Politico: Biden Admin Plots To Fix Obamacare's 'Family Glitch,' Expand Coverage
The Biden administration is planning on Tuesday to propose a long-sought change to the Affordable Care Act aimed at lowering health insurance costs for millions of Americans, four people with knowledge of the matter told POLITICO. The new policy is designed to close a loophole in the ACA known as the “family glitch” that’s prevented an estimated 5 million people from qualifying for subsidized health plans — even when they can’t find affordable coverage elsewhere. (Cancryn, 4/4)

Axios: Biden Announces Affordable Care Act Change That Will Lower Premiums For Families
The Obama administration defined affordability as the premium for a single beneficiary — the employee — being below a certain percentage of family income. That doesn't take into account the higher cost of adding dependents to family coverage. The Biden administration is changing the definition and tying the eligibility threshold to the price of family coverage, which it says will lead to hundreds of thousands more Americans gaining coverage and more than a million spending less on premiums. (Owens, 4/5)

CBS News: Biden Administration Aims To Fix "Family Glitch" In Health Care Law
"As a result, 200,000 uninsured people are expected to gain coverage and nearly a million more are expected to see lower premiums every day," the official told reporters on a background call. The rule wouldn't go into effect until January 2023, and the official couldn't say how much it will cost the government to fix the so-called "family glitch" or how the government would be paid for it. According to the official, President Biden will sign an executive order directing agencies to do everything within their power to make health care more accessible and affordable. (Watson and Ake, 4/5)

USA Today: With Obama's Help, Biden To Announce Proposed Fix To ACA's 'Family Glitch'
The largest expansion of health care since the ACA's passage in 2010 occurred through the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill Biden signed into law last year. That pandemic package increased Obamacare insurance subsidies to those who were already eligible for help through state and federal marketplaces. It also made help newly available to people earning more than four times the federal poverty level. But the boost was only for two years. Legislation to extend the expanded subsidies was part of Biden's "Build Back Better" plan that stalled in the Senate. (Groppe, 4/5)

Also —

AP: Biden-Obama: White House Reunion To Celebrate Health Law
The last time President Barack Obama was in the White House was on Jan. 20, 2017, when he left to escort his successor — bent on overturning “Obamacare” — to the U.S. Capitol to be inaugurated. Obama returns to the White House on Tuesday for a moment he can savor: His signature Affordable Care Act is now part of the fabric of the American health care system, and President Joe Biden is looking to extend its reach. Obamacare sign-ups have increased under Biden’s stewardship, and more generous taxpayer subsidies have cut costs for enrollees, albeit temporarily. (Miller and Alonso-Zaldivar, 4/5)

KHN: ACA Sign-Ups For Low-Income People Roll Out Amid Brokers’ Concerns About Losing Their Cut
Insurance agent Cindy Holtzman was a little surprised by the notice from Bright HealthCare, one of the insurers that offer Affordable Care Act coverage in her area. The company’s February note said its health plan sign-ups saw “extraordinary growth” — passing the “one-million-member mark” in the previous year — and tied that success to the good relationships it has with brokers. But, the note continued, the insurer wanted to “suspend growth during this special enrollment season” and thus would stop paying commissions to brokers who enroll new people in coverage starting April 1. (Appleby, 4/5)

The Washington Post: CDC, Under Fire For Covid Response, Announces Plans To Revamp Agency 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky announced plans Monday to revamp the agency that has come under blistering criticism for its performance leading the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying, “it is time to step back and strategically position CDC to support the future of public health.” In an agencywide email sent shortly after 1 p.m., Walensky said she has hired a senior federal health official outside of the Atlanta-based agency to conduct a one-month review to “kick off an evaluation of CDC’s structure, systems, and processes.” (Sun, 4/4)

The New York Times: The C.D.C. Will Undergo A Comprehensive Re-Evaluation, The Agency’s Director Said
The move follows an unrelenting barrage of criticism regarding the agency’s handling of the pandemic over the past few months. The review will be conducted by Jim Macrae, who served as acting administrator of the Health Resources & Services Administration for two years and has held other senior positions at the federal Department of Health and Human Services, of which the C.D.C. is a part. Mr. Macrae will start his assignment on April 11.“The lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic, along with the feedback I have received inside and outside the agency over the past year, indicate that it is time to take a step back and strategically position CDC to support the future of public health,” Dr. Walensky said in an email to agency employees. (Rabin, 4/5)

Bloomberg: CDC Head Plans To Review Agency After Covid Response Criticism
The agency has repeatedly been criticized for Covid guidelines involving health workers, such as earlier this year when it shortened recommended periods for isolation and quarantine. After that, it came under fire for not backing routine testing for exposed people before resuming normal activities. Shortening those periods was intended to get exposed people back to work faster and help reduce staffing shortages. Still, some labor groups and public-health experts said the guidance prioritized the needs of businesses, supply chains and schools over those of vulnerable workers. (Rutherford, 4/4)

And in news from the National Institutes of Health —

Stat: NIH’s Cancer Chief, Ned Sharpless, To Step Down 
Ned Sharpless, the director of the National Cancer Institute, is stepping down at the end of April, he told STAT. Sharpless, 55, spent nearly five years leading the roughly $7 billion biomedical research agency, which is the largest of the 27 institutes that compose the National Institutes of Health. “I strongly support what this [administration] is doing to support cancer research, but it’s time for me to step aside,” he wrote in a text message. (Facher, 4/4)

AP: Holy Cross, Fauci's Alma Mater, To Name Building After Him
The College of the Holy Cross is naming its science center after Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of its most famous alumni, the school said Monday. “Dr. Fauci vividly personifies the distinctive characteristics of a Holy Cross education, and we know his life and work are already inspiring the next generation of empathetic servant leaders,” Vincent Rougeau, president of the Jesuit school in Worcester, Massachusetts, said in a statement. (4/4)

Politico: Senate Strikes $10B Covid Deal 
Senate negotiators struck a deal on $10 billion in Covid aid on Monday, setting the chamber on a potential course to clear the bill this week. The compromise reprograms billions in unused money from other coronavirus bills to deliver funding for therapeutics, testing and vaccine distribution. However, it does not include global pandemic aid sought by Democrats and a handful of Republicans, which could become a sticking point when the package comes before the House. (Everett, Banco and Ferris, 4/4)

CNBC: Senators Reach $10 Billion Covid Funding Deal For Therapeutics, Vaccines And Testing
The legislation earmarks at least $5 billion to purchase and develop Covid treatments such as antiviral pills. Another $750 million is set aside to develop vaccines that target specific variants and to expand vaccine manufacturing capacity in the U.S. if needed. The funding is less than half the $22.5 billion that President Joe Biden first requested. The deal does not include money to support the administration’s efforts to increase vaccinations around the world. (Kimball, 4/4)

The Wall Street Journal: Congressional Negotiators Settle On $10 Billion For Covid-19 Tests, Treatments 
The package will allow the U.S. to purchase supplies, including more tests and vaccines, that the Biden administration said would be needed to continue to fight the virus. The $10 billion pulls from unused money in earlier bills passed by Congress, rather than representing new spending. “This bill is comprised of dollar-for-dollar offsets and will not cost the American people a single additional dollar,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R., Utah), one of the key negotiators of the deal. (Andrews, 4/4)

