Spending Package Including Money For Veterans’ Programs Passed By Senate As Lawmakers Try To Avoid Shutdown

The Associated Press: Senate Approves 1st Spending Bill To Avert Partial Shutdown
As a major hurricane menaces the East Coast, Congress is moving to avert a legislative disaster that could lead to a partial government shutdown just weeks before the November midterm elections. Senators approved a $147 billion package Wednesday night to fund the Energy Department, veterans' programs and the legislative branch. The bill is the first of three spending packages Congress hopes to approve this month to avoid a government shutdown when the new budget year begins Oct. 1. (9/12)

In other national health care news —

The Hill: Trump Officials Make It Easier To Avoid ObamaCare Mandate Penalty 
The Trump administration is making it easier for individuals to opt out of ObamaCare’s individual mandate. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) says it is streamlining the way taxpayers can claim “hardship exemptions” from the mandate, which requires everyone have health insurance or pay a fine. (Weixel, 9/12)

The Hill: Kavanaugh Explains 'Abortion-Inducing Drugs' Remark Amid Backlash 
Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh told senators that he was summarizing the plaintiffs' views in an ObamaCare case when he referred to birth control as "abortion-inducing drugs." Kavanaugh's use of the phrase during his confirmation hearing sparked days of backlash from Democrats and progressive groups, who argued the Supreme Court pick was trying to signal his own views. (Carney, 9/12)

The New York Times: Detention Of Migrant Children Has Skyrocketed To Highest Levels Ever
Even though hundreds of children separated from their families after crossing the border have been released under court order, the overall number of detained migrant children has exploded to the highest ever recorded — a significant counternarrative to the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the number of undocumented families coming to the United States. (Dickerson, 9/12)

The Washington Post: Residents See A Failure At All Levels Of Government
Puerto Ricans sharply rebuke President Trump, along with the federal and local governments, for last year’s response to Hurricane Maria, a devastating storm that created an enduring humanitarian crisis affecting nearly all aspects of life on the island territory, according to a new Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll. (Clement, Zezima and Guskin, 9/12)

Politico: Trump Tries To Rewrite History On Maria As Hurricane Florence Approaches
Facing renewed criticism of his administration’s response to Hurricane Maria, President Donald Trump lashed out again on Wednesday, grousing about his administration’s “unappreciated great job” on the Puerto Rico recovery – despite the remoteness of the island, poor access to electricity and the “totally incompetent Mayor of San Juan.” “We are ready for the big one that is coming!” an exuberant Trump concluded, as a new storm spun toward the East Coast. (Cadelago and Restuccia, 9/12)

Stat: Many Americans Still Misuse Prescription Drugs, But Abuse Patterns 'Changing'
Although more than half of Americans misuse prescription drugs, the percentage that did so has held steady for four consecutive years, according to a new analysis. Meanwhile, though, there has also been a surge in the use of illicit drugs and medicines obtained without a prescription among patients being treated for substance use disorders. The overall rate at which drugs were misused was 52 percent last year, according to an analysis of approximately 3.9 million laboratory test results that were stripped of identifying patient information. (Silverman, 9/12)

Reuters: Cancer Deaths Rise To 9.6 Million As Populations Grow And Age
Cancer will claim the lives of 9.6 million people in 2018, accounting for one in eight of all deaths among men and one in 11 among women, the World Health Organization's cancer research agency said on Wednesday. In its GLOBOCAN report detailing prevalence and death rates from many different types of cancer, the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said the global cancer burden would rise to an estimated 18.1 million new cases this year. This was up from 14.1 million - and 8.2 million deaths - in 2012, when the last GLOBACAN survey was published. (9/12)

Stat: Study Cracks Open The Secrets Of The Cancer-Causing BRCA1 Gene 
Lawsuits didn’t do it, public shaming didn’t do it, patients and doctors banding together to “free the data” couldn’t do it: For 22 years Myriad Genetics, one of the oldest genetic testing companies, has refused to make public its proprietary database of BRCA1 variants, which lists more than 17,000 known misspellings in that major “cancer risk” gene, along with the medical significance of each. The database lists which mutations increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, which do not, and which have an unknown health effect. (Begley, 9/12)

The Washington Post: How Donor Sperm Is Creating Enormous Genetic Families Around The World
Kianni Arroyo clasps 8-year-old Sophia’s hands tightly as they spin around, giggling like mad. It’s late afternoon, and there are hot dogs on the grill, bubble wands on the lawn, balls flying through the air. The midsummer reunion in a suburb west of the city looks like any other, but these family ties can’t be described with standard labels. Instead, Arroyo, a 21-year-old waitress from Orlando, is here to meet “DNA-in-laws,” various “sister-moms” and especially people like Sophia, a cherished “donor-sibling.” (Cha, 9/12)