First Edition: July 5, 2017

Kaiser Health News: Should GOP Health Bill Prevail, Say Bye-Bye To Insurance Rebates
If Senate GOP leaders have their way, the check may not be in the mail. Many consumers collected unexpected rebates after the Affordable Care Act became law, possibly with a note explaining why: Their insurer spent more of their revenue from premiums on administration and profits than the law allowed, so it was payback time. More than $2.4 billion has been returned to customers since the provision went into effect in 2011, averaging about $138 per family in 2015. (Appleby, 7/5)

Kaiser Health News: What Tax Breaks? Those Promised In GOP Plans Go Mostly To Top 1%
There’s much talk on Capitol Hill about the tax cuts included in the Republican health plans, but unless you are a frequent user of tanning beds or have personal wealth that puts you in the top 1 percent, you might not feel much effect from them. Specifically, both the House and the Senate plan would change or eliminate more than a dozen taxes that were levied to help pay for the Affordable Care Act’s insurance subsidies and to bolster Medicare and expand Medicaid. Republicans and other ACA critics have argued the taxes are onerous on businesses and families. (Appleby, 7/5)

California Healthline: Why Teens Are Smoking Less, In Their Own Words
When Maya Terrell saw the anti-smoking television commercial, she knew she would never try a cigarette. It featured an ex-smoker with a hole in her throat where her larynx used to be. “I was like, ‘Never!’” recalled Terrell, 18. “I was scared.” (Browning, 7/5)

The New York Times: Senate Republicans Lay Low On The Fourth, Or Face Single-Minded Pressure
It is a tough summer for Senate Republicans, who are trying to combine a long-promised repeal of the Affordable Care Act with a replacement that has, in legislation drafted so far, been as popular as sunburn. Protesters have held sit-ins at Senate offices, phone lines have been jammed and editorial writers have blasted their states’ congressional delegations. Planes have even flown admonitory, if occasionally poorly conceived, banners over state capitals. Republican senators have had to decide whether public appearances would be fruitful or the crowds hostile. Many lawmakers seem to have given up on town hall-style meetings and parades. Others are still braving them, knowing they may get an earful on the health care bills. (Robertson, Philipps, Bidgood and Cochrane, 7/4)

The Washington Post: At Parades And Protests, GOP Lawmakers Get Earful About Health Care
For the 15th year, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) spent July 4 marching through this town of 1,331, a short boat ride away from Canada. She walked and waved, next to marching bands and Shriner-driven lobster boats. Her constituents cheered — and then asked whether she would vote against repealing the Affordable Care Act. “There was only one issue. That’s unusual. It’s usually a wide range of issues,” Collins said in an interview after the parade. “I heard, over and over again, encouragement for my stand against the current version of the Senate and House health-care bills. People were thanking me, over and over again. ‘Thank you, Susan!’ ‘Stay strong, Susan!’ ” (Weigel, Carpenter and O'Malley, 7/4)

The New York Times: Trump Backers ‘Furious’ That Senator Stood Against Health Care Bill
Senator Dean Heller’s biting denunciation of the Republican health care bill last week infuriated the White House and helped unravel his party’s attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act days before a vote was expected in the Senate. Now Mr. Heller is facing an intense backlash in Nevada, his home state, where there is talk of a primary race challenge against him next year and a pair of the state’s wealthiest Republican donors are fuming. (Martin and Vogel, 6/30)

The Associated Press: Louisiana Senator Finds Health Care Frustration At Town Hall
A town hall meeting held by U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy to talk about flood recovery in Louisiana's capital city was at times derailed Friday by people trying to pressure the Republican to vote against the Senate GOP's proposed rewrite of the national health care bill. (6/30)

The Wall Street Journal: GOP Senators Weigh Higher Health Premiums’ Possible Effect On Midterms
Republican senators are confronting a political challenge that is increasingly hard to ignore as they engage with voters during the July Fourth recess: Under their health-care overhaul, average premiums for a midlevel insurance plan would jump by 20% next January. (Armour and Peterson, 7/4)

