The New York Times: With New Congress Poised To Convene, Obama’s Policies Are In Peril
The most powerful and ambitious Republican-led Congress in 20 years will convene Tuesday, with plans to leave its mark on virtually every facet of American life — refashioning the country’s social safety net, wiping out scores of labor and environmental regulations and unraveling some of the most significant policy prescriptions put forward by the Obama administration. (Steinhauer, 1/1)

Los Angeles Times: Congress Opens With An Ambitious Republican Agenda For The Trump Era
Republicans remain at odds on some high-profile issues — such as how aggressively to investigate Russian hacking in the 2016 election — and how to fulfill other big-ticket promises, such as replacing Obamacare. Despite firm Republican control of both the White House and Congress, the internal disputes have left them without a clear plan yet for Trump’s first 100 days, or an endgame for the two years of the 115th Congress. (Mascaro, 1/2)

The Washington Post: Claiming Mandate, GOP Congress Lays Plans To Propel Sweeping Conservative Agenda
Few presidential candidates have dominated the coverage of an election like Trump did in 2016. In the campaign’s final stretch, Republican candidates often got less attention for their records in Congress than for their positions on Trump’s controversial statements. The irony, as Democrats realized after the election, was that congressional Republicans were poised to have more influence over the national agenda in 2017 than congressional Democrats did after the 2008 election that put Obama in the White House with his party in control on Capitol Hill. (Weigel, 1/2)

The Associated Press: GOP Congress Feels It Has Mandate To Undo Obama's Agenda
Republicans' grip on all levers of power stands as a mandate to the GOP-led Congress, which will move swiftly to try to undo eight years of outgoing President Barack Obama's agenda. With Republican President-elect Donald Trump just weeks away from assuming office, GOP lawmakers plan to open the 115th Congress on Tuesday and immediately take steps to repeal Obama's health care law. ... House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says Democrats "stand ready to fight vigorously" to protect health care and other priorities. (Jalonick, 1/2)

Even as Republicans plan their strategy to repeal the health law, one of its most ardent critics is causing controversy among doctors.

The New York Times: Trump’s Health Secretary Pick Leaves Nation’s Doctors Divided
Seven years ago, the A.M.A.’s support helped lift President Obama’s health care proposals toward passage, and the group has backed the law, with some reservations, since its adoption in 2010. But as Republicans push for its dismantlement, deep disagreements within the A.M.A., which has long wielded tremendous power in Washington, could lessen its influence. The concerns voiced by dissident doctors do not appear to imperil Senate confirmation of [Rep. Tom Price who is nominated to be the new HHS secretary], but they do ensure that his confirmation hearings next month will be as contentious as any held for a Trump nominee, featuring a full public examination of the new president’s proposed health policies. (Pear, 12/26)

Politico: Dems, GOP Get Ready For Showdown On Obamacare
The long-standing fight over Obamacare's repeal is about to become a battle over messaging. Instead of doing a victory lap after they start dismantling the law in January, Republicans will not only have to rewrite a massive law, they'll have to quickly sell the public on the idea that their plan is cheaper and won't leave millions of Americans uninsured. An early look at the GOP's plans shows that they will be pushing the idea that "universal access" to health insurance is better than mandatory "universal coverage," which has been the foundation of Obamacare. (Haberkorn and Pradhan, 1/3)

The Associated Press: Q&A: How Would GOP Repeal Health Care Law?
With the Republicans controlling Congress and Donald Trump entering the White House on Jan. 20, their mantra of repeal and replace is now a top-tier goal that the party's voters fully expect them to achieve — starting this week. But by unwinding the statute, the GOP would kill or recast programs that provide coverage to 20 million Americans who will be wary of anyone threatening their health insurance. And continuing Republican rifts over how to reshape the law, pay for the replacement and avoid destabilizing health insurance markets mean party leaders have a bumpy path ahead. (Fram, 1/2)

The Hill: Paul: Repeal, Replace ObamaCare Simultaneously 
Sen. Rand Paul is urging Congress to repeal and replace ObamaCare at the same time, as lawmakers pave the way this week to roll back the law. The Kentucky Republican wrote in an op-ed published by Rare that it would be "wise" to vote on a replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act as they repeal the Obama-era law. "If Congress fails to vote on a replacement at the same time as repeal, the repealers risk assuming the blame for the continued unraveling of Obamacare. For mark my words, Obamacare will continue to unravel and wreak havoc for years to come," he wrote. (Carney, 1/2)

NPR: Obamacare Is First Item On Congress' Chopping Block
That new health care plan hasn't been fleshed out yet by Trump or his allies in Congress. So they say they'll vote to get rid of Obamacare, but delay its demise until they come up with a replacement that will cover the millions of people who have insurance thanks to the law. But insurance companies and health care analysts are worried. (Kodjak, 1/2)

Politico: Pence To Huddle With House Republicans Wednesday
Vice President-elect Mike Pence will rally House Republicans Wednesday morning on a plan to repeal Obamacare, POLITICO has learned — a counter-punch to President Barack Obama’s visit to the Hill the same day. Pence will meet with the full House Republican Conference to talk about the party’s plan to dismantle Obama’s signature health care law, according to a House Republican leadership aide. (Bade, 1/2)

PoliticoPro: New GOP Congress Confronts A Crushing To-Do List
Republicans want to pass repeal legislation in the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency, but there could be disagreements about which elements of Obamacare they want to demolish and how to achieve their goals. The resulting sprint could feel more like a marathon as Democrats lay plans for a messaging offensive against Trump and the GOP, charging them with depriving millions of Americans of health care with no clear plan for what comes next. (Bade and Schor, 1/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Republican Congress Promises To Move Quickly Toward Goals
One of the first goals for Republican leaders is to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. ... As with many of the Republican goals, the effort is creating a maze of challenges. The most pressing is how to develop a replacement for the 2010 health law without triggering the sort of disruptions that accompanied the law’s rollout, which in turn contributed to the Democrats’ loss of their Senate majority in 2014. (Hughes and Peterson, 1/2)

Bloomberg: GOP Readies Swift Obamacare Repeal With No Replacement Ready
The first major act of the unified Republican government in 2017 will be a vote in Congress to begin tearing down Obamacare. But the euphoria of finally acting on a long-sought goal will quickly give way to the reality that Republicans -- and President-elect Donald Trump -- have no agreement thus far on how to replace coverage for about 20 million people who gained insurance under the health-care law. (Kapur, 12/29)

Beyond plans for the health law, Republicans would also like to make changes to Medicare and Medicaid -

The Hill: House, Senate Headed For Clash On Medicare 
Senate and House Republicans are headed for a clash over whether to tackle Medicare reform under President-elect Donald Trump. Senate Republican leaders prefer to focus narrowly on an ObamaCare replacement bill that does not contain changes to Medicare — a cautious approach that reflects their slim majority. But House Republicans, firmly in control of the lower chamber, want to aim higher. They say unified Republican control of government is a chance to finally enact the entitlement reforms that they’ve been talking about for years. (Bolton, 1/1)

