First Edition: August 3, 2017

Kaiser Health News: Despite Insurers’ Tactical Win On ACA’s Cost-Sharing Payments, Uncertainty Lingers
Health insurers have won powerful allies in a fight over federal subsidies that President Donald Trump has threatened to cancel for millions of people who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act. A federal appeals court ruled late Tuesday that Democratic state attorneys general favoring the subsidies can join a court case brought by the Republican-led House of Representatives. That three-year-old challenge could determine the fate of those subsidies. (Hancock, 8/2)

California Healthline: Anthem’s Retreat Leaves Californians With Fewer Choices, More Worries
Bill Daitchman got some bad news this week: His insurer is breaking up with him. Daitchman and his wife, who own a graphic design business in Santa Cruz County, Calif., each pay $350 a month for a health insurance plan from Anthem Blue Cross on the Covered California exchange. But Anthem announced Tuesday it’s pulling out of most of the state’s individual markets, citing the uncertainty swirling around the Affordable Care Act. (Batolone, Gorman and Terhune, 8/2)

Politico: New Bipartisan Obamacare Push Faces Steep Climb
There’s never been a major bipartisan Obamacare bill, and the path to passing one now — after the death of Senate Republicans' repeal effort — is steep. Senate HELP Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and ranking Democrat Patty Murray of Washington are up against both time and history in their race to stabilize the shaky Obamacare markets and solidify their status as the chamber’s top dealmakers. (Haberkorn and Cancryn, 8/3)

The Associated Press: Bipartisan Drive To Pay Health Insurers Faces Senate Hurdles
A bipartisan Senate effort to continue federal payments to insurers and avert a costly rattling of health insurance markets faces a dicey future. The uncertainty shows that last week's wreck of the Republican drive to repeal the Affordable Care Act hasn't blunted the issue's sharp-edged politics. (Fram, 8/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Health Insurer Payments In Crosshairs
The health industry is heading into a pivotal few weeks that will determine whether the White House keeps making billions in payments to insurers or whether Congress will take over responsibility for them—decisions that rest on complex political calculations. President Donald Trump regularly decries the “cost-sharing reduction” payments as insurer bailouts, but he has so far kept making them. Republicans in Congress sued President Barack Obama to end them, but many now hope Mr. Trump will continue them. And congressional Democrats, who openly favor the payments, failed to lock them in when they could. (Radnofsky and Hackman, 8/2)

Reuters: U.S. Governors Urge Trump To Make Insurance Payments
Democratic and Republican U.S. governors on Wednesday urged the Trump administration, as well as Congress, to continue funding payments to health insurance companies that make Obamacare plans affordable, calling it critical to stabilizing the insurance marketplace. (Cornwell, 8/2)

The Associated Press: Court Complicates Trump’s Threat To Cut ‘Obamacare’ Funds
President Donald Trump’s bold threat to push “Obamacare” into collapse may get harder to carry out after a new court ruling. The procedural decision late Tuesday by a federal appeals panel in Washington has implications for millions of consumers. The judges said that a group of states can defend the legality of government “cost-sharing” subsidies for copays and deductibles under the Affordable Care Act if the Trump administration decides to stop paying the money. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 8/2)

Politico: Lawyers, Lawmakers Leave Trump Administration In Limbo On Obamacare Subsidies
The administration has slowed a decision to hear from lawyers, who are studying how the payments could be ended and what legal liabilities the administration could face if the payments stop, according to administration officials. Lawyers and some administration officials have raised questions about ending the payments but are expected to offer an analysis later in August, West Wing officials said. One official said the analysis could arrive as soon as next week. A different official said the White House was in no hurry and wanted to consider all factors before making a decision. Another payment is due approximately Aug. 22. (Dawsey and Haberkorn, 8/2)

The Associated Press: After Health Vote, Governor Calls Maine Senators 'Dangerous'
Republican Gov. Paul LePage is blasting Maine's U.S. senators as "dangerous" over their votes that helped sink a GOP proposal to repeal President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. The governor targeted Republican Susan Collins and independent Angus King in an op-ed published Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal, writing that they "are worse than out of touch — they are downright dangerous." (Sharp, 8/2)

The New York Times: The Passion Of A Congressional Health Care Battle
One of the remarkable features of covering the congressional battle over health care this year has been the way reporters pieced together a picture of what was happening from snippets of information extracted from members of Congress dashing through the Capitol. At times, I felt as if I were in a time machine — reliving, in reverse, my previous reporting for The New York Times on the laborious legislative process that produced the Affordable Care Act in 2009 and 2010. Reporters roamed the halls like hunters and sprang into action with voice recorders in hand when a senator emerged from the Senate chamber, an elevator or a subway car, or an unmarked hideaway office. (Pear, 8/2)

