The New York Times: Years Of Attack Leave Obamacare A More Government-Focused Health Law
The Affordable Care Act was conceived as a mix of publicly funded health care and privately purchased insurance, but Republican attacks, culminating this month in the death of a mandate that most Americans have insurance, are shifting the balance, giving the government a larger role than Democrats ever anticipated. And while President Trump insisted again on Tuesday that the health law was “essentially” being repealed, what remains of it appears relatively stable and increasingly government-funded. (Pear, 12/26)

Politico: GOP Obamacare Quandary — Easy To Hate, Hard To Kill
Republicans start the year divided over whether to tear down or prop up Obamacare, a split that could derail their legislative agenda leading up to the 2018 midterm elections. GOP leaders on Capitol Hill don’t want a repeat of last year’s Obamacare fumble: They spent precious time on a failed attempt to repeal the health care law every member of the GOP was presumed to hate. (Haberkorn, 1/2)

The Washington Post: Republicans Knock Holes In Affordable Care Act But Don’t Demolish The Law
Before Congress left Washington for the year, Republicans finally made good on their determination to knock big holes in the Affordable Care Act, crippling its requirement that most Americans carry health insurance and leaving insurers without billions of dollars in promised federal payments. At the same time, public support for the perennially controversial law has inched up to around its highest point in a half-dozen years. ... This dual reality puts the sprawling ACA — prized domestic legacy of the Obama era, whipping post of the Trump administration — at a new precipice, with its long-term fate hinging on the November midterm elections. (Goldstein, 12/25)

Roll Call: So Long, Insurance Penalty: Here’s Where The Most People Were Paying
Because of a key provision in the tax overhaul bill President Donald Trump signed Friday, those without health insurance will no longer have to pay a penalty. The fee, known as the individual mandate, was one of the most contested aspects of the 2010 health care law and was intended to compel people to buy insurance. (Kelly and Leonard, 12/22)

The Hill: Trump: Dems, GOP Will Eventually Develop 'Great New HealthCare Plan' 
President Trump indicated on Tuesday that he thinks lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will come together and develop a new health-care proposal after the recently passed GOP tax-cut bill repealed ObamaCare’s individual mandate. "Based on the fact that the very unfair and unpopular Individual Mandate has been terminated as part of our Tax Cut Bill, which essentially Repeals (over time) ObamaCare, the Democrats & Republicans will eventually come together and develop a great new HealthCare plan!" Trump tweeted. (Beavers, 12/26)

The Hill: Debate Rages In The GOP Over ObamaCare Repeal
A debate is raging in the Republican Party over the future of ObamaCare, with some urging the party to take another shot at repeal in 2018. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), whose majority will fall to a single seat in January, has signaled he intends to move on from legislation repealing the Affordable Care Act and instead look for bills that can pass with bipartisan support. (Roubein, 12/27)

Boston Globe: More Fights Over Obamacare, Medicaid Likely In New Year
Health care industry watchers told the Globe that they expect the uncertainty to linger into the new year, as President Trump and Congress continue to target the federal health care system. Health care executives and politicians in Massachusetts worry that Republicans in Washington are not finished trying to repeal, or at least weaken, the law known as Obamacare. (Dayal McCluskey, 12/31)

The Hill: Medicaid Is GOP Target In 2018
Medicaid could face crucial tests in 2018 at both the federal and state levels. Republicans in Congress failed in their attempts earlier this year to impose drastic cuts to the program as part of ObamaCare repeal, but GOP lawmakers could try again next year. (Weixel, 12/29)

The Hill: Poll: Nearly One-Third Of Americans Think Trump Repealed ObamaCare 
Nearly one-third of Americans believe President Trump has repealed ObamaCare, according to a new The Economist–YouGov poll. Last week, Trump claimed the tax bill — which has since been signed into law — "essentially" repeals the Affordable Care Act. The Republican bill to overhaul the tax system eliminates the fine Americans pay for foregoing health insurance, known as the individual mandate. (Roubein, 12/27)

The Hill: Republican Files Subpoena Over ObamaCare Exemption For Lawmakers, Staff 
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is subpoenaing documents from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) over what he refers to as the ObamaCare “congressional exemption.” This refers to a rule that lets congressional members and their staff receive contributions from their employer to help pay for their ObamaCare health plans. (Roubein, 12/22)

Roll Call: Senator Subpoenas OPM For Details Of Congressional Health Care Decisions
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson has now issued a subpoena for details of the development of the program through which members of Congress and many staffers get health insurance. The Republican from Wisconsin is following through on pressing the Office of Personnel Management for details on how the Obama administration crafted the policy allowing members and covered staff to get health insurance, with assistance of federal employee contributions, through the small business exchange the District of Columbia set up under the 2010 health care law. (Lesniewski, 12/22)

Politico Pro: The Obamacare Co-Op That Came Back From The Dead
The Maine co-op was part of an expensive experiment to inject competition into the fledgling Obamacare marketplaces when they opened in 2014. ...But virtually all of the two dozen co-ops were quickly wracked with financial problems, and the Maine co-op is among the last surviving four. (Demko, 1/2)

The Associated Press: 'Obamacare' Sign-Up Tally Dips Slightly To 8.7M
More than 8.7 million people signed up for coverage next year under the Obama-era health care law, the government reported Thursday, as the program that President Donald Trump has repeatedly pronounced "a disaster" exceeded expectations. The final tally for the 39 HealthCare.gov states showed about 80,000 fewer sign-ups than an initial count provided last week, before the Christmas holiday. A spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said the slight dip was due to late cancellations. (12/28)

The Hill: Final ObamaCare Sign-Ups Tick Down Slightly Due To Cancellations 
The revised number released Thursday is still strong. But it takes into account late cancellations by some people, CMS said. That includes cancellations by people who were automatically re-enrolled in a plan. Every year, a couple million people are automatically re-enrolled if they choose not to actively select a new plan. (Sullivan, 12/28)

The Associated Press: More Than 4 In 5 Enrolled In 'Obamacare' Are In Trump States
Americans in states that Donald Trump carried in his march to the White House account for more than 4 in 5 of those signed up for coverage under the health care law the president still wants to take down. An Associated Press analysis of new figures from the government found that 7.3 million of the 8.8 million consumers signed up so far for next year come from states Trump won in the 2016 presidential election. The four states with the highest number of sign-ups — Florida, Texas, North Carolina and Georgia, accounting for nearly 3.9 million customers — were all Trump states. (12/22)

The Hill: ObamaCare Proves Surprisingly Resilient
ObamaCare is showing its resilience after a year where it took a beating but survived. A surprisingly high number of people signed up under the law in the enrollment period that ended last week: 8.8 million, just short of the 9.2 million from last year. (Sullivan, 12/25)

Concord (N.H.) Monitor: Despite New Hurdles, N.H. Health Care Sign-Ups Mostly Steady In 2017
New Hampshire’s individual health insurance market saw a surge of sign-ups this year, surpassing expectations and defying some fears that new policy changes would weaken turnout. New figures from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) show that 50,275 Granite State consumers signed up to a plan overall – just slightly fewer than last year’s 53,024 – despite a sign-up period only half as long as in years past. (DeWitt, 12/27)

In other news, a look at why getting more people insurance hasn't controlled health care costs —

The Washington Post: The Uninsured Are Overusing Emergency Rooms — And Other Health-Care Myths
In the search for ways to bring down American health-care spending, there are certain ideas that are close to dogma. Chief among them: If you provide health insurance to people, they will stop overusing the emergency room. “A lot of people just didn't bother getting health insurance at all. And when they got sick, they’d have to go to the emergency room,” President Obama said in a 2016 speech. “But the emergency room is the most expensive place to get care. And because you weren’t insured, the hospital would have to give you the care free, and they would have to then make up for those costs by charging everybody else more money.” (Johnson, 12/27)

