- California Healthline Original Stories 3
- High Praise: Pot Churches Proliferate As States Ease Access To Marijuana
- Sickle Cell Patients, Families And Doctors Face A ‘Fight For Everything’
- Trump Administration Relaxes Financial Penalties Against Nursing Homes
- Coverage And Access 1
- Expect Single-Payer Debate To Come Roaring Back After Shaking Up Calif. Politics Last Year
- Health Care Personnel 1
- Mass Shootings, Fires Shine Spotlight On Emotional Toll Health Care Workers Pay Every Day
- Public Health and Education 3
- Flu Activity Increased Sharply In Week Before Christmas
- Air Board Officials Try To Balance Desperate Need For Housing, Freeway Health Risks
- Exercise Doesn't Just Help The Body--It May Also Help Preserve Cognitive Functions Into Old Age
Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
High Praise: Pot Churches Proliferate As States Ease Access To Marijuana
Churches that offer marijuana as a sacrament are popping up across California and the U.S., vexing state and local officials who say they’re simply pot shops in disguise. (Barbara Feder Ostrov, )
Sickle Cell Patients, Families And Doctors Face A ‘Fight For Everything’
Premature death, a dearth of treatments, mistreatment in emergency rooms and a woeful lack of funding are just a few of the problems confronting people with sickle cell disease. (Jenny Gold, )
Trump Administration Relaxes Financial Penalties Against Nursing Homes
Medicare is discouraging regional offices from levying fines for “one-time mistakes” or from using daily fines that seek to put pressure on nursing homes to make changes. (Jordan Rau, )
More News From Across The State
Expect Single-Payer Debate To Come Roaring Back After Shaking Up Calif. Politics Last Year
Even though single-payer legislation was shelved in 2017 because of a lack of details on how to pay for the system, it's anywhere but on the back burner for many in California.
Los Angeles Times:
Get Ready For A Revived Brawl Over Single-Payer Healthcare In California
Whether it was bracing for a possible repeal of Obamacare or pondering an ambitious single-payer program that would overhaul how California provided medical care to its residents, the issue of healthcare kept politicians and policy wonks busy in 2017. That’s not likely to let up in 2018. ... Here’s a primer on the healthcare agenda in California politics. (Mason, 12/28)
Kicking Off 2018 With A Bong: Recreational Pot Now Legal In California
Many cannabis dispensaries in the state opened Jan. 1 with longer-than-usual lines, though some owners expressed disappointment with the numbers. Meanwhile, a new study looks at increasing prenatal exposure to marijuana in California. And more "pot churches" are opening.
Los Angeles Times:
Recreational Pot Sales Roll Out In California, With Celebratory 'Blunts' And Big Crowds
Legal sale of recreational marijuana began in California on Monday with fanfare, celebratory 'blunts' and some anxiety. Companies began selling pot in a relatively small number of businesses Monday, with more expected to join in the coming days and weeks. (Jennings, Parvini and Robbins, 1/1)
The Washington Post:
California Pot: Smoke ‘Em (Or Eat ‘Em) If You Can Get ‘Em
It wasn’t exactly reefer madness Monday as California launched the first legal retail sales of marijuana, but those who could find the drug celebrated the historic day, lining up early for ribbon cuttings, freebies and offerings ranging from joints to gummy bears to weed with names like Red Dragon. Jeff Deakin, 66, his wife Mary and their dog waited in the cold all night to be first in a line of 100 people when Harborside dispensary, a longtime medical pot shop in Oakland, opened at 6 a.m. and offered early customers joints for a penny and free T-shirts that read “Flower to the People — Cannabis for All.” (Melley and Chea, 1/1)
San Jose Mercury News:
First Retail Pot Shops Open In California
While most of the Bay Area was still sound asleep, thousands of polite, cheerful and suddenly law-abiding marijuana customers awoke before dawn on New Year’s Day to stand in line for the state’s first-ever legal sales of a long-demonized plant. ...Defying federal law, Californians voted for cannabis legalization in November 2016 by passing Proposition 64 with 57 percent of the vote. (Krieger, 1/1)
Sacramento Bee:
Longtime Users Line Up For Legal Weed In California
Dispensary owners reported that customer lines were longer than usual, compared to when the industry could sell only to adults with recommendations from doctors. But some owners and customers expressed disappointment that more people didn’t show up to celebrate legalization. (Branan and Bizjak, 1/1)
Los Angeles Times:
Study Of California Women Finds 1 In 14 Used Pot During Pregnancy
Prenatal exposure to pot has become increasingly common in California since the state legalized medical marijuana in 1996, according to a new study. Pot use by women during the first two months of pregnancy increased by about 7.5% per year between 2009 and 2016, researchers reported this week in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. By the end of that period, about 1 in 14 women were using some form of marijuana after they had conceived. (Kaplan, 12/27)
