The New York Times: House Votes To Repeal Obamacare Tax Once Seen As Key To Health Law
In the heat of the legislative fight over the Affordable Care Act, Obama administration officials argued that including a steep tax on high-cost, generous health insurance plans was critical to the law because it would hold down soaring costs while helping to pay for its expanded health benefits. On Wednesday, that feature, once considered central to Obamacare, was dealt a blow by an unlikely foe: Democrats. (Goodnough, 7/17)

The Associated Press: House Democrats, GOP Unite To Repeal Obama Health Care Tax
The so-called "Cadillac tax" never went into effect, since lawmakers kept delaying it. Wednesday's 419-6 vote increases chances that the Senate will follow the House, going for full repeal. Beginning in 2022, the tax would slap a 40% levy on the value of health insurance plans above $11,200 for single coverage and $30,100 for family policies. The idea was to help control costs by putting a brake on the value of health insurance plans. To avoid the tax, insurers and employers might have to shift more costs to policyholders. (7/17)

The Washington Post: House Democrats Join Republicans To Repeal Obamacare’s ‘Cadillac Tax’
Democrats, many of whom grudgingly supported the cost containment effort as part of the landmark health care law nine years ago, argued Wednesday it would be a de facto tax on working families. “Today, we’ll honor our promise to the hard-working men and women of the labor as we lift the Cadillac tax protecting health benefits that workers have negotiated,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday. (Abutaleb, 7/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Bipartisan House Coalition Votes To Repeal Health Law’s Cadillac Tax
At first glance, it seems odd for House Democrats to pass a roughly $200 billion tax cut that removes an ACA plank. It is a tax cut without the revenue-raising offsets Democrats say they favor, and it is a strike against Obamacare while Democrats defend the law. But the Cadillac tax has always been different. Many House Democrats opposed it as the ACA was written. They won concessions to scale it back and then helped delay it so it didn’t start as scheduled in 2018. “I’ve been working on this since it first popped its head up,” said Rep. Joe Courtney (D., Conn.), the bill’s sponsor. “The most noticeable change in the environment is just the extraordinary outpouring of support for repealing the tax from a much more diverse group of people.” (Rubin and Armour, 7/17)

The Hill: House Votes To Repeal ObamaCare's 'Cadillac Tax'
Repealing the tax will cost the government the hefty sum of $196.9 billion over 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. “After a decade of fiercely debating the merits of the Affordable Care Act, I hope we have turned a corner today and can now focus on strengthening the parts of the law that work in the manner we'd intended and changing the parts of the law — which is not unusual — that we believe could be improved,” said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.), praising the bill. (Sullivan, 7/17)

CNBC: House Backs Repeal Of Obamacare's Unpopular 'Cadillac Tax' In Rare Bipartisan Vote
The tax “has a strong policy rationale,” wrote Paul Van de Water, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington think tank. “In fact, it’s one of the ACA’s most important cost-containment measures. It will discourage employers and employees from buying unusually high-cost health coverage that promotes the excess use of health care.” Repealing it would also cause the U.S. to lose a “substantial amount of money and add to our deficit,” he added in an interview with CNBC. (Lovelace, 7/17)

Modern Healthcare: House Votes To Repeal Obamacare's Cadillac Tax
Unions, employer groups and insurers who have fought the tax from the beginning are driving momentum for congressional repeal. Insurers have warned for years that costs for people in the employer market would climb if the tax ever took effect. America's Health Insurance Plans welcomed the House vote as a "bipartisan solution to bring down health care premiums and costs." (Luthi, 7/17)

CQ: House Passes Repeal Of Obamacare Tax On High-Cost Plans
Steve Wojcik, vice president for public policy at the National Business Group on Health, said the repeal would remove uncertainty for employers planning future insurance coverage for their workers, a process that for large employers often spans two years. “It'd be good to have a lot of certainty that this is no longer looming over this process for employer plans and employees,” he told CQ Roll Call. “It would add costs for both employers and employees.” (McIntire, 7/17)

The CT Mirror: Courtney Wins House Repeal Of 'Cadillac' Health Plan Tax
Rep. Joe Courtney scored a win Wednesday after a decade of trying to repeal a tax on expensive health care plans that was imposed by the Affordable Care Act. The House voted overwhelmingly, 419-6, to approve Courtney’s Middle Class Health Benefits Tax Repeal Act of 2019, which would abolish a tax imposed by the Affordable Care Act. (Radelat, 7/17)

Modern Healthcare: Surprise Billing Ban Amended To Help Hospitals, Doctors
Hospitals and doctors on Wednesday scored a slew of amendments that could boost their pay even within the benchmark cap proposed in the House Energy and Commerce Committee legislation to ban surprise medical bills. These amendments, a testimony to the provider community's influence on Capitol Hill, include the option for doctors to appeal to an independent arbiter to collect additional money for certain out-of-network treatment, as well as a potential increase for out-of-network care at pricier facilities. (Luthi, 7/17)

CQ: House Panel Approves Changes To Surprise Billing Measure
A key change to the bill came in the form of an amendment by Reps. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., and Larry Bucshon, R-Ind. It would let providers appeal for an independent dispute resolution process for claims over $1,250 in certain cases when a provider says a median in-network rate doesn’t cover its costs. A baseball-style arbiter would weigh proposals by the provider and the insurer before choosing one. The losing side would have to pay for related administrative costs. Ruiz previously said he wanted to offer an amendment on the issue. (McIntire, 7/17)

Kaiser Health News: Surprise Medical Bill Legislation Takes A Step Forward, But Will It Lead To A Step Back?
One of the existential questions of the debate has been how to compensate health care providers if balance billing — which is what happens when patients are responsible for the costs not covered by their insurer — is prohibited. The bill before Energy and Commerce originally included what’s known as “benchmarking” to set the payment amount for out-of-network doctors. So, instead of sending patients a bill for the amount that their health plans don’t pay, a doctor would be forced to accept an amount that is the average of what other doctors in the area are paid for the procedure. (Bluth, 7/17)

Politico: Rand Paul Blocks Attempt To Permanently Fund 9/11 Victims Fund
Democrat Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand accused Republicans of playing “political games” after a GOP senator Wednesday blocked her effort to permanently fund the 9/11 victim compensation. Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) attempted to pass the legislation by voice vote but was blocked by GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who cited costs and concerns about its effect on the budget. (Levine, 7/17)

The Associated Press: Rand Paul Blocks Bill To Boost 9/11 Victims Fund
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the 9/11 bill would result in about $10.2 billion in additional compensation payments over 10 years, including more than $4 billion for claims already filed. Gillibrand said 9/11 first responders and their families have had "enough of political games." The legislation has 74 Senate co-sponsors, including Gillibrand, and easily passed the House last week. The bill would extend through 2092 a victims compensation fund created after the 2001 terrorist attacks, essentially making it permanent. The $7.4 billion fund is rapidly being depleted, and administrators recently cut benefit payments by up to 70%. (7/17)

Newsweek: Two Republicans Blocked 9/11 Victims Funding Because They Say It Would Cost Too Much
Utah Senator Mike Lee placed a procedural hold on the extension of the 9/11 compensation fund Wednesday, blocking it from coming to a floor vote. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand responded by asking for unanimous consent to pass the compensation bill, which would override Lee's temporary block of the bill. But by voting in the negative, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul ended the motion to unanimously pass the bill, which has significant nonpartisan support. Lee contends that there's still time to get an amended version of the bill passed before the August recess begins. (Goodkind, 7/17)

