First Edition: September 23, 2019
Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News:
Want To Reduce Suicides? Follow The Data — To Medical Offices, Motels And Even Animal Shelters
As the Washington County epidemiologist, [Kimberly Repp] was most accustomed to studying infectious diseases like flu or norovirus outbreaks among the living. But in 2012 she was asked by county officials to look at suicide. The request led her into the world of death investigations, and also appears to have led to something remarkable: In this suburban county of 600,000 just west of Portland, the suicide rate now is going down. It’s remarkable because national suicide rates have risen despite decades-long efforts to reverse the deadly trend. While many factors contribute to suicide, officials here believe they’ve chipped away at this problem through Repp’s initiative to use data — very localized data that any jurisdiction could collect. Now Repp’s mission is to help others learn how to gather and use it. (O'Hagan, 9/23)
The New York Times:
Bernie Sanders Calls For Eliminating Americans’ Medical Debt
Bernie Sanders has long wanted to remake the health care system so no one will have to pay directly for medical care again. Now, he also wants to go back and cancel all the medical debts of people who have been billed under the current system. In a plan released Saturday, Mr. Sanders, the Vermont senator and presidential candidate, proposes wiping out an estimated $81 billion in existing debt and changing rules around debt collection and bankruptcy. He also calls for replacing the giant credit reporting agencies with a “public credit registry” that would ignore medical debt when calculating credit scores. (Sanger-Katz and Ember, 9/21)
The Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Voters Support Expanding Medicare But Not Eliminating Private Health Insurance
Democratic presidential candidates are presenting policy ideas that are broadly popular with Americans, including tuition-free state colleges, but other proposals—such as Medicare for All—could complicate the party’s prospects next year, the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows. Two-thirds of registered voters support letting anyone buy into Medicare, similar to an idea that former Vice President Joe Biden and some other Democratic candidates have proposed. (McCormick, 9/22)
NPR:
Pelosi Rejects 'Socialist' Attacks On Her Prescription Drug Bill
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled legislation this week that would give the federal government sweeping new authority to regulate and lower the cost of prescription drugs. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declared the bill dead on arrival and told Politico it amounts to "socialist price controls." In an exclusive interview with NPR, Pelosi suggested McConnell was in "the pocket of the pharmaceutical industry" and noted that President Trump shares her view that negotiating drug prices is good policy. "As the president said in the course of his run for office and since: 'We're going to negotiate like crazy. We're going to negotiate like crazy.' So perhaps Mitch is talking about the president, as well." (Davis, 9/20)
The Washington Post:
How Congress Failed To Act On The Fentanyl Epidemic Despite Dire Warnings
[Sen. Kelly] Ayotte almost immediately ran into a roadblock. The Senate was attempting to pass a sweeping criminal justice reform bill that would overhaul sentencing for drugs, including shortening the duration of mandatory sentences. Some thought Ayotte’s bill would clash with the effort and possibly imperil the bill’s passage. The fentanyl-related bills never received a vote. An early warning about fentanyl went unheeded. “Who is for fentanyl?” Ayotte said in a recent interview, recalling her frustration with Washington’s lack of urgency as the drug emerged as a widespread killer. “Fentanyl has not truly been dealt with. There are still people who are dying from it.” (Zezima and Itkowitz, 9/20)
The Associated Press:
AP FACT CHECK: Trump's Twisted Reality On Guns, Environment
President Donald Trump is twisting reality on gun control and the environment. Pressed over the weekend for his position on gun legislation, the president declined to answer whether he would support expanded background checks in the wake of deadly mass shootings and blamed Democrats in Congress for “doing nothing” on the issue. That’s not true. The Democratic-controlled House in February approved legislation, which has since stalled because the Senate hasn’t acted. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he won’t move on it or any gun legislation until Trump says what he wants. And on the environment, Trump and his team are dismissing the reality of stalled U.S. progress in air quality. In revoking California’s authority to set stricter fuel economy standards on cars than Washington, they claimed that more lenient rules would be “good” for the environment. His administration’s data show otherwise. (Yen, Borenstein and Woodward, 9/23)
The New York Times:
‘Value’ Of Care Was A Big Goal. How Did It Work Out?
