First Edition: April 4, 2017

Kaiser Health News: Trump’s Effort To Lure Consumers To Exchanges Could Bring Skimpier Plans
Will opening the door to cheaper, skimpier marketplace plans with higher deductibles and copays attract consumers and insurers to the exchanges next year? That’s what the Trump administration is betting on. In February, the administration proposed a rule that would take a bit of the shine off of bronze, silver, gold and platinum exchange plans by allowing them to provide less generous coverage while keeping the same metal-level designation. (Andrews, 4/4)

The Associated Press: White House Officials Offer Change To Health Care Bill
White House officials made a new offer to conservative House Republicans late Monday on the GOP's failed health care bill, hoping to resuscitate a measure that crashed spectacularly less than two weeks ago. ... Under the White House offer, states would be allowed to apply for waivers from several coverage requirements that President Barack Obama's 2010 health care law imposed on insurers. These include an Affordable Care Act provision prohibiting insurance companies from declining to write policies for people with serious diseases. Conservatives have argued that such requirements have the effect of inflating insurance costs. (4/4)

Reuters: Trump Aides, Lawmakers Hold Talks To Revive Healthcare Bill 
Top White House officials met moderate and conservative Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday in an effort to revive a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. Key members of the administration, including Vice President Mike Pence, invited a group of moderate Republicans known as the "Tuesday Group" to the White House. Pence then went to Capitol Hill to meet the Freedom Caucus, a group of House conservatives who last month derailed a healthcare bill backed by President Donald Trump. (Morgan, 4/3)

The Washington Post: With Help From Pence, House Republicans Suddenly Rekindle Health-Care Talks
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, told reporters Monday night that the administration officials offered a “solid idea” that could form the basis of an intraparty compromise. That idea, he said, would allow states to apply for federal waivers exempting them from some health insurance mandates established under the Affordable Care Act — including “essential health benefits” requiring coverage of mental-health care, substance abuse treatment, maternity care, prescription drugs and more, as well as a provision that bars insurers from charging the sick more than the healthy. (DeBonis and Wagner, 4/3)

Politico: White House, Conservatives Mull Deal To Revive Obamacare Repeal
The developments could mean that Speaker Paul Ryan’s bill might not be dead after all — or at least indicate that continued discussions are going on behind the scenes. Sources stressed that the details are still being finalized, and it's far from certain that such a change would act as a silver bullet to salvage the much-maligned bill, and whether it would win over enough conservatives while also keeping centrist Republicans on board. (Bade, Haberkorn and Dawsey, 4/3)

The Associated Press: Repeal In Doubt, What Trump Alone Can Do On 'Obamacare'
With prospects in doubt for repealing "Obamacare," some Republicans say the Trump administration can rewrite regulations and take other actions to undo much of the health care law on its own. Some of those moves could disrupt life for millions of people, many in states that the new president carried. And then there's the risk of court challenges. Remember the White House travel ban? (Alonso-Zaldivar, 4/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Democrats Weigh ACA Effort While Republicans Regroup After Health Bill
Democrats, hoping to seize on momentum from the apparent collapse of the Republicans’ health bill, are grappling with a tough question—whether they can do anything to prevent the Trump administration from weakening the Affordable Care Act through administrative actions by the Department of Health and Human Services. (Armour, 4/3)

The New York Times: Kansas House Narrowly Upholds Governor’s Veto Of Medicaid Expansion
In spite of a torrent of phone calls and in-person pleas from constituents over the weekend, and last-minute lobbying by hospital leaders who said that expanding Medicaid would help save a number of rural hospitals from closing, the vote was 81 to 44, three short of the two-thirds majority needed for an override. (Goodnough and Smith, 4/3)

The Associated Press: Kansas Lawmakers Fail To Override Veto Of Medicaid Expansion
A few rural Republicans whose support could have led lawmakers to override the veto questioned whether their struggling hospitals would have seen as much benefit from an expansion as urban areas. They also worried that extra costs associated with an expansion would hinder efforts to close projected state budget shortfalls totaling more than $1 billion through June 2019. (Hanna, 4/3)

