The New York Times: Cost, Not Choice, Is Top Concern Of Health Insurance Customers
It is all about the price. Millions of people buying insurance in the marketplaces created by the federal health care law have one feature in mind. It is not finding a favorite doctor, or even a trusted company. It is how much — or, more precisely, how little — they can pay in premiums each month. ... The unexpected laser focus on price has contributed to hundreds of millions of dollars in losses among the country’s top insurers, as fewer healthy people than expected have signed up. And that has created two vexing questions: Will the major insurance companies stay in the marketplaces? And if they do, will the public have a wide array of plans to choose from — a central tenet of the 2010 Affordable Care Act? (Abelson, 8/12)

The New York Times: Health Insurers Use Process Intended To Curb Rate Increases To Justify Them
After the Affordable Care Act took effect in 2010, it created a review mechanism intended to prevent exorbitant increases in health insurance rates by shaming companies that sought them. But this summer, insurers are turning that process on its head, using it to highlight the reasons they are losing money under the health care law and their case for raising premiums in 2017. (Pear, 8/14)

And in insurance news from the states —

The Tennessean: Cigna, Humana File For Higher Obamacare Premiums
Cigna and Humana each filed revised, and higher, requests for premiums on the 2017 Obamacare exchange after the state's insurance regulator granted them the chance to revisit earlier requests in a bid to keep the insurers in the market. In its latest filing, Cigna is proposing an average 46 percent increase — double its first 23 percent increase request. (Fletcher, 8/12)

San Francisco Business Times: Blue Shield Of California Will Take A Week Off In September Due To Obamacare Losses 
Blue Shield of California is shutting down for the four days after Labor Day to reduce its payroll-related liabilities, citing losses in California's Covered California Obamacare exchange. The move will affect most of its 6,000 employees in California, except about 1,000 who work for Care1st, which it acquired last fall for $1.2 billion, and some staffers in customer service and related areas who will remain on the job. The exact number of workers involved hasn't yet been tabulated, according to the San Francisco-based insurer. (Rauber, 8/11)

The New York Times: U.S. Declares Zika An Emergency In Puerto Rico
The Obama administration declared a public health emergency in Puerto Rico on Friday because of the Zika virus, sending a message to the island that the virus, which has infected more than 10,000 residents, should be taken seriously. The warning came more than six months after the World Health Organization declared the virus, and the birth defects it can cause, a global health emergency, and it was not clear if the declaration would have much effect. (Tavernise, 8/12)

The Associated Press: US Declares Health Emergency In Puerto Rico Due To Zika
"This administration is committed to meeting the Zika outbreak in Puerto Rico with the necessary urgency," Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a department statement. Burwell traveled to the U.S. territory in late April to evaluate its response to the outbreak. ... The announcement came hours after Puerto Rico reported 1,914 new cases in the past week, for a total of 10,690 since the first one was reported in December. (8/12)

News Service Of Florida: Feds Declare Zika Emergency In Puerto Rico
With more than 10,000 confirmed Zika cases on the island, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Friday declared a public-health emergency in Puerto Rico. In announcing the declaration, the federal agency pointed to the dangers that the mosquito-borne virus poses to pregnant women. Zika can cause severe birth defects. (8/14)

The Hill: US Declares 'Public Health Emergency' In Puerto Rico Over Zika 
The Obama administration on Friday declared a “public health emergency” in Puerto Rico over the Zika virus. The move is an indication of the severity of the virus in Puerto Rico, which is being hit much harder than the continental United States. The declaration allows Puerto Rico to apply for additional funding to fight the virus, which can cause severe birth defects. (Sullivan, 8/12)

Los Angeles Times: Zika Infections Pass 10,000 In Puerto Rico; White House Diverts Federal Funds To Find A Vaccine
The number of infections caused by the Zika virus in Puerto Rico has surpassed 10,000, an official said Friday, a day after the White House said it would redirect funds from other efforts to help pay for research to find a vaccine. The moves come as Florida continues to spray insecticide in parts of Miami to kill mosquitoes that can transmit the virus. The spraying was launched last week after health officials identified cases of locally transmitted Zika. Previous infections reported in the U.S. occurred only among people who traveled abroad. (Fernandez, 8/12)

Stat: Could A Rapid-Response Fund Help The US Address Crises Faster?
Wouldn’t it be easier to respond to the next public health crisis if the federal government didn’t have to wait for Congress? That’s the lesson that top lawmakers have learned from the seemingly endless standoff over emergency funds for the Zika virus. Now, there’s a reasonable chance that the next health spending bill will include a reserve fund that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can use the next time there’s an infectious disease crisis. (Nather, 8/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Efforts To Prevent Zika Infections Intensify
Now that Zika is being transmitted by mosquitoes in Miami, health and insect-control workers across the country are intensifying preparations for possible local outbreaks of their own. Health departments are ramping up early-warning mechanisms, expanding mosquito-control programs and launching public-awareness campaigns. (McWhirter and Calfas, 8/12)

