ST. CLOUD: From UCare via Instagram, VERBATIM: “A joyful afternoon at Whitney Senior Center, City of Saint Cloud celebrating #OlderAmericansMonth. Many UCare members and guests celebrated Older Americans Month with big band music, dancing, and tasty treats—thanks to UCare’s De-complicator Sharon and our amazing volunteers for making it unforgettable.” SEE: https://fluence-media.co/43ffmX0 (SPONSORED: UCare)
All Fluence tipsheets are now available to read and share online at our website, The Daily Agenda:
AIR: The Pollution Control Agency issued two air quality alerts for areas of Minnesota today – one for wildfire smoke, the other for ozone. MAP: https://fluence-media.co/3Clysh2
POLL: Via Axis, VERBATIM: “Timed to the start of Mental Health Awareness Month, AXIS Capital Holdings Limited (NYSE: AXS) partnered with The Harris Poll to survey the state of mental health within the insurance profession. The research findings revealed a number of trends pointing to widespread and rising stress and anxiety; a desire for better mental health support; and a belief that insurance trails other industries in prioritizing mental health initiatives.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4jVZZtQ
GEN Z: Via Morning Consult, VERBATIM: “68% of Gen Zers say they eat healthy always or often. But the way Gen Zers define ‘eating healthy’ differs from previous generations.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4dggmyR
Check out all the episodes of Sunday Take on 830 WCCO. CLICK: https://fluence-media.co/3KsuDrZ
UNITEDHEALTH: Via CNBC, VERBATIM: “UnitedHealth Group on Tuesday announced the surprise exit of CEO Andrew Witty and suspended its 2025 forecast, sending shares of the health-care giant tumbling more than 10% in morning trading. Witty is stepping down immediately for ‘personal reasons,’ the company said. He will act as a senior advisor to his successor, Stephen Hemsley, who served as UnitedHealth Group’s CEO from 2006 to 2017 after first joining the company in 1997.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3YIEaFy
MORE: Via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “The shakeup at the top of Minnesota’s largest company comes at a remarkably difficult time, just over six months after the fatal ambush of UnitedHealth Group executive Brian Thompson on a sidewalk in New York City and weeks after a one-day stock sell-off driven by deteriorating results wiped out $120 billion in the company’s market value.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4dfnGKT
IMMIGRANTS: Via Minnesota Reformer, VERBATIM: “Kevin Kenney, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis, joined Minnesota Catholics Monday at the Capitol, urging state lawmakers to keep a program that allows undocumented people to receive free or discounted health insurance . . . The bishop’s decision to use his moral megaphone — on the heels of the recent election of Pope Leo XIV, who is set to become a leading American advocate for the world’s poor and dispossessed — arrives at an auspicious time: Legislative leaders and Gov. Tim Walz are making final decisions on a state budget that could fray Minnesota’s relatively robust safety net.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3GR7Iul
MEDICAID SUPPORTS HEALTH CARE FOR ALL OF US: Medicaid keeps Minnesota’s hospitals strong and ensures communities across the state have access to care. Policymakers must protect Medicaid so every Minnesotan — regardless of income or health status — can get the care they need, when they need it. LEARN MORE: https://fluence-media.co/3FtrCuH (SPONSORED: Minnesota Hospital Association)
ROCHESTER: Via Rochester Post Bulletin, VERBATIM: “The State of Minnesota recently gave a $465,000 boost to Cytotheryx's expansion and development of a research and processing facility in Rochester. It was announced on Thursday that the growing biotech firm, which develops treatments for liver disease, was awarded $325,000 from the Minnesota Investment Fund and $140,000 from the state's Job Creation Fund.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3ZgN39k
From morning take…
MEDICAID: via MinnPost, VERBATIM: “House Republicans have targeted ‘blue’ states that provide health care to undocumented immigrants by cutting Medicaid payments to those states in an effort to shrink the government health plan. … Legislation released by the House Energy and Commerce Committee late Sunday would cut the share the federal government gives Minnesota and 13 other states [from] 90% to 80% because these states offer health care coverage to undocumented immigrants. This cut in federal money, and other new restrictions proposed by the panel as part of a mega-budget bill, will likely force states like Minnesota to revamp how they fund the joint federal-state Medicaid program or cut benefits. … The reduction in the federal matching rate [could] cost Minnesota more than $325 million a year.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3YHno9O
DRUG PRICES: Via The Wall Street Journal, VERBATIM: “Shares of drugmakers surged Monday after Trump signed an executive order designed to lower what Americans pay for prescription drugs that offered pharmaceutical companies room for negotiation . . . The executive order directs the Trump administration to prepare a so-called ‘Most-Favored Nation’ plan that would tie U.S. drug prices to the lowest prices in other developed countries. The policy could take effect if drugmakers are unable to settle on lower prices with federal officials . . . The U.S. accounts for roughly half of the world’s drug spending, despite having just 4% of the population, said Stephen Schondelmeyer, a professor of pharmaceutical economics at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy.” SCHONDELMEYER: “The first thing we have to realize is if another country’s getting a drug at one-tenth of the price that we are, we’re not going to get all of our drugs at one-tenth of the price we’re paying now.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/44xKovH
