The New York Times: White House Warns Insurers About Surcharges And Gaps For Contraception
The Obama administration on Monday put health insurance companies on notice that they must cover all forms of female contraception, including the patch and intrauterine devices, without imposing co-payments or other charges. In the last month, the National Women’s Law Center and the Kaiser Family Foundation issued separate reports finding that insurers had often flouted a federal requirement to provide free coverage of birth control for women under the Affordable Care Act. (Pear, 5/11)

Kaiser Health News: ‘Free’ Contraception Means ‘Free,’ Obama Administration Tells Insurers
The Obama administration said Monday that health plans must offer for free at least one of every type of prescription birth control — clarifying regulations that left some insurers misinterpreting the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate. (Galewitz, 5/11)

The Wall Street Journal: HHS Tightens Rules On Insurers Coverage Of Contraception
Federal officials also said on Monday that health plans must cover screening, counseling and genetic testing if a woman has an increased risk for breast cancer because of a gene mutation. The guidance said insurers must provide those women who don’t have BRCA-related cancer with preventive screening for the BRCA-1 or BRCA-2 gene at no out-of-pocket cost. The guidance says, too, that health plans cannot impose cost-sharing for anesthesia services related to colonoscopies, which are covered as a preventive service. (Radnofsky, 5/11)

The Associated Press: Feds Close Insurance Loopholes On Preventive Care
From contraception to colonoscopies, the Obama administration Monday closed a series of insurance loopholes on coverage of preventive care. The department of Health and Human Services said insurers must cover at least one birth control option under each of 18 methods approved by the FDA — without copays. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 5/11)

USA Today: Administration Reminds Insurers They Must Cover Birth Control Costs
The Obama Administration reiterated Monday that insurers and insurance plans have to cover at least one form of contraception in each of the now-18 methods that the FDA has approved at no cost to consumers, as required under the Affordable Care Act. The coverage must include the patient education and counseling needed to provide the birth control too. Recent studies by the Kaiser Family Foundation and NWLC found many insurers were charging women for birth control in violation of Obamacare rules. (O'Donnell, 5/11)

Politico: HHS Puts Out New Guidance On Contraceptive Coverage
The Obama administration issued new guidance Monday in an attempt to clarify what preventive services health plans are required to cover under the Affordable Care Act — particularly contraception. The agency also outlined when insurers should cover genetic tests for breast cancer for at-risk women. (Villacorta, 5/11)

NBC News: Yes, You Have To Pay For Birth Control, Feds Tell Insurers
Insurance companies have to pay for birth control, mammograms and well-woman visits without charging co-pays and without a fight, the federal government said in a stern reminder Monday. ... Insurance plans also have to cover contraception and preventive services for dependent children on their parents' account. "This includes recommended services related to pregnancy, including preconception and prenatal care." (Fox, 5/11)

Kaiser Health News/NPR: What’s Next If The Supreme Court Strikes Down Obamacare Aid?
Millions of Americans get subsidized health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. But those subsidies are being challenged. And in the coming weeks the Supreme Court could rule that in more than 30 states, the subsidies are illegal. To find out what federal and state lawmakers could do if the subsidies disappear, we spoke to Linda Blumberg, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, an economic and social policy think tank. This is a lightly edited transcript of the conversation. (Cornish, 5/11)

Kaiser Health News: In Louisiana, Obamacare Subsidies Mean Financial Independence For Some
WNPR's Jeff Cohen, working in partnership with Kaiser Health News and NPR, reports: "The politics of the Affordable Care Act in the state of Louisiana are not subtle: It is not popular. The state was part of the lawsuit to strike down the law in 2012; it didn’t expand Medicaid and has no plans to, even as other Republican-led states have done so. And Louisiana didn’t set up its own marketplace to sell Obamacare insurance." (Cohen, 5/11)

CQ Healthbeat: Health Law Markets' Financial Viability On Feds' Radar
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will host state-based health law marketplace officials this summer in a conference to talk about the exchanges' financial viability, federal marketplace CEO Kevin Counihan on Monday. This is the first year in which state-run marketplaces must be financially independent, and several are struggling. A number of states use taxes on health insurance as a major revenue source, but health insurance industry officials are pushing back against increases. (Adams, 5/11)

Massachusetts officials may have concealed information about the readiness of its exchange's website before its Oct. 2013 launch, according to a report -

