51��Ƶ

From the opening bell, Democrats savaged New York billionaire Mike Bloomberg and raised pointed questions about Bernie Sanders' take-no-prisoners politics during a contentious debate Wednesday night that threatened to further muddy the party's urgent quest to defeat President Donald Trump. Bloomberg, the former New York mayor who was once a Republican, was forced to defend his record and past comments related to race, gender and his personal wealth in an occasionally rocky debate stage debut. Sanders, meanwhile, tried to beat back pointed questions about his embrace of democratic socialism and his health following a heart attack last year. (People, Jaffe and Price, 2/20)

Kaiser Health News: Scalpels Out: Democrats Make Slashing Attacks On Health Care Plans

Top contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination torched one another’s proposals to reform the health care system Wednesday, as the contest to unify behind a single candidate to defeat President Donald Trump took a bitterly divisive turn. Minutes after Tom Perez, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, warmed up the debate audience in Las Vegas by describing the party as a spirited but unified family, most of the candidates abruptly shifted into attack mode — and not just against Mike Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman and former New York City mayor making his first, belated appearance in the ninth debate. (Huetteman, Knight and Luthra, 2/20)

After eight debates that had sparks of conflict but were relatively cordial, Wednesday night brought two hours of nonstop political battle. Every candidate got attacked. Senator Elizabeth Warren sometimes attacked almost everyone in a single breath. Former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg found himself facing incoming fire within the debate’s first seconds and looked very much like the out-of-practice politician he was before his tardy entry to the presidential campaign in November. (Goldmacher and Epstein, 2/20)

After disappointing showings in Iowa and New Hampshire and stagnant poll numbers, Warren came to fight. She has been trying to carve out a space for herself as the unity candidate, someone who can bridge Sanders’s Medicare-for-all plan with moderates who think it’s too radical. But that’s led to some confusion from voters about where she stands. So on Wednesday, she tried to differentiate herself by punching at almost every candidate on the stage for their health-care plans, which she labeled ineffective (Buttigieg: “paper-thin version of a plan”) or too short (Klobuchar: It can “fit on a Post-it Note”). Most notably, on health care, she said Sanders was not being a team player or realistic — echoing a thematic attack from Buttigieg. “His campaign relentlessly attacks everyone who asks a question or tries to fill in details about how to actually make this work,” Warren said of Sanders. “And then his own advisers say that probably won’t happen anyway.” (Phillips, 2/20)

Warren has backed Medicare for All but wants to start first with an optional government plan, highlighting the tightrope she has tried to walk on the issue. She described her approach as “if we don’t get it all the first time, take the win” and then come back for more. (Sullivan, 2/19)

ELIZABETH WARREN: Buttigieg's health care plan is "a thin version of a plan." PETE BUTTIGIEG: His own proposal "is the plan that solves the problem." THE FACTS: Warren, a Massachusetts senator, is quick to dismiss a plan that would cover virtually all U.S. citizens and legal residents. An analysis of health care overhaul plans by the Urban Institute and the Commonwealth Fund found that an approach like the one advocated by Buttigieg, a former South Bend, Indiana, mayor, would reduce the number of uninsured people from 32 million to below 7 million, mainly people without legal permission to be in the country. (2/19)

“Let's talk about democratic socialism," Sanders said, adding: "We are living in many ways in a socialist society right now. The problem is, as Dr. Martin Luther King reminded us, 'We have socialism for the very rich, rugged individualism for the poor.” Applause rang out. “When Donald Trump gets $800 million in tax breaks and subsidies to build luxury condominiums, that's socialism for the rich,” Sanders said. “We have to subsidize Walmart’s workers on Medicaid and food stamps because the wealthiest family in America pays starvation wages. That's socialism for the rich. I believe in Democratic socialism for working people. Not billionaires. Health care for all. Educational opportunity for all.” (Caputo, McCaskill and Naranjo, 2/19)

There was little in the debate to suggest that Mr. Sanders, the national front-runner and the favorite to win Nevada’s caucuses on Saturday, had been knocked off balance, and the pile-on against Mr. Bloomberg had the potential to work in Mr. Sanders’s favor by keeping the focus of hostilities elsewhere. But Mr. Sanders, too, was pressed to address some of the persistent questions about his candidacy, including whether he would release a fuller version of his medical records and why his candidacy appears to inspire uniquely vitriolic behavior by some of his supporters on the internet. Mr. Sanders, Vermont’s junior senator, insisted that nearly all of his online fans were good and decent people, but said he would “disown those people” who behave in deplorable ways. (Burns and Martin, 2/20)

Buttigieg and Sanders battle over curbing the online behavior of supporters. “I think you have to accept some responsibility.” —Pete Buttigieg. Why this matters: Mr. Sanders defended the online activity of his supporters, some of whom are referred to as Bernie Bros, after leaders of the Culinary Union said they had been attacked from some of the senator’s advocates online and by phone. Mr. Sanders said of his supporters that “99.9% of them are decent human beings,” but if any of them “make ugly remarks” or “attack trade union leaders, I disown those people.” Mr. Buttigieg suggested that Mr. Sanders hadn’t done enough to tamp down the actions of his own supporters, and challenged the senator to ask himself: “Why did this pattern arise? Why is it especially the case among your supporters?” (Thomas, 2/19)

Women in the leadership of a Nevada union that opposes his healthcare agenda were swarmed last week with vulgar and threatening emails, phone calls and Twitter posts. In the days following, Buttigieg, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren and Michael R. Bloomberg all questioned Sanders’ commitment to curbing the provocations. (Finnegan, 2/19)

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. claimed undue credit for being the “first” candidate to introduce a public option. This is exaggerated. Four candidates — Mr. Biden, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., and Mr. Bloomberg — support a public option, which anyone can buy into but retains private insurance. The concept has been around for many years. (2/19)

Kaiser Health News: Obamacare A Disgrace? Biden Highlights Bloomberg’s Negative Remarks About The Affordable Care Act.