The Associated Press: Tax On Medical Devices To Resume After 2-Year Suspension
While much of corporate America will enjoy a tax cut in the new year, one industry is getting a tax increase it has fought hard but so far unsuccessfully to avoid. A 2.3 percent excise tax on medical device manufacturers went back into effect Monday after a two-year hiatus. It was originally imposed in 2013 as one of several taxes and fees in the Affordable Care Act that pay for expanded health insurance under the law. (Salsberg, 1/1)

Stat: Medical Device Tax Hits Jan. 1; Opponents Try To Ease Effects
For the first time in years, the medical device tax will take effect Jan. 1, after Congress left town without delivering on a long-promised delay or repeal. But opponents of the tax, both in industry and on Capitol Hill, aren’t giving up yet: They’re scrambling to find another solution that could offer some relief at the start of the new year. Already they’ve secured commitments from congressional leaders that they will delay or repeal the 2.3 percent excise tax early in 2018. And now some lobbyists and lawmakers are working with the Treasury Department in hopes that the Trump administration will waive the penalties associated with problematic compliance in the early weeks of the year, before Congress might make good on its effort to address the tax. That will help companies whose accounting and reporting systems might not be ready for the Jan. 1 start date, an industry official said. (Mershon, 12/22)

Modern Healthcare: 2018 Outlook On Politics And Policy: Insurers Will Come Out Ahead 
Despite a year of policy delays, glitches and uncertainty, insurers may be the ones to come out ahead of other segments of the industry in 2018. Uncertainty and policy confusion will no doubt continue this year since House and Senate Republicans are already on different pages when it comes to healthcare reform. Now that the GOP's $1.5 trillion tax overhaul is done, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is setting his sights on entitlement reform as a way to rein in costs. This could mean trimming welfare, Social Security and Medicaid, but he has signaled Medicare provider cuts are also on the table. (Luthi and Dickson, 12/30)

The Hill: Five Ways Trump Can Undermine ObamaCare In 2018 
President Trump faces a slew of critical decisions in 2018 about how far he wants to go to undermine ObamaCare. There are increasing doubts about the ability of Congress to repeal the law, which will put even more focus on administrative actions to chip away at the Affordable Care Act. It is unlikely, though, that Trump can deal a death blow to the law. (Sullivan, 12/30)

Stat: 3 Political Issues For Hospitals To Watch In 2018
Hospitals and health providers suffered minimal damage in this year’s political collision over Obamacare. But 2018 will bring a series of equally high-stakes debates that will affect the financial viability of hospitals and the future of how care is measured and delivered. And by the way, the war over Obamacare is hardly over — it’ll start up again next year with proposals to stabilize insurance markets and renewed GOP repeal efforts. (Ross, 12/28)

Stat: What Will 2018 Bring For Science And Medicine? We Asked The Experts
Between the uncertainties of science, the fickleness of markets, and really just everything related to the White House, the fate of science and medicine in 2018 seems nigh unpredictable to us. So we reached out to a bunch of people who would know better and asked for their crystal ball readings of what the new year will bring. Here’s what they said. (1/2)

Stat: Three FDA Issues You Should Be Watching In 2018
It’s been a busy year for the Food and Drug Administration — since Commissioner Scott Gottlieb was confirmed in May, he has led the agency with an ambitious agenda, tackling everything from prescription opioid addiction to tobacco use to dubious stem cell clinics. And 2018 shows no signs of letting up. Many of the proclamations the FDA has made under Gottlieb will come to fruition, or at least to bud, in the new year. (Swetlitz, 12/26)

Stat: 3 Congressional Races You Should Be Watching In 2018
Among the many issues Democrats hope to use to their advantage before the 2018 midterm elections — think Russia, a controversial tax overhaul, and a broader referendum on President Trump’s time in the White House — expect to see health care at or near the top of the list. The Senate came a vote away in August from repealing the Affordable Care Act. Congress has yet to reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the sweeping tax bill it approved in late December is likely to destabilize current ACA exchanges via a repeal of the law’s individual mandate. (Facher, 12/27)

Meanwhile, looking back at 2017 —

Politico: Top 10 Health Care Surprises From Year One Of Trump
President Donald Trump stormed into office last January confident that he could knock off Obamacare in a nanosecond. It didn't turn out that way — and from drug prices to the Tom Price travel scandal, a lot of health policy didn't go according to plan. Here's a look at 10 health care surprises from 2017. (Cancryn, 12/30)

The Hill: Trump HHS Secretary Wrote Two More Checks To Cover Wife’s Flights
Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price wrote two checks to the federal government for his wife's travels in Asia and Africa the day before he resigned, according to documents obtained by The Hill. The checks, which were dated Sept. 28, total a combined $7,502.66. He also wrote a check the same day for more than $50,000 to cover his expenses, which was previously reported. (Weixel, 12/22)

The Washington Post: Congress Will Return To A Full Slate Of Difficult Issues
Congress faces a jam-packed to-do list this month with deadlines looming on difficult issues — including how to fund the government and avoid a shutdown, stabilizing the nation’s health insurance program for poor children, and whether to shield young undocumented immigrants from deportation. Fresh off a party-line vote in favor of legislation overhauling the tax code, the negotiations will test whether Congress and the White House still have the potential to craft any form of bipartisan agreement. If so, several of the year’s most contested issues might be resolved with months to spare before the 2018 midterm campaign heats up. (Stein, 1/1)

Bloomberg: Trump And Congress Spoil For Fights With Shutdown Again At Stake 
Several health-care issues are also outstanding. Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine voted for the GOP tax-cut bill in exchange for a promise from her party’s leaders to vote on two bills aimed at shoring up Obamacare. One would restore subsidies for co-payments and deductibles suspended by Trump, while the other would establish a reinsurance program to help insurers cover people with chronic and costly illnesses. (Sink, Wasson and Edgerton, 1/2)

The Hill: Five Key Decisions For The GOP On Health Care
Republicans have repealed ObamaCare’s individual insurance mandate, but they still have a number of decisions to make on health care in the coming year. Even without the unpopular mandate, the health-care law is still largely in effect, with nearly 9 million people enrolled in private plans for 2018. (Hellmann, 12/29)

The Hill: Health-Care Fights Could Complicate 2018 Funding Deal 
A host of health-care issues could complicate a deal to fund the government in what will be a hectic January for Congress. Lawmakers agreed to a short-term continuing resolution that funds the government through Jan. 19. When they return, they will face a number of dicey issues with two weeks to reach a new full-year funding deal. (Weixel, 12/28)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: GOP Senate Candidates Open Door To Cutting Entitlement Programs
With $1.5 trillion in tax cuts signed into law last week, Wisconsin Republicans like U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan and the party's two U.S. Senate candidates face a question: Should the GOP move on to overhauling entitlements? In 2018, Republicans could use their control of the federal government to prioritize an infrastructure bill, a rewrite to immigration law or changes to entitlement programs such as Medicaid health programs for the needy and Medicare coverage for seniors. (Stein, 12/29)

Earlier, related KHN coverage: Children’s Insurance, Other Health Programs Funded — For Now — In Bill (Rovner, 12/22).