For most of its history, Medicare paid for health care in ways that encouraged more services — whether they improved health or not. Critics called it an emphasis on volume, not value. The Affordable Care Act was intended to change that, and Medicare started a number of programs to do so, including several new ones this year. Nearly a decade after passage of the A.C.A., is value-based payment working? (Frakt, 9/23)
The New York Times:
Nurses In Four States Strike To Push For Better Patient Care
Thousands of nurses across the country went on strike Friday morning, pushing for better patient care by demanding improved work conditions and higher pay. About 6,500 National Nurses United members at 12 Tenet Healthcare hospitals in California, Arizona and Florida organized a 24-hour strike, which began at 7 a.m., to protest current nurse-to-patient ratios that they contend are burning out employees and making it difficult to provide the best possible care. (Ortiz, 9/20)
The Associated Press:
Walmart To Quit Selling E-Cigarettes Amid Vaping Backlash
Walmart is getting out of the vaping business. The nation’s largest retailer said Friday that it will stop selling electronic cigarettes at its namesake stores and Sam’s Clubs in the U.S. when it sells out its current inventory. (D'Innocenzio, 9/20)
The New York Times:
Walmart To End Sales Of E-Cigarettes As Vaping Concerns Mount
The decision by Walmart comes amid a drumbeat of new reports about the potential health risks of vaping that has made parents, doctors and government officials increasingly wary of the products, which are marketed as smoking-cessation devices. Vaping products account for only a small portion of Walmart’s revenue, but e-cigarette shoppers tend to be younger and more loyal customers who shop regularly and often buy other items when they come to replenish their vaping supplies. (Yaffe-Bellany, Corkery and Kaplan, 9/20)
USA Today:
Walmart To Stop Selling E-Cigarettes Amid Health Worries Over Vaping
Walmart joins several other corporations limiting the reach of e-cigarettes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was investigating more than 450 cases of a lung disease linked to vaping. Media giants Viacom, CBS and WarnerMedia all revealed this week that they would stop running advertisements for e-cigarettes. (Molina, 9/20)
NPR:
Walmart To Stop Selling E-Cigarettes
Earlier this year, Walmart told regulators that it would raise the minimum age for buying tobacco products to 21 and that it would stop selling fruit- and dessert-flavored e-cigarettes. Vaping products are only a part of Walmart's tobacco offerings, which include cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. Pharmacy chains Rite Aid and Walgreens this year also raised the tobacco-buying age to 21. Rite Aid said in April that it would stop selling e-cigarettes and vaping products. CVS stopped selling all tobacco products in 2014. (Selyukh, 9/20)
The Wall Street Journal:
Juul Tried To Position Itself As A Responsible Actor. It Backfired.
