The New York Times: John McCain Will No Longer Be Treated For Brain Cancer, Family Says
Senator John McCain of Arizona, who has been battling brain cancer for more than a year, will no longer be treated for his condition, his family announced on Friday, a sign that the Republican war hero is most likely entering his final days. “Last summer, Senator John McCain shared with Americans the news our family already knew: He had been diagnosed with an aggressive glioblastoma, and the prognosis was serious. In the year since, John has surpassed expectations for his survival. But the progress of disease and the inexorable advance of age render their verdict,” the family said in a statement. “With his usual strength of will, he has now chosen to discontinue medical treatment.” (Fandos and Martin, 8/24)

CNN: John McCain Discontinuing Treatment For Brain Cancer, Family Says
Cindy McCain, the senator's wife, wrote in a tweet, "I love my husband with all of my heart. God bless everyone who has cared for my husband along this journey." The senator's daughter, Meghan McCain, said in a tweet, "My family is deeply appreciative of all the love and generosity you have shown us during this past year. Thank you for all your continued support and prayers. We could not have made it this far without you - you've given us strength to carry on." (Foran, 8/24)

Politico: McCain To Discontinue Medical Treatment
Diagnosed with the disease last summer, McCain has been battling the condition in Arizona this year. (Everett, 8/24)

The Hill: McCain Ending Brain Cancer Treatment
McCain returned the Senate weeks after his brain cancer diagnosis to urge his colleagues to "trust each other" and "return to regular order." Days later, he sided with GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) to sink the GOP plan to repeal ObamaCare—a move that has earned him Trump's frequent wrath. McCain also continued to weigh in on the Senate's foreign policy and national security debates from Arizona, often acting as a counterweight to views coming from Trump's White House. (Carney, 8/24)

The Associated Press: Senate Backs $854B Bill To Fund Health, Education, Military
The Senate approved an $854 billion measure Thursday that funds much of the government, including $675 billion for the Defense Department. The bill combines military spending with disbursements for Health and Human Services, Education, Labor and other agencies. The bill was approved, 85-7, and now heads to the House. (Daly, 8/23)

Politico: Senate Passes Giant Spending Package In Hopes Of Averting Shutdown
HHS would see a $2.3 billion boost, including a 5.4 percent increase for the National Institutes of Health. Education programs would get a $541 million boost, while the Labor Department’s budget would remain flat. The two bills represent the eighth and ninth spending measures the Senate has passed this summer, likely the last of 12 to clear the chamber ahead of the Sept. 30 deadline. The rest, including the bill that would fund Trump’s border wall, are expected to be funded on autopilot under a continuing resolution through the midterms and into Congress’ lame-duck session. (Ferris, 8/23)

The Hill: Senate Approves Sweeping Bill On Defense, Domestic Spending
This one was particularly important because it included funding for the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Education, which is often a difficult package because of fights over abortion and other issues. Senators were able to avoid those fights in this case. “I am proud of what these bills contain and how the Senate has crafted them. I want to particularly thank Chairman [Richard] Shelby and Senator [Patrick] Leahy,” McConnell said ahead of the vote, referring to the top two members of the Senate Appropriations Committee. (Carney, 8/23)

The Washington Post: Senate Easily Defeats Measure To Defund Planned Parenthood
The Senate easily defeated an attempt by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Thursday to strip money from Planned Parenthood, with Democrats holding together unanimously despite the prospect of election-year attacks from Republicans over the issue. Those attacks arrived mere moments after the vote closed, with the National Republican Senate Committee blasting out releases attacking Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) for opposing Paul’s measure. The three are among the most endangered Democrats in the Senate. (Werner, 8/23)

The Hill: Senate Rejects Paul's Effort To Strip Planned Parenthood Of Federal Funding 
The Senate rejected an effort by GOP Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) to attach a provision blocking federal funding for Planned Parenthood to a massive government spending bill. Senators voted 45-48 on Paul’s amendment, with 60 votes needed to add the provision into the spending bill. GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) voted with Democrats to oppose the amendment.  (Carney, 8/23)

The Associated Press: Education Dept. Proposals On Guns In Schools Sparks Outcry
The Education Department says it is weighing whether to allow states to use federal funds to purchase guns for schools, prompting a storm of criticism from Democratic lawmakers and educators. If approved, the plan would likely generate a lot of controversy at a time when a string of especially deadly school shootings earlier this year led to the rise of a powerful student-led gun control movement. (Danilova, 8/24)

