The New York Times: Health Care Overhaul Collapses As Two Republican Senators Defect
Two more Republican senators declared on Monday night that they would oppose the Senate Republican bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, killing, for now, a seven-year-old promise to overturn President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement. (Kaplan, 7/17)

The Washington Post: Two More Senate Republicans Oppose Health-Care Bill, Leaving It Without Enough Votes To Pass
They joined Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Susan Collins (Maine), who also oppose it. With just 52 seats, Republicans can afford to lose only two votes to pass their proposed rewrite of the Affordable Care Act. All 46 Democrats and two independents are expected to vote against it. (Sullivan and Bernstein, 7/18)

Modern Healthcare: Senate ACA Replacement Bill Dies After More Senators Withdraw Support
Moran and Collins, another centrist, have expressed strong concerns about the bill's Medicaid cuts and coverage losses, while Paul and Lee have criticized the bill's failure to roll back more of the ACA's insurance regulations and coverage subsidies. (Meyer, 7/17)

The Hill: New GOP Health Bill Lacks The Votes To Pass 
Highlighting the challenges faced by McConnell, Lee argued the measure is not conservative enough, tugging in the opposite direction from moderates. (Carney, 7/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Two More GOP Senators Oppose Health-Care Bill
“In addition to not repealing all of the Obamacare taxes, it doesn’t go far enough in lowering premiums for middle-class families; nor does it create enough free space from the most costly Obamacare regulations,” Mr. Lee, one of the Senate’s most conservative Republicans, said in a statement Monday night. (Peterson and Armour, 7/17)

Bloomberg: McConnell Abandons Obamacare Replacement To Seek Straight Repeal 
A repeal without a replacement is almost certain to get blocked in the Senate as well. The inability to deliver on seven years of GOP promises to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act would be the biggest failure yet for Trump and Republicans since they won control of Congress and the White House. (Litvan and Dennis, 7/17)

Los Angeles Times: Two More Republican Senators Announce Opposition To Healthcare Bill, Dooming Latest GOP Plan
In a tweet Monday, President Trump voiced support for repeal only: “Republicans should just REPEAL failing ObamaCare now & work on a new Healthcare Plan that will start from a clean slate. Dems will join in!” (Mascaro, 7/17)

KCUR: With Kansas Senator's Opposition, GOP Healthcare Bill Stopped 
At town hall meetings over Congress’ July 4 break, Moran said he was concerned the bill wouldn’t lower overall consumer costs and wouldn’t provide adequate protection for those with pre-existing conditions. He also expressed concerns that deep cuts in Medicaid over the next decade could threaten the survival of already struggling rural hospitals and nursing homes. (Mclean, 7/18)

McClatchy: McConnell Gives Up On Repeal And Replace For GOP Health Care Bill
Republicans needed at least 50 votes — Vice President Mike Pence would break a tie — to pass their repeal and replace effort. But senators were divided on the bill, with some saying it didn’t do enough to roll back Obama’s signature legislation, and others arguing it was too harsh and would kick their constituents off their current plans. (Welsh, 7/17)

Kaiser Health News: Postcard From Capitol Hill: When Health Care Takes A Breather
As one senator’s health care emergency upended what was supposed to be an action-packed week for the Senate health care bill, Capitol Hill’s denizens began rebooking Monday. Like T.J. Petrizzo, a lobbyist whose clients include children’s hospitals and cancer centers. On Monday afternoon, he was sitting alone in a nearly deserted Senate cafeteria looking at his phone. (Bluth, 7/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Dollar Slumps After Senate Deals Blow To Trump’s Policy Agenda
The dollar’s doldrums are deepening. On Tuesday morning in Asia, investors dumped the U.S. currency after it emerged that Republican lawmakers were pulling the plug on a contentious health-care bill—the latest sign that President Donald Trump is having trouble implementing his policy agenda. (Vaishampayan, 7/18)

The Washington Post: What Mitch McConnell Is Doing Next On Health Care, Explained
For Mitch McConnell, Monday night was as embarrassing a blow as they come for a Senate majority leader. Two more Republican senators came out against his bill to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, effectively dooming the latest version. That forced the Kentucky Republican to confront a difficult question with no good options: What now? (Sullivan, 7/18)

CQ Roll Call: McConnell To Push Obamacare Repeal After Replacement Falters
“Regretfully, it is now apparent that the effort to repeal and immediately replace the failure of Obamacare will not be successful," the Kentucky Republican said. (Williams and Lesniewski, 7/17)

USA Today: Senate To Take Up Bill To Repeal Obamacare Without Replacement Plan
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced late Monday that the Senate will give up on its bill to replace Obamacare and vote instead on legislation to repeal the law within two years. (Singer, 7/17)

