First Edition: June 29, 2017

Kaiser Health News: Calif. Officials Sound Alarm, Envisioning $114B Hit To Medi-Cal Under U.S. Senate Bill
California risks losing $114.6 billion in federal funds within a decade for its Medicaid program under the Senate health care bill, a decline that would require the state to completely dismantle and rebuild the public insurance program that now serves one-third of the state, health leaders said Wednesday. The reductions in the nation’s largest Medicaid program would start at $3 billion in 2020 and would escalate to $30.3 billion annually by 2027, according to an analysis released by the state departments of finance and health care services. (Gorman, 6/28)

Kaiser Health News: Seniors Miss Out On Clinical Trials
More than 60 percent of cancer patients are older adults — and that will rise to 70 percent by 2040.  Yet seniors continue to be underrepresented in clinical trials, making it difficult to assess how treatments are likely to help or harm them. The newest evidence of the problem comes from a Food and Drug Administration analysis, which found that only 25 percent of patients participating in cancer clinical trials were 65 and older. The analysis, which has not yet been published, was presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in June. (Graham, 6/29)

Kaiser Health News: Insect Venom Shortage Stings Allergy Sufferers This Summer
As summer begins, signaling peak time for insect stings, allergists across the U.S. are warning of a shortage of a little-known but crucial product — honeybee, hornet and wasp venom extracts used in shots that prevent life-threatening reactions. Supplies of the extracts — which are made from venom gathered by hand from millions of individual insects — have been scarce since October. That’s when one of two manufacturers in the U.S. shut down production after contamination problems. Doctors say they hope the situation will be resolved, but that’s not likely before next year. For now, they’re rationing doses for patients who need them most. (Aleccia, 6/29)

The New York Times: As Affordable Care Act Repeal Teeters, Prospects For Bipartisanship Build
With his bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act in deep trouble, Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, raised an alternate possibility on Tuesday: Either Republicans come together, or he would have to work with Democrats to shore up the deteriorating health law. That raised a tantalizing prospect: bipartisanship. (Pear and Kaplan, 6/28)

The Associated Press: Little Progress Evident As GOP Hunts Health Bill Votes
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is exploring options for salvaging the battered Republican health care bill, even as he confronts an expanding chorus of GOP detractors. That is deepening the uncertainty over whether the party can resuscitate its promise to repeal President Barack Obama's overhaul. (6/29)

The Washington Post: McConnell Is Trying To Revise The Senate Health-Care Bill By Friday
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is aiming to send a revised version of his health-care bill to the Congressional Budget Office as soon as Friday as he continues to push for a vote before Congress’s August recess. The effort reflects the tight timeline McConnell faces in his attempt to hold a vote in July — and the pressure he is under to change the bill to garner enough support to pass it. With both conservatives and centrists pushing different policy solutions, Senate leaders were struggling to craft a rewrite of the Affordable Care Act on Wednesday that would attract votes without torpedoing the CBO’s official score of how the legislation affects coverage levels and federal spending. (Sullivan, Eilperin and Snell, 6/28)

The Associated Press Fact Check: Warped Reality In Health Debate
The superheated argument over the Republican drive to overhaul health care has not been the finest moment for accuracy. Here's a sampling of claims from both sides as Senate Republicans struggle to revive their stalled legislation. (Woodward and Drinkard, 6/29)

The Associated Press: Analysis: For GOP Congress, An Imperative On Health Care
Congressional Republicans are stymied over health care. But after seven years of promising to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama's law, they risk political disaster if they don't deliver. Republicans anticipate a major backlash from GOP voters if they don't make good on the promises that swept them to control of the House and Senate and helped propel Donald Trump to the White House in last year's elections. (6/29)

Politico: Both Sides Push For Edge In Health Care Fight
The Senate GOP’s Obamacare repeal effort may have stumbled, but activists on the right and left hustled into action on Wednesday to try to shape the rewrite on one side — or kill the bill outright, on the other. Liberals capped their third straight day of massive demonstrations against repeal by drawing a thousand-plus demonstrators to the Capitol, while gearing up to pressure moderate GOP lawmakers in their home states during next week’s recess. (Schor and Cancryn, 6/28)

