Wednesday, April 26, 2023

KFF Health News Original Stories

As Federal Emergency Declaration Expires, the Picture of the Pandemic Grows Fuzzier

The pandemic gave federal officials expanded power to access crucial data about the spread of covid-19, but that authority will change when the public health emergency sunsets in May. That, along with the end of popular covid trackers, will make it harder for policymakers and the public to keep an eye on covid and other threats. (Sam Whitehead, 6/6 )

How a 2019 Florida Law Catalyzed a Hospital-Building Boom

In Wesley Chapel, Fla., near Tampa, residents will soon have three general hospitals within a five-minute drive. The new construction is part of a hospital-building boom across Florida unleashed almost four years ago, when the state dropped a requirement that companies obtain government approval to open new hospitals. (Phil Galewitz and Lauren Sausser and Daniel Chang, 6/6 )

Disability Rights Groups Sue to Overturn California's Physician-Assisted Death Law

Disability rights advocates and two individuals with disabilities sued Tuesday to overturn the state's physician-assisted death law, arguing it is unconstitutional, violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, and makes it too easy for people with terminal diseases whose deaths aren't imminent to kill themselves with a doctor's help. (Don Thompson, 6/6 )

Listen to the Latest 'KFF Health News Minute'

"Health Minute" brings original health care and health policy reporting from the KHN newsroom to the airwaves each week. ( 6/6 )

Capitol Watch

How Many Would Go Uninsured Under House Debt Limit Plan?

Two estimates vastly differ. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's review of the House bill projects that about 600,000 would lose coverage with its proposed Medicaid work requirements. A Biden administration analysis says that 21 million people are at risk.

Axios: CBO: 600,000 More Uninsured From House GOP Bill About 600,000 people would become uninsured under the House Republican debt bill's plan to impose Medicaid work requirements, the Congressional Budget Office estimated Tuesday. The estimate from Congress' nonpartisan scorekeeper gives a sense of the coverage loss from the proposal, while also highlighting the federal savings. (Sullivan, 4/26)

Vox: GOP's Debt-Limit Bill Could Lead To 21 Million People Losing Medicaid, Biden White House Says As many as 21 million Americans could be at risk of losing their Medicaid coverage under the House GOP's work requirement proposal, according to a new Biden administration analysis shared exclusively with Vox. The projections are both a warning about the potential consequences of the strict reporting requirements Republicans are contemplating and ammunition for Democrats in the upcoming negotiations over raising the federal debt limit. (Scott, 4/25)

More on the debt-limit talks —

Roll Call: Scope Of COVID-19 Funding Cuts Emerges As Debt Limit Flashpoint ​Democrats are jumping on the House GOP plan to recoup unspent pandemic aid in their debt limit bill, charging that the move will harm agencies counting on that funding, including the Department of Veterans Affairs. The bill, which Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is hoping to get on the floor this week, would rescind $72 billion in unobligated pandemic relief aid. (Quigley, 4/25)

Politico: McCarthy Struggles To Lock Down Votes For Debt Plan Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his team are vowing to move ahead with their sprawling debt measure as soon as Wednesday, but the path to locking down votes turned murky after a day of internal deliberations. The Californian Republican spent the day holding back-to-back meetings with leadership allies and key holdouts to shore up support before a tentative vote Wednesday. By Tuesday evening, though, the GOP's whip count remained short of the votes needed for passage, with a cohort of Midwestern Republicans demanding changes to a major tax rollback in the bill. A smaller group of conservatives is also raising concerns of their own over work requirements for certain assistance programs. (Ferris, Carney, Hill and Beavers, 4/25)

Sanders And Cassidy Agree On Targeting PBMs In Drug Costs Bill

News outlets report on political progress made during bipartisan efforts to boost access to generic drugs, with a goal of increasing transparency demands on PBMs. Separately, a Medicare official has insisted drug price negotiations will include how important a drug is to patients.

Stat: Sens. Bernie Sanders, Bill Cassidy Reach Deal On PBM, Generic Reform Senate health committee leaders Bernie Sanders and Bill Cassidy on Tuesday announced an agreement on a bipartisan package to increase access to generic drugs and increase the transparency required of pharmacy middlemen. (Cohrs, 4/25)

Modern Healthcare: Sanders, Cassidy Target PBMs In New Senate Bill The pressure on pharmacy benefit managers mounts on Capitol Hill as the leaders of the Senate health committee unveiled the latest bills targeting prescription drug costs on Tuesday. (Tepper and Nzanga, 4/25)

On Medicare drug price negotiation —

Stat: Medicare Official Insists Drug Price Negotiation Will Consider Value When Medicare starts negotiating drug prices, it will take into account how important a drug is for patients, Meena Seshamani, the director of the Center for Medicare, said Tuesday. (Wilkerson, 4/25)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

AP: More Sanctions For Deadly Fentanyl If Bill Becomes Law Over the past year, the U.S. Treasury Department has used its sanctions powers to impose wide-ranging financial penalties on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine — turning Russia into the most sanctioned country in the world. Now, the federal agency is facing increasing pressure, including from legislation introduced Tuesday in the Senate, to use those tools with similar vigor against the people, financial institutions and companies that have participated in the explosion of fentanyl use and distribution in the U.S. (Hussein, 4/25)

After Roe V. Wade

Tuberville Holds Up 184 More Military Promotions In Abortion Policy Protest

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama, says he will block Defense Department personnel moves that must be authorized by the Senate until the Pentagon halts its new abortion policy.