The New York Times: Iowa’s Largest Insurer Says It Will Withdraw From Obamacare Exchanges
In the latest move by insurers worried about the viability of the markets created under the federal health care law, Iowa’s major carrier said Monday that it would stop selling individual policies in the state next year. In a statement, the insurer, Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, which is based in Des Moines, blamed its decision to withdraw in 2018 on what it said was the high cost of covering people under the Affordable Care Act. (Abelson, 4/3)

The Associated Press: Senate Agrees To Extend VA's Program Of Private-Sector Care
The Senate on Monday approved legislation that would extend a troubled program aimed at widening veterans' access to private-sector health care, the first step in an overhaul of programs at the Department of Veterans Affairs. (Yen, 4/3)

The Associated Press: VA Defending Work To Fix Troubled Veteran Suicide Hotline
The Department of Veterans Affairs is telling skeptical members of Congress that it has fixed problems with its suicide hotline that were highlighted in a critical recent internal watchdog report. A March 20 audit by the VA inspector general had found that nearly a third of calls to the Veterans Crisis Line as recently as November were bounced to back-up centers run by an outside contractor. The rollover calls happen when phone lines are busy, leading to possible waits of 30 minutes or more. (Yen, 4/4)

The Associated Press: DOJ: For Decade, Sanofi Vaccine Unit Overcharged VA On Meds
The vaccines unit of French pharmaceutical company Sanofi SA will pay a $19.9 million fine for overcharging the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for two products between 2002 and 2011. By law, drug manufacturers cannot charge the VA more than a maximum level called the Federal Ceiling Price for drugs. (4/3)

The New York Times: Plan To Cut Funding For Biomedical Research Hits Opposition In Congress
A proposal by President Trump to cut federal spending for biomedical research by 18 percent — just months after Congress approved bipartisan legislation to increase such spending — has run into a buzz saw on Capitol Hill, with Republicans and Democrats calling it misguided. “I’m extremely concerned about the potential impact of the 18 percent cut,” said Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma and chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee responsible for the National Institutes of Health. “This committee and certainly me, personally, will be very hesitant” to go along with the proposal, he added. (Pear, 4/3)

The Washington Post: Biden Attacks Trump’s Proposed Cuts To Medical Research
Former vice president Joe Biden on Monday blasted as “draconian” President Trump's proposed cuts in funding for biomedical research, predicting that they would severely set back the budget of the National Institutes of Health, shutter labs across the United States and end promising scientific careers. Biden, in a speech to the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Washington, said the proposed spending reductions for fiscal 2018 are sending a message that the United States is willing to cede its leadership in scientific and technical affairs. (McGinley, 4/3)

The Associated Press: Trump Admin Cites Abortion As It Halts Funding To UN Agency
The Trump administration is cutting off U.S. funding to the United Nations agency for reproductive health under an abortion-related provision in law that Democratic and Republican administrations have used as a cudgel in the global culture wars. (Lederman, 4/4)

Reuters: Federal Judge Blocks Indiana Abortion Ultrasound Measure
A U.S. federal judge blocked an Indiana measure requiring women to have an ultrasound at least 18 hours before undergoing an abortion, saying that the mandate was unnecessary and a burden to low-income women. The preliminary injunction, issued by U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt on Friday, was the result of a lawsuit brought last year by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky against Indiana's Department of Health and local officials. (Mclaughlin, 4/3)

The New York Times: The Campaign To Lead The World Health Organization
In May, the World Health Organization will select a new director general, a choice that will affect the health of hundreds of millions in the developing world — perhaps even more if a global pandemic were to emerge. For the first time, the selection will be made by a vote of the W.H.O.’s member nations for candidates who have campaigned openly for the post. (McNeil, 4/3)