The Associated Press: With Trump's Victory, GOP Hopes To Overhaul Medicaid
Trump initially said during the presidential campaign that he would not cut Medicaid, but later expressed support for an idea pushed for years by Republicans in Congress — sending a fixed amount of money each year to the states in the form of block grants. Backers say such a change in the Medicaid formula is one of the best ways to rein in spending, but critics say big cuts would follow. ... Republicans have argued that states have little incentive to keep expenses under control, because no state pays more than half the total cost. (Cassidy, 12/29)

The Associated Press: Democrats Extol Health Care Law In Bid To Derail GOP Repeal
Senior House Democrats on Monday extolled the benefits of President Barack Obama's health care law in hopes of derailing Republican plans to gut the statute and over time replace it. In a conference call with reporters, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the GOP will begin its "assault" on the health care law when the 115th Congress convenes Tuesday. She said abolishing the law, known as the Affordable Care Act, as Republicans have promised will mean that people will pay more for their health insurance while getting much less than they do now. Undoing the law also will undermine Medicaid and Medicare, she said. (Lardner, 1/2)

Fox News: Hill Democrats Outline Counterattack For ObamaCare Repeal, Prep For President's Visit
Top House Democrats gave more clues Monday about how they’ll fight GOP efforts to repeal ObamaCare, sharing enrollment figures and stories about Americans saved by the health care law, ahead of President Obama’s visit Wednesday. ... [House Minority Leader Nancy] Pelosi and [House Minority Whip Steny] Hoyer argued that at least 20 million Americans would lose their health insurance, in part subsidized by the federal government, and chided Republicans for having no immediate plan to replace the law, more formally known as the Affordable Care Act. “Understand, repeal and delay is an act of cowardice,” said Pelosi, D-Calif. (Emanuel, 1/2)

Politico: Obama To Huddle With Hill Democrats On Saving Obamacare
Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has promised to stand firm against repeal efforts and subsequently, Republican efforts to replace the Affordable Care Act with a more conservative framework. And a conference call convened by House Democrats earlier this week focused largely on emphasizing the benefits of Obamacare, with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) noting that she sees parallels between the current situation and the 2005 effort by then-President George W. Bush to privatize Social Security, according to an aide on the call. (Kim, 12/30)

The Hill: Obama, Dems Eyeing Strategy To Defend ObamaCare 
Obama will hold a joint meeting with House and Senate Democrats at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the Capitol Visitor Center auditorium. The notice for the meeting says the session is expected to last "at least one hour." The White House said Obama will use the meeting to "share his perspective about the dangers posed by Congressional Republicans’ stated strategy to repeal the [Affordable Care Act] before proposing any replacement, creating chaos in the health system in the short run — and holding hostage Americans’ health care — while Republicans develop their plan."  (Sullivan, 12/30)

The Associated Press: Obama’s Last Month: ‘Obamacare’ Defense, Chicago Speech
Obama also planned to answer questions about the future of the health care law next Friday during a livestreamed event at Blair House, just across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. Initially stunned by the defeat of Hillary Clinton, Democrats are now trying to organize a counter-attack to preserve the ACA, among the most significant expansions of the social safety net since Medicare and Medicaid were created 50 years ago. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi has urged her lawmakers to make health care their focus at the start of the year. (Lederman, 12/30)

The Washington Post: Sanders, Democratic Leaders Announce ‘Day Of Action’ To Preempt Health Care Cuts
Democratic congressional leaders and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) have called for a Jan. 15 “Day of Action” to oppose any cuts to health-care plans or subsidies from the incoming Trump presidential administration, the latest example of the Vermont senator pushing his (briefly) adopted party toward more activism. (Weigel, 12/28)

The Washington Post: Why Obamacare Is Unlikely To Die A Swift Death
Congressional Republicans have long boasted that once they claim the reins of power, they will act quickly and decisively to roll back what they view as the most onerous piece of President Obama’s domestic agenda: the Affordable Care Act. But their actions starting Tuesday to end Obamacare will be far less sweeping, at least initially, than a full-blown repeal of the law. Democratic opposition and complex Senate rules mean that core pieces of the 2010 health-care overhaul are likely to remain, including the legal framework for the individual mandate and pieces of the state exchanges the law created. (Snell and DeBonis, 1/2)

The New York Times: After Obama, Some Health Reforms May Prove Lasting
The Affordable Care Act is in extreme peril .... But the transformation of American health care that has occurred over the last eight years — touching every aspect of the system, down to a knee replacement in the nation’s heartland — has a momentum that could prove impossible to stop. Expanding insurance coverage to more than 20 million Americans is among Mr. Obama’s proudest accomplishments, but the changes he has pushed go deeper. They have had an impact on every level of care. (Goodnough and Pear, 1/3)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Future Of Health Care Unclear As Fate Of Obamacare Hangs In The Balance 
The decision last year by some of the nation’s most powerful insurance companies to pull out of the health exchanges left consumers with fewer choices. Premiums and deductibles are up for 2017 coverage, both on and off the exchanges. And taxpayers are facing a bigger bill to help cover people eligible for subsidies. The insurer exits, premium hikes and dwindling choices prompted critics to declare doom for the law known as Obamacare by opponents and some supporters. But the Obama administration has rejected any doomsday talk and has vigorously defended the benefits of the bill that has brought uninsured rates to historic lows. (Liss, 12/31)

Modern Healthcare: Outlook For 2017: Healthcare Re-Reform 
Insurers and providers were counting on continuing to add paying customers under the ACA's premium subsidy framework, with more states expanding Medicaid to low-income adults. But after the surprise presidential victory of Republican Donald Trump, industry groups have no clear idea what the new framework will be if Trump and the Republican Congress make good on their pledge to repeal and replace Obamacare. Beyond that, there's great uncertainty whether and at what level Republicans will fund a wide range of health programs, including medical research, mental health and addiction services, public health, community health centers and the Children's Health Insurance Program. Trump's picks for cabinet-level posts, notably Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) at the Office of Management and Budget, are no fans of government social spending. (Meyer, 12/31)

Fiscal Times: Obamacare Repeal Will Test The Definition Of ‘Insurance’
Congressional Republicans, determined to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with an as-yet undefined alternative, are likely to find themselves wandering through a minefield of difficult policy problems when they return to Washington for the next Congress. These range from the fundamental question of what actually constitutes “health insurance coverage” to thorny questions about whether refundable tax credits would actually create the necessary incentive to encourage the uninsured to purchase coverage. (Garver, 1/3)

