• Though the Justice Department is arguing in court that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, if the federal appeals court issues a decision to invalidate the health law, the Trump administration plans to request a stay of the ruling, according to current and former administration officials. The administration may also attempt to prevent the case from reaching the Supreme Court before the 2020 presidential election, the officials said, given that they have told voters the decision will not harm their existing coverage but have no plan to replace major benefits if the ACA is nixed. (The Washington Post)

• President Donald Trump has taken action to require that immigrants applying for visas prove they either already have health insurance or can afford to buy private coverage, effective 30 days from the date the presidential proclamation was issued, Oct. 4. The proclamation, part of the Trump administration’s larger efforts to curb immigration, does not consider subsidized ACA plans to be an eligible form of coverage. (The Wall Street Journal)

• Democratic presidential candidate and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg of Indiana has a drug pricing plan that would authorize the federal government to negotiate the cost of prescription medications in Medicare, and apply those prices to private insurance plans and Medicaid. The proposal would also set an upper limit on out-of-pocket costs for seniors and people enrolled in a federally run public option health plan, ramp up investment in research and manufacturing in areas such as pandemic prevention and antibiotics, and demand increased price transparency from the pharmaceutical industry. (Politico)

Two scientists from U.S. and one from Britain share Nobel Medicine Prize
Niklas Pollard and Simon Johnson, Reuters

Two scientists from the United States and one from Britain won the 2019 Nobel Medicine Prize on Monday for finding how cells adapt to fluctuating oxygen levels, paving the way for new strategies to fight diseases such as anemia and cancer.

D.C. to Move Disabled Medicaid Patients Into Private Managed Care Plans
Amanda Michelle Gomez, Washington City Paper

The District’s health insurance program for low-income and disabled people will be fully managed by private companies beginning in October 2020. The rollout will take roughly five years.

More bad blood for Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes — this time with her own attorneys
Brittany Shammas, The Washington Post

Elizabeth Holmes once topped a Forbes list of the world’s youngest self-made female billionaires. Now she allegedly can’t pay her legal fees.

Will Medicare-for-all hurt the middle class? Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders struggle with questions about its impact.
Matt Viser and Sean Sullivan, The Washington Post

The two presidential candidates who have most strenuously backed Medicare-for-all are scrambling to ease concerns that it would create higher costs for many middle-class Americans.

Victims gain a voice to help guide Purdue Pharma bankruptcy
Carla K. Johnson And Geoff Mulvihill, The Associated Press

Victims of opioid addiction weren’t in the room when OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma persuaded half the state attorneys general to settle claims over the company’s role in the nationwide overdose epidemic.

The Sackler family is trying to shield billions in opioid profits through Purdue Pharma bankruptcy, states say
Christopher Rowland, The Washington Post

The vast wealth of the Sackler family was thrust into the spotlight Friday in Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy case, as two dozen states and the District of Columbia sought to block the family from winning a nine-month reprieve against OxyContin lawsuits.

Australia Just Had a Bad Flu Season. That May Be a Warning for the U.S.
Donald G. McNeil Jr., The New York Times

In 2017, a terrible flu season in Australia presaged an American outbreak in which 79,000 died. Experts advise getting the shot soon.

Cancer Is Still Beating Us—We Need a New Start
Azra Raza, The Wall Street Journal

Most patients continue to face excruciating, costly and ineffective treatments. It’s time to shift our focus from fighting the disease in its last stages to finding the very first cells.

Trump takes heat from right over vaping crackdown
Nathaniel Weixel, The Hill

The Trump administration is under fire from conservative groups and some GOP lawmakers, who are pushing back over its planned crackdown on e-cigarette flavors. 

The L.A. vape shop scene was booming. Those days are over
Laurence Darmiento, Los Angeles Times

The Ace Smoke Shop on a gentrifying strip of Lake Avenue in Altadena is a small business in every sense of the word — a tiny shack crammed with a variety of tobacco products that attracts a steady stream of customers in need of their nicotine fix.

US appeals court to hear Mississippi 15-week abortion ban
Emily Wagster Pettus, The Associated Press

Federal appeals court judges are set to hear arguments Monday over a Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Fighting for Abortion Access in the South
Alexis Okeowo, The New Yorker

A fund in Georgia is responding to restrictive legislation with a familial kind of care.