Reuters: Mylan Hit With New Class Action Lawsuit Over EpiPen Pricing
Although other lawsuits have been filed over EpiPen pricing, Monday's is the first to focus on the role of PBMs and to bring claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a federal law historically used against organized crime. (Pierson, 4/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Mylan Hit With Lawsuit Alleging It Overcharged EpiPen Patients
The latest lawsuit alleged Mylan violated a federal racketeering statute and various states’ consumer-protection laws by raising the EpiPen’s list price to give a share of the proceeds to pharmacy-benefit managers, or PBMs, and ensure the device was available for sale to patients. PBMs manage pharmacy benefits for employers, and insurers and can influence which drugs are covered by placing them on preferred lists. (Rockoff, 4/3)

The Washington Post: 20 Percent Of Patients With Serious Conditions Are First Misdiagnosed, Study Says
More than 20 percent of patients who sought a second opinion at one of the nation’s premier medical institutions had been misdiagnosed by their primary care providers, according to new research published Tuesday. Twelve percent of the people who asked specialists at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., to review their cases had received correct diagnoses, the study found. The rest got diagnoses that were partly in line with the conclusions of the Mayo doctors who evaluated their conditions. (Bernstein, 4/4)

NPR: Overweight Americans May Have Shorter Lifespans After All
New research published Monday adds fuel to an ongoing debate in the public health community over whether a few extra pounds are good, or bad, for you. Earlier research found that being somewhat overweight, but not obese, may result in a longer life. But today's study in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that being slightly overweight may actually decrease a person's life span, which is more in line with conventional wisdom about weight. (Neighmond and Neel, 4/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Should You Have A Scan For Skin Cancer?
Beverly McCormick gets a full-body exam for skin cancer every six months. With blond hair, freckles and light skin, she’s not taking any chances. Ms. McCormick, a 64-year-old manager in the financial-services department at the Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, says that over the years her dermatologist has removed a squamous cell carcinoma—a type of skin cancer—as well as numerous precancerous lesions. (Reddy, 4/3)

The Washington Post: Vaccinations Significantly Reduce Risk Of Death From The Flu, CDC Study Finds
Children who were vaccinated in recent years significantly lowered their chances of dying from the flu, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Using data from four flu seasons between 2010 and 2014, researchers found that flu vaccinations reduced the risk of flu-associated death by half among children with underlying high-risk medical conditions and by nearly two-thirds among healthy children. (Schmidt, 4/4)

Los Angeles Times: One Sister Faces Early Onset Alzheimer's. The Other Plans To Be With Her For The Journey
Like all siblings, Robin and Jessica McIntyre have had their share of battles yet they’ve always been close. And that bond grows stronger as they contend with the exceptional cruelties life has visited upon their family. This latest challenge may be hardest of all. “I have probably lived more of my life than I have left,” said Robin matter-of-factly. (Kelly, 4/3)

The Washington Post: Wealth Didn’t Matter. Pollution From A Coal-Fired Plant, Carried Miles By Wind, Still Hurt Their Babies.
Air pollution from power plants has wanderlust. It never stays still. It rides the wind, drifting far from its source, visiting homes miles away with potentially harmful effects. New research released Monday documents the impact that pollution from a coal-fired plant in Pennsylvania had on four wealthy New Jersey counties as far as 30 miles downwind. Women in those counties had a greater risk of having babies of low or very low birthweight — less than 5½ pounds — than did women in similarly affluent areas. (Fears, 4/3)

Los Angeles Times: Health Officials Acknowledge Effects Of Utility Leak On Alabama Residents
A chemical leak at a natural gas facility that had long been owned by San Diego-based Sempra Energy has been found to have contributed to the troubled health of residents in a poor Alabama community. The Alabama Department of Public Health announced in a recent press release that the ongoing review of the 2008 leak in Eight Mile, Ala., has determined that the chemical odorant used to detect natural gas leaks is affecting residents in the predominantly African American community of 8,000. (Penn, 4/3)