First Edition: June 25, 2018
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Fearing Deportation, Immigrant Parents Are Opting Out Of Health Benefits For Kids
The fear of family separation is nothing new for many immigrants already living in the U.S. In fact, that fear, heightened in recent weeks, has been forcing a tough decision for a while. Advocates say a growing number of American children are dropping out of Medicaid and other government programs because their parents are not citizens. Marlene is an undocumented resident of Texas and has two children who are U.S. citizens who qualify for Medicaid, the federal-state program for low-income people. (Kaiser Health News is not using Marlene’s last name because of her immigration status.) One of her children has some disabilities. (Lopez, 6/25)
Kaiser Health News:
Rx: Zucchini, Brown Rice, Turkey Soup. Medicaid Plan Offers Food As Medicine.
These medically tailored meals — all with limited salt and carbohydrates — are designed to keep [Feliciano] Pagan, who has congestive heart failure, out of the hospital. Health Partners Plans, the nonprofit company that runs the Medicaid health plan Pagan belongs to, is betting on it. Since 2015, Health Partners has joined a small group of insurers around the country to offer some members specially designed meals to improve their health. (Galewitz, 6/25)
The New York Times:
Reuniting And Detaining Migrant Families Pose New Mental Health Risks
The chaotic process of reuniting thousands of migrant children and parents separated by the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy poses great psychological risks, both short- and long-term, mental health experts said on Friday. So does holding those families indefinitely while they await legal proceedings, which could happen under the president’s new executive order. The administration has no clear plan to reunite migrant families, which is sure to carry a psychological price for migrant parents and more than 2,300 children separated from them at the border in recent months. More than 400 are under age 12, and many are toddlers. (Carey, 6/22)
The New York Times:
The Challenges For Doctors Treating Migrant Children Separated From Their Parents
Clinicians at public hospitals in New York City who have started seeing children separated from their families at the border are concerned about the psychological impact of the separation as well as the practical challenge of treating children whose medical history is unknown. At a news conference on Thursday, officials announced that at least 12 such children had been seen at public hospitals including Bellevue, Kings County and North Central Bronx, brought in by their new caretakers. Dr. Mitchell Katz, president and chief executive of NYC Health & Hospitals, described the children “being brought in by loving foster families struggling to take care of these children,” but aware that they have been traumatized by the separation. (Klass, 6/25)
The Washington Post:
Separated Immigrant Children Are All Over The U.S. Now, Far From Parents Who Don’t Know Where They Are
Their mothers are missing, their fathers far away. They get pizza, maybe cold cuts. They are exhausted; they cannot sleep. There are other children around, but they had never seen those kids before, and those kids are crying or screaming or rocking or spreading the feeling that everything is not okay. The children who were forcibly separated from their parents at the border by the United States government are all over the country now, in Michigan and Maryland, in foster homes in California and shelters in Virginia, in cold, institutional settings with adults who are not permitted to touch them or with foster parents who do not speak Spanish but who hug them when they cry. (Sacchetti, Sieff and Fisher, 6/24)
Los Angeles Times:
Administration Says It Has A Plan To Reunite Immigrant Families; Democrats Are Skeptical
Democrats responded skeptically Sunday to the Trump administration’s assertion that it has a process in place to reunite more than 2,000 “separated minors” with their parents, while Republican lawmakers sought to defend the president’s immigration policies and again promised that all the children taken from their parents in recent weeks were accounted for. Trump himself, however, redoubled his denunciation of all unauthorized arrivals, even those engaging in the legal act of seeking asylum. In a message on Twitter, he suggested that people crossing the border should be deported summarily, without a court hearing. (King, 6/24)
Bloomberg:
The Dems Take Obamacare On The Road
For the first time since it became law in 2010, Obamacare is a political asset for Democrats heading into an election—a striking turn after several cycles in which the law’s unpopularity helped Republicans sweep into power in legislative races across the country. Still, Democrats face a challenge: President Trump’s attacks on Obamacare prompted a broad reassessment of its merits and hurt his party’s political standing. To successfully exploit the issue, Democrats have to find a way to cut through the din of Trump news and scandal coverage and convince voters they’ll defend the health-care law from ongoing GOP sabotage and repeal efforts. (Green and Kapur, 6/25)
Politico:
Reversal Of Fortune: Obamacare Rate Hikes Pose Headache For Republicans