USA Today: Sen. Tommy Tuberville Blocks 184 Military Promotions In Abortion Fight Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama blocked 184 military promotions Tuesday in the latest chapter of his protest against the Pentagon's new abortion policy. The drama unfolded in the Senate as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, moved a request to allow the promotions and Tuberville blocked the action. (Woodall, 4/25)

On the issue of abortion in the 2024 election —

Axios: Biden's 2024 Re-Election Bid Puts Abortion Front And Center The Biden administration wasted little time making it clear that abortion access will be a cornerstone of President Biden's 2024 re-election bid as red states continue to enact bans and restrictions. Last year's midterm elections showed voter sentiment breaking for new protections for abortion rights following the fall of Roe v. Wade. Biden is hoping he can replicate that. (Gonzalez, 4/26)

USA Today: Kamala Harris Warns Republicans Not To "Get In Our Way" On Abortion Rights Vice President Kamala Harris opened the 2024 presidential campaign with a warning to Republican leaders who want to scale back access to abortion: Don't get in our way. Appearing before Democratic activists and young voters, Harris launched into a fiery attack on Republican-led states and anti-abortion groups that have been making use of legislatures and friendly courts to limit access to the procedure. (Chambers, 4/25)

The 19th: Nikki Haley Calls For ‘Consensus’ On Abortion Restrictions In Policy Speech In remarks described by her campaign as a "major policy speech on abortion," Haley emphasized her support for abortion restrictions and her long history supporting policies that restrict access to the procedure. At the same time, she made a bid for support from moderate women voters by talking about her struggles with infertility, her husband's adoption and a friend's rape — and urged empathy for people facing unplanned pregnancies. (Barclay, 4/25)

Roll Call: Pence Nods To Role Of Judges In Conservative Push On Abortion Former Vice President Mike Pence told a legal group Tuesday in Washington that the next Republican administration should work to curtail the power of executive agencies and pointed to recent legal fights over abortion access. "Restraining and reclaiming the legislative prerogatives of the legislative branch from the administrative state should be one of the most important objectives of the next Republican administration," Pence said at an event put on by the Federalist Society. (Tarinelli, 4/25)

'Secret Shopper' Study Reveals Hospitals' Confusion Over Abortion Laws

Oklahoma has two abortion laws on the books that allow for, but don't define, an abortion in a medical emergency. When researchers called 34 hospitals in the state to inquire about their practices, they found that none could articulate a clear policy.

CNN: Amid Contradictory Laws, Hospitals In One State Were Unable To Explain Policies On Emergency Abortion Care, Study Finds Oklahoma's laws restricting abortions have created a confusing, contradictory environment that may have a chilling effect on health care, new research says. After the US Supreme Court overturned the right to an abortion last year with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, several states quickly passed laws that restricted such procedures. A report released Tuesday and described in the medical journal the Lancet finds that the laws in at least one state left workers at many hospitals confused about how to proceed. (Christensen, 4/25)

NPR: In Oklahoma, A Woman Was Told To Wait Until She's 'Crashing' For Abortion Care The molar pregnancy Jaci Statton had would never become a baby. It was cancerous, though. At the last hospital in Oklahoma she went to during her ordeal last month, Statton says staff told her and her husband that she could not get a surgical abortion until she became much sicker. (Simmons-Duffin, 4/25)

Abortion news from New Mexico, Texas —

AP: Abortion-Ban Ordinances Gain Ground In New Mexico A small New Mexico town near Albuquerque adopted an ordinance Wednesday aimed at blocking the distribution of abortion medication or supplies by mail, extending a wave of local government restrictions on abortion. The ordinance won approval by a 4-1 vote of the town commission in Edgewood, a community of about 6,000 residents separated by a mountain pass from metropolitan Albuquerque. It aims to enforce provisions of a 19th century federal law that once prohibited mail shipments of abortion materials. (Lee, 4/26)

The Texas Tribune and The New York Times: Senate OKs Bill To Allow Construction Of Anti-Abortion Monument At Capitol The Texas Senate on Tuesday advanced legislation that could initiate the process for construction of a sculpture of a mother with a fetus visible in her womb on Capitol grounds. The sculpture would be a replica of the "Life Monument," a bronze sculpture created by Canadian artist Timothy Schmalz. The original sculpture was installed in the Church of San Marcello al Corso in Rome last year and is often interpreted as a depiction of the central figures of Christianity, Mary and Jesus. Replicas have since been installed elsewhere. (Tompkins, 4/25)

Also —

PBS NewsHour: Support For Abortion Rights Has Grown In Spite Of Bans And Restrictions, Poll Shows Support for abortion rights overall has increased as state legislatures and courtrooms have instituted a growing number of restrictions and bans, according to the latest PBS NewHour/NPR/Marist poll. Sixty-one percent of U.S. adults say they support abortion rights, marking a 6-percentage point increase since last June. (Santhanam, 4/26)

In other reproductive health news —

Des Moines Register: Iowa AG's Pause On Paying Rape Victims' Plan B Pills Sets Off Scramble A spokeswoman for Bird confirmed to the Des Moines Register that she had put payments for such services on pause as part of a "top-down, bottom-up audit of victim assistance" that began in January. According to Press Secretary Alyssa Brouillet, Bird is "carefully evaluating whether this is an appropriate use of public funds." Bird, however, refused to answer questions regarding the review at a press conference in West Des Moines Tuesday, stating, "We don't have an update at this time." (Ramm and Morris, 4/24)

Fortune: 3 Reasons We Need More Male Birth Control Options, According To A Top Medical Researcher People with uteruses have a plethora of birth control options. There are pills, rings, implants and intrauterine devices, or IUDS. There are also hormonal options and non-hormonal options. However, for the other half of the population, there are two options: condoms or vasectomies. (Payton, 4/25)

Gun Violence

Assault Weapons Ban Signed Into State Law In Washington

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, signed a trio of gun reform measures into law Tuesday, including one that outlaws assault-style firearms like AR-15s and AK-47s. The restrictions are already being contested in court.

The Seattle Times: WA Bans Sale Of AR-15s And Other Semi-Automatic Rifles, Effective Immediately Washington became the 10th state to prohibit sales of AR-15s and dozens of other semi-automatic rifles Tuesday, as Gov. Jay Inslee signed the ban into law, effective immediately. ... The gun ban signed by Inslee, which stacks atop a bundle of gun restrictions adopted over the past several years in Washington, is aimed at high-powered rifles that have been used to carry out the worst mass shootings across the U.S. (Brunner, 4/25)

AP: New Washington Gun Law Already Faces Federal Court Challenge The sales ban, which took effect immediately, drew a quick legal challenge from the Second Amendment Foundation, based in Bellevue, Washington; and the Firearms Policy Coalition, based in Sacramento, California. The groups sued in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Tuesday, saying the law violates the constitutional right to keep and bear arms. (Baumann and Valdes, 4/25)

Also —

The Hill: Fewer Americans Support Assault Weapon Ban: Survey Less than half of Americans in a new Monmouth University Poll said they’ll support an assault weapons ban in the country, down from a similar poll taken last year. The poll, published on Monday, found that 46 percent of respondents said they’d support the banning of future assault weapons sales in the country, while 49 percent of those surveyed said they would oppose a ban. (Oshin, 4/24)

More on the gun violence epidemic —

USA Today: Florida Sen. Rick Scott Wants Armed Officers In Every K-12 School Sen. Rick Scott on Tuesday took action in response to the recent Nashville school shooting that looks a lot like what he did as Florida governor after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. Five years ago, he led an effort to provide armed police officers in every public school in Florida. Now he wants to do the same across the nation with his new "School Guardian Act." (Woodall, 4/25)

The Texas Tribune: Texas House Passes School Safety Bills In Response To Uvalde Shooting The Texas House on Tuesday gave final approval to legislation that is calling for significant investments to beef up schools’ safety, including hiring at least one armed security officer at every campus, providing incentives for school employees to get certified to carry a weapon and installing silent panic alert buttons in every classroom. House Bill 3, authored by Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, passed 119-25. It now heads to the Senate. (Lopez, 4/24)

Health Industry

Nursing Shortage May Get Worse With Visa Slots Running Out

The State Department recently announced that most green card allocations for foreign nurses have been filled, and that only people who applied before June 2022 will be considered for the remaining slots — even if the applicant has a job offer in the U.S. Health groups worry this will exacerbate the already stretched corps of nurses in this country.

The Hill: Health Groups Sound The Alarm Over Foreign Nurse Visa Freeze Newly announced limits on visas for foreign nurses threatens to further a staffing strain on hospitals, nursing homes and other major health employers. The State Department in its May Visa Bulletin announced that nearly all the available green card slots that nurses are eligible for had been filled. Only people who applied prior to June 1, 2022 will be eligible to continue with visa interviews, even if an applicant already had a job offer in the U.S. (Weixel, 4/25)

The Baltimore Sun: Notre Dame Of Maryland, Mount St. Mary's Universities Partner To Help Address Nursing Shortage Aiming to help ease a statewide nursing shortage, Notre Dame of Maryland University and Mount St. Mary's University have partnered to make it a bit faster to become a nurse. The two schools signed an agreement Tuesday morning that will simplify the enrollment process from Mount St. Mary's pre-nursing track into Notre Dame's fast-track bachelor of science in nursing program. After graduating from Mount St. Mary's in Emmitsburg, students can complete the Notre Dame program in a minimum of 15 months. (LeBoeuf, 4/25)

