The Hill: Sanders Town Hall Audience Cheers After Fox News Host Asks If They'd Support 'Medicare For All' 
The audience at a Fox News town hall erupted in cheers and applause when asked by moderator Bret Baier if they would support Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) "Medicare for All" proposal. "I want to ask the audience a question here. ... How many are willing to transition to what the senator says, a government-run system?" Baier asked before the crowd burst into cheers.  (Seipel, 4/15)

Huffpost: A 'Medicare For All' Question Backfired At Bernie Sanders’ Fox News Town Hall
Given the opportunity to elaborate on why he was not concerned about requiring people to supplant their private insurance with Medicare for All, Sanders noted that people often switch insurers involuntarily when they change jobs or when an employer switches to a different plan. “This is not new,” he said. Of course, a single town hall audience is not necessarily representative of national public opinion. In recent years, Medicare for All ― single-payer health care ― has attained majority support in national polls. But a January poll showed that support for the idea dropped significantly when people learned that it would require them to give up their private insurance. (Marans, 4/15)

Des Moines Register: Election 2020: Presidential Candidates Split On 'Medicare For All'
Straining to speak over the lively happy hour crowd at Backpocket Brewing, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper acknowledged he receives “a lot of heat” on the campaign trail when it comes to health care. Hickenlooper is among a handful of presidential candidates opposed to the growing chorus of Democrats pushing for “Medicare for All,” a plan to expand the national health care program for seniors to all Americans. The plan would replace virtually all private insurance plans with government coverage. (Hardy and Fleig, 4/15)

The New York Times: 90 New Cases Of Measles Reported In U.S. As Outbreak Continues Record Pace
The number of new measles cases in the United States rose again this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday, bringing the total number to 555 in 2019. This year’s outbreak is on course to be the worst since the country eliminated measles as an endemic disease in 2000. Health authorities reported 90 additional cases as of April 11, with outbreaks in New York, Washington, California, New Jersey and Michigan, up from 78 the week before. (Malkin, 4/15)

The Associated Press: US Measles Count Up To 555, With Most New Cases In New York
The 2019 tally is already the most since 2014, when 667 were reported. The most before that was 963 cases in 1994. (4/15)

The Hill: 90 New Measles Cases Reported As Outbreak Nears Record
The states that have reported cases to the CDC are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas and Washington. (Weixel, 4/15)

The Washington Post: CDC Reports 90 New Measles Cases As Outbreak Approaches Record
New York City has had the most cases. As of Monday, 329 cases, virtually all of them in Brooklyn, have been reported since the outbreak began in October. Of those, 273 were reported this year, including 44 cases since last week, when New York City officials declared a public health emergency and ordered mandatory measles vaccinations to halt the outbreak concentrated among ultra-Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn. That was the broadest vaccination order in the United States in nearly three decades. (Sun, 4/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Measles Cases Continue To Soar, Stirring Concern Over Long-Term Effects
Researchers who study the virus say concern about these outbreaks extends beyond the effect of the initial infection to longer-term implications for the health of the victims. The virus may leave the immune system in a temporary state of amnesia, leaving the body’s defenses unable to remember and effectively attack some invaders it has seen before, according to emerging research. Immune-system memory loss could leave the body prone to more severe infections for two to three years, until it relearns from hard-won experience how to fend off attackers, researchers have said. (Evans and McKay, 4/15)

NPR: Measles Cases Spike Driven By Outbreaks In N.Y. And 4 Other Regions
More American families are bringing measles home with them after traveling abroad, Cohn says. And once the disease lands stateside, it has a better chance of gaining a foothold because vaccination rates in some places have dropped below 93 to 95 percent, the threshold required to protect the entire community. "When you make the decision not to vaccinate your child, please understand you're also making that decision for the people around your child," New York City's deputy mayor of health and human services, Herminia Palacio, told NPR on Wednesday. (Doucleff and Neighmond, 4/15)

