The New York Times: New Trump Rule Rolls Back Protections Of The Affordable Care Act
A sweeping new rule issued Tuesday by the Trump administration will make it easier for small businesses to join forces and set up health insurance plans that circumvent many requirements of the Affordable Care Act, cutting costs but also reducing benefits. President Trump, speaking at a 75th-anniversary celebration of the National Federation of Independent Business, said the new rule would allow small businesses to “escape some of Obamacare’s most burdensome mandates” by creating new entities known as association health plans. (Pear, 6/19)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration Expands Use Of Health Plans That Skirt ACA Consumer Protections
The rules, throwing the doors wide open to a type of insurance known as association health plans, accomplish through executive power what congressional Republicans have tried and failed to write into law over the past two decades. Announced Tuesday morning by Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, the final rules expanding access to such health plans come eight months after President Trump directed the government to ­foster alternatives to the ACA’s insurance provisions and five months after the Labor Department proposed a draft version. They are the most recent piece in the administration’s jigsaw efforts to undercut elements of the ACA through its own powers after the Republican-led Congress failed last year to repeal a broad swath of the sprawling 2010 statute. (Goldstein, 6/19)

The Wall Street Journal: New Trump Administration Rule To Expand Access To Health Plans Without ACA Protections
The rule makes it far easier for small businesses and self-employed individuals to band together and obtain “association health plans” for themselves and their employees. Many of the plans will be subject to the same rules as larger employers, which means they won’t have to provide comprehensive benefits, such as maternity services, prescription drugs, or mental health care, mandated under the ACA. That is expected to lead to lower prices for people who enroll. “You may be able to buy a policy that’s several thousand dollars cheaper,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.), said in an interview before the rule’s release. “This is the most promising proposal for quality insurance for self-employed people who might make $60,000 to $70,000 but get no subsidies.” (Armour, 6/19)

Kaiser Health News: Administration Eases Way For Small Businesses To Buy Insurance In Bulk
The new regulations eliminate the geographical restriction for similar employers, allowing, for example, family-owned auto-repair shops in multiple states to offer one big health plan, said Christopher Condeluci, a health benefits lawyer and former Senate Finance Committee aide. The rules, to be implemented in stages into next year, also allow companies in different industries in the same region to form a group to offer coverage — even if the only reason is to provide health insurance. (Hancock and Appleby, 6/19)

Modern Healthcare: Trump Administration Finalizes Rule To Expand Association Health Plan Access
As many as 4 million people will gain coverage under the new plan offerings in the coming years, according to Acosta. That includes 400,000 people who previously did not have insurance coverage, he said. The government's estimates are in line with Avalere Health's prediction that as many as 4.3 million people will leave the individual and small-group insurance markets to enroll in association health plans over the next five years. (Dickson, 6/19)

The Hill: Trump Officials Move To Expand Non-ObamaCare Health Plans
Democrats strongly oppose the move as allowing for “junk” insurance that will not meet people’s needs and that will cause premiums to rise for those remaining in ObamaCare plans, once some healthier people are siphoned off into the new plans. Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta on Tuesday said the new plans “will offer more health care coverage options at a better price.” (Sullivan, 6/19)

Politico: Trump’s New Health Insurance Rules Expected To Hurt Obamacare
Critics warn the steps will further destabilize wobbly Obamacare markets by siphoning off younger and healthier customers, who are more likely to favor cheaper plans that cover less. The law’s insurance markets have already been beset by skyrocketing premiums and diminishing competition, problems that are likely to grow worse if the customer base becomes even smaller and sicker. “These plans weaken protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said. “No single group that represents physicians, patients, hospitals or nurses is supportive. Not one." (Demko and Cancryn, 6/19)

Chicago Tribune: Trump Health Plan Change May Ease Insurance Costs For Some; Critics Fear It Could Weaken Obamacare 
Some groups of workers are excited about the expansion of association plans, saying they could be a less expensive option for consumers who’ve faced rising prices and dwindling options on Illinois’ Obamacare exchange in recent years. On average, insurers in the state increased rates by 16 to 37 percent for the lowest-priced plans on the exchange this year, and in 13 Illinois counties only one insurer offers plans on the exchange. (Schencker, 6/19)

Bloomberg: Trump To Let Small Businesses Offer Cheaper Health Plans
Twenty six groups including the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, Consumers Union and the National Alliance on Mental Illness issued a statement opposing the rule. “Consumers will pay much more for comprehensive coverage or end up with substandard plans that leave both their health and financial security at risk,” the groups said. State insurance regulators, meanwhile, have warned that the plans could open the door to fraud and abuse, citing a history of unscrupulous practices as well as insolvencies in past iterations of such plans. They’ve said there should be a strong regulatory role reserved for state officials. (Tracer, 6/19)

The Hill: Conservative Groups Outline New ObamaCare Repeal Plan
A coalition of conservative groups on Tuesday released the outlines of a new plan for repealing and replacing ObamaCare, indicating that at least some corners of the Republican Party are still pushing for repeal. The plan was drafted by groups led by the Heritage Foundation, the Galen Institute and former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), who have been leading meetings for months. (Sullivan, 6/19)

