The Washington Post: 5th Circuit Decision On ACA Could Create Political Havoc For GOP
The judges of the marbled appellate courthouse in the heart of New Orleans once upended civil rights law, issuing rulings that propelled desegregation. This summer, they could upend health-care law and with it, the roiling politics of health care in Congress, the White House and the 2020 campaigns. On Tuesday, the Trump administration and 18 Republican-led states will face off against a score of Democratic-led states over the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act — the sprawling law the Supreme Court has upheld twice but a federal district judge in Texas ruled invalid late last year. (Goldstein, 7/7)

CNN: Affordable Care Act Gears Up For Big Fight Over Its Existence
The case, to be heard Tuesday by a three-judge appeals court panel, was initiated by Texas and other Republican-led states. Joined now fully by the Department of Justice, they want the ACA declared unconstitutional. At an earlier stage of this litigation, the Trump administration had said only certain parts of the law, tied to the individual insurance requirement, should be struck down. (Biskupic, 7/8)

Bloomberg: Obamacare's Survival May Hinge On Some Technical Legal Questions 
The three appellate judges -- two appointed by Republican presidents and one by a Democrat -- will consider the arguments on July 9. But before they get to the meat of the claim, they’ll wrestle with a more basic question: Who has the right to even be in the case. That issue arose a few months ago when Trump signaled he’d no longer defend the law, after initially saying elements of the ACA might be worth saving. The judges have already asked the sides to weigh in on whether Democrats can defend the law if Trump won’t. Legal scholars say procedural questions like that might determine the outcome of the case rather than the merits of each side’s arguments. (Davenport and Calkins, 7/8)

Austin American-Statesman: In Court, It's Red Texas Vs. Blue California For Future Of Obamacare
Leading the fight to preserve the law is California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a Democrat who believes Paxton and others are deluded if they think a gridlocked Congress — where Republicans have tried and failed more than 70 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act — could fill the void if Obamacare is struck down. Becerra called the legal challenge a dangerous and reckless move. (Lindell, 7/5)

Texas Tribune: Texas Is Going To Court To End Obamacare. It Has No Plan To Replace It.
Attorneys for the state of Texas argue the health law cannot stand since the Republican-led Congress in 2017 zeroed out Obamacare’s individual mandate — a penalty imposed on people who chose to remain uninsured. Democrats had favored the penalty as a way to induce more people to purchase health insurance, with the goal of reaching near-universal coverage. Without it, Texas argues, the whole law must fall. But the state’s Republican leaders have offered few ideas about what should replace Obamacare, a law that touches practically every aspect of health care regulations and includes several popular protections for patients. Gov. Greg Abbott — a vocal critic of the law — pledged in December that if the law remained struck down on appeal, “Texas will be ready with replacement health care insurance that includes coverage for pre-existing conditions.” (Platoff and Walters, 7/8)

The Hill: ObamaCare Repeal Lawsuit Faces Major Court Test
Legal experts on both sides of the aisle say the challengers’ legal arguments are weak and the lawsuit is unlikely to ultimately succeed, but nothing is assured. And regardless of the outcome, Democrats are using the lawsuit to argue Republicans are a threat to the 20 million people who rely on ObamaCare for health insurance. (Sullivan, 7/7)

USA Today: Affordable Care Act Threatened As Trump Administration, GOP States Fight US House, Democratic States In Court
We have been here before: in 2012, when the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the law, known as Obamacare, was constitutional under Congress' power of taxation; and again in 2015, when it saved the law's critical tax credits in federal as well as state insurance exchanges. But in December, federal District Judge Reed O'Connor ruled that by repealing the tax on people who refuse to buy insurance, Congress in 2017 rendered the individual mandate unconstitutional and, by extension, the law itself. The repeal was included in the $1.5 trillion tax cut pushed through the Republican-controlled Congress and signed by President Donald Trump. (Wolf, 7/7)

CQ: High-Stakes Lawsuit Puts Health Care Law In 2020 Spotlight
The legal challenge hasn't been a primary focus for most Democrats since March, but could play a major role in the party's 2020 strategy, as it did last year when Democrats won back the House for the first time since 2008. Democrats attribute that win to campaigning on the health care law's protections for people with preexisting conditions as the Trump administration fought to undermine them in court. (McIntire, 7/8)

The CT Mirror: Health Care Of Thousands In CT At Stake As Court Set To Hear ACA Case
A federal appeals court is about to hear oral arguments in a case that could invalidate the Affordable Care Act, which would imperil health care coverage for tens of thousands of people in Connecticut. About 111,000 residents purchase their insurance through Access Health CT, the state’s health care exchange. Another 267,722 low-income adults have coverage through the ACA’s expansion of Medicaid, known as HUSKY in Connecticut. (Radelat, 7/8)

CNN: 5 Ways Trump Is Undermining Obamacare Without The Courts
Obamacare is facing its next big court challenge this week, but regardless of what the judges decide, President Donald Trump has already succeeded in hobbling the landmark health reform law. Trump has been trying to dismantle Obamacare from the first day he took office. Hours after his inauguration, he signed an executive order directing agencies to interpret regulations as loosely as possible and to minimize the financial burden of the law through waivers, exemptions or delays. (Luhby, 7/7)

The Associated Press: Congress Has Ambitious Agenda Tackling Health Care Costs
Lawmakers are trying to set aside their irreconcilable differences over the Obama-era Affordable Care Act and work to reach bipartisan agreement on a more immediate health care issue, lowering costs for people who already have coverage. Returning from their Fourth of July recess, the Senate and House are pushing to end surprise medical bills, curb high prices for medicines, and limit prescription copays for people with Medicare. Partisan disagreements could derail the effort, but lawmakers fear the voters' verdict in 2020 if politicians have nothing to show for all their hand-wringing about drug prices. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 7/7)

Meanwhile, in other news from Capitol Hill —

The Washington Post: House Freshmen Balance National Crises, Issues Back Home
Iowa Rep. Abby Finkenauer spent her time back home meeting with small-business owners and veterans, marching in a parade and delivering gifts to fire stations. In their upstate New York districts, Rep. Antonio Delgado visited farms, including one that’s part of a pilot program for hiring veterans, and Rep. Andy Brindisi kicked off a summer lunch program for kids. As the class of freshmen House lawmakers returned to their states for the Independence Day break, six months into their first terms, many were determined to push beyond President Donald Trump’s latest pronouncements from the White House — over the border crisis or the impeachment calls against him — to focus on local issues they say matter in their districts. (Mascaro and Robinson, 7/6)

