The Washington Post: HHS Failed To Heed Many Warnings That HealthCare.gov Was In Trouble
During the two years before the disastrous opening of HealthCare.gov, federal officials in charge of creating the online insurance marketplace received 18 written warnings that the mammoth project was mismanaged and off course but never considered postponing its launch, according to government investigators. The warnings included a series of 11 scathing reviews from an outside consultant — among them a top-10 list of risks drawn up in the spring of 2013 that cited inadequate planning for the website’s capacity and deviations from usual IT standards. ... The long trail of unheeded warnings is among the findings from an exhaustive two-year inquiry by HHS’s Office of Inspector General into the failings of HealthCare.gov, which crashed within two hours of its launch on Oct. 1, 2013. (Goldstein, 2/23)

The Denver Post: Connect For Health Colorado Considers Whether To Ask Feds For Help
Connect for Health Colorado board members met Monday to consider whether the health insurance exchange will remain independent or shift some operations to its federal counterpart. Out of concern for the exchange's long-term stability, state legislators requested the committee develop alternatives to remaining a stand-alone operation. (Munio, 2/22)

The Connecticut Mirror: About 8,000 CT Exchange Customers Didn’t Pay First Bill
About 8,000 people who signed up for coverage through the Connecticut’s health insurance exchange missed the deadline for their first payment and lost coverage, exchange CEO Jim Wadleigh said Monday. “This number is bigger than we were anticipating,” Wadleigh said. Just over 116,000 people signed up for private insurance through Access Health CT, the state’s exchange, during the open enrollment period that ended Jan. 31. (Levin Becker, 2/22)

Marketplace: Hospitals See Modest Profits After Obamacare Binge
Life was really good in the for-profit hospital world after the Affordable Care Act became law. Hospitals made money from waves of new patients insured under the ACA, but now the wave is receding. Tenet Healthcare will become the latest in the sector to report earnings, Monday afternoon. (Marshall-Genzer, 2/22)

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Obamacare Helps Boost Profits At Area Health Systems
Health systems in the Milwaukee area have seen a sharp increase in profits since the expansion of health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. That wasn't the initial expectation. (Boulton, 2/22)

Wyoming Public Radio: Senate Passes Proposed Alternative To Medicaid Expansion
A bill that is intended to be the Wyoming’s alternative to expanding Medicaid was approved by the State Senate on Monday. The bill is sponsored by Casper Senator Charles Scott, a longtime opponent of Medicaid expansion. (Beck, 2/23)

The Associated Press: Compromise Plan Seeks To Expand Medicaid In Maine
A coalition of police agencies and medical providers is backing another attempt to expand Medicaid coverage in Maine, this time with a compromise measure tied to the heroin crisis.The coalition on Tuesday will release details of a proposal that would give 70,000 low-income people the option of getting health insurance through a program that uses a combination of Medicaid and private health insurance. (2/22)

Meanwhile, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence says he won't lobby for more Medicaid expansion funds even though the Obama administration thought he might —

Indianapolis Star: Gov. Mike Pence Says He Won't Seek Extra Medicaid Money
Perhaps the Obama administration should have checked with Gov. Mike Pence before telling reporters the Indiana Republican plans to lobby for more Medicaid dollars from Washington. The White House has proposed giving states that expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act a full three-years of 100 percent federal funding, no matter when the expansion starts. ... Pence said he won’t be asking for the extra money. But if Congress does approve more resources, Pence said, “obviously the state of Indiana will take advantage of those.” (Groppe, 2/22)

The Associated Press: Senate Clears Way For Approval Of New FDA Commissioner
The Senate has cleared the way for approval of President Barack Obama’s nominee for commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. Senators voted 80-6 Monday to end a Democratic filibuster of Obama’s pick to head the agency. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Ed Markey of Massachusetts had held up the nomination of Dr. Robert Califf in an effort to force the agency to be tougher on prescription drug prices and the abuse of opioid painkillers. (Jalonick, 2/22)

CQ Healthbeat: Democratic Senators Make Last Push Against FDA Nominee
The Senate appeared poised to agree on Monday to cut off debate on the nomination of Robert Califf to be FDA commissioner. If the Senate invokes cloture as expected, that would set the stage for a final vote on Califf’s nomination as early as Tuesday. (Siddons, 2/22)

Meanwhile, lead-poisoning prevention legislation is getting attention from national and state lawmakers —

