NPR: The Issue Of Medicare For All Is Dominating The 2020 Democratic Field
Several 2020 Democratic candidates support Medicare for All, but what would that proposal look like in action? (Kodjak, 4/11)

The Associated Press: Top Senate Dem Stops Short Of Embracing 'Medicare For All'
The Senate’s top Democrat stopped short of throwing his weight behind Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “Medicare for All” plan Thursday, calling it one of several proposals his party is advancing to strengthen health care. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., made the comments to reporters a day after Sanders, a Democratic presidential candidate, rolled out his latest version of the measure. The Vermont independent’s package is supported by many liberals and several other presidential contenders, but many moderates fear it’s an easy target for Republicans to characterize as socialist and a pathway to huge tax increases. Health care seems likely to be a major issue in next year’s presidential and congressional elections. (Fram, 4/11)

The Hill: Sanders Campaign To Trump: 'We Welcome This Fight' On 'Medicare For All' 
Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) campaign on Thursday hit back at President Trump, a day after the White House attacked Sanders’s “Medicare for all” bill. “This campaign's message to Trump is simple: we welcome this fight because we are going to defeat you in the election and guarantee health care as a right to all people,” Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir said in a statement. (Sullivan, 4/11)

The Associated Press: Sanders Starts Campaign Swing With Wisconsin Rally
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders returns to the friendly terrain of Wisconsin on Friday to kick off a swing through pivotal states that are part of the Democratic "blue wall" strategy for 2020. ... The Sanders campaign said his message on trade, unions, working families and health care resonates in Wisconsin and throughout the Midwest. Earlier this week, Sanders unveiled his latest "Medicare for All" proposal, an idea that has influenced Democratic state lawmakers in Wisconsin who are advocating for similar statewide health insurance coverage. (4/11)

The Washington Post: ‘We’ve Done A Lot More Than You Would Think’: How The Health-Insurance Industry Is Working To Pull Democrats Away From Medicare-For-All
At a company town hall meeting in late February, a UnitedHealthcare executive assured employees that the private health insurance giant was indeed working to undercut support for Democratic lawmakers’ push for Medicare-for-all. But the company, he said, is trying to tread lightly. “One of the things you said: ‘We’re really quiet’ or ‘It seems like we’re quiet.’ Um, we’ve done a lot more than you would think,” chief executive Steve Nelson said in response to an employee’s question about the company’s role in the Medicare-for-all debate, according to a video of his remarks obtained by The Washington Post. “You want to be kind of thoughtful about how you show up and have these kind of conversations, because the last thing you want to do is become the poster child during the presidential campaign." (Stein, 4/12)

The Washington Post: Far-Left Policies Will Drive A 2020 Defeat, Centrist Democrats Fear. So They’re Floating Alternatives.
After ceding the policy debate to the left for months, Democratic centrists have begun to fight back with new proposals and a stark warning: The latest wave of far-left ideas, though popular with many in the Democratic Party, could lead to electoral disaster in 2020. Environmentalists are drafting alternatives to the Green New Deal. Candidates who have endorsed Medicare-for-all are open to backing more incremental plans. And the economic strategist who helped steer the last two Democratic presidents is warning that liberal tax proposals could backfire. (Scherer and Viser, 4/11)

The Wall Street Journal: At Party Retreat, Pelosi Tries To Focus Democrats On ‘Kitchen Table’ Issues
House Democrats are hoping to use their retreat this week and the two-week recess that follows to refocus on policy topics that helped them win the chamber in 2018. ... In a letter sent to House Democrats Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee wrote about the importance of “fighting for kitchen table issues,” listing reducing health-care costs and raising wages among them. Health care was the signature issue in the 2018 midterm election. (Duehren, 4/11)

And on the topic of Obamacare -

The Hill: GOP Senator Issues Stark Warning To Republicans On Health Care
GOP Sen. Mike Braun (Ind.) has a stark warning for Republicans: Come up with a viable alternative to ObamaCare or face another rout in the 2020 election. Speaking with The Hill at his office in the Senate Russell Building, Braun described the GOP’s push to repeal ObamaCare without a plan of their own as one of the primary reasons for the Democratic wave election in 2018. (Easley, 4/12)

Des Moines Register: Chuck Grassley Says Supreme Court Unlikely To Strike Down Obamacare
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said Thursday he doubts a Republican lawsuit will succeed in getting the Affordable Care Act overturned. “I don’t believe the courts are going to strike it down,” the Iowa Republican said in a phone interview with the Des Moines Register. Grassley regained one of the most powerful health care perches in Congress this year when he resumed his role as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. (Leys, 4/11)

And, from the campaign trail -

Los Angeles Times: Kamala Harris And Other Democrats Point To Racial Gap In Care Of Pregnant Black Women
It was a harrowing brush with a baffling problem: the high risk of dying as an expectant mother in America, a danger that is especially acute for black women like [Tamara] King. The nation’s maternal health crisis has captured increasing attention in the media, in the medical community and in Congress. Now it has hit the 2020 presidential campaign, with multiple Democrats touting plans to expand healthcare access and address the racism that leads to disparate treatment of white and black patients. (Mason, 4/11)

Stat: Lawmakers Ask The Trump Administration To Investigate PBM Pricing 
As pharmacy benefit managers undergo increasing scrutiny, two lawmakers have asked the Health and Human Services inspector general to investigate so-called spread pricing practices by these pharmaceutical middlemen as part of a larger inquiry into rising drug costs. In an April 8 letter released on Wednesday night, the heads of the Senate Finance Committee pointed to instances where PBMs have purportedly used this practice to make millions of dollars in excess profits at the expense of state Medicaid programs. Spread pricing is a crucial but little-known part of the opaque pharmaceutical pricing system and refers to fees PBMs pay pharmacies and bill back to Medicaid. (Silverman, 4/11)

Stat: Many Employers Would Like To Drop Controversial Rebates On Drugs 
As Washington lawmakers struggle to find ways to lower drug costs, a new survey finds that a sizable proportion of employers support proposals to eliminate the rebates paid by drug makers to win favorable insurance coverage. Specifically, 42% of nearly 600 employers support eliminating rebates for both public and private payers, and another 5% were in favor of eliminating them only for government healthcare plans.  Just 17% opposed any change to the current rebating system, but 36% have no opinion or want more information, according to the survey conducted last month by the Mercer benefits consulting firm. (Silverman, 4/11)