Also —

The Hill: GOP Eyes Linking Title 42 To Coronavirus Deal 
Republicans are eyeing an attempt to link a Trump-era immigration policy to a coronavirus relief deal that senators are hoping to pass by the end of the week. GOP senators are pushing for a vote targeting the Biden administration’s decision to end Title 42 — which allowed migrants at the border to be ​summarily expelled from the country instead of being processed under regular immigration rules and allowed to exercise their right to claim asylum — as part of a debate over a $10 billion coronavirus relief deal announced earlier Monday. (Carney, 4/4)

The Washington Post: Senate Puts Jackson On Clear Track For Supreme Court Confirmation
The Senate put Ketanji Brown Jackson on a clear track to be confirmed later this week as the Supreme Court’s 116th justice — and its first Black woman — after three Republicans joined Democrats to advance her nomination in a Monday vote. Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitt Romney of Utah become the second and third Republicans to announce support for Jackson, joining Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who publicly backed the judge last month. (DeBonis and Kim, 4/4)

NPR: 2 More Republicans Say They'll Vote To Confirm Jackson's Supreme Court Nomination
Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney announced Monday evening they'll vote to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's nomination to the Supreme Court. All 50 Senate Democrats, including the two independents who caucus with them, are expected to vote for Jackson's confirmation. GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine announced last week that she would vote to confirm Jackson, giving her more than enough support to be approved for a lifetime appointment on the nation's highest court. She will be the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court, if confirmed. The Senate Judiciary Committee reached an 11-11 tie along party lines on Jackson's nomination earlier Monday. (McDaniel and Snell, 4/4)

CNN: Jackson's Confirmation Proceedings Show That Historically Partisan Supreme Court Fights Are The New Normal 
The legal stakes around Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation may be lower than they have been in the past decade of Supreme Court fights. But that did little to defuse the partisan atmosphere that has now come to define nominations to America’s highest bench. Jackson’s final vote on the Senate floor later this week will be among the closest in Supreme Court history, even if her confirmation was never truly in doubt. Much of the committee proceedings around her nomination were focused on the fights around prior nominees and which party should be blamed for politicizing the Supreme Court confirmation process. (Sneed, 5/5)

Billings Gazette: First Week In Nearly A Year With No COVID Death Reported In Yellowstone County
For the first time since May 2021, Yellowstone County has had an entire week with no residents dying of COVID-19 illness. The pandemic death toll stands at 550 residents lost to the virus, the same number reported on March 28. Sixty-three of those deaths occurred in 2022. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 virus remains in our community, RiverStone Health officials said Monday. A small number of positive tests continues to be reported and, as of Monday, four Yellowstone County people were hospitalized with COVID-19 illness. None of them were in intensive care. (4/4)

In other news about the spread of covid —

The Boston Globe: Boston COVID-19 Test Positivity Rate Rises Over 5 Percent Amid Unease About BA.2 Subvariant
The percentage of COVID-19 tests coming back positive in Boston has edged over 5 percent, amid unease about the possible impact of the Omicron subvariant BA.2. Cases are also ticking up. According to data files posted by the Boston Public Health Commission, the city’s community positivity rate was 5.03 percent as of Wednesday. The all-Boston positivity rate, which adds in routine tests of college students, was 2.4 percent. (Finucane and Huddle, 4/4)

Scientific American: What We Know About Omicron's BA.2 Variant So Far 
On March 22 the World Health Organization announced that the Omicron subvariant BA.2 had become the dominant form of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID, worldwide. BA.2 shares many genetic similarities with its close relative BA.1, which fueled a global resurgence in COVID infections in recent months. But BA.2 is between 30 percent and 50 percent more contagious than BA.1.Now, as this latest version of SARS-CoV-2 sweeps the planet, pandemic-weary people everywhere are asking the same question: Is society doomed to confront a succession of new viral variants, each one more contagious than the last? (Schmidt, 4/4)

CIDRAP: Study: Omicron Much More Infectious In US Preschoolers Than Delta
A new study in JAMA Pediatrics shows the Omicron variant has caused six to eight times the rate of Omicron infections in US preschoolers as the Delta variant, but cases were less severe with Omicron. The study looked at outcomes in US children ages 4 and younger—the last group eligible for vaccination in the country. Outcomes were emergency room visits, hospitalizations, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, and mechanical ventilation use within 14 days of COVID-19 diagnosis. (4/4)

CIDRAP: Early Convalescent Plasma May Cut COVID-19 Hospital Cases In Half
Early treatment with plasma derived from COVID-19 survivors may reduce disease progression in infected adult outpatients and reduce hospital cases by more than half, according to a multicenter randomized, controlled trial last week in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers led the double-blind study evaluating the effectiveness and safety of SARS-CoV-2 antibody-rich convalescent plasma among 592 nonhospitalized patients who received the treatment within 9 days of symptom onset and 589 who received a placebo infusion from Jun 3, 2020, to Oct 1, 2021. (4/4)

And in covid research —

USA Today: Medium COVID Or Long COVID? Health Experts Say There's No Difference
After two years of living with COVID-19, health experts have learned the disease can come in many forms. People can experience mild COVID, asymptomatic COVID or long COVID. Lately, a new term, "medium COVID," has gotten some traction among people whose symptoms last longer than normal, but not long enough to identify as “long haulers.” Heath experts say it's normal for people to want a diagnosis for how they feel, but  "medium COVID" is not a distinct condition. Rather, it's part of post-sequelae of COVID-19, commonly referred to as long COVID, which encompasses a spectrum of  timelines and symptoms. (Rodriguez, 4/5)

The Washington Post: How Long Covid Is Accelerating A Revolution In Medical Research 
When Liza Fisher’s body became racked by tremors shortly after she was hospitalized with covid-19 in 2020, she began an 18-month medical odyssey, consulting immunologists, cardiologists, neurologists and countless other -ologists in the hope they would know how to treat the crippling convulsions. “They had no experience,” said Fisher, 38, a former flight attendant and part-time yoga instructor who now uses a wheelchair. So Fisher sought out fellow sufferers online, joining an increasingly vocal group of citizen scientists in their bid for research targeted at treating long covid. (Stead Sellers, 4/3)

USA Today: Some People Don't Catch COVID-19. Researchers Are Working To Know Why
One of the lingering mysteries of the COVID-19 pandemic is why some people get infected without getting sick and others don't get infected at all, despite exposure. Beyond a few known risk factors, it's mostly dumb luck that determines how someone will fare if they are exposed to the virus that causes COVID-19, a handful of researchers said. But they're still trying for more scientific answers by studying people who are intentionally exposed to the virus and those who escape its effects. People like Faith Paine. Paine, 26, of London, volunteered for a "challenge trial" – meaning researchers dribbled the virus that causes COVID-19 up her nose, intending to get her sick. (Weintraub, 4/4)