The Boston Globe: Report Alleges Cover-Up Of Impending Health Connector Failure
A report scheduled for release Monday by a conservative-leaning think tank accuses state officials of misleading the federal government and the public about the Massachusetts Health Connector’s readiness to launch its new website in October 2013. The report from the Pioneer Institute draws on public audit reports and interviews with anonymous people described as “whistle-blowers” to detail what they characterize as a bungled effort by the University of Massachusetts Medical School, software developer CGI, and the Connector to upgrade the Connector’s software in 2012 and 2013. (Freyer, 5/11)

The Associated Press: State Held Back Details Of Health Website Progress
The state was aware for more than a year that the updated version of its health connector website was well behind schedule and may have tried to conceal that knowledge from the public and the federal government, a report suggests. The Pioneer Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank, said the report it released Monday was based on discussions with whistleblowers and information from publicly available audits. (5/11)

The exchanges in Colorado, Washington and Minnesota are also making news -

Health News Colorado: Exchange Managers Propose Major Fee Hikes To Cover $54 Million Annual Operation
Colorado health exchange managers want board members to max out a broad market assessment on health insurance customers across Colorado through 2016 while also hiking fees on exchange customers from 1.4 percent to at least 3.5 percent — and possibly as high as 4.5 percent. “This is a really critical period. We need to become sustainable. We also need to make sure we have adequate sources of funding to keep the organization strong,” said Gary Drews, outgoing interim CEO for Connect for Health Colorado. Before the exchange board meets again later this week to vote, Colorado’s legislative oversight committee will meet on Wednesday to review Connect for Health Colorado’s finances and sustainability plans. (Kerwin McCrimmon, 5/11)

The Denver Post: Colorado Health Insurance Exchange Could Double Its Fees For 2016
The Connect for Health Colorado staff has recommended more than doubling the fee that insurers pay on each policy purchased on the exchange — a charge that is passed on to consumers. The state marketplace would increase the carrier fee from 1.4 percent to at least 3.5 percent of the premium charged on exchange health plans — the same rate charged through the federal exchange, under the recommendation made Monday. (Draper, 5/11)

The Seattle Times: Lower Rate Increases, More Plans Proposed For Washington State Health Exchanges In 2016
The cost of health insurance could increase 5.4 percent on average for people buying individual coverage next year — the lowest requested increase in Washington state in eight years. And there could be even greater choice for consumers with more insurance companies in the market and more plans proposed for 2016. But many people will need to choose new plans, as most of the options that were available this year are being substantially changed or canceled. (Stiffler, 5/11)

Minnesota Star Tribune: Health Law Expert Promotes 'Innovation Waiver' For Minnesota
Minnesota should consider ways to make the federal health law work better by seeking an “innovation waiver,” a national expert on health insurance exchanges said Friday. Joel Ario, who previously served as the top Obama administration official for the new insurance marketplaces, told a University of Minnesota forum on Friday that the federal Affordable Care Act [ACA] includes a waiver program so that states in 2017 can start customizing aspects of the health law. Such a waiver could allow Minnesota to address ­coverage “cliffs,” including the difference in out-of-pocket spending for people covered through public health insurance programs and those who buy private coverage on the MNsure exchange, said Ario, a managing director at Manatt Health Solutions. (Snowbeck, 5/11)

Minneapolis Star Tribune: System Glitch Could Affect MNsure Public Program Enrollees
A technical problem related to the MNsure IT system means the state must rerun eligibility determinations for more than 55,000 people in public health insurance programs. There is no immediate impact for people in the Medicaid and MinnesotaCare programs, state officials said Monday, but there’s a chance some in the future will need to find a new source of health insurance. There’s also a chance the state could be at risk financially if people wrongly received coverage through the programs, which are partly funded by the federal government. (Snowbeck, 5/11)

The Miami Herald: Public Hospitals Brace For Possible Cuts As Florida Budget Stalemate Continues
Broward County’s public hospitals have begun preparing for the potential loss of a combined $180 million a year in federal funds that help pay for the cost of care for the uninsured and for medical student training. Gathering at the Broward Governmental Center in Fort Lauderdale on Monday with county commissioners and Democratic state senators and representatives from local districts to sound alarm, administrators for Broward Health and Memorial Healthcare System said they are considering reductions to non-critical programs. The state Legislature has been unable to craft a budget so far this year, deadlocking over healthcare funding issues and creating big questions for public hospital budgets. (Chang, 5/11)