CQ: Senators Look To Boost NIH Spending Despite Controversies
Senate Appropriations Committee leaders joined the House on Thursday in calling for another year of increases for the $39.3 billion National Institutes of Health budget, even as concerns persist about sexual harassment among NIH grantees and foreign government influence on researchers. Since the Trump administration proposed a roughly $5 billion decrease to the NIH in its fiscal 2020 budget plan, lawmakers have made clear that they won't accept a reduction, despite tight budgets and a broader dispute over how much nondefense discretionary spending can increase over the current fiscal year. (Siddons, 4/11)

In other news from the Hill -

The Hill: Dem Senator Presses FCC To Meet Deadline For Mental Health Hotline 
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should establish a three-digit hotline for suicide prevention and mental health crises “as soon as possible,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said Wednesday. Wyden cited statistics on suicides in Oregon released recently under the state’s “Breaking the Silence” reporting project, telling FCC Chairman Ajit Pai (R) that the Beaver State has seen rates above the national average for the past three decades and that more than 800 Oregonians take their own lives annually. (Budryk, 4/11)

Georgia Health News: Unforeseen Cancer, Unexpected Bills: A Georgian’s Ordeal
Late last year, during Open Enrollment for 2019 insurance plans, the online information for consumers showed WellStar Health System hospitals and doctors as part of Anthem’s Pathway health plan. But enrollees say they didn’t realize during the sign-up period that the Anthem-WellStar contract for that plan was scheduled to end in February. That contract termination – and the ensuing furor over patients having to switch doctors and hospitals — led to recent litigation against Anthem, based in Indianapolis. (Miller, 4/11)

Lexington Herald Leader: False Ambulance Billing In Kentucky County Topped $500,000
Lee County will pay $253,930 to the federal government to resolve allegations that its ambulance service submitted false bills for transporting patients on medically unnecessary runs, according to the federal prosecutor for the eastern half of Kentucky. With that agreement and others, the government will recoup a total of $515,000 in connection with allegations that the ambulance service submitted false bills to Medicare and Medicaid, U.S. Attorney Robert M. Duncan Jr. said in a news release. (Estep, 4/11)

Reveal: How Tesla And Its Doctor Made Sure Injured Employees Didn’t Get Workers’ Comp
Inside a medical clinic not far from Tesla’s electric car factory, Yvette Bonnet started noting a troubling pattern. The automaker’s workers’ compensation manager would pressure her boss, Dr. Basil Besh, to make sure Tesla wasn’t on the hook for certain injured workers. ... interviews with former clinic employees and internal clinic communications show how Tesla and Besh coordinated behind the scenes in an arrangement that financially benefited both the carmaker and the doctor, to the detriment of the injured. (Evans, 4/11)

The New York Times: Opioid Sales Reps Swarmed New York At Height Of Crisis
Purdue Pharma’s sales force swept through New York State, visiting doctors and pharmacies nearly half a million times between 2006 and 2017 to promote OxyContin and other opioid painkillers. That is roughly 160 sales stops in the state each weekday during the height of the nation’s addiction crisis. The company’s flood-the-zone sales strategy was among the new disclosures contained in court papers filed on Thursday by Attorney General Letitia James of New York as part of the office’s lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, distributors and eight members of the Sackler family, who control Purdue. (Rashbaum, Rabin and Hakim, 4/11)

The Associated Press: Oklahoma Judge, Not Jury, To Decide Case Against Drugmakers
An Oklahoma judge has ruled that he, not a jury, will decide the state's case against several drug manufacturers for their alleged role in the nation's deadly opioid crisis. The attorney general's office says Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman made the decision at Thursday's hearing that a jury won't hear the case. At least one of the defendants, Johnson & Johnson, had sought a jury trial. (4/11)

Politico Pro: Justice Department Clarifies Grant Language To Endorse Use Of Addiction Medication
The Justice Department on Thursday retreated from guidelines that allowed federal funding to go to drug courts that prohibit the use of addiction medication. A Bureau of Justice Assistance grant announcement earlier this year rolled back an Obama administration policy that cut off funding to those courts that denied entry to people on medication assisted treatment. (Ehley, 4/11)

And in other news —

The Associated Press: Herbal Supplement Kratom Is Tied To More US Deaths
U.S. health officials say overdose deaths involving the herbal supplement kratom are more common than previously reported. A government report released Thursday said kratom was a cause in 91 overdose deaths in 27 states. Officials previously said they knew of 44 nationally. Most who died had also taken heroin, fentanyl or other drugs. But kratom was the only substance detected in seven of the deaths. (Stobbe, 4/11)

USA Today: Kratom, Herbal Drug, Linked To More Overdose Deaths, CDC Says
Kratom – a plant grown naturally in Southeast Asia and often sold in powder capsules – was a cause of death in 91 overdoses in the United States from July 2016 to December 2017, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In seven of the overdoses, kratom was the only substance to test positive in a toxicology report, though the CDC says other substances couldn't be ruled out. (Miller, 4/11)

NPR: How The Trump Administration's Transgender Troop Ban Is Affecting One Military Family
Lt. Col. Bree "B" Fram left a doctor's office on April 2. Presenting that day as Bryan, the name given to them at birth, B should have been relieved. "Overall, it's a good thing," said B. "It just didn't feel great to have to do it on someone else's timeline other than my own." "It" was an official diagnosis of gender dysphoria. As a transgender member of the military, B had to secure the diagnosis by April 12 in order to continue serving openly. That's when the Trump administration's new policy on transgender military service takes effect. It effectively bans transgender people from joining the military. The more than 14,000 already serving will be allowed to do so openly, so long as they have that formal diagnosis of gender dysphoria filed by the deadline. If not, they must serve under the gender assigned them at birth - or leave the armed forces. (Hodges and Chang, 4/11)

The Associated Press: Medical Association Blasts Military's Transgender Policy
A Trump administration regulation set to go into effect Friday bars transgender people from the military unless they “correct those deficiencies,” a description the American Medical Association said Thursday is unfair and defies science. The AMA told The Associated Press on Thursday the policy and its wording mischaracterizes transgender people as having a “deficiency.” It said it also objects to the Defense Department classifying the need to transition to another gender among “administratively disqualifying conditions” that include those the Pentagon has labeled as “congenital or developmental defects.” (Watson and Crary, 4/11)

