First Edition: July 25, 2017

Kaiser Health News: Price Transparency In Medicine Faces Stiff Opposition — From Hospitals And Doctors
Two years after it passed unanimously in Ohio’s state Legislature, a law meant to inform patients what health care procedures will cost is in a state of suspended animation. One of the most stringent in a group of similar state laws being proposed across the country, Ohio’s Healthcare Price Transparency Law stipulated that providers had to give patients a “good faith” estimate of what non-emergency services would cost individuals after insurance before they commenced treatment. (Bluth, 7/25)

The Associated Press: Trump Tweets, McCain Return Set Stage for Health Bill Vote
President Donald Trump urged Republicans to "step up to the plate" for Tuesday's crucial Senate vote on their bill eviscerating much of the Obama health care law. The stage was set for high drama, with Sen. John McCain returning to the Capitol to cast his first vote since being diagnosed with brain cancer. No stranger to heroic episodes, the Navy pilot who persevered through five years of captivity during the Vietnam War announced through his office that he would be back in Washington for the critical roll call on beginning debate on the legislation. (7/25)

The Washington Post: McCain’s Return To Senate Injects Momentum Into GOP Health-Care Battle
McCain, who was recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, could provide a critical vote to open debate on the GOP bill. The senator had been recuperating from surgery and exploring treatment options in Arizona. McCain’s announcement came as some Senate GOP leaders expressed confidence in a newly emerging strategy of trying to pass smaller-scale changes to the Affordable Care Act, with an eye toward continuing negotiations into the fall. (Sullivan, Snell, O'Keefe and Wagner, 7/24)

Politico: McCain To Make Dramatic Return For Obamacare Vote
McConnell spent the day cajoling his members and meeting with Vice President Mike Pence to plot strategy. The majority leader was still short of the votes to even open debate, and Republicans still don't know what they'd be voting to allow debate on if they agree to go along with McConnell on the procedural vote. (Everett, Kim and Haberkorn, 7/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Urges GOP Senators To Overturn Affordable Care Act
Lawmakers typically vote with party leaders at least to begin debate on legislation, and failure to pass the motion would be a rebuke for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), who has argued that allowing debate to begin would give senators unhappy with the bill a chance to amend it. (Armour, Peterson and Radnofsky, 7/24)

The New York Times: Senate Braces For Health Showdown With McCain On Hand But A Plan Unclear
President Trump spent Monday ratcheting up pressure on Republican senators to get onboard. Mr. Trump criticized their inaction and warned that they risked betraying seven years’ worth of promises to raze and revamp the health law if they did not.“Remember ‘repeal and replace,’ ‘repeal and replace’ — they kept saying it over and over again,” Mr. Trump said at the White House, flanked by people who he said suffered as “victims” of the “horrible disaster known as Obamacare.” (Kaplan and Davis, 7/24)

The Washington Post: ‘Obamacare Is Death’: Trump Urges Republicans To Move Ahead With Health-Care Overhaul
President Trump on Monday made a late-hour appeal to senators — targeting members of his own party — to move forward with debate over faltering Republican legislation to overhaul the Affordable Care Act. “Any senator who votes against starting debate is telling America that you are fine with the Obamacare nightmare, which is what it is,” Trump said in an afternoon address from the White House on the eve of an anticipated Senate vote that could spell defeat of the long-sought legislation. (Wagner and Johnson, 7/24)

The Associated Press: Trump Says Upcoming Health Vote Is GOP’s Chance To Keep Vow
At the White House, Trump lambasted Democrats who helped enact the 2010 health care law and uniformly oppose the GOP attempt to scrap and rewrite it. “They run out and say, ‘Death, death, death,’” Trump said, with a backdrop of families that he said have encountered problems getting affordable, reliable medical coverage because of Obama’s statute. “Well, Obamacare is death. That’s the one that’s death.” (Fram, 7/24)

Reuters: Senate Healthcare Holdout Collins Never Got Call From Trump
President Donald Trump exhorted every Republican to vote yes on a healthcare overhaul when it comes before the Senate this week, but one of his party's most vocal opponents of the bill, Senator Susan Collins, said he had made no effort to reach her. (Cornwell, 7/24)

