The Wall Street Journal: Drug-Price Ballot Proposal Stirs Industry Opposition
The pharmaceutical industry has contributed $109 million to defeat a ballot proposal to restrict drug prices in California, according to the state government—the latest flashpoint in a national debate over rising prescription costs. California voters will be asked Nov. 8 to vote on Proposition 61, which would prohibit state agencies from buying any prescription drug at prices higher than those paid by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, with certain exceptions. The VA negotiates discounts with drug manufacturers. (Loftus, 11/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Drug Industry Mounts Defense Of Pricing
The pharmaceutical industry is spending millions of dollars to fight groups advocating lower drug costs, as criticism of high prices mounts. Drug companies have long lobbied to protect their interests, but the industry-funded push is “more extensive this time,” said K.J. Hertz, a legislative representative for senior-citizen advocacy group AARP, which supports reining in drug prices. (Loftus, 11/3)

In other 2016 election news —

Los Angeles Daily News: How Obamacare May Sway Voters
Polls have shown health care to be a far less important issue than the economy and foreign policy in the race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. But as early voting and Election Day coincide with open enrollment for Medicare, Obamacare and employer-sponsored insurance, some Southern Californians are weighing the future of the nation’s health care system or their own out-of-pocket costs as they cast their votes...Covered California rates will rise an average of 13.2 percent, more than three times the rate of previous increases the last two years. The jump is far lower than the average 22 percent increase for midlevel plans announced for the federal Obamacare exchange, which covers 39 states. (Perkes, 11/3)

Los Angeles Times: Mexico's Soda Tax Will Save 18,900 Lives And More Than $983 Million Over 10 Years, Study Says
A new estimate of the health impact of soda taxes in Mexico sheds some light on what’s at stake in ballot measures coming to a vote in three Bay-area cities and Boulder, Colo. next week. In cases of heart disease and diabetes averted, the model suggests that, in Mexico, those levies are on track to save close to a billion dollars and powerfully improve lives. After a tandem run-up in consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and obesity, Mexico has become one of the fattest countries on Earth. In 2014, it adopted a 10% excise tax on the sale of sugary drinks. (Healy, 11/3)

Los Angeles Times: Feeling Anxious About The Election? Here's How To Cope With Election Stress Disorder
Are you suffering from election stress disorder? It seems like everyone I know has it. Last week my kindergartner woke up at 5 a.m. with nightmares about “two people running for president.” One friend wrote on Facebook that she is barely sleeping at all and now fills the pre-dawn hours canning fruit. I’ve heard reports of chest pains and short-term Xanax prescriptions within my circle as Nov. 8 draws near. (Netburn, 11/4)

Bloomberg: This Election Will End. The Mental Damage May Not 
More than half of Americans are experiencing election-related stress comparable to that often attributed to work, money, or the economy, the American Psychological Association has said. And while the good news is the presidential contest will end next week, the bad news is that because of the ferocity of the campaign, the mental damage may linger. And for some groups, it may get even worse—depending on who wins...The hope is that once this election is over, and the constant barrage of negativity via television, radio, and mobile phone ends, things may return to some semblance of normal. But not everyone is so optimistic.  (Shanker, 11/4)

NPR: California Hospitals Make Patients Sign Away Their Right To Sue
San Francisco Bay Area companies say Sutter Health is strong-arming them into a contract that would help the hospital system secure its power over prices and potentially raise the cost of medical care for their employees in the future. Dozens of companies have received a letter, via their insurance administrators, asking them to waive their rights to sue Sutter. If they don't, a fact sheet included in the letter says, the companies' employees who get care through Sutter's network of hospitals, doctors and medical services will no longer have access to discounted in-network prices. (Dembosky, 11/4)

In other hospital news —

KPBS Public Media: Tri-City Hospital Election Challenges Voters 
Voters are faced with confusing messages from the candidates running for Tri-City's Medical Center board. Tri-City Medical Center has served the North County coastal region around Oceanside, Carlsbad and Vista for 50 years. It’s one of North County’s largest employers with nearly 2,000 employees. Tri-City is a publicly-owned hospital that has evolved into a health-care district, with about 700 physicians and outpatient facilities. (St. John, 11/3)

KQED: Should You Use Wikipedia For Medical Information? 
Reworking Wikipedia health entries is not a trivial task. A 2014 study found about 25,000 pages of English-language health-related articles. That number is now up to 32,000, Heilman says. The health pages worldwide attracted almost 4.9 billion pageviews in 2013. A 2012 survey of several hundred medical students found 94 percent use the site for health information. But despite its popularity, the reliability of Wikipedia’s medical content has often been questioned. (McClurg and Brooks, 11/3)

