Politico: Moderates Mum On Repeal Bill Changes That Would Strip Consumer Protections
While hardline House conservatives are falling in line behind the latest Republican Obamacare repeal bill, there's ominous silence from most moderates whose support is also essential to getting the measure passed in the House. The latest version would allow states to opt out of several key Obamacare protections, allowing insurers to charge older and sicker people more than younger and healthier people, according to a summary obtained by POLITICO. So far, none of the moderates who opposed an earlier repeal bill have publicly committed to supporting the latest version. (Haberkorn, Dawsey and Cancryn, 4/24)

Politico: Trump Pledges Premiums Will 'Start Tumbling Down' Under His Health Care Plan
President Donald Trump on Monday pledged that his yet-to-be-unveiled health care plan will cause premiums to “start tumbling down” and produce “real” health care. “If our healthcare plan is approved, you will see real healthcare and premiums will start tumbling down,” Trump said on Twitter. “ObamaCare is in a death spiral!” (Conway, 4/24)

Politico Pro: Politico-Harvard Poll: Republicans Can't Move Beyond Obamacare Repeal 
While 60 percent of Americans want Republicans either to work with Democrats to fix the Affordable Care Act or move on, just as many Republicans want their party to repeal the health care law entirely or try again on a replacement plan, according to a new POLITICO-Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health poll. (Millman, 4/25)

In related news —

Kaiser Health News: HHS, States Move To Help Insurers Defray Costs Of Sickest Patients
As congressional Republicans’ efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act remain in limbo, the Trump administration and some states are taking steps to help insurers cover the cost of their sickest patients, a move that industry analysts say is critical to keeping premiums affordable for plans sold on the law’s online marketplaces in 2018. This fix is a well-known insurance industry practice called reinsurance. Claims above a certain amount would be paid by the government, reducing insurers’ financial exposure and allowing them to set lower premiums. (Findlay, 4/25)

The Associated Press: Study: Trump's Hardball Tactic On Health Care May Backfire
Going into this week's federal budget battle, the White House toyed with a hardball tactic to force congressional Democrats to negotiate on President Donald Trump's priorities. They just might eliminate billions of dollars in disputed "Obamacare" subsidies. But a study out Tuesday from a nonpartisan group suggests that could backfire. Stopping the Affordable Care Act payments at issue may actually wind up costing the federal government billions more than it would save. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 4/25)

USA Today: Ending One Obamacare Subsidy Would Increase Costs Of Another
Ending one of the private insurance subsidies created by Obamacare to help more than 7 million people pay for their coverage would end up costing — not saving — the federal government money, according to an analysis from the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation released Tuesday. That’s because stopping subsidies for out-of-pocket costs like deductibles would indirectly increase the cost of a broader subsidy which helps reduce monthly premium costs. (Groppe, 4/25)

The Associated Press: Gov’t Shutdown, Health Bill Rescue At Stake In Congress 
Bipartisan bargainers are making progress toward a budget deal to prevent a partial federal shutdown this weekend, a major hurdle overcome when President Donald Trump signaled he would put off his demand that the measure include money to build his border wall with Mexico. Republicans are also vetting proposed changes to their beleaguered health care bill that they hope will attract enough votes to finally push it through the House. (Fram and Taylor, 4/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Shutdown Threat Moves GOP Health Debate To Back Burner
Congress’s focus on averting a government shutdown this week is likely to push the House GOP debate over their health-care bill to the back burner for now, Republican lawmakers and aides said. President Donald Trump had pressed House Republicans last week to vote as quickly as possible on a modified version of their health bill, which House leaders pulled from the floor last month when it became clear it didn’t have enough support to pass the chamber. (Peterson, 4/24)

WBUR: As Possible Shutdown Looms, Trump Pushes For Health Care And Tax Overhaul 
Congress returns from its two-week recess, and will have to find a way to fund the federal government past Friday at midnight to avert a government shutdown. Also this week, Trump is pushing Congress to take up — and pass — both a revised health care bill and a tax overhaul plan, as he comes up on his 100th day in office. (Young, 4/24)