San Francisco Chronicle: Nurses Authorize Strike At Stanford, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
The union representing 3,700 registered nurses at Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital has voted to authorize a strike, union leaders said Thursday. The union, the Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement (CRONA) on Wednesday voted 85% in favor of moving forward with a potential strike, which would affect more than a dozen outpatient centers across the Bay Area in addition to Stanford Hospital (part of Stanford Health Care) and Lucile Packard hospital. (Ho, 4/11)

KQED: Nurses At Stanford And Lucile Packard Hospitals Vote Overwhelmingly To Authorize Strike
The vote has prompted officials at the hospitals, which are both managed by Stanford Health Care, to prepare for a walkout. ... The nurses' contract with the hospitals expired on March 31. Talks for a new deal began in late January. A federal mediator is getting involved in the ongoing talks next week. At issue are wages, retiree medical benefits and working conditions for the union's 3,700 members.(Goldberg, 4/11)

Modern Healthcare: Stanford Health Care Nurses Union Authorizes Strike Call
In a statement, Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children's Health said it remains committed to good-faith bargaining. The statement said the health system has proposed a "highly competitive compensation package" with "market-leading wages." The statement went on to say that the nurse turnover rate at Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children's Health was 9.8% and 8.4%, respectively, in 2018, compared with a national average of 15.1% and a regional average of 12.3%, according to data from the consultancy Advisory Board. Stanford also said it recruits nurses faster than Advisory Board's national benchmark. (Bannow, 4/11)

And at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai —

Modern Healthcare: Mount Sinai Medical School To Cap Debt At $75K For Students With Financial Need
The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai will begin capping debt at $75,000 for students with a demonstrated financial need during the next academic year, making it the latest institution to address the massive debt burden that often accompanies medical education. Students who qualify will take out no more than $18,750 per year in loans to cover costs such as tuition, housing, food and books. (LaMantia, 4/11)

The Washington Post: How Does Measles Spread? Do I Need Another MMR Vaccine Shot? How Dangerous Is Measles? FAQ On The Outbreaks.
The United States is experiencing its second-highest number of measles cases in nearly two decades. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the diagnosed cases have climbed to 465. At least 19 states have reported cases of the highly contagious virus. New York City officials have ordered mandatory measles vaccinations to halt an outbreak. The outbreaks are linked to people who traveled from countries such as Israel, Ukraine and the Philippines, where large measles outbreaks are occurring. The disease is spreading in U.S. communities that have relatively high numbers of people who have not been vaccinated against measles. Here are some answers to commonly asked questions about measles, which can cause serious complications among all age groups, especially young children, adults with weakened immune systems, and the very elderly. (Sun, 4/11)

The New York Times: Measles Outbreak: Tensions Rise As New York City Steps Up Response
Vaccine skeptics were planning a lawsuit against New York City. A Hasidic woman was heckled when she boarded a public bus. Family members were avoiding weddings for fear of encountering unvaccinated relatives. When Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday an emergency health order requiring measles vaccinations, he said the step was necessary to curtail the large measles outbreak in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. But as health officials plunged into Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood to enforce the mandate, tensions only escalated. (Pager, 4/11)

The Washington Post: New York City Vaccination Order Shines Spotlight On Insular Jewish Community
Even among New York’s Hasidic Jews, members of the ultra-Orthodox Satmar sect are known for their strict religious and cultural traditions. They speak mainly Yiddish. They shun the secular world. They are skeptical, if not suspicious, of anyone from outside their insular community in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood. Now the refusal of some parents to vaccinate their children — a decision not based on any religious proscription — and a resulting measles outbreak have brought public health authorities to their doorsteps in a collision of cultures that could turn messy. (Bernstein, Sun and Paluch, 4/11)

The Hill: De Blasio Defends Vaccination Mandate From Planned Legal Challenge 
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) vowed Thursday that the city would defeat a lawsuit challenging his order for members of a Brooklyn neighborhood experiencing a measles outbreak to get vaccinated or pay a $1,000 fine. In an interview with WCBS news radio, the mayor blamed the lawsuit on efforts by anti-vaccination activists to mislead people about the supposed dangers of inoculation. (Bowden, 4/11)

Detroit Free Press: Doctors: As Michigan Measles Outbreak Grows, Check Vaccination Status
Check yourself, public health officials say, as the number of cases in a Michigan measles outbreak climbed Friday by five more people to 39 cases — the largest statewide outbreak since 1991. Even if you think you've been vaccinated for the measles, ask your doctor to check your immunization record to be sure. If you have proof you received two doses of the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine (MMR), you should still ask to have the antibodies in your blood checked, especially if you've been to one of the growing number of exposure sites in Michigan. (Shamus, 4/11)

Columbus Dispatch: Health Officials Hope To Prevent Measles Outbreaks In Ohio Through Frank Conversations, Education
According to the CDC, the percentage of Ohio toddlers who have received the recommended doses of vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella has declined in recent years. National Immunization Survey data showed 95.6 percent of 19- to 35-month-old Ohio children had the vaccine in 2014. But by 2017, the percentage had dropped to 88.3 percent.Public-health experts say measles is highly contagious and demands a coverage rate of at least 90 to 95 percent for “herd immunity,” the term for broad resistance among the general public. (Price, 4/12)

NH Times Union: One Measles Case Reported In NH Amid Rise In U.S. Outbreaks 
While there has been one diagnosis of measles reported in New Hampshire this year, there have been more than 465 cases throughout the country in 2019 — already surpassing the total number of outbreaks from all of 2018. ...According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 19 states have reported cases of measles this year, including New Hampshire. About 465 cases were reported though April 4 compared to the total number of measles cases reported in 2018 at 372. (Houghton, 4/11)

The Washington Post: Measles Outbreak Has Not Spread To D.C. Area So Far, Officials Say
A case of measles confirmed in Maryland last week appears not to have spread into the greater Washington area, officials said Thursday, but government health agencies are preparing and watching for any additional signs of the highly infectious disease. From Jan. 1 to April 4, 465 measles cases were confirmed in 19 U.S. states, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. One of those was a child in Pikes­ville, Md., northwest of Baltimore. (Sullivan, 4/11)