The New York Times: House Republicans Fret About Winning Their Health Care Suit
Congressional Republicans have a new fear when it comes to their two-year-old health care lawsuit against the Obama administration: They might win. ... That could lead to chaos in the insurance market and spur a political backlash just as Republicans gain full control of the government. (Hulse, 12/31)

The Washington Post: The Head Of The FDA Defends The Importance Of Drug Effectiveness
First things first: Food and Drug Commissioner Robert Califf says that he has not had any contact with the Trump transition team. That's the latest sign that the cardiologist, confirmed as FDA chief less than a year ago, will be heading back to Durham, N.C., where he's on leave from Duke University. Still, he has no regrets: “Everyone who knows me knows I have just had fun every day on the job,” he said in an interview. (McGinley, 12/29)

Stat: FDA Drug Approvals Plummeted This Year, But 2017 Is Looking Rosier
Among the many stats that illustrate the biopharma industry’s rough and tumble 2016, new drug approvals fell to their lowest total in nearly a decade after a booming few years. What happened? If you ask the Food and Drug Administration, drug makers got a little worse at their jobs, and the agency got better at its own. But some analysts say it’s likely just a calendar-related blip that should give way to a more profligate 2017 and beyond. (Garde, 12/30)

NPR: Critics Worry New Law Will Weaken FDA Regulation
The 21st Century Cures Act promised more money for medical research, but some worry it will make patients more vulnerable. Ailsa Chang talks to Dr. Jerry Avorn about possible changes under the law. (1/1)

USA Today: Soaring Insulin Prices Prompt Insurance Shift
Many parents of diabetic children and adults suffering with type 1 or type 2 diabetes are bracing for changes in insurance coverage of their insulin next year, as prices of the vital medication continue to soar. Higher insurance deductibles and changes in the prescription brands covered by some insurers are raising concerns among some people with diabetes. (O'Donnell, 1/2)

Stat: Whistleblower's Off-Label Marketing Suit Against Celgene Can Proceed To Trial, Judge Rules
A federal judge in California has ruled that a multi-billion dollar whistleblower case against biotech giant Celgene Corp. can proceed to a jury trial. The case alleges that Celgene marketed two drugs for unapproved uses, causing the government to pay for hundreds of thousands of “off-label” prescriptions. In an opinion issued Wednesday night, Judge George H. King, of the Central District of California, wrote that former employee Beverly Brown had provided solid evidence to support her claim that Celgene promoted Thalomid and Revlimid for use in cancer patients. The FDA had approved the drugs only for other purposes, and the company was not permitted to pitch it to doctors for unapproved, or off-label, uses. (Kaplan, 12/29)

Stat: Zika Threat Isn't Over, CDC Director Warns Pregnant Women Thinking About Beach Vacations
Over the past year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took the extraordinary step of urging pregnant women to avoid travel to dozens of mainly Latin American countries to stave off infection with the Zika virus. With inclement weather prompting Americans to muse about winter vacations in sunny climes, the CDC wants to make it clear: That recommendation still stands. CDC Director Tom Frieden admitted he is worried that people may think the worst of Zika is over and that they can let down their guard. (Branswell, 12/30)

Health News Florida: Mosquito Populations Low? Now’s The Time To Really Fight Zika, Says Researcher
Mosquito populations may be dropping with the temperature outside right now, and that means this is the right time to ramp up mosquito prevention efforts, says Dr. Uriel Kitron. Kitron is an expert on mosquito-borne diseases and a professor and chair of environmental sciences at Emory University. (Mack, 12/29)

Minneapolis Star Tribune: Uncertainty Greets Gov. Dayton, Lawmakers In New Year And Session
Minnesota’s legislative session begins Tuesday in the newly reopened and freshly refurbished State Capitol, but familiar surroundings are the only certainty awaiting Gov. Mark Dayton and 201 lawmakers as they prepare for multibillion-dollar decisions about taxpayer money at a volatile time in U.S. politics. ... Chief among [the issues] will be efforts to fix the state’s struggling health insurance system, which in turn will be heavily influenced by the push in Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Thousands of Minnesotans whose premiums are poised to shoot up, and hundreds of thousands in the state who have gained coverage under the seven-year-old federal law, have much on the line. (Condon, 1/1)

Pioneer Press: Republican Majority, Democratic Governor Must Work Together
After two years of stalemates, stalled negotiations and acrimony at the state Capitol, a majority of Minnesota voters on Nov. 8 decided the solution was more Republicans in the Legislature. Now they expect a Republican legislative majority and a Democratic governor to find solutions for the state’s most pressing issues. And what was promised on the campaign trail will likely play a factor in what happens when the 2017 session of the Legislature convenes on Jan. 3. Republicans credit some of their recent success at the ballot box with their role as a check on the spending and policy proposals of Gov. Mark Dayton and the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. (Magan, 12/28)

The Associated Press: Trump Presidency Puts California Legislature In Defense Mode
As California lawmakers return to Sacramento on Wednesday, liberal dreams of expanding safety-net benefits and providing health coverage to immigrants are giving way to a new vision revolving around a feverish push to protect gains racked up in the past. After years of pushing forward a progressive agenda, legislative Democrats will be pushing back against conservative policies from President-elect Donald Trump and the Republican Congress. (Cooper, 1/2)

Kaiser Health News: Offering Syringes Along With Prayers, Churches Help IV Drug Users
When Gov. Pat McCrory signed legislation in July legalizing syringe exchange programs in North Carolina, James Sizemore rejoiced. The pastor of a small church, Sizemore had — with the tacit approval of some, but not all, local law enforcement — been offering clean syringes to drug users to help them avoid contracting HIV and hepatitis C. Now he could do so without fear of arrest. (Sisk, 1/3)

The Associated Press: Federal Prosecutor Tackles Heroin Scourge That Claimed Son
[Bruce] Brandler, a veteran federal prosecutor recently promoted to interim U.S. attorney, suddenly finds himself in a position to do something about the [heroin] scourge that claimed his youngest son's life. Until now, he has never publicly discussed Erik's overdose death. It was private and just too painful. But Brandler, now the chief federal law enforcement officer for a sprawling judicial district that covers half of Pennsylvania, said he felt a responsibility that came with his new, higher-profile job. (Rubinkam, 1/2)

In related news -

Boston Globe: Doctors Are Cutting Opioids, Even If It Harms Patients
More than half of doctors across America are curtailing opioid prescriptions, and nearly 1 in 10 have stopped prescribing the drugs, according to a new nationwide online survey. But even as physicians retreat from opioids, some seem to have misgivings: More than one-third of the respondents said the reduction in prescribing has hurt patients with chronic pain. (Freyer, 1/3)

