Yanking Approval Of Preterm Birth Prevention Drug After It Flops In Crucial Study
Panel members who voted to withdraw approval — even the patient representative tearfully did so — said they agonized over the decision. For one thing, nothing else has proven effective at preventing preterm birth, the leading cause of newborn death and disability. For another, hydroxyprogesterone acetate has become standard treatment, recommended by medical societies, for women with a previous preterm birth. Finally, the drug can be ordered from compounding pharmacies that custom make it for about $20 a dose, so taking Makena’s much-pricier product off the market will not necessarily change medical practice. (McCullough, 10/29)

CQ: FDA Advisers Suggest Removing Premature Birth Drug
Nine of the 16 panel members voted to withdraw approval, while seven said the drug should stay on the market while another trial is conducted. No one voted to leave it on the market without a trial. Depending on the FDA’s decision, the company behind Makena, AMAG Pharmaceuticals, or any other company that tries to conduct a new trial for a drug, will likely have a hard if not impossible time recruiting new patients, panelists said. There are many ethical concerns about testing new drugs on pregnant women given the risks of birth defects, and women looking for treatment might not want to risk being randomized into a placebo arm of a trial. (Siddons, 10/29)

Stat: Taking Stock Of Alzheimer’s Research, Biogen, And The Amyloid Hypothesis
Is seeking a cure for Alzheimer’s disease hopeless? Is Biogen’s recent decision to repurpose a failed Alzheimer’s trial an elaborate parlor trick? And what about Pfizer’s decision to walk away entirely from neuroscience entirely? The unanswered questions in the field of Alzheimer’s research can make the average observer’s head spin. So STAT’s executive editor Rick Berke pressed a panel of experts on those questions and more Tuesday in Washington as part of the Milken Institute’s Future of Health Summit. (Florko, 10/29)

The New York Times: Recall Of Generic Version Of Xanax Is Announced By F.D.A.
The Food and Drug Administration has announced a nationwide recall of a batch of alprazolam, a generic version of Xanax, because of potential contamination. The manufacturer, Mylan Pharmaceuticals, said Friday that the voluntary recall was because of the possible presence of a foreign substance. The company had not received reports of problems related to the tablets, but “the remote risk of infection to a patient cannot be ruled out,” it said. A Mylan spokeswoman did not immediately respond to questions about what the contaminant was. (Zraick, 10/29)

Prescription Drug Watch: For news on rising drug costs, check out our weekly roundup of news coverage and perspectives of the issue.

The Hill: Senate Democrats Urge Trump Not To Back Down From Vaping Flavor Ban
Democratic senators are calling on President Trump not to abandon his promise to remove all flavored e-cigarettes from the market. In a letter sent Tuesday, 25 Democrats led by Senate Health Committee ranking member Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), said they had “significant concerns” because it has been more than a month since administration officials first announced their intention to remove all non-tobacco flavors of e-cigarettes from the market.  (Weixel, 10/29)

Health News Florida: Vaping Deaths: Inhaling Fats May Not Be The Culprit Of Vaping Injuries
Mayo Clinic doctors are casting doubt on one possible cause of vaping-associated lung injuries: inhaling lipids, or fats. Doctors examined the lung biopsies of 17 patients who had confirmed or probable cases of vaping injuries and published the results in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine. (Aboraya, 10/29)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Authorities Confirm Third Vaping-Related Death
The Georgia Department of Public Health announced Tuesday the state’s third death from a vaping-linked respiratory illness, even as the number of cases shows signs of leveling off. Health authorities have suggested Americans refrain from e-cigarettes until more is known about the mystery illness. (Oliviero, 10/29)

Des Moines Register: Banning Vaping Products Could Be 'Life-Threatening,' Says Tom Miller
As states respond to an outbreak of vaping-related illnesses around the country, one statewide official in Iowa is cautioning against over-regulating the use of e-cigarette products. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller wrote to federal officials this month to say that banning commercial vaping products for adults would harm public health. His warning came as federal public officials were still investigating the cause of the sometimes-fatal illnesses. (Rodriguez, 10/29)

Kaiser Health News: ‘Invincible’ Teen Vapers Face Fears, Ask For Help
It all started at the mall when a friend offered her a puff from a Juul e-cigarette. “It was kind of peer pressure,” said Beth, a Denver-area 15-year-old who started vaping in middle school. “Then I started inhaling it,” she said. “I suddenly was, like, wow, I really think that I need this — even though I don’t.” (Daley, 10/30)

The New York Times: U.S. Detains Record Number Of Child Migrants, Surpassing Crisis Under Obama
The United States has detained more children trying to cross the nation’s southwest border on their own over the last year than during any other period on record, surpassing the surge of unaccompanied minors that set off a crisis during the Obama administration, according to new figures released Tuesday. American immigration authorities apprehended 76,020 minors, most of them from Central America, traveling without their parents in the fiscal year that ended in September — 52 percent more than during the last fiscal year, according to United States Customs and Border Protection. (Villegas, 10/29)

Politico: CBP: Border Arrests Doubled In 2019
The 2019 numbers represent the most people arrested at the border since 2007, but remain below levels of the late-1980s through mid-2000s, when arrest figures routinely topped 1 million. Border arrests are used as a rough metric for the overall number of illegal border crossings. “These are numbers that no immigration system in the world can handle, not even in this country,” acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan told reporters at the border in El Paso, Texas. (Kullgren, 10/29)

Meanwhile, in other news —

The Wall Street Journal: White House Weighs Ways To Tap Cuccinelli As Acting DHS Secretary
The White House is weighing legal options that could allow President Trump to appoint Ken Cuccinelli as the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, according to people familiar with the matter. The White House personnel chief told Mr. Trump in a meeting last week that his top choices for the job—Mr. Cuccinelli, acting head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection—are both ineligible under a federal statute governing vacancies, according to an opinion by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. (Hackman and Restuccia, 10/30)