In other news from the administration —

Los Angeles Times: Scientists Blast EPA Effort That Would Discredit Health Research In The Name Of 'Transparency'
When the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a proposal this week to give states more latitude in regulating pollution from power plants within their borders, it came with a sobering forecast of its likely impact on Americans’ health. By 2030, adoption of the Affordable Clean Energy Rule could lead to 470 to 1,400 additional premature deaths each year because of an increase in tiny airborne particles. Children with asthma could wind up missing 21,000 extra days of school annually, and up to 48,000 more people could experience “exacerbated asthma” as air quality deteriorates. (Healy, 8/24)

Politico Pro: Senate GOP Bill Would Codify Pre-Existing Condition Protections Outside ACA
Senate Republicans are proposing new legislation that would force health insurers to cover all individuals regardless of health status — a move designed to blunt the fallout over a Texas lawsuit that aims to kill Obamacare. The bill sponsored by 10 Republicans would require insurers selling plans in either the group or individual markets to guarantee coverage, while prohibiting them from discriminating or charging more based on a range of health factors including enrollees’ medical histories or disabilities. (Cancryn, 8/23)

And in Georgia —

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Two Insurers Decrease Rates For Georgia's Obamacare Market
The Obamacare rates for next year are in, and it’s a first: Rates are going down. Following years of steep price hikes, two of the four companies that offer plans on the Affordable Care Act exchange in Georgia, also known as Obamacare, have proposed to lower their rates next year from what they charged in 2018. (Hart, 8/23)

Georgia Health News: Unusual But Welcome: Two Health Insurers Opt To Cut Exchange Rates
The overall premiums announced Thursday, as approved by the state insurance commissioner, show the relative stability of the state’s exchange, created under the Affordable Care Act for people without job-based or government insurance. (Miller, 8/23)

The Associated Press: Arkansas Abortion Pills Restriction Remains On Hold
A federal appeals court won't allow Arkansas to enforce a law that critics say would make the state the first in the U.S. to effectively ban abortion pills. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday denied a request by the state to put on hold a judge's order preventing Arkansas from enforcing the law, which says doctors who provide the pills must hold a contract with a physician with admitting privileges at a hospital who agrees to handle any complications. (DeMillo, 8/23)

The Associated Press: Abortion Opponents Lose Appeal In Fetal Tissue Research Case
Abortion rights opponents who challenged the University of Minnesota's use of aborted fetal tissue for medical research have lost an appeal. The ruling issued Monday by the state Court of Appeals says the lawsuit filed in 2016 by Pro-Life Action Ministries is moot because the Legislature clarified the law, allowing the research, while the case was pending. (8/23)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Court: Alabama's 'Fetal Demise' Abortion Law Unconstitutional
The federal appeals court in Atlanta has struck down an Alabama law that would have allowed criminal prosecutions of doctors who performed a commonly used procedure for second-trimester abortions. The so-called “fetal demise” law would have required doctors to perform additional procedures before conducting a dilation and evacuation abortion, in which the fetus is removed in pieces with forceps and suction. (Rankin, 8/23)

The New York Times: Russian Trolls Used Vaccine Debate To Sow Discord, Study Finds
Don’t get #vaccines. Illuminati are behind it.” “Do you still treat your kids with leaves? No? And why don’t you #vaccinate them? It’s medicine!” With messages like those, Russian internet trolls meddling in the 2016 presidential election also lashed out at Americans debating the safety of vaccines, a new study has found. (McNeil, 8/23)

The Washington Post: Russian Trolls And Twitter Bots Exploit Vaccine Controversy
Researchers found bots and Russian trolls mentioned vaccines more often than the average Twitter account over a three-year period, but for different reasons. Russian trolls stoked the debate by tweeting pro- and anti-vaccine messages in an apparent attempt to sow division, while bots that spread malicious software appeared to use anti-vaccine messages that inflame strong responses from both sides to attract clicks. “Apparently only the elite get ‘clean’ #vaccines. And what do we, normal ppl, get?! #VaccinateUS,” a Russian troll account tweeted in one of the messages that stood out to researchers because of the unusual line it drew between vaccine fearmongering and income inequality. (Johnson, 8/23)

