The Wall Street Journal: As Sharing Health-Care Costs Takes Off, States Warn: It Isn’t Insurance
Religious organizations where members help pay each other’s medical bills have grown from niche insurance alternatives to operations bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars, an increase that is also driving more consumer complaints and state scrutiny. More than a million people have joined the groups, known as health-care sharing ministries, up from an estimated 200,000 before the Affordable Care Act, which granted members an exemption from the law’s penalty for not having health insurance. The organizations generally provide a health-care cost-sharing arrangement among people with similar religious beliefs, and their cost is often far lower than full health insurance. (Armour and Wilde Mathews, 6/10)

Previous KHN coverage: ‘Sham’ Sharing Ministries Test Faith Of Patients And Insurance Regulators

The Hill: Senate Health Panel To Move Forward On Package To Lower Health Costs Next Week
The Senate Health Committee is planning a hearing next week on a wide-ranging bipartisan package to lower health care costs, followed by a markup the week after. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the committee, is planning to return to Washington on Monday, June 17, following surgery, which means he will be back for the hearing, his office said. (Sullivan, 6/10)

Politico: ‘Death By A Thousand Lawsuits’: The Legal Battles That Could Dog ‘Medicare For All’
The road to health reform always ends up under a pile of lawsuits. “Medicare for All” would be no different. Championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and other progressive Democrats, Medicare for All faces enormous political obstacles — not the least of which is a major industry lobbying effort against the plan and anything that resembles it. But should it ever become law, it would also invite constitutional challenges. Just like the lawsuits targeting Obamacare — not to mention the blue state challenges against all sorts of Trump administration anti-Obamacare initiatives — the legal battles could directly threaten or undermine the new system for many years. (Tahir and Ollstein, 6/10)

Chicago Tribune: 'Medicare For All'? American Medical Association Says No, Drawing Protest In Chicago. 
Doctors gathered in Chicago for the American Medical Association’s annual meeting this week are increasingly finding themselves at the uncomfortable center of a national debate over “Medicare for All.” A group of doctors, nurses and medical students protested the meeting, criticizing the association’s opposition to Medicare for All — the idea of expanding Medicare to cover all Americans. And on Monday, the doctors at the meeting heard a speech by Seema Verma, head of the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a Trump appointee who devoted a chunk of her talk to what she sees as problems with the proposal. (Schencker, 6/10)

The Associated Press: Democrats Press To Retain Longtime Abortion Funding Ban
Top Capitol Hill Democrats are intent on preserving a four-decade ban on taxpayer-financed abortions despite calls from their party's presidential candidates to abandon it, arguing that attempts to undo the longstanding consensus will fail and won't be worth scuttling a key education and health funding bill. While presidential candidates such as Democratic front-runner Joe Biden hustle to rewrite their positions on the so-called Hyde Amendment, legislative veterans such as Rep. Rosa DeLauro have worked behind the scenes to smooth the waters for the provision. (Taylor, 6/10)

The Hill: Democratic Leaders 'Unlikely' To Allow Vote On Reversing Hyde Amendment 
House Democratic leaders are unlikely to allow a floor vote on a measure that would lift a ban on federal funding for abortions, dealing a major blow to progressive lawmakers who want to strip the Hyde Amendment from an upcoming spending bill. The proposed amendment, offered by Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and other progressive Democrats, would "ensure" coverage for abortions in federally funded health programs, including Medicaid, Medicare and the Children's Health Insurance Program. (Hellmann, 6/10)

CQ: Hyde Amendment Foe Says Spending Bill Wrong Venue For Repeal
An amendment to repeal a 42-year-old prohibition on using federal public health funds for abortions won't be part of the debate on a nearly $1 trillion appropriations bill covering the Department of Health and Human Services and several other agencies. That was the view Monday night of Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who co-sponsored a proposal to repeal the Hyde amendment, which the appropriations package (HR 2740) headed to the House floor this week would continue. The language is named for its author, the late Rep. Henry J. Hyde, R-Ill. (Mejdrich and McIntire, 6/10)

The Washington Post Fact Checker: Did Bernie Sanders ‘Consistently’ Vote Against The Hyde Amendment?
The Hyde Amendment has sharply limited federal funding for abortions since 1976. But it’s back in the news again after former vice president Joe Biden suddenly reversed his position and said he now supports taxpayer funding for abortions. As Biden came under fire for his stance — before he reversed himself — one of his top rivals for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), tweeted that he had “consistently voted against the Hyde Amendment.” (Kessler, 6/11)

Reuters: Missouri's Only Abortion Clinic To Stay Open After Injunction Issued
The only abortion clinic in Missouri can stay open after a St. Louis judge issued a preliminary injunction on Monday saying the state must make an "official" decision on the facility's license before it can be reviewed, a court document showed. Women's healthcare and abortion provider Planned Parenthood sued Missouri two weeks ago after state health officials refused to renew the license of the Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis. (O'Brien, 6/10)

The New York Times: Missouri’s Last Abortion Clinic Wins Temporary Reprieve In The Courts
In a nine-page written decision, Judge Stelzer said that Planned Parenthood had “demonstrated that immediate injury will occur to its facility” if its “license is allowed to expire.” But the judge made clear that he was not ruling on the merits of the clinic’s license renewal. He has scheduled a hearing for June 21 to discuss the case further. Planned Parenthood praised the judge’s ruling, but said its dispute with the state continued. “Abortion access in Missouri is hanging on by a thread,” Dr. Colleen McNicholas, a doctor at the Planned Parenthood clinic, said in a statement. (Eligon, 6/10)

Politico: Judge Says Missouri’s Lone Abortion Clinic Must Remain Open For Now
The ruling represents a blow to Republican Gov. Mike Parson and state health officials, who said the clinic had numerous violations that had to be addressed in order to renew the license. Missouri health officials said there was at least one incident in which patient safety “was gravely compromised." They also said there were instances of failed surgical abortions in which patients remained pregnant, as well as a failure to obtain a patient's "informed consent." (Pradhan, 6/10)

