Stat: Texas Judge Strikes Obamacare Provisions On Preventive Care
A federal judge Thursday reversed a major Obamacare provision requiring plans to cover preventive care ranging from cancer and chronic disease screenings to pregnancy care and certain drugs. The ruling could deal a massive blow to President Joe Biden’s moonshot goal of slashing cancer rates through early screenings. It also leaves the door open for insurers to refuse coverage of statins, drugs preventing HIV transmission known as PrEP, and a vast range of health screenings recommended by federal officials. It could also eventually threaten the Biden administration’s efforts to lower maternal and infant mortality rates and bolster reproductive rights in the wake of Roe’s overturn. (Owermohle, 3/30)

NBC News: Judge Strikes Down Obamacare Provisions Requiring Insurers Cover Some Preventive Care Services
In the decision, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor mentioned his previous ruling on the structure of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which was created under Obamacare and helps determine preventive services coverage, saying it violates the appointments clause of the Constitution and therefore its related preventive care mandates are unlawful. (Shabad, 3/30)

Politico: Texas Judge Strikes Down Free HIV Drugs, Cancer Screenings Under Obamacare 
The employers and individuals had standing to sue, Judge O’Connor wrote, because “compulsory coverage for those services violates their religious beliefs by making them complicit in facilitating homosexual behavior, drug use, and sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman.” The employers argued that recommendations made by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force can’t be enforced because its members are private medical experts who advise the government, not government employees. (Ollstein, 3/30)

KHN: Judge’s Decision Would Make Some No-Cost Cancer Screenings A Thing Of The Past
It is almost certain to be appealed, possibly by both sides: the conservative groups that brought the case and had hoped the decision would be broader, and the Biden administration, which supports the ACA. ... Now, the Department of Justice must decide whether to seek an emergency order putting the ruling on hold during the appeal process. (Appleby and Andrews, 3/30)

Reaction to the ruling —

Reuters: U.S. Judge Blocks Obamacare Coverage Mandate For Some Cancer Screenings, PrEP 
Major medical groups criticized the decision. American Medical Association President Jack Resneck called it "deeply flawed" and said that patients "will be subjected to needless illness and preventable deaths" as a result. Lisa Lacasse, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, said the ruling could have "huge implications" and make it more difficult to catch treatable cancers early. "We cannot emphasize enough how important screenings are for early detection of cancer," she said. (Pierson, 3/30)

Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Industry Reacts To Preventive Care Ruling
The American Hospital Association, Federation of American Hospitals and America's Essential Hospitals declined comment. Here are some of the statements issued in reaction to the court decision. (Turner, 3/30)

When will your coverage change? —

Axios: Don't Expect Big Changes To Insurance, Yet
Thursday's federal court ruling against the Affordable Care Act's preventive services requirement won't bring a seismic shift to employer-sponsored health care. But experts say it could well add new costs for the approximately 100 million privately insured people who use such services. The big picture: The ruling immediately removes a legal requirement of no-cost coverage for certain skin and lung cancer screenings, statins for heart disease, medications that prevent HIV and other services recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim writes. (Reed, 3/31)

The New York Times: Federal Judge Strikes Down Obamacare Requirement For Free Preventive Care 
The ruling, which is in the form of a nationwide injunction, takes effect immediately, said Lawrence O. Gostin, an expert on health policy at Georgetown University who has followed the case. It will affect a long list of preventive care services, he said, including services like screenings for heart disease, pap smears and tobacco cessation services. “It might be that tomorrow, a woman might wake up and find that her mammogram is not covered,” Mr. Gostin said, adding, “I think we forget what it was like before the Affordable Care Act, where we had to pay and it was unaffordable for basic primary health care services.” (Stolberg and Abelson, 3/30)

AP: Judge’s Ruling Undercuts US Health Law’s Preventive Care 
Experts cautioned that insurers are unlikely to stop any coverage immediately. The Biden administration was expected to appeal and seek a stay of the ruling. “This is not the potential fatal blow to the ACA like previous court cases, but it would limit a very popular benefit that tens of millions of people use,” said Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. (Weber, 3/30)

