“Boastful on the occasion of Memorial Day, President Donald Trump and his Veterans Affairs secretary are claiming full credit for health care improvements that were underway before they took office.x
Medical News
Health paradox: New diabetes cases fall while obesity rises / AP
MIKE STOBBE
“NEW YORK (AP) — The number of new diabetes cases among U.S. adults keeps falling, even as obesity rates climb, and health officials aren’t sure why.”
From chicken to tomatoes, here’s why American food is hurting you | US news | The Guardian
Maria Rodale
“American healthcare spending has ballooned to $3.5tn a year, and yet we are sicker than most other developed countries. Meanwhile, our food system contains thousands of chemicals that have not been proven safeand many that are banned in other countries.”
Johnson & Johnson Opioid Trial To Begin In Oklahoma, Could Set Precedent : NPR
Heard on All Things Considered
“All eyes will be on Oklahoma this week when the first case in a flood of litigation against an opioid drug manufacturer begins on Tuesday.”
Business Insider: Flavored e-cigarettes could be bad for heart health, researchers say
“WASHINGTON (AP) — E-cigarettes aren’t considered as risky as regular cigarettes, but researchers have found a clue that their flavorings may be bad for the heart.”
Rural areas drive increases in global obesity / Nature
“The global rise in the prevalence of obesity has been seen as an urban problem. A large-scale study challenges this view by showing that weight gain in rural areas is the main factor currently driving the obesity epidemic.”
Check the Exorbitant Price of Zolgensma and Other Orphan Drugs – Bloomberg
“The day, long anticipated, when America’s system of voluntary drug pricing could break down has now arrived. Novartis has announced it will charge $2.1 millionfor Zolgensma, a gene therapy for infants with lethal spinal muscular atrophy.”
Fmr. US agriculture chief on Beyond Meat’s nutritional reality
“As plant-based protein makers like Impossible Foods and the newly public Beyond Meat take the food industry by storm, the question of whether their products are better for consumers than actual meat is still very much open, says former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman.”
Colorado Becomes First State To Limit Insulin Prices Regardless Of Supply : NPR
Vanessa Romo
“A new law, signed by Gov. Jared Polis earlier this week, caps co-payments of the lifesaving medication at $100
a month for insured patients, regardless of the supply they require. Insurance companies will have to absorb the balance.”
Rollback on LGBT protection proposed
“On Friday, Donald Trump’s administration started rolling back two controversial legal provisions related to the Affordable Care Act: protections against discrimination based on gender identity, and based on the termination of a pregnancy. Advocates for LGBTQ and women’s health care see this proposed reversal as a pointed attack on transgender people and patients who have received abortions—the latest in a seriesof moves by the Trump administration to limit the rights of marginalized populations.”
THN 