First Edition: April 4, 2018
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
‘Nightmare Bacteria’ Stalk U.S. Hospitals
Although the CDC has warned of the danger of antibiotic-resistant bacteria for years, the new report helps illustrate the scope of the problem. Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC’s principal deputy director, said she was surprised by the extent of the spread. “As fast as we have run to slow [antibiotic] resistance, some germs have outpaced us,” Schuchat said. “We need to do more and we need to do it faster and earlier.” (Szabo, 4/3)
Kaiser Health News:
Older Americans Are Hooked On Vitamins Despite Scarce Evidence They Work
When she was a young physician, Dr. Martha Gulati noticed that many of her mentors were prescribing vitamin E and folic acid to patients. Preliminary studies in the early 1990s had linked both supplements to a lower risk of heart disease. She urged her father to pop the pills as well: “Dad, you should be on these vitamins, because every cardiologist is taking them or putting their patients on [them],” recalled Gulati, now chief of cardiology for the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix. (Szabo, 4/4)
Kaiser Health News:
Medicare Advantage Plans Cleared To Go Beyond Medical Coverage — Even Groceries
Air conditioners for people with asthma, healthy groceries, rides to medical appointments and home-delivered meals may be among the new benefits added to Medicare Advantage coverage when new federal rules take effect next year. On Monday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) expanded how it defines the “primarily health-related” benefits that insurers are allowed to include in their Medicare Advantage policies. And insurers would include these extras on top of providing the benefits traditional Medicare offers. (Jaffe, 4/3)
Kaiser Health News:
Atlanta Struggles To Meet MLK’s Legacy On Health Care
While public safety commissioner Bull Connor’s police dogs in 1963 attacked civil rights protesters in Birmingham, Ala., leaders in Martin Luther King Jr.’s hometown of Atlanta were burnishing its reputation as “the city too busy to hate. ”Yet 50 years after the civil rights leader was killed, some public health leaders here wonder whether the city is failing to live up to King’s call for justice in health care. They point to substantial disparities, particularly in preventive care. (Anderson, 4/4)
The New York Times:
The Final Obamacare Tally Is In. About 400,000 Fewer People Signed Up This Year.
The Trump administration said on Tuesday that 11.8 million people had signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces for 2018 — roughly 400,000 fewer than last year. The drop was relatively small, given that Mr. Trump had sharply cut federal outreach efforts and the open enrollment period was half as long as in past years. Virtually the entire decrease came in the 39 states that use the marketplace run by the federal government, HealthCare.gov. (Goodnough, 4/3)
The Wall Street Journal:
Nearly 12 Million People Enrolled In Health Coverage Under The Affordable Care Act
Many analysts had expected a lower sign-up figure because of the abbreviated enrollment window. Groups that support the ACA said the figures showed that Americans are embracing the health law despite Republican efforts to dismantle it. “The American people don’t want to go back to a time when insurers could deny them health care for having a pre-existing condition or be priced out of the market based on their age, gender or medical history,” said Brad Woodhouse, campaign director for the advocacy group Protect Our Care. (Armour, 4/3)
The Washington Post:
Nearly 12 Million People Enrolled In 2018 Health Coverage Under The ACA
In an uncharacteristic move, CMS Administrator Seema Verma announced the fifth-year tally in a series of tweets shortly before the report was issued late Tuesday afternoon. The tweets were a blend of praise for what she called “the most cost-effective and successful open enrollment to date” and the Trump administration’s characteristic naysaying about the marketplaces that were created by the sprawling 2010 health-care law it has been seeking to dismantle. (Goldstein, 4/3)
Reuters:
U.S. Obamacare 2018 Exchange Enrollment Drops 3 Percent: CMS
U.S. President Donald Trump in October cut off billions of dollars in subsidy payments to insurers that help people pay for medical costs, causing insurers to raise 2018 premiums or drop out of selling plans in the Obamacare marketplace. His administration also halved the enrollment period to six weeks and cut the federal advertising and outreach budget by 90 percent. It also has proposed putting cheaper insurance policies offering bare-bones medical coverage on the Obamacare market in 2019 or 2020. (Erman and Humer, 4/3)
The Associated Press:
Premiums Shoot Up, But Many Are Paying Less For 'Obamacare'
Consumers getting financial assistance under former President Barack Obama's health care law will pay lower premiums this year, even though the "list price" for their health insurance shot up. That odd result is reflected in a report issued Tuesday by the Trump administration. After federal aid, the average monthly premium paid by subsidized customers on HealthCare.gov is dropping to $89 from last year's $106. That's a 16 percent savings even though the "list price" premium went up about 30 percent, now averaging $639 for those subsidized customers. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 4/3)
The Hill:
Poll: Just 30 Percent Know ObamaCare Mandate Was Repealed