The Associated Press: US Senators Propose Tax Credits To Clean Up Lead In Homes
A bill first proposed by Hillary Clinton to help homeowners clean up lead hazards that can poison children is getting new life after the lead contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan. Two Democratic U.S. senators — Sheldon Whitehouse, of Rhode Island, and Charles Schumer, of New York — plan to introduce a bill in Congress this week that would give federal tax credits of up to $3,000 to homeowners or landlords who eliminate lead dangers found in old paint and pipes. (O'Brien, 2/22)

The Associated Press: Congressional Democrats Join New Jersey's Debate On Lead
For weeks, Democratic lawmakers in New Jersey's statehouse have claimed that Republican Gov. Chris Christie is spending too little on lead poisoning prevention. On Monday, one of New Jersey's Democratic Congressman appears to have joined that fight. In a letter to the state's health department, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone asked for a full accounting of federal funds that are available to New Jersey to combat lead poisoning. (Finley, 2/22)

In other news —

St. Louis Public Radio: Sen. Claire McCaskill Announces She Has Breast Cancer
“I very recently learned that I have breast cancer,” Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., announced in a statement on Monday. In a note on her Tumblr page, McCaskill, 62, wrote that her prognosis is good and that she expects a full recovery. The cancer was detected during a routine mammogram, and McCaskill said she will be in St. Louis for three weeks to receive treatment. (Bouscaren, 2/22)

The Associated Press: Health Care Issue, Longtime Uniter Of Democrats, Now Divides
Health care for all. It's a goal that tugs at the heartstrings of Democrats, but pursuing it usually invites political peril. Now Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are clashing over this core question for liberals, making it a wedge issue in the party's presidential primary. It's a choice between his conviction that a government-run system would be fairer and more affordable, and her preference for step-by-step change at a time of widespread skepticism about federal power. (2/22)

NPR: Sanders Health Plan Renews Debate On Universal Coverage
When Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders stumps for health care for everyone, it always gets huge applause. "I believe that the U.S. should do what every other major country on earth is doing," he told a crowd at Eastern Michigan University on Feb. 15. "And that is, guarantee health care to all people as a right." The Democratic presidential hopeful basically wants to nationalize the U.S. health insurance industry, and have Uncle Sam foot the bill for medical bills, office visits and prescriptions. (Kodjak, 2/23)

Politico: Clinton Revives Support For Health Care 'Public Option'
Hillary Clinton wants to bring back the public option, offering a competing vision to Bernie Sanders’ support for a more progressive health care system. Clinton's campaign has updated its website to note her continued support for the government-run health plan that was dropped from Obamacare during the law's drafting. The idea was popular among progressives who prefer a single-payer plan -- like the one Bernie Sanders is touting. (Diamond and Pradhan, 2/22)

Politico: Former HHS Secretary Sebelius Endorses Clinton
Hillary Clinton picked up the support of former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Monday. "I just feel that she's the only person, frankly, in the field of candidates who has the experience and background that prepares her nationally and internationally to be the leader of the country," the former governor of Kansas told the Topeka Capital-Journal. "As a mother, a grandmother and a former public servant, who had the privilege of serving with Hillary in the president's Cabinet, I can think of nothing more important than ensuring our next president is someone who will protect and build upon the progress made by President Obama over the past eight years." (Gass, 2/22)

CBS News: Ex-HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius Endorses Hillary Clinton
Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Monday endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. (Shabad, 2/22)

And regarding how congressional leaders see GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump —

The New York Times: Kevin McCarthy, G.O.P. House Leader, Says He Could Work With Donald Trump
Representative Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California and the House majority leader, said on Monday that he would be able to work with Donald J. Trump as the party’s presidential nominee, the latest signal of acceptance from national figures of the billionaire real estate developer. “I think I’ll work with Donald Trump,” Mr. McCarthy said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program, adding, “I think I can work with anyone that comes out to be the nominee.” That includes Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who helped egg on a government shutdown over efforts to defund President Obama’s signature health care law, according to Mr. McCarthy. (Haberman, 2/22)

Modern Healthcare: Medicare To Cut Payments To Employer-Sponsored Advantage Plans
A new federal proposal would slash overpayments made to Medicare Advantage plans sponsored by employers and unions years after an advisory board recommended the policy. The CMS proposed terminating the bidding process for employers and unions that offer 2017 Medicare Advantage plans to their retirees. The policy was included in the recent 228-page Medicare Advantage rate notice (PDF). Instead of bidding, those plans would receive predetermined payments that would, in essence, lower their revenue. (Herman, 2/22)