Reuters: U.S. Measles Cases Surge Nearly 20 Percent In Early April, CDC Says
The U.S. outbreak is part of a worldwide rise. The World Health Organization reported on Monday that global cases had risen nearly four-fold in the first quarter of 2019 to 112,163 compared with the same period last year. (4/15)

Reuters: Measles Cases Rose Nearly Four-Fold In First Quarter 2019-WHO
The number of measles cases worldwide nearly quadrupled in the first quarter of 2019 to 112,163 against the same period last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday, citing provisional data. Higher rates of the preventable but contagious disease - which can kill a child or leave it blind, deaf or brain-damaged - have been recorded in all regions, the United Nations agency said in a statement, appealing for better vaccination coverage. (4/15)

The Washington Post: Unaware He Had Measles, A Man Traveled From N.Y. To Michigan, Infecting 39 People
Last month, a traveler raising money for charity in Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community drove through the night to Detroit — his next fundraising stop. He felt sick en route and saw a doctor when he got there. But the doctor, who had never seen measles, misdiagnosed the man’s fever and cough as bronchitis. Over the next two weeks, the traveler would become Michigan’s Patient Zero, spreading the highly contagious respiratory virus to 39 people as he stayed in private homes, attended synagogue daily and shopped in kosher markets. His case offers a cautionary tale about how easily one of the most infectious pathogens on the planet spreads within close-knit communities — especially those whose members live, work and socialize outside the mainstream. (Sun, 4/15)

Politico: Measles Outbreak Tests Limits Of Religious Freedom In New York City
A quick fix to New York City’s measles outbreak is proving elusive, and the reasons are as much political as they are medical. A powerful voting bloc, the ultra-Orthodox community has managed to carve out what is arguably a separate system of city services with their own ambulances, school buses and police. They run their own private schools for which they receive city, state and federal funds. (Nahmias, Goldberg and Eisenberg, 4/15)

The New York Times: Measles Outbreak: Yeshiva’s Preschool Program Is Closed By New York City Health Officials
New York City closed a preschool program at a yeshiva in Brooklyn on Monday for violating a Health Department order that required it to provide medical and attendance records amid a measles outbreak. The preschool at United Talmudical Academy, which serves 250 students between the ages of 3 and 5 in the Williamsburg area, is the first program to be closed by the city, as it escalates efforts to stem the country’s largest measles outbreak in decades. (Pager, 4/15)

Bloomberg: NYC Measles Outbreak: Parents Seek To Block Shot Requirement 
A group of parents asked a judge to block New York City’s order requiring people in three Brooklyn zip codes to be vaccinated against measles. An outbreak in the Orthodox Jewish community in Williamsburg prompted the city to declare a public health emergency April 9, imposing fines as high as $1,000 for residents who fail to be vaccinated with the measles-mumps-rubella shot. As of April 8, there were 285 confirmed cases of the highly contagious and sometimes deadly illness since October, in Brooklyn and the neighboring borough of Queens, according to the city health department. (Van Voris, 4/15)

The Hill: Brooklyn Parents Sue Over Measles Vaccination Mandate
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) issued the order last week, requiring everyone over the age of 6 months who lives within ZIP codes associated with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn receive the measles vaccination. The order also applies to people who work or attend school in the area. The plaintiffs argue there is “insufficient evidence of a measles epidemic or dangerous outbreak to justify" the order and that the city has not taken the least-restrictive measures possible to combat measles. (Budryk, 4/15)

CNN: Anti-Vaxers Are Winning The War On Social Media. What's The CDC Going To Do About It?
Concerned that anti-vaccination activists are winning the war on social media, advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say public health authorities need to figure out how to fight back. "Have we done enough? I think the answer to that is no," said Patricia Stinchfield, a pediatric nurse practitioner and a liaison representative to the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. (Cohen, 4/12)

Detroit Free Press: How Oakland Co.'s Orthodox Jewish Enclave Became Epicenter For Measles
It was a traveler from Israel, state health officials say, who unknowingly brought the measles to Oakland County in early March, and sparked what has become the largest measles outbreak in Michigan in 28 years. Before he came to visit an Orthodox Jewish enclave in Southfield and Oak Park, the man spent some time in New York, where an unrelated and fast-spreading measles outbreak among mostly unvaccinated children led the mayor last week to declare a state of emergency. (Shamus, 4/15)

