NBC News: Share Of Latinos Without Health Coverage Down To 28.3 Percent
Newly released federal data show just 28.3 percent of adult Hispanics lacked health insurance in the first three months of the year. The National Center for Health Statistics reported that Hispanic adults had the greatest percentage point decrease in the uninsured rate between 2013, when the uninsured rate was 40.6 percent, and the first three months of this year, 28.3 percent. (8/12)

NBC News: Nine In 10 Americans Have Health Insurance, Survey Finds
More than 7 million people who didn't have health insurance last year got coverage this year, a new government survey finds. It's the latest in a series of reports showing the Affordable Care Act is expanding the availability of coverage. Each report takes a slightly different approach. This one, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, compares the first three months of 2014 to the first quarter of 2015. (Fox, 8/12)

CQ Healthbeat: Uninsured Rate Fell By One-Third Since 2013, CDC Says
Mounting evidence suggests that more people are benefiting from the 2010 health care law, with the number of Americans without medical coverage declining by one-third, or 15.8 million people, since 2013, according to the latest report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of people without health insurance dropped from 36 million last year to 29 million between January and March 2015, the CDC said Wednesday. The data is based on a National Health Interview Survey of 26,121 people from the first quarter of this year. (Zanona, 8/12)

In Michigan, a look at enrollment increases and how they have played out in the marketplace -

The Detroit News: Enrollment Up In Mich. Medicaid HMOs, Individual Plans
Michigan Medicaid HMOs and individual health insurance plans tripled their operating margins in 2014 as a result of the federal Affordable Care Act, according to a report released Wednesday. Research by Allan Baumgarten, publisher of Michigan Health Market Review, found that health maintenance organizations providing coverage under Michigan’s expanded Medicaid program saw improved enrollment, underwriting margins and operating income in 2014 as more than 600,000 residents enrolled. (Bouffard, 8/12)

Crain's Detroit Business: Operating Income Of Michigan Medicaid HMOs Rises 295% In 2014
The 12 Medicaid HMOs in Michigan were the big managed-care winners last year as operating income rose 295 percent to $163.1 million from $41.2 million and enrollment increased by 21 percent to 1.6 million, driven by Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, according to the 2015 Michigan Health Market Review. Overall, the 19 Michigan HMOs — aided by federally mandated public and private health care insurance expansion under Obamacare — boosted enrollment by 14.8 percent to nearly 3.1 million from 2.7 million the year before, said the report, published by Minneapolis-based consultant Allan Baumgarten. (Greene, 8/12)

But other federal figures show the budget deficit is on the rise, driven in part by costs associated with Medicare spending and veterans' health care benefits -

Bloomberg: U.S. Deficit Grows In July On Higher Medicare, Veterans Payments
The U.S. budget deficit jumped 58 percent in July from a year earlier on higher spending, as August payments for veterans, retirees and health-care beneficiaries were accelerated. Outlays exceeded revenue by $149.2 billion in July, compared with $94.6 billion shortfall in the same month a year earlier, Treasury Department figures released Wednesday showed. Because Aug. 1 fell on a weekend, Social Security and other payments due that day went out earlier, the department said. (Klimasinska, 8/12)

Bloomberg: Companies Slow Down Shift Of Health Costs To Workers
After years of passing on more and more health-care costs to employees, companies are slowing their adoption of high-deductible plans next year, according to a survey of more than 100 large U.S. employers. That relief could be temporary. Companies are waiting to see if lawmakers will repeal Obamacare’s “Cadillac tax” on high-cost health coverage, which is a levy on individual health premiums greater than $10,200. A roll-back would keep employers from having to shift workers into plans where they bear more of the up-front costs of their insurance. (Tracer and Rubin, 8/12)

