First Edition: July 8, 2022

KHN: Digital Mental Health Companies Draw Scrutiny And Growing Concerns
When Pat Paulson’s son told her he was feeling anxious and depressed at college, Paulson went through her Blue Cross Blue Shield provider directory and started calling mental health therapists. No providers in the Wisconsin city where her son’s university is located had openings. So she bought a monthly subscription to BetterHelp, a Mountain View, California, company that links people to therapists online. (Meyer, 7/8)

KHN: The Push For Abortion Lawmaking After ‘Dobbs’ Is Unique, Legal And Political Experts Say 
The end of nationwide abortion protections has been met with a wave of calls from lawmakers and governors in at least a dozen states for special legislative sessions that would reshape the state-by-state patchwork of laws that now govern abortion in the U.S. “I haven’t seen so many states focusing their attention so quickly on one issue,” said Thad Kousser, a professor who studies state politics. (Zionts, 7/8)

KHN: Vaccine And Testing Delays For Monkeypox Echo Failures In Early Covid Response
Andy Stone is one of the lucky ones. The New York City resident saw a tweet from a local AIDS activist saying that monkeypox vaccines would be available that day at a clinic in Manhattan. Stone, 35, and his husband booked appointments online right away and got their shots last month. “I want to do what I can to protect myself and others,” said Stone, a marketing consultant living in Brooklyn, who said his primary care doctor advised him to get the vaccine as soon as possible. (Andrews, 7/8)

KHN: The Search For Scarce Formula Is Worse For Rural Families On WIC 
Two months after giving birth, Jennifer Magee noticed a change in her baby’s feeding routine that scared her: She was starting to drink more formula, almost every hour. Increased appetite is normal for growing infants, including Magee’s daughter, Aubrey. But amid the national formula shortage, Magee, 25, had only one container left, barely enough to last three days. (Saint Louis, 7/8)

KHN: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: A Chat With The Surgeon General On Health Worker Burnout
The pandemic has taken a toll on everyone, but those who work in health care have suffered disproportionately, according to a new report from the office of U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. And it’s not just the workers who are at risk. “If not addressed, the health worker burnout crisis will make it harder for patients to get care when they need it, cause health costs to rise, hinder our ability to prepare for the next public health emergency, and worsen health disparities,” according to the report. (7/7)

AP: Dems Want To Tax High Earners To Protect Medicare Solvency
Senate Democrats want to boost taxes on some high earners and use the money to extend the solvency of Medicare, the latest step in the party’s election-year attempt to craft a scaled-back version of the economic package that collapsed last year, Democratic aides told The Associated Press. Democrats expect to submit legislative language on their Medicare plan to the Senate’s parliamentarian in the next few days, the aides said. (Fram, 7/7)

The New York Times: Democrats Propose Raising Taxes On Some High Earners To Bolster Medicare
The proposal is projected to raise $203 billion over a decade by imposing an additional 3.8 percent tax on income earned from owning a piece of what is known as a pass-through business, such as a law firm or medical practice. The money that would be generated by the change is estimated to be enough to extend the solvency of the Medicare trust fund that pays for hospital care — currently set to begin running out of money in 2028 — until 2031. (Cochrane, Sanger-Katz and Tankersley, 7/7)

Politico: Dems' Climate And Tax Agenda To Consume Congress In July 
Negotiators are still ironing out key details, but Democrats are signaling that as soon as next week they will begin arguing their case to the Senate rules chief on why the package should pass with a simple majority in the chamber. No one is getting their hopes too high in a party still reeling from Manchin’s rejection of Build Back Better, Democrats’ previous version of the legislation. (Everett and Levine, 7/7)

The Hill: Newsom Announces California Will Produce Its Own ‘Low Cost’ Insulin
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced on Thursday that his state will be producing its own “low cost” insulin, stating, “People should not go into debt to get lifesaving medication.” Newsom said that the state budget he recently signed includes $100 million for California to “contract and make [its] own insulin at a cheaper price, close to at cost, and to make it available to all.” (Breslin, 7/7)