Meanwhile, states like Alabama, Connecticut and Minnesota cope with the CHIP uncertainty —

The Hill: Alabama Calls Off Freeze To Children's Health Insurance 
Alabama will no longer freeze enrollment for children's health insurance on Jan. 1, thanks to new temporary funding passed by Congress, the state said Wednesday. The stopgap spending bill that lawmakers passed last week gives the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) $2.85 billion in temporary funding. The move was intended to tide over states that were running low on funding due to Congress's failure to pass a long-term funding measure for the program. (Sullivan, 12/27)

The Hill: Connecticut CHIP To Last An Extra Month Unless It Gets More Money From Congress 
Connecticut is extending its program to provide health insurance to low- and middle-income children another month, after lawmakers appropriated $2.85 billion to keep states’ programs temporarily afloat. In mid-December, a notice on Connecticut’s website alerted families that the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) would end Jan. 31 unless Congress provided new federal funding. Before leaving town for the holidays, lawmakers passed a stopgap spending bill with additional funds for CHIP lasting through March 31. (Roubein, 12/29)

The Star Tribune: Congress Indecision Paralyzing Minnesota Safety Net Clinics 
Nearly 70 of Minnesota’s safety net medical clinics, with thousands of patients, face an uncertain future because Congress has failed to reauthorize their federal funding, leaving them unable to fill doctor vacancies or plan out services for the year. The program brought $27 million to Minnesota, supporting free or affordable care for more than 50,000 patients who lack health insurance. Before Congress left for the holiday break, and three months after the program’s funding expired, lawmakers did authorize a 90-day extension, but they were unable to reach a permanent fix even though the program enjoys bipartisan support. (Howatt, 1/1)

The Hill: Date Set For First Trump Physical Exam As President 
President Trump will undergo a physical exam on Jan. 12 and the results will be made public by his military physician, Dr. Ronny Jackson, the White House said Thursday.  “The president’s physical is scheduled for Jan. 12 and Dr. Jackson, the president’s doctor, will give a readout of the exam after it’s completed,” the White House said in a statement. (Fabian, 12/28)

Los Angeles Times: Do Psychiatrists Have Any Business Talking About President Trump's Mental Health?
So many norms of politics and civic discourse have been shattered in the year that ends this Sunday. And not every smashed convention this year has been the handiwork of President Donald J. Trump. In a book of essays published in October, two dozen psychiatrists and psychologists challenged strictures laid down by their professions' leaders and publicly probed Trump's mental state. "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump" is a recitation of evidence for what they contend is Trump's malignant narcissism, hedonism and sociopathy. (Healy, 12/30)

NPR: Questions About Mental Fitness Dogged Presidents Long Before Trump
The president is a "narcissist." He is "paranoid." He is "bipolar."No, not President Trump. These labels were applied to Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon and Theodore Roosevelt, respectively. And the list goes on. John F. Kennedy had psychopathic traits, according to one academic study. And Abraham Lincoln apparently experienced suicidal depression. (Hamilton, 12/23)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration Fires All Members Of HIV/AIDS Advisory Council
The remaining members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS were fired en masse this week. Months after a half-dozen members resigned in protest of the Trump administration's position on health policies, the White House dismissed the rest through a form letter. The notice “thanked me for my past service and said that my appointment was terminated, effective immediately,” said Patrick Sullivan, an epidemiologist at Emory University who works on HIV testing programs. He was appointed to a four-year term in May 2016. (Guarino, 12/29)

The Hill: Trump Terminates HIV/AIDS Advisory Panel Members As He Seeks Replacements 
PACHA was formed by former President Clinton, with the primary duty of providing advice, information and recommendations to the administration on ways to promote treatment, prevention and cure of HIV/AIDS. The terminations come after six members of the council resigned this summer, saying that Trump doesn't care about HIV. (Hellmann,12/29)

In other news from the Trump administration —

The New York Times: F.D.A. Leaves Tainted Foods On Shelves Too Long, Report Finds
The Food and Drug Administration is not moving quickly enough to ensure that contaminated food is removed from store shelves, despite being given the necessary authority, federal investigators have concluded. The inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services examined 30 of 1,557 food recalls between 2012 and 2015. The investigators found that the F.D.A. did not always evaluate food-borne hazards in a timely manner or ensure that companies initiated recalls promptly, leaving consumers at risk. (Kaplan, 12/27)

The New York Times: E.P.A. Wanted Years To Study Lead Paint Rule. It Got 90 Days.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to revise its nearly 17-year-old standard for dangerous levels of lead in paint and dust within one year, a rare legal move that amounts to a sharp rebuff of President Trump and Scott Pruitt, the E.P.A. administrator. The decision also called attention to the persistent threat of lead paint to children in millions of American homes, four decades after the federal government banned it from households. (Friedman, 12/27)

The New York Times: At Veterans Hospital In Oregon, A Push For Better Ratings Puts Patients At Risk, Doctors Say
An 81-year-old veteran hobbled into the emergency room at the rural Veterans Affairs hospital here in December, malnourished and dehydrated, his skin flecked with ulcers and his ribs broken from a fall at home. A doctor examining the veteran — a 20-year Air Force mechanic named Walter Savage who had been living alone — decided he was in no shape to care for himself and should be admitted to the hospital. A second doctor running the inpatient ward agreed. But the hospital administration said no. (Philipps, 1/1)

In other VA news —

Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati VA Hospital Case: Is Doctor Or Hospital On Trial?
A federal trial starting Jan. 2 will present to a jury much of the turmoil afflicting the Cincinnati VA Medical Center for the past four years. The jury will be asked to decide a curious question: Did Dr. Barbara Temeck, a career VA surgeon and administrator, wrongfully prescribe painkillers to a friend? Or is the government retaliating against a whistleblower on two of the region's largest medical facilities? (Saker, 1/1)

The New York Times: How Big Tech Is Going After Your Health Care
When Daniel Poston, a second-year medical student in Manhattan, opened the App Store on his iPhone a couple of weeks ago, he was astonished to see an app for a new heart study prominently featured. People often learn about new research studies through in-person conversations with their doctors. But not only did this study, run by Stanford University, use a smartphone to recruit consumers, it was financed by Apple. And it involved using an app on the Apple Watch to try to identify irregular heart rhythms. (Singer, 12/26)

The New York Times: Freed From The IPhone, The Apple Watch Finds A Medical Purpose
In the last months of Steve Jobs’s life, the Apple co-founder fought cancer while managing diabetes. Because he hated pricking his finger to draw blood, Mr. Jobs authorized an Apple research team to develop a noninvasive glucose reader with technology that could potentially be incorporated into a wristwatch, according to people familiar with the events, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak on behalf of the company. (Wakabayashi, 12/26)

In other health technology news —

NPR: Home Health Visits May Help Keep People Out Of The ER
Telemedicine isn't just for rural areas without a lot of doctors anymore. In the last few years, urban areas all over the country have been exploring how they can connect to patients virtually to improve access to primary care and keep people from calling 911 for non-urgent problems. (Simmons-Duffin, 1/2)

Los Angeles Times: Want A Diet Plan? All This Start-Up Needs Is Your Money, Blood And DNA
When Liesl Bettencourt of Pleasanton, Calif., turned 50 recently, she decided it was time to get into shape. She signed up with Habit, an Oakland start-up that offers personalized nutrition recommendations, coaching and meals. And as soon as Habit sent her an initiation kit, she got nervous. The prospect of cutting out bread and cheese from her diet was hard enough, Bettencourt thought. Now she was being asked to use a lancet — a tiny needle that Habit sent her — to draw her own blood. (Lien, 1/2)

Stateline: In Opioid Epidemic, States Intensify Prescription Drug Monitoring
Long before the current opioid epidemic, most states developed drug-tracking systems to allow physicians and pharmacists to check patients’ prescription drug use, including opioid painkillers, to determine whether they may be receiving too many pills, at too high a dose or in dangerous combination with other medications such as sedatives and muscle relaxants. But few prescribers took advantage of the systems. Now, faced with a drug overdose epidemic that killed more than 63,000 people in 2016, at least 39 states are insisting that health professionals use the systems, known as prescription drug-monitoring programs, or PDMPs, to analyze each patient’s prescription drug use before writing another prescription for highly addictive drugs such as Percocet, Vicodin and OxyContin. (Vestal, 12/29)