The Associated Press: Medicare Advantage Faces Less Pressure To Cut Benefits
Medicare Advantage health plans will face less pressure to cut benefits or leave some markets next year after the government released a favorable early assessment of factors affecting rates. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services laid out a payment and policy update for 2017 on Friday after markets closed. The announcement includes an assessment of several variables that can affect the price of coverage. Analysts say it boils down to a rate increase of around 3.5 percent when including adjustments made to account for the health of patients covered by a plan. (Murphy, 2/22)

USA Today: Bipartisan Group Calls For Universal Long-Term Care Insurance Plans
The long-term care costs for our aging population are growing so fast and can be so financially overwhelming for families that the United States needs a universal catastrophic insurance program similar to Medicare, a bipartisan policy group announced Monday. The Long Term Care Financing Collaborative, which includes former state Medicaid directors, and members from the Brookings Institution, and the trade group America's Health Insurance Plans, is the third recent policy group to cite universal long-term care insurance as a possible solution — and the one that goes the farthest in recommending it. (O'Donnell, 2/22)

The Associated Press: CVS Health Touts Restrained Prescription Spending Growth
CVS Health is refining its prescription for controlling drug costs, and patients can expect more frequent coverage adjustments, as the pharmacy benefits manager pores over data and reacts to expense spikes. (Murphy, 2/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Zenefits Once Told Employees: No Sex In Stairwells
Zenefits’s new chief executive, David Sacks, last week banned alcohol in the office of the health-insurance brokerage startup as he tries to reverse its rambunctious culture, especially among sales staff. But it wasn’t just drinking booze that gave the San Francisco headquarters a frat-house feel. (Winkler, 2/22)

The Washington Post: Abortion Foes’ Strategy Faces A Key Test At The Supreme Court
When the Supreme Court meets next week to hear its first abortion-related case in nearly a decade, the justices will consider the most significant challenge to an argument that has become central to the antiabortion cause: that abortion hurts not just a fetus but also its mother. That idea wasn’t always at the heart of the movement, which for years spent more time highlighting what it considered the plight of the unborn child. (Somashekhar, 2/22)

Stateline: Zika Virus Exposes Weaknesses In Public Health
State health officials were heartened when President Barack Obama this month asked Congress for $1.8 billion to combat the spread of the Zika virus because they fear they don’t have the resources to fight the potentially debilitating disease on their own. Budget cuts have left state and local health departments seriously understaffed and, officials say, in a precariously dangerous situation if the country has to face outbreaks of two or more infectious diseases — such as Zika, new strains of flu, or the West Nile and Ebola viruses — at the same time. (Ollove, 2/22)

STAT: Obama Urges Congress To Act Quickly To Approve Zika Funding
President Obama on Monday formally requested $1.9 billion in emergency funding for the US response to the Zika virus outbreak and urged Congress to take action “expeditiously.” (Scott, 2/22)

Connecticut Mirror: Governors Ask For Money, Share Strategies To Combat Opioid Crisis
The nation’s governors who have gathered here for an annual conference, are pressing the federal government for money to help them combat the epidemic of opioid abuse and heroin addiction that has resulted in a spike of overdoses and strained state public health systems. (Radelat, 2/22)

CQ Healthbeat: Governors Push Obama for Additional Action on Opioid Addiction
Governors from across the country from states battling the prescription drug abuse epidemic have come to Washington with a message for Congress and the federal government: We need more action to combat addiction. (Siddons and Miller, 2/22)

The Associated Press: County To Pilot State Changes To Drug Treatment Funding
Carroll County [Maryland] is poised to serve as a model for treating substance abuse across the state. The Carroll County Health Department plans to address changes to state funding of outpatient substance abuse services, officials told the Board of Commissioners at a briefing last week. (Norris, 2/22)

The Associated Press: The City May Allow Legal, Supervised Heroin Injections
The mayor of Ithaca wants his city in upstate New York to host the nation's first supervised injection facility, enabling heroin users to shoot illegal drugs into their bodies under the care of a nurse without getting arrested by police. Canada, Europe and Australia are working to reduce overdose deaths with these facilities, but in the United States, even the idea of creating a supervised injection site faces significant legal and political challenges. (2/22)