The Hill: GOP Senators Call For Hearings On Bipartisan Insulin Cost Bill 
Five GOP senators are calling on the Senate Finance Committee to hold hearings on bipartisan legislation to lower the cost of insulin. Led by Sens. Pat Toomey (Pa.), and John Barrasso (Wyo.), the Republicans said they were concerned the legislation from Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) will be brought to the Senate floor for a vote without going through the committee first. (Weixel, 7/7)

AP: Facing Pressure, Biden To Sign Order On Abortion Access 
President Joe Biden will take executive action Friday to protect access to abortion, according to three people familiar with the matter, as he faces mounting pressure from Democrats to be more forceful on the subject after the Supreme Court ended a constitutional right to the procedure two weeks ago. Biden will speak Friday morning “on protecting access to reproductive health care services,” the sources said. The actions he was expected to outline are intended to try to mitigate some potential penalties women seeking abortion may face after the ruling, but are limited in their ability to safeguard access to abortion nationwide. (Kim and Miller, 7/8)

The Hill: Feinstein Says She’d Vote For Filibuster Carve-Out To Codify Abortion Rights 
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on Thursday said she supports the Senate removing the procedural filibuster rule in order to codify abortion rights into law. Feinstein said she “certainly would vote” to support a carve-out to the filibuster to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act and codify federal-level abortion protections. (Dress, 7/7)

AP: Lone Mississippi Abortion Clinic Seeks Legal Path To Reopen 
Attorneys for Mississippi’s only abortion clinic filed papers Thursday asking the state Supreme Court to block a new law that bans most abortions and to let the clinic reopen next week. The clinic, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, is at the center of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and took away women’s constitutional protection for abortion nationwide. (Pettus and Kolpack, 7/7)

Axios: North Dakota's Only Abortion Clinic Sues State Over Trigger Ban
Red River Women’s Clinic, the only remaining abortion provider in North Dakota, is suing state officials over the state's trigger ban, which is set to take effect later this summer. (Gonzalez, 7/7)

AP: Indiana's Abortion Laws May Tighten Before Legislature Acts 
Indiana’s abortion laws will likely be tightened even before the Legislature is expected to start debating additional abortion restrictions later this month. Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana conceded defeat Friday in their fight to block two anti-abortion laws following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last month to end constitutional protection for abortion. That led the state attorney general’s office on Wednesday to ask U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker in Indianapolis to sign off on orders that would lift her injunctions that have prevented enforcement of those laws. (Davies, 7/7)

The New York Times: After Roe, South Carolina Considers More Restrictions On Abortion
With anti-abortion Republicans in firm control of South Carolina’s legislature and executive branch, a new proposal offering something closer to an outright ban seems quite likely, although the details have yet to be hammered out. On Thursday, the exploration of a new abortion law began with a meeting of a 14-member, Republican-dominated House committee. But a bill introduced in the House has been left intentionally vague, with just a few lines of text — including a statement that state law would be changed “so as to prohibit abortions in the state of South Carolina.” (Fausset and Sasani, 7/7)

AP: Senate GOP Advances Constitutional Amendment On Abortion
Republican state senators outvoted impassioned Democratic opposition late Thursday to advance a proposal to add language to the Pennsylvania Constitution stating explicitly that the document does not guarantee any rights relating to abortion or public funding of abortions. (Scolforo, 7/7)

USA Today: 'DIY Abortion' On TikTok: Experts Urge Americans To Avoid These Herbs
The changing landscape of abortion access across the country has prompted many Americans to turn to the internet for answers, including how to self-manage an unwanted pregnancy at home. Google searches for “DIY abortion” have skyrocketed since the Supreme Court’s decision in June overturning Roe v. Wade, the nearly 50-year landmark ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. (Rodriguez, 7/7)

NBC News: U.S. To Ship 144,000 More Monkeypox Shots And Expand Testing As Cases Top 700
The Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that it will distribute 144,000 doses of the two-shot Jynneos vaccine, which is approved for monkeypox and smallpox, to cities and states starting Monday. That's on top of 56,000 doses the department made available last week, of which 41,000 have been delivered. (Bendix, 7/8)