Sparring over health care during the Nevada Democratic presidential primary debate, former Vice President Joe Biden took issue with former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s record on the Affordable Care Act. “From the moment we passed that signature legislation, Mike called it a disgrace,” Biden said, a claim he repeated another time during the debate. Bloomberg sought to refute that charge, arguing that he defended the law and believed it should be expanded. (Luthra and Knight, 2/20)

“You know that from the moment from the moment we passed that signature legislation, Mike called it a disgrace.”— Biden. Biden gets this mostly right, but some context is required. In a speech in 2010, after the Affordable Care Act was passed, Bloomberg gave a speech at Dartmouth College. “We passed a health care bill that does absolutely nothing to fix the big health-care problems in this country. It is just a disgrace,” he said, according to a report by CNN. “The president, in all fairness, started out by pointing out what the big problems were, but then turned it over to Congress, which didn’t pay any attention to any of those big problems and just created another program that’s going to cost a lot of money.” He went on to say: “It’s really sad because they say they’ve insured or provided coverage for another 45 million people." (Kessler, Rizzo and Cahlan, 2/19)

Bloomberg did in fact call the Affordable Care Act a "disgrace" in 2010, and there's video — Biden just put it in an online ad. The former New York City mayor's health care plan includes a proposal to "build on the ACA to achieve universal health coverage." (Timm, 2/19)

Sanders said Wednesday night that "the health care industry made $100 billion in profits." "Somehow or another, Canada can provide universal health care to all their people," he said. "U.K. can do it, France can do it, Germany could, all of Europe can do it. Gee whiz. Somehow or another, we are the only major country on Earth that can't do it. Why is that?" (Miranda, 2/20)

Tensions also rose between Mr. Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who are competing for the party’s center lane and who engaged in a series of testy, often personal exchanges. After Ms. Klobuchar pushed for a comprehensive immigration overhaul, Mr. Buttigieg interjected to attack her record, including her vote in 2007 to make English the official language of the U.S. “You voted to confirm the head of Customs and Border Protection under Trump, who was one of the architects of the family-separation policy. You voted to make English the national language,” Mr. Buttigieg said. “Do you know the message that sends?” (Siddiqui, Parti and Collins, 2/20)

Politically, Buttigieg and Klobuchar are both hawking middle-of-the-road, tell-it-like-it-is personas, which they argue Democrats need to carry the Midwest, the region they call home. They are both competing to emerge as the main moderate alternative to Bernie Sanders, the current polling frontrunner. But the rivalry runs deeper than their political positioning. Klobuchar has regularly spoken about sexism on the campaign trail, explaining that she is willing to call out “double standards” for female candidates because “we have to grapple with the fact that some people think a woman can’t win” against Trump, she told POLITICO in January. (Schneider, 2/20)

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ refusal to release more medical records, months after vowing to offer “comprehensive” details after his heart attack, is the latest reminder voters know relatively little about the health of the men and women seeking the most powerful job in the world — including some who would turn 80 in their first terms. None of the top dozen presidential candidates this cycle has released his or her “full” health records, instead offering doctor’s notes that paper over decades of medical trauma, ranging from heart attacks to brain surgery. (Diamond, 2/19)

Kaiser Health News: Sanders’ Claim That Buttigieg Is ‘Favorite Of The Health Care Industry’ Is Broad And Needs Context

As Pete Buttigieg gained momentum in the Democratic presidential primary race ― finishing second in the New Hampshire primary and a front-runner in the Iowa caucuses ― he has increasingly been on the receiving end of shade from his rivals. The campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), for instance, distributed talking points that zeroed in on fundraising, saying that “Pete Buttigieg is a favorite candidate of Wall Street and the health care industry.” (Knight, 2/19)

Former longtime Nevada lawmaker Harry Reid has declined to endorse a candidate ahead of the state's Democratic caucus, but he did speak strongly against Medicare for All, the hallmark policy plan of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign."I think the world of Bernie Sanders," Reid said in an interview for the "Powerhouse Politics" podcast on Wednesday, speaking highly of his former Senate colleague. But Reid, who served as a Democrat in the U.S. Senate for 30 years, including as majority leader for eight years, said it didn't matter which candidate comes out in support of Sanders' signature health care plan: "I’m against it." (Scanlan, 2/19)

How union benefits would be affected by Democratic presidential candidates’ health insurance plans will likely get national attention tonight as six of the contenders seeking to oust President Donald Trump face off... Culinary Workers Local 226 is always a big deal in Nevada politics, but the union's critique of “Medicare for All” government-run coverage has put them even more in the spotlight ahead of Saturday's Democratic caucus here. (Lesniewski and McIntire, 2/19)

Democrats who want to be Republican U.S. Rep. John Carter's challenger in November think focusing on health care will turn the 31st District north of Austin blue. But Republicans, who have long held the seat, say their opponents won't have much luck without a high-profile candidate like 2018's MJ Hegar, who is now focusing on a U.S. Senate run. Democratic candidates Eric Hanke, Donna Imam, Dan Janjigian, Christine Mann and Tammy Young are vying for their party's nomination in the district includes suburban Williamson County and the more rural Bell County. They say rising health care costs and support for military veterans are voters' top priorities — and most want to expand access to affordable health care to address those concerns. (Tatum, 2/20)

The ascendant Democratic left may have found the opening it needs to finally dislodge one of the party’s few anti-abortion House members in next month's Illinois primary. The effort to defeat Rep. Dan Lipinski, who represents part of Chicago and its southwest suburbs, is drawing presidential contenders and the state’s top Democratic leaders. And if liberals succeed in ousting the self-proclaimed moderate, it would leave just two House Democrats who oppose abortion rights. (Kapos, 2/20)

When Tinslee Lewis turned 1 in early February, she spent her birthday with family by her bedside and hundreds of well-wishers on social media. But the infant was heavily sedated, her body swollen, partially paralyzed and hooked to the ventilator that has kept her alive for much of the past year. Tinslee has never seen the outside of the intensive care unit of Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, and she may never get the chance. Tinslee’s doctors, who say continuing treatment is futile and causing her to suffer, want to take her off life support. But her mother, Trinity Lewis, is battling the hospital in court in a desperate fight for Tinslee’s life. Lewis’ efforts have attracted the backing of conservative elected officials and a prominent anti-abortion organization. They have painted Tinslee’s case as a fundamental “right to life” issue in a legal battle to strike down a law that protects doctors’ right to deny “inappropriate” medical treatment. (Justin, 2/20)

New virus cases in China rose by just 394 from the previous day, with a rise in the death toll of 114, the government said Thursday, as health inspectors went door-to-door to find every infected person in the worst-hit city. Mainland China has now reported 2,118 deaths and 74,576 total cases. While the overall spread of the virus has been slowing, the situation remains severe in Hubei province and its capital, Wuhan, where the new coronavirus was first detected in December. More than 80% of the country's cases are in Hubei and 95% of the deaths, according to data from China's National Health Commission. (Moritsugu, 2/19)

Weeks into the novel coronavirus crisis, the outbreak finally appears to be stabilizing in central China, where the virus was initially detected before it spread throughout the country and the world. Small outbreaks continue to fast expand elsewhere, however, not least of which on board the Diamond Princess cruise liner in Japan, where two deaths were confirmed Thursday, the first from the hundreds of cases on the ship, which has begun disembarking passengers after a 14-day quarantine this week. (Griffiths, 2/19)

Many international experts say the disease will continue to spread globally even as the Chinese government seeks to present the image that it is coming to grips with the epidemic. New cases inside China dropped again Wednesday, officials reported Thursday, after national authorities changed for the second time in a week the criteria for how cases are diagnosed and counted. (Shih and Armus, 2/20)