The Washington Post: Supreme Court To Decide Whether Defendants Are Entitled To A Mental-Health Expert On Their Side
The Supreme Court’s liberals and conservatives seemed to disagree Monday on whether an Alabama inmate was entitled to a mental-health expert who would be on his side in fighting the state’s attempt to sentence him to death. The justices were examining James McWilliams’s 1986 death sentence and an even older Supreme Court precedent. But their decision will be immediately relevant. The Arkansas Supreme Court recently stayed the execution of two men on its death row until the justices decide McWilliams v. Dunn. (Barnes, 4/24)

The Associated Press: Justices Weigh Defendants' Right To Own Mental Health Expert
The court has ruled previously that poor defendants whose mental health might be a factor in the criminal charges they are facing have a right to an expert's evaluation. The justices are deciding whether the expert must be independent of the prosecution. The outcome also could affect two Arkansas inmates who were spared execution last week by the Arkansas Supreme Court while the nation's highest court considers the issue. (Sherman, 4/24)

The Washington Post: Nominee To Head FDA Joined Effort To Get A Drug Company More Fentanyl
In December 2006, Scott Gottlieb did something unusual for a deputy commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration: He joined other FDA officials who tried to help a pharmaceutical company secure more fentanyl for a powerful painkiller product. The company, Cephalon, was running short of the opioid it put in a lollipop designed for the intense pain of some cancer patients, according to interviews and documents obtained by The Washington Post. But Cephalon was also under investigation at the time for illegally pushing doctors to prescribe the drug for other uses, from headaches to back pain. (Bernstein, 4/24)

The Associated Press: Overcoming Opioids: Special Schools Help Teens Stay Clean
When Logan Snyder got hooked on pills after a prescription to treat pain from a kidney stone, she joined the millions already swept up in the nation's grim wave of addiction to opioid painkillers. She was just 14. Youth is a drawback when it comes to kicking drugs. Only half of U.S. treatment centers accept teenagers and even fewer offer teen-focused groups or programs. After treatment, adolescents find little structured support. They're outnumbered by adults at self-help meetings. Sober youth drop-in centers are rare. Returning to school means resisting offers to get high with old friends. (Johnson, 4/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Opioid Use Soars Among Middle Aged And Elderly
Could your doctor be prescribing too many pain pills? The epidemic of opioid abuse sweeping the U.S. might seem like a distant phenomenon to the average middle-aged patient who is getting a joint replacement, visiting an emergency room or seeking help with persistent pain from a primary-care physician. (Landro, 4/23)

Meanwhile, in the states —

The Baltimore Sun: Authorities Brace For More Overdoses After Maryland Deaths Linked To Elephant Sedative
Health and law enforcement officials around the state are bracing for an uptick in drug overdoses as a deadly synthetic opioid only meant for use in large animals has hit Maryland streets. The drug, carfentanil, already has been linked to two overdose deaths in Anne Arundel County and one in Frederick County. The drug is so potent it was never meant for use in humans and is normally used as a tranquilizer for elephants, hippos and other large animals. (McDaniels, 4/24)

Miami Herald: Opioid Drugs Stolen At Miami, Other Florida VA Medical Centers 
Hundreds of doses of fentanyl and other powerful prescription drugs have been lost or stolen from five Florida Veterans Affairs hospitals and other facilities, including the Bruce W. Carter VA Medical Center in Miami, according to federal officials. Many of the drugs were lost or stolen after being sent by mail to veterans, but at least two employees at Florida VA medical centers were implicated in the missing drugs — including a Miami VA medical center nurse who was allowed to resign instead of being fired. (Chang, 4/24)

Minnesota Public Radio: AG Swanson Encourages Minnesotans To Get Rid Of Unwanted Painkillers, Other Meds
Minnesotans can drop off unwanted prescription medicine free and anonymously Saturday at a record number of designated sites around the state. More than 90 law enforcement agencies at 114 locations will collect unwanted painkillers and other medications as part of National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. (Sapong, 4/24)

St. Louis Public Radio: Data Privacy Concerns May Keep Jefferson County From Tracking Opioid Prescriptions
Two bills that would have established a drug monitoring database in Jefferson County failed during a Monday night meeting of the County Council. The council heard two competing bills that would have allowed the county to join the local prescription tracking system set up by St. Louis County. (Bouscaren, 4/24)