Earlier, related KHN coverage: Tighter Prescribing Rules: An Anti-Abuse Strategy That Could Hurt Patients In Pain (Luthra, 11/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: Historic SF Parental Leave Law Kicks In
Most new parents with jobs in San Francisco will be eligible for six weeks of fully paid leave starting this week, the result of the most comprehensive parental leave law offered anywhere in the country. The law, unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors in April, seeks to encourage bonding between parents and their new children, and applies to mothers and fathers who have a baby together by birth, adopt or become foster parents. It also extends to same-sex couples. (Green, 1/2)

Minnesota Public Radio: More Minnesota Firms Offering New Parents Paid Leave
Only about one American private-sector employee in 10 works for an organization that provides paid leave for new parents. But a growing number of major employers in Minnesota are offering the benefit, figuring it's not just a nice thing to do but also a smart business move. (Moylan, 12/29)

News outlets also report on the challenges that remain in terms of child care assistance, pregnancy options and birth control coverage issues -

The Washington Post: Wealthy Maryland Is Poor In Child-Care Subsidies
A group of Maryland lawmakers is pushing Gov. Larry Hogan and the General Assembly to increase financial assistance for families struggling to cover child-care costs, noting that the state ranks among the least generous in the nation for such aid. (Hicks, 1/2)

San Francisco Chronicle/CAL Matters: How California Limits Affordable Care Options For Pregnant Women
Affordable homes with ample lots lure many families to the San Bernardino County town of Apple Valley in the Mojave Desert. But amenities are limited — no department stores, no Costco and, more important, few affordable medical care options for pregnant women. For Cassandra Lindstrom, that meant scheduling the birth of her second baby at a hospital at least an hour away over busy Cajon Pass. “I was worried that I wouldn’t make it in time and (would) give birth on the freeway,” she said. (Canto. 1/1)

PoliticoPro: Advocates Hope States Will Help Preserve Birth Control Gains Under Obamacare
Advocates for reproductive rights and low-income patients are looking to the states to preserve birth control coverage gains under Obamacare, a contentious piece of the law that’s expected to be high on Republicans’ target list this year. The health care law requires most insurance plans to cover a number of preventive services for women at no cost. But many of the specifics, including that insurance cover all FDA-approved forms of contraception without imposing out-of-pocket costs on women, were left up to the Obama administration to define through guidelines. That leaves an opening for President-elect Donald Trump to unravel them through administrative action. (Pradhan, 1/3)

Boston Globe: Medicaid May Bar Seniors’ Trust Funds To Pay For Extras
Hundreds of disabled seniors in Massachusetts may soon face a daunting choice if they want services under the state’s Medicaid program: Ditch the trusts they set up to pay for extras, such as dental work and a home health aide, or risk losing public benefits. MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid health insurance program for nearly 2 million low-income and disabled residents, is considering changes in eligibility requirements that would make it harder for residents older than 65 to establish special-needs trust accounts and still qualify for nursing home care and other health services from state and federal government agencies. (Fernandes, 1/3)

Sante Fe New Mexican: State Cancels Planned Medicaid Rate Cuts
The New Mexico Human Services Department is canceling planned cuts in rates paid to behavioral health care providers treating Medicaid patients. The reimbursement rate cuts were set to go in effect Jan. 1. But state Human Services officials reversed course earlier this month on cutting Medicaid reimbursement rates for certain psychiatric and therapeutic services, according to a memo Human Services sent to providers. (Horwath, 12/31)

Columbus Dispatch: Report Cites Gains From Ohio's Medicaid Expansion
With President-elect Donald Trump and congressional Republicans planning to repeal Obamacare, Gov. John Kasich’s administration released a report Friday saying that Ohio’s 2014 Medicaid expansion has improved the health and reduced financial hardships for hundreds of thousands of poor Ohioans. The analysis, requested by the General Assembly, found that among the 702,000 who gained coverage as of May 2016: 75 percent were uninsured before becoming eligible for Medicaid, (Candisky, 12/31)

The Associated Press: Planned Parenthood Asks Judge To Halt Texas Medicaid Cuts
Planned Parenthood has asked a federal judge to stop Texas from cutting it from the state's Medicaid program, which the nation's largest abortion provider says would reduce health services for nearly 11,000 low-income women. The request to U.S. District Sam Sparks was filed late Friday in Austin and is part of an ongoing lawsuit filed last year. (Weber, 12/31)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Mental Clinic Scammed Medicaid, Feds Say
A Milwaukee clinic turned urine samples into liquid gold, cheating Medicaid out of millions of dollars by billing for duplicative and unnecessary drug screening tests, federal prosecutors say. In fact, from 2011 to 2015, Acacia Mental Health Clinic LLC, 5228 W. Fond du Lac Ave., captured 99% of all Medicaid payments to mental health and substance abuse counseling providers in Wisconsin, according to a new government lawsuit that aims to claw back some of the money. ... The case highlights a local aspect of a national problem that grew alongside the opioid epidemic. At drug abuse treatment centers, operators increasingly turned to questionable urine screens as a revenue source. (Vielmetti, 1/1)

Texas Tribune: Texas Judge Issues Nationwide Injunction On Federal Transgender Health Mandate
A Texas judge issued an injunction Saturday against a federal mandate aimed to protect transgender people, finding that the federal health rule violates existing law. The preliminary injunction, granted by U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor, is in response to a lawsuit filed by Texas, on behalf of religious hospital network Franciscan Alliance, and four other states in August. (Ura and Dearman, 12/31)

Reuters: U.S. Judge Blocks Transgender, Abortion-Related Obamacare Protections
A federal judge in Texas on Saturday issued a court order barring enforcement of an Obama administration policy seeking to extend anti-discrimination protections under the Affordable Care Act to transgender health and abortion-related services. ... In granting an injunction one day before the new policy was to take effect, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor held that it violates the Administrative Procedure Act, a federal law governing rule-making practices. The judge also ruled that plaintiffs were likely to prevail in court on their claim that the new policy infringes on the rights of private healthcare providers under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. (Gorman, 12/31)

The Associated Press: Texas Judge Halts Federal Transgender Health Protections
The latest injunction signed by U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor comes four months after he blocked a higher-profile new set of transgender protections — a federal directive that required public schools to let transgender students use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. Several of the Republican-controlled states that brought that lawsuit, including Texas, also sued over the health regulations that were finalized in May. Civil rights groups had hailed the new health rules as groundbreaking anti-discrimination protections. (Weber, 12/31)

And in another case --

The Washington Post: Catholic Groups Sue Over Obama Administration Transgender Requirement
An organization of Catholic businesses is suing the Obama administration over a federal rule they say will force Catholic hospitals and doctors to perform gender reassignment services against their faith. The Catholic Benefits Association filed the lawsuit Wednesday in North Dakota District Court along with the Catholic Diocese of Fargo. In a statement, the groups called the rule part of a “multi-agency effort to redefine the term ‘sex’ in federal anti-discrimination laws.” (Somashekhar, 12/29)

