E-HEALTH: From UCare via Instagram, VERBATIM: “Congratulations to our very own visionary Greg Hanley, VP of Health Svces Quality & Operations, for being selected to serve on the advisory committee working to achieve the Minnesota e-Health Vision. Greg represents health plans in this multidisciplinary committee!” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3ZP3g6v (SPONSORED: UCare)
POLL: Via The Hill, VERBATIM: “A poll found 41 percent of adults under 30 consider the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson acceptable, more than the 40 percent in that demographic who consider it unacceptable. Anger over health insurance companies has been in the spotlight after Thompson was fatally shot Dec. 4 in New York City.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/49IDyny
MORE: Via ABC News, VERBATIM: “The shooting came at a time when health care seemed to be experiencing a bit of a surge in importance among Americans after the election. The share of registered voters who named it as the most important issue facing the country in YouGov/The Economist tracking polls had gradually declined from around 10 to around 7 percent throughout 2024, and even fewer, 4 percent, said it was the top issue specifically in determining their vote in the election. But after the election, that number has gone back up to between 8 and 11 percent.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4gAGbtM
MORE: Via The New York Times, VERBATIM: “A Gallup poll released earlier this month found just 28 percent of Americans say health care coverage in the U.S. is excellent or good, the lowest figure the polling firm has found on that question since it started asking it in 2001. Yet 65 percent of Americans say their personal health care coverage is good or excellent, a contradiction that Megan Brenan, a senior editor at Gallup, said is not unusual in polling.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3ZXwZtW
RFK JR: Via YouGov, VERBATIM: “While many Americans haven't heard of Make America Healthy Again — a rallying cry for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Donald Trump's pick as the next Director of Health and Human Services (HHS) — most do find common ground with Kennedy on at least one health or nutrition-related issue, a new survey finds.”
“Public perceptions of Kennedy have become increasingly polarized by political party in the past year. While most Americans expect him to have influence in Trump's administration, only about half say they want him to, including a large majority of Republicans.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3BlG6eM
MORE: Via The Hill, VERBATIM: “Most Americans disapprove of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. potentially leading the Department of Health and Human Services once they hear about his positions and beliefs, according to a survey from Democratic-aligned groups Protect Our Care and Data for Progress shared first with The Hill.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4gER1in
FRIENDSHIPS: Via HealthDay, VERBATIM: “Close friendships are incredibly important to the mental health of middle-aged folks and seniors, a new study finds. Older adults with worse mental or physical health were twice as likely to say they don’t have any close friends, according to results from the University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/401XZHR
KIDS: Via University of Michigan, VERBATIM: “When young children’s behavior becomes challenging, many parents resort to threats – from taking away toys to threatening that Santa will skip their house, a national poll suggests. Parents of children ages three to five were most likely to say they use threats to address misbehavior – with a fourth threatening their child with no Santa or gifts – according to the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4fnVuFj
Check out all the episodes of Sunday Take on 830 WCCO. CLICK: https://fluence-media.co/3KsuDrZ
WATER: Via MDH, VERBATIM: “The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) gathered [yesterday] with partners from the City of Minneapolis, the City of Saint Paul and the Minnesota Rural Water Association at Saint Paul Regional Water Services to celebrate the past half century of safe public drinking water. Fifty years ago . . . on Dec. 16, 1974, the Safe Drinking Water Act was signed into law, marking the first time a national set of regulations and standards would be followed by all public water suppliers in the United States.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/49HD3Kv
CAMP: From Andy Steiner via MinnPost, VERBATIM: “Adolescents with serious depression can feel stuck in their symptoms and ways of thinking, making it harder for them to recover from their mental illness. A series of two-week-long summer ‘Creativity Camps’ developed by two University of Minnesota professors has provided a new treatment approach for adolescents with depression, helping them to get unstuck by encouraging participants’ creativity. The results are impressive, the camp’s creators said, with many participants showing significant, lasting reduction in their depression symptoms.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/401JHIs
STRIKE: From Izzy Canizares via Bring Me The News, VERBATIM: “New Hope nursing home workers went on strike Friday morning, joining the picket lines amid ongoing union negotiations. Workers at Woodlake Nursing Home walked out on Friday at 6 a.m., joining their fellow SEIU union members in a five-day paid strike against conditions the nursing home.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3VGfdJ4
OPIOIODS: Via The New York Times, VERBATIM: “In 2017, the drug industry middleman Express Scripts announced that it was taking decisive steps to curb abuse of the prescription painkillers that had fueled America’s overdose crisis. The company said it was ‘putting the brakes on the opioid epidemic’ by making it harder to get potentially dangerous amounts of the drugs. The announcement, which came after pressure from federal health regulators, was followed by similar declarations from the other two companies that control access to prescription drugs for most Americans. The self-congratulatory statements, however, didn’t address an important question: Why hadn’t the middlemen, known as pharmacy benefit managers, acted sooner to address a crisis that had been building for decades? One reason, a New York Times investigation found: Drugmakers had been paying them not to.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3ZX0zjf