KCUR: Judge Temporarily Protects Access To Abortion At Planned Parenthood's St. Louis Clinic 
“Today’s ruling gives doctors like me the ability to wake up tomorrow and continue providing safe, legal abortion in the last health center in the state that provides abortion care,” said Dr. Colleen McNicholas, an OB-GYN and attending physician at the clinic. “For patients, that means for now, they can continue to make decisions about their bodies, lives, and future in their home state," she said. (Cazares and Fentem, 6/10)

St. Louis Public Radio: Judge Temporarily Protects Access To Abortion At Planned Parenthood's St. Louis Clinic
Stelzer wrote that the proper venue for a review of the state's actions on a license is the Administrative Hearing Commission. But he said that can't occur until the state makes a decision on Planned Parenthood's application for a renewed license, as the commission would need an action to review. (Cazares and Fentem, 6/10)

Kansas City Star: Missouri Lab Records Show Failed Abortion At STL Clinic
An inspection report from a lab that reviewed tissue samples from an embattled Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis shows evidence of a failed or incomplete abortion that necessitated a second procedure a month later. State officials, in a court fight with Planned Parenthood over the facility’s license, have cited the lab report as one reason they want to interview physicians who worked at the clinic. (Marso and Thomas, 6/10)

Kansas City Star: Will Missouri’s Abortion Law Worsen Infant Mortality Rate?
A renewed debate over abortion is roiling Missouri, with the state’s last provider in danger of losing its license and, starting in August, a near-total ban on abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy. While state law increasingly reflects a desire to see women carry pregnancies to term and give birth, Missouri remains one of the most dangerous places in the developed world to do so. (Marso, 6/11)

Reuters: Company Executives Denounce Abortion Restrictions In New York Times Ad
Scores of technology, media and fashion executives took out a full-page advertisement in the New York Times on Monday to denounce restricting access to abortion and other reproductive healthcare. The advertisement follows a string of company executives in recent weeks who threatened to pull investments in states enacting new laws that limit abortion rights. Nine states, including Alabama, Georgia and Missouri have passed abortion laws this year that all but ban the procedure. (6/10)

The Washington Post: Abortion Restrictions Hurt Business, 180 CEOs Say In Open Letter
Square chief executive and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey as well as fashion icon Diane von Furstenberg and others wrote that restrictions on abortion access threaten the economic stability of their employees and customers, and make it harder to build a diverse workforce and recruit talent. The letter, which appeared Monday as a full-page ad in the New York Times, marks the business community’s latest foray into a polarizing societal issue. The chief executives of Bloomberg News, Atlantic Records, Yelp and Warby Parker, among others, have aligned themselves with such groups as Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights. (Siegel, 6/10)

The Associated Press: Maine Expands List Of Abortion Providers
Maine is making it easier to get an abortion with the governor's signing of a bill Monday to allow medical professionals who are not doctors to perform the procedure. The bill, which Democratic Gov. Janet Mills introduced herself, will go into effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns, which is expected in mid-June. (6/10)

The New York Times: Maine’s New Abortion Law Will Allow Non-Doctors To Perform Procedure
The governor’s office said only three cities in Maine — Augusta, Bangor and Portland — have publicly accessible health care centers where a patient can get an aspiration abortion, which is a procedure that involves suction. The new law could make it easier for more rural clinics to offer the same service. Most states require that aspiration abortions be performed by a physician, but a handful also allow other medical professionals to administer the procedure. Those include California, Colorado and some of Maine’s neighbors in the Northeast. (Fortin, 6/10)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 'Heartbeat' Law Makes Abortion A Top Issue For Georgia In 2020
As she announced her bid for Congress last week, state Sen. Renee Unterman made only two passing references to her desire to promote “a culture that honors life.” But it was lost on no one in the crowd, including the Buford Republican herself, that abortion would be a dominant theme in the hotly contested suburban Atlanta race. (Hallerman and Bluestein, 6/10)

WBUR: Democratic Lawmaker Explains Why She Supports Louisiana Abortion Restrictions
Louisiana is the latest state to join Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Missouri in passing new restrictive abortion laws. But unlike other states, Louisiana’s law had support from Democrats. Gov. John Bel Edwards, who signed the heartbeat bill, is the U.S.’s only anti-abortion Democratic governor. (Young, 6/10)

The Associated Press: Judge Rejects Indiana AG's Bid To Block Abortion Clinic
A federal judge has rejected an attempt by Indiana's attorney general to prevent what would become the state's seventh abortion clinic from opening in northern Indiana. U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker on Friday denied Attorney General Curtis Hill's request for an immediate stay to prevent the South Bend clinic — which would perform medication-induced abortions for women who are up to 10 weeks pregnant — from opening until Indiana's appeal is considered, the South Bend Tribune reported. (6/10)

The New York Times: A Judge Rules Against One Stem-Cell Clinic. There Are Hundreds Of Them.
A judicial ruling this month that will stop questionable stem-cell treatments at a clinic in Florida is widely seen as a warning to a flourishing industry that has attracted huge numbers of patients, who pay thousands of dollars for unproven, risky procedures. But with little regulatory oversight for the hundreds of clinics operating these lucrative businesses across the country, it’s too soon to tell how far the impact might reach. (Grady, 6/10)

In other news —

Stat: Stem Cell Clinics Co-Opt Clinical-Trials Registry To Market Unproven Therapies, Critics Say
A few weeks ago, if you’d been scouring the ever-expanding mass of digitized federal paperwork, you might have noticed a contradiction. On the one hand, the Food and Drug Administration issued a letter stating that what an Arizona distributor was selling as stem cell therapies were “unapproved” and posed “safety concerns.” On the other, a National Institutes of Health database — clinicaltrials.gov — went right on listing the same merchant’s studies, with a link to the company’s website and the word “Recruiting” displayed invitingly in green. (Boodman, 6/11)

