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President Trump on Monday urged the Republican-led Senate to pass legislation intended to crack down on shipments of illicit fentanyl through the international postal system, writing on Twitter: “No more delay!” Leaders from both chambers announced a bipartisan agreement in June on the Synthetics Trafficking and Overdose Prevention Act, which the House passed shortly thereafter. The Senate has yet to act on the bill, as Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has focused on confirming federal judges and passing appropriations bills. (Wagner and Somnez, 8/20)

The bipartisan bill passed the House in June, but has not been taken up in the Senate. The Senate hoped to vote on a package aimed at addressing the opioid crisis by Labor Day, but that is becoming unlikely as it deals with a Supreme Court nominee and other priorities. "The leader had an event on opioids just last week. It’s a priority for the Leader and the relevant chairman are working on a time agreement to bring it to the floor," said Don Stewart, the deputy chief of staff for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), referring to the Senate's opioids package. (Hellmann and Fabian, 8/20)

Powerful lobbying groups are pushing back against a House-passed bill intended to address the growing opioid epidemic. America's Health Insurance Plans led eight industry groups in a letter to Senate leadership Monday, asking that they oppose a provision in the House measure. (Hellmann, 8/20)

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) wants to tie a fight over funding for Planned Parenthood to a massive government spending bill currently being debated by the Senate. Paul has filed an amendment that would prevent federal funding from going to the organization and others that perform abortions. ... But Paul could struggle to get a vote on his amendment to the Senate bill. Leadership has agreed to avoid attaching so-called "poison pill" proposals to their legislation. (Carney, 8/20)

The Senate on Monday adopted the first two amendments to an $856.9 billion fiscal 2019 spending measure to fund the departments of Defense, Education, Labor, Health and Human Services and other agencies. The uncontroversial amendments — related to tracking cancer in firefighters and Pentagon identification of prisoners of war — each passed 85-0 Monday evening, but they were hardly predictors of how the rest of the debate could shape up. Party leaders gave no indication of whether the chamber will take up potentially contentious amendments, such as those related to U.S. support for the war in Yemen, or a proposal from Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Mike Lee, R-Utah., that would block federal funding to the health care and abortion provider Planned Parenthood. (Siddons, 8/20)

At least once a week, they assemble in Capitol meeting rooms for an hour-long strategy session. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer convenes the gatherings, which regularly include several Democratic senators, a dozen Senate aides and representatives of about 20 liberal organizations. The goal: figuring out how to derail President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick, conservative appellate judge Brett Kavanaugh. Up to now, participants say the strategy sessions have been cordial. Yet with Senate Judiciary Committee hearings just two weeks off, cracks in the alliance are showing. (Fram, 8/20)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is hitting back at media fact checks of his "Medicare for all" plan, saying the articles are “riddled with errors.” In a series of tweets on Monday, Sanders criticized a fact check from CNN’s Jake Tapper. At issue is a conservative study that Sanders has been touting from the right-leaning Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Sanders has said the study showed that his plan would reduce total U.S. health spending by $2 trillion over 10 years. (Sullivan, 8/20)

Most of the prominent Democrats eyeing 2020 presidential bids — including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts — champion the idea of “Medicare for all,” suggesting it’s become almost a litmus test for the party’s base. But the notion of government-funded health care has proved a tough sell to Democratic voters in swing districts that will determine control of the House. (Demko, 8/21)

Health insurer Anthem has teamed up with Walmart to expand its senior members' access to over-the-counter medications. Through a new partnership beginning in January 2019, Anthem's Medicare Advantage members will be able to use their insurance to shop for over-the-counter drugs and other items, such as first-aid supplies and support braces, at Walmart's 4,700 stores and online. Anthem serves more than 1.7 million seniors in Medicare Advantage plans. (Livingston, 8/20)

Anthem Inc said on Monday it has partnered with Walmart Inc to launch a program in January 2019 that will allow its Medicare Advantage plan customers to purchase over-the-counter medications from the retailer’s stores and website. Anthem said the program will provide OTC drugs and health-related items, such as first aid supplies, support braces, and pain relievers at reduced costs. (Joseph, 8/20)

Organogenesis Inc., a Canton biotech that sells wound care and skin graft products, is going public again, 16 years after it went private amid financial problems. The biotech, founded in 1985 as a spinoff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, announced it is merging with a special entity created by Avista Capital, a New York private equity firm. (Saltzman, 8/20)

Is a small company poised to shake up the multibillion-dollar market for cardiovascular drugs, or is it about to descend into irrelevance? That’s the question hanging over Esperion Therapeutics and its experimental cholesterol-cutting therapy. The drug is being developed as an option for patients who can’t get what they need from cheap, generic statins but who also don’t require pricey injectable medicines called PCSK9 inhibitors, which can cost more than $10,000 a year. (Garde, 8/21)

