The Hill: Dem Leaders, Progressives Struggle Over Medicare For All 
Democratic leaders in the House are offering warnings about the high cost of Medicare for all, underscoring concerns in the party about moving forward with the single-payer healthcare proposal. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in an interview with Rolling Stone published last week said moving to a single-payer health system was the simplest way to bring about universal healthcare, but then noted an estimated $30 trillion cost. (Sullivan, 3/8)

The Hill: House Dems Renew Push For Funding Gun Violence Research At CDC 
House Democrats are poised to approve new funding for gun violence research in the face of what they say is a “public health emergency” killing thousands of Americans every year. If successful, it would be the first time in nearly 20 years that Congress has funded gun violence research after an amendment passed in the 1990s discouraged federal agencies from studying the issue. (Hellmann, 3/7)

CQ: Puerto Rico Aid Among Issues Complicating Disaster Bill Talks
The size and scope of a disaster aid package has become a flashpoint as Senate appropriators construct a supplemental spending bill they hope to move quickly. The fight appears to be between Democrats who want additional aid for Puerto Rico and states ravaged by 2017 storms, while Republicans are attempting to keep the bill contained to rebuilding from disasters that struck last year. (Mejdrich, 3/7)

Reuters: Senator Blumenthal Seeks Criminal Investigation Of Shoddy Military Housing
U.S. senators demanded accountability for slum-like housing conditions on military bases across the country Thursday, with one calling for a criminal investigation of private landlords granted vast power over tenant housing. "There are clear indications of fraud," Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal said during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, drawing applause from the crowd. "I would recommend that these issues be referred to the United States Department of Justice." (Januta, Nelson and Pell, 3/7)

The Associated Press: Military Leaders Apologize For Problems In Family Housing
Top leaders of the U.S. military services apologized to Congress on Thursday for allowing substandard living conditions in military family housing. They acknowledged failing to have fully understood the problem earlier and promised to fix it. At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, the civilian and uniformed leaders of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps laid blame largely on the private contractors who built the homes and are obliged to keep them in good repair. The officials vowed to renegotiate the long-term, multibillion-dollar contracts to ensure more accountability. (Burns, 3/7)

The Washington Post: Health Advocates Worry About An FDA Without Scott Gottlieb
Scott Gottlieb, one of the most activist Food and Drug Administration commissioners in recent years, pushed ideas such as banning menthol in cigarettes and packaging opioids in small blister packs to prevent overuse. Those ideas seemed more startling because he was part of an anti-regulatory, pro-business administration. Now, with his surprise resignation, public health advocates are anxious about the fate of some of his more ambitious initiatives, whether his successor will embrace them — and whether the agency will get a permanent successor at all. (McGinley and Bernstein, 3/7)

Kaiser Health News: Podcast: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’ What’s Next For The FDA?
The resignation of Scott Gottlieb as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration caught many FDA watchers by surprise. Gottlieb has been an active regulator in a very anti-regulatory Trump administration. Unlike many Trump officials, Gottlieb’s work on e-cigarettes, nutrition, opioids and generic drugs has won him praise from both Democrats and Republicans. Meanwhile, efforts are underway on Capitol Hill and in the states to fix some problems with the Affordable Care Act. (3/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Indian Health Service Head To Face Questions On Failure To Stop Doctor Who Abused Patients
Lawmakers summoned the U.S. Indian Health Service’s leader to answer for the agency’s failure to stop a pediatrician from sexually abusing his child patients and a slate of longstanding problems with the quality of the agency’s care, according to a letter from the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee. The letter, sent Thursday, asks Rear Adm. Michael Weahkee, the IHS’s acting leader, to brief committee staff on the failures. Members of the committee, which oversees the IHS, said in interviews they expect to hold oversight hearings on the agency later this year. (Weaver and Frosch, 3/7)

The Hill: Trump Administration Asks Pentagon To House Up To 5,000 Migrant Children
Pentagon officials on Thursday confirmed that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has asked the Department of Defense (DOD) for space to house up to 5,000 immigrant children through the end of the fiscal year. HHS Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan on Tuesday “requested DOD support to identify space to house up to 5,000 unaccompanied alien children on DOD installations, if needed, through September 30, 2019,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Jamie Davis said in a statement. (Mitchell, 3/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Administration Weighs Publicizing Secret Rates Hospitals And Doctors Negotiate With Insurers
The Trump administration is sounding out the medical industry on requiring hospitals, doctors and other health-care providers to publicly disclose the secretly negotiated prices they charge insurance companies for services, a move that would expose for the first time the actual cost of care. Mandating public disclosure of the rates would upend a longstanding industry practice and put more decision-making power in the hands of patients. Hospitals and insurers typically treat specific prices for medical services as closely held secrets, with contracts between the insurers and hospital systems generally bound by confidentiality agreements. (Armour and Wilde Mathews, 3/7)