Orange County Register: Increase In Measles Cases Nationally Has Doctors, Public Health Officials On Alert
An uptick in measles cases in California and other parts of the country, coupled with resistance to vaccines, has physicians and public health officials concerned that a potentially fatal disease, which was declared eradicated in the United States nearly two decades ago, might create a public health crisis. As of Wednesday, April 10, 21 measles cases have been reported in California including one in Los Angeles County. On Wednesday, Long Beach health officials announced that a person recently traveled through Long Beach Airport while having measles, putting others at risk of contracting the highly contagious disease. (Bharath, 4/12)

The Associated Press: Columbine Survivors Raise Children In World Shaped By Attack
Dropping her kids off at school used to be the hardest part of Kacey Ruegsegger Johnson’s day. She would cry most mornings as they left the car, and relied on texted photos from their teachers to make it through the day. Now, the mother of four — and Columbine shooting survivor — sees mornings as an opportunity. She wakes early, makes breakfast and strives to send a clear message before her kids leave home: I adore you. Twenty years after teenage gunmen attacked Columbine High School, Ruegsegger Johnson and other alumni of the Littleton, Colorado, school have become parents. (Foody, Breed and Banda, 4/16)

Stat: It's Just In Mice! This Scientist Is Calling Out Hype In Science Reporting 
Mice form the basis of all biomedical research. As the quintessential model organism, they are perfect specimens in which to study all sorts of human conditions. But just because a drug performs well in mice, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll have the same result in humans. Science journalists and press releases — as translators of these findings — often fail to clearly demarcate that line. A new Twitter account hopes to make that line much clearer. Last Friday, tweets from @justsaysinmice started making the rounds on Twitter and they quickly went viral. Every tweet — all 11 of them so far — follows the same pattern: A news story or press release with a sensational headline is tweeted out, with two simple words tacked on top: “IN MICE.” (Chakradhar, 4/15)

The New York Times: Melinda Gates On Tech Innovation, Global Health And Her Own Privilege
You would perhaps be demonstrating an excess of sympathy to feel sorry for of ultrawealthy philanthropists. But it’s fair to say that many members of that cohort have found themselves in a challenging moment, faced as they are with increasing anti-elitism and skepticism about just how much altruism, as opposed to ideological self-interest, motivates their work. “There are absolutely different points of view about philanthropy,” says Melinda Gates, who, along with her husband Bill, heads the charitable foundation that bears their name, aimed at increasing global health and reducing poverty. Its endowment, at $50.7 billion, is the largest in the world. “But we’re lucky to live in a democracy, where we can all envision what we want things to look like.” In that regard, Gates’s focus, both here and abroad, is on broadening women’s rights, a subject she explores in her new book, “The Moment of Lift.” “I have rage,” she said, about the injustices she has seen. “It’s up to me to metabolize that and use it to fuel my work.” (Marchese, 4/15)

Stat: Proponents Start Push To Lift U.S. Ban On 'Three-Parent IVF'
Last week, a Greek woman with a history of multiple in-vitro fertilization failures gave birth to a healthy baby with DNA from three biological parents. It was the first successful birth in a clinical trial of a controversial fertility treatment known as mitochondrial replacement therapy, which combines genetic material from the intended mother and father plus a female donor. In the U.S., the procedure is effectively banned because of a congressional amendment passed in 2015 that’s been renewed every year since. But now, a group of scientists, patient advocates, and bioethicists want to see the prohibition lifted. The technique, they say, could help certain women who are carriers of serious genetic diseases have healthy, biologically related children. (Mullin, 4/16)

CNN: 3D-Printed Heart Made Using A Human Patient's Cells
Researchers have 3D-printed a heart using a patient's cells, providing hope that the technique could be used to heal hearts or engineer new ones for transplants. "This is the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart replete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers," Professor Tal Dvir of Tel Aviv University's School of Molecular Cell Biology and Biotechnology said in a statement. Dvir is senior author of the research, published Monday in the journal Advanced Science. (Bracho-Sanchez, 4/16)

