The Washington Post: The Opioid Crisis: Drug Executives To Testify Before Congress About Their Role In Distributing Powerful Painkillers
Current and former executives with the pharmaceutical distributors that are accused of flooding communities with powerful prescription painkillers have been summoned to testify before Congress about their role in the U.S. opioid epidemic. The hearing, scheduled for May 8 before a House Energy and Commerce Committee oversight panel, has the potential to be a defining moment for the pharmaceutical industry, much like when tobacco executives were called to testify before Congress in 1994. The pharmaceutical executives are expected to face tough questions under oath about why their companies pumped so many highly addictive pain pills into West Virginia and other states, fueling what has become the deadliest drug crisis in U.S. history. (Zezima and Higham, 4/12)

The Hill: Opioid Distributors To Testify Before House Committee On Their Role In Epidemic 
Five executives of opioid distribution companies will testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in May about how millions of pain pills found their way to small West Virginia towns. “For one year, the entire committee — Republicans and Democrats — have pressed five distributors with a presence in West Virginia, as well as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for answers as to how tremendous amounts of pills ended up in these small communities,” said Rep. Gregg Harper, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. (Hellmann, 4/12)

CQ: Multitude Of Opioid Bills Causing Consternation In House
Tensions brewed between Democrats and Republicans during a two-day hearing on improving the ability of Medicaid and Medicare to care for patients harmed by the opioid addiction epidemic. Democrats expressed skepticism about the committee's fast pace, the large number of bills being considered all at once, and Republican efforts to modify Medicaid. The House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee wrapped up its examination of 34 bills on Thursday. In total, the subcommittee has discussed 67 bills over the course of three hearings with the goal of passing legislation through the full House by Memorial Day, according to full committee chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. (Raman, 4/12)

CQ HealthBeat: House Transportation Backs Disaster Preparation, Opioid Bills
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved a bipartisan disaster preparation bill Thursday over the objection of the water resources subcommittee chairman. ... The other bills and resolutions the committee considered, including a measure (HR 5294) to allow the Appalachian Regional Commission to address opioid abuse, passed by voice vote without any opposition. The opioid bill would allow the ARC to develop broadband infrastructure to support telemedicine, share best practices among states, and support programs to reduce harm to the workforce and economic growth from opioid addiction. (Fischler, 4/12)

And in other news on the crisis —

The New York Times: Overdose Antidote Is Supposed To Be Easy To Get. It’s Not.
In 2015, when they unveiled the city’s plan to battle opioid-related deaths, Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, said that from that day on, New Yorkers would be able to get the overdose-reversing drug naloxone at participating pharmacies without a prescription. “Anyone who fears they will one day find their child, spouse or sibling collapsed on the floor and not breathing now has the power to walk into a neighborhood pharmacy and purchase the medication that can reverse that nightmare,” Ms. McCray said, with the mayor by her side. (Correal, 4/12)

The Hill: Senators Call For DOJ To Stop Blocking Medical Marijuana Research 
Bipartisan senators are calling on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to cease efforts by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to slow medical marijuana research. In a letter sent Thursday, Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said they are concerned by reports that the Justice Department is effectively blocking the DEA from taking action on more than two dozen requests to grow marijuana for use in research. (Weixel, 4/12)

The CT Mirror: CT Opioid Lawsuits Advancing In Face Of Settlement Effort
Nearly two dozen Connecticut cities and towns are scheduled to soon confront Purdue Phama and other opioid makers in court over what they say are the pharmaceuticals’ deceptive practices. Meanwhile, a federal judge in Ohio is trying to resolve through a massive settlement more than 400 federal lawsuits brought by cities, counties and Native American tribes against central figures in the national opioid tragedy. (Radelat, 4/12)

The Associated Press: Opioid Trials To Begin In 2019 As Settlement Is Also Pushed
A federal judge with an audacious plan to settle hundreds of lawsuits filed by local governments against the drug industry over the destruction wrought by prescription opioid painkillers has altered his course. Cleveland-based Judge Dan Polster issued an order Wednesday scheduling three Ohio trials for 2019 — a shift from his earlier plan to try to work out settlements without also preparing for trials. (Welsh-Huggins and Mulvihill, 4/12)