The New York Times: Johnson & Johnson Says Recalled Baby Powder Doesn’t Have Asbestos
Johnson & Johnson said on Tuesday that it did not find asbestos in multiple tests of a bottle of baby powder that the Food and Drug Administration said contained trace amounts of the carcinogen. The company had recalled 33,000 bottles of the product earlier this month after the regulator said it discovered evidence of chrysotile asbestos in a bottle bought from an online retailer. Johnson & Johnson said 15 new tests of that very bottle came up clean. (Hsu, 10/29)

The Wall Street Journal: J&J Says Suspect Baby Powder Is Asbestos-Free
On Oct. 18, J&J recalled one lot—or about 33,000 bottles—of its talcum powder after a laboratory test authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found a small amount of asbestos in a single bottle. J&J said at the time it was recalling the lot out of an abundance of caution, and would investigate the matter. The recall fueled concerns about the powder’s safety, and led major retailers, including CVS Health Corp. , to remove some bottles from store shelves. Asbestos, a mineral fiber once widely used in building construction, can cause lung damage if inhaled. (Loftus, 10/29)

CNBC: J&J Says It Found No Signs Of Asbestos In Baby Powder After Testing
FDA officials said they stand by results that showed asbestos contamination, according to Reuters. The FDA did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. The testing results for J&J’s baby powder has to be viewed as a “significant positive,” said Jared Holz, health-care sector strategist at Jefferies. (Lovelace, 10/29)

CBS News: Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder: Johnson & Johnson Says 15 Tests Show No Asbestos
"This finding underscores the importance of investigating any positive test result," Johnson & Johnson said. "Even when careful safeguards are followed, asbestos contamination may be introduced during sample division, storage, preparation and analysis." The company's statement is its latest in response to thousands of lawsuits claiming the talc-based powder contains asbestos. Last year, a jury awarded $4.7 billion in total damages to 22 women and their families after they claimed asbestos in the talcum powder contributed to their ovarian cancer. J&J is appealing the judgement and has won several other court cases alleging liability and damages. (Gibson, 10/29)

Bloomberg: J&J Says No Asbestos Found In Baby Powder After Re-Testing Batch
Steve Musser, deputy director for scientific operations in the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Nutrition, said that while J&J has said the product is confirmed to be free of asbestos based on their testing, the FDA “would say the opposite” for the sample it reviewed. (Griffin and Feeley, 10/29)

In other consumer safety news —

Bloomberg: Bayer’s Roundup Headache Grows As Plaintiffs Pile Into Court
Bayer AG faces a surge in lawsuits from people alleging that its weedkiller Roundup causes cancer, ratcheting up the legal pressure as the company engages in settlement talks. There are now 42,700 U.S. plaintiffs suing over Roundup -- the herbicide inherited from Monsanto -- following a blitz of advertising by attorneys seeking new clients that began after Bayer entered mediation discussions in May. The German company last reported facing 18,400 plaintiffs in July and said earlier this month that it expected a surge. (Loh, 10/30)

The Associated Press: Kentucky-Based Insurer Humana To Lay Off 2% Of Workforce
A health insurance provider says it's laying off more than 800 people. The Louisville, Kentucky-based Humana announced Monday it'd be cutting 2% of its workforce by the end of the year, with some employees being let go as early as Thursday. Severance will be provided. The Courier-Journal reports that Humana employs 41,600 nationwide, so 2% would be about 832 people. The company says it expects to keep 12,000 in Louisville. (10/29)

Louisville Courier Journal: Humana Layoffs 2019: 5 Things To Know About The Job Cuts, Downsizing
The company said its 12,000-employee workforce in Louisville will be maintained, and those workers who lose their jobs will have an opportunity to apply for other open positions. The company didn't release a number on how may Louisville jobs will be cut. Employees across the nation, exchanging information on the website thelayoff.com, said their sudden bad news came with severance pay of two weeks per year of service, with a minimum of four weeks and a maximum of 52 weeks. (Schneider, 10/29)

Nashville Public Radio: The Cost Of Dying: Hospice’s Biggest Fans Now Have Second Thoughts
The booming hospice industry is changing what it looks like to die in the U.S. Rather than under the care of doctors and nurses in a hospital, more Americans than not now spend their final days in familiar surroundings, often at home, being cared for by loved ones. While hospice has been a beautiful experience during a difficult time for many families, a yearlong reporting project by WPLN finds end-of-life support often falls short of what they need. (Farmer, 10/29)

Boston Globe: Siemens Arm Closes $1.1B Deal For Waltham Firm
A Waltham medical technology firm that makes robots for precision vascular surgery has been bought by the health division of the German conglomerate Siemens for $1.1 billion. The deal, which was announced in August and closed Tuesday, makes Corindus Vascular Robotics a wholly owned subsidiary of Siemens Healthineers AG. The latter acquired all issued and outstanding stock of Corindus for $4.28 a share — a price a Minnesota stock portfolio manager characterized as a great deal for Siemens. (Saltzman, 10/29)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Will Pay Hospitals $1.9 Billion In Bonuses For Inpatient Care
More than 1,500 participating hospitals will receive about $1.9 billion in bonuses for the fiscal year 2020 under the CMS' Hospital Value-based Purchasing Program, the agency revealed on Tuesday. The results are about the same as last year, with about 55% of participants scoring bonuses. The program, which started in 2012, increases or decreases payments to hospitals under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System depending on the quality of care they deliver to patients. (Brady, 10/29)