Kaiser Health News: Large Employers Look To Tighten Control Of Costs For Expensive Drugs
More than half of large employers in 2016 will aim to more tightly manage employees’ use of high-priced specialty drugs, one of the fastest-growing expenses in their health plans. Despite those efforts, companies still expect the cost of specialty drugs that are carefully administered to treat conditions such as cancer, HIV and hepatitis C to continue rising at a double-digit annual rate — well ahead of the pace for traditional pharmacy drugs or companies’ overall spending on health benefits, according to the National Business Group on Health. (Gillsepie, 8/12)

Forbes: As Obamacare's Cadillac Tax Looms, Employers Raise Deductibles, Shift Costs
Though employers won’t have to pay the “Cadillac tax” on rich medical plans until 2018, they are mitigating potential financial hits from it by spending more on wellness and shifting workers to high deductible plans so employees think twice about using expensive care, a new analysis indicates. The Cadillac tax was created as part of the Affordable Care Act largely as a way to help fund subsidized benefits to the uninsured under the law. Starting in 2018, employers pay a 40% tax on costs of health plans that are above $10,200 per individual and $27,500 for family coverage. (Japsen, 8/12)

In related news -

The Washington Post's Wonkblog: No, Obamacare Isn’t Killing Full-Time Jobs, New Evidence Shows
President Obama's health-care reform hasn't meant less time on the job for American workers, according to three newly published studies that challenge one of the main arguments raised by critics of the Affordable Care Act. One provision of the law, which is widely known as Obamacare, requires businesses with more than 50 employees to offer health insurance to those working at least 30 hours a week. That mandate took effect this year. (Ehrenfreund, 8/12)

The Wall Street Journal: States Warned Over Ending Medicaid Funds For Planned Parenthood
The Obama administration has notified two states that took steps to halt Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood Federation of America that they may be in conflict with federal law. The law requires that Medicaid beneficiaries may obtain services, including family planning, from any qualified provider. States that terminate their Medicaid-provider agreements with Planned Parenthood restrict access by not permitting recipients to get services from providers of their choice, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. (Armour, 8/12)

Reuters: U.S. Warns States Against Defunding Planned Parenthood
The U.S. government has warned states moving to defund women's health group Planned Parenthood that they may be in conflict with federal law, officials said on Wednesday. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a federal agency, was in contact with officials in Louisiana and Alabama this month, said a spokesperson for the agency's parent, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The agency warned those two states that their plans to terminate Medicaid provider agreements with Planned Parenthood may illegally restrict beneficiary access to services, the spokesperson said in a statement. (Cassella, 8/12)

Kaiser Health News: ‘Defunding’ Planned Parenthood Is Easier Promised Than Done
The undercover videos purporting to show officials of Planned Parenthood bargaining over the sale of fetal tissue have made the promise to defund the organization one of the most popular refrains on the Republican presidential campaign trail. It’s actually a much easier promise to make than to fulfill. But that’s not slowing down the candidates. (Rovner, 8/13)

CQ Healthbeat: Planned Parenthood Fight Echoes Past Debates, With A Twist
Although recent sting videos that shed light on fetal tissue donation practices at Planned Parenthood have roiled the abortion debate in Congress, the charge that some organizations profit from the “the sale of baby body parts” is nothing new. But some of the reactions and arguments heard in Congress 15 years ago are notably different than the ones voiced today, representing the evolving science and politics underpinning the debate. (Zanona, 8/12)

Meanwhile, the saga over Planned Parenthood's involvement with fetal tissue research continues  -

Politico: New Video Claims Firm Illegally Obtained Tissue At Planned Parenthood Clinic
An anti-abortion group has released its latest video in its campaign against Planned Parenthood, this one featuring an interview with a former StemExpress technician who claims she saw people illegally collect fetal tissue and organs without patients’ permission at a clinic. (Haberkorn, 8/12)

In other news -

WBUR: Medical Professionals Voice Their Feelings In The Abortion Discussion
Abortion became legal in America 42 years ago. And since then, the voices for and against the procedure have been strong and usually certain. But there’s one group routinely missing from the debate: medical professionals who perform abortions — or decide not to. Now, some OB-GYN residents from Brown University’s medical school are lending their voices to the conversation about abortion. They’ve written essays featured in the journal “Obstetrics and Gynecology.” (Mullins, 8/12)