The Hill: Judge Schedules Trial In Massive Opioid Lawsuit
Judge Dan Polster on Wednesday set a March 2019 trial date for cases from three of the cities and counties that are suing drug companies. Those cases would be the first of hundreds brought under Polster’s review to see a trial and could serve as “bellwethers” that help both sides test the waters. The cases are being closely watched to see if they produce a settlement that forces changes meant to fight the opioid epidemic. Polster said in January that he wanted to take actions that would stem the tide of the crisis. (Sullivan, 4/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Two Women Spotlight Two Sides Of Abortion Debate
The Trump administration’s push toward a more conservative approach to health policy has sparked a debate over what patients can expect from their health workers, and when health workers can refuse service for reasons of conscience. Both supporters and opponents bolster their arguments with testimonials, such as the two that follow. The first is an example of what conservative activists say is a health worker forced to assist in a procedure that ran counter to her beliefs. The second is an example of what liberal activists say are religious organizations imposing their views on others. (Armour, 4/13)

The Wall Street Journal: Health Workers’ New Advocate Sees Objection To Abortion As A Civil Right
The Trump administration is pursuing a significant shift toward a more conservative health-care agenda, expanding the use of civil-rights laws to defend health-industry workers who object to medical procedures on religious grounds. Roger Severino, an administration appointee to the Department of Health and Human Services, is heading a new division at the department that will shield health-care workers who object to abortion, assisted suicide, or other procedures they say violate their conscience or deeply held religious beliefs. HHS has proposed rules that would expand the division’s enforcement ability and require many health organizations to inform workers about their federal protections regarding personal faith or convictions. (Armour, 4/13)

In other news —

Politico Pro: House GOP Presses For Abortion Curbs In Family Planning Program
A group of GOP lawmakers is circulating a letter calling on HHS Secretary Alex Azar to revise the program and prevent recipients of Title X funds from making a patient referral for an abortion. Reps. Ron Estes, Vicky Hartzler and Chris Smith — all prominent opponents of abortion — say the rules on Title X today are not in line with what was originally envisioned. (Haberkorn, 4/12)

The Associated Press: Tightest Abortion Law In US On Hold For Several More Months
The most restrictive abortion law in the United States will remain on hold for at least several more months. The Mississippi law bans abortion after 15 weeks. It took effect when Republican Gov. Phil Bryant signed it March 19, but the state's only abortion clinic immediately sued and U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves put it on hold the next day. (4/12)

Minnesota Public Radio News: Minnesota Won't Collect $30M In MinnesotaCare Premiums
The Minnesota Department of Human Services said there is no way it can economically recover more than $30 million in unpaid health premiums the agency billed improperly. The MinnesotaCare billing problems date back to MNsure's early software problems in January of 2014 and were not corrected until the spring of 2016. (Zdechlik, 4/12)

In other health law news —

Kaiser Health News: Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ It’s Nerd Week
The Trump administration this week issued the rules governing next year’s Affordable Care Act insurance marketplaces, and they make some potentially large changes that could result in higher premiums and fewer benefits. Meanwhile, states are going different ways in addressing the health insurance markets in their states in response to the federal activity. And House Speaker Paul Ryan announced his retirement — leaving an intellectual void among House Republicans when it comes to health care. (4/12)

The Associated Press: When To Say When: Study Says Limit Alcohol To 1 Drink A Day
Here's some sobering news: A large international study says adults should average no more than one alcoholic drink per day, and that means drinking guidelines in many countries may be far too loose. The study found that people who down more than seven drinks a week can expect to die sooner than those who drink less. (Stobbe, 4/12)

The Washington Post: ‘Moderate’ Drinking Guidelines Are Too Loose, Study Says
Strikingly, the data did not show a significant difference between men and women in the amount of alcohol that can be consumed without a drop in life expectancy. That directly contradicts U.S. government guidelines that define moderate, “low-risk” drinking as two drinks a day for men and one drink for women, with a limit of 14 a week for men and seven for women — with lower levels for people over the age of 65. (Achenbach, 4/12)

PBS NewsHour: How Much Alcohol Is Too Much? A New Study Says It’s Found The Number
Look at it this way. If a 40-year-old man reduced his weekly alcohol intake from 196 grams (the current alcohol guideline for men in the United States) to 100 grams, he could expect to live as much as two years longer, the study says. Some studies have suggested drinking moderate amounts of red wine is good for cardiovascular health, but what does moderate mean? That’s one question Angela Wood, who studies epidemiology and lectures at the University of Cambridge, and her team tried to figure out. (Santhanam, 4/12)

