THIS MONTH: From UCare via Instagram, VERBATIM: “Every April, UCare celebrates National Volunteer Month by inspiring our #PeoplePower employees to give back to their communities and highlighting the tremendous impact we can all make together. Thank you for all you do.” PHOTOS: https://fluence-media.co/4lbqwEB (SPONSORED: UCare)
All Fluence tipsheets are now available to read and share online at our website, The Daily Agenda:
POLL: Via The New York Times, VERBATIM: “It’s not just the high price of eggs or the rising cost of housing that is contributing to Americans’ unhappiness over the cost of living. Health care remains stubbornly unaffordable for millions of people, according to a new survey released Wednesday that underscores the struggle many people have in paying for a doctor’s visit or a prescription drug — even before any talk of cutting government coverage. In the survey, 11 percent of people said they could not afford medication and care within the past three months, the highest level in the four years the survey has been conducted. More than a third of those surveyed, representing some 91 million adults, said if they were to need medical care, they would not be able to pay for it.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4l6xwSW
MORE: Via Gallup, from the poll:
SEE: https://fluence-media.co/43D0vaQ
MEDICAID: From NAMI via PRNewswire, VERBATIM: “Americans are deeply and overwhelmingly opposed to slashing funding for Medicaid, according to new polling data released today by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Seven in ten Americans, including a majority across party lines, disagree that Medicaid funding should be cut to reduce government spending, and nearly eight in 10 (78%) believe that Medicaid saves lives by helping people access mental health care. This new data comes as Congressional leaders are debating a budget plan this week that would cause harmful cuts to lifesaving Medicaid funding.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4ji45M5
MORE: Via Ipsos, the full poll results. SEE: https://fluence-media.co/4iUa6P6
Check out all the episodes of Sunday Take on 830 WCCO. CLICK: https://fluence-media.co/3KsuDrZ
MEDICAID CUTS: Via Minnesota House, VERBATIM: “Today, while President Trump and Congressional Republicans implement ludicrous tariffs that will devastate the household budgets of Minnesotans, and pursue efforts to subsidize tax cuts for the wealthy by reducing federal funding for Medicaid, legislation that would raise taxes on millionaires at the level necessary to offset any cuts to this crucial program was heard in the House Taxes Committee. Medicaid is the largest single source of health insurance in Minnesota, serving senior citizens, children, families, and people with disabilities.” QUOTE: “At a time when so many Minnesotans are struggling with basic costs, it is morally reprehensible to cut life-saving Medicaid services so the richest among us can hoard more money and watch the numbers in their bank accounts grow,” said Rep. Aisha Gomez (DFL - Minneapolis) House author of the bill and Co-Chair of the House Taxes Committee. “How we tax, and what we fund, shows who we are and what we value. Trump has shown that he doesn’t care about the average Minnesotan, only his elite sycophants. With this legislation the DFL is standing firmly with working-class Minnesotans in the face of extreme wealth inequality.” BILL: https://fluence-media.co/4iDECNg
MORE: Via Politico, VERBATIM: “The Trump administration and Republicans broadly have said they can cut Medicaid’s budget without hurting patient care by finding efficiencies. Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette, the top Democrat on a key health care panel, says that’s not so. ‘We just simply don’t have that much money,’ DeGette said at POLITICO’s Health Care Summit Wednesday. President Donald Trump has tasked Republicans with figuring out how to pay for his agenda, which includes increased border security and an expansion of energy resources while cutting taxes. House leaders have said they can find $880 billion in savings to cover the bill.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/43CH9Th
TARIFFS: Via Fierce Healthcare, VERBATIM: “President Donald Trump made good on his threat of announcing new and steeper tariffs during a Wednesday afternoon White House event, setting the stage for higher prices and supply chain uncertainty for numerous industries, including healthcare . . . Pharmaceuticals are among a select list of goods that will not be subject to the higher reciprocal tariffs, according to a fact sheet released shortly after the signing ceremony and affirmed in the signed executive order. An annex to the order since provided by the White House outlines specific drugs and compounds that are exempt from the reciprocal tariffs.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4llPcua
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)