Becker's Hospital Review: RN Average Wage For All 50 States Registered nurses receive $42.80 on average, according to data published by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational employment statistics survey. RNs in California had the highest average annual wage, followed by Hawaii and Oregon. The data was gathered in May 2022. (Robertson, 4/25)

More news about health care workers —

Los Angeles Times: Alleged Phony Doctor May Have Illegally Treated Thousands A Studio City man is facing criminal charges after investigators say he illegally provided medical care to thousands of patients at his Toluca Lake facility without a license, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. (Toohey, 4,/25)

Houston Chronicle: Houston Doctor, Pharmacy Ordered To Pay $7M To Settle False Claims A Houston doctor and Texas-based pharmacy were ordered to pay more than $7 million to the U.S. government Monday to settle false claims submitted for unnecessary medications, including compounding creams, gels and pain patches. (Limehouse, 4/25)

Stat: Students Leading A Nascent Climate Movement In Medical Education When Cecilia Sorensen was an emergency medicine resident practicing at Denver Health in Colorado a few years ago, summer was known as "trauma season." Gunshot and motor vehicle accident victims, people with heart attacks and COPD would stream into the ER. Later, on a fellowship, she witnessed the health impacts of drought in Syria. The common driver, she realized, was climate change and its impact, both locally and globally. (Pennar, 4/26)

In other health care industry news —

Becker's Hospital Review: Hospitals Will Spend Up To 3% More On Drugs In 2023, Study Finds Nonfederal hospitals' costs have hovered around $35 billion to $40 billion since 2018, and in 2023, overall prescription drug spending is expected to be about $38 billion, or a 1 percent to 3 percent increase from the prior year. This increase is moderate compared to the previous year's change; in 2021, hospital drug spending grew 8.4 percent from 2020. (Twenter, 4/25)

The Washington Post: Hospital That Faced Lawsuit Provides Irvo Otieno Records To Va. Nonprofit The private hospital in Virginia where Irvo Otieno was taken days before his death at a different, state-run facility has turned over records to a nonprofit group investigating his treatment while in custody, short-circuiting a lawsuit over the materials. The disAbility Law Center on Monday requested to withdraw the lawsuit it had filed in Richmond federal court against Parham Doctors’ Hospital, saying the records the hospital was withholding had since arrived in the mail. (Rizzo, 4/25)

CBS News: "Less About People And More About Profits": Investors' Role In Next Week's Closure Of San Antonio Hospital Under Scrutiny A 356-bed San Antonio medical center set to shut down next week is the latest hospital closure raising questions about the role of private equity in the health care sector. (Lappok, Kaplan and Samu, 4/25)

KFF Health News: How A 2019 Florida Law Catalyzed A Hospital-Building Boom In BayCare Hospital Wesley Chapel's 86 private rooms, patients can use voice-activated Alexa devices to dim the lights, play music, or summon a nurse. BayCare boasts some of the latest high-tech equipment. Yet, the company said, its $246 million facility that opened here in March doesn't provide any health care services beyond what patients could receive at a hospital just 2 miles away. BayCare Wesley Chapel's luster as the newest hospital in this fast-growing Tampa suburb of 65,000 people won't last. Another general hospital is on the way — the third within a five-minute drive. (Galewitz, Sausser and Chang, 4/26)

Covid-19 Crisis

Physicians Continue To Dismiss Symptoms Of Those With Long Covid

The Conversation reports on cases of "medical gaslighting" experienced by people suffering long covid, even though new research on the condition is readily available. Axios remarks that the FDA is asking for data from patients who've turned to unproven remedies for the illness.

The Conversation: People With Long COVID Continue To Experience Medical Gaslighting More Than 3 Years Into The Pandemic Medical gaslighting occurs when health-care practitioners dismiss or falsely blame patients for their symptoms. While new information about long COVID has become more readily available, some patients continue to face gaslighting and feel that their symptoms are treated less seriously by some health-care professionals. (Purewal, Byers, Jamieson and Zolfaghari, 4/23)

Axios: The Ongoing Search For Long COVID Treatments As the federal government continues to wrestle with a response to long COVID, Food and Drug Administration officials are turning to patients who've experimented with unproven treatments for clues about how to manage the condition and design clinical trials. (Moreno, 4/26)

CNET: Long COVID: What We Know Now For many people, what started out as a relatively mild case of COVID-19 persisted into a lingering condition that took weeks or months before their suffering subsided -- some have yet to fully recover. They live with long COVID, a condition health care providers have struggled to understand and accurately diagnose since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020. Though it's hard to put a number on what percentage of people will develop long COVID, since home tests and mild cases contribute to inaccurate case counts, somewhere between 10% of people who tested positive for COVID-19 but didn't need to be hospitalized, and 50% to 70% of people who were hospitalized, developed some degree of long COVID, according to a major review of long COVID research published earlier this year in Nature Reviews Microbiology. (Rendall and Avery, 4/25)

