ABC News: Vice President Harris Hammers 'Outrageous' Abortion Ruling
Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday lambasted last month's Supreme Court ruling scrapping constitutional protections for abortion access and highlighted state laws restricting or banning the procedure. In a visit to Indiana, where a 10-year-old girl who was raped then obtained an abortion after being unable to get the procedure in Ohio, Harris singled out legislation that outlaws abortions without exceptions for sexual assault or incest, calling such laws "outrageous" in light of the court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. (Axelrod, 7/25)

AP: Indiana Abortion Debate Draws Protest Crowds, Vice President
“Maybe some people need to actually learn how a woman’s body works,” Harris said Monday, eliciting murmurs and laughs from the Democratic legislators. “The parameters that are being proposed mean that for the vast majority of women, by the time she realizes she is pregnant, she will effectively be prohibited from having access to reproductive health care that will allow her to choose what happens to her body.” (Davies and Rodgers, 7/26)

CNN: Indiana Legislature Convening Special Session To Consider Abortion Ban
Indiana lawmakers reconvened on Monday to consider more restrictions on abortion, the first state to hold a special session with the goal of potentially curtailing abortion rights since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month. A special Indiana General Assembly committee met for more than four hours on Monday to discuss Senate Bill 1, which would prohibit abortion unless the procedure was necessary to prevent a "substantial permanent impairment" to the life of the mother. Republicans control the state legislature. (Stracqualursi, Duster and Ly, 7/25)

In other abortion access —

The Washington Post: People With Disabilities Weigh Medication, Pregnancy In Post-Roe World
People with disabilities — including psychiatric, chronic and physical — say they will be disproportionately affected by the loss of federal abortion protections and have been overlooked in the discussion surrounding abortion access. Studies have found that they experience higher rates of sexual violence — one situation that could lead to an abortion — in addition to higher rates of unplanned pregnancies and a higher risk of death during pregnancy compared to people without disabilities. They may also take medications known as teratogens that have harmful effects on pregnancy, including Depakote, which has the generic name valproate, in addition to topiramate and phenytoin, among other medications, according to neurology studies. (Venkataramanan, 7/25)

Newsweek: Floating Abortion Clinic Off Gulf Coast Could Open In 2023, But Needs $20M
The idea is that patients in the southern parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas will be able to travel to the ship moored in federal waters to seek care at little to no cost. Those states have had abortion bans take effect since the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade, although Louisiana's ban has been blocked by a judge while a lawsuit challenging it is resolved. (Rahman, 7/25)

San Francisco Chronicle: Will Laws Requiring California Doctors To Report Abuse Put Out-Of-State Abortion Patients At Risk? Here’s What We Know
It’s rare for the San Francisco Police Department to encounter a case like the one in Indiana, Public Information Officer Kathryn Winters said. If it were to happen, the department wouldn’t tell out-of-state authorities the minor had an abortion, she said. The department also would not identify the mandated reporter in its referral to an out-of-state agency because California law forbids disclosing their identity, she said. (Bollag, 7/25)

Also —

NPR: The Role Of Abortion Funds Is Growing In A Post-Roe World
Abortion funds raise and distribute money to people who need help paying for abortions, including procedure and travel costs. In 2020, funds across the country helped nearly 45,000 people pay for abortions. Most funds serve specific states or regions, while others focus on particular populations like Indigenous women. Some, like Floren's, are run entirely by volunteers. Others are part of clinics or larger organizations like Planned Parenthood. (Levi and Gorenstein, 7/25)

Mountain State Spotlight: Here’s What’s In West Virginia’s New Abortion Ban Bill
Since the Supreme Court’s ruling, West Virginia’s abortion law has reverted to one that’s been on the books since the 19th century and bans the medical procedure entirely. Advocates on both sides of the issue have said lawmaker action to modernize the law is necessary; a circuit judge halted its implementation last week, citing its vague language, but West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is appealing the case to the state Supreme Court. Despite many lawmakers claiming surprise at the last-minute nature of Justice’s announcement, within hours they had a draft bill before the House Health and Human Resources Committee. The bill proposed on Monday is a strict ban, though it appears to correct some of the mistakes of similar laws in other states that have come under fire for penalizing women or doctors for certain medically necessary procedures. (Karbal, 7/25)