CABINET: Via KFF Health News, VERBATIM: “Many of President-elect Donald Trump’s candidates for federal health agencies have promoted policies and goals that put them at odds with one another or with Trump’s choice to run the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., setting the stage for internal friction over public health initiatives. The picks hold different views on matters such as limits on abortion, the safety of childhood vaccines, the covid-19 response, and the use of weight-loss medications. The divide pits Trump picks who adhere to more traditional and orthodox science, such as the long-held, scientifically supported findings that vaccines are safe, against often unsubstantiated views advanced by Kennedy and other selections who have claimed vaccines are linked with autism.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/41G9bMI
MORE: Via Politico, VERBATIM: “Nearly a dozen researchers and public health officials who spoke with POLITICO see in Kennedy a chance to improve Americans’ poor diet and exercise habits and reduce their exposure to harmful chemicals. But they also see a purveyor of dangerous misinformation about vaccinations who could do irreparable harm to the public’s health. They’re coming to different conclusions about whether they should seek to direct Kennedy’s energies or oppose him entirely.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3ZK3drk
POLIO: Via CNN, VERBATIM: “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is trying to tamp down concerns about his history of vaccine skepticism as he meets with GOP senators who will vote on whether to confirm him as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy on Monday told reporters on Capitol Hill that he is ‘all for’ the polio vaccine — comments that came hours after Trump said at a news conference that Americans are ‘not going to lose the polio vaccine.’” READ: https://fluence-media.co/49JRNZf
LATINOS: Via The Hill, VERBATIM: “Latinos in the United States are less likely to have adequate health insurance than Americans overall, according to a survey released Tuesday by the health research nonprofit The Commonwealth Fund. The nonprofit found that 46 percent of Latinos in the U.S. of working age have health insurance for the whole year and are not underinsured, according to the survey published Tuesday.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4gkqV4r
IMMIGRANTS: Via KFF Health News, VERBATIM: “President-elect Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations and tougher immigration restrictions is deepening mistrust of the health care system among California’s immigrants and clouding the future for providers serving the state’s most impoverished residents. At the same time, immigrants living illegally in Southern California told KFF Health News they thought the economy would improve and their incomes might increase under Trump, and for some that outweighed concerns about health care.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4fo7S80
ACA: Via Axios, VERBATIM: “President Biden is making a final push to build on the Affordable Care Act, extending the enrollment period for marketplace coverage that kicks in Jan. 1 as sign-ups lag. Why it matters: ACA enrollment has hit new record highs each year of the Biden administration. But those gains are on shaky ground as the Trump administration prepares to take over in January.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3Dkyrhj
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 in January. Follow on your favorite podcast platform, or at www.TheDailyAgenda.com/Podcasts. (SPONSORED: Minnesota Telecom Alliance)
VETERANS: Via Military Times, VERBATIM: “House lawmakers on Monday finalized a sweeping veterans bill to expand caregiver benefits for elderly and infirm veterans and update medical options for veterans outside the department’s health care system, sending the legislative package to the White House to become law. The legislation was originally passed by the chamber last month but had to be reapproved this week after technical changes were added by the Senate last week. The measure now heads to the White House, where President Joe Biden is expected to sign it into law in the coming days.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4fEoh8R
TRANSGENDER: Via NBC News, VERBATIM: “More than 20 Democratic senators introduced an amendment Monday evening to remove language from Congress’ massive defense spending bill that seeks to ban coverage of gender-affirming care for transgender children of service members, the office of Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., told NBC News.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/41Bl4TR
RETAIL: From Christine Schuster via Bring Me The News, VERBATIM: “Walgreens, which is moving to close around 1,200 drugstores nationwide, will shutter at least one location in the Twin Cities. The store at 4205 Egan Drive in Savage, near Sonic Drive-In, will close permanently Jan. 22.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4iIASdy
BRAIN: From Susan Barber Lindquist via Mayo Clinic, VERBATIM: “Imagine a world where neurological diagnoses are made with greater precision, treatment decisions are supported by data-driven insights and early detection is more frequent. This is the vision driving new research from the Mayo Clinic Neurology Artificial Intelligence Program (NAIP), where artificial intelligence (AI) serves as a powerful tool to support and augment the expertise of healthcare professionals.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4gCvrel
ANGIOINSIGHT: From Minnetonka-based AngioInsight via Business Wire, VERBATIM: “AngioInsight, Inc., an innovator in medical imaging technologies, is pleased to announce the appointment of Scott Burger as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Scott brings over two decades of extensive leadership experience in the healthcare and medical technology sectors, positioning him perfectly to lead AngioInsight into its next phase of growth and innovation.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4gBdk8L
FORUM: If you’re interested in having the Fluence Forum host a topic, please contact Blois Olson at bloisolson@gmail.com
ROBOTS: From American Institute of Physics via Science Daily, VERBATIM: “Infertility affects an estimated 186 million people worldwide, with fallopian tube obstruction contributing to 11%-67% of female infertility cases. In AIP Advances, from AIP Publishing, researchers at the SIAT Magnetic Soft Microrobots Lab have developed an innovative solution using a magnetically driven robotic microscrew to treat fallopian tube blockages.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/41DCdfC
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