First Edition: July 28, 2017

Kaiser Health News: McCain Votes No, Derails ‘Skinny Repeal’ In Marathon Session
Budget reconciliation allows the measure to pass the Senate on a simple majority vote, but requires that all of its provisions pass muster with the Senate parliamentarian as budget-related. The text of the bill posted publicly at 10 p.m. The CBO report on it began circulating on Twitter around midnight and the vote finally closed around 1:45 a.m. Friday. (Michael McAuliff, 7/28)

California Healthline: Leap Of Faith: Will Health Care Ministries Cover Your Costs?
Martin Estacio was shelling out $800 per month for a health plan that didn’t fit his two-state lifestyle. The retired San Bernardino firefighter lives between Oklahoma and California. But his health insurance policy, purchased in Oklahoma, didn’t cover non-emergency care outside the state. (Bazar, 7/28)

The New York Times: Senate Rejects Slimmed-Down Obamacare Repeal As McCain Votes No
The Senate in the early hours of Friday morning rejected a new, scaled-down Republican plan to repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act, derailing the Republicans’ seven-year campaign to dismantle President Barack Obama’s signature health care law and dealing a huge political setback to President Trump. Senator John McCain of Arizona, who just this week returned to the Senate after receiving a diagnosis of brain cancer, cast the decisive vote to defeat the proposal, joining two other Republicans, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, in opposing it. (Pear and Kaplan, 7/27)

Politico: Senate Rejects Obamacare Repeal
"I do my job as a senator," McCain said after he left the Senate chamber, saying he voted against the Obamacare repeal bill "because I thought it was the right vote." ... Later, McCain issued a statement offering a more thorough explanation of his vote, saying that he has always believed that Obamacare should be repealed and replaced with a solution that "increases competition, lowers costs and improves care for the American people." (Bresnahan, Everett, Haberkorn and Kim, 7/28)

USA Today: Senate Narrowly Defeats 'Skinny Repeal' Of Obamacare, As McCain Votes 'No'
McConnell said at about 2 a.m. that it was "time to move on" rather than trying again to pass a GOP bill. He said he wants to hear ideas from Democrats about what to do next on health care. "What we tried to accomplish for the American people was the right thing for the country," McConnell, who was clearly shaken, said after the vote. "And our only regret is that we didn't achieve what we had hoped to accomplish. I think the American people are going to regret that we couldn't find a better way forward." (Kelly and Collins, 7/27)

The Wall Street Journal: ‘Skinny’ Repeal Of Obamacare Fails In Senate
Friday’s vote leaves Republicans without any clear next step in their monthslong effort to roll back the ACA and with no significant legislative accomplishment during President Donald Trump’s first seven months in office. “This is clearly a disappointing moment,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said on the Senate floor moments after the vote. “I regret that our efforts were simply not enough this time.” (Peterson, Hackman and Hughes, 7/28)

NPR: McCain Votes No, Dealing Potential Death Blow To Republican Health Care Efforts
The defeat ends — for now — the health care debate in Congress. The chamber adjourned following the defeat and there are no further Senate votes this week. In the short-term, the Senate intends to move on to defense legislation and the nomination of Christopher Wray to be the next FBI Director. In a written statement from McConnell's office after the vote, he seemed to indicate a GOP-only effort on health care may be dead. (Davis and Montanaro, 7/28)

The Washington Post: Senate Rejects Measure To Partly Repeal Affordable Care Act, Dealing GOP Leaders A Major Setback
Some senators in both parties said they hope the two sides can begin talks on shoring up the current health-care system, a debate that is expected to be handled by Senate committees overseeing budget, tax and health-care policy. “Maybe this had to happen to actually begin to have a conversation,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who had tried brokering a bipartisan deal in recent weeks. (Eilperin, Sullivan and Snell, 7/28)

Los Angeles Times: McCain, Two Other GOP Senators Join Democrats To Reject Last-Ditch Effort To Repeal Obamacare
Sen. Charles E. Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said he looked forward to taking a bipartisan approach to healthcare reform. "It’s time to turn the page," he said. "We are not celebrating. We are relieved. "Shortly after the vote, President Trump responded on Twitter: “3 Republicans and 48 Democrats let the American people down. As I said from the beginning, let ObamaCare implode, then deal. Watch!” (Mascaro, 7/27)

Politico: Stunned McConnell Blames Democrats After Crucial Health Care Loss
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell expressed "regret" and "disappointment" immediately after the GOP failed to pass a minimalist Obamacare repeal bill early Friday, blaming congressional Democrats for not engaging "in a serious way" in the efforts to remedy the health care law. "I imagine many of our colleagues on the other side are celebrating, probably pretty happy about this," a stunned seeming McConnell said from the Senate floor. "But the American people are hurting and they need relief." (Lima, 7/28)

