Kaiser Health News Original Stories

Abortion Bans Skirt a Medical Reality: For Many Teens, Childbirth Is a Dangerous Undertaking

The laws criminalizing abortion in many conservative U.S. states are expected to boost birth rates among teens, whose bodies often aren’t built for safe childbirth. For adolescents, the emotional and physical challenges of carrying a pregnancy to term can be daunting. (Sarah Varney, 10/9 )

Hurricane Ian Shows That Coastal Hospitals Aren’t Ready for Climate Change

Hundreds of medical centers along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts face serious risks from even relatively weak storms as climate change accelerates sea-level rise — not to mention big ones like Category 4 Hurricane Ian. (Daniel Chang and Lauren Sausser, 10/9 )

Photographer’s 12-Year Quest to Document Her Life Produces a Rich Portrait of Aging

Twelve years ago, Marna Clarke was seized by a desire to examine what she looked like at age 70 — and to document the results. This creative project has sustained and engaged her since. (Judith Graham, 10/9 )

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Looking Ahead to the Lame-Duck Session

Congress won’t be back in Washington until after Election Day, but lawmakers have left themselves a long list of items to finish up in November and December, including unfinished health care policies. Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call; Jessie Hellmann, also of CQ Roll Call; and Mary Agnes Carey of KHN join KHN’s Julie Rovner to discuss these topics and more. Also this week, Rovner interviews KHN’s Sam Whitehead, who reported and wrote the latest KHN-NPR “Bill of the Month” episode about a family who tried to use urgent care to save money, but ended up with a big emergency room bill anyway. ( 10/9 )

As the Deadline Creeps Up, Submit Your Scariest Halloween Health Haikus

Submissions are open for KHN’s fourth annual Halloween Haiku competition. Send us your best scary poems -- if you dare. ( 10/9 )

Here's today's health policy haiku:

It's that time of year when boo-boos turn into BOO! Scare us with your rhymes!

If you have a health policy haiku to share, please Contact Us and let us know if we can include your name. Haikus follow the format of 5-7-5 syllables. We give extra brownie points if you link back to a KHN original story.

Opinions expressed in haikus and cartoons are solely the author's and do not reflect the opinions of KHN or KFF.

KHN's Morning Briefing will publish Monday, Oct. 10, in honor of Indigenous Peoples' Day. Look for it again in your inbox Tuesday. Correction: A headline in the Oct. 6 Morning Briefing incorrectly described the radiation sickness drug Nplate. It is an injectable, not a pill. We regret the error.

Ebola Worries Prompt US To Screen All Travelers From Uganda

Any person entering the U.S. who has been in Uganda in the last 21 days will be rerouted to one of five airports for "enhanced screening." Federal officials characterize the move as a precaution. No Ebola cases have been reported yet outside of the current outbreak in Uganda.

Politico: U.S. Will Divert Travelers Who Have Been To Uganda To 5 Airports As Ebola Outbreak Worsens  The Biden administration will reroute passengers coming to the U.S. who have been in Uganda to five designated airports for additional health screenings, the government said on Thursday, as an Ebola outbreak in the east African nation widens. All passengers, including U.S. citizens and residents, who have been in Uganda in the last 21 days will be flown to airports in New York, Newark, Atlanta, Chicago or Washington, where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection will conduct the screening, according to a notification from the U.S. Embassy in Uganda. (Mahr and Pawlyk, 10/6)

AP: US To Begin Screening Travelers Coming From Uganda For Ebola Those passengers will have a “temperature check, risk assessment, visual symptom check, and contact information verification” conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Authorities will share that Information with local health departments at the travelers’ final destination. (Miller, 10/6)

Axios: U.S. To Screen Passengers Arriving From Uganda For Ebola Flights arriving from Uganda will be redirected to five U.S. airports for "enhanced screening" of the Ebola virus, the U.S. Embassy in Uganda said Thursday. (Doherty, 10/6)

Stat: Citing Ebola Outbreak, U.S. To Screen Travelers Arriving From Uganda Also Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health alert to providers and public health departments outlining the agency’s recommendations for case identification and testing for Ebola. It noted that no cases have been seen in the United States, but that the advisory was meant to serve “as a precaution and to remind clinicians about best practices” and “to raise awareness of this outbreak.” (Joseph, 10/6)

AP: CDC, WHO, Uganda To Host Regional Meeting As Ebola Spreads The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says Uganda next week will host a ministerial meeting on the outbreak of the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus which has no proven vaccine and has caused alarm in the East Africa region. ... The current Ebola outbreak in central Uganda has a 69% case fatality rate, which Ogwell called “very high,” and four health workers are among 10 people confirmed to have died of Ebola. There have been 43 confirmed cases. None have been in the capital, Kampala. (10/6)

Biden Pardons 'Simple' Pot Possession Convictions

Thousands of American citizens with federal marijuana possession convictions on their record will be pardoned under the executive order. President Joe Biden urged state governors to take the same action and for administration officials to review the drugs legal classification as a Schedule I substance.

AP: Biden Pardons Thousands For 'Simple Possession' Of Marijuana President Joe Biden is pardoning thousands of Americans convicted of “simple possession” of marijuana under federal law, as his administration takes a dramatic step toward decriminalizing the drug and addressing charging practices that disproportionately impact people of color. Biden’s move also covers thousands convicted of the crime in the District of Columbia. He is also calling on governors to issue similar pardons for those convicted of state marijuana offenses, which reflect the vast majority of marijuana possession cases. (Miller and Megerian, 10/7)

The Washington Post: Biden Offers Mass Pardon For Those Convicted Of Marijuana Possession  [Biden] also directed his administration to expedite a review of whether marijuana should continue to be listed as a Schedule I substance, a classification reserved for the most dangerous drugs, including heroin, LSD and ecstasy. “Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana,” Biden said in a video statement. “It’s time that we right these wrongs.” He added: “There are thousands of people who were convicted for marijuana possession who may be denied employment, housing or educational opportunities as a result.” (Olorunnipa and Abutaleb, 10/6)