The Hill: McConnell: Senate Will Try To Repeal ObamaCare With Delayed Replacement
"In the coming days, the Senate will vote to take up the House bill with the first amendment in order being what a majority of the Senate has already supported in 2015 and that was vetoed by then-President Obama: a repeal of Obamacare with a two-year delay to provide for a stable transition period," McConnell said in a statement. The move means Senate Republicans will try to repeal ObamaCare now, while kicking a replacement until after the 2018 mid-term election. (Carney, 7/17)

Politico: GOP Health Care Bill Collapses
McConnell added that the repeal-only bill is "what a majority of the Senate has already supported in 2015," but GOP lawmakers have voiced severe doubts that such a plan can win the 50 votes necessary this year given the uncertainty it would throw onto insurance markets. The 2015 vote was viewed as mostly symbolic at the time given Obama’s certain veto. (Everett and Haberkorn, 7/17)

Politico: 5 Reasons Why The Republicans Can't Pass A Repeal Bill
Senate Republicans' bid to dismantle and rewrite Obamacare is officially dead. Any effort to pick up the pieces and move ahead requires staring down monumental challenges, starting with healing deep divisions among Republicans deflated by failure to deliver on a defining promise. But with Obamacare’s popularity rising and repeal's popularity diminishing, they’ve got little room to maneuver to get 50 out of 52 Republican senators on board. (Cancryn and Pradhan, 7/18)

The Hill: Graham: ‘Time For A New Approach’ On ObamaCare Repeal
With the news Monday night that two more GOP senators won’t support taking up a bill repealing and replacing ObamaCare, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said it’s “time for a new approach.” "Getting money/power out of Washington & returning it to the states is the antidote to 1-SIZE FITS ALL approach embraced in Obamacare,” he tweeted, before touting his plan with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) for an ObamaCare repeal and replace measure. (Master, 7/17)

The Hill: McCain Calls For 'Return To Regular Order' On ObamaCare Repeal 
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Monday night Congress should “return to regular order” to craft a replacement for ObamaCare. “One of the major problems with Obamacare was that it was written on a strict party-line basis and driven through Congress without a single Republican vote. As this law continues to crumble in Arizona and states across the country, we must not repeat the original mistakes that led to Obamacare’s failure,” he said in a statement from Arizona, where he is recovering from surgery. (Master, 7/17)

NPR: McCain's Brain Surgery Could Keep Him Away From The Senate For Weeks
The initial report of Sen. John McCain's surgery sounded simple: the removal of a blood clot above his left eye. But it was actually brain surgery, and the clot was almost 2 inches long. (Columbus, 7/17)

Meanwhile, looking forward beyond health care legislation —

Bloomberg: House Conservatives Fear Health-Care Deja Vu On Secret Tax Plan
House conservative leaders worry they’ll be forced to vote to advance a vehicle for a tax-code rewrite without knowing details of the plan, setting up a repeat of Congress’s troubled efforts on health-care legislation. With a committee markup of a key budget resolution scheduled for Wednesday, leaders of the conservative House Freedom Caucus have demanded details about the tax package and about welfare-spending cuts that GOP leaders have agreed to in principle. But they’ve received no guarantees, and the prospects for seeing specifics ahead of a budget vote appear to be diminishing. (Kapur, 7/17)

The Associated Press: House Budget Blueprint Boosts Military, Cuts Benefits
House Republicans on Tuesday unveiled a 10-year budget blueprint that would dramatically increase military spending while putting the GOP on record favoring Medicare cuts opposed by President Donald Trump. (Taylor, 7/18)

Politico: Trump Blindsided By Implosion Of GOP Health Care Bill
President Trump convened a strategy session over steak and succotash at the White House with senators Monday night, trying to plot an uphill path to repealing Obamacare and replacing it with a GOP alternative. ... Meanwhile, two senators – neither invited to the dinner – were simultaneously drafting statements saying how they couldn’t support the current bill, which they released just after Trump’s White House meal concluded. (Dawsey, 7/18)

The Associated Press: Trump Blasts Congress Over Failure Of GOP Health Care Bill
President Donald Trump blasted congressional Democrats and “a few Republicans” Tuesday over the failure of the GOP effort to rewrite the Obama health care law, and warned, “we will return.” Trump’s early morning tweet unleashed a barrage of criticism at Congress over the collapse of the GOP’s flagship legislative priority. For seven years, the party has pledged to repeal President Barack Obama’s law. “Most Republicans were loyal, terrific & worked really hard,” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning, but said, “We were let down by all of the Democrats and a few Republicans.” (Fram and Werner, 7/17)