Politico: Democrats Pressure 2020 Senators On Health Care Vote
With few Senate Republicans up for reelection in 2018, Democrats and other groups looking to defeat the GOP's plan to repeal Obamacare are looking to 2020 to pressure politically vulnerable senators. Save My Care, a progressive group dedicated to defeating repeal attempts, is out with new surveys from the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling showing the GOP proposal, which would cut Medicaid funding and repeal Obamacare's tax increases, is deeply unpopular in Iowa, North Carolina and Colorado — three swing states where Republican Senate wins in 2014 helped the GOP gain control of the chamber. (Robillard, 7/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Republican Senators Face Pushback From Governors On The Health Bill
Republican senators back home on recess this week are hearing from some influential critics of their health-law effort: GOP governors, many of whom are urging them to push back on the legislation because it would cut Medicaid funding. (Peterson and Hackman, 7/3)

Los Angeles Times: Meet The 6 Governors Leading The Charge Against The Senate Health Plan
In today’s political climate, it’s rare to find bipartisanship. But as President Trump calls on Senate Republicans to pass a bill in the coming weeks that would overhaul the Affordable Care Act, governors from both sides of the aisle are unified in opposition. (Lee, 7/2)

Politico: Nevada Governor Wields Outsize Clout In Obamacare Repeal Debate
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval may as well be the Senate’s 53rd Republican. GOP leaders are trying to win over the popular moderate and outspoken Obamacare repeal critic, believing his strong influence over Sen. Dean Heller in the health care debate could get them one vote closer to victory. (Haberkorn and Pradhan, 7/3)

The Washington Post: Ohio Gov. Kasich On Health Care: ‘Sometimes My Party Asks Too Much’
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) lectured congressional leaders of his party on Sunday for being shortsighted, disingenuous and, ultimately, doomed to be forgotten by history if they persist with their approach to health-care legislation. “Sometimes my party asks too much,” Kasich said on ABC's “This Week,” saying he and others would not be fooled by “efforts to try to buy people off” with little fixes to the Senate bill to increase spending to combat opioid addiction or give more financial support to low-income people seeking health coverage. (Demirjian, 7/2)

Politico: Kasich: Opioid Money In Obamacare Bill 'Like Spitting In The Ocean'
An additional $45 billion to help combat opioid addiction in the Senate Republican Obamacare repeal and replacement bill isn't enough, Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Sunday. In an interview on ABC's "This Week," Kasich, who was a contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, called the extra money, which would be spent over a decade, "not enough" to stem the opioid crisis. (O'Brien, 7/2)

The New York Times: $45 Billion To Fight Opioid Abuse? That’s Much Too Little, Experts Say
The Senate leadership’s efforts to salvage the Republican health care bill have focused in part on adding $45 billion for states to spend on opioid addiction treatment. That is a big pot of money. But addiction specialists said it was drastically short of what would be needed to make up for the legislation’s deep cuts to Medicaid, which has provided treatment for hundreds of thousands of people caught up in a national epidemic of opioid abuse. (Goodnough, 6/30)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration Remains Confident Health-Care Bill Will Pass
Top Trump administration officials insisted Sunday that the odds of passing health-care legislation when the Senate returns to Washington next week remain high, but others in the GOP charged that the bill’s problems require more than a quick fix. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and White House legislative affairs director Marc Short are fighting off a tide of discontent that has been exacerbated in recent days by President Trump’s tweet that the Senate could simply repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it later if it cannot pass the pending measure. (Demirjian, 7/2)

Reuters: Trump To Senate Republicans: Kill Obamacare Now, Replace Later
U.S. President Donald Trump urged Republican senators in a tweet on Friday to repeal Obamacare immediately if they cannot agree on a new plan to replace it, muddying the waters as congressional leaders struggle for consensus on healthcare legislation. ... The White House said later that Trump was still "fully committed" to pushing the Republican draft healthcare bill through the Senate, although it was looking at every option for repealing and replacing Obamacare. (Chiacu and Cornwell, 7/1)