Philadelphia Inquirer: These Doctors Are Treating COVID Smell Loss By Sticking Plasma-Soaked Sponges Up People’s Noses
Nancy Damato walked past a garbage can the other day and caught a whiff of decaying banana peel. “That was really great,” she said. She was not being sarcastic. Damato is among millions who lost their sense of smell due to COVID-19, and more than a year later, it is still not back to normal. But every so often, she notices a small improvement — a hint of banana peel here, a trace of chocolate there — and she thinks the reason may be an unusual treatment she’s been undergoing at a Jefferson Health clinic in Philadelphia. (Avril, 4/4)

Bloomberg: Trump Recommends Vaccines In Ad That Helped Boost Uptake
An online ad campaign featuring former president Donald Trump boosted vaccination rates in counties where rates of Covid-19 shots were lowest, according to research published Monday. In a campaign aimed at more than 1,000 counties across the U.S., researchers created an ad using a Trump appearance on Fox News telling people to get vaccinated, and then during October last year ran the video on YouTube in places with low vaccination rates. In the counties where the ad was shown, about 103 more vaccinations were given, on average, than in counties that didn’t get ads. (Armstrong, 4/4)

In other updates on the vaccine rollout —

Axios: Some Hesitant Parents Warming To COVID Vaccine, Poll Finds
A growing segment of the wait-and-see crowd may be warming to the idea of getting a COVID-19 shot for kids 5 and under, according to a poll provided exclusively to Axios from The Harris Poll. In particular, Harris found nearly half of parents who were unvaccinated themselves said they'd get the vaccine for their little kids, up from 35% in early February. It's also well above the low of 22% later on in February after a delay in Pfizer’s FDA authorization process was announced. (Reed, 4/4)

Fox News: Vaccinated Patients With Blood Cancers Are At Higher Risk Of Breakthrough COVID Than Other Cancers, Study Says
COVID-19 vaccines protect most cancer patients from contracting COVID or severe cases, however; those with blood cancers do not get the same protective benefit, according to a research study at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center in Indianapolis. Vaccinated Patients with blood cancer may have a "higher and widely varied risk" of breakthrough infections of COVID, according to a published study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. "Patients with hematologic cancers, or blood cancers, including leukemia, multiple myeloma and lymphoma, were at a higher risk of breakthrough COVID," and "those with blood cancers had a greater risk than solid cancers," the researchers stated in a release sent to Fox News about the study. (McGorry, 4/4)

And in news about vaccine mandates and other pandemic rules —

AP: Judge Blocks Air Force Discipline Over Vaccine Objections
A federal judge has blocked the military from disciplining a dozen U.S. Air Force officers who are asking for religious exemptions to the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine. The officers, mostly from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, along with a handful of airmen and reservists, filed a lawsuit in February after their exemption requests were denied. (Seewer, 4/4)

Los Angeles Times: Activision Workers Walk Out Over Lifting Of Vaccine Mandate. It 'came As A Shock To Everybody.' 
More than 100 Activision Blizzard employees participated in a virtual walkout Monday as the Santa Monica video game studio joined a growing wave of companies lifting COVID-19 vaccination requirements while pressing workers to return to the office. Employees at the studio best known for its “World of Warcraft” and “Call of Duty” franchises who participated in the work stoppage took the day as an unpaid walkout day. Some joined a Zoom call that was a virtual protest gathering and spoke out on social media. (Ding, 4/4)

AP: University Ends Testing Requirement For Unvaccinated
The University of Kentucky said a weekly testing requirement for students and employees who are vaccinated against the coronavirus would end Monday. The move comes amid high vaccination rates at the school and lower rates of the virus on campus and in the Lexington community, news outlets reported, citing an email from UK President Eli Capilouto. (4/4)

Houston Chronicle: Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo Has Broad Emergency Powers Under State Disaster Declaration. Commissioner Cagle Wants That To End
With Harris County well inside its own code yellow phase of the COVID pandemic, Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle wants to the take a red pen to the county judge’s emergency powers. The proposal, on the commissioner court’s Tuesday agenda, would strip County Judge Lina Hidalgo of authority she was granted March 16, 2020, to have emergency powers as long as Gov. Greg Abbott had them under the state’s disaster declaration related to the pandemic. (Begley, 4/4)

Fox News: All 5 Dems Removed From Pennsylvania School Board For Requiring Masks Reinstated
All five Democrats removed from a Pennsylvania school board last week for voting to require masks have been reinstated, the district says. "Removal of school board members cripples the school district," Court of Common Pleas Judge William Mahon said in a courtroom packed with hundreds of parents, teachers and community members, Patch reports. Mahon vacated his order just three days after his earlier order in response to a parent-filed petition to the West Chester Area School District in February, arguing that under the Pennsylvania school code districts have no authority to require students to wear masks. (Arias, 4/3)

Also —

AP: Hawaii Officials Consider New Uses For Virus Screening Tech 
Officials in Hawaii are looking for new ways to use the state’s “Safe Travels” program that was implemented to screen visitors during the pandemic. Hawaii’s $37 million travel policy, which ended last month, required travelers to upload a negative COVID-19 test or proof of vaccination to avoid quarantine. The program had web and mobile applications developed and the state installed thermal and facial-recognition cameras in airports to help find potentially sick passengers. (4/4)

AP: Medicare Enrollees To Get Free COVID-19 Tests At Drug Stores 
Amid worries that the latest coronavirus variant could spark another rise in cases, Medicare announced Monday that millions of enrollees will finally have access to free over-the-counter COVID-19 tests at drug stores. More than 59 million people with Medicare’s “Part B” outpatient coverage will be able to get up to eight free at-home tests per month, or enough for an individual to test twice a week, as some doctors have recommended. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 4/4)

The Hill: People On Medicare Can Now Get Up To 8 Free COVID-19 Tests Per Month
The new program goes into effect Monday. People on Medicare, including Medicare Advantage plans, will simply have to show their Medicare card at a participating pharmacy, and they can get the tests for free, with the pharmacy billing Medicare directly. Participating pharmacies include CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Rite Aid and many major grocery chains. (Sullivan, 4/4)

In other Medicare news —

Stat: More Accessible Biosimilars Could Have Saved Medicare Part D Millions
Amid ongoing debate over biosimilar use in the United States, a new government analysis found that Medicare Part D spending on biologic medicines in 2019 could have been reduced by $84 million, or 18%, if they had been used more frequently — and beneficiaries themselves could have saved $1.8 million. The potential savings were minimized because not all Medicare Part D health plans covered biosimilars, which are nearly identical variants of pricey biologic medicines that yield the same health outcomes. And the health plans that did cover biosimilars “rarely encouraged” prescribing, the analysis noted. Instead, the plans favored costlier, brand-name biologics on formularies, or lists of covered medicines. (Silverman, 4/4)

Stat: Biden Admin Funnels Major Pay Increase To Medicare Advantage Insurers
The federal government is boosting the average payment to Medicare Advantage plans by 5% for 2023, higher than the 4.5% raise that was proposed in February. The increase is one of the largest ever for Medicare Advantage, and due largely to the expectation that more Medicare enrollees will get care that had been put off throughout the pandemic. The boost could spur even more health insurers to join Medicare Advantage or beef up their presence within the lucrative but controversial taxpayer-financed program, which is on pace to cost $450 billion next year — more than the Departments of Education and Agriculture combined. (Herman, 4/4)