Health News Florida: Insecticide Used To Fight Zika Could Pose Risk For Humans, Wildlife
Some pesticide being used to kill mosquitoes and fight the spread of Zika in Miami-Dade County is also harmful to honey bees, birds, some fish and people, according to the Miami Herald. The insecticide naled has been approved for use in the United States since 1959 but is banned by the European Union, the newspaper reports. Miami-Dade mosquito control officials and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency indicate the risks are minimal and the pesticide is sprayed in small concentrations, with little of it actually reaching the ground, according to the newspaper. (8/14)

Los Angeles Times: How Our Methods For Fighting Mosquitoes Have Changed Over The Years
It’s not the fog of war, but it’s a war on bugs. And sometimes it’s fought with, well, fog. Recent efforts to halt the spread of the Zika virus in Florida bring to mind other times authorities have unleashed billowing clouds to combat pests. (Fernandez, 8/15)

The New York Times: As New York Fights Zika Virus, Officials Turn Their Focus To Sex
One by one, the women paraded into the research center in Midtown Manhattan. There were about 40 of them, pregnant or of reproductive age, brought together by New York City health officials for focus-group sessions in English and Spanish.They were there to discuss the Zika virus. But not the mosquitoes known to carry it.They were there to talk about sex. (Santora and Schmidt, 8/12)

Los Angeles Times: Brazil Defeated The Mosquito That Spreads Zika Once Before — Few Expect It To Do So Again
With no vaccine or treatment for Zika, Brazil’s government has few options besides sending teams to every infested region to hunt down and kill the insects that carry the virus, Aedes aegypti. Can the mosquito be defeated? (Zavis, 8/14)

Wyoming Public Media: Zika Virus Makes First Appearance In Wyoming
A Campbell County woman caught the Zika virus while traveling outside the country, and after her return started showing symptoms like fever, rash and joint paint. Department of Health spokeswoman Kim Deti says Wyoming was one of the last states to report a case. The virus spreads through a certain type of mosquito, but Deti says those mosquitos cannot survive in Wyoming. (Edwards, 8/12)

U.S. News & World Report: Same-Sex Infertility Case Exposes Lack Of Access To Reproductive Treatment
A recent lawsuit involving lesbians in New Jersey who are trying to conceive is highlighting how unaffordable infertility treatments can be – and raising deeper questions about who has the right to assistance in conceiving a child. For many Americans, health insurance does not cover fertility treatment; the few for whom it does are usually in heterosexual marriages. But today's modern family is different: same-sex marriage is legal, the government has lifted its ban on taxpayer dollars going toward gender reassignment surgery and single people choose to become parents on their own. But while these people don't fit the description of traditional parents, is it discrimination not to help them have a child? (Leonard, 8/15)

The Associated Press: New Jersey Proposal Expands Infertility Coverage To Lesbians
A federal lawsuit brought by a New Jersey lesbian couple who want to have a baby may mean insurance coverage for women who currently don't meet the state's definition of infertile. Erin Krupa was denied insurance coverage for infertility treatments essentially because she failed to show she couldn't get pregnant by having sex with a man. New Jersey law for insurance purposes defines infertility as the result of failure to conceive after a certain period of unprotected sex. Krupa's insurer eventually agreed to the coverage, based on her doctor's diagnosis, and she has incurred nearly $25,000 in out-of-pocket medical expenses. (8/13)

In other news, medical boards in Iowa consider conversion therapy policies, and health officials are scrambling to get gay and bisexual men vaccinated during a meningitis outbreak in California —

The Associated Press: Iowa Medical, Psychology Boards Mull Conversion Therapy Rule
Iowa boards overseeing doctors and psychologists considered Friday whether to adopt a policy that would ban state-licensed professionals from counseling gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender children to change their sexual orientation in a practice known as conversion therapy. The Iowa Board of Psychology on Friday voted to deny a petition that would have prohibited Iowa licensed mental health providers from trying to reverse a patient's sexual orientation, said board spokeswoman Sharon Dozier. She declined to discuss the reasons, saying the board will release its full decision later. (8/12)

Los Angeles Times: Amid Meningitis Outbreak, Officials Urge Vaccination — But Not For Everyone
Health officials in Los Angeles and Orange counties are racing to vaccinate gay men for meningitis, as a growing outbreak in the region appears to be hitting them particularly hard. Orange County health workers launched evening pop-up clinics at gay bars, night clubs and LGBT centers. At the first one, at the Velvet Lounge in Santa Ana on Saturday, 31 people got a free shot at the bar — against meningitis. (Karlamangla, 8/12)