Kaiser Health News: As Hospitals Post Price Lists, Consumers Are Asked To Check Up On Them
With much fanfare, federal officials required hospitals nationwide this year to post their “list” prices online. But it’s not yet clear how many are doing it, even as the government has taken the rare step of asking consumers to monitor hospital compliance. Most hospitals appear to be complying with the rule, according to hospital officials and a small sampling of websites. (Findlay, 3/8)

In other hospital news —

KCUR: Another Rural Hospital Once Owned By North Kansas City Company Is In Dire Straits 
In mid-February, I-70 Community Hospital in Sweet Springs, Missouri, took the unusual step of voluntarily suspending its own license after state regulators said it was “out of regulatory compliance.” The 15-bed critical access hospital said it planned to reopen in 90 days. But now the path forward has become steeper. On Thursday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services cut off the hospital’s participation in the Medicare program. CMS cited deficiencies that are “so serious they constitute an immediate threat to patient health and safety.” (Margolies, 3/7)

Houston Chronicle: How Good Is Your Hospital? New Report Rates Houston Hospitals From Worst To Best 
What are the "best" and "worst" hospitals in Houston? The latest hospital ratings were released by the The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The ratings, which can be found at www.medicare.gov analyze hospitals from all over the United States. The organization rated 25 hospitals within 25 miles from the center of Houston. (Dawson, 3/7)

Look Up Your Hospital:  Is It Being Penalized By Medicare? Use KHN's New Search

The New York Times: Facebook Announces Plan To Curb Vaccine Misinformation
Facebook announced Thursday its first policy to combat misinformation about vaccines, following in the footsteps of Pinterest and YouTube. The social network is adopting an approach similar to the one it uses to tackle fake news: The company will not remove incorrect content, but it will aim to reduce the reach of that content by making it harder to find. “Leading global health organizations, such as the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have publicly identified verifiable vaccine hoaxes,” Monika Bickert, Facebook’s vice president for global policy management, said in a statement Thursday. “If these vaccine hoaxes appear on Facebook, we will take action against them.” (Caron, 3/7)

The Washington Post: Facebook Says It Will Take Action Against Anti-Vaccine Content. Here’s How It Plans To Do It.
The tech giant rolled out its plan to combat anti-vaccine content after mounting public pressure culminated in a Capitol Hill hearing this week, when a Senate panel issued a dire warning about the public health danger that vaccine misinformation poses. There, 18-year-old Ethan Lindenberger testified that his mother, an anti-vaccine evangelist, relies on Facebook or Facebook-linked sites for all of her information on the subject. And she’s certainly not alone. In a blog post, Monika Bickert, Facebook’s head of global policy management, said the company is “working to tackle vaccine misinformation on Facebook by reducing its distribution and providing people with authoritative information on the topic.” (Thebault, 3/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Facebook Cracks Down On Vaccine Misinformation
In its crackdown, Facebook will ban ads that include misinformation about vaccines and will tweak its algorithms so pages that spread this type of content are no longer recommended. It will also downgrade those pages in the platform’s news feed and search results so they don’t spread as easily. The effort is expected to start Thursday, but it will take several weeks to take full effect. It will also extend to Instagram, where the company will stop displaying antivaccine messages on its Instagram Explore and hashtag pages. (McMillan and Abbott, 3/7)

Stat: The Nightmarish Tale Of What Happened To A Child Who Wasn’t Vaccinated
The boy did survive. But after a weeks-long, gut-wrenching medical marathon — which cost well over $800,000 — his parents refused to allow the hospital to give him a full course of vaccines to protect him against tetanus. Nor would they allow doctors to vaccinate their son against measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, polio, and a range of other diseases that are dangerous for and can be lethal to young children, despite the fact the team spent a great deal of time trying to persuade them of their benefits. (Branswell, 3/7)

CNN: Anti-Vaxers' Adult Son Gets Measles; Now, He Has This Message For The World
Three years ago, Joshua Nerius, a 30-year-old software product manager in Chicago, developed a high fever and a rash. Doctors prescribed antibiotics, but Nerius just got sicker and sicker. Joshua went to the emergency room, where a doctor said it looked a lot like the measles. Had he been vaccinated as a child? Nerius texted the question to his mother. She sent back a thumbs-down emoji. (Cohen, 3/8)