The Associated Press: Feds Employ Data-Driven Early Warning System In Opioid Fight
The pain clinic tucked into the corner of a low-slung suburban strip mall was an open secret. Patients would travel hundreds of miles to see Dr. Andrzej Zielke, eager for what authorities described as a steady flow of prescriptions for the kinds of powerful painkillers that ushered the nation into its worst drug crisis in history. At least one of Zielke's patients died of an overdose, and prosecutors say others became so dependent on oxycodone and other opioids they would crowd his office, sometimes sleeping in the waiting room. (Gurman, 1/1)

The Wall Street Journal: Opioid Deaths Decline In New England, Offering ‘Ray Of Hope’
As the national opioid crisis rages on, hard-hit New England is offering a glimmer of hope.Several states, including Massachusetts and Rhode Island, are on pace to record fewer overdose deaths in 2017, compared with the year before. This follows years of fast-rising death tolls in the region, which has long been a hot spot for fatal overdoses. State officials say their efforts, ranging from widespread distribution of an overdose-rescue drug to expanded treatment access, are starting to bear fruit. (Kamp, 12/28)

The Associated Press: Drug Epidemic Grows In 2 Largest Counties Outside Washington
Police in the two largest counties outside the nation’s capital say the opioid epidemic is getting worse. Police chiefs from Fairfax County, Virginia, and Montgomery County, Maryland, told WTOP that they’re responding to more drug overdoses. The radio station reported Saturday that the police departments are treating the opioid scourge more as a social issue than a criminal justice one. For instance, Montgomery County Police Chief Tom Manger said social workers respond with police officers to overdoses to help users to get into treatment. (12/30)

Pioneer Press: Number Of Minnesota Newborns Addicted To Opiates Is Rising 
From 2012 to 2015, the number of newborns in Minnesota needing special treatment because their moms were addicted to opioids more than tripled, from 239 to 765, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. As with the opioid crisis in general, the impact on Minnesota infants hasn’t hit all groups equally. According to the Minnesota Department of Human Services, the prevalence of babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome — i.e., on withdrawal from the drugs their mothers used — is  more than seven times more likely to affect Native American infants than non-Hispanic whites, said Dr. Rahul Koranne, chief medical officer for the Minnesota Hospital Association. (Lundy, 12/26)

Denver Post: As Colorado’s Largest Drug And Alcohol Addiction Treatment Provider Closes, Other Organizations Are Scrambling 
For decades, Arapahoe House has served as the largest provider of and a last line of defense against addiction in the metro area, a place where the most in need can receive help. On Tuesday, after what its leaders say was years of financial struggle to keep up with demand, it will close its doors for good. (Ingold and Brown, 1/1)

Chicago Sun Times: Cook County's Lawsuit Part Of Statewide Effort To Address Opioid Epidemic 
If the opioid crisis continues, Nirav Shah, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, said the epidemic will claim the lives of more than 2,700 Illinoisans by 2020. That number is in addition to the 11,000 lives the epidemic has already claimed from 2008 to September 2017, and was a catalyst for the state’s action plan to address how painkillers are over-prescribed. (Hinton, 12/27)

The Hill: Chicago-Area County Sues Opioid Manufacturers
Officials in one the nation’s largest counties on Wednesday filed lawsuits against some of the country’s biggest drug manufacturers over their allegedly aggressive marketing of prescription opioid painkillers. Cook County, Ill., which includes Chicago, joins an increasing number of cities, states and counties suing drug manufacturers amid the United States’s spiraling opioid epidemic. (Weixel, 12/27)

NPR: As Opioid Addiction Rises, Physicians Seek Alternatives
Seven years ago, Robert Kerley, who makes his living as a truck driver, was loading drywall onto his trailer when a gust of wind knocked him off. He fell 14 feet and hurt his back. For pain, a series of doctors prescribed him a variety of opioids: Vicodin, Percocet and Oxycontin. In less than a year, the 45-year-old from Federal Heights, Colo., says he was hooked. "I spent most of my time high, lying on the couch, not doing nothing, sleeping, dozing off, falling asleep everywhere," he says. (Daley, 12/29)

NPR: Blood From 1 Million Americans May Offer Clues To Disease
Federal taxpayers are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into a quest for blood samples, medical information and fitness readouts from a million Americans. It's called the All of Us precision medicine initiative, and it's the biggest push ever mounted to create a huge public pool of data that scientists — and anybody else who is interested — can mine for clues about health and disease. Proponents say this big data approach to medicine will be revolutionary. Critics aren't so sure. (Harrs, 12/31)

NPR: More Genetic Data May Not Lead To Better Health
The Mayo Clinic is building its future around high-tech approaches to research known as "precision medicine." This involves gathering huge amounts of information from genetic tests, medical records and other data sources to ferret out unexpected ideas to advance health. But one longtime scientist at the Mayo Clinic isn't playing along. Dr. Michael Joyner is a skeptical voice in a sea of eager advocates. Joyner's lab studies exercise. It is, fittingly enough, in a hospital building founded in the 1880s. While Mayo has built all sorts of new labs at its sprawling campus in Rochester, Minn., Joyner can conduct his work without glitzy DNA sequencers and other high-tech tools of precision medicine. (Harris, 12/28)

NPR: Maintaining Tissue Sample Quality Might Reduce Medical Errors
You might not suspect that the success of the emerging field of precision medicine depends heavily on the couriers who push carts down hospital halls. But samples taken during surgery may end up in poor shape by the time they get to the pathology lab — and that has serious implications for patients as well as for scientists who want to use that material to develop personalized tests and treatments that are safer and more effective. (Harris, 12/29)

Los Angeles Times: As Health Workers Deal With Mass Shootings And Fires, More Hospitals Are Looking To Help Them Cope
The tragedies that play out in hospitals affect not just patients and their families, but the nurses and doctors who care for them. In one day, a hospital staff could treat a child gravely injured in a car accident, lose a patient to a terminal illness and comfort a family member whose loved one is in surgery. Healthcare workers develop a sort of emotional armor, but it can wear thin. Many say they need space to decompress after regularly witnessing the most devastating moments of people’s lives. (Karlamangla, 1/2)

In other news —

Los Angeles Times: Amid Rising Gun Violence, Accidental Shooting Deaths Have Plummeted. But Why?
A country music festival in Las Vegas: 58 dead. A Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas: 26 dead. The streets of Baltimore last year: nearly 300 dead. Gun violence has received no shortage of attention. But one bright spot has gotten much less: the number of accidental shooting deaths has steadily declined. There were 489 people killed in unintentional shootings in the U.S. in 2015, the most recent year for which data is available. That was down from 824 deaths in 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Taking into account population growth over that time, the rate fell 48%. (Lee, 1/1)

Sacramento Bee: Flu: Season Worsens As Influenza Is Widespread In 36 States, CDC Says
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday released its latest weekly U.S. influenza report, noting that flu activity “increased sharply” Dec. 17-23, Week 51 of 2017. Influenza activity is now considered “widespread” in 36 states, including California, up from 23 last week and 12 the week before that. (McGough, 12/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: Flu Deaths Up In California Amid Concern Over Vaccine
The flu has gotten off to an early and fatal start in the Bay Area and the rest of California, though whether this season will go down as more severe or longer lasting than usual remains to be seen, public health and infectious disease experts said. As of Dec. 16, the date of the most recent report from the California Department of Public Health, 10 people under age 65 had died from influenza-related illness statewide. (Allday, 12/31)

The Star Tribune: Allina Restricts Hospital Visitors During Flu Season
Allina Health is restricting visitors at its 12 Twin Cities hospitals and its eye institute to protect patients and staff from influenza. Seasonal flu is now widespread throughout Minnesota, state health officials said in a weekly flu update Thursday, with the number of cases rising sharply for the second consecutive week. (Prather, 12/31)