Los Angeles Times: Orange County Just Launched Its First Clean-Needle Exchange
A year ago, a group of UC Irvine medical students realized that Orange County was missing what they considered an important public health service that every major city in California had access to: a clean-needle exchange program. So they decided to do something about it. The students organized with partners across the region and submitted a plan to the California Department of Public Health. The agency rejected the plan last summer, noting a lack of community support and funding for a program. (Kandil, 2/23)

The Sacramento Bee: California Health Plan Tax Moves Closer To Approval
California lawmakers are poised to act on legislation that would expand a tax on health care plans while spending hundreds of millions of dollars on services for the developmentally disabled. No formal agreement has been announced, with a vote expected Thursday. (Miller, 2/22)

The Associated Press: California Legislature To Advance Health Plan Tax
A California legislative panel on Monday advanced a compromise plan to restructure taxes on health plans and increase funding for developmental disability services — the first legislative action in a months-long effort to prevent a massive hole in the state health care budget. The move came after influential groups on the right said they would not oppose the tax proposal, giving Republicans political cover to help Democrats reach the supermajority required to pass the legislation. (Cooper, 2/22)

WABE: Ga. Rep. Proposes Tax Credit For Rural Hospital Donations
A state representative from metro Atlanta is proposing a measure to help fund the state's struggling rural hospitals. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Geoff Duncan, R-Cumming, would allow corporations and people to claim a state tax credit when donating to rural health care nonprofits. (Yu, 2/22)

The Associated Press: Georgia Bill Inspired By Jimmy Carter’s Cancer Treatment
Georgia lawmakers have approved a bill inspired by former President Jimmy Carter’s cancer treatment. The bill prevents insurance companies from limiting coverage of drugs for stage 4 cancer patients. (2/22)

Wyoming Public Media: Senate Approves Title 25 Bill
The Wyoming Senate has approved a bill that would reform how the state handles people involuntarily hospitalized due to mental health issues. (Beck, 2/23)

The Associated Press: Utah Lawmakers Advance Broad Medical Marijuana Bill
Utah state senators gave preliminary approval Monday to a medical marijuana proposal that would legalize edible, vapor and topical pot products. Lawmakers voted 15-13 to advance the bill, saying it could help those with certain debilitating conditions who have not found relief through other medications. (Golden and Price, 2/22)

The Associated Press: Idaho Committee Unanimously Backs Rape Kit Legislation
Idaho lawmakers are supporting a bill that would create a statewide system of collecting and tracking the physical evidence in sexual assault investigations. The measure ensures that medical clinics will use rape kits to collect forensic evidence after a suspected sexual assault and will have that evidence sent for DNA testing unless the victim requests otherwise. (2/22)

The Associated Press: Missouri House Votes To Limit Public Access To Farm Data
The Missouri House has passed legislation restricting public access to some government data on farms and ranches. Lawmakers voted 104-49 Monday to exempt state agency data on animal health and the environmental impact of farms from open records laws. The bill now heads to the Senate. Bill sponsor Rep. Jay Houghton said some farmers are reluctant to participate in a government disease tracking program because proprietary information could become public. He said limiting the access to that data would encourage more producers to take part in the program, which would make the food system safer. (2/22)

The Wall Street Journal: New York Hospitals Strain To Meet Deadline On Electronic Prescriptions
New York hospitals and physicians are scrambling to meet a state mandate to electronically prescribe all medications, with some institutions asking for extra time to comply with a 2012 law to curb prescription drug abuse, medical errors and fraud. New York is the first state to mandate e-prescribing for all prescriptions with penalties for noncompliance, said Zeynep Sumer-King, vice president of regulatory and professional affairs at the Greater New York Hospital Association. (Ramey, 2/22)

Bay Area News Group: Alameda Health System, Insurance Carriers At Odds
As Alameda County's public health consortium battles it out with major insurance carriers over reimbursements, many patients find themselves having to pay higher out-of-network costs. (Parr, 2/22)

WGRZ: Auditors: NY Slow To Penalize Nursing Homes For Violations
State auditors say the New York Health Department has been slow to penalize nursing homes for violations, often choosing not to levy fines or taking several years to actually impose them. In a report Monday, the comptroller's office says its analysis shows that from January 2014 to last July the department collected only 12 fines totaling $152,000, less than one-fourth of the fines levied in 2011. (2/22)