The Washington Post: Texas Judge Invalidates ACA Promise Of Free Preventive Health Services 
Insurers don’t typically revise their plans’ offerings in the middle of a calendar year, an effort that would be logistically complex. Still, some experts said nothing would preclude an insurer from doing so. And some predicted that, in coming years, insurers might keep covering preventive benefits but impose co-pays or deductibles. (Goldstein, 3/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: Federal Judge's Ruling Against Affordable Care Act Won't Affect Californians, State Commissioner Says
A federal judge's ruling Thursday against the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that insurers cover preventive health screenings for cancer, mental illness and other conditions won't affect most Californians because state law mandates that coverage for state-regulated insurers, said Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara. (Egelko, 3/30)

Also —

KHN: KHN's 'What the Health?': A Judicial Body Blow To The ACA
Opponents of the Affordable Care Act may have stopped trying to overturn the entire law in court, but they have not stopped challenging pieces of it — and they have found an ally in Fort Worth, Texas: U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor. In 2018, O’Connor held that the entire ACA was unconstitutional — a ruling eventually overturned by the Supreme Court. Now the judge has found that part of the law’s requirement for insurers to cover preventive care without copays violates a federal religious freedom law. (3/30)

The Washington Post: Medicaid Benefits Ending For Millions As Pandemic Protections Unwind 
At the end of this week, states will begin to sever an anticipated 15 million low-income Americans from Medicaid rolls that ballooned to record heights because of a pandemic-era promise that people with the health insurance could keep it — a federal promise that is going away. The end to the temporary guarantee that preserved the safety-net health coverage for the past three years saddles every state with an immense undertaking: sorting out which Medicaid beneficiaries actually belong. Around the country, officials have been preparing for months, but the result is a bumpy landscape consisting of states that vary in how ready they are for this daunting work. (Goldstein, 3/29)

States tell people not to panic as they brace for big changes —

KOMU: Medicaid Annual Renewal Approaches: MO Family Support Division Asks For 'No Panic'
Starting Saturday, April 1, the Missouri Family Support Division (FSD) will restart its annual Medicaid renewal, after a three-year pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Beneficiaries are now required to update their address information and keep up with the renewal deadlines. ... Kim Evans, the FSD director, said her department is working to assure the community has all the needed information to help for a smooth process. She understands the amount of information can be hard to keep track of but advised Missourians to avoid panicking. “We want those individuals to be aware of the coverage options available to them, so that they can continue to have health care coverage, even if it’s not under [the] MO HealthNet umbrella,” she said. (de Carvalho, 3/30)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: End Of Pandemic Relief To Oust Hundreds Of Thousands From Georgia Medicaid
On April 1, the clock starts ticking for hundreds of thousands of poor, disabled or elderly Georgians who face the loss of their Medicaid health insurance. The majority are children. For three years, no one enrolled in the government program has had to renew their paperwork to prove that they still qualified. Existing cases automatically stayed on, and new enrollees were added in droves during the pandemic. The Medicaid rolls in Georgia swelled by 41%, according to the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. (Hart, 3/29)

AP: New Mexico Seeks To Avoid Coverage Gap For Medicaid Patients 
A federal pandemic-related requirement that states offer continuous health care coverage for Medicaid recipients is coming to an end, meaning nearly 980,000 people in New Mexico will have to renew coverage when their applications are due, officials said Thursday. Officials with the state Human Services Department are urging people to renew their applications to avoid having a gap in health care coverage. The first batch of recipients will be receiving bright turquoise envelopes in the mail in the coming days as part of the state’s awareness campaign. (3/30)

DC News Now: Medicaid Renewals No Longer Automatic April 1; How To Ensure Coverage 
Tens of millions of Americans with Medicaid coverage will have to reenroll for health insurance coverage this weekend, prompting health officials to share ways to ensure people in the DMV who are part of that group continue to have coverage. While nationwide efforts are underway to notify people who need to take immediate action , not everyone may know how to keep their coverage. Eight-five million Medicaid recipients no longer will be automatically reenrolled in the insurance program, a pandemic era policy ending March 31. (Dennis, 3/30)

Fox8.com: Are You One Of 200K Ohioans Losing Medicaid In April? What To Know And What To Do
About 220,000 Ohioans are expected to lose Medicaid benefits they were allowed to keep during the pandemic, starting in April. ... Ohio’s benefits renewal process started back up on Feb. 1 after three years on hiatus, meaning Ohioans who are still eligible will need to check in with the state and make sure their information is up-to-date, and those who are no longer eligible will need to find new insurance. (Dennis, 3/28)