Orlando Sentinel: Flu Activity Increasing; Not Too Late To Get Vaccinated
Concerned with this year’s predominant circulating flu strain, health officials are asking providers to prescribe antiviral medications as soon as possible, particularly to hospitalized and high risk patients, and to put flu high on their list of diagnoses when examining sick patients. This season’s common flu strain — Influenza A(H3N2) — is associated with more hospitalizations and deaths. (Miller, 12/29)

Chicago Sun Times: A Spike In Flu Cases Leads To Restricted Visitation At U. Of C. Hospital
Starting Wednesday morning, visiting patients at The University of Chicago Medical Center will be a bit more difficult. As flu season picks up, the hospital won’t allow children under 12, or anyone having a fever, cough or runny nose to enter as a visitor. “It’s not for the sake of being mean-spirited, it really is for the health and safety of our patients,” said Dr. Allison Bartlett, assistant professor of pediatric infectious disease at U. of C. Medicine. (Hartz, 12/26)

The Washington Post: Brain Study Suggests The Type Of Book You Read To Your Baby Is Important
Parents often receive books atpediatric checkups and hear from a variety of health professionals and educators that reading to their kids is critical for supporting development. The pro-reading message is getting through to parents, who recognize that it’s an important habit. According to the U.S. Department of Education, 83 percent of 3-to-5-year-old children were read to three or more times per week by a family member in 2012. (Scott, 12/31)

The Washington Post: The Secret Experiment That Rocked Psychiatry
It was a secret experiment. There was a graduate student, a housewife, a painter, a pediatrician, a psychiatrist and three psychologists. Using fake names, they went out to 12 hospitals across the country and claimed to hear voices. Their mission was to see what would happen. What they found rocked psychiatry. David Rosenhan, a psychologist at Stanford University, published the results of the experiment in a 1973 issue of the journal Science. “On Being Sane in Insane Places” would become one of the most influential studies in the history of psychiatry. (Morris, 1/1)

The Associated Press: Few Colleges Track Suicides, Despite Prevention Investments
Nearly half of the largest U.S. public universities do not track suicides among their students, despite making investments in prevention at a time of surging demand for mental health services. Tabulating student suicides comes with its own set of challenges and problems. But without that data, prevention advocates say, schools have no way to measure their success and can overlook trends that could offer insight to help them save lives. (1/2)

Stat: Experts: Too Much Screening Has Misled Us About Cancer Risk Factors
The best-known downside of cancer screening, such as PSA tests for prostate cancer and mammograms for breast cancer, is that they often flag cancers that pose no risk, leading to overdiagnosis and unnecessary, even harmful, treatment. But widespread screening for “scrutiny-dependent” cancers — those for which the harder you look the more you find, and the more of what you find is harmless — causes another problem, two leading cancer experts argue in a paper published on Monday: increasing the apparent incidence of some cancers. That in turn is misleading doctors and the public about what increases people’s risk of developing cancers — or at least the types of cancer that matter. (Begley, 1/1)

The Washington Post: Hazards Of The Post-New Year’s Rush To Gyms
January is a boom time for the fitness industry, as millions of guilt-ridden Americans flock — at least temporarily — to health clubs to try to shed excess pounds acquired over the holidays. “People eat too much, drink too much, and everyone wants to come back to the gym,” said Jose Velasquez, 40, a restaurant worker who regularly works out at an LA Fitness gym in the District and has seen the post-holiday boom-and-bust phenomenon again and again. (Pianin, 1/1)

The Washington Post: As Zika Fades From Public Consciousness, Scientists Continue To Pursue The Virus
While the Zika virus mostly faded from the public’s consciousness last year, it’s still a hot topic among scientists — and for good reasons. After Zika emerged in the Western Hemisphere, it shook the Americas as reports of infections and devastating birth defects swept through Brazil and Colombia, eventually reaching the United States in 2016. In a welcome turn, the number of Zika cases in the hemisphere last year dropped dramatically in the hardest-hit areas. (Cunningham, 12/30)

NPR: Kids May Skip Shots Because They Fear Needles
The reasons people may skip vaccines such as the flu shot are many. They can include apathy or being too busy. They can include people believing that they won't get sick or fearing vaccines. But recent research suggests another reason some may skip shots: fear of needles. And it's a fear that may be preventable. "People who are afraid of needles are less likely to get vaccines, less likely to fully vaccinate their kids, less likely to give blood and less likely to get a flu shot," says Dr. Amy Baxter, lead study author and clinical associate professor at Medical College of Georgia in Augusta. (Haelle, 12/28)

The New York Times: Fast, Cheap Testing For Tuberculosis? Soon It May Be Possible
Diagnosing a lung disease like tuberculosis with a urine test may seem illogical, but a group of American researchers is now a step closer to that goal. Scientists at George Mason University have improved by at least 100 times the accuracy of testing for a sugar shed by tuberculosis bacteria, meaning that a simple dipstick urine test may soon become possible. (McNeil, 1/1)

San Francisco Chronicle: Spinal-Cord Implants To Numb Pain Emerge As Alternative To Pills
For millions of Americans suffering from debilitating nerve pain, a once-overlooked option has emerged as an alternative to high doses of opioids: implanted medical devices using electricity to counteract pain signals the same way noise-canceling headphones work against sound. (Cortez, 12/30)

The New York Times: Vitamin D And Calcium Don’t Prevent Bone Fractures
Vitamin D and calcium supplements are widely used for the prevention of bone fractures in older adults, but a large analysis confirms earlier reports they do not work. Chinese researchers pooled data from 33 randomized, placebo-controlled trials with more than 51,000 participants to look for an association between taking the supplements and a lowered risk of fracture. The analysis, in JAMA, found none. (Bakalar, 12/28)

Stat/ Boston Globe: 'Dr. Phil' Guests Say Show Risks The Health Of Some People With Addictions
America’s best-known television doctor presents himself as a crusader for recovery who rescues people from their addictions — and even death. But in its pursuit of ratings, the “Dr. Phil” show has put at risk the health of some of those guests it purports to help, according to people who have been on the show and addiction experts. Guests have been left without medical help as they face withdrawal from drugs, a STAT/Boston Globe investigation has found, and one person said she was directed by a show staff member to an open-air drug market to find heroin for her detoxing niece. (Armstrong and Allen, 12/28)

The New York Times: Air Pollution Contributes To More Than 20,000 Deaths A Year
Day-to-day increases in air pollution, even at levels generally considered acceptable, are associated with increased deaths among the elderly. Previous studies have suggested an association, but most have been based on small populations in metropolitan areas. This new study, in JAMA, used Medicare files and nationwide air pollution data to estimate 24-hour exposure in people who died between 2000 and 2012. (Bakalar, 12/17)

The New York Times: Fiber Is Good For You. Now Scientists May Know Why.
A diet of fiber-rich foods, such as fruits and vegetables, reduces the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease and arthritis. Indeed, the evidence for fiber’s benefits extends beyond any particular ailment: People who eat more of it simply have lower odds of dying. That’s why experts are always saying how good dietary fiber is for us. But while the benefits are clear, it’s not so clear why fiber is so great. “It’s an easy question to ask and a hard one to really answer,” said Fredrik Bäckhed, a biologist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. (Zimmer, 1/1)

NPR: Early-Onset Alzheimer's Poses Challenges For Marriage, Finances, Life
When Bella Doolittle heard her diagnosis last February of early-onset Alzheimer's, she sat in the car outside the doctor's office and cried. "He said, 'Well, we figured out what's going on with you and this is it.' And I'm like, 'No it's not.' "Doolittle's husband, Will Doolittle, sits next to her on the couch, recalling how she grilled the doctor. "You asked, 'How long does this take? How long do I have?' And he said, 'On average, eight years.' That really upset you." (Mann, 1/2)