Stat: Russian Bots Were Used To Sow Divisions On Vaccines, Researchers Say 
In the lead-up to the 2016 U.S. election, Russian bots and trolls took to Twitter and other social media platforms to try to turn Americans against one another. But in addition to spreading false information and interfering in the election, a new study reports, a significant number of these malevolent actors tried to sow discord over vaccines. An analysis of Twitter accounts previously identified as having been operated by Russian bots and trolls found they dove into the vaccine debate as early as January 2015, the researchers reported. They did not take one side or the other, but seemed to tweet pro-vaccine and anti-vaccine messages in roughly equal measure. (Branswell, 8/23)

Meanwhile —

Stat: NIH Is Questioning Researchers About Influence From Foreign Governments 
The National Institutes of Health is investigating roughly a half-dozen research institutions based on suspicions that researchers with federal grants failed to disclose significant financial contributions from foreign governments, Director Francis Collins said Thursday. The fact-finding operation, Collins said, will center in many cases on technology research. ... On Wednesday, Collins also wrote to roughly 10,000 NIH grant institutions encouraging them to set up briefings with FBI field offices about threats to intellectual property and foreign interference. (Facher, 8/23)

The Washington Post: Safest Level Of Alcohol Consumption Is None, Worldwide Study Shows
To minimize health risks, the optimal amount of alcohol someone should consume is none. That’s the simple, surprising conclusion of a massive study, co-authored by 512 researchers from 243 institutions, published Thursday in the prestigious journal the Lancet. The researchers built a database of more than a thousand alcohol studies and data sources, as well as death and disability records from 195 countries and territories between 1990 and 2016. The goal was to estimate how alcohol affects the risk of 23 health problems. The number that jumped out, in the end, was zero. Anything more than that was associated with health risks. (Achenbach, 8/23)

The New York Times: Purveyors Of Juice-Box Style, Nicotine-Filled E-Liquids Quit Selling The Products
Makers of e-cigarette and vaping liquids like One Mad Hit Juice Box, V’Nilla Cookies & Milk, Unicorn Cakes and other products with packaging that could appeal to children have stopped selling them, according to the Food and Drug Administration. The agency said on Thursday that the 17 makers, distributors and sellers of nicotine-containing e-liquids for e-cigarettes had agreed to take the products off the market, after the agency issued a warning in May. (Kaplan, 8/23)

The Washington Post: HPV-Related Cancer Rates Are Rising. So Are Vaccine Rates — Just Not Fast Enough.
Cancers linked to the human papillomavirus have increased significantly over the last 15 years in the United States, with throat cancer now the most common HPV-related malignancy, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. More than 43,000 people developed HPV-associated cancer in 2015, compared with about 30,000 in 1999, the CDC said. (McGinley, 8/23)

NPR: How Patients React After Seeing Their Doctors' Notes About Them
One day this spring, an elderly patient of mine became upset with me because, she said, I had betrayed her trust. The issue was a short note I had written in her medical record about her difficult relationship with her child. The note was a reminder for me and anybody else in the hospital where I worked that the patient didn't have anyone who could accompany her to appointments. (Gordon, 8/23)

KCUR: KU Discovery Suggests New Approaches To Problem Of Antibiotic Resistance 
In their quest to understand how bacteria like E. coli and salmonella become antibiotic resistant, researchers at the University of Kansas have made a discovery that may hold important implications for future treatments. It turns out the types of proteins that help shield some bacteria cells from antibiotics may have evolved independently rather than from a common ancestor, as has been commonly thought. And that discovery may lead to a more refined approach to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. (Smith, 8/23)

Sacramento Bee: Lack Of Political Power Can Actually Make You Sick
It’s no coincidence that the people who have the least influence over California’s decision-makers also have the worst health outcomes. It’s also no surprise that the elite Californians whose interests are amplified by campaign contributions, high-paid lobbyists and electoral power are shielded from the random and deliberate causes of poor health. (Daniel Zingale, 8/23)

Stat: Sacha Baron Cohen Tried To Prank Francis Collins — And Science Won Out - STAT
Francis Collins did not take off his pants. To the contrary, he could sense something wasn’t quite right — perhaps immediately, when the heavyset and dubiously bearded man in a motorized scooter began an interview by asking: “Why are big agriculture putting chemicals into our food to make people transgender?” The man — who calls himself Billy Wayne Ruddick Jr., Ph.D. — was referring to trans fats. ... Collins, the NIH director, instead had become the latest public figure to fall victim to the pranks of Sacha Baron Cohen, a comedian who, as part of his new show “Who Is America?” has managed to convince a sitting member of Congress to endorse a program to arm toddlers for self-defense and a Georgia state lawmaker to bare his buttocks at a hypothetical ISIS attacker. (Facher, 8/24)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Cough Medicine UK: Cough Syrup, Honey, Antibiotics, Home Remedies
The medical uses for honey date back to the Stone Age, according to research published in the National Institutes of Health. Its antioxidant capacities have proved beneficial for individuals with some gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, inflammatory ailments and more. (Pirani, 8/23)