Los Angeles Times: Obamacare Repeal Failure Was A Setback For Abortion Opponents, But They See Momentum On Their Side
Opponents of abortion have had reason for optimism this year. With Republicans in control of the U.S. Capitol and a president who embraces their cause, access to the procedure has appeared in greater jeopardy than it has in years. (Zavis, 8/2)

The Associated Press: Ryan Fields Questions From Frustrated Republican Voters
Frustrated Republicans vented their displeasure at House Speaker Paul Ryan on Wednesday during a town hall meeting at a wire manufacturer in the Wisconsin congressman’s district. Ryan hasn’t held a town hall meeting open to the general public since October 2015, but he does frequently take questions from employees following business tours. It was at an event like that at Banker Wire on Wednesday when Ryan got challenged, something that’s rarely happened to him at other similar events. (Bauer, 8/3)

The Associated Press: McCain Says He Expects To Return To Senate Next Month
Arizona Sen. John McCain said in a radio interview Wednesday that he hates the healthy diet his wife and daughter are forcing on him as he fights an aggressive form of brain cancer but expects to return to the Senate next month. (Christie, 8/2)

The Associated Press: Molina Healthcare To Exit ACA Exchanges In Utah, Wisconsin
Molina Healthcare Inc. said Wednesday it will exit the Affordable Care Act's insurance marketplaces in Utah and Wisconsin by the end of this year, citing costs that contributed to hefty losses for the health insurer in the second quarter. (Veiga, 8/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Molina Healthcare Will Leave Health Exchanges In Utah, Wisconsin
Molina said it will leave the insurance exchanges in Utah and Wisconsin and scale back its presence in Washington state, and may pull out of more state marketplaces. It also said it is increasing exchange premiums 55% on average, partly due to lack of clarity around key federal payments. Molina is one of the largest marketplace insurers currently, with 949,000 enrollees across nine states. “We’re prepared to make hard decisions” about exchange participation, said Joseph White, chief financial officer and interim CEO, during a call with analysts. (Wilde Mathews, 8/2)

The Washington Post: In Trump Era, Lobbyists Boldly Take Credit For Writing A Bill To Protect Their Industry
For two years, lobbyists for doctors and their insurers met regularly around a conference table a few blocks from the Capitol to draft an overhaul of the nation’s medical malpractice laws. The resulting legislation proposed strict limits on damages for some plaintiffs and sharply lower fees for their attorneys. Last month, with no public hearings and few modifications, the House voted to approve the measure — outraging victims’ rights advocates, who accused lawmakers of acting in secret to slam the courtroom door on people who have been grievously injured by doctors. (Kindy, 8/1)

The New York Times: In Breakthrough, Scientists Edit A Dangerous Mutation From Genes In Human Embryos
Scientists for the first time have successfully edited genes in human embryos to repair a common and serious disease-causing mutation, producing apparently healthy embryos, according to a study published on Wednesday. The research marks a major milestone and, while a long way from clinical use, it raises the prospect that gene editing may one day protect babies from a variety of hereditary conditions. (Belluck, 8/2)

The Washington Post: First Human Embryo Editing Experiment In U.S. ‘Corrects’ Gene For Heart Condition
This is the first time gene editing on human embryos has been conducted in the United States. Researchers said in interviews this week that they consider their work very basic. The embryos were allowed to grow for only a few days, and there was never any intention to implant them to create a pregnancy. But they also acknowledged that they will continue to move forward with the science, with the ultimate goal of being able to “correct” disease-causing genes in embryos that will develop into babies. (Cha, 8/2)

Los Angeles Times: In A First, Scientists Rid Human Embryos Of A Potentially Fatal Gene Mutation By Editing Their DNA
Scientists’ ultimate goal is to fix gene mutations that lead to debilitating or fatal diseases, and to prevent the propagation of those mutations to future generations. Study leader Shoukhrat Mitalipov, a biologist at OHSU, said the new findings might correct genetic variants that can cause breast and ovarian cancer, cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy in those who inherit them. (Healy, 8/2)

NPR: Scientists Able To Fix Disease Gene In Experimental Embryos
"Potentially, we're talking about thousands of genes and thousands of patients," says Paula Amato, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. She was a member of the scientific team from the U.S., China and South Korea. (Stein, 8/2)