The Atlantic: Joe Biden's Midterm Marijuana Gambit Joe Biden is an unlikely stoner hero. Three of his four Baby Boomer predecessors in the Oval Office had explored marijuana in their youth, but by the time they became president, they all disdained the stuff. But Biden, like Donald Trump, was a straight-edge who says he never touched marijuana and was skeptical of any liberalization of drug laws throughout his long career in politics. (Graham, 10/6)

The Hill: Advocates Cheer Biden Marijuana Decision, Call For Legalization Kassandra Frederique, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said in a statement that she is “thrilled” with Thursday’s news, adding that Biden should fully deschedule marijuana rather than reschedule it to a lower drug classification. “Keeping marijuana on the federal drug schedule will mean people will continue to face criminal charges for marijuana,” she said. “It also means that research will continue to be inhibited and state-level markets will be at odds with federal law.” (Evers-Hillstrom, 10/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: Democratic Leaders Praise Biden’s Pardon Of Marijuana Users, But The President Can Do More, They Say “This is a major step, a historic step,” said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus. “No one should be in prison for possessing a substance that is legal in some form in the majority of states.” (Egelko, 10/6)

Detroit Free Press: Michigan's Pot Industry Applauds Biden's Pardon As Big First Step When Robin Schneider, executive director of the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association, heard the news Thursday that President Joe Biden will pardon people with federal convictions for simple possession of marijuana, she started crying. (Roberts, 10/6)

The Boston Globe: Healey Promises Marijuana Pardons If Elected Mass. Governor In Massachusetts, where voters in 2016 legalized marijuana, officials in the office of outgoing Governor Charlie Baker declined to say whether he would follow Biden’s lead. Instead, they noted Baker had signed legislation in 2018 that allows people previously prosecuted under Massachusetts law for cannabis-related conduct that is now legal to apply to have the charges erased (or “expunged”) from their records. (Adams, 10/6)

Tobacco Survey Stats Show Teen Vaping Is Still A Big Problem

Media outlets cover the annual National Youth Tobacco Survey and its complicated results: The statistics are tricky to compare year-to-year because pandemic conditions affected the survey. What can be said is many millions of teens still vape, Juul is out, and flavored e-cigs are a favorite.

The New York Times: Teenagers Keep Vaping Despite Crackdowns On E-Cigarettes  High school students resumed taking the annual National Youth Tobacco Survey in school this year and 14 percent of them reported using e-cigarettes, underscoring how an upstart industry is dodging regulators’ efforts to spare a generation from nicotine addiction. The number shows a slight change from 11 percent last year, but researchers cautioned against drawing comparisons to 2021’s survey, which was conducted differently because it took place when many schools were closed during the pandemic. The latest results were released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday. (Jewett, 10/6)

USA Today: Millions Of Teens Still Vape, Use Flavored E-Cigarettes, Survey Finds The Food and Drug Administration banned flavored vaping products derived from tobacco, but underage users have increasingly turned to synthetic nicotine products, often disposable and sold in flavors favored by underage vapers. The survey, conducted Jan.18 through May 31, reported 85% of teen vapers said they used flavored e-cigarettes and more than half used disposable e-cigarettes. Unlike in 2019 when the Silicon Valley-based JUUL was the most recognizable brand, teens reported a wide variety of favored brands. (Alltucker, 10/6)

Axios: More Than 2.5 Million Youth Used E-Cigarettes In 2022, Study Says About 85% of those who reported e-cigarette usage said they used flavored products, with fruit flavors being the most popular variety, followed by preferences for candy or dessert flavors or mint. A majority used disposable e-cigarettes, and a quarter preferred refillable or prefilled cartridges or pods, the survey found. (Saric, 10/6)

AP: New Survey Suggests Little Progress Against U.S. Teen Vaping Educators say vaping is still a big problem. Anecdotally, the 2021-22 school year was worse than it was before the pandemic, said Mike Rinaldi, principal of Westhill High School in Stamford, Connecticut. That school year was the first when most kids returned from remote learning following COVID-19 lockdowns, noted Rinaldi, who speculated that many kids may have taken up vaping as they dealt with mental health issues or stress related to the pandemic. (Stobbe and Perrone, 10/6)

More People Died In Gun-Related Suicides, Violence In 2021 Than 2020

NBC News, The New York Times report on new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concerning gun violence. New data show gun-related suicides and homicides leapt in 2021, even above 2020's already high figures. Such a high death rate is unseen since the 1990s

The New York Times: Gun-Related Suicides And Killings Continued To Rise In 2021, C.D.C. Reports  Homicides and suicides involving guns, which soared in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, continued rising in 2021, reaching the highest rates in three decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday. Firearms caused 47,286 homicide and suicide deaths in 2021, up from 43,675 in 2020, according to the agency’s research, which is based on provisional data. Rates of gun-related homicide and suicide each rose by 8.3 percent last year. (Rabin, 10/6)

NBC News: Gun Deaths In 2021 Hit Highs Not Seen Since Early '90s, CDC Finds "We had hoped after a 35% increase in one year, that it would either level off or go down," said Thomas Simon, the lead author of the new study and the associate director for science in the CDC's division of violence prevention. "But instead, it continued to climb in 2021. And now the suicide rate also climbed." Simon said disparities in gun homicide rates among racial groups have widened.(Griffith, 10/6)

A judge has blocked part of New York's new gun law —

ABC News: Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Part Of NY's New Gun Law Thursday's ruling is at least a temporary victory for six New York residents who said the new law is just as restrictive -- and unconstitutional -- as the one the Supreme Court overturned. (Katersky and DiMartino, 10/6)

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

AP: Mississippi Seeks To Derail Federal Suits Over Mental Health The U.S. Justice Department overreached in suing Mississippi over its mental health system, the state’s solicitor general has argued to a federal appeals court. A Justice Department attorney countered that there’s ample precedent to show the department has the power to enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act. (10/6)