AP: Lawmakers Eye Exemptions To Tennessee's Trigger Law
Tennessee’s attorney general’s office on Monday said it’s still unknown when the state’s anti-abortion “trigger ban” will go into effect, but some state lawmakers are raising alarm that the ban has no exceptions for victims of rape or incest. (Kruesi, 7/25)

AP: Lawsuit Seeks To Block Wyoming's Imminent Abortion Ban
A lawsuit filed Monday by a Casper women’s health clinic and others seeks to block Wyoming’s new abortion ban just before it’s scheduled to take effect. The lawsuit claims the new law violates the state constitution with restrictions that will discourage potentially lifesaving pregnancy healthcare in Wyoming, forcing pregnant women to go to other states for necessary procedures. (Gruver, 7/25)

AP: Kansas AG Tries To Tamp Down Fears About Abortion Measure
Attorney General Derek Schmidt, a Republican running for governor who supports the measure, argues in a legal opinion issued Friday that treating miscarriages, removing dead fetuses and ending ectopic pregnancies do not fall under Kansas’ legal definition of abortion. The proposal on the ballot Aug. 2 would amend the Kansas Constitution to allow the Legislature to further restrict or ban abortion. It’s the first referendum on abortion policy by a state since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month. (Hanna, 7/25)

NPR: How Texas Abortion Law Turned A Pregnancy Loss Into A Medical Trauma
New, untested abortion bans have made doctors unsure about treating some pregnancy complications, which has led to life-threatening delays and trapped families in a limbo of grief and helplessness. Elizabeth Weller never dreamed that her own hopes for a child would become ensnared in the web of Texas abortion law. (Feibel, 7/26)

NPR: Hundreds Of Michigan Medical Students Walk Out Over Anti-Abortion Speaker
On Sunday night at the University of Michigan Medical School's annual white coat ceremony, incoming medical students recited oaths, received their white coats – then dozens of them walked out. At issue was the keynote speaker: Dr. Kristin Collier, a Michigan faculty member and primary care physician who has spoken publicly about her Christian beliefs and anti-abortion views. (Sullivan, 7/26)

Los Angeles Times: UC And CSU Campuses To Provide Abortion Pills In California
Abortion pills will soon be easily and cheaply available to students at the University of California and California State University under a state law aimed at expanding access to the medication to college students, a move that could become a flashpoint for antiabortion groups vowing to challenge it. (Hernandez, 7/25)

The Boston Globe: Mass. House, Senate Agree On Compromise To Change Later-Term Abortion Law; Baker Likely To Have Final Say
A key point of tension that divided the Democratic-controlled House and Senate was the circumstances under which abortions at or after 24 weeks of pregnancy should be allowed. The compromise bill, expected to pass both branches and be sent to Governor Charlie Baker in coming days, allows for later-term abortions in the case of a “a lethal fetal anomaly or diagnosis . . . or grave fetal diagnosis that indicates that the fetus is incompatible with sustained life outside of the uterus without extraordinary medical interventions,” according to the bill’s language. (Gross, 7/25)

The Hill: WHO: No Guarantee Monkeypox Won’t Spread Beyond Specific Communities
The global outbreak of monkeypox should not be expected to stay confined to specific groups, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said Monday. Though cases of the virus have been predominantly reported among men who have sex with men, diseases commonly begin in one community before spreading to others. (Mueller, 7/25)

The Washington Post: Biden Administration Weighs Declaring Monkeypox A Health Emergency
The Biden administration is weighing whether to declare the nation’s monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency and also plans to name a White House coordinator to oversee the response as officials attempt to keep the virus from becoming entrenched in the United States. (Diamond, 7/25)