Beijing’s municipal government recently said that people returning to the capital after traveling outside the city must isolate themselves for 14 days, a sign that a return to normal life in the city of 21.5 million people remains elusive. Last Thursday and Friday alone, China’s National Health Commission added about 20,000 newly confirmed cases to its official count. More than 70,000 people were infected with the new coronavirus as of Tuesday. Amid this crisis, The Wall Street Journal spoke with Beijing residents both at home and on the largely empty streets about life in lockdown. (2/20)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a travel advisory for people traveling to Hong Kong due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. The Level 1 warning advises travelers to Hong Kong to avoid contact with sick people and clean their hands often by washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. (Weixel, 2/19)

Two cases of a new form of coronavirus have been confirmed in Iran, marking the first time the deadly virus has been reported inside the country.Iranian news agency ISNA first reported the two cases of the disease, adding that other suspected cases are under review, according to The Associated Press. (Bowden, 2/19)

The World Health Organization has not yet confirmed the two Iranian coronavirus deaths, but should they be confirmed, it would raise the death toll outside of China to seven. (Schumaker, 2/19)

The coronavirus outbreak is still spreading around the world, with Iran confirming its first two cases overnight. CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook has been at the frontlines covering other infectious disease emergencies around the world. Lessons from other outbreaks can protect Americans from this coronavirus. (2/19)

Hundreds of passengers walked off a coronavirus-stricken cruise ship Wednesday after getting the all-clear from the Japanese authorities, but the scene that greeted them as their feet touched solid ground for the first time in weeks suggested that some found the assurances less than reassuring. The taxi drivers who would ordinarily flock to meet arriving cruises were in short supply. There were yellow city buses to ferry passengers to airports and train stations, but their drivers were blocked off by plastic sheeting and tape. Even workers just walking around the terminal wore hazmat suits. (Rich and Yamamitsu, 2/19)

Two elderly coronavirus-infected passengers from a cruise ship moored near Tokyo have died and two more government officials have been infected, the Japanese government said on Thursday, as more passengers disembarked after two weeks' quarantine. More than 620 of the passengers on the Diamond Princess liner have been infected on the ship, which has been quarantined since Feb. 3, initially with about 3,700 people on board. (2/20)

The 87-year-old man and the 84-year-old woman were hospitalized on Feb. 11 and 12, and both had previous health issues, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported, according to the Times. (Coleman, 2/19)

For Japan’s government, it was another stinging critique of its handling of the outbreak, including what critics call sluggish responses in imposing border controls earlier this month and ramping up virus testing. In the past few days, the number of covid-19 cases — even outside the quarantined Diamond Princess — has more than doubled to 79, with many of the new cases not traceable to China. That has forced health officials to acknowledge that “local transmission” has begun and it’s now “impossible” to prevent the virus from spreading. (Denyer, 2/19)

Japanese officials said another 79 cases were confirmed on the Diamond Princess cruise ship Wednesday, bringing the new total to 621. Wednesday marked the end of the two-week quarantine imposed on the vessel when it docked in Japan, and about 500 passengers who tested negative for the virus were allowed off the ship. On Wednesday night, Japanese state media reported that two of the ship's former passengers, both in their 80s, had died. (2/20)

“Unfortunately, cases of infection have emerged, but we have to the extent possible taken appropriate steps to prevent serious cases, including sending infected people to hospital,” health minister Katsunobu Kato said at a parliamentary briefing, according to Reuters. (Bowden, 2/19)

The U.S. government evacuated more than 300 American passengers on two charter flights Monday, including 14 who had tested positive for the new coronavirus. Roughly 60 Americans, some who were hospitalized and others who opted to stay on the ship, remain in Japan. (Winsor, 2/20)

A Japanese professor who gained access to the Diamond Princess cruise ship said in a YouTube video posted Tuesday that he was shocked by the lack of coronavirus infection control measures on board. More than 620 people on the ship have tested positive for novel coronavirus, making the ship, which has been docked off the coast of Japan, the largest center of coronavirus infection outside of China. (Schumaker, 2/19)

Complaining that the “bureaucrats were in charge of everything,” Iwata said he tried to relay his concerns to officials in charge of the quarantine, but he was “removed” from the ship instead. “The ministry of health called, I had to be out,” he told NBC News over the phone from Kobe. So he made the YouTube videos to spread his message, he added. His videos have now been viewed nearly 1.7 million times. Iwata said in the video that he has been in self-imposed quarantine ever since he got off the ship. (Mulligan and Talmazan, 2/19)

The $500 million cruise liner that became an incubator for the novel coronavirus will resume service again soon with its next group of holidaymakers, according to its operator, though only after a thorough cleaning. At its dock near Tokyo, the Diamond Princess still houses some passengers and crew under quarantine for the virus, two weeks after their voyage was scheduled to have ended. (Gale, 2/20)

The Senate Health Committee on Wednesday announced a hearing on the U.S. response to the coronavirus spreading across China and other countries. The hearing will be March 3 and feature officials from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institutes of Health, and Food and Drug Administration, the committee said. (Sullivan, 2/19)

Senate Democrats are urging the Trump administration to request emergency funding from Congress to respond to the coronavirus. In a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Mick Mulvaney, 25 Senate Democrats said they have heard concerns from state and local public health departments that are facing additional costs from responding to the outbreak. (Hellmann, 2/19)

The coronavirus outbreak is prompting fears of drug shortages in the United States because of how deeply the pharmaceutical supply chain relies on China. For lawmakers who were already working on bills to address shortages and bring more drug manufacturing back to the U.S., the epidemic is helping them prove their point. (Siddons, 2/19)

U.S. President Donald Trump is confident that China is "trying very hard" in its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, he said in a television interview late on Wednesday. China has reported a dramatic drop in new cases in the province at the heart of the outbreak, although the toll of more than 2,000 ranks the epidemic among the biggest global health emergencies of recent decades. (2/20)

Thousands of travelers who have returned to the United States after recent trips to China are spending nearly half a month behind closed doors, under voluntary self-quarantine, even though they do not pose any immediate coronavirus-related health risk to others. These are not people sick with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. They have had no fever and no cough, and they aren't necessarily being tested for the virus. (Edwards, 2/19)

As the number of people under self-supervised home quarantine across Southern California continued to grow, and the federal quarantine at Miramar air base neared an end, San Diego County supervisors Wednesday unanimously approved a local emergency declaration, shifting gears in a public health response that experts say may grind on for months. A few hours after the board’s vote, an extra bit of positive news appeared as UC San Diego Health announced that one of the two COVID-19 patients it has cared for since last week has been discharged home after several subsequent negative tests proved the person is no longer infected. (Sisson, 2/19)

It's been a tough few weeks for families separated by the coronavirus. But a Wisconsin couple and their two little girls are finally back together in the United States. It was a long time coming -- first on lockdown in Wuhan for Daisy Roth and her daughters, Abigail, 5, and Adalynn, 10 months, then evacuation to California, and a two-week quarantine at Travis Air Force Base. (Kafanov and Croft, 2/19)