The Hill: White House On ObamaCare Repeal: 'Inaction Is Not An Option' 
The White House on Monday responded to the stalling of the Senate GOP’s healthcare legislation, saying “inaction is not an option” on the efforts to repeal and replace ObamaCare. “Insurance markets continue to collapse, premiums continue to rise, and Obamacare remains a failure. Inaction is not an option,” a White House spokesperson said in a statement. (Shelbourne, 7/17)

The Washington Post: Vice President Pence’s Bushel Of False And Misleading Claims About Health Care
Vice President Pence recently spoke at the National Governors Association meeting in Providence, R.I., and made several questionable claims about the Senate GOP health-care proposal, the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA). When he gave his speech, on Friday, the new version of the Republicans’ health proposal was released but had not been analyzed by the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan agency that studies the budget impact of legislation. (Lee, 7/18)

The New York Times: Old Truth Trips Up G.O.P. On Health Law: A Benefit Is Hard To Retract
In the end, Republicans relearned a lesson that has bedeviled them since the New Deal: An American entitlement, once established, can almost never be retracted. Since the day the Affordable Care Act passed Congress, Republicans have vowed to overturn it. In the beginning, many voters were with them, handing the Republican Party some of the tools: a sweeping rejection of House Democrats in 2010 — a rejection of government reach — followed by the Senate in 2014. (Steinhauer, 7/17)

NPR: After Major Health Care Blow, Trump, GOP Face Brand Crisis
It raises a host of questions about the status of the Republican Party, which is led in the White House by a right-wing nationalist who exploited a culture seething at Washington and in Congress by those very Washington establishmentarians. Who is in control? The conservatives from within, though, are not necessarily aligned with Trump. In fact, they have shown they are not afraid of either Trump or McConnell. That could mean big problems ahead for what Republicans can get done. Tax reform is a priority for McConnell and Trump, and Trump would also like to do infrastructure. (Montanaro, 7/18)

Politico: Obamacare Repeal Could Haunt Senate Republicans In 2020
Obamacare dogged Democrats for years at the polls, toppling their congressional majorities and stoking partisan fires that still burn in Washington. But if Republicans are ultimately able to pass their own health care plan, they will face their own repercussions — and some will hit at a painful time. Like the 2010 health care law, the GOP bill would not take effect all at once. Many of the most politically tricky provisions are staggered over the coming years and would hit right as a promising group of freshmen Republican senators come up for reelection in 2020. (Cheney and Schor, 7/17)

The Hill: GOP Reeling After Healthcare Collapse 
Republicans offered competing ideas for what to do next on healthcare Monday night, now that the current ObamaCare replacement effort has fallen apart. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) acknowledged late Monday that the chamber’s current approach would fail after two more senators announced opposition to the current healthcare draft. (Sullivan, 7/17)

Bloomberg: GOP Senator Blasts McConnell In New Setback For Health Bill
Republican Senator Ron Johnson accused Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of “a real breach of trust” by telling some Republicans privately that long-term cuts conservatives demanded to Medicaid provisions of the party’s embattled health-care bill are unlikely to ever take effect. With two Republicans already opposed to advancing the measure, McConnell can’t afford to lose another senator. Johnson, who had previously said he supported the bill, said other senators told him about McConnell’s comments. (Kapur and Litvan, 7/17)

Meanwhile, polls show that even before the plan fell apart, support from the public was wavering —

Bloomberg: Poll: Trump's Solid Base Support Shows Cracks On Health Care 
Donald Trump’s most fervent supporters are less confident of his leadership on health care even though they still overwhelmingly support him as president, the latest Bloomberg National Poll shows. As Trump calls on the U.S. Senate to pass legislation repealing and replacing Obamacare, 60 percent of all poll respondents said they think it’s unrealistic that a bill lowering premiums and covering more people will be passed in the next several years. At the same time, health care ranked as the most important issue facing the country, ahead of jobs, terrorism and immigration. (Mattingly, 7/17)

The Hill: Poll: Half Prefer ObamaCare Over GOP Health Bill 
Twice as many Americans prefer ObamaCare over the GOP's healthcare bill, a new poll released Monday finds. The Washington Post/ABC News poll shows 50 percent prefer ObamaCare, while 24 percent prefer the GOP's plan. Thirteen percent like neither. (Hellmann, 7/17)

McClatchy: Obamacare Repeal: Democrats Divided On Single Payer Health Care
Democrats showed uncommon unity in fighting Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, and it appeared to be working Monday as two more GOP senators said they can’t support the latest version. But Democrats’ discipline masks a deep and fundamental divide within the party that could complicate efforts to gain ground in the 2018 election and beyond. (Clark, 7/17)