CQ: Conservative Groups Offer Health Law Alternative
The conservatives' plan, assembled by groups like the Heritage Foundation and the Galen Institute, with former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, would provide block grants to states to offer medical coverage and would end most of the health care law's regulations, such as requiring plans to cover 10 categories of coverage. It would shift people from Medicaid to private coverage. The plan proposes expanding eligibility for health savings accounts and increasing the amount an individual or family can contribute annually to their tax-free HSA account. "After efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare fell short last year, many in Congress seem resigned to accepting the status quo or even willing to bail out and prop up the program," the group writes. "What’s needed is a fresh approach—one that gives Americans more choices of private, affordable coverage while making sure the most vulnerable are protected."(McIntire, 6/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Conservatives Make New Push To Repeal Affordable Care Act
The proposal risks irking centrist Republicans who want to focus on other subjects. Republican leaders have said they have no appetite for another push to repeal the ACA before the November midterm elections unless such a bill clearly has the votes to pass. Republicans faced a series of obstacles—including internal division and unified Democratic opposition—as their effort to repeal the ACA collapsed last year. There is little evidence those dynamics in Congress have changed. Still, the proposal’s release reflects the continuing eagerness of conservatives to topple the ACA, a longtime Republican promise whose window could close if Democrats make gains in the midterms as expected. But right-leaning groups are already at odds over the proposal, which drew swift condemnation from some organizations that said it retains too much of the health law’s spending. (Armour, 6/19)

The New York Times: How One Conservative Think Tank Is Stocking Trump’s Government
On the day after Thanksgiving in 2016, Ed Corrigan, then the vice president for policy promotion at the Heritage Foundation, was summoned to Trump Tower in New York to join the senior leadership team of the Trump transition. From inside the building where the climactic personnel decisions of “The Apprentice” were once taped, Corrigan oversaw the staffing of 10 different domestic agencies. Donald Trump, the former reality-TV star, was now the president-elect of the United States, and he had an administration to fill. (Mahler, 6/20)

The Hill: Zero Tolerance Policy Stirs Fears In Health Community 
Thousands of migrant children separated from their families at the U.S. border could face significant health issues in the short and long term, health experts warn. The impact of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which sends parents to detention centers and kids to government-run shelters, could extend far past the initial trauma of separation. (Hellmann, 6/18)

The Wall Street Journal: The Effects Of Parental Separation On Children
Many medical associations and thousands of mental-health professionals have criticized the Trump administration’s policy of dividing immigrant families at the southern border, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association. In many cases, professionals cite the negative health effects parental separation has on children. In response to the backlash over his immigration policy, President Donald Trump called on Congress Tuesday to give his administration the power to detain and deport migrant families as a unit, saying he considered that the “only solution to the border crisis.” (Sweedler, 6/20)

The Washington Post: Trump Urges House GOP To Fix Immigration System, Expresses No Strong Preference On Rival Bills Amid Uproar Over Family Separations
President Trump implored anxious House Republicans to fix the nation’s immigration system but did not offer a clear path forward amid the growing uproar over his administration’s decision to separate migrant families at the border. Huddling with the GOP at the Capitol on Tuesday evening, Trump stopped short of giving a full-throated endorsement to immigration legislation meant to unite the moderate and conservative wings of the House Republican conference. (DeBonis, Rucker, Kim and Wagner, 6/19)

The New York Times: Fact-Checking The Trump Administration’s Case For Child Separation At The Border
President Trump and top administration officials have continued to defend their practice of breaking up families who arrive at the border in the face of bipartisan outcry, criticism from the United Nations and a lawsuit. They’ve denied the existence of a policy and that they were the first to enforce it, pointed to surges in illegal immigration and fraud, trotted out decades-old court cases and human trafficking laws, blamed Democrats and even cited the Bible. Here are their defenses, fact-checked. (Qiu, 6/19)

The Associated Press: Youngest Migrants Held In 'Tender Age' Shelters
Trump administration officials have been sending babies and other young children forcibly separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border to at least three "tender age" shelters in South Texas, The Associated Press has learned. Lawyers and medical providers who have visited the Rio Grande Valley shelters described play rooms of crying preschool-age children in crisis. The government also plans to open a fourth shelter to house hundreds of young migrant children in Houston, where city leaders denounced the move Tuesday. (Burke and Mendoza, 6/19)

The Associated Press: No Clear Plan Yet On How To Reunite Parents With Children
Trump administration officials say they have no clear plan yet on how to reunite the thousands of children separated from their families at the border since the implementation of a zero-tolerance policy in which anyone caught entering the U.S. illegally is criminally prosecuted. "This policy is relatively new," said Steven Wagner, an acting assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services "We're still working through the experience of reunifying kids with their parents after adjudication." (Merchant and Long, 6/20)

The Associated Press: AP Explains: US Has Split Up Families Throughout Its History
Some critics of the forced separation of Latino children from their migrant parents say the practice is unprecedented. But it's not the first time the U.S. government has split up families, detained children or allowed others to do so. Throughout American history, during times of war and unrest, authorities have cited various reasons and laws to take children away from their parents. Here are some examples. (Contreras, 6/20)

Reveal: Migrant Children Sent To Shelters With Histories Of Abuse Allegations
Taxpayers have paid more than $1.5 billion in the past four years to private companies operating immigrant youth shelters accused of serious lapses in care, including neglect and sexual and physical abuse, a Reveal investigation has found. In nearly all cases, the federal government has continued to place migrant children with the companies even after serious allegations were raised and after state inspectors cited shelters with serious deficiencies, government and other records show. (Bogado, Michels, Swales and Walters, 6/20)