The Washington Post: 9/11 Victims Bill Stalls As Sens. Rand Paul, Mike Lee Seek Conditions For Funding
A spokeswoman for Paul said the senator wasn’t seeking to block the bill, but rather to add a provision to pay for it. Paul’s office said he is proposing cutting $2 billion a year from other federal programs, including agriculture, housing, and mandatory spending. The head of the Fraternal Order of Police, Chuck Canterbury, called Paul’s objection to the legislation “disgraceful.” The International Association of Fire Fighters wrote to Lee on Wednesday urging him to lift his hold on the legislation, which the House passed overwhelmingly last week. (Barrett, 7/17)

Fox News: Jon Stewart Blasts Rand Paul's 9/11 Compensation Fund Vote Delay, Accuses Him Of 'Fiscal Responsibility Virtue Signaling'
Comedian and activist Jon Stewart blasted two Republican senators for delaying a vote on reauthorizing the 9/11 victims compensation fund and a first responder-turned-activist claimed they "lack humanity." The reauthorization bill will eventually pass the Senate, despite the roadblock caused by Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, Stewart claimed Wednesday on "Special Report." "It's absolutely outrageous, and you'll pardon me if I'm not impressed in any way by Rand Paul's fiscal responsibility virtue signaling," he said. (Creitz, 7/17)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

The Hill: Democrats Demand Information From White House About Fetal Tissue Research Ban
A pair of House and Senate Democrats are demanding answers from the Trump administration about its decision to ban the use of federal funds for research involving fetal tissue. In a Wednesday letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Senate Health Committee ranking member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) asked for a host of internal documents and communications relating to the ban. (Weixel, 7/17)

The New York Times: Sanders Calls For Rivals To Reject Money From Health Care Industry
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, seeking to bring fresh momentum to his presidential campaign, offered a vigorous defense on Wednesday of his signature issue, “Medicare for all,” and called for all Democratic candidates to pledge to reject contributions from the health care industry. Mr. Sanders argued in a formal address, whose themes were familiar to anyone who has followed his political career, that the current health care system was an “international embarrassment,” and he offered his own vision for a single-payer program that he said would guarantee health care for every American. (Ember, 7/17)

Politico: Sanders Calls On Democratic Rivals To Reject Drug, Insurance Industry Donations
"You can’t change a corrupt system by taking its money," Sanders plans to say Wednesday, according to prepared remarks shared with reporters. "If we are going to break the stranglehold of corporate interests over the health care needs of the American people, we have got to confront a Washington culture that has let this go on for far too long." Sanders, who is among the top-tier candidates in the Democratic race, pointed to data that the pharmaceutical and insurance industries have spent more than $330 million on lobbying in the past two decades. (Diamond, 7/17)

The Washington Post: Sanders Rejects Donation From Drug, Insurance Execs
Candidates who are unwilling to do so, Sanders said, “should explain to the American people why those interests believe their campaigns are a good investment. ”Sanders’s pledge underscores his desire to expand the debate over health care beyond the competing policy proposals and shows how his campaign is seizing on health care as an effective issue to wield against the more centrist Biden — a fight Biden appears to welcome. Sanders has opted not to hold fundraisers catering to wealthy donors and is not seen by insurance and drug companies as an ally. (Sullivan, 7/17)

Politico: Sanders Swipes At Rivals, Makes A Case For 'Medicare For All'
Some of Sanders' rivals, including former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), have held fundraisers hosted by insurance company executives since launching their bids for the White House, and several others in the 2020 field have taken donations from the drug and insurance industries in past campaigns. (Ollstein, 7/17)

CBS News: Bernie Sanders To Call On Democrats To Reject Big Donations From Insurers And Pharma
Sanders' pledge exempts "rank-and-file" employees. The 2018 data from the Center for Responsive Politics does not specify if donations came from executives versus employed workers. The pledge marks another notch in what is becoming the 2020 primary's most contested issue: What do Democratic voters want from their healthcare? (Korte, 7/17)

CQ: Sanders Challenges Candidates To Swear Off Pharmaceutical Money
Sanders' challenge was not extended to President Donald Trump. “I am not going to even waste my breath," he said. "This is a president who, as you will recall, promised the American people that he would provide health care to everybody but instead came within one vote of throwing 32 million Americans off of the health care that they have." (Lindarte, 7/17)

ABC News: Bernie Sanders Accepted Pharma Executives' Donations Prior To New Pledge
Bernie Sanders called on his fellow Democratic presidential candidates Wednesday to reject donations from health insurance and pharmaceutical industry executives during what was labeled as a "major address" in Washington, D.C., but an ABC News review of FEC records earlier in the day found that Sanders himself accepted some of the same types of donations earlier in the campaign cycle. (Kim, Kelsey and Rodriguez, 7/17)

The Hill: Biden Campaign Pushes Back On Sanders' Call To Reject Donations From Insurers, Drug Makers 
Joe Biden's campaign pushed back after Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) called on 2020 campaigns to reject contributions from health insurance and drug companies, which was seen as a dig aimed at the former vice president. Sanders, without naming any specific campaign, made the demand Wednesday in a speech defending his "Medicare for All" plan, which Biden has harshly criticized.  (Klar, 7/17)

The Associated Press: Sanders Defends 'Medicare For All' After Criticism By Biden
Bernie Sanders vigorously defended his signature "Medicare for All" proposal Wednesday after criticism from his 2020 rival Joe Biden and called on his fellow Democratic presidential candidates to join him in refusing to accept contributions from the health care industry. Saying he wanted to address "some of the half-truths" and "outright lies" about his single-payer health care plan, Sanders insisted that coverage for seniors would increase and that Americans would be able to choose their own doctors and clinics without worrying whether their health care provider is in network. (7/17)

Reuters: Biden Versus Sanders: Top 2020 Contenders Snipe Over Healthcare Policy
Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden and rival Bernie Sanders are waging a public battle this week over universal healthcare, staking out competing turf on an issue that has become the most divisive in the party's primary campaign. The sniping between the two White House contenders, highlighted on Wednesday when Sanders delivered a defense of his ambitious "Medicare for All" plan, has split Democrats and forced other candidates to choose sides on an issue certain to play prominently in next year's general election race. (7/17)

The Hill: Sanders Strongly Defends 'Medicare For All' After Recent Criticism
"The current debate over Medicare for All has nothing to do with health care," he said during a speech at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. "It has everything to do with the greed and profits of the health care industry." (Hellmann, 7/17)

WBUR: Facing Pressure In Campaign, Sanders Defends His Signature Health Care Plan
Sanders outlined in broad strokes how he'd implement Medicare for All: He'd lower the eligibility age from 65 to 55 in the first year of the new program, then to 45, then 35, then eventually to every adult. Children, Sanders said, would be eligible for the insurance program in the first year of the transition. Sanders also said he also wants to expand Medicare beyond its current benefits to include dental coverage as well. (Detrow, 7/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Sanders Defends Medicare For All, Drawing Contrast With Biden
Mr. Sanders has advocated for government-run, single-payer health care for decades, but he has recently focused more direct attacks at Democrats who don’t support his proposed overhaul of the current system. And the most prominent advocate in the field for a more cautious approach is former Vice President Joe Biden. Mr. Biden has been the leading candidate in national and state polls, and Mr. Sanders generally comes in second or third place. (Collins, 7/17)