WPXI: Advocates Raise Concerns About Medicaid Cut-Offs
Health care advocates raised concerns over whether the state is equipped to adequately review renewals for the 3.7 million people who are currently on Medicaid. “We’re extremely concerned about whether there is sufficient staff and resources to handle this high volume of renewals,” said Amy Lowenstein, Director of Policy, Pennsylvania Health Law Project. (Kilmer, 3/28)

In other news about Medicaid coverage —

KHN: In Texas, Medicaid Coverage Ends Soon After Childbirth. Will Lawmakers Allow More Time?
Victoria Ferrell Ortiz learned she was pregnant during summer 2017. The Dallas resident was finishing up an AmeriCorps job with a local nonprofit, which offered her a small stipend to live on but no health coverage. She applied for Medicaid so she could be insured during the pregnancy. “It was a time of a lot of learning, turnaround, and pivoting for me, because we weren’t necessarily expecting that kind of life change,” she said. (Rivera, 3/31)

Politico: Sex Ed, Birth Control, Medicaid: Republicans’ ‘New Pro-Life Agenda’ 
Republicans in staunchly conservative states are championing some atypical legislation this session — promoting sex education, government welfare and more birth control. The proposals are part of what some governors and lawmakers have referred to as a “new pro-life agenda” for the post-Roe era — one that is increasingly breaking with their party’s socially conservative approach to maternal and reproductive health in favor of one more commonly pushed by Democrats. (Messerly, 3/30)

USA Today: House Democrats Introduce Bill That Would Enshrine Federal Abortion Rights
House Democrats on Thursday reintroduced the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would enshrine federal abortion rights, among other protections to abortion access. The bill, re-introduced in the House for the seventh time, would legally protect providing and accessing abortion care nationwide for patients and abortion providers. It also includes proposed protections for interstate travel for abortion care, as well as for people who assist others in accessing abortion care. (Fernando, 3/30)

The Guardian: Jeffries To The GOP: 'Back Up Off The Women Of America'
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries kicked off the press conference introducing the Women’s Health Protection Act by taking aim at “extreme Maga Republicans” he said want to control women’s health care choices. “The Women’s Health Protection Act is so critical because extreme Maga Republicans want to impose a nationwide abortion ban. We’re gonna stop them,” Jeffries said. “Extreme Republicans want to criminalize abortion care across the nation. We’re gonna stop them.” (Stein, 3/30)

Abortion news from Maryland, Florida, Idaho, and Illinois —

AP: Maryland Voters To Decide Abortion Constitutional Amendment 
Maryland voters will decide next year whether to enshrine the right to abortion in the Maryland Constitution, after the House of Delegates voted Thursday to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot. The House voted 98-38 for a bill that already has cleared the state Senate by the three-fifths margin needed to bring the question before voters in 2024. A simple majority would be needed by voters to approve it. (Witte, 3/30)

CBS News: Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody Says Abortion Precedents Are 'Clearly Erroneous'
As lawmakers consider barring abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, Attorney General Ashley Moody's office late Wednesday urged the Florida Supreme Court to reject more than three decades of legal precedents that have protected abortion rights in the state. (3/30)

Idaho Statesman: As Doctors Flee State, Idaho Bill Expands Exceptions For Abortion. Health Isn’t One Of Them
In an effort to address complaints about an exodus of Idaho physicians, who fear felony charges for providing pregnancy care, an Idaho bill would add exceptions to the state’s abortion ban. But pregnancies that cause health risks isn’t one of them. (Suppe, 3/30)

Chicago Tribune: Evanston Police Department Looks To Restrict Abortion Investigations
The Evanston Police Department is looking to provide enhanced reproductive health protections by vowing to restrict outside agencies from investigating reproductive health issues within EPD’s jurisdiction, Commander Ryan Glew told City Council on March 27. (Schmidt, 3/28)

CNN: Mysterious Hepatitis Outbreak In Kids In 2022 Linked To Common Childhood Respiratory Virus, Studies Suggest
An outbreak of acute severe, unexplained hepatitis in previously healthy children in 2022 may be linked to adeno-associated virus 2, or AAV2, according to three independent studies published Thursday in the journal Nature. Between April and July 2022, more than 1,000 children worldwide – at least 350 of them in the United States – were diagnosed with hepatitis, a disease involving liver inflammation, with no known cause. Nearly 50 needed liver transplants, and 22 children died, according to the World Health Organization. (Chavez, 3/30)