Reuters: Trump Administration Moves To Release Migrant Children Faster From U.S. Custody
The Trump administration is again changing the way it vets people who want to sponsor minors who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border alone in an effort to speed up the release of thousands of migrant children currently in U.S. custody. Under the change, announced to staff on Friday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which houses unaccompanied migrant children, will no longer require an immigration records check on potential sponsors already backgrounded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). (6/10)

Kaiser Health News: FDA Overlooked Red Flags In Drugmaker’s Testing Of New Depression Medicine
Ketamine is a darling of combat medics and clubgoers, an anesthetic that can quiet your pain without suppressing breathing and a hallucinogenic that can get you high with little risk of a fatal overdose. For some patients, it also has dwelled in the shadows of conventional medicine as a depression treatment — prescribed by their doctors, but not approved for that purpose by the federal agency responsible for determining which treatments are “safe and effective.” (Huetteman, 6/11)

The New York Times: Insys, The Opioid Drug Maker, Files For Bankruptcy
The opioid manufacturer Insys Therapeutics filed for bankruptcy protection Monday, days after agreeing to pay $225 million to settle a federal investigation into the marketing practices for its powerful fentanyl painkiller. The company said it would continue operating while it comes up with a plan to pay its creditors, including the Justice Department, under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code. Under an agreement released last week with the federal government, the company has promised to divest of Subsys, its lead product and the painkiller that had come under scrutiny. (Thomas, 6/10)

Reuters: Opioid Manufacturer Insys Files For Bankruptcy After Kickback Probe
The bankruptcy filing came after a federal jury in Boston in May found Insys founder John Kapoor and four other former executives guilty of engaging in a racketeering conspiracy centered on its fentanyl spray, Subsys. Chandler, Arizona-based Insys said it filed for bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the District of Delaware to facilitate a sale of its assets, including Subsys. Insys listed $175.1 million in assets and $262.5 million in debt as of March 31. Shares of Insys fell 66% to 44 cents in premarket trading. (Raymond, 6/10)

Stat: Insys, Opioid Maker Implicated In Kickback Scheme, Files For Bankruptcy
“After conducting a thorough review of available strategic alternatives, we determined that a court-supervised sale process is the best course of action to maximize the value of our assets and address our legacy legal challenges in a fair and transparent manner,” Insys chief executive Andrew Long said in a statement. For the time being, the drug maker plans to use existing cash on hand and operating cash flows to support operations, including paying employees. Recently, Insys has kept busy developing cannabinoid products. (Silverman, 6/10)

The Associated Press: Medical Pot Laws No Answer For US Opioid Deaths, Study Finds
A new study shoots down the notion that medical marijuana laws can prevent opioid overdose deaths, challenging a favorite talking point of legal pot advocates. Researchers repeated an analysis that sparked excitement years ago. The previous work linked medical marijuana laws to slower than expected increases in state prescription opioid death rates from 1999 to 2010. The original authors speculated patients might be substituting marijuana for painkillers, but they warned against drawing conclusions. (Johnson, 6/10)

Stat: Legalizing Medical Cannabis Reduces Opioid Overdose Deaths? Not So Fast, New Study Says
Amid the search for solutions to the opioid epidemic, which kills an estimated 130 Americans every day, some argue that increased access to cannabis could reduce this devastating toll. Part of their reasoning? A 2014 paper published in JAMA Internal Medicine reported lower opioid overdose death rates in states with medical marijuana laws. A study published Monday in PNAS contradicts that widely cited paper, raising new questions about whether and how medical marijuana can affect the opioid crisis. (Flaherty, 6/10)

The Washington Post: A Cautionary Tale About Medical Marijuana And Opioid Deaths
The authors were careful to point out that this finding was only a correlation, an intriguing hint at something that needed further exploration. There was no way to establish whether the availability of medical cannabis in some states protected against overdosing on harder drugs, even if some people used marijuana for pain. Nevertheless, the cannabis industry took up the study to help win passage of medical cannabis laws in more states, even as medical experts expressed skepticism. In a 2018 report, for example, Maryland’s medical marijuana commission found “no credible scientific evidence” that marijuana could treat opioid addiction. (Bernstein, 6/10)

The Wall Street Journal: Opioid Death Rate Rose Despite Medical-Marijuana Laws, Study Finds
The rate of deaths from opioid overdose increased by 22.7% on average from 1999 to 2017 in states that had legalized medical marijuana, according to the paper published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. For the study’s Stanford University authors, the findings suggest that medical-marijuana laws don’t influence the rate of opioid overdoses, and the proportion of the U.S. population that uses medical marijuana, 2.5%, is too small to have a large-scale effect. (Abbott, 6/10)

Los Angeles Times: Making Medical Marijuana Legal Does Not Prevent Fatal Opioid Overdoses, Study Says
Legalizing medical marijuana "is not going to be a solution to the opioid overdose crisis," said Shover, a postdoctoral scholar in psychiatry and behavioral sciences. "It would be wonderful if that were true, but the evidence doesn't suggest that it is." Shover and her colleagues reported their findings Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They said it’s unlikely that medical marijuana laws caused first one big effect and then the opposite — any beneficial link was probably coincidental all along. (Johnson, 6/10)

Meanwhile, in other news —

The Associated Press: Promise Of Marijuana Leads Scientists On Search For Evidence
Marijuana has been shown to help ease pain and a few other health problems, yet two-thirds of U.S. states have decided pot should be legal to treat many other conditions with little scientific backing. At least 1.4 million Americans are using marijuana for their health , according to an Associated Press analysis of states that track medical marijuana patients. (Johnson, 6/11)