Entering day 12 of a 14-day quarantine aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan due to the new coronavirus, an Arizona surgeon thought she was nearing the end of her rather turbulent vacation. However, after almost 20 hours of continuous travel, Dr. Sommer Gunia was informed the waiting game was starting all over again — and the effects are starting to take their toll. ..."I’m a surgeon and I have a private practice, so I don’t make a salary," Gunia said. "This might not be as devastating for everyone else, but it is for me. Luckily, my partners have been stepping in and I have a lot of support back home, but it’s tough because my patients are like family and it’s hard mentally for me to be away from them." (Landers, 2/18)

Missouri health officials are taking steps to protect people against the potential spread of the new coronavirus that has sickened thousands in China. There haven’t been any recorded cases in Missouri and only two in Illinois. But health systems are asking people more questions and creating plans to respond to any potentially infectious patients who come through their doors. “Our motto is, ‘Hope for the best, prepare for the worst,’” said Dr. Randall Williams, director of the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. “In our case, we would much rather be over-prepared than under-prepared.” (Fentem, 2/20)

Did an artificial-intelligence system beat human doctors in warning the world of a severe coronavirus outbreak in China? In a narrow sense, yes. But what the humans lacked in sheer speed, they more than made up in finesse. Early warnings of disease outbreaks can help people and governments save lives. In the final days of 2019, an AI system in Boston sent out the first global alert about a new viral outbreak in China. (O'Brien and Larson, 2/20)

Viral infections can be very hard to treat. Just ask anyone who has a bad case of the flu. But that's not deterring research groups around the world from looking for an effective therapy against the new coronavirus, although they know it won't be easy. "Every virus is sort of like a dysfunctional family," says Dr. Mark Denison, a virologist at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. "They're dysfunctional in their own unique ways." (Palca, 2/19)

No one knows exactly how or why the novel coronavirus leads to death in just a small percentage of patients — about 2 percent of those infected, according to preliminary numbers. Based on what we know about related illnesses, including severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), experts hypothesize that the difference between a lethal infection and one that feels like a bad cold probably hinges on the interaction between the virus and a person’s immune system. (Johnson, 2/19)

Some have described this cluster as a "super-spreading event" — in which an individual infects an unusually high number of people. Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO's executive director for health emergencies, said last week that it's way "too early" to call it that — and that officials believe they caught the situation before it ignited a chain that could have spread COVID-19 throughout Europe.WHO doesn't want to use the term "super-spreader" because it stigmatizes individuals. (Huang, 2/19)

One scientific post suggests links between the new coronavirus and AIDS, a second says it may have passed to people via snakes, while a third claims it is a pathogen from outer space. The emergence in China of a new human coronavirus that is causing an epidemic of flu-like disease has sparked a parallel viral spread: science – ranging from robust to rogue  - is being conducted, posted and shared at an unprecedented rate. (Kelland, 2/19)

Researchers from the Tulane National Primate Research Center are entering the race to develop a vaccine and treatment for coronavirus, the center announced Wednesday.The center's director, Jay Rappaport, said the north shore research facility that's home to several thousand monkeys is well-positioned to find a vaccine for the fast-spreading virus that originated in Wuhan, a city of 11 million in China's Hubei province. (Woodruff, 2/19)

One of the enduring images of the current coronavirus outbreak is a space-age looking thermometer pointed at an airplane passenger. Eleven airports in the United States are using these temperature checks as part of expanded screening for novel coronavirus, and those measures might seem reassuring. If someone doesn't have a fever, it seems like they're fine -- right? Not so fast. (Cohen and Bonifield, 2/20)

An outbreak of disinformation in China and elsewhere has hurt global efforts to combat the new coronavirus, said a specialist infectious disease lab located at the epicenter of the epidemic -- and at the heart of a number of conspiracy theories. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the state-backed Wuhan Institute of Virology said "internet rumors" had "received close attention from all walks of life" and "caused great harm to our research staff on the front line of scientific research." (Stanway, 2/20)

Tossing aside tradition, California's governor on Wednesday devoted his biggest platform to a single issue: solving a homelessness crisis that has overwhelmed the nation's most populous state in an era of unprecedented prosperity. Governors typically use their annual “State of the State” speeches to touch on dozens of priorities because they are guaranteed an audience of lawmakers from both political parties as well as statewide media coverage. (Beam and Thompson, 2/19)

"Let's call it what it is, a disgrace, that the richest state in the richest nation ... is failing to properly house, heal and humanely treat so many of its own people," Newsom said. California's homeless population soared 16% last year to around 151,000 with a statewide scarcity of affordable housing one of the root causes despite government spending. (2/19)

Vulnerable to the charge that the problem has exploded under Democratic rule in California, Mr. Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco, pleaded with — and at times admonished — legislators to take action. “The hard truth is for too long we’ve ignored this problem,” Mr. Newsom said. “We turned away.” Homelessness has become pervasive in California, from the rural North to the sun-kissed coastal cities, and it has exposed the stark inequality in the state, whose economy would rank as the world’s fifth largest if it were an independent country. (Fuller, 2/19)

Careful to say that homelessness cannot be fixed overnight, Newsom nevertheless made ambitious promises to work with state lawmakers to tackle the problem. “I don’t think homelessness can be solved — I know homelessness can be solved,” Newsom told lawmakers. “This is our cause. This is our calling.” The Democratic governor called for all new shelters and supportive housing to be exempted from a key environmental law that has been used to restrict development, similar to a pilot project underway in Los Angeles County. (Willon and Luna, 2/19)

He also raised the controversial issue of involuntary treatment for people with behavioral health problems. While he criticized the historic practice of confining patients with mental illness to asylums, he said the state needs to make it easier for law enforcement, health care providers and families to get people into treatment. ”All within the bounds of deep respect for civil liberties and personal freedoms,” he added. (Bluth, 2/19)

The singular focus is notable for Newsom, who rode a Democratic wave to office in the 2018 midterm elections and who had been criticized during his first year for an overly broad agenda that included virtually every pressing issue California faces — a focus on everything that meant prioritizing nothing. But Newsom signaled he, in his second year, would aim to tackle a growing crisis that has been the butt of some of President Trump's frequent jabs against the most populous state in the country. Newsom said the state would prioritize moving newly homeless people quickly into emergency shelters, which research has showed lowers repeat homelessness. And he said the state would prioritize treatment for the mentally ill who too often end up in tent cities.(Wilson, 2/19)

The drug industry doesn’t pack the lobbying punch it once did, and one sign is something rare in the capital today—a dose of bipartisanship. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) joined Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.) to write a bill last July to regulate prescription-drug prices, an idea the industry has bottled up since the 1960s. Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) sponsored a bill in May to block drug companies from using patent laws to delay lower-priced drugs. (Mullins and Armour, 2/19)