Medscape: Extent Of Long COVID Symptoms Tied To Disease Severity The severity of neurologic and non-neurologic symptoms associated with long COVID appear to be linked to the severity of the initial infection, new research suggests. (Yasgur, 4/24)

CIDRAP: Molnupiravir Tied To Lower Risk Of Long COVID In High-Risk Patients Among COVID-19 patients at risk for severe illness, the use of the antiviral molnupiravir (Lagevrio) within 5 days of infection was linked to reduced odds of persistent symptoms and related hospitalization and death, regardless of vaccination status or previous infections, finds a US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) study. (Van Beusekom, 4/25)

In other pandemic news —

USA Today: COVID Pandemic: What Did US Do Wrong? New Book Examines Lessons Despite partisan divides, pretty much everyone agrees that America's leaders made mistakes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, a group of more than 30 heavy-hitting experts from the worlds of policy, public health, science, biodefense and patient advocacy has written a book reviewing some of those errors and making suggestions for avoiding similar missteps in the future. (Weintraub, 4/25)

KFF Health News: As Federal Emergency Declaration Expires, The Picture Of The Pandemic Grows Fuzzier Joel Wakefield isn't just an armchair epidemiologist. His interest in tracking the spread of covid is personal. The 58-year-old lawyer who lives in Phoenix has an immunodeficiency disease that increases his risk of severe outcomes from covid-19 and other infections. He has spent lots of time since 2020 checking state, federal, and private sector covid trackers for data to inform his daily decisions. "I’m assessing ‘When am I going to see my grandkids? When am I going to let my own kids come into my house?’" he said. (Whitehead, 4/26)

KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest ‘KFF Health News Minute’ The KFF Health News Minute this week explains why some people with long covid feel swept under the rug and how a joint report with CBS News led to the criminal investigation of a dental appliance. (4/25)

LGBTQ+ Health

Anti-Trans Law Controversy Deepens In Montana House

News outlets report on a political storm in Montana that began after the only transgender lawmaker protested an anti-trans law: State Rep. Zooey Zephyr has been silenced by GOP lawmakers in the House since then, causing public protests that led to a cancellation of a House session Tuesday.

The New York Times: Montana House Cancels Session Amid Standoff With Transgender Lawmaker Disputing criticism that they had silenced Montana's only transgender lawmaker, Republican leaders abruptly canceled a session of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, a day after heated protests led to arrests in the House chamber. In a brief news conference, Speaker Matt Regier blamed the lawmaker, Representative Zooey Zephyr, for the standoff, saying that she was not following House rules. "The only person who is silencing Representative Zephyr is Representative Zephyr," he said. (Robbins and Fortin, 4/25)

The 19th: Lawmakers Are Being Silenced For Speaking Out Against Anti-Trans Bills State Rep. Zooey Zephyr stood on the Montana House floor, holding her microphone in the air. Protesters’ chants echoed as they demanded she be allowed to speak. Police officers, some carrying batons, removed her supporters. Seven people were arrested. Monday's protest came after days in which Zephyr has been prevented from speaking on the House floor after she denounced Republicans for supporting anti-transgender legislation. (Rummler, 4/25)

In updates on transgender health care in Texas —

The Texas Tribune: Trans Texans’ Access To Transition-Related Care Threatened By Senate Bill Transgender Texans of all ages could have their access to transition-related medical treatments severely limited — or effectively ended — under a bill the Texas Senate preliminary approved Tuesday. (Nguyen, 4/25)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Agency's Employees Told To Dress Based On 'Biological Gender' A memo sent to Texas Department of Agriculture employees last week told employees at the department to dress "in a manner consistent with their biological gender." Employees who don't follow the new rules could be disciplined or fired, according to the memo. Advocates for LGBTQ people in Texas said the directive appears to target transgender people and could run afoul of federal anti-discrimination laws. (Wayne Ferguson, 4/25)

From Florida, Oregon, and elsewhere —

Truthout: Florida Passes Bill That Allows For "Legal Kidnapping" Of Transgender Children The Florida House of Representatives has approved a bill that would allow state courts to intervene in custody disputes and remove transgender children who are receiving gender-affirming care from supportive families with whom they live. In extreme circumstances, legal experts say this may even "involve the state taking physical custody of a child." SB 254 would classify gender-affirming care for transgender youth as a form of "serious physical harm," which could be cited during a custody enforcement hearing to allow unsupportive parents to take "physical custody of [the] child." The amended bill, which originally passed on April 4 by a vote of 27 to 12, now returns to the Senate. (McNeill, 4/25)