Politico: Trump To Warring GOP Senators: I'm On Your Side
Rand Paul and Susan Collins are on opposite ends of the Republican Party when it comes to health care, yet somehow the two senators both left this week’s Obamacare repeal meetings with President Donald Trump thinking he’s on their side. Paul wants to gut as much of Obamacare as possible and recalled after his one-on-one meeting that the president “realizes that moderates have gotten everything so far” on the health care talks. The centrist Collins, on the other hand, left a larger Tuesday gathering with the president sure that he still wants to make the bill’s health care offerings more robust, explaining that “he did leave me with that impression.” (Everett and Dawsey, 6/28)

Politico: Trump Teases 'Big Surprise' On Senate Obamacare Repeal Effort
President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that “a big surprise” could be coming in the Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, a tease that came hours after the president predicted that Senate Republicans are “going to get at least very close” to passing their stalled health care bill. “And just to do a little official business, health care is working along very well. We could have a big surprise with a great health care package. So, now they're happy,” Trump said, gesturing to a group of reporters during a meet-and-greet with the visiting World Series champion Chicago Cubs. (Nelson, 6/28)

The Washington Post: How The Push For A Senate Health-Care Vote Fell Apart Amid GOP Tensions
Sen. Dean Heller was sitting two seats away from President Trump and facing his grim-faced colleagues this week when he decided to crack a pointed joke. Heller — a square-jawed, ­sandy-haired moderate Republican — said the attack ads against him, paid for by a Trump-allied super PAC, should have used his own image instead of actor Matt Damon’s. There were scattered laughs, including a chuckle from Trump. But many of the Republican lawmakers lining tables in the East Room stayed mute. (Costa, Sullivan, Eilperin and Snell, 6/28)

The Washington Post: McConnell Is Known As A Deal-Closer, But He’s Never Done Policy This Big
For the past decade, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has forged a reputation as a closer on big deals. There was the Wall Street bailout just before the 2008 elections. There was the pact over the summer of 2011 to slash spending and avoid a federal default. And there was the 2012 New Year’s Eve “fiscal cliff” compromise to avoid huge tax increases. But this week, McConnell (R-Ky.) fell short in crafting a Republican plan to repeal portions of the Affordable Care Act and redraw vast amounts of Medicaid policy. Rather than suffer a humiliating defeat, McConnell told his GOP colleagues Tuesday that he would delay a vote until at least mid-July. (Kane, 6/28)

Politico: Portman And McConnell Clash Over Health Bill
Senate Republicans’ health care fight is getting personal. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rob Portman, close allies and typically mild-mannered men, got into a heated exchange over Medicaid at a meeting earlier this week. (Bresnahan and Kim, 6/29)

The New York Times: In McConnell’s Own State, Fear And Confusion Over Health Care Bill
Dewey Gorman, a 59-year-old banker who has struggled with opioid addiction, had just gotten out of the hospital in this tiny central Appalachian city when he heard the word from Washington: His fellow Kentuckian, Senator Mitch McConnell, had delayed a vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He felt torn about that. “It’s broken. It’s broken very badly,” Mr. Gorman said of former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. “But if they want to take away insurance from 22 million people — a lot of them would come from these mountains. That would be devastating to our area.” (Stolberg, 6/28)

The Associated Press: If GOP Can't Repeal Obamacare, How Can They Overhaul Taxes?
Senate Republicans' struggle to pass a health care bill is jeopardizing another one of President Donald Trump's top priorities: overhauling America's tax system. A day after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., delayed a vote on a bill to scrap much of Democrat Barack Obama's health law, questions lingered about whether congressional Republicans could pass big, complicated pieces of legislation. (6/29)

The Washington Post Fact Checker: What You Need To Know About Preexisting Conditions In The Senate GOP Health Plan
As with the House version that passed in May, Democrats have criticized the impact that the Senate bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), would have on people with preexisting medical conditions. They argue that the BCRA would no longer protect Americans with preexisting conditions, despite the bill’s explicit ban on states waiving coverage based on preexisting conditions. Yet a Republican opponent of the bill criticized it for not repealing the protection enough. What is going on? ... here’s our guide to the debate over preexisting conditions in the Senate bill. (Lee, 6/28)

The Washington Post: Republicans Running For Governor Put In A Tough Position By Trump Health Cuts
In Virginia, Republican gubernatorial nominee Ed Gillespie is getting peppered with questions on the campaign trail about President Trump’s efforts on health care, and he has declined to take a clear position. In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan (R), who is up for reelection next year, says health-care plans being advanced by the Republican Congress “do not work” for his state, but he is still getting badgered by Democrats to speak out more forcefully against Trump. (Wagner and Nirappil, 6/28)