Orlando Sentinel: Local Lawmakers In Thick Of Health-Care Fight
Central Florida lawmakers are the primary targets of interest groups waging the battle over whether to expand federal health care for 800,000 low-income Floridians, with Democrats in particular hoping to use the issue to bolster their chances in next year's elections. Attack ads and mailers from political parties and groups either opposing or supporting efforts to expand Medicaid began to fly even before some lawmakers made it back to their doorstops after returning from Tallahassee without passing a budget. (Rohrer, 5/11)

Tampa Bay Times: On Fox News, Scott Throws In Towel: We Won't Do What 'I Wanted To Do'
Gov. Rick Scott appeared on Greta Van Susteren's show on Fox News Monday night and sounded resigned to the fact that the Legislature won't give him the tax cuts and school spending surge that he promised Florida voters when he ran for re-election last year. ... Scott also defended his double flip on Medicaid expansion. He opposed 'Obamacare' when he ran Conservatives for Patients Rights before he ran for governor in 2010, came out in favor of full-blown Medicaid expansion in 2013 and sided with the House this spring in opposing the Senate's modified Medicaid expansion plan that has prompted the current legislative stalemate. "I said at the time (in 2013), I will not stand in the way of the federal government if they want to take care of the low-income families," Scott told Fox. (Bousquet, 5/12)

In Alaska, meanwhile, hearings begin on the governor's Medicaid expansion plan -

Fairbanks (Alaska) News Miner: House Medicaid Hearings Begin
Nearly halfway through the special session, the House Finance Committee on Monday held its first hearing on Gov. Bill Walker’s Medicaid expansion bill. In the first of four meetings scheduled on House Bill 148 in Anchorage this week, the committee heard an update on the troubled Medicaid provider payment system and on a proposal to explore a health-care provider tax. The main point of the legislation is to accept federal funding to expand Medicaid eligibility to some 40,000 people in Alaska who are currently ineligible for Medicaid or subsidized insurance on the private market. The expansion was a key part of Walker’s campaign and was one of three items he put on the agenda for the special session he called after lawmakers gaveled out in April. (Buxton, 5/11)

And federal officials send a message to hospitals about billing for medically unnecessary ambulance rides, while Hawaii gets a new Medicaid director-

Modern Healthcare: Feds Put Hospitals On Notice With Florida Settlements Over Ambulance Rides
Nine Florida hospitals have agreed to pay $6.2 million to settle allegations that they led ambulance companies to bill federal health programs for medically unnecessary rides, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida announced Friday. It's a case government officials say could have implications for hospitals across the country. (Schencker, 5/11)

Honolulu Star Advertiser: State Names New Medicaid Director
Judy Mohr Peterson has been named head of the state Medicaid program amid continuing problems with a new online eligibility system estimated to cost taxpayers as much as $144 million. ... Mohr Peterson served as Oregon’s state Medicaid director since September 2009 and has 18 years of experience in public health. (Consillio, 5/11)

The Hill: House Dems: Repeal Medical Device Tax By Memorial Day
More than a dozen Democrats are pressuring House leadership to advance a bill that repeals ObamaCare’s medical device tax before Memorial Day. Rep. Scott Peters (Calif.) led 17 House Democrats in a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) urging “timely passage” of the bill. (Ferris, 5/11)

The Associated Press: House GOP Abortion Bill Requires Docs To Help Fetus Survive
Doctors performing late-term abortions would be required to take steps to give the fetus the best chance of survival, according to a Republican bill the House plans to debate this week. The legislation requires that if the fetus seems capable of surviving outside the womb, a second, neonatal doctor must be present to provide care and rush it to a hospital. (Fram, 5/11)

Politico offers a progress report on Sen. David Vitter, R-La., and his crusade against the health law -

Politico: David Vitter’s Anti-Obamacare Crusade Draws Scorn — From GOP
Within the chummy confines of the U.S. Senate, Vitter has emerged as one of the most disliked members. The second-term senator’s effort to kill the federal health care contribution, worth several thousand dollars to lawmakers and their staffers, is a big part of it. But the two-year drive, his critics say, symbolizes an operating style that Vitter’s critics complain is consumed with public relations, even for an ambitious member of Congress: speeding in and out of meetings, railing about issues on the Senate floor but doing little to execute behind the scenes, firing off news releases left and right. In an institution in which the inside game is critical, Vitter doesn’t even pretend to bother with it. (Raju, 5/12)