The Associated Press: AP Analysis: Medical Pot Takes Hit When Weed Legal For All
When states legalize pot for all adults, long-standing medical marijuana programs take a big hit, in some cases losing more than half their registered patients in just a few years, according to a data analysis by The Associated Press. Much of the decline comes from consumers who, ill or not, had medical cards in their states because it was the only way to buy marijuana legally before broad legalization. (Flaccus and Kastinis, 6/11)

Modern Healthcare: Healthcare Consolidation Goes Beyond Usual Players
Consolidation in the health system and health insurance industries has been a focus for years. But a new report sheds light on how the "bigger is better" mantra has taken hold in companies that make syringes, X-ray machines or other healthcare products. The report, prepared by the Open Markets Institute using data from IBISWorld, shows a small handful of companies dominate their respective markets in certain healthcare sectors that tend to get less of a spotlight than their payer and provider counterparts. The largest three pharmacy and drugstore companies represent 67% of market share and the largest two ambulance manufacturers represent 83% of market share. Just two dialysis providers dominate 76% of market share. (Bannow, 6/10)

Modern Healthcare: State AGs Investigate Breach Of Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp
Two Democratic state attorneys general have launched an investigation into a massive data breach at American Medical Collection Agency, a company that provides billing collection services to healthcare organizations. LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics last week said that the data breach affected nearly 8 million and 12 million of their patients, respectively. AMCA provides services to LabCorp and one of Quest's revenue-cycle contractors, Optum360. (Cohen, 6/10)

The Hill: South Carolina Seeks Trump Admin Permission For Medicaid Work Requirements
South Carolina is seeking permission from the Trump administration to impose work requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries. The state on Monday formally submitted a request to require Medicaid recipients to work, be enrolled in job training or be in school an average of 80 hours a month. (Weixel, 6/10)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Mental Health Providers React To Sununu's Veto Of Medicaid Rate Increase Bill
Mental health care providers are reacting to Governor Chris Sununu's veto of a bill that would have provided new money for mental health services in the state. The bill, backed mostly by Democrats, would have spent $3.5 million to raise the rates that Medicaid pays out for mental health services and substance use disorder treatments.In vetoing the bill, Sununu, a two-term Republican, said spending money right before the next state budget goes into effect would be redundant. (Moon, 6/11)

Rutland Herald: 'March For Medicaid' Rally Calls For Protection Of Benefits
A “March for Medicaid” drew more than 100 people to the Granite City on Saturday to protest threats to the national medical benefits program. Organized by the Vermont Workers’ Center in Barre, the “Healthcare is a Human Right” campaign march began at noon at the First Presbyterian Church on Seminary Street and proceeded down Main Street to City Hall Park for a rally. Along the way, the marchers chanted, banged drums, played musical instruments and carried banners and placards. (Mills, 6/8)

The Hill: Measles Found In Two More States As Outbreak Grows To 1,022 Cases 
The country’s worst measles outbreak in over 25 years has spread to two more states in the past week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been 41 new cases of measles in the past week, bringing the total to 1,022 cases as of June 6.  For the first time in the current outbreak, cases of measles were confirmed in Virginia and Idaho. There are now confirmed cases in 28 states across the country. (Weixel, 6/10)

Reuters: U.S. Measles Outbreak Spreads To Idaho And Virginia, Hits 1,022 Cases
The 2019 outbreak, which has reached 28 states, is the worst since 1992, when 2,126 cases were recorded. Federal health officials attribute this year's outbreak to U.S. parents who refuse to vaccinate their children. These parents believe, contrary to scientific evidence, that ingredients in the vaccine can cause autism. (6/10)

CNN: As New York Struggles To Undo The Lies Of Anti-Vaxers, Moms Step In To Help
There's no question: The ongoing measles outbreak in New York is in a league of its own. As of the outbreak's ninth month, more than 800 people in the state have become sick, and New Yorkers have infected people in four other states. Around the United States, there have been 1,022 cases of measles in 28 states this year as of Friday, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Cohen, Bonifield and Goldschmidt, 6/10)

Stat: Those With ‘White Coat Hypertension’ More Likely To Die From Cardiac Events
For decades, doctors have been aware of a phenomenon known as “white coat hypertension” — when a patient gets higher blood pressure readings at the doctor’s office than they do at home, perhaps because they’re anxious in the clinic — but previous studies have shown inconsistencies in its effects. Now, a large new meta-analysis confirms patients with the condition are more than twice as likely to die from a cardiac event as those whose blood pressure readings are always normal. (Hailu, 6/10)

The New York Times: White Meat Vs. Red Meat And Cholesterol Levels
Many people choose white meat over red in the belief that white meat is less likely to lead to high cholesterol levels. But when it comes to cholesterol, there may be little difference between the two. A new study, in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, randomized 113 healthy adults, aged 21 to 65, to one of two diet programs. The first consumed a high-saturated-fat diet with 25 percent of energy coming from protein in three different sources for four weeks each: red meat, white meat and nonmeat (vegetables and some dairy products). (Bakalar, 6/11)

The New York Times: How To Fast
“Fasting is mental over physical, just like basketball and most other stuff in life,” says Enes Kanter, the 6-foot-11 center for the Portland Trail Blazers. Raised in Turkey, Kanter, 27, is a Muslim who has fasted from sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramadan since he was 8. This season, Ramadan aligned with the N.B.A. playoffs, so Kanter fasted through seven playoff games. During the year he forgoes food and water a day or two a week. “Don’t be scared to try it,” he says. (Wollan, 6/11)

The New York Times: Sleeping With The Lights On Tied To Weight Gain
Sleeping with the lights on may increase the risk for obesity. Researchers prospectively followed 43,722 generally healthy women, average age 55, for an average of six years. At enrollment in the study, the women reported whether they slept with lights or a television on in the room. Those who slept with artificial light had higher body mass index and larger waist circumference than those who slept with no light. (Bakalar, 6/10)