Politico: Educators Skeptical Of New Jersey's Plan To ‘Re-Engineer’ Student Mental Health Program  New Jersey is attempting to revamp a pillar of the state’s student mental health system, but some school leaders and mental health providers say they feel “ambushed” by the plan and lack faith in Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration’s ability to carry it out. Starting with the 2023-2024 academic year, the state’s long-running school-based youth services program will be defunded and state funding set aside for that system will be moved to a regionalized “hub” model called the New Jersey Statewide Student Support Services network, or NJ4S. It will be operated by the state Department of Children and Families. (Sitrin, 10/6)

Los Angeles Times: Voters Support Newsom's Mental Health Plan And Back Mandatory Kindergarten, Poll Shows California voters strongly support Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to set up a new court system for people struggling with a combination of severe mental illness, homelessness and substance use, but split with the governor on requiring children to attend kindergarten, a new poll shows. (Wiley and Willon, 10/6)

The Tennessean: Mental Health Crisis Program Requires Community Support For Success Who should you call for someone experiencing a mental health crisis? The police or someone that you trust who is trained in de-escalation and mental health? (Jane Boram, 10/6)

Wyoming Public Radio: Governor’s Mental Health Summit Hopes To Generate A Range Of Ideas Next week, Governor Mark Gordon will be hosting the Governor’s Mental Health Summit in Casper. The summit is for all mental health stakeholders in the state. Stefan Johansson, Wyoming Department of Health director, said it’s important to get a wider group of stakeholders involved in mental health reform. (Kudelska, 10/6)

Scientific American: Do You 'Matter' To Others? The Answer Could Predict Your Mental Health  In South Carolina a grieving mother whose son died by suicide hands out stickers to young people. The sticker bears the words “Jackson Matters and So Do You.” To be important to others—to matter—has become more than just a truism. “You Matter” is the tagline of the National Suicide Prevention hotline. And the phrase “Black Lives Matter” calls attention to the exclusionary racism to which more than one in eight Americans is exposed. Over the past 30 years, but never more so than now, psychologists have formalized “mattering” into a psychological construct that uniquely predicts depression, suicidal thoughts or other mental ills. It also foretells physical resilience among the elderly. (Russo, 10/6)

The New York Times: Can Smartphones Help Predict Suicide?  In March, Katelin Cruz left her latest psychiatric hospitalization with a familiar mix of feelings. She was, on the one hand, relieved to leave the ward, where aides took away her shoelaces and sometimes followed her into the shower to ensure that she would not harm herself. But her life on the outside was as unsettled as ever, she said in an interview, with a stack of unpaid bills and no permanent home. It was easy to slide back into suicidal thoughts. For fragile patients, the weeks after discharge from a psychiatric facility are a notoriously difficult period, with a suicide rate around 15 times the national rate, according to one study. (Barry, 9/30)

If you are in need of help —

Dial 9-8-8 for 24/7 support from the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. It's free and confidential.

Planned Parenthood Invests In NC Race In Attempt To Protect Abortion Rights

Abortions are legal in the state until 20 weeks of pregnancy. However, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s power to veto more stringent abortion restrictions likely hinges on the outcome of next month's elections, AP reports.

AP: Planned Parenthood Pours $5M Into Vital North Carolina Races  Planned Parenthood’s political arm announced a $5 million investment Thursday in North Carolina’s battleground races as Democrats fight to preserve the governor’s veto power in one of the last abortion access points in the Southeast. Just 32 days from Election Day, with absentee voting now underway, Planned Parenthood Votes and Planned Parenthood Action PAC North Carolina are targeting 14 legislative swing districts with ads, mailings, phone banks and canvassing. The investment is part of an existing $50 million national campaign to protect reproductive rights in nine target states — the largest-ever electoral program in its history. (Schoenbaum, 10/6)

In other updates from Idaho, Kentucky, and New York —

AP: Idaho Supreme Court Hears Arguments Over 3 Abortion Laws  The Idaho Supreme Court heard arguments in lawsuits over three of Idaho’s abortion laws on Thursday, sharply questioning attorneys about the value placed on a pregnant woman’s health, the state’s interest in ensuring that pregnancies are carried to term and Idaho’s long history of anti-abortion laws. (Boone, 10/6)

AP: Jewish Women Cite Faith In Contesting Kentucky Abortion Ban Kentucky’s sweeping abortion ban was challenged Thursday by three Jewish women who brought a lawsuit arguing that it violates their religious rights under the state’s constitution. The legal challenge, filed in state court in Louisville, says the state’s Republican-dominated legislature “imposed sectarian theology” by prohibiting nearly all abortions. The lawsuit bears similarities to legal challenges to abortion bans in at least two other states. (Schreiner, 10/6)

NPR: Barnard College Will Offer Abortion Pills For Students The move, a direct response to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, was made to ensure students' access to abortion health services no matter what the future holds, Marina Catallozzi, Barnard's chief health officer, and Leslie Grinage, the dean of the college, said in a statement announcing the move. (Diaz, 10/7)

Stat: Potential Roadblock To Wider Telemedicine Abortion: State Medical Boards In the post-Roe landscape, advocates for abortion rights are pinning hopes on telehealth as one way to provide access in states with newly imposed limits. (Pasricha, 10/7)

The New York Times: The Doctors Risking Everything To Offer Abortions Across State Lines  When Linda Prine learned she was pregnant in 1970, she was a first-year college student in Wisconsin, where abortion was largely illegal. The doctor who gave her the news saw the look on Prine’s face and handed her a slip of paper with a phone number. Prine waited until other students in her dorm left for class to call from a phone in the hallway. The woman she spoke to gave her the names of psychiatrists and told her to persuade them that she would be suicidal if she were to have a baby. Prine followed the instructions and was able to get an appointment for an abortion at the university hospital. (Bazelon, 10/4)