NPR: Psychiatrists Reminded To Refrain From Armchair Analysis Of Public Figures
Earlier this week the American Psychiatric Association cautioned psychiatrists against taking part in a feverish new national hobby. Catching Pokémon wasn't mentioned. Psychoanalyzing Donald Trump was. On the organization's website APA president Maria A. Oquendo wrote: "The unique atmosphere of this year's election cycle may lead some to want to psychoanalyze the candidates, but to do so would not only be unethical, it would be irresponsible." (Stetka, 8/13)

In other 2016 election news —

Politico Pro: Planned Parenthood Votes Targets Toomey In Ads
Planned Parenthood Votes is going up with $1.1 million in television ads targeting Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey for his opposition to abortion. The ad features Toomey, in a 2010 interview with Chris Matthews, saying that he would support a state law banning abortion and criminal penalties for physicians who perform them. (Haberkorn, 8/15)

Stat: Using Virtual Reality To Diagnose Pedophilia Stirs Up Controversy
A handful of scientists are testing a controversial practice of using virtual reality to diagnose pedophilia in men in hopes of helping them manage their sexual desires before they act on them. Pedophilia, a psychiatric disorder, affects up to 5 percent of men, according to the American Psychiatric Association. But it’s difficult to study because researchers don’t want to use real photos of children to measure arousal. So they’re turning to 3-D animated characters and virtual reality.It’s not foolproof, and it’s raised concerns among some psychiatrists who fear the computer-generated images could stimulate the men’s interest in children. (Seervai, 8/12)

NPR: Why Doctors Want A Computerized Assistant For Cancer Care
A computer may soon be able to offer highly personalized treatment suggestions for cancer patients based on the specifics of their cases and the full sweep of the most relevant scientific research. IBM and the New York Genome Center, a consortium of medical research institutions in New York City, are collaborating on a project to speed up cancer diagnoses and treatment. (Kim, 8/12)

Athens Banner-Herald: Athens Orthopedic Won't Pay For Extended Credit Monitoring In Data Breach
The hacker who infiltrated the computer system at Athens Orthopedic Clinic “has attempted to extort the clinic for ransom money,” the business said in a prepared statement released late Friday. In the same prepared statement, the clinic also said it would not pay for extended credit monitoring for the thousands of victims of the hack, two of whom indicated in a Friday story in the Athens Banner-Herald story they were dissatisfied with the clinic’s response to the data breach. (Thompson, 8/12)

Baltimore Sun: Baltimore Pokemon Go Players Hit The Streets – And Lose Weight 
Professors and researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health published an editorial in a campus publication this month speculating that Pokemon Go and other so-called augmented reality games could be "very useful" in encouraging young people to be more active....To be sure, the health benefits of Pokemon Go are so far largely anecdotal, but health care professionals are taking notice and are cautiously optimistic about what may still turn out to be a summer fad. (Wells, 8/12)

Stateline: A Shortage In The Nation's Maternal Health Care
Faced with a shortage of obstetricians and gynecologists and nurse midwives, several states are considering proposals that advocates say would improve health care for women. But with the female population of the United States and number of babies born here projected to increase sharply over the next decade and beyond, scholars and medical organizations say more dramatic changes are needed to ensure that the medical needs of American women are met. (Ollove, 8/15)

Modern Healthcare: Maternal Care Is New Frontier For Bundled Payments 
Last year, Community Health Choice, a Medicaid managed-care organization, paid for the births of 21,194 babies along the Texas Gulf Coast. For those deliveries, it spent $41.6 million on providers, such as doctors and hospitals; $11.9 million on physicians providing prenatal care; and more than $75 million on babies who ended up in the neonatal intensive-care unit. (Whitman, 8/13)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Breast Cancer Density Laws Mean More Tests, Unclear Benefit
Soon after Pennsylvania's breast density notification law took effect in 2014, Jules Sumkin found himself wanting to spare women from getting a letter that might alarm or perplex them. Breast cancer density laws mean more tests, unclear benefit. Twenty-eight states, including New Jersey and Delaware, now have laws that require mammography centers to inform women with dense breast tissue that it may increase the risk of cancer and obscure a malignancy on a mammogram, so they may want to talk to their doctors about extra imaging options. (McCullough, 8/14)

Reuters: Judge Rejects Ohio Law To Cut Planned Parenthood Funds Over Abortion
A judge on Friday prevented Ohio from cutting federal taxpayer funding from 28 Planned Parenthood clinics, setting back the governor's hopes of stopping the women's health services group from providing abortions. U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett said the law was unconstitutional and would cause "irreparable injury" to Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio and Southwest Ohio and their patients. (Skinner, 8/12)