The Associated Press: Red Flag Laws May Prevent More Suicides Than Mass Shootings
Before her brother took his own life, Mary Miller-Strobel said she and her father begged every store in town that sold firearms to turn him away. “’If he comes, call me,’” Miller-Strobel said her dad pleaded while waving her brother’s picture at store managers in Charlotte, Michigan, in 2006. “’Just call me. I will come.’” She said the responses were the same: “’Second amendment, sorry.’” Two months later, her brother, Ben, shot himself with a revolver. (Yin, 4/12)

WBUR: Mass. Lawmakers Once Again Take On NRA In Push To Pass 'Red Flag' Law
Although Massachusetts has some of the toughest gun control laws in the country, gun safety advocates want to make them even stricter. Following the Feb. 14 massacre in Parkland, Florida, Massachusetts is among a number of states considering so-called "red flag" bills. If approved, the law would let a court temporarily prohibit someone from possessing or buying a gun if they are judged to be a risk to themselves or to others. (Brooks, 4/13)

The Associated Press: $1 Million Federal Grant Will Help Study Of Transgender Kids
The first large-scale, national study of transgender children, including some as young as 3, is poised to expand thanks to a five-year, $1 million grant awarded Thursday by the National Science Foundation to the professor leading the project. University of Washington psychologist Kristina Olson, 36, was named winner of the NSF's annual Alan T. Waterman Award, the government's highest honor for scientists still in the early phases of their careers. The NSF said the choice was unanimous, and noted that pediatricians are already using her findings to raise awareness about gender diversity. (4/12)

Stat: One Reason Why Melanoma Might Not Respond To Cancer Drugs
Scientists have discovered a potential reason why melanoma doesn’t always respond to certain drugs. For some advanced melanoma patients, immune checkpoint inhibitors — a kind of immunotherapy that pushes the immune system to attack tumors — can lead to long-term remission. But for many patients, the drugs don’t work. Now, scientists at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne studying a mouse model of melanoma have discovered that “bad immune cells” might be limiting how well the drugs work. Their findings were published this week in Science Translational Medicine. (Thielking, 4/12)

Stat: Health Officials Open New Door For Promising Stem Cell Therapies
When someone experiences a severe head injury, it’s not just the initial blow that batters the brain. The body’s immune response can go haywire, overwhelming and sometimes continuing to damage the brain for months. Surgeons at Houston’s Memorial Hermann Hospital believe they might have a novel way to prevent that ongoing harm: by drawing bone marrow cells, including stem cells, from patients and infusing them back into their bodies. (Joseph, 4/13)

The Washington Post: Bathroom Hand Dryers May Leave Your Hands Dirtier Than Before, Gross New Study Says
Hand dryers may leave your hands significantly more dirty than before, according to a new study. The study, the results of which were published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology, found that plates exposed to 30 seconds of a bathroom hand dryer gained at least 18 to 60 colonies of bacteria, while plates exposed to bathroom air for two minutes had fewer than one. The authors concluded that the “results indicate that many kinds of bacteria, including potential pathogens and spores, can be deposited on hands exposed to bathroom hand dryers, and that spores could be dispersed throughout buildings and deposited on hands by hand dryers.” (Rosenberg, 4/12)

Los Angeles Times: A Personalized Vaccine Helps Patients Fight Back Against Ovarian Cancer
In early research that extends the possibilities of immunotherapy to a killer feared by women, a personalized vaccine helped patients with ovarian cancer mount a stronger defense against their tumors and substantially improved their survival rate. The vaccine was tested in a preliminary clinical trial and used along with standard chemotherapy and an immune-boosting agent. (Healy, 4/12)

Boston Globe: 'Cool Caps' Are Helping Cancer Patients Keep Their Hair Through Chemo — For A High Price
A new therapy is limiting chemotherapy-induced hair loss, an emotionally devastating side effect of cancer treatment. But the cost — and the refusal of some insurers to pay — could put the therapy out of reach for less-affluent patients. (Kowalczyk, 4/12)

The New York Times: A Better Body In A Pill? Experts Urge Caution On SARMs
Many athletes and gym-goers are turning to a popular but potentially dangerous new pill to help them build muscle and gain strength: a steroid alternative known as SARMs. The pills are widely marketed online as “legal steroids” that provide the muscle-building benefits of anabolic steroids without the troubling side effects. And while the products are legal — at least so far — their spread has alarmed health authorities, who say they are not necessarily safe. (O'Connor, 4/12)