NBC News: Bernie Sanders Hits Back At 'Medicare For All' Critics In Speech
While Biden and others have suggested preserving existing private insurance plans while adding a competing public option, Sanders repeatedly made the case that the health care industry was too compromised by profit-seeking to be trusted with such a large role, listing CEO compensation and pointing to higher prices for care compared to other developed countries. “The debate we are currently having in this campaign and this country has nothing to do with health care, but it has everything to do with the greed and profits of the health care industry,” Sanders said. (Sarlin, 7/17)

The Associated Press Fact Check: Savings From Sanders' Medicare Plan Dubious
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders all but guaranteed in his "Medicare for All" speech on Wednesday the U.S. would spend less on health care with his plan. He said studies from experts on the political left and the right project $2 trillion to $5 trillion in savings over 10 years, but that's questionable. (7/17)

Des Moines Register: 'Medicare For All' Debates Rule At AARP Des Moines Register Forum
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders won't take the stage until Friday, but his ideas were at the forefront of the healthcare discussion Wednesday during an AARP and Des Moines Register presidential candidate forum. Both U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado and former U.S. Rep. John Delaney of Maryland criticized the Sanders-backed plan to eliminate private health insurance in favor of a public-only system, calling Sanders out by name. (Akin and Opsahl, 7/17)

USA Today: Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders Health Insurance Fixes Won't Work: Insurers
The top executive of the health insurance industry's largest trade group said Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden's plan to bolster the Affordable Care Act with a public insurance option is a dangerous approach to extend affordable health coverage to millions of Americans. America's Health Insurance Plans CEO Matt Eyles said a government-run insurance option would upend the private insurance market and "be terrible" for hospitals and other health providers. "Some of the public options that he's putting out there would not operate on a competitive playing field," Eyles said during a meeting Tuesday with the USA TODAY Editorial Board. "It would displace the private market, and we don't think it would necessarily be the right approach." (Alltucker, 7/16)

CNBC: Biden Declines To Discuss A Backup Plan If Supreme Court Kills Obamacare
Presidential candidate Joe Biden said in a Tuesday morning interview that he did not want to discuss a backup plan for Obamacare if it is killed by the Supreme Court. “Look, this is a court that’s ruled it’s constitutional twice,” Biden told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “We’ll see. I’m not going to go down that route and speculate what’s going to happen in a negative sense.” (Myong, 7/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Administration Moves To Shift Patients’ Chronic Illness Costs To Insurers
Millions of Americans in high-deductible health plans may find it easier to access insulin, inhalers and other treatments for chronic health problems under guidance released Wednesday by the Trump administration. Currently, people in high-deductible plans with pretax health-savings accounts have to pay down their deductible before their insurance covers treatment for chronic diseases such as diabetes or high blood pressure. The change will allow insurers to begin providing coverage for those treatments, such as glucose or blood-pressure monitors, before the deductible is paid. (Armour, 7/17)

Modern Healthcare: Access To Chronic Disease Treatment Eased By Trump Administration
Under the guidance, chronically ill patients will be able to access coverage for certain services before they spend enough money out of pocket to meet the high deductible. Previously, those plans covered only low-cost preventive-care services prior to the deductible being met. The guidance, effective immediately, follows President Donald Trump's June 24 executive order that directed the U.S. Treasury Department to find ways to expand the use of health savings accounts paired with high-deductible health plans to pay for "medical care that helps maintain health status for individuals with chronic conditions." (Livingston, 7/17)

Meanwhile, on the heels of President Donald Trump's executive order on kidney care, CVS nudges into the market —

The Wall Street Journal: CVS Begins Clinical Trial For Home-Dialysis Device
CVS Health Corp. is making an ambitious move into kidney care, launching a clinical trial for a new home-dialysis device designed by the firm of Dean Kamen, the Segway inventor. The company is delving into unusual territory for a drugstore and health insurer. The plan will make it a medical-device firm and a provider of dialysis, the complex blood-cleansing procedure vital to patients suffering from kidney failure. CVS holds exclusive U.S. rights to the HemoCare device, which was created by Mr. Kamen’s firm, Deka Research & Development Corp. (Wilde Mathews, 7/17)

Bloomberg: CVS Pushing Into Kidney Dialysis With Segway Inventor's Help 
The company plans to offer a device designed by a firm founded by Dean Kamen, the inventor of the two-wheeled Segway personal transporter. The goal is to make the complicated process of dialysis, which cleans toxins from a patient’s blood, easier and safer to do at home. If successful, CVS could threaten the two companies that dominate the market for outpatient dialysis clinics, which most users visit three times a week. (Langreth, 7/17)

The New York Times: A Messy Exit Leaves Planned Parenthood At A Philosophical Crossroads
Leana Wen had already made a name for herself as Baltimore’s health commissioner when Planned Parenthood hired her as its new president last fall. Dr. Wen, a 36-year-old physician, had used innovative policies to combat the opioid epidemic and delivered a widely watched TED Talk. She regularly appeared on lists of the most influential health care leaders and government officials. But Dr. Wen’s tenure at Planned Parenthood was rocky and short, ending after eight months on Tuesday when the board of directors ousted her following several weeks of tense and sometimes acrimonious negotiations. (Kliff and Goldmacher, 7/17)

The Baltimore Sun: Planned Parenthood Has Run Off Leana Wen, But Baltimore Backers Hope She’ll Stay Right Here
When Dr. Leana Wen became Baltimore’s health commissioner at the beginning of 2015, she said she saw health through a lens that included education, poverty, safety and race. ...The same approach did not serve her well in her next job, on a national stage, as CEO of Planned Parenthood, which ousted her Tuesday after only eight months. Some reports cited her management style, but Wen said she had “philosophical differences” with the board that wanted to focus on abortion rights advocacy. She still calls Baltimore home. As she decides what to do next, some believe her broad approach could open doors here or elsewhere. (Cohn, 7/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Antiabortion Movement Begins To Crack, After Decades Of Unity
Close to five decades after the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling enshrined a woman’s constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy, the unity of the antiabortion movement is cracking. For years, those opposed to abortion have largely hewed to a legal strategy to pass laws adding incremental limitations to the historic 1973 ruling. Now, an ascendant, activist wing is pressing for legislation that doesn’t just limit the procedure, but outlaws it. Emboldened by President Trump’s Supreme Court picks, the activists have grown impatient with what they see as small developments, and instead are actively seeking a legal fight with the goal of overturning Roe. (Gershman and Campo-Flores, 7/17)

The New York Times: Where Roe V. Wade Matters Most
Tammi Kromenaker runs the Red River Women’s Clinic, the only clinic that provides abortions in North Dakota. Without Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that established a constitutional right to abortion, the state would ban her clinic, or any other within state lines, from performing the procedure. “Roe is the only thing keeping abortion legal in North Dakota,” Ms. Kromenaker said. In neighboring Minnesota, though, abortion would remain legal, even without the protection of Roe. There, the right to abortion is protected in the state constitution. (Bui, Miller and Sanger-Katz, 7/18)

Columbus Dispatch: Planned Parenthood Taps National Emergency Funds To Preserve Abortion Referrals
Planned Parenthood clinics in Ohio will draw on emergency funds from its national umbrella organization rather than comply with a Trump administration directive that bans federally funded clinics from making abortion referrals. Trump’s directive is the latest blow to an organization that already has lost about $1.5 million in grant funding this year in Ohio, where courts have upheld state legislation to cut off taxpayer money for organizations that offer abortion services or refer women to clinics that perform abortions. (Rouan, 7/17)