Stat: The Survivors: How An Experimental Cancer Treatment 'Changed Everything'
This is a story of survivors — of patients who were expected to die more than two decades ago but didn’t. It was the summer of 1998, and Dr. Brian J. Druker was a few months into Phase 1, first-in-human trials of a promising compound that would later be known as Gleevec. Druker, a researcher at Oregon Health and Science University, knew from lab studies that the drug could disable a gene that controls certain leukemia cells, while leaving healthy cells intact. But he didn’t have answers to a lot of other questions, including what dose would be beneficial. (Tedeschi, 4/25)

The New York Times: Video Games Help Model Brain’s Neurons
Zoran Popović knows a thing or two about video games. A computer science professor at the University of Washington, Dr. Popović has worked on software algorithms that make computer-controlled characters move realistically in games like the science-fiction shooter “Destiny.” But while those games are entertainment designed to grab players by their adrenal glands, Dr. Popović’s latest creation asks players to trace lines over fuzzy images with a computer mouse. It has a slow pace with dreamy music that sounds like the ambient soundtrack inside a New Age bookstore.The point? To advance neuroscience. (Wingfield, 4/24)

The New York Times: Common Nursery Products Send Thousands Of Children To Hospitals
Baby carriers, cribs, strollers, high chairs, changing tables, bath seats — these ordinary nursery products result in an average of 66,000 injuries a year requiring trips to the emergency room for young children. Using data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, researchers estimate that from 1991 to 2011, there were 1,391,844 injuries among children under 3 that were serious enough to be treated in a hospital. (Bakalar, 4/24)

The Washington Post: Long-Term Birth Control Is The Most Reliable. So Why Do So Few Young Women Use It?
For many women this college graduation season, the primary reason to see a doctor soon after graduation may be to get birth control. They may want to stick with whatever they’ve been using, whether that’s the pill or the patch or the vaginal ring. Or they may want to consider a broad menu of options that vary with regard to ease of use, side effects and duration of protection. (Adams, 4/24)

Detroit Free Press: Genital Mutilation Victims Break Their Silence: 'This Is Demonic'
It was the summer of 1990.Mariya Taher was 7 years old, vacationing in India with her family, when one day her mother took her to a run-down apartment building without explaining why. She remembers climbing some stairs, opening a door and seeing older women in a room. There was laughter, and the place seemed cheerful. But then came the betrayal. (Baldas, 4/22)

Sacramento Bee: How To Cope When Diagnosed With A Serious, Life-Threatening Disease
Getting diagnosed with a life-threatening illness can feel like flying along at 36,000 feet and suddenly you’re plummeting toward the ground with the plane’s engine on fire... No matter how dire the diagnosis, you can regain control and pilot your life’s flight to a smooth landing. That’s the message from longtime palliative care physician Dr. Steven Pantilat, a University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine professor who believes there are better ways to confront and cope with serious illness, whether it’s cancer, lung disease, heart failure, Alzheimer’s or other life-changing maladies. (Buck, 4/24)

Kaiser Health News: Reluctant Patients, Hispanic Men Pose A Costly Challenge To The Health System
For reasons both economic and cultural, Hispanic men are loath to interact with the health system. Women across all races are more likely to seek care than men. But the gender gap in the Hispanic community is especially troubling to health care providers. Studies show that Latino men are much less likely than Latinas to get treatment. That is true even though Hispanic men are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to be obese, have diabetes or have high blood pressure. (Anft, 4/25)

Georgia Health News: Cold Caps To Fight Hair Loss From Chemotherapy: Will The Idea Catch On Here? 
In Europe, cold caps, or cooling caps, have been used sporadically since the 1970s and are now widely available. ... In February, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported about two new studies, one from the University of California, San Francisco, and the other from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. In both trials, more than half of the women who received chemotherapy for early-stage breast cancer and wore cooling caps were able to keep most of their hair. (Ridderbusch, 4/24)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Explaining A Diagnosis: How Can You Help A Child With Developmental Issues Process A Parent's Serious Illness?
All parents wonder when to have “the talk” with their child.But for parents of a child with a disability, “the talk” has an entirely different meaning: explaining the child’s diagnosis to him or her. In both cases, how much to say, and how to say it, will depend on the child’s unique abilities, and on the relationship with their parents. (Jaskiewicz, 4/25)

The New York Times: Fatal Malaria In The U.S. More Common Than Previously Known
Serious and fatal bouts of malaria in the United States are a greater problem than has been previously reported, according to a new study. Most appear to be in immigrants who have made summer or Christmas visits to their home countries without taking precautions against infection. (McNeil, 4/24)