The New York Times: Air Pollution May Pose Serious Risks To Young Children
Air pollution, even of short duration, increases the number of lower respiratory infections, a new study reports, and the effects may be particularly serious in young children. Acute respiratory infection of the lungs and airways, usually caused by viruses, are a leading cause of illness and death in young children. (Bakalar, 4/13)

The New York Times: Scientist Behind Dolly The Sheep, A Key To Parkinson’s Research, Has The Disease Himself
Two decades after creating the clone Dolly the sheep and paving the way for new research into Parkinson’s, Dr. Ian Wilmut revealed on Wednesday that he has the disease himself. The 73-year-old professor, who lives in Scotland, announced on World Parkinson’s Day that he learned four months ago that he had the disease, and that he would participate in a major research program to test new types of treatments intended to slow the disease’s progression. (Yeginsu, 4/12)

California Healthline: Applying Silicon Valley Smarts To Age-Old Diseases
On the second floor of an infectious-disease research facility in this African capital, Dr. Joseph Kamgno, the country’s leading expert on parasitic roundworms, stood at his desk staring down at the black hard-shelled case that had just arrived from a bioengineering lab at the University of California-Berkeley. The case contained what appeared to be three ordinary iPhones. But the California researchers believed these phones could do something extraordinary — help quell river blindness, the second-leading cause of preventable blindness in the world. (Rinker, 4/11)

Modern Healthcare: FDA Grants First Approval To Autonomous AI-Powered Medical Device 
For the first time, the Food and Drug Administration has approved marketing a medical device that uses artificial intelligence that doesn't require a clinician to interpret the input. On Wednesday, IDx, an Iowa-based company, received approval to market its retinopathy-detecting software, IDx-DR. This is the first screening device the FDA has authorized that doesn't need a clinician's interpretation to look for a particular condition. The device's software uses artificial intelligence to analyze images of the eye, judging whether or not they show signs of diabetic retinopathy. (Arndt, 4/12)

Stat: FDA To Relax Its Review Of Some Next-Generation Genetic Tests
The Food and Drug Administration will relax its review of some genetic tests that examine millions of different variants at the same time, the agency announced Thursday. So far, the FDA has not approved any of these broad “next-generation sequencing” tests, but as their cost drops, the agency believes they have more potential to help patients. (Swetlitz, 4/12)

The Associated Press: Lawsuit Alleges Michigan Illegally Obtains Newborns' Blood
A group of Michigan parents have filed a lawsuit alleging that the state didn't obtain proper consent to draw or store their newborns' blood for medical research. Philip Ellison filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of the parents, saying Michigan's practice of drawing infant blood is unconstitutional, MLive.com reported. The lawsuit also alleges that there aren't protections in place to stop police or others from accessing information that can be derived from the stored blood samples. (4/12)

Georgia Health News: Gov. Deal Sets Meeting With Blue Cross, Piedmont As Contract Obstacles Remain
State health officials said Thursday that they believe Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia and Piedmont Healthcare — which are deadlocked without a new contract — have moved closer to agreement on reimbursement rates. But Department of Community Health leaders say other issues have emerged as important obstacles to striking a deal. (Miller, 4/12)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: State Health Agencies Sued For ‘Secretly’ Cutting Aid To The Disabled
Four nonprofit organizations are suing two state health departments, alleging that caregivers have been denied compensation for providing services to disabled Georgians. ... The lawsuit claims the departments did not grant caregivers the money they should have received for caring for patients even though the caregivers were still obligated to provide the services. (Elassar, 4/12)

Cincinnati Enquirer: E. Coli Outbreak: CDC Investigating Cases In Ohio, 6 Other States
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating a multistate outbreak of E. coli infections, which includes a case in Ohio. As of April 9, 17 people infected with a strain of E. coli have been reported from seven states. (Brookbank, 4/12)

Bloomberg: McDonald's Hepatitis Case Probed By Officials In Kentucky 
A McDonald’s Corp. employee in Kentucky could have potentially spread hepatitis A to customers, according to local health officials, igniting a new health scare for the fast-food giant. Officials at the Madison County health department are warning people that they may have been infected by the food handler, who was working at a restaurant in the town of Berea, south of Lexington, on March 23. McDonald’s is fully cooperating with local and state agencies on the investigation, the health department said on its website. (Patton, 4/12)

