Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations.
Kaiser Health News: Extending 'Healthspan': Brain Scientists Tap Into The Secrets Of Living Well Longer
Retired state employees Vickey Benford, 63, and Joan Caldwell, 61, are Golden Rollers, a group of the over-50 set that gets out on assorted bikes — including trikes for adults they call "three wheels of awesome" — for an hour of trail riding and camaraderie. "I love to exercise, and I like to stay fit," said Caldwell, who tried out a recumbent bike, a low-impact option that can be easier on the back. "It keeps me young." (Jayson, 1/2)
Kaiser Health News: A Reality Check On Artificial Intelligence: Are Health Care Claims Overblown?
Health products powered by artificial intelligence, or AI, are streaming into our lives, from virtual doctor apps to wearable sensors and drugstore chatbots. IBM boasted that its AI could "outthink cancer." Others say computer systems that read X-rays will make radiologists obsolete. "There's nothing that I've seen in my 30-plus years studying medicine that could be as impactful and transformative" as AI, said Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist and executive vice president of Scripps Research in La Jolla, Calif. (Szabo, 12/30)
Kaiser Health News: Hospital Group Mum As Members Pursue Patients With Lawsuits And Debt Collectors
The American Hospital Association, the biggest hospital trade group, says it promotes "best practices" among medical systems to treat patients more effectively and improve community health. But the powerful association has stayed largely silent about hospitals suing thousands of patients for overdue bills, seizing homes or wages and even forcing families into bankruptcy. Atlantic Health System, whose CEO is the AHA's chairman, Brian Gragnolati, has sued patients for unpaid bills thousands of times this year, court records show, including a family struggling to pay bills for three children with cystic fibrosis. (Hancock, 12/28)
Kaiser Health News: 'An Arm And A Leg': Tradition Grows Into $1 Million Gift For People In Medical Debt
Every year — for decades — the Buehler family and friends have organized a softball tournament in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area to raise money for someone with big medical expenses. "It's like a holiday for us in the family," Ed Buehler, 40, said. "You know, another one that just happens to come in July." The tournament started in 1980 as a fundraiser for Ed's dad, Denny Buehler, who was battling leukemia and needed to travel to Seattle for treatment. The tournament typically raises about $10,000 each year. (Weissman, 12/16)
The New York Times: Elizabeth Warren Isn't Talking Much About 'Medicare For All' Anymore
In warm-up remarks introducing Senator Elizabeth Warren at campaign rallies, young volunteers often say they are supporting her because of her plan to transform the health care system through a single-payer "Medicare for all" program. It happened in Des Moines on Saturday and Oklahoma City last week, and in western Iowa cities like Clarinda and Council Bluffs on Sunday. But Ms. Warren herself is barely speaking of the proposal. After months of attacks from other candidates, and questions and some blowback from both liberals and moderates, the most ambitious and expensive of Ms. Warren's many plans — and the one most likely to transform the lives of voters — is just a passing mention in her standard stump speech, rarely explored in depth unless a questioner brings it up. (Herndon, 1/1)
The Hill: Sanders: Speed Of Medicare For All Plan Is A 'Major Difference' With Warren
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Tuesday that one of the "major differences" between himself and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is in how quickly they would roll out "Medicare for All," drawing a contrast on the key campaign issue. Sanders and Warren are vying for the progressive mantle in the Democratic presidential primary, but they have largely shied away from criticizing each other. Sanders, however, did point to some daylight on his signature issue of Medicare for All when asked on Tuesday by NBC News reporter Vaughn Hillyard how he would contrast himself with Warren. (Sullivan, 12/31)
Politico: Democrats Seize On Anti-Obamacare Ruling To Steamroll GOP In 2020