NPR: Malaria Wiped Out In U.S. But Still Plagues U.S. Hospitals
Malaria transmission in the United States was eliminated in the early 1950s through the use of insecticides, drainage ditches and the incredible power of window screens. But the mosquito-borne disease has staged a comeback in American hospitals as travelers return from parts of the world where malaria runs rampant. In the early 1970s there only a couple hundred malaria cases reported in the entire U.S. but that number has steadily increased in recent years. (Beaubien, 4/24)

In other news —

The Baltimore Sun: Hopkins Gets $10 Million Federal Grant To Continue Efforts To Control, End Malaria
Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute will continue its efforts to control and eliminate malaria in Africa with a seven-year, $10 million federal grant. The funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases follows a previous seven-year grants that was used by researchers from Hopkins in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa. The new funds will allow expansion in central Africa. (Cohn, 4/24)

The Associated Press: Trailblazing Colorado Abortion Law Marks 50th Anniversary
Tuesday marks 50 years since a groundbreaking Colorado law significantly loosened tight restrictions on legal abortions. Before the law, Colorado — like many states — allowed abortions only if a woman's life was at stake. In 1967, a Democratic freshman state lawmaker introduced a bill that allowed abortions if the woman's physical or mental health was threatened, if the unborn child might have birth defects or in cases of rape or incest. (4/25)

The Associated Press: Lawmaker Seeks Abortion-Bill Vote As Women March On Capitol
A Democratic lawmaker pushing legislation to remove prohibitions on publicly funded abortions in Illinois hopes to call it for a vote as thousands of women converge on the capital to lobby for a "progressive agenda." (4/25)

Pioneer Press: Two Abortion Bills Advance, But Mark Dayton Likely To Veto Them
In 2011 and 2012, Republican lawmakers passed bills to require abortion providers be licensed and to block state health programs such as Medicaid from paying for abortion. And Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed them both. Now back in control of the Legislature, Republicans are trying again. (Montgomery, 4/24)

The Star Tribune: Minnesota House Backs Ban On State Dollars For Abortion 
The Minnesota House on Monday voted to ban state dollars from covering the cost of abortions for low-income women on public medical programs, looking to make gains at a time when abortion opponents nationwide are feeling emboldened. The prohibition on state funding, and a separate measure to require state licensing for abortion clinics, both sparked intense debate among House lawmakers, and both passed largely on the strength of Republican votes. (Lopez, 4/24)

The Associated Press: Tennessee AG To Defend Abortion Bill If It Becomes Law
The Tennessee attorney general's office says it would defend an amended abortion bill in court if it becomes law, despite previously calling the legislation's key restrictions "constitutionally suspect." The bill would ban abortions after 20 weeks if doctors determine the fetus is viable through required testing. The ban wouldn't apply in medical emergencies or if the mother faces risks of death or serious damage to a major bodily function. (Mattise, 4/25)

Stateline: Rural Doctors’ Training May Be In Jeopardy
In nearly two years as a medical resident in Meridian, Mississippi, Dr. John Thames has treated car-wreck victims, people with chest pains and malnourished infants. Patients have arrived with lacerations, with burns, or in a disoriented fog after discontinuing their psychiatric medications. Thames, a small-town Mississippi native, said the East Central Mississippi HealthNet Rural Family Medicine Residency Program has been “exactly what I was looking for.” (Ollove, 4/24)

Georgia Health News: Ideas And A Sense Of Urgency Permeate Rural Health Care Symposium
Policymakers, medical professionals and those interested in rural health care converged at a symposium at the University of Georgia School of Law last week to discuss the unique challenges of rural medicine... One of the biggest and most often mentioned challenges facing rural hospitals is their lack of cash on hand, or accessible cash to meet future costs. (Male, 4/24)

NH Times Union: Lack Of Access To Mental Health Services Concerns Health Execs
Executives from six of the state’s largest health care systems wrote to Gov. Chris Sununu on Monday to express their “deep concerns” about access to mental health services in the state, and the backlog of patients in emergency rooms awaiting admission to the state’s psychiatric hospital. “Given the state’s insufficient investments in additional bed capacity at New Hampshire Hospital, our emergency departments have become a boarding place for behavioral health patients in acute crisis,” states the April 24 letter from Dr. Travis Harker, chief medical officer at Granite Health, a collaborative involving Catholic Medical Center, Concord Hospital, LRG Healthcare, Southern NH Health and Wentworth-Douglas Hospital. (Solomon, 4/24)