Juul Labs Inc. pursued a strategy to win over Washington. But the e-cigarette maker wound up further alienating regulators, helping to thrust the once-soaring startup into a crisis that threatens its business. Facing scrutiny stemming from surging teen use of its vaporizers, Juul has tried over the past year to position itself as a responsible actor in an industry with few rules. It overhauled its marketing, halted retail-store sales of its fruity flavors that young people favor and introduced a checkout system to curb illegal sales to minors. But other steps it took backfired and contributed to a perception in Washington that Juul was on the wrong side of a public health crisis. (Maloney and Armour, 9/22)
The Wall Street Journal:
Sales Of Illicit Vaping Products Find Home Online
As concerns about the health hazards of vaping mount, a market for illicit cannabis-vaping products and the tools to create counterfeits is thriving online. On Instagram, users offer products ranging from cannabis oils to vaping devices and packaging materials. On Amazon.com Inc., third-party sellers hawk empty packaging for vape products, and on Facebook Inc.’s Marketplace, sellers offer vaping products containing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the mind-altering ingredient in cannabis. (Hernandez, 9/20)
The Wall Street Journal:
What We Know About Vaping-Related Lung Illness
Health officials are investigating 530 confirmed and probable cases of pulmonary illness in the U.S. related to vaping and e-cigarette products. The illnesses are spread across 38 states and one U.S. territory .... Many doctors and health officials are urging people to stop vaping during the investigation. President Trump has said the administration plans to ban all non-tobacco-flavored vaping products from the market. Here is what health officials know so far about the condition. (Abbott, 9/20)
Stateline:
How One School Is Tackling The Youth Vaping Epidemic
The new flavoring bans are meant to reduce the allure of nicotine-laced vaping liquids for kids, and federal announcements and media coverage of the health risks to youths who vape aim to discourage them from experimenting with the addictive substance. But research shows that fear doesn’t work when it comes to preventing adolescents from engaging in risky behavior. In fact, it may attract them. It’s hard to convince adolescents that vaping is dangerous if they see their teachers and parents doing it. And selling vaping products to kids under 18 is already against the law in all 50 states. (Vestal, 9/23)
The Wall Street Journal:
Getting Through To Your Teen About The Dangers Of Vaping
How can parents convince their children not to vape? The question has taken on new urgency. ... Vaping’s new dangers and ubiquity at high schools—and even middle schools—is causing understandable parental concern. But parents need to be strategic when talking to their children about e-cigarettes, psychologists and pediatricians say. Here are some tips. (Petersen, 9/21)
The New York Times:
At School, ‘Everyone Vapes,’ And Adults Are In Crisis Mode
In Alabama, a school removed the doors from bathroom stalls to stop students from sneaking inside to vape. In Colorado, a school decided to forfeit a volleyball game after finding “widespread vaping” and other infractions by the team. And in Pennsylvania, at a school where administrators have tried installing sensors to detect vaping in bathrooms and locker rooms, students caught with vape devices face a $50 fine and a three-day suspension. At least 530 people have been sickened by mysterious lung illnesses related to using e-cigarettes with nicotine or vaping THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, and at least eight have died. That has sent high schools, the epicenters of youth vaping, racing to give teenagers a new, urgent message: Vaping can be deadly. (Bosman, 9/20)
The Associated Press:
2 Vaping Companies Settle LA Suit, Won't Sell To Minors
Two vaping companies have agreed not to promote their products to minors under a settlement with Los Angeles prosecutors. The city attorney’s office announced a lawsuit settlement Friday with NEwhere Inc. and VapeCo Distribution LLC. The LA-based companies also will pay $350,000 in fines. LA accused the firms of using marketing that promotes youth consumption of tobacco and selling vaping products online without proper age verification. (9/20)
USA Today:
'Truly Saved My Life': GM Workers On Strike Fight For Benefits As Automaker's Profits Soar
For Brad Heitz, the General Motors strike couldn't be more personal. He credits the health insurance plans the United Auto Workers won from the automaker with saving his life – and worries those kinds of benefits could start disappearing if the strike isn't successful. "If it weren't for the UAW, I don't think I would be alive right now," said Heitz, who works at the GM plant producing Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon pickups and Chevy Express and GMC Savana vans in Wentzville, Missouri. (Woodyard, Sauber and Martinez, 9/20)
CNN:
Many Union Workers Really Love Their Health Benefits. That's A Problem For Bernie Sanders.