CNN: Ocasio-Cortez Hits Back At Pelosi For Knocking Far-Left Lawmakers Who Voted Against Border Bill
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hit back at Nancy Pelosi after the House Speaker criticized her and three other far-left Democrats in Congress for voting against a Senate measure on border funding that President Donald Trump recently signed into law. Ocasio-Cortez argued that Democrats cannot trust the Trump administration not to divert money for humanitarian aid toward immigration enforcement -- a comment that comes after the President acknowledged that ICE raids would begin after the Fourth of July. (Ehrlich, 7/7)

The New York Times: Trump And His Aides Dismiss Reports Of Disease And Hunger In Border Facilities
President Trump and his top immigration officials on Sunday contested reports that migrant children were being held in horrific conditions in federal detention facilities, as the administration argued that the government was enforcing oversight standards even as it struggled to house and care for an influx of migrants. Accounts of disease, hunger and overcrowding have multiplied in recent days, but Kevin K. McAleenan, the acting secretary of homeland security, and Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, the acting director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, maintained that the facilities were safe. (Cochrane, 7/7)

The Associated Press: DHS Official Defends Conditions At Border Patrol Stations
"It's an extraordinarily challenging situation," McAleenan told ABC's "This Week." The Homeland Security Department's internal watchdog provided new details Tuesday about the overcrowding in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings. The report said children at three facilities had no access to showers and that some children under age 7 had been held in jammed centers for more than two weeks. Some cells were so cramped that adults were forced to stand for days on end. (7/7)

Politico: Migrant Detention Presents 'Extraordinarily Challenging Situation,' DHS Chief Says
“So, I’m not denying that there are challenging situations at the border. I’ve been the one talking about it the most,” he continued. “What I can tell you right now is that there's adequate food, water, and that the reason those children were at Clint station in the first place is so they could have medical consolidated; they had shower facilities — for over a year there’s been showers there. So, this is why we try to provide a better situation for the brief time they’re supposed to spend at the border.” (Forgey, 7/7)

The Washington Post: HHS To Media: Don’t Call Our Youth Shelters ‘Detention Centers’
Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Mark Weber recalls how he briefed workers at a housing facility for migrant children in Carrizo Springs, Tex., after the Associated Press wrote a short article about its opening. “I’m sorry to report that they called this a detention center,” says Weber in an interview with the Erik Wemple Blog, noting that the assembled professionals groaned. “But I am happy to say that at least they said we were providing educational services.” (Wemple, 7/5)

The Associated Press: Migrant Child Drawings Depict Jail-Like Scenes Of Detention
In one drawing, stick figures sleep on the ground under blankets watched by other figures with hats. Another picture has frowning stick figures behind what appears to be a chain-link fence. One shows two toilets in a small room. All of the drawings include imposing jail-like bars covering most of the canvas. They were done by children asked to depict their experience in Border Patrol custody and photographed by an American Academy of Pediatrics volunteer last week. (7/5)

CNN: Pediatricians Share Migrant Children's Disturbing Drawings Of Their Time In US Custody
The staff at the center asked the children to depict their time in CBP custody. A social worker at the center gave the drawings to the American Academy of Pediatrics, which gave them to CNN. "The fact that the drawings are so realistic and horrific gives us a view into what these children have experienced," said Dr. Colleen Kraft, immediate past president of the AAP. "When a child draws this, it's telling us that child felt like he or she was in jail." (Cohen, 7/4)

CNN: Doctors Describe Black Box Of Medical Care In Detention Facilities: 'That Is Not Medical Care. That's Malpractice'
Pediatricians who have volunteered to work with migrants in El Paso, Texas, are walled off from any contact with "whoever is providing the medical care to these individuals" in government run migrant detention centers, pediatrician Dr. Carlos Gutierrez said Tuesday. "That is not medical care. That's malpractice," said Gutierrez, who has helped treat families received by Annunciation House, a nonprofit that runs temporary residential centers that receives migrants released by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement or US Customs and Border Protection. (Christensen and Nedelman, 7/3)

And in other news —

The Wall Street Journal: As Border Crisis Worsens, A Detention Center Designed For Children Has None
Outfitted with miniature furniture, toys, and rugs with roads painted on them, the government detention center here was designed with young migrants in mind. But the only people being held here right now are adults. While reports of children being detained in crowded Border Patrol stations widely criticized as dirty and unsafe have sparked a national outcry, several facilities run by immigration authorities that are intended for children aren’t being fully used for that purpose. (Frosch and Caldwell, 7/5)

The Associated Press: Pregnant Teens Especially Vulnerable In Border Centers
As tales of wretchedness and overcrowding in government border detention facilities abound, one group of migrants is particularly vulnerable: teen moms and pregnant girls without parents of their own. Immigrant advocates and lawyers say the young mothers don't get special medical consideration while they're being crammed into U.S. facilities so packed that migrants are forced to sleep on floors or stand for days on end. As a result, the girls say they're underfed, have poor hygiene and their babies get sick. (Galvan, 7/4)

The New York Times: What Would Giving Health Care To Undocumented Immigrants Mean?
Providing comprehensive health coverage to undocumented immigrants has long been nothing more than a wouldn’t-it-be-nice item on the far left’s wish list. But in the crowded field of candidates vying for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, nearly everyone supports it. Almost all of the 19 candidates who responded to a recent New York Times survey on health care positions said “yes” to a question about whether undocumented immigrants should be covered under a “Medicare for all” system, a public option or other government health programs. And during the second night of the Democratic debates last week, the idea received a unanimous show of hands in support. (Hoffman, 7/3)

The Hill: Biden On Health Care For Undocumented Migrants: How Do You Say, 'I'm Gonna Let You Die' 
Undocumented immigrants should have access to healthcare, former Vice President Joe Biden said in a CNN interview released Friday. “I think undocumented people need to have a means by which they can be covered when they’re sick,” he said in a CNN interview, adding, “This is just common decency.” “In an emergency they should have health care. Everybody should,” he added. "How do you say 'You're undocumented, I'm gonna let you die, man?'" (Frazin, 7/5)

The Hill: Biden Says He Would Bring Back ObamaCare's Individual Mandate 
Former Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview that aired Friday on CNN that he would bring back ObamaCare's individual mandate if he is elected president. "Yes, I'd bring back the individual mandate," Biden told CNN's Chris Cuomo on Thursday. The mandate, which is a financial penalty in the Affordable Care Act for Americans who don't have health insurance, was the main target of Republicans for years in their attempts to repeal Obama's signature health care law. (Manchester, 7/5)

CNBC: Joe Biden Vows To Bring Back Obamacare Individual Mandate Penalty
Nearly all of the Democratic presidential hopefuls support some kind of government health-care plan. While he does not support of “Medicare for All,” Biden said people should have the option to buy into Medicare if they want it. “If you provide an option for anybody who in fact wants to buy into Medicare for All, they can buy in,” the Democratic presidential front-runner said. (Bursztynsky, 7/5)