And the latest on the Menendez trial -

Politico: Bob Menendez Argues For Trial To Be In D.C.
Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) is asking a judge to move his federal corruption trial out of New Jersey and into Washington, D.C., arguing that doing so would minimize disruption to his day job as senator and would also allow him to get a less-biased jury pool. ... Menendez was indicted April 1 on 14 federal corruption charges spanning from bribery accusations to honest services fraud. Prosecutors allege that Menendez took nearly $1 million worth of lavish gifts and campaign contributions from Melgen in exchange for using the resources of his Senate office to benefit Melgen financially. Both Menendez and Melgen have pleaded not guilty. Separate from this case, Melgen has been charged in a 76-count indictment accusing him of concocting and profiting from a Medicare fraud scheme. (Kim, 5/12)

The Associated Press: Menendez Attorney Files To Have Corruption Case Moved To DC
Indicted U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez asked Monday to have his federal corruption case moved from New Jersey to Washington, D.C., arguing that virtually none of the 22 counts alleged occurred in the state. Attorneys for Menendez and co-defendant Salomon Melgen filed the request in Newark. Abbe Lowell, Menendez's attorney, said during a court proceeding three weeks ago that he likely would file for a venue change. The government will have a chance to respond to the motion. (Porter, 5/11)

The New York Times: W.H.O. Needs Reforms In Wake Of Ebola Crisis, Report Says
The World Health Organization needs structural reform and a radical change of culture to enable it to cope with future health emergencies, a panel of experts said in a preliminary report issued Monday that was critical of the agency’s delayed reaction to the Ebola crisis. (Cumming-Bruce, 5/11)

CNN: What's In A Disease Name? WHO Has Recommendations
It may be hard to soften the panic that already surrounds mad cow disease, or swine flu or West Nile virus. But if new World Health Organization recommendations take hold, the next time an infectious disease is identified, it could have a much more innocuous effect on the public psyche. Last week, the WHO issued best practices for how to name a newly born or identified human infectious disease. Scientists and the public should strike from their list of disease names any mention of an animal species, such as avian flu and mad cow disease; type of food; cultural or occupational references; specific locations such as West Nile virus, Lyme (a town in Connecticut) disease and Ebola (a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo); nor the names of people, such as Alzheimer's, Lou Gehrig's disease. (Storrs, 5/11)

The Washington Post: New Machine Could One Day Replace Anesthesiologists
The new machine that could one day replace anesthesiologists sat quietly next to a hospital gurney occupied by Nancy Youssef-Ringle. She was nervous. In a few minutes, a machine — not a doctor — would sedate the 59-year-old for a colon cancer screening called a colonoscopy. But she had done her research. She had even asked a family friend, an anesthesiologist, what he thought of the device. He was blunt: “That’s going to replace me.” One day, maybe. For now, the Sedasys anesthesiology machine is only getting started, the leading lip of an automation wave that could transform hospitals just as technology changed automobile factories. (Frankel, 5/11)

NPR: Family Doctors Who Do More, Save More
Is a good family doctor one who treats your knee pain and manages your recovery from heart surgery? Or is it one who refers you to an orthopedist and a cardiologist? Those are questions at the heart of a debate about primary care – one with serious health and financial implications. A study from the American Academy of Family Physician's Robert Graham Centersheds some light on this topic. The findings, published in the latest issue of Annals of Family Medicine, suggest that family doctors who provide more care themselves save the health system money. (Kelto, 5/11)

Meanwhile, in other news -

The Washington Post: Americans Could Soon Be Thanking Fidel Castro For Their Revolutionary Cancer Drugs
If you’re conservative, you’re likely to recite horror stories of medical shortages or doctor defections under the Castros. For every Michael Moore talking up Cuban healthcare, there is a Marco Rubio ready to tear it right down. Whatever your stance on Cuba’s system, however, you could soon benefit from its medical advances, particularly when it comes to cancer. In fact, Americans suffering from the emperor of all maladies might soon be thanking Fidel for his country’s miraculous medications. (Miller, 5/12)

The Associated Press: Final Exit's Former Head Says Group Didn't Assist Suicides
The former president of a national right-to-die group on trial for allegedly assisting in the suicide of a Minnesota woman testified Monday that members of Final Exit Network do not assist in suicides and the group agrees to support someone during a "self deliverance" only when that person is suffering from unbearable pain and meets other criteria. (5/11)