Regarding efforts to contain other worrisome outbreaks -

Kaiser Health News: How To Fight ‘Scary’ Superbugs? Cooperation — And A Special Soap
Hospitals and nursing homes in California and Illinois are testing a surprisingly simple strategy against the dangerous, antibiotic-resistant superbugs that kill thousands of people each year: washing patients with a special soap. The efforts — funded with roughly $8 million from the federal government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — are taking place at 50 facilities in those two states. (Gorman, 4/12)

The New York Times: Living Near A Major Highway Tied To Developmental Delays In Children
Living near a major highway may be associated with developmental delays in children. Researchers studied 5,825 children living in New York state outside of New York City. Parents periodically filled out a well-validated questionnaire that tracks developmental milestones in children from age 8 months to 3 years. Milestones encompassed physical, verbal and social domains. (Bakalar, 4/11)

The Wall Street Journal: One Teenager Killed Himself. Six More Followed. 
The country’s rising suicide rate, part of an increase in what has been dubbed “deaths of despair,” is hitting the youngest Americans hard. The overall suicide rate rose 26% between 2007 and 2017, the most recent year for government data, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For children ages 10 to 17, over the same period, the rate more than doubled. The most painful and perplexing cases sometimes happen in the same town, at the same school, on the same block. (Lovett, 4/12)

Kansas City Star: How Many Missourians Want Medical Marijuana? No One’s Sure, And That’s A Problem
The state of Missouri needs to know how many patients will be asking for legal medical marijuana in the next few years, but first officials must decide which estimate to believe. Advocates who spearheaded November’s successful ballot measure legalizing the drug have put the number at about 200,000 users. (Marso, 4/12)

Austin American-Statesman: Advocates: Texans Need Wider Access To Medical Marijuana
Dozens of patients and cannabis proponents turned out for hearings held by a state House subcommittee over bills that could help reverse that trend -- by expanding the Texas medical marijuana law, called the Compassionate Use Act, to make more people eligible and, in some cases, boost the potency of the cannabis products allowed to be sold under it.House Bill 1365, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Eddie Lucio III of Brownsville, is among the most comprehensive because it would lift the cap on the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol -- or THC, the euphoria-inducing component of marijuana -- that the products are allowed to contain and also substantially increase the number of patients who can use them. (Sechler, 4/11)

The Associated Press: Senator: Marijuana Is 'The Elephant In The Room' As Lawmakers Work To Restrict Initiatives Process
When Idaho senators debated a bill that would make it harder to qualify a voter initiative or referendum for the ballot, one senator pointed to “the elephant in the room”: marijuana. “I’m not as fearful of things that may be coming in the future as others are — certainly a big concern has been marijuana,” said Sen. Jim Guthrie, R-Inkom. “Certainly the speculation has been that’s part of the reason.” (Cardon, 4/11)

In other news, The Wall Street Journal offers this report on e-cigarettes —

The Wall Street Journal: Rite Aid To Stop Sale Of E-Cigarettes
Rite Aid Corp. is halting the sale of e-cigarettes in its drugstores, even as it continues to sell traditional cigarettes, taking a different stance on tobacco products than its two main pharmacy rivals. The company will remove all e-cigarette and vaping products, including startup Juul Labs Inc.’s popular nicotine-packed vaporizers, over the next 90 days, Bryan Everett, Rite Aid operating chief, said on a conference call Thursday. Executives said the change was in response to use of the products by children and teens. (Thomas, 4/11)

The New York Times: Scott Kelly Spent A Year In Orbit. His Body Is Not Quite The Same.
For 340 days, Scott Kelly circled the Earth aboard the International Space Station, gathering data about himself. He drew blood from his arms. He saved his urine. He played computer games to test his memory and reaction speed. He measured the shape of his eyes. Two hundred and forty miles below, Mr. Kelly’s twin brother, Mark, who also served as an astronaut, carried out identical tests. Now, a comparison of these two men has provided a unique opportunity to learn what happens to the human body in space — down to the molecular level. (Zimmer, 4/11)

The Washington Post: NASA Kelly Twin Astronauts Study Shows Health Risks Of Space Travel
The researchers, echoing what NASA has suggested previously, said the twins study turned up no showstoppers — no shocking health consequences that would surely prevent a human mission to Mars or similar long-duration mission. But the report shows anew that the human body is adapted for life on the surface of Earth and goes haywire in zero gravity. One of the most dramatic findings concerned epigenetics — how genes are turned on or off to produce proteins. (Contrary to some breathless headlines, Scott Kelly didn’t undergo a space-induced change in his genetic code.) Gene expression changed in both Kellys during the study but in significantly different ways. The study found that more than 90 percent of Scott Kelly’s gene expression changes reverted to normal when he returned to the surface. (Achenbach, 4/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Astronauts Can Withstand Longer Space Trips, New Study Of Twins Finds
Astronauts may be better able to withstand long missions to the Moon and even Mars than previously realized, lifting what had loomed as a barrier to space exploration, a unique study of twin astronauts revealed. The longer people stay in space the more their vital signs change in small but significant ways, but there aren’t long-term health consequences, the study found. (Hotz, 4/11)

Health News Florida: Lawmakers Weigh Medicaid Work Requirements
Florida lawmakers are considering requiring an estimated 500,000 Medicaid beneficiaries to work or show they are trying to get jobs to keep their health-care benefits, despite recent court rulings that have struck down similar requirements. Members of a House health care panel this week approved the proposal (HB 955), which is now ready to go to the full House. (Rodriguez, 4/11)

Montana Public Radio: Medicaid Expansion Bill Fails In Montana Senate
The bill to reauthorize Medicaid expansion in Montana failed to pass today when the state Senate locked in a 25-25 tie. Republican co-sponsors of the policy are withholding their support in a play for leverage over other political goals, including the passage of a controversial bill aimed at keeping the coal-fired power plant in Colstrip running. (Cates-Carney, 4/11)

[Helena, Mont.] Independent Record: Montana Senate Stalls Medicaid Expansion On Tie Vote
On a tie 25-25 vote, the Senate did not advance House Bill 658, which would extend Medicaid expansion with the addition of work requirements. Because the Senate did not move to indefinitely postpone the bill, it can be placed back on the agenda for another vote. That is expected to happen Friday or Saturday. (Michels, 4/11)

