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More states are encouraging businesses to help employees sign up for Obamacare. They’re using a policy backed by President Donald Trump — the same Donald Trump who spent much of the fall deriding Obamacare as the “Unaffordable Care Act” — to do it. (Hooper, 3/15)

Related news about the high cost of health care —

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Is It Worth Your Time And Money To Set Up An HSA? 
When Mike McKee thinks about saving money for the future, he has a few priorities. Maxing out his retirement is one. Building up his kid’s college fund is another. Opening up a health savings account? Not so much, even though he qualifies because of his high-deductible health plan. “I’m so frustrated with the system that has anything to do with medical savings,” said McKee, 42, a self-employed musician in Nashville, Tennessee. “I’m just so turned off emotionally that I have to be really careful to be logical about it.” (Farmer, Anthony and Siner, 3/16)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: In Switching To Original Medicare, Beware Of Medigap Plan Refusals 
It’s open enrollment season for Medicare Advantage, when people currently enrolled in private managed-care plans can either sign up for a new one or switch to original Medicare through March 31. But there’s a catch: If people want to move to original Medicare and buy a supplemental Medigap insurance plan to cover some out-of-pocket costs, they may not be able to. Medigap insurers can generally refuse coverage to applicants whose medical history or current health problems might make them expensive to cover, a process called medical underwriting. (Andrews, 3/16)

Dr. Mehmet Oz pledged [last] week to lead an effort that would decertify any hospice providers that are found to be defrauding taxpayers by stealing the identities of people not in hospice or by overbilling for those who are dying. "If they steal the money, they'll steal your health, they'll steal your life, and we're seeing that over and over again, which is why we have to send a very loud message to fraudsters that we're not open for business for you," said Oz, who is the Trump administration's administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (Geller, Yamaguchi and Gold, 3/13)

On transgender care and the immigration crisis —

Most groups defended their support for medical intervention. But the Society for Plastic Surgeons broke with the consensus. (Peters, 3/16)

Yurgen Cayax walked into the Robert A. Young Federal Building in downtown St. Louis last week knowing she likely would not leave of her own free will. (Messenger, 3/15)

An Afghan man who had helped the American military in Afghanistan and was currently living in Texas died on Saturday, a day after being taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE said in a Sunday news release that Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal’s death is under active investigation. His case brings the number of in-custody ICE deaths in Texas to at least seven since December. (Serrano and Nguyen, 3/15)

Federally-funded clinics that provide contraception and other reproductive health services have one week to apply for new grants after the Trump administration released long-delayed guidance Friday night. Current funding runs out April 1. The delay in the release of the guidance for the Title X Family Planning Program, which clinics had expected to receive before the end of last year, had health care leaders and elected officials warning that millions of low-income patients could lose access to birth control, STI tests, cancer screenings and other care. (Ollstein, 3/13)

More reproductive health news —

The state of Indiana is appealing a Marion County judge’s March 5 ruling in favor of an additional religious right exemption to Indiana’s near-total abortion ban, but legal experts believe the ruling could present a way to claw back the right to an abortion following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. (Kukulka, 3/14)

Wyoming’s Republican-dominated legislature passed a six-week abortion ban this week, prompting a new lawsuit and some lawmakers to call it “an insult to voters and our institution”. Mark Gordon, Wyoming’s governor, signed the bill while simultaneously warning of its constitutional hurdles, noting that prior abortion bans were struck down by the state’s all Republican-appointed supreme court this January. Almost immediately, an identical set of plaintiffs filed suit against the new bill. (Neff, 3/15)

On the afternoon of Sept. 9, 2024, Cherise Doyley was in her 12th hour of contractions at University of Florida Health in downtown Jacksonville when a nurse came in with a bedsheet and told her to cover up. A supervisor brought a tablet to Doyley’s bedside. Gathered on the screen were a judge in a black robe and several lawyers, doctors and hospital staff. “It’s a real judge in there?” Doyley asked the nurse at the beginning of what would be a three-hour hearing. “Now this is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen.” (Yurkanin, 3/14)

In North Carolina, where a clinician practices can make all the difference for someone seeking maternity care — it’s the birth equivalent of “location, location, location.” Dozens of counties have no local obstetrics care, so families are forced to travel long distances for deliveries. That distance to care for rural patients has been linked to higher rates of cesarean sections, preterm births and maternal complications. (Fredde, 3/16)

Citing a survey called “Killer Jab?,” which found that nearly one out of four Americans reported knowing someone who died from a Covid vaccine, a federal work group is calling for sweeping changes to how the medical establishment tracks and treats injuries from the shots. The changes are proposed in a confidential report obtained by The New York Times. The work group’s report — “written with a sense of urgency,” it said” — was drafted for the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel that advises the government on vaccine policy. (Mandavilli and Stolberg, 3/15)

