First Edition: June 6, 2017
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Hospitals Now Tap Lawyers To Fulfill Patients’ Legal Needs
Every Friday, Christine Crawford has a counseling session at a clinic at New York City’s Mount Sinai Health System as she moves ahead with plans for gender transition surgery later this year. In addition to the many medical and psychosocial issues, there are practical ones as well. So, Crawford was thrilled when a Mount Sinai representative said they would assign a lawyer to help her legally change her name to Christine. (Andrews, 6/6)
The Wall Street Journal:
GOP Leaders To Present Senate Republicans With Proposals To Shape Health-Care Bill
GOP leaders are planning to present to Senate Republicans options for the major policy decisions shaping their health-care bill during a closed-door lunch Tuesday, Senate GOP lawmakers and aides said Monday. The proposals are expected to include a prolonged phaseout of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. There is also growing interest in possible steps to shore up fragile individual insurance markets, according to people familiar with the discussions. (Armour and Peterson, 6/5)
The Associated Press:
Senate GOP Aiming For Vote This Month On Health Legislation
"We've been talking about this for seven years, so now is the time to start coming up with some tangible alternatives and building consensus," GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said Monday. (Werner, 6/5)
Politico:
Senate GOP Aims For June Vote On Obamacare Repeal
It’s a gut-check situation for Republicans, who are about to be confronted with tough choices that may result in millions fewer people with insurance coverage as a condition for cutting taxes and lowering some people’s premiums. “I don’t think this gets better over time,” said Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a member of leadership. “So my personal view is we’ve got until now and the Fourth of July to decide if the votes are there or not. And I hope they are.” (Haberkorn and Everett, 6/5)
The Wall Street Journal:
Trump To Meet With House And Senate Leaders On Health Care And Tax Reform
President Donald Trump will meet with House and Senate leadership at the White House Tuesday afternoon to plot a path forward on health care and tax reform—two of the administration’s top legislative priorities that have been stalled in recent months amid a growing investigation into Trump associates’ ties to Russia. (Ballhaus, 6/5)
Politico:
Ryan Raising More Funds To Protect The House After Health-Care Vote
Speaker Paul Ryan, eager to protect his House majority in what’s expected to be a politically volatile election cycle, is stepping up his fundraising following the chamber’s vote to repeal and replace Obamacare. The Wisconsin Republican’s political team on Tuesday morning will announce that Ryan has raised $22 million for House Republicans in the first five months of 2017, setting him on track to far outpace his 2016 fundraising haul. (Bade, 6/5)
Politico:
Vulnerable California Republicans Struggle To Sell Obamacare Repeal Vote
Rep. David Valadao’s colleagues privately thought he’d vote against the House GOP bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. The California Republican’s Hispanic-populated swing district went for Hillary Clinton by a whopping 15 percent margin. And with more than half his impoverished constituency here in rural San Joaquin Valley on Medicaid, opposing a bill to cut $800 billion from the low-income health care program certainly would have been the politically prudent thing to do. (Bade, 6/5)
The New York Times:
Obamacare Didn’t Destroy Insurance Markets, But It Also Didn’t Fix Them
Republican lawmakers and President Trump have criticized Obamacare, saying it took away people’s ability to choose their health plans and doctors, pointing to a recent exodus of insurers that could leave areas with a single insurer or none at all. Mr. Trump has insisted the markets are failing. Supporters of the Affordable Care Act hoped the law would spur more competition among insurers across the country. But so far, the law has not delivered on that promise, especially in states that never had much competition, but it didn’t create the lack of choice in those states, according to a Times analysis of insurer participation provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (Abelson and Park, 6/6)
The Wall Street Journal:
Gov. Cuomo Adds Emergency Regulations To Maintain Obamacare
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday issued emergency regulations aimed at deterring insurers from leaving the state’s Affordable Care Act exchange market as Congress weighs repealing former President Barack Obama’s signature health-insurance law. The ACA, often dubbed “Obamacare,” set up marketplaces where consumers can buy coverage from different insurers and obtain federal subsidies to help with the cost. But the House of Representatives has passed legislation that would bring huge changes to the current exchange markets. The Senate is working on its own version of the bill. (Vilensky and Wilde Mathews, 6/5)
NPR:
Medicaid Cuts Threaten Services For Disabled And Elderly People
When Ben [Gapinski of Glendale, Wis.,] was a toddler he was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. He barely communicated with his parents and needed constant monitoring to stay safe. The Gapinskis needed help. They found a therapist to work with Ben for 24 hours a week, which cost more $50,000 a year. Dan's workplace insurance paid for some of the costs, but not all. So they turned to Medicaid. ... President Trump and Republicans in Congress have proposed massive cuts to Medicaid's budget over the next decade, and Nancy and Dan Gapinski worry that the services they used for Ben won't be there if he needs them in the future, or be there for other families.