Obamacare premiums are once again poised to spike by double digits in 2019, causing heartburn for politicians as voters will head to the polls within days of learning about the looming hit to their pocketbooks. But unlike recent campaign cycles, when Republicans capitalized on Obamacare sticker shock to help propel them to control of Congress and the White House, they’re now likely to be the ones feeling the wrath of voters. (Demko, 6/24)
The New York Times:
Medicare Allows More Benefits For Chronically Ill, Aiming To Improve Care For Millions
Congress and the Trump administration are revamping Medicare to provide extra benefits to people with multiple chronic illnesses, a significant departure from the program’s traditional focus that aims to create a new model of care for millions of older Americans. The changes — reflected in a new law and in official guidance from the Department of Health and Human Services — tackle a vexing and costly problem in American health care: how to deal with long-term illnesses that can build on one another, and the social factors outside the reach of traditional medicine that can contribute to them, like nutrition, transportation and housing. (Pear, 6/24)
The New York Times:
When A Health Insurer Also Wants To Be A Hospice Company
Death has always been lucrative enterprise, whether it involves mahogany caskets or teams of estate and tax lawyers. But hospice, the business of caring for those who are nearing death, has become a booming multibillion-dollar industry that is attracting more and more for-profit companies, including one of the nation’s major insurers. That insurer, Humana, is making an unusual bet beyond the current strategy of health insurers to merge with pharmacies or buy up doctors’ practices. In teaming up with two investment firms, Humana plans to buy two hospice chains that together would create the industry’s biggest operator with hundreds of locations in dozens of states. (Abelson, 6/22)
Bloomberg:
Amazon-Berkshire-JPMorgan Health Venture Takes Aim At Middlemen
The health venture established by Amazon.com Inc., Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. will take aim at intermediaries in the health-care system as a part of a broad effort to reduce wasteful spending, the venture’s newly named chief executive officer said. The still-unnamed business will initially seek to develop ways to improve care for the more than 1 million individuals who get health insurance from the three firms. Over time, the venture will make those innovations available freely to other companies, meaning that if it’s successful, its effects could be felt more broadly among the more than 150 million people in the U.S. who get their health insurance through work. (Tracer, 6/24)
Stat:
How Atul Gawande Landed The Most Extraordinary Job In Health Care
It’s hard to imagine having to endure a more exacting executive search committee than the triad of corporate chieftains atop Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, and Berkshire Hathaway. But Dr. Atul Gawande’s selection last week by Jeff Bezos, Jamie Dimon, and Warren Buffett to run a venture with the extraordinary yet seemingly futile goal of disrupting the health care industry didn’t stem from any longstanding relationship he had with any of them. Its genesis was an article he wrote for The New Yorker nine years ago. (Berke, 6/26)
The Washington Post:
Groups Suing Trump Administration Over Family Planning Express Optimism
A federal judge Thursday challenged a Trump administration proposal to overhaul funding for family planning programs after three national reproductive rights groups and the American Civil Liberties Union sued to block the moves. Planned Parenthood and the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association said new grant rules announced in February amounted to a radical shift that would jeopardize the health of millions of low-income patients by requiring providers to prioritize practices such as abstinence over sexual health services, such as contraception. (Hsu, 6/22)
The Hill:
Michigan Governor Signs Controversial Medicaid Work Requirement Bill
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) on Friday signed a bill to impose controversial work requirements on Medicaid recipients. If the plan is approved by the Trump administration, Michigan would become the fifth state to add work mandates to its program. (Sullivan, 6/22)
Politico:
Opioid Bills Could Net Millions For Companies
The House is touting passage of dozens of bills that could help combat the national opioid crisis — but a small handful of companies that have spent millions lobbying Congress could reap a windfall if any of the bills become law. In a two-week legislative blitz, the House cleared several narrowly tailored measures that would spur sales for companies that have ramped up their influence game in Washington, according to a review of the more than five dozen bills up for votes. (Cancryn, 6/22)
Politico:
House Overwhelmingly Passes Final Opioid Package
