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— Senate and Assembly Health committee leaders are calling for the passage of legislation that would ensure mothers who received Medicaid coverage temporarily while pregnant can continue accessing such care in the year after they give birth.
— All seven suspected coronavirus cases in New York City have tested negative for the virus.
— Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expressing doubts about whether New York can pass marijuana legalization outside of the budget.
Policy and Politics
MATERNAL MEDICAID EXTENSION — POLITICO’s Shannon Young: Senate and Assembly Health committee leaders are calling for the passage of legislation that would ensure mothers who received Medicaid coverage temporarily while pregnant can continue accessing such care in the year after they give birth. Senate Health Chairman Gustavo Rivera (D-Bronx) and Assembly Health Chairman Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan) joined women’s health professionals and advocates on Tuesday in urging support for the “Beyond the Fourth Trimester” bill. They argued the measure is needed to ensure mothers don’t lose access to critical health care services during a time when they could be at risk of developing and dying from pregnancy-related conditions. At the moment, the sponsors noted, women who qualify for Medicaid coverage while pregnant lose the benefit 60 days after giving birth.
TEST RESULTS ARE IN — POLITICO’s Amanda Eisenberg: All seven suspected coronavirus cases in New York City have tested negative for the virus, the city health department announced today. The city does not have any pending cases to test for the virus, which has infected more than 44,000 people globally, according to the health department. The United States has 13 confirmed cases as of Feb. 11, according to the CDC.
Odds and Ends
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NOW WE KNOW — Goddess Detox, which sells “goddess vaginal detox pearls,” faces a class action lawsuit for its alleged false, misleading and deceptive marketing claims, including that it can treat infertility and is safe despite containing “at least one ingredient that has been recognized as toxic.”
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TODAY’S TIP — Comes from Ryan Health: “Family planning services aren’t just for women who are considering pregnancy. Contraception can help with other medical issues associated with ovulation, such as painful or heavy periods, polycystic ovarian syndrome, or suppressed ovulation due to over-exercise.”
MAKE SURE TO FOLLOW Amanda @aeis17, Shannon @ShannonYoung413 and Dan @DanCGoldberg on Twitter. And for all New Jersey health news, check out @samjsutton.
STUDY THIS — Playing golf at least once a month could lower seniors’ risk of premature death, according to preliminary research that will be presented at the upcoming International Stroke Conference.
Around New York
CUOMO PUSHES POT IN BUDGET — The Wall Street Journal reports: “Whether New York will legalize recreational marijuana this year will come down to a handful of moderate lawmakers in the state Senate, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this week. The Democratic governor included a framework for legalizing the drug in his $178 billion budget proposal, some version of which must be adopted before the state’s fiscal year ends on March 31. ‘Marijuana, if it’s not done in the budget, it’s because they say to me, we can’t do it. Just politically, we can’t do it. And if they don’t have the votes, then they don’t have the votes,’ he said during an interview this week. Mr. Cuomo spoke about his expectations for the next several months in Albany on a flight home from the National Governors Association winter meeting in Washington.”
UNDER QUARANTINE — Monroe County health officials said Wednesday that six people are following federal government regulations and in voluntary quarantine for coronavirus after arriving from China. The individuals, officials said, have shown no signs of the virus.
FLU DEATH — The Times Union reports: “Rensselaer County officials confirmed Wednesday that the unattended death of a Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute student this week was caused by influenza. Yeming Shen, 24, was found dead inside his City Station apartment on Monday. School and county health officials immediately worked to quell concerns that Shen, a student from China, may have died of a novel coronavirus discovered in Wuhan, China in December. He had not traveled outside the U.S. in the last 13 months, they said.
TOWN HALL — Sen. Kevin Thomas’s office announced Wednesday that it will hold a Feb. 23 town hall on vaping at the Calvary Lutheran Church Parish Hall in East Meadow. The public forum comes as state lawmakers consider a series of bills to crack down e-cigarettes in the state.
LET’S MAKE A DEAL — Officials with 1199 SEIU announced Wednesday that workers at Delmar long-term care facilities have reached a tentative contract agreement with Centers Health Care, the prospective new owners. Union members will vote to ratify the agreement this week.
Pharma Report
FIGHTING CORONAVIRUS — The Native Antigen Company announced that it has introduced novel antigens to address coronavirus. “These recombinant proteins offer scientists high-quality reagents to support ongoing infectious disease research, and the development of diagnostics and vaccines,” the British-based company told Reuters.
— A team of executives at Gilead Sciences Inc., meanwhile, is meeting daily on coronavirus and its “cross-continental scramble to develop the first drug for the new disease,” The Wall Street Journal reports.
Q4 SHUFFLE — The Boston Globe reports: “CVS Health Corp. unveiled a series of management changes, including appointing a new chief for its pharmacy-benefit management business, as the health giant absorbs insurer Aetna, its biggest-ever acquisition, and makes over more of its drugstores.”
What We’re Reading
#CORONAVIRUS — Social media giant Instagram is now encouraging users who click on the #Coronavirus hashtag to visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more credible information about the illness, BuzzFeed News reports.
DR. LOBBYIST — Kaiser Health News reports: “As surprise medical billing has emerged as a hot-button issue for voters, doctors, hospitals and insurers have been lobbying to protect their own money flows. All that lobbying meant nothing got passed last year.”
SEE YOU IN COURT — Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced Wednesday that she is suing Juul, arguing it intentionally marketed and sold its e-cigarettes to minors. The lawsuit seeks payment for the costs associated with efforts to combat vaping among adolescents, WBUR reports.
OOPS — The Associated Press reports: “A labeling error caused a woman infected with the novel coronavirus to be mistakenly released from a hospital but the oversight was noticed as she was returning to a San Diego military base where more than 200 evacuees from China are living under federal quarantine, officials said Tuesday.”
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