AP: Cosmetic To Critical: Blue States Help Trans Health Coverage For most of her life in New Mexico, Christina Wood felt like she had to hide her identity as a transgender woman. So six years ago she moved to Oregon, where she had readier access to the gender-affirming health care she needed to live as her authentic self. Once there, Wood, 49, was able to receive certain surgeries that helped her transition, but electrolysis, or permanent hair removal, wasn't fully covered under the state's Medicaid plan for low-income residents. Paying out-of-pocket ate up nearly half her monthly income, but it was critical for Wood's mental health. (Rush, 4/26)

Fox News: Transgender Swimming Pioneer Dismisses 'Biological Advantage' For Trans Female Athletes, Cites Michael Phelps Schuyler Bailar, the first openly transgender NCAA athlete who swam on the men's team at Harvard University during the 2018-19 season, dismissed the argument that transgender female athletes have an advantage over biological females when it comes to sports. Bailar hosted former University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas on his "Dear Schuyler" podcast on Monday and in his closing monologue argued that the talk about biological differences in sports when it comes to men is celebrated but when it comes to women and transgender women it is policed and legislated. Bailar used Michael Phelps and Caster Semenya as his examples. (Gaydos, 4/26)

State Watch

Blue Cross Restructure Plan Upsets North Carolina Regulator

State Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey complained about the bill passed by the House Health Committee because it could allow nonprofit Blue Cross to transfer billions to a holding company instead of returning some of the surplus to policyholders. "This is the people's money," he argued.

AP: Blue Cross Oversight Bill Riles North Carolina Regulator North Carolina's dominant health insurance provider could transfer billions to a holding company instead of returning portions of that surplus to policyholders, under legislation that advanced Tuesday in the state House. The House Health Committee passed a bill with broad bipartisan support that would restructure Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, the largest nonprofit provider in all 100 counties, and allow it to behave more like its for-profit national competitors. The House Insurance Committee will debate the bill Wednesday. (Schoenbaum, 4/25)

In other health news from across the U.S. —

New Hampshire Public Radio: State, Hospitals Disagree On How Long It Will Take To End ‘ER Boarding’ In New Hampshire State officials say they will need up to two years to fully eliminate wait times for inpatient mental health treatment, after a federal judge ruled New Hampshire must stop holding patients in psychiatric distress inside emergency rooms. A group of about 20 local hospitals, however, say that timeline is too slow. They want the state to end the practice, sometimes called "ER boarding," within one year. (Cuno-Booth, 4/25)

KFF Health News: Disability Rights Groups Sue To Overturn California's Physician-Assisted Death Law Disability rights advocates sued Tuesday to overturn California's physician-assisted death law, arguing that recent changes make it too easy for people with terminal diseases whose deaths aren't imminent to kill themselves with drugs prescribed by a doctor. California's original law allowing terminally ill adults to obtain prescriptions for life-ending drugs was passed in 2016. Advocates say the revised version that took effect last year removes crucial safeguards and violates the U.S. Constitution and the Americans with Disabilities Act. (Thompson, 4/25)

Houston Chronicle: Texas House OKs Bill Requiring Websites To Shield Teens From Harm The Texas House on Tuesday gave initial approval to a bill that would require major tech platforms to shield teenage users from a wide array of harmful content and give parents more oversight over how their children use the platform. (Scherer, 4/25)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Philadelphia Jury Awards Record Verdict Against HUP A Philadelphia jury on Friday awarded more than $180 million to a child born in 2018 with severe brain injuries at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, attorneys for the child's mother said. The award, part of which will be paid over the child's lifetime, is the largest ever by a jury in a Pennsylvania medical malpractice case, according to one industry source. (Brubaker, 4/26)

Also —

Arizona Republic: Sexually Transmitted Infections In Arizona Increased During Pandemic Arizona in 2021 led the nation for its rate of syphilis in newborns, and preliminary state data indicates the problem got worse last year. Arizona's rate of babies born with syphilis in 2021 was nearly three times the national average rate, according to new data on sexually transmitted infections ― STIs ― released this month by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Innes, 4/25)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: CDC "Detectives" Study HIV Clusters Among Hispanics In Metro Atlanta In February 2021, three HIV clusters among Hispanic men in metro Atlanta were identified for the first time. By June 2022, two more clusters of HIV were detected, spreading rapidly among Hispanic men who are gay or bisexual and other men who have sex with men. The cases and how they were discovered were described by one of the lead authors of a Centers for Disease and Prevention study on Tuesday at the agency's annual Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Conference in Atlanta. (Oliviero, 4/26)

CIDRAP: Study On Mpox In Homeless Notes That 60% Also Had HIV Today in Emerging Infectious Diseases, researchers describe the epidemiologic characteristics of 118 mpox patients in Los Angeles who were homeless at the time of their diagnosis and note that 60% also had HIV. All patients were identified from July to September 2022. (Soucheray, 4/25)

Lifestyle and Health

Concerns Over Melatonin Gummy Safety Amid Rising Child Poisonings

USA Today notes that a sixfold rise in poisonings from melatonin supplements among U.S. children over a decade are driving concerns over the unregulated sleep aid. Separately, a crackdown against salmonella in breaded raw chicken, anxiety risks linked to fried food, and more are also in the news.