The House on Friday overwhelmingly passed sweeping bipartisan opioid legislation, concluding the chamber’s two-week voteathon on dozens of bills to address the drug abuse epidemic. The measure combines more than 50 bills approved individually by the House focusing on expanding access to treatment, encouraging the development of alternative pain treatments and curbing the flow of illicit drugs into the U.S. It was passed 396-14, with 13 Republicans and one Democrat voting against the package. (Ehley, 6/22)
The Associated Press:
House Approves Bill Expanding Treatment For Opioid Abuse
The House has overwhelmingly approved legislation designed to give health care providers more tools to stem an opioid crisis that is killing more than 115 people in the United States daily. The legislation passed Friday by a vote of 396-14. It incorporates dozens of opioid-related bills that lawmakers have made a campaign-season priority. In urging the passage of the bill, many lawmakers told personal stories about how opioid abuse has affected constituents, family and friends. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told the story of his press secretary, Erin Perrine, whose brother, Eamon, died of a drug overdose in 2016. McCarthy said she learned of his death just weeks before her wedding. (Freking, 6/22)
The New York Times:
When An Iowa Family Doctor Takes On The Opioid Epidemic
A newborn had arrived for his checkup, prompting Dr. Nicole Gastala to abandon her half-eaten lunch and brace for the afternoon crush. An older man with diabetes would follow, then a pregnant teenager, a possible case of pneumonia and someone with a rash. There were also patients on her schedule with a problem most primary care doctors don’t treat: a former construction worker fighting an addiction to opioid painkillers, and a tattooed millennial who had been injecting heroin four times a day. (Goodnough, 6/23)
The New York Times:
The Trump Appointee Who’s An Addiction Specialist
Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, the Trump administration’s director of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, helped pioneer opioid addiction treatment with buprenorphine in clinical trials in the 1990s. She also helped create the training for doctors who want to prescribe it. What follows is a condensed interview with her. (Goodnough, 6/23)
NPR:
Study: Opioid Use High In Counties That Voted For Trump
The fact that rural, economically disadvantaged parts of the country broke heavily for the Republican candidate in the 2016 election is well known. But Medicare data indicate that voters in areas that went for Trump weren't just hurting economically — many of them were receiving prescriptions for opioid painkillers. (Chisholm, 6/23)
The Associated Press:
Drug Spoon Sculpture Placed Outside Drugmaker Headquarters
An 800-pound, nearly 11-foot-long steel sculpture of a bent and burned drug spoon was placed Friday in front of the Connecticut headquarters of drugmaker Purdue Pharma as part of an art protest against the opioid crisis. Artist Domenic Esposito and art gallery owner Fernando Alvarez dropped the sculpture at the company's Stamford headquarters. Police arrested Alvarez on a minor charge of obstructing free passage. A city worker removed the spoon with a payloader and it was hauled to a police evidence holding area. (6/22)
The Associated Press:
Retailers Experiment With Blue Lights To Deter Drug Use
Colored bulbs cast an eerie blue glow in the restroom of a convenience store where people who inject heroin and other drugs have been seeking the relative privacy of the stalls to shoot up. The blue lights are meant to discourage people from using drugs in store bathrooms by making it more difficult for them to see their veins. It's an idea that's been around for years but is getting a fresh look as a result of the nation's opioid epidemic. (6/24)
The New York Times:
Thermostats, Locks And Lights: Digital Tools Of Domestic Abuse
The people who called into the help hotlines and domestic violence shelters said they felt as if they were going crazy. One woman had turned on her air-conditioner, but said it then switched off without her touching it. Another said the code numbers of the digital lock at her front door changed every day and she could not figure out why. Still another told an abuse help line that she kept hearing the doorbell ring, but no one was there. (Bowles, 6/23)
The Washington Post:
What If A Pandemic Hit The U.S. — Are We Ready?
Piles of dead bodies. Decontamination zones and overstretched hospitals. It’s the stuff of nightmares: the physical indicators of a pandemic associated with outbreaks of diseases such as Ebola in countries such as the Congo. But what if one of those pandemics — yellow fever, perhaps, or an emerging pathogen scientists don’t even know about yet — landed in the United States? It’s not a matter of if, writes Ed Yong in a long-form feature for the Atlantic, online and on newsstands, it’s when. In “The Next Plague Is Coming. Is America Ready?”, Yong takes a clear-eyed view of the worst-case scenario: a public-health system caught off guard by a pandemic that spirals out of control. (Blakemore, 6/24)
The New York Times:
Breathing Tubes Fail To Save Many Older Patients
Earlier this year, an ambulance brought a man in his 80s to the emergency room at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He had metastatic lung cancer; his family had arranged for hospice care at home. But when he grew less alert and began struggling to breathe, his son tearfully called 911.