The Associated Press: New Mexico's High Court Will Hear Workers' Comp Case
The New Mexico Supreme Court plans to review a lower court ruling that cleared the way for farm and ranch laborers across the state to receive workers’ compensation benefits. The appellate court issued an opinion last year that declared unconstitutional a decades-old provision in state law regarding farm and ranch laborers. That provision, on the books since the 1930s, excluded those employees whose duties focus primarily on growing and harvesting crops, meat or dairy products from receiving benefits if injured on the job. (Bryan, 2/22)

The Associated Press: Fourth California Prison Fails Health Review; 7 Passed Test
California's inspector general gave a failing grade to medical care at a fourth prison Monday as the state tries to regain responsibility for health treatment after a decade of federal control. Valley State Prison in Chowchilla received a failing grade in nine of the 14 benchmarks used by inspectors. Medical records often were missing, misfiled, incomplete or illegible. Medicine often was not provided as needed. Essential supplies and basic equipment were missing from many examination rooms. (Thompson, 2/22)

KTAR: Alzheimer's In Arizona: The Calm Before The Storm
It is the fourth leading cause of death in Arizona and the Department of Health Services predicts the number of people who will die from it will more than double by the year 2025. It is Alzheimer’s. Three years ago, the leading edge of the post World War II Baby boomer generation hit 65. A generation that came about starting in 1947 when returning soldiers married their sweethearts and started building families. That image does not elude Fitzpatrick the director of Alzheimer’s programs and advocacy in Arizona, New Mexico, and southern Nevada. (Moore, 2/22)

Reuters: Puerto Rico May Issue Delayed Audited 2014 Statements In April
Entities subject to going concern assessments, Garcia Padilla wrote, include not only the government itself, but PREPA, the island’s sole power utility; HTA, which operates the island’s major roads; the Metropolitan Bus Authority, which transports thousands in the San Juan area; the Puerto Rico Medical Services Administration, the island’s main hospital and trauma center; and PRIHA, which oversees Medicaid benefits for 1.6 million poor residents. (2/22)

The Poughkeepsie Journal: More Grandparents Are Parenting Grandchildren
When Debra Aldridge became her grandson’s primary caregiver, she was making $7.50 per hour as a cook. The alternative for the newborn, she was told, was to put him up for adoption. “I took one look at the little fella, and that was it,” said Aldridge, now 62. “I couldn’t let go.” For more than 11 years, Aldridge, who is divorced and lives in Chicago, has struggled to feed, house and clothe her “baby,” Mario. As she ages, Aldridge sinks deeper into poverty. (Cancino, 2/22)

The Associated Press: New Mexico Adopts New Rules For Medical Marijuana Producers
The names of licensed nonprofit medical marijuana producers and those seeking licenses from the state will become public under new rules taking effect next week, the New Mexico Department of Health announced Monday. The confidentiality surrounding producers was challenged last year in a lawsuit filed by freelance journalist Peter St. Cyr and the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government. They argued the health department was violating public records law by keeping producers' names secret. (Bryan, 2/22)

The Star Tribune: Teen's Death After Oral Surgery Prompts Suspension Of Edina Dentist's License
State regulators have suspended the license of an Edina dentist whose teenage patient died last June after a procedure to have her wisdom teeth removed. Sydney Galleger, a junior at Eden Prairie High School, went into convulsions during the June 9 surgery and was rushed to a hospital, where she died. The Minnesota Board of Dentistry cited "imminent risk of harm" in its order against Dr. Paul Tompach of Edina Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. (Walsh, 2/22)

STAT: How One Hospital Is Beating Sepsis And Saving Lives
When it comes to under-the-radar killers, sepsis is at or near the top of the list. It can begin quietly, often looking like the flu, pneumonia, or a urinary tract infection. And then it escalates, quickly erupting into widespread infection and inflammation that can cause organ failure and death if not treated fast enough. ... When we took a close look at it in 2014, we were very troubled to learn that nearly half of the patients who came to Dartmouth-Hitchcock with sepsis, or who developed sepsis in our hospital, died; the national average is between 35 percent and 60 percent. ... I called together clinicians and other experts from various parts of the medical center and said we needed to fix deaths from sepsis ASAP .... we did just that — our death rate from sepsis dropped by more than 75 percent. The solution wasn’t fancy. (James Weinstein, 2/22)