The Washington Post: House GOP Plan Would Cut Medicare, Social Security To Balance Budget
House Republicans released a proposal Tuesday that would balance the budget in nine years — but only by making large cuts to entitlement programs, including Medicare and Social Security, that President Trump vowed not to touch. The House Budget Committee is aiming to pass the blueprint this week, but that may be as far as it goes this midterm election year. It is not clear that GOP leaders will put the document on the House floor for a vote, and even if it were to pass the House, the budget would have little impact on actual spending levels. Nonetheless the budget serves as an expression of Republicans’ priorities at a time of rapidly rising deficits and debt. (Werner, 6/19)

Bloomberg: House GOP Unveils Budget To Fast-Track Tax Cuts, End Obamacare 
The budget, which claims to balance by 2027 through $8 trillion in spending cuts, seeks to revive the deficit-cutting mantle for Republicans after a two-year deal that increased spending by $300 billion. A massive tax cut approved last year is expected to add $2 trillion in deficits over 10 years. The budget proposal lays out a platform for the Republicans to run on in November. Democrats need a net gain of 23 seats to win the House and the party has reason to be optimistic about achieving that goal in November’s election. (Wasson, 6/19)

Elsewhere on Capitol Hill —

CQ: Labor-HHS-Education Bill Markup Pushed To Next Tuesday In House
The House Appropriations Committee will take up a draft $177.1 billion fiscal 2019 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill on June 26, after postponing Wednesday's expected consideration. The full committee is currently scheduled to take up a draft $54 billion fiscal 2019 State-Foreign Operations bill at Wednesday's markup, as well as revised subcommittee allocations trimming $1.1 billion from the as-yet-unreleased Homeland Security measure's allocation. That was necessary because the House approved an extra $1.1 billion for veterans health care, without offsets on the floor during debate on a three-bill appropriations package (HR 5895) including the Military Construction-VA measure. (6/19)

Stat: Facebook To Redirect Users Searching For Opioids To Federal Crisis Help Line
Facebook users attempting to purchase opioids or seeking out addiction treatment will be instead be redirected to information about a federal crisis help line, the company announced Tuesday, a major step for an industry leader facing pressure to more aggressively police illicit drug sales on its platform. The announcement comes a week before an “opioids summit” convened by the Food and Drug Administration to get Facebook and other tech companies, including Twitter and Google, to take additional measures to help curb the nation’s opioid crisis. (Facher, 6/19)

The Hill: Facebook Launches Feature Connecting Users With Opioid Treatment Information 
“We look at this as one of a number of steps that we've taken and will be taking to find ways to connect the community on Facebook with the resources they need,” Avra Siegel, Facebook’s policy programs manager who’s running its efforts to counteract the opioid epidemic, told The Hill. The feature was planned in coordination with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and in consultation with Facing Addiction, an addiction advocacy nonprofit. (Roubein, 6/19)

Modern Healthcare: MAT Underutilized By Hospitals In Treating Opioid Addiction 
Roughly only one-third of patients who experienced non-fatal opioid overdose were prescribed some form of medication-assisted treatment, according a new study. Experts say that's causing thousands of people to miss out on a treatment that's proven to reduce the rate of death from overdose. The findings were published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, which looked at the outcomes of more than 17,000 Massachusetts adults who survived an opioid overdose between 2012 and 2014. (Johnson, 6/19)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Rural New England Counties See Big Increase In Overdose Rates
Opioid overdose rates are rising rapidly in rural counties, according to new research from the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy. Rates remain higher overall in urban areas, but have jumped more quickly outside of city centers, researchers found. (Greene, 6/19)

Minnesota Public Radio: Is Fentanyl More Dangerous Than Heroin?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that fentanyl was found in more than half of overdose deaths in 10 states last year including Wisconsin. What is at the root of this crisis? And how can it be fixed? (Miller and Erickson, 6/19)

Also, another drug-related health crisis —

NPR: Meth Is On The Rise And Communities Are Paying A Heavy Price
Principal Mary Ann Hale dreads weekends. By the time Fridays roll around, 74-year-old Hale, a principal at West Elementary School in McArthur, Ohio, is overcome with worry, wondering whether her students will survive the couple of days away from school. Too many children in this part of Ohio's Appalachian country live in unstable homes with a parent facing addiction. For years, the community has struggled with opioids. Ohio had the second-highest number of drug overdose deaths per capita in 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Rezvani, Martin and Hajek, 6/20)

The New York Times: Veterans Owe The D.O.D. Thousands For Survivor Benefits. Why Can’t They Opt Out?
On an afternoon in late February, Staff Sgt. John Daniel Shannon, who goes by Dan, got in his truck and drove down the dirt road near his house in Westcliffe, Colo., to meet his son’s school bus at the bottom of the hill. It is one of few tasks Dan, who is 54 and retired, can still manage on his own after being wounded in Iraq in 2004. As he waited, he checked his mailbox, where he found a letter addressed to him from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, an office within the Defense Department. When he opened the letter, his stomach dropped. It said Dan owed the government money for something called the Survivor Benefit Plan and that the department would start deducting the program premiums from his monthly entitlement for combat-related disabilities. The notice also said he owed $23,451 in unpaid premiums, plus interest, that he was expected to pay. (Jerving, 6/20)