In other health technology news —

Los Angeles Times: Fitbit Stock Plunges Nearly 33% As Sales May Be Hitting A Wall
Shares of Fitbit Inc. plunged more than 30% Thursday as the fitness tracker manufacturer lowered its financial forecast for the current fiscal year because of weak demand and expansion difficulties. Fitbit’s stock closed at 8.51, down $4.30, or 33.57%. (Masunaga, 11/3)

Los Angeles Times: New Mutations Helped Ebola Virus Infect More Victims During Latest Outbreak, Studies Say
The Ebola virus that went on a deadly three-year rampage in West Africa before it was smothered earlier this year was on the move in more ways than one. Two new studies show that, in the course of the West African epidemic, the Ebola virus underwent evolutionary changes that made it more deadly and easier to spread from human to human. (Healy, 11/3)

In other public health news —

Los Angeles Times: Every Year Of Smoking Causes DNA Mutations That Make Cancer More Likely
Attention smokers: For every year that you continue your pack-a-day habit, the DNA in every cell in your lungs acquires about 150 new mutations. Some of those mutations may be harmless, but the more there are, the greater the risk that one or more of them will wind up causing cancer. (Kaplan, 11/3)

East Bay Times: Sutter Dedicates Anonymous $4 Million Gift To Breast Cancer Battle 
An anonymous donor’s $4 million gift to Sutter Health will save Bay Area women’s lives, Sutter Health officials say confidently. The grant will allow Sutter to expand the level of care provided at its Carol Ann Read Breast Health Center in Oakland to Sutter’s Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley and Delta Medical Center in Antioch, the latter of which “is very underserved,” Read Center Medical Director Eileen Consorti said. Women have a one-in-eight chance of being diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetimes, and African-American women face a 41 percent higher mortality rate from the disease, said Julie Petrini, Sutter CEO of hospitals. (Hedin, 11/3)

In other health care news from across the state —

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento Officials Open New Community Health Clinic For Low-Income Residents, Named For Late Health Advocate Steve Thompson
With a bit of sentimental fanfare, city and county officials opened a new community health clinic Thursday for low-income residents of Sacramento’s housing projects near Broadway. The clinic, open to individuals and families living in the Alder Grove and Marina Vista neighborhoods, will offer weekday and Saturday appointments for primary care, including pregnancy and well-baby exams, immunizations, screenings, prescriptions and lab tests. With no nearby clinic, residents in the area were traveling long distances for health care or “taking their kids with sniffles to the emergency room,” said Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna, who allocated $150,000 in tobacco litigation funds to refurbish a clinic that had been closed for 15 years. (Buck, 11/3)

The Mercury News: Los Gatos Surgeon Comes Up With A New Approach To Treat Stroke Patients
For Dr. David Chang, a vascular surgeon from Cupertino whose office is in Los Gatos, innovation is a way of life. With more than 10 patents to his name over the course of 16 years of professional practice experience, Chang’s biggest achievement to date is the development of a minimally invasive technique to treat blockages in the carotid artery at risk of causing a stroke. The procedure, which Chang calls “transcarotid artery revascularization,” or TCAR, replaces a technique previously used by surgeons known as “transfemoral carotid angioplasty.” (Sarwari, 11/3)

Capital Public Radio: Calaveras County Teens Assess Marijuana Impacts 
In 2009, 52 percent of 9th graders and 41 percent of 11th graders believed using marijuana regularly was harmful. Those figures are down to 44 percent of 9th graders and 26 percent of 11th graders... Making the decision to use marijuana may have more to do with students having a casual attitude towards it. They believe at least half of their classmates smoke marijuana regularly and they suspect that most of them are upperclassmen... According to data from the Calaveras County Office of Education, 8 percent of 9th graders and 22 percent of 11th graders used marijuana on a daily basis last year. These latest figures show a decrease in usage compared to 2009 when 13 percent of 9th graders and 34 percent of 11th graders say they used marijuana on a daily basis. (Johnson, 11/3)

Sacramento Bee: Dental Offices Offer Cash For Candy, Give Care Packages To Troops
In the days after Halloween, leftover candy seems to linger indefinitely. It shows up in office break rooms and on receptionists’ desks, tempting passers-by to dig into the big plastic bowl just one more time. Local dentists are encouraging another tradition. They’re encouraging patients and others in the community to skip the extra Snickers and bring it to their office instead, where people will receive $1 for every collected pound of candy. (Caiola, 11/3)