Bloomberg: Kamala Harris Says ‘Medicare For All’ Wouldn’t End Private Insurance. It Would
Kamala Harris says she supports “Medicare for All,” and she has cosponsored legislation with Bernie Sanders. But unlike her Democratic presidential rival, she says the plan wouldn’t end private insurance. That’s misleading. The measure would outlaw all private insurance for medically necessary services but allow a sliver to remain for supplemental coverage. It would force the roughly 150 million Americans who are insured through their employer to switch to a government-run program. (Kapur, 7/5)

The Hill: Delaney: Medicare For All Proponents Have 'Hijacked The Good Name Of Medicare' 
Former Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.) on Sunday blasted his fellow Democratic presidential candidates’ support of Medicare for All proposals, saying the voters “will reject” them. “This is [Sen.] Bernie Sanders’s [I-Vt.] plan, it will take private insurance away from half the people in this country,” Delaney said on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” adding that Democrats who support such proposals have “outsourced” health care policy to the Vermont senator. (Budryk, 7/7)

Politico: Bernie Sanders Decries Planned Closing Of Philadelphia Hospital
Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday assailed the planned closure of a hospital in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, saying it demonstrates the failures of the country's greedy health care system. American Academic Health System CEO Joel Freedman said he "relentlessly pursued numerous strategic options" to keep the Philadelphia-based Hahnemann University Hospital open, but it "cannot continue to lose millions of dollars each month and remain in business." (Otterbein, 7/7)

The Associated Press: Appeals Court Puts Trump Abortion Restrictions On Hold Again
Trump administration rules that impose additional hurdles for low-income women seeking abortions are on hold once again. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Wednesday vacated a unanimous ruling from a three-judge panel and said a slate of 11 judges will reconsider lawsuits brought by more than 20 states and several civil rights and health organizations challenging the rules. (Johnson, 7/3)

NBC Bay Area: San Francisco Appeals Court Will Reconsider Whether To Block Abortion Referral Ban
The smaller panel on June 20 issued a stay of three preliminary injunctions by federal judges in three states that halted implementation of the rule established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (7/3)

Politico: Appeals Court Takes Up Fresh Challenge To Trump Abortion 'Gag Rule'
The court's order marks the latest turn in a battle over the administration’s changes to the program, which seek to steer federal dollars away from providers such as Planned Parenthood that offer abortions and abortion referrals. Critics have dubbed the Trump policy a "gag rule." The order covers several challenges to the rules, but it's unclear whether they will be heard together or separately. (Roubein and Rayasam, 7/3)

Los Angeles Times: Ruling That Threatened Funding For Planned Parenthood Will Be Reheard By Appeals Court
Last month’s ruling had been a major setback for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. They filed an emergency appeal, which will be heard by an en banc panel of 11 judges.The decision that will be reconsidered said Trump could enforce his new rule pending the administration’s appeal of orders by judges in California, Washington and Oregon. The new rule, announced earlier this year, requires recipients of family planning funds to refer pregnant women to a non-abortion prenatal care provider. (Dolan, 7/3)

The Hill: Appeals Court Places Trump Abortion Referral Ban On Hold
Planned Parenthood is one of the organizations that would have been severely impacted by the new rule. The organization serves about 40 percent of Title X patients and has vowed to leave the program if the bans go into effect. The Trump administration's policy is in line with rules that were implemented in 1988 and later upheld by the Supreme Court. Former President Clinton later issued a requirement for for clinics to give abortion counseling and referrals when asked. (Wise, 7/3)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Reminds Providers That Emergency Rules Apply To 'Born-Alive' Infants
The CMS has re-issued a memorandum on emergency stabilization and treatment of newborn infants that could cause fresh anxiety for hospitals and physicians over abortion and care for pregnant women and severely disabled infants.The memo, first published in 2005 and re-issued last week, reminds providers that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act requires them to screen, stabilize and treat or transfer "every infant who is born alive, at any stage of development." (Meyer, 7/3)

The New York Times: When ‘Black Lives Matter’ Is Invoked In The Abortion Debate
As a pastor, Clinton Stancil counsels his black congregants that abortion is akin to the taking of innocent life. But as a civil rights activist, Mr. Stancil urges them to understand the social forces that prompt black women to have abortions at disproportionately high rates. The national debate over abortion has focused of late on when a heartbeat is discernible in the fetus, on the rights of women to make choices over their bodies and on the vast schism between the opposing views on ending pregnancies. (Eligon, 7/6)

The Associated Press: Judge Blocks Ohio Abortion Law, Clinics To Remain Open
A federal judge temporarily blocked an Ohio law banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, siding with abortion clinics that had argued the law would eliminate abortion access in the state. The ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Michael Barrett halts the July 11 enforcement of the law that opponents argued would effectively ban the procedure. That is because a fetal heartbeat can be detected as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant. (Carr Smyth and Franko, 7/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Prosecutors Drop Charge Against Alabama Woman Who Lost Fetus In Shooting
Prosecutors in Alabama dropped a manslaughter charge against a pregnant woman who lost her fetus after getting shot in the belly during an altercation. The case drew nationwide attention because a grand jury chose to indict the mother, 28-year-old Marshae Jones, for allegedly provoking the fight, rather than the woman who fired at her. It also revived debate over “fetal homicide” laws, like the one in Alabama, that define the fetus as a person and confer it with rights. (Campo-Flores, 7/3)

KCUR: ACLU Kicks Off Events Aimed At Overturning Missouri's Abortion Ban 
Supporters from across the state gathered Sunday for events aimed at gathering signatures to halt Missouri’s law banning abortion after eight weeks of gestation. The law, which makes no exceptions for rape or incest, is set to take effect on Aug. 28. In Kansas City, the event at Sidekicks Saloon, which was sponsored by the ACLU-Missouri, drew dozens of supporters and organizers. Community organizer Al Cousineau said the goal was to gather 100,000 signatures statewide. (Johnson, 7/7)

Meanwhile, in other news —

The New York Times: Unlicensed Nebraska Midwife Is Arrested In Newborn’s Death After Home Delivery
A Nebraska woman who advertised herself as a midwife specializing in home births — but who prosecutors said did not have the proper certification — is facing a homicide charge after the troubled delivery of a newborn resulted in the baby’s death. The midwife, Angela Hock, who turned herself in to the police on Tuesday for the June 17 death of the 2-day-old baby, appeared in Douglas County Court in Omaha on Friday, and was expected to be released later that day on a $25,000 bond. (Vigdor, 7/6)