At the most recent Democratic presidential debate, candidates largely avoided discussing the lawsuit or Republicans' years-long efforts to dismantle Obamacare, and instead continued their intra-party battle over Medicare for All. But Senate Democrats, Democratic candidates and outside groups backing them immediately jumped on the news of the federal appeals court ruling — blasting out ads and statements reminding voters of Republicans' votes to repeal the 2010 health care law, support the lawsuit and confirm the judges who may bring about Obamacare's demise. (Ollstein and Arkin, 12/26)
The Associated Press: Prompt Care Was Key To Sanders' Recovery From Heart Attack
Bernie Sanders suffered "modest heart muscle damage" during his recent heart attack but has since recovered well and is fit enough for the rigors of the presidential campaign and the White House should he win it, according to letters released Monday by his primary care physician and two cardiologists. (12/30)
The New York Times: Bernie Sanders Is In 'Good Health,' His Doctors Say
Mr. Sanders's health has been under scrutiny since early October, when he experienced chest pains during a campaign event in Las Vegas. He then had two stents inserted into an artery. His campaign did not reveal that he had suffered a heart attack until after he was released from the hospital three days after being admitted. (Ember, 12/30)
The Hill: Bloomberg Unveils Plan To Fight Black Maternal Deaths
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Monday unveiled his plan to fight maternal mortality and reduce racial disparities in pregnancy-related deaths. Bloomberg, like other Democratic presidential candidates, pointed to data showing black women are three to four times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes as white women are. (Sullivan, 12/30)
The Associated Press: 3 Years In, No Sign Of Trump's Replacement For Obamacare
As a candidate for the White House, Donald Trump repeatedly promised that he would "immediately" replace President Barack Obama's health care law with a plan of his own that would provide "insurance for everybody." Back then, Trump made it sound that his plan — "much less expensive and much better" than the Affordable Care Act — was imminent. And he put drug companies on notice that their pricing power no longer would be "politically protected." (12/30)
Reuters: U.S. Appeals Court Upholds Risk Payments To Health Insurers
A U.S. appeals court upheld the validity of a federal program governing the payment of billions of dollars to insurers under the Affordable Care Act, reversing a lower court ruling that had prompted the White House to temporarily suspend payments. Tuesday's 3-0 decision by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver is a victory for insurers that feared the Feb. 2018 lower court ruling and payments suspension could drive up premium costs and cause market turmoil. (12/31)
The Washington Post: Why Millions Of Americans — Including Men — Will Get A Separate Bill For Abortion Coverage Starting In June
If you are one of the 3 million Americans who bought health insurance on an Affordable Care Act state exchange, you may be surprised to open up the mail this summer and find two separate monthly bills. Under a new rule finalized by the Department of Health and Human Services in December, insurers are now required to issue a separate invoice for the amount of your premium that they attribute to abortion services. So you'll get one bill for abortion services and another for the rest of your insurance coverage. (Cha, 12/26)
The New York Times: Christian Health Cost-Sharing Ministries Offer No Guarantees
Eight-year-old Blake Collie was at the swimming pool when he got a frightening headache. His parents rushed him to the emergency room only to learn he had a brain aneurysm. Blake spent nearly two months in the hospital. His family did not have traditional health insurance. "We could not afford it," said his father, Mark Collie, a freelance photographer in Washington, N.C. Instead, they pay about $530 a month through a Christian health care sharing organization to pay members' medical bills. (Abelson, 1/2)
The New York Times: In The U.S., An Angioplasty Costs $32,000. Elsewhere? Maybe $6,400.
Why does health care cost so much more in the United States than in other countries? As health economists love to say: "It's the prices, stupid." As politicians continue to lament the system's expense, and more Americans struggle to pay the high and often unpredictable bills that can accompany their health problems, it's worth looking at just how weird our prices really are relative to the rest of the world. (Sanger-Katz, 12/27)
The Wall Street Journal: Hospitals Merged. Quality Didn't Improve.