MOSQUITOS: Via WCCO-Radio, VERBATIM: “Not the news you want to hear. But the latest buzz we are being told is that the upcoming mosquito season could be the worst we've seen in years. While summer is still a ways away, Minnesota's skeeter season is going to be bad according to Alex Carlson with Metropolitan Mosquito Control District.” QUOTE: "The biggest factor that will affect this summer is actually a lot of the rain that we had last summer," says Carlson. "There's one species that we have that overwinters as larvae, so they actually hatched the fall the year before. And so we did surveillance from those last fall and we found much higher numbers than we've seen in at least five years, and we're predicting it's going to be about four times higher than last year." LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4lhlK8s
BREAKTHROUGH: Via Mayo Clinic, VERBATIM: “When Vicki Tennant came to Mayo Clinic for answers about her heart condition, she never expected to be at the center of a medical breakthrough. But her case led Mayo Clinic researchers to identify a previously undetectable genetic phenomenon. Most genetic diseases are linked to protein-coding regions, which is also where standard testing has been focused. The discovery based on Tennant's case, published in Circulation: Heart Failure, was that disease-causing variants can hide in areas of DNA that don't make proteins.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4i0vwZM
UNION: Via MinnPost, VERBATIM: “Residents and fellows at the University of Minnesota and at Hennepin Healthcare continually emphasize they want to provide their patients with the best possible care. But the reality is, said Dr. Kaitlin McLean, an internal medicine and pediatrics resident at the University of Minnesota, residents and fellows know they can take better care of patients ‘when we’re able to take the best care of ourselves.’ To better take care of themselves – and by extension, their patients – supermajorities of fellows and residents working at Hennepin Healthcare and the University of Minnesota have filed with the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR/SEIU) to unionize. While the specifics of what a contract would entail have yet to be discussed, unionization is a step towards bringing residents together as a collective to negotiate for improved working conditions.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4jfNrwq
RESEARCH: Via KFF Health News, VERBATIM: “Sue Sheridan’s baby boy, Cal, suffered brain damage from undetected jaundice in 1995. Helen Haskell’s 15-year-old son, Lewis, died after surgery in 2000 because weekend hospital staffers didn’t realize he was in shock. The episodes turned both women into advocates for patients and spurred research that made American health care safer. On April 1, the Trump administration slashed the organization that supported that research — the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, or AHRQ — and fired roughly half of its remaining employees as part of a perplexing reorganization of the federal Health and Human Services Department.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3G4aw6Y
LAWSUIT: Via Associated Press, VERBATIM: “A group of scientists and health groups sued the National Institutes of Health on Wednesday, arguing that an ‘ideological purge’ of research funding is illegal and threatens medical cures. Since President Donald Trump took office in January, hundreds of NIH research grants have been abruptly canceled for science that mentions the words diversity, gender and vaccine hesitancy, as well as other politically charged topics. That has led to grants being cut that fund studies of HIV prevention, violence prevention in children, pregnancy health disparities and Alzheimer’s disease, among others, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4chs6k9
VAPES: Via Newsweek, VERBATIM: “The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned a lower-court ruling that had found the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) acted unlawfully in denying two electronic cigarette companies permission to sell flavored vaping products, which regulators view as a health risk to young people.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3FPTfP7
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)
TRANS PATIENTS: Via NBC News, VERBATIM: “Surveys show that mistreatment of trans patients is common — including verbal harassment or refusal of care — sometimes leading them to delay or avoid seeking care. Many advocates for transgender people say they fear treatment of trans patients will suffer further under President Donald Trump, who has issued a slew of executive orders in recent weeks restricting transgender rights, including several that seek to limit access to transition-related health care. In a report published in Psychiatric News last month, physicians who work with transgender patients said the executive orders have led to widespread distress among their trans patients.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4cii7Lq