In news on monkeypox vaccines —

The New York Times: As Monkeypox Spread In New York, 300,000 Vaccine Doses Sat In Denmark
... But there was a catch: There were only 1,000 doses available. Within two hours, the only clinic offering the shots began turning people away. At that same moment, some 300,000 doses of a ready-to-use vaccine owned by the United States sat in a facility in Denmark. American officials had waited weeks as the virus spread in New York and beyond before deciding to ship those doses to the United States. (Goldstein and Otterman, 7/25)

The Washington Post: D.C. Shifts Monkeypox Vaccine Policy To Focus On First Dose
D.C. public health officials are shifting the city’s monkeypox vaccine strategy, using its limited stock of vaccine to give out first doses to the most at-risk population instead of reserving shots for the second dose of the two-shot regimen. The strategy, announced Monday, means the District will rely on the federal government to provide enough shots for second doses, according to a statement from the D.C. Department of Health. (Portnoy, 7/25)

Houston Chronicle: Houston-Area Leaders Call For More Monkeypox Vaccine Doses Amid Nationwide Shortage
There are 57 reported cases in the Houston area, including 10 in unincorporated Harris County. The Houston area recently received just over 5,000 doses of the JYNNEOS monkeypox vaccine from the state, but demand still far exceeds supply, health officials say. A two-dose series, administered four weeks apart, is required for full vaccination. (Gill, 7/25)

San Francisco Chronicle: San Francisco Monkeypox Vaccine Clinic Runs Out Of Vaccine Supply
The monkeypox vaccine clinic at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, one of the main public vaccination sites in the city, will close Tuesday due to lack of vaccine supply, the San Francisco Public Health Department said Monday. (Ho, 7/25)

On how the maker of the only approved vaccine will ramp-up supply —

Bloomberg: Monkeypox Vaccine Maker Bavarian Nordic Considers 24-Hour Emergency Production
Bavarian Nordic A/S, the only company with a vaccine approved for monkeypox, said it’s preparing to run production through the night to meet surging demand after the virus outbreak was declared a global emergency. (Wienberg, 7/25)

CNN: More Than 40% Of Parents Of Young Kids Say They Will Not Get Their Child A Covid-19 Vaccine, Survey Finds
New survey results published Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation indicate that 43% of parents of children under 5 in the US say they will not get their child vaccinated against Covid-19, the highest percentage in the year that KFF's Vaccine Monitor survey has been asking the question. (Langmaid, 7/26)

San Francisco Chronicle: U.S. Vaccination Campaign For Children Under 5 Fizzles
Approximately 544,000 U.S. children under 5 received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose as of last week — that’s 2.8% of the 19 million children in the age group eligible for the shots, according to federal data analyzed by the Kaiser Family Foundation. A little over a month since the vaccines became available to the youngest Americans, uptake has peaked and is rapidly decreasing. ... (Vaziri and Beamish, 7/25)

Ahead of the fall, Fauci speaks on future vaccines —

The Hill: Fauci Holds Up BA.5 Booster As Best Approach To Handling COVID This Fall
Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, said on Monday that a COVID-19 vaccine booster specific to the BA.5 omicron subvariant — which is currently dominant in the U.S. — is the “best guess” for dealing with the virus this fall amid the ever-evolving coronavirus pandemic. (Choi, 7/25)

On long covid, surges and other pandemic matters across the states —

Stat: Pushed By Right-Wing Doctors, Long Covid Patients Turn To Ivermectin
One patient posted that he started to feel better within two days of taking ivermectin. “Don’t believe all the media lies. It’s been around for many many years,” he wrote, adding that Big Pharma dismissed the drug because it’s cheap. Another patient said it cured her long-hauler symptoms in 24 hours. Though Karen Fritzemeier once worked as a respiratory therapist, is trained to weigh medical evidence, and knows to be skeptical of such anecdotes, she said for patients at a loss for treatment, it’s hard to resist these personal stories. (Goldhill, 7/26)

