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Pelosi using healthcare to rally Democrats around her speakership bid. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is gaining ground among Democrats to become the next House speaker, and appears to be leaning on healthcare to get across the finish line. New York Democrat Brian Higgins decided late last week to buck his fellow dissidents in exchange for a commitment from Pelosi that she would let him take a lead role in passing legislation that would lower the age of Medicare eligibility to 50. Rep.-elect Sharice Davids, D-Kan., announced her support Saturday, saying healthcare was otherwise at stake. “Kansans didn’t elect me to go to Washington to play political games and take symbolic protest votes. They elected me to get things done,” Davids wrote in a statement. “The best way to move forward as we face unprecedented threats to our healthcare access and to our democracy is to unite behind the person who is clearly going to become the next speaker, and who, whatever differences we may have, will stand up to those threats.” Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who also decided to support Pelosi despite telling The Intercept before her primary that new leadership was needed, blasted members that have signalled their opposition.  “9 Dems are choosing to hold the entire 220+ caucus hostage if we don’t accept their GOP-friendly rules that will hamstring healthcare efforts from the get-go,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted Friday. “People sent us here to get things done, not ‘negotiate’ with an admin that jails children and guts people’s healthcare.” Pelosi needs a majority of 218 votes to return to the position of speaker, having previously filled the role from 2007 to 2011.

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Trump resisted advice to go after ‘Medicare for all.’ President Trump was initially resistant to entreaties from his staff for him to attack ‘Medicare for all’ proposals from Democrats, according to a Washington Post report that cites anonymous sources. Trump told his aides that Medicare was popular and that voters wanted it, but he eventually relented under the condition that he be allowed to warn voters that Democrats were prepared to take Medicare away.

Elijah Cummings won’t share Oversight Committee subpoena power with GOP: ‘It’s our opportunity.’ Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said Sunday he would not share subpoena power with the Republicans when he becomes chairman of the House Oversight Committee next year.

During an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Cummings reasoned that his GOP counterpart on the panel doesn’t deserve the courtesy as it was not extended to him as ranking member. “No,” Cummings said when asked about the prospect of splitting the ability to compel witnesses to testify before his committee. “The subpoenas that I wanted to issue would be much different than the ones I’ve seen. I want to issue subpoenas that go to the very heart of our democracy, and protecting that democracy. And subpoenas, by the way, that may involve, say, private industries like the pharmaceutical companies that are — with these skyrocketing drug prices. It’s our opportunity. I will consult with them. I will work with them, unlike they did with me. But no.”

US abortions hit record post-Roe v. Wade low. The number of abortions in most of the U.S. fell to 638,169 in 2015, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a new post- Roe v. Wade low. The latest number represents a 2 percent drop from 2014 and a 24 percent drop from 2006. The number of abortions reached a peak in the 1980s, following the 1973 Roe Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in every state, and mostly fell after that. The data are incomplete, and are reported voluntarily, but shed light on patterns in demographics and public health practices. The latest information represents 49 areas, excluding California, Maryland, and New Hampshire. Teens saw a significant drop in abortions, by 41 percent since 2006. Women in their 20s accounted for nearly 60 percent of abortions. The CDC’s latest data, from 2014, indicated that six women died after complications from abortions. None of the abortions in question were obtained illegally.

Judge sets deadline for Maine Obamacare Medicaid expansion. A judge on Wednesday ordered Maine Gov. Paul LePage to carry out the Obamacare Medicaid program expansion that voters approved more than a year ago through a ballot measure. LePage, a Republican, soon will be ending his time as governor, but Kennebec County Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy ordered the expansion to begin Dec. 5. The governor’s office may still appeal the decision to the high court but won’t have much time to continue holding up proceedings. Democratic Gov.-elect Janet Mills, who will be sworn in Jan. 2, has said that her top priority when she takes over the role will be to expand the program. The order is retroactive and will apply to people who had applied to be covered under Medicaid on or after July 2. Murphy wrote in her order that the expansion could be paid for through the current Medicaid fund until May 2019, and that the legislature needed to address the issue. Robyn Merrill, executive director of Maine Equal Justice, the group behind the lawsuit, called the order a “huge victory” for the state.

“The executive branch has a duty to carry out all the laws, not pick and choose, and today’s ruling holds them accountable,” Merrill said.