CQ Healthbeat: House, Senate Bills Seek To Preserve Copay-Free Mammograms
A bipartisan cadre of female lawmakers are working to keep a mandate for insurance companies to cover mammography for women in their 40s free of copay charges, a step intended to again overrule the findings of an influential federal task force. Reps. Renee Ellmers, R-N.C., and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., and Sens. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., in recent weeks introduced bills (HR 3339, S 1926) that would stop the U. S. Preventive Services Task Force from issuing a lukewarm review about the potential benefits of routine mammography for women in their 40s. (Young, 8/12)

Politico: Sexual Politics Boosts Bid For ‘Pink Viagra’
A drug company that makes so-called pink Viagra — a libido-boosting pill for women — is on the verge of FDA approval for the drug after enlisting thousands of women’s activists and members of Congress in a campaign about gender double standards and sexual politics. The only problem? The medical evidence that the drug actually works safely is weak. (Karlin, 8/13)

The Associated Press: First Lady’s Healthy Kids Director Aims To Get Things Done
Seven months ago, Eschmeyer’s path led her to the White House. She’s the senior policy adviser for nutrition policy and, perhaps more important, the newest executive director of Michelle Obama’s five-year-old initiative to reduce childhood obesity. A lifelong child nutrition advocate, Eschmeyer says: “I’m used to getting things done.” On her to-do list: protecting a federal law that introduced healthier foods in schools. (Superville, 8/13)

The New York Times: Conservatives Need To Redefine Themselves As More Caring, John Kasich Says
Asked how he may appeal to Republicans who like him but are uneasy about his support for a pathway to legal status for illegal immigrants, support for the Common Core education standards and his expansion of Medicaid in Ohio with money from the Affordable Care Act, he defended himself on each issue. And then he uncorked an impassioned argument about his party’s need to redefine conservatism. ... In an echo of the religious-based defense he has made of his Medicaid expansion, an argument that irritates many small-government conservatives, Mr. Kasich said, “I think conservatism is about giving everybody a chance, demanding personal responsibility, but allowing people to pursue their God-given purpose.” (Martin, 8/12)

CNN: Kasich Says He's A Conservative Despite Moderate Positions
Asked about abortion, he said he favors three exceptions -- in the case of the mother's life being at risk, rape or incest -- a position which used to be standard among some of the most conservative Republicans but which has been ditched by many of his opponents, including, notably, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. The two-term governor and former House Budget Committee chairman has already taken heat for expanding Medicaid under the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. He says, however, that he would repeal Obamacare if given the chance. (LoBianco and Bash, 8/12)

The Associated Press: Kasich Defends Immigrants As ‘Contributing Significantly’
As he often does, Kasich devoted a significant portion of his remarks to those living “in the shadows” of society. He promised to help the mentally ill and drug addicts who end up in prisons and the working poor who don’t have health care. “I don’t know how the Republican Party ever got itself put in the trick bag by somehow saying that if we care about people who are down and out, and we want to give them a chance to succeed, then somehow that’s not conservative,” Kasich said. “I think conservatism is about giving everybody a chance — demanding personal responsibility — but allowing people to pursue their God-given purpose is conservative.” (Peoples, 8/12)

The Associated Press: Emergency Response Overhaul Sought After Tracy Morgan Crash
The panel’s written review found the emergency response included “missteps on scene due to poor communication, lack of oversight, and nonstandard patient care practices” and recommended the state Department of Health establish minimum training and practice standards for all the organizations that respond to emergencies on the [N.J.] Turnpike, one of the nation’s busiest toll roads. (Catalini, 8/12)