Arizona Republic: Planned Parenthood Arizona Receives $10K Grant To Help Prevent HIV
Planned Parenthood Arizona has received a $10,000 grant from Phoenix Pride to help more patients prevent HIV diseases at no cost. The grant is specifically providing services for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), which reduces the risk of getting HIV, Planned Parenthood Arizona spokeswoman Tayler Tucker said. (Carpenter, 7/16)

The New York Times: Drug Overdose Deaths Drop In U.S. For First Time Since 1990
Three decades of ever-escalating deaths from drug overdoses in the United States may have come to an end, according to preliminary government data made public Wednesday. Total drug overdose deaths in America declined by around 5 percent last year, the first drop since 1990. The decline was due almost entirely to a dip in deaths from prescription opioid painkillers, the medicines that set off the epidemic of addiction that has lasted nearly two decades. Fatal overdoses involving other drugs, particularly fentanyl and methamphetamine, continued to rise. (Goodnough, Katz and Sanger-Katz, 7/17)

The Associated Press: Number Of US Overdose Deaths Appears To Be Falling
The numbers were celebrated by the U.S. secretary of health and human services. "Lives are being saved, and we're beginning to win the fight against this crisis," Alex Azar wrote in a tweet. But the overdose death rate is still about seven times higher than it was a generation ago. "We're still in a pretty sad situation that we need to address," said Rebecca Haffajee, a University of Michigan researcher. (7/17)

The Washington Post: Drug Overdoses Fell Significantly In 2018 For First Time In Decades, Provisional CDC Data Show
“Since the epidemic started, we’ve had a few years where deaths were flat or barely grew year on year, but this is the first time they’ve actually declined,” said Stanford University professor Keith Humphreys, a former senior policy adviser at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. “Losing nearly 70,000 people a year of course still means we’re in the midst of a public health disaster, but this is the first real sign of hope we’ve had that we might be turning the corner.” (Ingraham, 7/17)

CNN: US Drug Overdose Deaths Fell Slightly In 2018
"There's light at the end of the tunnel," Kolodny said, but he added, "there's certainly nothing to celebrate because even with the slight reduction we're still experiencing an enormous death toll." Additionally, "when you look at the national data, it masks what's happening on a regional level and on a state level," he said. For instance, the mortality rate from synthetic opioids in 28 states more than doubled every two years from 1999 to 2016, according to a study published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open in February. (Tinker, Howard and Gumbrecht, 7/17)

Vox: Opioid Epidemic: Overdose Deaths May Have Fallen In 2018. But There’s A Catch.
Overdose deaths from synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, are still trending up, based on the preliminary CDC data: Synthetic opioid overdose deaths excluding methadone were estimated at nearly 32,000 in 2018, up from more than 29,000 in 2017. Deaths linked to cocaine and psychostimulants, like meth, also increased. Most of the drop in overdose deaths is linked to a fall in opioid painkiller deaths, as prescriptions to those drugs also fall. But if other overdose deaths continue to go up, they could overcome any drop in painkiller deaths. (Lopez, 7/17)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Overdose Deaths Drop In Ohio, United States, New CDC Estimates Show
Estimates show that Ohio's accidental overdose deaths will number 4,002 in 2018, down from 5,135 in 2017, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday. That's about a 22 percent drop. The federal public health agency released the estimates for 2018 on Wednesday, noting that the counts are predicted, rather than actual, because not every county has turned in all its data. (DeMio, 7/17)

The Washington Post: Opioid Lawsuits: As Lawyers Zero In On Drug Companies, A Reckoning May Be Coming
For two decades, as 200,000 opioid overdose deaths piled up across America, there was always someone else to blame. Families blamed drug companies. Drug companies blamed doctors. Everyone blamed the government. More than half the public continues to see drug addiction as a moral failing, blaming substance abusers themselves for the epidemic, at least in part, according to recent polling. But now the effort to hold someone to account for the worst drug crisis in U.S. history is narrowing to a few dozen drug companies whose day in court has come or will soon arrive. (Bernstein and Rowland, 7/17)

The Washington Post: Opioid Death Rates Soared In Communities Where Pain Pills Flowed
Death rates from opioids soared in the towns, cities and counties that were saturated with billions of prescription pain pills from 2006 through 2012, according to government death data and a previously undisclosed database of opioid shipments made public this week. The highest per capita death rates nationwide from opioids during those years were in rural communities in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia. In those seven years, those communities also were flooded with a disproportionate share of the 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pain pills from some of the country’s largest drug companies, an analysis by The Washington Post reveals. (Horwitz, Rich and Higham, 7/17)

The Wall Street Journal: New Clinic For Drug Users Opens Near Penn Station
In a nondescript Midtown building tucked between tourist hotels and a few short blocks from New York Penn Station is one of the oldest syringe-exchange programs in the city and one of the newest primary-care clinics for drug users and the homeless. Called the Ginny Shubert Center for Harm Reduction, the new facility, which celebrated its official launch Wednesday, is the latest multi-purpose medical center opened by Housing Works, a nonprofit social-services group best known for its thrift stores. (West, 7/17)

Nashville Tennessean: Partnership Aims To Decrease Infants Born Addicted To Opioids
Two Nashville-area companies announced a new partnership last week to provide clinical and wraparound services for expecting mothers struggling with opioid use disorders. ReVIDA Recovery Centers and Franklin-based 180 Health Partners are joining forces to coordinate care for pregnant women at ReVIDA's seven locations in east Tennessee and southwest Virginia. The partnership's goal is to lessen the number of infants born with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, or NAS, a condition that newborns experience when they withdraw from a substance they were exposed to in utero. (Sauber, 7/17)

Arizona Republic: Former Insys Executives Sued By Arizona Attorney General's Office
The Arizona Attorney General's Office has filed a fraud lawsuit against three former executives of opioid manufacturer Insys Therapeutics of Chandler, extending their legal challenges. The lawsuit alleges that the three named defendants engaged in a marketing scheme designed to increase the sales of a highly addictive prescription drug called Subsys. (Wiles, 7/17)

Kansas City Star: Missouri Governor Parson Signs Electronic Prescribing Bill
Missourians who need prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances will soon need to have them sent electronically from their doctor to their pharmacy. The new law is designed to stop people from stealing prescription pads from doctors and hospitals and using them to forge orders for opioids and other potentially addictive drugs. (Marso, 7/18)

Modern Healthcare: Medical Marijuana Doesn't Seem To Reduce Opioid Misuse, Study Finds
Medical marijuana laws had little impact on curbing non-medical use of prescription opioids, according to a new study that raises doubts over legal marijuana as an alternative to current substance use disorder treatments. Non-medical use of prescription opioids slightly increased in states with medical marijuana laws, the study published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open found. Researchers analyzed substance use behavioral data from more than 672,000 individuals ages 12 and older from 2004 to 2012. (Johnson, 7/17)

Los Angeles Times: Rising Health Insurance Deductibles Fuel Middle-Class Anger And Resentment
Denise Wall, a Fresno area school teacher with more than $2,000 in medical bills, was outraged to hear she could get free care if she quit her job and enrolled her family in Medicaid. Brenda Bartlett, a factory worker in Nebraska, was so angry about $2,500 in medical bills she ran up using the coverage she got at work that she dropped insurance altogether. “They don’t give a rat’s butt about people like me,” she said. (Levey, 7/17)

In other news on insurance —

Detroit Free Press: After Huge Spikes, Obamacare Rates Are Now Falling In Michigan
Sticker prices for many Affordable Care Act-compliant individual health insurance plans will drop next year, a reversal from the huge price hikes sought in past years by the insurance companies. Insurers' new proposed rates, which would take effect in 2020 if approved, were announced Wednesday by the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services. (Reindl, 7/17)