MORE: Via NPR, VEBATIM: “President Trump is promising to put tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals. While big drug companies seem to have plans to weather the storm, independent pharmacists are trying their best to prepare with limited information.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/3F7ka8Q
SUICIDE: Via Minnesota Department of Health, VERBATIM: “The suicide rate in Minnesota remained the same in 2024, compared to 2023, with 813 suicides among residents, according to preliminary data. This marks two years of suicides below the state high set in 2022.”
“Deaths by suicide in Minnesota have been trending up for the past 20 years with some slight fluctuations each year, mirroring patterns across the United States.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3ZggF6R
ESSENTIA HEALTH INVESTS IN TWIN PORTS NURSES: Total payroll for Essentia Health Duluth-Superior nurses is $164 million, with $53 million paid in salary increases over the past 3 years. Essentia Health has also increased clinical support staff by 10% over the past 3 years, providing additional support for those nurses. Over half of Duluth area nurses have been with us for over 5 years and enjoy exceptional work-life balance. To join our team at Essentia Health, search for openings HERE: https://fluence-media.co/3FzLe0i (SPONSORED: Essentia Health)
UOFM: Via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “The future of health care training, research and patient care at the University of Minnesota is too important to allow it to get lost in past disputes over the academic health program. That was the message Friday from former UnitedHealth Group executive Lois Quam, who was named in April by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison as ‘strategic facilitator’ to help negotiate a proposed partnership among the U, Fairview Health Services and Duluth-based Essentia Health.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4meo4gZ
BAXTER: Via GlobalData, VERBATIM: “US-based integrated healthcare system Essentia Health is set to begin developing an orthopaedic centre in Baxter, Minnesota, to treat patients in the Brainerd Lakes area. Located at the former Camping World site, the facility will cover a total area of around 60,000ft² and provide a range of care services. These will include orthopaedic surgery consultations, podiatry, rheumatology, endocrinology, interventional pain care, and sports medicine.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3YHBoAk
(DISCLOSURE: Essentia is a Fluence sponsor)
CUTS: Via Becker’s Hospital Review, VERBATIM: “House Republicans on May 11 floated a bill that would impose up to $715 billion in Medicaid and ACA cuts over the next decade — reductions that hospital leaders warn would leave millions without coverage and put essential hospitals at risk of closure . . . While the legislation stops short of implementing per capita caps or a complete overhaul of Medicaid expansion funding, it includes measures to penalize states that provide Medicaid benefits to noncitizens by reducing their ACA expansion matching rate.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4dmivcq
MORE: Via Newsweek, VERBATIM: “A Republican-led proposal to scale back Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies could result in millions of Americans losing their health insurance, according to new estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The CBO estimates were requested by top Democrats in the House Energy and Commerce, House Ways and Means, and Senate Finance Committees, Senator Ron Wyden and Representatives Neal Dunn and Frank Pallone.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4mfrVdE
NONPROFITS: Via CBS News, VERBATIM: “A CBS News analysis of IRS data found some nonprofit hospitals in Philadelphia and across the country attempt to collect hundreds of millions of dollars a year from low-income patients. All the big hospitals in the Philadelphia area are nonprofit, and that means they receive federal, state and local tax breaks. In exchange, nonprofit hospitals are required to provide free or discounted care to those who can't afford to pay. However, our investigation found the law is vague, and some patients may be falling through the cracks.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/44xOlAx
CRISPR: Via Stat, VERBATIM: “The now 13-year-long legal saga over who invented CRISPR took yet another unexpected turn on Monday, in a ruling that could not only change U.S. ownership of patent rights to the groundbreaking gene-editing technology but more broadly redefine how the law determines when an invention has been made. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit sided with the University of California and the University of Vienna in their bid to revive a fight over foundational CRISPR-Cas9 patents that the schools say should go to their Nobel Prize-winning scientists Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/43iEbRX
FRESH15: The latest season of Fresh15 includes interviews with new Minnesota House members. So far, five new members have shared their goals, background and fun facts before they take office in a historic session this January.
