San Diego Union-Tribune: UCSD Patients With Anthem Insurance Receive Notice That They Will Lose Access To University Health System 
Though negotiating deadlines were extended for an additional three months in the fall, Anthem Blue Cross and the University of California health system still do not have a contract, and now patients are starting to face the reality that they may soon need to begin looking for new doctors. (Sisson, 1/10)

The New York Times: More Than 20 Million People Have Signed Up For Obamacare Plans, Blowing By Record 
More than 20 million people have signed up for plans on the Affordable Care Act’s marketplaces during the annual open enrollment period, far surpassing last year’s record of more than 16 million enrollments, the Biden administration announced on Wednesday. The figures were a landmark moment for the 2010 health law, underscoring the significance of enhanced subsidies for Americans and the continuing reach of the marketplaces after years of Republican efforts to whittle them down. “The Affordable Care Act is more popular than ever,” President Biden said in a statement. (Weiland, 1/10)

The Hill: Obamacare Enrollment Breaks Record For Third Consecutive Year 
Health insurance enrollment through the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) insurance marketplace has reached a record for the third consecutive year, according to the latest update from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The CMS said in a statement Wednesday that enrollment for 2024 ACA plans had broken 20 million so far, with just less than a week left for people to sign up for plans. This exceeds 2023’s enrollment — 16.3 million — by roughly 4 million people. (Choi, 1/10)

ABC 15: Deadline Approaching For Affordable Care Act Enrollment
The deadline is approaching for families looking to enroll in health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. You have until January 16 to check your eligibility status and enroll. Kathy Hempstead, senior policy adviser with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, says ACA plans have become more affordable in the past year, with some as low as $10 a month. She says more people are also now eligible, which is causing more people to sign up. Despite that, there are still about 20 million Americans who are uninsured. (Warren, 1/10)

Fresno Bee: Thieves Strike Old University Medical Center In Fresno. Could It Impact Pending $6M Sale?
The old county-owned University Medical Center campus in southeast Fresno has a buyer pending on a multimillion-dollar sale. But as Fresno County waits for that deal to close, it will need to spend about $1 million repairing serious flood damage caused by copper thieves who struck the former hospital last month. (Sheehan, 1/10)

Modern Healthcare: DOJ Requirements For Medical Equipment Aim To Meet ADA Standards
The Justice Department soon will propose a regulation to advise publicly owned healthcare providers on meeting requirements they offer patients with disabilities accessible medical diagnostic equipment. The pending regulation will feature guidance for how providers including hospitals that are operated by state or local governments can meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards for items such as examination tables, scales, dental chairs, X-ray scanners and mammography equipment, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. (Bennett, 1/10)

The New York Times: U.S. Diet Panel Adds Another Researcher With Alcohol Industry Ties
Shortly after dropping two Harvard scientists with financial conflicts of interest, the national organization assembling a committee to assess the evidence about drinking and health has chosen four new panelists, among them another Harvard professor who also has financial ties to the alcohol industry. The committee’s work, under the auspices of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, will be used to update the federal government’s dietary guidelines, which advise Americans on nutrition and diet, including how much they should or should not drink. (Rabin, 1/10)

San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. Investigates Homeless Shelter Operator
San Francisco is investigating the operator of a nonprofit homeless shelter for alleged wage theft and other labor law violations, the latest social services provider to wind up under scrutiny as city officials call for more accountability. Pat Mulligan, director of the city’s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement, said his agency launched the investigation into the Providence Foundation of San Francisco in December after receiving complaints from employees. (Angst, 1/10)

Los Angeles Daily News: City Of LA Sued After Council Says No To Fast-Tracking Affordable Housing Proposal 
The city of Los Angeles is being sued after the City Council refused to let a developer use L.A.’s fast-track approval option for 100% affordable housing projects to build a seven-story apartment that would back up to a single-family neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. (Tat, 1/10)

CapRadio: Cabin-Sized Homeless Shelters Showcased At State Capitol, Promoted As Temporary Solution
The west steps of the state Capitol in Sacramento are often the backdrop for political speeches, protests and promoting new technology. On Tuesday, they showcased a new model of cabin-sized shelters, a product hailed as an interim solution to California’s intractable homelessness crisis. “What you’re looking at here is a sleeping shelter that will house a person for as long as they need as they stabilize and rehabilitate as they exit homelessness,” said Amy King, CEO of Pallet, describing the company’s latest “emergency sleeping cabin,” a small, metal structure often called a tiny home. “They come with a bed, a desk, a heater, an air conditioner.” (Nichols, 1/11)