The CT Mirror: Expanded Insurance Coverage For Breast Cancer Screenings Lauded By Officials, Advocates
Harrowing tales from breast cancer survivors from across the state and a slip-up from a freshman legislator are among the circumstances that led to the passage of a bill expanding health care coverage for annual breast cancer screenings. There are approximately 3,500 newly diagnosed cases of breast cancer in Connecticut each year, according to the Connecticut Breast Health Initiative, and the scourge of the disease was apparent in the stories told at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital Wednesday as officials, advocates, and health care experts lauded the passage of legislation they say will save lives. (Moore, 7/17)

Houston Chronicle: Oscar Insurance To Start Offering Medicare Advantage In Houston 
Medicare Advantage plans are a type of health coverage where participants enroll and receive Medicare-covered benefits, but they are administered through private health insurance companies instead of directly from the federal government. They are heavily marketed to seniors as offering more generous benefits than traditional Medicare such as wider prescription drugs coverage, dental and vision coverage. About a third of the nation's Medicare recipients were enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans in 2017, according to federal statistics. One criticism of the program, though, is that plans often have narrow networks of providers. (Deam, 7/17)

NPR: Why High Drug Prices Are Not Like Cars' Sticker Prices
High drug prices are a hot topic in politics right now. President Trump has made lowering them a cornerstone of his re-election bid and is pushing a variety of ideas to get that done. But politicians — of either party -- who want to rally the public around this have a challenge: Drug pricing is incredibly complex and convoluted. Just explaining what it is — let alone how to fix it — is really hard. You know what's great for understanding complicated things? Analogies. (Simmons-Duffin, 7/17)

Stat: Drug Industry Deploys Its Top Guns To Capitol Hill 
The pharmaceutical industry deployed its top guns to Capitol Hill on Wednesday as senators pushed to find consensus on a major package of drug pricing reforms. Spotted in the Senate basement at lunchtime: Stephen Ubl, the head of the industry lobbying organization PhRMA, and Dr. Giovanni Caforio, the CEO of Bristol Myers-Squibb. Their appearances were well-timed. Earlier Wednesday, Republicans lawmakers were briefed by the Congressional Budget Office on a drug pricing bill still under development in the Senate Finance Committee. Democrats were scheduled to receive the same briefing on Wednesday afternoon. (Facher, Florko and Joseph, 7/17)

Stat: Led By Gilead Alumni, Kronos Raises $105 Million
Norbert Bischofberger, a former Gilead executive, has been running Kronos Bio for a little more than a year — and it’s been a year full of changes. The company has a fresh logo, programs inching closer to clinical trials, and more than $100 million of new money from a financing round announced Thursday. Kronos, which has offices in Cambridge, Mass., and near San Francisco, is hoping to find new small-molecule drugs for cancer using a novel method for screening potential drug targets. (Sheridan, 7/18)

Modern Healthcare: Senate Drug-Pricing Proposal Will Save Money, CBO Says
Senate Finance Committee Republicans have yet to agree on their compromise package to lower drug prices, but Congressional Budget Office staffers estimated Wednesday that the bill would save money for both the government and Medicare beneficiaries. The cornerstone of the proposal from committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is a cap on drug price hikes. If manufacturers raise their prices above the rate of inflation, they would have to pay rebates to the government. CBO's projected savings come from the proposed Medicare Part D redesign and these inflation caps. (Luthi, 7/17)

Los Angeles Times: Immigrant Moms May Sue Trump Administration For Border Separations
Like thousands of Central American parents seeking asylum in the United States, Patricia panicked when, after she and her son crossed the Rio Grande into Texas last year, U.S. border agents took the boy away. For weeks, she was crushed by fears that then-6-year-old Alessandro was lost forever. Though they were eventually reunited, Patricia isn’t ready to put the past behind her. She wants the U.S. government to pay for her family’s ordeal, and she has become part of a novel legal strategy to achieve that goal. (Chabria, 7/17)

The Associated Press: Asylum Ban May Further Strain Immigrant Detention Facilities
A new policy to deny asylum to anyone who shows up on the Mexican border after traveling through another country threatens to exacerbate overcrowding at severely strained U.S. immigration detention centers and makeshift holding areas. Photos and video of Vice President Mike Pence's visit Friday to McAllen, Texas, showing men crammed behind chain-link fences offered the latest glimpse into squalid conditions at Customs and Border Protection facilities. Women are being held in smaller tents at the station. (7/17)

The Associated Press: Florida Migrant Teen Detention Center Sees Dramatic Downsize
The nation's largest facility for migrant children has released hundreds of teens to relatives in recent days, easing overcrowding at the South Florida center that has come under intense criticism from Democratic lawmakers who call it cramped and regimented. The company that runs the Homestead facility, Caliburn International, said it has released 500 teenagers since Friday under newly relaxed federal requirements for reuniting the children with relatives living in the U.S. (7/17)

The Washington Post: Border Agent In Clint Accused Of Harassing Mother Of 12-Year-Old Migrant Who Was In Custody
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent allegedly sought out an undocumented Guatemalan woman living in California, sent her Facebook messages and asked her to watch a live video of him masturbating — all while her 12-year-old son was in custody at the Border Patrol station in Clint, Tex., where he worked, according to an April complaint filed with CBP and interviews with the mother. (Hauslohner and Sacchetti, 7/17)

The New York Times: Feeling Lonely? Perhaps You’d Like To Talk To Some Strangers
When Ankit Shah graduated from college and moved to the Bay Area in 2013, he didn’t know a single person there. Hungry for connections, he asked his Facebook friends to ask their Bay Area-based friends if they’d like to have tea with him, a stranger. “I was very nervous that people would be like ‘who’s this weirdo on the internet?’” Mr. Shah said. “But sure enough, my friends started tagging their friends in the comments — some even shared it on their own page — and eventually, there were more people interested in getting tea than I could keep up with.” (Hotz, 7/18)

NPR: New Study Suggests Increased Rates Of Memory Loss And Confusion In LGBTQ Elders
LGBTQ Americans were recently found 29% more likely to report memory loss and confusion — two early signs of dementia— than their straight, cisgender counterparts. The research, led by the University of California, San Francisco, was released at the 2019 Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Los Angeles. A large phone-based survey was conducted across nine states. Out of more than 44,000 adults aged 45 and older, roughly 3% of participants identified themselves as a sexual or gender minority. (Matias, 7/17)

The Associated Press: Winners Overlook Rigged Games' Lack Of Fairness, Study Finds
When it comes to fairness and privilege, a new study finds it really is not about how you play the game. It's about whether you win or lose. A new experiment, played out as a card game, shows that even when the deck is literally stacked in people's favor — and they know it — most winners still think it's fair anyway. Losers don't, according to a study in Wednesday's journal Science Advances. (7/17)

The New York Times: The Sad Truth About Sleep-Tracking Devices And Apps
For the last two weeks, I’ve added an extra step to my bedtime routine: strapping a computer around my wrist. The new nightly move was prompted by a cascade of wearable gadgets from companies like Fitbit and Apple, which claim that their sensor-laden bracelets and watches can improve our lives by helping us detect health problems so that we can come up with solutions. (Chen, 7/17)