The Associated Press: Burr-Hamilton? Angry Lawmaker Singles Out 'Female Senators'
Passions are running high on Capitol Hill — but pistols at 10 paces over health care? GOP Rep. Blake Farenthold of Texas is angry with some fellow Republicans in the Senate who are balking at parts of legislation to overturn "Obamacare." After GOP promises to repeal the law, that "is just repugnant to me," he says. Who's to blame? (7/24)

Politico: Farenthold Blames 'Some Female Senators' For Obamacare Repeal Failure
Rep. Blake Farenthold on Monday blamed “some female senators from the Northeast” for hampering Republican efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, telling a local radio station that he might challenge them to a duel if the allegedly obstructive lawmakers were men. The Texas Republican’s remark appeared to be a reference to Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), both of whom have expressed some degree of hesitancy toward Senate Republicans’ specific plans to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s signature health care legislation. (Nelson, 7/24)

The Wall Street Journal: A Look At The Health-Care Provisions Senators May Vote On
Senate Republican leaders are pushing for a “motion to proceed” to debating their health-care legislation. But as of Monday, it remained unclear what that legislation would be. And if there is a debate, it’s likely to include a flurry of amendments that could reshape the bill. Here are some of the elements senators could vote on, either as part of the underlying bill or as amendments. (Armour, 7/24)

The New York Times: The Outcomes Of The Many Republican Health Plans Are Not So Different
There is a lot of confusion over the multiple incarnations of the Republican health care plan, but in the end, how different are they? (Park, 7/24)

NPR: Trump Calls For A Senate Vote With Multiple Bills In Play
The Senate is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to advance health care legislation to the Senate floor. That would open up debate on an Obamacare repeal and/or replacement plan. ... But it's still not clear what the Senate will be voting on. There are multiple bills in play. (Grayson, 7/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Democrats Accuse HHS Of Using Improper Tactics In Health-Law Battle
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and his department have been publicly panning the Affordable Care Act. Democrats call the campaign an improper use of federal resources to undermine the health law. The disagreement amounts to a low-profile skirmish on health care unfolding in the shadows of the attention-grabbing battle playing out on Capitol Hill. If Republicans in Congress fail to enact a sweeping health-care overhaul, Dr. Price’s battle with Democrats will take on far greater importance as the primary arena for the partisan back-and-forth on health care. (Armour and Hackman, 7/24)

Reuters: Molina Healthcare To Cut About 1,400 Jobs: Memo
Molina Healthcare, a health insurer that specializes in the Obamacare and Medicaid healthcare programs for low-income and poor people, plans to cut about 1,400 jobs in the next few months, according to an internal company memo reviewed by Reuters. (Humer, 7/24)

The New York Times: Future Unclear For Veterans Choice Program After House Bill Falters
Congressional lawmakers struggled on Monday to reach an agreement to prop up a popular multibillion-dollar health care program that allows veterans to see a private doctor at government expense. This was supposed to be a relatively easy task, meant to buy lawmakers time as they debated the future of the program. As recently as last week, Republican leaders were considering using a bill temporarily funding the Veterans Choice Program as a vehicle to raise the debt ceiling, a perennially bitter pill for Republicans. (Fandos, 7/25)

Politico: House Democrats Stun GOP By Sinking Veterans, Intel Bills
Kicking off a busy week in the House, most Democrats and a handful of Republicans joined forces to deny GOP leaders big-enough majorities to pass an annual intelligence policy bill and legislation to restore funding for a key veterans health care program. (O'Brien, 7/24)

Politico: Democrats' 'Better Deal' Would Penalize Drug Price Hikes
Democrats are going straight at one of the top concerns of voters, using the rising cost of drugs to strike a more populist tone and counter President Donald Trump, who campaigned hard against the power of the drug industry, but took a friendlier stance after taking office. Congressional Democrats [on Monday] laid out a three-pronged approach to lower the cost of prescription drugs in the United States that aims to stop large price increases and give the federal government more power to influence what Medicare pays for medicines. (Karlin-Smith, 7/24)