The Associated Press: Sleeping With The TV On May Make You Gain Weight
"Evolutionarily we are supposed to be sleeping at night, in a dark place," said lead author Dale Sandler, a scientist with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a division of the National Institutes of Health. "It's much more important than people realize for a whole variety of health reasons." Daily exposure to light and darkness helps maintain our 24-hour body clock, which regulates metabolism, sleep-promoting hormones, blood pressure, and other bodily functions. (Tanner, 6/10)

Stat: The Last Pandemic Was A ‘Quiet Killer.’ Ten Years After Swine Flu, No One Can Predict The Next One
On June 11, 2009 — 10 years ago today — the World Health Organization declared that the swine flu virus we now simply call H1N1 had indeed triggered a pandemic, the first time in four decades a new flu virus had emerged and was triggering wide-scale illness around the globe. Since it started circulating in the spring of 2009, H1N1 has infected about 100 million Americans, killing about 75,000 and sending 936,000 to the hospital, the CDC estimates. Another virus, H3N2, is responsible for more infections, but “in terms of the severity, H1 is kind of this quiet killer,” said Dr. Daniel Jernigan, head the CDC’s flu division. (Branswell, 6/11)

The New York Times: How Dengue, A Deadly Mosquito-Borne Disease, Could Spread In A Warming World
Climate change is poised to increase the spread of dengue fever, which is common in parts of the world with warmer climates like Brazil and India, a new study warns. Worldwide each year, there are 100 million cases of dengue infections severe enough to cause symptoms, which may include fever, debilitating joint pain and internal bleeding. There are an estimated 10,000 deaths from dengue — also nicknamed breakbone fever — which is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes that also spread Zika and chikungunya. (Pierre-Louis and Popovich, 6/10)

CBS News: Researchers Test Vaccine They Hope Could Stem Alzheimer's
Researchers at University of New Mexico researchers believe they may have found a way to prevent Alzheimer's disease, reports CBS Albuquerque affiliate KRQE-TV. UNM's Health and Sciences Department Associate Professor Kiran Bhaskar, who's been passionate about studying the disease for the last decade, says the search for a cure started with an idea in 2013. "I would say it took about five years or so to get from where the idea generated and get the fully functioning working vaccine," he says. Bhaskar and his team started to test the vaccine on mice. (6/11)

St. Louis Public Radio: SLUCare Geriatrician, Founder Of CST Discuss Innovations In Dementia Treatment
More and more people are experiencing the debilitating effects of Alzheimer’s and other dementias. The Alzheimer’s Association notes that one in three seniors die with dementia, and by 2050 nearly 14 million Americans are expected to be living with it. (Hemphill, 6/10)

The Wall Street Journal: New Thinking On Longstanding Asthma Treatments
Every day millions of asthma patients follow the standard doctor-recommended treatment: They take puffs from their steroid inhalers. Amber Keating is one of them. For 19 years, a daily steroid inhaler has been a cornerstone of the 42-year-old Los Angeles resident’s treatment. But in recent years she began to question its effectiveness as she had more flare-ups. So she was interested to see a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine showing that the majority of a group of patients with mild, persistent asthma did no better when taking a steroid inhaler than with a placebo. (Reddy, 6/10)

The Associated Press: Vaping Device Maker Sponsoring Public Health Research
A historically black college in Tennessee is planning to research the impact of electronic cigarettes and vaping with a grant from vaping device maker JUUL Labs. Meharry Medical College in Nashville says that it and JUUL Labs have structured the $7.5 million grant in ways meant to ensure the "full autonomy" of the new Meharry Center for the Study of Social Determinants of Health, including "sole ownership of the sponsored research and complete control over publication of the findings." (6/10)

NPR: Human Brains Are Sensitive To Musical Pitch, Unlike Those Of Monkeys
What sounds like music to us may just be noise to a macaque monkey.That's because a monkey's brain appears to lack critical circuits that are highly sensitive to a sound's pitch, a team reported Monday in the journal Nature Neuroscience. The finding suggests that humans may have developed brain areas that are sensitive to pitch and tone in order to process the sounds associated with speech and music. (Hamilton, 6/10)

The Washington Post: Living With HIV Means Increased Risk Of Heart Disease
People living with HIV are more likely to get heart disease than those without the virus, making it all the more critical they exercise, eat well and avoid smoking, U.S. doctors say. In recent decades, antiretroviral therapy has helped transform the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) from a near-certain death sentence into a chronic, manageable disease. As HIV patients are living longer, however, they’re also at higher risk for heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, sudden cardiac death and other diseases than people without HIV, according to a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association published in the journal Circulation. (Rapaport, 6/11)

The Washington Post: Why Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizers Are Still A Safe Bet
Mysteriously slick subway poles, a sneezing colleague, the arrival of flu season: These are all reasons to be grateful for any bottle of alcohol-based hand sanitizer that’s within reach. Yet in an era of superbugs — bacteria that become resistant to antibiotics — and fears about being too clean, you might wonder whether constantly pouring Purell into our palms is doing more harm than good. (Kiefer, 6/10) 

The New York Times: Heartburn Drugs Can Lead To Fatal Heart Or Kidney Disease
The heartburn drugs called proton pump inhibitors, or P.P.I.s, are known to have serious side effects. Now researchers have documented the ways in which they may be deadly. The report, in BMJ Open, used a Veterans Affairs database of 157,625 new users of P.P.I.s like Prevacid and Prilosec, and 56,842 people prescribed a different type of acid-suppressing medicine called H2 blockers (Pepcid and Zantac, for example). (Bakalar, 6/11)