The Hill: Obama: GOP Doesn't Have 'A Hint' Of Plan To Replace ObamaCare 
President Obama on Thursday mocked Republicans, saying they do not even have “a hint” of a plan to replace ObamaCare, despite vowing to repeal it. “They don’t even have a pretense of a plan,” Obama said at a campaign rally for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in Miami, Fla. “They don’t even have a semblance of a plan. There’s not even a hint of a plan.” Obama touted that the law has expanded coverage to 20 million people who did not have it before. (Sullivan, 11/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Obama Plays Down Impact Of Health-Care Premium Increases
President Barack Obama said “a handful of people” would take a hit from hefty health-insurance premium increases due to kick in next year, and that all of those people had previously been uninsured, in remarks that downplayed problems with his signature health law as it takes on greater prominence in the final days before the election. Data from the Department of Health and Human Services puts that handful as high as 8.4 million – between almost seven million people who buy coverage directly from insurers, and another 1.5 million who use HealthCare.gov or a state equivalent but don’t meet income criteria for a tax credit. Others say the handful may be even higher. (Radnofsky, 11/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Public Option For U.S. Health Insurance Gains Visibility In Debate Over Affordable Care Act
Advocates and opponents are gearing up for a life or death battle over a problematic Affordable Care Act in 2017, and the idea of a government option in health insurance is gaining some traction among Democratic legislators. ... A public option would involve a government-run health plan that would compete with private options offered on the health law’s exchanges. It would be different from a so-called single-payer system under which a government-run national health insurance program would cover everyone. (Armour, 11/3)

In other national health care news —

Bloomberg: U.S. Charges In Generic-Drug Probe To Be Filed By Year-End 
U.S. prosecutors are bearing down on generic pharmaceutical companies in a sweeping criminal investigation into suspected price collusion, a fresh challenge for an industry that’s already reeling from public outrage over the spiraling costs of some medicines. The antitrust investigation by the Justice Department, begun about two years ago, now spans more than a dozen companies and about two dozen drugs, according to people familiar with the matter. The grand jury probe is examining whether some executives agreed with one another to raise prices, and the first charges could emerge by the end of the year, they said. (McLaughlin and Chen, 11/3)

Stat: Hospitals Itching For A Share Of The Mylan Settlement Over Medicaid Rebates
More than 1,200 hospitals around the country want to know if they were overcharged by Mylan Pharmaceuticals for the EpiPen auto-injector. In a letter sent earlier this week to the Department of Justice, an industry trade group called 340B Health cited a recent settlement in which Mylan agreed to a $465 million settlement to resolve accusations of shortchanging Medicaid by failing to pay the appropriate rebates. These hospitals participate in a federal program known as 340B in which drug makers must offer discounts of up to 50 percent on all outpatient drugs to hospitals and clinics that serve indigent populations. (Silverman, 11/3)

The New York Times: Young Adolescents As Likely To Die From Suicide As From Traffic Accidents
It is now just as likely for middle school students to die from suicide as from traffic accidents. That grim fact was published on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They found that in 2014, the most recent year for which data is available, the suicide rate for children ages 10 to 14 had caught up to their death rate for traffic accidents. (Tavernise, 11/3)

Los Angeles Times: Inside Those Big Obamacare Rate Increases: State Hostility To The Law Costs Residents Plenty
In all the knee-jerk hand-wringing over the announced rate increases for Affordable Care Act exchange insurance (sorry for the mixed metaphor, but it’s apt), one factor in the increases has been consistently overlooked. On average, states that have been hostile to Obamacare are facing the largest premium increases for 2017. Residents in states that have embraced the law will do much better. (Michael Hiltzik, 10/31)

Los Angeles Times: Hey, Democrats — Donald Trump Has Some Good Ideas For Healthcare Reform
Donald Trump and running mate Mike Pence talked about their plans for the U.S. healthcare system again this week, beginning where Republicans usually begin: by calling for the complete repeal of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. But to get where they say they want to go — providing more affordable health coverage for more Americans — they would be better off skipping that step and moving on to other elements of their plan. That’s because their overall plan isn't fundamentally sound, but several of its planks could help shore up weaknesses in Obamacare. (Jon Healey, 11/3)