Minnesota Public Radio: What You Need To Know About Single-Payer Health Plans
As Republican senators work to pass a bill to repeal and replace Obamacare, many are asking whether the U.S. should switch to a single-payer health care system. But what would that look like? (Miller, Shockman and Fornoff, 7/17)

The Hill: Sanders ‘Delighted’ By Failure Of GOP Health Plan 
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said he's "delighted" to see GOP senators fleeing from the chamber's latest version of an ObamaCare repeal-and-replace bill. "I am delighted to see that the disastrous Republican health care plan will not succeed," he wrote in a statement. (Master, 7/17)

Meanwhile, in New York —

The Wall Street Journal: Cuomo And De Blasio Team Up To Oppose GOP’s Health-Care Efforts
The Republican push to repeal the Affordable Care Act on Monday momentarily united two New York Democrats who are often at odds. Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio have long sparred with one another, most recently blaming the other for troubles at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and they rarely appear together. (Vilensky and Alfaro, 7/17)

Reuters: New York Attorney General Says Will Sue Over Obamacare Repeal
New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman intends to sue the federal government if Republican lawmakers pass proposed legislation to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, his office said on Monday. Schneiderman's office said it has identified "multiple constitutional defects" with the Republican healthcare bills. (Levine, 7/17)

The Baltimore Sun: Uncertainty In Washington Driving Up Health Insurance Rates, Insurers Say 
Two Maryland health insurance companies defended hefty rate increases they were seeking for insurance plans offered on the state’s exchange under Obamacare in part by citing the uncertainty in Washington over the law’s future. Representatives of both Evergreen Health and Kaiser Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic testified Monday before the Maryland Insurance Administration, which must decide whether to accept or adjust the requested rate increases before the next enrollment period begins this fall. The administration already held a hearing on a large increase being sought by CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, the state’s dominant insurer. (Cohn, 7/17)

Kaiser Health News: Unpaid Premiums? Switching Plans? What Changes Are Coming For 2018 Coverage
People are anxious about what’s going to happen with marketplace coverage next year. Even as Republicans contemplate their next move in the effort to undo the Affordable Care Act after the Senate GOP plan unraveled Monday night, the marketplaces are still likely offer plans this fall for 2018 coverage. Here are some of the important changes that are in the works that could affect consumers’ enrollment and coverage next year.. (Andrews, 7/18)

And in Georgia —

Georgia Health News: State Insurance Chief Hudgens Won’t Run For Re-Election In 2018
State Insurance Commissioner Ralph Hudgens said Monday that he will not seek re-election next year. ... Hudgens’ decision may shake up Georgia politics, and the race to succeed him is now wide open. (Miller, 7/17)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Health Advocate Enters Race For Georgia Insurance Chief
Cindy Zeldin, the executive director of Georgians for a Healthy Future, is the first high-profile Democrat to announce a bid to succeed Republican Ralph Hudgens... Zeldin contends the office is too cozy with insurers, and that the next commissioner should be focused “first and foremost about consumers.” (Bluestein, 7/18)

The Washington Post: Interrupted Sleep May Lead To Alzheimer’s, New Studies Show
Getting a solid night’s sleep is crucial not only for feeling good the next day – there is increasing evidence that it may also protect against dementia, according to new research presented Tuesday at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in London. (Bahrampour, 7/18)

Los Angeles Times: Worried About Dementia? Hearing And Language Problems Could Be Forerunners Of Cognitive Decline
Scientists have traced the roots of dementia back to midlife, a time when hearing loss and changes in speech patterns may signal the onset of cognitive decline. In research presented Monday at the Alzheimer’s Assn.’s annual international conference in London, investigators also reported that for people in their 80s, those who were admitted to a hospital for an urgent or emergency medical problem subsequently suffered more dramatic decline in mental functioning than their peers who checked into a hospital for an elective procedure or avoided the hospital altogether. (Healy, 7/17)

Orlando Sentinel: Assisted Living Tries Virtual Reality To Help Seniors With Dementia
Encore at Avalon Park is the third senior residence in the country to test the virtual-reality system created by MyndVR, a Dallas start-up whose partners are Samsung and the University of Texas at Dallas. All 89 residents will have a chance to try the 360-degree experience, but only 16 will participate in the four-week field trial — eight with dementia and eight without. (Jacobson, 7/18)