The quality of care at hospitals acquired during a recent wave of deal making got worse or stayed the same, new research found, a blow to a frequently cited rationale for tie-ups. Hospital merger-and-acquisition activity has surged in recent years, with executives involved in transactions making the case that greater size will boost quality with new investments and yield other improvements as deal makers benefit from each others' strengths. (Evans, 1/1)
ProPublica: What It Looks Like When A Hospital We Investigated Erases $11.9 Million In Medical Debt
When Danielle Robinson got a letter in the mail from Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare in October, she braced herself. She'd missed a court-ordered payment to the hospital after she was laid off from her job in September. In 2018, the massive nonprofit health care system sued her for just over $11,500 in unpaid hospital bills, plus $3,800 in attorney's fees. In April, a Shelby County General Sessions Court judge ordered her to pay $150 per month toward the debt. (Thomas, 12/24)
The Hill: Five Health Care Fights To Watch In 2020
Advocates hope lawmakers can beat the odds and move major health care legislation in the new year. 2019 opened with bipartisan talk of cracking down on drug prices and surprise medical bills. But it ended without major legislation signed into law on either front, and a host of other health care battles, including a lawsuit threatening the entire Affordable Care Act, looming over the coming election year. Here are five health care fights to watch in 2020. (Sullivan and Hellmann, 12/29)
The Hill: Democrats To Put Renewed Focus On Health Care In New Year
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday that Democrats will prioritize getting health care legislation signed into law when lawmakers return to the Capitol next week. "When we return to Washington, our priority will be to continue a drumbeat across America to press the President and the GOP Senate to pass the Lower Drug Costs Now Act into law," Pelosi wrote in a "Dear Colleague" letter to members of her caucus. "And we also look forward to ending the financial unfairness of surprise billing, which has bipartisan support in the Congress and among the American people." (Brufke, 12/30)
The Associated Press: Congressman John Lewis Says Cancer Is His Latest Battle
As a civil rights activist at 25, John Lewis was beaten so badly his skull was fractured and the TV images from an Alabama bridge in the 1960s forced a nation's awakening to racial discrimination. As a congressman today at 79, Lewis is facing a foe like none before: advanced pancreatic cancer. The veteran Democrat congressman from Georgia has fought many struggles in his lifetime. Yet, he said, "I have never faced a fight quite like the one I have now," announcing Sunday in Washington that the cancer was detected earlier this month and confirmed in a diagnosis. (12/29)
The New York Times: John Lewis, Congressman And Civil Rights Icon, Has Pancreatic Cancer
Survival rates for pancreatic cancer are grim, and Mr. Lewis said his cancer was Stage 4, the most advanced. Mr. Lewis said that while he was "cleareyed about the prognosis," doctors had told him that advances in medical treatment would help give him "a fighting chance." "I have decided to do what I know to do and do what I have always done: I am going to fight it and keep fighting for the beloved community," Mr. Lewis said. "We still have many bridges to cross." (Cochrane, 12/29)
The New York Times: F.D.A. Plans To Ban Most E-Cigarette Flavors But Menthol
The Trump administration is expected to announce this week that it will ban mint-, fruit- and dessert-flavored e-cigarette cartridges popular with teenagers, but allow menthol and tobacco flavors to remain on the market. Flavored liquid nicotine used in open tank systems can continue to be sold, according to two administration officials who have been briefed on the plan. It is an important concession to vape shops that have thrived alongside the booming e-cigarette business in recent years. (Kaplan and Haberman, 12/31)
The Wall Street Journal: FDA To Ban All E-Cigarette Pod Flavors Except Tobacco And Menthol
Mr. Trump told reporters Tuesday that "we're taking it off, the flavors, for a period of time, certain flavors." "We're going to protect our families. We're going to protect our children. We're going to protect the industry," Mr. Trump said. Mr. Trump has signed legislation passed by the House and Senate banning tobacco and e-cigarettes to anyone under 21. (Maloney and Burton, 1/1)
The Associated Press: Trump Suggests Some Flavored Vapes May Be Pulled From Market
In September, Trump and his top health officials said they would soon sweep virtually all flavored e-cigarettes from the market because of their appeal to young children and teens. But that effort stalled after vaping lobbyists pushed back and White House advisers told Trump the ban could cost him votes with adults who vape. Beginning in May, All e-cigarettes will need to undergo FDA review. Only those that can demonstrate a benefit for U.S. public health will be permitted to stay on the market. (12/31)
The Washington Post: Trump Administration To Ban Most Flavored E-Cigarette Pods
The official described the action as a compromise between those in the administration who have been pushing for a comprehensive flavor ban to stem the surge in youth vaping, and others — including Trump campaign officials — who have warned the White House about the potential political impact of job losses in vape shops caused by a sweeping crackdown. (McGinley and Dawsey, 12/31)
The Washington Post: Trump Administration's Compromise Vape Ban Provokes Public Health Outcry
Angry public health groups on Wednesday predicted President Trump's scaled-back plan to limit flavored e-cigarettes will fall far short of its goal of stopping a surge in youth vaping, arguing that the imminent policy is an election-year capitulation to industry interests. (McGinley and Dawsey, 1/1)
Politico: Trump Abandons Sweeping Vape Ban With New Slimmed-Down Rules