Minneapolis Star Tribune: Hennepin Health's Outreach Efforts Improve Health While Saving Money
Jimmie Bishop lived a life of homelessness for two years, punctuated by frequent trips to the emergency room as he bounced from crisis to crisis caused by uncontrolled mental illness and addiction. ... But things did change for the better two years ago, after Bishop enrolled in Hennepin Health, a project created by Minnesota’s largest county to take health care far beyond the front door of a hospital. By adding services that have nothing to do with medical care — helping clients find a job or an apartment — the project has shown it can improve patients’ health while saving money and greatly reducing the number of times they turn up at the ER in crisis. (Howatt, 12/30)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Helping Hospitals Track Counterfeit Drugs Is This Start-Up's Rx
[Dwight deVera's] King of Prussia-based Forerunner Group has created a track-and-trace platform for hospital pharmacies called RXTransparent. The entrepreneurial endeavor was inspired by the Drug Supply Chain Security Act, passed in 2013 to combat counterfeit prescription medications and establish a comprehensive and efficient system for tracking prescription drugs from production to end user. Requirements will be phased in over 10 years, establishing a variety of must-dos for manufacturers, wholesale drug distributors, repackagers, and dispensers (mostly pharmacies). Compliance will be monitored by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  RXTransparent launched a year ago to help hospital pharmacies meet those requirements. Among them: keeping information on each drug purchase for six years. (Mastrull, 12/30)

Kaiser Health News: A Dying Man’s Wish To Save Others Hits Hospital Ethics Hurdle
At 44 years old, Dave Adox was facing the end of his two year battle with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He needed a ventilator to breathe and couldn’t move any part of his body, except his eyes. Once he started to struggle with his eyes — his only way to communicate — Adox decided it was time to die. He wanted to donate his organs, to give other people a chance for a longer life. To do this, he’d need to be in a hospital when he went off the ventilator. ... Adox was asking to be admitted to the hospital specifically to end his life. And despite the planning, his request made some people uncomfortable. (Shakerdge, 1/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Police See Progress In Dealing With People In Mental Crisis
The San Francisco police hostage crisis negotiation team responded to more calls in 2016 than in any year in recent history, an uptick that officials see as a sign that the department is moving in the right direction in dealing with people suffering from mental health crises. (Ho, 1/2)

Kaiser Health News: Fear Of Deportation, Hate Crimes Reportedly Threaten Mental Health Of Young Californians
Around the country, children and adolescents who are undocumented immigrants or who have undocumented family members, are experiencing a surge in stress, depression and anxiety, advocates, educators and mental health providers say. The same is true for young people belonging to other groups targeted by threats or hate crimes, including Muslim and transgender youth. Reports of these mental health concerns remain mostly anecdotal so far. (Weiner, 1/3)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Cyber-Security Consultant Will Check Network At DHHS Following Breach
Governor Maggie Hassan says a cyber-security consultant will evaluate the Department of Health and Human Services’ computer network following a data breach that compromised personal information for as many as 15,000 DHHS clients. ... The breach occurred in the fall of 2015 when a patient at the state-run psychiatric hospital in Concord used a computer in the hospital library to access confidential personal data of HHS clients. (Moon, 12/28)

New Hampshire Union Leader: HHS: No Hacker Skills Were Required For Data Breach 
The data breach that compromised 15,000 patient records in the Department of Health and Human Services did not require any special computer skills on the part of the patient suspected of the breach. The information was readily accessible on computers used by patients at the state’s psychiatric hospital... State officials revealed on Tuesday that some of the personal information from DHHS internal files had been posted on social media, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers and Medicaid identification numbers. (Solomon, 12/28)

CT Mirror: Home Care Agencies Warn New System Could Cause Major Problems
Starting Jan. 1, the state will begin requiring home care workers to use a new electronic system for reporting the time they spend caring for clients covered by certain Medicaid programs – a change forecast to save the state millions of dollars. But home care providers say the rollout could be plagued with problems, including leaving agencies unable to pay their workers if glitches delay claims processing and payments. And one major home care agency says it will refuse to use the new system despite the requirement – and could stop serving more than 1,500 Medicaid clients if the state takes issue with its approach. (Levin Becker, 12/30)

Health News Florida: Expanded Prescribing Powers For PAs, NPs Started Jan. 1
Starting with the new year, physicians assistants and nurse practitioners will be allowed to prescribe medications without a doctor's oversight. Florida has long been a hold out for expanded prescribing powers for these medical providers. But Gov. Rick Scott signed new legislation this summer that changed that. (Miller, 12/30)

Boston Globe: Mass. Physicians Open Debate On End-Of-Life Options
The vote before the Massachusetts Medical Society was whether to approve a survey — just a survey — of members’ attitudes toward “medical aid in dying.” But the discussion last month launched dozens of doctors into a broader emotional debate over end-of-life decisions for their patients. ... In the end, the policy-making body decisively endorsed the survey and approved $25,000 to fund it — a sign that the Massachusetts Medical Society may be reconsidering its historic rejection of what it has called “physician-assisted suicide.’’ (Wen, 1/3)

Nashville Tennessean: Centerstone Takes Comprehensive Approach To Health Care
More than 500 people were part of five-year pilot in Nashville funded by a federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant. Centerstone just ended the first year of a similar program in Clarksville, where some patients showing progress within months of launch, which often takes at least a year or more. A group of 60 people had lost 400 pounds in the first six months, said Mandi Ryan, head of Centerstone’s health homes in Tennessee. WellConnect rolled out these health home services at all of its 19 Tennessee sites in December. It will continue integration efforts through TennCare’s Health Link program that promotes health homes that provide both physical and behavioral health. Mental and physical health is linked. Yet, the health care system treats the issues separately. (Fletcher, 12/30)

Georgia Health News: Bridging The Data Divide: Project Aims To Revolutionize Reporting Of Diseases
At first, Richard Paskach was a bit skeptical. Earlier this year, the health care executive with Minneapolis-based HealthPartners heard an explanation of an ambitious new project. But he believed that it could have trouble achieving its central goal: connecting medical providers with a varied landscape of public health entities. Now, though, he sees the possibilities of the Digital Bridge, which aims to employ electronic health records to increase the accuracy, effectiveness and speed of reporting cases of infectious diseases — such as HIV, TB and measles — to public health agencies. (Miller, 1/1)

The Associated Press: Rural New Mexico Exports Mentoring Model For Physicians
[Dr. Leslie] Hayes and her colleagues treat more than 200 patients for drug-use disorders involving heroin and prescription opioid pain medication at a rural clinic in New Mexico's Espanola Valley, where rates of opioid addiction and mortality are among the nation's highest. Hayes' ability to effectively treat opioid addiction with the medication buprenorphine, which blocks cravings and withdrawal symptoms, would not be possible without years of regular videoconferences with specialists at a major medical center in Albuquerque under a program known as Project ECHO. (Lee, 12/31)