(Kodjak, 6/5)
NPR:
Disability Advocates Fear Impact Of GOP Health Plan
Several decades ago, Evan Nodvin's life probably would have looked quite different. Nodvin has his own apartment just outside Atlanta, in Sandy Springs, Ga., which he shares with a roommate, and a job at a local community fitness center. He also has Down syndrome. "I give out towels, and put weights away, and make sure people are safe," the 38-year-old says. (Yu, 6/6)
The Wall Street Journal:
Veterans Affairs To Adopt Medical-Records System Defense Department Uses
The head of the Department of Veterans Affairs said Monday the agency will scrap its current electronic-records system and use the same system as the one now operating at the Defense Department. Dr. David Shulkin, the VA secretary, said the department will transition away from its antiquated electronic-records system and use a system interoperable with that used by the Defense Department, a yearslong goal for the two departments. (Kesling, 6/5)
The Associated Press:
Trump Tweets That VA's Planned Records Overhaul 'Is One Of The Biggest Wins' For Veterans In Decades
Under the proposed change, the VA will work immediately to sign a contract with Cerner Corp., which designed the Pentagon's system, known as MHS Genesis. Shulkin said that because all the VA's patients originate in the Pentagon system, the VA would be better served if it could "trade information seamlessly." To expedite the process, Shulkin said he intended to bypass competitive bidding in favor of Cerner, noting that it took the Pentagon 26 months to finalize its contact. (6/5)
Reuters:
Top Court Exempts Church-Affiliated Hospitals From Pension Law
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled that church-affiliated hospital systems do not have to comply with a federal law governing employee pensions, overturning lower court decisions that could have cost the hospitals billions of dollars. The court ruled 8-0 that church-affiliated organizations are exempt from the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a 1974 law that forces private employers to follow rules aimed at protecting pension plan participants. (Chung, 6/5)
The Wall Street Journal:
A Hardware Update For The Human Brain
Emily Borghard has a computer inside her skull, but you wouldn’t know it to look at her. A small bump behind her left ear, the only external evidence of her implant, is partially covered by a tuft of hair that’s still growing in from the last time she had the batteries changed. Before Borghard received a brain implant, she was having as many as 400 “spikes” of seizure-like activity a day, along with multiple seizures. ... The field that gave Emily her life back is known as neurotechnology, or simply neurotech—a marriage of neurology, neuroscience, neurosurgery and the kind of hardware that goes into smartphones. Today, most neurotech companies are focused on medical applications, which they think could be a multibillion-dollar market. (Mims, 6/5)
The New York Times:
America’s Hidden H.I.V. Epidemic
Early on a balmy morning last October, Cedric Sturdevant began his rounds along the bumpy streets and back roads of Jackson, Miss. Sturdevant, 52, has racked up nearly 300,000 miles driving in loops and widening circles around Jackson in his improvised role of visiting nurse, motivational coach and father figure to a growing number of young gay men and transgender women suffering from H.I.V. and AIDS. Sturdevant is a project coordinator at My Brother’s Keeper, a local social-services nonprofit. If he doesn’t make these rounds, he has learned, many of these patients will not get to the doctor’s appointments, pharmacies, food banks and counseling sessions that can make the difference between life and death. (Linda Villarosa, 6/6)
The New York Times:
A Dilemma For Diabetes Patients: How Low To Push Blood Sugar, And How To Do It?