Modern Healthcare: Growing Markets, Capital Investments Behind HCA's Strong Q3 Volumes
HCA Healthcare executives said Tuesday the company's strong volume growth in the third quarter of 2019 shows initiatives the Nashville-based hospital chain has undertaken for years are finally paying off. "We had the broadest-based volume performance as far as positive metrics that I've seen in almost three years," the company's CEO, Sam Hazen, said on an earnings call Tuesday morning. (Bannow, 10/29)

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: UPMC Breaks Ground On Hospital In China, 4 More In The Works
UPMC breaks ground on its major investment in China this week. Construction is scheduled to begin Monday on a new hospital in Chengdu. It will be the first of five Chinese hospitals that UPMC plans to co-run with Beijing-based conglomerate Wanda Group as part of a $2 billion investment over the next two decades. (Lindstrom, 10/28)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: New Cardinal Glennon Specialty Clinic In South St. Louis County Opens Nov. 4 
A new 15,000-square-foot specialty health care facility in south St. Louis County operated by Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital will be ready for patients Nov. 4. The $9.25 million facility is located at 13000 Butler Crest Drive and will offer imaging services as well as care in endocrinology, gastroenterology, nephrology, neurology, ophthalmology, optometry, orthopedics, ear nose and throat, psychology, rheumatology and sports medicine. (Munz, 10/29)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: BJC HealthCare Unveils New Hospital In Creve Coeur
BJC HealthCare unveiled a new hospital in Creve Coeur on Tuesday, replacing a structure that was built 50 years ago. The new Barnes-Jewish West County hospital is a 260,000-square-foot facility, located at 12634 Olive Boulevard. The company broke ground on the project in May 2017. The facility has 64 private rooms, 14 operating rooms and four intensive care unit rooms. It is located behind the existing facility, which was built in 1969 as Faith Hospital, and was later sold to BJC HealthCare. The existing hospital will be replaced with green space and parking. (Merrilees, 10/29)

North Carolina Health News: Where Is Mission Health’s Independent Monitor? 
On Jan. 16, N.C. Attorney General Josh Stein announced that Tennessee-based HCA Healthcare had agreed to a checklist of legal requirements to protect the public as part of its plans to acquire Asheville-based Mission Health, the largest hospital operator in the area. One of Stein’s requirements was to have an independent monitor look over the shoulder of Mission Health’s new for-profit owner to ensure that promises made were promises kept. ...Nine months after the merger took effect, the public still has no idea whether a monitor has been chosen, what the firm’s name is, when it will start work and – importantly – who’s been minding the store to keep HCA and Mission Health accountable in the interim. (Cotiaux, 10/29)

Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee Defends Block Grant Proposal In Memphis
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee defended his TennCare block grant proposal during a visit in Memphis Tuesday, saying much of the negative comments it received from the public have been based on misinformation. ...In a gaggle with reporters after his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference meeting in Memphis, Lee cast the TennCare block grant proposal, which could change the structure of how TennCare receives funding, as a positive for the state and Shelby County. Shelby County has more TennCare recipients than any other county in Tennessee. (Hardiman, 10/29)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Planned Ohio Medicaid Work Requirements Call For Case Workers To Contact Recipients Before They’re Cut Off
Ohioans who will be required to work to get health coverage through Medicaid will not be kicked off until a case worker talks to them first. That’s according to the latest paperwork Ohio Medicaid has submitted to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services -- technically called an implementation plan because it spells out how the work requirements will be carried out. (Hancock, 10/29)

The Associated Press: White House Launches Website Aimed At Addiction Treatment
The Trump administration has unveiled a website aimed at helping millions of Americans with substance abuse issues learn about and locate treatment options. FindTreatment.gov is the latest development in the administration's effort to address the nation's opioid crisis. The White House said it believes the site, which went up Wednesday, will enable the tens of millions of Americans with a variety of substance abuse and mental health issues to better access the care they need. (Miller, 10/30)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Philly’s Needle Exchange Prevented 10,000 HIV Diagnoses, But Fentanyl Means New Cases Are Up
Philadelphia’s syringe exchange — the only one in the city, and one of just a handful operating around the state — prevented an estimated 10,592 HIV diagnoses in its first 10 years of operation, researchers at George Washington University have found. The study, published Tuesday in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, used mathematical modeling to estimate how the 1992 opening of the needle exchange, Prevention Point, affected the spread of HIV in the city. Without the exchange, the study found, Philadelphia would have seen 15,248 HIV diagnoses associated with injection drug use between 1993 and 2002. (Whelan, 10/29)

The Star Tribune: 'Troubling Dysfunction' At Minn. Agency Led To Overpayments, Report Says 
The state’s top government watchdog has concluded that “troubling dysfunction” at the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) resulted in the agency making $29 million in improper payments to two Indian bands for opioid treatment. In a scathing report issued Tuesday, Legislative Auditor James Nobles said the DHS did not have legal authority to make the payments, and the DHS did not document why, when, and who decided it was appropriate to make them. (Serres, 10/29)

Los Angeles Times: 'Extreme Red Flag' Winds In L.A. Region Are Dangerous, Unpredictable
Even after several years of devastating wind-driven fires in Southern California, forecasters fear that the next two days could bring new levels of danger. “Extreme” fire weather began in the Los Angeles area at 11 p.m. Tuesday and was expected to persist for 30 hours, bringing isolated gusts of up to 80 mph. It’s an unusually long Santa Ana wind condition, and fire weather of this kind hasn’t been seen in Southern California since October 2007, when similar conditions helped unleash the sixth most destructive fire in California history. (Serna and Lin, 10/30)