The Associated Press: Missouri Becomes Last State To Create Drug-Monitoring Plan
Missouri became the final state to create a prescription drug-monitoring program Monday when Republican Gov. Eric Greitens signed an executive order aimed at combatting a scourge that killed more than 900 residents last year. The announcement surprised lawmakers, many of whom were unaware such a program was under consideration. Almost immediately, Democrats questioned whether the order goes far enough while some Republicans expressed concerns about privacy. (Salter, 7/17)

The Kansas City Star: Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens Issues Order To Create Drug Monitoring Program
Greitens’ order directs the Department of Health and Senior Services to build the database, which will be designed to help identify suspicious patterns of prescriptions of controlled substances, including opioids. The announcement was made at the St. Louis headquarters of Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefits management company. “Like the plague, opioids kill the young, the old, the healthy, the sick, the virtuous and the sinful,” Greitens said in a prepared statement. “There’s not a corner of our state that hasn’t been visited by this curse.” (Hancock and Marso, 7/18)

KCUR: Greitens' Executive Order Creates Statewide Prescription Drug Monitoring Program For Missouri
Gov. Eric Greitens signed an executive order Monday to set up a statewide prescription drug monitoring program, ending Missouri's status as the final state in the nation without such a database. The order also bypasses another round of debates in the Missouri legislature, which came close to establishing a broad program during the regular session, but failed. Several cities and counties in the state already have set up their own monitoring program. (Rosenbaum, 7/17)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Gov. Scott Walker Signs Bills Fighting Opioid Abuse
Gov. Scott Walker signed 11 bills Monday to combat the state's opiate epidemic, including one that would establish a charter school for recovering addicts... The measures were taken up in a special legislative session the Republican governor called starting in January. (Marley, 7/17)

WBUR: Latest Idea In The Battle Against Opioid Addiction: A 'Soup To Nuts' Recovery Campus
By mothership, Fox and Sue Sullivan, who represent 235 area companies through the Newmarket Business Association, envision an addiction treatment and research campus. ... On these campuses, patients would find everything they need to manage their addiction, including detox to get them through withdrawal, all varieties of 12-step programs, all types of medication treatment, inpatient facilities, outpatient care and mental health services. (Bebinger, 7/17)

The Washington Post: Assisted Suicide Is Legal And Available In D.C. — For Now
District officials say doctors in the city may now begin the process of prescribing life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients, setting up a showdown with Republicans in Congress who are trying to void the city’s assisted-suicide law. City officials say the rules and regulations to implement the law took effect Monday, adding the District to six states that authorize the practice. (Nirappil, 7/17)

San Jose Mercury News: End Of Life: Family Sues UCSF For Refusing To Help Woman Die
In what may be the first-of-its-kind lawsuit related to California’s End of Life Option Act, the family of a San Francisco terminally ill cancer patient is suing the UC San Francisco Medical Center alleging that her physician and the system misrepresented that they would help the dying woman use California’s right-to-die law when her time came. Instead, according to the July 7 civil lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court, Judy Dale’s wish for a peaceful death was denied to her by the defendants’ “conscious choice to suppress and conceal’’ their decision that they would not participate in the law, despite Dale’s repeated indications to doctors and social workers that she intended to use its provisions. (Seipel, 7/17)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Outside Review Says State Lagging In Some Key Areas Of Mental Health Reform
Three years after the state reached a major legal settlement meant to reform its mental health system, both the outside reviewer hired to monitor the state’s progress and the advocacy organization that sued on patients’ behalf say there’s still significant work to be done. The state is required to submit to regular outside reviews of its mental health offerings as part of a multi-million dollar settlement reached three years ago, as a result of a class action lawsuit brought by the Disability Rights Center of New Hampshire. (McDermott, 7/17)

The Associated Press: Kansas Board Revokes Doctor's License Again In Abortion Case
Kansas' medical board for the third time has revoked the license of a doctor whose second opinions allowed the late Dr. George Tiller to perform late-term abortions more than a decade ago. The State Board of Healing Arts acted against Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus over what it previously concluded were her inadequate records for 11 patients aged 10 to 18 who sought abortions in 2003. Kansas law at the time required a second doctor to conclude that continuing a pregnancy would permanently harm a patient's physical or mental health. (7/17)

Iowa Public Radio: First Day Of Testimony In Abortion Restrictions Trial
The medical director of Iowa’s largest abortion provider took the witness stand today in Polk County District Court. Dr. Jill Meadows of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and the ACLU of Iowa are suing the state, saying that new restrictions on abortion create an undue burden for women. There’s currently an injunction on the new law which requires a woman to have an ultrasound three days before terminating her pregnancy. (Boden, 7/17)