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for people with Type 2 diabetes. Surely, then, the way to dodge this bullet is to treat the disease and lower blood sugar. Well, maybe. Growing evidence suggests that the method by which blood sugar is lowered may make a big difference in heart risk. That has raised a medical dilemma affecting tens of millions of people with Type 2 diabetes — and for the doctors who treat them. (Kolata, 6/5)
The Washington Post:
America Is A World Leader In Health Inequality
The divide between health outcomes for the richest and poorest Americans is among the largest in the world, according to a new study. Of people in households making less than $22,500 a year, 38 percent reported being in poor or fair health in a survey taken between 2011 and 2013. That's more than three times the rate of health troubles than faced by individuals in households making more than $47,700 a year, where only 12 percent of people reported being in poor to fair health, according to the findings published in Health Affairs. (Johnson, 6/5)
The Washington Post:
Puerto Rico Declares Zika Epidemic To Be Over
Puerto Rico’s Zika epidemic has ended, officials said Monday, noting substantially fewer new cases this spring. Only 10 cases have been reported in each four-week period since April, a dramatic decrease from the more than 8,000 cases reported in a four-week period at the peak of the epidemic last August, according to a health ministry statement. (Sun, 6/5)
The New York Times:
Women With Aggressive Breast Cancer Are Living Longer
Women with metastatic breast cancer are living longer. In 1990, there were 105,354 women alive with the disease in the United States, according to a new analysis. Now that figure has risen to an estimated 154,794. (Bakalar, 6/5)
The Washington Post:
Backyard Chickens Blamed For Salmonella Outbreaks. Do Not Snuggle With Them, CDC Says.
America’s love affair with backyard chickens is a tad too intimate, and it’s making some of us sick. Just this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says, eight separate salmonella outbreaks linked to contact with pet poultry have taken place in the United States, sickening more than 370 people in 47 states and hospitalizing 71. (Brulliard, 6/5)
The New York Times:
Are Pets The New Probiotic?
Scientists are paying increasing attention to the “indoor microbiome,” the billions of bacteria, viruses and fungi that we share our homes and offices with. But not all those micro-organisms are bad for us, experts note. And exposure to a rich array of indoor germs may actually be salutary, helping stave off a variety of illnesses. (Schiffman, 6/6)
The Associated Press:
Delaware House Votes On Bill Protecting Abortion Rights
The state House is poised to vote on a bill ensuring that abortion remains legal in Delaware if Roe v. Wade is ever overturned. The bill, which narrowly cleared the Senate last month, was scheduled for a House vote Tuesday. Delaware’s current law allows abortions only if the mother’s health is at risk, if there is a substantial risk the child would be born with serious disabilities, or if pregnancy results from rape or incest. It also prohibits abortions beyond 20 weeks of pregnancy. (6/6)
The Associated Press:
Seattle City Council OKs Tax On Soda, Sugary Drinks
The Seattle City Council on Monday approved a new tax on soda and other sugary beverages as way to raise millions for healthy food and education programs. The ordinance calls for a tax of 1.75 cents per ounce to be paid by distributors of beverages such as Pepsi and Coke, sports drinks, energy drinks and other sweetened drinks. The tax excludes diet drinks. (Le, 6/5)
The Wall Street Journal:
Manhattan Doctor Faces Prescription Drug Charges
A Manhattan family doctor was arrested Monday on accusations he wrote thousands of prescriptions for oxycodone without a legitimate medical purpose. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged Martin Tesher, 81 years old, with illegally distributing a controlled substance. From June 2012 through January 2017, Dr. Tesher wrote more than 14,000 oxycodone prescriptions, totaling more than 2.2 million pills, prosecutors said. (Ramey, 6/5)
The Washington Post:
A Virginia Imam Said Female Genital Mutilation Prevents ‘Hypersexuality,’ Leading To Calls For His Dismissal
A Virginia mosque has publicly condemned the words of its leading imam, highlighting lingering divisions among Muslim leaders over the controversial and widely rejected practice of female genital mutilation. The Board of Directors at the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church said Monday that Imam Shaker Elsayed’s seeming endorsement of the outlawed practice as “the honorable thing to do if needed” ran afoul of both U.S. and Islamic law. (Hauslohner, 6/5)
The Associated Press:
Autistic Man’s Family Sues Over Florida Police Shooting
The family of a Florida autistic man has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit over a 2016 police shooting in which the man’s caretaker was wounded. The lawsuit was filed Monday in Miami on behalf of 27-year-old Arnaldo Rios against the city of North Miami and five officers. It says Rios was improperly handcuffed and detained after the incident and includes claims of false imprisonment and battery. (6/5)