NBC News: Possible Culprit Identified In Outbreak Of Severe Liver Damage Cases In Children
But importantly, the researchers found that AAV2 didn’t appear to be acting alone. It needed “helper” viruses — other infections — to get into liver cells. Multiple co-infections “was an unexpected finding,” said senior study author Dr. Charles Chiu, director of the University of California-San Francisco’s Clinical Microbiology Laboratory. In 75% of the cases, researchers found evidence of infection with at least three viruses at the same time. In about a third of the cases, there was evidence of four viruses. (Edwards, 3/30)

The New York Times: Studies Link Common Childhood Viruses To Rare Hepatitis Cases 
Although the idea remains speculative, the timing of the outbreak may have been related to the loosening of pandemic precautions, leaving large numbers of young children exposed to common viruses they had not previously encountered. (Anthes, 3/30)

In updates on mpox —

CIDRAP: US Tops 1 Million Mpox Vaccine Doses Given, But Coverage Lags In Risk Groups
In its latest snapshot on the nation's mpox vaccine campaign, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said though more than 1 million doses have been given, only 23% of the at-risk population is fully covered with two doses. In other developments, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today in its latest global update that cases continue to decline, except for in the Western Pacific region. (Schnirring, 3/30)

And a traveling display of mummies might be a biohazard —

AP: Mexican Experts Say Mummy Exhibit May Pose Health Risks 
Mexican government experts said Thursday they are concerned that a traveling display of mummies from the 1800s may pose a health risk to the public. The preserved corpses were unintentionally mummified when they were buried in crypts in dry, mineral-rich soil in the state of Guanajuato. Some still have hair, leathery skin and their original clothing. But the National Institute of Anthropology and History said in a statement that one of the mummies also appears to have fungal growths. (3/31)

CIDRAP: Study Identifies SARS-CoV-2 Variants With Antiviral Resistance Mutations
A study conducted by US and Austrian researchers has identified SARS-CoV-2 variants with resistance to widely used antiviral treatments. The study, published yesterday in Science Advances, found that several naturally occurring variants of Mpro, the main protease of SARS-CoV-2 that is essential for virus replication and is the main target of antivirals, carry amino acid mutations that confer resistance to nirmatrelvir (the main component of Paxlovid) and ensitrelvir, which received regulatory approval in Japan in February. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that these variants predate the use of these drugs, have appeared multiple times independently in different parts of the world, and are capable of spreading. (Dall, 3/30)

More on the spread of covid —

Los Angeles Times: Hollywood To Drop COVID Safety Measures As Federal Emergency Declaration Ends
Key protocols used on film and TV sets to limit the spread of COVID-19 are set to end in May, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) said in a statement Thursday. (Sakoui, 3/30)

The Boston Globe: SJC Rules Mayor Wu Had The Authority To Require Municipal Workers To Get The COVID-19 Vaccine
The state’s highest court on Thursday handed a victory to Mayor Michelle Wu in her legal battle with city unions over her vaccine mandate, ruling the city of Boston had proper authority in December 2021 to require municipal workers to get inoculated against COVID-19. (Andersen, 3/30)

Fox News: COVID Vaccine Fatigue: Study Explores Why Many Are Refusing Booster Shots
As the world continues to move toward a post-pandemic life — and as the World Health Organization (WHO) recently predicted that COVID-19 will end in 2023 as a public health emergency — Americans may have reached a state of "vaccine fatigue," data suggests. (Rudy, 3/30)

CIDRAP: COVID During Pregnancy Might Raise Obesity Risk In Children
A study of about 150 babies born to women who had COVID-19 during pregnancy found growth patterns that have been linked to developing obesity and other health problems. A research team based at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) reported their findings yesterday in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. (Schnirring, 3/30)

CNN: Prescriptions For ADHD Treatments Surged During The Covid-19 Pandemic, CDC Report Shows
Prescriptions for stimulants often used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder surged during the pandemic, especially among adults, a new study found. The finding comes as one common ADHD treatment, Adderall, has been in shortage for months, in part because of high demand. (McPhillips, 3/30)

The Washington Post: ADHD Drugs Such As Adderall Spiked Among Adults In Pandemic, CDC Finds
The study’s authors said the mental health impact of the pandemic may have exacerbated ADHD symptoms, while a federal effort to make it easier to get medical care online may have increased access to prescription stimulants. “The combination of potential increased need and reduced barriers to access prescription stimulants might have encouraged more adults with ADHD symptoms to seek diagnosis and treatment,” the authors wrote. Although that might have benefited those with such symptoms, “it might also have introduced the potential for inadequate ADHD evaluations and inappropriate stimulant prescribing,” they added. (Gilbert, 3/30)