Modern Healthcare: Hospital Prices For Health Plans Vary Widely Across The U.S., Study Finds
Regional healthcare markets across the country have experienced significant divergence in commercial-to-Medicare price ratios between 2012 and 2019, causing insurers to pay wildly different rates to hospital systems. In areas like Chico, California and Tacoma, Washington, private payers saw hospital price ratios increase by over 100 percentage points. On the other end of the spectrum, Gulfport, Mississippi had a decrease of 109 percentage points. Nationwide, hospital costs charged to commercial health plans averaged 173% of Medicare payment rates in 2012, and the national commercial-to-Medicare price ratio only increased to 180% in 2019, according to a recent RAND Corporation study. (Devereaux, 4/4)

Also —

Modern Healthcare: Study: Most Infected Heart Implants Aren't Removed, Leading To Patient Deaths
Doctors are not removing heart device implants that develop infections, putting patients' lives at risk, according to a study from Duke University. The study of more than one million Medicare patients who received a cardiovascular implantable electronic device over a thirteen-year period found only 18% of patients who developed a device infection eventually had their pacemaker or defibrillator removed. The American Heart Association recommends removing infected devices. The study's findings were presented at the 2022 American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions. (Gillespie, 4/4)

Denver Post: Colorado Now Guarantees The Right To Abortion In State Law
Getting an abortion without government interference is now guaranteed in Colorado after Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill Monday enshrining that right in state law. The Democratic governor signed HB22-1279, affirming that Coloradans who want reproductive care, including abortions, will be able to get that care in the state, regardless of whether the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that said the right to choose to have an abortion was protected by the Constitution. (Hindi, 4/4)

Colorado Sun: Colorado Legislature Moves To Adopt Its First Parental Leave Policy
When state Sen. Brittany Pettersen gave birth to her son, Davis, during the 2020 lawmaking term, the only way the Lakewood Democrat could take time off and avoid being docked pay was to have her pregnancy deemed a “long-term illness.” That’s because the statutes governing the legislature dictate that a lawmaker who misses more than a third of the 120-day session should have their salaries reduced unless the Senate president or House speaker designates their absence as being due to a chronic illness. “It’s obvious that these laws were not set up for women in the legislature,” Pettersen said. (Paul, 4/4)

In updates on abortion pills —

AP: Tennessee Advancing Bill Banning Abortion Pills By Mail
Tennessee Republicans are advancing legislation that would strictly regulate the dispensing of abortion pills, including imposing harsh penalties on doctors who violate them. The bill is part of a coordinated nationwide effort by anti-abortion groups responding to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recent decision allowing women to pick up the abortion medication in person. (Kruesi, 4/4)

Axios: Pills Are The Next Big Abortion Battleground
As the U.S. Supreme Court weighs the fate of Roe v. Wade, advocates on both sides of the fight are already positioning themselves for the next battle, over medication abortions or so-called abortion pills. The pills for a medication abortion, mifepristone and misoprostol, are FDA-approved for use in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. The FDA lifted long-standing restrictions in December and paved the way for doctors to prescribe them online and mail them to patients. (Reed, 4/4)

The 19th: Abortion Pills Are Growing More Expensive And Difficult To Provide
The most common method of abortion appears to be growing substantially more expensive thanks in part to new state-based restrictions that have made it more difficult and expensive to provide. The average price of a medication abortion — which last year accounted for the majority of all abortions — grew from $495 in 2017 to $560 in 2020, per a study published Monday in the journal Health Affairs. The authors expect that trend to have continued into 2022. At the same time, clinics are growing less likely to accept insurance that could help relieve some of that burden. (Luthra, 4/4)

In abortion news from Texas, Oklahoma, and elsewhere —

ABC News: Texans Seeking Abortions In Oklahoma After Ban May Soon Face New Challenge
In the seven months since Texas enacted a law that bans nearly all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, its northern neighbor, Oklahoma, has felt the impact. "We are essentially having to turn the vast majority of people away from getting abortions because we just cannot keep up with the volume," said Dr. Christina Bourne, the medical director of Trust Women, which operates an abortion care clinic in Oklahoma City and one in Wichita, Kansas. "We could be doing abortions 24 hours a day and not keep up with the volume that is demanded of us." (Kindelan, 4/5)

In other news about reproductive health —

NPR: As Home Births Rise, Midwives Practice In Legal Gray Area
Mandy King laid back on a large, brown couch at Shiphrah Birth Services in Vinton, Iowa, as soft piano music streamed from a TV in the background. Her three young children — ages 3, 5 and 7 — played next to her as her midwife, Bethany Gates, examined her pregnant belly, applying pressure with her hands on different parts to identify the baby's position. On this early spring day, King was 38 weeks pregnant."Her head's not really moving a lot," Gates said. "She's kind of settling into the pelvis a little bit, but that's good. That's what we want her to do." (Krebs, 4/5)

Bloomberg: Gene-Edited Babies Likely Within 25 Years, Crispr Pioneer Says
It’s been 10 years since Crispr pioneer Jennifer Doudna published the landmark paper that landed a Nobel Prize for her and colleague Emmanuelle Charpentier, and the researcher already sees advancement toward some of its loftier goals. To some, the Crispr future has been disappointingly slow to develop. But scientists around the world are using the technology to develop potential cures for debilitating genetic conditions, create diagnostic tests, produce better crops and fight climate change. And editing the genes of babies, a controversial practice Doudna was “horrified” by when a Chinese scientist revealed he’d changed the genomes of twin girls, may arrive within our lifetimes, she said. (Peebles, 4/4)

Also —

The Washington Post: Anti-Abortion Activist Who Kept 5 Fetuses Pleads Not Guilty In DC Case 
An antiabortion activist who had five fetuses removed from her home last week by police pleaded not guilty Monday to federal civil rights violations. Lauren Handy, 28, was one of nine people indicted Wednesday for allegedly violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act in 2020. That’s when the group used chain and rope in a blockade incident at the Washington Surgi-Clinic, an abortion clinic in Foggy Bottom. The FACE Act prohibits threats intended to interfere with reproductive health-care services. (Hermann, Jackman and Boorstein, 4/4)

AP: State Official Accused Of Faking Pregnancies Pleads Guilty 
A state official accused of faking multiple pregnancies and using at least one of those ruses to get out of work and be paid for the time off has pleaded guilty to identity fraud and making false statements, prosecutors said. Robin Folsom was sentenced to five years of probation, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said Monday. Folsom, former director of external affairs for the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, was also ordered to pay more than $12,000 in restitution to the state. (4/4)

AP: Georgia Governor Signs Sweeping Mental Health Bill Into Law 
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday signed into law a bill aimed at bolstering the state’s dismal mental health care system by pressuring private insurers to improve coverage for mental health conditions. HB 1013 — championed by Republican House Speaker David Ralston — also requires publicly funded insurance programs to spend more on patient care and authorizes loan forgiveness for people studying to become mental health professionals. It is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars in additional state funding each year. (Thanawala, 4/4)