The New York Times: Despair For Many And Silver Linings For Some In California Wildfires
After a wildfire razed his spacious suburban home in the Sonoma hills two years ago, Pete Parkinson set out to rebuild. This time it would be an even better one. He reoriented the house toward vistas of a nearby mountain and designed a large kitchen with hickory floors and 16-foot windows under vaulted ceilings. “We are now living the silver lining,” said Mr. Parkinson, a retired civil servant who moved into his new home 10 days ago. “It is a beautiful, brand-new home.” (Fuller, Turkewitz and Del Real, 10/29)

The Washington Post: PG&E Cut Off Power To Millions Of Californians. Its Equipment Is Still Suspected Of Sparking Fires.
Investigators are looking into whether fires ravaging Northern California may have been sparked by Pacific Gas & Electric equipment, deepening skepticism around the utility’s controversial plan to prevent fires in the region by shutting off power to millions of residents — and raising panic among the bankrupt company’s investors. PG&E told regulators last week that equipment on one of its transmission towers broke near the ignition point of the Kincade Fire, a blaze that has destroyed more than 120 structures and burned 75,415 acres of Sonoma County since last Wednesday, making it the state’s biggest fire this year. (MacMillan and Siddiqui, 10/29)

Los Angeles Times: How Parents And Teachers Can Calm Kids’ Getty Fire Anxiety
During this Santa Ana wind season, 12-year-old Nicholas Ladesich tends to go to bed worrying about what might burn overnight. He often has dreams of waking up in his old house that burned down in the Woolsey fire last year. But he awakens instead in the living room of the one-bedroom guest house he shares with his brother and parents. He demands that his mom turn on the news to monitor possible fires while his 15-year-old brother Lucas uses an app to check the strength and direction of winds. (Kohli and Agrawal, 10/29)

Marketplace: Homeowners Struggle To Find Insurance As Wildfires Increase
As wildfires have become more frequent and more devastating, some Californians are having a harder time finding homeowners insurance — or paying more for it. According to the California Department of Insurance, areas affected by wildfires in 2015 and 2017 saw a 10% increase in policies dropped by insurers last year. That doesn’t include the impact from last year’s Camp fire, which destroyed the town of Paradise. (Scott, 10/29)

San Francisco Chronicle: VA Chief To Gavin Newsom: Do Something About PG&E Outages
Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s widespread planned blackouts could create “significant life-threatening issues” for veterans with medical problems, the head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs said in calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to resolve the situation. ...PG&E began cutting off power to customers Tuesday, the fourth time this month it has done so. The company said nearly 600,000 residences and businesses in Northern and Central California could lose power into Wednesday. (Koseff, 10/29)

California Healthline: California Fires Illuminate Trauma And Resilience
Dorothy Hammack had planned to wash her thick, dark hair in the kitchen sink Friday morning. She couldn’t yet shower, due to the incision on her breast from a biopsy a few days before. Her doctor had already called to let her know the results: She had breast cancer. She was supposed to be researching treatment options and organizing doctor appointments. Instead, Hammack, 79, was standing in her pajamas in the parking lot of a makeshift evacuation center in Santa Rosa, the urban center of Sonoma County’s celebrated wine country. (Barry-Jester, 10/29)

California Healthline: California Nursing Home Residents Told To Find New Homes
Some of California’s most vulnerable nursing home residents, many of whom have nowhere else to go, are receiving letters from their health care plans saying they are no longer eligible for long-term care. In one notable example, three dozen nursing home residents in San Luis Obispo County were informed on the same day that their Medi-Cal managed-care plan was cutting off payment for nursing home care, said Karen Jones, the county’s long-term care ombudsman. (Wiener, 10/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Coal Miners’ Pension, Health Benefits Under Stress After Bankruptcies
A pension fund covering about 90,000 coal workers and their families is on the brink of insolvency while hundreds of these miners also face losing medical benefits, part of mounting financial stress on the larger safety net meant to protect sick or out-of-work miners. The United Mine Workers of America multiemployer pension plan is projected to become insolvent during its 2022 plan year if Congress doesn’t authorize using public funds to buttress it for the first time in a history tracing back more than 70 years. Murray Energy, which filed for bankruptcy Tuesday, is the last major contributor to the fund. (Randles, 10/30)

The Washington Post: Murray Energy Files For Bankruptcy As Trump's Coal Bailout Efforts Falter
The long-anticipated bankruptcy is another sign that President Trump’s efforts to save the sputtering coal industry, a central promise of his 2016 campaign, have largely failed. It also speaks to the “significant stress on the coal industry today,” said Benjamin Nelson, a coal analyst and Moody’s vice president. Coal once fueled about half of all U.S. electricity; now it powers less than a quarter. (Telford and Grandoni, 10/29)

In other news —

Texas Tribune and Grist: How Texas Lets Coal Companies Leave Behind Contaminated Land
San Miguel Electric Cooperative, which took over operations of the plant and mine — and the Peeler lease agreement — in 1978, ceased mining on the family’s ranch in 2004 and moved on to other private land close to the power plant. But 15 years later, after paying the family millions of dollars to mine lignite on the ranch, San Miguel has only fully restored about a fifth of the land it disturbed. (Collier and Sadasivan, 10/30)

NPR: Children At Risk Of Type 1 Diabetes Get Limited Screenings In Large Trial
At first, 19-year-old Sarah Hornak ignored the tingling in her hands and feet. She also ignored the 20 pounds of weight she shed, the constant hunger and thirst, the time she threw up after a tough workout. She went to her doctor only when she began to see halos everywhere. A pinprick on her finger revealed that her blood sugar was in the 400s — about four times as high as a healthy person's should be. She checked into the hospital and was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes within days. It has been nearly 15 years since she learned she has the disease, a condition in which the body's immune cells attack the pancreas, the gland that regulates blood glucose levels by secreting insulin. What causes Type 1 diabetes and how to stop it are still a mystery. (Madhusoodanan, 10/30)