And in other news —

The New York Times: Measles Outbreak: 1 Student Got 21 Others Sick
Public officials and health experts had given several warnings: Do not allow a student in school if they had not been vaccinated against measles. Still, during New York City’s largest measles outbreak in a decade, a school in Brooklyn ignored that advice, resulting in one student infecting at least 21 other people with the virus. (Pager, 3/7)

The Hill: More Than 800 Students Ordered To Stay Away From School Amid Measles Outbreak In Washington
More than 800 students in the Washington county that is battling one of the nation’s largest measles outbreaks have been ordered to stay away from classrooms for up to three weeks, The Seattle Times reported Wednesday. Students deemed to have been exposed to the measles have been told to stay away from schools, the paper reported. (Gstalter, 3/7)

The Oregonian: Unvaccinated Oregon Boy, 6, Nearly Dies Of Tetanus, Racks Up $1 Million In Bills
A 6-year-old boy spent about eight weeks in the hospital -- much of it in a dark room. His parents face nearly $1 million in medical bills. He suffered excruciating pain and lost control of his body as the first case of tetanus in Oregon in about 30 years. The disease is preventable by taking a vaccine, but the child wasn’t vaccinated. Nor is he still. (Harbarger, 3/7)

The New York Times: Tennessee House Passes Bill To Ban Abortion After Detection Of Fetal Heartbeat
The Tennessee House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday that would ban abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, mimicking laws in other states that have been struck down by the courts and drawing the criticism of both advocates and opponents of abortion rights. The measure, House Bill 77, would tightly restrict the window of time within which a woman could seek an abortion, because a fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. That is before many women even realize they are pregnant. (Stack, 3/7)

The Hill: Tennessee State House Passes 'Fetal Heartbeat' Abortion Ban
Protesters arrived at the state Capitol prior to the beginning of the House session on Thursday to speak out against the bill, the news outlet reported. Opponents of "fetal heartbeat" abortion bills note that a fetus's heartbeat is generally detectable at around six weeks, which can be before a woman even knows she is pregnant. (Samuels, 3/7)

The Associated Press: Texas Picks Up Anti-Abortion Efforts Blocked In US Senate
The Texas Legislature is reviving efforts similar to those blocked in the U.S. Senate last month that threatened doctors who don’t try saving the life of infants born alive during abortions. Republican state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst said Thursday that “where D.C. is unclear, we’re going to be very clear here in Texas.” Her bill is among first prominent anti-abortion measures this year in Texas, where GOP leaders have largely shied from divisive issues after a rough 2018 midterm election. (3/7)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Doctors Group 'Strongly Opposes' Proposed Law To End Surprise Billing 
The powerful Texas Medical Association has come out swinging in its opposition of proposed bipartisan legislation that seeks to end surprise emergency room billing in the state. The lobbying group that represents 53,000 doctors in the state began blanketing lawmaker's offices with a flier this week demanding legislators instead "hold health insurers accountable for the products the sell to Texans." (Deam, 3/7)

Dallas Morning News: Should Doctors Be Required To Try Saving Infants Born After Abortion? Plano Lawmaker Leads The Effort 
A North Texas lawmaker has filed a bill that could result in doctors being fined for not trying to save an infant born after an abortion. Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, filed House Bill 16 on Thursday. The legislation would require doctors to provide "appropriate medical treatment" in the event that a fetus lives through an attempted abortion. The parent or guardian — or the infant itself — could sue the physician for damages, and the state attorney general could impose a $100,000 fine if it's proved such treatment was not provided. (McGaughy, 3/7)

Austin American-Statesman: Texas Abortion Opponents File 'Line In The Sand' Bills
Republican abortion opponents in the Legislature, motivated by recent political battles over late-term abortions in New York and Virginia, unveiled two bills Thursday that would require medical treatment for children born alive after an abortion. Abortion rights advocates said the bills address a nonexistent problem in an attempt to worsen an already hostile environment for abortion doctors in Texas. (Lindell, 3/7)

The Hill: Georgia House Committee Approves 'Heartbeat' Abortion Bill
A Georgia House committee passed legislation Wednesday that would ban abortions in the state after a fetus has a detectable heartbeat. The Associated Press reported that the state's House Health and Human Services Committee passed the restrictive measure in a 17-14 vote following a tense hearing filled emotional displays from activists and others. (Samuels, 3/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Hedge Fund Tosses Family That Controls Maker Of OxyContin
The billionaire family that controls OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP, already facing mounting legal and financial pressure, has been tossed out of a large hedge fund for its alleged role in fueling the opioid crisis. Investment entities of the Sackler family were told late last year by Hildene Capital Management that it was no longer comfortable managing their money. Hildene said last week that someone known by members of the firm had suffered an opioid tragedy. (Chung, Randazzo and Zuckerman, 3/7)