KHN: Abortion Bans Skirt A Medical Reality: For Many Teens, Childbirth Is A Dangerous Undertaking  Maryanna’s eyes widened as the waitress delivered dessert, a plate-sized chocolate chip cookie topped with hot fudge and ice cream. Sitting in a booth at a Cheddar’s in Little Rock, Maryanna, 16, wasn’t sure of the last time she’d been to a sit-down restaurant. With two children — a daughter she birthed at 14 and a 4-month-old son — and sharing rent with her mother and sister for a cramped apartment with a dwindling number of working lights, Maryanna rarely got out, let alone to devour a Cheddar’s Legendary Monster Cookie. (Varney, 10/7)

The Hill: Young Women Are Trending Liberal. Young Men Are Not Young women are more likely to identify as liberal now than at any time in the past two decades, a trend that puts them squarely at odds with young men. Forty-four percent of young women counted themselves liberal in 2021, compared to 25 percent of young men, according to Gallup Poll data analyzed by the Survey Center on American Life. The gender gap is the largest recorded in 24 years of polling. The finding culminates years of rising liberalism among women ages 18 to 29, without any increase among their male peers. (De Vise, 10/6)

CDC Transitioning From Daily To Weekly Covid Cases Reporting

The agency says the move will reduce data processing burdens on local government officials. The practice is in line with federal flu reporting. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also quietly dropped its recommendation that masks be worn at all times in school nurses' offices.

The Hill: CDC To Stop Reporting Daily COVID-19 Cases, Moving To Weekly Reports  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will stop reporting daily COVID-19 cases later this month and switch to weekly reports after more than two years of near constant daily updates. In an update regarding its coronavirus data and surveillance, the CDC said it was transitioning from daily to weekly reports to allow for more “flexibility” and to reduce the burden on state and local governments. The change in case reporting will take place on Oct. 20. (Choi, 10/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: Masking Recommendation For School Nurses’ Offices Quietly Dropped By CDC The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has changed its masking guidance for K-12 schools, updating a portion that previously said the agency “recommends masking at all times in healthcare settings, including school nurses’ offices, regardless of the current COVID-19 Community Level.” (Vaziri, 10/6)

More on the spread of covid —

CIDRAP: Omicron Infection More Effective Than Earlier Variants Against BA.4/BA.5 Reinfection  Infection with a pre-Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant offered 35.5% protection against symptomatic Omicron BA.4 or BA.5 reinfection, while an Omicron infection was 76.2% protective, according to a Qatari test-negative, case-control study published yesterday in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine. (Van Beusekom, 10/6)

San Francisco Chronicle: Bay Area COVID Cases Level Off, California Numbers Hit A Plateau After a precipitous drop over the past two months, California’s COVID-19 trends have hit a plateau. The state reported an average of 3,336 cases a day as of Thursday, only a 5% decrease from the previous week’s numbers, according to health department data. (Vaziri, 10/6)

Bloomberg: Health Workers Swamped With Angry Calls Over Stew Peters Covid Care Claim In January, the staff of Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, Minnesota, was flooded with tens of thousands of angry phone calls, all with the same concern. Calling in from as far away as Australia, the people were worried that an unvaccinated Covid-19 patient was getting a lower level of care, and wanted to ensure he would be transferred elsewhere. (Carman and Alba, 10/6)

On the spread of flu and RSV —

USA Today: Flu, COVID, RSV: Children Are Getting Sick With Winter Viruses “We are continuing to see a very high number of sick children with various respiratory problems,” said Dr. Stan Spinner, vice president and chief medical officer of Texas Children’s Pediatrics and Texas Children’s Urgent Care in Houston. “It was already pretty high before school started, but it has clearly gotten worse and faster than it typically takes.” (Rodriguez, 10/6)

'Paxlovid Rebound' Caused By Robust Immune Response, Not A Weak One

The National Institutes of Health scientists concluded that taking a longer course of the drug — beyond the recommended five days — was not required to reduce the risk of a recurrence of symptoms as some have suggested, Reuters reports.

Reuters: COVID Rebound After Pfizer Treatment Likely Due To Robust Immune Response, Study Finds A rebound of COVID-19 symptoms in some patients after taking Pfizer's antiviral Paxlovid may be related to a robust immune response rather than a weak one, U.S. government researchers reported on Thursday. They concluded that taking a longer course of the drug - beyond the recommended five days - was not required to reduce the risk of a recurrence of symptoms as some have suggested, based on an intensive investigation of rebound in eight patients at the National Institutes of Health's Clinical Center. (Leo and Steenhuysen, 10/7)

In updates on the vaccine rollout —

Fierce Healthcare: How Much Commercial Plans Could Save If COVID Vaccines Increase If 80% of eligible Americans got fully vaccinated between now and March 31, 2023, the medical cost savings would come to $34 billion for those who receive the treatment through commercial insurance plans, according to a new Commonwealth Fund report. If the uptake of bivalent and other COVID-19 vaccines matched the uptake for influenza vaccinations, the medical cost savings would come to $27 billion for individuals in commercial insurance plans. (Diamond, 10/6)

FiercePharma: Pfizer, BioNTech Enlist Marvel's Avengers In COVID Booster Push Just like how the Avengers have repeatedly kept the world safe from Ultron, people need to protect themselves by updating their COVID-19 vaccination with the latest booster. That’s the message Pfizer and BioNTech are trying to get across in a new custom comic book partnered with Marvel. The companies unveiled the project Tuesday. (Liu, 10/6)

The Boston Globe: 2.2 Million Fully Vaccinated Mass. Residents Have Not Received Any Booster Shots, Officials Say The DPH said in a report released Wednesday that about 5.5 million of the state’s 7 million residents are fully vaccinated. But only about 3.3 million of them have received at least one booster dose, leaving around 2.2 million still waiting to get their first booster. (Finucane, 10/6)

Los Angeles Times: Doctors Uneasy About California Law Aimed At COVID Misinformation But critics of the law, including many mainstream doctors who have advocated passionately for masks and vaccines, say it could end up curbing well-intentioned conversations between patients and physicians about a disease that’s still changing from one month to the next. (Purtill, 10/6)