CIDRAP: US Monkeypox Cases Top 600 In 34 States 
The monkeypox virus outbreak is growing in the United States and elsewhere, with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now reporting 605 cases in 34 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. New York has the most cases, with 122, followed by California with 116 and Florida with 64. (Soucheray, 7/7)

AP: Louisiana Identifies 1st Known Monkeypox Case In A Resident 
Louisiana’s first detected cases of monkeypox have been found in a state resident and a visitor from out of state, the Louisiana Department of Health reported Thursday. “There are likely more undiagnosed human cases of monkeypox existing in Louisiana than have been formally tested and identified to date,” a news release said. (7/7)

AP: 6 Monkeypox Cases Confirmed In Oregon 
Health officials in Oregon said Thursday they have confirmed six cases of monkeypox in the state. The cases — all affecting men — include one in Multnomah County; three in Lane County; and two in Washington County, the Oregon Health Authority said in a statement. There have been no deaths. (7/7)

The Boston Globe: 10 More Monkeypox Cases Diagnosed In Massachusetts As State Initiates Vaccination Program
Ten more men in Massachusetts have been diagnosed with monkeypox in the past week, bringing the number of cases in the state to 31 since the first infection was announced on May 18, health officials said Thursday, as the state rolled out a vaccination program for those at highest risk. (Fox, 7/7)

The Baltimore Sun: A Baltimore Resident With A Case Of Monkeypox Makes The Case For An Urgent Public Health Response 
As his trip to Europe in mid-June was winding down, Justin, a 48-year-old Baltimore man, developed a fever and sore throat. His lymph nodes swelled. “When I started seeing dots on my body I thought, oh, boy, this isn’t anything I’ve experienced before,” he said. (Cohn, 7/7)

Newsweek: Abe Shinzo Shot Despite Japan Having Incredibly Strict Gun Laws
In 1958, it was written into Japanese law that "no person shall possess a firearm or firearms or a sword or swords,"—the opposite of the U.S. Second Amendment's affirmation of the "right of the people to keep and bear arms." Handguns are forbidden, while small-caliber rifles have been illegal to buy, sell or transfer since 1971. The only guns that Japanese citizens can legally buy and use are shotguns and air rifles. To do so involves negotiating a head spinning amount of red tape, requiring attendance at an all-day class, passing a written test and getting at least 95 percent accuracy during a shooting-range test. (Cole, 7/8)

The Washington Post: With Little Outcry, Chicago’s Bloody Weekend Eclipsed Highland Park Toll
No new counseling resources were announced this week on this city’s impoverished South Side, even after a man was shot to death in broad daylight, feet from a playground, days before July Fourth. There are no crowdsourced charity drives raising millions for victims’ families in Chicago, where the holiday weekend death toll reached at least 10 with 62 injured — numbers that exceed the toll from a July Fourth parade shooting in nearby Highland Park, Ill. In that affluent lakeside suburb, the violence was an anomaly. Here, it is a grimly regular occurrence. (Klemko, 7/7)

ABC News: NYPD Says Murders And Shootings Are Down, Despite Recent High-Profile Incidents
The New York City Police Department said Thursday that murders and shootings are down in the city, despite three people being killed within an hour the night before. In June, murders were down 12% compared to the same period last year and shootings decreased by 13% last month compared to June 2021, the department said. (Grant and Katersky, 7/7)

ABC News: About 300,000 Kids Under 5 Have Gotten At Least 1 Dose Of COVID Vaccine So Far
By the end of Thursday, roughly 300,000 children under the age of 5 years old will have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, a senior Biden administration official told ABC News. The 300,000 shots in arms so far for kids under 5 is about 1.5% of the roughly 19.5 million U.S. children 4 years old and younger. (Pezenik, 7/7)

AP: Slow Pace For Youngest Kids Getting COVID Vaccine Doses
U.S. officials had long predicted that the pace of vaccinating the youngest kids would be slower than for older groups. They expect most shots to take place at pediatricians’ offices. ... More than 5 million pediatric doses have been shipped to more than 15,000 locations, the White House said, ready for parents and kids to come in. (Miller and Johnson, 7/7)