Just 30 percent of the public knows that ObamaCare’s individual mandate has been repealed, according to a new poll. The poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that, even after Congress repealed the mandate to have insurance as part of tax reform in December, much of the public is still confused about whether there is a requirement to have health insurance. (Sullivan, 4/3)
USA Today:
FDA Orders Kratom Distributor To Do Recall Over Salmonella
Federal drug regulators issued their first-ever mandatory recall Tuesday to a company selling several products containing the herbal supplement kratom and contaminated with Salmonella. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it issued the order because Triangle Pharmanaturals of Las Vegas refused to cooperate. (O'Donnell, 4/3)
The Associated Press:
FDA Orders Recall Of Salmonella-Tainted Herbal Supplement
The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that it took the rare step of ordering the recall because Triangle Pharmanaturals refused to cooperate with U.S. regulators. Companies typically comply with government requests and voluntarily recall tainted products. Calls and an email to the company were not immediately returned Tuesday morning. (Perrone, 4/3)
The Washington Post:
In A First, FDA Orders Recall Of A ‘Contaminated Food’ — Kratom With Salmonella
The FDA doesn't have the authority to order mandatory recalls for drugs and seeks voluntary recalls if it sees a safety problem. But it got mandatory-recall authority for tainted food under the Food Safety and Modernization Act that went into effect in 2011. “This action is based on the imminent health risk posed by the contamination of this product with salmonella, and the refusal of this company to voluntarily act to protect its customers and issue a recall, despite our repeated requests and actions,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement. (McGinley, 4/3)
The Associated Press:
CDC: Drug-Resistant 'Nightmare Bacteria' Pose Growing Threat
"Nightmare bacteria" with unusual resistance to antibiotics of last resort were found more than 200 times in the United States last year in a first-of-a-kind hunt to see how much of a threat these rare cases are becoming, health officials said Tuesday. That's more than they had expected to find, and the true number is probably higher because the effort involved only certain labs in each state, officials say. (Marchione, 4/3)
The Wall Street Journal:
Rare Superbugs More Widespread Than Thought, Says CDC
The bacteria samples were from patients with pneumonia, urinary-tract infections, and other conditions in hospitals, nursing homes and other health-care facilities in 27 states, the CDC said. “CDC’s study found several dangerous pathogens, hiding in plain sight, that can cause infections that are difficult or impossible to treat,” said Anne Schuchat, the CDC’s principal deputy director. She said she was surprised by the large numbers. “This was more than I was expecting,” she said. (McKay, 4/3)
The Hill:
CDC Finds 'Nightmare Bacteria' Spreading Across The Country
More than 23,000 Americans die each year from infections caused by germs resistant to antibiotics, the CDC said. The agency has developed a new system aimed at quickly identifying the superbugs, including helping staff at state health departments and lab facilities to test samples and isolate infected patients. (Weixel, 4/3)
NPR:
CDC Reports Efforts To Track 'Nightmare Bacteria' Is Turning Up
But detecting these rare germs also presents an opportunity. Once a case is detected, the CDC, along with state and local health officials, can swoop in and reduce the chance that these germs will spread. Infection control measures in nursing homes and hospitals can be ramped up. Medical personnel and family members who have been in close contact with these patients can be tested rapidly to see if they are also carrying the dangerous bacteria. "Because of the additional testing capacity that we have, we have found a lot of these scary bacteria around the country but we've found them in ones and twos and not everywhere," Schuchat says. "So there's a chance to keep them from becoming widespread." (Harris, 4/3)
Stateline:
New Momentum For Addiction Treatment Behind Bars
From the moment they are arrested, people with an addiction to heroin and prescription painkillers and those who are taking medications to beat their addictions face the prospect of painful opioid withdrawal. At least a quarter of the people in U.S. prisons and jails are addicted to opioids. Those who are released rejoin their communities with dangerously reduced tolerance and nothing to blunt their drug cravings, making them highly susceptible to a deadly overdose. (Vestal, 4/4)
The Hill:
CMS Tweaks Opioid Proposal After Backlash
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a sweeping final Medicare rule that included altering a draft proposal aimed at curbing the opioid epidemic that had proven controversial. The agency had received pushback on a proposal that would have meant a prescription for high doses of opioids (90 milligrams of morphine per day or more) automatically wouldn’t be filled and the patient would need special permission from their private insurance company in order to receive the medication. (Roubein, 4/3)
The Associated Press:
Gov. Murphy Wants New Opioid Spending But Not For Commercials