The Orange County Register: The Health Care Reform We Need
The Affordable Care Act is in the midst of the death spiral critics have long predicted. Before it enters the final death throes, Republicans must publicize viable market-based alternatives to replace it. That is the only way to avoid the potentially disastrous government-run, single-payer health care system that would result from Hillary Clinton’s and President Obama’s policy proposals. (Andy Puzder. 11/2)

Orange County Register: Our Next Administration's Health Care Agenda
For the past six years, Republicans have been voting to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. ... Are the Republicans right? Does the ACA not work? No matter the metric – access, quality or cost – the ACA has undeniably been a success. It may not be perfect – but it is still a success. (Ezekiel Emanuel and Emily Gudbranson, 11/2)

Sacramento Bee: Self-Driving Cars Could Benefit People With Disabilities
Fully self-driving vehicles require no human intervention at all. To be foolproof, fully self-driving vehicles – also known as SAE Level 4 – exclude human drivers from the equation. The technology doesn’t merely supplement and assist people in the driving task, but takes their place entirely. ... In addition to all these societal benefits is another one that is close to me personally. My college-educated, older brother Roy is in his mid-40s. Ten years ago, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and seizures and is no longer able to drive. ... What happens to the Roys of the world who do not have family close or access to transit or paratransit? It means deciding between having a job, going to the doctor, visiting the library or a myriad of other things most of us take for granted. (John Doan, 11/3)

Los Angeles Times: To Appease A Patient Lobby, Did The FDA Approve A $300,000 Drug That Doesn't Work?
A couple of weeks ago, the big insurance company Anthem decided that it wouldn’t pay for Exondys 51, a drug that already had been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Anthem’s decision was controversial, because two other insurers had said they’d cover the treatment for their patients. But it was less controversial than it could have been for two reasons: The drug costs $300,000 a year, and the evidence that it works is almost laughably thin. To put it another way, Anthem’s decision undoubtedly infuriated advocates for DMD patients, but it may well have been the right call. (Michael Hiltzik, 10/28)

Ventura County Star: Camarillo Health Agency Needs Transparency
Allegations revealed last week of fraud and breach of duty by the former longtime chief executive officer of the Camarillo Health Care District raise some troubling questions for this public agency. The agency has sued Jane Rozanski, who led the district for 22 years, charging that she conspired to inflate legal bills for new district counsel Ralph Ferguson and then manipulated the budget to try to hide $425,000 in payments over four years. The suit alleges Rozanski and Ferguson had a romantic relationship during that time. Her attorney has said the claims are "absolutely false." (11/1)

Orange County Register: Here Are The Best Defenses For Flu Season 
Brace yourself. The season is right around the corner. No, not the holiday season—flu season, and it seems to get more pervasive every year. According to the Centers for Disease Control, flu season occurs between December and March, but it can start as early as September. Until there’s a cure, here are some of the best defenses for battling the flu season. (Amy Osmond Cook, 11/2)

Los Angeles Times: Don’t Make Human Trafficking Our New War On Drugs 
Human trafficking should be prevented and punished — but it should not be scapegoated. It should not become the new war on drugs. When the county denies jobs or contracts to any class of offender, it provides a model and sends a message to other prospective employers, public and private. The message the supervisors sent Tuesday is the wrong one. It repeats, rather than corrects, the criminal justice mistakes of the past. (11/3)

Los Angeles Times: It’s Time To Take A Stand Against Homelessness In Los Angeles
On Tuesday, voters will face an extremely long and complicated ballot, filled with important questions on issues from the death penalty to mass transportation to healthcare financing. But near the very bottom will be Measure HHH, which ought to be a top priority for every Angeleno. It is a proposal by the city of Los Angeles to raise $1.2 billion to create 10,000 units of permanent supportive housing and affordable housing for homeless people. It is not a panacea, it will not end homelessness once and for all, and what relief it will bring will not come overnight. (11/4)

Los Angeles Times: Why Vote For Both Death Penalty Propositions? Because Anything Would Be Better Than The System We Have Now 
The current law is the epitome of government waste and abuse.The ballot options, both of them citizen initiatives, are these: —Proposition 62: It would abolish California’s phantom death penalty and replace it with a realistic sentence of life without the possibility of parole. — Proposition 66: This would expedite executions by limiting the number of appeals and the time allowed for them. More lawyers would be hired to handle the appeals. Both sides agree on one thing: This state’s death penalty system is broken. (George Skelton, 11/3)