The Wall Street Journal: In Gene-Editing Advance, Scientists Correct Defect In Human Embryos
The study results raise ethical questions because they involve changes to the human germ-line, the genes of sperm, eggs or embryos. Scientists and bioethicists have called for caution in editing the germ-line because such changes would not only alter the individual but also be passed to future generations. (Marcus, 8/2)

The Associated Press: Sessions: US Prosecutors Will Help Addiction-Ravaged Cities
The Justice Department will dispatch 12 federal prosecutors to cities ravaged by addiction who will focus exclusively on investigating health care fraud and opioid scams that are fueling the nation's drug abuse epidemic, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Wednesday. He unveiled the pilot program during a speech in hard-hit Ohio, where eight people a day die of accidental overdoses. (Welsh-Huggins, 8/2)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Seeks To Harness Health Data To Fight Opioid Crisis
The Justice Department said Wednesday it is forming a unit that will use health-care fraud data to combat the illicit distribution of prescription opioids. The new unit, in the department’s criminal division, will mine data in an effort to ferret out medical professionals who are contributing to what Attorney General Jeff Sessions described as a prescription opioid epidemic in a speech Wednesday. (Wilber, 8/2)

Los Angeles Times: After Surgery, More Than Two-Thirds Of Patients Wind Up With Leftover Prescription Opioids, Study Finds
America’s opioid crisis is fueled by prescription painkillers. Medications such as oxycodone, fentanyl and morphine were responsible for nearly half of the 33,000 overdose deaths recorded in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. How did Americans get their hands on so many opioid pills? A new study suggests that surgical patients have plenty go to around. (Kaplan, 8/2)

NPR: Pharmaceutical Company Behind Vivitrol Markets Addiction Treatment To Judges
Philip Kirby says he first used heroin during a stint in a halfway house a few years ago, when he was 21 years old. He quickly formed a habit."You can't really dabble in it," he says. Late last year, Kirby was driving with drugs and a syringe in his car when he got pulled over. He went to jail for a few months on a separate charge before entering a drug court program in Hamilton County, Ind., north of Indianapolis. But before Kirby started, he says the court pressured him to get a shot of a drug called Vivitrol. (Harper, 8/3)

Reuters: Born This Way? Researchers Explore The Science Of Gender Identity
While President Donald Trump has thrust transgender people back into the conflict between conservative and liberal values in the United States, geneticists are quietly working on a major research effort to unlock the secrets of gender identity. (Trotta, 8/3)

The New York Times: Maine Raises Smoking Age To 21 After Lawmakers Override Veto
Maine will become the fourth state to raise the smoking age to 21 and will adopt stricter regulations on the sale of electronic cigarettes after lawmakers on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to override the governor’s veto. Gov. Paul R. LePage, a Republican, had called the bill an attempt to “social engineer our lives,” saying that if 18-year-olds can join the military and fight in wars, they should be allowed to decide on their own whether to use tobacco. (Haag, 8/2)

The Washington Post: Planned Parenthood Of Virginia To Donate $3 Million To Democrat Ralph Northam In Governor's Race
Planned Parenthood’s Virginia affiliate plans to spend $3 million to help elect Democrat Ralph Northam as the state’s next governor. The organization’s Virginia political action committee, working with Northam, plans to deploy canvassers to knock on 300,000 doors, send mailers to 400,000 homes and run digital and radio ads. (Nirappil, 8/2)

The Associated Press: Rhode Island Now Requires Coverage To Ensure Fertility
Rhode Island has enacted a law that requires insurers to cover "fertility preservation" for patients who undergo medical treatments that could leave them sterile. (8/2)

The New York Times: Gum Disease Tied To Cancer Risk In Older Women
Periodontal disease in older women is associated with an increased risk for cancer, a new study concludes. Previous studies have suggested a link, but this new analysis, in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, offers additional evidence on specific cancers. (Bakalar, 8/2)

Los Angeles Times: Defibrillator Breathes New Life Into Safety Training, ER Response
Last week, officials with the Community Center of La Cañada Flintridge installed a device they hope they never have to use — an automated external defibrillator (AED), used in cases of cardiac arrest to assist CPR and help hearts find lost rhythms. The cabinet containing the unit is located next to the center’s office counter, high up on a wall where curious, young hands cannot likely reach. A blinking green light shows the battery is functioning, and an alarm sounds whenever the cabinet door is opened. (Cardine, 8/2)