Gov. Phil Murphy said Tuesday he wants $100 million in new spending to address New Jersey's opioid crisis while shutting down the prospect of any Chris Christie-style public service announcements to promote substance abuse treatment. Murphy, a Democrat, outlined the budget proposal Tuesday at the Rescue Mission of Trenton, a recovery house for poor residents and those with drug addiction that Christie, the Republican former governor, also visited throughout his two terms. (4/3)
Buzzfeed News:
Grindr Will Stop Sharing Users' HIV Data With Other Companies
The popular gay hookup app Grindr said late on Monday that it would stop sharing information about its users' HIV status with third-party analytics companies. The announcement came after BuzzFeed News revealed that Grindr had been securely providing two companies — Apptimize and Localytics, commonly used services to help optimize apps — with some of the information that Grindr users include in their profiles, including HIV status and "last tested date." (Ghorayshi, 4/2)
The Washington Post:
Grindr Will Stop Sharing HIV Data To Third-Party Firms Amid Backlash
Bryce Case, Grindr’s head of security, said that sharing information with Apptimize and Localytics is “standard industry practice for rolling out and debugging software” and was done securely to test and optimize the app’s features, such as HIV testing reminders. “Any information we provide to our software vendors including HIV status information is encrypted and at no point did we share sensitive information like HIV status with advertisers,” Case said in a statement. “As the testing of our feature is completed, any information related to HIV status has been removed from Apptimize and we are in the process of discussing removal of this data from Localytics.” (Phillips, 4/3)
The Associated Press:
Gay Dating App Grindr To Stop Sharing HIV Status
Grindr says it’s important to remember it is a public forum and users have the option to post information about their HIV status and date when last tested. It says its users should carefully consider what information they list in their profiles. (4/3)
The New York Times:
Grindr Sets Off Privacy Firestorm After Sharing Users’ H.I.V.-Status Data
An increasing number of online users in the United States, along with some members of Congress, are questioning the tech industry’s largely unfettered collection and data-mining of consumers’ personal details. The Grindr controversy also highlights the widening regulatory gap between the United States, which lacks a comprehensive federal consumer privacy law, and Europe, where privacy is viewed as a fundamental human right, with laws to back it up. (Singer, 4/3)
Buzzfeed News:
Two Senators Just Demanded That Grindr Explain How It's Sharing Its User Data
Two Democratic senators sent letters to the popular gay dating app Grindr on Tuesday, asking for detailed information about how they handle sensitive user data. Letters also went to Apptimize and Localytics, the two analytics companies that Grindr sent its users' HIV status data to. “Simply using an app should not give companies a license to carelessly handle, use, or share this type of sensitive information,” the letter, written by Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, stated. “Grindr and those with whom it shares its users’ sensitive information has an obligation to both protect this data and ensure users have meaningful control over it.” (Ghorayshi, 4/3)
Stat:
New Alcohol-Advertising Research Stopped With NIH Branch Director's Arrival
The branch of the National Institutes of Health that studies alcohol abuse has not funded any new research by outside scientists specifically on the effects of alcohol advertising since its current director took over in 2014, according to a STAT analysis of grants. At least seven such studies were funded in the decade before George Koob became director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in 2014. No new grants have been awarded since. (Begley and Joseph, 4/4)
Stat:
Drug-Loaded Hydrogel Responds To Arthritis Flare-Ups In Real Time
Scientists have created a drug-loaded hydrogel that can be injected into a joint and respond in real time to an arthritis flare-up. Biomedical engineer Jeff Karp and his colleagues at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston tucked an arthritis drug, triamcinolone acetonide, inside a hydrogel that breaks down as inflammation in the knee joints of arthritic mice ramps up. Alivio Therapeutics — a biotech company co-founded by Karp — is working to use the technology on a range of inflammatory diseases. (Thielking, 4/3)
Stat:
Kite Pharma Veterans Launching New Firm To Develop Off-The-Shelf CAR-T
The two former Kite Pharma executives behind a game-changing cancer-killing technology are launching their next act: a new company to develop a suite of so-called off-the-shelf CAR-T therapy assets, designed so that they do not need to be personalized for each cancer patient. Allogene Therapeutics, which was unveiled Tuesday morning, has raised $300 million to acquire and advance a portfolio of experimental cell therapies previously controlled by Pfizer. As a consequence of the deal, Pfizer is getting out of the business of being a major CAR-T player, though it will take a 25 percent ownership stake in Allogene. (Robbins, 4/3)
The New York Times:
All The Amenities Airlines Are Offering For Healthier Flights