In other pharmaceutical news —

Reuters: Biden Admin Urges Supreme Court To Hear 'Skinny Labels' Case Between Teva, GSK
The Biden Administration told the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday that it should agree to hear a patent appeal over drug labels involving Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc and GlaxoSmithKline LLC that could have significant ramifications for the generic-drug industry. The U.S. Solicitor General said Teva's generic version of GSK's heart drug Coreg could not have violated GSK's patent rights because Teva omitted the infringing use of the drug from its labeling. (Brittain, 3/30)

Stat: PBMs Switch Tactics, But The Outcome Is The Same: High Prices
Prescription drug middlemen are shifting away from rebates that have been blamed in part for rising brand drug list prices and are using new tactics, including charging drugmakers and pharmacists increasingly larger administrative fees and overcharging for generics. But the outcome is the same for taxpayers and anyone in need of expensive medicines: higher costs. The changes came to light at a Senate Finance Committee hearing Thursday on the impact of PBMs on drug costs — a meeting that made it clear both parties are considering reining in common industry practices. (Wilkerson, 3/30)

The Washington Post: Pharmacists Are Burning Out. Patients Are Feeling The Effects
When Christopher Duke’s frail, elderly patient needed her blood pressure prescription refilled last year, she did what she always does — she called Duke, a physician in Chevy Chase, Md. No problem, Duke told her, he would call it in to a nearby pharmacy. But there was a problem — because Duke couldn’t get anyone to answer his calls. Instead, he ran up against a frustrating new reality at many drugstores, especially those in big chains: As essential jobs at retail outlets go unfilled, and hours are reduced at many chains, the likelihood of spotty service and potential mistakes at pharmacies has grown. (Kaufman, 3/30)

Stat: Geneticists Report Potent New Tool: A Targeted Protein Delivery Device
Mark Hurst just wanted to kill some bugs. A newly credentialed bacteriologist working for the New Zealand government in the early 2000s, his job was to invent new and exciting weapons in the war against grass grubs, the squishy, ectoplasmic beetle larvae that had long bedeviled the islands’ farmers. (Mast, 3/29)

USA Today: FBI: Mandalay Bay Shooter In Las Vegas Who Killed 58 Was Angry About How Casinos Treated Him
A trove of documents recently released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation show that the shooter who killed 58 people at a Las Vegas concert in 2017 was "very upset" about how casinos were treating him. The documents provide the strongest indication yet of a motive for the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. Stephen Paddock, 64, a regular gambler who had a penchant for video poker, killed himself at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino before he could be apprehended. The documents provide the most detailed look to date into Paddock's possible motive and gambling habits, delving into the weeks and years before he fired from his 32nd-floor windows into a crowd of 22,000 people at the Route 91 Harvest Festival. (Abdollah, 3/30)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nevada Leaders React To FBI Records On Oct. 1 Shooter
Members of Nevada’s congressional delegation and other elected officials urged lawmakers to pass gun legislation in response to the FBI records that provide new insight into the Oct. 1, 2017, mass shooting in Las Vegas. (Hill, 3/30)

More on the gun violence epidemic —

The Guardian: Tennessee Governor Fails To Mention Gun Control In Message After Shooting
The Republican governor of Tennessee called for compassion and an end to mass violence but pointedly declined to mention guns or gun control in a message to his state after three nine-year-old children and three adults were shot dead at a Christian school in Nashville. (Conroy, 3/29)

Politico: Florida Lawmakers Hand DeSantis Political Win On Guns
The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature on Thursday voted to let gun owners in the nation’s third most populous state carry guns without a state permit, delivering on a campaign promise by Gov. Ron DeSantis as he ramps up his expected run for president. DeSantis, who was promoting his new book at a Georgia sporting goods store that bills itself as the world’s largest gun store, vowed to act quickly on the legislation. (Fineout, 3/30)

CNN: Most States Get An 'F' On Gun Laws This Year In New Analysis By Advocacy Group
Most US states get a failing grade on gun laws, according to a new scorecard published by the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The group advocates for stricter gun laws as a way to save lives. (Wolf, 3/31)