The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Will Appeal Federal Judge's Ruling To Block Law Defunding Planned Parenthood
The state will appeal a federal judge's ruling Friday blocking Ohio lawmakers' attempt to defund Planned Parenthood, which will make Rep. Tim Ginter happy. "This was a thoroughly vetted and screened piece of legislation,” said the Salem Republican, who presided over committee hearings on the controversial measure to pull $1.4 million from the agency that provides women's health-care services and abortions. (Rowland, 8/13)

The Hill: Judge: Ohio Can't Defund Planned Parenthood 
A federal judge is halting a Ohio law that would have defunded Planned Parenthood starting this year, a major decision that will be closely watched by other states with similar measures. Judge Michael Barrett ruled Friday that Ohio’s health department could not defund Planned Parenthood because the group’s patients could face "irreparable injury," according to the 23-page opinion. (Ferris, 8/12)

Meanwhile, in the news from Texas —

Houston Chronicle: Texas Leaders Double Back With Anti-Abortion Proposals 
Texas officials have wasted little time advancing new anti-abortion policies after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned state law for building what it deemed to be unconstitutional barriers to abortion. Since the high court opinion decimated parts of the Texas' abortion law in late June, Gov. Greg Abbott's administration has unveiled a new fetal burial policy, published revisions of a mandatory pre-abortion brochure that medical experts say inserts inaccuracies and granted $1.6 million to a group run by an anti-abortion advocate. (Zelinski, 8/12)

The Washington Post: Baltimore Police Cuffed, Stunned And Shot People In Mental Health Crisis, Even If They Posed No Threat
Police response to individuals with mental illness, an issue that has taken center stage in Justice Department investigations in recent years, is again in the spotlight given a lengthy new report showing how often Baltimore officers forcibly detain people in crisis. Justice Department investigators found that over a six-year period, mental illness played a role in at least 1 of every 5 cases in which a Baltimore officer used force — through handcuffs, stun guns and guns, for example — even if the person presented no immediate threat. At least one encounter ended in death. (Kelly, 8/12)

In other news, KHN looks at the disparities in mental health care access for children —

Kaiser Health News: Race, Ethnicity Affect Kids’ Access To Mental Health Care, Study Finds
One in five Americans is estimated to have a mental health condition at any given time. But getting treatment remains difficult — and it’s worse for children, especially those who identify as black or Hispanic. That’s the major finding in research published Friday in the International Journal of Health Services. The study examines how often young adults and children were able to get needed mental health services, based on whether they were black, Hispanic or white. Using a nationally representative sample of federally collected survey data compiled between 2006 and 2012, researchers sought to determine how often people reported poor mental health and either saw a specialist or had a general practitioner bill for mental health services. (Luthra, 8/12)

The Associated Press: Prosecution Trend: After Fatal OD, Dealer Charged With Death
He knew he was in trouble even before he read the text message: "Did u hear what hapnd 2 ed?" Ed Martin III had been found dead in the bathroom of a convenience store. He'd mainlined fentanyl, an opioid up to 50 times more powerful than heroin. Michael Millette was sad that his friend, just 28, had died. But he was scared, too. He'd sold him his final fix. Millette fled to Vermont, but quickly returned [to New Hampshire] to sell more drugs to support his habit. Now, though, police had a tip that he'd been Martin's dealer. After he sold drugs to an informant, they arrested him. (Cohen, 8/13)

The Associated Press: What’s Behind Growing Push To Punish Dealers In Fatal ODs?
Faced with an alarming increase in opioid addiction, a growing number of prosecutors are charging dealers not just for selling but for the deaths of customers who overdose on heroin or fentanyl. Here are some questions and answers about opioid abuse and this approach to pursuing dealers. (Cohen, 8/13)

In other news on the opioid crisis —

The New Orleans Times-Picayune: White House Wants More Doctors To Treat Opioid Addiction 
Nearly 1,500 counties in the United States do not have a single physician licensed to prescribe buprenorphine, a medication widely considered one of the most effective treatments for people with opioid and heroin use disorders. To remedy this problem, the White House announced Friday (Aug. 12) it is offering free buprenorphine training for health care providers across the country and online. (Lipinski, 8/12)

CBS: How Legal Pot May Have Created The Heroin Outbreak
This week, the DEA chose to keep pot on its list of most dangerous drugs, even though more and more states and cities are legalizing or decriminalizing pot use. But few Americans recognize a significant downside to the pot-legalization movement, which is addressed in an article in this month's Esquire magazine. (8/13)

Stat: Athletes Are Keeping Their Distance From A Genetic Test For Concussion Risks
Boosters have billed it as the cheek swab that could save football: an easy genetic test that promises to identify which young athletes are likely to suffer the most severe consequences from a concussion. The idea is to nudge those kids away from contact sports, while giving their less susceptible peers the green light to hit the gridiron. “Isn’t it just better to know than to not know?” one gene testing company asked in a Facebook ad. ... The hitch? The market for this test, touted just a few years ago as revolutionary, seems to be remarkably soft. (Robbins, 8/15)