KCUR: Every State But Missouri Has An Opioid Database. Will That Change? 
At the state capitol, which is being renovated, House Bill 188 is the latest effort to create a program to track opioids and other prescription drugs across Missouri. It’s sponsored by Republican state representative Holly Rehder, and it’s her sixth attempt. ...In the past, the main opposition has come from within Rehder’s own party, and one man in particular. Senator Rob Schaaf filibustered the bills, saying they infringed on patients’ privacy rights. (Valdivia, 3/7)

Arizona Republic: Opioid Battle: Chiropractic Coverage Could Be Added To AZ Medicaid
Arizonans on Medicaid could soon alleviate their chronic pain with a visit to a chiropractor — without having to pay out of pocket. The Legislature may add chiropractic services to the state's Medicaid coverage under Senate Bill 1097, which has passed through the Senate. (Atencio, 3/7)

KQED: Coroner Confirms Two San Quentin Inmates Who Died In December Had Overdosed
Two inmates found unresponsive in their cells at San Quentin State Prison in early December both died of drug overdoses, according to the Marin County coroner. ...California has spent tens of millions of dollars in recent years to stop drug smuggling, but dozens of inmates continue to die every year from overdoses. (Goldberg, 3/7)

The New York Times: For Alex Trebek, The Toughest Question: Can He Face Down Pancreatic Cancer?
The cancer that has struck Alex Trebek, the 78-year-old host of the television quiz show “Jeopardy!,” is uncommon and devastating: a Stage 4 malignancy of the pancreas, the insulin-producing organ that lies behind the stomach. Pancreatic cancer strikes about 55,000 people each year in the United States, accounting for 3 percent of all cancers but 7 percent of all cancer deaths. That’s because it can be so difficult to detect and treat. Stage 4, unfortunately, is the most advanced level. (Kolata, 3/7)

The Washington Post: Pancreatic Cancer: How The Disease Is Diagnosed And Survival Rates
In 2016, the disease became the third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, overtaking breast cancer, and it is expected to overtake colorectal cancer to become the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the country by 2020, according to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. (The leading cause remains lung cancer.) (Wan, 3/7)

The Associated Press: Monthly Shots Control HIV As Well As Pills In 2 Big Studies
Monthly shots of HIV drugs worked as well as daily pills to control the virus that causes AIDS in two large international tests, researchers reported Thursday. If approved by regulators in the United States and Europe, the shots would be a new option for people with HIV and could help some stay on treatment. Instead of having to remember to take pills, patients instead could get injections from a doctor or nurse each month. (3/7)

The New York Times: The Battle Against One Of The Worst Ebola Epidemics Ever Is In Trouble
The family of a young woman who died from Ebola last month in the Democratic Republic of Congo dressed her body, put makeup on her face and propped her up in a car, hoping to make her look alive so they could drive her through checkpoints set up to prevent spread of the disease. It was dangerous: Corpses are highly infectious. But they wanted to bury her in another town, next to her husband, who also had died of Ebola. Their desperate ploy failed. They were stopped at a checkpoint, according to a report from the country’s Ministry of Health. (Grady, 3/7)

The Associated Press: Judge Orders FDA To Create Graphic Cigarette Warnings
A federal judge in Boston has ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to create graphic health warnings for cigarette packs and related advertising by next year. The Boston Globe reports that the judge ordered Tuesday that the agency must complete a study of the graphic warnings by April 15, submit a rule mandating the warnings for publication by Aug. 15, and have the warnings ready by March 15, 2020. (3/7)

The Associated Press: US Regulators Outline Oversight On Meat Grown In Lab Dishes
Burgers made by growing cow cells in a lab dish have a clearer path to reaching supermarkets as U.S. regulators on Thursday outlined how the emerging food category will be monitored. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said meat from cultured animal cells will have to undergo agency inspection, as with other meat and poultry products. Carmen Rottenberg of the USDA said she expects inspections to be similar to those for other meat-processing plants, but noted that a lot remains unknown since companies haven't yet scaled up to commercial production. (3/7)

NPR: New Approach To Flu Treatment Mimics Antibodies
Compared to most disease-causing viruses, influenza is a particularly hard nut to crack. A two-dose vaccine in childhood protects you from measles for life. Smallpox is similarly preventable with a single vaccine. But to evade the flu virus, we need a different vaccine each year which, even at its most effective, can fail to protect against all strains of the virus. (Lambert, 3/7)