The Associated Press: Texas Judge Takes Specialized Court For Veterans On The Road
[Richard] Ress [who suffered from post traumatic stress disorder] was flagged for a program that aims to divert certain veterans facing criminal charges into treatment programs instead of sending them through the criminal court system. And rather than requiring veterans to travel to court appearances, this court travels to reach them in five counties near Dallas. Judge John Roach Jr. said the court is a first of its kind, and he hopes it will be replicated in other rural areas without public transportation, where getting to hearings can be a challenge. (Lauer, 12/31)

KQED: Will California’s New “Right To Try” Law Empower Or Exploit Patients?
With the enactment of a new “Right to Try” law, California joins 31 other states that have already passed legislation to support patients’ efforts to access experimental drugs. As of January 1, state agencies and licensing boards will not penalize California doctors or hospitals that want to help patients directly petition pharmaceutical companies for the investigational drugs. (Feibel, 1/2)

NPR: With New Law, Illinois Stylists Join The Fight Against Domestic Violence
In an effort to take advantage of the intimate relationships between stylists and their clients, a new law in Illinois will require salon professionals to receive training in domestic abuse-prevention as part of their licensing process. (Penman, 1/1)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Philly Study Finds House Calls Could Help Asthma Patients Living In Poverty
If they went to patients' homes, as community health workers in [Tyra] Bryant-Stephens' program have been doing for 18 years,  they might find them full of possible asthma triggers. They also might learn about the stresses that make it hard for their patients to take their medicines properly. Bryant-Stephens worked with researchers from the University of Pennsylvania to discover  what community health workers saw when they visited adult asthma patients in their low-income Philadelphia neighborhoods.  Community health workers are lay workers who are trained to help patients with health problems.  They are often from the same areas as the patients they serve. (Burling, 1/1)

The Baltimore Sun: Drones Could Soon Get Crucial Medical Supplies To Patients In Need 
Aerial drones could one day ferry life-or-death medical supplies between hospitals now that Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have figured out how to keep blood, medications and vaccines consistently cool during the flights. Interest in the use of drones has surged in recent years as companies, including retail giant Amazon, explore the use of the unmanned aircraft to efficiently and cheaply transport goods above traffic, through bad weather or to otherwise inaccessible or remote areas. (Cohn, 1/1)

Boston Globe: Trial Set To Start For Pharmacy Owner In Deadly Meningitis Outbreak
The central allegations in this case involve the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, and its nationwide recall of the compounded drug preservative-free methylprednisolone acetate in fall 2012. The government alleges that certain vials of methylprednisolone acetate, among other drugs sold by NECC, became contaminated because NECC failed to follow industry standards for compounding sterile injectable drugs. (Valencia, 1/3)

Arizona Republic: Metro Phoenix Doctor Indicted In $100 Million Tricare Fraud Case
A Valley physician is among a dozen doctors, pharmacy owners and marketing pros accused of a kickback scheme that prosecutors allege involved a sham medical study used to bilk up to $102 million from the publicly-funded federal health program for military family members. Walter Neil Simmons, 47, of Gilbert, an emergency medicine doctor who has worked at two metro Phoenix hospital chains, was indicted in October in U.S. District Court in Dallas on one count of conspiracy to commit health-care fraud. (Alltucker, 1/1)

Forbes: Republicans Will Fail To Replace Obamacare, Unless They Carefully Craft Their Repeal
The Obamacare repeal train is leaving the station. Leading Republicans have agreed to a strategy of repealing the Affordable Care Act’s funding streams soon after Donald Trump’s inauguration, but waiting two to three years to replace the health law with better reforms. While the GOP strategy could pay off, it’s highly risky. If Republicans don’t get the initial repeal bill right, they’ll make it extremely difficult—if not impossible—to replace the ACA later on. (Avik Roy, 12/24)

The Wall Street Journal: The GOP’s ObamaCare Moment
With Republicans controlling both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue next year, they have a great, and rare, opportunity for reform. Ronald Reagan revived the economy, but some of his ambitions were checked by Democratic Congresses. The Gingrich Congress reformed welfare but crashed against other entitlements, and the George W. Bush-Tom DeLay GOP wasted a unified government after 2004. The question now is whether Donald Trump and a new congressional generation can enact center-right reform solutions, and the first proving ground will be ObamaCare. (12/27)

The Washington Post: A Brilliantly Simple Alternative To Obamacare ‘Repeal And Delay’
Until the GOP can pass something that garners bipartisan support and solves the Obamacare problems it has identified, it should do nothing. That’s the ultimate “grandfathering” — leave the system in place. That is the only real solution politically or policy-wise that doesn’t create a raft of victims. The sooner the GOP figures this out, the better. (Jennifer Rubin, 12/29)

The New York Times: Republicans Are In Denial On Health Care
Republican critics of the Affordable Care Act have long described it as a house of cards on the verge of collapse. And they continue to be wrong. A record number of people have signed up for health insurance for 2017 on the federal exchanges created by the 2010 law. Nearly 6.4 million people had signed up for coverage as of Monday, which is about 400,000 more than at a similar point last year. Among them were two million people who did not participate in 2016, some of whom might have previously been covered through an employer. (12/23)

The New York Times: Snatching Health Care Away From Millions
Premiums on the exchanges, the insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act, did indeed rise sharply this year, because insurers were losing money. But this wasn’t because of a surge in overall medical costs, which have risen much more slowly since the act was passed than they did before. It reflected, instead, the mix of people signing up — fewer healthy, low-cost people than expected, more people with chronic health issues. The question was whether this was a one-time adjustment or the start of a “death spiral,” in which higher premiums would drive healthy Americans out of the market, further worsening the mix, leading to even higher premiums, and so on. And the answer is that it looks like a one-shot affair. (Paul Krugman, 12/30)

The Washington Post: An Unpopular President. An Unpopular Program. Republicans Call It A ‘Mandate.’
Republicans believe they have a mandate for wholesale, dramatic change. Which is why it’s important to keep in mind that despite what everyone seems to think, 2016 was not really a “change” election, and that’s not just because the outgoing president is extremely popular and his chosen successor got almost 3 million more votes than the person who’ll be in the Oval Office. (Paul Waldman, 1/2)

The Washington Post: America’s Concern For The Poor Is About To Be Tested
Poor Americans are facing the gravest threat to the federal safety net in decades as President-elect Donald Trump takes office accompanied by a Republican-controlled Congress. The risks to essential benefits for tens of millions of low- and moderate-income Americans include losing coverage extended to them by the Affordable Care Act, threats to the fundamental structure of the Medicaid health-insurance program for the poor and further reduction of already squeezed funding for scores of other important programs serving the most vulnerable Americans. (Robert Greenstein, 12/26)