VACCINE: Via The Wall Street Journal, VERBATIM: “Federal drug regulators have missed the deadline for making a key decision regarding a Covid-19 vaccine from Novavax, days after the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine chief was pushed out. The agency was set to give full approval to Novavax’s shot, but senior leaders at the agency are now sitting on the decision and have said the Novavax application needed more data and was unlikely to be approved soon, people familiar with the matter said.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3G4iQUe
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)
PACEMAKER: From Northwestern University via Science Daily, VERBATIM: “Northwestern University engineers have developed a pacemaker so tiny that it can fit inside the tip of a syringe -- and be non-invasively injected into the body. Although it can work with hearts of all sizes, the pacemaker is particularly well-suited to the tiny, fragile hearts of newborn babies with congenital heart defects.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3XKIeoe
From morning take…
VIRGINIA: via Star Tribune, VERBATIM: “Essentia Health is investing $13 million to expand the emergency department in its Virginia, Minn., hospital, which has struggled financially since the COVID-19 pandemic but remains a key resource for Iron Range residents and Boundary Waters travelers. When renovations are finished in late 2026, Essentia Health-Virginia’s ER will increase its capacity from seven to 12 rooms, including a separate unit of four rooms that are equipped for patients in mental health crises.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3QZWtSo
(DISCLOSURE: Essentia Health is a client and sponsor of Fluence)
Sign up for more takes… https://fluence-media.co/TheDailyAgenda
HHS: Via Politico, VERBATIM: “A top adviser to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday defended deep job cuts at federal agencies and attacked the medical establishment, which he said is controlled by industry lobbyists in a conspiracy to keep Americans sick. Calley Means, a fixture in Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again movement and co-founder of TrueMed, said at POLITICO’s Health Care Summit that the federal health department has been an ‘utter failure,’ pointing to rising rates of chronic disease, lower life expectancy and a culture that is too quick to medicate patients for life without addressing the underlying causes of disease.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/4lfLhPn
FDA: Via CBS News, VERBATIM: “Senior Food and Drug Administration leaders are planning for cutbacks to the number of routine food and drug inspections conducted by the agency, multiple officials say, due to steep layoffs this week in support staff. Around 170 workers were cut from the FDA's Office of Inspections and Investigations, according to two federal health officials who were not authorized to speak publicly. The Department of Health and Human Services has said layoffs ordered by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., with some 10,000 workers let go from the department, would not directly cut FDA's inspections staff.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/42i8vf9
MORE: Via Axios, VERBATIM: “Pharmaceutical companies are growing increasingly concerned widespread cuts at the Food and Drug Administration could set the agency back as crucial review deadlines loom. Why it matters: Health industries pay billions developing and shepherding drugs through the regulatory process, including user fees that help ensure there are enough staff to evaluate products on a predictable timeline.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4lxuc3J
CDC: Via The New York Times, VERBATIM: “Alongside extensive reductions to the staff of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Trump administration has asked the agency to cut $2.9 billion of its spending on contracts, according to three federal officials with knowledge of the matter. The administration’s cost-cutting program, called the Department of Government Efficiency, asked the public health agency to sever roughly 35 percent of its spending on contracts about two weeks ago. The C.D.C. was told to comply by April 18, according to the officials. The cuts promise to further hamstring an agency already reeling from the loss of 2,400 employees, nearly one-fifth of its work force.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3YiEWZt
FORUM: If you’re interested in having the Fluence Forum host a topic, please contact Blois Olson at bloisolson@gmail.com
RISK FACTORS: From Mass General Brigham via Science Daily, VERBATIM: “Age-related brain diseases such as stroke, dementia, and late-life depression are a debilitating part of growing older, but people can lower their risk of these diseases through behavioral and lifestyle changes. In a new extensive systematic review, Mass General Brigham researchers identified 17 modifiable risk factors that are shared by stroke, dementia, and late-life depression. Modifying any one of them can reduce your risk of all three conditions.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4iYTbLq
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