Reuters: Race, Sex May Influence Who Calls An Ambulance For Stroke Symptoms
Only about half of stroke patients use emergency medical services (EMS) to get to the hospital, but white women are the most likely to call an ambulance while blacks and Hispanics of both sexes are least likely, a new U.S. study finds. Race and gender seemed to influence who calls for an ambulance most often, even when the researchers took other factors like age, health insurance, geographic location, medical history and stroke symptoms into account, said lead author Heidi Mochari-Greenberger of Columbia University Medical Center in New York. (Doyle, 8/12)

Kaiser Health News: Achieving Mental Health Parity: Slow Going Even In ‘Pace Car’ State
After the state of California fined her employer $4 million in 2013 for violating the legal rights of mental health patients, Oakland psychologist Melinda Ginne expected her job — and her patients’ lives — to get better. Instead, she said, things got worse. (Gold, 8/13)

The Associated Press: State Officials Tout Efforts To Improve Mental Health Care
A top state official says Iowa is providing better mental health care after an overhaul of the system, though critics question the recent closure of two state-run mental health institutes. Department of Human Services Director Chuck Palmer told an advisory board Wednesday that Iowa’s mental health system was serving more people and providing more modern care. The effort to remake the system began in 2011 and was implemented last year. (8/12)

The Elgin [Ill.] Courier-News: Ecker Center In Elgin Faces Loss Of Almost $500,000 In State Contracts
Everyone told Cynthia Firtik's family that she should be placed in residential care. Firtik has battled major depression for years. The type of depression that made it hard for her to function in everyday life, leaving her isolated and hopeless. A relative recommended Firtik go to Ecker Center for Mental Health, a community mental health center headquartered on Elgin's west side. (Casas, 8/12)

The Boston Globe: Partners HealthCare To Launch Urgent Care Facilities
The state’s largest health system plans to open as many as a dozen urgent care clinics over the next three years, a move that could shake up the fast-growing market for convenient, walk-in medical care. Partners HealthCare will open its first clinic in Brookline’s Coolidge Corner at the end of August. The next two clinics, in Newton and Watertown, are scheduled to open in the fall. (Dayal McCluskey, 8/13)

The Kansas City Star: Kansas City Care Clinic Receives Federal Designation
The Kansas City Care Clinic announced Wednesday that it has been designated a federally qualified health center, making it eligible for federal grants and enhanced Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement. The clinic, formerly the Kansas City Free Health Clinic, said the designation will bring with it approximately $650,000 in federal funds. The money will allow it to expand its capacity to provide primary care for underserved patients in the Kansas City region. (Bavley, 8/13)

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Federal Grants To Help Cover Costs To Build New Clinics In Milwaukee
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded grants of almost $1.1 million to Progressive Community Health Centers and $541,667 to the Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center to help pay the costs of new clinics in Milwaukee. (Boulton, 8/12)

Tampa Bay Times: Questionable Medicaid Payments Prompt Audits Of 31 Florida Hospitals
Amid statewide concern about the ballooning costs of Medicaid, state Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Elizabeth Dudek said Wednesday she had ordered audits for 31 hospitals that may be receiving more in Medicaid payments than is legally allowed. ... The move comes as the private health plans that serve Florida’s Medicaid population seek a 12 percent increase in rates. The plans say the boost is necessary to help offset prescription drug prices. But last month, Dudek said some insurers had been paying hospitals more than is allowed under state law, and asked all hospitals to certify that they were in compliance by Aug. 1. Those that failed to meet the deadline are now being audited, she said. (McGrory, 8/12)

Connecticut Mirror: Feds Say State Should Give Back Up To $24 Million In Medicaid Money
Federal auditors recommended that Connecticut refund nearly $1 million in Medicaid payments they say were improperly billed to the federal government, and repay another $23 million unless the state can show those payments were allowable. In response, the state Department of Social Services agreed to repay $957,943 to the federal government. But Social Services Commissioner Roderick L. Bremby told federal officials that the state doesn't believe it should refund the $23 million. (Levin Becker, 8/12)