Boston Globe: Amid BC Suicide Case, A Look At How Texting Can Empower Abusers
The story of the Boston College student accused of inducing her boyfriend to kill himself stands as an appalling tale of what prosecutors described as domestic abuse. But one aspect seems especially emblematic of our time: The couple exchanged an average of 1,200 texts a day, including messages that allegedly goaded Alexander Urtula to take his own life. Specialists in abusive relationships say that texting, by its nature, can add firepower to the usual weapons of domestic violence: control, isolation, and secrecy — especially when they occur with such astounding frequency. (Freyer, 10/29)

The Washington Post: The Average Time Young People Spend Watching Videos — Mostly On YouTube — Has Doubled Since 2015
More than twice as many young people watch videos every day as did four years ago, and the average time spent watching videos — mostly on YouTube — has roughly doubled, to an hour each day. That’s according to a survey released Tuesday by Common Sense Media, a nonprofit that tracks young people’s tech habits. The report found that overall screen time among young people hasn’t changed much since 2015. On average, American 8-to-12-year-olds spent 4 hours and 44 minutes on screen media each day. And teens average 7 hours and 22 minutes — not including time spent using screens for school or homework. (Siegel, 10/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Heart-Failure Deaths Rise, Contributing To Worsening Life Expectancy
Deaths from heart failure, one of the nation’s biggest killers, are surging as the population ages and the health of younger generations worsens. The death rate from the chronic, debilitating condition rose 20.7% between 2011 and 2017 and is likely to keep climbing sharply, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Cardiology. (McKay, 10/30)

The New York Times: How Walking Might Affect Our Sleep
Taking more steps during the day may be related to better sleep at night, according to an encouraging new study of lifestyle and sleep patterns. The study, which delved into the links between walking and snoozing, suggests that being active can influence how well we sleep, whether we actually exercise or not. Sleep and exercise scientists have long been intrigued and befuddled by the ties between physical activity and somnolence. To most of us, it might seem as if that relationship should be uncomplicated, advantageous and one-way. You work out, grow tired and sleep better that night. (Reynolds, 10/30)

The New York Times: Why Did The Young Mother Have Searing Head Pain And A Racing Heart?
“Please find something wrong with me,” the 28-year-old woman pleaded. For nearly a year, she’d been looking for a reason for the strange symptoms that now dominated her life. Dr. Raphael Sung, a cardiologist specializing in finding and fixing abnormal heart rhythms at National Jewish Health hospital in Denver, was surprised by her reaction to the news that her heart was normal. Most patients are happy to get that report. For this patient, it seemed like just one more dead end. (Sanders, 10/30)

The Washington Post: Expert: There’s No Evidence That The Fortune Being Spent To ‘Harden’ Schools Against Shooters Will Work -- But Here’s What Will
Last April, a study came out from researchers at the University of Toledo and Ball State University that said the fortune being spent to “harden” public schools to make students safer from gun violence is creating a “false sense of security.” The study, published in the journal Violence and Gender, looked at the literature on the subject from 2000 to 2018 and could not find any program or practice with evidence that it reduced firearm violence. (Strauss, 10/29)

The Wall Street Journal: New York Lawmakers Debate A Tough Topic: Kids Playing Football
New York legislators heard from coaches, league officials, scientists and former football players during a Tuesday hearing to consider a bill banning children under age 13 from playing organized tackle football. All agreed that football involves blows to the head, and that sometimes such trauma eventually can lead to cognitive and behavioral disorders. (Vielkind, 10/29)

The Associated Press: Lawsuit: Fertility Doctor Used Own Sperm To Impregnate Woman
A family alleges in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that a Colorado fertility doctor used his own sperm instead of that of an anonymous donor to impregnate a woman without her consent. KUSA-TV reports that the lawsuit contends Dr. Paul Jones of Grand Junction committed fraud by using his own sperm to artificially inseminate Cheryl Emmons, allowing her to give birth to two daughters in 1980 and 1985, respectively. (10/29)

The Associated Press: Lyft, Uber Will Ask California Voters To Block Employee Law
Some of the country's largest ride-sharing companies proposed a California law on Tuesday that would let them continue to treat drivers as independent contractors while also guaranteeing them a minimum wage and money for health insurance. The state Legislature enacted legislation this year requiring ride-sharing companies to treat drivers as employees, which would let them form a union and entitle them to benefits like a minimum wage and workers compensation. (10/29)

Kansas City Star: KC Veteran Among Many From Iraq, Afghanistan War With Cancer
A McClatchy investigation of cancer among veterans during nearly two decades of war shows a significant increase in cancer cases —like Blair’s — treated by the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system. The review, based on VA health care data obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, found the rate of treatments for urinary cancers ⁠— which include bladder, kidney and ureter cancers ⁠— increased 61 percent from fiscal year 2000 to fiscal year 2018. (Gutierrez, 10/30)

The Associated Press: Potential Listeria Contamination Leads To Apples Recall
A county health department in Illinois says a Michigan company voluntarily is recalling nearly 2,300 cases of apples due to potential listeria contamination. Kane County health officials say Tuesday that North Bay Produce of Traverse City also is recalling two bulk bins of apples. (10/29)

North Carolina Health News: Does NC Help Children Affected By FASD? 
Larry Burd, director of the North Dakota Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Center at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Grand Fork, estimates that one in 20 people are affected by fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, referring to two recent studies looking at first-grade students to come to that conclusion. He compared the results of these studies to research estimating that one in 56 children have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. Attention to autism research and program funding has flourished in recent decades. Meanwhile, he argues, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder likely affects more people but public knowledge and understanding of it are nowhere near the recognition level of autism. (Blythe, 10/30)