California Healthline:
High Praise: Pot Churches Proliferate As States Ease Access To Marijuana
Services at the Coachella Valley Church begin and end with the Lord’s Prayer. In between, there is the sacrament. “Breathe deep and blow harder,” intoned Pastor Grant Atwell after distributing small marijuana joints to 20 worshipers on a recent Sunday afternoon. “Nail the insight down, whether you get it from marijuana or prayer. Consider what in your own life you are thankful for.” (Feder Ostrov, 1/2)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Some States Put A THC Limit On Pot-Smoking Drivers — Here’s Why California Doesn’t
Unlike the nationally accepted 0.08 percent blood alcohol concentration limit used in DUI arrests, there’s no scientific consensus on a base blood level of THC that can prove impairment. Studies haven’t been able to determine a correlation between THC levels and an inability to drive safely, according to both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the American Automobile Association. (Lyons, 12/31)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Customers Line Up For First Legal Purchases Of Recreational Pot
A pair of longtime users making their first legal buy. A cancer survivor. A former federal prosecutor. They were all among the first to buy marijuana from Bay Area stores as recreational sales of the drug became legal in California on New Year’s Day, with licensed stores open across the region in Oakland, Berkeley, San Jose and Santa Cruz. (Tucker, 1/1)
Mass Shootings, Fires Shine Spotlight On Emotional Toll Health Care Workers Pay Every Day
Hospitals are starting to recognize how much their workers can be affected by not only events of mass violence but just the day-to-day duties of working in an high-pressure, high-stakes environment.
Los Angeles Times:
As Health Workers Deal With Mass Shootings And Fires, More Hospitals Are Looking To Help Them Cope
The tragedies that play out in hospitals affect not just patients and their families, but the nurses and doctors who care for them. In one day, a hospital staff could treat a child gravely injured in a car accident, lose a patient to a terminal illness and comfort a family member whose loved one is in surgery. Healthcare workers develop a sort of emotional armor, but it can wear thin. Many say they need space to decompress after regularly witnessing the most devastating moments of people’s lives. (Karlamangla, 1/2)
Los Angeles Times:
Amid Rising Gun Violence, Accidental Shooting Deaths Have Plummeted. But Why?
A country music festival in Las Vegas: 58 dead. A Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas: 26 dead. The streets of Baltimore last year: nearly 300 dead. Gun violence has received no shortage of attention. But one bright spot has gotten much less: the number of accidental shooting deaths has steadily declined. There were 489 people killed in unintentional shootings in the U.S. in 2015, the most recent year for which data is available. That was down from 824 deaths in 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Taking into account population growth over that time, the rate fell 48%. (Lee, 1/1)
Flu Activity Increased Sharply In Week Before Christmas
This flu season is expected to be particularly vicious and peak early.
Sacramento Bee:
Flu: Season Worsens As Influenza Is Widespread In 36 States, CDC Says
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday released its latest weekly U.S. influenza report, noting that flu activity “increased sharply” Dec. 17-23, Week 51 of 2017. Influenza activity is now considered “widespread” in 36 states, including California, up from 23 last week and 12 the week before that. (McGough, 12/30)
Modesto Bee:
Stanislaus County Woman Dies From Flu, Health Officials Say
A Stanislaus County woman in her early 60s has died from influenza, making her the first person in the county under the age of 65 to die from the virus this flu season. ...The release did not indicate if anyone in the county over the age of 65 has died of the flu this season. (Tracy, 12/30)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
11th Flu Death Reported, Cases Surge In San Diego County
The number of flu deaths and cases skyrocketed last week in San Diego County, doubling the season-to-date count of residents sickened or killed by the contagious virus for a total that dwarfs the number reported at this time last year, county health officials announced Wednesday. County public health officials reported Wednesday that 11 deaths have been attributed to the virus as of last week, up from five the week before. At this time last year, four deaths had been attributed to the flu, officials said. (Cook, 12/28)
Air Board Officials Try To Balance Desperate Need For Housing, Freeway Health Risks
California regulators have previously said new homes shouldn't be built within 500 feet of freeways. But now, they're thinking about design strategies that could protect health and provide much needed housing options.
