First Edition: August 14, 2019
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Trump Administration Hits Brakes On Law To Curb Unneeded Medicare CT Scans, MRIs
Five years after Congress passed a law to reduce unnecessary MRIs, CT scans and other expensive diagnostic imaging tests that could harm patients and waste money, federal officials have yet to implement it. The law requires that doctors consult clinical guidelines set by the medical industry before Medicare will pay for many common exams for enrollees. Health care providers who go way beyond clinical guidelines in ordering these scans (the 5% who order the most tests that are inappropriate) will, under the law, be required after that to get prior approval from Medicare for their diagnostic imaging. But after physicians argued the provision would interfere with their practices, the Trump administration delayed putting the 2014 law in place until January 2020, two years later than originally planned. (Galewitz, 8/14)
Kaiser Health News:
As States Strive To Stabilize Insurance Marketplaces, Insurers Return
California’s ACA exchange is not the only one benefiting from the renewed interest of insurance companies. Other states are expected to see more insurers enter or re-enter their marketplaces next year. That’s a critical signal, experts said, that the state-based marketplaces, which cover about 11 million people nationally, are becoming more robust and less risky for insurers — despite ongoing political and legal battles over the ACA. “It’s taken longer than expected, due in part to the political rancor, but things seem poised to go well for next year,” said Katherine Hempstead, a senior policy adviser at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “The ACA market is becoming a better place for insurers and consumers.” (Findlay, 8/14)
California Healthline:
Going Down Fighting: Dying Activist Champions ‘Medicare For All’
When Santa Barbara lawyer-turned-activist Ady Barkan settled in to watch the second round of the Democratic presidential primary debates late last month, he had no idea his story would be part of the heated discussion. Barkan, 35, who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, watched from his wheelchair as Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren described how he and his family had to raise money online to help pay for roughly $9,000 a month in health care costs not covered by his private health insurance. (Almendrala, 8/14)
The Washington Post:
Calif. Jurisdictions Sue To Block Policy That Denies Poor Immigrants Access To Path To Citizenship
Two Northern California governments filed a legal challenge to the Trump administration’s new effort to deny green cards to immigrants who use Medicaid, food stamps or other public aid, or might in the future, calling the new rule “irrational” and “vague.” Officials with Santa Clara County and San Francisco said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that the “public charge” rule “coerces” legal immigrants into dropping out of public health, food and housing programs, which could lead local governments to carry the burden of millions of dollars in public assistance. The jurisdictions asked a judge with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to block the policy immediately. (Sacchetti, 8/13)
The New York Times:
California Counties Sue To Block Trump’s New Green Card Test
San Francisco and Santa Clara County in California filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block the Trump administration from implementing a new rule that would deny permanent residency to legal immigrants if they are judged likely to use government benefit programs. President Trump issued the regulation, called the public charge rule, on Monday. Starting in October, the federal government plans to base decisions about permanent legal status on a wealth test: Poor immigrants would be denied if they are deemed likely to use programs like food stamps or subsidized housing, while wealthier immigrants designated as less likely to require public assistance would be approved. (Zaveri and Padilla, 8/13)
The Associated Press:
California Counties Sue Over Public Benefit Immigration Rule
In a filing, the counties of Santa Clara and San Francisco argued that the rules will worsen the health and well-being of their residents, increase public health risks and financially harm the counties. The rules, the counties argued, would result in a “chilling effect” in which migrants forgo or disenroll from federal public assistance programs to reduce the risk of being denied a green card. This practice would mean that the cost of services would shift from federal to state governments, the counties argued. (Maldonado, 8/13)
The Wall Street Journal:
San Francisco, Santa Clara County File Suit To Block Rule On Green Cards
The plaintiffs say in their 23-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, that the rule changing the definition of who might become a “public charge” under federal immigration law is “not only harmful; it is also unlawful.” The Justice Department didn’t respond to a request to comment. (Caldwell, 8/13)
Reuters:
San Francisco Sues Trump Administration Over Rule To Limit Legal Immigration