North Carolina Health News: N.C.’s Path To Medicaid Managed Care Gets Complicated 
The ambitious plan – to pay managed care companies $30 billion over five years to handle the health-care needs of 1.6 million low-income North Carolinians – is expected to go live in November for 27 counties  in the state’s Piedmont and Research Triangle regions. But four of the eight managed care groups that bid for the Medicaid managed care contracts have filed protests with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. Three of those groups – Aetna Better Health, Optima Family Care and My Health by Health Providers – were rejected while the fourth, the N.C. Medical Society-affiliated Carolina Complete Health, received a nod to take on Medicaid patients in just two of six regions in the state. (Ovaska-Few, 4/12)

Des Moines Register: Iowa House Votes To Give $150 Million More To Medicaid Management Companies
Lawmakers in the Iowa House voted Thursday to give an additional $150 million to the companies managing Iowa's privatized Medicaid program, fulfilling contract terms negotiated last year. Last August, state officials agreed to give 7.5 percent more state money to the companies managing Iowa's privatized Medicaid program. The money approved Thursday covers the cost of those increases, as well as additional enrollment in the program, which covers about 680,000 poor or disabled Iowans. (Gruber-Miller, 4/11)

Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee House Passes Controversial TennCare Block Grant Plan
The Tennessee House of Representatives has voted in favor a controversial plan to radically restructure the financing of the state's TennCare program. The GOP-backed plan to seek a "block grant" for TennCare passed by a vote of 68-21 Thursday, but the measure's ultimate fate remains uncertain. Although Gov. Bill Lee has signaled his support, the bill has lagged in the state's senate. A Senate committee will take up the measure next week. (Wadhwani, 4/11)

The Associated Press: Tennessee House Advances Bill Seeking To Overhaul Medicaid
Tennessee would dramatically overhaul how it provides health care to its lower-income and disabled residents under a proposal the House advanced Thursday. The bill cleared the GOP-dominated chamber on party lines, with 68 Republicans in favor and 21 Democrats against. It’s a proposal considered one of the top policy debates of the sessions, yet many in the minority party were visibly upset after being cut off from the debate and forced to cast a vote before all members had a chance to speak. (Kruesi, 4/11)

Modern Healthcare: Medicaid Panel Says Give States More Power Over Drug Prices
A Medicaid advisory panel wants Congress to remove a cap on rebates paid for drugs under the program and create a grace period for states to restrict coverage of a drug for 180 days to determine whether it is effective. The Medicaid and CHIP Payment Advisory Commission adopted both policies unanimously during its Thursday meeting in Washington. (King, 4/11)

Modern Healthcare: Medicaid Panel Wants To Change DSH Payments Calculations
A Medicaid advisory panel doesn't want to count third-party costs and payments in the calculation of the Medicaid shortfall for disproportionate-share hospitals, a move that could increase DSH payments to hospitals that serve a high share of Medicaid-only patients. Medicaid and CHIP Payment Advisory Commission members cast 15 votes in favor with one abstention to approve a recommendation to Congress to change the definition of a Medicaid shortfall, or the difference between the cost for providing care to Medicaid patients and the payments for the services. Hospitals have challenged the shortfall's calculation in court. (King, 4/11)

The Associated Press: Ohio Governor Signs Ban On Abortion After 1st Heartbeat
A bill imposing one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the nation was signed into law in Ohio on Thursday, banning abortions after a detectable heartbeat in a long-sought victory for abortion opponents that drew an immediate constitutional challenge. In signing the heartbeat bill, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine broke with his predecessor, Republican John Kasich, who had vetoed the measure twice on grounds that it was unconstitutional. (4/12)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine Signs 'Heartbeat' Abortion Bill
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed one of the nation's most restrictive abortion bans into law Thursday afternoon and opponents have already pledged to take him to court. DeWine, a Republican, said government’s role should be to protect life from beginning to end. (Balmert and Borchardt, 4/11)

The Hill: Ohio Governor Signs 'Heartbeat' Abortion Bill 
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) on Thursday signed into law one of the country's most stringent abortion laws, with opponents vowing to file legal challenges. The bill bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which doctors say can be as early as five or six weeks into pregnancy. “The government’s role should be protect life from the beginning to the end … the signing of this bill today is consistent with that respect for life,” DeWine said at the signing ceremony. (Rodrigo, 4/11)

NPR: Ohio's 6-Week Abortion Ban Becomes Law; Opponents Will Sue
Now known as the "Human Rights Protection Act," SB 23 outlaws abortions as early as five or six weeks into a pregnancy, before many women know they're pregnant. It is one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country. The bill does include an exception to save the life of the woman, but no exceptions for cases of rape or incest. (Rosenberg, 4/11)

Reuters: More U.S. States Push Ahead With Near-Bans On Abortion For Supreme Court Challenge
Activists on both sides of the issue say such laws, which are commonly blocked by court injunctions, are aimed at getting a case sent to the U.S. Supreme Court, where conservatives hold a 5-4 majority, to challenge Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion. (4/11)

Health News Florida: Florida Fetal Heartbeat Bill Divides Women, Providers, And Pregnancy Centers In The State
If a fetal heartbeat bill-introduced by Republican Senator Dennis Baxley and Republican Representative Mike Hill becomes law, it would take away one of these options. Once a heartbeat is detected the woman would have to carry a pregnancy to term unless it threatens her life or she’s the victim of rape or incest. (Prieur, 4/11)

The Associated Press: Police Again Step In As Texas Lawmaker Halts Abortion Bill
A Texas sheriff’s department said Thursday it had “security concerns” over social media posts targeting a Republican lawmaker, who has come under fire by some conservative activists after blocking a bill that could lead to a woman being charged with homicide if she has an abortion. It marks the second time this month that Texas law enforcement has taken protective measures involving Republican lawmakers, who in both cases have been blamed by frustrated groups for torpedoing divisive measures, first over guns and now abortion. (Silber, 4/11)

North Carolina Health News: 'Abortion Survivors' Bill Gets Emotional Hearing At NCGA 
Lawmakers at the General Assembly started moving a bill this week that would punish doctors who don’t attempt to resuscitate and provide care for a fetus that might be born alive during an abortion attempt. The move comes a scant two weeks after a U.S. district court judge struck down North Carolina’s ban on abortion after 20 weeks’ gestation. It also comes amid an emotionally charged national debate on the treatment of babies born with severe, life-ending anomalies. (Hoban. 4/11)