The New York Times: Trump Suggests Executive Order On Drug Prices, With A Scope That Is Unclear
President Trump said Friday that the White House was writing an executive order to require pharmaceutical companies to offer the United States government among the lowest prices in the world, in comments that were not immediately clear to many experts on the country’s health care system. “We’re working on a favored-nation clause, where we pay whatever the lowest nation’s price is,” Mr. Trump said to reporters Friday, specifying that an “executive order” was in the works. “Why should other nations like Canada — why should other nations pay much less than us? They’ve taken advantage of the system for a long time, pharma.” (Sanger-Katz, 7/5)

The Associated Press: Trump Promises Order Aimed At Lower Prescription Drug Prices
Trump says his administration soon would announce a “favored-nations clause,” where the amount paid by the government for a particular drug would not exceed the lowest amount paid by other nations or companies. Prices in other countries are often lower because governments directly negotiate with manufacturers. Trump mentioned his proposal when speaking with reporters before departing the White House for New Jersey, but he provided no other details. (7/5)

Stat: Trump Plans Drug Pricing Executive Order Aimed At Ensuring U.S. Pays Less Than Other Nations
It was not immediately clear to what extent Trump’s announcement differs from one of the White House’s signature drug pricing proposals: an international price index that would similarly cap U.S. drug payments based on an average of prices paid in an index of developed nations. That proposal, however, is only a pilot program, meaning it would only be tested until 2025 and would only apply to a subset of physician-administered drugs. The administration is also developing that proposal through the formal process for federal regulations, not through an executive order. Last month the administration moved to formally advance that proposal by submitting it to the White House’s budget office for review. (Facher and Florko, 7/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Plans Order To Tie Drug Prices To Other Nations’ Costs
Pharmaceutical stocks reacted negatively to the president’s remarks. The S&P 500 Pharmaceuticals index closed down 1.7%, and the NASDAQ Biotechnology index closed down 1.4%. Drug-makers who derive significant revenue from doctor-administered drugs, such as those for cancer and blindness, were among the hardest hit Friday. Two people familiar with White House planning said they thought Mr. Trump was referring to a proposal the White House put forward in October that would test a plan to lower costs for some drugs over five years by basing them on their costs in other countries. The proposal is under review. (Armour, 7/5)

CNBC: Trump Administration Preparing Drug Price Executive Order
House Democrats have proposed letting the federal government negotiate prices with drugmakers directly, like other countries. The Medicare program cannot negotiate drug prices under current law. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s latest draft of legislation allowing Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices would also apply those discounts to private health plans across the U.S. However, opposition is strong among Republicans who say they want prices negotiated in a free market. (Lovelace and LaVito, 7/5)

Bloomberg: Trump Says ‘Favored Nations’ Drug Plan To Lower U.S. Prices 
The program Trump proposed in October would apply to drugs in Part B, the segment of Medicare that covers drugs given by a physician in a hospital or clinic. The Department of Health and Human Services previously said that setting rates based on international prices would save the government $17.2 billion over five years. (Sink, 7/5)

The Wall Street Journal: Fast-Track Drug Approval, Designed For Emergencies, Is Now Routine
For decades, most drugs for critical illnesses passed through a standard battery of tests before regulators allowed them onto the market. A smaller portion were “fast tracked” to make them available to patients sooner. Now that dynamic has flipped. Most drugs are released faster than ever through federal programs expediting their approval. The new normal is transforming medical decision-making for the seriously ill, especially those who are out of other options. Families and doctors are thrust into a new world of trade-offs, raising complex questions about the medical and financial value of drugs with limited track records. (Loftus, 7/5)

In other news on FDA drug approvals —

Stat: FDA Approves New Multiple Myeloma Drug Despite Toxicity Concerns 
The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved a new drug to treat patients with multiple myeloma, overruling a panel of outside cancer experts who expressed concerns about its toxicity. The new multiple myeloma drug, called selinexor, will be marketed by Karyopharm Therapeutics under the brand name Xpovio. The FDA cleared Xpovio under an accelerated, or conditional, approval based on a single-arm clinical trial showing a 25% tumor response rate. (Feuerstein, 7/3)

CNN: Johnson & Johnson Wants Oklahoma Opioid Case Tossed, 'Fireworks' Expected Monday
Drugmaker Johnson & Johnson has asked the judge presiding over the historic Oklahoma opioid trial to toss the case, saying the company has been made a "scapegoat" and blasting the state's effort as a "slew of illogical, legally defective theories far outside the bounds of Oklahoma precedent." Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman will give both parties an hour Monday morning to argue their case before deciding whether to throw it out or to allow it to proceed. (Drash, 7/7)

The Associated Press: Oklahoma Presses Opioid Case Against Johnson & Johnson
So far, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter has secured about $355 million from two groups of defendant drugmakers in the state's lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, and he's trying to make the case that even more money should come Oklahoma's way in the first such state case to go to trial. While Hunter presses the claim that Johnson & Johnson is to blame for Oklahoma's opioid epidemic, he's also facing criticism, some from his own Republican colleagues, about his team's deal making and go-it-alone style. (Murphy, 7/4)

Politico Pro: Oklahoma Portrays Johnson & Johnson As ‘Kingpin’ Of Opioid Crisis In Landmark Trial
Johnson & Johnson was the “kingpin” behind the opioid crisis in Oklahoma, providing the raw materials that fueled the addiction epidemic, state officials argued during the first half of a landmark trial that could have ramifications for hundreds of similar lawsuits across the country. ...Oklahoma officials say they will need to devote $17.8 billion over 30 years to address the fallout from the public health crisis, with the bulk of that money going to help addicts recover. They say Johnson & Johnson should be on the hook for at least part of that bill. (Demko, 7/2)

New Hampshire Union Leader: County Jails Move Toward Offering Drug Treatment Behind Bars 
Federal rulings, legal activism and an explosion of inmates with opioid addictions are moving county jail administrators to do the previously unthinkable — providing anti-opioid medication behind the walls. A 2018 Pew Charitable Trusts study concluded less than 1% of the incarcerated got one of the three drugs known to help addicts kick opioids — Suboxone, Vivitrol and methadone — even though three out of four living in most prisons come there with a substance abuse problem. Instead, incarcerated addicts dealt with the physically and psychologically painful symptoms of withdrawal with sometimes tragic overdose outcomes. (Landrigan, 7/6)

North Carolina Health News: N.C. Uses New Federal Money To Get People Into Drug Treatment, But Most Of Them Are White.
State officials announced last month that more than 12,000 people with substance use disorder entered addiction treatment since North Carolina received $54 million in federal grant funding to address the opioid crisis. Opioid addiction is widespread in North Carolina, and an average of five people die per day from overdose. It affects people across the state from every race and socio-economic background. (Knopf, 7/8)