The New York Times: Three Created A Fertility Revolution With I.V.F., But One, A Woman, Went Unrecognized
Two male British scientists gained worldwide fame as the developers of in vitro fertilization, but both viewed a woman, Jean Purdy, as an equal partner in the breakthrough, records made public on Monday show. One of the male scientists, Dr. Robert Edwards, tried to have her work recognized, but instead it has gone largely unknown for four decades. “I regard her as an equal contributor to Patrick Steptoe and myself,” Dr. Edwards wrote in a letter to Oldham Health Authority in 1981, adding that Dr. Steptoe had also acknowledged Ms. Purdy’s role in a book published by the two male scientists. (Magra, 6/10)

Kaiser Health News: Why Your Perception Of ‘Old’ Changes As You Age
My perception of old age is inextricably linked to my grandmother. When I was a kid, I thought this 65-year-old, white-haired woman whose entire body wobbled when she walked was very old. Now that I’m 66, my personal perception — or perhaps, misperception — of old age has changed. I suspect I’ve got lots of company. Many of us are convinced that while everyone else is aging, that person we see in the mirror every morning is magically aging at a somehow slower pace. The age confusion can start early. A 2018 Michigan State University online survey of respondents ages 10 to 89 revealed that most think middle age begins at 30 — and that old age begins at, OMG, 50. (Horovitz, 6/11)

Arizona Republic: Arizona Is A Hotbed For The Cadaver Industry, And Potential Donors Have Plenty Of Options
Approximately 4,000 people — about 7% of the people who die in Arizona each year — are whole body donors, which is roughly five times the national average based on 39 reporting states, the Illinois-based Cremation Association of North America says. The American Association of Tissue Banks has accredited seven non-transplant human tissue banks in the United States, and four of them, including Research for Life, are headquartered in Arizona. (Innes, 6/10)

Arizona Republic: Despite 2-Year-Old State Law, Arizona's Body Donation Industry Still Unregulated
The state law says that body donation companies are not allowed to operate in Arizona without a state license. Licensing of the companies, which are also known as nontransplant human tissue banks, could begin in 2020, the Health Department says. Health officials say the delay is tied to technical issues with the law and a state decision to put a higher priority on combating the opioid crisis. So right now, there's no local oversight over Arizona businesses that accept the bodies of people after they die and then typically dismember and sell them to various entities, including pharmaceutical and medical device companies. (Innes, 6/10)

Los Angeles Times: UCLA Rocked By Charges That Former Staff Gynecologist Sexually Abused Patients
UCLA came under public scrutiny Monday over its handling of a former staff gynecologist who has been charged with sexual battery and exploitation during his treatment of two patients at a university facility. UCLA acknowledged first receiving a complaint against Dr. James Mason Heaps in 2017; he was placed on leave the following year, but the university did not publicize the reason for his departure until this week. That decision is now the subject of an internal review, UCLA said. The university has asked other students and patients who believe they were treated inappropriately by Heaps to come forward. (Cosgrove, Winton, McDonnell and Del Rio, 6/10)

The Associated Press: Ex-UCLA Gynecologist Pleads Not Guilty To Patient Sex Abuse
A retired gynecologist who worked at the University of California, Los Angeles for decades has pleaded not guilty to sexually abusing two patients and the campus is asking anyone who may have other complaints against him to step forward. Dr. James Heaps pleaded not guilty Monday to sexual battery by fraud against two patients in 2017 and 2018. He also pleaded not guilty to a count of sexual exploitation of a patient and was released without bail. (Jablon, 6/11)

Stateline: Coaxing Veterans Into Treatment To Prevent Suicides 
Although retired and active military service members die by suicide at twice the rate of civilians, research shows that veterans who receive mental health care are much less likely to end their lives than those who don’t. A soon-to-be-released study from the Medical University of South Carolina here in Charleston may shed light on how to persuade reluctant veterans to seek that professional help. For veterans, the primary barrier to treatment is the stigma associated with seeking mental health services, which male veterans in particular consider a sign of weakness, said Tracy Stecker, a psychologist at the Medical University of South Carolina’s School of Nursing and the lead researcher in the study. (Vestal, 6/11)

Colorado Sun: Colorado Is Creating A Network Of Doctors To Diagnose Child Abuse And Keep Kids From Slipping Through The Safety Net
A child protection caseworker who suspects abuse needs a doctor’s opinion, and even a pediatrician who examines the child might want expert advice. But here’s the problem: in all of Colorado, there are just six physicians certified in child abuse pediatrics by the American Board of Pediatrics. Five of them are in Denver and one is in Colorado Springs, leaving the rest of the state without adequate expertise when it comes to informing decisions about whether a child is in danger. ... Under legislation passed this year, Colorado will spend $646,000 to create the Colorado Child Abuse Response and Evaluation Network. (Brown, 6/10)

ProPublica: Discussing Alaska’s Long History Of Sexual Violence Is One Step Toward Seeking Solutions
Tia Wakolee is a mother, grandmother and an artist. She also is a survivor of multiple rapes and sexual assaults. Wakolee recently self-published a book about her experiences. But until Thursday, she’d never told her story publicly in Kotzebue, where several of the assaults took place, starting in her early childhood. “I don’t want any children to go through the things that I grew up dealing with,” Wakolee said at an event sponsored by ProPublica and the Anchorage Daily News in this coastal hub town of about 3,200. (Raghavendran and Gallardo, 6/10)

Modern Healthcare: Nurses Report Patient Safety Concerns At University Of Chicago Medical Center
Registered nurses at the University of Chicago Medical Center allege short staffing is causing treatment delays and jeopardizing patient safety. On behalf of about 2,200 registered nurses at the hospital, National Nurses United says it plans to file complaints with the Illinois Department of Public Health and the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration tomorrow, according to the union, which has 150,000 members nationwide and 6,000 members in Illinois. (Goldberg, 6/10)