Rep. Kari Rehrauer
Rep. Wayne Johnson
Rep. Julie Greene
Rep. Keith Allen
Rep. Peter Johnson
Follow on your favorite podcast platform, or at www.TheDailyAgenda.com/Podcasts. (SPONSORED: Minnesota Telecom Alliance)
TRAVEL: Via Associated Press, VERBATIM: “The U.S. government advised American travelers age 60 and older not get a chikungunya vaccine as it investigates possible side effects. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration posted notices late last week on the vaccine, Valneva’s Ixchiq. Chikungunya, spread by the bites of infected mosquitoes, is a debilitating tropical illness marked by fever and joint pain. About 100 to 200 cases are reported annually among U.S. travelers.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3F1OyS8
DENGUE FEVER: Via Mayo Clinic, VERBATIM: “Dengue fever is a potentially life-threatening viral infection transmitted through the bite of infected mosquitoes.” QUOTE: "Four different subtypes of the virus can cause infections in humans," says Dr. Stacey Rizza, a Mayo Clinic infectious diseases specialist. "Wherever you have a significant number of mosquitoes and warm hot environments is where you see dengue transmission." WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/3SE5H7m
SWIMMING: Via KFF Health News, VERBATIM: “Generations of Black Americans have faced barriers to swimming. A history of systemic exclusion from pools is one factor that has led to higher drowning rates among Black children and adults than their white peers. More than a third of Black adults report they do not know how to swim, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Water safety advocates across the country are providing swim lessons to encourage Black people of all ages to overcome fears and build confidence.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4j32auq
RFK JR: Via NBC News, VERBATIM: “Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted photos of himself and his grandchildren swimming in waters known to be contaminated during a Mother’s Day hike in Rock Creek Park. In one of the photos from Sunday, Kennedy is seen fully submerged in the water, with his grandchildren swimming, in spite of an ongoing National Park Service advisory against coming in contact with the water in the Washington, D.C., park ‘due to high bacteria levels.’ The same notice says swimming and wading are not permitted due to the health risks.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3GUIXNX
STUDY: Via UofM CIDRAP, VERBATIM: “A new preprint study on the preprint server medRxiv involving healthcare workers in Quebec shows that the risk of long COVID following any initial COVID-19 infection was similar among participants, cumulative risk increased with the number of infections, but reinfections were associated with a much lower risk of long COVID than a person's first infection.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4jbSTQQ
FORUM: If you’re interested in having the Fluence Forum host a topic, please contact Blois Olson at bloisolson@gmail.com
IVF: From Lund University via Science Daily, VERBATIM: “Researchers have conducted a clinical study to show how a woman's genetic profile provides information on which hormone treatment is most effective for in vitro fertilization (IVF). The researchers have now developed a simple oral swab test that shows which hormone therapy is the best option for IVF treatment.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/42Vhgx7
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