Modern Healthcare: Is Healthcare A Right?
With Republican leaders promising to quickly repeal the Affordable Care Act and only promising to enact a replacement, it's worth revisiting the question of whether healthcare is a right. If the answer is no, then any replacement bill can be deemed acceptable as long as its architects maintain political power. But if the answer is yes, then any replacement bill must be evaluated in terms of what's included in that right. (Merrill Goozner, 12/31)

Los Angeles Times: How Repealing Obamacare Could Bring Disaster To People With Pre-Existing Medical Conditions
Critics of the Affordable Care Act love to bathe the pre-Obamacare period in a golden glow, as if everyone just adored their old insurance plans before the ACA mucked everything up. That adoration doesn’t make much sense to people who tried to find coverage for their pre-existing medical conditions. They were routinely denied coverage, offered bare-bones plans at stratospheric prices or dropped from their plans when they fell ill. ... The consequences of returning to that world would be dire for millions of Americans with such conditions, as a recent paper from the Kaiser Family Foundation reminds us. (Michael Hiltzik, 12/28)

The Wall Street Journal: ‘Reconciliation’ Could Roll Back Obamacare But Roil Senate
The effort by the GOP to peel away parts of the Affordable Care Act could also lead to a showdown over how the Senate runs, due to Republicans’ use of a special Senate rule that allows certain legislation to move through with a simple majority, rather than the 60-vote supermajority typically required. ... Most significantly, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his caucus may be forced to choose between their antipathy toward the ACA, also known as Obamacare, and their allegiance to longstanding institutional norms. In the end, the scope of ACA repeal will likely depend on whether Senate Republicans decide to score political victories in the short term or to maintain the Senate’s unique culture for the long haul. (Daniel J. Hemel and David J. Herzig, 12/30)

The New York Times: Could ‘Repeal And Delay’ Of Obamacare Affect The Birthrate?
Republicans in Congress will soon be able to repeal Obamacare, as they have long wished to do. The Upshot’s health care columnists, Aaron E. Carroll and Austin Frakt, discuss the possibilities — the practical and the political. (12/26)

Sacramento Bee: GOP Should Focus On Drug Costs, Not Obamacare Repeal
As soon as the new Congress is sworn in Tuesday, some Republicans will set about following through on their promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act. If they succeed, it will be a blunder, one that will strike especially hard in California. ... Instead of attacking a program that has worked to provide coverage to 20 million previously uninsured Americans, Congress should turn its attention to what drives up the cost of health care. One place to start is with the high cost of drugs. (1/2)

Bloomberg: Obamacare Didn’t Fail Because It’s Timid
Kevin Drum of Mother Jones thinks that making Obamacare work could have been a simple task for Democrats. All they needed was two things: About twice as much funding, and a higher tax penalty for not buying insurance. ... I agree that higher subsidies and a stronger mandate would have made Obamacare less of a policy train wreck; we probably wouldn’t be so worried about a death spiral if they had passed. On the other hand, it would have made the program much more of a fiscal train wreck. (Megan McArdle, 12/28)

The Washington Post: These Coal Country Voters Backed Trump. Now They’re Worried About Losing Obamacare.
Last night, CNN aired a terrific segment on people from coal country who voted for Donald Trump — but are now worried that his vow to repeal Obamacare will deprive them of crucial protections that enable them to stay afloat financially. This dovetails with other reporting that suggests a lot of Trump voters may be harmed by repeal of the law. Which raises a question: Did voters such as these know they were voting for this? After all, Trump promised countless times throughout the campaign to repeal the Affordable Care Act, didn’t he? If they are complaining about this now, don’t they have only themselves to blame? (Greg Sargent, 12/27)

The Washington Post: Americans Are Dying Younger. Will The Government Do Anything About It?
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, Americans died at a younger age, on average, because of increasing mortality from heart disease, strokes, drug overdoses, diabetes, accidents and other causes, pushing the death rate up 1.2 percent. As the incoming administration prepares to reshape the nation’s health-care system and budget, it should keep in mind the public-health challenges that cannot be solved without government research money, government health campaigns and government support for low-income people. In fact, the challenges may be getting more severe, because baby boomers are aging, requiring more care, and because Americans of many age groups may be living less healthy lives. (12/29)

The New York Times: The Quiet War On Medicaid
Progressives have already homed in on Republican efforts to privatize Medicare as one of the major domestic political battles of 2017. If Donald J. Trump decides to gut the basic guarantee of Medicare and revamp its structure so that it hurts older and sicker people, Democrats must and will push back hard. But if Democrats focus too much of their attention on Medicare, they may inadvertently assist the quieter war on Medicaid — one that could deny health benefits to millions of children, seniors, working families and people with disabilities. (Gene B. Sperling, 12/25)

Forbes: Medicaid Endangers Lives; Block Grants Can Save Them
Democrats and their enablers in the media are hyperventilating about the GOP's drive to cap federal Medicaid funding with a series of "block grants" to the states as part of their replacement plan for Obamacare. ... House Speaker Paul Ryan's plan is no cause for alarm. By freeing states to experiment with new ways of caring for low-income patients, the proposal will likely make Medicaid more effective -- and less costly. (Sally Pipes, 12/26)

The New York Times: How Donald Trump’s Health Secretary Pick Endangers Women
With the selection of Representative Tom Price as secretary of health and human services, President-elect Donald J. Trump has taken a giant step toward undermining the health of American women. ... What may jolt even those who supported Mr. Trump is the extremity of Mr. Price’s views on women’s health. In Congress, he opposed a law that would protect women in Washington, D.C., from employment discrimination based on their decision to use birth control or have an abortion. He was a co-sponsor of legislation that would have defined life as beginning at conception, inviting arguments that common forms of birth control constitute a murder weapon. (Allison K. Hoffman and Jill R. Horwitz, 12/28)

Los Angeles Times: One Obama Rule That Trump Should Keep: Making Sure Family Planning Funds Reach Everyone Who Needs Them
A new rule from the Department of Health and Human Services makes it clear that state agencies should not be determining how to distribute millions of dollars of federal Title X family planning funds based on anything other than a health clinic’s ability to provide those services. This is a provocative but smart move that aims to restore federal funding for healthcare centers serving lower-income populations that have been disqualified by some states simply because they also provide abortions. (12/27)

Los Angeles Times: How Trump Can Help Working-Class Americans: Keep Funding Planned Parenthood
Can Congress stop harassing Planned Parenthood? That would be my wish for the new year. Unfortunately, the harassment may increase in a Trump administration. But it doesn’t have to. It is within President-elect Donald Trump’s power to put a stop to it. (Carla Hall, 12/30)