State House News Service: Baker Vetoes $320 Million, Returns Assessments With MassHealth Reforms
Baker signed a budget for fiscal 2018 on Monday afternoon that includes $39.4 billion in spending after he vetoed $320 million from the plan, and went even further than House and Senate budget negotiators to revise tax revenue projections downward for this year by $749 million. The governor also returned to the Legislature a new assessment on employers that he initially proposed to help pay for growing MassHealth expenses, calling on lawmakers to act quickly to package the $200 million in new employer fees with MassHealth reforms that lawmakers laid aside during budget deliberations. (Murphy, 7/17)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Cleveland Clinic And CareSource Could Terminate Contract Sept. 1; Many Medicaid Patients Could Lose Access To The Clinic
People on the state's largest Medicaid managed care plan may no longer be able to access care from the Cleveland Clinic starting Sept. 1. Dayton-based CareSource, which serves roughly 1.3 million Medicaid members in Ohio, is notifying its members that it could terminate its contract with the Cleveland-based health system. (Christ, 7/17)

Concord Monitor: Person With Measles May Have Infected Others At Hampton Beach On July 9
People who visited Hampton Beach on the afternoon of Sunday, July 9, may have been exposed to the measles. The New Hampshire Division of Public Health Services said Monday that a person who was at Hampton Beach from about noon to 6 p.m. that day “was subsequently found to be infected with the measles virus” and is considered contagious. (7/17)

Denver Post: Boulder-Based Techstars And Foundry Invest In "Airbnb Of Health Care"
Armed with Boulder money, a California health insurance startup is trying to make it big. But not by selling plans — just by telling people about them. Impact Health is sort of like a dating service, or maybe an Airbnb. First, put in your preferences and history, then the algorithms find you a match: a health insurance plan. The company serves about 59,000 people, according to chief executive and co-founder Christine Carrillo, but they have lofty goals — and that’s where Techstars Venture Capital Fund and Foundry Group can help. (Douglas, 7/17)

Detroit Free Press: Doctor Claims Mike Morse Demanded Kickbacks
Southfield attorney Mike Morse demanded kickbacks and fudged test results in return for patient referrals, according to claims made by a Clarkston doctor who plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Dr. Ram Gunabalan swore to the accusations in a 49-page affidavit filed in federal court last week. The document lays out a series of allegations of questionable dealings Gunabalan said he had with Morse and others related to the treatment of auto accident patients in lawsuits. (Wisely and Reindl, 7/17)

California Healthline: Has California Hit The Brakes In Regulating Breath-Robbing Big Rigs?
James Lockett sits on his bed and opens the drawer of his nightstand, revealing a stash of asthma inhalers: purple disc-shaped ones he uses twice a day to manage his symptoms and others for full-blown attacks. Lockett, 70, says he never leaves home without an emergency inhaler. (Nguyen, 7/17)

San Francisco Chronicle: Sonoma County Challenges For Pot Supremacy As Others Turn Away
Craft cannabis is becoming a cousin to craft beer in Sonoma County, and the venture by the founder of the San Francisco Patient and Resource Center, or SPARC, is among several operations awaiting permits to grow and manufacture medical marijuana — and, presumably, recreational pot in the future. Around the state, the mainstreaming and legalization of marijuana is prompting many cities, even liberal ones, to fear trouble and shun the exploding industry. (Fimrite, 7/17)

The New York Times: In Congress, Obstructionists Are Obstructing Themselves
Republican legislative leaders are in a bind. While they appear to have failed for now in their goal of destroying the Affordable Care Act, their eagerness to shower tax breaks on the wealthy at the expense of health coverage for millions of Americans has crimped their ability to pass other fiscal legislation. (7/18)

The Washington Post: Is Trumpcare Finally Dead?
Perhaps the two “no” votes from Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) would have been enough to sink the GOP health-care effort. Senate Republicans and virtually all political watchers have been cultivating a sense of suspense — who would be the third “no” vote? — when in fact there are likely, according to Collins, many more “no” votes (eight to 10, she said in TV interviews Sunday). Then a very public and simple barrier to passage emerged — Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) undetermined recuperation time. With two “no” votes already clinched, Senate GOP leaders could not even pretend to have sufficient support without McCain (who actually might be a “no” vote in the end). Now comes perhaps the death knell for Trumpcare: Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) both announced their opposition Monday night. (Jennifer Rubin, 7/17)

The Fiscal Times: The Lesson Of The GOP Health Care Collapse: Make America Simpler Again
One of the core functions of the now-lamented Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) was to continue outsourcing the federal bureaucracy to the individual. This trend imposes on the public an assortment of administrative duties to work the system for the best deal. (David Dayden, 7/18)