Kaiser Health News: Terrifying Brush With Death Drives Doctor To Fight For Patients
The searing abdominal pain came on suddenly while Dr. Rana Awdish was having dinner with a friend. Soon she was lying in the back seat of the car racing to Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, where Awdish was completing a fellowship in critical care. On that night nearly a decade ago, a benign tumor in Awdish’s liver burst, causing a cascade of medical catastrophes that nearly killed her. She nearly bled to death. She was seven months pregnant at the time, and the baby did not survive. She had a stroke and, over the days and weeks to come, suffered multiple organ failures. She required several surgeries and months of rehabilitation to learn to walk and speak again. (Andrews, 1/2)

Los Angeles Times: Exercise Is Good Medicine For Boosting Memory And Thinking Skills, New Guidelines Say
Every year, you resolve to get more exercise. And every year, you stay stuck on the couch. The American Academy of Neurology is here to help. The experts on brain health are out with new guidelines that say exercising twice a week may help preserve memory and thinking skills in people with mild cognitive impairment. (Kaplan, 12/28)

The Washington Post: How To Find Treatment For A Drinking Problem
American alcohol consumption spikes every December as the holidays descend, which may help explain why reducing or eliminating alcohol consumption is a common New Year’s resolution. If you have resolved to seek treatment for a drinking problem, there is good news and bad news. On the one hand, federal laws such as the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 and the Affordable Care Act of 2010 make it more likely than ever that your health insurance includes an alcohol treatment benefit. But on the other hand, because of years of underfunding, stigma and segregation from the rest of the health-care system, many alcohol treatment programs are of poor quality. Fortunately, the federal government has a new tool that can help you find a quality treatment program that works for you. (Humphreys, 1/1)

Kaiser Health News: Sickle Cell Patients, Families And Doctors Face A ‘Fight For Everything’
The day before his 30th birthday, Marqus Valentine was in a panic. “I was so scared for midnight to come rolling around because subconsciously I was like, ‘This is it. Tomorrow’s my last day on Earth,’” he said. Valentine has sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder, and his doctors had warned him throughout his life that he was not likely to make it to 30. (Gold, 12/27)

The New York Times: After 2nd Bout With Cancer, Seeking To Heal His Body And Mind
Because he was in such a hurry to get to his granddaughter’s high school graduation, James Riddick did not realize he had forgotten his cane until he reached the bus. “Certain things you get so dependent on, it becomes like part of you,” said Mr. Riddick, 80. On that day, more than a year and a half ago, he stepped up into the bus, slowly and shakily but without incident. He has not used his cane since. (Otis, 12/31)

Pioneer Press: Regions Hospital Seeks To Add 100 Beds, Nearly 1,000 Employees By 2040
Regions Hospital wants to add 100 beds and nearly 1,000 employees to its downtown St. Paul campus over the next two decades. Regions submitted a proposal to increase its capacity to state regulators in November and will make its pitch in coming months to the Minnesota Legislature, whose approval is required under state law. (Woltman, 12/27)

Chicago Tribune: 20 Illinois Hospitals Earn Top Marks From Government — And 13 Get Lowest Rating 
Twenty Illinois hospitals have won the federal government’s highest rating when it comes to quality — and 13 have earned its lowest. The ratings, released Thursday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, were delayed by months after the American Hospital Association criticized the system and the government made changes to it. The system awards hospitals one to five stars based on up to 57 measures, including patient readmissions, patient experience, speed of care and death rates for conditions such as heart attacks, strokes and pneumonia. (Schencker, 12/22)

Politico Pro: A Tarnished Hospital Tries To Win Back Trust
Even compared to some other teaching hospitals, whose economic success often stands in sharp contrast to the poverty of their host cities, Yale New Haven Hospital dominates the New Haven economy, while paying proportionally little back to the city. That's why local politicians have pushed the hospital to pay millions of additional dollars to help close budget gaps, while health officials say Yale New Haven Hospital should do more to address health disparities and chronic illnesses like diabetes, which are found in high levels across the poor city and especially near the hospital. (Diamond, 12/30)

Modern Healthcare: Care New England Closes Rhode Island Hospital ER 
Rhode Island has approved Care New England's proposal to close the emergency department at its Pawtucket, R.I., hospital, the health system said Thursday. Care New England will shut down Memorial Hospital's emergency department on Monday. The hospital will still provide primary-care services to the area for now, but the health system has also asked the state to allow it to eliminate those services as well. As part of the ER closure approval, Rhode Island's Department of Health will require Care New England to open a walk-in clinic in Pawtucket. The health system will also pay Pawtucket $300,000 and Central Falls $200,000 for two years to offset patient transportation costs stemming from the ER closure. (12/29)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: New Orleans' Only Trauma And Burn Center To Open At University Medical Center In Early 2018 
Construction on a new integrated Burn Center and Level 1 Trauma Center at University Medical Center in New Orleans is wrapping up, with an expected opening date in February or March 2018. Burn victims that have also suffered trauma are currently taken first to UMC in New Orleans for stabilization before being sent to the nearest burn centers either at Baton Rouge General Hospital or the Arnold Luterman Regional Burn Center at the University of South Alabama in Mobile where they are treated for burn injuries, which includes smoke inhalation. (Clark, 12/28)

Dallas Morning News: Baylor's White Rock Lake Hospital, Formerly Known As Doctors Hospital, Has Been Sold Again
Baylor Scott & White Health has sold its White Rock Lake hospital to a California-based company after owning the facility for less than two years. The hospital has been serving the Lakewood/East Dallas neighborhood since 1959 and until 2016 was known as Doctors Hospital. (Halkias, 12/26)

Los Angeles Times: Recreational Pot Sales Roll Out In California, With Celebratory 'Blunts' And Big Crowds
Legal sale of recreational marijuana began in California on Monday with fanfare, celebratory 'blunts' and some anxiety. Companies began selling pot in a relatively small number of businesses Monday, with more expected to join in the coming days and weeks. (Jennings, Parvini and Robbins, 1/1)

The Washington Post: California Pot: Smoke ‘Em (Or Eat ‘Em) If You Can Get ‘Em
It wasn’t exactly reefer madness Monday as California launched the first legal retail sales of marijuana, but those who could find the drug celebrated the historic day, lining up early for ribbon cuttings, freebies and offerings ranging from joints to gummy bears to weed with names like Red Dragon. Jeff Deakin, 66, his wife Mary and their dog waited in the cold all night to be first in a line of 100 people when Harborside dispensary, a longtime medical pot shop in Oakland, opened at 6 a.m. and offered early customers joints for a penny and free T-shirts that read “Flower to the People — Cannabis for All.” (Melley and Chea, 1/1)

Sacramento Bee: Longtime Users Line Up For Legal Weed In California
Dispensary owners reported that customer lines were longer than usual, compared to when the industry could sell only to adults with recommendations from doctors. But some owners and customers expressed disappointment that more people didn’t show up to celebrate legalization. (Branan and Bizjak, 1/1)

Los Angeles Times: Study Of California Women Finds 1 In 14 Used Pot During Pregnancy
Prenatal exposure to pot has become increasingly common in California since the state legalized medical marijuana in 1996, according to a new study. Pot use by women during the first two months of pregnancy increased by about 7.5% per year between 2009 and 2016, researchers reported this week in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. By the end of that period, about 1 in 14 women were using some form of marijuana after they had conceived. (Kaplan, 12/27)

California Healthline: High Praise: Pot Churches Proliferate As States Ease Access To Marijuana
Services at the Coachella Valley Church begin and end with the Lord’s Prayer. In between, there is the sacrament. “Breathe deep and blow harder,” intoned Pastor Grant Atwell after distributing small marijuana joints to 20 worshipers on a recent Sunday afternoon. “Nail the insight down, whether you get it from marijuana or prayer. Consider what in your own life you are thankful for.” (Feder Ostrov, 1/2)