The decision is a win for some of Trump's conservative allies, who warned a more sweeping ban on flavored vaping products would alienate the president's base and weaken his reelection effort. However, the carveouts have angered public health groups. "It is a capitulation to both Juul and vape shops and gives a green light to the e-cigarette industry to continue to target and addict kids with flavored products," said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco Free-Kids, in a statement Tuesday. (Owermohle and Diamond, 12/31)
The Hill: CDC: Vaping Lung Injuries On The Decline From Peak
The number of deaths and injuries linked to a vaping disease have declined from their peak and appear to be leveling off, according to new data released Tuesday by federal health authorities. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2,561 hospitalized cases have been reported in all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands, since the summer. (Weixel, 12/31)
The New York Times: As Tens Of Thousands Died, F.D.A. Failed To Police Opioids
Newly unearthed documents show that the Food and Drug Administration failed to use its policing powers to make sure a program to curb improper prescribing of opioids was effective, researchers say. The lax oversight, they point out, occurred as the epidemic was growing and tens of thousands of people were dying from overdoses each year. In 2011, the F.D.A. began asking the makers of OxyContin and other addictive long-acting opioids to pay for safety training for more than half the physicians prescribing the drugs, and to track the effectiveness of the training and other measures in reducing addiction, overdoses and deaths. (Goodnough and Sanger-Katz, 12/31)
The New York Times: Opioid Deaths Rise When Auto Plants Close, Study Shows
The last two decades have brought both a sharp decline in automaking jobs in the United States and the rise of a deadly epidemic of opioid abuse. According to a new study, the two trends may well be related. The study, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that opioid deaths were about 85 percent higher among people of prime working age in counties where automotive assembly plants had closed five years earlier, compared with counties where such factories remained open. (Chokshi, 12/30)
The Washington Post: Fatal Opioid Overdoses Spike In Counties Where Auto Plants Close, According To New Research
"Major economic events, such as plant closures, can affect a person's view of how their life might be in the future. These changes can have a profound effect on a person's mental well-being, and could consequently influence the risk of substance use," said Atheendar Venkataramani, the study's lead author and an assistant professor in the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, said in a news release. "Our findings confirm the general intuition that declining economic opportunity may have played a significant role in driving the opioid crisis." (Telford, 12/31)
NPR: Where Resources Are Scarce, A Rural Doctor Takes On The Opioid Crisis
Dr. Angela Gatzke-Plamann didn't fully grasp her community's opioid crisis until one desperate patient called on a Friday afternoon in 2016. "He was in complete crisis because he was admitting to me that he had lost control of his use of opioids," recalls Gatzke-Plamann. The patient had used opioids for several years for what Gatzke-Plamann calls "a very painful condition." (Sable-Smith, 12/30)
Reuters: Study Finds Google System Could Improve Breast Cancer Detection
A Google artificial intelligence system proved as good as expert radiologists at detecting which women had breast cancer based on screening mammograms and showed promise at reducing errors, researchers in the United States and Britain reported. The study, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, is the latest to show that artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to improve the accuracy of screening for breast cancer, which affects one in eight women globally. (1/1)
The New York Times: A.I. Is Learning To Read Mammograms
The new system for reading mammograms, which are X-rays of the breast, is still being studied and is not yet available for widespread use. It is just one of Google's ventures into medicine. Computers can be trained to recognize patterns and interpret images, and the company has already created algorithms to help detect lung cancers on CT scans, diagnose eye disease in people with diabetes and find cancer on microscope slides. "This paper will help move things along quite a bit," said Dr. Constance Lehman, director of breast imaging at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who was not involved in the study. "There are challenges to their methods. But having Google at this level is a very good thing." (Grady, 1/1)
The Wall Street Journal: Google AI Beats Doctors At Breast Cancer Detection—Sometimes
The health data used in the breast-cancer project doesn't include identifiable information, Google Health officials said, and the data was stripped of personal indicators before being given to Google. Radiologists and AI specialists said the model is promising, and officials at Google Health said the system could eventually support radiologists in improving breast-cancer detection and outcomes, as well as efficiency in mammogram reading. (Abbott, 1/1)
The Washington Post: Facebook Takes Action After LGBTQ Groups Complain About HIV Ads They Find Misleading
Facebook has quietly started removing some misleading ads about HIV prevention medication, responding to a deluge of activists, health experts and government regulators who said the tech giant had created the conditions for a public-health crisis. The ads at issue — purchased by pages affiliated with personal-injury lawyers and seen millions of times — linked drugs designed to stop the spread of HIV with severe bone and kidney damage. (Romm, 12/30)
The New York Times: In Indian Country, A Crisis Of Missing Women. And A New One When They're Found.