The Associated Press: Missouri Panel To Review Managed Care Medicaid Services
Missouri’s state House leader has assembled a panel to review how to provide Medicaid health care. Republican Speaker Todd Richardson appointed lawmakers, providers and consumer group members to the task force Wednesday. An earlier message from Richardson described a task force for expanding Medicaid. A release from the speaker’s office later corrected that. (8/12)

The Associated Press: Oswego Hospital To Pay $1.4M To Resolve Billing Claims
Federal authorities say Oswego Hospital [in New York] will pay more than $1.4 million to resolve claims of improper billing that the upstate facility found and disclosed to the government. The 164-bed hospital identified Medicaid claims paid by the federal and state program without supporting documentation from the facility's Behavioral Health Services Department. (8/13)

In CHIP news, a move in Kansas to use children’s health care funds to balance the state's budget draws criticism -

The Kansas Health Institute News Service: Children's Advocates Criticize Brownback CHIP Transfer
Governor Sam Brownback’s decision to divert federal funding away from a health insurance program is drawing sharp criticism from children’s advocates. Shannon Cotsoradis, president of the nonprofit advocacy organization Kansas Action for Children, said the governor is shortchanging Kansas families who depend on the Children’s Health Insurance Program. (McLean, 8/12)

The Associated Press: Federal Judge Sanctions Idaho Over Prison Health Care Case
A federal judge has sanctioned Idaho for misleading the court about medical and mental health care for inmates. In the ruling handed down Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David Carter said he was troubled by the degree to which employees at the Idaho State Correctional Institution manipulated medical files and took other steps to make the health care given to inmates seem better than it actually was. (Boone, 8/12)

Health News Florida: Hospital Stays Can Impact Court Fines, Fees
A Central Florida public defender called for an end to arrests for being broke. And the chief judge agrees the program needs to be evaluated, but for different reasons. Orange and Osceola County Public Defender Bob Wesley is asking the chief judge to create a commission investigating court costs, fines and collection practices. Wesley said that Tuesday morning alone, five people were arrested and brought before the court for unpaid fines – all with mental health issues. “One fellow we know because we checked him into the state hospital two weeks ago,” Wesley said at a news conference in front of the courthouse Tuesday. “His offense was panhandling. He got court costs for panhandling, now he’s back in jail for not paying the costs, and we know him to be a person who eats from garbage cans and begs for money on the street. This is not a guy who’s going to be able to pay the costs.” (Aboraya, 8/12)

Reuters: High Mental Illness Rates, Little Help For Youth In Detention
Many youth caught up in the juvenile justice system are hospitalized for mental illness because they aren’t getting psychiatric help before they’re arrested or while they’re in detention centers, a study in California suggests. From 1997 to 2011, researchers found, 63 percent of detained youth who were hospitalized had a primary diagnosis of mental health disorder, compared to 20 percent of their counterparts in the community. The detained youth were also hospitalized a day or two longer than their peers outside the justice system. (Neumann, 8/12)

The Detroit Free Press: Vaccination Waivers: New Mich. Rule Reignites The Debate
A new state rule requiring parents to attend a class at their local health department if they want a vaccination waiver for their kids before school starts is reigniting the debate over mandatory vaccinations. The rule applies to children entering a licensed day care, a preschool, the Head Start program, kindergarten, seventh grade or enrolling in a new school district. The goal? Slash the number of vaccination waivers in Michigan, which has the fourth-highest rate of waivers in the nation, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Higgins, 8/13)

The Boston Globe: More Nursing Home Scrutiny Proposed For Sales, Closures
Companies aiming to sell or close Massachusetts nursing homes would be required to first notify residents, families, and a wide array of officials, under proposed new rules detailed by regulators Wednesday, a year after state lawmakers directed them to create a more public process. The rules come amid mounting concerns by patient advocates that elder care is suffering as the state’s nursing home industry experiences an upheaval, with many facilities being sold and some closed. (Lazar, 8/13)

The Wall Street Journal: Potent New Stimulant Flakka Ravages Florida
Late last year, sheriff’s deputies in rural Lewis County, Ky., began encountering drug users suffering bouts of extreme paranoia. One tried chopping down a tree that he thought contained officers conducting surveillance on him. “It was crazy,” said Sheriff Johnny Bivens. (Campo-Flores, 8/12)