San Jose Mercury News: First Retail Pot Shops Open In California
While most of the Bay Area was still sound asleep, thousands of polite, cheerful and suddenly law-abiding marijuana customers awoke before dawn on New Year’s Day to stand in line for the state’s first-ever legal sales of a long-demonized plant. ...Defying federal law, Californians voted for cannabis legalization in November 2016 by passing Proposition 64 with 57 percent of the vote. (Krieger, 1/1)

San Francisco Chronicle: Some States Put A THC Limit On Pot-Smoking Drivers — Here’s Why California Doesn’t
Unlike the nationally accepted 0.08 percent blood alcohol concentration limit used in DUI arrests, there’s no scientific consensus on a base blood level of THC that can prove impairment. Studies haven’t been able to determine a correlation between THC levels and an inability to drive safely, according to both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the American Automobile Association. (Lyons, 12/31)

San Francisco Chronicle: Customers Line Up For First Legal Purchases Of Recreational Pot
A pair of longtime users making their first legal buy. A cancer survivor. A former federal prosecutor. They were all among the first to buy marijuana from Bay Area stores as recreational sales of the drug became legal in California on New Year’s Day, with licensed stores open across the region in Oakland, Berkeley, San Jose and Santa Cruz. (Tucker, 1/1)

Kaiser Health News: Wrecked And Retching: Obscure Vomiting Illness Linked To Long-Term Pot Use
For 17 years, Chalfonte LeNee Queen suffered periodic episodes of violent retching and abdominal pain that would knock her off her feet for days, sometimes leaving her writhing on the floor in pain. “I’ve screamed out for death,” said Queen, 48, who lives in San Diego. “I’ve cried out for my mom who’s been dead for 20 years, mentally not realizing she can’t come to me.” (Bartolone, 1/2)

Los Angeles Times: Get Ready For A Revived Brawl Over Single-Payer Healthcare In California
Whether it was bracing for a possible repeal of Obamacare or pondering an ambitious single-payer program that would overhaul how California provided medical care to its residents, the issue of healthcare kept politicians and policy wonks busy in 2017. That’s not likely to let up in 2018. ... Here’s a primer on the healthcare agenda in California politics. (Mason, 12/28)

The Baltimore Sun: New Maryland Law Makes Contraceptives More Affordable, Easier To Get 
Marylanders will have an easier time getting birth control next year under a sweeping new law aimed at expanding and protecting people’s access to contraception. Under the law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, insurers are required to provide most forms of birth control with no out-of-pocket costs to the patient. The law also requires insurers to cover vasectomies, or sterilization, for men without charging out-of-pocket expenses. And insurers must pay for over-the-counter birth control, including the Plan B emergency contraception, also known as the morning-after pill. The pill is taken after sexual intercourse to prevent a pregnancy. (McDaniels, 12/28)

Reuters: Illinois Judge Rejects Lawsuit Challenging Abortion Coverage Expansion
An Illinois law expanding state-funded coverage of abortions for low-income Medicaid recipients was set to go into effect next month after an Illinois judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit by abortion opponents seeking to block it. Abortion foes will appeal Thursday's Sangamon County Circuit Court decision, said Peter Breen, a lawyer for the conservative Thomas More Society, who filed the suit last month along with some state lawmakers and anti-abortion groups. (Kenning, 12/28)

Columbus Dispatch: Anthem To Begin Denying Ohio Customers Coverage For ER Visits It Deems Non-Emergencies
A major Ohio health insurer is being criticized for plans to deny coverage for what it says are non-emergency visits to the emergency room. Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield has said it will implement the change in Ohio — where it has 3.5 million health-insurance customers — along with Indiana and New Hampshire beginning Monday, Jan. 1. (Matzer Rose, 12/28)

Denver Post: Colorado To Spend $20 Million To Relieve Ongoing Backlog Of Mental Competency Evaluations; Critics Say Problem Was Foreseeable 
People with mental illness who are accused of crimes in Colorado are waiting up to four times as long as legally allowed for evaluations and treatment because the system is so overwhelmed, their attorneys say. Colorado is bound by a 2012 lawsuit settlement to conduct mental competency evaluations or begin treatment for people found incompetent to stand trial within 28 days of a judge’s order. But for the second time in six months, the state has revealed it is failing to meet the requirements of the federal settlement. (Brown, 12/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Blood-Testing Firm Theranos Gets $100 Million Lifeline From Fortress
The embattled Silicon Valley blood-testing company Theranos Inc. told its investors this week that it has secured a $100 million loan from Fortress Investment Group LLC, averting for now a possible bankruptcy filing as its remaining cash dwindled. The loan is “subject to achieving certain product and operational milestones,” Theranos’s founder and chief executive officer, Elizabeth Holmes, told the company’s shareholders in an email Friday evening that was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. A spokeswoman for the company didn’t respond to requests for comment. (Carreyrou, 12/24)

KJZZ: Judge Calls For Hearing After KJZZ Report On Arizona Prison Health Care
In 2015, inmates settled a lawsuit with the state over poor health care conditions in state prisons. More than two years later, ADC and Corizon have failed to meet the more than 100 stipulations agreed to in the settlement. (Jenkins, 12/29)

The Star Tribune: 'One-Stop Shopping' Model Gets Mental Health Care To Thousands 
A year ago, Minnesota became one of just eight states selected by federal officials to develop a statewide network of clinics that would provide “one-stop shopping” for mental health care. Since then, the model has taken flight. Nearly 5,000 people with a range of disorders, including mental illnesses and chemical addictions, enrolled in the program in just the first three months. State officials estimate that, if current trends continue, the program will be serving more than 15,000 patients by July, making it one of the broadest expansions of Minnesota’s community mental health system in years. (Serres, 12/29)

Los Angeles Times: Regulators Warned Against Housing Near Freeways Due To Health Risks. Now They're Warming To It
Twelve years ago, California air quality officials delivered a warning to cities and counties: Avoid putting new homes in high-pollution zones within 500 feet of freeways. That advice, which relied on years of research linking traffic pollution to asthma, heart attacks and other health problems, was aimed at keeping "children and other vulnerable populations out of harm's way," according to the state Air Resources Board's 2005 handbook. (Barboza and Zahniser, 12/27)

Dallas Morning News: More North Texas Health Care Companies Could Be Left In Critical Condition In 2018 
The so-called “restructuring epidemic” in the healthcare sector is projected to only get worse, and health care businesses in Texas are already among the most frequent to find themselves in critical condition. There were a slew of bankruptcies filed in Texas in 2017, including Lewisville’s Adeptus Health, which owns free-standing emergency rooms, Walnut Hill Medical Center in Dallas, and nursing home operator Preferred Care, based in Plano. (Rice, 12/28)

Denver Post: Physical Therapists Can Continue To Stick It To Their Patients, Judge Rules In Acupuncture Challenge 
The more than 6,000 licensed physical therapists in Colorado can continue to offer “dry needling” as a form of treatment after a Denver judge knocked down a lawsuit by the state’s licensed acupuncturists challenging the practice.I n a tightly written, eight-page decision, Denver District Judge A. Bruce Jones dismissed the lawsuit by the Acupuncture Association of Colorado largely because the group’s challenge of a 2012 rule allowing physical therapists to engage in dry needling comes years too late. (Migoya, 12/29)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: 14 Philly-Area Superfund Sites In Flood Zones, Sea-Level-Rise Areas
An Inquirer analysis of EPA documents shows that 14 Superfund sites in Philadelphia, its suburbs and South Jersey are within flood zones or areas susceptible to rising seas connected with climate change. ...Though each Superfund site on the priorities list gets a score for the threat it poses to public health, flood risk is not part of that calculation. (Kummer, 12/29)