NPR: When Teen Dating Leads To Homicide, Girls Are Most Likely Victims
Domestic violence is common among adults, and women are most frequently the victims. In fact, nearly half of women killed by homicide in the United States are killed by their former or current intimate partners. Now a new study finds that this kind of violence also poses a risk to the lives of adolescent girls. The study found that of the more than 2,000 adolescents killed between 2003 and 2016, nearly 7 percent — 150 teens — were killed by their current or former intimate partners. (Chatterjee, 4/15)

CNN: The 'Indelible Mark' That Exposure To Hunger Leaves On Children
Kerry Wright didn't feel hungry. Not in the way you might expect. Her tummy grumbled, yes, she could hear it. She just couldn't feel it. She called it "starvation mode". Wright, a mother of three living in Aberdeen, had hit a low point. But she needed to provide for her children, who then were just entering their teens. Because there was always so little to go round, it didn't take long before she started skipping meals. She was tired all the time -- and yet she couldn't sleep. She was hungry, but she didn't want to eat, and, if she did, she would sometimes be sick. Her head was frazzled. It was hard to keep a string of thoughts together. (Baraniuk, 4/15)

Politico: Rick Scott And Chuck Schumer Feud Over Puerto Rico
Rick Scott campaigned on standing up for Puerto Rico. But with President Donald Trump warning senators not to provide more aid to the island, the Florida Republican is caught between his party and his promises. And Democrats are eager to exploit that tension — blasting Scott for sticking with the president on a critical disaster relief bill and throwing the freshman senator into the middle of a broader fight over stalled assistance for millions of Americans devastated by wildfires, flooding and hurricanes. (Levine, 4/16)

NBC News: 'Frustration Grows' As Congress Delays Puerto Rico Disaster Relief Discussions To May
Puerto Rico will have to wait until May for Congress to resume discussions over disaster relief funding, deepening a growing uncertainty over hurricane recovery efforts. “These funds are very critical for our plans to achieve full recovery and achieve certain goals associated with housing infrastructure and economic development programs,” Manuel Laboy Rivera, Puerto Rico’s secretary of economic development, told NBC News. “After this devastation that happened in 2017 [Hurricanes Maria and Irma], Puerto Rico should be in the right path for long term recovery and the funds associated with that, as any other U.S. jurisdiction, should be addressed with a greater sense of urgency.” (Acevedo, 4/13)

The Associated Press: North Carolina 'Born-Alive' Abortion Bill Clears Senate
A bill requiring doctors and nurses to protect and care for children born alive during a failed late-term abortion cleared the North Carolina Senate on Monday, handing social conservatives a victory that could ultimately be undone by the Democratic governor. The Republican-drafted legislation specifies that health care practitioners should grant those children born alive the same protections as any other newborn patient. Those who don't do so could face a felony and active prison time, along with potential $250,000 fines and other monetary damages. (4/15)

The Associated Press: North Dakota Governor 'Read Every Letter' On Abortion Bill
Republican North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum said Monday that he carefully considered all arguments before signing legislation that makes it a crime for a doctor performing a second-trimester abortion to use instruments such as clamps, scissors and forceps to remove the fetus from the womb. "I read every letter that came in," the first-term governor told The Associated Press when pressed to expand on his approval. He had made no comment last week when he signed the bill into law. (MacPherson, 4/15)

The Associated Press: Bill To Outlaw Most Abortions In Alabama To Get Hearing
Alabama lawmakers are set to hold a public hearing Wednesday on legislation before a House committee that seeks to outlaw almost all abortions in the state, what critics call one of the most extremely anti-abortion proposals in the country. The bill would make performing an abortion a felony, punishable between 10 and 99 years in prison, although a woman would not be charged for having the procedure under the proposal. (4/15)