Prudence Jones had spent two years handing out "Missing" fliers and searching homeless camps and underpasses for her 28-year-old daughter when she got the call she had been praying for: Dani had been found. She was in a New Mexico jail, but she was alive. It seemed like a happy ending to the story of one of thousands of Native American women and girls who are reported missing every year in what Indigenous activists call a long-ignored crisis. Strangers following Dani's case on social media cheered the news this past July: "Wonderful!" "Thank you God!" "Finally, some good news." (Healy, 12/25)
The Wall Street Journal: Kate Miner's Tragic Journey Through The U.S. Indian Health Service
Kate Miner walked into the Indian Health Service hospital, seeking help for a cough that wouldn't quit. An X-ray taken of Ms. Miner's lungs that day, Oct. 19, 2016, found signs of cancer. What exactly the IHS doctor said to Ms. Miner about her exam remains in dispute. Notations in her medical file indicate the doctor told her to come back for a lung scan the next day. Her family says they never were given such instructions and weren't told of the two masses the X-ray revealed. (Frosch, 12/23)
The Wall Street Journal: Rx For Ailing Indian Health Service: Changes In Spending, Recruitment
Some of the biggest problems plaguing the troubled Indian Health Service, which cares for 2.6 million Native Americans, could be addressed by taking some relatively straightforward steps, according to IHS employees, tribal members, U.S. lawmakers and outside health-care experts. A series of articles by The Wall Street Journal has identified numerous deficiencies at the federal agency, including problem employees, recruitment challenges and regulatory lapses. The turmoil has sparked calls for changes. (Weaver and Wilde Mathews, 12/31)
The New York Times: Chinese Scientist Who Genetically Edited Babies Gets 3 Years In Prison
A court in China on Monday sentenced He Jiankui, the researcher who shocked the global scientific community when he claimed that he had created the world's first genetically edited babies, to three years in prison for carrying out "illegal medical practices." In a surprise announcement from a trial that was closed to the public, the court in the southern city of Shenzhen found Dr. He guilty of forging approval documents from ethics review boards to recruit couples in which the man had H.I.V. and the woman did not, Xinhua, China's official news agency, reported. (Wee, 12/30)
Reuters: Chinese Court Sentences 'Gene-Editing' Scientist To Three Years In Prison
In November 2018, He Jiankui, then an associate professor at Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, said he had used gene-editing technology known as CRISPR-Cas9 to change the genes of twin girls to protect them from getting infected with the AIDS virus in the future. The backlash in China and globally about the ethics of his research and work was fast and widespread. (12/30)
The Associated Press: Century-Old TB Vaccine May Work Better If Given In A New Way
Scientists think they've figured out how to make a century-old tuberculosis vaccine far more protective: Simply give the shot a different way. In a study with monkeys, injecting the vaccine straight into the bloodstream dramatically improved its effectiveness over today's skin-deep shot, researchers reported Wednesday. (1/1)
The New York Times: New Injection Method Makes An Old TB Vaccine Far More Powerful
The tuberculosis vaccine, known as BCG for Bacille Calmette-Guérin after the French scientists who developed it, is made from a live, weakened form of the tuberculosis bacteria found in cattle. It has been in use since 1921, is made by many companies and costs as little as $1 a dose for use in developing countries. It is considered safe even for newborns. However, it is not very effective. It protects infants against some devastating forms of TB, but eventually wears off and does not protect adolescents or adults against lung infections, the form that kills most TB victims. (McNeil, 1/1)
Stat: 3 Drug Pricing Policy Experiments To Watch In 2020
