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Nearly one in five people living in Greater Houston lacked health insurance last year, giving the region the highest uninsured rate among major metropolitan areas in the United States, according to new Census Bureau figures released Thursday. The Houston metropolitan area’s 18.6 percent uninsured rate in 2018 is more than double the national rate of 8.5 percent, and nearly a full percentage point higher than the overall rate for Texas — the state with the highest rate and number of uninsured in the country, the figures showed. (Deam and Dempsey, 9/26)

Bucking the national trend, the rate of people without health insurance in Colorado has held steady this year, according to a major new study released Wednesday. The every-other-year Colorado Health Access Survey found that a record-low 6.5% of Coloradans are without health coverage, identical to the survey’s 2017 finding and down from the 15.8% of people without insurance in 2011. ... More people are covered by employer plans — about 53% of Coloradans — and fewer buy health insurance on their own. But more than 18% of people reported problems paying medical bills in the prior year, up from 14% in 2017. (Ingold, 9/25)

Expert witnesses on Wednesday presented dueling views of whether Tennessee’s 48-hour waiting period before abortion helps or hinders women’s decision making. Five of Tennessee’s seven abortion clinics are suing in federal court in Nashville over the law, which requires women to make two separate trips to an abortion clinic, first for mandatory counselling and then for the abortion. (Loller, 9/25)

The city of Austin is caught in a political and legal feud with Texas Republicans over what constitutes public support for abortion, in the latest clash between the state’s conservative leaders and its overwhelmingly liberal capital. The current fracas began when the GOP-led state legislature earlier this year banned cities from making “any transaction” with an abortion provider. The legislature cited Austin’s deal to rent a city-owned property to a Planned Parenthood clinic as the reason the bill was needed. City leaders had little reaction to the move, as it was too late to affect the reproductive health organization’s 20-year lease. (Findell, 9/25)

As opioids continue to claim hundreds of lives a month in Maryland, treatment advocates, politicians and others are making another push to permit drug use in certain places where it can be monitored and people can get connected to programs that address their addictions. Backers, including Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby and City Council President Brandon Scott, came to a meeting Wednesday to promote so-called safe consumption sites and encourage a groundswell of support for state legislation that would establish such spaces. (Cohn, 9/25)

A Maine woman says she received more than 500 letters from UnitedHealthcare in five days. The letters were sent to Stephanie Lay’s 19-year-old son Bryce in Windham, but were addressed to Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services — in Cincinnati, Ohio. WCSH-TV reports most of the letters said the company was denying a payment of $54. Some say $0. The claims go back to 2016. (9/25)

After two months of talks, San Francisco Mayor London Breed said Wednesday that she’s pulling out of negotiations with two supervisors over their sweeping proposal to overhaul the city’s mental health care system. City officials met five times since July over Supervisors Hillary Ronen and Matt Haney’s proposed ballot measure — dubbed Mental Health SF — but could not reach consensus over how to fix the city’s behavioral health system. (Fracassa, 9/25)

Connecticut took a big step this week toward a new network that will steer state employees, retirees and the general public toward the hospitals, doctors and other providers that provide the best possible care, Comptroller Kevin P. Lembo announced. The “Centers of Excellence” network will highlight those care providers who offer the most cost-effective treatment. And the contractor selected also will help state government cut its health care costs by millions of dollars across this fiscal year and next combined. (Phaneuf, 9/26)

For Missouri families who need government assistance to pay for food, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a necessity. But it’s also not always enough.Empower Missouri's #MOSNAPChallenge campaign invites state and federal legislators to shop for a three-day supply of food for a family of four using only the average amount of money available to families enrolled in the program. That’s just $1.33 per person per meal for a family of four, according to the Missouri Department of Social Services. (Hamdan, 9/25)

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration announced Wednesday that it has awarded $28.5 million in grants to organizations that support communities damaged by the past criminalization of marijuana. Nearly 70 nonprofits and local health departments from across the state will receive amounts ranging from $150,000 to $650,000. The grants are part of the California Community Reinvestment Grants program, which began when voters legalized adult-use cannabis through Proposition 64. (Nieves, 9/25)

Lawmakers tasked with finding ways to prevent suicide across Wisconsin on Wednesday backed off legislation that would have delayed funding to help keep people from taking their own lives. The leaders of the task force, Republican Rep. Joan Ballweg of Markesan and Democratic Rep. Steve Doyle of Onalaska, had planned to recommend legislation that would allocate $110,000 for a text-message-based service instead of asking the Legislature's finance committee to release funding for the service already approved and available in the state budget. (Beck and Marley, 9/25)

A Los Angeles County resident may have exposed others to measles while traveling through Los Angeles International Airport last week. Officials with the county Department of Public Health said Wednesday that the person showed signs of measles shortly after returning to Southern California. The departure city was not immediately provided. (Shalby, 9/25)

Maryland’s health department is reaching out to retailers to prepare them for an increase in the age when people can buy tobacco. Starting Tuesday, the age for buying tobacco products in Maryland will increase from 18 to 21. The law will also apply to electronic smoking devices and vaping. (9/25)

In a 36-page amicus curiae, or “friend of the court,” brief, the California State Association of Counties and 33 local governments have asked the nation’s highest court to consider hearing an appeal of the Martin v. City of Boise case. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last September that municipalities cannot punish people for sleeping on the streets if there are no available shelter beds. (Yoon-Hendricks and Clift, 9/25)

Ten children have been shot to death in St. Louis since Memorial Day weekend — more than the total number of young people killed by guns in all of 2018. The cause of the increase has vexed police, researchers and those who work with victims of violence. (Lippmann, 9/26)

After two recent mass shootings in El Paso and Odessa, Republican state legislators in Texas face mounting pressure to reduce gun violence. Gov. Greg Abbott issued a list of recommendations, which included harsher penalties on illegal purchases. Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke has supported confiscating all assault-style weapons. But in Dallas, elected officials have mostly been quiet to address whether firearm policies play a role in the city's recent rise in violent crime. (Norimine, 9/25)