Arizona Republic: Planned Parenthood Sues Arizona Over Abortion Restrictions
Planned Parenthood of Arizona has filed a sweeping lawsuit against the state seeking to overturn laws that it argues are designed block women's access to a legal medical procedure. The lawsuit targets so-called"TRAP laws" — or Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers — that reproductive-rights groups say make it difficult or impossible for women to access abortion, especially those who live the state's vast rural areas. (Gardiner, 4/11)

The Associated Press: Planned Parenthood Sues Over Arizona Abortion Laws
Abortion rights groups filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging Arizona laws they say unnecessarily restrict access to the procedures and leave most rural areas without clinics. The legal action by Planned Parenthood Arizona targets laws that prohibit anyone other than a physician from performing abortions; require patients to visit clinics twice over a 24-hour period for counseling; and bar the use of telemedicine in providing abortion services. (Billeaud, 4/11)

Tampa Bay Times: Florida House Approves Drug Imports From Canada
As lawmakers seek to reach agreement on key policy issues in the final three weeks of the legislative session, the Florida House passed several healthcare bills Thursday, including measures that would allow importing prescription drugs from Canada with federal approval and encouraging patients to shop for cheaper healthcare to reduce their insurance premiums. The measures, endorsed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, are among a string of healthcare priorities championed by Speaker José Oliva, who has made deregulation in the area a key focus of his legislative agenda. (Koh, 4/11)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Legislature Passes Laws To Make Health Insurance Enrollment Easier And Create Drug Price Board 
Health coverage will be easier to secure for uninsured Marylanders and prescriptions could become cheaper for government workers under legislation passed by the General Assembly, which took up a slate of related measures before adjourning for the year. One law would require the uninsured to check a box on their state tax returns to say whether they’re interested getting health coverage through the state. The other would establish a board to study the controversial idea of capping prescription costs for state and municipal employees. (Cohn and Wood, 4/11)

The Associated Press: Arizona Governor Signs Repeal Of HIV/AIDS Instruction Law
Arizona's Republican governor quickly signed a bill Thursday repealing a 1991 state law that had barred HIV and AIDS instruction that "promotes a homosexual lifestyle." The move was intended to end a discrimination lawsuit filed by LGBTQ groups. Gov. Doug Ducey's signature came less than an hour after the state Senate approved the repeal. One of the 10 Republicans who opposed the measure said she opposed sex education. Another noted that gay men are most at risk from the HIV virus. (Christie, 4/11)

Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Lawmakers Create Caucus To Focus On Black Maternal Health
The first ever Black Maternal Health Caucus is being created in the legislature to focus on improving Ohio’s wide disparity between white and black women who die within weeks of childbirth. (Siegel, 4/11)

Dallas Morning News: Fertility Fraud Is Real. The Texas Senate Approved A Bill To Make It A Crime
Texas would make fertility fraud a new category of sexual assault under a bill that won unanimous approval from the Senate Thursday. Championed by a Preston Hollow woman, the measure would make it a crime for a health care provider to implant human sperm, eggs or embryos from an unauthorized donor. (Garrett, 4/11)

Health News Florida: Telehealth Tax Credits Draw Criticism
Some Democratic lawmakers Wednesday assailed a proposal to boost the use of telehealth as a giveaway to insurance companies, suggesting that the legislation violates oft-repeated pledges of House Republicans that they don’t want to pick “winners and losers” in the economy. The GOP-controlled House is primed Thursday to pass the bill (HB 23), which is part of House Speaker Jose Oliva’s ambitious plans to overhaul the health-care system. (Sexton, 4/11)

Texas Tribune: Texas Senate Teacher Pay Raise Won’t Help Cover Health Benefits Gap
Senate Bill 3, from state Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, would give a raise to full-time classroom teachers and librarians over the next two years, at a total of $4 billion.But that relief could only go so far. For public school teachers like Amason, a $5,000 pay raise doesn’t address a deeper, systemic issue with health care in Texas: the burden placed on teachers rather than the state and district. (Milburn, 4/12)

New Hampshire Public Radio: N.H. Poised To Abolish Death Penalty After Senate Vote
The New Hampshire Senate has voted 17 to 6 to pass a bill to repeal the death penalty. The vote Thursday follows the House voting 279 to 88 -- also reaching a veto-proof majority -- in support of abolishing capital murder. (Rogers, 4/11)

The Star Tribune: Report Highlights Abuses, Deaths In State's Assisted-Living Facilities 
At an assisted-living facility in Burnsville, an elderly resident was discovered dead in a pond after wandering away unsupervised. A resident of another facility died from a painful and untreated hernia after repeatedly crying out for help. At other facilities, residents fell in their rooms and were left on the floor for hours, unnoticed. Those are some of the alarming cases cited in a 30-page report on Minnesota's assisted-living industry released at the State Capitol Tuesday by a coalition of consumer advocacy groups in support of legislation to improve safeguards for vulnerable adults. The report, compiled from state records, uncovered alarming conditions at some senior homes and numerous incidents of preventable deaths. (Serres, 4/11)

Modern Healthcare: DMC Harper Hospital Cleared By Medicare For Quality Problems
DMC Harper University Hospital [in Detroit] no longer faces loss of millions of dollars of Medicare funding after it passed an infection-control inspection on April 3. The for-profit hospital had faced the possibility of losing participation in the federally funded insurance program by April 15, according to the CMS. "The revisit survey revealed that your hospital is now in compliance with the Conditions of Participation," the CMS said in an April 10 letter to DMC. "Therefore, we are rescinding our decision to terminate your participation in the Medicare program." (Greene, 4/11)

Modern Healthcare: Former MetroHealth COO Sentenced To 15 Years In Kickback Case
The former COO of Cleveland-based MetroHealth Hospital System has been sentenced to more than 15 years in federal prison for his role in a conspiracy to defraud the hospital through bribes and kickbacks totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, the Justice Department announced Thursday. Edward R. Hills had served as chief operating officer of the system and director of MetroHealth Dental from 2010 to 2014. He also served as interim president and CEO from December 2012 through July 2013. (4/11)

The Washington Post: Life-Term Inmates Get Chance At Parole, But First They Need To Get Off The Long Waiting List For The One Doctor Who Can Help. 
Fransharon Jackson waited years for someone to hear her story, to know she was truly sorry, and after two decades in prison, smarter and stronger than she’d been the night when drugs and desperation set her on a destructive path. Her second chance and the possibility of freedom from her life sentence came last year. Parole officials cleared Jackson for a psychological exam — a critical step before a recommendation to Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) for early release. But after 15 months, she still is waiting for an appointment. There is one doctor in Maryland’s prison system to conduct the required exam, and as of early April, 85 inmates were on the waiting list. (Marimow, 4/11)

