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POLLING
HEALTHCARE COST: Via Gallup, VERBATIM: “Americans’ already elevated perception that the cost of healthcare is the “most urgent health problem” facing the country rose further this year to 29%, up from 23% a year ago. The latest figure is the highest level recorded since 2004 and also one of the highest readings in the trend dating back to 1987.”
“Cost now outpaces access to healthcare, at 17%, and obesity, at 8%, as what Americans consider to be the nation’s top health problem.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4pGBnIh
COVERAGE: Via NBC News, VERBATIM: “An overwhelming majority of U.S. adults are satisfied with their health insurance coverage overall, including most older Americans and those on Medicare and Medicaid, according to a new NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey. But there is an undercurrent of frustration in the findings, too, with nearly one-quarter of respondents saying they’d been denied coverage or faced a delay from their insurance in the last two years.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/48SE2az
MORE: Via HealthDay, VERBATIM: “The poll also asked about the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. About 46% of respondents said they want to keep it, while 24% said they would rather repeal it. Another 31% were unsure.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/49f9d1a
TEENS: Via University of Michigan, VERBATIM: “As children become teens, they begin to make independent choices about what they eat. Parents play an important role in offering guidance and watching for problematic eating behavior. The C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health asked a national sample of parents of teens 13-17 years about healthy eating. About half of parents (48%) say their teen’s typical eating pattern involves three meals a day, 13% say their teen snacks throughout the day, 9% say their teen skips breakfast, and 30% say their teen has no typical eating pattern. While 46% of parents believe their teen eats a balanced diet, others feel their teen doesn’t eat enough (30%) or eats too much (24%) of certain foods.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3Yu5Op0
Check out all the episodes of Sunday Take on 830 WCCO. CLICK: https://fluence-media.co/3KsuDrZ
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)
HEALTH HEADLINES
POT: Via States Newsroom, VERBATIM: “President Donald Trump’s administration is looking ‘very strongly’ at reclassifying cannabis from the strictest category of controlled substances, Trump said Monday. In a brief affirmative response to a reporter’s question in the Oval Office, the president confirmed he is considering a reclassification of marijuana to unlock research funding.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/48QrxxL
FENTANYL: Via The Hill, VERBATIM: “President Trump on Monday signed an executive order to designate fentanyl as a ‘weapon of mass destruction,’ dramatically escalating his fight against the drug. Trump hosted an event in the Oval Office to award the Mexican Border Defense Medal to members of the military who were dispatched to assist with efforts to crackdown on crossings at the southern border. As part of the event, he signed the order as he warned against the ‘scourge’ of fentanyl . . . The executive order signing gives Trump administration officials additional tools to target countries, cartels and other organizations that are connected to the manufacturing and distribution of fentanyl.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3L32j60
VA: Via Reuters, VERBATIM: “The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will remove about 25,000 open and unfilled positions, a spokesperson said, adding that they were ‘COVID-era roles that are no longer necessary.’ ‘No VA employees are being removed, and this will have zero impact on Veteran care,’ department spokesperson Pete Kasperowicz said. ‘All of these positions are unfilled and most have not been filled for more than a year,’ Kasperowicz said. The Washington Post, citing an internal memo, reported, on Saturday that the department plans to abruptly eliminate as many as 35,000 health care positions this month, mostly unfilled jobs including doctors, nurses and support staff.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/48RPhAc
CDC: Via UofM CIDRAP, VERBATIM: “As the United States faces its largest measles outbreak in three decades, one of the nation’s most storied public health voices has largely fallen silent on social media. A new exploratory analysis suggests that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) dramatically scaled back its social media posts during the first seven months of 2025, creating what researchers call a ‘health communication void.’ That empty space was quickly filled by news media and, in some cases, less-credible voices.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4oVZ3ag
TRUST: Via NPR, VERBATIM: “FDA Commissioner Martin Makary said the government must show greater humility and be more transparent if it hopes to rebuild public trust in its health guidance, which he said has been badly eroded since the pandemic. In an interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep, Makary addressed recent controversy over an FDA memo that cited rare reports of child deaths linked to COVID-19 vaccinations. He said the information was not new but had not been made public, and argued that officials failed to clearly communicate how risks varied by age and underlying health conditions, even as vaccines saved many lives.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4j4ac7Q
HEALTHCARE IN AMERICA