Stat: Senators Press For Answers On Prisons’ Scant Use Of Covid Therapeutics
Fourteen senators are demanding that the federal Bureau of Prisons explain its scant use of Covid-19 therapeutics. The letter is based on STAT’s May reporting showing that the agency used just a fraction of the Covid-19 drugs it was allotted by the federal government. It urges the bureau’s leadership to revamp its approach toward Covid-19 testing in an effort to catch more infections that could benefit from these drugs, which need to be given early in a person’s illness. (Florko, 7/26)

ABC News: More Cities May Bring Back Mask Mandates As COVID Cases Rise
Cities and counties throughout the United States are considering reinstating mask mandates as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to rise. In Los Angeles County, 8,091 new infections were reported on Friday, the latest date for which data is available, according to the Department of Public Health. This is an increase of 50% from the 5,391 cases recorded at the beginning of the month. (Kekatos, 7/25)

Los Angeles Times: COVID Outbreaks Hit TSA, American And Southwest Airlines At LAX
COVID-19 outbreaks have hit Los Angeles International Airport with at least 400 confirmed cases among Transportation Security Administration staff and workers at American and Southwest airlines, according to county health officials. (Hernandez, 7/25)

AP: Some Schools Hit Hard By Virus Make Few Changes For New Year
As a new school year approaches, COVID-19 infections are again on the rise, fueled by highly transmissible variants, filling families with dread. They fear the return of a pandemic scourge: outbreaks that sideline large numbers of teachers, close school buildings and force students back into remote learning. (Lurye and Binkley, 7/25)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Coronavirus Weekly Death Rate 70% Higher Than In Bay Area: Why So Much Worse?
L.A. County’s weekly COVID-19 death rate is significantly higher than that of the San Francisco Bay Area. On a per-capita basis, L.A. County was recording 96 deaths a week for every 10 million residents, while the Bay Area was recording 56 deaths a week for every 10 million residents. (Lin II and Money, 7/25)

The Hill: Biden’s COVID Symptoms ‘Almost Completely Resolved,’ Doctor Says
President Biden’s COVID-19 symptoms are almost completely resolved, his physician Kevin O’Connor said in a memorandum released by the White House on Monday. The president, who completed his fourth day of the antiviral Paxlovid on Sunday evening, only has residual nasal congestion and minimal hoarseness, O’Connor said. (Gangitano, 7/25)

The New York Times: Biden Feeling Better As He Seeks To Show He Is Still Working Despite Covid
President Biden said on Monday that he was feeling better and sleeping through the night again as he recovered from Covid-19, and he expressed hope that he could return to work in person by the end of the week. (Baker, 7/25)

Meanwhile, in news on Sen. Joe Manchin —

AP: Sen. Manchin Isolating After Positive COVID Test
Sen. Joe Manchin has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms, the West Virginia lawmaker tweeted Monday. The 74-year-old Democrat said he’s fully vaccinated and boosted. “I will isolate and follow CDC guidelines as I continue to work remotely to serve West Virginians,” he said. (7/25)

Also —

The Hill: Murkowski Tests Positive For COVID-19
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is quarantining at her home in Alaska after testing positive for COVID-19. “After experiencing flu like symptoms I recently tested positive for COVID-19. I will be following guidance and advice from doctors and will be quarantining at home in Alaska while continuing my work remotely,” Murkowski said on Twitter on Monday. (Mueller, 7/25)

AP: Maryland Rep. Ruppersberger Tests Positive For COVID-19
The Democrat who represents Maryland’s 2nd District tested positive for the virus on Sunday evening, according to a news release. The congressman’s symptoms are mild and he is working from home while isolating, his office said. He is fully vaccinated and has had a booster shot. (7/25)

The New York Times: Biden Rule Would Strengthen Health Protections For Gay And Transgender People
The Biden administration said Monday that it intends to enshrine anti-discrimination protections for gay and transgender people in the Affordable Care Act — a proposal that would officially reverse a policy adopted by the Department of Health and Human Services under former President Donald J. Trump. (Gay Stolberg, 7/25)