The Detroit Free Press: Patients Don't Have To Trade Treatment For Comfort
His nurse works for Hospice of Michigan, but Frederick Tinsley is pretty clear: He has no intentions of dying yet. That's just fine. The retired metallurgy technician is part of a growing program by Hospice of Michigan that upends what most people think about hospice care. (Erb, 5/11)

The Associated Press: Ala. Mental Health Groups Rally To Fight Agency Cuts
Mental-health service workers and recipients rallied across Alabama on Monday, asking lawmakers not to cut millions in funding for the Alabama Department of Mental Health. The department is at risk of losing $35.2 million in state funds and another $64 million in matching federal funds, which some say will have a severe impact on the thousands who depend on funding. (Swant, 5/11)

Al.com: On Question About Mental Health, Alabama Governor Again Hints At Medicaid Expansion
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley on Monday again hinted that he might try to expand the state's Medicaid program under a controversial provision of Obamacare. Bentley was touring BayPointe Hospital in Mobile ... when AltaPointe CEO Tuerk Schlesinger mentioned a pilot program that paid for Alabama to provide mental health services to adult Medicaid recipients. The problem, Schlesinger told the governor, is that states in the pilot program that expanded their Medicaid programs saw a spike in recipients, which caused them to draw down the federal money faster than Alabama and the states that did not expand Medicaid. ... Bentley responded by suggesting that the state may seek an expansion under an "Alabama plan," that would expand eligibility but give the state more flexibility in spending it. (Kirby, 5/11)

The Chicago Sun Times: Top Four Criminal Justice Leaders Agree Mental Health Care Change In The Cards
Cook County’s top four criminal justice leaders agreed Wednesday that big changes should be made to the criminal justice system to stop violent crimes and to also reduce recidivism by providing mental health and support services. As Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle criticized the jail’s population of low-level offenders, citing an inmate who had stolen six bars of soap, Chief Judge Timothy Evans pointed out those offenders don’t always have a nonviolent criminal history. He has the job of protecting the public from those people, he told a packed crowd at the City Club of Chicago luncheon. (Sfondeles, 5/7)

WBUR: Colleges Work To Prevent Suicide And Fight Stigma Around Mental Health On Campus
As another academic year winds down, many colleges are reviewing how they raise awareness of mental health issues on campus, and what additional steps they can take to try to prevent suicide among students. More than 1,000 college students die by suicide every year. Suicide is listed as the nation’s second-leading cause of death for people of college age, though people not enrolled in school take their own lives at a higher rate than those attending college. And research has found about 7 percent of undergraduate and graduate students seriously consider suicide. (Becker and Jolicoeur, 5/11)

Minnesota Public Radio: U Of M: Researchers Did Not Properly Prepare Subject In Drug Trial
The University of Minnesota has apologized to a former research participant for failing to follow several safety procedures while he was in a 2007 university drug trial. In a May 6 letter, Debra Dykhuis, executive director of the university's human research protection program, told Robert Huber that researchers did not adequately prepare him for the drug trial involving bifeprunox, an antipsychotic drug developed to treat schizophrenia. (Friedrich, 5/11)

The Washington Post: Human Rights Watch Details Abuse Of Mentally Disabled Prisoners
In jails and prisons throughout the United States, correctional staff have sprayed mentally disabled prisoners with painful chemicals, shocked them with electric stun weapons, and strapped them for days in restraining chairs and beds, according to a report that will be released Tuesday. In its 127-page investigation of mostly state and local prisons, Human Rights Watch details incidents in which prison workers have used unnecessary and excessive force against prisoners with mental disabilities. (Horwitz, 5/12)

Modern Healthcare: Baltimore Unrest Draws Attention To Health Disparities
Along with everything else, the city of Baltimore's public health infrastructure took a hit during the demonstrations and rioting following the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died April 19 from injuries suffered while in police custody. Two of the city's most prominent physicians wrote a commentary posted on the JAMA website addressing the past and current roles public health efforts have played in mitigating Baltimore's social inequities and healthcare disparities. The authors called on the city's healthcare professionals to use their economic and human resources to address the underlying causes of social unrest. (Robeznieks, 5/11)

CNN: NY Cracks Down On Nail Salons That Exploit Workers
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is cracking down on nail salons that steal workers' wages and expose them to hazardous chemicals. Cuomo issued an emergency order Sunday calling for new rules to protect the thousands of workers in the state's nail salons. The move follows reports published last week in The New York Times exposing the systemic mistreatment of manicurists in salons across the state. (Rooney, 5/11)