NPR: How The Placebo Effect Could Boost An Olympic Performance
Olympic medals are won by margins of tenths or even hundredths of a second. So, it's no surprise that athletes want any edge they can get — even methods not backed by a lot of scientific evidence. The alternative practice du jour in Rio, so far, has been cupping. In years past it was special, stretchy tape, said to support sore muscles and improve range of motion. And dietary supplements are an ever-popular option. Like every other treatment or intervention, though, these purported performance-enhancers are subject to the placebo effect — benefits due to the recipient's belief in a treatment. (Hobson, 8/14)

The New York Times: Don’t Throw Out Your Organ Donor Card After 65
Take my kidneys. Please. Take my lungs, too, and my liver. Heart, skin, corneas, anything useful. Once I’ve died, I’ll have no further need for my body parts, but they could prove vital for some of the tens of thousands of people anxiously awaiting organ transplants. The fact that I’m over 65 doesn’t disqualify me (or you). In fact, it makes us particularly desirable as donors, living or dead, for older recipients, who represent a growing proportion of transplant patients. (Span, 8/12)

The Washington Post: Hearing Loss Can Creep Up On You Steathily, With Disturbing Repercussions
Former president Jimmy Carter, 91, told the New Yorker recently that 90 percent of the arguments he has with Rosalynn, his wife of 70 years, are about hearing. “When I tell her, ‘Please speak more loudly,’ she absolutely refuses to speak more loudly, or to look at me when she talks,” he told the magazine. In response, the former first lady, 88, declared that having to repeat things “drives me up the wall.” Yet after both went to the doctor, much to her surprise, “I found out it was me!” she said. “I was the one who was deaf.” Hearing loss is like that. It comes on gradually, often without an individual’s realizing it, and it prompts a range of social and health consequences. (Cimons, 8/14)

In other news about kids' hearing —

Reuters: Ear-Tube Surgery May Not Solve All Hearing Problems
Children with hearing loss who get ear-tube surgery to address chronic ear infections may need tests to see whether their hearing improves, a study suggests. When kids get an infection, fluid can build up in the middle ear, making it difficult for them to hear and potentially impairing speech and language development, said lead study author Kenneth R. Whittemore Jr., a researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital. (8/13)

The Boston Globe: Baystate Health Plans 300 Layoffs To Fix $75M Budget Hole
Baystate Health, the dominant health care system in Western Massachusetts, plans to lay off about 300 people as it tries to close a $75 million budget shortfall spurred by shrinking federal payments, the nonprofit said Friday. In a memo to Baystate staff, chief executive Mark A. Keroack said the job cuts — about 2.5 percent of the company’s employees — could save Baystate about $20 million. ... The health system, which has an annual budget of just over $2 billion, said it would still face a budget gap of about $15 million after those layoffs and another $40 million in unspecified spending cuts. (Woodward, 8/12)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Philly Firefighters Get Mandatory Physicals, For The First Time In Decades
The Philadelphia Fire Department has long conducted medical exams for new hires and before promotions, but regular physicals have not been required for several decades, said deputy chief Ted Mueller, the department's health and safety officer. That was a cause for concern among management and labor alike, given the extreme physical demands of the work. In addition to sudden stresses placed on the heart, firefighters contend with all manner of unknowns, such as exposure to blood-borne pathogens and the inhalation of smoke and other airborne contaminants. (Avril, 8/15)

The Boston Globe: In Suit, Questions Raised About Former Mass. Health Chief’s Steward Connections
In June 2014, two executives from Steward Health Care System visited John Polanowicz, then the state’s health and human services secretary. They were far from strangers — Polanowicz had previously worked for Steward — and they chatted about golf and children, according to another person at the meeting. Then Polanowicz handed his visitors a draft of a new policy that would give Steward an avenue to open a heart center, sidestepping a statewide moratorium. This encounter has become a key element in a lawsuit brought by a Steward competitor against the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. In a recent sworn deposition, a former high-ranking health department employee who attended the meeting said Polanowicz told his guests he wanted to make sure the new policy gets “us what we want.” (Kowalczyk, 8/15)

Orlando Sentinel: OneOrlando Fund Sets Final Rules On Who Gets Money 
Survivors of the Pulse nightclub shootings will have a little more leeway to qualify for a share of the millions of dollars raised by the OneOrlando Fund, its board of directors decided late Thursday. The move came after two town hall meetings a week ago in which some survivors testified they didn't seek medical attention within 24 hours — the limit initially proposed to qualify as injured in the shootings. Instead, some said they ran from the club in terror, drove home and didn't venture outside for days. (Santich, 8/12)