PolitiFact: Fact Check: JJ Watt's Heart Problem Not Because Of COVID Vaccine On Sept. 28, Arizona Cardinals defensive end J.J. Watt revealed on Twitter that he had experienced atrial fibrillation, an irregular and rapid heart rhythm that can cause blood clots in the heart and increase the risk of stroke and heart failure. An image shared on Instagram suggests it happened because Watt received the COVID-19 vaccination. (O'Rourke, 10/6)

Reuters: COVID Wave Looms In Europe As Booster Campaign Makes Slow Start  A new COVID-19 wave appears to be brewing in Europe as cooler weather arrives, with public health experts warning that vaccine fatigue and confusion over types of available vaccines will likely limit booster uptake. Omicron subvariants BA.4/5 that dominated this summer are still behind the majority of infections, but newer Omicron subvariants are gaining ground. Hundreds of new forms of Omicron are being tracked by scientists, World Health Organisation (WHO) officials said this week. (Burger and Grover, 10/7)

Monkeypox Infecting Black, Hispanic Americans At Higher Rates

News outlets reporting on the matter note that the raw data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are limited but do indicate racial disparities in reported cases. A KFF report suggests rates are five times higher for Blacks than white Americans.

CIDRAP: Report: Monkeypox Case Rates 5 Times Higher In Black Americans A new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) based on Centers for Disease Control (CDC) data reveals that monkeypox case rates in the US disproportionately affect Black and Latino Americans, with Black Americans having case rates 5 times of those found among White peers (14.4 cases  vs. 2.6 per 100,000). (Soucheray, 10/6)

ABC News: Monkeypox Has Disproportionately Impacted Hispanic And Latino Men In US Since the early days of the monkeypox outbreak in the United States, Hispanic and Latino men may have been disproportionately affected. While data from the CDC is limited and fewer than 50% of cases include information about race/ethnicity, it indicates that there may be disparities for Hispanic and Latino Americans affected by monkeypox. (Kekatos, 10/7)

Nature: The Monkeypox Virus Is Mutating. Are Scientists Worried? As researchers at the Minnesota Department of Health in St. Paul were sequencing samples of the monkeypox virus a few months ago, they made a surprising discovery. In one sample collected from an infected person, a large chunk of the virus’s genome was missing, and another chunk had moved to an entirely different spot in the sequence. (Kozlov, 10/5)

NBC News: Are Pets At Risk Of Catching Monkeypox From Humans? The risk of people with monkeypox passing the virus to their pets is low, the authors of a new study that found no such transmissions in the United Kingdom have concluded. The study’s findings offer a broader perspective in the wake of two recently reported cases of apparent monkeypox transmission from humans to their pets, including a dog in France and a puppy in Brazil. (Ryan, 10/7)

The Washington Post: Five Men Share The Personal And Economic Toll Of Having Monkeypox The virus is rarely deadly and only a few fatalities have been reported in the United States. But TikTok and Instagram are flush with firsthand accounts of agony and loneliness. Here are the stories of five men who contracted monkeypox, as told to reporter Fenit Nirappil. (Nirappil, 10/6)

Medicare Director Tries To Clarify Drug Pricing Policy, Penalties

Center for Medicare Director Meena Seshamani said Thursday the law will penalize drugmakers if they raise prices on medicines for patients who have private insurance, Stat reported.

Stat: Drugmakers Will Be Penalized For Price Hikes On Privately Insured Patients Democrats’ drug pricing law will still penalize drugmakers if they hike prices on medicines for patients who have private insurance, a top Medicare official said Thursday. The penalties may factor into drugmakers’ decisions about how to price their medicines as the new law begins to take effect. Some experts and employers have been concerned that the drug pricing policy reforms that will save money in Medicare could incentivize drugmakers to try to charge more to patients with other forms of insurance coverage. (Cohrs, 10/6)

Stat: Medicare Tasks A Senior Adviser With Staffing Its New Drug Pricing Division Medicare has tasked a senior adviser at the agency with assembling a small army of bureaucrats to get its new drug price negotiation program up and running. There are no job listings up on the federal government’s hiring website yet, but Medicare officials are already getting started with recruiting candidates. An organizational chart first obtained by STAT shows that the agency is aiming to hire 95 full-time employees. (Cohrs, 10/6)

Modern Healthcare: UnitedHealth, CVS, Centene To Lose Medicare Star Bonuses For 2023 Just half of Medicare Advantage plans with prescription drug coverage received ratings that will earn them bonuses for the 2023 plan year, down from nearly 70% in the current year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services revealed Thursday. (Tepper, 10/6)

Reuters: CVS Health Expects Lower Medicare Performance Rating To Impact 2024 CVS Health Inc (CVS.N) said its largest health insurance plan for Medicare recipients received a lower performance rating from the Federal government program, sending shares of the company down around 5% in extended trade. In a regulatory filing late on Thursday, CVS said the newly-released Star Ratings for Medicare Advantage plans in 2023 lowered the rating for the company's Aetna National PPO plan to 3.5 stars from 4.5. (10/6)

MarketWatch: Sticking With Your Medicare Plan This Open Enrollment Season? You Could Pay A Hefty Price. Even Medicare beneficiaries happy with their plans should take the opportunity this open enrollment season to comparison shop — and review their current coverage. Medicare’s annual open enrollment period begins on Oct. 15 and ends on Dec. 7. This is the time when beneficiaries can switch their insurance plan, or at least review other options available. They may also switch to Medicare Advantage during this period (they can’t make changes to current Medicare Advantage plans — that is a separate enrollment period at the beginning of each year).  (Malito, 10/7)

Health Affairs: The New Medicare Part D Out-Of-Pocket Cap Will Have Unintended Consequences. Here’s How To Address Them  Signed into law in August 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act capped yearly out-of-pocket costs for Medicare Part D beneficiaries at $2,000. When the cap takes effect in 2025, it will be a significant benefit to an estimated 1.4 million beneficiaries per year who have annual Medicare Part D out-of-pocket costs exceeding the $2,000 threshold. But the policy may have unintended consequences that should be considered. (Socal, Crane, Ballreich and Anderson, 10/6)