RealClear Health: The Disturbing Process Behind Trumpcare
Since I came to Washington in 1969, I have been immersed in Congress and its policy process. I have seen many instances of unpopular bills considered and at times enacted. I have seen many instances of bills put together behind closed doors. I have seen bills enacted and repealed after a public backlash. I have seen embarrassing mistakes in bills, and lots of intended consequences. (Norm Ornstein, 7/17)

Los Angeles Times: Is Rand Paul's Opposition To The GOP Health Bill Principled, Or Cynical?
Thhe greatest trick any politician can pull off is to get his self-interest and his principles in perfect alignment. As Thomas More observed in Robert Bolt’s “A Man for All Seasons,” “If we lived in a State where virtue was profitable, common sense would make us good, and greed would make us saintly.” Which brings me to Sen. Rand Paul, the GOP’s would-be Man for All Seasons. Paul has managed to make his opposition to the GOP’s healthcare bill a matter of high libertarian principle. The fact that the bill is terribly unpopular in his home state of Kentucky — where more than 1 out of 5 Kentuckians are on Medicaid — is apparently just a coincidence. (Jonah Goldberg, 7/18)

McClatchy: The GOP Is Bungling Obamacare Repeal, And Democrats Could Be The Winners
The Republican Party in Congress could be on the verge of losing the 2018 midterm elections 16 months before they happen. Since 2010, the GOP has been vowing and planning and stunting to repeal the Affordable Care Act, that transformative legislative Frankenstein that Democrats crammed through Congress in 2010 without a single Republican vote. (Andrew Malcolm, 7/18)

The Wichita Eagle: Enough Flim-Flam: Move On Now To Solve Health Care Puzzle
When the Senate majority leader wields the possibility of bipartisanship as a threat and dismisses massive cuts to Medicaid as a shell game, you know it’s time to move on. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s desperate scramble for one or two more votes to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act has actually reached those moral depths. And it isn’t working for congressional Republicans, let alone the American people. (Dave Merritt, 7/18)

Los Angeles Times: How I Got Caught In The Crossfire Between V.P. Pence And Ohio Gov. Kasich Over Medicaid
At the National Governors Conference on Friday, Vice President Mike Pence took Ohio Gov. John Kasich to task in a speech attacking the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. Pence presumably had two goals. The first was to silence Kasich, the loudest voice among GOP governors opposed to congressional Republicans’ efforts to drastically roll back Medicaid as part of their ACA repeal plans. The second was to justify that rollback by claiming that the Medicaid expansion eroded services for the program’s traditional beneficiaries, including the disabled. (Michael Hiltzik, 7/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Return Medicaid To Its Rightful Role
Rolling back ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion has become the focal point of the health-care debate, and rightly so. Without fundamental change, Medicaid—expanded or not—will push state budgets to the brink even as it fails to help the most financially vulnerable Americans. Consider Oklahoma, our home state. Despite intense lobbying by hospital corporations, the state Legislature stood strong and refused the Medicaid expansion. But the Medicaid rolls increased anyway, and at a dramatic cost to priorities like education, public safety and transportation. (Frank Keating and Doug Beall, 7/17)

Bloomberg: HSAs Can Show The Way To Bipartisan Health Reform
The Senate Republicans’ latest plan to overhaul Obamacare includes a significant expansion of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), but exacerbates a key longstanding problem: HSAs provide significant tax benefits to those Americans who need the least help. That provides an opening for bipartisan compromise. Democrats and Republicans could find agreement on creating “equitable HSAs” -- that is, HSAs that are subsidized more equally for everyone -- to reform the healthcare system. (Samuel Estreicher and Clinto Wallace, 7/17)

Bloomberg: Taxing Hospitals Is A Lousy Way To Fix Health Care
Before Obamacare passed, we were bombarded with statistics about the uncompensated care that hospitals provide. The numbers were large -- in the tens of billions -- and the implication was that this was something of a national emergency. Certainly it was one very good reason to pass the Affordable Care Act, so that hospital budgets wouldn’t groan under unpaid bills, and the people getting care could be sure that they wouldn't get turned away at the hospital door. (Megan McArdle, 7/17)

Bloomberg: This Isn't The First U.S. Opiate-Addiction Crisis
It’s true that there’s an opioid epidemic, a public health disaster. It’s not true that it’s unprecedented. A remarkably similar epidemic beset the U.S. some 150 years ago. The story of that earlier catastrophe offers some sobering lessons as to how to address the problem. (Stephen Mihm, 7/17)