In other news from the administration —

The New York Times: Disability Applications Plunge As The Economy Strengthens
The number of Americans seeking Social Security disability benefits is plunging, a startling reversal of a decades-old trend that threatened the program’s solvency. It is the latest evidence of a stronger economy pulling people back into the job market or preventing workers from being sidelined in the first place. The drop is so significant that the agency has revised its estimates of how long the program will continue to be financially secure. This month, the government announced that the program would not run out of money until 2032, four years later than its previous estimate last year. Two years ago, the government had warned that the funds might be depleted by 2023. (Schwartz, 6/19)

USA Today: Feds Oppose Public Reporting Of Hospital Infections
Federal health regulators will have to stop releasing data on hospital infections — which affect one in 25 hospital patients every day — under a proposal set to take effect in November, according to an analysis by patient safety advocates. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) plan, part of a complex 500-page proposed rule, could halt the public disclosure of the "super bug" MRSA, post-operative sepsis and surgical site infections, as well as accidents and injuries ranging from bedsores to respiratory failure after surgery. (O'Donnell, 6/19)

The New York Times: More Whites Dying Than Being Born In A Majority Of U.S. States
Deaths now outnumber births among white people in more than half the states in the country, demographers have found, signaling what could be a faster-than-expected transition to a future in which whites are no longer a majority of the American population. The Census Bureau has projected that whites could drop below 50 percent of the population around 2045, a relatively slow-moving change that has been years in the making. But a new report this week found that whites are dying faster than they are being born now in 26 states, up from 17 just two years earlier, and demographers say that shift might come even sooner. (Tavernise, 6/20)

NPR: A Top Bioterror Danger: Making Existing Bacteria And Viruses More Virulent
New genetic tools are making it easier and cheaper to engineer viruses and bacteria, and a report commissioned by the Department of Defense has now ranked the top threats posed by the rapidly advancing field of "synthetic biology." One of the biggest concerns is the ability to recreate known viruses from scratch in the lab. That means a lab could make a deadly virus that is normally kept under lock and key, such as smallpox. (Greenfieldboyce, 6/19)

Stat: Anti-Aging Researcher Faces Loss Of His Inspiration: His 96-Year-Old Father
Leonid Peshkin calmly strokes his father’s thin, white hair. He gently exercises the old man’s arms to activate his muscles and get the blood flowing. He speaks, voice raised to reach him through the fog of age, poor hearing, and illness. “Papa,” he asks in their native Russian, “are you in pain?” ... The younger Peshkin, 48, studies the genetics of aging at Harvard Medical School in Boston. A broad-shouldered man with a twinkle always lurking in his brown eyes, Peshkin has been obsessed with aging since childhood because he worried that his father — then as old as other kids’ grandparents — would soon pass away. (Weintraub, 6/20)

The New York Times: For Survivors Of Childhood Cancer, Walk
Exercise could improve the life expectancy of adults who survive cancer as children, even if the activity begins years after treatments end, according to an inspiring new study. But the study also finds that many survivors rarely, if ever, move much.In one of the most stirring success stories of modern medicine, many childhood cancers are now treatable, including types that once would have been fatal. (Reynolds, 6/20)

NPR: Research Points To Potential Upside Of Social Media For Kids
Screen time is often considered the enemy when it comes to teaching kids to be active and well-behaved. But should all forms of media be considered equal? Research being presented Tuesday finds that for 9- and 10-year-old children taking part in a study of brain development, greater social media use, such as using scrolling through Instagram and texting, was associated with some positive effects, including increased physical activity, less family conflict and fewer sleep problems. (Watson, 6/19)

The New York Times: Dr. Adel Mahmoud, Who Was Credited With HPV And Rotavirus Vaccines, Dies At 76
Dr. Adel Mahmoud, an infectious-disease expert who played a vital role in the development of lifesaving vaccines, died on June 11 in Manhattan. He was 76. His death, at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital, was caused by a brain hemorrhage, his wife, Dr. Sally Hodder, said. (Grady, 6/19)

St. Louis Public Radio: Growing Loneliness Epidemic Speaks To ‘The Difference Between Connecting And Belonging’
A recent survey of more than 20,000 U.S. adults suggests that most Americans struggle with an emotional state of loneliness, and it’s an issue that has serious health implications. ... The impact of technologies such as social media loomed large during the conversation. Dr. Dixie Meyer, an associate professor in Saint Louis University’s Medical Family Therapy Program, emphasized the importance of “monitoring how you use” such platforms. (Hemphill, 6/20)

PBS NewsHour: Questionable Diabetes Treatment That Raised Hopes Now At The Center Of Criminal Charges
A national network of clinics claims it offers a miraculous procedure to treat diabetes, but many in the medical community are not convinced. Special correspondent Cheryl Clark from inewsource tells the story of a couple in rural Montana who believed in the treatment and even invested in opening their own clinic, before its founder was arrested on federal public corruption charges. (Clark, 6/19)

The New York Times: Marijuana In New York: Here’s How The Laws Are Changing
New York is getting closer to legal marijuana. On Monday, the state health commissioner said he would recommend legalizing the drug, and on Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city would hand out tickets to people smoking pot instead of arresting them. But before New Yorkers break out their gummies and vape pens, here’s an explainer on what’s changing and when. (Wolfe, 6/20)