New Hampshire Union Leader: Portsmouth Doctor Reprimanded For Treatment Of Chronic Pain Patient
A Portsmouth doctor has been reprimanded and fined by the New Hampshire Board of Medicine after he cut back a chronic pain patient’s prescription opioid painkillers — and then dropped him as a patient altogether after the man threatened suicide. Joshua Greenspan, who is board certified in pain management and anesthesiology, signed a settlement agreement in May to resolve allegations of professional misconduct. Greenspan did not respond to a message left at his office at the American Pain Institute on Friday. (Wickham, 7/6)

Politico: The Purell Presidency: Trump Aides Learn The President’s Real Red Line
He asks visitors if they’d like to wash their hands in a bathroom near the Oval Office. He’ll send a military doctor to help an aide caught coughing on Air Force One. And the first thing he often tells his body man upon entering the Beast after shaking countless hands at campaign events: “Give me the stuff” — an immediate squirt of Purell. Two and a half years into his term, President Donald Trump is solidifying his standing as the most germ-conscious man to ever lead the free world. His aversion shows up in meetings at the White House, on the campaign trail and at 30,000 feet. And everyone close to Trump knows the president’s true red line. (Lippman, 7/7)

Stat: A Superbug Commands Attention, But Little Money For Research To Stop It
In the universe of scary drug-resistant pathogens that can kill, Candida auris is having a moment. The freaky fungus, which is behaving in ways scientists didn’t think fungi could act, has been garnering headlines because of its uncanny ability to resist multiple antifungal drugs and settle into hospital rooms so persistently it can take renovations to get rid of it. But while concern about the superbug has grown exponentially in recent years, funding for research to stop it has not. Scientists who work in mycology — the study of fungi — say there is precious little money available to study Candida auris. (Branswell, 7/8)

NPR: Juul's Cool Hasn't Ebbed Among Teens, Young Adults On Social Media
Popular e-cigarette company Juul's November 2018 commitment to stop marketing its products to youth on social media may have done little to curb the brand's reach among young people. Following intense scrutiny from public health professionals and the government, Juul announced it would try to reach fewer young people with its advertising in the U.S. The company terminated its Instagram and Facebook accounts in November 2018, and says it does not use paid social media influencers. (Neilson, 7/3)

CNN: Netflix To Scale Back On Smoking After 'Stranger Things' Criticism
Netflix has promised to curb depictions of smoking in new programs following a report that pointed a finger at its hit series "Stranger Things," whose first two seasons featured tobacco in every episode. "Going forward, all new projects that we commission with ratings of TV-14 or below for series or PG-13 or below for films, will be smoking and e-cigarette free -- except for reasons of historical or factual accuracy," said a statement shared with CNN by a Netflix spokesperson. For new projects rated for older audiences, characters will steer clear of these products "unless it's essential to the creative vision of the artist or because it's character-defining (historically or culturally important)." (Nedelman, 7/5)

Stat: Cancer Deaths Cost The U.S. $94 Billion In Lost Earnings In A Single Year
Cancer is estimated to have caused more than 600,000 deaths in 2015, inflicting a toll that extended far beyond personal losses to impose an enormous burden on the nation’s economy, according to a new analysis. Cancer deaths that year — the most recent year for which certain data were available — collectively cut short 8.7 million years of life, a loss that translated to $94.4 billion in lost earnings, the study found. (Flaherty, 7/5)

The New York Times: New Weapons Against Cancer: Millions Of Bacteria Programmed To Kill
Scientists have used genetically reprogrammed bacteria to destroy tumors in mice. The innovative method one day may lead to cancer therapies that treat the disease more precisely, without the side effects of conventional drugs. The researchers already are scrambling to develop a commercial treatment, but success in mice does not guarantee that this strategy will work in people. Still, the new study, published on Wednesday in the journal Nature Medicine, is a harbinger of things to come, said Dr. Michael Dougan, an immunologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. (Zimmer, 7/3)

The Washington Post: Breast Cancer Survivors Have Fewer Worries About Lymphedema Today
For more than 25 years, many breast cancer survivors were given a lifelong, life-changing warning: Do not lift anything over five pounds, avoid getting manicures, taking saunas or even gardening since it might lead to a painful complication called lymphedema, which can cause irreversible swelling in the arm and often hardening of skin. The condition is usually caused by the removal of lymph nodes, which is done during breast cancer surgery to determine if the cancer has spread. (Berger, 7/6)

NPR: New Markers For Alzheimer's Disease Could Aid Diagnosis And Speed Up Drug Development
Alzheimer's disease begins altering the brain long before it affects memory and thinking. So scientists are developing a range of tests to detect these changes in the brain, which include an increase in toxic proteins, inflammation and damage to the connections between brain cells. The tests rely on biomarkers, shorthand for biological markers, that signal steps along the progression of disease. These new tests are already making Alzheimer's diagnosis more accurate, and helping pharmaceutical companies test new drugs. (Hamilton, 7/4)

The Associated Press: Dementia Tied To Hormone-Blocking Prostate Cancer Treatment
Alzheimer's disease may be a risk for older prostate cancer patients given hormone-blocking treatment, a large, U.S. government-funded analysis found. Previous evidence has been mixed on whether the treatment might be linked with mental decline. But experts say the new results stand out because they're from a respected national cancer database and the men were tracked for a long time — eight years on average. (Tanner, 7/5)

The Associated Press: Poll: 1 In 4 Don't Plan To Retire Despite Realities Of Aging
Nearly one-quarter of Americans say they never plan to retire, according to a poll that suggests a disconnection between individuals' retirement plans and the realities of aging in the workforce. Experts say illness, injury, layoffs and caregiving responsibilities often force older workers to leave their jobs sooner than they'd like. (7/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Antivaccination Groups In New York Push Home Schooling
Antivaccination groups in New York have been promoting home schooling as a way to circumvent a new state law that eliminates religious-belief exemptions for school vaccination requirements. The New York Alliance of Vaccine Rights last week hosted a four-hour workshop called Homeschooling 101 in a hotel ballroom in Melville, N.Y., on Long Island. Hundreds of parents attended the event, where the hosts explained academic course requirements, individual home-instruction plans and extracurricular activities for home-schooled students. (St. John and West, 7/4)

