Brainstorm Health: Overcoming Everyday Terror, Allergan Earnings, Obamacare Open Enrollment

Good morning. I won’t write this morning about the terror attack in New York City yesterday that took the lives of eight people and injured a dozen more. I won’t write about the rented pickup truck that mowed them down on a pedestrian walkway and bike path, along a glistening, sun-dappled river. I won’t link this weaponized vehicle to the one that took the life of Heather Heyer, the 32-year-old woman who was killed by a hate-filled driver who plowed his car into a crowd in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August. The Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond said Heyer had perished from “blunt force injury”—words that conjure up a brutally swung lead pipe, but not the one who swung it. I won’t talk this morning about the 13 lives that were lost, or the more than 100 who were injured, when a 22-year-old terrorist rammed his van into a crowd of pedestrians strolling along Las Ramblas in Barcelona this summer—nor will I mention the 86 people who were killed in Nice on the evening of Bastille Day in 2016, when a mindless thug drove his cargo truck into a mass of celebrants who had gathered to watch fireworks on the Promenade des Anglais.

Today, as it was yesterday, and almost certainly as it will be tomorrow, many of us will speak of a “new type of terror”—of a terror that invades our “everyday,” our Tuesday lunch hours, our quiet strolls along the river—and of the new protections we must take to prevent it. There will be talk of barricades and barriers and borders and blockades. There will be talk of hardening the soft targets all around us.

But human beings are, by their very nature, soft targets. Our softness is what makes us human. That’s a lesson I’ve learned and relearned every day as I write these essays on health and wellness.

Don’t be mistaken, however: Softness isn’t frailty; it’s the very opposite. It’s what allows us to adjust in a flash, to rebound rather than fracture, to recover and move on. Softness is our strength. But I won’t talk about that today.

Clifton Leaf, Editor in Chief, FORTUNE

@CliftonLeaf

clifton.leaf@fortune.com

DIGITAL HEALTH

Garmin shares up despite fitness tracker weakness. Shares of Garmin were up nearly 6% in early Wednesday trading following profits that beat Wall Street expectations for an eighth consecutive quarter—but it's no thanks to the tech firm's fitness trackers, which many companies in the space have been struggling to boost. Garmin's fitness business still faced losses, but outdoor activity products like underwater watches had a strong quarter. (Fortune)

INDICATIONS

Allergan beats earnings expectations on flagship drug sales. Drug maker Allergan on Wednesday reported third quarter profits which topped analyst expectations, with net revenues rising more than 11% compared to a year ago. That's largely thanks to its flagship Botox cosmetic product, which raked in $774.5 million in sales, and Allergan's eye care unit, which includes the dry eye drug Restasis. The company has fought hard to protect IP on the latter product, including by striking a controversial deal with a Native tribe to safeguard its patents from certain challenges. (Reuters)

THE BIG PICTURE

What you need to know about open enrollment in a tumultuous time for Obamacare. Health insurance is pretty confusing as far as ubiquitous consumer products go. It's way more confusing for people who want to buy individual insurance plans at a time when Obamacare is under attack by the executive branch and Congress. I have a guide up on some of the most common questions about health insurance open enrollment season, which begins today and ends December 15 for Obamacare. (Fortune)