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POLLING
WORRIES: Via KFF, VERBATIM: “Health costs continue to top the public’s list of affordability worries, even as concerns about gas prices have risen in recent weeks. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of adults are worried about being able to afford health care costs, on par with the share who now worry about gas and transportation costs (64%) and outranking other economic concerns.”
“Health costs also loom large in the upcoming midterm elections. About nine in ten voters say the issue will influence their decision to vote and who to vote for in the 2026 midterm elections, with majorities saying it will have a “major impact” on both areas (55% and 61%). While majorities of voters across partisans say health care costs will impact their vote in November, the issue is more salient among Democratic and independent voters.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4ekNR5A
MORE: Via The Hill, VERBATIM: “Six months out from the midterm election, voters gave the Trump administration low approval marks on its handling of the cost of health care. Only a third of those polled said they approve of the administration’s efforts, while two-thirds said they disapprove — including 45 percent who said they ‘strongly disapprove.’ But that number is also impacted by partisanship.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4t9aRbx
MEDICAID: Via KFF, VERBATIM: “A new KFF survey of state Medicaid officials and focus groups in eight states captures the different choices states are making about how to implement Medicaid work requirements, with seven states planning for a more restrictive approach to verifying work or exemption status or to implement work requirements early. These implementation plans are taking shape as states encounter time, cost, and other constraints as well as uncertainty about how to define and verify certain exemptions due to delayed federal guidance. The 2025 reconciliation law requires adults in the 43 states (including DC) covered through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid expansion and partial expansion waiver programs (Georgia and Wisconsin) to meet work requirements starting January 1, 2027.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4cYGzST
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)
MINNESOTA + HEALTH
HCMC: This morning, Isaiah Minnesota began a 24-hour vigil “to pray for the state of Minnesotans’ healthcare and urge state lawmakers to pass funding for the medical center this session.”
MORE: From Thee Lovejoy via X, VERBATIM: “Thank you @isaiahmn for showing up and showing out for folks like me, an HCMC patient. All of my specialists are here. #MNleg please fund this vital service hospital - save HCMC!!” PHOTOS: https://fluence-media.co/48A0p5s
ICYMI… morning take had updates on efforts to save HCMC in both the House and Senate. READ: https://fluence-media.co/4ekbPy2
MEDICA: Via Twin Cities Business, VERBATIM: “On Jan. 1, Minnetonka-based health plan provider Medica suddenly gained approximately 300,000 new members. This massive influx came with the well-publicized collapse of UCare, another Minnesota-based nonprofit health insurer, which went into receivership. Medica acquired holders of UCare’s Medicaid and individual and family plans. Before the acquisition, Medica had 1.4 million members across nine states. (About 68% of its members reside in Minnesota.) As a result, UCare plan holders increased Medica’s membership by more than 20%. It was a challenge unique to Medica. But it’s also facing other pressures, ones that all health insurers are struggling with.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4t8xg8P
DISPARITIES: Via MPR, VERBATIM: “A new analysis of health inequities shows that racial and ethnic disparities are widespread and persist in all 50 states, including Minnesota. The 2026 State Health Disparities Report released Wednesday by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit private foundation that supports independent research on health policy and health systems, analyzed 24 indicators to measure healthcare access, quality of care and health outcomes for five racial and ethnic groups from 2022 to 2024.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4cSHDr9
MORE: Via The Commonwealth Fund, the report. SEE: https://fluence-media.co/48yCFPa
SMOKE: Via WCCO-Radio, VERBATIM: “It looks like another smoky summer for parts of the U.S. due to Canadian wildfires. If you’re one of the frustrated people in the northern parts of the U.S. asking why Canada just lets its fires burn? Minnesota Pollution Control Agency meteorologist Matt Taraldsen says it’s because there’s typically no threat to lives and property since they’re often in remote, unpopulated areas.” TARALDSEN: “There’s no easy way to get people in there,” he says. “If you put people out in the middle of nowhere to fight these fires, they cannot come back to a city or something, to fight a fire that would start and would threaten lives and property. So that’s a big part of the problem.” LISTEN: https://fluence-media.co/4dgplS7
340B HOSPITAL MARKUPS HURT PATIENTS: Minnesota’s latest 340B report shows covered entities generated $1.34 billion IN PROFIT in 2024, including an estimated $261 million from Medicaid prescriptions. Independent research finds the program raises costs for patients, taxpayers, and employers statewide. Minnesota should sunset the 340B mandate and Congress should fix the federal 340B program, so it actually helps patients. LEARN MORE: https://fluence-media.co/46Bh9IA (SPONSORED: PhRMA)
DC + HEALTH
SURGEON GENERAL: Via The New York Times, VERBATIM: “President Trump has withdrawn the nomination of Dr. Casey Means, his pick for surgeon general, whose confirmation was stalled on Capitol Hill amid opposition, including from some Republicans, in part over her views on vaccines. In a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Mr. Trump announced that he is nominating Dr. Nicole B. Saphier, a radiologist and director of breast imaging at MSK Monmouth, a branch of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4eq2nsZ