Kaiser Health News: Common Medications Can Masquerade As Dementia In Seniors
By all accounts the woman, in her late 60s, appeared to have severe dementia. She was largely incoherent. Her short-term memory was terrible. She couldn’t focus on questions that medical professionals asked her. But Dr. Malaz Boustani, a professor of aging research at Indiana University School of Medicine, suspected something else might be going on. The patient was taking Benadryl for seasonal allergies, another antihistamine for itching, Seroquel (an antipsychotic medication) for mood fluctuations, as well as medications for urinary incontinence and gastrointestinal upset. (Graham, 7/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Behind The Scenes Of Netflix’s Call To Alter ‘13 Reasons Why’ Episode
When Brian Yorkey was adapting Jay Asher’s book for the Netflix Inc. TV show “13 Reasons Why”—about a teen girl who commits suicide and the aftermath—he took creative liberty with the source material, changing the depiction of protagonist Hannah Baker’s death from an overdose of pills to a graphic wrist-slitting. That decision created more than two years of controversy for Netflix, as mental-health advocates criticized the portrayal and studies suggested the show could have been a factor in a spike in teen suicides in the month after the show premiered. (Flint, 7/17)

Stat: Do Elon Musk’s Brain Implants Have Potential? Experts Say They Might
The immediate aim of the San Francisco startup’s technology is a system enabling people who are paralyzed to use their thoughts to operate computers and smartphones. That has all been done before, including by Schwartz’s group and one at Brown University, where in 2011 two tetraplegic patients who had been implanted with the “BrainGate” neural interface system were able to control robotic arms with their thoughts, including lifting a bottle of coffee and drinking it. (Begley and Robbins, 7/18)

The New York Times: Heat Wave To Hit Two-Thirds Of The U.S. Here’s What To Expect.
Dangerously hot temperatures are expected to spread across the Central and Eastern United States on Wednesday through the weekend, with temperatures soaring above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the hardest-hit places, the National Weather Service has warned. And even when the sun dips below the horizon, temperatures in many places are expected to remain in the 80s. (Stockman, 7/17)

Stat: An AI System Predicts When Pancreatic Cysts Will Turn Cancerous 
Pancreatic cancer often kills people because they are diagnosed too late, after their tumors have spread. Other patients may die following the removal of harmless cysts that appear threatening amid a fog of imaging data and other clinical information. But a new artificial intelligence system unveiled Wednesday by doctors at Johns Hopkins offers to provide a clearer picture for patients: In testing, it displayed a superhuman ability to differentiate harmful lesions from ones that pose no threat at all. (Ross, 7/17)

Bloomberg: Why Sex-Related Infections Are Spreading Again: QuickTake 
Sexually transmitted infections, or STIs, are rebounding in rich countries after being firmly in retreat for decades. Syphilis, for example, can cause stillbirths and infant deaths, and years later can lead to blindness, dementia or paralysis. The resurgence is a result of multiple factors including inconsistent condom usage and the abuse of illicit recreational drugs. At the same time, some common STIs, such as gonorrhea and shigellosis, are becoming harder to treat because of antibiotic resistance. (Gale, 7/17)

The Associated Press: Scientists Find New Way To Kill Disease-Carrying Mosquitoes
Scientists say they nearly eliminated disease-carrying mosquitoes on two islands in China using a new technique. The downside: It may not be practical for larger areas and may cost a lot of money. In the experiment, researchers targeted Asian tiger mosquitoes, invasive white-striped bugs that can spread dengue fever, Zika and other diseases. They used a novel approach for pest control: First, they infected the bugs with a virus-fighting bacterium, and then zapped them with a small dose of radiation. (7/17)

The Washington Post: Tick In Eye: Doctor Removes Tick From Kentucky Man's Eyeball
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns people to check under their arms, around their ears and even inside their bellybutton for ticks after possible exposure. The agency may have to add another, especially cringeworthy tick harbor to the list: the eyeball. A Kentucky man says he went to the doctor for eye irritation and found out it was caused by one of the eight-legged, bloodsucking critters. (Knowles, 7/17)

Kaiser Health News: ‘Climate Grief’: Fears About The Planet’s Future Weigh On Americans’ Mental Health
Therapist Andrew Bryant says the landmark United Nations climate report last October brought a new mental health concern to his patients.“I remember being in sessions with folks the next day. They had never mentioned climate change before, and they were like, ‘I keep hearing about this report,’” Bryant said. “Some of them expressed anxious feelings, and we kept talking about it over our next sessions.” The study, conducted by the world’s leading climate scientists, said that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the current rate, by 2040 the Earth will warm by 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius). (Knight, 7/18)

Reuters: California Settles Decades-Long Lawsuit Over Lead Paint, But Outcome Is Bittersweet
When Californian counties and cities first sued paint makers in 2000, they wanted the companies to pay billions to remove dangerous old lead paint from hundreds of thousands of homes. After a 19-year legal struggle, they have finally succeeded in getting the companies to fund a remediation program, albeit on a much smaller scale. Sherwin-Williams, ConAgra Grocery Products Co. and NL Industries have agreed to a $305 million settlement, according to a filing in Santa Clara County Superior Court in California on Wednesday. (7/17)

Reuters: Puerto Rico Faces Tougher Scrutiny Over Federal Medicaid Funding
U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday called for heightened scrutiny of Puerto Rico's Medicaid program as the bankrupt territory seeks increased federal healthcare funding while it deals with repercussions from a government corruption scandal. The House Committee on Energy and Commerce agreed to several accountability measures linked to a $12 billion funding boost over four years for the low-income healthcare program in Puerto Rico. A group of Republican U.S. senators, meanwhile, sought information on whether any safeguards are in place to deter misuse of the island's federal Medicaid dollars. (7/17)

The Washington Post: In D.C., 5,500 Students Are Homeless. The City Is Helping Some Of Them Take Their First Steps To College.
His bed was snugly made, and four pair of sneakers formed a neat line beneath his extra-long twin bed. An iron that Dajon Duvall borrowed from his dorm’s residential adviser sat on a wooden desk that was crammed on his side of the room. Every day, the 18-year-old irons his T-shirts and jeans, a habit he picked up in eighth grade after spending two years living with his mom and younger sisters in hotel rooms in central Florida. (Stein, 7/17)

ProPublica: Illinois Lawmakers Demand Child Welfare Officials Better Serve Spanish-Speaking Families
Illinois lawmakers and advocates are calling on state child welfare officials to better comply with a federal court order to serve Spanish-speaking families, an issue they say has become more critical amid heightened fear among immigrants of interacting with government agencies. The calls come in response to a ProPublica Illinois investigation last month that found that the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has, for decades, repeatedly violated a 1977 federal court order that mandates the agency provide services to Latino families in their primary language. (Eldeib and Sanchez, 7/18)

Politico Pro: Newsom Begins Mental Health Care Crackdown With County Sanctions
California is penalizing 10 rural counties for failing to provide enough mental health practitioners to treat patients with serious conditions, taking an aggressive new stance to demand better care across the state. Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration has withheld a total of $12 million over the past month from mental health plans managed by the 10 counties, mostly situated in the Central Valley, according to data obtained by POLITICO through public records requests. (Hart, 7/17)

The Associated Press: Deaths Related To Retirement Home's Virus Outbreak Rise To 3
Health officials say three people have now died amid a virus outbreak at a northern Virginia retirement community. The Fairfax County Health Department reported the third death Tuesday. Two deaths were reported last week. Officials said they did not know the full medical history of those who died or the extent to which the respiratory illness played a role. (7/17)