Kaiser Health News: ‘Heartbeat Bills’ Give State Lawmakers Pause On Anti-Abortion Tactics
In anticipation of a new anti-abortion tilt on the Supreme Court bench, some states are moving to further restrict the procedure during the first trimester of pregnancy or to outlaw abortion entirely if Roe v. Wade ever falls. But the rush to regulate has exposed division among groups and lawmakers who consider themselves staunch abortion opponents. On Thursday, Ohio became the latest state to ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. (Farmer, 4/16)

KCUR: Kansas Gives Up On Its Long-Running Effort To End Planned Parenthood’s Medicaid Funding 
Kansas has dropped its effort to terminate Planned Parenthood’s participation in Medicaid, ending a three-year-long court battle that the state lost at every turn. The change in policy wasn’t announced publicly but rather came in the form of a joint stipulation to dismiss Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit challenging the state’s move. The stipulation, which was filed in federal court on Friday, stated that the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), which oversees the state Medicaid program, has notified Planned Parenthood of its decision to rescind the Medicaid terminations. (Margolies, 4/15)

Modern Healthcare: Teaching, Rural Hospitals Gain From CMS Readmission Changes
The CMS' Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program hit academic and rural hospitals with lower penalties in 2019 compared to 2018, after the agency made changes to the program, according to a new study. The research, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, found 44.1% of teaching hospitals and 43.7% of rural hospitals experienced a lower penalty in 2019 compared to 2018 from the readmissions program. The smaller penalties were the result of changes made to the readmissions program this year in which hospitals were separated into five groups by similar proportion of patients who are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. (Castellucci, 4/15)

Modern Healthcare: New Beneficiaries Are Leading To Financial Woes For Hospital ACOs
Hospital-led ACOs may be struggling financially as sicker beneficiaries switch to their care from physician-led ACOs, according to a new analysis. As Medicare beneficiaries develop more complex diseases, they are more likely to switch from a physician to a hospital-led ACO, according to researchers with the University of Wisconsin Health. That can lead to higher costs for hospital ACOs, which are already under fire from the CMS for not producing similar savings as their physician counterparts. (King, 4/15)

Modern Healthcare: Primary Care Accounts For Tiny Share Of Medicare Spending
Only about 2% of total Medicare spending is dedicated to primary care under a narrow definition of the term, a ratio that RAND Corp. researchers found surprisingly low in their analysis. The researchers used both narrow and broad definitions of primary care in their study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine on Monday. Broad primary care made up 4.88% of Medicare spending, compared with 2.12% under the narrow definition. By comparison, primary-care spending averages 7.7% across commercial PPO plans, a 2017 Milbank Memorial Fund study found. (Bannow, 4/15)

Modern Healthcare: Employer Market May Be The Next Political Healthcare Challenge
The poorest employer-insured families spend nearly one-fifth of their income on average on premiums and co-pays if not everyone on their plan is healthy. If everyone's healthy, that same family would spend about 13% of their income on premiums and out-of-pocket health costs. As family incomes grow, their rate of healthcare spending decreases, according to new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Peterson Center on Healthcare. (Luthi, 4/15)

The Wall Street Journal: When A Family Faces Dementia, Tracking Devices Can Help—To A Point
Kim Rice tracks her husband’s every move, including his arrival home each night from adult day care. She’s among the millions of Americans caring for a loved one with dementia at home. And like many, she turned to tracking and monitoring devices to help her manage the daily juggle of working, ensuring her husband’s safety and maintaining her own sanity. Most days, Mr. Rice’s bus driver walks him to the door of his home and sees him inside. But there’s sometimes a 15-minute lag before Ms. Rice receives the notification her husband made it home, courtesy of a GPS tracker she slips in his pocket. (Jargon, 4/16)

The Associated Press: Senior's Weakness For Scams May Be Warning Sign Of Dementia
Does an older friend or relative have a hard time hanging up on telemarketers? Or get excited about a "You've won a prize" voicemail? New research suggests seniors who aren't on guard against scams also might be at risk for eventually developing Alzheimer's disease. Elder fraud is a huge problem, and Monday's study doesn't mean that people who fall prey to a con artist have some sort of dementia brewing. (4/15)