Texas Tribune: Austin ISD Sex Ed Battle Could Be Preview Of State-Level Debate
This marks the first time the district has evaluated its sex education curriculum in more than 10 years, and the lessons include topics like gender identity, reproductive anatomy, and body image, tailored for each grade. Opponents of the program, many organized by conservative statewide advocacy group Texas Values, said the curriculum violated Christian family values and included lessons — including on sexual orientation and sexual health — that parents should tackle at home. Proponents, who showed up to the meeting in smaller numbers, argued the lessons would be valuable tools to help LGBTQ students feel supported by teachers and administrators, and would help all students learn to build healthy relationships. (Swaby, 10/29)

New Hampshire Union Leader: Vast Differences For Poor Children Across New Hampshire 
A series of new reports on child poverty shows large disparities between counties. New Futures, a Concord-based public health advocacy organization, released reports on childhood poverty in each of New Hampshire’s 10 counties. ...Belknap County has the highest rate of premature birth in New Hampshire, with 9.3% of babies born before 37 weeks. The lowest rate, 6.4%, is in Grafton County. Grafton and Carroll counties have the highest rates of children without health insurance, at 6.2% and 6% respectively. Hillsborough County has the lowest rate of uninsured children, at 2.4%. Another New Futures reports said the rates of uninsured children have declined as more families got insurance through Medicaid and other public programs. (Albertson-Grove, 10/29)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Moving Inmate Medical Services To Milwaukee County Staff Loses Steam
Moving medical services for inmates held at the Milwaukee County Jail and House of Correction from a private vendor to county staff is seeming less likely — or at least less likely to move forward on its original timeline. A report prepared by leaders of five county departments found "significant additional costs and risks" of county workers taking over the services currently provided by contractor Wellpath. (Dirr, 10/29)

Texas Tribune: Texas Is Getting Ready To Move Homeless Camps Beneath Austin Highways
The Texas Department of Transportation will give move-out notices to people camping under several state overpasses throughout Austin before cleaning the locations next week, according to a spokesperson for Gov. Greg Abbott. ...The news, first reported by KXAN, comes three days before the Friday deadline Austin leaders had to show “consequential improvement” in dealing with homeless people camping in or near highly visible places before risking state intervention. (Rich, 10/29)

Texas Tribune and Grist: Alcoa Got Texas To Approve Lower Cleanup Standards For A Coal Mine
For at least the last two decades, the company has replaced thousands of tons of earth it had excavated to reach the coal seams, covered the land in clean soil and planted grass and other vegetation. And the Texas Railroad Commission, the state agency that oversees coal mining, has approved these remediation efforts. ...But a review of Railroad Commission records, as well as interviews with former agency employees, indicate the mine site may not be in the immaculate condition that the marketing materials describe. The description glosses over the fact that about 70% of the 32,000 acres were once part of a strip mine, where each year the company removed enough dirt and coal to fill the Panama canal and buried coal ash containing toxic heavy metals under hundreds of acres. (Collier and Sadasivam, 10/30)

The New York Times: U.S. Blames Drug Shortages On Low Prices And A ‘Broken Marketplace’
Chronic drug shortages that threaten patient care are caused by rock-bottom prices for older generic medicines and a health care marketplace that doesn’t run on the rules of supply and demand, among other factors, according to a federal report published on Tuesday. The report, the work of a task force led by the Food and Drug Administration and comprising representatives from various federal agencies, recommended that buyers like hospitals consider paying higher prices for older generic drugs. (Rabin, 10/29)

Stat: FDA Issues New Recommendations To Combat Drug Shortages, But Can It Really Fix The Problem?
In a new report, the Food and Drug Administration noted that the number of ongoing shortages has been steadily rising — reaching about 110 — after peaking in 2011 and then declining until last year. Moreover, the agency analyzed 163 drugs for which shortages existed and found that most were relatively lower priced and financially unattractive for manufacturers. (Silverman, 10/29)

Reuters: Ex-FDA Chief Gottlieb Sees Investment Opportunity In 'Unloved' Antibiotics
As a private investor, former U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb is focused on an area where few have found success in recent years: developing new antibiotics. Since leaving the FDA in April, Gottlieb has revealed little about what types of investments he would make in his new role at New Enterprise Associates, one of the country's largest venture capital firms where he worked prior to his time in government. (Spalding, 10/29)

The Hill: House Democrats Clash Over Pelosi's Drug Pricing Bill
Moderate and progressive House Democrats are clashing with each other over changes to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) signature plan to lower drug prices. A group of centrists, including Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), co-chairwoman of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition, has warned leadership that some moderate Democrats might vote against the bill if it moves any further to the left, sources say. (Sullivan, 10/30)

The Associated Press: Pfizer Narrows Its Focus And Profit Soars In 3Q
Pfizer's third-quarter profit nearly doubled after it booked an $8.1 billion gain on paper by creating a consumer health products joint venture, a key part of the drugmaker's plan to slim down and focus on innovative medicines. Those include blockbusters like blood thinner Eliquis, breast cancer drug Ibrance and rheumatoid arthritis pill Xeljanz, which all saw sales jump 18% or more in the latest quarter. (10/29)

Stat: After Big Gains, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Bankrolls Research Toward Cures — And Drugs For Those Left Out
Last week, the cystic fibrosis community celebrated the approval of a new drug from Vertex (VRTX) Pharmaceuticals, a decision that offers the large majority of patients access to cutting-edge treatments. Those treatments, however, don’t cover patients with certain rare mutations. And they are not cures for anyone. (Joseph, 10/30)