New York-based Oscar Health is the latest insurer to cap some plan members' out-of-pocket costs for life-saving insulin and other medications, a move several insurance companies have made in the last year amid pressure to reduce prescription drug costs. Oscar announced Wednesday that its individual insurance plan members will now pay $3 for a month's supply of 100 commonly used drugs. In addition to insulin, a high-cost drug is used to treat Type 1 diabetes, the list includes drugs to treat Type 2 diabetes, migraines, nausea, allergies and high blood pressure, among other medical conditions. (Livingston, 2/19)

President Trump likes to claim credit for the number of Americans who have stopped receiving food stamps since he entered office. In July 2018, he said 3.5 million had fallen from the rolls; the next spring, 5 million had. In his State of the Union speech this month, the number had grown to 7 million. Democrats say those figures only show Mr. Trump has pushed struggling Americans off public assistance by pressing to restrict eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid and other programs. (Tankersley and Fadulu, 2/20)

Senate Democrats are demanding the Trump administration withdraw a proposed rule that would expand religious exemptions for federally funded faith-based social service providers.Led by Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the senators said the proposal is “both an attack on religious freedom and yet another step taken by President Trump to greenlight federally-funded discrimination.” (Weixel, 2/19)

One in five people say that they or someone they live with have donated to a crowdfunding campaign to pay for medical treatments or bills, according to a new survey from the non-partisan research organization NORC at the University of Chicago. It's the latest evidence that people are struggling to afford their healthcare expenses. NORC found that approximately 8 million people had started a fundraising campaign for themselves or someone they lived with, while more than 12 million people created a campaign for someone else. (Brady, 2/19)

The proliferation of these online fundraisers to pay for medical bills is a symptom of the increasing costs of health care, even for those who have insurance. “As annual out-of-pocket costs continue to rise, more Americans are struggling to pay their medical bills, and millions are turning to their social networks and crowdfunding sites to fund medical treatments and pay medical bills,” said Mollie Hertel, a senior research scientist at NORC, in a press release. (Hellmann, 2/19)

As Democrats at the state Capitol near the introduction of the long-awaited and hugely controversial bill to create a public health insurance option, Colorado hospitals on Tuesday unveiled their counter offer. Their proposal is a “total-cost-of-care” model — essentially a big health spending budget for the state. An independent commission would be charged with setting a target to limit how much health care spending in the state can grow each year. “It is all providers, all payers, for all Coloradans,” said Chris Tholen, the CEO of the Colorado Hospital Association. “It really is a focus on a common shared goal.” (Ingold, 2/19)

Nashville General Hospital is a safety-net facility funded by the city. For a patient without insurance, this is supposed to be the best place to go in a city with many hospitals. But for those who are uninsured, it may have been the worst choice in 2019. Its emergency room was taking more patients to court for unpaid medical bills than any other hospital or practice in town. A WPLN investigation finds the physician-staffing firm that runs the ER sued 700 patients in Davidson County during 2019. They include patients like Sonya Johnson, a 52-year-old social worker and single mother. (Farmer, 2/19)

Health care costs for Texans covered by employer-sponsored insurance rose faster than the national average and jumped 14 percent over five years, driven by increasing prices for prescription drugs and medical services, according to a new study. Nearly 13 million Texans, almost half the state’s population, are covered by employer plans. (Wu, 2/19)

An agreement between a health insurer and a Rome hospital has shaved more than $10,000 off a surprise medical bill for a young asthma patient. Liam Stina’s hospital bill of more than $11,000 was featured in a Georgia Health News article last week. But the state department of insurance said Wednesday that a verbal agreement was reached between Floyd Medical Center and Anthem, which insured the Stina family. The hospital agreed to accept Anthem’s payment for the care of Liam, and Floyd Medical wrote off much of the remaining bill, bringing the final total to $995.53. (Miller, 2/19)

Health economists aren’t generally known for their humor. There’s something about Medicaid that’s just deeply unfunny. Make a joke, and the punch line may well be deadly. As one quip goes: What do affordable health care and sarcasm have in common? Most Americans just don’t get it. (Boodman, 2/19)

People are more likely to buy things when prices end in 99 cents rather than rounded up to the next dollar, or cars with mileage under 1,000 instead of past that mark. Now researchers say something similar might be happening with age perception and heart surgery. A U.S. study out Wednesday finds that heart attack patients who turned 80 within the previous two weeks were less likely to get bypass surgery than those who were two weeks shy of that birthday, even though the age difference is less than a month. (2/19)

That, in turn, translated to a higher death rate among the 80-year-olds over the 30 and 60 days following their heart attacks, according to the report in The New England Journal of Medicine. Doctors "are arbitrarily classifying the two groups of patients as young versus old instead of treating them as two groups who are basically the same age," coauthor Dr. Anupam Jena, an associate professor of healthcare policy and medicine at Harvard University Medical School in Boston, told Reuters Health in a telephone interview. (2/19)

Scientists in Germany have turned human organs transparent and captured pictures of the complex cellular architecture inside, the latest advance in an effort to develop a new way to see inside our tissues. The new work involved a three-pronged approach: stripping the pigment and fats from organs; capturing images of entire organs with a specially designed, larger microscope; and developing an algorithms to analyze those images and spit out maps labeled with specific cellular structures. (Thielking, 2/20)

Taking certain antibiotics early in pregnancy may increase the risk for birth defects, a new study reports. British researchers studied more than 180,000 children whose mothers were prescribed either penicillin or one of the macrolide antibiotics — such as erythromycin, clarithromycin or azithromycin — during or up to a year before pregnancy. Macrolides are often prescribed for people allergic to penicillin. (Bakalar, 2/19)

Taking some common antibiotics during the first trimester of pregnancy was linked with higher risk of birth defects, according to a new study. The study, published Wednesday in the medical journal BMJ, found an increased risk of birth defects in the children of women who were prescribed macrolides during the first three months of pregnancy compared to mothers who were prescribed penicillin. (Crespo, 2/19)

Inspired by the capture of the alleged Golden State Killer, police across the United States are uploading crime-scene DNA to GEDmatch and other databases where purchasers of genetic testing kits from companies such as 23andMe and Ancestry can share their DNA in hopes of finding long-lost relatives. Arrests have been made in dozens of cases — many that had been considered cold. Advocates of the practice tout the ability to find people who committed horrible crimes and exonerate those who did not. (Van Ness, 2/20)

Two mornings a week, Arthur Jackson clears space on half of his cream-colored sofa. He sets out a few rolls of tape and some gauze, then waits for a knock on his front door. "This is Brenda's desk," Jackson says with a chuckle. Brenda Mastricola is his visiting nurse. After she arrives at Jackson's home in Boston, she joins him on the couch and starts by taking his blood pressure. Then she changes the bandages on Jackson's right foot. His big toe was amputated at Brigham and Women's Hospital in November. A bacterial infection, osteomyelitis, had destroyed the bone. (Bebinger, 2/20)