The Motley Fool: Social Security And Medicare Retirees Are About To Experience A Once-In-A-Lifetime Event It has been well documented at this point that retirees are about to receive the largest increase to their Social Security benefits in about four decades. That's because inflation has been sky high this year and Social Security calculates an annual cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA). While the COLA increase is certainly a big deal, many retirees who claim Social Security are also enrolled in Medicare, the federal health insurance program for those that are 65 and older. Medicare enrollees are also expected to see some nice adjustments made for next year. (Berkowitz, 10/4)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Looking Ahead To The Lame-Duck Session When the lame-duck Congress returns to Washington after Election Day, it will face a long list of health items needing attention before the end of the year, including setting overall spending for health programs and averting a series of Medicare payment cuts to health care providers. Meanwhile, in California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a first-in-the-nation bill aimed at curbing covid-19 misinformation and disinformation by doctors. (10/6)

Cyberattacks On Hospitals Hit Services In Multiple States

AP reports on the impact to CommonSpirit Health's service after what it said was an "IT security issue." Delayed treatments and inaccessible online health data are some of the impacts. The Des Moines Register reports on how the attack affects one sub-company: MercyOne in Central Iowa.

AP: Hospital Chain Attack Part Of Ongoing Cybersecurity Concerns  Diverted ambulances. Cancer treatment delayed. Electronic health records offline. These are just some of ripple effects of an apparent cyberattack on a major nonprofit health system that disrupted operations throughout the U.S. While CommonSpirit Health confirmed it experienced an “IT security issue” earlier this week, the company has remained mum when pressed for more details about the scope of the attack. The health system giant has 140 hospitals in 21 states. As of Thursday, it’s still unknown how many of its 1,000 care sites that serve 20 million Americans were affected. (Foody and Kruesi, 10/6)

Des Moines Register: MercyOne Clinics Operating After Online Systems Shut Down By Breach All care locations in MercyOne Central Iowa's region, including Des Moines, remain open and are caring for patients even as the health system struggles with an unspecified IT security breach affecting its parent company, official said. (Ramm, 10/6)

In other health industry news —

Healthcare Dive: Google Launches Suite Of Digital Tools Around Medical Images Google is launching a set of tools meant to make medical images more interoperable and help organizations develop artificial intelligence and machine learning models around them. Billions of medical images are scanned each year, and imaging data makes up 90% of all healthcare data, according to research from Cornell University. (Pifer, 10/6)

Stat: Health Plans Want To Be Able To Text Underserved Patients Health plans trying to reach low-income and underserved customers say they’re being stymied by a decades-old federal rule limiting texting — and they’re framing it as a health equity issue in their bid to change it. (Ravindranath, 10/7)

The Boston Globe: Some Doctors Are Reluctant To Care For Patients With Disabilities, Study Finds “[Physicians] don’t necessarily know about making accommodations,” said Iezzoni, a professor at Harvard Medical School and a longtime disability researcher, who has multiple sclerosis. “For almost 25 years now people have been asking me, ‘Why is health care so far behind every other industry?’ You go to see a Celtics game or Fenway and they have great disability access. But health care facilities, not so much.” (Bartlett, 10/6)

KHN: Hurricane Ian Shows That Coastal Hospitals Aren’t Ready For Climate Change  As rapidly intensifying storms and rising sea levels threaten coastal cities from Texas to the tip of Maine, Hurricane Ian has just demonstrated what researchers have warned: Hundreds of hospitals in the U.S. are not ready for climate change. Hurricane Ian forced at least 16 hospitals from central to southwestern Florida to evacuate patients after it made landfall near the city of Fort Myers on Sept. 28 as a deadly Category 4 storm. (Chang and Sausser, 10/7)

Walgreens, Walmart To Start Selling OTC Hearing Aids By Oct. 17

Under new government rules, there's no need for medical exams or prescriptions. Walgreens will sell Lexie Lumen devices for $799. Meanwhile, entrepreneur Mark Cuban's effort to curb drug prices has won its first heath plan partner.

Reuters: U.S. Pharmacies To Offer Hearing Aids By Mid-October Under New Govt Rule Major U.S. pharmacy operators Walgreens Boots Alliance and Walmart Inc said on Thursday that in mid-October they would start selling hearing aids over-the-counter without the need for a medical exam, prescription, or audiologist fitting. ... Walgreens said it was planning to make Lexie Lumen hearing aids available at its stores across the country for adults starting Oct. 17 at a price of $799. Walmart separately told Reuters it would begin offering hearing aids to adults with mild to moderate hearing loss without an assessment or medical exam by Oct. 17. (Satija, 10/6)

In other pharmaceutical industry news —

Fierce Healthcare: Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company Bags First Health Plan Partner Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company nabbed its first health plan partner, Capital Blue Cross. Beginning this month, the Pennsylvania-based plan and Mark Cuban's drug company (MCCPDC) will begin to let members and community organizations know about their collaboration and how they can access low-cost drugs, according to a press release. In 2023, Capital Blue Cross members will be able to use their insurance cards at the company's online pharmacy. (Gliadkovskaya, 10/6)

Bloomberg: Adderall Shortage Worsens As Novartis Reports New Supply Issue Novartis’s Sandoz unit, previously reported as having supply issues with only the extended-release medication, is now also having challenges with the immediate-release version, according to the University of Utah’s drug information service, which tracks drug shortages. The company has shortages of two dosages of generic immediate-release Adderall, according to an update from the university. (Swetlitz, 10/6)

Stat: FDA, Covis Release Dueling Docs Over Fate Of Drug For Premature Births In the run-up to an extremely unusual hearing later this month, newly released documents underscore highly contrasting views taken by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and a manufacturer toward a controversial drug for reducing premature births, which the agency wants withdrawn from the market. (Silverman, 10/6)

Stat: 'Patchy Efforts' By Insulin Makers Mean Access Lags In Many Poor Nations The three companies that dominate the global market for insulin have launched various programs to expand the reach of their medicines in dozens of low and middle-income countries — but their efforts remain patchy and equitable access consequently remains out of reach, according to a new analysis. (Silverman, 10/6)

Study Predicts Over 50% More Deaths From Liver Cancer By 2040

Analysis suggests cases of Hepatitis B and C, more alcohol usage, higher body weight, and more diabetes will be to blame. Separately, a slight drop in food poisonings from salmonella and listeria is reported, but pandemic restrictions are thought to have played a part in the fall.