The Associated Press: Trump Makes Push On Health Bill; Repeal-Only Vote An Option
President Donald Trump is making a weekend push to get a Republican Senate bill to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama's health care law "across the finish line," Trump's top legislative aide said Sunday, maintaining that a repeal-only option also remained in play if Republicans can't reach agreement. Marc Short, the White House's legislative director, said Trump was making calls to wavering senators and insisted they were "getting close" on passing a bill. (Yen, 7/2)

The Washington Post Fact Checker: Decoding The White House Spin On Obamacare ‘Failures’
As the Senate gears up to vote on the GOP bill to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, the White House is publishing statistics to criticize the current health law. The White House published a “Repeal and Replace Obamacare” website, rife with numbers and graphics, and is posting various statistics through its Twitter account. (Lee, 7/5)

The Associated Press: GOP Voters Blame Congress, Not Trump, For Lack Of Progress
In firm control of the federal government, President Donald Trump and his Republican Party have so far failed to deliver on core campaign promises on health care, taxes and infrastructure. But in New York's Trump Tower cafe, the Gentry family blames Congress, not the president. (7/3)

The Wall Street Journal: What To Expect As Health-Law Debate Moves Forward
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has delayed until after the July 4 congressional recess a vote on the Senate Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act. That means that when Congress returns next week, a vote could happen soon after if negotiations on changes to the bill are successful. The timing will depend on when lawmakers get an updated nonpartisan analysis of the latest version of the bill. Here’s what to expect as the debate moves forward. (Jamerson, 7/4)

Politico: Republicans Can’t Agree On Where Senate Obamacare Repeal Stands
Congressional Republicans and Trump administration officials were at odds Sunday over how close the Senate is to a deal on an Obamacare repeal package and what the legislation should look like — an indication that the upper chamber may be further from agreement than some politicians let on. “We are getting close,” Marc Short, President Donald Trump’s director of legislative affairs, said on “Fox News Sunday.” The White House is making calls this weekend to “try and get the Senate package across the finish line,” Short added. (Karlin-Smith, 7/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Conservatives Urge Quick Health-Law Repeal If GOP Bill Stalls
Conservative Republicans on Friday revived a proposal to speedily repeal the Affordable Care Act and come up with a replacement later, a surprise move reflecting the fractured state of the Senate GOP and the frustration felt by some conservatives about the pace of the Republican health-care push. (Radnofsky, 7/1)

The New York Times: Five Misleading Republican Claims About Health Care
Republican lawmakers have their own version of the facts about the impact of their replacement for the Affordable Care Act. Here is an assessment. (Qiu, 7/3)

The Associated Press Fact Check: When A Swoopy Line On A Chart Misleads
Oh, those charts. President Donald Trump passed one around on Twitter in recent days, and it showing spending on Medicaid rising for years in the future under the stalled Republican health care bill. You'd never know from his chart's mountain-climbing line , or his rhetoric, that the bill would inflict deep cuts in the program. (7/1)

NPR: GOP Health Bill Might Bring Back Lifetime Caps On Insurance Coverage
The health care legislation under discussion in the Senate could allow states to remove some of the Affordable Care Act's consumer protections — including the prohibition that keeps insurers from limiting how much they'll pay for medically needy, expensive patients. Clara Hardy's parents worry about the Senate bill for just this reason. (Olgin, 6/30)

The New York Times: Congress Moves To Stop I.R.S. From Enforcing Health Law Mandate
Congress is moving to prevent the Internal Revenue Service from enforcing one of the more unpopular provisions of the Affordable Care Act, which requires most Americans to have health insurance or pay a tax penalty. The plan is separate from Republican efforts to repeal the health care law, and appears more likely to be adopted because it would be written into the annual spending bill for the Treasury and the I.R.S. (Pear, 7/3)