This spring break and prom season, many people will still bake in the sun or spend hours at the tanning salon despite years of warnings about skin cancer. Don’t do it, Judy Cloud pleaded after dealing with the disease for a quarter of a century. She knows how tempting bronze skin can be, but wanted others to remember her scarred body and her story. (Pawlowski, 2/19)

A growing number of older U.S. military veterans with blocked leg arteries are getting procedures to restore blood flow, and a new study suggests deaths and amputations are declining as a result. Researchers looked at a decade of data on almost 21,000 veterans hospitalized for "critical limb ischemia" - badly blocked arteries that can lead to infections, gangrene and amputation. Left untreated, the condition can quickly become fatal. (Rapaport, 2/19)

One recent study may serve as a good excuse for tired teens to hit the snooze alarm button a few more times. The study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine examined the association between delayed school start times and the number of car crashes involving teen drivers. Overall, researchers found that a later start to school was associated with decreased crash risks among drivers 16 to 18 years old with significant implications for public health and safety. (2/19)

Maine lobsters have long delighted tourists as the state's most beloved seafood. But one company thinks the crustaceans can save human lives by providing their blood for use in new drugs. The effort, involving a longtime lobster scientist, wouldn't be the first example of coastal invertebrates being used to aid human health. Horseshoe crabs are harvested because their blood contains a protein used to detect contamination in medical products. (2/19)

A national gun control advocacy group with financial backing from Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg is pumping $8 million into Texas races this election, with the goal of flipping the state House and returning vulnerable Democrats to Congress. Everytown for Gun Safety unveiled plans Wednesday to use the same strategies it employed last year in Virginia, where Democrats won control of the state house for the first time in two decades. (Morris, 2/19)

The New Hampshire House has again passed legislation to impose a waiting period between the purchase and delivery of a gun. The bill sent to the Senate on Wednesday differs from one Republican Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed last year. Instead of a seven-day waiting period, it would create a three-day waiting period. And it adds a waiver for those who are in fear for their lives due to domestic violence. Supporters said their main goal is to reduce suicide at a time when the suicide rate in New Hampshire is increasing faster than the rest of the country. (2/19)

Sleep-deprived adolescents are more likely to carry handguns, even to school, according to new research from Florida International University. FIU researchers found middle- and high-school students who sleep four or fewer hours a night were 40 percent more likely to report having carried a handgun than their peers sleeping eight or more hours, according to the study, published in a recent issue of the academic journal Sleep Health. Further, the students who got less sleep were 85 percent more likely to say they brought a handgun to school in the previous year. (Bakeman, 2/19)

Medical professionals are far from immune to opioid misuse. In fact, due to their easy access to pain medication and the high stress levels that come with treating patients, they may be especially susceptible. But for many clinicians, overcoming an opioid dependence can be even more challenging than for those in the general population. (Eisner, 2/19)

Spiro Y. Kassis, 66, was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison after pleading guilty to illegally distributing controlled substances, including the opiate painkiller oxycodone. Separately, Kassis agreed to pay $1.4 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit and agreed to never again obtain a license for prescribing opioid medication. (Vella, 2/19)

The founder of a biotech who said his company had developed a painkiller that would replace morphine was sentenced to seven years in prison Tuesday for defrauding investors of $7.5 million. Frank Reynolds, the founder of PixarBio in Medford, Mass., and a former fellow at the MIT Sloan School of Management, held up a bottle of NeuroRelease in court and insisted that his never-approved drug still had value. (Stalzman, 2/19)

The University of Michigan said Wednesday that it was investigating whether one of its doctors had assaulted patients across several decades, becoming at least the third Big Ten university to reckon with allegations of sexual misconduct by longtime members of its medical staff. In a statement, Michigan said that “several individuals” had described sexual misconduct by Dr. Robert E. Anderson, who worked for the university for more than 30 years and died in 2008. Although Michigan did not detail the allegations, which it said included episodes as far back as the 1970s, the university’s president, Mark Schlissel, said that the accusations were “disturbing and very serious.” (Blinder and Witz, 2/19)

“It is our understanding from the police investigation that there were rumors and some indication that U-M staff members were aware of Dr. Anderson’s inappropriate medical exams,” said spokesman Rick Fitzgerald. Robert Julian Stone told The Associated Press that Anderson assaulted him during a medical appointment at the university’s health center in 1971. Stone said he alerted university officials last summer, inspired by the national #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct. (Karoub, Householder and Foody, 2/19)

Hundreds of parents who are skeptical about the safety of vaccines turned out in force Wednesday, hoping to squash the latest proposal to end Connecticut’s religious exemption from certain childhood vaccines. But members of the medical and science community urged members of the General Assembly not to be swayed by the large numbers of advocates who turned out with young children in tow and stickers that read, “In God we trust.” (Haigh, 2/19)

“After looking at the trends, I believe we can no longer afford to put our children at risk of infectious diseases by allowing non-medical exemptions,” Health Commissioner Renee Coleman-Mitchell told legislators at a public hearing on the  proposal. “We should not wait until our vaccination rates decline any further, or wait for the next measles outbreak, to take action.” Coleman-Mitchell pointed to data gathered by her department that show 134 schools at which fewer than 95% of kindergarteners received a measles vaccination in 2018-19. The 95% threshold is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to maintain herd immunity. (Carlesso, 2/19)

The top dentist and public face of SmileDirectClub is at risk of losing his California license following a two-year state dental board investigation, records reviewed by Reuters show. The California disciplinary process underway against dentist Jeffrey A. Sulitzer, SmileDirectClub’s chief clinical officer, is the latest threat facing the high-flying tele-dentistry firm, which promises to straighten Americans’ teeth without a visit to an orthodontist’s office for costly treatment. (2/19)

The Maryland Medical Examiner's Office is scrambling to fill persistent and new vacancies that are threatening its ability to handle a crushing load of cases stemming from the long-running opioid epidemic and a stubbornly high pace of homicides in Baltimore. Compounding the problem, the state’s well-regarded, longtime chief medical examiner left the office at the end of 2019, citing the challenges the office faces in coping with the overdose crisis. An assistant is serving as acting chief examiner while a search is underway. (Cohn, 2/19)

Budget writers in the Georgia House of Representatives Tuesday restored some of the spending cuts Gov. Brian Kemp has requested in his mid-year state budget to help offset sluggish tax revenues. The $27.4 billion fiscal 2020 mid-year budget members of the House Appropriations Committee adopted puts back funding for food safety, mental health services, Georgia’s public defenders and the state’s accountability courts. (2/19)

A Republican bill that would ban health care providers from administering the widely discredited practice of "conversion therapy" on LGBTQ children will not advance this year. But the chairman of the House State Government Committee said he's determined to bring the issue back next session to continue the conversation and address some of the recommendations that LGBTQ rights advocates have for the bill. (Richardson, 2/19)