Los Angeles Times:
Regulators Warned Against Housing Near Freeways Due To Health Risks. Now They're Warming To It
Twelve years ago, California air quality officials delivered a warning to cities and counties: Avoid putting new homes in high-pollution zones within 500 feet of freeways. That advice, which relied on years of research linking traffic pollution to asthma, heart attacks and other health problems, was aimed at keeping "children and other vulnerable populations out of harm's way," according to the state Air Resources Board's 2005 handbook. (Barboza and Zahniser, 12/27)
Los Angeles Times:
Freeway Pollution Travels Farther Than We Thought. Here's How To Protect Yourself
If anyone knows where to find refuge from air pollution near Los Angeles freeways, it’s Suzanne Paulson.The UCLA atmospheric chemistry professor has spent years studying how invisible plumes of dirty air from car- and truck-choked roadways spread into surrounding neighborhoods — increasing residents’ risk of cancer, asthma, heart disease and other illnesses. So when she bought a home in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Santa Monica in 2007, she made sure it was on a quiet street far from the 10 Freeway — well beyond the 500-foot zone where California air quality regulators say it’s unhealthful to put homes, schools and day cares. (Barboza, 12/30)
Exercise Doesn't Just Help The Body--It May Also Help Preserve Cognitive Functions Into Old Age
Although there is no long-term study linking the benefits of exercise to helping with mild cognitive impairment, researchers say there are signs that it helps and little risk in doing it.
Los Angeles Times:
Exercise Is Good Medicine For Boosting Memory And Thinking Skills, New Guidelines Say
Every year, you resolve to get more exercise. And every year, you stay stuck on the couch. The American Academy of Neurology is here to help. The experts on brain health are out with new guidelines that say exercising twice a week may help preserve memory and thinking skills in people with mild cognitive impairment. (Kaplan, 12/28)
In other public health news —
San Francisco Chronicle:
Spinal-Cord Implants To Numb Pain Emerge As Alternative To Pills
For millions of Americans suffering from debilitating nerve pain, a once-overlooked option has emerged as an alternative to high doses of opioids: implanted medical devices using electricity to counteract pain signals the same way noise-canceling headphones work against sound. (Fay Cortez, 12/31)
Health Care Market Has Become 'Too Big, Too Important' For Tech Companies Not To Want A Piece
Technology companies are revolutionizing the health landscape as they vie for a piece of the $3-trillion-a-year pie.
The New York Times:
How Big Tech Is Going After Your Health Care
When Daniel Poston, a second-year medical student in Manhattan, opened the App Store on his iPhone a couple of weeks ago, he was astonished to see an app for a new heart study prominently featured. People often learn about new research studies through in-person conversations with their doctors. But not only did this study, run by Stanford University, use a smartphone to recruit consumers, it was financed by Apple. And it involved using an app on the Apple Watch to try to identify irregular heart rhythms. (Singer, 12/26)
The New York Times:
Freed From The IPhone, The Apple Watch Finds A Medical Purpose
In the last months of Steve Jobs’s life, the Apple co-founder fought cancer while managing diabetes. Because he hated pricking his finger to draw blood, Mr. Jobs authorized an Apple research team to develop a noninvasive glucose reader with technology that could potentially be incorporated into a wristwatch, according to people familiar with the events, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on behalf of the company. (Wakabayashi, 12/26)
Los Angeles Times:
Want A Diet Plan? All This Start-Up Needs Is Your Money, Blood And DNA
When Liesl Bettencourt of Pleasanton, Calif., turned 50 recently, she decided it was time to get into shape. She signed up with Habit, an Oakland start-up that offers personalized nutrition recommendations, coaching and meals. And as soon as Habit sent her an initiation kit, she got nervous. The prospect of cutting out bread and cheese from her diet was hard enough, Bettencourt thought. Now she was being asked to use a lancet — a tiny needle that Habit sent her — to draw her own blood. (Lien, 1/2)
Troubled Theranos Secures $100M Loan With Some Strings Attached
Theranos has faced federal probes and class-action lawsuits after its technology proved faulty. Now the California-based company has has refocused its strategy on commercializing a device called the miniLab that miniaturizes various lab instruments and packs them into one box.