Los Angeles Times: Freeway Pollution Travels Farther Than We Thought. Here's How To Protect Yourself
If anyone knows where to find refuge from air pollution near Los Angeles freeways, it’s Suzanne Paulson.The UCLA atmospheric chemistry professor has spent years studying how invisible plumes of dirty air from car- and truck-choked roadways spread into surrounding neighborhoods — increasing residents’ risk of cancer, asthma, heart disease and other illnesses. So when she bought a home in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Santa Monica in 2007, she made sure it was on a quiet street far from the 10 Freeway — well beyond the 500-foot zone where California air quality regulators say it’s unhealthful to put homes, schools and day cares. (Barboza, 12/30)

The Associated Press: In An Unusual Step, North Carolina Police Tell Victims About Destroyed Rape Kits
When Veronica was raped more than 13 years ago, she says neither the police nor the hospital staff believed her story that a longtime friend attacked her while his mother was in the next room. "I was treated like a female crying wolf," said Veronica, who says the man raped her while she was unconscious. She believes he drugged her drink. (1/1)

The Washington Post: Five Things We’ll Be Arguing About In 2018
Key Republicans, especially House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.), have made it clear that cutting social insurance and safety net programs is their primary goal this year. (President Trump’s made some noise about infrastructure, but I don’t see it; there’s no real plan and little appetite among his caucus for more spending.) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) has thrown cold water on cuts to Medicare or Social Security (or, as they call it: “entitlement reform”), but that doesn’t mean they won’t go after poverty programs. Along with cutting spending, one of their main arguments will be for adding work requirements to Medicaid and nutritional support. (Jared Bernstein, 1/2)

The New York Times: Why The U.S. Spends So Much More Than Other Nations On Health Care
The United States spends almost twice as much on health care, as a percentage of its economy, as other advanced industrialized countries — totaling $3.3 trillion, or 17.9 percent of gross domestic product in 2016. But a few decades ago American health care spending was much closer to that of peer nations. What happened? (Austin Frakt and Aaron E. Carroll, 1/2)

The Washington Post: States Can Fix Republicans’ Obamacare Mess
Republicans have ripped a big hole in Obamacare. But there is a way to avoid chaos in the health-insurance markets on which millions of Americans depend, if states act quickly to undo the damage. ... There is a relatively simple solution, if states are willing to embrace it. They can fill the gap by passing their own individual mandates that apply within their borders, keeping the essential elements of the Obamacare system intact as far as their jurisdiction extends. In fact, states could make Obamacare work better than it had before, applying a larger penalty than the relatively small one that people have so far faced for skipping out on their responsibility to keep themselves covered. This would encourage more young and healthy people to enter the insurance market, thereby restraining premiums and boosting enrollment. (1/1)

Chicago Tribune: Why You Should Make End-Of-Life Care Decisions Now
Modern medicine has developed the God-like power to stabilize the vital signs that spiral out of control as a person approaches death, and to then keep that person alive despite her inability to breathe, eat or drink. It wields this power liberally. But the American health care system never taught the public that preventing a natural death often results in a wholly unnatural life. (Kristen McConnell, 1/1)

Los Angeles Times: Allowing Employers A 'Moral Exemption' From Offering Birth Control Coverage Is Immoral
In the tortured history of birth control coverage under the ACA, the government has made change after change to placate employers who objected on religious grounds to covering birth control. Now, the Trump administration has essentially neutered the mandate entirely, allowing any employer with any religious or moral objection to refuse to offer birth control coverage — without any requirement that they allow their insurance company to make an accommodation. It is unjust and un-economical to deprive women of easy and affordable access to birth control. (1/2)

The Washington Post: The Trump Administration’s Disturbing Fight To Stop Teenagers From Getting Abortions
Jane Poe is the pseudonym of a 17-year-old girl who crossed the border from Mexico into the United States this fall. ... she discovered she was pregnant while in a government-funded shelter for undocumented minors, and that the pregnancy was the result of rape. She asked for an abortion and said she would hurt herself if she didn’t receive one. The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which oversaw Poe’s shelter, refused to allow it. Last month, Poe finally was able to get an abortion after an order by a federal judge. She is one of three teenage girls whose abortions the Trump administration has fought in court to block. Each time, it has failed, but there will surely be others in Poe’s position. (Quinta Jurecic, 12/31)

The Wall Street Journal: Why Tax Hospitals? It’s A Medicaid Shell Game
When Connecticut faced a budget shortfall of $2.2 billion, or 11%, this year, it helped close the gap by almost doubling its tax on hospitals, to $900 million. Taxing hospitals sounds strange, especially since most are nonprofits. It also would seem to increase their costs and, thus, the cost of care—much of which, thanks to Medicaid, is borne by the state that levies the tax. Yet 42 states tax hospitals. Why? One answer is the perverse incentives built into the Medicaid law. When a state returns tax money to hospitals through Medicaid “supplemental payments,” it qualifies for matching funds from Washington. (Red Jahncke, 12/29)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Medicaid's Advances Fight Deadly Disease
In an exciting development, Missouri Medicaid (MO HealthNet) recently lifted restrictions on treatment of chronic hepatitis C, which will enable many low-income Missourians to access curative treatment. Hepatitis C can lead to severe liver disease, liver cancer and death, killing thousands of Americans each year. Hepatitis C is a blood-borne virus that can be transmitted through blood transfusion, occasionally through sexual contact, sharing needles, or in some cases from mothers to children at the time of childbirth. Others at increased risk of infection include health care workers and first responders who may encounter infected blood from needle-sticks. (Joel Ferber and Bruce R. Bacon, 1/1)

Lexington Herald Leader: Who Will Care For Kentucky’s Children?
Lawmakers in 2017 examined the crisis — that word is no exaggeration — that the opioid epidemic is inflicting on Kentucky’s children. The only problem with ideas recently offered by two legislative committees is that they cost money that Kentucky does not have. The federal government would send aid to clean up and rebuild from a natural disaster. But despite President Donald Trump’s declaration of a public health emergency, too little help has arrived in response to this man-made disaster, one that was abetted by the reluctance of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration lawyers to punish pharmaceutical companies for supplying volumes of addictive painkillers so huge that they were clearly bound for illegal diversion. (12/29)

The Charlotte Observer: Cardinal Debacle Exposes A Broken N.C. Mental Health Care System
Providing mental health care to children is a profound responsibility that demands the highest standards of professionalism, accountability, and compassion. We believe that a strong system of high-quality, accessible, community-based mental health programs will mean healthier children and families, and, ultimately, a stronger Charlotte. Most importantly, we know that our children can’t wait. Their future depends on us to get it right – right now. So when we hear about excessive salaries and learn that over $6 million in public funding was spent on executive severance packages at Cardinal Innovations instead of on the mental health needs of our children, we are outraged. (Bob Simmons and Michelle Hughes, 12/29)

The Kansas City Star: A 2018 Agenda For Missouri Lawmakers: Ethics Reform, Transportation, Health Care
Lawmakers should develop a prescription drug monitoring program that works. The opioid crisis has ravaged parts of the state, yet Missouri is behind in its efforts to combat the scourge. [Missouri Gov. Eric] Greitens’ drug monitoring program is too watered down to be effective in rural counties, where the drug crisis grows each day. (12/31)

Los Angeles Times: The Lack Of Health Research Into Marijuana Makes It Hard To Tell People Whether It Is Safe
In advance of the legalization of recreational marijuana sales on Jan. 1, there have been lots of debates over the details of the cannabis business. How many feet should pot shops be from schools or daycare centers? How many acres may a marijuana farmer cultivate? Who should be eligible for a license to sell and who shouldn't? But there’s been much less discussion over an equally important question raised by the end of prohibition in California: What is the right public health message to send to adults who can now legally buy and use marijuana? (12/27)