At least 10 civil rights organizations are calling for an independent investigation of conditions inside the Cobb County jail following extensive complaints about the treatment inmates receive and a string of deaths there in the past year. Groups including the Cobb chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, ACLU of Georgia, La Gente de Cobb, Cobb Smart Justice, the Cobb branch of the NAACP and KSUnited have started a petition calling for Sheriff Neil Warren to investigate the problems. (Dixon, 2/19)

A medical sterilizing facility in Cobb County, closed for months over concerns about toxic pollution, was planning to test new equipment Thursday in the company’s bid to reopen the site. But that testing won’t take place. Cobb County and state officials said Wednesday that the company’s plan had been canceled. (Miller, 2/19)

Two teachers and three students from an Indiana high school have been hospitalized with suspected vaping-related illnesses. Michael Gasaway, principal of Madison Consolidated High School (MCHS), said the teachers fell ill while monitoring an area in the school’s C-wing. They were taken to hospital as an apparently precautionary measure along with three other students who also displayed minor symptoms. (Smith, 2/20)

Duke University, a college campus with deep roots in tobacco money, is set to go smoke-free this summer, but it’s more than tobacco products that will be banned. Administrators announced in an email to students earlier this month that e-cigarettes and vaping products will be included in the ban, too. (Blythe, 2/20)

Kaiser Health News: In Tornado Alley, Storms Are Even More Dangerous For People With Disabilities 

John High has diabetes, which led to his leg being amputated below the knee two years ago. He has been using a wheelchair since then and hasn’t gotten used to having to work out solutions to everyday problems — such as getting into and out of the shower in the small rental house he shares with his son in Norman, Oklahoma. And when he hears a tornado siren blaring out its high-pitched warning, he feels a spasm of fear and dread. He knows he’s on his own. “I just pray. That’s all I can do,” High said. “They expect people to ‘shelter in place,’ but I don’t have anywhere safe to go.” (Fortier, 2/20)

A House panel tabled a bill Wednesday that would ban Iowa health care providers from trying to change a child’s sexual orientation or gender identity. House State Government Committee Chair Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, said people on both sides of the issue raised too many concerns about his proposal to advance it ahead of this week’s legislative deadline. “It would be ridiculous for us to pass a conversion therapy ban that the LGBTQ groups and Democrats don’t support,” Kaufmann said. “That wouldn’t make any sense.” He added he will continue working on legislation to ban conversion therapy for LGBTQ children next year. (Sostaric, 2/19)

ST. LOUIS — Top city leaders on Wednesday yet again extended a key financing deadline on a $20 million, three-bed hospital proposed as part of developer Paul McKee’s sweeping NorthSide Regeneration plan. NorthSide had until the end of 2019 to prove it could finance the urgent care facility, or it stood to lose $6.42 million in tax subsidies for the project. Now the controversial developer has until August to close on financing — after a city board made up of top elected leaders voted on Wednesday to give more time to the project at Jefferson and Cass avenues. (Barker, 2/19)

In a sign that negotiations are underway, a Senate health-care panel on Tuesday approved House Speaker Jose Oliva’s top priority of the 2020 legislative session: independent practice for advanced practice registered nurses. The Senate proposal is narrower than the House version (HB 607). But it is the first time senators have agreed to consider the idea of allowing advanced practice registered nurses to provide care independently from physicians. Chris Nuland, a Jacksonville attorney who represents the Florida Chapter of the American College of Physicians, told The News Service of Florida he expects the proposal to evolve in the coming weeks as the annual 60-day legislative session draws to an end. (Sexton, 2/19)

Alston was one of 15 people in state prison to die by suicide that year — a figure that climbed to 19 suicides in 2019, the most in at least 35 years and likely the highest figure in Pennsylvania’s history. That put the state prison suicide rate at 42 deaths per 100,000 people, a figure that’s double the national average, according to the most recent data available from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. (Melamed, 2/20)

A judge on Tuesday issued "one of the most heart-wrenching decisions I will ever write," dismissing a civil protection order requested by Gaberien "Gabe" Clevenger against her husband, Alec Blair, who was arrested and charged in her murder. "This case involves a beautiful young woman whose life was taken," Judge Heather Cockley of Richland County Domestic Relations Court wrote in her decision. Clevenger's body was found Feb. 11 in a wooded area on Bowman Street Road. Law enforcement officials have not yet released the manner of how she was killed. (Whitmire, 2/19)

Community Health Systems managed to narrow its operating loss in 2019 through divestitures and other strategies, although the shortfall remains substantial. The Franklin, Tenn.-based hospital chain reported Wednesday a net loss to stockholders of $675 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2019, down from $788 million in 2018. CHS' net operating revenue was $13.2 billion last year, a 6.7% decline from $14.2 billion in 2018, due largely to having divested 12 hospitals over the course of the year. CHS ended the year with 102 hospitals. (Bannow, 2/19)

Battered by skyrocketing drug prices and a tight labor market, the University of Vermont Health Network is cutting expenses and looking for other ways to regain its financial footing, while reassuring patients care won't suffer. A "perfect storm" of expensive projects and a surprise shutdown of operating rooms pushed the network into a $25 million shortfall in the last fiscal year, followed by a $9.5 million shortfall in the first quarter of this fiscal year, according to the CEO of the network. (D'Ambrosio, 2/19)

A children’s health education museum in St. Louis has created an on-line community guide to over 100 health services in an effort to help Missouri residents find free or low cost care. “While a visit to the museum can help motivate children and adults to strive for healthier lives, we recognize there are a number of families throughout Missouri who struggle to afford medical care and other health services,” said Shannon Laine, CEO of HealthWorks! Kids’ Museum St. Louis. “By creating the community guide, we aim to help those in need by offering a one-stop resource for those looking to access healthcare organizations, programs and resources at a discounted rate.” The guide is available at hwstl.org under “health resources.” (Munz, 2/19)

California voters legalized pot in 2016. But for many seeking jobs in state government, cannabis use has become an obstacle to getting hired. Now, a spike in the number of job applicants disqualified by state agencies after failing tests for marijuana use has spawned calls for new legislation and debate over whether employment rules should be relaxed given more widespread acceptance of the drug. (McGreevy, 2/19)

This study suggests that empirical anti-MRSA therapy was not associated with reduced mortality for any group of patients hospitalized for pneumonia. These results contribute to a growing body of evidence that questions the value of empirical use of anti-MRSA therapy using existing risk approaches. (Jones et al, 2/17)

Provider organizations are increasingly held accountable for health care spending in vulnerable populations. Longitudinal data on health care spending and use among people experiencing episodes of homelessness could inform the design of alternative payment models. We used Medicaid claims data to analyze spending and use among 402 people who were continuously enrolled in the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) from 2013 through 2015, compared to spending and use among 18,638 people who were continuously enrolled in Massachusetts Medicaid with no evidence of experiencing homelessness. The BHCHP population averaged $18,764 per person per year in spending—2.5 times more than spending among the comparison Medicaid population ($7,561). (Koh et al, 2/3)