The Associated Press: $11M Grant Seeks To Prevent Cervical Cancer In Appalachia
The National Cancer Institute has gifted 10 Appalachian health systems a total of $11 million for cervical cancer prevention programs. News outlets report the grant was announced last week in collaboration with the West Virginia University Cancer Institute, Ohio State University, the University of Kentucky and the University of Virginia. The Intelligencer reports the grant will help families at-risk of cervical cancer in these states. The effort will focus on prevention of the causes of the cervical cancer, including smoking, human papillomavirus (HPV) and a lack of cervical cancer screening. (6/10)

East Oregonian: Federal Judge To Hear Arguments Over Admission Delays At State Hospital 
A federal judge is set to hear arguments Tuesday morning in Portland from mental health advocates who say the state is failing dozens of criminal defendants in need of treatment. In Oregon, attorneys say about 40 people found unable to aid in their defense are languishing in local jails across the state, rather than getting proper mental health care at the Oregon State Hospital. (Wilson, 6/10)

Texas Tribune: Greg Abbott Accused People Of Lying About Texas' Maternal Mortality Rate
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott claimed in a tweet Sunday that "critics" of the state's maternal mortality rate had lied about it, citing a year-old article that described how reports about the number of women in Texas dying from pregnancy-related complications were based on faulty data. ... But it was problems with the state’s own data that led to initial reports that Texas' maternal mortality rate was far higher. (Byrne, 6/10)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Why Kemp Hasn’t Yet Replaced Indicted Insurance Commish 
It’s been nearly four weeks since Insurance Commissioner Jim Beck was slapped with federal fraud charges, a searing indictment that forced him to voluntarily suspend himself. And nearly four weeks later, the office charged with regulating the state’s insurance industry remains in purgatory. It has no interim leader, and Gov. Brian Kemp is still searching for a more permanent replacement. (Bluestein, 6/10)

NH Times Union: Portsmouth Regional, Parkland Medical Center Earn Patient Safety Award
Parkland Medical Center in Derry and Portsmouth Regional Hospital are recipients of the Healthgrades 2019 Patient Safety Excellence Award. According to a news release from the hospitals, this places Parkland Medical Center in the top 5 percent and Portsmouth Regional Hospital in the top 10 percent of all short-term acute care hospitals reporting patient safety data as evaluated by Healthgrades, an online resource for information about physicians and hospitals. (6/10)

Iowa Public Radio: Eldora School Official Says Controversial Techniques Used For Safety
An official at a state-run school for delinquent teenage boys testified in federal court Monday that the use of an isolation chamber and physical restraints is for the protection, not punishment, of the students. Lynn Allbee, the treatment program administrator at the Boys State Training School in Eldora, testified Monday that the controversial techniques are used as a last resort to ensure safety of students and staff after all other de-escalation techniques fail. Allbee also testified that each time a technique is used, it must be approved by a senior school official and reviewed afterward with the student. (Krebs, 6/10)

The Advocate: Lafayette General Health Announces New Chief Medical Officer 
Lafayette General Health announced Monday that its current senior vice president, Dr. Amanda Logue, will be its new chief medical officer. It became official starting May 21. Logue has been in LGH since 2009 and has worn many hats, including department chair of medicine, physician champion for electronic medical records implementation, medical director of the hospitalist department, and chief medical information officer. Under her leadership, the system saw the transition to fully electronic medical records in the inpatient, emergency, surgical and ambulatory spaces and also achieved Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Level 7 status. (Boudreaux, 6/10)

The Star Tribune: HealthPartners Expanding Eating Disorder Care With $18.7 Million Gift 
Park Nicollet Foundation has received an $18.7 million gift to expand Melrose Center, a group of HealthPartners clinics that focus on treating eating disorders. The gift comes from Ken Melrose, the former chief executive of the Toro Co., who made an earlier donation that helped establish Melrose Center about 10 years ago within Park Nicollet Clinic HealthSystem. (Snowbeck, 6/10)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio Gov. Puts Unprecedented State Scrutiny On Cuyahoga County Jail
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s administration found such extensive problems at the Cuyahoga County Jail that he ordered unprecedented changes to the way the state oversees jails. He dubbed the problems at the jail a “crisis.” DeWine, in a review of how the state oversees local jails, used the Cuyahoga County Jail as its case study in what the state can do better in ensuring that local jails don’t spiral out of control. (Ferrise, 6/10)

Los Angeles Times: $339,000 For A Restroom? L.A. Politicians Balk At The Cost Of Toilets For Homeless People
It seems like an obvious fix to the squalor and stench as homelessness surges on Los Angeles streets: more restrooms. But L.A. has estimated that staffing and operating a mobile bathroom can cost more than $300,000 annually — a price tag that has galled some politicians. During budget talks this spring, city officials estimated that providing toilets and showers for every homeless encampment in need would cost more than $57 million a year. (Reyes, 6/10)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Louisiana Probed Possible Conflicts Of Interest In LSU Contracts
State Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera’s office has uncovered potential conflicts of interest involving a Louisiana State University official and employees, according to a report released Monday (June 10). The audit, requested by LSU President F. King Alexander, found Dr. Wayne Wilbright, chief executive officer of LSU’s Health Care Services Division, may have violated state ethics codes by signing contracts with health care organizations because the contracts supported the commercialization of a software application that gives royalties to Wilbright. (Nobles, 6/10)

The Associated Press: Hey, Can You Spare A Kidney? Man Campaigns For Transplant
A Tennessee man is getting creative while trying to find a kidney donor. The Johnson City Press reports 62-year-old Jeff Shevell is making T-shirts and car signs and launching a social media campaign to urge potential donors to share their spare kidneys with him or others in need. Shevell has battled kidney disease for over 15 years. Faced with either beginning dialysis or getting a transplant, he launched his “share your spare” campaign to find a match. (6/10)