The White House is more tightly controlling the messaging and policies—including around vaccines—coming from the Department of Health and Human Services ahead of the midterm elections, according to people familiar with the matter. Aides close to President Trump decided to take a more active role in managing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s department in the face of polling that shows his vaccine moves are unpopular, the people said. Although Trump brought Kennedy into his administration with the promise that the vaccine skeptic and ultraprocessed-food critic could “go wild on health,” administration officials grew increasingly frustrated with what they viewed as foul-ups inside Kennedy’s department, according to people familiar with the matter. Aides close to Trump grew worried that perceived disorganization and a focus on vaccines could damage the president’s party in November, those people said. (Whyte and Andrews, 3/13)

On RSV vaccines —

British drugmaker GSK said today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the approved use of its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine for younger adults at risk of complications from the virus. In a news release, the company said the FDA approved Arexvy for use in adults aged 18 to 49 who are at increased risk of lower respiratory tract disease (LRTD) caused by RSV. The vaccine was previously approved for all adults aged 60 and over and those aged 50 to 59 at increased risk of LRTD caused by RSV. (Dall, 3/13)

More on measles, flu, and covid —

Randy Smith comes home from selling tires to a divided apartment. He sees Carmen, his wife of 33 years, but he doesn’t get to hug her or get too close. After receiving two kidney transplants, Carmen Smith has a compromised immune system from the medication that helps her body accept those new organs. And during the ongoing North Dakota measles epidemic, the couple can’t take any chances. (Ratanpal, 3/16)

When Kate Morrow gave birth to twins eight years ago, they were very premature, with compromised immune systems. "We counted on the community to keep our children safe," Morrow says. She trusted that her neighbors were vaccinating their children to protect other vulnerable people in her community — including her twins. But that's no longer the case. (Godoy, 3/14)

While measles vaccines usually provide lifelong protection, federal health authorities say that some people born before 1968 may have received a less effective vaccine and should get a booster. (Tingley, 3/13)

For the second week in a row, 11 US children died of influenza, and while flu activity remains elevated across the country, several key flu indicators are slowly declining, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports today in its FluView recap of the week ending March 7. (Van Beusekom, 3/13)

In the three years since Los Angeles County declared an end to COVID-19 as a public health emergency, mask sales have dwindled, unopened tests have expired in their boxes and people have returned to in-person school, work and socializing. But for thousands of L.A. County residents living with the complex, chronic condition known as long COVID, the emergency has never ended. (Purtill, 3/14)

Leading medical organizations on Friday recommended major changes in cardiovascular disease prevention, saying people as young as 30 — down from age 40 — should consider statins or other measures to manage cholesterol. (Cooney, 3/13)

In other health and wellness news —

Legalization of recreational marijuana by many states has made it easier for teens to get access to highly potent and convenient forms of the drug, creating new hazards for teen health. New research shows that using it as little as once a month or less as a teenager is linked to an increased risk of developing psychiatric disorders and doing poorly in school. (Petersen, 3/14)

If you’re burned out, stuck in a toxic job, and too financially stretched to just quit, TikTok has a suggestion: Take medical leave. Instead of quiet quitting or burning through PTO, a growing corner of the internet is advising workers to take up to 12 weeks off—fully protected and, depending on your benefits, even paid. “If you have a full-time job with benefits and you are really struggling with your mental health, take FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act),” one TikToker, @lexi.inks, told her followers in a viral video. (Royle, 3/15)

Dr. Alan Pao had a patient years ago with recurring, debilitating kidney stones that due to their chemical makeup were essentially unpreventable. He recalled telling the man once that he was sorry, but there were no options that wouldn’t make his condition worse. “There are some things someone could try,” Pao told the man, thinking of patients he’d seen over the years at the Stanford Kidney Stone Clinic and ideas that had tickled the back of his mind as possible options for treating them. And the man said, well, why shouldn’t Pao be the one to try? (Allday, 3/15)

Some wellness influencers are very worried about parasites. In online posts and videos, they suggest the organisms can be blamed for a host of symptoms — bloating, insomnia, food cravings, teeth grinding, headaches, among others. They claim that you can rid your body of these discomforts with what's known as a parasite cleanse. (Boden, 3/16)

Google has dropped a new artificial intelligence search feature that gave users crowdsourced health advice from amateurs around the world. The company had said its launch of “What People Suggest”, which provided tips from strangers, showed “the potential of AI to transform health outcomes across the globe”. But Google has since quietly removed the feature, according to three people familiar with the decision. (Gregory, 3/16)

Prime Healthcare, which owns eight Illinois hospitals, may soon no longer be in-network with the state’s largest health insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois — a situation that could force some patients to switch doctors or pay more for care. (Schencker, 3/13)