Stateline: Teen Xanax Abuse Is Surging
This school year, addiction specialists say they’re expecting an onslaught of teens addicted to Xanax and other sedatives in a class of anti-anxiety drugs known as benzodiazepines, or “benzos.” Many teens view Xanax as a safer and more plentiful alternative to prescription opioids and heroin — with similar euphoric effects. But addiction experts warn that the pills kids are taking, often found in their parents’ or grandparents’ medicine cabinets, can be just as deadly as opioids, especially when taken in combination with other drugs or alcohol. And it’s much harder to kick the habit. (Vestal, 8/24)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: How Do You Recognize An Opioid Overdose? City Offers Free Training Starting Thursday 
The New Orleans Heath Department is hosting a series of opioid overdose prevention trainings for the community starting Thursday evening (Aug. 23). The first training session will take place from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Norman Mayer Library, 3001 Gentilly Blvd. The event will cover facts and statistics about the opioid crisis in New Orleans as well as instruction on how to recognize an overdose, how to obtain and use naloxone, and how to find treatment options in the city. The trainings are free and open to the public. (Clark, 8/23)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Pharmacies Unclear On Narcan Laws To Reduce Opioid Overdoses
A lifesaving drug that can reverse a heroin or opioid overdose should be easily available at pharmacies across Wisconsin. But a survey of more than 450 pharmacies in the state turned up conflicting guidance from staff members when asked how to purchase naloxone, known by its brand name Narcan. (Luthern, 8/23)

Arizona Republic: Tucson Medical Center Sues Opioid Manufacturers Due To Overdose Costs
Citing the increasingly high cost of treating patients who suffer an opioid overdose, an Arizona hospital is suing more than two dozen pharmaceutical companies. Tucson Medical Center on Wednesday sued Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Cephalon Inc. and Purdue Pharma, among other manufacturers and distributors of opioids. (Innes, 8/23)

Kaiser Health News: Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ Opioids, EpiPens And Health Funding 
The Senate is still working, well into August – something it hasn’t done in years — and it’s debating the funding bill for the Department of Health and Human Services. There is a back-to-school shortage of EpiPens, needed by people with severe allergies to treat potentially life-threatening reactions, and the Food and Drug Administration is weighing in. And “reinsurance” is back in the picture. The Trump administration has granted permission for New Jersey and Maryland to create such programs aimed at helping bring down premiums in the individual insurance market by helping pay for the most expensive enrollees. (8/23)

The Associated Press: Report: Personnel Issues At Migrant Child Housing Facilities
Arizona health officials have spotted personnel records concerns at several facilities housing migrant children separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border. Arizona Department of Health Services officials on Thursday released the results of their inspections of 13 Southwest Key facilities after allegations surfaced last month of sex abuse at facilities in Glendale and Tucson. (8/23)

Arizona Republic: State Inspections Finds Southwest Key Didn't Background Some Employees
The state Department of Health Services on Thursday released the results of its snap inspections, launched after The Arizona Republic reported last month on allegations of sex abuse at facilities in Tucson and Glendale. Further reporting by The Republic and others, including ProPublica, uncovered other instances of abuse at the shelters, which intensified pressure to take a harder look at the operations. Gov. Doug Ducey voiced his concern last month. (Pitzi and Philip, 8/23)

Dallas Morning News: Did Nursing Homes Do Enough To Save Patients When Hurricane Harvey Hit? A Widow Wants Answers
Two nursing homes are once again under investigation by the state after they refused to evacuate during Hurricane Harvey and left frail residents wallowing in stinking, murky floodwaters. The state said it had initially closed its investigation in April when officials couldn’t reach staff members at the Port Arthur nursing homes because they haven’t reopened since the storm. But the Texas Health & Human Services Commission took a renewed interest in the facilities, owned by a Dallas company, after inquiries from The Dallas Morning News. (Emily and Branham, 8/23)