The Associated Press: NY Expanding HIV-Prevent Effort To Fund Support Services
New York is expanding efforts to prevent the spread of the virus that causes AIDS by funding counseling, testing and other support for infected patients prescribed the effective drug. State health officials have taken several steps already to boost diagnosis and treatment HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, with antiviral medications. (5/12)

Georgia Health News: Where You're Born Can Shorten Your Life
Children born just a few miles apart in Atlanta can have life expectancies that vary by more than 10 years, an analysis shows. A child born in the 30305 ZIP Code in the affluent Buckhead district can be expected to live to age 84, according to a map recently created by Virginia Commonwealth University researchers. But across I-75 in northwest Atlanta, a child in the 30318 ZIP Code would have an average life expectancy of 72 years. (Miller, 5/11)

The Charlotte Observer: Who Should Save Sight Of S.C. Man Who Can't Afford Surgery?
To start a lively discussion of America’s health care system, let’s consider who’s responsible for saving the sight of Luis Lang. Lang, a 49-year-old resident of Fort Mill, S.C., has bleeding in his eyes and a partially detached retina caused by diabetes. That’s when he turned to the Affordable Care Act exchange. Lang learned two things: First, 2015 enrollment had closed earlier that month. And second, because his income has dried up, he earns too little to get a federal subsidy to buy a private policy. Lang, a Republican, says he knew the act required him to get coverage but he chose not to do so. But he thought help would be available in an emergency. He and his wife blame President Obama and Congressional Democrats for passing a complex and flawed bill. (Helms, 5/12)

California Healthline: California Proposes To Expand Incentive Pay For Some Medi-Cal Providers
California officials are negotiating with the federal government over an ambitious proposal that would expand an incentive pay program for hospitals and introduce shared savings and other performance pay to Medi-Cal managed care plans. The proposal is part of California's Section 1115 Medicaid Waiver renewal process. The state's current five-year $10 billion waiver, which began in November, 2010, expires on Oct. 1. The new waiver proposal would build on the existing one, state and interest group representatives said. (Vesely, 5/11)

California Healthline: Telehealth Project Aims To Improve Health Care Access For Inland Empire Tribes
A health care system serving nine American Indian tribes in the Inland Empire is using telehealth to reach patients in remote areas and address rising rates of diabetes, a particular problem among American Indians. Riverside-San Bernardino County Indian Health serves nine tribes in the expansive Inland Empire region of Southern California. The region encompasses nearly 30,000 square miles, an area the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined. Patients who live in rural parts of Riverside and San Bernardino counties must travel long distances for health care. Those who live near the Colorado River and in cities such as Needles and Blythe, which lie along the Arizona border, sometimes must travel several hours for specialty care. (McSherry, 5/11)

The Associated Press: NY Governor Creates Task Force To Conduct Nail Salon Probes
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday said he was creating a task force to investigate nail salons and crack down on worker abuse following a report of widespread exploitation and health problems of manicurists. "We will not stand idly by as workers are deprived of their hard-earned wages and robbed of their most basic rights," he said in a statement. (5/11)

The Texas Tribune: Half Of TX Women Face Barriers To Reproductive Health
More than half of Texas women faced at least one barrier to accessing reproductive health care in the years after lawmakers dramatically altered the state’s family planning services, according to a new report by the Texas Policy Evaluation Project. The project's researchers, who are based at the University of Texas at Austin, focused on access to reproductive services — including family planning, cervical cancer screenings and contraception — starting in 2011. That's the year the Republican-led Legislature cut the state’s budget for family planning by two-thirds and rejected a federally financed women’s health program in favor of a state-run program. (Ura, 5/12)

The Charlotte Observer: North Carolina Grabs Attention Of U.S. Health Secretary
When U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Sylvia Burwell visited Charlotte last week, she dropped by the Observer for an interview about the state of the nation’s health. Her visit coincided with the announcement of a federal grant for Charlotte Community Health Clinic, which serves low-income residents. With the grant, the clinic will begin serving Medicaid patients. But there won’t be that many because N.C. legislators rejected federal Medicaid expansion under the ACA. Burwell noted that Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear accepted Medicaid expansion through “executive authority” when legislators refused. Asked if she’s talked to N.C. Gov. Pat McCrory about taking a similar action, she said only that they had talked about a “range of issues” on her previous visit. (Garloch, 5/11)

Dallas Morning News: Merger Planned For San Antonio, Dallas-Area Health Exchanges
The big health information exchanges of Dallas and San Antonio are planning a merger that would bring together the electronic health records of millions of Texans along the Interstate 35 corridor. Joe Lastinger, CEO of the North Texas Accountable Healthcare Partnership, said a merger would save Dallas-area hospitals and physicians time and money in building an information technology grid. And he said it might be large enough to entice health insurers to add their patient records to the grid as well. (Landers, 5/11)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Green Bay Health Records Company IOD Inc. To Merge With Competitor
IOD Inc., a Green Bay company that contracts with hospitals and clinics to handle requests for medical records, plans to merge with HealthPort, a competitor based in an Atlanta suburb. The merger, expected to close by July, will create a company with combined revenue of more than $450million, the companies said in a news release.