NH Times Union: NH Lawmakers Seek Insulin Price Cap 
The head of an advocacy group for people with Type 1 diabetes called a “great first step,” a proposed cap on how much health insurers can charge a month for patients to get insulin. State Rep. Garrett Muscatel, D-Hanover, and Senate Majority Leader Dan Feltes, D-Concord, announced Tuesday they were filing this bill for the 2020 session that would set a price ceiling patients would have to pay of $100 for a 30-day supply. (Landrigan, 10/29)

Stat: Former Axovant CEO David Hung Is Back — Leading A Cancer Biotech With Hefty Funding
The company, Nuvation Bio, aims to be ambitious — according to the press release announcing the round, it has seven “mechanistically distinct programs.” It did not disclose any details about what those programs are, however. Nuvation’s CEO is Dr. David Hung. For Hung, his leadership of the company marks a return to oncology and to the CEO seat. Hung is best known for founding Medivation — which developed Xtandi, a drug for prostate cancer — and then selling the company to Pfizer (PFE) for $14 billion in 2016. (Sheridan, 10/28)

Reuters: New Tuberculosis Treatment For Developing Countries To Cost $1,040
A newly approved three-drug treatment for tuberculosis will be available in 150 countries including India and South Africa, priced at $1,040 for a complete regimen, more than twice the cost proposed in the past by advocacy groups for other treatments. The United Nations-backed Stop TB Partnership said on Monday that BPaL would be obtainable in eligible countries through the Global Drug Facility (GDF), a global provider of TB medicines created in 2001 to negotiate lower prices for treatments. (Maddipatla and Mishra, 10/28)

Bloomberg Law: Oklahoma Drug Pricing Law Latest To Face Legal Challenge
Oklahoma is the latest state to face an ERISA challenge to a law regulating pharmacy benefit managers, according to a complaint filed in the Western District of Oklahoma by the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association. Oklahoma’s Patient’s Right to Pharmacy Choice Act, which is aimed at curbing controversial practices by PBMs like Express Scripts and CVS Health, is preempted by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act and Medicare Part D regulations, the PCMA argued in an Oct. 25 lawsuit. (Wille, 10/28)

Bloomberg Law: Illinois Ends Protracted Drug Pricing Case With $248 Million Deal
Fifteen drugmakers will pay $248 million to settle allegations they manipulated wholesale prices to increase their Medicaid reimbursements, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul (D) said Oct. 28. The settlement brings to $678 million the amount Illinois has been able to recover through a 2005 lawsuit against more than four dozen drug companies. This settlement, announced Oct. 28, resolves the litigation, a statement from Raoul’s office said. (Brown, 10/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Vertex Resolves Yearslong Drug-Price Dispute In England
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. has secured a deal to supply its cystic fibrosis treatments to England’s National Health Service, breaking a four-year deadlock over drug prices that effectively shut the company out of one of its biggest potential markets. Cystic fibrosis causes breathing difficulties. It is an inherited disease and nearly one in ten sufferers globally lives in England—a genetic anomaly that makes the nation unusually important for the Boston-based drug company. (Roland, 10/24)

Stat: More New Medicines Had Publicly Supported Research Than You Might Think
As debate grows over the role that taxpayer dollars play in drug discovery, an analysis finds one in four new medicines approved by regulators over the past decade benefited from publicly supported late-stage research or spinoff companies that were created by public sector research institutions. Moreover, drugs that were approved following major public financing were more likely to have won speedier approvals by the Food and Drug Administration. (Silverman, 10/23)

Stat: The ‘Cancer Growing In Cancer Medicine’: Pharma Money Paid To Doctors
Americans are rightly furious about the high and unsustainable price of cancer drugs, which now routinely cost more than $100,000 per year of therapy. Those prices are made worse by the fact that most cancer drugs offer only modest benefits — one study put the median benefit at 2.1 extra months of life — along with the fact that expert physicians frequently recommend these drugs for off-label uses, meaning using a drug for a purpose it was not initially approved for. The House of Representatives, the Senate, presidential candidates, and even the president have floated proposals to tackle drug prices. While all contain good ideas, none address one of the elephants in the room: the experts who tell doctors how to use these medications. (Vinay Prasad, 10/30)

The Hill: Another Chinese Threat To Our National Security: Prescription Drugs
The many threats from China have been well documented, including the growth and power of its military, its growth as a manufacturing and economic power, and its theft of intellectual property. However, China presents another threat to our national security, one that looms large and, for the most part, has flown under the radar with little attention: the Chinese manufacture of prescription drugs and its status as a supplier of active ingredients used in drug manufacture. (Tom Jurowsky, 10/28)

Bloomberg: A Biotech Giant Not Named Biogen Also Had A Good Week
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc., a nearly $50 billion biotech company that develops treatments for just one rare disease, is having a truly excellent week. On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration approved Trikafta — a highly effective triple combination of drugs for the chronic pulmonary ailment cystic fibrosis — five months ahead of schedule and just three months after Vertex submitted it to the agency. The approval was expected; the exceptional rapidity of it wasn’t. Then Thursday, Vertex announced that the U.K.’s National Health Service will finally cover all of the company’s treatments, resolving a years-long battle over the price of its drugs. Taken together, the good news helped drive up the shares more than 10%, putting the stock on track for its biggest weekly gain in almost a year.  (Max Nisen, 10/25)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Lowering Drug Prices While Finding Cures. Can Both Be Done?
For eight years, Sara Stewart has taken her daughter, Maddie, to 13 departments in UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. First came the blood transfusions, then the hearing aids, insulin pumps, treatment for skin sensitivity and a variety of illnesses. The costs of the procedures and medications are astronomical for the mitochondrial disease, called Pearson syndrome, that saps 10-year-old Maddie of energy like “running an entire house on a AA battery,” said Ms. Stewart, of St. Petersburg, Pa., in Clarion County. (Daniel Moore, 10/28)