USA Today: Is Melatonin Safe For Kids? Gummies Can Cause Poisoning, Study Finds Amid a sixfold rise in poisonings from melatonin supplements among U.S. children over the past decade, a study released Tuesday sheds light on how unregulated the sleep aid actually is. Because melatonin is sold as a supplement, it's not regulated as a drug – so the U.S. Food and Drug Administration doesn't have oversight over ingredient content or accuracy. (Hassanein, 4/25)

In other food news —

The Wall Street Journal: Salmonella In Breaded Raw Chicken Is Target Of USDA Crackdown The Agriculture Department proposed new rules Tuesday aimed at minimizing salmonella outbreaks from some breaded chicken products, a move the industry said could significantly affect availability and price. Part of a broader effort to contain salmonella, the new proposal takes aim at breaded, stuffed raw chicken products, such as frozen chicken cordon bleu. Because these products are often prebrowned, consumers might mistakenly think they are cooked, leading to consumption of undercooked chicken, the USDA said. (Peterson and Thomas, 4/25)

CNN: Fried Food Is Linked To Increased Risk Of Anxiety And Depression French fries — they’re greasy, starchy and a comfort food for many. But reaching for fried foods may have a negative impact on mental health. A research team in Hangzhou, China, found that frequent consumption of fried foods, especially fried potatoes, was linked with a 12% higher risk of anxiety and 7% higher risk of depression than in people who didn't eat fried foods. (Nicioli, 4/24)

More health and wellness news —

MedPage Today: Be Wary Of Unproven Eye Drop Treatment With Amniotic Fluid, FDA Says In its ongoing battle against companies selling unapproved stem cell products, the FDA issued a safety communication earlier this month about amniotic fluid eye drops being improperly marketed for dry eye disease. (Fiore, 4/25)

Boston Herald: Parkinson's Research: Laser Light Helmet Therapy Helped ‘Improve Motor Function’ In Patients A new Parkinson's disease clinical trial with patients wearing laser light helmets has shown "promising results," as the therapy helped "improve motor function" for those facing the progressive neurological condition. In the study out of Australia, the new infrared light therapy helmet on patients living with Parkinson's helped improve facial expression, upper limb coordination and movement, lower limb coordination and movement, walking gait, and tremor. (Sobey, 4/25)

Fox News: In Alzheimer's Study, Sleeping Pills Are Shown To Reduce Signs Of Disease In The Brain Sleep difficulties are a common complaint among those living with Alzheimer's disease — and experts say those challenges often start well before the diagnosis. In a recent study published in Annals of Neurology, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, evaluated how taking sleep medication could impact the brains of people with Alzheimer's. (Rudy, 4/25)

NBC News: Climate Change Giving Some Adults Pollen Allergies For The First Time For several years now, we are living in a world where every sneeze, each hint of a scratchy throat or stuffy nose, gives a person pause. Is it Covid? Just a cold? For a growing number of adults in their 30s, 40s and 50s, those symptoms are turning out to be hallmarks of something they've never had to deal with before: seasonal allergies. (Edwards, 4/25)

Bloomberg: Apple Plans AI-Powered Health Coaching Service, Mood Tracker And iPad Health App Apple Inc. is working on an artificial intelligence-powered health coaching service and new technology for tracking emotions, its latest attempt to lock in users with health and wellness features. (Gurman, 4/25)

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The Washington Post: Mattel Introduces First Barbie Doll With Down Syndrome Kayla McKeon loved playing with Barbie dolls growing up in the ’90s. She brushed their hair and dressed them up. Together, they went on walks, hosted dinner parties and cruised around in toy convertibles. McKeon's Barbies looked all sorts of ways. Some were blonde, while others were brunette. Some had blue eyes; others, green. But none of them looked quite like McKeon, because none of them had Down syndrome. (Edwards, 4/26)

Prescription Drug Watch

FDA Greenlights Biogen's Treatment For Rare Form Of ALS

Read about the biggest pharmaceutical developments and pricing stories from the past week in KFF Health News Prescription Drug Watch roundup.