Politicians spent the better part of 2019 bickering over the best way to lower drug prices. But in the meantime, states, advocates — even the drug and insurance industries — were devising novel strategies for solving this perplexing challenge. 2020 will be the year many of those experimental ideas are tested. If they pan out, they'll undoubtedly be models for other states or companies — and perhaps serve as inspiration for Washington, too. Below, STAT looks at three of the most interesting ideas. (Florko, 1/2)
The New York Times: Crisis Looms In Antibiotics As Drug Makers Go Bankrupt
At a time when germs are growing more resistant to common antibiotics, many companies that are developing new versions of the drugs are hemorrhaging money and going out of business, gravely undermining efforts to contain the spread of deadly, drug-resistant bacteria. Antibiotic start-ups like Achaogen and Aradigm have gone belly up in recent months, pharmaceutical behemoths like Novartis and Allergan have abandoned the sector and many of the remaining American antibiotic companies are teetering toward insolvency. One of the biggest developers of antibiotics, Melinta Therapeutics, recently warned regulators it was running out of cash. (Jacobs, 12/25)
Reuters: Drugmakers From Pfizer To GSK To Hike U.S. Prices On Over 200 Drugs
Drugmakers including Pfizer Inc, GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Sanofi SA are planning to hike U.S. list prices on more than 200 drugs in the United States on Wednesday, according to drugmakers and data analyzed by healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors. Nearly all of the price increases will be below 10%, and around half of them are in the range of 4 to 6%, said 3 Axis co-founder Eric Pachman. The median price increase is around 5%, he said. (12/31)
NPR: High Drug Prices Sparked Outrage But Little Action
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., was in the middle of describing drug price gouging as a scheme to enrich a few industry executives at the expense of everyday patients when he stopped to reprimand a witness. "It's not funny, Mr. Shkreli," said Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform until his death this past October, to a smirking man at the table before him. "People are dying. And they're getting sicker and sicker." (Lupkin, 12/31)
Stat: The Most Important Drugs Approved In The Past Decade
The new year will end in a zero, making this a perfect opportunity to look back at the past 10 years of drug approvals. Complaints abound that the drug industry lacks innovation. A quick perusal of the new drugs approved over the last decade shows that isn't so. We dug through every drug that passed muster with the Food and Drug Administration starting in 2010 and identified ten — along with a dozen honorable mentions — that have had the biggest impact on the companies that sell them, on medicine, and on society as a whole. (Feuerstein and Herper, 12/31)
The New York Times: Science Panel Staffed With Trump Appointees Says E.P.A. Rollbacks Lack Scientific Rigor
A top panel of government-appointed scientists, many of them hand-selected by the Trump administration, said on Tuesday that three of President Trump's most far-reaching and scrutinized proposals to weaken major environmental regulations are at odds with established science. Draft letters posted online Tuesday by the Environmental Protection Agency's Scientific Advisory Board, which is responsible for evaluating the scientific integrity of the agency's regulations, took aim at the Trump administration's rewrite of an Obama-era regulation of waterways, an Obama-era effort to curb planet-warming vehicle tailpipe emissions and a plan to limit scientific data that can be used to draft health regulations. (Davenport and Friedman, 12/31)
The New York Times: How Cutting Food Stamps Can Add Costs Elsewhere
The Department of Agriculture recently finished work on a new rule that may take food stamps away from nearly 700,000 Americans by tightening work requirements. Several times in the past year, the government has proposed cutting food stamp eligibility. The new rule is intended to save almost $8 billion over five years. It's not clear how much money would actually be saved, research suggests, given the costs that might come from a decline in the health and well-being of many of the country's 14.3 million "food-insecure" households. (Frakt and Pearson, 12/31)
Stat: What Will 2020 Bring For Medicine And Science?