The Wall Street Journal:
Blood-Testing Firm Theranos Gets $100 Million Lifeline From Fortress
The embattled Silicon Valley blood-testing company Theranos Inc. told its investors this week that it has secured a $100 million loan from Fortress Investment Group LLC, averting for now a possible bankruptcy filing as its remaining cash dwindled. The loan is “subject to achieving certain product and operational milestones,” Theranos’s founder and chief executive officer, Elizabeth Holmes, told the company’s shareholders in an email Friday evening that was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. A spokeswoman for the company didn’t respond to requests for comment. (Carreyrou, 12/24)
In other health industry news —
Ventura County Star:
Ventura Business Allegedly Tied To Healthcare Fraud Scam
Three people were indicted this month in connection with a multi-million dollar health care fraud scam related to a medical supply firm based out of Ventura and Hawthorne, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The operator of Ventura-based Kaja Medical Equipment & Supply "allegedly orchestrated a scheme in which corrupt physicians prescribed medically unnecessary durable medical equipment" such as power wheelchairs and oversaw the submission of fraudulent bills to Medicare, according to a news release. (Diskin, 12/22)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Roche Buying San Diego's Ignyta For $1.7B, Boosts Oncology Portfolio
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche said Friday it is buying San Diego biotech Ignyta for $1.7 billion in cash to expand its portfolio of personalized cancer treatments. Roche will pay $27 per share in cash for Ignyta, a 74 percent premium to the company’s share price prior to the offer. The deal is subject to regulatory approval. (Freeman, 12/22)
Dallas Morning News:
Baylor's White Rock Lake Hospital, Formerly Known As Doctors Hospital, Has Been Sold Again
Baylor Scott & White Health has sold its White Rock Lake hospital to a California-based company after owning the facility for less than two years. The hospital has been serving the Lakewood/East Dallas neighborhood since 1959 and until 2016 was known as Doctors Hospital. (Halkias, 12/26)
Los Robles Hospital May Get Dinged Over Rate Of Patient Infections, Injuries
Los Robles stands to lose 1 percent of payments made by Medicare for inpatient treatment over the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.
Ventura County Star:
Los Robles Hospital Faces Medicare Penalties For Post-Admission Injuries
Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center faces penalties in the form of reduced government Medicare payments because of its rate of infections and other injuries that happened after patients were admitted. The Thousand Oaks facility is the only the site in Ventura County facing financial penalties for the current fiscal year in a program that targets hospitals ranked in the nation’s lowest 25 percent in a complex calculation for so-called hospital-acquired conditions. (Kisken, 12/27)
In other news from across the state —
Ventura County Star:
Care Center Gives Homeless People A Chance To Heal
The recuperative care program opened in July at Ventura’s downtown Salvation Army, born of hospital struggles in finding a place to send patients who no longer need acute care but have no home to go to complete their recovery. It meant patients staying in hospitals for weeks, sometimes months. It triggered accusations of homeless patients being sent to shelters not equipped to meet their medical needs. (Kisken, 12/22)
Modesto Bee:
Stanislaus County Officials Back Proposal For Second Methadone Clinic In Modesto
Aegis Inc. is considering locations for a second methadone clinic in Modesto to relieve pressure on its McHenry Avenue office amid the opioid epidemic. The state also has awarded a “hub-and-spoke” grant for Aegis that could extend its services to Oakdale and Patterson. (Carlson, 12/29)
Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
Santa Rosa Medical Provider Turns To Converted Shipping Containers For Exam Rooms
From inside, the “cans” are equipped like any other medical exam room, with medical office cabinets, medical supplies, an exam table with a blue cushion, a red biohazard container, a sink, a weight scale and a computer station for medical providers. The rooms are slightly on the narrow side, but they are fully heated and can be powered by solar energy. The pre-equipped clinics were brought two weeks ago from Wichita, Kansas, headquarters of Clinic in a Can, a business that outfits the shipping containers for use in parts of the world affected by natural disasters or international crises. Located in a parking lot next to Santa Rosa Community Health’s dental clinic on North Dutton Avenue, the new medical rooms were purchased with grants from the California Endowment and the North Bay Fire Relief. Each can handle about 20 to 25 patients a day, giving SRCH the ability to see up to 125 patients who would have been treated at Vista. (Espinoza, 12/30)
In Strange Twist, GOP Changes Have Inadvertently Given Government Larger Role In Health Law
Because of the Trump administration's decision to end insurer subsidies, the government may actually pay more into the system at the same time that healthier people may flee the marketplace because the mandate has been repealed.