Stateline: Public Health Vs. Private Property In War On Lead
It was a precarious situation here: There was lead in the tap water, and the city had a year to begin replacing an estimated 17,000 lead pipes or else face millions in fines. Barred by state law from spending public money on private property, Pittsburgh in spring 2017 — nearly a year after the lead was first detected in July 2016 — began replacing sections of lead pipe running from the water main to curbs, leaving the part of each pipe running from the curb into homes untouched. But officials noticed an alarming trend: lead levels didn’t fall. Instead, they spiked, in some homes to more than six times the amount allowed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (Beitsch, 8/23)

Stat: Dartmouth Misconduct Case Highlights Mistreatment Of Junior Scientists 
The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice probably isn’t the most collegial of places these days. That’s because Dartmouth officials agreed with Samir Soneji, an associate professor at the New Hampshire university, that his colleague Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, a leading expert on cancer screening and overtreatment, used data that belonged to Soneji and a collaborator in California in a subsequent publication without even a hat tip. (Oransky and Marcus, 8/24)

Dallas Morning News: Measles Case Confirmed At Plano West Senior High School 
One case of measles has been confirmed at Plano West Senior High School, according to Collin County health officials. Collin County Health Care Services said in a release Thursday that anyone at the school from Aug. 14 to 16 could have come into contact with the highly contagious disease and that it was reviewing individual cases of exposure. People who may have been exposed, even those who are vaccinated against measles, should monitor for symptoms of the disease — rash, fever, cough, runny nose and eye redness — until Sept. 6, officials said. (Steele, 8/23)

Boston Globe: Measles Case Confirmed In Mass.; Others May Have Been Exposed At Logan Airport
State health authorities have confirmed a case of measles and are warning that others may have been exposed to the disease at Boston’s Logan Airport, among other locations in Massachusetts. In a statement, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health said the individual who was diagnosed with measles at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center “was in a number of locations that could have resulted in exposures to other people.” (McDonald, 8/23)

California Healthline: CalPERS Health Chief Wields The Power Of Data To Tame Costs
As prices for drugs and procedures soar, and health insurance premiums for employer-based and individual policies inexorably climb, more than are few people are asking: Is the health care industry spiraling out of control? Liana Bailey-Crimmins, a top official with California’s public employee benefits and retirement system (CalPERS), offered a simple response. “Yeah,” she said. (Leed Matthews, 8/23)

WBUR: Mass. Health Alert: Risk Of Recent Measles Exposures At Logan, Lexington Pool And Library, Hospital
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) has confirmed a case of measles which was diagnosed at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center (LHMC). ...Measles is very contagious and people who are not immune and visited the locations on the below specified dates may be at risk for developing measles or may now be developing symptoms of the disease. (Goldberg, 8/23)

Reuters: NY Health Officials Investigating Illnesses Linked To McDonald's Outlet
New York State health officials said on Thursday they were investigating reports of multiple illnesses potentially associated with a McDonald's Corp restaurant in Jamestown, NY. The state health department and the Chautauqua County Health Department said 22 individuals reported symptoms of nausea, vomiting or diarrhea and on being interviewed 15 said they had eaten various breakfast sandwiches at the McDonald's outlet between August 4-21. (Sampath, 8/23)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Mammograms Reach Under-Served Communities Through Milwaukee Clinic
[Lisa] Zochert, now a certified aromatherapist who works through Froedtert Hospital, gave hand massages to women last week at the Lisbon Avenue Health Center. Part of her practice was to sit and talk with the women who came in for screenings — some for their first mammograms ever. (Walter, 8/23)

Texas Tribune: Gov. Greg Abbott Names Courtney Phillips Executive Commissioner Of HHSC
Courtney Phillips is the new executive commissioner for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday. Phillips is currently the chief executive officer for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. She starts her role as commissioner Oct. 19. (Evans, 8/23)

The Associated Press: Fertility Doctor Who Used Own Sperm, Surrenders License
A retired Indianapolis fertility doctor who lied about using his own sperm to impregnate possibly dozens of women surrendered his medical license Thursday to a state board that also barred him from ever seeking its reinstatement. After an attorney for Dr. Donald Cline surrendered his expired license to the Indiana Medical Licensing Board, the 7-member panel voted to prohibit the 79-year-old Cline from ever applying for a license in Indiana again. (8/23)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF Health Director Garcia Forced To Resign Over Conflict-Of-Interest Allegations
San Francisco Public Health Director Barbara Garcia’s abrupt resignation Wednesday came after a months-long conflict-of-interest investigation into allegations that she had failed to disclose her wife’s income from an educational institution that had been awarded a million-dollar, sole-source contract with the health department, multiple sources have confirmed. (Matier and Ross, 8/23)