In other mental health news —

San Francisco Chronicle: Mayor Breed Backs Mental Health Bills To Reform Mandated Treatment, Address Street Crisis: ‘It Is A Disgrace’
Mayor London Breed is supporting a package of mental health conservatorship reform bills in the California legislature, expressing frustration that people with mental illness are deteriorating on the streets and calling for more options to get them into treatment. Conservatorship, a controversial issue statewide, is when a judge appoints a conservator to make decisions about treatment for people with serious mental illnesses or chronic alcoholism who can’t care for their basic needs. (Moench, 4/4)

Bangor Daily News: A New Wall At Bangor’s Airport Tells Stories Of People’s Mental Health Struggles
The latest installation of an international campaign aimed at reducing the stigma associated with mental illnesses was unveiled at Bangor International Airport on Monday. Massachusetts-based McLean Hospital launched the public awareness campaign, “Deconstructing Stigma: Changing Attitudes About Mental Health,” in 2016 with a large installation in Boston Logan International Airport. Since then, the hospital has partnered with airports and other venues worldwide to feature volunteers who share their stories about their experiences living with mental illness. At Bangor International Airport, photos and stories of men and women from Maine and beyond who have experienced mental health challenges fill two walls. The first wall is in the airport lobby across from the check-in desks, and the other is on the second floor near the gates. (O'Brien, 4/4)

In updates on LGBTQ+ issues —

Houston Chronicle: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick Wants Texas Version Of Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wants Texas to replicate Florida’s controversial law that prohibits schools from teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity to students from kindergarten through the third grade. In an email to campaign supporters late Monday, Patrick said he would make the bill a “top priority” during the next legislative session in January. The law has garnered backlash from Democrats and civil rights advocates, who say the legislation marginalizes LGBTQ students and may chill all discussion of sexuality in the classroom. (Harris, 4/4)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Lawmakers Approve Divisive Concepts, Transgender Sports Bill
The Georgia General Assembly just after midnight Monday approved legislation to control how race is discussed in K-12 classrooms, after amending it to allow any athletic association to ban transgender girls from competing with girls’ teams. House Bill 1084 had already passed the state Senate on Friday with minor amendments after approval in the House. Then, it got tossed back and forth for final approval, and the transgender measure was added. It now goes to the desk of Gov. Brian Kemp. (Tagami and Prabhu, 4/4)

Bloomberg: Care For Gun Violence Victims Costs US $2.5 Billion In Year After Shooting
Costs of caring for U.S. gunshot survivors come to about $2.5 billion in the first year after their injuries, according to a Harvard study of a topic on which research was long relatively silent because of federal funding restrictions. Monthly direct medical costs for the gun-wounded increased from the year before the injury by almost $2,500, researchers at Harvard Medical School found. Costs for people with severe harm like brain injuries might last for years to come, said Zirui Song, an associate professor of health care policy and Massachusetts General Hospital primary-care doctor who led the study. (Adegbesan, 4/4)

USA Today: Gun Violence Survivors See Spike In Disorder Diagnoses: Harvard Study
Survivors of gun violence and their families see a spike in medical costs and the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and substance use disorders in the months following an injury, according to a new study from Harvard Medical School researchers. The research, published this week in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, was based on patient records over 10 years. It included information from 6,498 survivors of firearm injuries, matched to 32,490 control individuals, and 12,489 family members, including significant others, parents and children of survivors of gun violence injuries, compared to 62,445 control individuals. It also included survivors’ records from one year before a firearm injury through one year after. (Pitofsky, 4/4)

Los Angeles Times: Adults Living With Gun Owners Face Twice The Risk Of Homicide
It is a belief that helped drive a historic rise in U.S. firearms sales and first-time gun owners during the COVID-19 pandemic: Having a handgun at home for personal protection will make you safer. Groundbreaking new research conducted over a 12-year period in California shows that the opposite is true. Between October 2004 and the end of 2016, adults in the state who didn’t own a gun but took up residence with someone who did were much more likely to die a violent death than people in households without a handgun, researchers from Stanford University found. (Healy, 4/4)

In other public health news —

CBS News: New Study Shows Possible Link Between Drinking More During Pandemic And Increased Obesity Rates 
A third of U.S. adults reported gaining weight during the COVID-19 pandemic, a study released Monday shows — and researchers found that people who reported higher weight also said they began drinking more during that time.  While obesity is a complex health issue that can be caused by a multitude of factors, the study used national surveys to show a possible link between the unhealthy habits. (Jones, 4/4)

USA Today: Baby With Rare Heart Disease Receives Transplant After 218-Day Wait
After waiting 218 days, 8-month-old Elodie Carmen Baker received a new heart last week. Elodie, who was diagnosed with a rare heart disease called dilated cardiomyopathy at around 2 months old, spent over 200 days on the waitlist for a heart. Finally, on March 27, she underwent a successful transplant at The Heart Center at Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago. "The fortitude and the strength that she's shown in the last seven months constantly amazes us. And we know that she's destined to do remarkable things," Elodie's mom, Kate Baker, told USA TODAY. (Grantham-Philips, 4/4)

Los Angeles Times: How Climate Change Is Making Valley Fever Worse
“On a pain scale of one to 10, it was a 10,” Scott Shirley recalled. “The worst pain I’ve ever felt.” It was June 2020, and Shirley, a winemaker in Paso Robles, Calif., knew something was terribly wrong. He was going about his daily business when he doubled over with severe abdominal pain and a 103-degree fever. A doctor in the emergency room told him his left lung had collapsed. But what ailed Shirley, now 50, wasn’t COVID-19: It was valley fever. Officially known as coccidioidomycosis — or “cocci” for short — valley fever is a fungal infection that is transmitted in dust. In the United States, it has mostly plagued humans and animals in Arizona and California’s San Joaquin Valley, where the illness was first described as “San Joaquin Valley fever” more than a century ago. (Smith, 4/4)

The Washington Post: Black And Hispanic Seniors Are Left With A Less Powerful Flu Vaccine 
At Whitman-Walker Health, David Fessler and his staff administer high-dose influenza vaccine to all HIV-positive and senior patients. Although the vaccine is roughly three times as expensive as the standard flu vaccine, it seems to do a better job at protecting those with weakened immune systems — a major focus of the nonprofit group’s Washington clinics. At the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, meanwhile, Melissa Martinez runs a drive-through clinic providing 10,000 influenza vaccines each year for a community made up largely of Black and Hispanic residents. It’s open to all comers, and they all get the standard vaccine. (Allen, 4/4)

Axios: 7,000 Steps Can Save Your Life
Want to live longer? Take a hike — a shorter one than you’ve been told. Mortality risk was reduced by 50% for older adults who increased their daily steps from around 3,000 to around 7,000, according to new medical research. 7,000 is the new 10,000, in terms of steps you should shoot for, The Lancet medical journal reports. This is all it takes for those 60 and older to dramatically increase their lifespans. (Pandey, 4/4)

KHN: Losing Sleep Over The Pandemic? Work Flexibility May Be A Boon For Night Owls’ Health 
Many so-called night people feel that, when it comes to society’s expectations about when the workday should start, they drew the short straw. Research shows that “night owls” are hard-wired to sleep later, yet 9-to-5 work schedules force them to battle their physiology and wake up early. Research also has shown that conventional timetables leave them vulnerable to physical and mental health issues. (Sharma, 4/5)