Georgia Health News: Alzheimer’s Creates Huge Burden For African-American Community
African-Americans, like the Barbers, are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease as Caucasians. And that disparity is a mystery to researchers. (Kanne, 4/15)

ProPublica: Mentally Ill New Yorkers Seeking Independence Find Safety Net Has Holes, Report Finds
New York state officials are behind in investigating incidents where mentally ill New Yorkers may have come to harm, according to an independent report filed in Brooklyn federal court this month. At issue is the welfare of hundreds of vulnerable people who have moved out of troubled adult group homes and into their own apartments under a federal court order issued by U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis. (Sapien, 4/16)

Chicago Tribune: Illinois Shut Down His Group Home Network Over Risk To Residents. Now He's Been Convicted Of Health Care Fraud For Unneeded Medical Tests. 
The head of a shuttered Chicago-area network of group homes for adults with disabilities has been convicted of accepting kickbacks in a scheme to steer biological samples to a St. Louis laboratory for publicly funded testing. A federal jury found Reuben F. Goodwin Sr., 53, guilty of 11 counts of health care fraud and a conspiracy-related charge earlier this month in Missouri. A sentencing hearing is set for July 12. (Gutowski 4/16)

New Hampshire Union Leader: For Serious Mental Illness, Early Intervention Is Key
After several breakdowns and hospitalizations, [Shawn Speidel] ended up at the Greater Nashua Mental Health Center for help. The center has been at the forefront of responding to what mental health experts call First Episode Psychosis. The idea is that providing early intervention and wraparound services after an early episode of serious mental illness can make a huge difference in how someone learns to adjust and thrive. (Wickham, 4/15)

KCUR: Court Tosses Lawsuit Against Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway Over Her Audit Of A Hospital 
A state court judge has thrown out a lawsuit seeking damages against the board of trustees of tiny Putnam County Memorial Hospital in Unionville, Missouri, and Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway. The lawsuit was filed by the owner of the hospital, Hospital Partners Inc., in Putnam County in April 2018, but the company had taken no action since then. The case was later moved to Cole County, where it continued to languish and was dismissed on Monday. (Margolies, 4/15)

The CT Mirror: Nursing Home Workers Set May 1 Strike Deadline
Members of the state’s largest health care employees’ union said Monday they would strike at the beginning of next month if tens of millions of dollars aren’t added to the state budget to support the increases. About 2,500 workers across 20 Connecticut nursing homes, based largely in cities, voted in favor of the strike. (Carlesso and Phaneuf, 4/15)

New Hampshire Public Radio: CDC Will Discuss Health Risks Of Past Water Contamination At Pease
Scientists with the Centers for Disease Control will be in Portsmouth Tuesday to talk about their latest report on health risks from past water contamination at Pease International Tradeport. That report agrees with existing research that says it's very possible that toxic PFAS chemicals from military activities created health risks for children and adults at the Tradeport. (Ropeik, 4/15)

Politico Pro: Texas Lawmakers Eyeing Nursing Home Reform
Texas lawmakers are considering reforms aimed at improving the state's worst-in-the-nation nursing home quality, seeking to build on laws passed in recent years that have yet to demonstrate an effect. The proposals — to limit antipsychotics and improve hiring practices — come against a backdrop of decreased federal oversight and few new initiatives to lift quality in other states. (Rayasam, 4/15)

Sacramento Bee: How Dangerous Are Pellet Guns? Was A Sac State Death Unusual?
Deaths caused by pellet gun injuries are rare, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The agency reports about four deaths per year caused by BB guns or pellet guns, saying airguns that fire pellets at muzzle velocities higher that 350 feet per second can be lethal. (Sullivan, McGough and Finch II, 4/15)