“The final rule will worsen the health and well-being of the counties’ residents, increase risks to the public health, undermine the counties’ health and safety-net systems, and inflict significant financial harm,” the suit said. San Francisco is both a city and a county. Santa Clara County includes the city of San Jose and various other parts of Silicon Valley. (Trotta, 8/13)
The Associated Press:
New Mexico Says Public Benefit Immigrant Rule May Hurt Kids
New Mexico’s human services secretary fears that children may be deprived of food assistance and other vital services under the Trump administration’s new rule to deny green cards to migrants who use Medicaid, food stamps and other forms of public assistance. (8/14)
NPR:
Cuccinelli Twists Statue Of Liberty Poem To Defend New Immigration Rule
"Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge," Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said Tuesday, twisting Emma Lazarus' famous words on a bronze plaque at the Statue of Liberty. Cuccinelli was speaking to NPR's Morning Edition about a new regulation he announced Monday that targets legal immigration. The rule denies green cards and visas to immigrants if they use — or are deemed likely to need — federal, state and local government benefits including food stamps, housing vouchers and Medicaid. The change stands to impact hundreds of thousands of immigrants who come to the United States legally every year. (Ingber and Martin, 8/13)
The Washington Post:
Agency Did Not Conduct Required Oversight Of Program For Those With Disabilities
Health and Human Services officials have failed to conduct required visits of independent living programs for thousands of people with intellectual and physical disabilities, the agency’s Office of the Inspector General found. The Administration for Community Living, created within HHS in 2012, administers two independent living programs, which aim to help people with disabilities find housing services, job opportunities and other resources. By law, ACL must carry out compliance reviews of at least 15 percent of the programs that receive federal funding and in at least one-third of the states that receive the funding. The inspector general found ACL has not conducted such visits since it assumed oversight of the programs five years ago. (Abutaleb, 8/14)
The New York Times:
Screen All Adult Patients For Drug Abuse, National Panel Urges
A national panel of health experts recommended on Tuesday that doctors screen all adult patients for illicit drug use, including improper use of prescription medications. But the group, the United States Preventive Services Task Force, stopped short of endorsing such screening for teenagers, a position that puts them at odds with major adolescent health groups. The panel, which is appointed by the federal Department of Health and Human Services but operates independently, said that its proposed guidelines are intended to combat alarmingly high rates of substance abuse in the United States. It cited a 2017 federal survey that found 1 in 10 Americans ages 18 and older said they were using illicit drugs or not using medications in ways that doctors intended. (Hoffman, 8/13)
The Washington Post:
U.S. Health Panel Recommends Doctors Screen All Adults For Illicit Drug Use
The recommendation is the first time the panel has concluded there is enough evidence to support screening all adults. In 2008, it declined to do so. The guidance is important because the Affordable Care Act requires that services recommended by the task force be covered free or with very small co-payments. The proposed recommendations are open for public comment until Sept. 9, after which the task force will consider them for final approval. (Bernstein, 8/13)
Los Angeles Times:
All U.S. Adults Should Be Screened For Illicit Drug Use, Expert Panel Says
Questions about drug use should not only cover the possibility that a patient is taking illegal street drugs like cocaine or heroin, the task force said. They should also explore whether a patient might be sneaking pills from a family member’s pain medication or getting a boost from stimulants prescribed for a child with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. (Healy, 8/13)
The Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Task Force Advises Doctors To Ask Adults About Illicit Drug Use
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force—an independent panel of medical experts whose recommendations can be pivotal for insurance plans under existing federal law—released a draft recommendation that doctors ask their patients about illicit drug use, including opioid painkillers, so they can be directed to treatment. The panel also wants doctors to inquire about drug use on patient questionnaires in doctors’ offices. (Burton, 8/13)
The New York Times:
Why Doesn’t America Have Universal Health Care? One Word: Race
One hundred and fifty years after the freed people of the South first petitioned the government for basic medical care, the United States remains the only high-income country in the world where such care is not guaranteed to every citizen. In the United States, racial health disparities have proved as foundational as democracy itself. “There has never been any period in American history where the health of blacks was equal to that of whites,” Evelynn Hammonds, a historian of science at Harvard University, says. “Disparity is built into the system.” Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act have helped shrink those disparities. But no federal health policy yet has eradicated them. (Interlandi, 8/14)