Modern Healthcare: HHS To Restore, Strengthen ACA Nondiscrimination Rules
"We want to make sure that whoever you are, whatever you look like, wherever you live, however you wish to live your life, that you have access to the care that you need," Becerra said during a call with reporters. (Goldman, 7/25)

Axios: Affordable Care Act Lawsuit Threatens Contraception Access And Other Preventive Services
The Affordable Care Act is once again being challenged in federal court, this time with big implications for the private insurance market that dovetail with concerns about contraception access in the post-Roe world. Why it matters: A pending federal case takes up whether part of the law requiring coverage of preventive services is unconstitutional. If the plaintiffs are successful, millions of people could lose access to free services like cancer screenings, immunizations and contraception. (Owens, 7/26)

On moves against the drug pricing bill —

The Hill: Manufacturers Knock Drug Pricing Bill In Ad Blitz
The National Association of Manufacturers launched a six-figure ad campaign over the weekend opposing Democrats’ proposal to regulate drug prices in their budget reconciliation package. The lobbying group, which represents Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and other top drugmakers, is airing ads arguing that price controls on popular drugs amount to a “hidden tax” that will hurt U.S. competitiveness. (Evers-Hillstrom, 7/25)

In news on other political, legal matters relating to health and health care —

Roll Call: House Democrats Add Child Nutrition To Legislative Menu
The House Education and Labor Committee is making a late-session push to renew child nutrition programs and incorporate changes made to cope with the pandemic, but disagreements could slow the reauthorization of a nutrition law that expired in 2015. (Ferguson, 7/25)

Modern Healthcare: 340B Supreme Court Ruling Fix Divides Providers
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services's potential response to a Supreme Court decision that invalidated cuts to 340B payments spotlights the divide between providers that participate in the drug-discount program and those that don't. While the informal policy proposal drew cheers from 340B hospitals for reversing payment cuts, some who don't use the program described the agency's road map as "irresponsible" and argue CMS would be justified paying even less for 340B drugs. (Goldman, 7/25)

Reuters: Pfizer Loses U.S. Appeal Over Co-Pays For Heart Failure Patients
A federal appeals court on Monday rejected Pfizer Inc's (PFE.N) challenge to a U.S. anti-kickback law the drugmaker said prevented it from helping heart failure patients, many with low incomes, afford medicine that cost $225,000 per year. (Stempel, 7/25)

The New York Times: Biden’s Drug Czar Is Leading The Charge For A ‘Harm Reduction’ Approach
Support for supervised consumption from the Biden administration would be a major turning point in how the government addresses an epidemic of addiction and overdoses that has endured for decades and now claims more than 100,000 lives a year. Instead of discouraging drug use, such sites aim to keep users from dying, with trained personnel providing syringes and other sterile equipment for using drugs and working to reverse overdoses on the spot. (Weiland, 7/26)

The Boston Globe: Key Elements Of Influential Alzheimer’s Study May Have Been Fabricated, Report Says
Now the field of Alzheimer’s research has received another black eye. An investigative report in the journal Science said that an influential paper published in Nature in 2006 allegedly contained fabricated data and that it fueled a popular but unproven theory into the causes of the disease. (Saltzman and Cross, 7/25)

NBC News: Alzheimer's Theory Undermined By Accusations Of Fabricated Research
The findings have thrown skepticism on the work of Sylvain Lesné, a neuroscientist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, and his research, which fueled interest in a specific assembly of proteins as a promising target for treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Lesné didn’t respond to NBC News’ requests for comment, nor did he provide comment to Science magazine. (Bendix and Chow, 7/25)

On covid research developments —

The Atlantic: Could Genetics Be The Key To Never Getting The Coronavirus?
The idea of coronaviral resistance is beguiling enough that scientists around the world are now scouring people’s genomes for any hint that it exists. If it does, they could use that knowledge to understand whom the virus most affects, or leverage it to develop better COVID-taming drugs. For individuals who have yet to catch the contagion—a fast-dwindling proportion of the population—resistance dangles “like a superpower” that people can’t help but think they must have, says Paula Cannon, a geneticist and virologist at the University of Southern California. (Wu, 7/25)

