Why it matters: The world’s largest retailer cited "growing federal, state and local regulatory complexity and uncertainty" around the product and said that it would stop selling e-cigarettes after selling through its current inventory.
Editor's note: Bookerdropped outof contention for the Democratic presidential nomination on Jan. 13, 2020. Below is our original article on his candidacy.
Democrat Cory Booker is a New Jersey senator known for his optimistic views. The former mayor of Newark lived in one of the city's most distressed buildings until 2006 in a show of defiance against the landlord and the city.
Altria's $12.8 billion investment for a 35% stake in Juul is at risk of becoming one of the worst corporate investments of all time.
Driving the news: So far, vaping is suspected or confirmed as the cause of death for 8 people and 530 cases of pulmonary illness across 38 states, the CDC said, with a federal official saying that a criminal probe has begun.
More evidence is piling up that when doctors and insurers sit at a table with a third-party arbiter to solve billing disputes, the outcome could benefit the doctors.
Driving the news: 2 new government reports show how arbitration, one of the solutions being considered by Congress, works in theory and in the real world.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi released an aggressive proposal to rein in drug prices yesterday, and in a now-familiar fashion, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he hated it while President Trump kept the door open.
What they're saying: "I like Sen. Grassley's drug pricing bill very much, and it's great to see Speaker Pelosi's bill today," Trump tweeted.
The Medicare for All debate is often defined as a single-payer system versus a public option that preserves a role for private insurance — but there are big differences among the public option plans that the 2020 Democrats have proposed.
Why it matters: These differences impact enrollees' pocketbooks, the burden on taxpayers and the amount of disruption a public option would have on the existing system.
Every 5 seconds a child under 15 years old died in 2018, mostly from preventable causes, according to the latest mortality trends report from 2 UN agencies.
The big picture: UNICEF and the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNIGME) found the total number of deaths among children and adolescents under 15 years old has dropped by 56% since 1990 — from about 14.2 million to 6.2 million in 2018. Causes of death include treatable infectious diseases, nutritional causes, drowning, burns and injuries.
The number of possible cases of severe respiratory illnesses among people who vaped nicotine or cannabis products has jumped by nearly 50% to 530 in 38 states and 1 territory, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday.
Why it matters: There have been8 confirmed deaths related to e-cigarette use, but no single product or substance has been definitively tied to the illnesses, the CDC said in its media briefing. This includes products purchased from unauthorized retailers. The CDC still advises that people should avoid using e-cigarettes.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has put forward an aggressive plan allowing Medicare to negotiate the prices of some prescription drugs that could also be applied in the commercial market.
Why it matters: Under any other GOP administration, this plan would be dead on arrival. But Washington is waiting to see whether President Trump bites — and can then browbeat other Republicans into voting for it.
New York Reps. Tom Suozzi (D) and Peter King (R) will announce Thursday a bill that would introduce a federal tax on e-cigarettes and codify into law a ban on flavored e-cigarette and tobacco products.
Why it matters: It's the only bipartisan federal legislation that introduces a tax on e-cigarettes.
The health care industry continued to rake in record-level profits in the second quarter, with its year-over-year earnings increasing by 23%, according to an Axios analysis of 160 companies.
The bottom line: Pharmaceutical firms and hospitals, in particular, are reaping some of the largest rewards even amid the sustained public furor over drug prices and surprise medical bills.