Vanderbilt Health chief executive Dr. Jeff Balser will retire at the end of the year after almost two decades in the role, the health system announced Thursday. The Nashville, Tennessee-based academic health system said its board of directors will begin a national search for its next president and CEO. Balser will retire Dec. 31. (Halleman, 3/13)

U.S. officials say more cyberattacks on the homeland should be expected after global disruption forced tens of thousands of Stryker employees offline. (Volz and Loftus, 3/15)

On organ transplants —

The grieving family members have left the hospital room, gently reminded by a health care professional that their loved one wished to become an organ donor. For that to happen, death must be declared. After a mandated pause, surgeons then recover organs that will bring life to people ranked by need on transplant wait lists. What happens next depends on a branching series of events. (Cooney, 3/16)

Mayo Clinic's organ transplant centers performed the most solid organ transplants in its history last year — 2,065 across its Minnesota, Arizona and Florida campuses. It also performed more than any other hospital system in the country. (Work, 3/14)

Pennsylvania’s WellSpan Health will open a new “small-format” hospital off Interstate 83 just past the Maryland state line later this month, offering a new source for 24/7 emergency care for residents in northern Harford, Carroll and Baltimore counties. (Zumer, 3/13)

Iowa continues to have the second-highest rate of cancer in the country and is one of a few states that has rising rates of cancer, according to an annual report by the Iowa Cancer Registry. (Krebs, 3/13)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Reckoning With State And Federal Cuts, Los Angeles Safety-Net Clinics Push For A New Tax 
LOS ANGELES — Mia Angulo, who is pregnant and due in May, is living in a tent with her boyfriend in the predominantly Latino neighborhood of Boyle Heights. Lingering pain from a car crash two months ago, on top of an already hardscrabble life, has Angulo worried about her pregnancy. So, she was relieved when a mobile street medicine van from St. John’s Community Health pulled up near her encampment last month. “Thank God that we have them,” she said. (Wolfson, 3/16)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Journalists Talk Medicaid Work Mandate In Georgia And Wage Garnishment Bill In Colorado 
�鶹Ů�� Health News southern correspondent Sam Whitehead discussed Medicaid work requirements on WUGA’s The Georgia Health Report on March 6. �鶹Ů�� Health News Colorado correspondent Rae Ellen Bichell discussed wage garnishment legislation on KUNC’s In the NoCo on March 5. (3/14)

On the gun violence epidemic —

Federal authorities have arrested a Virginia man accused of unlawfully selling a firearm to the former National Guardsman who authorities said killed an instructor and injured two students in an ROTC class at Old Dominion University on Thursday, according to newly unsealed court records. Kenya Chapman was charged with false statements and unlawful firearms dealing offenses in a criminal complaint on Friday for his alleged sale of a Glock 44 .22 caliber gun to Mohamed Jalloh, who was previously convicted in 2016 of attempting to provide material support to ISIS -- a federal felony that sent him to prison and barred him from being able to legally purchase or possess firearms. (Mallin, 3/14)

The City of Philadelphia and District Attorney Larry Krasner have sued gun maker Glock, claiming that the company has "substantially contributed to the gun violence epidemic," in both the city and the state. (Calabrese, 3/13)

Gloria Cazares shared her message as 'All the Empty Rooms' won Best Documentary Short Film. “My daughter, Jackie, was 9 years old when she was killed in Uvalde,” she stated, referring to the May 2022 school shooting at the Robb Elementary School that resulted in the deaths of 19 students and two teachers. “Since that day, her bedroom has been frozen in time.” (Strout, 3/15)

"President Trump and RFK Jr. promised to 'Make America Healthy Again.' But instead, the administration has done quite the opposite." (Edward J. Markey and Rochelle Walensky, 3/14)

Safe and effective medical technologies can improve people’s lives only when they are accessible. As a physician and inventor, I am acutely aware that the more treatment options available to a provider, the better equipped they are to alleviate suffering and save lives. (Josh Makower, 3/16)

For almost a decade, I’ve fought for a cure for a disease I don’t even have yet. In 2018, when my mom was dying of the fatal neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), I learned that I carried the same mutated gene, C9orf72, that caused her disease. That means I will likely either develop ALS or frontotemporal degeneration (FTD), another disease that is caused by the C9 mutation. (Mindy Uhrlaub, 3/16)

Imagine walking into your pharmacy, handing over your prescription and having it denied. Now imagine that the reason is not insufficient insurance coverage or the wrong dose, but a pharmacist who personally objects to your medication. What right does a pharmacist have to make moral decisions for their patients? (Elizabeth Chiarello, 3/14)

A Dutch psychiatrist gave lethal injections to patients with mental suffering, some of them teenagers. Does that make him a hero—or something else? (Charles Lane, 3/15)