More mental health news —

The Washington Post: Social Media Is Addictive For Many Girls, Especially Those With Depression 
Nearly half of adolescent girls on TikTok feel addicted to it or use the platform for longer than they intend, according to a report that looks at social media as a central facet of American girlhood. TikTok leads the way in total time on its platform, with girls who use it logging more than 2.5 hours a day, according to researchers from Brown University and the nonprofit Common Sense Media. But YouTube is only a bit behind, at nearly 2.5 hours, with Snapchat and messaging apps at about two hours, and Instagram at 92 minutes. Many of the girls surveyed, ages 11 to 15, use multiple platforms each day. (St. George, 3/30)

AP: US Navy Deploys More Chaplains For Suicide Prevention 
Mental health problems, especially among enlisted men under 29, mirror concerns in schools and colleges, which are also increasingly tapping campus ministry for counseling. The isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated depression and anxiety for many. But chaplains, civilian counselors, families of suicide victims, and sailors from commodores to the newly enlisted say these struggles pose unique challenges and security implications in the military, where suicides have risen for most of the past decade and took the lives of 519 service members in 2021, per the latest Department of Defense data. (Dell'Orto, 3/30)

Bloomberg: Less Than Half Of US Workers Use All Their Vacation Days
Spring break is here, and summer vacations are just around the bend. But while increasingly stressed-out US workers say having paid time off is critical, many still don’t even take all that they’re allowed. (Boyle, 3/30)

AP: North Dakota Governor Vetoes Transgender Pronouns Bill
North Dakota’s Republican governor vetoed a bill that would generally prohibit public schools teachers and staff from referring to transgender students by pronouns other than those reflecting the sex assigned to them at birth. The state Senate voted 37-9 to override the veto Thursday afternoon, just hours after Gov. Doug Burgum’s office announced his decision. The House, which will convene Friday, must still vote on the override, The Bismarck Tribune reported. (Stafford, 3/30)

Houston Chronicle: Exemption For Current Patients Added To Texas Ban On Transgender Care
A bipartisan amendment to a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors would create an exception for those who have been on the medications for 90 days prior to the bill’s effective date. (Goldenstein, 3/30)

Politico: Florida Proposal Targets Transgender Bathroom Use 
Republican lawmakers in Florida this week introduced legislation that could make it a misdemeanor offense for someone to use certain bathrooms that don’t align with their sex at birth, joining conservatives across the country on an issue that opponents say unfairly targets LGBTQ people. Named the “Safety in Private Spaces Act,” lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced similar bills that require that people use restrooms and changing facilities according to their sex assigned at birth at places like schools and restaurants. Legislators state in the proposal that the aim is to maintain “public safety, decency, and decorum.” Democrats and LGBTQ advocates oppose the idea, claiming it could spur vigilante “potty police” who feel empowered to harass transgender and queer people in facilities across the state. (Atterbury, 3/30)

The New York Times: Nebraska’s Fight Over Transgender Care Turns Personal And Snarls Lawmaking 
Ash Homan, a 12-year-old from Omaha, spoke confidently as he urged Nebraska lawmakers not to ban transition-related care for transgender minors. “People introducing and passing these laws underestimate how much a child knows about their own body and about their own brain,” Ash, a transgender boy, testified during a hearing early this year that kicked off a vitriolic fight that has all but paralyzed legislative work in Nebraska during the past month. (Londono, 3/30)

Stat: Telehealth Rule Change Threatens Trans Health Care Access
As states across the U.S. introduce anti-trans legislation, transgender and nonbinary people face increasing restrictions in their ability to access gender-affirming care. Now experts say the government’s plans to end the Covid public health emergency on May 11 could further jeopardize the health and safety of trans people across the country. “These targeted political attacks … are another public health emergency,” Crystal Beal, a physician and founder and CEO of telemedicine provider QueerDoc, said at a media briefing on Thursday. “Couple these with the end of the public health emergency, and more trans people will die.” (Gaffney, 3/31)

Also —

AP: Maryland Votes To Expand Medicaid Gender-Affirming Care 
Maryland lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to expanding procedures relating to gender-affirming care that are covered by the state’s Medicaid program. The 93-39 vote by the House of Delegates sends the measure to Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat who has said he will sign the bill. The state’s Medicaid program currently limits gender-affirming care to a handful of procedures, such as mental health services for gender dysphoria, continuous hormone replacement therapy, and gender reassignment surgery. (Witte, 3/30)