Mandatory vaccination was associated with a 3.71 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.68 to 5.74) percentage point higher prevalence of measles vaccination and a 2.14 (95% CI: 0.13 to 4.15) percentage point higher prevalence of pertussis vaccination when compared with countries that did not have mandatory vaccination. Mandatory vaccination was only associated with decreased measles incidence for countries without nonmedical exemptions (adjusted incidence rate ratio = 0.14; 95% CI: 0.05 to 0.36). We did not find a significant association between mandatory vaccination and pertussis incidence. (Vaz et al, 2/1)

On January 30, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released guidance inviting states to apply for new Section 1115 demonstrations known as the “Healthy Adult Opportunity” (HAO). These demonstrations would permit states “extensive flexibility” to use Medicaid funds to cover Affordable Care Act (ACA) expansion adults and other nonelderly adults covered at state option who do not qualify on the basis of disability, without being bound by many federal standards related to Medicaid eligibility, benefits, delivery systems, and program oversight. In exchange, states would agree to a limit on federal financing in the form of a per capita or aggregate cap. States that opt for the aggregate cap and meet performance standards could access a portion of federal savings if actual spending is under the cap. (Rudowitz, 2/5)

The new coronavirus disease has a name now: COVID-19. That took a while. The virus’s genome was sequenced within two weeks or so of its appearance, but for many weeks more, we didn’t know what to call it or the disease it causes. For a time, in some quarters, the disease went by “Wuhan pneumonia,” after the city in central China where the first human infections were detected. But guidelines from the World Health Organization, which christened COVID-19 recently, discourage naming diseases after locations or people, among other things, to avoid “unintended negative impacts by stigmatizing certain communities.” (Yi-Zheng Lian, 2/20)

The early phase of the coronavirus outbreak in China remains an important and still poorly understood lacuna. Prompt, early action could have saved lives and averted enormous disruption. Instead, the Chinese people were exposed to danger in the first weeks of the epidemic when their officials failed to sound the alarm, even though they knew something was afoot. (2/19)

The latest Post-ABC News poll, which shows Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) with a 16-percentage-point lead over his nearest Democratic rival, former vice president Joe Biden, should settle at least one important question. It refutes the notion that most Democrats are focused single-mindedly on defeating President Trump — and that everything else is secondary. It turns out that everything else isn’t secondary, because whatever else is true of Sanders, he isn’t focused single-mindedly on dumping Trump. From the outset, he has championed a host of proposals, most prominently Medicare-for-all, that would implement his vision of a democratic-socialist America. He assumes that his agenda would be so popular that it would automatically defeat Trump. (Robert J. Samuelson, 2/19)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has reneged on his prior offer to share his complete medical records after his heart attack last fall. We will see if he gets away with the same bait-and-switch that President Trump used to deny access to his tax records. In fact, all candidates in the race — including the president — should provide complete data on their medical history and allow their doctors to respond to questions. (Why did President Trump make an unscheduled visit to Walter Reed medical center? Have any of the other candidates had a history of diabetes, heart disease or cancer?) (Jennifer Rubin, 2/19)

It’s tempting to believe that physicians are logical, meticulous thinkers who perfectly weigh the pros and cons of treatment options, acting as unbiased surrogates for their patients. In reality, this is often far from the case. Bias, which takes many forms, affects how doctors think and the treatment decisions they make. Racial biases in treatment decisions by physicians are well documented. One study found that black patients were significantly less likely than white patients to receive pain medication in the emergency department, despite reporting similar levels of pain. (Anupam B. Jena and Andrew R. Olenski, 2/20)

OK, I’m waiting to hear about the tax increase that will be needed to pay for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ambitious plan to solve homelessness. A tax hike is inevitable, but the T-word was conspicuously missing from Newsom’s frequently applauded State of the State address on Wednesday to a joint session of the California Legislature, which is tightly controlled by fellow Democrats. (George Skelton, 2/20)

Depending on whom you ask, e-cigarettes are either a marvelous technology that could save thousands of lives by helping people quit smoking or the cause of a scourge of nicotine addiction among teenagers. Surprise! Both are right, and both should inform public health policy on vaping. There’s no question that the vaping industry has behaved in genuinely outrageous ways. Last week, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey filed a lawsuit accusing Juul, the nation’s largest e-cigarette manufacturer, of pushing its vaping products to children. (Robert Gebelhoff, 2/19)

Earlier this month, I attended the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board Meeting in Geneva. Despite many pressing health issues to respond to, one topic dominated: the novel coronavirus outbreak. Daily reports show that the number of cases of coronavirus — now known COVID-19 — is growing to nearly 73,000 in 25 countries (as of Feb. 18). (Kate Dodson, 2/19)

The conversations I had at this year’s J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference were a microcosm of a dominant narrative coming out of one of the industry’s most influential weeks: How do we categorize digital health, an increasingly large, crowded, and diverse field? “Digital health” is an umbrella term that’s grown to include everything from electronic health records to wellness apps and clinically validated therapeutic interventions that mirror or improve upon existing in-person therapies. It’s an area of intense interest and investment. But it is also a space in which many of the investors who have committed billions are still seeking clarity as to how the puzzle of diffuse digital health offerings fit together. (Sean Duffy, 2/20)

Physicians take the Hippocratic Oath that states, “First do no harm.” Unfortunately, many physicians consistently execute this statement for the well-being of their patients but ignore its tenets when it is necessary to look after themselves. (Dr. Shikha Jain, 2/19)

I was a second-year medical school student when I encountered my first patient with GRID — gay-related immune deficiency. The year was 1982, and the disease that would soon be called AIDS was an epidemic still in its infancy. With his skin shedding in sheets, the man was dying in an isolation room. Alone. (Ken Coburn, 2/20)

The way California cities are required to set speed limits is outdated, absurd and downright dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists — and it’s not even backed up by scientific research on safety. That’s why, at a time when many communities are seeking to slow down cars to save lives, cities are still being forced to raise speed limits as a condition of enforcing their traffic laws. It’s dangerous and counterproductive, and it’s about time state lawmakers fix the problem. They will have another chance to do so this year, and they should seize it. (2/19)

The arrival in 2012 of a daily pill to prevent HIV infection was widely hailed as a breakthrough that could drive new infections worldwide to very low levels. Eight years later, it is having a strong impact in some places and little or none in others. The real-world impact of pre-exposure prophylaxis, PrEP for short, certainly isn’t living up to its high expectations among young women in sub-Saharan Africa, who account for more than one-quarter of the 800,000 new HIV infections that occurred last year in the region. (Kundai Chinyenzef, 2/17)