The New York Times: At Banks And Fund Firms, Access Is Too Often Denied, Blind And Deaf Investors Say
Albert Rizzi gave up on trying to manage his nest egg because as a blind person, he encountered digital barriers constantly. Many of the websites, mobile apps, PDFs and software programs he needed were not accessible. Sometimes, they just didn’t work. So Mr. Rizzi, 55, the founder of My Blind Spot, an accessibility advocacy group in New York, filed a federal lawsuit in April 2018 against Morgan Stanley, the firm he uses to manage his personal retirement accounts. (Brockman, 7/5)

NPR: Why Genome Sequencing For Newborns Is Not Yet Mainstream
Sequencing a person's DNA is now a routine task. That reality has left doctors looking for ways to put the technology to work. A decade ago, a top federal scientist said, "Whether you like it or not, a complete sequencing of newborns is not far away." Dr. Francis Collins, who made that statement, has been head of the National Institutes of Health for the intervening decade. But his prophecy hasn't come to pass, for both scientific and practical reasons. (Harris, 7/8)

The New York Times: Reflux Drugs Tied To Bone Fractures In Children
Infants are sometimes treated for gastroesophageal reflux with acid-suppressing medicines, but a new study suggests that they may increase the risk for bone fracture later in childhood. Researchers studied records of more than 850,000 children up to 14 years old. About 97,000 had received acid suppression medicines in their first year of life — 8,000 were prescribed proton pump inhibitors like Nexium; 71,000 took histamine-2 receptor antagonists like Pepcid; and 18,000 got both. The study is in Pediatrics. (Bakalar, 7/5)

Los Angeles Times: Trees Could Reduce Carbon In The Atmosphere To Levels Not Seen In Nearly 100 Years
By removing carbon dioxide from the air, trees are one of our strongest allies in the fight against climate change. And if we planted a whole lot more of them in just the right places, they could reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere to levels not seen in nearly 100 years, researchers say. After examining more than 70,000 high-quality satellite photos of trees from all over the planet, ecologists concluded that the Earth could support 900 million additional hectares of tree cover. Those trees would eliminate about two-thirds of the carbon that's in the atmosphere today as a result of human activities, according to a study in Friday's edition of the journal Science. (DeMarco, 7/5)

The Washington Post: The Sober-Curious Movement Challenges ‘Wine Mom’ Culture At A Time When Mothers Are Drinking More Than Ever.
The turning point came at an evening soiree in the middle of December, when Mai Trinh spotted a friend’s luminous face amid a crowd of cocktail-quaffing party­goers. “She stood out — she looked absolutely radiant,” recalls Trinh, 44, a corporate wellness consultant and mom of three in Alexandria. “So I asked her, ‘What’s your secret, what are you doing?’ ” The secret, it turned out, was what she wasn’t doing: Trinh’s friend had decided to temporarily bail on booze, after signing up for an alcohol-free challenge through an online program. (Gibson, 7/7)

Kaiser Health News: Sobering Up: In An Alcohol-Soaked Nation, More Seek Booze-Free Social Spaces
Not far from the Anheuser-Busch brewery, Joshua Grigaitis fills a cooler with bottles and cans in one of the city’s oldest bars. It’s Saturday night, and the lights are low. Frank Sinatra’s crooning voice fills the air, along with the aroma of incense. The place has all the makings of a swank boozy hangout. Except for the booze. (Ungar and O'Donnell, 7/8)

The Washington Post: Pool Safety Tips Aim To Reduce Child Drownings
With summer in full swing, pools beckon children who are eager to jump in, cool off and have fun. Brain injury or death are far from the minds of most families who own or use pools. But they shouldn’t be. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drowning is the leading cause of unintentional deaths among children between 1 and 4 years old. For every child who drowns, another five visit the emergency department for a nonfatal injury associated with submersion. (Blakemore, 7/6)

The New York Times: What Do Teenagers Need? Ask The Family Dog
People of all ages become deeply connected to their pets, but in the lives of teenagers, animals often play a special role. Indeed, pets provide comforts that seem to be tailor-made for the stresses of normal adolescent development. To start, animals don’t judge — and teenagers are generally subjected to a great deal of judgment. Adults tend to harbor negative stereotypes about adolescents, and even those who feel neutral or positive about young people often engage them with the aim of cultivating their growth in one way or another. (Damour, 7/4)

The New York Times: The Ripples Of My Mother’s Hunger
At the age of 16, my mother spent hours waiting in bread lines in communist Poland, biting at her nails. The year was 1972. The line was mostly women. Their bellies rattled with hunger, anticipation of food burning in their throats. My mother has said that waiting in a bread line was not much different from a time later in her life when she had moved to America and stood in line for hours for an Eric Clapton concert. “It’s all about wanting something. You want something, you wait for it,” she recited with a tone so deadpan that it reminded me that my mom was once a teenage girl. (Connors, 7/5)

NPR: More Rural Patients Using Telehealth — If They Can Afford It
Telehealth turned Jill Hill's life around. The 63-year-old lives on the edge of rural Grass Valley, an old mining town in the Sierra Nevada foothills of northern California. She was devastated after her husband Dennis passed away in the fall of 2014 after a long series of medical and financial setbacks. "I was grief-stricken and my self-esteem was down," Hill remembers. "I didn't care about myself. I didn't brush my hair. I was isolated. I just kind of locked myself in the bedroom." (Neighmond, 7/7)

NPR: The Homeless In Rural America Are Often Undercounted, Underserved
Charles Bowers takes long, quick strides down a worn, dirt path and stops in front of a tall thicket of bushes. He lifts a hand to signal that he's spied something. He's leading me on a tour of camps made by homeless people in wooded corners of Fayette County, Kentucky, and there, slightly up the hill, is a patch of blue. A tent. He keeps his voice low to avoid startling those inside. (Meehan, 7/4)

In case you missed it, KHN looked at how difficult it can be for rural cancer patients when a hospital closes: Have Cancer, Must Travel: Patients Left In Lurch After Hospital Closes

The New York Times: Stored In Synapses: How Scientists Completed A Map Of The Roundworm’s Brain
The tiny, transparent roundworm known as Caenorhabditis elegans is roughly the size of a comma. Its entire body is made up of just about 1,000 cells. A third are brain cells, or neurons, that govern how the worm wriggles and when it searches for food — or abandons a meal to mate. It is one of the simplest organisms with a nervous system. The circuitry of C. elegans has made it a common test subject among scientists wanting to understand how the nervous system works in other animals. (Sheikh, 7/3)

The Washington Post: Research Into Worms’ Central Nervous System Could Bring Insight Into Mental Health Disorders
A connectome is a wiring schematic, like a circuit diagram, that shows how nerve cells link to each other and to organs. Building a human connectome is a long-sought goal among neuroscientists. It remains out of reach, despite investments such as the BRAIN Initiative, which the National Institutes of Health funded at more than $400 million in 2018. But researchers behind the worm connectome say maps such as this could help explain the biology of mental disorders that affect humans. Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder “may be connectopathies. (Guarino, 7/6)