The Boston Globe: Anesthesiologist Eyed In Series Of Cataract Surgery Errors
(Kathleen) White, 65, was one of five patients who had surgery at Cataract & Laser Center West in West Springfield on a May morning in 2014, only to discover the next day that the patients could not see out of the eye that had been operated on. The injuries have shocked and mystified cataract surgeons, who say even one serious injury is rare, and led specialists who examined the patients to conclude that the anesthesiologist on the cases, Dr. Tzay Chiu, possibly pierced their eyeballs or retinas with his needles, according to the surgery center’s investigative reports submitted to the state. Chiu’s attorney, Rebecca Capozzi in Waltham, declined to comment. (Kowalczyk, 8/14)

Star Tribune: Shackles Off: How Care For Minnesota's Pregnant Inmates Is Improving 
Change had already begun with a 2014 anti-shackling law that went into effect two weeks after [Autumn] Mason delivered her daughter. It made Minnesota the 20th state to outlaw the use of restraints during and just after childbirth. It also became the first state to guarantee offenders access to birth coaches, called doulas...Child welfare advocates say such steps are overdue in promoting healthy pregnancies and births, which save taxpayers money and build a foundation for babies who are innocent of their mother’s crimes. (Sawyer, 8/13)

New Hampshire Union Leader: The Changing Face Of NH: What It Means To Have The 2nd Oldest Population In The Nation 
As the state grows grayer, some needs become greater - and many experts, health officials and seniors themselves warn the Granite State is woefully underprepared to serve its silver citizens...For New Hampshire, the shift was sudden. During the 1970s, '80s and '90s, the state's population grew each decade by 20 percent or more, according to the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies. (Grosky, 8/13)

New Hampshire Union Leader: Source: Woman Was Released From New Hampshire Hospital Hours Before Fatal Jump 
A 63-year-old woman who leapt to her death from the third-floor window of a building in downtown Nashua on July 27 had been discharged from the state's psychiatric hospital only hours earlier, according to an administrator at New Hampshire Hospital. The senior employee in administration, with first-hand knowledge of operating conditions at the hospital, agreed to be interviewed on the condition of anonymity, for fear of repercussions at work. (Solomon, 8/13)

Health News Florida: 8 Charged In $157 Million Compounding Pharmacy Fraud Case 
Eight people face charges after authorities say they received $157 million in fraudulent insurance claims as part of a scheme involving prescription compounding pharmacies in Pasco County and the Miami area. Between Oct. 2012 and Dec. 2015 the suspects are accused of submitting $633 million in fraudulent reimbursement claims for prescription compounded medication to Medicare, Tricare and private insurance companies, authorities said. The prescriptions were generated through bribes, kickbacks and illegitimate provider/patient relationships, according to a release from the Department of Justice. (Ochoa, 8/14)

Houston Chronicle: Vaccine Exemptions On The Rise Among Texas Students 
The number of Texans who exempt their children from vaccination for non-medical reasons rose nearly 9 percent last school year, continuing a now 12-year-long trend that public health officials worry could eventually leave communities vulnerable to outbreaks of preventable diseases.The new numbers represent a 19-fold increase since 2003, the first year that Texas law allowed parents to decline state immunization requirements for "reasons of conscience." (Ackerman, 8/14)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Will Cincinnati Needle Exchange Change After Arrest?
Swapping clean needles with drug injection users for used ones has been never a popular idea in Greater Cincinnati. Cincinnati Exchange Project (CEP) had a rough start after the idea was conceived in 2007, but finally opened in 2014. With a raging heroin epidemic, the program has expanded to four sites. Now, its project manager is facing a misdemeanor drug paraphernalia charge after Norwood Police found her sleeping in her SUV on Interstate 71 and seized an uncapped syringe, bottle cap and burnt cotton from her vehicle. Harrison, who has pleaded not guilty, told police she works from her vehicle and was experiencing side effects of hypoglycemia, which she suffers from. (DeMio, 8/14)

Health News Florida: Appeals Court Upholds Convictions Of Ex-WellCare Executives
In a 124-page ruling, a federal appeals court Thursday upheld the convictions of four former WellCare Health Plans executives in a case that stemmed from allegations of defrauding Florida's Medicaid program. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld convictions against former WellCare CEO and President Todd Farha; former Chief Financial Officer Paul Behrens; former Vice President of Clinical Services William Kale; and former Vice President of Medical Economics Peter Clay. (8/12)

Des Moines Register: After 137 Days, A Norwalk Nursing Home Admits Transgender Stroke Victim Stuck At Hospital
A quest by a Des Moines hospital to find a nursing home in Iowa willing to take a stroke victim who also happened to be transgender and bipolar took four and a half months. After a wide search and several evaluations, LeQuan Edwards, 52, landed at the Norwalk Rehabilitation Center, where staffers have been trained to work with transgender people. (Rood, 8/12)