GUNS: Via The New York Times, VERBATIM: “The Trump administration on Wednesday announced a sweeping rollback of gun regulations, prompting criticism from gun control advocates who called the moves misguided and dangerous . . . The changes include rescinding a 2024 regulation from the Biden administration that sought to end what gun control advocates call the ‘gun show loophole.’ That exemption allowed unlicensed dealers to sell firearms without performing a background check to see if the prospective buyer was prohibited by law from owning a gun.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/42GLGCe
AIRBAGS: Via The Hill, VERBATIM: “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Wednesday banned Chinese airbag inflators tied to at least 10 car crash deaths and injured two other people. NHTSA said an investigation revealed that frontal driver airbags exploded, sending large metal fragments into drivers’ chests, necks, eyes and faces.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4n7l7Qk
VACCINES: Via NBC News, VERBATIM: “The Trump administration has appealed a Massachusetts federal judge’s ruling that blocked Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s recent overhaul of the nation’s childhood vaccine schedule. A filing Wednesday evening in the District of Massachusetts indicates the administration is appealing Judge Brian Murphy’s order March 16. Murphy put any decisions made by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee on hold, ruling that Kennedy replaced the committee ‘unlawfully.’” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3OxWEXy
GENERICS: Via Stat, VERBATIM: “After months of anticipation, Supreme Court justices heard arguments about a long-standing tactic used by generic companies to carve out a distinct market for a medicine, and did not appear inclined to alter legal standards for the maneuver. At issue is skinny labeling, which refers to moves by generic companies that seek regulatory approval to market a drug for a specific use, but not other patented uses for which a brand-name medicine is prescribed. For instance, a generic drug could be marketed to treat one type of heart problem but not another. In doing so, the generic company seeks to avoid lawsuits claiming patent infringement.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4t5dwCQ
PRESCRIPTION DRUG PRICES CONTINUE TO SOAR: While Minnesota’s safety-net hospitals navigate bleak financial outlooks, drug manufacturers continue to raise drug prices at rates that far outpace inflation, rising 23% in the last year alone. By strengthening the 340B drug pricing program, local hospitals can weather these soaring prices and continue to deliver the care and treatments that Minnesotans need. NEW: Minnesota Prescription Drug Price Transparency, Report to the Minnesota Legislature, March 2026 (SPONSORED: Essentia Health)
INNOVATION & RESEARCH
MAYO: Via KARE-TV, VERBATIM: “Minnesota’s world-renowned Mayo Clinic continues to live up to its reputation for achieving medical miracles, announcing Wednesday it has developed a test to detect pancreatic cancer up to three years before a patient receives a diagnosis. The AI-assisted test model helps specialists identify early signs of the disease before tumors visibly develop, lending more time for patients to seek curative treatment.” WATCH: https://fluence-media.co/4dgXEbP
PFAS: Via Minneapolis-based Claros, VERBATIM: “Claros Technologies, Inc. (Claros), a leader in PFAS destruction technology, today announced results from a new study demonstrating ≥99.99% destruction of targeted species (PFOS and PFOA) using its ClarosTechUV system in groundwater samples from a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) remediation site in Lake Elmo, Minnesota.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/422haCJ
STUDY: Via Mayo Clinic, VERBATIM: “In a study published in the Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation Open (JHLT Open), Mayo Clinic researchers found that remote patient monitoring (RPM) is a feasible and effective way to detect early health changes and support care decisions for lung transplant recipients during their first year after discharge from the hospital.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/3QGbbBa
T CELLS: Via Université de Genève, VERBATIM: “The body’s ‘killer’ T cells don’t just attack—they strike with astonishing precision, forming a tiny, highly organized contact zone that lets them destroy dangerous cells without harming their neighbors. Now, scientists have captured this process in unprecedented detail, revealing a hidden world of molecular choreography.” READ/SEE: https://fluence-media.co/3OS4ECM
SMELL: Via Harvard, VERBATIM: “Scientists have finally cracked one of the biggest mysteries in the senses: how smell is organized. By mapping millions of neurons in mice, researchers discovered that smell receptors in the nose aren’t random at all—they’re arranged in neat, overlapping stripes based on receptor type, forming a hidden structure scientists never knew existed. Even more striking, this layout mirrors how smell information is mapped in the brain, revealing a coordinated system from nose to neural circuits.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/4t2ujqh
FORUM: If you’re interested in having the Fluence Forum host a topic, please contact Blois Olson at bloisolson@gmail.com
CHILDREN’S: Via Children’s, VERBATIM: “Children’s Minnesota is pleased to announce John Harding, Ed.D., MBA, FACHE, as its new executive vice president, chief operating officer (COO), effective April 27. In his role, Harding will provide enterprise-wide operational leadership across the organization’s hospitals, specialty centers and clinics.” READ: https://fluence-media.co/422ngTD
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