Press Association: Long Covid: Hair Loss, Reduced Sex Drive Among Wider List Of Symptoms In Study
Hair loss and a reduced sex drive are among a wider set of long Covid symptoms than previously thought, new research suggests. The study found that while the most common symptoms include loss of smell, shortness of breath and chest pain, others include amnesia, an inability to perform familiar movements or commands, and hallucinations. (Massey, 7/25)

CIDRAP: Fully Vaccinated COVID-19 Patients Less Likely To Have Heart Attack, Stroke
Fully vaccinated COVID-19 patients in South Korea were less likely than their unvaccinated peers to be hospitalized for a heart attack or ischemic stroke 31 to 120 days after diagnosis, despite being older and having more underlying illnesses, finds a study published late last week in JAMA. (7/25)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Antivirals May Cut Risk Of Hospitalization, Death
A study today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal suggests that use of the oral antiviral drugs molnupiravir and Paxlovid in patients with mild or moderate COVID-19 lowered the risk of hospitalization and death without raising the risk of adverse events. (Van Beusekom, 7/25)

Meanwhile, researchers make progress against the child hepatitis outbreak —

The Wall Street Journal: Mysterious Hepatitis Cases In Children May Have Complex Cause 
An international effort to find the cause of mysterious hepatitis cases among children in dozens of countries yielded a new hypothesis on Monday, with research now suggesting that the cases were caused by a pair of viruses working in concert to trigger the liver inflammation in children with a certain genetic susceptibility. (Roland, 7/25)

Reuters: Studies Find More Clues To Potential Cause Of Severe Hepatitis Cases In Children 
Studies led by University of Glasgow and Great Ormond Street Hospital in London have suggested that another common virus, adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2), was present in most cases, and is likely involved in the rare but severe liver complications. The studies were posted on pre-print servers ahead of peer review. (Rigby, 7/25)

In news on other research not related to covid —

USA Today: Is Napping Bad For You? Naps Linked To High Blood Pressure, Stroke
Frequent or even usual napping during the day was linked with an elevated risk of developing high blood pressure and having a stroke, according to a new study. The peer-reviewed study, published Monday in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension, found that frequent or usual daytime napping in adults “was associated with a 12% higher risk of developing high blood pressure and a 24% high risk of having a stroke compared to never napping,” according to a news release Monday. (Pitofsky, 7/25)

CNN: Highly Potent Weed Creating Marijuana Addicts Worldwide, Study Says
Higher concentrations of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC -- the part of the marijuana plant that makes you high -- are causing more people to become addicted in many parts of the world, a new review of studies found. (LaMotte, 7/25)

CIDRAP: VA Intervention Linked To Better Treatment For Asymptomatic Bacteriuria
An antibiotic stewardship intervention for asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) was associated with a reduction in urine cultures and antibiotic use at four Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals, researchers reported today in JAMA Network Open. (7/25)

Stat: Despite Anger Over Drug Prices, Americans Credit Pharma On Covid-19
A new survey, conducted by the Harris Poll for STAT, asked more than 4,000 people what industries they credit for helping contain the coronavirus, and 71% of those surveyed said that the pharmaceutical industry deserves credit — more than the number who gave credit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, or the White House. The only entities that received a statistically significant amount more credit were hospitals, makers of protective equipment, scientists, doctors, and nurses. (Florko, 7/26)

In news on other health industry matters —

Houston Chronicle: MD Anderson, Houston Methodist Ranked Among Top Hospitals
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has once again been named the top cancer hospital in the nation in this year’s U.S. News & World Report rankings, which also recognize Houston Methodist as one of the overall best hospitals in the country. (MacDonald, 7/25)