Politico: Polls Show GOP Health Bill Bleeding Out
Republican efforts to craft a new health care bill just hit another roadblock: An avalanche of public polling data dropped Wednesday, showing support for the legislation is under 20 percent. That’s bad enough, but it’s not just the topline numbers that are near rock-bottom. Few voters think the bill will make the health care system or their own care better. And many of the policy changes in the various versions of GOP health legislation — like decreasing federal funding for Medicaid — are profoundly unpopular. (Shepard, 6/28)

USA Today: Senate Health Care Bill: Democrats Dial Up Opposition Over July 4 Break
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's decision to delay a vote on a GOP health care plan is giving Democrats a big opportunity to seize the July 4 recess to dial up the pressure to kill the bill. Several outside progressive groups are planning campaigns over the congressional recess to highlight the stories of real Americans who could lose health care – and targeting vulnerable and moderate Republican senators with paid media, phone calls and protests. (Przybyla, 6/28)

The Washington Post: As GOP Buckles Down On Health Care, Conservative Media Loses Interest
On Tuesday, the fate of the Republicans’ attempt to undo the Affordable Care Act dominated news out of Washington. Phones rattled with alerts about the decision to delay a vote until mid-July. Camera crews jostled for shots of senators meeting with President Trump, then boarding a bus that took them past jeering protesters. A viewer tuning into Fox News that night hardly saw any of it. (Weigel, 6/28)

Reuters: States' Medicaid Spending To Increase Under Senate Bill: Report
The now-delayed U.S. Senate healthcare overhaul bill would boost state spending on Medicaid by $565 million in 2022, according to an independent report issued on Wednesday, while credit agencies said it would cause states to face downward pressure on their credit ratings. Senate Republican leaders on Tuesday postponed the vote on the bill, which they hoped would take place before their July 4 recess. (Kelly, 6/28)

USA Today: Senate Republican Health Care: Trump Accuses Democrats Of Lying On Medicaid Cuts
President Trump accused Democrats of lying about the projected Medicaid cuts in the Republican health care plan, but they didn't. They're just counting different things. (Jackson and Groppe, 6/28)

The Washington Post: How Trump Is A Little Bit Right And A Lot Bit Wrong About Medicaid
President Trump on Wednesday said that the Republican plan to change Medicaid would lead to an increase in spending, not a cut, accusing Democrats of having “purposely misstated” the facts. In a literal sense, he's right. The total amount of money spent on Medicaid under the Senate Republican plan would grow, albeit slowly, from 2017 to 2026. But the accounting he uses to show Medicaid spending is wildly divergent from the way budget analysts, policymakers and many lawmakers account for spending levels. (Paletta and Johnson, 6/28)

Los Angeles Times: Senate Health Bill Would Leave Medi-Cal With $115-Billion Shortfall Through 2027, Analysis Finds
The Senate healthcare bill released last week would leave California short $115 billion for its Medi-Cal program between 2020 and 2027, according to a state analysis released Wednesday. The Medi-Cal program, which is jointly funded by the state and federal government, grew dramatically under the Affordable Care Act to cover 13.5 million Californians, or 1 out of 3 state residents. (Karlamangla, 6/28)

NPR: Veterans Who Rely On Medicaid Fear GOP's Planned Cuts
Air Force veteran Billy Ramos, from Simi Valley, Calif., is 53 and gets health insurance for himself and for his family from Medicaid — the government insurance program for lower-income people. He says he counts on the coverage, especially because of his physically demanding work as a self-employed contractor in the heating and air conditioning business. (O'Neill, 6/28)

Politico: Opioid Cash May Sweeten Senate Health Bill For Moderates
The one near-certainty in GOP efforts to patch up their failed Obamacare repeal bill over the July Fourth break is that they will add more money to combat the opioid crisis. That may entice some moderate lawmakers to support the bill. But it will do little to fulfill Donald Trump’s campaign promise to address the crisis devastating so many communities. And it certainly won’t make up for the Medicaid cuts that many members of his own opioid commission oppose because tens of thousands of people who are addicted to the drugs would lose regular health coverage. (Karlin-Smith, 6/29)