The New York Times: For Millions, Life Without Medicaid Services Is No Option
Frances Isbell has spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic disorder that has left her unable to walk or even roll over in bed. But Ms. Isbell has a personal care assistant through Medicaid, and the help allowed her to go to law school at the University of Alabama here. She will graduate next month. She hopes to become a disability rights lawyer — “I’d love to see her on the Supreme Court someday,” her aide, Christy Robertson, said, tearing up with emotion as Ms. Isbell prepared to study for the bar exam in her apartment last week — but staying independent will be crucial to her professional future. (Goodnough, 7/1)

Politico: How The GOP Medicaid Overhaul Could Become The Next Fiscal Cliff
The Senate health care bill, if it becomes law, would set in motion a massive rollback of Medicaid funding beginning in three years. But even some Republican supporters acknowledge the full cuts might never happen. Instead, they say it could become another Washington fiscal cliff, where lawmakers go to the brink of radical spending changes only to pull back — or have their successors pull back — just before the point of inflicting real pain in the face of intense pressure. (Haberkorn and Pradhan, 7/3)

Politico: How Health Care Bill Could Hurt A Program Beloved In Trump Country
One of the unintended effects of the Senate’s Obamacare repeal bill would be to slash money that pays for a project popular among Republicans — using long-distance video hookups called telemedicine to connect sick kids in rural schools to big-city medical experts. (Pittman, 7/3)

NPR: A Hospital In Rural Colorado Is The Cornerstone Of Small Town Life
When you pull into Hugo, a town 100 miles east of Denver on Highway 287, you're greeted by one grocery store, one restaurant, one liquor store, one historic railroad roundhouse, two bars and a single antique store by the name of Main Street Mama's. (Daley, 7/1)

The New York Times: Senate Health Bill Could Set Off A Tax Tussle In New York
The Senate’s push to repeal the Affordable Care Act has bogged down in the face of a deep divide among Republicans, and some senators are expressing vastly disparate reservations about what the bill does and does not do. But there is another contentious element of the plan, found in both the House and Senate versions, that has received scant attention in Washington, mostly because it affects only one state: New York. (Foderaro, 7/3)

The Washington Post: As GOP Struggles With Health Care, Democrats Forge Ties With ‘Resistance’
As Republicans return to their home districts to sell a flailing health-care bill, liberal groups are using the congressional recess to build opposition. They believe tens of thousands of phone calls, emails and in-person pushes will force on-the-fence senators to reject the legislation for good. The fresh activism is coming with encouragement from Democratic lawmakers who are mired in the minority and have been mostly left to watch as Republicans struggle to reshape the nation’s laws to their liking. (O'Keefe and Weigel, 7/2)

USA TODAY: Bernie Sanders Slams GOP Health Care Bill, Calls Trump CNN Tweet 'An Outrage'
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has delayed his single-payer health care bill in order to leverage his national platform against the Republican health care proposal. In an exclusive interview, Sanders answered questions about the health care bill, a federal investigation into the now-defunct Burlington College and President Trump's attacks on the news media. (McCullum, 7/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Insurers’ Policy Warnings Raise Stakes In Health Fight
Hundreds of thousands of consumers across the country are getting letters from insurers warning that their health plans bought under the Affordable Care Act will be terminated at year-end, raising alarm at a politically sensitive moment when Senate Republicans are struggling to craft their own health-care legislation. (Wilde Mathews and Evans, 6/30)

The Associated Press: Centene To Fill Missouri Insurance Void Left By Blue Cross
Health insurer Centene Corp. said Friday that the nearly 40 Missouri counties where it will launch coverage on Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges next year include roughly two dozen that would otherwise have been without an insurer. Missouri-based Centene Corp.'s announcement Friday came 17 days after it said it would foray into the Missouri exchanges even as others are either withdrawing from such markets or proposing steep price hikes to remain. Consumer rights advocates celebrated the announcement, saying something is better than nothing. (6/30)

The Washington Post: Health Care Companies Feud Over Lucrative Contract To Manage D.C. Medicaid Patients
MedStar is set to lose a lucrative contract to manage care for Medicaid beneficiaries in the District, prompting a lobbying blitz in city hall and a bid protest to keep its business. The D.C. Department of Health Care Finance in May announced plans to select three companies for a five-year managed care contract, renewing AmeriHealth Caritas and Trusted Health Plan but replacing MedStar with Amerigroup, one of the nation’s largest managers for patients on government health plans. (Nirappil, 6/30)