San Francisco Chronicle: Why Tenderloin Businesses Worry About A New S.F. Site For Homeless
A half-dozen boarded up storefronts mar the two-block stretch of Little Saigon in the Tenderloin. Once a thriving commercial strip of immigrant-run businesses in the struggling neighborhood, Little Saigon has fallen on tough times. Now, business owners there say the situation could get much worse. (Angst, 1/11)

USA Today: High Rent In The US: It's Harming Health And Shortening Lifespans
Paying high rent is stressful, and a recent study found it can actually shorten your lifespan. People who spent a vast portion of their income on rent were more likely to experience poor health and had a greater risk of premature death, the study found. The research published in November in the peer-reviewed journal Social Science & Medicine also found that evictions and even the threat of being evicted were linked to higher mortality rates. (Rodriguez, 1/10)

EdSource: Hanford Program Supports Teen Parents While They Finish High School
Pregnant in high school, 14-year-old first-year high school student Giselle Meza said she feared she’d be judged by her peers. She was one of only two pregnant teens at her school and felt isolated. She missed a lot of classes, falling behind. Statistically, Meza has about a 50% chance of dropping out of school altogether. She hasn’t; instead, she withdrew from Hanford High to participate in Helping Our Parenting Students Excel at Kings Valley Academy, a Learn4Life campus — a network of dozens of public charter high schools across the state and nation. (Thornton, 1/10)

Los Angeles Times: Paralyzed Man Climbs Yosemite's El Capitan With Only His Arms 
Dangling from a thin rope thousands of feet above Yosemite Valley last October, Zuko Carrasco could feel his arms tremble. A paraplegic who had lost the use of his legs eight years earlier in a bizarre accident — a trust fall gone awry — he had spent a week ascending El Capitan, the world’s most famous big wall rock climb, one tiny pull-up at a time. A “good pull” moved him up about 4 inches. He would need to perform something like 9,000 of them to reach the summit. Along the way, he suffered dehydration, searing blisters on his hands and, at times, soul-crushing doubt. He shivered in the early morning and evening shadows and baked in the midday sun. That was the worst because the injury that paralyzed him from the waist down also prevented him from sweating properly, adding heat stroke to the long list of mortal dangers he had to contend with. What kept him going? Desperation. (Dolan, 1/11)

Los Angeles Blade: HHS Wins Praise For Rescinding Parts Of Trump-Era 'Conscience Rule'
The National Center for Lesbian Rights on Tuesday issued a statement praising the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for rescinding “the the most harmful aspects” of the Trump-era “conscience rule.” The policy, which passed in 2019, was blocked by three federal courts and never implemented. It would have allowed healthcare providers to deny care based on religious objections. (Kane, 1/9)

Axios: Gender Dysphoria Diagnoses Are Rising Nationwide
Gender dysphoria diagnoses rose in nearly every U.S. state between 2018 and 2022, per a new Definitive Healthcare report. They fell only in South Dakota, which last year became the sixth state to restrict gender-affirming care for minors. The nearly nationwide increases suggest growing demand for gender-affirming care, even amid efforts in many states to restrict access. (Fitzpatrick and Beheraj, 1/11)

KVPR: Will Valley Fever Remain A Priority In Congress After Kevin McCarthy's Exit?
During his time in Congress, Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy helped introduce bills and appropriate funds to bolster disease research and outreach on valley fever. One of his final acts in Congress was co-sponsoring the FORWARD Act, which aims to authorize as much as $500 million for developing a vaccine and treatments for the fungal disease. But McCarthy’s retirement from national politics also means awareness of the disease is losing a critical voice, according to health experts in the San Joaquin Valley. (Klein, 1/10)

AP: Speaker Johnson Is Facing Conservative Pushback Over The Spending Deal He Struck With Democrats
As Speaker Mike Johnson gathered House Republicans behind closed doors Wednesday to sell the spending deal he reached with Democrats, one thing quickly became clear: many GOP lawmakers weren’t buying it. .. In the afternoon, 13 Republicans refused to support a routine procedural vote setting the stage for considering three GOP-led bills. A similar revolt occurred in June when, for the first time in some 20 years, such a routine vote was defeated, essentially grinding the House to a halt. (Freking, 1/11)