Reuters: Ohio Lawmakers Vote To Freeze Medicaid Expansion
Ohio's Republican-controlled legislature voted on Wednesday to freeze enrollment in the state's Medicaid healthcare insurance for the poor, setting the stage for a showdown with Republican Governor John Kasich, who favors expanding the program. The proposed Medicaid freeze, which would deny coverage to hundreds of thousands of Ohio residents who lack job-related health insurance and cannot afford to purchase their own, was adopted as part of a $65 billion two-year budget plan. (Palmer, 6/28)

The Associated Press: Texas Medicaid Cuts Leave Special Needs Kids Without Therapy
Stacey English has modest desires for her 7-year-old daughter Addison: Be able to eat without gagging and move both her arms. But since Addison's occupational therapist went out of business this winter, the child with a rare genetic disorder has regressed in her fight to do even that much. "I don't know where to go from here," said English, who has been unable to find a replacement therapist in their Texas college town of College Station. "How do you continue to help her make progress when you don't have someone to teach her?" (Hoffman, 6/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Anthem Pulling Back On Offering ACA Plans In Nevada
Anthem Inc. said it would stop selling Affordable Care Act marketplace plans in most of Nevada next year. The move together with the departure of a smaller insurer leaves 14 of the state’s counties poised to have no insurer on its exchange. (Wilde Mathews, 6/28)

The Washington Post: One Politician’s Solution To The Overdose Problem: Let Addicts Die
Under a plan by a city council member in Ohio, people who dial 911 seeking help for someone who's overdosing on opioids may start hearing something new from dispatchers: “No.” In response to the opioid epidemic that swept the nation — including the small city of Middletown, population 50,000 — council member Dan Picard has floated an idea that has been called more of “a cry of frustration” than a legitimate solution. At a council meeting last week, Picard proposed a three-strikes-style policy for people who repeatedly overdose: Too many overdoses and authorities wouldn't send an ambulance to resuscitate them. (Wootson, 6/28)

Los Angeles Times: Amid Opioid Overdoses, Santa Clarita Officials Team Up To Arrest Dealers And Offer Rehab
The dealers were smuggling in bundles of cocaine and heroin, some of it hidden in secret compartments inside their cars. They carried thousands of dollars in cash and at least one firearm, all believed to be linked to their drug peddling in Santa Clarita. Over the last month and a half, a special team of Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives based out of the Santa Clarita Valley station arrested 39 people on suspicion of narcotics possession and sales, officials announced Wednesday. The team also seized two pounds of heroin, $13,000 in cash and a stolen firearm in the operation. (Lau, 6/28)

The New York Times: Smart Kids Live Longer
Intelligent children tend to live longer than their less gifted peers, a new study suggests. Scottish researchers began their study with 75,252 men and women born in 1936 — 94 percent of the Scottish population born that year — who had taken standardized intelligence tests in 1947. By 2015, they were able to confirm a cause of death for 25,979 of them; 30,464 were still living in Britain. (Bakalar, 6/28)

The New York Times: Even ‘Safe’ Pollution Levels Can Be Deadly
Just how bad is air pollution for you? A study of more than 60 million Medicare recipients has found that even pollution levels below those generally considered safe increase the risk for premature death. Using satellite, meteorological and other data, plus data gathered from 3,805 monitoring stations maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency, researchers were able to accurately estimate daily air pollution levels nationwide. The study is in The New England Journal of Medicine. (Bakalar, 6/28)

Los Angeles Times: Air Pollution Exposure May Hasten Death, Even At Levels Deemed 'Safe,' Study Says
The nationwide study of more than 60 million senior citizens linked long-term exposure to two main smog pollutants — ozone and fine particulate matter — to an increased risk of premature death. The analysis found no sign of a “safe” level of pollution, below which the risk of dying early tapered off. (Barboza, 6/28)

NPR: Air Pollution Still Kills Thousands In U.S. Every Year
"We are now providing bullet-proof evidence that we are breathing harmful air," says Francesca Dominici, a professor of biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who led the study. "Our air is contaminated." (Stein, 6/28)

Los Angeles Times: This Cutting-Edge Bandage Could Make Flu Shots A Thing Of The Past
Here’s an idea whose time has come: A flu shot that doesn’t require an actual shot. For the first time, researchers have tested a flu vaccine patch in a human clinical trial and found that it delivered as much protection as a traditional jab with a needle. (Kaplan, 6/28)