Los Angeles Times: California Lawmakers Push To Link Public Health Efforts To Climate Programs
California’s fight against climate change would be overhauled under legislation advanced by an Assembly committee on Monday. The legislation, a revised version of a measure introduced earlier this year, would link the state’s efforts against greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming, and other pollutants, which cause public health problems such as asthma. (Megerian, 4/24)

Sacramento Bee: Mentally Ill Inmates Seek Punitive Damages To Change State Prisons 
In a trial underway in front of U.S. District Court Judge Kimberly J. Mueller, plaintiffs want a jury to find nine corrections department employees liable for malice and oppression to rectify abuses they say their client suffered during a brutal 2012 cell extraction. Along with general damages, the attorneys say a punitive award would send a message to the prison system and its staff on how to carry out the best practices – and avoid the worst – when inmates have full-blown psychotic breakdowns. (Furillo, 4/24)

The Tennessean: Judge Rules In Favor Of Tennessee Clinic In Meningitis Outbreak Case
A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and a state pharmacy board can be found at fault for the 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak that took the lives of some 77 patients who had been injected with fungus contaminated drugs. In a nine-page ruling issued Monday, U.S. District Judge Rya Zobel concluded that lawyers for a Tennessee pain clinic had presented sufficient evidence in her Boston, Mass. courtroom for the claims that the two agencies acted recklessly to go forward. (Roche, 4/24)

Health News Florida: Partnerships With Health Care Providers Boost Florida Blue's Profits, CEO Says 
While other health insurers left the Affordable Care Act’s individual market in the state, Florida Blue is staying put and even turning a profit. Pat Geraghty, the company’s CEO, attributes that success to partnerships and investments Florida Blue has made with health care providers. (Ochoa, 4/24)

Pioneer Press: 20 Measles Cases In Hennepin County Prompts Warning: Get Vaccinated
Minnesota health officials are asking parents and medical workers to be on the lookout after 20 children have come down with measles in Hennepin County. The state Department of Health requests people watch for potential cases and help make sure Minnesota children are protected through vaccinations. (4/24)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Ranks Near Bottom For Children's Health, Access To Care
Texas is so accustomed to dismal ratings when it comes to children's welfare that mediocre would look good. Once again, the Lone Star State is near the bottom of the heap when it comes to children's health care. (Christian, 4/24)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Akron Mayor Appoints First Health Equity Ambassador 
Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan has appointed Tamiyka Rose to serve as the city's first health equity ambassador. The new position will advise the mayor and his staff on policy initiatives and lead the city's efforts to decrease racial and ethnic disparities, specifically premature birth and infant mortality rates. (Becka, 4/24)

The Philadelphia Inquirer/Philly.com: Utah Man Dies In Philly After Double-Lung Transplant He Couldn't Get At Home For Smoking Pot
A Utah man who was denied a double lung transplant in Salt Lake City because he had smoked marijuana, according to his family, died in Philadelphia on Saturday, several weeks after receiving new organs at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Riley Hancey, 20, smoked a joint with friends on Thanksgiving, his father, Mark, said in an interview. The next day, the avid skier was stricken with pneumonia. By mid-December he was on life-support in a University of Utah hospital intensive care unit. (Wood, 4/24)

WNPR: Pediatric Refugee Clinic At Yale Helps Children 'Move Beyond The Trauma' 
The screening process for refugees entering the United States involves multilayered security checks, interviews and an overseas medical exam. ... It’s in these spaces, like a program at Yale University, where their stories begin to unfold to the doctors and physicians-in-training. (Mack, 4/25)

Houston Chronicle: Ambulance Company Owners Convicted In Health Care Fraud Case
A pair of brothers who own a Houston based ambulance company will each spend more than four years in federal prison after their conviction in a a government health fraud case. Kevin Olufemi Davies, 29 and Melvin Olusola Davis, 28, were sentenced for conspiracy to commit health care fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud and money laundering, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas announced Monday. They pleaded guilty in December 2016. (Glenn, 4/24)