USA Today: Disney Hand Sanitizer Recall: Methanol, Benzene In Baby Yoda, Mickey
Disney-branded hand sanitizers featuring Mickey Mouse and Star Wars' The Mandalorian have been recalled over the presence of benzene and methanol. Best Brands Consumer Products is recalling The Mandalorian Hand Sanitizer Ethyl Alcohol 68%, available in green and blue, and Mickey Mouse Hand Sanitizer Ethyl Alcohol 68%, available in blue, according to a release from the Food and Drug Administration. FDA testing found the presence of benzene in The Mandalorian hand sanitizer, while the presence of methanol was found in the Mickey Mouse-branded hand sanitizer. (Molina and Tyko, 4/4)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Medical Marijuana Production Bill Falls One Vote Short
Georgia lawmakers couldn’t agree on a compromise medical marijuana bill Monday that would have finally allowed businesses to grow and sell cannabis oil to registered patients. Without a bill, Georgia’s medical marijuana program remains stalled amid a drawn-out government process to authorize companies to manufacture the drug. The legislation sought to award production licenses to six companies by June 7, giving over 22,000 patients a way to obtain a medicine they’ve been allowed to consume since 2015. (Niesse, 4/4)

In other news about marijuana and cannabis —

WTOP: DC Council Considers Restricting Marijuana Sales 
The D.C. Council will consider a bill Tuesday that would boost the city’s handful of medical marijuana dispensaries while aiming to close dozens of “gifting shops,” where customers are able to obtain marijuana without violating the city’s ban on the sale of recreational marijuana. Recreational marijuana is legal in the District but it’s illegal to sell it. The gifting shops get around the ban by selling incidental items, then gifting the buyer the marijuana that the customer is really seeking. (Uliano, 4/5)

KRQE: Recreational Marijuana Sales Total More Than $3.5 Million First Weekend
The long-awaited start of retail cannabis sales brought out a lot of New Mexicans over the weekend who were ready to spend millions. From Friday through Sunday, New Mexico cannabis businesses racked up a total of more than $3.5 million in recreational use sales statewide. Those numbers were reported by the Cannabis Control Division (CCD), which tracks sales across the state. (Segarra, 4/4)

KOB 4: Elementary Students Accidentally Eat Marijuana Candy At School 
At least 14 Algodones elementary students went to the hospital Monday after a classmate shared THC candies with them. School representatives didn’t give their exact ages, but they’re all ten or younger. "I'm not surprised by a lot of things anymore because there's so much accessibility to so much but in this case I'm a little bit dumbfounded by how quickly it came about,” said Bernalillo Public School Superintendent Matt Montaño. (Frendak, 4/4)

New York Post: Gov. Hochul Has A Few Words Of Warning For NY's Legal Marijuana Customers
New York State launched its first ads in anticipation of legally selling marijuana later this year with the warning: “Don’t drive high.” Customers will be able to buy cannabis products in licensed retail stores by year’s end, according to the state Office of Cannabis Management. Gov. Kathy Hochul and OCM unveiled 15 second and 30 second public TV services ads and billboards as part of the state’s “Cannabis Conversations” campaign. (Campanile, 4/4)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Workers At St. Louis Medical Marijuana Dispensary Vote To Form A Union 
Workers at a St. Louis medical marijuana dispensary have voted to unionize, becoming the first cannabis workers in Missouri to do so, a local chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers announced on Monday. All eight workers in the bargaining unit at the Root 66 dispensary on South Grand voted in favor of the UFCW representing them in contract negotiations with management, a news release from the union said. (Suntrup, 4/4)

The Washington Post: Maryland Legislators Take Aim At Legacy Of War On Drugs
Maryland legislators drew criticism for the rollout of the state’s medical marijuana industry, which awarded no licenses to Black business owners. So as they undertook plans this year for legalizing recreational marijuana, they struggled — not just with expanding opportunities for those shut out of the lucrative industry but with the responsibility many felt to begin unwinding decades of failed U.S. drug policies. (Wiggins, 4/4)

And in news about the opioid crisis —

AP: Trial Begins In West Virginia Lawsuit Against Opioid Makers
Drug manufacturers misrepresented the risks and benefits of opioids in West Virginia and contributed to the state’s opioid crisis, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said in opening arguments at a trial that began Monday. Morrisey asked a judge to hold Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., along with Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc., AbbVie Inc.’s Allergan and their family of companies accountable for their “unlawful, unreasonable, callous and destructive conduct.” (Raby, 4/4)

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Aaron Ford Discusses Opioid Settlement Initial Payment
As Nevada’s opioid epidemic worsens, state and local officials are hoping an influx of funds from recent settlements with drug companies will help blunt the blow. Nevada is set to receive the first tranche of funds from $285.2 million awarded through multistate settlements with opioid distributors and manufacturers, with $50.7 million million of it expected as early as this week. “With this money, Nevada can and will establish programs and services that are needed right now,” Attorney General Aaron Ford said during a press conference Monday. “Every day without these services is a day the problem continues to get worse.” (Lochhead, 4/4)

KCUR: Why Missouri's Fentanyl Crisis Is Worsening 
High school sophomore Ethan Everly died of an overdose last week in Kansas City after taking a pill laced with the potent and dangerous opioid fentanyl. Everly's death is only the latest warning that the drug epidemic is spreading quickly in Missouri. A decade ago, the state's opioid crisis was fueled by prescription pills, and largely affected rural, mostly-white communities. But in the last five years, the crisis entered a new phase — one dominated by fentanyl, and focused in urban areas. (Smith, 4/5)

Modern Healthcare: 5 Things To Know About Walmart Health's Florida Expansion
Walmart Health will open five new locations in Florida, as the retailer continues to scale its "one-stop-shop" vision for healthcare offerings. Walmart is opening two clinics in Jacksonville, two in Orlando and one in Tampa in the coming months, the company said Tuesday. The retail giant represents a growing number of non-traditional healthcare providers that seek to provide a more convenient and affordable experience through a mix of virtual and in-person care. (Kacik, 4/5)

In other health care industry news —

DCist: Several Hundred Howard University Hospital Workers Plan To Strike
The labor union for over 300 nurses, pharmacists, dietitians, and social workers at Howard University Hospital and the Student Health Center has announced plans to strike later this month. The union, District of Columbia Nurses Association, accuses hospital management of various unfair labor practices, including unilaterally changing some workers’ schedules and pay during negotiations, and walking away from the bargaining table. Howard University, meanwhile, says management has bargained in good faith but is unable to reach an agreement. (Gomez, 4/4)

Wyoming Public Radio: Campbell County Health Officials Say Their Healthcare System Could Become Bankrupt In A Few Years 
Campbell County Health (CCH) officials said that unless decisive actions are taken to improve the system’s financial state, current financial projections indicate the healthcare system could be insolvent by 2026. The announcement comes as CCH recently hired Matthew Shahan as their new CEO, replacing interim CEO Jerry Klein, who subsequently served in the position after the CCH Board of Trustees fired former CEO Colleen Heeter in October. Many hospitals and healthcare systems are continuing to deal with the effects the COVID-19 pandemic has wrought, especially in rural areas. (Cook, 4/4)