Axios: Liver Cancer Deaths To Jump 55% By 2040 Cases of Hepatitis B and C, upticks in alcohol consumption and excess body weight and diabetes are expected to drive the number of liver cancer deaths around the world 55% higher by 2040, according to an analysis published in the Journal of Hepatology. (Reed, 10/6)

In other health and wellness news —

USA Today: Food Poisoning From Salmonella, Listeria Still A Problem In US: CDC Cases of food poisoning slightly decreased in 2021 compared to pre-pandemic years, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But it’s not a cause for celebration, said food safety experts, who mostly attribute the decrease to COVID-19 pandemic disruptions. (Rodriguez, 10/6)

The New York Times: For Autistic Mothers, Breastfeeding Is Complicated  Wendy Graves couldn’t shake her growing sense of dread. Even before reports of a severe shortage of baby formula emerged in early May, she had returned from two grocery shopping trips empty-handed. Mx. Graves, who is autistic and particularly sensitive to touch, has relied on formula since giving birth to her daughter in 2018. She had wanted to breastfeed, at first, but changed her mind when the hospital’s lactation consultant grabbed her breasts without warning. (Za, 10/4)

CBS News: How Lifestyle Changes Can Help Reduce Pain In Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients An estimated 1.5 million Americans have a rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis, according to the Arthritis Foundation. Many patients with the autoimmune illness experience flare-ups and chronic pain. But speaking up at the doctor's office and making lifestyle adjustments can help alleviate some of the pain and discomfort, says Nick Turkas, senior director for patient education at the Arthritis Foundation. (Santichen, 10/6)

AP: Amid End To COVID Help, Homelessness Surging In Many Cities  In California’s capital, massive tent encampments have risen along the American River and highway overpasses have become havens for homeless people, whose numbers have jumped a staggering nearly 70% over two years. Among the 9,300 without a home is Eric Santos, who lost his job at a brewery and was evicted from his apartment in July. Now he carries a list of places where free meals are available and a bucket to mix soap and water to wash his hands, and to sit on. (Ronayne, Casey and Mulvihill, 10/6)

KHN: Photographer’s 12-Year Quest To Document Her Life Produces A Rich Portrait Of Aging A dozen years ago, at age 70, Marna Clarke had a dream. She was walking on a sidewalk and rounded a corner. Ahead of her, she saw an end to the path and nothing beyond. It was a turning point for Clarke. “I realized, ‘Oh my God, I’m nearer the end than the beginning,’” she said. Soon, she was seized by a desire to examine what she looked like at that time — and to document the results. (Graham, 10/7)

And we're now accepting entries for our 2022 Halloween Haiku contest —

KHN: As The Deadline Creeps Up, Submit Your Scariest Halloween Health Haikus Submissions are now open for KHN’s fourth annual Halloween Haiku competition. KHN has been publishing reader-submitted health care haikus for years and is on pins and needles to see how this holiday season inspires you. We want your best scary health care or health policy haiku. Submissions will be judged by an esteemed panel of experts. We’ll share favorites on our social media channels, and members of our staff will pick the winners, announced on Monday, Oct. 31. (10/7)

Brain-Eating Amoeba Still Detectable In California Hot Spring

Hot Ditch is reportedly a popular destination, the San Francisco Chronicle reports, and a new test of the water quality found the same highly deadly Naegleria fowleri amoeba that killed a young boy in 2018. Medical experiments on Black inmates in Philadelphia are among other local health news.

San Francisco Chronicle: Popular California Hot Spring Reportedly Has Brain-Eating Amoeba In Water Recent water testing of a popular California hot springs destination called Hot Ditch in Bishop (Inyo County) reportedly found that the same brain-eating amoeba that killed an 8-year-old boy in 2018 remained present in the water. (Vainshtein, 10/6)

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

AP: Philadelphia Apologizes For Experiments On Black Inmates  The city of Philadelphia issued an apology Thursday for the unethical medical experiments performed on mostly Black inmates at its Holmesburg Prison from the 1950s through the 1970s. The move comes after community activists and families of some of those inmates raised the need for a formal apology. It also follows a string of apologies from various U.S. cities over historically racist policies or wrongdoing in the wake of the nationwide racial reckoning after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. (10/7)

Chicago Tribune: City Reports Lowest Number Of New AIDS, HIV Cases In 40 Years The number of Chicagoans with new HIV and AIDS diagnoses in 2020 sunk to levels not seen since the 1980s, according to a new city report. (Schencker, 10/6)

Houston Chronicle: Judge Rules Employers Can Discriminate Against LGBT Texans An LGBT Texan can be fired from a job because of the way they dress, their pronouns or the bathroom they use, a federal judge ruled. The ruling stemmed from a suit Texas brought in September of last year, just months after the Biden administration issued guidance showing states how to comply with federal anti-discrimination protections. A federal judge in Tennessee had already stayed the directives in 20 other states as part of a separate court case. (Goldenstein, 10/6)

New Hampshire Bulletin: Republicans On N.H. Executive Council Hold Up Sex Ed Funding  Three Executive Council Republicans have for a second time paused funding for a long-standing after-school sexual health education program for at-risk adolescents in Manchester and Sullivan County, areas with the highest teen pregnancy rates in the state. (Timmins, 10/6)

Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed

Each week, KHN finds longer stories for you to enjoy. This week's selections include stories on covid, allergies, polio, malaria, and more.