Los Angeles Times: KKR's Internet Brands Plans To Buy WebMD In A $2.8-Billion Deal
WebMD has found a remedy for its volatile business: A $2.8-billion sale to El Segundo online media company Internet Brands. The Internet’s leading destination for information about rashes, coughs and other ailments has gone through mergers and sales multiple times since its founding in the late 1990s. But investors made a fresh case for a deal earlier this year, contending that being at the cross-section of healthcare and the Internet should be more valuable than what traders were paying for WebMD shares on the stock market. (Dave, 7/24)

The New York Times: Economy Needs Workers, But Drug Tests Take A Toll
Just a few miles from where President Trump will address his blue-collar base here Tuesday night, exactly the kind of middle-class factory jobs he has vowed to bring back from overseas are going begging. It’s not that local workers lack the skills for these positions, many of which do not even require a high school diploma but pay $15 to $25 an hour and offer full benefits. Rather, the problem is that too many applicants — nearly half, in some cases — fail a drug test. (Schwartz, 7/24)

Los Angeles Times: Doctors And Drug Abuse: Why Addictions Can Be So Difficult
Allegations that Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito used methamphetamine and ecstasy while he was dean of USC’s medical school have opened a window into the pervasiveness of drug use and addiction among physicians and the challenges they face when confronting it. Experts say physicians become substance abusers at about the same rate as the general population. But they are often reluctant to seek treatment out of fear of losing their medical licenses and livelihoods. (Karlamangla, 7/24)

NPR: Centers That Counsel Women Against Abortion Help Them Enroll In Medicaid
When Taylor Merendo moved to Bloomington, Ind., nearly two years ago, fleeing an abusive marriage, she needed help. "I was six months pregnant and at that point in time, I really didn't have a stable place to live," Merendo says. That's where the Hannah Center in Bloomington stepped in. It's what's known as a crisis pregnancy center, where women are counseled against abortion and often get support after their babies are born. (McCammon, 7/24)

The Washington Post: Monthly Shot Could Be The ‘Next Revolution’ In HIV Therapy, Replacing Daily Pills
HIV/AIDS is no longer the death sentence it once was, but maintaining the strict regimen required to keep the virus at bay — one or more pills daily — still poses a major challenge to many people who are infected. Adherence is low among some populations, given the effort that is required to obtain, keep and store the medications. That may soon change. On Monday, scientists reported an important advance in the development of a long-acting antiretroviral shot. According to an international study involving 309 patients, an injection that combines two drugs, cabotegravir and rilpivirine, appears to be as safe and effective at suppressing HIV as the daily oral regimen. (Cha, 7/24)

The Washington Post: New Zika Testing Recommendation Issued For Pregnant Women
Federal health officials are changing their testing recommendations for pregnant women who may be exposed to the Zika virus through travel or sex or because of where they live. In updated guidance released Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is no longer recommending routine testing for pregnant women without any Zika symptoms but who may have been put at risk because they have traveled to a region where Zika is circulating. (Sun, 7/24)

The Washington Post: A New Way To Fulfill The Single Biggest Need Of Poor Patients: Teeth
Larry Bays has seen his share of hard times, but on this day he was blessed. The 71-year-old goat farmer from Gate City, Va., had come to the annual free medical clinic held over the weekend here in coal country so his wife, Joyce, could have her asthma and arthritis checked. When her doctor realized she had no teeth, he sent the couple over to a trailer operated by the Mission of Mercy dental team. (Schneider, 7/24)

The New York Times: It’s High Time For Ticks, Which Are Spreading Diseases Farther
This town is under siege from tiny invaders. A doctor at Southampton Hospital recently pulled a tick off a woman’s eyeball. After a 10-minute walk outside, a mother reported finding a tick affixed to her 7-year-old daughter’s buttocks. (Pattani, 7/24)

The Associated Press: Family Of Brain-Dead California Girl Fights To Reverse Death
More than three years after a coroner declared a teenage girl dead, a Northern California judge is expected to soon decide whether to revoke her death certificate. (7/24)