Health care benefits are really important to many union workers -- important enough to give up pay raises or even to walk off the job to keep the coverage they've negotiated. Now the future of those benefits is at the heart of an emerging split among 2020 Democratic candidates over how to remake American health care. Former Vice President Joe Biden says union members shouldn't have to give up their employer plans if they like them, while Sen. Bernie Sanders is arguing that union workers would still come out ahead under "Medicare for All," which would shift all Americans into a government-run plan. (Luhby, 9/22)
The New York Times:
Warren And Biden Join U.A.W. Picket Lines As Democrats Use Strike To Court Labor
The Democratic presidential candidates have been chasing labor support all summer, appearing at small union halls and large conferences, and tweeting support for workers at companies like Amazon and Walmart. But now, as the United Automobile Workers, one of the nation’s largest unions, stages a strike that has even drawn words of support from President Trump, Democrats are seizing the moment to align themselves with workers in public and dramatic ways. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts walked the picket line Sunday alongside striking General Motors workers at an assembly plant in Detroit. Not to be outdone, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. appeared at another G.M. assembly plant in Kansas City, Kan. (Saul, 9/22)
Los Angeles Times:
The Hidden Battle Over California’s New Vaccine Law
Of the more than 2,600 bills introduced this year in the California Legislature, none captured the public’s attention like Senate Bill 276. Prompted by an alarming rise in measles cases and allegations of questionable vaccine exemptions, it was the legislative equivalent of a Rorschach test. Some were convinced they saw it as government overreach, others as a victory for science over social media-fueled skepticism. Along the way, it became a measurement of Newsom himself — the charismatic new governor who had yet to establish firm relationships with many of his fellow Democrats in the Legislature. The Times interviewed more than two dozen people involved in the private negotiations and public debate over SB 276, including legislators, state Capitol staffers, lobbyists and advocates. Their accounts detail missteps in the governor’s office, erratic communication among decision-makers and the emergence of a devout lobby of parents as a political force in Sacramento. (Gutierrez, Luna and Myers, 9/22)
The Associated Press:
After Rural Hospital's Closure, County Seeks Other Options
About two years ago, a rural, mountainous Virginia county lost its only hospital, and local officials have now all but given up trying to bring it back. Community leaders in Patrick County said in recent interviews that reopening the hospital has proven financially unworkable, in large part because of the deteriorating building’s $5 million price tag. Patrick County isn’t alone in its struggle. Rural hospitals across the country are closing, advocates say many more are at risk, and it’s rare for one to reopen after a shutdown. (Rankin, 9/20)
The Associated Press:
Trial Approaching In California Hospital Antitrust Case
Spurred in part by former President Barack Obama’s health care law, hospitals across the country have merged to form massive medical systems in the belief it would simplify the process for patients. But a simpler bill doesn’t always guarantee a cheaper bill. That’s a key issue in an antitrust lawsuit against one of California’s largest hospital systems set to begin Monday. (Beam, 9/22)
The Associated Press:
Tennessee Abortion Clinics Hope To Defeat Waiting Period
A federal judge will hear opening statements Monday in a lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s 48-hour waiting period before abortions. Five of the state’s seven abortion clinics are suing over the law, claiming it violates the U.S. Constitution. They will try to prove in federal court in Nashville that it places an undue burden on women seeking abortions. (Loller, 9/23)
The Associated Press:
Judge To Hear Arguments In Challenge To Georgia Abortion Law
A federal judge is set to hear arguments over whether Georgia’s restrictive new abortion law should be allowed to take effect while a legal challenge is pending.The law bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can occur as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. It allows for limited exceptions. (9/23)
The Associated Press:
South Dakota Marijuana Backers Push 2 Ballot Measures
Supporters of legalizing marijuana in South Dakota have been thwarted at nearly every turn, including an effort to become the 48th state to approve industrial hemp. But backers are doubling down on this year’s election. Volunteers are gathering signatures for two initiated ballot measures. One asks voters to approve medical marijuana and the other seeks to legalize recreational marijuana. Supporters tried the same approach to get on the 2018 ballot and failed to garner enough signatures. (Kolpack, 9/20)
USA Today:
Who Helps The Caregiver? Penn Counselor's Suicide Highlights How Experts Aren't Immune From Struggles
When University of Pennsylvania counseling center director Dr. Gregory Eells died by suicide earlier this month, many expressed shock that the tragedy involved an expert in the field of mental health. But college counseling directors nationwide say they can face a struggle to seek help and support amid mounting pressures in their jobs. Their message? No one is immune to the public health issue of suicide. (Cohen, 9/21)
The Washington Post:
The Opioid Litigation Has More Than 2000 Plaintiffs. Here’s What That Involves.