The Associated Press: Penalty For Refusing To Get Health Insurance Remains Intact
Opponents of President Barack Obama's health care law who wanted to get rid of the penalty people were assessed for not having health insurance will have to wait longer for relief after the Senate early Friday defeated the GOP's scaled-back version of legislation repealing the Affordable Care Act. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 7/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Insurers Relieved As ‘Skinny’ Health Bill Fails But Warn Of Rising Rates, Exits From Exchanges
Senate Republicans’ failure to pass their limited health bill is a relief for health insurers, but it leaves the companies struggling with increasingly urgent questions as they make decisions about participating in the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges. Insurers had already been pressing for legislation aimed at stabilizing the marketplaces, an idea that is likely to now move into the spotlight with the apparent collapse of Republicans’ efforts to repeal the ACA, also known as Obamacare. But it’s not clear that any bill can move forward fast enough to affect the markets for next year, as insurers must file rates by mid-August and make final decisions about participation by late September. (Wilde Mathews, 7/28)

The New York Times: McCain’s Vote Provides Dramatic Moment In 7-Year Battle Over Obamacare
When Senator John McCain of Arizona returned to Washington with a fresh scar from brain surgery, it was widely seen as a dramatic effort to help Republicans overturn Obamacare. President Trump had criticized Mr. McCain in the past and derided his military service, saying in 2015 of the former Vietnam prisoner of war, “I like people who weren’t captured.” But this week Mr. Trump welcomed him back to Washington. (Ramzy, 7/27)

The New York Times: A Look Inside The Senate’s Late Night
The only certainty for senators on Thursday as they headed toward a showdown vote on a health care overhaul was that it would be a late night.Indeed, not until 2 a.m. Friday did the Senate finally stand down, after three Republicans voted against the so-called skinny repeal to reject their party’s push — and a yearslong promise — to scuttle former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement. (Curtis, 7/28)

The Washington Post: The Night John McCain Killed The GOP’s Health-Care Fight
It was the most dramatic night in the United States Senate in recent history. Just ask the senators who witnessed it. A seven-year quest to undo the Affordable Care Act collapsed — at least for now — as Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) kept his colleagues and the press corps in suspense over a little more than two hours late Thursday into early Friday. Not since September 2008, when the House of Representatives rejected the Troubled Asset Relief Program — causing the Dow Jones industrial average to plunge nearly 800 points in a single afternoon — had such an unexpected vote caused such a striking twist. (O'Keefe, 7/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Senate ‘Skinny’ Repeal Vote Was All About John McCain
As Mr. McCain entered the chamber, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) was urging his colleagues to find common ground. From a corner of the Senate chamber, Mr. McCain quietly clapped. It would be one of his most visible final gestures before Mr. McCain, at about 1:27 a.m., stuck his thumb down and formally registered himself as the vote that would block the GOP health plan from advancing. That vote took a long time to come. For almost an hour, the Senate clerks refrained from gaveling the previous vote to a close as Republicans clustered around Mr. McCain. First, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) squeezed him on the shoulder. Then, Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) joined them, laughing. Those were to be the only three Republican senators to vote against the GOP “skinny repeal” proposal, just enough to derail it—and with it the broader GOP effort to repeal and replace the ACA. (Hughes, 7/28)

Politico: How McCain Upended Obamacare Repeal
Paul Ryan couldn’t persuade him. Neither could Mike Pence. And in the end, President Donald Trump couldn’t reel in John McCain either. The president made a last-ditch effort, calling the Arizona senator and key holdout on the GOP’s Obamacare repeal measure, as the bill’s fate hung in the balance, according to two sources familiar with the conversation. After Pence had spent about 20 minutes working McCain, the senator went off the floor to speak with Trump by phone, those sources said. (Kim, Everett and Haberkorn, 7/28)

The Washington Post: How John McCain’s ‘No’ Vote On Health Care Played Out On The Senate Floor
Sen. John McCain's “no” vote on the “skinny repeal” of the Affordable Care Act in the early hours of Friday was a decisive, and somewhat unexpected, vote. It was made all the more dramatic by the fact that it played out on television, right in front of our eyes. (Stevenson, 7/28)

The New York Times: 5 Takeaways From The Failed Senate Effort To Repeal Obamacare
With the vote on a “skinny” repeal bill, Republican leaders were trying what amounted to a legislative Hail Mary pass. But they could afford to lose only two party members, and three Republicans voted no: Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John McCain of Arizona. Here are some of the key lessons from the evening. (Kaplan, 7/28)

The Washington Post: Female Senators Are Increasingly On Receiving End Of Insults From Male Officials
Republican female senators whose disapproval of the GOP health-care effort has at times endangered its progress are facing an increasingly pointed backlash from men in their party, including a handful of comments that invoked physical retaliation. In the past week, Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) has been challenged by a male lawmaker to a duel. She and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) were told that they and others deserve a physical reprimand for their decisions not to support Republican health-care proposals. Murkowski, who voted with Collins against starting the health-care debate this week, was specifically called out by President Trump on Twitter and told by a Cabinet official that Alaska could suffer for her choice, according to a colleague. (Viebeck, 7/27)