FDA: Romaine lettuce from California ‘likely’ to blame for E.coli outbreak. The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that efforts are underway to remove romaine lettuce from California from the supply chain, as they believe an E.coli outbreak likely originated from the Golden State. In a series of tweets, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the goal afterwards is to restock the market with untainted produce from different growing regions. “UPDATE ON OUTBREAK: The romaine implicated in the current outbreak is likely from California based on growing and harvesting patterns,” t said. “The goal now is to withdraw the product that’s at risk of being contaminated from the market, and then re-stock the market.” “New romaine from different growing regions, including Florida and Arizona, will soon be harvested. We’re working with growers and distributors on labeling produce for location and harvest date and possibly other ways of informing consumers that the product is ‘post-purge,'” he added. “We want to help unaffected growers get back into production and enable stores and consumers to re-stock.”

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to take up transgender military ban, bypass appeals courts. The Trump administration made a move to bypass the appeals court system Friday by asking the Supreme Court to take up three lawsuits challenging restrictions on transgender military service. Solicitor General Noel Francisco filed petitions in three cases, asking the Supreme Court step in before the appeals courts currently looking into them can make a ruling and claiming that lower courts’ injunctions blocking the ban are detrimental to the military. The maneuver comes after President Trump engaged in a back-and-forth with the Judicial Branch of government this week, condemning the “total disaster” 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for its record of overturning rulings and engaging in a public fight with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on the matter.

FDA to overhaul how it will approve medical devices. The Food and Drug Administration announced on Monday it is proposing radically changing how it approves medical devices in order to better reflect new technology. The agency rolled out proposed changes to the 510K process, the regulatory pathway that most devices get approved in the U.S. Under 510K, a devicemaker must prove their product is substantially equivalent to an older product already on the market. The problem is that some of these older products, which the agency calls “predicate” devices, can be decades old. So the FDA said on Monday that it wants to retire older predicate devices. In their place, the agency would want device makers to instead base their products on more recent products that have been on the market. The agency said that last year it cleared 3,173 products through 510K, about 82 percent of total devices cleared or approved. Agency data also shows that nearly 20 percent of current devices cleared by a 510K pathway are based on a predicate that is more than 10 years old. The FDA hopes to put out new regulations on the 510K pathway next year.

Scientist claims he’s created the first gene-edited babies in China. A Chinese scientist announced late last night that he has created the first pair of genetically edited twins, altering their DNA to protect them from being infected by HIV. He Jiankui of Shenzhen told the Associated Press that he edited embryos for seven couples, and that one resulted in a pregnancy. The twin girls were born this month, and He said their parents did not want to interviewed. “Two beautiful little Chinese girls name Lulu and Nana came crying into the world as healthy as any other babies a few weeks ago,” He says in a video posted online. “The babies are home now with their mom Grace and their dad Mark.”  He’s claims haven’t been published in a medical journal or been independently confirmed. The twins’ father had HIV, but had not passed it on because he was taking medication to suppress the virus from turning into AIDS. The DNA change was intended to prevent a future infection for the girls, by disabling a gene that allows HIV to enter a cell. He said he used a gene editing tool known as “CRISPR,” which allows scientists to either add a gene that is needed or disable a gene that is causing problems. It’s been tried in adults but editing sperm and eggs is considered different because the changes can be inherited.

Congo to start multi-drug Ebola treatment trial. The Democratic Republic of Congo said that it would conduct the first trial to look at multiple drugs to treat Ebola as the deadly disease continues to ravage the country. The World Health Organization said in a release on Monday that so far more than 160 patients have been treated with investigational drugs throughout the outbreak in the country. “Until now, patients have been treated under a compassionate use protocol, with drugs that showed promise and had a good safety profile in laboratory conditions,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement. “The giant step DRC is taking now will bring clarity about what works best, and save many lives in years to come.” The compassionate use protocol didn’t look into the safety and effectiveness of the products. Patients won’t be treated differently than before but now data will be gathered in a more effective way, WHO said.

RUNDOWN

Kaiser Health News Overshadowed by opioids, meth is back and hospitalizations surge

Axios Most health data breaches aren’t hacks

The Hill Anti-abortion groups in standoff with Trump over fetal tissue research

Politico Can House Democrats really protect Obamacare?

STAT News A SCOTUS case on ‘cobra sexual energy’ supplements highlights FDA’s oversight of a growing industry

Associated Press Battle over Idaho’s abortion reporting law awaits ruling

NPR Dangerous infection tied to hospitals now becoming common outside of them