The New York Times: Chief During Turmoil At Children’s Hospital May Be Next UNC President
As the University of North Carolina begins its formal search for a permanent president, a likely top candidate is the former head of the state-owned medical system, which is now being investigated over turmoil at its children’s hospital during his tenure. Dr. William L. Roper, who since January has been interim president of the university, was chief executive of UNC Health Care when doctors at the institution’s Chapel Hill children’s hospital warned administrators that their young heart patients seemed to be dying at higher-than-expected rates or faring poorly after surgery. (Gabler, 7/5)

Concord Monitor: New Hampshire Medicaid Work Requirement Faces Crucial Test
It was the linchpin that delivered Medicaid expansion – the key to a bipartisan compromise last year for an over $500 million health program. But the work requirement for New Hampshire’s Medicaid expansion is in trouble. Weeks after the requirement kicked in on June 1, more than 20,000 people had still not reported their employment or logged an exemption, the state’s Department of Health and Human Services has said recently. The state’s effort to let people know it applies to them is falling short; few are answering their phones long enough to be told what to do. (DeWitt, 7/6)

The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore Jury's Record $229 Million Malpractice Verdict May Change A Life — But Likely Not The System 
[Zuida Byrom's] family hopes the round-the-clock care by a nursing staff will be paid for with the $229.6 million a jury awarded her Monday after finding Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center liable for brain damage she suffered during birth. Her lawyers believe it’s the largest medical malpractice verdict in the United States. Such an award from a jury is rare and is certain to be reduced, perhaps substantially, according to legal experts. And as enormous as the outcome may be for the family, the ultimate award likely won’t improve the next family’s prospects in the legal system — and it likely won’t change the way care is delivered. (Cohn, 7/4)

Boston Globe: Blood Samples Reveal Valuable Data — And Life-Changing Surprises For Donors
More than 103,000 patients have agreed to provide blood to the Partners HealthCare Biobank, and their samples are providing valuable data for some 200 studies about Alzheimer’s, depression, diabetes, epilepsy, heart disease, and other conditions. But the research initiative is also having another impact, one that is more personal and immediate: It’s revealing genetic red flags that patients otherwise might never have seen. (McCluskey, 7/5)

Kansas City Star: Supreme Court Lifts Kansas Medical Malpractice Damages Cap
That cap on noneconomic damages is now gone — struck down in a Kansas Supreme Court ruling last month. Doctors say that ruling will open the floodgates to high-dollar lawsuits that will drive up the cost of care for everyone. But patients like Lundeen and plaintiffs’ attorneys say Kansas doctors have for too long been shielded from responsibility for mistakes that cause a lifetime of suffering. (Marso, 7/5)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Catheters Cause 25% Of Hospital Infections, Study Says
Catheters, needles and other indwelling devices may cause more harm than good, according to a new report. Previous studies have found catheters cause roughly 25% of hospital infections, so researchers from the University of Michigan conducted an investigation to further explore why the devices are being misused. (Parker, 7/6)

The New York Times: ‘A Space Where You Could Be Free’: Puerto Rico’s L.G.B.T. Groups Rebuild After A Hurricane
Puerto Ricans mourned so many losses after Hurricane Maria that the closing of a beloved tiki bar in San Juan might have seemed of little consequence, another casualty of the battered post-storm economy. But the bar — El Escondite, or the Hideaway — was not just a place for a strong screwdriver cocktail. It was also a mainstay for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patrons wanting to share a good time or enjoy a drag show. (Rosa And Mazzei, 7/7)

The Washington Post: Social Workers And Custodians Help Form The Backbone Of A Campus. But Virginia Schools Have Lost Billions For Those Jobs.
School systems across Virginia have lost billions of dollars in state money for social workers, custodians and psychologists after the state imposed a funding cap on school support staff amid the Great Recession. The cap hasn’t been lifted, even as the state rebounded in the years after the downturn, according to a report from the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, a Richmond think tank. As a result, the number of support staff across the state dropped by 2,800 workers in the past decade, while enrollment grew by 55,000 students. (Truong, 7/7)

Tampa Bay Times: At Tampa General Hospital, 3-D Printers Are Removing Guesswork For Doctors And Patients
When a patient with a gunshot wound to the face came through the Level 1 trauma center at Tampa General Hospital a few months ago, it was up to Dr. Joshua Elston to try to reconstruct what had been shattered. But putting the pieces back together after a traumatic injury can sometimes feel like trying to build a house without blueprints, said Elston, a plastic surgeon. ...In this case, though, Elston was able to call on the expertise of a forensic anthropologist, Summer Decker, who also directs the 3D Anatomical Modeling and Printing Division within the department of radiology at the University of South Florida’s USF Health. (Griffin, 7/7)

Health News Florida: Further Changes To Certificate Of Need Program Proposed
Tallahassee health-care regulators on Wednesday started the layered process of reshaping the state’s certificate of need program, moving ahead to focus it on nursing homes, hospices, and institutions for individuals with developmental disabilities. But the proposed changes to the CON rules are only the beginning of a two-step process for Florida hospitals, as the Agency for Health Care Administration simultaneously moves to change the licensure requirements for hospitals. (Sexton, 7/5)

Nashville Tennessean: Harrow Health CEO Looks To Nashville For Pharma Growth
When Harrow Health Inc. CEO Mark Baum saw the headlines about now infamous Martin Shkreli jacking up the price of a cancer and HIV drug by more than 5,000 percent, he wasn't shocked. Buying older drugs and drastically pushing up prices was not an uncommon business model, and he was glad to see this particularly egregious scenario grab the media spotlight in 2015. ...Calls from several national media outlets also began to pour in to cover Baum’s alternative drug, providing him a platform on drug affordability advocacy that he has maintained since. Advocacy and a focus on access and affordability has been central to his two decades in the pharmaceutical sector.(McGee, 7/7)

Miami Herald: The Many Reports Of Neglect That Preceded Brothers’ Drowning
In April 2018, state child welfare authorities were told that then-21-year-old Wildline Joseph got stoned regularly, and allowed two of her small children to wander the neighborhood day and night with no supervision. Investigators with the Broward Sheriff’s Office apparently decided this was acceptable behavior, as they took no action to stop it. So Joseph continued to leave her children outside alone.Until it killed them. (Miller, 7/5)