State House News Service: Legislators Approve Health Care Reform Legislation
The House on Tuesday night passed health care reform legislation that uses $337 million in new assessments to stabilize community hospitals and charts a new course to help the Legislature make decisions about scope of practice changes for medical professionals. ...The new assessments - $247.5 million on insurers and $90 million on the largest hospitals - are the centerpiece of a bill that House Majority Leader Ronald Mariano said tries to keep in play lower-cost community hospitals as payment reforms and consolidations shake out in the health care industry. (Norton, 6/20)

The Baltimore Sun: University Of Maryland Hires Consultant To Review Team Protocols After Football Player's Death
The University of Maryland has hired a sports medicine consulting group to conduct an external review of the football team’s protocols after the death of a 19-year-old offensive lineman. Walters Inc., led by Dr. Rod Walters, a former college athletic trainer, will begin its review by the end of the week, university officials said Tuesday night. The review could take up to 90 days. (Richman, 6/19)

Houston Chronicle: MD Anderson To Pay $4.3 Million Penalty For Data Breach 
A federal judge imposed a $4.3 million fine against the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center for failing to secure health records which led to the possible compromise of health records of 35,000 people, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service announced Monday. The case stems from three incidents in 2012 and 2013 when an employee’s laptop was stolen at a residence and two unencrypted two thumb drives went missing. (Deam, 6/19)

California Healthline: First Female Dean ‘A Sea Of Change’ At USC’s Scandal-Plagued Medical School
The University of Southern California veered sharply and deliberately from tradition in naming the first woman — and the first geriatrician — to lead its 133-year-old medical school. Dr. Laura Mosqueda, who took over the position on May 1, says she’ll work hard to steer more young doctors toward elderly care to treat the country’s aging population. At the same time, she will face a stiff challenge trying to help rehabilitate the image of USC as it grapples with the growing fallout from recent drug and sexual misconduct scandals. (Abram, 6/19)

Houston Chronicle: UH Hires Three Deans For Planned Med School
The University of Houston has hired three deans for its planned medical college, progress toward its goal of opening in 2020. The new administrators are Dr. Ruth Bush, associate dean for medical education; Dr. Kathryn Horn, associate dean for student affairs, admissions and outreach; and Dr. David Buck, associate dean for community health. All come from Texas institutions. (Ackerman, 6/18)

Kaiser Health News: ‘Holy Cow’ Moment Changes How Montana’s State Health Plan Does Business
Marilyn Bartlett, the director administrator of Montana’s Health Care and Benefits Division, recalls thinking “holy cow” when she got an urgent directive from state legislators in late 2014: “You have to get these costs under control, or else.” Increasing health care costs in the state workers’ health plan were helping hold down workers’ wages. The plan’s financial reserves were dwindling, heading for negative territory. (Appleby, 6/20)

KCUR: Jackson County Replaces One Troubled Healthcare Provider At The Jail With Another
Jackson County has hired one of the biggest providers of jail healthcare in the country to provide service at the downtown jail. However, the company has a history of being sued for poor care. Over the past ten years, Advanced Correctional Healthcare (ACH) has been sued 108 times in 16 states, according to Justia.com which tracks federal cases online. Several of those lawsuits are in Missouri and Kansas. A 2016 CBS News investigation uncovered six settlements ACH made with families "whose relatives died from preventable causes," according to the network. (Zeff, 6/19)

The Oregonian: Physician Who Held Botox Parties At Her Home Pleads Guilty To Federal Crime
A 54-year-old physician gave up her medical license and pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor after admitting to injecting patients at her home with wrinkle-reducing drugs Botox and Juvéderm that she got from overseas. Prosecutors will recommend that Brenda Roberts be sentenced to six months of probation. Roberts voluntarily surrendered her license after she came under investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Food & Drug Administration. (Bernstein, 6/19)

The Washington Post: The Growing Case Against IV Tylenol, Once Seen As A Solution To The Opioid Crisis
In the midst of the opioid crisis, Boston Medical Center added an intravenous version of Tylenol to its arsenal of drugs for pain management. But IV Tylenol was expensive, and after drugmaker Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals increased the price, the hospital projected it was on track to spend $750,000 in 2015 on acetaminophen (the active ingredient in Tylenol) in injectable form. "It was going to cost us, without the intervention that happened, more than any other drug on our formulary. Think of the most expensive cancer drug,” said David Twitchell, Boston Medical Center’s chief pharmacy officer. “To me, that didn’t seem justified.” (Johnson, 6/19)

Stat: Lawmaker Calls For Scrutiny Of Drug Discounts — But Not Broader Changes
A key Senate Republican renewed his commitment to ramping up oversight of a controversial drug discount program in a hearing Tuesday. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who chairs the Senate health committee, called for stricter reporting requirements and a closer examination of participants in the so-called 340B program, under which drug makers must give eligible hospitals discounts on their medicines. The hearing was his panel’s third examination of the program. (Mershon, 6/19)

The New York Times: Trump’s Plan To Lower Drug Prices Tests Limits Of The Law
In his effort to bring down prescription drug prices, President Trump is testing the limits of a law that prohibits the government from interfering in negotiations between drug manufacturers and insurance companies that provide drug coverage to more than 42 million people on Medicare. The prohibition was adopted 15 years ago when a Republican Congress added drug benefits to Medicare, and since then Republicans have repeatedly invoked it to quash Democratic demands for the government to rein in drug costs. (Pear, 6/16)