Reveal: New Bill Would Require Pot Worker Training In Safety And Sexual Harassment 
Marijuana growers in California would be required to train employees about worker safety and sexual harassment under state legislation headed for a hearing tomorrow. Sponsored by the UFCW Western States Council, the Cannabis Workers Protection Bill would require marijuana business owners of all kinds to put at least one employee per year through a 30-hour Cal-OSHA training. (Walter, 4/24)

The Wall Street Journal: ObamaCare Repeal Needs A Direction
Before you start a journey, it helps to know where you are going. That’s obvious advice—but instructive as Republicans consider next steps in the effort to repeal ObamaCare. Before getting lost in arcane Senate rules, technical modifications to the existing law, or Congressional Budget Office scores, conservatives must define for themselves and the American people what they are actually trying to accomplish. (Bobby Jindal, 4/24)

RealClear Health: Can Obamacare Survive Another Round In The Congressional Boxing Ring?
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has survived its biggest challenge to date with the failed attempt to repeal and replace by the GOP. But will it survive in the long run? Republican comments and President Trump’s many tweets would suggest the law is still doomed. It is hard to predict what will happen, but let’s examine some themes we are seeing so far to try to gain some insight. (Shawn Yates, 4/25)

The Wall Street Journal: Medicaid And Mr. Monopoly
When progressives think of Republicans, the image that likely comes to mind is Mr. Monopoly, the top-hatted fellow from the popular board game. It helps that his original name was Rich Uncle Pennybags. In what will be a busy week in Washington, circumstances are ripening for a revival of the Mr. Monopoly caricature. The Republican House hopes to take another whack at ObamaCare reform, a large chunk of which is Medicaid. As if this were not enough to handle, Donald Trump promises a “big announcement” Wednesday about his tax plan, which will likely include cuts in the corporate tax rate. (William McGurn, 4/24)

The Washington Post: Downside To Holding Obamacare Hostage To Pay For Trump’s Wall? Obamacare Is More Popular.
In theory — as stipulated by President Trump countless times on the campaign trail and as reiterated by him on Twitter over the weekend — the construction of a large wall on the United States’ southern border will be paid for by the nation of Mexico. At no point in time has Trump offered a politically feasible explanation for how that payment will occur; in a tweet Sunday, he was more nebulous than normal. (Philip Bump, 4/24)

Chicago Tribune: Trump's Warning To Democrats About Obamacare Could Be A Bluff ... Or An Opportunity
Juust when Americans thought the Obamacare repeal effort was dead and buried, President Donald Trump has exhumed it. The president says he wants a deal on health care even as he vowed Friday to unveil a massive tax cut for Americans — another enormously complicated mission. The White House is pushing for a vote on a new Obamacare replacement bill in the coming days. The trouble is, Trump hasn't publicly demonstrated an ability to add or subtract provisions, or assemble a bipartisan coalition, to make a good deal happen. (4/21)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Paul Ryan Wants To Cut The Programs That Helped My Family
Now is the time to bolster the safety net, not cut it. Now is the time to stand up for millions of Americans who need our help. Now is the time to tell Ryan and Trump to make a choice: Either stand up for families or get out of the way. (Tarah Walsh, 4/24)

Los Angeles Times: This One Unbelievably Expensive Iowa Patient Makes The Case For Single-Payer Healthcare
Back in mid-2016, Iowa customers of Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, the dominant company in the state’s individual insurance market, got a shock: Premium increases of 38% to 43% were in store for many of them for this year. Three weeks ago they got a bigger shock: Wellmark was pulling out of Iowa’s individual market entirely, leaving the state with one company selling individual policies. Wellmark placed some of the blame on congressional Republicans’ failure to come up with a coherent repeal plan for the Affordable Care Act, leaving plans for 2018 in legislative limbo. With Wellmark’s departure, Iowa’s individual market may be down to a single insurer next year. (Michael Hiltzik, 4/24)

Chicago Tribune: How Our Health Care System Falls Short Compared With Those In Other Countries
I was four months pregnant, living in London, when American friends began to openly express their concern about why I wasn't moving back home to Los Angeles before the birth. "Doesn't it worry you to be so far away from your community?" one asked. "Don't you want to have an American baby?" asked another. I can't be sure what motivated these questions, but I suspect their fears were less about the emotional impact of giving birth overseas, as opposed to an unspoken anxiety about my baby's safety and my own under socialized medicine. (Lauren Marks, 4/23)