The New York Times: How a Chinese Doctor Who Warned of Covid-19 Spent His Final Days In early 2020, in the Chinese city of Wuhan, Dr. Li Wenliang lay in a hospital bed with a debilitating fever. He was no ordinary patient, and even then — before Covid had its name — he feared that this was no ordinary ailment. Dr. Li was widely regarded in China as a heroic truth-teller. He had been punished by the authorities for trying to warn others about the virus, and then, in a terrible turn, had become severely sickened by it. Weeks later, he would become China’s most famous fatality of the emerging pandemic. He was 34. (Xiao, Quian, Liu and Buckley, 10/6)

The Atlantic: Why Do Some Allergies Go Away While Others Don’t? What I went through is, technically speaking, “completely weird,” says Kimberly Blumenthal, an allergist and immunologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. Some allergies do naturally fade with time, but short of allergy shots, which don’t always work, “we think of cat allergy as a permanent diagnosis,” Blumenthal told me. One solution that’s often proposed? “Get rid of your cat.” (Wu, 10/5)

Scientific American: Everything You Need To Know About Polio In The U.S. The type of poliovirus now circulating in the U.S. complicates polio eradication here and reflects the history of vaccination against the condition. In the last few decades of the 20th century, the U.S. relied on an oral polio vaccine containing a weakened version of the virus. The oral vaccine is cost-effective, easy to administer, involves no needles and triggers an immune response that reduces risk for later infection and prevents disease. It comes with an additional benefit: a person carrying the weakened virus can shed it for a few weeks, passing it to unvaccinated close contacts without causing symptoms—a form of secondary immunization. The upshot is amplification, meaning a single, easily administered vaccination can indirectly immunize many people against both infection and disease once immunity kicks in. (Willingham, 9/29)

The New York Times: Can New Vaccines Finally Eradicate Malaria?  All through childhood, Miriam Abdullah was shuttled in and out of hospitals, her thin body wracked with fever and ravaged by malaria. She was so sick so often that her constant treatments drained her parents, who also cared for her many siblings, both financially and emotionally. “At some point, even my mum gave up,” recalled Ms. Abdullah, now 35. In Nyalenda, the poor community in Kisumu, Kenya, where Ms. Abdullah lives, malaria is endemic and ubiquitous. Some of her friends developed meningitis after becoming infected; one died. “Malaria has really tormented us as a country,” she said. (Mandavilli, 10/4)

Stat: What A Gift To Give': A Sister's Unexpected Offer To Carry A Child  Lydia Gatton’s first in vitro fertilization appointment was just a week away when the fifth-grade teacher fell to the floor in the cafeteria of Hopewell Elementary in Bettendorf, Iowa, suffering a grand mal seizure. She was rushed to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed the then 29-year-old with a brain tumor. (Baggenstoss, 10/5)

The New York Times: The Challenges Of Dating With Chronic Illness  On the dating app Hinge, users fill out profiles by responding to open-ended prompts. When Hannah Foote, a 22-year-old marketing professional from Phoenix, shared “disability rights” as a social issue she supports, the responses she received were revealing: Matches called her “a saint” for caring about disabled people, she said. They were unaware that she lives with her own debilitating illness. Ms. Foote has a genetic disorder that causes shortness of breath, fatigue, dizziness and frequent fainting. Her condition adds a layer of complexity to the already confusing world of online dating, she said. She has received inappropriate messages from matches who declared her “too pretty to be disabled,” while others have asked sexually invasive questions. (Latifi, 10/28)

Viewpoints: Do You Know If You Are Protected Against Polio?; Tips To Prevent A Future Formula Shortage

Editorial writers delve into polio, baby formula, reproductive health care and more.

The Washington Post: Who Should Get A Polio Booster? Here's Some Guidance While most reader questions continue to be about covid-19, a number of people have been writing to ask about polio in light of its reemergence in the United States. (Leana S. Wen, 10/6)

The Washington Post: The U.S. Should Never Have Another Baby Formula Shortage Ensuring a severe shortage never happens again will require comprehensive improvements in infant formula safety regulation, manufacturing resilience and the diversity of the U.S. formula market itself. (Alyssa Rosenberg, 10/6)

Miami Herald: Healthcare Companies Give Millions To Lawmakers Banning Abortion  For Floridians, the overturning of Roe v. Wade was the second time this year that people in power sought to take away the most important decision most of us will ever make: whether or not to become a parent. In March anti-abortion state legislators abused their power by passing a 15-week abortion ban — though most Floridians oppose it. (Jamarah Amani, 10/6)

Dallas Morning News: Rule Cuts Fertility Awareness Family Planning Methods From Insurance Coverage Women’s health care is in the news quite a lot these days, but one story that hasn’t been in the news nearly enough is how a new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rule cuts women off from insurance coverage for certain family planning methods. (Cami Jo Tice-Harouff, 10/7)

The Tennessean: How We Can Lower Maternal Mortality Rates For Black Women Maternal mortality among Black women in the U.S. has received a considerable amount of attention over the past several years and with good reason. The risk of Black mothers experiencing a pregnancy-related death, maternal death, is three to four times that of white mothers. (Getty Israel, 10/7)

Stat: It's Past Time To Truly Value The Work Of Certified Nursing Assistants In mid-April 2020, as Covid-19 shutdowns and lockdowns were being put in place across the U.S., my grandmother’s health started to decline. At the time, doctors and nurses were being lauded as heroes. Certified nursing assistants didn’t get that acclaim, though they should have. (Toni Gingerelli, 10/7)

Stat: FDA’s Plan To Define “Healthy” For Food Packaging: Do We Really Need It? The FDA has announced the set of rules it proposes to enforce for manufacturers to claim that a food product is “healthy.” The proposed rules are a lot better than the labeling anarchy that currently exists. But here’s my bottom line: health claims are not about health. They are about selling food products. (Marion Nestle, 10/7)

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'American Diagnosis': When Indigenous People Move to Cities, Health Care Funding Doesn't Follow

Reporter Follows Up on 'Cancer Moonshot' Progress and the Bias in Digital Health Records

Abortion Bans Skirt a Medical Reality: For Many Teens, Childbirth Is a Dangerous Undertaking

Photographer’s 12-Year Quest to Document Her Life Produces a Rich Portrait of Aging

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