Stat: Cerner's VA Rollout Offers Rare Look Into Hidden Harms Of Health Records
The rollout of Cerner’s electronic health record in Veterans Affairs hospitals has been a high-profile struggle: outages, training troubles, and now, an alarming report showing it directly harmed scores of patients. And while the system’s stumbles are noteworthy, they’re far from rare. Health informatics and patient safety experts acknowledge that electronic health records regularly break, in ways big and small — and largely, those problems and the harms they cause go unrecorded. (Palmer, 7/25)

KHN: Even Well-Intended Laws Can’t Protect Us From Inaccurate Provider Directories
If you have medical insurance, chances are you’ve been utterly exasperated at some point while trying to find an available doctor or mental health practitioner in your health plan’s network. It goes like this: You find multiple providers in your plan’s directory, and you call them. All of them. Alas, the number is wrong; or the doctor has moved, or retired, or isn’t accepting new patients; or the next available appointment is three months away. Or perhaps the provider simply is not in your network. (Wolfson, 7/26)

KHN: A Sexual Assault And Years Of Calls From Debt Collectors
Edy Adams had just graduated from college when she was sexually assaulted in 2013. After getting examined at an ER, she received calls from debt collectors for years over a $131 bill. “I was being haunted by this zombie bill.” (Levey, 7/25)

On racial disparities in health care —

Axios: Health Disparities Percolate Into Work-Based Coverage
The more than 150 million Americans who get their health coverage through work face significant inequities by race and ethnicity while managing complex health conditions, a new analysis from Morgan Health and NORC at the University of Chicago finds. Why it matters: While there's a perception employer-sponsored insurance delivers robust coverage, researchers found major gaps in how certain socioeconomic groups in plans managed chronic disease, accessed care and dealt with behavioral and substance use issues. (Bettelheim, 7/25)

KHN: ‘American Diagnosis’: Two Indigenous Students Share Their Path To Medicine
A lack of Native physicians means many tribal communities rely on doctors who don’t share their lived experience, culture, or spiritual beliefs. In Episode 9, meet two medical students working to join the ranks of Indigenous physicians. (7/26)

New Mexico In Depth: An Emergency Hiding in Plain Sight
New Mexicans die of alcohol-related causes at nearly three times the national average, higher by far than any other state. Alcohol is involved in more deaths than fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamines combined. In 2020, it killed more New Mexicans under 65 than Covid-19 did in the first year of the pandemic — all told, 1,878 people. (Alcorn, 7/24)

As part of a bigger series, New Mexico In Depth looks at alcoholism in context —

New Mexico In Depth: Poisonous Myths
Stereotypes about alcohol and Native people are hiding a crisis that’s bigger than any single group. (Alcorn, 7/24)

New Mexico In Depth: A Missing Ingredient
New Mexico is a violent state. It ranks among the worst for women murdered by men, child abuse and neglect are almost twice as common as they are nationwide, and its rate of suicide is one of the highest of any state. Last year, Albuquerque’s homicide rate shattered previous records, a 46% jump from 2020, and the state’s reached heights not experienced since 1986. (Alcorn, 7/24)

New Mexico In Depth: Eyes On The Road
For a generation, the state has spent tens of millions of dollars a year to curb intoxicated driving and its toll on New Mexicans. In-school programs and public information campaigns advertise the legal and physical consequences intoxicated drivers risk. Ward passes a billboard of the Department of Transportation’s END/DWI campaign adorned with one such message. “Be Safe, Not Sorry,” it cautions. But his eyes and presence on the road are at the heart of New Mexico’s strategy: identifying and removing intoxicated drivers, and alerting other motorists that the state is watching. (Alcorn, 7/24)

The Washington Post: U.S. Heat Wave: Record Highs Target Pacific Northwest; Northeast Cools
Heat alerts blanket the Pacific Northwest, including much of Oregon and Washington state, where temperatures are set to spike to 110 degrees in the days ahead. Northern California will also be affected, the atmospheric blowtorch coming as wildfires, including the swiftly moving Oak Fire, have triggered evacuations and a state of emergency. (Cappucci, 7/25)