The New York Times: Secondhand Smoke Exposure Tied To Kidney Disease
Exposure to secondhand smoke increases the risk for chronic kidney disease, a new study has found. Korean researchers studied 131,196 nonsmokers, dividing them into three groups: those who had more than three days a week of exposure to secondhand smoke; those who had less than three days a week; and those with no exposure at all. Their average age was 53, and 75 percent were women. The study is in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. (Bakalar, 3/7)

The New York Times: Statins May Increase Risk Of Diabetes
The link between statin use and the development of Type 2 diabetes may be even stronger than previously believed, a new study suggests. Researchers prospectively studied 8,567 men and women whose average age was 64. All were free of diabetes and not taking statins when the study started. In a follow-up of up to 15 years, about 12 percent of the group started taking statins, most using either Zocor or Lipitor (simvastatin or atorvastatin) and the rest either Pravachol or Lescol (pravastatin or fluvastatin). (Bakalar, 3/7)

NPR: Phenylketonuria Treatment Using Modified E. Coli. Gets Tested
Instead of eating a typical breakfast every day, Jonah Reeder gulps down a special protein shake. "The nutrients in it like to sit at the bottom, so I usually have to shake it up and get all the nutrients from the protein and everything," says Reeder, 21, of Farmington, Utah, as he shakes a big plastic bottle. (Stein, 3/8)

Kaiser Health News: Despite Social Media, Generation Z, Millennials Report Feeling Lonely
Connor Wilton moved here for the music scene. The 24-year-old singer-guitarist “knew zero people in Austin” and felt pretty lonely at first. While this capital city is one of the nation’s buzziest places and ranks at the top of many “best” lists, Wilton wasn’t feeling it. He lived near the University of Texas at Austin but wasn’t a student; he said walking through “the social megaplex that’s UT-Austin” was intimidating, with its almost 52,000 students all seemingly having fun. (Jayson, 3/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Connecticut Democrats Propose Public Health-Insurance Option
Democratic lawmakers in Connecticut introduced legislation Thursday that would create a public option for health-care coverage, allowing individuals and small businesses to buy insurance through the state. Under the proposal, Connecticut would create multiple plans that small businesses and their employees could buy starting in July, leveraging the state’s existing purchasing power to lower costs. And in 2021 Connecticut would begin offering a new health-insurance option that any state resident would be able to join. (De Avila, 3/7)

The CT Mirror: Connecticut Legislators Unveil Public Option For Health Insurance
Under two measures announced Thursday, officials would open the state health plan to nonprofits and small companies – those with 50 or fewer employees – and form an advisory council to guide the development of a public option. The legislation would allow the state to create a program, dubbed “ConnectHealth,” that offers low-cost coverage to people who don’t have employer-sponsored insurance. (Carlesso and Phaneuf, 3/7)

The Associated Press: Governor Signs Law Banning All Tobacco Products At School
School boards must ban any tobacco or other forms of nicotine products from all school property and school-sponsored events under legislation signed into law Wednesday by Gov. Ralph Northam. (Zernik, 3/7)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Advocate For Repealing N.H. Death Penalty Reacts To The House's Vote To Repeal
Today the New Hampshire House of Representatives voted 279 to 88 in favor of repealing the state’s death penalty. Lawmakers have voted on this issue many times in the past few years. It’s been vetoed by governors before, and it’s expected that Governor Sununu will veto it again this year. But today’s vote demonstrates that, at least at this point, there’s enough support to override a gubernatorial veto. For more on this we turned to Barbara Keshen, the chair of the New Hampshire Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. (Cohen, 3/7)

Georgia Health News: CON Revamp Fails In House, But Sponsor Vows To Continue Fight
House Bill 198 remained alive temporarily after the chamber approved a motion to reconsider the legislation. But by late afternoon, the lead sponsor, Rep. Matt Hatchett (R-Dublin), said the bill would not be brought back up on Thursday, which was the 2019 General Assembly session’s Crossover Day. That day is the deadline when a piece of legislation is generally considered dead unless it has passed at least one chamber. (Miller, 3/7)

Health News Florida: House Looks To ‘Kick-Start’ Telehealth
Members of the House Health Quality Subcommittee this week approved the bill (HB 23) and included a tax credit for insurers and HMOs willing to reimburse health providers for telehealth services. The tax credit — in an amount equal to one-tenth of 1 percent — could be applied against corporate income taxes or insurance premium taxes. (Sexton, 3/7)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Bill Would Ban Prostitution Charges For Minors
But victims’ advocates say authorities throughout the state of Georgia sometimes choose to charge the victims of sex trafficking with prostitution – even minors. This, the advocates say, further victimizes the victims, thrusting them into court systems that treat them as criminals and leave them with lasting criminal records that can haunt their lives. ...To address the situation, state Rep. Chuck Efstration, R-Dacula, has filed House Bill 234, which unanimously passed the House on Monday and now must clear the Senate. (Sharpe, 3/6)

Health News Florida: House, Senate Near Repeal Of Smoking Ban
Sen. Jeff Brandes and Rep. Ray Rodrigues confirmed Wednesday they’ve reached an accord on a proposal that would allow patients to purchase up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana for smoking every 35 days, ban smoking of medical marijuana in public places and allow terminally ill children to smoke the treatment, but only if they have a second opinion from a pediatrician. After taking office in January, DeSantis gave the Legislature until March 15 to eliminate the smoking ban. (Kam, 3/7)

Tampa Bay Times: Right To Smoke Medical Pot Approved In Florida Senate
The Florida Senate affirmed the right to smoke medical pot Thursday afternoon. Senate Bill 182 made it through its last stop during the day’s session, with just eight days to spare before a deadline set by Gov. Ron DeSantis. (Gross, 3/7)

Detroit Free Press: Data Breach Grows To Hundreds Of Thousands Of Medical Patients
A late September malware attack at Detroit-based Wolverine Solutions Group, a contractor that provides mailing and other services for hospitals and health care companies, may have compromised the personal and medical information of hundreds of thousands of people nationwide. Among the companies whose customers already have gotten notification of the security breach are Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan; Health Alliance Plan; McLaren Health Care, Three Rivers Health in southwestern Michigan; North Ottawa Community Health System in Grand Haven, and at least two hospitals in northwestern Pennsylvania: Warren General Hospital and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Kane. (Shamus, 3/7)

The Associated Press: New Group Aims To Reduce Drug, Alcohol Abuse At Universities
A new committee has been formed in Virginia to try to reduce alcohol and drug abuse at the state’s colleges and universities. The Virginia Higher Education Substance Use Advisory Committee is made up of representatives from public and private institutions of higher education, student leaders, state agencies and statewide partners. (3/8)

Modern Healthcare: New York Nurses To Vote On Strike Authorization
The New York State Nurses Association said it expects its members to vote to authorize a strike Thursday. The strike would affect Montefiore, Mount Sinai and New York–Presbyterian hospitals. The union is fighting for hospitals to codify nurse-to-patient ratios in the contract—which would increase facilities' staffing costs. (Henderson, 3/7)

Detroit Free Press: Blue Cross Blue Shield CEO Makes More Than Some Auto Bosses
The top boss at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has reached the pinnacle of executive pay in Michigan, getting more in total compensation than CEOs at several bigger for-profit companies across the state. Blues CEO Daniel Loepp, 61, who received $19.2 million in total compensation last year — a record for Michigan's largest insurance company — is also one of the highest-paid bosses of any health insurer in the nation. (Reindl, 3/8)

MPR: State Officials Say Plasma Company Violated Transgender Woman's Rights
The Minnesota Department of Human Rights has sued CSL Plasma of violating the state's Human Rights Act for not allowing a transgender woman to donate plasma. ... Vaynerman said the lawsuit is as much about protecting civil rights of all Minnesotans as it is about protecting James' rights. (Zdechlik, 3/7)

Seattle Times: How Seattle Fought The Plague Of AIDS 
By 1996, when lifesaving drugs began to change everything, the death toll in King County alone stood at 3,276 — more than three times the number of Washingtonians killed in Vietnam. But like memories of war, memories of the plague that nearly obliterated a generation of gay men have faded for many in the decades since the disease first appeared. (Doughton, 3/7)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Medical College Of Wisconsin Plans $100 Million Expansion For Cancer
The Medical College of Wisconsin plans to build a $100 million cancer research center, giving it needed space to expand and consolidate labs, equipment and staff now in different locations on its Wauwatosa campus. Gov. Tony Evers has included $15 million in his proposed budget to help pay for the expansion. The Medical College had asked the state for a $25 million grant. (Boulton, 3/7)

Sacramento Bee: STIs: Time To Address California’s Worst Public Health Crisis
California has long been a leader on forward-thinking policies, but the state is falling behind in addressing a major public health crisis: the continuing spread of HIV, hepatitis C (HCV), and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). In recent years, California has seen a record rise in cases of STIs and a spike in the number of stillbirths caused by syphilis. (Weiner and Gloria, 3/8)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento’s Sutter Reports First Annual Loss In 23 Years
Sacramento-based Sutter Health reported Thursday that it had posted a year-end financial loss of $198 million for 2018, a precipitous decline from 2017 when the nonprofit hospital giant generated income of $893 million. This is the first time Sutter has reported a loss since its merger with San Francisco’s California Healthcare System in 1995. (Anderson, 3/7)

Chicago Tribune: 6 Women Sexually Abused By Counselor At Women's Rehab Center Timberline Knolls, Prosecutors Say
The women and girls who come to Timberline Knolls are in crisis. They arrive at the nationally recognized treatment center after suicide attempts, addicted to drugs, overwhelmed by mood and eating disorders. But instead of finding safe harbor, some reported being traumatized in new and horrible ways. Cook County prosecutors allege that a Timberline Knolls counselor, Mike Jacksa, sexually assaulted or abused six patients last year at the leafy 43-acre rehab center in suburban Lemont. (Jackson, 3/7)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Pennsylvania Is Taking Research Applications From Cannabis Firms. Again
Pennsylvania released applications for cannabis companies that want to participate in the state’s much-vaunted medical marijuana research program. Each winner will be granted a permit to grow cannabis and a permit to open six retail dispensaries. Each applicant must have a pre-existing research contract with one of the eight state-approved health systems. (Wood, 3/7)

The Washington Post: Public Health Shouldn’t Be Invasive. Vaccination Skeptics Make That Harder.
Another massive study has discovered no causal connection between the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine and autism. This time, the study’s cohort consisted of every child born in Denmark from 1999 through December 2010 — more than 650,000 children. The conclusion? “The study strongly supports that MMR vaccination does not increase the risk for autism, does not trigger autism in susceptible children, and is not associated with clustering of autism cases after vaccination.” (Michael Gerson, 3/7)

Bloomberg: Measles Makes A Comeback As Vaccinations Wane
For years, doctors have steadfastly debunked the unfounded claims against inoculation for measles. Yet false beliefs that the vaccine might cause seizures, autism, mercury poisoning or death have survived and proliferated, spread like a contagion via television and social media. These myths have caused great harm — a fact that’s increasingly apparent. (3/7)

The Washington Post: States Are Failing On Vaccinations. The Federal Government Must Lead.
In the year 2000, the United States essentially claimed victory against childhood diseases, eliminating measles and making the prevalence of other childhood diseases, such as mumps, extremely rare. Today, we are losing. Eleven states have reported measles cases, and a checkerboard of communities across the United States lack the necessary vaccine coverage needed to maintain the threshold herd immunity of about 96 percent — when vaccination of a substantial portion of a population protects everyone. The costs in human and financial terms are enormous. (Scott C. Ratzan, Barry R. Bloom, Lawrence O. Gostin and Jonathan Fielding, 3/7)

The New York Times: Finding Compassion For ‘Vaccine-Hesitant’ Parents
“Why are parents not vaccinating their kids? What the hell is wrong with people?” As a father of two young children, I’ve had outbursts like this on more than one occasion as I sit in my Play-Doh- and Lego-littered family room, reading the latest news about measles and other preventable viruses making a global comeback. (Wajahat Ali, 3/7)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Measles Is Back, Thanks To Misinformation And Loopholes In Vaccination Rules. 
America is grappling with the most predictable epidemic imaginable: Measles is back — just like health professionals warned it would be as the anti-vaccination movement has grown. That Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul — a physician, no less — lent credibility to that misguided movement during a recent hearing is shameful. At least 18-year-old Ethan Lindenberger was there to tell how he bucked his anti-vaccination upbringing after recognizing the misinformation for what it is. (3/7)

The Hill: 'Medicare For All' Is An Expensive Wrecking Ball
"Medicare for all" sounds good and may make good electioneering slogan sense for presidential candidates like Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.). It is a sales pitch to younger voters and will likely remain popular — at least until the public really understands what an expensive wrecking ball it is. (Marc Siegel, 3/7)

The Wall Street Journal: The Unforced Error Of Medicare For All
Prominent Democrats falling over themselves to support Medicare for All are making a big mistake. For a party seeking to rebrand itself—especially in places like my native Ohio, where health crises abound—this scenario is a GOP dream. It’s easy to demand universal health care, but as efforts dating back to FDR have shown, legislative victories are a slow burn. Megaphones on social media won’t change that. Recent polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows that although voters like the concept of Medicare for All, net favorability falls by almost 50 points when they are presented with hard truths such as the higher taxes, less provider choice, and increased wait times that will inevitably result. (Vin Gupta, 3/7)

The Hill: VA In-House Healthcare Is Great; Community Care Efforts Have Fallen Flat So Far
Quality health care is delivered at over 1,200 Veteran Healthcare Administration facilities every single day. While there’s no question some veterans require private care options because of personal circumstances and experiences, as Anuradha Bhagwati outlined in a recent op-ed for the New York Times, there is no need to disparage the whole system, which — by every measure — is serving its constituents well, as evidenced by any number of the dozens of customer satisfaction and health outcomes reports and articles published recently. (Danielle Corazza, 3/7)

Stat: 'Tech-Savvy' Gottlieb's Resignation Will Alter Forward-Looking FDA
We’re about to lose the most tech-savvy commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration in recent memory. At its core, the FDA is about keeping people safe. But Scott Gottlieb helped transform the agency’s top role from “custodian of safety” to “advocate of innovation” by pushing for progress and refusing to let outdated regulations stand in his way. I hope his replacement doesn’t backpedal to the agency’s more conservative past and undo the progress that he’s made. (Pratap Khedkar, 3/7)

The Washington Post: Disability And Disease Aren’t Interchangeable
Not long ago, I was hired to do a sensitivity reading of a book manuscript, a guide for young adults about how people live with disabilities. I was born with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a congenital neuromuscular disorder, and I did my best to make a few gentle suggestions to ensure the text didn’t offend. For instance: “Delete ‘wheelchair-bound’ — substitute ‘wheelchair-user’ or equivalent.” But then I came upon a word that gave me pause. (Ben Mattlin, 3/7)

The New York Times: Why Do We Think Suffering Is Good For Us?
Feeling anxious or depressed and want to get better? You have to really work at it and suffer through years of therapy and sometimes try lots of drugs. No pain, no gain, or so we’ve been told. That would make a stoic happy, but as a psychiatrist — and an admittedly impatient one — I know that just because something feels bad doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s good for you. I’m pretty confident that people who are suffering prefer relief sooner rather than later and that if there was any way to make the treatment — be it psychotherapy or medication — more effective, they would gladly try it. (Richard A. Friedman, 3/7)

New England Journal of Medicine: After The Storm — A Responsible Path For Genome Editing
Though the first application of embryo editing was deeply flawed, not least because it didn’t address an unmet clinical need, and has prompted calls for a ban, halting research and deliberation on more responsible ways to maximize human benefit would be unwise. (George Q. Daley, Robin Lovell-Badge and Julie Steffann, 3/7)

Stat: Step 1 Test For Medical Students Should Be Pass/Fail Again
Are you OK?” a medical school classmate asked when I snuck back into the lecture hall. I had just learned that I bombed arguably the most important test of my life. I was not OK. I was employing every technique I could muster so I wouldn’t break down in public. I had just checked my score on the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 test. The first of three “Step” exams that physicians-in-training must pass to become licensed to practice independently, the computer-based test focuses on the basic sciences. It’s an eight-hour grind done in a single sitting. (C. Nicholas Cuneo, 3/8)

Des Moines Register: GOP Lawmakers Should Support Bill To Fix Some Privatized Medicaid Woes
A rose to Democratic state Sens. Liz Mathis of Hiawatha and Amanda Ragan of Mason City for introducing a common-sense bill on Medicaid. Senate File 156 attempts to address some of the many problems created by the Republican-led experiment of privatizing the $6 billion health insurance program. The bill would, among other things, return Iowans with complex medical needs to state management, end prior authorization for substance abuse treatment, encourage private insurers receiving billions of public dollars to work toward expanding the health care workforce in Iowa, and make it easier for Iowans to change insurance companies. (3/7)

Billings Gazette: Montana Hospitals Step Up To Keep Medicaid
When Montanans talk about our state's unique Medicaid expansion, the first success touted is covering 96,000 low-income adults, most of whom are working at low-wage, part-time or seasonal jobs. The second success is extending health care to so many Montanans with relatively little of that cost falling on Montana taxpayers.

Austin American-Statesman: A Health Care Crisis Threatens Texas, And No One's Talking About It
The 1115 waiver represents a lifeline to more than 1 million Texans every year. It provides essential resources to physicians, hospitals and providers, and it supports innovative programs that give people without insurance access to cost-effective preventive and primary care services. (Doug Curran, Rebecca Hart and John Henderson, 3/7)

Chicago Tribune: Abortion Rights Are Under Fire, But Illinois Is Fighting Back
Illinois is poised to fulfill one of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s campaign promises and become the most permissive state in the nation for abortion rights. And I’m thrilled.House Bill 2495 “provides that every individual who becomes pregnant has a fundamental right to continue the pregnancy and give birth or to have an abortion, and to make autonomous decisions about how to exercise that right.” (Eric Zorn, 3/7)