The Associated Press: Missouri Home Care Workers Push For Higher Wages
Missouri home care workers on Monday pressed lawmakers to allow a proposed increase in their minimum wage to take effect, despite opposition from home health care companies arguing it could cause them financial hardship. Under scrutiny is an agreement ratified by the state Quality Home Care Council that allows those they care for to pay workers between $8.50 and $10.15 an hour, up from the current $7.50 an hour minimum. (Ballentine, 5/11)

The Texas Tribune: Senate Approves Bill To Keep Execution Drug Providers Secret
A state Senate measure to keep the names of execution drug providers from the public won initial approval on Monday in a 23-8 vote. Final passage is expected on Tuesday. State Sen. Joan Huffman, R-Houston, told lawmakers her legislation, Senate Bill 1697, was a "practical solution" to the harassment and threats faced by companies providing the state prison system with pentobarbital, the single drug used in Texas to execute inmates convicted of capital murder. (Langford and Smith, 5/11)

Fox News: Will Pregnancy Tests In Alaska Bars Dissuade Moms-To-Be From Drinking?
The Peanut Farm and a few other bars in Alaska have begun offering the free pregnancy tests as part of a two-year, state-funded pilot project. ... Alaska has a high rate of women who binge drink, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. State health officials estimate that more than 120 children born in Alaska each year suffer from fetal alcohol symptoms ranging from mental and physical disabilities to impaired growth and organ damage. (Kelly, 5/10)

The Seattle Times: Banking On Faith: Cost-sharing Ministries Offer Alternative To Obamacare
When Melissa Mira suffered sudden heart failure at the end of her second pregnancy last year, she worried first about her health and her baby then about the more than $200,000 in medical bills that began rolling in. For Mira and her family, the answer came not through traditional health insurance, but through faith that fellow Christians would step forward to pay the bills. (Aleccia, 5/11)

The New York Times: Justice For Nail Salon Workers
Across the country, countless workers in the nail salon industry, mainly immigrant women, toil in misery and ill health for meager pay, usually with no overtime, abused by employers who show little or no consideration for their safety and well-being. It is a world of long days and toxic chemicals, where the usual protections of government have failed, at all levels. (5/11)

Bloomberg View: How The Obamacare Subsidies Battle Could Play Out
Republicans have already signaled (as the Plum Line’s Greg Sargent detailed) that their basic strategy will be to pass something combining the one-page fix (probably with a time limit set after the 2016 election) with some partial repeal of Obamacare, and then dare the president to veto it. The first question is if they can even get that far. Few if any Democrats would vote for a bill that combines, say, the restoration of subsidies with the repeal of the individual mandate. Some Republicans, on the other hand, would prefer chaos, even if they take the blame, to anything that could be interpreted as support for (or, worse, “saving”) Obamacare. And then, as Karl Rove points out, even those who want to follow the hostage-taking strategy can't agree on the demands to make. (Jonathan Bernstein, 5/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Behind The Split Over Linking Medicaid Coverage To Work Requirements
In Utah, Indiana, Arkansas, and several other states, conservative governors or legislatures want to make work requirements for newly covered beneficiaries a condition of expanding their Medicaid programs. ... So far the administration has opposed these efforts, saying work requirements are inconsistent with the purposes of Medicaid, and the National Health Law Program says it is not permissible to impose work requirements on people who get coverage under Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansions. But the disagreement over tying work requirements to Medicaid expansion goes much deeper than partisan politics or legal interpretations of what the Medicaid statute allows. (Drew Altman, 5/11)