The Washington Post: Third Person Has Died After Respiratory Illness Outbreak At Greenspring Village, Fairfax Officials Say
At a news conference Wednesday at the agency’s headquarters, Benjamin Schwartz, director of epidemiology and population health at the Fairfax County Health Department, said tests, including those conducted on 17 samples by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have failed to identify a likely cause. Tests for Legionnaires’ disease have also come up negative. Officials tested for a range of common virus- or bacteria-borne respiratory illnesses. (Kunkle, 7/17)

Miami Herald: APD Redesign Prompts Concerns About Cutting Services
Lawmakers ordered Florida disability administrators this year to restructure its community-based Medicaid program that delivers healthcare to tens of thousands of people with disabilities. But as two state agencies begin to devise the new structure of the program, clients, caregivers and service providers are worrying that the coming changes to lower the agency’s budget might cut critical services to people who need them. (Koh, 7/17)

Pioneer Press: Minnesota DHS Deputies Rescind Resignations After Lourey And Chief Of Staff Quit 
Minnesota’s largest government agency continued to resemble a revolving door on Wednesday, as its two top deputies rescinded their resignations after the commissioner and his chief of staff announced their departures. Chuck Johnson and Claire Wilson, the two deputy commissioners of the Department of Human Services, have agreed to stay at the agency, according to an internal email sent by acting Commissioner Pam Wheelock on Wednesday. (Faircloth, 7/17)

The Star Tribune: Two Minn. DHS Deputies Return After Lourey, Chief Of Staff Resign 
Less than 48 hours after Minnesota Human Services Commissioner Tony Lourey unexpectedly stepped down from his post, two top deputies who had announced their departures the week before decided to rescind their resignations. Wednesday’s turn of events came a day after Lourey’s chief of staff, Stacie Weeks, also announced her plans to resign, extending a dizzying shake-up of top leaders from the state’s largest agency. (Serres and Coolican, 7/18)

Boston Globe: Massachusetts Medical Board Approves Rules On Simultaneous Surgeries
Surgeons will have to document each time they enter and leave the operating room, and who took over in their absence, under a rule approved Wednesday by the state medical board amid controversies over doctors who perform more than one surgery at a time. The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine unanimously passed that rule and another requiring that patients be told the names of junior doctors who will participate in their operations. (Saltzman, 7/17)

North Carolina Health News: For Mental Health Support, NC Hospital Hires Those Who Live With It
There are two groups of people most familiar with mental illness: psychiatrists and those who live with it. So Cherry Hospital is hiring both. Cherry, a psychiatric inpatient treatment facility in Goldsboro, is the first state-run hospital in North Carolina to add certified mental health peer support specialists to its staff. The hospital has five peers who are integrated throughout the hospital. (Knopf, 7/18)

Columbus Dispatch: First Responders Still Can't Get PTSD Coverage Under New Workers' Comp Budget
A long-term budget for the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation — without coverage for first responders’ post-traumatic stress disorder — won easy passage in the General Assembly on Wednesday. A conference committee of House and Senate members voted unanimously to approve a compromise bill. The House then OK’d the measure 71-13, and the Senate voted 22-9, sending it to Gov. Mike DeWine for his signature. (Ludlow, 7/17)

Modern Healthcare: OSF HealthCare Aims To Expand Reach In Chicago
OSF HealthCare and Little Company of Mary Hospital & Health Care Centers expect to merge. The Catholic hospitals Wednesday said they're finalizing agreements to combine, as well as seeking regulatory and church approval. Financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed. The merger would give Peoria, Ill.-based OSF, a 13-hospital network, a clinical presence in the Chicago area. Little Company of Mary, which has 12 sites of care, including a 298-bed community hospital in south suburban Evergreen Park, would gain deeper pockets, better pricing and advanced technology. (Goldberg, 7/17)

Arizona Republic: Arizona To Improve Availability Of HIV Prevention Drug PrEP
Officials with Arizona's Medicaid program on Wednesday announced plans for wider use of the drug PrEP to help reduce one of the highest rates of new HIV infections in the country. In a joint announcement with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Robert Redfield, officials with the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System said they'd be promoting more availability of Truvada for PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) as a way of preventing new HIV infections in people who are currently HIV negative but at risk for contracting the virus. (Innes, 7/17)

Detroit Free Press: Beaumont Health Wayne Hospital Rallies For Better Wages, Healthcare
Beaumont Health employees and union members rallied Wednesday to express frustrations regarding what they consider low wages, inadequate staffing and unaffordable health care while they say contract negotiations with their employer stall. About 100 workers from Beaumont hospitals in Wayne, Trenton and Taylor and members of Michigan's SEIU Healthcare union stood at the corner of Venoy Road and Annapolis Street at the Beaumont Hospital in Wayne on Wednesday afternoon with signs, chants and megaphones. (Bauman, 7/17)

Sacramento Bee: CA Food Stamp Legislation Could Increase CalFresh Sign Ups
California, a state with the nation’s highest poverty rate, consistently ranks near the bottom when it comes to enrolling low-income people in CalFresh, the state’s name for the federal food stamp program. That translates to a lot of federal money that California forsakes each year. Low-income Californians would have received an additional $1.8 billion in 2016 in federal funding if CalFresh reached every eligible person, estimates California Food Policy Advocates, a non-profit that promotes greater access to food for low-income people. (Botts, 7/18)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 1,900 Lead Service Lines Replaced In Milwaukee
About 1,900 lead service lines in Milwaukee were replaced between Jan. 1, 2017, and June 30 of this year, even as the city struggles to find contractors for the effort. "One of the biggest issues right now is contractor capacity," Milwaukee Water Works Superintendent Karen Dettmer told the city's Public Works Committee Wednesday. Contractors work on private lead service lines and in certain instances on public ones. (Dirr, 7/17)

New Hampshire Union Leader: Communities Plan Cooling Centers As Summer Scorcher Hits N.H.
The oppressive heat and humidity that’s expected to bake New Hampshire has prompted several communities to announce plans to offer cooling centers. Heat advisories and warnings are possible beginning Friday as temperatures climb into the lower 90s and a humid air mass settles over the region. Forecasters say the worst of the heat will come Saturday, when the combination of temperatures in the upper 90s and high humidity levels will make it feel like over 100 degrees in central and southern parts of the state. (Schreiber, 7/17)

The Washington Post: Court Strikes Down Virginia Law For ‘Criminalizing An Illness’ In Targeting Homeless Alcoholics
A divided federal appeals court this week struck down a Virginia law for “effectively criminalizing an illness” by targeting homeless alcoholics for buying, consuming or having alcohol. The narrowly decided case reversed an earlier ruling from a three-judge panel of the same court, provoked lengthy, passionate dissent and indicated deep divisions on a court known for its civility and genteel traditions. In its 8-7 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit invalidated the law as “unconstitutionally vague” because it does not provide fair warning to would-be offenders and singles out homeless alcoholics based on their addiction to alcohol. (Marimow, 7/17)

Boston Globe: Boston’s First Recreational Marijuana Store Receives Preliminary License, Could Open Within Months
Boston inched closer Wednesday to having its first recreational marijuana store, possibly within months, as state regulators granted a provisional license to a planned shop in Dorchester. The license for Pure Oasis also marked the first granted to a member of the state’s economic empowerment program, which aims to help people from communities disproportionately harmed by pot criminalization. (Martin, 7/17)

JAMA Internal Medicine: Association Between Electronic Cigarette Use And Smoking Reduction In France
This cohort study found that, among daily smokers in France, regular (daily) electronic cigarette use is associated with a significantly higher decrease in the number of cigarettes smoked per day as well as an increase in smoking cessation attempts. However, among former smokers, electronic cigarette use is associated with an increase in the rate of smoking relapse. (Gomajee et al, 7/15)