The New York Times:
How False Beliefs In Physical Racial Difference Still Live In Medicine Today
Today Cartwright’s 1851 paper reads like satire, Hamilton’s supposedly scientific experiments appear simply sadistic and, last year, a statue commemorating Sims in New York’s Central Park was removed after prolonged protest that included women wearing blood-splattered gowns in memory of Anarcha, Betsey, Lucy and the other enslaved women he brutalized. And yet, more than 150 years after the end of slavery, fallacies of black immunity to pain and weakened lung function continue to show up in modern-day medical education and philosophy. ... Recent data also shows that present-day doctors fail to sufficiently treat the pain of black adults and children for many medical issues. A 2013 review of studies examining racial disparities in pain management published in The American Medical Association Journal of Ethics found that black and Hispanic people — from children with appendicitis to elders in hospice care — received inadequate pain management compared with white counterparts. (Villarosa, 8/14)
The Washington Post:
Abortion Support Remains Steady Despite Growing Partisan Divide, Survey Finds
At a time when antiabortion measures are sweeping the United States, one of the largest-ever surveys on abortion attitudes finds support for legal abortion has held steady. No more than a quarter of residents in any state supports a total ban despite the increasing political divide on the issue. The Public Religion Research Institute survey released Tuesday involves an extraordinarily large sample of 40,292 interviews measuring abortion attitudes throughout 2018, allowing it to produce nuanced results for individual states and for very small demographic groups. It found that Americans remain generally supportive of abortion rights, with 54 percent saying it should be legal in all or most cases and 40 percent saying it should be illegal. These numbers are nearly the same as a similar 2014 survey when 55 percent of Americans said abortion should be legal. (Cha and Clement, 8/13)
The Associated Press:
Opponents Warn A Tennessee Abortion Ban Will Cost Taxpayers
Tennessee lawmakers were warned Tuesday that, should the GOP-controlled Legislature choose to pass one of the strictest abortion bans in the nation, taxpayers will likely be forced to pick up cost of the losing battle. Abortion rights groups threatened to sue the state during the two-day hearing revolving around proposed legislation seeking to ban abortion once a pregnancy is detected. However, Republican lawmakers bristled at similar sentiments from the GOP-friendly Tennessee Right to Life. (Kruesi, 8/13)
The Associated Press:
Gillibrand To Visit St. Louis To Decry State Abortion Limits
Democratic presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand is planning to hold a reproductive rights town hall in St. Louis, home of Missouri’s last remaining abortion clinic. A new state law bans most abortions at the eighth week of pregnancy. But the restrictions have yet to take effect and have been challenged in federal court. The New York senator has made defending women’s rights the bedrock of her presidential bid. (8/13)
The Associated Press:
Kansas Says Aetna Still Not Living Up To Contract Terms
The Kansas health department says insurance company Aetna is still not living up to the terms of its $1 billion contract with the state’s Medicaid program. The Wichita Eagle reports that the state has rejected a corrective action plan Aetna submitted in response to a non-compliance letter Kansas sent it last month. (8/13)
The Associated Press:
Louisiana Health Leaders Defend Medicaid Contract Decisions
Louisiana health department leaders Tuesday defended new Medicaid managed care contracts and tried to reassure lawmakers that health plan changes won’t disrupt patient access to services, even as legal disputes threaten to create further complications. More than a half-million Medicaid recipients will have to transfer to new health plans under the contract changes. (DeSlatte, 8/13)
The Associated Press:
Kentucky Nursing Home To Pay $2.2M In Negligence Lawsuit
A jury has ordered a Kentucky nursing home to pay more than $2.2 million in damages for acting negligently and failing to properly care for a 92-year-old patient with dementia. ... The nursing home was sued in 2017 over the death of Mary Opal Moore, who lived at the center from December 2014 to March 2015. The lawsuit says Moore wasn’t properly treated during her time at the facility and was kicked out over switching to Medicaid. She died weeks after leaving the facility. (8/13)
Los Angeles Times:
$13 Million Awarded To Sexual Abuse Victims At Ventura Hospital