Stat: Hospital Prices Are Soaring Fast In Northern California. Here’s Why
California’s lawmakers have spent decades crafting well-intentioned rules designed to keep the state’s health care prices in check. But a new report shows that, clearly, something backfired. The Golden State dominates a new list of U.S. regions that saw the highest growth in hospital prices paid by private insurers in recent years. Out of 19 such regions, 11 were in California, according to a Health Affairs study released Monday. “We end up with this situation where the most regulated state has the highest prices,” said Ge Bai, professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “This is the exact opposite of what regulators had intended to achieve.” (Bannow, 4/4)

AP: Surgeries Delayed Because Of Flooded Operating Rooms In VT 
Dozens of surgeries were postponed Monday at Vermont’s largest hospital because of weekend flooding caused by a burst pipe. A dozen of UVM Medical Center’s 22 operating rooms remained out of commission on Monday, forcing nearly 50 surgeries to be delayed, the hospital said in a statement. (4/4)

KHN: Tech Glitches At One VA Site Raise Concerns About A Nationwide Rollout
Spokane, Washington, was supposed to be the center of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ tech reinvention, the first site in the agency’s decade-long project to change its medical records software. But one morning in early March, the latest system malfunction made some clinicians snap. At Spokane’s Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center, the records system — developed by Cerner Corp., based in North Kansas City, Missouri — went down. Staffers, inside the hospital and its outpatient facilities, were back to relying on pen and paper. Computerized schedules were inaccessible. Physicians couldn’t enter new orders or change patients’ medications. (Tahir, 4/5)

Also —

AP: Hennepin Healthcare: Choose. Doctor Or Police Officer? 
Hennepin Healthcare has a new policy which prohibits its doctors from working side jobs in law enforcement. The health care system’s leaders say it will end its contract for medical instruction with Minneapolis police as part of an ideological evolution. Hennepin Healthcare CEO Jennifer DeCubellis said the policy change comes from a need to draw “really clear lines” as to the hospital’s fundamental mission. (4/4)

Stat: Siobhan Wescott Wants To Elevate Native American Voices In Public Health
As the first endowed professor and director of American Indian health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Public Health, Siobhan Wescott wears many hats and, often, a pale yellow flower behind her ear. She was raised by a single mother, herself an academic, in a small cabin in Fairbanks, Alaska. But throughout her career, Wescott has found herself navigating prestigious, predominantly white institutions far different from her rural upbringing. As an Alaskan Athabaskan, she has often been the only Native American or American Indian person in the room — though these labels, overly broad and imposed by the government, are misnomers she is trying to fix. (Cueto, 4/5)

Stat: A Dire Text Message Made This Doctor’s Cancer Research Painfully Real
If you’d seen him, you wouldn’t have known Scott Lippman was living through one of the most harrowing days of his 35-year career. The veteran oncologist, who directs UC San Diego’s Moores Cancer Center, had been invited to a San Diego life science conference in late February packed with academics, venture capitalists, and biotech bigwigs. As Lippman calmly clicked through slides describing his research on head and neck cancer, few knew he’d arrived exhausted from the emergency room, where he’d been caring for a patient with the same type of cancer he was now talking about. And no one noticed when his phone buzzed with a jarring message: His patient, James Ault, was being transferred to Lippman’s house. (Wosen, 4/5)

KHN: Why Nurses Are Raging And Quitting After The RaDonda Vaught Verdict 
Emma Moore felt cornered. At a community health clinic in Portland, Oregon, the 29-year-old nurse practitioner said she felt overwhelmed and undertrained. Coronavirus patients flooded the clinic for two years, and Moore struggled to keep up. Then the stakes became clear. On March 25, about 2,400 miles away in a Tennessee courtroom, former nurse RaDonda Vaught was convicted of two felonies and facing eight years in prison for a fatal medication mistake. (Kelman and Norman, 4/5)

Bloomberg: China Covid Variants And Omicron XE In U.K. Put Fresh Focus On Virus Mutations
The disclosure of new Covid variants emerging in China and the rise of a potentially more transmissible strain in the U.K. has recast the spotlight on the ongoing risk of the virus, even as health experts say there’s no reason to panic. The World Health Organization said a hybrid of two omicron strains -- BA.1 and BA.2 -- that was first detected in the U.K. and dubbed XE could be the most transmissible variant yet. It is estimated to spread 10% more easily than BA.2, which itself was more transmissible than the original omicron famous for its ease of penetration. (Lew and Fay Cortez, 4/4)

ABC News: New COVID-19 Variant XE Identified: What To Know And Why Experts Say Not To Be Alarmed 
A new COVID-19 variant has been identified in the United Kingdom, but experts say there is no cause for alarm yet. The variant, known as XE, is a combination of the original BA.1 omicron variant and its subvariant BA.2. This type of combination is known as a "recombinant" variant. Public health experts say that recombinant variants are very common and often crop up and disappear on their own. (Kekatos, 4/5)

The Guardian: UK Covid Symptoms List Expanded With Nine More Signs Of Illness 
The official list of Covid-19 symptoms on the NHS has been extended to cover nine new symptoms, including sore throat, fatigue and headache. They join the three symptoms of a fever, a new and persistent cough, and a loss or change in taste or smell, according to nhs.uk. (Hall, 4/4)

AP: 10,000 Health Workers Sent To Help Control Shanghai Outbreak
China has sent more than 10,000 health workers from around the country to Shanghai, including 2,000 from the military, as it struggles to stamp out a rapidly spreading outbreak in its largest city under its zero-COVID strategy. Shanghai was conducting a mass testing of its 25 million residents Monday as what was announced as a two-phase lockdown entered its second week. Most of eastern Shanghai, which was supposed to re-open last Friday, remained locked down along with the western half of the city. (Moritsugu, 4/5)

Also —

USA Today: Who Died From COVID? Poor People Got Sick More Than Richer Americans
People living in poorer counties died of COVID-19 at nearly two times the rate of people in wealthier counties, casting more light on the "shameful'' impact of ongoing health and economic disparities, according to a report released Monday by a national civil rights group and research organizations. The report comes as the number of COVID-19 related deaths in the United States approaches nearly 1 million. “The finding of this report reveals neglect and sometimes intentional decisions to not focus on the poor,’’ said William Barber, II, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, a national program focusing on social justice issues that commissioned the report. “There hasn't been any systemic or systematic assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on the poor and low-income communities.’’ (Barfield Berry, 4/4)

In other global developments —

AP: WHO Says 99% Of World's Population Breathes Poor-Quality Air 
The U.N. health agency says nearly everybody in the world breathes air that doesn’t meet its standards for air quality, calling for more action to reduce fossil-fuel use, which generates pollutants that cause respiratory and blood-flow problems and lead to millions of preventable deaths each year. The World Health Organization, about six months after tightening its guidelines on air quality, on Monday issued an update to its database on air quality that draws on information from a growing number of cities, towns and villages across the globe — now over 6,000 municipalities. (Keaten, 4/4)