Bloomberg: Don't Give Up On Medicare Payment Reform
The quest to create a more rational health-care system took a dispiriting turn this month, when the federal government abandoned an effort to motivate doctors to use the best available drugs, rather than the costliest ones. What’s worrisome is that this could be the start of a more general retreat from payment reform in health care as the White House changes hands. ... The broader cause of payment reform is in jeopardy, too, partly because the present administration has moved slowly on it. When Barack Obama exits the White House, dozens of pilot projects for new payment systems will be left unfinished. (12/28)

The New England Journal of Medicine: Should Medicare Value-Based Purchasing Take Social Risk Into Account?
The United States is rapidly moving to a health care delivery system in which value-based payment models are the predominant way of reimbursing clinicians for care. Since caring for patients with social risk factors may cost more and make it harder to achieve high performance on quality metrics, there is long-standing concern about how these patients might fare under such systems and how the systems might affect providers who disproportionately provide care to socially at-risk populations. (Karen E. Joynt, Nancy De Lew, Steven H. Sheingold, Patrick H. Conway, Kate Goodrich and Arnold M. Epstein, 12/28)

Fiscal Times: The VA Doesn’t Need To Be Privatized, And Our Vets Know It
You don’t often see Donald Trump pull a punch, but he did it last week. Trump spent his entire campaign deeply angered by how the government treats veterans, particularly regarding their medical care. He promised to overhaul the Veterans Administration (VA) health care system and “take care” of the vets. Everyone has interpreted this as code for privatizing the VA, a long-awaited conservative goal. But last week at Mar-a-Lago, after a meeting with health care executives about his VA plans, Trump told reporters this: “We think we have to have kind of a public-private option, because some vets love the VA. Definitely an option on the table to have a system where potentially vets can choose either/or or all private.” (David Dayen, 1/3)

The New York Times: Why Keep The Old And Sick Behind Bars?
Anyone who visits a prison these days might be shocked to see what looks more like a nursing home with bars and metal detectors. Prisoners put away years ago under the wave of draconian sentencing are now turning gray and frail, suffering from heart disease and hypertension and feeling the effects of Alzheimer’s and other age-related illnesses. Corrections officials once thought they had time to prepare for this, but something unexpected happened. Federal data shows that prison inmates age more rapidly than people on the outside — because of stress, poor diet and lack of medical care — so much so that their infirmities qualify them as “elderly” at the age of 50. (1/3)

The New York Times: A Zika Vaccine, But For Whom?
The race for a Zika vaccine, one of the most pressing priorities in global health, is at full throttle. More than a dozen companies and government institutions are working to unlock the secrets of the virus, and a vaccine could be available as early as 2018. But available to whom? If history is any guide, impoverished communities in Africa are likely to be the last in line. (Patrick Adams and Cameron Nutt, 12/28)

The New York Times: Black Lung, Incurable And Fatal, Stalks Coal Miners Anew
Appalachian health officials report a shocking rise in cases of black lung — the deadly coal-mining disease thought to have been reined in by a landmark federal law passed in 1969. ... The emergence of a new generation of miners gasping for their lives should give President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to revive the industry, reason to reflect on a safer course for the very workers he claimed to prize as a candidate. There is no known cure for black lung, a wearying disease responsible for 78,000 deaths since 1968. (12/24)

The New York Times: How To Become A ‘Superager’
Why do some older people remain mentally nimble while others decline? “Superagers” (a term coined by the neurologist Marsel Mesulam) are those whose memory and attention isn’t merely above average for their age, but is actually on par with healthy, active 25-year-olds. My colleagues and I at Massachusetts General Hospital recently studied superagers to understand what made them tick. ... We succeeded in identifying a set of brain regions that distinguished the two groups. (Lisa Feldman Barrett, 12/31)

Los Angeles Times: When Cancer Is Trying To Kill You, Another New Year's Eve Is A Humbling Bonus
I am just about through my first bonus holiday season. Last year around this time, my husband and I assumed we had decorated our final Christmas tree, and planned our farewell New Year’s Eve together. I’d been diagnosed with terminal cancer six months earlier and given a year to live. But as I’ve written in earlier op-eds in The Times, a funny thing happened on the way to the funeral. Instead of growing, my tumors started disappearing. By spring of 2016 I was officially a “partial responder” to immunotherapy. (Melinda Welsh, 12/30)

San Jose Mercury News: Carrie Fisher Battled Stigma As Well As Stormtroopers
As therapists, we were astonished to see so many people honor Carrie Fisher’s legacy by sharing their own struggles with mental illness. Their coming out messages on Facebook and Twitter may one day herald a new era of acceptance for millions of people who too often have been blamed for conditions that are as arbitrary as the color of their skin. (Clement Papazian, Elizabeth White and Natalie Salinas, 1/1)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: What Money Will Fix In Mental Health, And What It Won't
The death of Jamycheal Mitchell in a Portsmouth jail cell has rekindled Virginia’s fitful debate over dealing with the mentally ill. Mitchell was arrested for stealing $5 worth of snacks. He starved to death in jail over the course of three months. Gov. Terry McAuliffe has proposed more than $30 million in new spending for mental health and substance-abuse treatment. This is welcome. ... But no one should think more money will solve the problem, which has bedeviled the commonwealth for decades. (1/2)

The New York Times: Housing That Ruins Your Finances and Your Health
Of the nearly one million foreclosed houses sold by Fannie Mae, the government-run mortgage giant, since the housing bust, tens of thousands were decrepit, moldy and unfit for human habitation. Investor groups rounded them up anyway and turned them into cash cows by using “rent-to-own” leases or “contracts for deed.” ... doctors and health officials in many states are now warning that the dilapidated homes are connected to an increase in lead poisoning in children. Yet even as the warnings have become more urgent, the owners of the properties seem to care more about their profits than about children’s health. (1/2)

The New York Times: The Health Data Conundrum
There's quite a paradox when it comes to our health data. Most of us still cannot readily look at it, but there’s been an epidemic of cybercriminals and thieves hacking and stealing this most personal information. (Kathryn Haun and Eric J. Topol, 1/2)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Heroin A Mass Killer Of Ohioans In 2016; Outlook For 2017 Is Similarly Grim
The scourge of heroin continued to wage relentless and deadly war on Ohio in 2016. At least 500 people died from drug-related overdoses in the past year in Cuyahoga County alone. Thousands more died similar deaths throughout the state. Heroin or fentanyl or some combination of the super-potent opioids are now a leading cause of deaths for Ohioans -- surpassing the longstanding toll wrought by gun violence and automobile accidents. (Phillip Morris, 12/31)

The New York Times: A Month Without Sugar
Choose a month this year — a full 30 days, starting now or later — and commit to eating no added sweeteners. Go cold turkey, for one month. I have done so in each of the last two years, and it has led to permanent changes in my eating habits. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it. It reset my sugar-addled taste buds and opened my eyes to the many products that needlessly contain sugar. I now know which brands of chicken stock, bacon, smoked salmon, mustard and hot sauce contain added sugar and which do not. (David Leonhardt, 12/30)