The Associated Press: Michigan's GOP Governor Vetoes 'Choose Life' License Plate
Republican Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed legislation on Friday to require Michigan to create and sell an anti-abortion fundraising license plate, saying the bill is too politically contentious and would have divided residents. The measure approved by the GOP-controlled Legislature would have required the "Choose Life" plate to be issued by next June. (6/30)

The New York Times: Is Alcohol Good For You? An Industry-Backed Study Seeks Answers
It may be the most palatable advice you will ever get from a doctor: Have a glass of wine, a beer or a cocktail every day, and you just might prevent a heart attack and live longer. But the mantra that moderate drinking is good for the heart has never been put to a rigorous scientific test, and new research has linked even modest alcohol consumption to increases in breast cancer and changes in the brain. That has not stopped the alcoholic beverage industry from promoting the alcohol-is-good-for-you message by supporting scientific meetings and nurturing budding researchers in the field. (Rabin, 7/3)

The Washington Post: Allergies Are Making You Sneeze. Would Putting A Filter In Your Nose Help?
If you’ve got seasonal allergies, come spring (and sometimes all the way through fall), you sneeze, you itch, your nose runs and feels as though it’s stuffed with marbles. You’ve probably tried almost every over-the-counter remedy out there and maybe some prescription drugs to get relief: nasal sprays, allergy pills, injections and even saline solutions you pour into your nose from a little pot. (Karidis, 7/1)

Los Angeles Times: In The U.S., Infant Mortality Gap Costs The Lives Of About 4,000 Black Babies Each Year
If black infants born in the United States had all of the health and medical benefits enjoyed by white infants, nearly 4,000 fewer of them would die each year, new research suggests. That would amount to a nearly 60% decrease in the number of black infants that die each year. Instead, black babies are nearly 2.5 times more likely than white babies to die during their first year of life. (Kaplan, 7/3)

The Washington Post: This Man Should Have Died, But Unusual Infusions Saved His Life
Tom Patterson should have died during those weeks in March 2016 when he lay comatose, a lethal strain of ­multi-drug-resistant bacteria raging through his body. Antibiotics proved useless, and his doctors were grim. They were losing him. He should have died, but he didn’t. Instead, in desperation, a novel approach — giving him infusions of bacteria-killing viruses known as bacteriophages — saved his life. (Cimons, 7/2)

The Washington Post: Scientists Are Dusting Off A Long-Forgotten Weapon To Cope With Modern Bacteria
In 1915, British scientist Frederick Twort saw something weird happening to the bacteria that had invaded his viral cultures: They were disappearing, a sign they had been destroyed. Two years later, French-Canadian microbiologist Félix d’ Hérelle observed the same phenomenon in his own lab. Both researchers, working independently, concluded that the viruses they had been growing were killing the bacteria. It was an astonishing discovery, because no one had any idea that viruses had that kind of power. (Cimons, 7/2)

The Washington Post: Therapy Animals Are Everywhere. Proof That They Help Is Not.
A therapy-animal trend grips the United States. The San Francisco airport now deploys a pig to calm frazzled travelers. Universities nationwide bring dogs (and a donkey) onto campus to soothe students during finals. Llamas comfort hospital patients, pooches provide succor at disaster sites and horses are used to treat sex addiction. And that duck on a plane? It might be an emotional-support animal prescribed by a mental health professional. (Brulliard, 7/2)

NPR: Scientists Aren't Good At Predicting Which Research Will Pan Out
Science relies on the careful collection and analysis of facts. Science also benefits from human judgment, but that intuition isn't necessarily reliable. A study finds that scientists did a poor job forecasting whether a successful experiment would work on a second try. That matters, because scientists can waste a lot of time if they read the results from another lab and eagerly chase after bum leads. (Harris, 7/4)