The Associated Press: Officials Report Whooping Cough Outbreak In Central Delaware
Public health officials are investigating an outbreak of whooping cough in central Delaware. Officials on Thursday advised residents to get vaccinated against the highly contagious disease, also known as pertussis. Officials say the investigation began in June when they learned of cases of whooping cough occurring among Kent County’s Amish population. (8/23)

Miami Herald: How And Where To Get Medical Marijuana In Florida
The Florida Department of Health Office of Medical Marijuana Use regulates and oversees where and how the drug is obtained. It also licenses Florida businesses to cultivate, process and dispense medical marijuana to qualified patients. Here are five steps on how to qualify for medical cannabis. (Madan, 8/23)

JAMA Oncology: Association Of Breast And Ovarian Cancers With Predisposition Genes Identified By Large-Scale Sequencing
In this study assessing whole-exome sequencing results from 11 416 patients with breast cancer, ovarian cancer, or both and 3988 controls, an increased risk of breast cancer was associated with PALB2, ATM, CHEK2, and MSH6 genes, whereas MSH6, RAD51C, TP53, and ATM genes were associated with an increased risk of ovarian cancer. (Lu et al, 8/16)

Commonwealth Fund: States Of Despair: A Closer Look At Rising State Death Rates From Drugs, Alcohol, And Suicide
In late June, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the most sweeping legislation yet aimed at combating opioid addiction and overdoses. Although the House bill has a ways to go before it becomes law, its passage reflected bipartisan cooperation, likely propelled by the depth of the problem. The opioid crisis has helped fuel a 51 percent increase in the combined death rate from drug overdoses, alcohol abuse, or suicide between 2005 and 2016. (Hayes, Radley and McCarthy, 8/9)

JAMA Internal Medicine: Association Of Nausea And Vomiting In Pregnancy With Prenatal Marijuana Use
Use of marijuana, an antiemetic, is increasing among pregnant women,1,2 and data from 2 small surveys3,4 indicate that women self-report using marijuana to alleviate nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (NVP). To date, only 1 epidemiologic study5 has examined whether women with NVP are at elevated risk of using marijuana. The study of 4735 pregnant women in Hawaii5 from 2009 through 2011 found that self-reported prenatal marijuana use was more prevalent among those with (3.7%) vs without (2.3%) self-reported severe nausea during pregnancy. (Young-Wolff et al, 8/20)

Health Affairs: Medicaid/CHIP Participation Reached 93.7 Percent Among Eligible Children In 2016
Children’s participation in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) rose by 5 percentage points between 2013 and 2016. As a result, 1.7 million fewer Medicaid/CHIP-eligible children were uninsured in 2016. Participation was lower among adults than among children, and nearly 6 million Medicaid-eligible adults were uninsured in 2016. (Haley et al, 8/6)

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation: One Year After The Storm: Texas Gulf Coast Residents’ Views And Experiences With Hurricane Harvey Recovery
On August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane near Rockport, Texas. Hovering over the region for days, the storm dropped record amounts of rainfall, and flooded over 300,000 structures, 500,000 cars, and caused damage in excess of $125 billion.1 In order to understand the needs and circumstances of vulnerable Texans affected by the hurricane, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Episcopal Health Foundation partnered to conduct two surveys of adults living in 24 counties along the Texas coast that were particularly hard-hit. (Hamel et al, 8/23)

JAMA Internal Medicine: Evaluating Shared Decision Making For Lung Cancer Screening
In this qualitative content analysis of 14 recorded and transcribed outpatient clinical encounters, the quality of shared decision making about lung cancer screening was poor, as rated by 2 independent observers using a validated shared decision making scale. Potential harms of screening were not adequately explained, and decision aids were not used. (Brenner et al, 8/13)