The New York Times: ‘I Am Totally Burned Out’: Patients Watch Health Care Debate With Dread
Ever since the November election, when the fate of her family’s health coverage was suddenly up for grabs, Meghan Borland has been consumed by each twitch and turn of the political debate. She has gone to protests, met with her congressman, lost sleep, shed tears. “My emotions are like a Ping-Pong ball being bounced back and forth between the players,” said Mrs. Borland, who, with her husband, owns a karate school in Pleasant Valley, N.Y., and whose younger daughter, Amelia, 2, is receiving chemotherapy for leukemia. (Hoffman, 7/27)

The Associated Press: After Vets Protests, New Deal Struck To End VA Budget Crisis
Congressional Republicans and Democrats have reached agreement on a $3.9 billion emergency spending package to fill a shortfall in the Department of Veterans Affairs' program of private-sector care, seeking to avert a disruption to medical care for thousands of veterans. The deal includes additional money for core VA health programs, as well. Veterans' groups insisted this money be included. (7/28)

The Washington Post: Pentagon, Border Wall Covered In $788B House Spending Bill
The House has passed a $788 billion spending bill that combines a $1.6 billion down payment for President Donald Trump’s controversial border wall with Mexico with a whopping budget increase for the Pentagon. ... “Every single dime the President requested to start building a wall on our southern border he’s going to get,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. “Most importantly, we’re sending more to the VA to fix veterans’ health care and reform outdated VA systems.” (Taylor, 7/28)

The Associated Press: Prosecutor: Martin Shkreli Repeatedly Lied To Investors
Wealthy investors say former biotech CEO Martin Shkreli told them he was managing tens of millions of dollars’ worth of investments, that they were making double-digit returns and they could withdraw their money at any time. Prosecutors in closing arguments Thursday at Shkreli’s securities fraud trial said it was all a brazen con. The defense countered that no one should feel sorry for the alleged victims because they were high-rollers who ended up doubling or tripling their money. (Hays, 7/27)

The Wall Street Journal: United Therapeutics In Settlement Talks With Justice Department
Drugmaker United Therapeutics said Thursday it has set aside $210 million for a possible settlement of a U.S. Justice Department investigation of whether the company’s contributions to patient-assistance charity groups violate federal laws against kickbacks and false claims. (Loftus, 7/27)

The Washington Post: New Debate On Antibiotics: Do You Really Need To Take The Full Course?
The one rule about antibiotics that has been drilled into our heads for generations is that you absolutely must take the full course — or else something very bad might happen. Is it time to reconsider that advice? (Cha, 7/27)

The New York Times: Whooping Cough Cases Double In Indiana In A Year, Prompting A Call To Vaccinate
The number of whooping cough cases in Indiana has doubled in the past year, state health officials warned on Thursday, urging parents to make sure their children are vaccinated. There were 136 confirmed cases of whooping cough in the state, including one that was fatal, in the first half of 2017 — compared with 66 cases, none of them fatal, in the first half of 2016, according to the Indiana State Department of Health. (Astor, 7/27)

The Washington Post: Stretchy Glue Inspired By Slugs Could Be The Future Of Sutures
Inspired by slug slime, scientists have developed a flexible adhesive that sticks to wet surfaces. This stretchy glue can be attached to a beating, bleeding heart and could someday replace stitches in wound repair. Other commercially available glues create strong but inflexible bonds or stretchy but weak connections. The slug-inspired glue cements tightly and it is held together by a stretchy matrix. (Gallegos, 7/27)

NPR: Slug Slime Inspires Scientists To Invent Surgical Glue
Li had been combing the scientific literature for clues to how to make a better surgical adhesive, something that could repair a delicate organ without causing the damage of stitches or staples, or the risk of air or fluid leaks. As he and his colleagues report Thursday in the journal Science, this slug-slime-inspired material could help a lot. Usually there's a trade-off between flexibility and stickiness, Li says. Super Glue works well on dry surfaces, but it's rigid and toxic, so it would never work for patching a beating heart or a bleeding wound. Other materials are flexible but not very sticky. And then there's defensive slug slime. (Bichell, 7/27)

The Associated Press: In US First, Scientists Edit Genes Of Human Embryos
For the first time in the United States, scientists have edited the genes of human embryos, a controversial step toward someday helping babies avoid inherited diseases. The experiment was just an exercise in science — the embryos were not allowed to develop for more than a few days and were never intended to be implanted into a womb, according to MIT Technology Review, which first reported the news. (7/27)

The Associated Press: Website Helps Women Get Free Birth Control, Rides To Clinics
Be Your Own Baby is not your mother’s birth control website. One of its slogans is “My uterus is a no baby parking zone.” The promotional video resembles a pop star’s music video. And it doesn’t shy away from young women talking about sex. (Newman, 7/27)

The New York Times: Good News On Headphones And Hearing Loss
Young people continue to listen to loud music on their headphones. But a reassuring new analysis found that hearing impairment rates among teens have dropped since an alarming spike in hearing loss was reported a decade ago. (Rabin, 7/27)

The New York Times: Overweight At 17? Your Colon Cancer Risk Rises
Teenagers who were overweight at 17 were at significantly increased risk for developing colon cancer later in adulthood, and those who were obese were at increased risk for rectal cancer as well, according to a new report. (Rabin, 7/27)