The Washington Post: Congress Nears Deal To Partially Restore Biden’s Expanded Child Tax Credit
Congressional lawmakers are closing in on a deal that would partially revive President Biden’s expanded tax credit for lower-income families in exchange for extending tax incentives favored by business interests, according to two people familiar with the matter. The higher child tax credit for lower-income families took effect in 2021 but expired that same year amid GOP opposition. Since then, Democrats have sought to bring back the higher credit, which they say pulled millions of lower-income families out of poverty. (Bogage and Stein, 1/10)

ABC News: 118th Congress On Track To Become One Of The Least Productive In US History 
Lawmakers are halfway through the congressional session, and it looks like it could be a historic one for the wrong reasons, according to congressional data. The 118th Congress is on track to being one of the least functional sessions ever, with only 34 bills passed since January of last year, the lowest number of bills passed in the first year of a congressional session since the Great Depression, according to congressional records. (LoCascio, Siege and Pereira, 1/10)

The New York Times: WIC Food Assistance For Mothers And Children Faces Funding Shortfall 
For the first time in decades, many states could begin turning away eligible applicants from an assistance program that provides low-income women and their children critical access to food. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, a federally funded program known as WIC, has traditionally received bipartisan support from lawmakers. But the broader push for spending cuts among some House Republicans has threatened the program’s ability to provide benefits to every eligible person who applies. (Ngo, 1/10)

CBS News: Biden Administration To Provide Summer Grocery Money To 21 Million Kids. Here's Who Qualifies. 
A new federal program will provide summer grocery money to 21 million children across 35 states, part of the Biden administration's goal of making sure students get enough food when they're not in school and can't access free or reduced breakfast and lunch. The program will be rolled out in 35 states and all five U.S. territories, while four tribes have also opted into the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer program, or Summer EBT, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday. (Picchi, 1/10)

Chalkbeat: Nearly 10 Million Eligible Students Will Go Without New Summer EBT Benefit
Summer EBT will work a little differently depending on the state, but generally states will identify which families qualify for the $120 or more in benefits and either mail out EBT cards for the summer, or load the value onto existing benefit cards. Then families can use that money to buy food at their local grocery store. (Belsha, 1/10)

AP: Amid Firestorm Created By Austin's Cancer Secrecy, Missed Opportunities To Build Trust And Educate
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin could have seized his prostate check and early discovery of the cancer as a teaching moment, for his many male troops and workers across the department, and, even more importantly, for the African American population. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among American men. It affects 1 in every 8 men — and 1 in every 6 African American men — during their lifetime. Specifically, it’s been a problem for some of Austin’s own troops. The Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department are involved in multiple studies to address cancer rates — including prostate cancer — among service members, such as those deployed to war, aviators and aircrew, and those operating the nation’s nuclear missiles. (Baldor, 1/11)

USA Today: Black Americans Face Higher Rates Of Stroke At Younger Ages
Black Americans suffer from strokes at far younger ages than white patients, according to a new study. The gap is nearly a decade. ... Researchers at Brown University evaluated stroke trends using data from 17 hospitals in southern Ohio and northern Kentucky from 1993 to 2015. ... They found the rate of stroke decreased from 230 cases per 100,000 people to 188 cases in that time, according to the report published Wednesday in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. (Rodriguez, 1/10)

The Washington Post: White House Weighs Menthol Ban Amid Dueling Health, Political Pressures 
White House officials are wrestling with one of the most consequential public health decisions of President Biden’s term: whether to enact a nationwide ban on menthol cigarettes, which are a leading cause of death among Black Americans, according to six administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The years-long debate about banning menthol cigarettes has pitted public health officials who say the move would effectively save hundreds of thousands of Black lives in the coming decades against political advisers who warn that Biden could lose support by banning products popular in the Black community, jeopardizing crucial votes ahead of what is expected to be a close election. (Diamond and Pager, 1/10)

AP: Nearly 10,000 Died From COVID-19 Last Month, WHO Says
The head of the U.N. health agency said Wednesday holiday gatherings and the spread of the most prominent variant globally led to increased transmission of COVID-19 last month. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said nearly 10,000 deaths were reported in December, while hospital admissions during the month jumped 42% in nearly 50 countries — mostly in Europe and the Americas — that shared such trend information. “Although 10,000 deaths a month is far less than the peak of the pandemic, this level of preventable deaths is not acceptable,” the World Health Organization director-general told reporters from its headquarters in Geneva. (1/10)