Bloomberg: Texas School Mask Mandate Ban Upheld By Federal Appeals Court
Texas Governor Greg Abbott can maintain his ban on school mask mandates, a federal appeals court ruled. A three-judge panel of the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday said that a group of disabled students failed to show that their allegedly increased risk of contracting Covid-19 due the mask mandate ban was an injury the courts could address. (Brubaker Calkins, 7/25)

Politico: Obamacare Back In Court As Texans Challenge Coverage For STDs And HIV Care
A key piece of the Affordable Care Act is on trial Tuesday as a group of Texans challenge the law’s requirement that insurers cover preventive services — everything from STD screenings and HIV prevention drugs to depression checks and flu shots. (Miranda Ollstein, 7/25)

Politico: Increased Use Of Services Causing Proposed Hike In Public Employees' Health Care Premiums, Murphy Says
Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday a post-pandemic surge in obtaining health care services is partly to blame for a proposed increase in premiums for public employees, although he stopped short of saying what his administration plans to do to mitigate the hikes. (Han, 7/25)

CBS News: Major Rent Surge Pushing Some Tampa Residents Toward Homelessness: "It's No Different From A Hurricane"
Fueling Tampa's rent increases are thousands of people relocating to the area during the pandemic, as well as rising interest rates that discourage buyers and few protections for tenants.  But it's not just Tampa — rents have been soaring throughout much of the U.S. (Strassman, 7/25)

AP: Defense Seeks Sanctions Against State In Flint Water Case
Lawyers for Michigan’s former health director asked a judge Monday to sanction prosecutors who are trying to instantly turn invalid indictments into a fresh round of charges in the Flint water scandal. (White, 7/25)

Chicago Tribune: Herd Immunity Against COVID-19 Is Unlikely. But We Aren't Powerless
Today, the world is learning its limitations in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and the most important lesson is that a key strategy we banked on to defeat the virus — herd immunity — appears unobtainable. (Cory Franklin and Robert Weinstein, 7/25)

Bloomberg: WHO Declares Monkeypox Emergency: It's About Time We Wake Up To Risks 
The World Health Organization had a hard time deciding whether to label monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) or not. (Therese Raphael, 7/26)

Newsweek: Where Are The Men In The Fight To Protect Abortion Rights?
America is in the midst of a women's health crisis. From the ongoing gendered impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to the loss of abortion rights to rising maternal mortality numbers—the highest amongst industrialized nations—women in the world's richest democracy are fighting for our lives. (Anushay Hossain, 7/25)

The Atlantic: What Happened To Exceptions For The Life Of The Mother? 
When Americans used to imagine life post-Roe, many seemed to believe that at the very least the country would agree on one thing: the need for an exception to save a woman’s life. These exceptions enjoy sweeping public support; a recent Pew Research Center poll found that 73 percent of Americans favored legal abortion if a woman’s life or health was at risk. Only 8 percent of respondents favored no exception whatsoever to criminal abortion laws. (Mary Ziegler, 7/25)

Modesto Bee: Abortion Reflects Religion And Should Not Depend On Law
You’ve got to hand it to anti-abortion activists in the Republican party and the Supreme Court justices now doing their bidding. At least they’re being consistent. If we grant that a newly-fertilized human ovum is a “person,” killing or otherwise terminating that life is indeed murder. And the fact that this potential human being was conceived through rape or incest does not mitigate the crime. It’s not the fault of the fertilized ovum that a drunken uncle brought it into existence. Even a 10-year-old rape victim must not be allowed to abort the person criminally implanted within her, right? (Mark Haskett, 7/24)

Newsweek: Don't Limit Veterans' Ability To File Disability Claims
President Joe Biden's Veterans Administration (VA) annual budget requests have increased by double-digit percentages—positive steps to take care of the nation's nearly 20 million veterans. The VA's request for Fiscal Year 2022 was roughly $270 billion, up 10 percent from 2021. For Fiscal Year 2023, it is $301 billion. (Sergio De La Pena, 7/25)