Boston Globe: Mass. Business Groups Oppose Nurses’ Ballot Question
Four of the state’s largest business groups have united in opposition to a proposed ballot initiative that would mandate nurse staffing levels for all Massachusetts hospitals. ...The groups, which include the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, say the measure would raise health-care costs that would be passed on to patients, through higher insurance rates. (Sippell, 4/12)

Houston Chronicle: Galveston Dental Clinic That May Have Exposed Patients To Diseases Is Re-Opening 
The Galveston County dental clinic that may have exposed thousands of patients to serious diseases will reopen on Monday, the county Health District announced in a press release. In a special meeting called on Thursday, members of the Coastal Health & Wellness governing board voted to reopen the Texas City dental clinic that was found to have had numerous sterilization breaches in a February accreditation review. (Powell, 4/12)

Houston Chronicle: Health-Care Companies Got Most Venture Funds In Houston In Q1 
Venture-capital funding in Houston largely went to health-care companies in the first quarter of 2018, with the Procyrion deal ranked as the second-largest investment, a new report by the PricewaterhouseCooper and CB Insights firms shows. Houston companies claimed a total of $47.8 million in venture funds in the first quarter, a 47 percent increase from the same period a year earlier. There were a nine local deals in each of those two quarters. (Najarro, 4/12)

Austin American-Statesman: Texas Millennials Are The Least Depressed In The Nation, Study Says
Millennials, that hard-to-pin-down generation that is now defined by the Pew Research Center as “anyone born between 1981 and 1996,” have long been subject to stereotypes in the media while simultaneously being courted by advertisers. ...But the statistic that jumps out here is that Texas ranks first in the percentage of millennials who have depression — meaning, by this study’s metrics, Texas is home to the least-depressed millennials in America. (Harria, 4/12)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Questions About Willow Terrace Owner After Nursing Home Collapse In Nebraska And Kansas
The nursing home industry in recent years has been engulfed in wholesale changes in operators as Golden Living and other large companies, often under regulatory and financial pressure, abandon the business and lease bunches of facilities over to firms that emerge from nowhere. (Brubaker, 4/12)

Austin Statesman: Austin ISD Seeks New School Nurse Contract, But Money Is Tight
Months after an advisory committee recommended the Austin district put a licensed medical professional on every campus, school officials now are seeking a new provider to offer such comprehensive student health care services. (Taboada, 4/12)

Kaiser Health News: PrEP Campaign Aims To Block HIV Infection And Save Lives In D.C.
A big part of Washington, D.C.’s plan to get its HIV rate down is to get more uninfected people on PrEP, a two-medicine combination pill that’s sold under the brand name Truvada. When taken daily by people who are at high risk for contracting HIV via sex or shared needles with someone who is infected, this pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, can cut the risk of HIV infection by 92 percent, studies show. (Simmons-Duffin, 4/13)

The Commonwealth Fund: How Did State-Run Health Insurance Marketplaces Fare In 2017? 
Sixteen states and the District of Columbia manage their own health insurance marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act. These states, which were broadly supportive of health reform, chose to run their marketplaces to exert greater control over their insurance markets and tailor the portals to suit local needs. ...Respondents unanimously suggested that federal administrative actions and repeal efforts have created confusion and uncertainty that have negatively affected their markets. The state-run marketplaces used their broader authority to reduce consumer confusion and promote stable insurer participation. However, their capacity to deal with federal uncertainty has limits and respondents stated that long-term stability requires a reliable federal partner. (Giovannelli and Curran, 3/21)

The Commonwealth Fund: State Regulation Of Coverage Options Outside The ACA 
Certain forms of individual health coverage are not required to comply with the consumer protections of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These “alternative coverage arrangements” — including transitional policies, short-term plans, health care sharing ministries, and association health plans — tend to have lower upfront costs and offer far fewer benefits than ACA-compliant insurance. While appealing to some healthy individuals, they are often unattractive, or unavailable, to people in less-than-perfect health. By leveraging their regulatory advantages to enroll healthy individuals, these alternatives to marketplace coverage may contribute to a smaller, sicker, and less stable ACA-compliant market. The Trump administration recently has acted to reduce federal barriers to these arrangements. (Lucia, Giovannelli, Corlette et al, 3/29)