Tampa Bay Times: Florida Gov. Scott No Help In Time Of Crisis
The state Senate supports Medicaid expansion; the House doesn't. Tallahassee has been paralyzed by the dispute. In a snit, the House packed up and adjourned the session early, leaving Florida with no budget. ... And where was the newly re-elected Republican governor, leader of the party? Gone is where he was — jetting to crucial functions such as the grand opening of a Wawa gas-and-convenience store in Fort Myers and the debut of a humongous Ferris wheel in Orlando. It's impossible to imagine any of the fully functioning governors in Florida's past — Lawton Chiles, Bob Graham, Jeb Bush, to name a few — vanishing from Tallahassee during a Code Red meltdown of the Legislature. But Scott isn't a functioning governor. (Carl Hiaasen, 5/11)

Fox News: Rand Paul's Health Care Hypocrisy: A Disturbing Vote On ObamaCare Fraud
Senator Rand Paul wants to be president, vowing to “defeat the Washington machine.” But Paul’s recent vote at the Senate Small Business committee has many wondering whether Paul has, in reality, already transformed into a D.C. insider. At issue are illegal Congressional health care benefits under the Affordable Care Act and how Rand Paul is defending them. (Ken Hoagland, 5/11)

Minneapolis Star Tribune: MinnesotaCare Must Not Be A Casualty Of This Year's Legislature
In the coming days, Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Daudt, Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk and Gov. Mark Dayton will make decisions about the future of MinnesotaCare. As they do, we hope they remember the history of why, and how, it was created. Those reasons continue today, as does the success and sustainability of MinnesotaCare. End-of-session negotiations will be contentious as they grapple with how to bridge wildly divergent priorities. But MinnesotaCare must not become a casualty. (Arne Carlson And Lee Greenfield, 5/11)

Los Angeles Times: Why Doctors' Group Is Wrong About Empowering Nurse Practitioners
In September 2013, just as Covered California was preparing to enroll a million new patients in the state's healthcare system, the state Senate caved to pressure from the California Medical Assn. and voted down a bill that would empower nurse practitioners to see patients without supervision by a medical doctor. Last week, it corrected its error, passing a similar bill despite renewed opposition from the state doctors' guild, which whined, as it has for years, that allowing nurse practitioners to operate independently would put patients at risk. (Christopher Glazek, 5/11)

The Washington Post's The Volokh Conspiracy: What Gives Congress The Authority To Regulate Abortion?
The U.S. of House of Representatives is preparing to consider a bill — the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (PUCPA) — that would prohibit most abortions performed after 20 weeks from conception. Specifically, the bill would prohibit a doctor from performing (or attempting to perform) an abortion “if the probable post-fertilization age . . . of the unborn child is 20 weeks or greater.” The bill further outlines how the “probable post-fertilization age” is to be determined and contains exceptions for cases of rape, incest involving minors, and threats to the mother’s life. (Jonathan H. Adler, 5/11)

Dallas Morning News: New Digital Bridges Connect North Texans To Mental Health Services
Too often, calling the cops is the go-to option for families trying to cope. Yet by that point, many better options — options a family might not even know existed — are out of reach. That’s why two just-launched websites deserve a neon-lights introduction. Among the first of their kind nationally, the two provide a complete and user-friendly list of resources for people from all walks of life, from all over North Texas, to use to secure help. (5/10)

The Denver Post: Taking Care Of Colorado's Home-Care Workers
Last Thursday, a federal court considered a challenge to the U.S. Department of Labor's important decision to extend minimum wage and overtime protections to the nation's home-care workforce. As a member of the Colorado legislature and a home-care worker, we strongly believe our state shouldn't use this lawsuit as an excuse to delay extending the same basic protections that most of us take for granted. Home-care workers help older Coloradans and those with disabilities live and age in their homes, surrounded by those they love. The work is both challenging and critical, including everything from helping clients shower and dress to helping them keep track of medications to taking them to doctors' appointments. (Jessie Danielson and Marilyn Sorenson, 5/10)

JAMA: A Potential Solution To The Shortage Of Solid Organs For Transplantation
In the United States, the majority of deaths occur unexpectedly, outside hospitals or in emergency departments. Rarely do these deaths provide opportunities for organ donation. In Europe, unexpected deaths provide substantial numbers of transplantable organs through uncontrolled donation after circulatory determination of death (UDCDD). UDCDD considers decedents candidates for donation even when death is unexpected, regardless of location, as long as preservation begins after all life-sustaining efforts have been exhausted. ... European programs initiate organ preservation without requiring explicit consent, a concept the US public will not allow despite supporting UDCDD. (Stephen P. Wall, Carolyn Plunkett and Arthur Caplan, 5/11)