Miami Herald: Florida Has More Hepatitis A Cases This Year Than 2014-2017 Combined. Here’s An Update
Numbers starkly tell how, as in the rest of the nation, Hepatitis A is spreading across Florida like humidity. Those same numbers also say the liver disease’s blob of infection expanding from Central Florida has touched, but not covered, South Florida — yet. (Neal, 4/11)

The Associated Press: Lawsuit: Georgia Jail Conditions Bad For Mentally Ill Women
Prolonged solitary confinement and harrowing conditions at a Georgia jail result in a substantial risk of serious psychological harm for mentally ill women held there, a federal lawsuit says. Urine and toilet water pool on the floor of cells and meals of moldy sandwich meat are not uncommon at the South Fulton Municipal Regional Jail in Union City, the lawsuit filed Wednesday says. Lawyers have observed women in psychological distress lying on the floor, their bodies and the walls of their cells smeared with feces or food. (Brumback, 4/11)

Boston Globe: Report Highlights Homeslessness, Bullying LGBTQ Youths
The number of Massachusetts high school students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or are questioning their gender identity or sexuality is at more than 15 percent, according to a new state report. The data come from the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth, an independent state agency, in its annual report and recommendations on improving the lives of those young people. (Hom, 4/12)

MPR: Minnesota Records First Pediatric Flu Death This Season
State health officials said Thursday one child has died from the flu in Minnesota. It was the first pediatric flu death reported in the state this season. Officials haven't released information on the age of the child or the region of the state where the flu-related death occurred. (Moini, 4/11)

New Jersey Record/USA Today: Autism: New Jersey Preschoolers Have Highest Rates In US
New Jersey preschoolers have the highest rates of autism ever measured in the United States, a rate that has increased faster than in other states studied, researchers at Rutgers University reported Thursday. The rate of autism among children in the state has tripled in a generation. (Washburn, 4/12)

San Francisco Chronicle: Four Women Now Allege Pregnancy Discrimination At AC Transit
Three more women have joined a lawsuit against AC Transit alleging the public agency discriminated against female bus drivers during and after their pregnancies. In an amended complaint filed Monday in Alameda County Superior Court, Jada Edward, Javonne Knight and Christy Pullum joined Nikki McNaulty in claiming they were exposed them to carbon monoxide fumes, weren’t given adequate lactation accommodations and were forced to drive uncomfortably engorged. Without any modified work arrangements, the women said, they suffered stress and physical exhaustion and took unplanned, unpaid leaves of absence that sometimes left them without health coverage. (McBride, 4/11)

The New York Times: ‘Extreme Pollen’ Blankets North Carolina In A Sneeze-Inducing Yellow Haze
Spring can feel like the end of the world for allergy sufferers, but in North Carolina this week, it looked that way, too. And it has a name to match: “Pollenpocalypse.” Massive clouds of sneeze-inducing pollen overtook North Carolina this week, tinting the skies yellow and covering cars, streets and ponds in a fine powder that left footprints on the carpets of unsuspecting residents and made allergy sufferers want to hibernate in a panic room until summer. (Levin, 4/11)

Kaiser Health News: Heavy Rains, End Of Drought Could Help Keep West Nile Virus Subdued — For Now
The end of California’s drought, announced last month amid one of the rainiest winters in memory, could offer a surprising benefit: reduced transmission of the mosquito-borne West Nile virus. Longer term, however, more severe droughts associated with climate change could contribute to an increase in the number of infections in the state and nationally. (Rowan, 4/12)

The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore Is One Of The Most Sleep-Deprived U.S. Cities, Study Finds 
Charm City was identified as the second-most sleep-deprived large city in the U.S., according to a new study from the insurance agency HavenLife. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests adults get at least seven hours of sleep per night. But more than a third of the nation’s population gets less than that recommended amount — a factor that can lead to poor physical and mental health. (Meehan, 4/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Would Patients Be Able To Escape BernieCare?
On Wednesday Sen. Bernie Sanders (Socialist, Vt.) rolled out this year’s version of his draft legislation to abolish traditional Medicare. He calls it “Medicare for All” because polls tell him that voters don’t want to abolish traditional Medicare. Voters also don’t want him to destroy the U.S. system of private medical insurance, but his plan would do that, too. A key question raised by the new bill is whether patients, doctors and nurses would be able to escape the new government-run system when it fails to provide needed care—as such systems always do. (James Freeman, 4/11)

The Washington Post: Democrats Should Listen To Pelosi On Health Care
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) rolled out his health-care plan — a soup-to-nuts single-payer plan that would effectively end private insurance. He operates in a weird space in which his socialism is taken as a given and he is never really grilled by the press on how he’d accomplish it (he is also against ending the filibuster) and how he’d pay for it. No slouch when it comes to progressive policy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has made clear the dangers of embracing Medicare-for-all, publicly questioning how we would pay for it. She told The Post in a recent interview, “When most people say they’re for Medicare-for-all, I think they mean health care for all. Let’s see what that means. A lot of people love having their employer-based insurance and the Affordable Care Act gave them better benefits.” (Jennifer Rubin, 4/11)

Los Angeles Times: The False Promise The PROTECT Act Makes On Preexisting Conditions 
The PROTECT Act, the health insurance reform bill unveiled this week by 18 Senate Republicans, is aptly named, albeit not for the reason its sponsors suggest. The bill pretends to be about safeguarding Americans with preexisting health conditions. But it’s really about protecting Senate Republicans from the stink caused by the Trump administration’s efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. (4/12)

Boston Globe: Trump’s Impossible Health Care Dream 
President Trump wants the GOP to become the party of health care — read: to try again to replace the Affordable Care Act with a Republican scheme — but his usually compliant enablers in Congress have no interest in that. At least not now.Why? Well, for starters, some learned from the shellacking they took in the 2018 midterms. But other congressional Republicans probably also comprehend a reality the president chooses to ignore. That is, despite Trump’s repeated promises to provide health care that covered everyone and was “far less expensive and far better” than Obamacare, the chances of that are next to nil. (Scott Lehigh, 4/11)