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation: Analysis: For Patients With Large Employer Coverage, About 1 In 6 Hospital Stays Includes An Out-Of-Network Bill
A new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of medical bills from large employer plans finds that a significant share of inpatient hospital admissions includes bills from providers not in the health plan’s networks, generally leaving patients subject to higher cost-sharing and potential additional bills from providers. Almost 18 percent of inpatient admissions result in non-network claims for patients with large employer coverage. Even when enrollees choose in-network facilities, 15 percent of admissions include a bill from an out-of-network provider, such as from a surgeon or an anesthesiologist.  These bills potentially expose enrollees to high out-of-pocket costs if these providers charge enrollees more than their plans pay for services.  This is typically referred to as “balance billing,” and can result in a “surprise” medical bill if a patient did not anticipate receiving care from an out-of-network provider. Health insurance plans also typically require higher patient cost-sharing for out-of-network claims. (8/13)

The New York Times: The Tax-Cut Con Goes On 
But if the G.O.P. hangs on, there will also be other, bread-and-butter consequences for ordinary Americans. First of all, there is every reason to believe that a Republican Congress, freed from the immediate threat of elections, would do what it narrowly failed to do last year, and repeal the Affordable Care Act. This would cause tens of millions of Americans to lose health insurance and would in particular hit those with pre-existing conditions. There’s a reason health care, not Trump, is the central theme of Democratic campaigns this year. But the attack on the social safety net probably wouldn’t stop with a rollback of Obama-era expansion: Longstanding programs, very much including Social Security and Medicare, would also be on the chopping block. Who says so? Republicans themselves. (Paul Krugman, 8/23)

Sacramento Bee: Single-Payer Health Care Shows That Democrats Can Be Extreme, Too
This insanity of the Trump Republican Party is obvious. But the irresponsibility of the Democratic left is quite troublesome: Free college, free health care, no fossil fuels, no statewide water system – on and on it goes. (David Townsend, 8/23)

Chicago Tribune: Medical GoFundMe Campaigns Are A Symptom Of A Sick Health Insurance System
If you spend any time on social media, you’re regularly subjected to touching yet ultimately numbing solicitations related to cancer, strokes, premature births, mental health crises, injuries, heart attacks, rare or chronic debilitating diseases and so on.vHere we are, in the richest, most technologically advanced nation in history, and our system for funding health care is so porous that we’ve turned hundreds of thousands of Americans into beggars rattling their digital tin cups and revealing their most intimate afflictions at their most vulnerable moments to try to avoid deep financial hardship or ruin for the “sin” of being unlucky. (Eric Zorn, 8/23)

The Hill: What The Government Doesn’t Understand About Health Care — Over-Regulation Kills 
It’s clear our government’s attempts to regulate health care have had the opposite effect of “do no harm” on patient outcomes. With a surplus of regulations, codes, and penalties on the books, health care professionals are unable to adequately service the patients they’ve devoted their careers to. As a result, patients are subjected to escalating costs and increasingly inadequate treatment across the board. (Mitra Rangarajan, 8/23)

San Jose Mercury News: Reject Prop. 8, Capping Dialysis Firms' Profits
Proposition 8 provides a classic example of a ballot measure that has no business being decided by California voters. The complex initiative designed to regulate the dialysis industry is better suited for the Legislature, where the wording of new laws can be thoroughly vetted and easily altered if problems arise. (8/23)

Los Angeles Times: Besty DeVos Might Let Schools Use Federal Grants To Buy Guns? That's Dangerously Foolish
So far this calendar year, the nation has seen 15 school shootings in which at least one person was killed. Overall, 32 people have died, including 10 people in May at Santa Fe High School near Houston, and 17 people in February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., according to a running tally kept by Education Week. Every such act of violence is tragic, and the scope of the mass shootings has shocked the nation. Against the greater backdrop of American gun violence, however — 5,627 non-suicide firearm deaths last year and 9,395 so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive — the risk of gun-wielders attacking schools is low. Yet some states, driven by the National Rifle Assn. mentality that a fully armed America is a safer America (it’s not), have passed laws allowing teachers and staffs at schools to carry or have access to firearms. (8/23)