Wellness isn’t a concept that seems synonymous with the ever-growing hassles of flying, but that could finally be changing. Some airlines are embracing the idea of healthier flying, offering calorie-conscious menus and new exercise videos. According to Beth McGroarty, research director for The Global Wellness Institute, a nonprofit organization for the wellness industry, even as seats shrink and flights get more crowded, many carriers want air travel to be more bearable (and even enjoyable). They believe wellness is the way to do that. “It’s part of the larger wellness movement happening in the travel industry,” she said. (Vora, 4/4)
Los Angeles Times:
A Sudden Loss Of Wealth May Be Hazardous To Your Health
Your financial health may have more bearing on your physical health than you realize. American adults who experienced a sudden and substantial loss of wealth were 50% more likely to die in a 20-year period than were others in their age group whose financial picture remained relatively stable, or improved. (Kaplan, 4/3)
NPR:
Loss Of Wealth Tied To Higher Death Risk
An analysis involving more than 8,000 Americans found that those who suffered a "negative wealth shock" — defined as losing at least 75 percent of their wealth in two years — faced a 50 percent increased risk of dying over the next two decades. "That was surprising," says Lindsay Pool, a research assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University. "A 50 percent increased risk of mortality over a 20-year period is a lot." (Stein, 4/3)
Politico:
California’s Path To Universal Health Care Pits Pragmatists Against Single-Payer Holdouts
It’s the pragmatists versus the idealists in California’s latest quest for universal health care. Increasing numbers of lawmakers and advocates are pushing for policy goals that realistically can be accomplished this year. But there’s an unrelenting camp clinging to single-payer-or-bust. The Golden State, which has been pushing back against the Trump administration on multiple fronts, is leaning toward the more incremental approach. This includes bills and budget items that would cover everything from insuring undocumented adults to preventing Medicaid work requirements and shielding the state from insurance products favored by the GOP, such as short-term plans. (Colliver, 4/3)
The New York Times:
Inside A Private Prison: Blood, Suicide And Poorly Paid Guards
On the witness stand and under pressure, Frank Shaw, the warden of the East Mississippi Correctional Facility, could not guarantee that the prison was capable of performing its most basic function. Asked if the guards were supposed to keep inmates in their cells, he said, wearily, “They do their best.” According to evidence and testimony at a federal civil rights trial, far worse things were happening at the prison than inmates strolling around during a lockdown: A mentally ill man on suicide watch hanged himself, gang members were allowed to beat other prisoners, and those whose cries for medical attention were ignored resorted to setting fires in their cells. (Williams, 4/3)
The Washington Post:
Ancestry.Com DNA Test Revealed A Woman’s Biological Father Was Her Family’s Fertility Doctor, Lawsuit Says
When Kelli Rowlette received the results from a DNA sample she had sent to a popular genealogy website, she assumed there had been a mistake. The test showed that her DNA matched a sample from a doctor more than 500 miles away — and, though she had never heard of him, Ancestry.com predicted a parent-child relationship between the two. At the time, Rowlette was not aware that more than 36 years ago, her parents had struggled to conceive. (Bever, 4/3)
The Washington Post:
New D.C. Public Hospital Will Be Half As Large As Current Facility, Report Says
D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s plan to replace United Medical Center, Southeast Washington’s troubled public hospital, calls for a new facility less than half its size, according to proposals to be released Tuesday. The new medical center would be built by the city on the sprawling campus of St. Elizabeths Hospital — a 19th-century psychiatric facility that today is home to a small public hospital for the mentally ill and a large swath of land slated for redevelopment — and would have 106 beds, at a cost of $248 million, according to the reports. (Jamison, 4/3)
The Washington Post:
Synthetic Cannabinoids Linked To Severe Bleeding, Deaths In Chicago And Central Illinois
Health officials in Illinois are warning people about mock marijuana that is spreading across Chicago and the central part of the state, causing severe bleeding among users and, in some cases, death. Synthetic cannabinoids, also known as K2 or Spice, has been linked to 56 cases in which people in the state experienced severe bleeding after using the substance, officials with the Illinois Department of Public Health said in a statement. The users were hospitalized — and two of them died — after coughing up blood, finding blood in their urine or bleeding from their noses or gums, officials said. (Bever, 4/3)
Los Angeles Times:
Judge Threatens To Bar O.C. From Enforcing Anti-Camping Laws If It Can't Shelter Homeless
The political crisis over homelessness in Orange County approached a crucial moment Tuesday as a federal judge raised the prospect of barring local governments from enforcing anti-camping ordinances if officials cannot create temporary shelters for hundreds being swept out of tent cities. The county for weeks has been struggling to find locations to place the homeless after removing them from an encampment along the Santa Ana River. A plan to place temporary shelters in Irvine, Laguna Niguel and Huntington Beach died amid loud protests from residents last week, and the problem is expected to get worse as officials move to clear out another tent city at the Santa Ana Civic Center. (Fry, 4/3)