Miami Herald: HHS Secretary Azar Talks Prescription Drug Prices In Miami
With one of the nation's largest Medicare populations, South Florida is home to thousands of seniors who struggle to afford their prescription drugs — precisely the audience that Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar wanted to meet with in Miami on Tuesday. ...Though President Donald Trump has said he expects major drug companies to slash prices soon, Azar said discounting medications is easier said than done because — unlike in a typical free market system — lowering prices can put pharmaceutical manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage. (Chang, 6/19)

Stat: FDA Says Drug Shortages Fell Last Year, But Don't Blame The Agency For Persistent Problems 
There’s good news and bad news in the latest report on shortages from the Food and Drug Administration. There were fewer ongoing shortages at the end of last year, but the number of new shortages rose in 2017. To be specific, the number of new shortages totaled 39 drugs and biologics, bucking a downward trend that was registered during each of the previous two years, when new shortages amounted to 26, according to a new FDA report. On the bright side, this is also much less than the 251 new shortages that occurred in 2011. (Silverman, 6/19)

Modern Healthcare: MACPAC Proposes Changes To Medicaid Drug Rebate Program 
The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission called on Congress to make key changes to the Medicaid drug rebate program to cut spending on drugs for low-income people. Under the program, Medicaid covers drugs if the pharmaceutical companies are willing to have a national rebate agreement with HHS. Manufacturers must pay a rebate on drugs purchased by Medicaid programs. (Dickson, 6/19)

Marketplace: Senate To Scrutinize Hospitals On Low-Income Patient Profits And Spending
This morning, a Senate committee checks in to see how the cuts to the so-called 340B program, which allows hospitals to buy drugs at a discount, are impacting hospitals and patients. Critics say there’s little evidence that hospitals used the savings to help patients. (Gorenstein, 6/19)

The Hill: Bipartisan Group Of Senators Asks FDA To Examine Drug Shortages
A bipartisan group of senators is asking the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide recommendations to Congress on how to address nationwide drug shortages. Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) led a letter to FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb. They, along with 29 of their Senate colleagues, asked the agency to convene its Drug Shortages Task Force in an effort to determine the causes of these shortages and craft policy recommendations on how to fix them by no later than the end of 2019. (Roubein, 6/18)

Stat: Can A Federal Drug Discount Program Unlock Savings For State Prisons? 
As prices for medicines continue to rise, state prisons are spending more to treat inmates, a problem that has strapped budgets and prompted prisoners to file lawsuits against some state agencies. But a novel workaround might help the states lower their costs. The idea is a bit complicated and not yet vetted but is, nonetheless, intriguing because it would require testing an exemption in the Medicaid program. By doing so, state correctional facilities, which are estimated to spend 15 percent of health care costs on prescription drugs, may be able to save money, according to a new proposal from analysts at The Pew Charitable Trusts, who explored the possibility. (Silverman, 6/14)

CBS News: Study: Almost Half Of Diabetics Skip Medical Care Due To Costs
Almost half of diabetics are cutting back on treatment because of costs, according to a new survey that comes as the skyrocketing price of insulin is prompting lawmakers and physicians to call for more oversight. The American Medical Association, the largest association of physicians in the U.S., last week called for federal intervention to protect diabetics from being exploited by price gouging on insulin products. The group wants the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department to track insulin pricing and market competition to protect consumers. (Gibson, 6/18)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: High Insulin Costs Have Diabetes Patients, Doctors Scrambling For Answers
Federal authorities, who frown on people carrying large amounts of foreign drugs into the county, may not agree. But the rising cost of insulin and other supplies required to manage diabetes is such a huge issue that [Mark] Schutta’s suggestion could sound like a great idea to many people. (Rush, 6/20)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: 10 Ways To Save Money On Diabetes Care - And Get Healthier In The Process
On average, people with diabetes spend about $16,750 a year on health care, more than half of which goes to the costs of managing the condition and its many side effects. That’s more than double the bill their peers who don’t have diabetes can expect, according to the American Diabetes Association. (Rush, 6/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Roche To Pay $2.4 Billion For Full Control Of Foundation Medicine
Roche Holding AG on Tuesday said it would pay $2.4 billion to buy the shares it doesn’t already own in Foundation Medicine Inc., furthering its bet on personalized cancer care.The Swiss drug giant, which already owns roughly 57% of Foundation, will pay $137 a share for the U.S.-based company, valuing it at $5.3 billion. (Lombardi, 6/19)

Stat: Investor Coalitions Pushing Drug Makers On Pricing And Opioid Distribution
A pair of investor coalitions is successfully using shareholder proposals to pressure drug makers and wholesalers to change their pricing and oversight of opioid distribution, respectively. And the outcomes reflect the extent to which concerns over these issues are resonating with stockholders. Example one: On Friday, 28 percent of Biogen (BIIB) shareholders voted in favor of a proposal that requires the drug maker to compile reports about the risks created by high prices and examine how pricing strategies propel executive compensation. (Silverman, 6/15)

FierceHealthcare: Experts: High Drug Prices Are Forcing Patients To Make Risky Choices
The "broken" drug pricing system in the U.S. is forcing some patients to make decisions that can negatively impact their health, experts warn. Sameer Awsare, M.D., an internist and associate executive director for The Permanente Medical Group, said an example of this is one of his congestive heart failure patients, who ended up in the emergency room because of poor care management. She had only been taking her medications every other day because she was unable to afford them, Awsare said. (Minemyer, 6/18)