The Washington Post: Arming Teachers With Federal Education Money? Are They Even Thinking?
How many public school teachers in the United States end up digging into their own pockets to pay for pencils, notebooks and other classroom supplies? Ninety-four percent of them, according to a survey published in May by the Education Department. Now that same department has a solution: Under the leadership — and we use that term guardedly — of Secretary Betsy DeVos, the department is actually thinking — yes, we use that term guardedly as well — of letting states use federal funds to buy guns for educators. (8/23)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Pro Whose Life?
Iowa recently passed a bill that will outlaw abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy, and there is concern that other states that have already moved to restrict reproductive rights, including Missouri, will attempt to emulate Iowa. This specific time was selected because it coincides with the ability to first detect a fetal heartbeat on ultrasound. The news made me remember a woman I had seen in consultation over a decade ago. She was in the 18th week of a pregnancy, which she already knew would tax the financial and personal resources of her family. An ultrasound scan had identified a brain malformation that was incompatible with a normal childhood. ...Their law flies in the face of half a century of medical ethics precedent. Since 1968, physicians — and all 50 states — have accepted that neurological function, not heartbeat, defines life. The specific neurological circuits that have been used to define life do not exist in a six-week embryo. (Steven Rothman, 8/22)

Bloomberg: Child Migrants Are Victims Of A Crime 
A crime was planned, then committed. Now, we’re waiting to learn if the U.S. criminal justice system has the capacity to punish the powerful perpetrators. That might sound like news about the Trump gang colluding with Russian agents or paying off a porn star in 2016. But due to the extraordinary nature of the Trump administration, those are not the only chains of events that could fit the description. It also describes the administration’s policy of separating children from their undocumented parents at the U.S. border with Mexico. (Francis Wilkinson, 8/23)

The Washington Post: The Child-Separation Crisis No One Sees
While America argued about whether the Trump administration was right to separate children at the border, a much larger child-separation crisis has gone almost entirely unremarked: in America’s foster-care system. And in this case, the problem is not that we’re taking too many children away from their parents. We’re not taking enough. (Naomi Schaefer Riley, 8/23)

The Hill: US Health-Care System Still Struggling To Address Impacts Of Mental Health On Overall Health
 In 1999, then-U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher issued a groundbreaking report that gave prominent attention to mental health and emotional well-being as cornerstones of health. Yet nearly 20 years later, our health-care system is still struggling to address the impact of mental health on overall health, particularly for those living in distressed communities. ...Science is increasingly revealing that the lifestyle choices we make today — and the lifestyle diseases so many Americans suffer from — are often driven by much earlier life events and childhood experiences. (David Woodlock, 8/23)

Stat: Professionalism Isn't Something Medical Students Absorb. It Must Be Taught 
Today more than ever, we need physicians who are committed to the principles of professionalism. The principles themselves are well-established: physicians must be altruistic, always putting their patients’ interests first and above their own; they must be committed to lifelong learning; they must be responsible for the quality of care that they and their colleagues deliver; and they must advocate for the well-being not only of their own patients but also the population at large. Yet medical educators haven’t always been methodical and diligent in teaching these tenets to the next generation of doctors. (David Rothman, 8/24)

The Hill: Opioid Master Settlement Agreement Must Fill More Than Potholes
Should the litigation against the opioid manufacturers result in a substantial financial settlement, the nation will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to truly make a difference in the lives of millions. Let’s not squander this important opportunity.With or without a Master Settlement, rather than continuing to rack up needless deaths and staggering costs, let’s start working now to implement proven solutions to end this crisis and improve the trajectory of how addiction is managed in this country. We cannot afford not to. (A. Thomas McLellan, 8/23)

Charlotte Observer: Wells Fargo’s Fight Against Medical Marijuana Could Go Up In Smoke
Kelly Alexander doesn’t bank at Wells Fargo. But if he did, he’d be yanking his account and moving to another bank after what Wells did to Nikki Fried in Florida. Rep. Alexander, a Mecklenburg Democrat, is perhaps the North Carolina legislature’s most outspoken proponent of legalizing medical marijuana. So he was outraged when Wells shut down Fried’s account because she advocates for medical marijuana and accepts campaign contributions from the industry as a candidate for Florida agriculture commissioner. (Taylor Batten, 8/22)

Lexington Herald: U.S. Prosecutors Fighting Kentucky Opioid Crisis
Our office has received additional resources to combat the drug threat facing our district. Earlier this month, the attorney general announced Operation Synthetic Opioid Surge. SOS is based on a successful initiative in Manatee County, Fla., where law enforcement aggressively prosecuted fentanyl-distribution cases, helping in the reduction of overdose death rates. Working in partnership with the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Lexington Police Department and the Fayette Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, we will aggressively prosecute cases involving the distribution of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids — because with these drugs, there is no such thing as a small case. (Robert M. Duncan Jr., 8/23)