Axios: These U.S. States Push To Protect Transgender Care
While Republican politicians in some states work to limit gender-affirming care for transgender young people, a number of Democratic-controlled legislatures are doing the opposite. What's happening: Democratic lawmakers in more than a dozen states, including Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Minnesota and Vermont, want to shield patients and providers. (Van Oot and Santos, 3/31)

ABC News: Queer And Trans Youth Plan March In The Streets In 49 States Amid Anti-LGBTQ Attacks 
Several months after Samira, a 16-year-old Florida transgender girl, began taking gender-affirming hormones, the Florida medical board’s ban on transgender youth healthcare stopped her in her tracks. “The day before the policy passed for real, I was dropped from my provider suddenly, without notice, and had to scramble to get a meeting to get that cleared up,” Samira told ABC News in an interview. (Alfonseca, 3/31)

Modern Healthcare: ViVE 2023: 5 Takeaways On ChatGPT, Data Privacy And More
Digital health companies and investors flocked to Nashville, Tennessee, this week for the second annual ViVE conference. Hot topics among the crowd of 7,500 included worries about being "creepy," the economy and whether ChatGPT is as good as its buildup. Here were five takeaways. (Perna, 3/30)

Modern Healthcare: Google, Salesforce Ventures Back ER Startup For $20M 
Venture capital funds from Google and Salesforce led the seed investment round for newly-launched startup Florence, a software company aimed at hospital emergency rooms. (Turner, 3/30)

Modern Healthcare: CVS-Oak Street Health Deal Clears DOJ, FTC Antitrust Hurdles
The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission allowed the antitrust waiting period to lapse on Monday without taking action to prevent the two companies from combining, Chicago-based primary care provider Oak Street reported in a filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday. That doesn't prevent those regulators from taking action at a later time, but it does clear the way for the deal to advance. CVS Health and Oak Street submitted the required paperwork to the Justice Department and the FTC on Friday, Oak Street informed the SEC. (Berryman, 3/30)

Crain's Chicago Business: Illinois Medicare Fraud Case Results In $25M Fine For Healthcare Exec
A federal judge has ordered the former owner of a Matteson, Illinois home-visiting-physician company to pay more than $25 million in damages and penalties for more than 4,000 violations of the False Claims Act. (Asplund, 3/30)

KHN: Readers And Tweeters Are Horrified By Harm Tied To Dental Device 
KHN gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories. (3/31)

The Washington Post: A Green Beret’s Cancer Changed Military Malpractice Law. His Claim Still Got Denied
When he was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer in 2017 at the age of 36, Richard Stayskal was stunned. The Army Green Beret had undergone chest scans earlier that year for dive school and was told the results were normal. Then he discovered that his military hospital had misread the exams and failed to recognize the early-stage tumor in his upper right lung. Stayskal wanted to sue for malpractice. But another shock awaited him: A decades-old Supreme Court decision banned military malpractice lawsuits, declaring that the government was not liable for injuries to service members on active duty. So Stayskal lobbied Congress — and had a new law named in his honor. (Shapira, 3/29)

NerdWallet: Millennial Money: Manage The Costs Of A Chronic Condition 
For millennials with chronic medical conditions — or those raising kids with chronic conditions — health care can be an enormous monthly expense. About 44% of older millennials born between 1981 and 1988 have at least one chronic health condition, including migraines, major depression and asthma, according to a 2021 survey of over 4,000 adults conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of CNBC Make It. And many millennials are also caring for children with complicated medical needs. Expenses can include doctor’s visits, tests and prescription drugs, plus indirect costs that may result from missing work. But there are ways to keep health care costs lower, including taking advantage of a flexible spending account or health savings account, comparing pharmacy prices on medications and using a care manager through your insurance. Here are some strategies to try. (Ashford, 3/28)

The Washington Post: After A 1935 Tragedy, A Priest Vowed To Teach Kids About Menstruation
Nine decades ago, a 13-year-old girl’s death by suicide after getting her first period sparked an effort to educate kids about their bodies to prevent fear and confusion — a once-settled issue that new legislation in Florida is resurfacing. That teenage girl in 1935, who had never been taught about menstruation, thought her period was a “terribly shameful, retributive disease,” says one account of the history. The fact that this British girl who believed she had a venereal disease had no one to teach her about her body, and no one to talk to, deeply impacted Chad Varah, the 23-year-old deacon who officiated her burial. (Javaid, 3/25)