Los Angeles Times: The Growing Life-Expectancy Gap Between Rich And Poor
Researchers have long known that the rich live longer than the poor. Evidence now suggests that the life expectancy gap is increasing, at least here the United States, which raises troubling questions about the fairness of current efforts to protect Social Security. ... For example, we estimated that a woman who turned 50 in 1970 and whose mid-career income placed her in the bottom one-tenth of earners had a life expectancy of about 80.4. A woman born in the same year but with income in the top tenth of earners had a life expectancy of 84.1. The gap in life expectancy was about 3½ years. For women who reached age 50 two decades later, in 1990, we found no improvement at all in the life expectancy of low earners. (Gary Burtless, 2/22)

The New York Times' The Upshot: How To Make The Most Of Drugs We Already Have
Though you may not have realized it, there’s a good chance that a doctor has prescribed you a medication for a use other than what it was approved for. This off-label use is perfectly legal, but isn’t as safe as it might be, in part because incentives to invest in costly clinical trials to test such uses are weak. One out of five prescriptions is off-label. Some drugs, like those for cardiac conditions and anticonvulsants, are used off-label at a much higher rate. One study found that an average drug is used for 18 different conditions. (Austin Frakt, 2/22)

The Wall Street Journal: The Big-Data Future Has Arrived
Big data, the tech story of a few years ago, is now beginning to show big results. ... Already, thanks to big data, we have learned that toddlers learn language not from repetition—which we’ve thought for centuries—but by hearing words used in multiple contexts. We’ve also found that premature babies are at greatest risk when their heartbeats are stable (healthy baby hearts are more erratic). Researchers are making inroads into understanding the external influences on autism (carbon-dioxide levels, room temperature) and how urban crime can largely be isolated to just a few blocks, even individual buildings. ... We can now identify impending bouts of depression, even suicidal tendencies, by looking at the changing lifestyle (social media usage, diminishing movement) of potential victims. (Michael S. Malone, 2/22)

The Hill: An Obesity Penalty Would Be Legalized Discrimination
A study published earlier this month in the International Journal of Obesity has found that our common wisdom about the relationship between obesity and the risk for cardiovascular disease is possibly overstated. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has been considering rules that would, in effect, allow health insurers to charge obese people more for coverage if they fail to lose weight. This recent study strengthens the argument against the obesity penalty. ... Penalizing the obese for a medical condition and charging them more for medical coverage is contrary to two of the prime tenants of the Affordable Care Act (ACA): The coverage of preexisting conditions and access to all. But more than being contrary to ACA core values, it is contrary to American values by institutionalizing prejudice and blaming the victim. (David S. Seres, 2/22)

The Tennessean: Tennessee Quit Week A First Step To Healthier Nashville
Of the thousands of heart and lung operations I have performed, the most common cause of the underlying disease in these patients was a single voluntary behavior: smoking. ... Nashville's smoking rates are higher than the national average and that of all our peer cities. We must aggressively address this most preventable cause of premature disability and death. (Bill Frist, 2/22)

The Washington Post: Dear Conservatives: Abortion Clinics Don’t ‘Target’ The Black Community
A few weeks ago, Rep. Sean Duffy took to the House floor to scold black lawmakers like me. Citing high abortion rates among African American women, the Wisconsin congressman accused abortion providers of preying on minority communities. ... Groups like the Guttmacher Institute — an independent reproductive health research organization — have debunked this assertion with data showing that fewer than 1 in 10 abortion providers are in majority-black neighborhoods. (Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., 2/16)

JAMA: Antiretroviral Preexposure Prophylaxis: Opportunities And Challenges For Primary Care Physicians
Comprehensive primary care involves solicitation of information about behaviors that may not be congruent with clinicians’ personal beliefs. Because most adults are sexually active, it behooves primary care physicians to ask their patients about their sexual and drug activities to determine their risk for HIV and STDs. Clinicians should be able to offer counseling and testing to rule out these infections and consider those individuals appropriate for triage to PrEP [antiretroviral preexposure prophylaxis] and more frequent STD screening. Antiretroviral chemoprophylaxis is not a panacea, but it has been proven to decrease HIV transmission for diverse groups of high-risk persons and could increase engagement in sexual health care. (Kenneth H. Mayer, Douglas S. Krakower and Stephen L. Boswell, 2/18)