Stat: CAR-T Startup Allogene Picks Up Veteran Analyst Eric Schmidt As CFO
Veteran Cowen biotech analyst Eric Schmidt is joining Allogene Therapeutics, the new CAR-T cancer therapy startup, as its chief financial officer. The formal announcement was made Monday in a joint statement issued by Allogene and Cowen. Arie Belldegrun, the former Kite Pharma CEO and now co-founder and chairman of Allogene, had been recruiting Schmidt for some time, as previously reported by STAT in May. (Feuerstein, 6/18)

Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Workers' Comp Expects To Save Money With New Pharmacy Contract
The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation is dumping its pharmacy benefits manager of more than a decade and hiring a new one after discovering the bureau was overcharged millions for prescription drugs. ...A recent audit by the Columbus-based Healthplan Data Solutions found Optum RX overcharged the bureau $5.6 million in 2017. (Candisky, 6/16)

Stat: An Insider's View Of The Myths And Misconceptions Behind 340B 'Reform'
I hardly recognize the 340B drug discount program when I read the pharmaceutical industry’s criticisms about it. They say that 340B has grown too big, is without oversight and transparency, and is in desperate need of reform. Having spent more than a decade working with this program at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Office of Pharmacy Affairs, I know that such attacks on the program are unfounded, unfair, and dangerous. (Bradford R. Lang, 6/19)

San Diego Union-Times: Seniors Will Lose Out With Trump's Drug Plan. Here's How.
Every businessperson understands the “art of the deal” has little to do with art and everything to do with leverage. But as we discovered when President Donald Trump released his long-promised plan to lower drug prices, the business of politics often trumps real-world business principles. Nowhere in the ironically titled “American Patients First” blueprint is there any requirement for Medicare to negotiate directly with drug manufacturers. So, despite all of Trump’s rhetoric and promises, pharmaceutical companies and their lobbyists won, and seniors lost. Patients are not the first priority after all. (Gary West, 6/15)

Forbes: Current Prescription Drug Pricing Practices: Lessons In Obfuscation
Across most markets in our economy consumers can easily obtain and process information regarding products for sale. So when, for instance, Ford launches the latest version of the F-150, based on consumer reports and comparative price information, customers can evaluate whether the price is worth it to them. Here, the conditions for an efficiently functioning market are met. There is competition, free flow of information regarding the product’s characteristics, and transparency regarding pricing. Not so with prescription drugs. (Joshua Cohen, 6/14)

Bloomberg: Don't Fear This Burst Of Biotech IPOs
While everyone else is watching the World Cup, biotech bankers are keeping busy. This week will bring a bumper crop of baby biopharmas into the market, with seven expected to go public in the U.S. — the most in more than three years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The list includes companies working on cutting-edge medical research, from potentially curative gene therapies to cancer treatments using re-engineered immune cells. If all seven companies raise as much money as they hope to, it will set a weekly record. (Max Nisen, 6/18)

Stat: Why Does My Health Insurer Sabotage My Efforts To Manage My Diabetes?
In a raw crypt beneath Our Lady of the Conception of the Capuchins church in Rome stretches an exuberant display of skeletal remains. The piled skulls, fanned hip bones, and arched spines — remnants of centuries of Capuchin friars — bear a warning. Printed on a sign in three languages, it reads: “What you are now, we once were. What we are now, you shall be.” (Kylah Goodfellow Klinge, 6/19)

The Washington Post: Health Care Is About To Get Way Easier For Small Businesses And Self-Employed Americans
Today, if you’re a self-employed plumber or a farmer or a waitress at a small restaurant, you likely don’t have access to the same kind of lower-cost health insurance, tax breaks and patient protections that employees of bigger companies, such as IBM or Microsoft, enjoy. Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta and the Trump administration have come up with a potential solution within existing law. (Sen. Lamar Alexander, 6/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Exit From ObamaCare 
One perverse effect of the Affordable Care Act is that corporate America escaped some of the onerous mandates that hurt small enterprises. The Trump Administration is now trying to mitigate that inequity with a rule on association health plans, or AHPs, and perhaps the result will be a durable and popular alternative to ObamaCare coverage. (6/19)

Los Angeles Times: The Latest Trump Healthcare Fix Is Better Than Most. But That Doesn't Mean It's Good
The Trump administration on Tuesday released the details of its latest effort to cut some Americans’ insurance premiums — and undermine Obamacare in the process. The surprise is that, unlike every other initiative from this crew, it may well help some people obtain real coverage at a lower price. What’s not surprising is that the move will make the state Obamacare exchanges  more expensive and less stable than they are today. (Jon Healey, 6/19)

The New York Times: An Obamacare Case So Wrong It Has Provoked A Bipartisan Outcry
The legal and policy battles over the Affordable Care Act have divided the nation along predictable partisan lines. As legal academics, we were on opposite sides when the Supreme Court considered constitutional challenges to the so-called individual mandate and again when the court considered whether tax credits would be available in federally created health insurance exchanges. The latest A.C.A. challenge, however, has brought us together — an unholy alliance that conveys an enormous amount about the weakness and dangerousness of the newest legal challenge to a statute that continues to be a political and legal flash point. (Jonathan H. Adler and Abbe R. Gluck, 6/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Health Savings Accounts For Everyone
Despite failing to repeal and replace ObamaCare fully, health-care reform is progressing under President Trump. The individual mandate is nullified. The administration has permitted more low-cost “limited duration” insurance plans, and more small businesses now have access to association health plans. The next step should be to expand and improve health savings accounts. (Scott W. Atlas, 6/19)