Sacramento Bee: California Cops, Firefighters With PTSD Seek Workers’ Comp Coverage For Mental Health Trauma
After consecutive record-breaking fire seasons and a deluge of mass shootings, California firefighters and police organizations are pushing for a new law that would help first responders by giving them opportunities to receive compensation for psychological injuries they sustain over their careers. They’re backing Senate Bill 542, sponsored by the California Professional Firefighters and the California Association of Highway Patrolmen, which would compel government agencies to grant police and firefighter workers’ compensation claims post-traumatic stress. (Wiley, 4/15)

USA Today: Measles Outbreak Exposes Future National Public Health Vulnerabilities
A devastating infectious disease pandemic could kill more people than nuclear war. Just 100 years ago, the Spanish flu killed 50 to 100 million people. Life-threatening diseases continue to place us at great risk. Ten years ago, it was H1N1 influenza. Today, it is the measles. Last week, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency. Measles outbreaks are occurring in New York City and throughout the nation, with case counts rising at an alarming rate. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 555 confirmed cases in 20 states so far this year. It is the second-highest total since measles, which is highly contagious, was declared eliminated in the Americas almost two decades ago. (Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge, 4/16)

Bloomberg: Bernie Sanders's Medicare For All Goes Too Far For Most Americans
U.S. senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders recently released his health-care plan, which he calls “Medicare for All.” With a name like that, one would think that the proposal involves extending the Medicare system, which provides health-care insurance to the elderly, to all Americans. But Sanders’s plan is something different. It would outlaw most forms of private health insurance and eliminate all out-of-pocket costs — something that Medicare doesn’t now do. (Noah Smith, 4/15)

Louisville Courier-Journal: Don't Believe All The Lies About Single Payer
Drug companies, for-profit hospitals, insurance companies and others invested in profit-based care are campaigning vigorously against single-payer, spreading misinformation and fearmongering. Industry-aligned anti-single-payer individuals are posing as ordinary citizens spreading misinformation about single-payer.Don’t believe the lies. National health plans work extraordinarily well in every other industrialized nation. Canada, Scotland, Sweden, Taiwan, and Japan (among dozens of others) cover their entire population for a fraction of what the U.S. spends (wastes!) and enjoy longer lifespans and better health outcomes. How will we pay for it? An American single-payer plan will pay for itself by redirecting wasted administration and profiteering funds into patient care. Consider the vast difference in cost: From 2007 to 2014, spending in private plans grew nearly 17 percent per enrollee, while Medicare spending decreased 1.2 percent per beneficiary. (Garrett Adams, 4/15)

The New York Times: Trump’s Attacks On Health Care Will Backfire 
In Donald Trump’s two-plus years as president, his approach to policymaking has often been defined by an unsavory stew of indecision, inaction, flip-flops and outright lies.Nowhere has this been truer than with health care, where the administration has reversed direction multiple times. (Steven Rattner, 4/15)

The Hill: Consumer Product Safety Commission Is Politicized And Buyers Face Safety Risks 
Last week, reports emerged of how a U.K.-based manufacturer called Britax avoided recalling a line of dangerous jogging strollers by politically gaming the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Even after countless incidents of product malfunctions that led to serious injuries, these strollers remain on the market, placing families and young children at risk. The Britax jogging strollers aren’t the only risky product making recent headlines. Intense media pressure has finally led to a recall of Fisher-Price Rock n’ Play Sleepers, a childcare product that has reportedly been tied to more than 30 infant fatalities. Meanwhile, the Britax strollers are still on the market and it is unclear how many other dangerous products have escaped further scrutiny to remain available to consumers along with them. (David Oddo, 4/15)

Stat: The Trouble With Mice As Behavioral Models For Alzheimer's 
There’s been a lot of talk about overinvestment in interventions aimed at amyloid in the weeks since Biogen discontinued a late-stage study of aducanumab, an experimental therapy for Alzheimer’s disease.Although much of the focus has been on the amyloid hypothesis at the heart of that work — and other failed treatments — I believe we are overlooking another key driver for numerous translational failures: the overreliance on behavioral readouts from contrived transgenic rodent models to guide drug development for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other neurologic diseases. We need to find ways to move beyond this flawed paradigm. (Adam Rosenberg, 4/16)