The New York Times:
Years Of Attack Leave Obamacare A More Government-Focused Health Law
The Affordable Care Act was conceived as a mix of publicly funded health care and privately purchased insurance, but Republican attacks, culminating this month in the death of a mandate that most Americans have insurance, are shifting the balance, giving the government a larger role than Democrats ever anticipated. And while President Trump insisted again on Tuesday that the health law was “essentially” being repealed, what remains of it appears relatively stable and increasingly government-funded. (Pear, 12/26)
Politico:
GOP Obamacare Quandary — Easy To Hate, Hard To Kill
Republicans start the year divided over whether to tear down or prop up Obamacare, a split that could derail their legislative agenda leading up to the 2018 midterm elections. GOP leaders on Capitol Hill don’t want a repeat of last year’s Obamacare fumble: They spent precious time on a failed attempt to repeal the health care law every member of the GOP was presumed to hate. (Haberkorn, 1/2)
The Washington Pots:
Republicans Knock Holes In Affordable Care Act But Don’t Demolish The Law
Before Congress left Washington for the year, Republicans finally made good on their determination to knock big holes in the Affordable Care Act, crippling its requirement that most Americans carry health insurance and leaving insurers without billions of dollars in promised federal payments. At the same time, public support for the perennially controversial law has inched up to around its highest point in a half-dozen years. ... This dual reality puts the sprawling ACA — prized domestic legacy of the Obama era, whipping post of the Trump administration — at a new precipice, with its long-term fate hinging on the November midterm elections. (Goldstein, 12/25)
The Associated Press:
'Obamacare' Sign-Up Tally Dips Slightly To 8.7M
More than 8.7 million people signed up for coverage next year under the Obama-era health care law, the government reported Thursday, as the program that President Donald Trump has repeatedly pronounced "a disaster" exceeded expectations. The final tally for the 39 HealthCare.gov states showed about 80,000 fewer sign-ups than an initial count provided last week, before the Christmas holiday. A spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the slight dip was due to late cancellations. (12/28)
The Associated Press:
More Than 4 In 5 Enrolled In 'Obamacare' Are In Trump States
Americans in states that Donald Trump carried in his march to the White House account for more than 4 in 5 of those signed up for coverage under the health care law the president still wants to take down. An Associated Press analysis of new figures from the government found that 7.3 million of the 8.8 million consumers signed up so far for next year come from states Trump won in the 2016 presidential election. The four states with the highest number of sign-ups — Florida, Texas, North Carolina and Georgia, accounting for nearly 3.9 million customers — were all Trump states. (12/22)
The Associated Press:
Tax On Medical Devices To Resume After 2-Year Suspension
While much of corporate America will enjoy a tax cut in the new year, one industry is getting a tax increase it has fought hard but so far unsuccessfully to avoid. A 2.3 percent excise tax on medical device manufacturers went back into effect Monday after a two-year hiatus. It was originally imposed in 2013 as one of several taxes and fees in the Affordable Care Act that pay for expanded health insurance under the law. (Salsberg, 1/1)
Long-Term Solution For CHIP Funding On Docket As Congress Returns To Jam-Packed Schedule
Right before the Christmas break, Congress plowed $3 billion into the Children's Health Insurance Program, but that stopgap only keeps it funded for three more months.