U.S. Futures Drop With Yuan as Trade Roils Outlook: Markets Wrap
Todd White, Bloomberg

Futures on U.S. equity indexes dropped and the yuan slipped on Monday on fears China may be increasingly reluctant to accept a broad trade deal with the Trump administration. European stocks turned higher and Treasuries were steady.

Extent Of Health Coverage Gains From California Gig Worker Law Uncertain
Steven Findlay, Kaiser Health News

A new California law that reclassifies some independent contractors as employees, requiring they be offered a range of benefits and worker protections, will likely expand health insurance coverage in the state, health policy experts say.

Smaller Medical Providers Get Burned by Ransomware
Adam Janofsky, The Wall Street Journal

Cyberattacks are pummeling doctors, dentists and community hospitals around the U.S., causing some to turn away patients and others to shut down

Suspicious insulin injections, nearly a dozen deaths: Inside an unfolding investigation at a VA hospital in West Virginia
Lisa Rein, The Washington Post

Four months after Melanie Proctor’s father was buried with military honors for his combat service in Vietnam, she came home to her farm to find an unfamiliar tan SUV in the driveway.

Doctors Limit What to Tell Patients About Their DNA Test. Should They?
Melanie Evans and Anna Wilde Mathews, The Wall Street Journal

Genetic scans provide lots of information, but only a fraction is returned to patients; ‘We don’t want to frighten people.’

Doctors, Once GOP Stalwarts, Now More Likely to Be Democrats
Janet Adamy and Paul Overberg, The Wall Street Journal

Historic shift, driven by changes in business of medicine and women entering profession, comes with overall movement of college-educated people to Democratic Party.

Pharmaceutical Companies Are Luring Mexicans Across the U.S. Border to Donate Blood Plasma
Stefanie Dodt et al., ARD German TV and ProPublica

Companies offer high payments and bring-a-friend bonuses to Mexicans who cross the border on temporary visas to donate blood plasma. The U.S. offers weaker health protections for donors than most countries.

Phone Scammers And ‘Teledoctors’ Charged With Preying On Seniors In Fraud Case
Victoria Knight, Kaiser Health News

Dean Ernest had been living in a nursing home about a year when his son, John, got a call last winter asking if his father was experiencing back pain and would like a free orthotic brace.

Accelmed seeks to raise $100 million for fourth health tech fund
Steven Scheer, Reuters

Accelmed, a U.S.-Israel group of funds investing in medical device and digital health companies, said on Monday it was establishing a new fund with the aim of raising and managing $100 million.

Doctor launches the first online clinic dedicated to using common drugs for a different purpose: to slow aging
Christina Farr, CNBC

One of the many wild medical pursuits in Silicon Valley is the effort to slow down the aging process. Sajad Zalzala is trying to make it a reality.

A Message From Better Medicare Alliance:

Congress: Co-sponsor H.R. 1398 and S. 172 and talk to leadership to stop the Health Insurance Tax on seniors. In previous years, Congress has recognized the serious consequences of reinstating the Health Insurance Tax and has suspended it from going into effect. Allowing the tax to return would impact seniors who rely on Medicare Advantage. Medicare Advantage keeps costs low, provides additional benefits and protects seniors. Click here to learn more.

A Call for Personalized Breast Care for Our Military Service Members and Veterans
Danielle Carosello, Morning Consult

With 1 in 8 women developing invasive breast cancer in their lifetime, breast cancer affects us all — whether it’s a wife, daughter, sister, mom, friend, colleague or ourselves. 

Sanders Said He Had a Common Heart Procedure. So Why the Mystery?
Lawrence K. Altman, The New York Times

For three days, Mr. Sanders did not disclose pertinent health details, stirring questions about his condition. On Friday evening, doctors confirmed he had suffered a heart attack.

Pre-Existing Condition Prevalence for Individuals and Families
Gary Claxton et al., Kaiser Family Foundation

Given the significant barriers to coverage that may reemerge if these provisions in the ACA were to be invalidated, we are updating our prior work looking at the share of nonelderly adults with health conditions that would likely to have caused them to be denied coverage if they applied for non-group health insurance prior to the effective date of the ACA.