Stat: In Generic Drug Plants In China And India, Data Falsification Is Still A Problem
As the generic drug industry faces allegations of data manipulation, headlines about carcinogen-tainted blood pressure medicine, and an intensifying probe by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, whose health subcommittee is holding a hearing on Wednesday on safeguarding our global drug supply, generic drug industry lobbyists are fighting back. (Katherine Eban and Sony Salzman, 10/29)

The Washington Post: Halloween Stirs Childhood Memories Of Sweet Treats. But Adulthood Means Putting That Sweet Tooth In Check.
Ever since Halloween goodies began appearing on grocery store shelves, my sweet tooth has been acting up. It’s craving candy corn, those orange, yellow and white sugary kernels that I couldn’t help but notice now come in gigantic 40-ounce bags.Each bag contains 37 servings, one serving size being 15 pieces. That’s 555 kernels of candy corn, enough to feed a neighborhood of goblins. Or one adult.Just one wouldn’t hurt, says the sweet tooth. It’s been 10 months since I began a whole food, plant-based diet. I thought giving up meat would be tough. It wasn’t. I thought I’d miss milk and eggs. I don’t. It’s the sweet tooth that’s giving me fits. (Courtland Miloy, 10/29)

The Hill: Dementia Impacts Women More And New Approaches Are Needed
Americans are living longer thanks to medical and public health advances and greater access to health care. If you’re a 65-year-old man in the U.S., you can expect to live another 20 years.  American women can expect to live even longer — to age 86.5.While this is good news for most of us, increased longevity also creates new challenges. After we turn 65, our risk of developing dementia doubles every five years. By age 85, nearly one in three of us will have the disease.  The impact on women is even greater. (Nora Super, 10/29)

Stat: Why Didn't The Medicare Shared Saving Program Make Headlines? - 
Like the proverbial tree falling in the forest, if the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services makes a major announcement about how its Shared Savings Program saved three-quarters of a billion dollars last year alone and no one notices, did the savings really matter? No prominent national business publication gave significant coverage to the late September announcement about the impressive savings from this value-based care program. (Shawn Morris, 10/30)

The Hill: 4 Policies We Need To Protect Victims Of Domestic Violence 
Most women who are killed in the United States are killed by a current or former intimate partner, and over half of all intimate partner homicides are committed with guns. Despite what some may believe, guns do not make you safer. There are about 4.5 million women in America who have been threatened with a gun and nearly 1 million women who have been shot or shot at by an intimate partner. We also know that a woman is five times more likely to be murdered when her abuser has access to a gun. In order to reduce domestic violence injuries and fatalities, each state must enhance and enforce its domestic violence and firearms laws. (Lisa Geller, 10/29)

The Washington Post: The Cost Of In-Home Care For Seniors Is Rising. You Could Pay More Than $52,000 A Year. 
When my father-in-law came to live with my family, we hired home health aides to help with his care. He couldn’t cook or feed himself and needed help with bathing and getting dressed. He required assistance taking his medication and even rising from a bed or chair. My father-in-law had a decent amount of savings, but to try to make the money last to cover the long-term care he needed, we hired someone for just four hours in the morning and then another aide came for two hours in the evening to help my father-in-law get ready for bed. The rest of the time my husband and I were his caregivers. (Singletary, 10/29)

The Birmingham News: What Judge’s Ruling On Abortion Ban Means
If you hate the abortion ban, and think it an over-reaching affront to women and healthcare and the modern age, do not waste time celebrating the ruling. It is not a surprise, and it is not a permanent change. Not yet.If you hate abortion, and love the law that would almost wipe it out in Alabama, do not flail and wail. It was the ruling expected by the Alabama Attorney General’s office and the Legislature that wrote the bill that created the law that was meant to be challenged so it could be declared unconstitutional by a lower court. This was always the plan. It was always meant to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. (John Archibald, 10/30)

Des Moines Register: Iowans Should Support, Not Protest, Emma Goldman Clinic
The Associated Press recently reported the number of abortions in the United States is at the lowest level in decades. Since the Supreme Court’s legalization of abortion as a medical procedure, making it both safe and accessible, women have been able to avoid risking their health and lives to terminate a pregnancy. The abortion rate is now less than half what it was in 1990.  According to the Guttmacher Institute, hundreds of state laws restricting abortion access have been enacted in recent years, but these laws were not the main force behind the decline in abortions. Much of the decline occurred in states that did not enact any restrictive laws. (Joyce Janca-Aji, 10/29)

The Oregonian: Air Ambulances A Vital Link For Rural Health Care 
Rural Oregonians are already underserved when it comes to health care. Air ambulances are sometimes our only hope of getting to a high-level facility that can treat us in the event of a heart attack, stroke or other major trauma. Over 100 rural hospitals have closed in this country since 2010; we can’t take any more resources being taken away from us. (Tim Josi, 10/30)

The CT Mirror: Cutting Retirement Benefits To Teachers Is No Solution To Our Education Crisis
We face a crisis in education: we are recruiting and retaining too few teachers. Only 30% of teachers stay for ten years, the time required to vest in the Teachers’ Retirement System. Why is this happening? There are many reasons. The ever-increasing demands on the time and energy of teachers certainly is a factor. So is the low comparative salary. (Alisha Blake, 10/30)

Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Should Not Let $732 Million For Low-Income Families Sit Idle
Tennessee is sitting on $732 million of federal taxpayer dollars that should be going to low-income families. The money has accrued for years from excess revenue from a $190.9 million annual block grant through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. (David Plazas, 10/30)