More than 2,000 state, local and tribal governments are suing two dozen pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors, arguing that they’ve helped create an opioid crisis that has claimed hundreds of thousands of American lives. The suits include claims that the industry misled doctors and consumers about the drugs’ safety and negligently allowed opioids to fall into the wrong hands. Most of the litigation has been consolidated in federal district court in Ohio, where trial is set to begin Oct. 21. The government plaintiffs agree that the industry is complicit in the crisis, but the public officials involved disagree on a variety of issues. Several state attorneys general recently criticized the tentative deal between most of the government plaintiffs and OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma. The states and localities have also tangled over who will control the litigation. Why are we seeing these conflicts, and where is this litigation likely to go next? (Provost and Nolette, 9/21)
USA Today:
Indiana Boy, 17, Died From Smoking Weed. CHS Is To Blame. What Is CHS?
The doctors told Regina Denney and her son Brian Smith Jr. what was causing his severe vomiting and abdominal pain. Neither the teenager nor his mother believed what they said: smoking weed. Smoking marijuana, the two knew, was recommended to cancer patients to spur the appetite. How could it lead to Brian's condition? (Rudavsky, 9/20)
NPR:
Pittsburgh Drug Overdose Incident Leaves 3 Dead, 4 Hospitalized
What Pittsburgh police first called a medical situation that left three people dead and four hospitalized is now believed to be an isolated drug overdose incident. "We do not believe this particular incident is going to be widespread," Pittsburgh police commander for narcotics Jason Lando said. "So we are not in a situation where we expect people to be found in an overdosed state all over the city." (Saldivia, 9/22)
The New York Times:
Exploring A Possible Link Between C-Sections And Autism
Cesarean delivery can save a baby — or a mother — at a moment of medical danger. However, cesarean births have been linked to an increased risk of various long-term health issues for both women and children, and a recent study shows an association between cesarean birth and the risk of developing autism or attention deficit disorder. The study, published in August in JAMA Network Open, was a meta-analysis. It looked at data from 61 previously published studies, which together included more than 20 million deliveries, and found that birth by cesarean section was associated with a 33 percent higher risk of autism and a 17 percent higher risk of attention deficit disorder. The increased risk was present for both planned and unplanned cesarean deliveries. (Klass, 9/23)
The New York Times:
Why Can’t We Stop Pancreatic Cancer?
Pancreatic cancer, which will be diagnosed in about 56,770 people in the United States this year, is the only cancer with a rising mortality rate through 2014, although five-year survival has begun to inch up, from 8 percent to 9 percent by 2016. It remains the nation’s third leading cause of cancer deaths, after cancers of the lung and colon, and it is on track to overtake colon cancer within a decade. Three-fourths of people who develop pancreatic cancer die within a year of diagnosis, and only about one in 10 live five years or longer. Perhaps like me you’ve wondered why modern medicine has thus far failed to gain the upper hand against pancreatic cancer despite having achieved major survival advances for more common cancers like breast and colon. What follows is a large part of the answer. (Brody, 9/23)
The New York Times:
Roundup Weedkiller Is Blamed For Cancers, But Farmers Say It’s Not Going Away
From his farm in northwestern Wisconsin, Andy Bensend watched as first one jury, then another and another, delivered staggering multimillion-dollar verdicts to people who argued that their use of a weedkiller sold at nearly every hardware and home-improvement store had caused their cancer. Mr. Bensend has been using that product, Roundup, on his 5,000 acres for 40 years, but he said that those blockbuster awards would not alter his farm practices one whit. Neither would the 20,000 lawsuits still pending. (Cohen, 9/20)