Last year, when we asked science and health care soothsayers to peek ahead to 2019, they told us that methamphetamine use would rise (it did), tumor organoids would near clinical use for personalizing cancer treatment and better targeting clinical trials (that's happening), and price transparency wouldn't bring lower health spending (that's true, too). But nobody predicted the outbreak of lung injuries tied to vaping, the failure and attempted resurrection of Biogen's Alzheimer's drug aducanumab, or the restoration of cellular functions in pig brains after death. We're back with a new set of predictions for 2020. Let's see how our experts do this time. (12/30)
ProPublica: The Family Wanted A Do Not Resuscitate Order. The Doctors Didn't.
Three weeks after his heart transplant, Andrey Jurtschenko still had not woken up. A towering figure at 6 feet, 3 inches, with salt-and-pepper hair and matching mustache, Jurtschenko — known to one and all as Andy — delighted friends and family with his seemingly endless supply of wisecracks and goofball humor. On April 5, 2018, he went into surgery at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey, for a new heart and what he hoped would be renewed energy. He dreamed of returning to his carpet business and to enjoying New York Mets games on the weekends after years of exhaustion and strain caused by congestive heart failure. (Chen, 12/31)
ProPublica/AL.com: What Happens When Sheriffs Release Violent Offenders To Avoid Paying Their Medical Bills
Sheriffs across Alabama and the U.S. regularly find ways to release sick and injured inmates from county jails to avoid paying for their hefty hospital bills, a practice often referred to as medical bond that AL.com and ProPublica reported in September. Some sheriffs defend the practice as a way to keep jail medical costs down while allowing people who aren't a threat to society to access care. In Alabama, it's now clear that some of those inmates were in jail awaiting trial on charges that they'd committed violent crimes, even murder, AL.com and ProPublica have found. (Sheets, 12/31)
ProPublica/AL.com: How Some Sheriffs Force Their Inmates Into Medical Debt
In Alabama, the county in which you're arrested could be the deciding factor in who will be financially responsible for your medical bills behind bars. In Baldwin County, known for its white-sand Gulf Coast beaches and waterfront communities, the sheriff's office ensures that inmates in the county jail do not have to pay anything more than a $15 copayment for medical care. "Inmates are not billed for the full cost of any medical care either inside or outside" the jail, Sheriff Hoss Mack said in an email. (Sheets, 12/26)
The Associated Press: Mississippi Asks Appeals Court To Reconsider Abortion Ruling
Mississippi is asking a federal appeals court to reconsider a ruling that said the state's ban on most abortions at 15 weeks of pregnancy is unconstitutional. The ruling was issued Dec. 13 by a panel of three judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, dealing a blow to those seeking to overturn the landmark Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. The next day, Republican Gov. Phil Bryant said he wants the state to appeal to the Supreme Court. (12/27)
The New York Times: More People Are Dying On New York City's Streets. What Went Wrong?
As New York City tackled the stubborn problem of street safety in recent years, it earned praise for pushing down traffic deaths to their lowest level in a century and helped begin a national movement to make roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists. But years of progress could be in jeopardy: The number of traffic deaths rose in 2019, fueled by a spike in cyclist fatalities that has devastated and angered the city's vibrant biking community. (Fitzsimmons, 1/1)
ProPublica/Anchorage Daily News: How A Police Officer In Iowa Helped Protect An Alaskan Police Force — From Thousands Of Miles Away
On Michael Wongittilin's first day in uniform as a police officer in Savoonga, Alaska, 11 years ago, a man walked into the village's public safety office and pointed a gun at him. Wongittillin jumped behind a desk and then lurched out, ran toward the assailant and bombarded him with pepper spray — the strongest weapon that Savoonga officers carry. (Williams, 12/24)
No comments:
Post a Comment