USA Today: Don't Wait For Medicare For All, Start Fixing Health Care Together Now
What do Medicare for All, the Green New Deal and a 70% marginal tax rate all have in common? They’re dramatic shifts in public policy and none of them are remotely possible, at least right now. That doesn’t mean they’re bad ideas. Quite the contrary: there are strong arguments to make for each of these proposals. Health coverage for all, reducing pollution and increasing taxes on the very wealthy represent basic ideas (ignore the current labels) that are attractive to many Americans. The problem is that it may be decade or more before any of them have a chance of being politically viable. (Arthur “Tim” Garson Jr., 4/12)

The New York Times: Purity Vs. Pragmatism, Environment Vs. Health
Right now there are two big progressive ideas out there: the Green New Deal on climate change and “Medicare for all” on health reform. Both would move U.S. policy significantly to the left. Each is sponsored by a self-proclaimed socialist: the Green New Deal by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Medicare for all by Bernie Sanders. (Of course, neither of them is a socialist in the traditional sense.) Both ideas horrify not just conservatives but also many self-proclaimed centrists. Yet while they may seem similar if you think of everything as left versus right, they’re very different on another dimension, which you might call purity versus pragmatism. And that difference is why I believe progressives should enthusiastically embrace the G.N.D. while being much more cautious about M4A. (Paul Krugman, 4/11)

Richmond Times-Dispatch: A Window For Obamacare
Medicare for All excites the Democratic base, but if Democrats want more than a campaign talking point, they’ll need to work deliberately and collaboratively and study the intended — and unintended — consequences of universal health coverage. Now is the time to shore up Obamacare. (Marsha Mercer, 4/11)

The Washington Post: The Perils Of Value-Based Pricing For Prescription Drugs
As pharmaceutical companies emerge from congressional hearings unscathed, pointing to exciting new medicines and the high cost of research and development (R&D), the question remains: How will society pay for the escalating costs of prescription medicine? While the lifesaving implications of many medications are remarkable, the costs are equally breathtaking. In February, for example, Medicare released a proposal to cover the expensive CAR-T cancer drug. These treatments can run as high as $1.5 million per treatment.To address paying these high costs, drug companies have proposed alternative payment mechanisms, such as health care loans (HCLs) or drug mortgages that would distribute the high upfront cost of a drug over several years. (Robin Feldman, 4/11)

Stat: Missing From The PBM Hearings: Value-Based Drug Reimbursement 
This week, committees in both the Senate and House of Representatives used their power to shine a light on one of the most complex and opaque parts of the prescription drug equation: the practices of pharmaceutical benefit managers. These third-party companies are hired by Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial health plans to create and manage pharmaceutical benefits for more than 266 million Americans. They determine what drugs are covered in their formularies, negotiate prices for these drugs with their manufacturers, set copays for consumers, determine which pharmacies will be included in prescription plans, and decide how much pharmacies will be reimbursed for the drugs they sell. (Elizabeth J. Seeley and Shawn Bishop, 4/11)

The Washington Post: People Love To Hate These Pharmaceutical Middlemen. Congress Isn’t Buying It. 
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) captured a troubling phenomenon in the world of pharmaceutical drugs during a Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday: “I stand in awe of the pharmaceutical industry’s jujitsu magic to have gotten their prime antagonists to become the focus of the problem,” Whitehouse said.Those antagonists are pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), the much-maligned middlemen in the drug-supply industry, whose executives appeared before the committee to testify on the rising costs of pharmaceutical drugs. (Robert Gebelhoff, 4/10)

New England Journal of Medicine: Physicians As Border Guards — The Troubling Exam For Immigrants
Rules proposed by the Trump administration depend on physicians performing “exams” to spot immigrants who are sick enough to become reliant on the government for living costs. The impact would be devastating for immigrants who are denied visas. (Khameer Kidia, 4/11)

The New York Times: You Say Industry Can Regulate Itself? Prove It 
The system of slaughterhouse regulation is out of date. The industry has succeeded over time in sharply reducing the kinds of problems visible from the slaughterhouse floor — the government says its health inspectors increasingly are policing aesthetic issues — but the incidence of some illnesses caused by pork consumption has stopped falling. (4/11)

New England Journal of Medicine: Preying On Prescribers (And Their Patients) — Pharmaceutical Marketing, Iatrogenic Epidemics, And The Sackler Legacy
Though the Sackler family did not invent the practice of selling drugs to physicians, they were pioneers whose story illustrates the ways marketers developed, naturalized, and monetized the interface between the pharmaceutical industry and prescribing physicians. (Scott H. Podolsky, David Herzberg and Jeremy A. Greene, 4/10)

The Wall Street Journal: New Hopes For Dementia Care
A colleague called the other day, asking for help finding care for her brother, who was recently diagnosed with dementia. That’s a common enough request, but this colleague is a doctor, and she had already taken her brother to an elite academic medical center that did lots of tests and offered to enroll him in research studies. That wasn’t the help her brother was looking for, however, or at least not all of it. He wanted to know how long he could keep working, how he should organize his finances, and how long he could live at home as his illness progressed. His physician couldn’t answer those questions and didn’t really know who could.As the baby boomer generation ages, many more Americans are going to be asking the same questions. More than five million Americans already suffer from dementia, a broad category that includes Alzheimer’s disease and other ailments that cause irreversible, progressive and ultimately fatal cognitive decline. Dementia affects not just memory but also executive function, learning, language and basic movements like walking and swallowing. (Tia Powell, 4/11)

The Hill: Potential Discrimination In NYC's Measles Public Health Emergency Order
On April 9, 2019, New York City Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot — backed by Mayor Bill de Blasio — declared a public health emergency requiring measles vaccinations for all residents living in four specific zip codes in Brooklyn. ...We do have concerns with the ethics and constitutionality of NYC’s decision to apply its mandate solely within four zip codes. Targeting specific populations opens the city to the claim of unfair discrimination. At first glance, it might make sense to target only specific geographic areas at the epicenter of measles cases. Over-reaching in relation to public health mandates in some instances can be legally problematic. (Lawrence O. Gostin and James G. Hodge Jr., 4/11)

The CT Mirror: Legalize Marijuana, But Limit THC Content
On March 25, the general law committee passed house bill HB 7371, moving Connecticut one step closer to legalizing recreational marijuana. Although the bill is comprehensive, there is something strikingly absent: limits on the amount of THC in commercial products, including marijuana edibles. (Paige Marut, 4/12)