The New York Times: What The BA.5 Subvariant Could Mean For The United States 
The most transmissible variant yet of the coronavirus is threatening a fresh wave of infections in the United States, even among those who have recovered from the virus fairly recently. ... “I think there’s an underappreciation of what it’s going to do to the country, and it already is exerting its effect,” said Eric Topol, a professor of molecular medicine at Scripps Research, who has written about the subvariant. (Leatherby, 7/7)

San Francisco Chronicle: What’s The Risk Of Getting COVID Outside? Here’s Why New Variants May Have Changed The Answer
Health experts agree that outdoor activities are still much safer than indoors, since viral aerosols don’t have a chance to accumulate in the air. But with the most transmissible variants yet, chances are you have less protection in certain situations. “Being at parks and outdoor sporting events is still what we should turn to,” said Dr. Anne Liu, an infectious disease doctor at Stanford. “But if you are in a dense crowd or in an outdoor space that has been modified to look like an indoor space, then the risk becomes higher.” (Vaziri, 7/7)

Houston Chronicle: Harris County Surpasses 1 Million COVID Cases Under Worst Surge Yet
Harris County this week officially surpassed one million confirmed COVID-19 cases, according to state health department data, but medical experts say the true number is likely much higher. The continuing surge of infections has been attributed to BA.5, the newest sub-variant. BA.5 accounts for 53.6% of new cases, making it the dominant COVID strain in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control. (Dozier, 7/7)

AP: COVID-19 Cases Prompt Mask Mandate At Denali National Park 
Masks will be required for people using federal buildings or riding buses inside Denali National Park and Preserve because of high COVID-19 levels in the broader community, officials said Thursday. The mask mandate takes effect Friday, a statement from the park said. (7/7)

Los Angeles Times: Physicians Caution Against Working Through COVID-19
Physicians caution, however, that rest is an important part of weathering a COVID-19 infection. Plugging away from home is better than putting others at risk of getting infected, but it can still strain the immune system, worsening the toll of a COVID infection, experts say. (Alpert Reyes, 7/7)

The New York Times: The Pandemic Has Eroded Americans’ Trust In Experts And Elected Leaders Alike, A Survey Finds
As the coronavirus pandemic entered its third year, the American public had lost much of its trust both in public health experts and in government leaders, and was less worried than before about Covid-19, according to a survey conducted in early May and released Thursday by the Pew Research Center. (Chung and Olson, 7/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Theranos’s Ramesh ‘Sunny’ Balwani Found Guilty On All 12 Fraud Counts
A federal jury convicted Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, the former top lieutenant to Theranos Inc. founder Elizabeth Holmes, on all 12 charges that he helped perpetuate a yearslong fraud scheme at the blood-testing startup. The verdict is the second conviction against Theranos leadership and comes six months after a jury found Ms. Holmes guilty of fraud; it secures another major victory for the U.S. government, which brought the case against the pair in 2018. (Somerville and Bobrowsky, 7/7)

Stat: Drug Companies Will Have To Start Refunding Medicare For Certain Drugs
Starting next year, pharmaceutical companies will have to repay Medicare for any unused amount of drugs that come in single-dose vials. On Thursday Medicare implemented this new provision as part of its broader annual rule that updates physician payments for 2023. (Herman, 7/7)

AP: Whistleblower Physician Reinstated At California VA Hospital 
A whistleblower physician who was forced into retirement after raising concerns about anesthesia staffing practices during surgeries at a Los Angeles Veterans Affairs hospital has gotten his old job back, federal officials said Thursday. (7/7)

AP: Northern West Virginia Hospital Settles With Feds For $1.5M
A hospital in West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle has agreed to pay $1.5 million to the federal government to settle allegations that the medical center provided financial incentives to physicians for referring Medicare patients there, U.S. Justice Department officials said Thursday. (7/7)