ACA SUBSIDIES: Via The Hill, VERBATIM: “A bipartisan group of senators is making a renewed push toward finding a health care solution as the hour-glass winds down to the end-of-month deadline to extend the enhanced Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies. Roughly 20 senators met Monday night at the invitation of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), with lawmakers using a proposal from her and Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) — which includes a two-year extension of the ACA tax credits and reforms aimed at winning over conservatives — as a jumping off point.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3L4yfqA
AFFORDABILITY: Via KFF Health News, VERBATIM: “California, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and five other states have set caps on health care spending in a bid to rein in the intense financial pressure felt by many families, individuals, and employers who every year face increases in premiums, deductibles, and other health-related expenses. Hospitals and other health care providers are citing Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Donald Trump in July, as one more reason to challenge those limits.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3Yiut01
COVERAGE: Via Marketplace, VERBATIM: “Health insurance companies love to save money. But the calculations for what’s cheapest don’t always look the way you’d expect. Insurers will sometimes choose to cover a significantly more expensive drug or device, even when there’s a cheaper alternative on the shelf . . . Hyunjee Kim, a health economist at the Center for Health Systems Effectiveness at Oregon Health & Sciences University, said insurance companies looked at ‘downstream’ costs when making these decisions. ‘It can save a lot of money downstream by reducing emergency room visits or really lengthy hospitalizations,’ Kim said. According to Kim, insurers look at their own member data and compare two groups: those who got access to the drug or device, and those who didn’t. Then, they compare the total cost of care and mortality.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/3KZZXoi
DESPITE THE CHALLENGES OF RURAL HEALTH CARE, ESSENTIA IS RECOGNIZED FOR PROVIDING TOP CLINICAL CARE: According to the latest report from Minnesota Community Measurement, a statewide resource on health care quality, costs and equity, Essentia ranked as a high performer with 19 of 20 clinical quality metrics scoring above statewide averages. According to Dr. Maria Beaver, chief quality and patient safety officer at Essentia: “This is a testament to the amazing care provided by all our clinical care teams and all our colleagues who support them.” LEARN MORE: https://fluence-media.co/4dCxy1D (SPONSORED: Essentia Health)
THE LATEST RESEARCH
COLON CANCER: From BGI Genomics via Science Daily, VERBATIM: “Cases of colorectal cancer in younger adults are climbing worldwide, driven by lifestyle changes and inherited genetic risks. Diet, obesity, and lack of early screening are playing a major role in this shift. New genetic tests offer hope for earlier detection, but access and awareness lag behind. Health experts say urgent action is needed to reverse the trend.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4pNn30S
DEMENTIA: Via Mayo Clinic, VERBATIM: “A new multicenter study led by Mayo Clinic researchers has established a practical, evidence-based definition for rapidly progressive dementia (RPD), a rare but devastating form of cognitive decline that develops over months instead of years. The findings, published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, may help clinicians recognize and treat RPD earlier, and enable researchers to work from a shared framework when studying the condition.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4rWp7oN
HUMAN STUDY: Via Minneapolis-based Medical 21, VERBATIM: “Medical 21, Inc., a private medical technology company developing a novel regenerative small-diameter coronary bypass graft, today announced that it has received regulatory approval in Spain under the European Union Medical Device Regulation (EU MDR) to initiate the Company’s first-in-human, multicenter clinical trial of the MAVERICS graft, the MAVERICS Coronary Revascularization Study.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3Yx4UYW
STRESS + SLEEP: From Frontiers via Science Daily, VERBATIM: “Natural killer cells act as the immune system’s rapid-response team, but the stress of anxiety and insomnia may be quietly thinning their ranks. A study of young women in Saudi Arabia found that both conditions were linked to significantly fewer NK cells—especially the circulating types responsible for destroying infected or abnormal cells. As anxiety severity increased, NK cell levels dropped even further, suggesting a stress-driven weakening of immune defenses.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/45eqkOf
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)
IN MINNESOTA
AWARD: Via MDH, VERBATIM: “The annual Betty Hubbard Maternal and Child Health Leadership Award honorees for 2025 are Teresa Freitag (Mankato), Mary Zaffke (Spring Grove) and Dr. Adele Della Torre (Minneapolis). This award recognizes people or organizations in Minnesota making significant contributions to supporting good health for mothers and children.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4aSmPAI
FORUM: If you’re interested in having the Fluence Forum host a topic, please contact Blois Olson at bloisolson@gmail.com
TANTRUMS: Via Mayo Clinic, VERBATIM: “Mayo Clinic researchers have developed a smartwatch-based alert system that signals parents at the earliest signs of a tantrum in children with emotional and behavioral disorders — prompting them to intervene before it intensifies. In a new study published in JAMA Network Open, these alerts helped parents intervene within four seconds and shortened severe tantrums by an average of 11 minutes — about half the duration seen with standard therapy.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/49fofE7
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