Bloomberg: Trump’s Bring-The-Pain Politics Aren’t Working
President Donald Trump’s failure to understand that he represents all Americans, not just his strongest supporters, might explain why he has the lowest approval rating of any president at this point in a first term. And it might be the reason he has repeatedly attempted a bargaining gambit that failed each time. The maneuvers he tried to pull off for health care, the Dreamers and family separation aim to cause harm. The logic seems to be: If I can hurt you, you will be forced to make concessions. (Jonathan Bernstein, 6/19)

The Hill: Women Need Compassionate, Comprehensive Health Care — Not Lies
As health-care providers who work day in and day out with women, we are deeply worried about the unregulated growth of fake health centers that seek to actively deceive women facing unplanned pregnancies. These so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” often advertise free pregnancy testing and pregnancy-options education. But once a woman steps into the facility she is presented with factually inaccurate and misleading information, often by untrained staff pretending to be medical personnel, to dissuade her from pursuing an abortion. (Albert G. Thomas and Jaime Beers, 6/20)

San Antonio Press-Express: Doctor Was Wrong About Planned Parenthood, Title X
This shameful gag rule restricts access to comprehensive reproductive health care. Planned Parenthood trusts women, and Planned Parenthood refuses to give up its commitment to providing women with the information they need to make decisions about their bodies and their health care. (Kathy Armstrong, 6/19)

The Hill: Opioid Crisis Sending Thousands Of Children Into Foster Care
The opioid epidemic ravaging states and cities across the country has sent a record number of children into foster and state care systems, taxing limited government resources and testing a system that is already at or near capacity. An analysis of foster care systems around the country shows the number of children entering state or foster care rising sharply, especially in states hit hardest by opioid addiction. The children entering state care are younger, and they tend to stay in the system longer, than ever before. Among states hardest hit by the epidemic, the populations of children in foster or state care has risen by 15 percent to 30 percent in just the last four years, The Hill’s analysis shows. In other states, the number of children referred to child welfare programs has ballooned, even if those kids do not end up in foster care. (Emily Birnbaum and Maya Lora, 6/20)

The New York Times: Congress Is Writing Lots Of Opioid Bills. But Which Ones Will Actually Help?
If the opioid crisis could be solved by the sheer weight of proposed legislation, Congress would be able to pat itself on the back. Last week, the House began two weeks of voting on what will be more than 50 bills about the epidemic, and the Senate has its own stack of opioid bills wending through the chamber. (Margot Sanger-Katz and Thomas Kaplan, 6/20)

The Hill: Here's How We Can Use Better Data To Combat Opioids
As a former Governor and Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I care deeply about and continue to work on the widespread epidemic of both illicit and prescription drug abuse which is fueling the opioid crisis nationwide. In 2017, the Aspen Institute’s Health Strategy Group, which I co-chair, focused on the opioid epidemic in a year-long study. One of our top five recommendations to address the crisis was to invest in data and knowledge management. Health-care providers need quicker and more comprehensive access to critical information about patients’ medical history and prescription drug profile. (Tommy Thompson, 6/18)  

Stat: Separating Families At The Border Is Horrible For Children’s Health
Fair and just societies protect children. The Trump administration’s unconscionable practice of separating children from their families at the border between Mexico and the United States is making me rethink what kind of society I live in. The images and the stories are heartbreaking. (Oscar J. Benavidezn 6/19)

Boston Globe: Zero Tolerance? Only For Those Who Support Cruel Separations In America’s Name
I hurried home Monday afternoon to see my 2-year-old daughter. She likes blowing bubbles and eating pie and hugging the cat. Nearly every night before dinner, she interrupts the blessing to make sure her mama prays for Elmo: “And thank you, Lord, for Elmo, who brings so much joy to our lives.” There is nothing her parents would not do to protect her. And by sheer good fortune, there isn’t much we have to do: We were born here. But I needed to see her. Because even from the safety of a stable American life, it is impossible to listen to the wails of children separated from their parents at the border, released by ProPublica, without imagining your own child. (Nestor Ramos, 6/19)

Boston Globe: The Nation’s Historical Amnesia
Anyone who believes the malicious separation of immigrant children from their parents is contrary to American values doesn’t understand what — and whom — America has always valued. It should now be abundantly clear that, in a nation that values whiteness above all else, it’s not those thousands of brown children being kept in cages. (Renée Graham, 6/19)

San Diego Union-Times: Compulsive Video Gaming Is A Mental Health Condition
Compulsively playing video games now qualifies as a mental health condition, according to the World Health Organization. The organization released the latest version of its disease classification manual on Monday and it included a definition for “gaming disorder” which has gamers, parents and even casual video game players discussing the news. (Abby Hamblin, 6/19)

Lexington Herald Leader: Why Did Trump Administration Ax Study Of Mountaintop Mining's Health Effects? No Good Reason
Remember when the Trump administration last year scrapped a long-awaited study into the health effects of living near surface coal mining? An inspector general's investigation concluded that the Interior Department could not explain its decision and had "wasted" $455,110 that already had been spent on the study "because no final work product was produced." "Departmental officials were unable to provide specific criteria used for their determination," the IG's office reported in response to an inquiry by Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee. (6/19)