ABC News: Why Are 1,500 Americans Still Dying From COVID Every Week? 
Experts said there are several reasons why people might still be dying from the virus, including not enough people accessing treatments or getting vaccinated as well as waning immunity. Additionally, if more people get sick, even if in lesser numbers than in previous waves, it will naturally lead to more people becoming hospitalized and, in turn, dying. "We do have very good vaccines that [researchers] have been able to adjust as the variants have changed and very good treatment options that have been shown to decrease the risk of hospitalization as well as deaths," Dr. Shivanjali Shankaran, an associate professor of infectious diseases at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, told ABC News. (Kekatos, 1/10)

Stat: Fauci’s Covid Grilling Leads GOP To Weigh Foreign Research Rules
House Republicans want to explore tighter inspection and safety requirements for infectious disease work done in foreign labs, following a two-day grilling of former top health official Anthony Fauci. (Owermohle, 1/10)

The Hill: DeSantis Promises To ‘Bring A Reckoning’ To Fauci
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday promised to “bring a reckoning” to former White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci if DeSantis is elected to the White House. “We cannot allow Anthony Fauci to escape accountability,” DeSantis wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “I am the only candidate who will bring a reckoning for what tyrants like Fauci did to our country during COVID.” (Suter, 1/10)

Stat: Doctors On The Psychiatric Bible, The DSM-5, Got $14M From Industry
Amid ongoing concerns over conflicts of interest, a new study found that 60% of the physicians who served as panel and task force members for the American Psychiatric Association’s official manual of psychiatric disorders received payments from industry totaling more than $14 million. And the authors argue the findings raise questions about the editorial independence of the reference book. (Silverman, 1/10)

American Homefront Project: Pentagon Finds Troops' Suicides Are Often Preceded By Legal, Administrative Woes
In 2021, Seaman Michael Gregg was stationed on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in Norfolk. He had been in and out of the Naval Hospital at Portsmouth, after he was diagnosed with mental health issues and had thoughts of suicide. (Walsh, 1/10)

AP: In His 1st Interview, Friend Warned Officials About The Maine Shooter 
Sean Hodgson watched and worried as his best friend of nearly two decades unraveled. His former roommate and fellow U.S. Army reservist’s anger and paranoia were mounting, he had access to guns, and he refused to get help. So Hodgson did the hardest thing of his life: He sent a text about Robert Card to their Army supervisor. “I believe he’s going to snap and do a mass shooting,” he wrote on Sept. 15. Six weeks later, Card fatally shot 18 people at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston before killing himself. ... “I did my job, and I went over and beyond it, and I literally spelled it out for them,” said Hodgson, 43, referred to by only his last name in documents related to the case. “I don’t know how clear I could have gotten.” (Ramer, Perry and Sharp, 1/11)

AP: More Adults Sought Help For ADHD During Pandemic, Contributing To Drug Shortages
Prescriptions for ADHD treatments surged among adults during the COVID-19 pandemic, helping to fuel lingering shortages that frustrate parents and doctors. New prescriptions for stimulants used to treat the condition jumped for young adults and women during a two-year window after the pandemic hit in March 2020, according to a study published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry. (Murphy and Hollingsworth, 1/10)

Fox News: Study: Screen Time For Kids Under 2 Linked To Sensory Differences In Toddlerhood
Allowing very young children to access televisions and other screens could lead to sensory challenges for them later in childhood, according to a new study from Drexel University in Pennsylvania. The study, "Early-Life Digital Media Experiences and Development of Atypical Sensory Processing," was published on Jan. 8 in JAMA Pediatrics. "This study finds an association between greater screen time in the first two years of life and ‘high’ sensory-related behaviors in areas," the study's lead author, Karen Heffler, M.D., an associate professor of psychiatry at Drexel University, told Fox News Digital. (Rudy, 1/9)

Fox News: Dementia Among Younger People Linked To 15 Factors, Major Study Reveals
Early-onset dementia has been on the rise in recent years — and a major new study has identified the likely reasons. Researchers from Maastricht University (UM) in the Netherlands and the University of Exeter in the U.K. have identified 15 factors linked to the development of dementia earlier in life. The study findings were published in JAMA Neurology on Dec. 26, 2023. "This study shows that there are a wide range of risk factors for young-onset dementia," Stevie Hendriks, PhD, the lead study author and a postdoctoral researcher at Maastricht University, told Fox News Digital. (Rudy, 1/10)