Urban Institute: Changes In Marketplace Premiums, 2017 To 2018 
There have been widespread reports of very large premium ACA marketplace premium increases in most states in 2018. This analysis provides national estimats for changes in the lowest silver and gold plan premiums between 2017 and 2018. The national average increase was 32.0 perecnt for the lowest-priced silver plans and 19.1 percent for gold plans, but the increases varied by states. Several reasons are behind these large increases. The premium increases reflect significant policy changes and policy debates specifically affecting insurer decisions for the 2018 plan year as well as more typical annual considerations such as trend and healthcare costs. (Holahan, Blumberg and Wengle, 3/21)

JAMA Internal Medicine: Dialysis Initiation And Mortality Among Older Veterans With Kidney Failure Treated In Medicare Vs The Department Of Veterans Affairs
In this cohort study of 11 215 older veterans with kidney failure, receipt of nephrology care in Medicare was associated with a 28 percentage point higher frequency of dialysis initiation, and a 5 percentage point higher frequency of death. The Veterans Affairs health care system appears to favor lower intensity treatment of kidney failure without an associated increase in mortality. ...eterans who receive pre-ESRD nephrology care in Medicare receive dialysis more often yet are also more likely to die within 2 years compared with those in VA. The VA’s integrated health care system and financing appear to favor lower-intensity treatment for kidney failure in older patients without a concomitant increase in mortality. (Tamura, Thomas, Montez-Rath et al, 4/9)

Seattle Times: Feds, Don’t Fight Pot — Enlist It In Opioid War
The Trump administration’s revival of the failed war on drugs did not spring from a place of reason. But increasingly, it looks like Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ veiled threats toward states with legal marijuana laws might actually hinder America’s ability to solve the nation’s real drug problem: The opioid crisis. Two new studies suggest that when medical marijuana is legally and easily available, patients may be more likely to turn to pot instead of highly addictive opioids to treat their pain. (4/11)

Stat: Easing Access To Marijuana Is Not A Way To Solve The Opioid Epidemic
Public health efforts inevitably involve trade-offs, but interventions that are broadly disseminated must have minimal harms. For example, while vaccine reactions can be serious and even lethal, they are exceedingly rare. Not so for harms associated with marijuana use. There is ample evidence that individuals — especially adolescents — who use marijuana have much higher rates of mood, anxiety, and psychotic disorders than their peers. The loss of motivation that we see in so many of our patients who use marijuana, its negative impact on functioning at school or at work, and its likely connection with cognitive decline are other serious and common harms. Adolescents who use marijuana are also more likely to misuse prescription opioid medications. In our experience, nearly all of our patients with opioid addiction first used marijuana heavily. (Nicholas Chadi and Sharon Levy, 4/12)

The Washington Post: We Scorned Addicts When They Were Black. It Is Different Now That They Are White.
We have been here before — a raging epidemic of addiction that destroys lives, families and communities. Who was on the front line in the 1990s, when the drug was crack and the addicts were mostly black? Drug czar William Bennett. His weapon was prosecution and prison. Today, when the drugs are opioids and the addicts are mostly white? U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, a doctor, is out there, telling the country, “We need to see addiction as a chronic disease and not a moral failing.” (Petula Dvorak, 4/12)

The Hill: Naloxone Is Not A Moral Hazard — It's A Good Tool For Physicians To Have In Their Kits
As a physician and Chair of the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Opioid Task Force, I view naloxone as a medication that works to restore normal breathing to an individual suffering from an opioid overdose. A life saved is not a moral hazard. (Patrice Harris, 4/12)

Los Angeles Times: If Democrats Sweep The House This Fall, Blame Paul Ryan's Rich-On-Poor Class Warfare
Even more than the tax reform that Congress passed this year, the definitive Paul Ryan achievement was the American Health Care Act, the attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act that the House voted for and the Senate nixed. The AHCA was a reflection of Ryan's worldview so pure it almost reached the level of self-parody. It cut healthcare savagely; the CBO estimated 23 million people would lose their health insurance. The money saved was transferred to, you guessed it, the well-to-do. The AHCA bill reflected Ryan's leadership in other ways too. It was rushed through an undemocratic process, with only three hours of debate and voted on before a public version of the bill was even made available. This is Ryan's legacy: a single-minded campaign of rich-on-poor class warfare. Worse, he aggressively covered up Trump's unprecedented corruption and unfitness for office just to further that agenda. (Scott Lemieux, 4/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Paul Ryan’s Departure Is A Pity
Speaker Paul Ryan’s announcement Wednesday that he will not seek re-election is bad news for Republicans, Congress and America’s political culture. Mr. Ryan says he’s confident Republicans will keep their House majority in the midterms, but his decision reflects a recognition that one of two outcomes is likely—neither of which is promising for GOP leadership. One is that Democrats take the House. After being his party’s vice presidential nominee and third in line to the presidency, a demotion to minority leader is unappealing, especially if the Democrats are more interested in resistance than constructive action. The other possibility is that Republicans end up with a diminished majority that makes governing more difficult. (Karl Rove, 4/11)