Connecticut Mirror: Law Enforcement Access To Drug Monitoring Data Raises Privacy Concern
Connecticut’s Prescription Monitoring Program aims to stop the misuse of opioids and other dangerous drugs and save lives. But some are concerned these programs have given law enforcement officers access to private information about prescription drugs in your medicine cabinet. (Radelat, 8/13)

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune: MNsure Plans Fixes, New Consumer Tool For Website
MNsure has scheduled IT upgrades for late August that are meant to respond to long-standing complaints the system can’t keep up with important life changes for enrollees. The state’s health exchange also is spending $473,000 to provide website users with an online tool that will help them understand out-of-pocket costs associated with different health insurance options available through MNsure. (Snowbeck, 8/12)

The Washington Post: When Life Begins In Rehab: A Md. Baby Heals After A Mother’s Heroin Addiction
After a month of painful withdrawal that bunched her body into a tight ball, after tremors and diarrhea and sleeplessness and difficulty eating, Makenzee Kennedy went home to her bed in a drug rehab facility to celebrate a milestone: turning 2 months old. (Bernstein, 8/12)

The Kansas City Star: Testing Of Drug To Help Dialysis Patients Moves Forward In Kansas City
The arduous process to prove that a drug works — so far taking 14 years and about $170 million — is being pushed ahead by Proteon Therapeutics. The company, founded in the Kansas City area by Nicholas Franano and Bill Whitaker, has enrolled its first patient in its second phase 3 clinical trial, supervised by Christie Wynette Gooden, a surgeon at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City. (Stafford, 8/13)

Newsday: Two East Islip Doctors Agree To Pay $1.1M In False Medicare Claims Case
Two doctors who were affiliated with an East Islip general practitioner's office have agreed to pay more than $1.1 million to resolve charges that they submitted claims to Medicare for procedures that were not medically necessary, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. Prosecutors said the doctors ordered and performed nerve conduction studies on patients who didn't medically need them. The procedure involves the electrical stimulation of a patient's nerves and muscles to measure the conduction speed of electric impulses and nerve and muscle function. (Ruud, 8/12)

The Associated Press: Long Island Doctors Settle, Pay Over $1M To US Government
Federal prosecutors say two doctors affiliated with a Long Island general practitioner's office will pay more than $1 million combined to resolve charges they submitted claims to Medicare for unnecessary procedures. Newsday reports Dr. Vikas Desai and Dr. Robert Maccone entered separate civil agreements Wednesday to pay the United States government a total of $1,120,299. (8/13)

Los Angeles Times: Top Surgeons Says U.S. Took Funds It Would Need To Pay GET-THIN Settlement
The owners of a company behind the 1-800-GET-THIN ads for weight loss surgery cannot afford to pay a $1.3-million settlement of a false-advertising lawsuit because federal agents seized $109 million from them as part of an ongoing criminal investigation, their lawyer said during a court hearing on Wednesday. (Pfeifer, 8/12)

The New England Journal of Medicine: Planned Parenthood At Risk
Planned Parenthood is under attack — again. This time, a campaign of misinformation about the retrieval of fetal tissue used in research and therapy is the excuse. When women have made the decision to terminate a pregnancy, Planned Parenthood allows them the opportunity to have the fetal tissue that would otherwise be discarded be used by qualified researchers to help answer important medical questions. The organization does so carefully, following all applicable laws and ethical guidelines. ... We strongly support Planned Parenthood not only for its efforts to channel fetal tissue into important medical research but also for its other work as one of the country’s largest providers of health care for women, especially poor women. (George P. Topulos, Michael F. Greene and Jeffrey M. Drazen, 8/12)