“As soon as I met them, his son said, ‘Put him on a breathing machine,’” recalled Dr. Kei Ouchi, an emergency physician and researcher at the hospital. (Span, 6/22)
NPR:
Cancer Doctor's Tweets Poke Holes In Hyped Science
New advances in medicine also tend to come with a hefty dose of hype. Yes, some new cancer drugs in the hot field of precision medicine, which takes into account variables for individual patients, have worked remarkably well for some patients. But while many patients clamor for them, they aren't currently effective for the vast majority of cancers. This stubborn fact has become a sticking point for an equally stubborn cancer doctor. At just 35 years old, Dr. Vinay Prasad has made a name for himself by calling out the hype surrounding precision medicine and confronting other examples of hype in his field. (Harris, 6/24)
NPR:
Pregnancy Vaccine Protects Newborns From Whooping Cough
The list of things you're supposed to avoid when you're pregnant (like I am) is comically long. Hot baths. Alcohol. Soft cheeses. Tuna and lunch meat. Sprouts. So it felt a little odd to be offering up my arm for a vaccine a few weeks ago, at the start of my third trimester. Really? No ibuprofen or Pepto, but yes vaccines? The shot was to protect against whooping cough, among other things, and doctors at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists or ACOG recommend it for all women, in every pregnancy. (Simmons-Duffin, 6/25)
The Washington Post:
Men's Sheds Movement Helps Lonely And Bored Older Men By Teaching Skills, Providing Community
Glenn Sears returned to his native Honolulu seven years ago to retire, but living in a condo on the 35th floor with his “perfect wife of 58 years,” he didn’t meet many people, and many of his old friends had either moved to the mainland or died. The 83-year-old former civil engineering professor was bored and lonely. Then he read about an international program called Men’s Sheds. It is sort of like a Boy Scouts for adults, a place where men can learn new skills and work together on community projects: building park benches, making toys for children’s hospitals or volunteering at food drives. (Fallik, 6/24)
The Washington Post:
Robotic Surgery Is No Better Than Traditional Surgery, Bladder Cancer Study Finds
Robotic-assisted procedures have now become ubiquitous in some kinds of surgeries. What once was seen as a technological marvel is commonplace in many hospitals. But studies in recent years have shown robotic surgery performs no better than traditional surgery — even though it comes at a steeper cost to the overall health-care system. The latest comparison study was published in the medical journal Lancet on Thursday and shows there were no major differences in outcomes or complication rates in operations for bladder cancer. (Wan, 6/22)
The Washington Post:
Her Doctor Said She Had The Flu. It Took Years To Find The Real, And Strange, Illness.
Diane A. Bates lay on the floor of her bathroom in the middle of the afternoon — weak, disoriented and afraid that she might die before someone found her. Bates had been battling what she had been told was a bad case of the flu for weeks. She hoped a bath might make her feel better, but she had felt wobbly and then passed out while getting out of the tub. Alone in her Seattle-area home, she managed to crawl to her bedroom, grab her cellphone and dial 911. (Boodman, 6/23)
The Washington Post:
Dirofilaria Repens: Parasitic Worm Lives In Russian Woman's Face
First, it appeared as a tiny blemish under the eye. But over the next two weeks, the 32-year-old woman watched it move — snapping photos as it formed bumps above her eye before it made its way down into her lip, forcing her mouth to swell. It was a parasite — and it was living inside her face. (Bever, 6/22)
The Associated Press:
Nearly 400 People Used California Assisted Death Law In 2017
California health officials reported Friday that 374 terminally ill people took drugs to end their lives in 2017, the first full year after a law made the option legal. The California Department of Public Health said 577 people received aid-in-dying drugs last year, but not everyone used them. The law allows adults to obtain a prescription for life-ending drugs if a doctor has determined they have six months or less to live. They can self-administer the drugs. (6/22)
USA Today:
Keystone Virus In Florida: Mosquito Virus Makes First Jump To Humans
A 16-year-old boy, the first confirmed case of the Keystone virus in humans, is leading researchers to believe the virus could be widespread in North Florida. Researchers from the University of Florida identified the Keystone virus in the teenager after he visited an urgent care clinic in North Central Florida in August of 2016. Medical professionals suspected he had Zika virus, considering his case was seen during a Zika outbreak, but he didn't. He tested positive for the Keystone virus, spread by a mosquito cousin to the Zika mosquito. He had a rash and fever. A report of his case was published earlier this month in the peer-reviewed medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. (May, 6/22)