Lexington Herald Leader: Ky.’s New Opioid Law Will Only Result In More Death, Pain
As the death toll from opioid overdoses in Kentucky and the rest of the Midwest continues to soar, it’s truly disconcerting to see that policymakers are taking steps that are not only devoid of medical and common sense, but virtually guaranteed to make matters worse. The recent passage of the ill-conceived House Bill 333, which imposes a three-day limit (with certain exceptions) on opioid prescribing, reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the reasons behind the addiction epidemic. (Josh Bloom, 7/14)

Miami Herald: Minority Communities Lack Access To Mental Healthcare
Despite the need for mental health services, minorities are not seeking medical care. Even when they do seek treatment, they are less likely to receive adequate mental health care and tend to drop out of treatment two to three times more frequently. (Daniel Jimenez, 7/17)

The Des Moines Register: Private Medicaid’s Latest Victim Is Iowa Teen
Dan and Julie Olinger of Des Moines have spent the past decade piecing together help for their mentally ill son. Now that the teen is getting inpatient care at one of Iowa’s few psychiatric facilities for children, his private Medicaid insurer plans to stop paying for it. (7/17)

Lincoln Journal-Star: Nebraska Needs Family Planning Clinics
In our neighboring state of Iowa, 15,000 people lost access to preventive care and contraception as Planned Parenthood clinics shut down earlier this month after Iowa politicians passed a law to stop reimbursing the trusted provider for health services. (Mia Fernandez, 7/18)

Sacramento Bee: California Bill To 'Protect' Privacy Doesn't Solve Privacy Problem
Despite its name, the California Broadband Internet Privacy Act, awaiting votes in the state Senate, won’t do anything meaningful to protect consumer privacy on line. Instead, it will curb innovation and reduce competition, hurting consumers whose interests it purports to protect. (Jon Leibowitz, 7/17)

Stat: It's Time To Break Down The Wall Between Dentistry And Medicine
In 1840, dentistry focused on extracting decayed teeth and plugging cavities. Today, dentists use sophisticated methods for prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. We implant teeth, pinpoint oral cancers, use 3-D imaging to reshape a jaw, and can treat some dental decay medically, without a drill. We’ve also discovered much more about the intimate connection between oral health and overall health. Periodontal disease, also known as gum disease, has been linked to the development of diabetes, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease. Pregnant women with periodontitis are more likely to develop pre-eclampsia, a potentially serious complication of pregnancy, and deliver low-birth-weight babies. (Bruce Donoff, 7/17)

Austin American-Statesman: Vaccines Protect Texas Children
When kids are vaccinated, there is less concern that they will contract diseases when they go with their friends to the local swimming pool or the playground... Pockets of parents in Texas and other states have become complacent because they don’t regard these diseases as threats to their children, while others don’t believe these diseases exist any longer. (Terry Cook, 7/18)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Substance Abuse Driving Explosion Of Women In Prison
In 2015, the number of women in Kentucky prisons grew by 25 percent, five times the rate of men. We know the major drivers of this explosion: nearly four in five women behind bars have a substance abuse problem. (Kimberly Poore Moser, 7/17)

The Des Moines Register: Postpartum Psychosis Claimed Molly Roth. Her Husband Hopes To Save Others
But two weeks after Gracelyn arrived Jan. 5, Molly encountered her biggest hurdle. A nurse practitioner called it the “baby blues,” a benign term for a sometimes monumental change that affects about one in five new mothers. Normally a whirlwind of energy, the 32-year-old Molly, who used to make sure everyone else was OK, now had to drag herself through the motions of daily life. She would cry uncontrollably and say she had made a mistake. About a month in, she was diagnosed with postpartum depression and put on a handful of medicines, Jamison says. By then she was struggling just to bathe: "I had to show her the simple steps of turning on the water and getting a towel." She talked of suicide. What she was suffering from, according to Jamison, was actually a rarer, more dangerous perinatal mood disorder called postpartum psychosis, compounding her existing anxieties. (Rekha Basu, 7/17)

Los Angeles Times: Domestic Violence Victims Shouldn't Have To Choose Between Deportation And Medical Care
When Elena attempted to break up with her abusive boyfriend, he beat her horribly, saying he would leave her with scars by which to remember him. Although badly injured, she did not contact the police to report the domestic violence. Nor did she seek medical care for her open wounds or the ringing in her ear. She had heard news of President Trump’s expanded immigration enforcement policies and stories of immigration agents arresting domestic violence and human trafficking victims inside courthouses. She had also learned that her state, California, requires medical professionals to report domestic violence and sexual assault to the police, and she feared deportation more than she desired medical care. (Jane K. Stoever, 7/17)