Welcome back to the Friday Breeze! Brace yourself, because with the midterms in the rear-view mirror (psshh, the 2018 elections are so five minutes ago), lawmakers, hopefuls and sideline experts are all barreling toward 2020. (I have only just this moment realized the vast opportunity for puns we’ll see when it’s over. Hindsight being … you get it.) First, though, everyone has to make it through two years of likely gridlock with a split Congress.
So what’s on the agenda for the newly empowered Democrats?
“Health care was on the ballot and health care won.” That’s House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s assessment, at least. How it shakes out is trickier.
Some of the Dems’ top priorities are related to bandaging up the health law. Their efforts will likely include forcing a vote on a bill to protect preexisting conditions; shoring up the marketplaces, possibly by helping states pay for large medical claims; and pushing to get the House to intervene in the Texas lawsuit that challenges the law’s constitutionality.
At the same time, many of the party’s 2020 contenders are going to be on the trail going hard for “Medicare-for-all,” aka the litmus test for candidates who want to woo the more progressive wing of voters. The dissonance in the party that has been brewing since MFA gained popularity is at the very least going to require some complicated political maneuvering on all sides.
One Democratic agenda item many people (including President Donald Trump) seem to agree on, though? Reining in drug prices.
The New York Times: Democrats Won a Mandate on Health Care. How Will They Use It?
Politico: California’s New Governor Embodies Democrats’ Dilemma on Single Payer
New numbers out of Arkansas that detail just how many people have been dropped from the state’s Medicaid program since work requirements were enacted have experts increasingly alarmed. An additional 3,815 lost coverage in October for not reporting their hours, pushing the total number of people who have been affected by the state’s new requirements to over 12,000. And about 6,000 more residents are on their second strike and poised to lose coverage next month.
An outcry among health care experts prescribes the rules be suspended until officials figure out why the numbers are so startlingly high.
Modern Healthcare: Arkansas Drops 3,815 More Medicaid Enrollees Over Work Requirement
The Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on certain tobacco products and e-cigarettes that contribute to the emerging teen-vaping epidemic. But the ban on selling flavored e-cigarettes at brick-and-mortar stores (a ban that won praise when an early version of the rules was leaked) was conspicuously tempered. Stores will be allowed to sell the products if they can be kept in an age-restricted area.
The agency did come out swinging hard with a proposed ban on menthol. It could take years to enact, and the tobacco industry has hinted at a court battle, but if the ban does go through, it could have a profound effect on African-American males and young people who smoke menthol cigarettes at higher rates than other groups.
The Washington Post: FDA Unveils Sweeping Anti-Tobacco Effort to Reduce Underage Vaping and Smoking
The National Rifle Association has long been a Goliath among Davids when it comes to election spending. New numbers suggest, though, that the gun control movement may actually become a formidable foe for the political powerhouse.
The New York Times: Gun Control Groups Eclipse N.R.A. in Election Spending
It was not a friendly news week for the NRA in general. One of the organization’s tweet’s (a suggestion that doctors should “stay in their lane” on the gun debate) sparked viral outrage from providers. With the floodgates opened, stories of physicians’ firsthand experience with gun violence blanketed social media. “I see no one from the @nra next to me in the trauma bay as I have cared for victims of gun violence for the past 25 years,” tweeted one doctor (from the New York Times’ coverage). “THAT must be MY lane. COME INTO MY LANE. Tell one mother her child is dead with me, then we can talk.”
NPR: After NRA Mocks Doctors, Physicians Reply: ‘This Is Our Lane’
The wildfires continued to devastate California, with the death toll climbing to at least 63 and the number of missing people soaring to more than 600. Heartbreaking tales about elderly and young evacuees living in the harsh conditions of parking-lot tent cities serve as a reminder of just how long recovery will take after the fires are contained.
The (San Jose) Mercury News: Camp Fire: 63 Dead, 631 Missing; Second Origin Spot Probed
Drug prices didn’t always used to be this bad. For a while, America was spending about what other wealthy countries did. Then something happened in the 1990s. To be fair, many factors are in play with our current pricing system, but the record number of new drugs that emerged in that decade likely set the stage for our current morass.
The New York Times: Something Happened to U.S. Drug Costs in the 1990s
Enrollment in Affordable Care Act plans was a bit slower at the start of this year’s sign-up season compared with last year’s. The reason this item appears so low in this newsletter, though, is that those numbers lack context (we, as a nation, were kind of preoccupied with a little thing called the midterms) and experts say it’s too early to call this a trend. Something to keep an eye on.
The Hill: ObamaCare Enrollment Down Compared to Last Year
Sick of medical bills? Yeah, doctors aren’t really fans of having to be debt collectors either. Especially when it comes to a patient. As premium costs shift more and more to employees, providers are no longer able to just deal with impersonal insurers and are instead having to go after the very people they’re trying to help.
Bloomberg: Doctors Are Fed Up With Being Turned Into Debt Collectors
Who in the family doesn’t get health care this year? Americans are having to make such tough decisions in an era where insurance plans can be price-tagged at more than $1,000 a month. Bloomberg offers a series that puts names and faces to the problem that has been a punch in the gut for many across the country.
Bloomberg: Soaring Health-Care Costs Forced This Family to Choose Who Can Stay Insured
As you can tell, this week was popping in terms of health news, so the miscellaneous file is going to be a bit more robust today:
Native American and Alaska Native women have been vanishing in high numbers, but the reporting on the depth and breadth of the problem is woefully lacking.
• The Associated Press: Report Cites Weak Reporting on Missing, Murdered Native Women
Who decides the parole of people who have been found not guilty by reason of insanity? In Oregon, where it’s a board that reviews the state’s cases, the balance between civil rights and safety has been praised. However, an analysis of 220 defendants found that about a quarter of them were charged with attacking others within three years of being released. And the board hasn’t changed its policies.
So, it turns out a 150-pound pig is uncannily humanlike in organ size and function. This could go a long way in addressing our perpetual donated organ shortage.
• The New York Times: 20 Americans Die Each Day Waiting for Organs. Can Pigs Save Them?
A sweeping study put a damper on all the “magical thinking” surrounding the benefits of fish oil and vitamin D.
• The New York Times: Vitamin D And Fish Oils Are Ineffective For Preventing Cancer And Heart Disease
If it seems as if at least one kid in every classroom these days has a food allergy, that’s because they probably do. Could hypoallergenic food be the answer?
• The Boston Globe: Allergies Change How We All Eat
A revealing series of jail conversations between Aaron Hernandez, who died by suicide in April 2017, and other football players details a grim culture of opioid abuse in the NFL.
In an era of medical malpractice suits, it feels rare to get an apology out of anyone health-related these days. But the widower of a woman who died of an asthma attack outside of a locked emergency department got one from the hospital. (It’s a tragic, yet recommended read overall.)
First lady Michelle Obama spoke candidly about her miscarriage and about how women often feel alone and isolated when it comes to fertility and pregnancy.
The Associated Press: Michelle Obama Had Miscarriage, Used IVF to Conceive Girls
Whew! Everyone was definitely busy before heading into the holidays. Speaking of, we’ll be off eating turkey next week, but will hit your inbox again on Nov. 30.
Happy holidays!
This story was produced by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation.