The Washington Post: Republicans Lose Their Favorite Campaign Message: Repealing Obamacare
The campaign website of Rep. Mike Bishop (R-Mich.) doesn’t mention Obamacare, even though Web archives show it once prominently featured promises to vigorously fight the 2010 health-care law. Rep. Garland “Andy” Barr (R-Ky.) touted repealing the Affordable Care Act as one of three top priorities when first running for Congress in 2012. Now his website focuses on tax cuts and job creation instead. In her first House bid in 2014, Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) said her campaign was about growing the economy, creating jobs and “repealing and replacing Obamacare.” She’s not talking about that anymore. (Cunningham, 4/14)

In other news on the health law —

Modern Healthcare: 50 Shades Of Healthcare: Bit By Bit, The Affordable Care Act Is Being Remade 
As the Trump administration and some in Congress whittle away at the Affordable Care Act, blue states are filling in gaps in an attempt to bolster their markets. Others are picking up chainsaws. Federal moves to pull a form of financial assistance for low-income Americans and slash ACA outreach and advertising last year were followed by the GOP tax law's elimination of the individual mandate penalty, and a proposal to expand health coverage that disregards ACA rules and protections. A bipartisan bill to restore cost-sharing reduction payments and establish a federal reinsurance fund fizzled out. (Livingston, 4/14)

Politico: Abortion Foes Seize On Chance To Overturn Roe
The anti-abortion movement believes it's one Donald Trump-appointed Supreme Court justice away from a shot at overturning Roe v. Wade, and advocates are teeing up what they hope will be the winning challenge. From Iowa to South Carolina, lawmakers are proposing some of the most far-reaching abortion restrictions in a generation, hoping their legislation triggers the lawsuit that eventually makes it to the high court. (Haberkorn, 4/15)

And in Arizona —

Arizona Republic: Arizona Gov. Ducey Signs Laws On Abortion, English-Only Contracts
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey ended the week by signing two high-profile bills into law, measures dealing with questions for abortion patients and another dealing with non-English versions of insurance contracts. Ducey inked dozens of bills this week, but Senate Bill 1394 and House Bill 2083 are among the most controversial he has signed so far this year. (Gardiner, 4/14)

The New York Times: How Profiteers Lure Women Into Often-Unneeded Surgery
Jerri Plummer was at home in Arkansas, watching television with her three children, when a stranger called to warn that her life was in danger. The caller identified herself only as Yolanda. She told Ms. Plummer that the vaginal mesh implant supporting her bladder was defective and needed to be removed. If Ms. Plummer didn’t act quickly, the caller urged, she might die. (Goldstein and Silver-Greenberg, 4/14)

Bloomberg: C.R. Bard Must Pay Punitive $35 Million In Vaginal-Mesh Case 
C.R. Bard Inc. was ordered to pay $35 million in punitive damages to a woman who blamed her injuries on the company’s vaginal mesh inserts in the medical supplier’s first case over the controversial devices to go to trial in New Jersey. The punishment award handed down Friday brings to $68 million the amount that Bard must pay to Mary McGinnis and her husband. McGinnis said Bard inserts designed to bolster organs and address incontinence issues were defective and left her in permanent pain. (Feeley, 4/13)

Bloomberg: CVS Hires Doctor From Health Startup In Sign Of Medical Ambition
CVS Health Corp. is hiring a senior executive from a startup that specializes in primary-care clinics, a sign that the drugstore chain is serious about providing more medical services directly to consumers as it moves toward acquiring health insurer Aetna Inc. Marc-David Munk will become CVS’s chief medical officer for its MinuteClinics, and will oversee “expanded health-care services across the CVS Health enterprise,” the pharmacy and drug-benefits manager said in a statement Friday. Munk was previously chief medical officer at Iora Health, a startup that operates about two dozen physician practices. (Tracer, 4/13)

In other industry news —

The Star Tribune: UnitedHealth Pushes Back In Whistleblower Case
UnitedHealth Group is pushing back against a federal whistleblower case, alleging the Justice Department’s arguments would mean the agency that runs the federal Medicare program has broken its contract with the giant health insurance company. In early 2017, the federal government joined a whistleblower lawsuit from a former UnitedHealth Group employee in the Twin Cities who alleged, among other things, that the nation’s largest insurer had wrongly received excess Medicare revenue by reviewing medical charts to boost payments without also making data corrections that would have saved the government money. (Snowbeck, 4/14)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Direct Primary Care: A New Solution For Rising Health Care Costs?
There’s a new movement going on in primary and family care medicine that could deliver better care, cheaper prices and more personalized attention to health care consumers — all while cutting the insurance middle man out of the equation. (Thimou, 4/12)

The Wall Street Journal: FDA Bans Sale Of Caffeine In Bulk Directly To Consumers
Online shopping has made it easy for consumers to affordably buy highly concentrated caffeine in bulk, whether to mix it into a workout shake or using it as an alternative to a morning coffee. However, a U.S. regulator said that small amounts of pure caffeine products have proven to be dangerous and even fatal. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued guidance banning the sale of pure or highly concentrated caffeine in powder or liquid forms as a dietary supplement in large quantities directly to consumers, calling it a significant public health threat. (Hufford, 4/13)

Bloomberg: FDA Bans Bulk Retail Sales Of Pure Caffeine, Citing Health Risks 
These products “present a significant public health threat,” and the FDA will immediately begin seeking to remove such products from the market, according to agency guidance released Friday. In 2015 and 2016, the agency issued warning letters to seven distributors following the death of two young people who ingested powdered caffeine. It has continued to see an uptick of similar products sold online. (Saunders, 4/13)

The New York Times: A Drug To End Addiction? Scientists Are Working On It.
Scrambling for ways to contain America’s out-of-control opioid crisis, some experts in the field are convinced that one bit of good advice is to just say no to the enduring “just say no” antidrug message. Addiction, they say, is not a question of free will or a correctable character flaw, as a lot of people would like to believe. Rather, it is an affliction of the brain that needs to be treated as one would any chronic illness. One possible approach, an experimental vaccine, draws attention in this offering from Retro Report, a series of short video documentaries exploring major news stories of the past and their lasting impact. (Haberman, 4/15)

The Associated Press: Feds: Increase Medication-Based Treatment For Opioids
Deep within President Donald Trump’s plan to combat opioid abuse, overshadowed by his call for the death penalty for some drug traffickers, is a push to expand the use of medication to treat addiction. It’s a rare instance in which Trump isn’t trying roll back Obama administration policies, and where fractious Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come together. Trump declared last month that “we’re making medically assisted treatment more available and affordable,” even as Congress was working to approve $1 billion for a new treatment grant program for opioids as part of the massive spending bill to keep the government running. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 4/16)

And in news in the states —

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

Arizona Republic: Sober Homes Will Face Licensing And Regulation Under New Law.
Sober homes that provide people a place to live while recovering from drug and alcohol addiction will be subject to licensing and increased regulatory oversight by the state under a new law. Senate Bill 1465 will require sober homes to become licensed within 90 days after the Arizona Department of Health Services establishes licensing rules. (Alltucker, 4/14)

The New York Times: Employees Jump At Genetic Testing. Is That A Good Thing?
Levi Strauss & Company introduced a novel benefit for employees at its San Francisco headquarters last fall: free genetic screening to assess their hereditary risks for certain cancers and high cholesterol. Chip Bergh, Levi’s chief executive, said he had hoped that the tests would spur employees to take preventive health steps and in that way reduce the company’s health care costs. But even Mr. Bergh was surprised by the turnout. Of the 1,100 eligible Levi’s employees, more than half took the genetic tests. Now, he wants to extend the benefit to employees in other cities. (Singer, 4/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Why No One Wants To Back The Gun Of The Future
It was supposed to be the dawn of a new era of “smart guns.” Spurred by the deaths of 20 young children in the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, Silicon Valley set out to make safer, technologically advanced weapons that could only be fired by their owners. Venture-capital luminary Ron Conway, known for his early investments in Google and PayPal, led the charge, raising millions for grants aimed at jump-starting the smart-gun industry. (Elinson and Palazzolo, 4/14)

The New York Times: ‘We’re Out Of Options’: Doctors Battle Drug-Resistant Typhoid Outbreak
The first known epidemic of extensively drug-resistant typhoid is spreading through Pakistan, infecting at least 850 people in 14 districts since 2016, according to the National Institute of Health Islamabad. The typhoid strain, resistant to five types of antibiotics, is expected to disseminate globally, replacing weaker strains where they are endemic. Experts have identified only one remaining oral antibiotic — azithromycin — to combat it; one more genetic mutation could make typhoid untreatable in some areas. (Baumgaertner, 4/13)

The New York Times: Trillions Upon Trillions Of Viruses Fall From The Sky Each Day
High in the Sierra Nevada mountains of Spain, an international team of researchers set out four buckets to gather a shower of viruses falling from the sky. Scientists have surmised there is a stream of viruses circling the planet, above the planet’s weather systems but below the level of airline travel. Very little is known about this realm, and that’s why the number of deposited viruses stunned the team in Spain. Each day, they calculated, some 800 million viruses cascade onto every square meter of the planet. (Robbins, 4/13)

NPR: Doctors Keep Hypertension Patients Honest With A Drug Test
There's an irony at the heart of the treatment of high blood pressure. The malady itself often has no symptoms, yet the medicines to treat it — and to prevent a stroke or heart attack later — can make people feel crummy. "It's not that you don't want to take it, because you know it's going to help you. But it's the getting used to it," says Sharon Fulson, a customer service representative from Nashville, Tenn., who is trying to monitor and control her hypertension. (Farmer, 4/16)

Los Angeles Times: Too Much Sitting May Thin The Part Of Your Brain That's Important For Memory, Study Suggests
If you want to take a good stroll down memory lane, new research suggests you'd better get out of that chair more often. In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers have found that in people middle-aged and older, a brain structure that is key to learning and memory is plumpest in those who spend the most time standing up and moving. At every age, prolonged sitters show less thickness in the medial temporal lobe and the subregions that make it up, the study found. (Healy, 4/13)

The Wall Street Journal: The Benefits Of Bright Light For Hospital Patients
Some hospitals and nursing homes are seeing the light—and rethinking the dim glow that illuminates most patients’ rooms. Once an afterthought, lighting is getting attention as researchers see how it affects a person’s mood, energy and sleep. A clinical trial at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City is testing whether brighter lights in cancer patients’ rooms in the morning can make them feel less tired and depressed and help them sleep through the night. (Lagnado, 4/14)

The Washington Post: Birth Control Ban Imagined In Art Exhibition
Remember the early 2000s, when the United States passed laws banning condoms and the pill, and sex was officially designated for reproductive purposes only? Of course you don’t — it never happened. But a new art exhibition in New York imagines what life would be like if it had. “Museum of Banned Objects,” at the Ace Hotel New York Gallery through April 30 (continuing online after that), looks at the history of “The Ban” from the vantage point of a dystopian future. The law — sweeping legislation in which all reproductive-health products and contraceptives were made illegal — took birth control underground. (Blakemore, 4/14)

The Washington Post: Marriage Researchers Explain How Marriage And Intimate Relationships Affect Your Health
Is hostility in your marriage stressing or depressing you? Does your partner have a chronic disorder? Then watch out. Although married people generally have better health than others, studies have found, partners in these two situations can face an increased risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease. Janice K. Kiecolt-Glaser, director of the Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research at Ohio State University, and Stephanie J. Wilson, a postdoctoral researcher in her lab, study — and explain here — the health effects of intimate relationships. (Rusting, 4/15)

Kaiser Health News: ‘Scary’ Lung Disease Now Afflicts More Women Than Men In U.S.
Joan Cousins was among a generation of young women who heard — and bought into the idea — that puffing on a cigarette was sophisticated, modern, even liberating. No one suspected it would make them more than equal to men in suffering a choking, life-shortening lung disease. “Everybody smoked. It was the cool thing to do,” said Cousins, who smoked her first cigarette 67 years ago at age 16. (Gorman, 4/16)

The New York Times: You Share Everything With Your Bestie. Even Brain Waves.
A friend will help you move, goes an old saying, while a good friend will help you move a body. And why not? Moral qualms aside, that good friend would likely agree the victim was an intolerable jerk who had it coming and, jeez, you shouldn’t have done this but where do you keep the shovel? Researchers have long known that people choose friends who are much like themselves in a wide array of characteristics: of a similar age, race, religion, socioeconomic status, educational level, political leaning, pulchritude rating, even handgrip strength. The impulse toward homophily, toward bonding with others who are the least other possible, is found among traditional hunter-gatherer groups and advanced capitalist societies alike. (Angier, 4/16)

The New York Times: Friendship’s Dark Side: ‘We Need A Common Enemy’
As a rule, friendship is considered an unalloyed good, one of life’s happy-happies, like flowers and fresh fruit. “Report: It Would Probably Be Nice Having Friends,” read a recent headline in The Onion. Ha ha! Of course it’s “kind of fun” and “pretty cool” to “have a few select people in your life to do stuff with on a regular basis.” Most people can name at least half a dozen people they view as reasonably good friends. The only society where people don’t have any friends, according to Daniel Hruschka, an evolutionary anthropologist at Arizona State University, is found in the science fiction of C.J. Cherryh’s “Foreigner” series. (Angier, 4/16)

The New York Times: Single? No Kids? Don’t Fret: How To Plan Care In Your Later Years
Sarah Peveler lacks a support system that many older people count on: their adult children. But Ms. Peveler, 71, who is divorced and childless, said she was determined not to let fear of an uncertain future get the best of her. To help avoid the potential perils of a solitary old age, Ms. Peveler is carrying out a multipronged, go-it-alone plan. A key part of it was to find a small community where she could make friends and walk nearly everywhere, without worrying about the hazards of ice and snow. (Garland, 4/23)

The San Jose Mercury News: How Dementia Can Drain A Family’s Life Savings
If Denis Winter suffered from heart failure, cancer or almost any other deadly disease, his family could rest assured that his care would be largely covered by insurance. But Winter has Alzheimer’s disease. So the extraordinary cost of his care — $8,500 a month, or $102,000 a year — is borne entirely by his wife, Linda. It is quickly draining their lifetime of savings. (Krieger, 4/15)

The Washington Post: HIV-Infected People Are Living For Years, But Age-Related Diseases Set In Early
David Hardy has been treating HIV-infected patients since the early 1980s, when the epidemic began. In those days, people newly diagnosed with AIDS lived for only about six months. Hardy, an infectious-disease specialist and internist, was ecstatic when powerful new drug combinations came into widespread use in 1996, enabling HIV-infected people to measure their lives in decades rather than months. But in recent years, his euphoria has turned bittersweet. (Cimons, 4/14)

The Washington Post: Aging People Are Feeling Younger
We’ve heard all the cliches about aging: “You’re as young [or old] as you feel.” “Age is just a number.” “You’re not getting older, you’re getting better.” “Seventy is the new 50.” Well-intentioned, perhaps. Offensive, to some. Patronizing, to be sure. But could they be true? Maybe science has started to catch up with these tired phrases. Researchers have discovered that many people feel good about themselves as they get older. (Cimons, 4/14)

The Washington Post: Steps To Take To Live An Active And Happy Life When You're Old
In good weather, Sylvia Lask logs thousands of steps a day on her Fitbit as she pushes down New York City sidewalks with her walker. As frequently as once a week, she heads to Albany, walker and all, to lobby state government officials about mental-health issues. Florence Lee drives in to Manhattan on her own from Queens on Thursday nights during the New York Philharmonic’s season for performances of the vaunted orchestra. Larry White still travels around New York State, as he has for the past 10 years, to help prison inmates manage long sentences. (Bruno, 4/14)

The New York Times: The Clinical Trial Is Open. The Elderly Need Not Apply.
Dr. Ken Covinsky, a geriatrician and researcher, was sitting in his office at the San Francisco VA Medical Center last month, browsing through a medical journal on his computer. When he came across a study of sodium excretion, he waded into the abstract. The research team, mostly based at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had used 24-hour urine collections to estimate how much salt Americans take in each day. (Span, 4/13)

The New York Times: More Than 200 Million Eggs Recalled Over Salmonella Fears
A company has recalled more than 200 million eggs after an outbreak of salmonella was traced to one of its farms in North Carolina. The federal Food and Drug Administration reported Friday that eggs from the affected farm were distributed to nine states — Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia — and were likely connected to 22 reported cases of salmonella infections. (Fortin, 4/15)

The Washington Post: Egg Recall 2018: Fear Of Salmonella Contamination After Nearly Two Dozen Were Sickened
An investigation by the federal agency led to an inspection of the farm, which is located in Hyde County, N.C., and produces 2.3 million eggs a day from 3 million hens. The recalled eggs were sold under brand names such as Great Value, Country Daybreak, Glenview and Food Lion (Click here for a full list). They were also sold to Waffle House restaurants. (Phillips, 4/15)

Meanwhile —

The New York Times: E. Coli Linked To Chopped Romaine Lettuce Infects People In 11 States
Nearly three dozen people have been infected in an E. coli outbreak linked to chopped romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Ariz., region, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday. The agency said that it had not yet identified a grower, supplier, distributor or brand common to the 35 cases of infection across 11 states, so it urged consumers to avoid any chopped romaine lettuce from the Yuma area. (Chokshi, 4/13)

The Washington Post: Romaine Lettuce Recall After E. Coli Outbreak: Prepackaged Salad Mixes May Have Been Tainted, Officials Say
Fresh Foods Manufacturing, based in Freedom, Pa., is recalling the prepackaged products after learning last week from their romaine lettuce supplier that the vegetables may have been contaminated with Escherichia coli, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Saturday. Officials said the recalled products have not been tied to any E. coli-related illnesses. The recalled items, which were labeled “Great to Go by Market District,” were shipped to retailers in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia and had sell-by dates of April 13 to April 16. (Phillips, 4/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Flint Water Tests Show Safe Lead Levels, NRDC Report Says
The amount of lead in the drinking water of Flint, Mich., has fallen again, according to a study released Friday, as the city works to replace old pipes and takes other measures to ensure the city’s water quality is safe. The Natural Resources Defense Council released a report Friday that found lead levels well below the federal action level of 15 parts per billion in a sample of 92 homes. A researcher at Michigan State University found a lead level of 4 ppb at the homes tested. (Maher, 4/13)

The Associated Press: Cuomo: Number Of NY Registered Organ Donors Tops 5 Million
Efforts by the state and nonprofit organizations to boost the number of New Yorkers registered to donate their organs are paying off. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced that more than 5 million New Yorkers are now enrolled in the New York State Donate Life Registry as organ donors. The Democrat says organ donation rates have reached historic levels thanks to several coordinated efforts. (4/16)

The Baltimore Sun: Maryland Lawmakers Pass Legislation To Help Preserve The Fertility Of Cancer Patients 
The legislation requires insurance companies to pay for standard fertility preservation procedures, such as sperm and egg freezing, for people who undergo medical treatment that would result in infertility. This includes chemotherapy treatment for cancer patients. Gov. Larry Hogan still must to sign the bill for it to take effect. A spokeswoman, Amelia Chasse, said the governor is waiting for an opinion from the attorney general’s office. (McDaniels, 4/13)

Health News Florida: Living Kidney Donation Might Be The Answer To National Shortage
Blayne Badura thought that he had this kidney disease thing figured out. For two decades, he had worked as a Seminole County Deputy, a job that he loved and allowed him to provide for his wife and two children, while doing dialysis three times a week. “Work kept my mind off my own illness it sounds crazy but it’s true. When I went to work I didn’t have to worry about me. I dealt with other peoples’ problems.” (Prieur, 4/16)

Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Providers Do More To Fight Hunger, But Efforts Could Be Hindered By Funding Cuts 
Working in partnership with the Greater Chicago Food Depository, a "Fresh Truck" arrives at one of 12 clinic sites once every other month and stays for 90 minutes. Cook County staffers screen patients for food needs with a two-question survey. Those identified as being food-insecure get a voucher to take part in the distributions. Such efforts provide patients a small opportunity to gain access to nutritious food, but arguably the program's greatest impact is in enrolling people into government aid programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, known as WIC. In 2016 and 2017, nearly 300 patients who visited a distribution site were enrolled and began receiving benefits. (Johnson, 4/14)

Pioneer Press: MN Legislature Eyes Regional Mental Health Centers
The bill would provide $80 million for state grant programs to construct six mental health crisis centers around the state that cities, counties, hospitals and other public entities would operate to serve mentally ill and chemically dependent people. The plan also would grant the funding to build three long-term housing facilities to support mental health services. Numerous studies have reported huge gaps in Minnesota’s mental health services. The crisis center proposal “would be a start in closing those gaps,” said Sen. David Senjem, the Rochester Republican who introduced the bills and chairs the Capital Investment Committee that will decide whether to fund it. (Salisbury, 4/15)

Health News Florida: Orlando Health Wants To Share What They Learned From Responding To The Pulse Shooting
With the recent Parkland shooting, a local hospital that responded to the Pulse nightclub shooting wants to start a nationwide conversation about emergency preparedness. Orlando Health released a video and report, detailing each team’s location and response that night, along with hospital-wide recommendations for responding to similar events. (Prieur, 5/16)

Dallas Morning News: Medical Records Of Texas Health Patients May Have Been Exposed In Data Breach
Medical records, driver's license and Social Security numbers, and other personal information of  Texas Health Resources patients may have been accessed unlawfully, the Arlington-based health system is warning. Texas Health is one of North Texas' largest provider groups with more than 350 community access points. Over 1.7 million patients visit its physician offices annually, public documents show. (Rice, 4/15)

Health News Florida: Counties Throughout Florida Get Grants To Fight Zika Before Mosquito Season
Orange County is putting a $325,000 grant it got from the Florida Department of Health toward preventing the spread of Zika. Ten counties throughout the state received grants. “We will use that money to buy equipment, handheld sprayers, truck-mounted sprayers, backpack sprayers as well as control materials.” (Prieur, 5/16)

Kansas City Star: Deadly Shootings Result From Low-Level Marijuana Drug Deals
Timothy Durden Jr. made it a habit to throw his arms around his grandmother, plant a big kiss on her cheek and proclaim, “I love you, Grannie.” The former Park Hill High School basketball and football player had a passion for joking, dancing, lifting weights. But the 18-year-old also enjoyed "smoking his weed," family wrote in his obituary, and that habit cost him his life when he allegedly tried to rob the teenager who was selling him 2 ounces of marijuana in the Northland. (Rise, 4/14)

The Detroit News: Flint Water Is Safe But Trust Lacking
As Flint moves on from its water crisis, residents still lack faith in elected leaders who didn’t do enough to prevent lead from poisoning the city’s water supply back in 2014. For months now, however, the water has registered normal lead levels and families can drink their water without fear. (4/15)

The Washington Post: I Am A Flint Resident. I Am Done Paying For Water That Is Not Safe.
About a week ago, I was having a bad day. My neck was killing me, I had a migraine, my WiFi was down, and I had spent over an hour working with customer service to resolve the issue. Drained, I decided to wash my dishes, eat some lunch and take a nap. I went to the kitchen sink, flicked the switch on my PUR water filter and turned on the faucet. Nothing came out. My water had been shut off. (Tunde Olaniran, 4/16)

Mother Jones: Officials Say Flint’s Water Is Safe. Residents Say It’s Not. Scientists Say It’s Complicated.
Four years ago, the city of Flint changed its water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River. Almost immediately, foul-smelling, discolored water began coming out of city taps. For almost two years, the mostly low-income and black residents were left to cook, drink, and bathe in water that was contaminated with lead. The crisis led to criminal charges leveled at more than a dozen state and city officials, thousands of children with dangerous levels of lead in their bloodstreams, and the collapse of confidence between residents and their government. Now, at the fourth anniversary of the water crisis, state and city officials say the crisis has ended and Flint’s water is safe to drink. But residents aren’t buying it. (Nathalie Baptiste, 4/16)

The Washington Post: Americans Are Sticking By Obamacare. If Only The GOP Would Stop Trying To Kill It.
The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, has endured attack after attack, yet it has not collapsed. Instead, it proves repeatedly that it fills a substantial gap in the U.S. health-care system. This should finally cause some reflection among those who have been trying to kill it. President Trump’s Health and Human Services Department admitted this month that 11.8 million people signed up for private insurance plans through the Obamacare marketplaces this year, despite slashed funding for advertising and an open-enrollment period that was shortened by half. HHS played up a rise in premiums relative to last year’s, but most people on the Obamacare exchanges receive federal subsidies, keeping their costs steady. The average subsidized premium is only $89 per month. (4/15)

The New York Times: Would Americans Accept Putting Health Care On A Budget?
If you wanted to get control of your household spending, you’d set a budget and spend no more than it allowed. You might wonder why we don’t just do the same for spending on American health care. Though government budgets are different from household budgets, the idea of putting a firm limit on health care spending is far from unknown. Many countries, including Canada, Switzerland and Britain, pay hospitals entirely or partly this way. (Austin Frakt, 4/16)

The Hill: Longer Sentences Won’t Stop The Opioid Epidemic
More than 60,000 people died from a drug overdose in 2016 — most of them due to opioids like fentanyl — and no region in America has escaped this tragedy. The numbers now show that the epidemic has struck both rural and urban parts of this country. This is first and foremost a public health crisis. But it’s also a major challenge for law enforcement and one that calls for fresh solutions. As we confront this surge in deaths, we must be careful not to repeat the mistakes of past drug epidemics. (Ronal Serpas, 4/16)

The Washington Post: The Facts About Work Requirements Are Being Ignored. Here’s Why.
Poor able-bodied adults already work, although they’re often less consistently connected to the job market than the nonpoor. But adding work requirements, as opposed to measures that support existing work efforts of the poor, is likely to hurt their present living standards and their kids’ future mobility. Programs such as nutritional, health and housing support often make it easier for a low-income person to be able to hold a job, and children who grow up in families that receive these benefits tend to have better adult life outcomes that comparable kids who don’t receive the supports. (Jared Bernstein, 4/16)

The Washington Post: Have You Noticed How Poor People Are Bankrupting The Government? Neither Have We. 
Have you noticed how spending on welfare and other benefits for the poor is bankrupting the federal government? Neither have we. On Monday, the Congressional Budget Office forecast a vast increase in the federal debt over the next decade, due in large part to the GOP’s recent $1.5 trillion tax cut, most of which goes to businesses and wealthy households. On the domestic spending side, the biggies remain middle-class programs such as Medicare and Social Security. Yet President Trump and the Republican leadership in Congress are on an election-year campaign to “reform” means-tested safety-net programs. The day after the CBO released its figures, in fact, Mr. Trump ordered federal agencies to review all such programs — with an eye toward toughening work requirements for their recipients. On Thursday, the House Agriculture Committee unveiled a proposed 2018 farm bill that would make it harder for non-working adults to get food-buying aid under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). (4/15)

Los Angeles Times: Tax Policy Is A Bore, Until They Take Your Social Security And Medicare Away
Tax cuts do not pay for themselves — not the Trump tax cuts, nor in any other case in modern U.S. practice. So we face only two possible courses of action: Either we tax ourselves more, or we dismantle the social safety net (in particular, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid) that protects Americans from destitution or disability. Which is the right direction for our country to pursue? One political movement has its answer at the ready: Slash the safety net. (Edward Klein, 4/15)

USA Today: When Tax Cuts Are Disguised Future Tax Increases
Neither party has shown much willingness recently to address government’s biggest spending problem: benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare, whose costs rise automatically each year based on how many people retire and what health care providers think they should be paid. Where does that leave us? By (Morton) Friedman’s analysis, it leaves some of the biggest tax hikes in history waiting for the next generation of tax payers, many of whom can't even vote yet. (4/15)

Miami Herald: We Want Gun Dealers To Conduct Instant Background Checks Before Selling Ammunition
Nearly anywhere in America, a felon with a violent criminal history can walk into a gun store and walk out minutes later – no questions asked – with hundreds of rounds of ammunition for an assault weapon. We already have laws on the books designed to prevent such sales, but the disturbing truth is that we do not require enforcement. (Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Rep. Debbie Wasserman, 4/13)

Miami Herald: I Am Mentally Ill. Why Should My Gun Rights Come With An Asterisk? 
To even begin this essay, I’m going to have to admit something uncomfortable. I am mentally ill. I won’t bore you with the details, but I’m one of hundreds of thousands of Americans with a tough-to-treat, life-affecting neurosis known as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). (Peter Mandel, 4/14)

The Hill: Let's Follow These Celebrities And Create Safe Spaces For People To Discuss Their Mental Health
In last week’s People magazine cover story, Mariah Carey disclosed that she has Bipolar II disorder. ...In recent months, Black Panther star Letitia Wright, Prince Harry and rapper Logic have spoken out about their personal experiences with depression and suicide. These public disclosures are critically important in normalizing mental illness and eradicating mental illness stigma. We must follow these celebrities lead and create safe spaces for people to discuss their mental health and get the support and treatment that they need. (Inger E. Burnett-Zeigler, 4/16)

USA Today: Make An End-Of-Life Plan Or Lose Money And Choices In Your Dying Days
Kaiser Health News reports that in 2011, Medicare spent $554 billion and 28%, or about $170 billion, on patients’ last six months of life. After $170 billion is spent, those patients are still dead. That is simply what Medicare spent. What about the families of those in this study? What might they have spent? Hard dollars can go to diapers, co-pays for prescription drugs, in-home care giving help, travel to specialists, hotels and parking at the famous acute care hospitals. Hard dollars are lost when working family members have to quit work to care for the ill. In my own extended family I have horror stories. (Hattie Bryant, 4/13)