The Atlantic: To Understand Anti-Vaxxers, Consider Aristotle
Among the many difficulties imposed upon America by the pandemic, the scourge of anti-vaccine sentiment—and the preventable deaths caused as result—ranks among the most frustrating, especially for infectious-disease doctors like me. (Simon, 3/28)

The Washington Post: Irvo Otieno’s Last Days: How A Mental Health System ‘Completely Failed’ 
Irvo Otieno’s mother was on the phone, trying to get a doctor’s help for her son’s latest mental health crisis, when she noticed the 28-year-old had left their house and begun plucking solar lights from her neighbors’ yard and knocking on their door. Caroline Ouko hung up and hurried over to get him on March 3, but soon noticed about 12 police officers arrayed across her front yard in the Richmond suburbs with stun guns drawn. Henrico County law enforcement had been summoned by the neighbor, who reported a burglary, police said. (Jouvenal, Vozzella, Heim and Rizzo, 3/25)

Reuters: Ukraine Needs More Prosthetics Clinicians As War Toll Mounts 
Experts say Ukraine will need big investment in infrastructure and staff to deal with amputees needing help for years to come: a lower limb prosthetic can cost anywhere from $500 to as much as $70,000 for more sophisticated equipment. The number of prostheses paid for by Ukraine's Ministry of Social Policy jumped more than 15% to 13,219 in 2022 from a year earlier, according to previously unreported ministry data. (Grover and Bern, 3/28)

The New York Times: The Incredible Challenge Of Counting Every Global Birth And Death
The world’s wealthiest nations are awash in so much personal data that data theft has become a lucrative business and its protection a common concern. From such a vantage point, it can be difficult to even fathom the opposite — a lack of any identifying information at all — let alone grapple with its implications. But the undercounting of human lives is pervasive, data scientists say. The resulting ills are numerous and consequential, and recent history is littered with missed opportunities to solve the problem. (Interlandi, 3/29)

The New York Times: How Did No-Mandate Sweden End Up With Such An Average Pandemic? 
If you know one thing about Sweden’s pandemic, it is almost certainly that the country followed a radical, contrarian public health path. Its hands-off approach to Covid-19 mitigation — no stay-at-home orders to begin with, and no mask mandates later on — was one that many on the pandemic left quickly derided as sadistic public policy and many on the pandemic right praised as enlightened. (David Wallace-Wells, 3/30)

The Washington Post: The Great Medicaid Purge Begins 
The Great Medicaid Purge begins this weekend. Starting at midnight Saturday, the first of an expected 15 million people will be kicked off Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). (Catherine Rampell, 3/30)

The Washington Post: The GOP Is Playing Catch-Up On Health Care. It Needs Some Fresh Ideas. 
Just a few years ago, Republicans were clamoring to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Today, not only has opposition to the law largely disappeared from the party’s messaging, but some Republican states are using it to expand Medicaid, as North Carolina did this week. (Henry Olsen, 3/30)

Houston Chronicle: Health Care Costs More In The U.S. So Why Are We Less Healthy?
Between 1980 and 2020, national health expenditures, paid by government, business, and families, increased from $253 billion (8.9 percent of the United States' gross domestic product) to $4.1 trillion (19.7 percent of GDP). But what results did we see as we ramped up spending over 40 years? (Elena Marks, 3/31)

The New Republic: It’s 2023, And Conservatives Are Still Trying To Sue Obamacare Out Of Existence 
It is with a heavy heart that I must report that Judge Reed O’Connor is at it again. The Texas-based federal judge struck down a major part of the Affordable Care Act on Thursday, this time targeting a provision that required health insurers to cover certain preventive care measures at no cost. (Matt Ford, 3/30)

The Star Tribune: Defunding Abortion Myths Would Benefit Women
The Positive Pregnancies Act, a bill before the Minnesota Legislature that would reform the state's program for the funding of crisis pregnancy centers, has drawn attention to a host of pressure tactics deployed by the state-funded antiabortion facilities through a program established under the Republican administration of former Gov. Tim Pawlenty. (Paul John Scott, 3/30)

Dallas Morning News: Texas Fentanyl Fight Is Getting Bipartisan Support
There are few issues so pressing now as protecting Texans from fentanyl overdoses. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data shows that fentanyl-related overdoses in our state rose by 399% between 2019 and 2021. (3/31)