Pediatrics: Mental Health Problems And Initiation Of E-Cigarette And Combustible Cigarette Use
During adolescence, mental health problems may increase the risk of initiating combustible cigarette use. However, it is unknown if this association extends to electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes). We examined whether internalizing and externalizing problems were associated with initiation of e-cigarette, combustible cigarette, and dual-product use among adolescents. (Riehm et al, 7/1)

JAMA Oncology: Variations In Surgical Safety According To Affiliation Status With A Top-Ranked Cancer Hospital
Top-ranked cancer hospitals have increasingly shared their trusted brands with unranked hospitals in the community through hospital affiliations. Public perception in the United States is that the safety of care at hospitals improves after affiliation with a top-ranked hospital, a belief that increases preference for these hospitals. The extent to which affiliation with a top-ranked cancer hospital is associated with cancer surgery outcomes is unknown. (Resio et al, 7/11)

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation: State Actions To Improve The Affordability Of Health Insurance In The Individual Market
A number of states have taken steps to provide consumers with more affordable coverage options, although their approaches differ. Some states are implementing strategies that lower premiums by building on, and increasing the stability of the individual market. These actions include implementing reinsurance programs; adopting state individual mandate requirements; providing enhanced state-funded subsidies to certain marketplace enrollees; and implementing a public plan option in the marketplace. Other states are following the lead of the Trump administration by expanding the availability of lower cost coverage sold outside the marketplaces that does not comply with ACA standards—an approach that could increase marketplace premiums further. (Tolbert et al, 7/17)

The New York Times: Arthritis Is Tied To Heart Disease Risk
Having osteoarthritis may increase the risk of death from cardiovascular disease. Osteoarthritis, the painful degenerative disease of the joint cartilage and bones that progresses with age, affects about 10 percent of men and 13 percent of women over 60. There is no cure. (Bakalar, 7/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Biden Goes Half Way To BernieCare
Joe Biden’s new health-care plan is supposed to show his moderation, not that this is a virtue to progressives. Hence the back and forth this week between Mr. Biden and Bernie Sanders about single payer. But cut through the spin, and the only debate Democrats are having is whether to eliminate private health insurance in one blow or on the installment plan. “I understand the appeal of Medicare for All,” Mr. Biden said in a campaign video Monday. “But folks supporting it should be clear that it means getting rid of ObamaCare, and I’m not for that.” So what’s the daylight between Mr. Biden and Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and Cory Booker, all of whom have co-sponsored the Sanders Medicare for All bill? (7/17)

The Hill: Medicare Is A Path To Potential Major Savings 
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has designated Medicare as a high-risk program, in part because of its outsize impact on the federal budget. As the largest single purchaser of health care in the U.S., Medicare often pays lower prices than other purchasers. However, laboratory tests historically received higher payment rates from Medicare than they did from private payers. Since the federal government was paying so much, Congress directed GAO to review the implementation of new Medicare payment rates for laboratory tests. These new rates are intended to bring them in line with the rates private payers receive.In an opinion piece, the author misrepresented the findings of a recent GAO report on the implementation of these new payment rates for clinical laboratory tests. (A. Nicole Clowers, 7/17)

Axios: What Bernie Sanders' "Medicare For All" Bill Means For Medicaid
The fact that “Medicare for All” would eliminate Medicaid hasn’t gotten nearly as much attention as its elimination of private insurance. But it’s a move that would largely eliminate states’ role in the health care system. Why it matters: State Medicaid programs are leaders in experimenting with delivery and payment reforms, efforts to control drug costs, and addressing social causes of ill health, such as poverty and poor housing. All of those projects would still be important in a single-payer world. (Drew Altman, 7/17)

The Hill: Medicare For All: A Voter's Cheat Sheet
The discussion of "Medicare for all" in June’s two Democratic primary debates was both gratifying and confusing. While it was heartening to see agreement on the principle of universal health care as a human right, the debate format eliminated any opportunity for nuance.That’s why we’re clarifying seven critical issues raised in the debates, and which will likely return during the campaign. Full disclosure: We support Medicare for all and we think that with a clear understanding of the facts, most people will too.  (7/17)

Bloomberg: U.S. Needs Safe Gun Storage Laws 
That America has 300 million or more firearms in private hands is worrying. That many — perhaps most — of those guns aren’t properly secured is madness. Owning a gun increases the risk of homicide, suicide and unintentional shooting. Strikingly, though, more than half of gun owners report failing to use safe-store practices for their guns, such as a gun safe, cabinet, case, or a lock on the firearm itself. (7/17)

Bloomberg: Gun Control: Children Have Shot Someone 134 Times This Year
By one count, nearly five million American children live in constant danger of being killed by a device that was meant to protect them. One of them was six-year old Millie Kelly of Dallas, Georgia. On April 8, her four-year-old brother took a loaded pistol out of the center console of their mother’s car and shot Millie point-blank in the face. She died two days later. Her mother had bought the gun – a Taurus PT-738, so small and manageable it seems almost built for a child – for “general safety and security,” the local sheriff’s department told Frank Wilkinson. But rather than locking the gun away, Courtney Kelly had simply left it, loaded, in the center console of her Hyundai Elantra. (Mark Gongloff, 7/17)

The Washington Post: What The Opioid Epidemic Can Learn From Tobacco Settlements
As states and municipalities begin to settle the more than 1,000 lawsuits filed against pharmaceutical companies over the opioid crisis, it may appear as though this chapter in the epidemic is coming to a close. After all, it seems obvious that the money drawn from these lawsuits should go toward combating the crisis, given that an opioid overdose is still one of the leading causes of the death in the United States. But with state and municipal governments, hospital systems and even the federal government all jostling for their piece of the pie, making sure the money from these settlements goes where it’s needed most will be much more complicated. Fortunately, there’s a valuable example to learn from: the mistakes and successes of the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. (Abdullah Shihipar and Brandon D.L. Marshall, 7/17)

The Wall Street Journal: A Coup At Planned Parenthood
Progressives are hurtling to the left so fast that even liberals in good standing are casualties of the tornado. Witness the coup this week at Planned Parenthood, which is a tacit reminder that the group is less a health-care outfit than a political lobby. The Planned Parenthood board defenestrated president Leana Wen, a physician who had been on the job for less than a year. What happened? By Dr. Wen’s account she was pushed out because she wasn’t radical enough on abortion. (7/17)

Lexington Herald Leader: It’s Dangerous When Politicians Like Bevin, Alvarado Erode Support For Immunizations
Public health is the nexus of science and politics. Unfortunately, the two frequently do not mix well. A recent example involving childhood immunizations prompts real concern for the erosion of science in the name of politics. State Sen. Ralph Alvarado, physician and lieutenant governor candidate with Gov. Matt Bevin, recently declared: “I think it’s good health policy to administer vaccines, but if people don’t want them, we shouldn’t force people to take them.” This followed the governor’s ill-advised exposure of his own children to kids with chicken pox, a practice discouraged by both public health and physician organizations. These politicians are playing with fire. (F. Douglas Scutchfield and Al Cross, 7/17)

Boston Globe: Children With Mental Illness Need An Advocate
Some of the state’s most vulnerable children — those with serious mental health issues — continue to have difficulty accessing the care they so desperately need. Meanwhile, the Baker administration has chosen to appeal the court monitoring that has at least brought some improvements to the system. (7/16)