The New York Times: The Self-Destruction Of Paul Ryan And The G.O.P.
Spinoza said that free will is like a stone that doesn’t know why it’s falling but wants to keep going. On Wednesday, Paul Ryan announced that he would not seek re-election. A midterm defeat, should Mr. Ryan have chosen to run, wasn’t exactly inevitable. But when no less an authority than the speaker of House of Representatives expressed the desire to rejoin his children, with all the freedom of plummeting rock longing to eat dirt, it confirmed what practically everyone suspects: The Republican Party is in free fall, and its House majority is racing toward annihilation. ... Politics isn’t physics, but a governing Republican philosophy that sees it as a moral imperative to slash the budgets of social programs that benefit mainly older and working-class white people is bound, sooner or later, to drive a party of mainly older and working-class white people off a cliff. The slow-motion disaster now unfolding in Washington results in no small measure from Mr. Ryan’s puzzling success in persuading Republican elites that they could flourish as the party of free-market, anti-redistributive convictions. (Will Wilkinson, 4/13)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Work Requirements For People Who Need Public Assistance Don't Work
Proposed work requirements for public benefits, such as those in Pennsylvania House Bills 1659, 2024, and 2183, are a bad idea. Work requirements for public benefits sound reasonable in theory, but are actually harmful and costly to Pennsylvania — and undermine highly effective programs, such as SNAP (food stamps) and Medicaid. (Debby Freedman, 4/12)

San Jose Mercury News: Public Health Affected When Pharmacists Work Solo
It’s time for California to get serious about pharmacy safety. SB 1442 is new legislation that would protect the public by ensuring pharmacists aren’t working alone. At the same time, it delivers safety to pharmacists who have become targets because they work alone. (Jim Araby, 4/12)

Stat: Innovative Ways To Pay For New Antibiotics Will Help Fight Superbugs
Antibiotics are the most important drug class in human history. Without them, minor infections like strep throat or urinary tract infections could turn deadly. Heart surgery, cancer treatment, and virtually everything else that happens in a hospital would be far more dangerous than it is today. But if we keep taking them for granted, and fail to provide innovative approaches to funding the development of new antibiotics, drug-resistant microbes will get the upper hand.Although we’ve made great strides in the development of antibiotics since the discovery of penicillin in the early 20th century, we aren’t keeping up with the rise of superbugs — common bacteria that have acquired genes that make them resistant to most or all of our antibiotics. “[T]he end of the road isn’t very far away for antibiotics,” Dr. Tom Frieden, the former head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, once said. (Kevin Outterson, 4/11)

New England Journal of Medicine: Divisions, New And Old — Conscience And Religious Freedom At HHS
In January, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the creation of its Conscience and Religious Freedom Division, explaining that it will allow HHS’s Office of Civil Rights to “more vigorously and effectively enforce existing laws protecting the rights of conscience and religious freedom” and will ensure that “no one is coerced into participating in activities that would violate their consciences, such as abortion, sterilization or assisted suicide.” Responses were as expected: religious conservatives hailed the new division as a needed intervention; public health and clinical leaders and advocates decried it, worrying about its impact on access to care and harm to patients. HHS leaders’ comments to date suggest that they are uninterested in discrimination against health care providers whose consciences compel them to provide care, and uninterested in injuries to patients caused by care refusals. This framing makes conscience yet another issue dividing Americans, largely along partisan lines. (Lisa Harris, 4/11)

New England Journal of Medicine: Accessibility Of Medical Diagnostic Equipment — Implications For People With Disability
In December, the U.S. Department of Justice halted efforts on a national level to make medical diagnostic equipment accessible to people with disability, many of whom face considerable difficulty getting care because of inaccessible equipment in health care settings. (Lisa I. Lezzoni and Elizabeth Pendo, 4/12)