The Washington Post:
Congress Will Return To A Full Slate Of Difficult Issues
Congress faces a jam-packed to-do list this month with deadlines looming on difficult issues — including how to fund the government and avoid a shutdown, stabilizing the nation’s health insurance program for poor children, and whether to shield young undocumented immigrants from deportation. Fresh off a party-line vote in favor of legislation overhauling the tax code, the negotiations will test whether Congress and the White House still have the potential to craft any form of bipartisan agreement. If so, several of the year’s most contested issues might be resolved with months to spare before the 2018 midterm campaign heats up. (Stein, 1/1)
Bloomberg:
Trump And Congress Spoil For Fights With Shutdown Again At Stake
Several health-care issues are also outstanding. Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine voted for the GOP tax-cut bill in exchange for a promise from her party’s leaders to vote on two bills aimed at shoring up Obamacare. One would restore subsidies for co-payments and deductibles suspended by Trump, while the other would establish a reinsurance program to help insurers cover people with chronic and costly illnesses. (Sink, Wasson and Edgerton, 1/2)
Looking Ahead In New Year: What's To Come In Health Care For 2018
The health care landscape is set for a tumultuous year. Media outlets take note of what you should watch for -- from the health law to hospitals and more.
Modern Healthcare:
2018 Outlook On Politics And Policy: Insurers Will Come Out Ahead
Despite a year of policy delays, glitches and uncertainty, insurers may be the ones to come out ahead of other segments of the industry in 2018. Uncertainty and policy confusion will no doubt continue this year since House and Senate Republicans are already on different pages when it comes to healthcare reform. Now that the GOP's $1.5 trillion tax overhaul is done, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is setting his sights on entitlement reform as a way to rein in costs. This could mean trimming welfare, Social Security and Medicaid, but he has signaled Medicare provider cuts are also on the table. (Luthi and Dickson, 12/30)
The Hill:
Five Ways Trump Can Undermine ObamaCare In 2018
President Trump faces a slew of critical decisions in 2018 about how far he wants to go to undermine ObamaCare. There are increasing doubts about the ability of Congress to repeal the law, which will put even more focus on administrative actions to chip away at the Affordable Care Act. It is unlikely, though, that Trump can deal a death blow to the law. (Sullivan, 12/30)
Stat:
3 Political Issues For Hospitals To Watch In 2018
Hospitals and health providers suffered minimal damage in this year’s political collision over Obamacare. But 2018 will bring a series of equally high-stakes debates that will affect the financial viability of hospitals and the future of how care is measured and delivered. And by the way, the war over Obamacare is hardly over — it’ll start up again next year with proposals to stabilize insurance markets and renewed GOP repeal efforts. (Ross, 12/28)
Stat:
What Will 2018 Bring For Science And Medicine? We Asked The Experts
Between the uncertainties of science, the fickleness of markets, and really just everything related to the White House, the fate of science and medicine in 2018 seems nigh unpredictable to us. So we reached out to a bunch of people who would know better and asked for their crystal ball readings of what the new year will bring. Here’s what they said. (1/2)
Stat:
Three FDA Issues You Should Be Watching In 2018
It’s been a busy year for the Food and Drug Administration — since Commissioner Scott Gottlieb was confirmed in May, he has led the agency with an ambitious agenda, tackling everything from prescription opioid addiction to tobacco use to dubious stem cell clinics. And 2018 shows no signs of letting up. Many of the proclamations the FDA has made under Gottlieb will come to fruition, or at least to bud, in the new year. (Swetlitz, 12/26)
Stat:
3 Congressional Races You Should Be Watching In 2018
Among the many issues Democrats hope to use to their advantage before the 2018 midterm elections — think Russia, a controversial tax overhaul, and a broader referendum on President Trump’s time in the White House — expect to see health care at or near the top of the list. The Senate came a vote away in August from repealing the Affordable Care Act. Congress has yet to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the sweeping tax bill it approved in late December is likely to destabilize current ACA exchanges via a repeal of the law’s individual mandate. (Facher, 12/27)
Meanwhile, looking back at 2017 —
Politico:
Top 10 Health Care Surprises From Year One Of Trump
President Donald Trump stormed into office last January confident that he could knock off Obamacare in a nanosecond. It didn't turn out that way — and from drug prices to the Tom Price travel scandal, a lot of health policy didn't go according to plan. Here's a look at 10 health care surprises from 2017. (Cancryn, 12/30)