Stat: Trump Should Consider The Health Consequences Of Immigration Policy
We asked this question: Could removing the uncertainty around deportation reduce psychological distress among undocumented immigrants? To answer it, we analyzed data from the US National Health Interview Study, comparing mental health outcomes before and after DACA was signed among non-citizen Latinos and Latinas who met the age eligibility criteria for DACA and among those who did not. Our findings, recently published in Lancet Public Health, were striking. Implementation of the DACA program reduced rates of moderate to severe psychological distress among eligible individuals by nearly 40 percent. This is a remarkable finding, considering that DACA did not grant amnesty for these individuals. (Atheendar S. Venkataramani, Sachin Shah and Alexander Tsai, 4/24)

Stat: In Science And Medicine, Diversity Shouldn't Be Optional
The debate about whether to advocate for diversity within the March for Science is emblematic of the burdens placed on women and minorities in the scientific workforce at large. We are expected to advocate on behalf of a community that simultaneously makes us feel undervalued and requires us to continually prove our existence. For example, both women and minorities are less likely to be granted funding from the National Institutes for Health, whose budget is expected to be hard hit by the Trump administration. (Altaf Saadi, 4/24)

Miami Herald: Let’s Work Across Borders To Fight Mosquito-Borne Disease
Diseases don’t stop at borders. On World Malaria Day, we take note that mosquito-borne diseases pose serious threats around the world. Without continued leadership from the United States, diseases like Zika and malaria will weaken public health throughout the Americas, including in the United States. The United States has been a leader in advancing global health, but recent policy recommendations will erode efforts to combat these threats. As a public health physician, former policymaker, and president of a comprehensive research university, I find these shifts of growing concern. (Julio Frenk, 4/24)

Bloomberg: Stepping Up The Fight Against Opioid Addiction
Efforts to control the epidemic abound, such as new national prescribing guidelines for doctors, more state drug courts and increased access to addiction treatment. But opioids are extraordinarily addictive, and the pattern of abuse is shifting: Many people who became hooked on prescription opioids go on to use heroin, or worse, illicit fentanyl, which is many times as potent. Fentanyl overdose, which can occur almost instantaneously when the drug is taken, is mainly what’s driving the death rate skyward. (4/24)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Crack Down On Violent Crime
Thanks to state Sen. Leah Vukmir and state Rep. Joe Sanfelippo, legislation providing greater consequences to young offenders has been introduced in the Legislature... Quite frankly, why should a young person be in possession of a firearm unless out hunting with his or her family? (Mark Borkowski, 4/24)

The Des Moines Register: Lawmakers Rightly Dismiss Medical Board Members
Republicans had healthy majorities in the Iowa Legislature this year. Democrats could do little to stop the majority party from busting unions for public employees, expanding gun laws, underfunding schools, approving unprecedented restrictions on abortion, and wreacking other havoc on this state that will be felt for years to come. Democrats did, however, score one victory last week. With urging from Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, they rightly refused to reconfirm two of Gov. Terry Branstad’s appointments to the Iowa Board of Medicine. (4/24)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Democrats Form Circular Firing Squad Over Abortion Rights
An election campaign for, of all things, mayor of Omaha, Neb., is focusing attention on a major problem for the national Democratic Party. Republicans should be delighted. Democrats should be worried. At issue: How ideologically pure must Democratic candidates be? Specifically, can a candidate be opposed to abortion rights and still expect support from the national party? Or should the party’s principal focus be economic populism with everything else — abortion, guns, immigration, gay rights, etc. — subject to the “agree to disagree” rule? (4/23)

The Washington Post: Washington’s VA Hospital Is Sick. What About The Rest Of The Country?
It did not take long for the inspector general of the Department of Veterans Affairs to figure out there was something seriously wrong with conditions at the VA medical center in the District. He also quickly determined that senior VA officials had long been aware of some of the problems and so could not be trusted to fix them. That the inspector general issued a rare, urgent warning about the risks posed to patients underscores the deep-seated issues still confronting the department entrusted with taking care of the men and women who have fought for their country. (4/24)

The Des Moines Register: Does It Take Threats For Lawmakers To Fix Water Quality?
The failure to establish, for a second year in a row, a significant state commitment to water quality raises the question of whether it was only the Des Moines Water Works lawsuit that put the issue on lawmakers’ agenda. (Kathie Obradovich, 4/24)