The Washington Post: Drugmakers And Distributors Face Barrage Of Lawsuits Over Opioid Epidemic
The companies that manufacture and distribute highly addictive painkillers are facing a barrage of lawsuits for the toll their product has taken on communities across the country as the worst drug epidemic in U.S. history continues to escalate. Within the past year, at least 25 states, cities and counties have filed civil cases against manufacturers, distributors and large drugstore chains that make up the $13 billion-a-year opioid industry. (Higham and Bernstein, 7/4)

NPR: Detoxing From Opiods Without Medical Support Often Fails
By the time Elvis Rosado was 25, he was addicted to opioids and serving time in jail for selling drugs to support his habit. "I was like, 'I have to kick this, I have to break this,' " he says. For Rosado, who lives in Philadelphia, drugs had become a way to disassociate from "the reality that was life." He'd wake up physically needing the drugs to function. (Gordon, 7/3)

NPR: Opioid Exposure In The Womb Doesn't Mean Babies Are Addicted
Among the troubling developments of the nation's opioid crisis: a large number of babies born prenatally exposed to opioids. On a recent reporting trip, we visited Trinity Hospital in Steubenville, Ohio, where according to the acting CEO, 1 in 5 babies are born with prenatal opioid exposure. Other hospitals report as many as 1 in 8 newborns exposed to opioids in the womb. (Siegel and Cheung, 6/30)

The Associated Press: Maryland Rolling Out 2 Initiatives To Fight Opioid Addiction
The Maryland Medicaid Program is rolling out two initiatives aimed at fighting the opioid crisis. The initiatives officially start on Saturday. The state is reforming policies to curb opioid prescribing in the Medicaid program. It’s encouraging health-care providers to consider non-opioids as first-line treatment of patients with chronic pain. It’s also urging providers to conduct thorough screening before prescribing opioids and to refer patients to treatment when they have a substance abuse disorder. (7/1)

The Associated Press: Kasich Signs Ohio State Budget, Vetoes Medicaid Freeze
Gov. John Kasich once again stood against fellow Republicans in the Ohio Legislature on Friday to support Medicaid expansion, which now provides health insurance to 700,000 low-income Ohioans. The 2016 presidential contender vetoed a proposed freeze of the expansion and 46 other items from Ohio's state budget before signing it just ahead of a midnight deadline Friday. (Carr-Smyth, 7/1)

Los Angeles Times: Glendale Adventist Partnership Aims For Better Healthcare Coordination Across L.A. County
Glendale Adventist Medical Center’s recent partnership with a nonprofit group is designed to make access and delivery of electronic medical records more efficient for those in its network. Glendale Adventist and White Memorial Medical Center — both part of the health system called Adventist Health — have signed two-year contracts with the Los Angeles Network for Enhanced Services, or LANES, an L.A. County-based nonprofit that provides a platform for the exchange of electronic patient data among public and private healthcare providers. (Landa, 7/3)

The Associated Press: Rise In Hepatitis C Cases Leads To Arrests Of Tattooists
A rise in hepatitis C cases has led to the arrests of tattoo artists in southwest Virginia. The Roanoke Times reported Sunday that more people could be charged as the investigation continues. Police in Pulaski, Virginia, arrested four men in June for unlicensed tattooing, a misdemeanor offense. Hepatitis is a viral infection that can damage people’s livers, sometimes fatally. (7/2)

The New York Times: Bronx-Lebanon, Site Of Shooting, Is More Than A Hospital To Neighbors
Practically everyone in the South Bronx knows about the place at Grand Concourse and East 173rd Street. You can pick up scratch-off lottery tickets there. You can grab a bacon, egg and cheese on a roll on your way to work. You can go to Sunday Mass. You can also go there for medical care .... These are just some of the ways that residents of one of the most poverty-stricken communities in the nation interact with the roughly 4,000 doctors, nurses, cafe countermen and others who work at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, one of the biggest employers in the Bronx and the scene of a horrific rampage last week. (Stewart and Wang, 7/4)