Bloomberg: Over 80 LGBTQ Groups Pull Out Of UK Conference After Conversion Therapy Backlash 
More than 80 organizations pulled out of the U.K. government’s international LGBTQ conference due to be held in June after Boris Johnson dropped a plan to ban so-called conversion therapy for transgender people. The government is wrong to “actively exclude” trans people from the ban, the LGBT+ Consortium, an umbrella body for groups in the U.K., said in a statement on its website on Monday. “We refuse to stand by and let this happen.” Johnson’s office sparked a widespread backlash last week when it said it would drop a key Conservative Party pledge to legally outlaw conversion therapy, the practice of trying to change a person’s sexual orientation from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual. (Ashton, 4/4)

The Texas Tribune: Woman Fleeing Death Threats Ejected From U.S. Under Rule Biden Is Ending 
After Marleny demanded police in her home village in southern Guatemala arrest the men who had killed her father and two brothers, she said she got an anonymous note at her house, telling her if she didn’t stay quiet, she would join the men in her family. The 32-year-old housekeeper said she was terrified, and told her boss — whose home she had cleaned for two years — about the death threat. The woman loaned Marleny $4,000 so she could flee to the United States, Marleny said. The money was only enough to take one of her two sons with her, so she left her 18-year-old with his grandmother, telling him she would send for him when she could get more money. (Garcia, 4/5)

AP: In War-Torn Syria, A Charity Offers Hope To Kids With Cancer 
At the children’s cancer ward in a hospital in the Syrian capital of Damascus, children walk down brightly painted corridors, hooked up to IV needles delivering critical treatment into their bloodstream. urses tend to babies and teenagers getting chemotherapy sit in reclining chairs. Other children, in a nearby playroom, draw and color to pass the time. The beds fill up fast at the ward operated by BASMA, a private charity that supports children with cancer. Today, it is the biggest association across the war-shattered nation to offer full cancer diagnoses and treatment without charge — and for many among Syria’s impoverished population, it comes down to either that or no treatment at all. (Sanadiki, 4/3)

Modern Healthcare: Many Of America’s Nurses Are Angry—And They Have Every Right To Be 
March 11 began year three of the COVID-19 pandemic as declared by the World Health Organization. This global crisis has taken its toll in suffering, economic distress and over 6 million lives lost. As the vanguard of the pandemic response, nurses continue to face unrelenting and long-standing challenges. Healthcare leaders in every setting must sustain solutions to support and retain their nursing workforce. The delivery of quality and equitable patient care today and post-pandemic depends on leaders’ actions now. (Loressa Cole and Ernest Grant, 4/5)

Seattle Times: Allow Terminally Ill Patients From Out Of State To Access Aid-In-Dying
Last week, Oregon became the first state to stop enforcing its residency requirement for medical assistance in dying. Following a lawsuit brought by an Oregon physician and Compassion and Choices, an advocacy group campaigning for better end-of-life options, the state settled in favor of ending the restriction. The case was prompted by a southwest Washington resident who felt the care he was looking for was not easily available and sought help in nearby Oregon. For the first time since 1997, terminally ill patients from out of state can now avail themselves of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act. (Anita Hannig, 4/4)

The Boston Globe: Every Child Deserves Good Health. That Requires Urgent Action On Equity
The statistics are grimly familiar: A child born in Roxbury has a life expectancy almost 30 years lower than a child born in Back Bay. Infant mortality rates are more than twice as high in Black families compared with white families in the United States. As leaders who have worked in the health care field for decades, we believe the racial disparities that lead to such heartbreaking inequities in health outcomes for children must be addressed immediately. (Kevin B. Churchwell and Michelle A. Williams, 4/5)

Bloomberg: NHS Shropshire Maternity Scandal Shows Danger Of Dogma 
A five-year investigation into the avoidable deaths of 201 babies and nine mothers at a U.K. hospital — described by one British newspaper as “the worst maternity scandal in history” — has ignited a debate over health care that has ramifications outside of Britain. (Martin Ivens, 4/5)

Stat: Congress Should Extend A Home Hospital Care Waiver 
Hospitals can be places of healing and, at times, harm, particularly for older adults with complex medical conditions. For appropriately selected patients requiring hospital care, home hospital care offers the benefits of hospital care in the comfort and safety of the home and facilitates better understanding of patients’ medical and social context. Home hospital programs across the country expanded after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began to pay for these services in November 2020 as a remedy for the pressures hospitals faced during the pandemic. (Constantinos Michaelidis and Candra Szymanski, 4/5)

Modern Healthcare: Dueling Opinions: What’s Challenging The Nation’s Nursing Homes?
In late February, the White House released an outline on proposed nursing home reforms, including minimum staffing requirements and other goals concerning quality, safety and oversight. Like hospitals, nursing homes have been hammered by workforce issues during the pandemic. What are some changes that could help with staffing? (Brian Perry and Susan Reinhard, 4/5)

Stat: In The Future, We Should Spend More On Prescriptions Drugs, Not Less
The conventional wisdom that we need to reduce spending on prescription drugs is all wrong. In an ideal health care system, we’d spend more on drugs, not less. Rather than spending trillions of dollars on hospital infrastructure, moderately effective palliative treatments, and burdensome administrative processes, the U.S. could spend a smaller sum on powerful medicines that prevent, control, and even cure disease. Access to a larger pool of innovative medicines would improve life for everyone, but especially for historically marginalized groups who bear the heavy economic and health burdens of disease. If more medical conditions could be managed with medications rather than with frequent doctor or hospital visits, we would likely see reduced overall health care costs and less variation in health status across social groups and geography. (Jean-Francois Formela and John Stanford, 4/5)

The Atlantic: The Abortion Underground Is Preparing For A Post-Roe World 
There is a lot of talk about prepping these days. Roe v. Wade could well be further weakened or overturned by late June, when the Supreme Court is expected to hand down a decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. At issue is a Mississippi law banning nearly all abortions past 15 weeks of pregnancy. This is a direct challenge to both Roe and the Court’s follow-on decision, nearly two decades later, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. (Jessica Bruder, 4/4)

The Baltimore Sun: Johns Hopkins Deans: Maryland’s Abortion Bill Good News For Health Care 
The Maryland state legislature approved a bill last week that expands insurance coverage of reproductive health care and lifts unnecessary restrictions on who can provide abortions. It’s now on the governor’s desk. This bill is good news — for health. (Ellen J. MacKenzie and Sarah L. Szanton, 4/4)

Also —

The New York Times: Inside Shanghai’s Covid-19 Lockdown 
The volunteers in full protective gear — called big whites here in China — have packed up and moved on for the day; the apartment complex where I live is once again sequestered in silence. From my 18th-floor window, I can see the koi ponds and gardens below, empty; the hedge maze, empty; the fountain, somehow turned off, its waters unmoving as though in allegiance, in reprieve. (Juli Min, 4/5)

Los Angeles Times: Sweden's Pandemic Approach Wilts Under Scrutiny 
Throughout much of the pandemic, Sweden has stood out for its ostensibly successful effort to beat COVID-19 while avoiding the harsh lockdowns and social distancing rules imposed on residents of other developed nations. Swedish residents were able to enjoy themselves at bars and restaurants, their schools remained open, and somehow their economy thrived and they remained healthy. So say their fans, especially on the anti-lockdown right. (Michael Hiltzik, 4/4)