Des Moines Register: Sanford Execs: Fraud Claims Against Neurosurgeon Wilson Asfora 'Bogus'
Three of Sanford Health’s top executives blasted the federal government and two Sanford doctors who filed a federal lawsuit against their colleague, Dr. Wilson Asfora, in an email sent to Sanford employees. In the email, which was obtained Wednesday by the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, Sanford CEO Kelby Krabbenhoft, Chief Operating Officer Matthew Hocks and Chief Medical Officer Allison Suttle call the allegations against Asfora “bogus.” (Ellis, 7/6)

The New York Times: I Shouldn’t Be Forced To Give Birth To A Baby Who Won’t Live
When I was 20 weeks pregnant, I and my husband learned during a routine ultrasound that our baby had not developed a major portion of her brain and never would. The condition, anencephaly, a type of neural tube defect that also stunts the growth of the skull, is terminal. If carried to term, our baby would be very unlikely to survive for more than a few hours. One in 1,000 fetuses have this condition. We had no warning signs. No indications. (Sarah E. Levin, 7/3)

The Washington Post: Leana Wen: My Miscarriage Has Made My Commitment To Women’s Health Even Stronger
The turkey sandwich I always had for lunch tasted different. My colleague’s perfume was suddenly overpowering. I could hardly keep awake; when I slept, I had leg cramps and vivid dreams. I knew before I took the test: I was pregnant.I was thrilled. My husband and I had been trying for months. We wanted another child, a sibling for our son, Eli, now almost 2. I’m 36; my husband is 44; we didn’t want to wait much longer. Though I worried about how I would do my demanding job with two small children, I also believed that fulfilling my deep desire to expand our family would send a strong message for the organization I represent: We support all people in their decisions when and whether to become parents. (Leana Wen, 7/6)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: The Conundrum Behind Legislating Unborn Personhood 
There are serious inconsistencies within Missouri’s newest abortion law, House Bill 126. Its preamble cites the Missouri Constitution, which “provides that all persons have a natural right to life.” Left unmentioned from Missouri’s Constitution is “that all persons are created equal and are entitled to equal rights.” But acknowledging this entails that all persons have an equal natural right to life. (William Ash, 7/6)

The New York Times: There Should Be A Public Option For Everything
The struggle between capitalism and socialism is back. “America will never be a socialist country,” President Trump tells us, even as Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez champion democratic socialism. At the same time, a consensus is growing — from Ray Dalio, the billionaire hedge fund manager, to Joseph Stiglitz, the economist and Nobel winner — that capitalism needs major reforms if it is going to survive. Perhaps surprisingly, given the trend toward the privatization of public services over the last generation, American history offers a way forward: the public option. (Ganesh Sitaraman and Anne L. Alstott, 7/6)

St. Louis Post Dispatch: Think Twice When You Hear The Words 'public Option' Health Insurance
Shhh! Don’t tell the insurance companies (it’s a secret).That’s the logic of the presidential candidates who are pushing a “public option,” also known as Medicare for Those Who Want It. They claim that adding a Medicare-like option onto the health insurance marketplace is an easier political lift than real Medicare for All, and that such an option would thrive in the free market and open the door for Medicare for All. Then the insurance industry would admit defeat and quietly ride off into the sunset, finally achieving what should have been done in the first place. The fact that the insurance industry is lobbying hard for this circuitous incremental approach should tell you all you need to know. (Ed Weisbart, 7/4)

The New York Times: How To Straighten Out The Medicare Maze
“Medicare for all” was a central theme in the initial Democratic debates and promises to be a defining issue in the primaries. While nearly all the candidates support expanded access, they should be pressed on another crucial question: How will they reduce the burdens involved in dealing with the interwoven public and private insurance systems that provide our health care coverage? As parents of a child with a disability caused by a rare genetic syndrome, we’ve wasted hundreds of hours sorting out enrollment choices, completing unending forms and engaging in maddeningly repetitious conversations, all to ensure that our daughter receives the care she needs and that we don’t get stuck with financially devastating bills. (Pamela Herd and Donald P. Moynihan, 7/4)

Stat: Medically Tailored Meals Save Lives. Health Plans Should Cover Them 
If nutritious meals can provide the same kind of benefit as medication, then why don’t health plans cover the cost of medically tailored meals, just as they cover prescription medications? It’s a question my colleagues and I at Community Servings, a nonprofit organization that provides nutritious meals for people with critical illnesses who are too sick to feed themselves or their families, have been wrestling with for years. (David B. Waters, 7/5)

The Hill: A Terrorist's Bioweapon Could Kill Millions — And There's Little We Can Do To Stop It
The nuclear weapons programs in Iran and North Korea have been a primary concern to world security for more than a decade. But there is another significant worldwide threat to consider — bioweapons. And with the advent of genetic editing — where the DNA or RNA of a virus or bacteria can be modified to form a deadly weapon — the terrorist arsenal of weapons could be about to change for the worse. (Marc Siegel, 7/7)

The Washington Post: Please, Virginia Republicans, Vote For Public Safety. We’ll All Be Watching.
“He had the heart of a servant. You knew from the start he would lay down his life for anybody, and that’s exactly what he did.” That’s how Christi Dewar described employee Ryan Keith Cox, who lost his life in a recent mass shooting at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center. The last words courageous Cox spoke to colleague Dewar were “I’ve got to see if anybody needs help. Barricade the door.” Cox boldly acted to protect co-workers and was shot dead 10 feet away, outside the barricaded door. Contrast Cox’s heroic bravery with that of Virginia state Sen. Glen H. Sturtevant Jr. (R-Richmond), my family’s lackluster representative. (Karen E. Peters, 7/5)

Los Angeles Times: Let California’s Homeless Community College Students Park Overnight In School Lots
Homelessness has come to California’s public colleges, just as it has to every other institution in the state. In the community college system, a recent report found that 19% of nearly 40,000 students surveyed had been homeless at some point during the previous year. Some community college campuses have food banks, and all are required by law to make showers in their athletic facilities available to homeless students. But few of the 114 community college campuses offer housing to any of their 2.1 million students, let alone homeless ones. So Assemblyman Marc Berman (D-Palo Alto) has come up with a creative idea: Why not let homeless students who live in their cars park overnight on campus? Although that’s not a solution for homelessness, it would offer a short-term fix for homeless students with cars who are already working on a long-term answer — getting a college degree to broaden their options and increase their earning power. (7/8)

Boston Globe: Ending Abuse Of LGBTQ Prisoners In Mass.
In 2012, the US Department of Justice issued guidelines for federal, state, and local correctional systems designed to dramatically reduce, if not eliminate, sexual violence in prison. But here in Massachusetts, the law is often abused by corrections officials to target LGBTQ inmates. A new bill now before the Legislature could help change that. (Cox and Cahill, 7/2)