Los Angeles Times: The Sky Isn’t Falling On Abortion Rights. At Least Not Completely
Abortion will remain available in the United States, and that’s true even if the new conservative justices — think of them as the bad boys of the Supreme Court — respond to these harsh new laws by eviscerating Roe vs. Wade.The truth is, Roe was crippled long ago. In 1992, the Supreme Court decision in Planned Parenthood vs. Casey severely shrank women’s rights by allowing states to restrict access to abortion, as long as the rules they put in place didn’t amount to an “undue burden.” (Julie F. Kay, 6/11)

The Washington Post: Abortion Supporters Have Made Trump’s Reelection More Likely
One of the largest obstacles to the defeat of President Trump in the 2020 election is the radicalism of the Democratic Party on the issue of abortion. By forcing Joe Biden to abandon his support for the Hyde Amendment — which currently prevents the funding of abortions through Medicaid — the abortion lobby and activist liberals have taken the first, major step toward reelecting Trump. The problem here is not only that Biden appears weak and vacillating on an issue of conscience — which he does. Or that he will now be pressured to repudiate every hint of moderation in his 36-year legislative career — though he will be. The Hyde Amendment has played a particularly important role for Catholic politicians. (Michael Gerson, 6/10)

The Washington Post: Joe Biden Just Flip-Flopped On Abortion. Good. It Proves The System Works.
You could not ask for a better case study in how presidential campaigns define and refine party ideology than this one. While it all revolved around Joe Biden, he was really just a vehicle for the process to play itself out, the net result being a Democratic Party that is more unified than it was at the beginning of the week in both its general commitment to abortion rights and its intention to pursue specific policy changes to put its beliefs into action. (Paul Waldman, 6/7)

Arizona Republic: Abortion In Arizona Is Uncertain, And That Worries Both Sides
The future of abortion access in Arizona is veiled with uncertainty, as aggressive legislation has passed in nine other states since March. These laws challenge Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that ensures the right to choose abortion. In a country red-hot with political clashes, the issue is pitting party against party, church against state, and women’s rights against fetal rights. (Megan Boyanton, 6/10)

The Washington Post: I Gave The University Of Alabama $26.5 Million. I Spoke Out About Abortion. They Gave It Back. 
I am proud to have been born and raised in Alabama. My family’s roots run deep in the state and, for decades, we have been honored to celebrate that heritage by supporting the University of Alabama. It’s where my father learned to practice law, which gave him the tools to succeed in America along with a strong understanding of right and wrong. Over the past 30 years, we have chosen to repay that debt and make use of our good fortune by supporting the university financially. I’ve long believed that the school served the public good by training the next generation of leaders and, last year, I made the decision to donate $26.5 million so that those leaders could flourish just as my family has. My love for Alabama is exactly why I was so horrified to watch its lawmakers trample over the Constitution last month. The ban on abortion they passed wasn’t just an attack against women, it was an affront to the rule of law itself. (Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr., 6/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Modest Cuts Could Save Medicare From Disaster
Instead of debating how to expand Medicare coverage, politicians should focus on fixing the fatal financial flaws in the existing program that threaten to bankrupt the nation. Medicare spent 3.6% of gross domestic product in 2016, more than six times the share it consumed in 1967, the first full year it was implemented. The forecasts I have analyzed show that the share of GDP will rise to at least 9% within 75 years—and that’s the good-news scenario. Other plausible forecasts show that Medicare could spend more than twice that. (John F. Early, 6/10)

The Hill: We Don't Need More Reasons To Reject Heritable Genome Modification
We don’t actually need more evidence to understand how irresponsible and dangerous He’s actions were. We also already have good reason to conclude that heritable genome modification is unacceptably risky and that medical justifications for it are tenuous. It would not treat any existing patient, and there are already safe and proven techniques, including embryo screening, to prevent passing on inheritable diseases. Editing eggs, sperm, or embryos produces changes that are passed down to all future generations. (This is distinct from somatic gene therapies, which are already being used to produce treatments for existing patients). (Katie Hasson, 6/10)

The Washington Post: Banning Fetal Tissue Research Like Mine Will Kill Kids. You Call That Pro-Life?
To say that the new government restrictions could be devastating to scientific research in the United States is an understatement. As a consequence of this policy, our ability to understand and fight many types of human disease may be significantly slowed or completely halted. For example, an ongoing study at the University of California at San Francisco using fetal tissue to generate mice with humanlike properties to improve HIV therapeutics was halted last week. I anticipate that our own research and the research of others studying the placenta will be similarly halted or delayed in the coming months. (Carolyn Coyne, 6/11)

The New York Times: When Will Congress Get Serious About The Suffering At The Border?
Last week, as American and Mexican officials haggled over how to address the migrant crisis at their countries’ shared border, United States Customs and Border Protection released its monthly migration statistics. They tell an alarming story.In May, 144,278 migrants were taken into custody. It was the third consecutive month in which apprehensions topped 100,000 and the highest one-month total in 13 years. Unequipped to deal with the crush, border facilities and migrant shelters are dangerously overcrowded, and the staff is overburdened. Dysfunction, disease and even death are a growing reality. (6/9)

Stat: Attacks On CDC's Opioid Prescribing Guideline Erode Public Health
A public health document that counsels physicians to not overprescribe opioids would seem to be an unlikely candidate for attack. Yet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain,” published in 2016, has attracted constant criticism since its inception. The attacks come from two directions: groups and physicians who receive money from opioid manufacturers and patients with chronic pain. (Ben Goodwin, Judy Butler and Adriane Fugh-Berman, 6/11)

The New York Times: Your Organs Might Not Make It To Patients In Need
In the video Op-Ed above, people on the organ wait list argue that it’s time for the government to step in, provide oversight and require transparency in the organ recovery system. Research shows that organ procurement organizations (O.P.O.s), responsible for recovering organs, are inefficient and lack accountability. While a record number of organs have been transplanted in the past five years, that is not evidence of a well-working system: These numbers are bloated by a recent increase in opioid-related deaths. (Tonya Ingram, Angelo Reid, Melissa Bein and Maddi Bertrand, 6/11)