San Jose Mercury News: Stanford: Teen Patients, Clinicians Create Solutions For Medical Issues They Say Need A Fix
Megan Mehta loves her heart doctor, but said he's so busy that he's sometimes hours late for her appointments. And Sina Sulunga-Kahaialii thinks there's got to be an easier way for kidney patients to get a home dialysis machine that matches the height of their beds. These aren't frustrated adults talking. They're patients at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital who are waiting for or have recently received life-saving organ transplants. And this weekend, after putting their heads together at a workshop at the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford, where two of them are living, they came up with some practical solutions to a few health care challenges that they -- and many of the rest of us -- have confronted. (Seipel, 8/14)

Chicago Tribune: Doctor Sentenced To 2 Years In Sacred Heart Bribery Scheme  
In the years before Sacred Heart Hospital abruptly closed, a series of elderly nursing home patients were taken to the struggling West Side medical facility, where they were whisked directly into a room to be examined and tested... Since Sacred Heart closed in July 2013, one of the real motivations for funneling patients to the hospital has become clear: a cadre of administrators and doctors were involved in an elaborate kickback and bribery scheme. They benefited handsomely when patients were admitted to the hospital, billing Medicare and Medicaid for patient stays, according to federal prosecutors. (O'Connell, 8/12)

Austin Statesman: Health Advocates, Bar Owners Debate Expanding City's Smoking Ban
Health advocates have tapped the brakes on a proposal to expand the city of Austin’s smoking ban at bars and restaurants. The plan advanced by Central Health’s Health Equity Policy Council – a group of about 60 Austin-area residents, many of them health professionals – would have made it illegal to allow smoking and vaping on outdoor patios. Vaping would have also been banned inside bars and restaurants, where smoking has been prohibited for about a decade. The proposal would require approval by the Austin City Council before it could be enforced. (Dinges, 8/12)

The Boston Globe: Unfair To Patients: Medicare’s Three-Day Rule 
Increasingly, hospitals have chosen to keep some patients ... under observation — rather than formally admitting them — for days on end. Administrators hope to avoid the heightened attention that inpatient admissions can bring from private auditors hired by Medicare to root out what they consider excessive spending. Patients can become pawns in this game that pits providers against payers. For reasons that only a bureaucrat could attempt to justify, hours spent under observation don’t count toward the three days of care needed to trigger Medicare coverage for post-hospitalization nursing home care. (8/15)

The Wall Street Journal: ObamaCare Sicker Shock
Hillary Clinton admits she’s running to extend the Obama legacy, and so far she’s had a free ride in defending it. She hasn’t even had to explain the increasingly obvious failures of ObamaCare to deliver the affordable insurance that Democrats promised. The Affordable Care Act is now rolling into its fourth year, and even liberals are starting to concede that the insurance exchanges are in distress and Congress may have to reopen the law. Premiums are high and soaring; insurers have booked multimillion-dollar losses and are terminating plans; and the customer pool is smaller, older and less healthy than the official projections. (8/12)

The Wall Street Journal: How Donald Trump’s Assertions About Obamacare Premium Increases Can’t Be True
There has been a lot of discussion recently about Obamacare premium increases. Donald Trump has weighed in–accusing the Obama administration of concealing big premium increases in the Affordable Care Act marketplaces and delaying them until after the election to influence the result. Here is a breakdown of how Mr. Trump’s assertion cannot be true: Mr. Trump said on Aug. 10: “The big increase is now going to come on November 1. And they’re trying to delay it until after the election, because it is catastrophic. It is going to be an increase like never before. ...." ACA premium increases have become a topic on the campaign trail–and voters should know that there is no way the administration can delay the ACA marketplace premium increases until after the election. Consider, first, that we already have a good sense of what the 2017 premium increases will be. Proposed rates have been submitted; the Kaiser Family Foundation and others have analyzed them. (Drew Altman, 8/14)

Billings (Mont.) Gazette: How Medicaid Can Help Reduce Montana's Prison, Jail Crowding
Montana can use expanded Medicaid to help reduce costs and crowding in our jails and prisons. States that expanded Medicaid sooner than Montana have reported significant annual cost savings by getting inmates enrolled. (8/14)

The Tennessean: Digging Into BlueCross’ Big Rate Hike
Some insurers have asked state departments of insurance — which have to approve any increase in premiums — for reasonable adjustments. But headline-grabbing 60 percent-or-more requests are certainly compelling evidence that the exchanges are not working. For example, in Tennessee, BlueCross BlueShield asked for an average premium increase of 62 percent. That’s one of the largest increases in the country. Tennessee’s other exchange carriers — Humana and Cigna — originally asked for less than half of that, but recently said they may refile with higher rates. (Alex Tolbert, 8/14)

Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Industry Needs To Fix Stagnating Wages 
It's been a little over a year since Ascension, the nation's largest Catholic healthcare system, announced it would join a handful of large corporations in raising its minimum wage to $11 an hour. As we plow through this summer of our political discontent, it's worth revisiting the issue of stagnant wages, since I believe it is stoking much of the anger propelling the candidacy of a man clearly unqualified to be president of the United States. (Merrill Goozner, 8/13)

The Kansas City Star: America, Unlike Congress, Cannot Take A Vacation From Zika Virus
If you’ve ever wondered whether Congress really deserves its approval rating, which just barely rises into the double digits, witness lawmakers’ reaction to the Zika virus. Although the virus ordinarily is relatively harmless, if a pregnant woman is infected, it can cause microcephaly in her fetus, a serious birth defect resulting in an abnormally small head and stunted brain development. ... Obama called on Congress to put politics aside and do its job. Democratic senators sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Ryan, urging them to bring Congress back from its long, ongoing vacation to vote for emergency funding. But they show no sign of backing down on the current bill’s partisan provisions. This is not how Congress is supposed to work, especially in the face of a national health crisis. (8/13)

The Hill: Don’t Panic Over Zika, But Start Taking It Seriously 
Now is not the time to panic over the Zika virus. In fact, that time might never come.But there is a real risk to Americans, and it is time that everyone — especially lawmakers in Washington — start taking that risk seriously. Right now, there is so much we don’t know about the virus. It could come to a mosquito near you, or it could burn out of the population in a few years and thus become an afterthought. (Richard, Kuhn, 8/12)

Miami Herald: Zika And Rick Scott’s Climate Change Denial
Dr. Esper Kallas shared a prediction about Zika with me earlier this year. And I could have made big bucks betting that unfortunately he’d be right. Kallas, a leading Brazilian medical researcher at the University of São Paulo, told me back in January he expected Zika — the tropical mosquito-borne disease that has marauded through Brazil and South America — would soon be locally transmitted in the continental U.S. (Tim Padgett, 8/14)

The Kansas City Star: Budget Cuts Shortchange Mental Health Services
Dear U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill and Kansas City Mayor Sly James: Please help. Recently I was visiting at Research Psychiatric Hospital in Kansas City. Here are some things I need you to know: A young woman walked in with two young girls trailing. She was trying to be admitted. And she didn’t have anyone to support her. I wondered what would happen to her children as she filled out the assessment papers. (Melvina Young, 8/14)

Los Angeles Times: My Aunt's Struggle With Assisted Suicide: There Was Death, But Not Enough Dignity
My aunt’s journey toward “death with dignity” began last November. The first symptom was difficulty swallowing after a severe cold — nagging, but not too serious. By December, she was complaining that she couldn’t move her left arm and shoulder. And she was tired, tremendously fatigued. Finally in March, after a battery of tests, the doctor gave her a fatal, hopeless diagnosis — ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. My aunt would not get better; instead, each day would be worse than the one before, until eventually she suffocated or slowly starved to death as the muscles in her throat collapsed. (Linda Van Zandt, 8/14)

San Antonio Express-News: Mental Health Crisis In Bexar County A ‘New Normal?’
People in Texas were stunned by the murder of 18-year-old Haruka Weiser in April as she was walking back to her dorm at the University of Texas at Austin. Perhaps even more stunning is the suspect in the case: Meechaiel Criner, a 17-year-old runaway from a foster placement in Killeen. ... This is not an Austin problem. It could easily happen here. Bexar County faces its own crisis in caring for those with severe mental illness. The great danger is that these types of situations will become the “new normal” — whether they are individual tragedies or mass casualties like Sandy Hook — and the toll of untreated mental illness will grow even greater. (Steven R. Pliska, Bruce Adams, Sally E. Taylor and Dawn Velligan, 8/13)

Houston Chronicle: Poor Policy
If our neighbors east of the Sabine are looking healthier these days, there's a reason. Since changing governors in January, more than 265,000 Louisianans without health insurance now can visit a doctor for checkups, schedule long-delayed screenings, make a dental appointment and guarantee their kids are getting the preventive care they need to thrive. That's because the new governor, John Bel Edwards, signed an executive order on his second day in office that made Louisiana the 31st state to expand Medicaid health insurance. ... Sixty percent of Texans support expansion, according to a recent survey, but Republicans apparently know better. They contend that the federal government will someday renege and the states will be left with the bill. There's no reason to think such a thing. (8/14)

The Wall Street Journal: The FDA’s Misguided Nicotine Crusade
E-cigarettes do not contain tobacco. They contain nicotine, a chemical derived from tobacco and other plants. Plain English was never a deterrent, though, to regulators on an empire-expanding mission. The Food and Drug Administration this week rolled out new regulations on e-cigarettes based on a 2009 law giving the agency power over products that “contain tobacco.” That law, we’re duty-bound to add, was practically written by Philip Morris (now called Altria). (Holman W. Jenkins, 8/13)