Health News Florida: A Florida Medical Malpractice Case Is Under The Microscope Of Hospital And Doctor Groups 
State and national groups representing hospitals and doctors are trying to help sway the Florida Supreme Court in a dispute about whether a medical malpractice lawsuit should have been allowed to move forward. (Saunders, 7/7)

AP: NC Governor Signs Bills Addressing Sexual Assaults, Alcohol 
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper signed 11 bills on his desk into law Thursday, including legislation that addresses sexual assault, domestic violence and alcohol sales. ... One signed measure makes clear that hospitals or medical offices can’t attempt to bill victims of sexual assault or their insurance companies for forensic medical examinations, leaving it to a special state fund that’s already been in place to cover the payment. (Robertson, 7/7)

AP: Fentanyl-Driven Overdoses Jump, Officials Urge Naloxone 
An Oregon Health Authority analysis released Thursday has found that drug overdose deaths in Oregon more than doubled between 2019 and 2021, driven largely by misuse of the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl. (7/8)

CIDRAP: CDC Reports 12 More Unexplained Hepatitis Cases In Kids, 332 Total
In a weekly update, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) yesterday reported 12 more unexplained pediatric hepatitis cases in children, raising the national total to 332. The number of affected states held steady, at 42. (7/7)

The Boston Globe: Four Young Adults Sickened After Cohasset Swim Center Opens Prematurely, Town Says
Four young adults participating in a swim practice were sickened at the Cohasset Swim Center on Wednesday after the facility opened prematurely and a broken pipe caused a leak in its largest pool, town officials said. The center, which is not owned or operated by the town, opened to the public without its finalized building permit or pool health inspection permit, according to a statement Thursday from the office of Cohasset Town Manager Christopher G. Senior. (Fox, 7/7)

WUSF Public Media: Contaminated Oysters Found As Far North As Tampa Bay Could Pose Health Risks
With a new state law addressing the clean-up of chemical compounds that have been widely used by industries, a Florida International University study says the substances have been found in oysters in Biscayne Bay, the Marco Island area and Tampa Bay. (7/7)

Albany Herald: CIT Bracelets Help Ease Encounters Between Police, Mental Health Sufferers 
As a fashion statement they’re not much. But these rubber bracelets could make a big difference with police officers interacting with individuals suffering from mental illness and alter the results of an encounter from a trip to jail to referral to treatment. ... The bracelets, which say CIT (Critical Intervention Training) on one side and Mental Health Alert on the other, can let police know how to better handle a situation when they encounter someone who is wearing one. (Mauldin, 7/6)

Axios: Race May Factor Into Leukemia Survival, Study Suggests
Younger Black leukemia patients were likelier to die early or not go into complete remission than their white peers when receiving the same intensive treatment, according to a new study in Blood Advances. (Dreher, 7/7)

NPR: Scientists Look To People With Down Syndrome To Test Alzheimer's Drugs
People with Down syndrome are highly sought after for Alzheimer's research studies because many develop the disease in their 40s and 50s, and most will get it if they live long enough. The elevated risk for Alzheimer's comes from the extra copy of chromosome 21 carried by people with Down syndrome. (Hamilton, 7/7)

NPR: HIV Patients Who Get Leishmaniasis Face A Tough Road. But Now There's New Hope
"If you don't get the treatment, you're usually going to die from this," says Dr. Fabiana Alves, director of the leishmaniasis cluster at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative. VL is even more devastating for a patient whose immune system has been compromised by HIV, simply because the existing VL treatments don't work as well. And in parts of the world where VL is rampant, like eastern Africa and Southeast Asia, a significant percentage of patients are HIV positive. (Barnhart, 7/7)

USA Today: Is 'Hangry' Real? New Study Says You Do Get Angry When Hungry
If you are someone who gets angry if you haven't eaten, also known as "hangry," a new study says you aren't being irrational. The findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Plos One on Wednesday, come from one of the first studies to examine the relationship of hunger and anger, Viren Swami, lead author and social psychology professor at Anglia Ruskin University in the U.K., told USA TODAY via email. (Mendoza, 7/7)