Stat: FDA Approves New Biogen Treatment For Rare Form Of ALS The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday granted conditional approval to a new treatment for a rare, genetic form of ALS — basing its decision for the first time on preliminary evidence that may also speed the development of future medicines for the fatal, neurodegenerative disease. The new drug, called Qalsody, is made by Biogen. (Feuerstein, 4/25)

NBC News: Cancer Drug Shortage: Supply Of Pluvicto For Prostate Cancer Should Increase Later This Year Supply of the cancer drug Pluvicto should increase "meaningfully" in the second half of the year, the drug's manufacturer Novartis said Tuesday amid widespread shortages. Pluvicto, a drug for advanced prostate cancer, started having supply problems in February as demand increased. The Food and Drug Administration listed it as being in short supply in early March. (Lovelace Jr., 4/25)

CIDRAP: Review Suggests Fecal Transplant More Effective Than Antibiotics For Recurrent C Diff A new Cochrane Review has found that stool transplantation is significantly more effective at resolving recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (rCDI) than antibiotics. (Dall, 4/25)

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The Washington Post: Tobacco Company Pleads Guilty To Violating U.S. Sanctions On North Korea A subsidiary of one of the world's largest tobacco companies pleaded guilty in a D.C. courtroom Tuesday morning to conspiring to commit bank fraud and violating U.S. sanctions by selling tobacco products to North Korea and illegally concealing those sales so American banks would process the transactions. (Stein and Hsu, 4/25)

Reuters: Eli Lilly To Sell Low Blood Sugar Drug To Amphastar For Around $1 Billion Amphastar Pharmaceuticals will buy Baqsimi from Eli Lilly and Co in a deal worth up to $1.08 billion as it aims to boost its portfolio of low blood sugar drugs, the two companies said on Monday. Amphastar will pay $500 million at closing and another $125 million in cash after one year under the deal. (4/24)

Modern Healthcare: AHIP Targets Drug Manufacturers Over Prices In Ad Campaign "Health insurance companies are your bargaining power" begins the 30-second spot that AHIP is spending "seven figures" to air on television and social media through the end of the year, according to a news release and an association spokesperson. In the ad, AHIP urges viewers to "Reject Big Pharma's Rx Distractions." The industry group said it also has placed ads with Capitol Hill publications in Washington, D.C. (Nzanga, 4/24)

Modern Healthcare: GoodRx's Co-Founders Step Down As Co-CEOs GoodRx's co-founders Trevor Bezdek and Doug Hirsch are stepping down from their roles as co-CEOs, the company said Tuesday. Scott Wagner was appointed interim CEO of the consumer drug price comparison and digital health company. The company will search for a permanent CEO, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Tuesday. (Turner, 4/25)

Perspectives: Why Are People Abusing Horse Med Xylazine?; Mifepristone Is Still Legal ... For Now

Read recent commentaries about drug-cost issues.

Chicago Tribune: The Horrors Of ‘Xylazine,’ The ‘Zombie Drug’ Roiling Chicago And New York Xylazine, which has no FDA-approved use in humans, is becoming a massive problem in both New York and Chicago. Why do people mix the two drugs together? In essence, the addition of xylazine extends the duration of the fentanyl high. (4/24)

The Boston Globe: Five Takeaways From The Supreme Court's Abortion Pill Ruling Late Friday, the Supreme Court wisely left the abortion medication mifepristone fully available on the market, at least for the months ahead. (Laurence H. Tribe and Dennis Aftergut, 4/22)

Scientific American: Over-The-Counter Narcan Is A Small Win In The Overdose Crisis. We Need More A shiny circular pin on my purse reads "I CARRY NALOXONE," proclaiming that I am ready to respond to an opioid overdose—an event that kills over 180 people every day in this country. That means when someone stops breathing, turns blue and isn't responsive after an overdose, I can administer naloxone to reverse another tragedy. (Erin Russell, 4/21)

The CT Mirror: Drug Take Back Day Needs To Be Every Day. Here's Why. Today is National Prescription Drug Take Back Day – a day that serves as a crucial reminder for communities across America to safely dispose of unwanted, unused, or expired prescription medications. (Kelly Juleson, 4/22)

Editorials And Opinions

Viewpoints: How The US Botched The Covid Response; One Judge Should Not Hold Abortion Hostage

Editorial writers discuss covid, mifepristone , clinical trials and more.

The Washington Post: Report Says U.S. Federal Government Bungled Covid Pandemic Response Looking back at the U.S. response to the pandemic, many setbacks and mistakes are well-known. But a closer examination by a team of seasoned experts has brought to the surface a profoundly unsettling conclusion. (4/24)

Los Angeles Times: Supreme Court Case On Mifepristone Points To A Judicial Crisis Mifepristone has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration since 2000 as part of a two-drug protocol that is used to terminate pregnancies. It is estimated that 54% of abortions in the United States use these drugs. Before the federal district court's order that the sale and distribution of mifepristone be stopped, never had any judge overruled the FDA's approval of a drug. (Erwin Chemerinsky, 4/25)

Stat: Clinical Trials Can Happen At Home In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, much of the clinical trials industry came to a screeching halt. With the health system focused on this new disease and many trial participants in lockdown, monthly trial starts fell by 50%, McKinsey reported. But it didn't have to be this way. (Ben Green, 4/26)

The Tennessean: Why Rejecting AIDS Funding Was Right Move For Tennessee The CDC uses funding to impose policies on states and AIDS service organizations that are not to the benefit of HIV-positives. These seem designed to increase case counts so as to increase lifetime customers for the lucrative AIDS drug industry. (Tom Busse, 4/25)

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