In a case experts say rarely goes to trial, a jury this week awarded more than $13 million to three women who were sexually assaulted while patients at a private psychiatric hospital in Ventura County. Three years ago, Juan Valencia, a mental health worker at Aurora Vista del Mar Hospital in Ventura, pleaded guilty to sex crimes involving female patients in 2013. He was sentenced to more than six years in jail. (Karlamangla, 8/13)
The Associated Press:
Jury Awards $13M To Former Patients Of Psychiatric Facility
A jury has awarded more than $13 million to three women, finding they were harmed and did not consent to sexual contact by an employee of a California psychiatric facility. The Ventura County Star reports the jury found Monday that the Aurora Vista del Mar Hospital in Ventura, its parent company Signature Healthcare Services and former employee Juan Valencia all bear responsibility. (8/13)
USA Today:
NYPD Officer Kills Himself Amid Rash Of Police Suicides
A New York Police Department officer killed himself Tuesday in Yonkers, the eighth NYPD officer to die by suicide this year. ... "The NYPD suffered another tragedy today with the loss of another officer to suicide," the department said in a Tweet. "To those who may be facing struggles – Help is always available, you are not alone." (Spillane, 8/13)
The Wall Street Journal:
NYPD Officer Kills Himself In Eighth Department Suicide This Year
NYPD officials have said that in a typical year four or five officers die by suicide and called the spike in 2019 a mental health crisis. ... The NYPD said that 2019 is on track to see the highest number of officer suicides in a year in more than a decade. Four of the six deaths in 2019 occurred in June, a cluster that prompted police officials to rethink mental health protocols and ask departments in other cities for advice on how they are working to prevent officer suicides. (Chapman, 8/13)
NPR:
Air Pollution May Be As Harmful To Your Lungs As Smoking Cigarettes, Study Finds
Emphysema is considered a smoker's disease. But it turns out, exposure to air pollution may lead to the same changes in the lung that give rise to emphysema. A new study published Tuesday in JAMA finds that long-term exposure to slightly elevated levels of air pollution can be linked to accelerated development of lung damage, even among people who have never smoked. (Janney, 8/13)
NPR:
Newark's Drinking Water Problem: Lead And Unreliable Filters
Last fall, Newark gave out more than 40,000 water filters, even going door to door to reach families with lead service lines. The toxin is believed to have leached into drinking water through the old pipes between water treatment plants and people's homes. Free filters and cartridges would remove 99% of lead, the city of Newark said. But recent test results introduced an element of doubt about that claim. ... Samples showed the filtered drinking water had lead levels exceeding 15 parts per billion, which is the federal and state standard, EPA regional administrator Peter Lopez said. (Ingber, 8/13)
The Wall Street Journal:
New York City Councilwoman Wants Patient Advocate Office
A bill set to be introduced Wednesday in the New York City Council seeks to create a new office to receive and report on complaints against health-care facilities and providers. Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, chairwoman of the council’s Committee on Hospitals, is seeking to create an office of the patient advocate housed within the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The office would help people regarding medical services and coverage, including concerns or inquiries relating to providers, facilities and health insurance. (West, 8/13)
The New York Times:
Drinking Bleach Won’t Cure Cancer Or Anything Else, F.D.A. Says
The Food and Drug Administration was dragged into the online world of medical misinformation this week, telling consumers not to drink bleach solutions that are being marketed as cures for autism, cancer, H.I.V./AIDS and other medical conditions. It was the latest example of how health authorities must sometimes pit science against the viral power of the internet, which regularly serves as a platform for inaccurate medical advice and unproven claims of breakthroughs. (Hoffman, 8/13)
The New York Times:
‘Juul-Alikes’ Are Filling Shelves With Sweet, Teen-Friendly Nicotine Flavors
After Juul Labs, under pressure from the Food and Drug Administration, stopped selling most of its hugely popular flavored nicotine pods in stores last fall, upstart competitors swooped in to grab the shelf space. Trumpeting their own fruity and candy-flavored pods as compatible with Juul devices, they have seen their sales soar. The proliferation of “Juul-alikes” is not only complicating Juul’s efforts to clean up its tarnished image, but also shows just how entrenched the youth vaping problem has become and that voluntary measures are unlikely to solve it. (Kaplan, 8/13)
USA Today:
How Doctors Really Feel About Data From Your Apple Watch, Fitbit
It's clear that consumers love wearables and the information they provide – but do physicians? Doctors have mixed views on how patients gather and present information from gadgets with quasi-medical aspirations. Most say its a plus that patients can collect and curate more health-related data than ever before. However, bringing printed out pages of calories burned or counted steps to your next check-up isn't exactly advised. (Brown, 8/14)