The New England Journal of Medicine: Fetal Tissue Fallout
We have a duty to use fetal tissue for research and therapy. This statement might seem extreme in light of recent events that have reopened a seemingly long-settled debate over whether such research ought even be permitted, let alone funded by the government. Morality and conscience have been cited to justify defunding, and even criminalizing, the research, just as morality and conscience have been cited to justify not only health care professionals' refusal to provide certain legal medical services to their patients but even their obstruction of others' fulfillment of that duty. But this duty of care should, I believe, be at the heart of the current storm of debate surrounding fetal tissue research, an outgrowth of the ongoing effort to defund Planned Parenthood. And that duty includes taking advantage of avenues of hope for current and future patients. (R. Alta Charo, 8/12)

The New York Times: Pro-Choice Questions, Pro-Life Answers
Last week I turned a little bit intemperate in arguing about abortion with members of the conflicted center-left. Now I’m going to try to be a little calmer in pursuing a conversation with the not-at-all-conflicted pro-abortion left, by answering some of the questions that Katha Pollitt posed to her pro-life opponents last fall. (Ross Douthat, 8/12)

The Chicago Tribune: Every American Needs The Kirk Health Plan Insurance
Forget the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), I want the Mark Kirk health insurance plan for every American. ... I'm referring to the health insurance that covered Kirk's recovery from a serious stroke .... I give Kirk credit for noting after his stroke that Medicaid, the state insurance plan for our poorest residents, wouldn't have paid for all of the visits to a rehabilitation clinic that he required. Before his stroke, Kirk said, he didn't realize that sort of health care coverage was a necessity, but now he did. (Phil Kadner, 8/12)

Forbes: Like A 1965 Ford Mustang, Medicare Needs A Redesign
Medicare is the 1965 Ford Mustang of healthcare. It was cutting-edge back in the day. But, like that half-century old car, Medicare no longer runs very well and needs a remake. The real issue is not its finances .... It’s about redesigning how it delivers care, which is what really matters to older Americans. ... Medicare is not set up to care for those with chronic disease. It does not provide long-term supports and services .... Much of the care these patients need isn’t strictly medical at all. Yet medical treatment is pretty much all Medicare will pay for. Worse, the fee-for service Medicare system upon which two-thirds of beneficiaries rely still encourages aggressive treatment and tests even if they are likely to harm patients rather than help them. (Howard Gleckman, 8/12)

USA Today: Medical Scopes Alert Came Too Late: Our View
When you go to a hospital, you don’t expect the device used for treatment to harm you. Yet since 2008, scores of patients across the country have been sickened, and some have died, from infections linked to contaminated medical scopes. Compounding the tragedy is that many of the illnesses might have been prevented if the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates medical devices, had done its job with a greater sense of urgency. (8/12)

USA Today: FDA: We’re Working To Reduce The Risks
The FDA’s first priority is patient safety. The FDA has been working for several years to reduce the risk of patient infections associated with reusable endoscopes — small, flexible lighted tubes that allow doctors to see inside patients and treat certain medical conditions in a less invasive manner than traditional surgery. The devices, which include duodenoscopes, are reprocessed, or cleaned and disinfected, for use between patients. (William Maisel, 8/12)

Los Angeles Times: Sugar Is A Problem, But Are Proposed New Labels A Solution?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is shifting its obesity focus from fat to sugar, as it should. Recent studies have provided evidence of how overconsumption of sugar, often through sodas and energy drinks, has contributed to the rise of weight-related health problems among Americans. But the FDA's draft proposal to add labeling information on sugar has so many problematic inconsistencies that it could backfire. (8/12)

The New York Times: The Pain Medication Conundrum
MY patient Mr. W. wheeled himself into my office for a checkup. He’d lost a leg to diabetes and was also juggling hypertension, obesity, vascular disease and elevated cholesterol. He was an amiably cranky fellow in his mid-60s who’d used heroin in the past though had been clean for decades. As we finished up and I handed him his stack of prescriptions, he said, “Oh, by the way, Dr. Ofri, I was wondering if you could prescribe me the oxycodone I use for my back.” (Danielle Ofri, 8/13)