A development company that's owned by the corporate parent for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota has made two investments this year in health care startups, including a deal announced this month to back a sports medicine company based in Georgia. Stella Development, the Blue Cross affiliate, did not announce financial terms for either deal. (Snowbeck, 8/20)

Drugmaker AbbVie is donating $100 million to Ronald McDonald House Charities, which help provide housing to pediatric patients and their families throughout the U.S. The donation announced Monday is the single largest ever gift to Chicago-based charity network. The money will be used to build housing in at least 26 states and at 32 Ronald McDonald Houses. (8/20)

Smoke from wildfires clogged the sky across the U.S. West, blotting out mountains and city skylines from Oregon to Colorado, delaying flights and forcing authorities to tell even healthy adults in the Seattle area to stay indoors. As large cities dealt with unhealthy air for a second summer in a row, experts warned that it could become more common as the American West faces larger and more destructive wildfires because of heat and drought blamed on climate change. Officials also must prioritize resources during the longer firefighting season, so some blazes may be allowed to burn in unpopulated areas. (Ho and Flaccus, 8/20)

Public health experts treat wildfire smoke as a pollutant, similar in many ways to ozone or automobile emissions. Breathing it can be hazardous to your health, particularly for sensitive groups like children, the elderly and those with lung or heart disease. Research has shown that even low levels of outdoor air pollution can cause notable deficits in cognitive performance and worker productivity. (Ingraham, 8/20)

After more than three weeks, firefighters Monday continued to struggle against the largest fire in modern California history as the Mendocino Complex blaze prompted more evacuations and posed new dangers to those on the front lines. While battling the fire, five members of Los Angeles Fire Department Strike Team 1880C were injured Sunday. All five suffered minor injuries and were treated and released from area hospitals. (Fry, 8/20)

Officials have extended the air quality advisory for the Bay Area through Tuesday, saying they expect winds to blow smoke into the area. To help you stay informed about air quality during the fire season, KQED Science is providing this map showing air quality in your area and what it means for your health, updated hourly. (Ahmed and Hailye, 8/20)

The Trump administration is set to roll back the centerpiece of President Barack Obama’s efforts to slow global warming, the Clean Power Plan that restricts greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants. A plan to be announced Tuesday would give states broad authority to determine how to restrict carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. ... The plan is also expected to let states relax pollution rules for power plants that need upgrades, according to a summary of the plan and several people familiar with the full proposal who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the plan publicly. (Daly, 8/21)

Power plants are the largest source of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, making up roughly a third of the domestic greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. The plants also create large amounts of fine particulate matter. The particles can get trapped deep in the lungs, causing breathing problems, heart disease and inflammation. Exposure to air pollution is known to lead to a host of health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, cancer, bone loss, blood vessel damage, inflammation, cognitive issues and even death. (Christensen, 8/20)

Andrew Wheeler, President Trump’s acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, on Monday signed a proposal to scrap environmental restrictions on power plants and leave much of the regulation of the industry to states. The move is the agency’s first under Mr. Trump to detail how it will regulate the power-sector carbon emissions that contribute to climate change, and it sets up months of public and legal reviews, and potentially a yearslong court battle. (Puko, 8/20)

Northwestern Indiana residents and environmental advocates say they’re concerned that a federal agency took two years to release its first report about blood-lead levels in children who live at a lead-tainted Superfund site. Many young children who lived at the USS Lead Superfund site from 2005 to 2015 were nearly three times more likely to be lead-poisoned compared with children living elsewhere in East Chicago, according to the report last week by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (8/20)

In a new special report, Reuters News has detailed lead problems at Fort Benning, the large U.S. Army base in west Georgia. In its devastating account, Reuters reveals what it calls “a toxic scourge” inside homes on military bases, especially from lead paint. (Miller, 8/20)

The damage at [Andis] Applewhite's vineyard and elsewhere is likely coming from one of her cotton-growing neighbors. New weedkillers used on the cotton crop are drifting beyond the fields and causing damage elsewhere. The same herbicides are being used on soy and other crops in the U.S. Some estimates, such as this report published last month from the University of Missouri, suggest that drift this year from one of the herbicides, dicamba, has caused over a million acres of damage to vulnerable crops across the country. (Kennedy, 8/21)

Evan, who asked that his full name not be used for fear of professional repercussions, has a self-described cannabis-use disorder. If not necessarily because of legalization, but alongside legalization, such problems are becoming more common: The share of adults with one has doubled since the early aughts, as the share of cannabis users who consume it daily or near-daily has jumped nearly 50 percent—all “in the context of increasingly permissive cannabis legislation, attitudes, and lower risk perception,” as the National Institutes of Health put it. Public-health experts worry about the increasingly potent options available, and the striking number of constant users. (Lowrey, 8/20)

Research suggests a growing number of pregnant women are using marijuana, and according to a small new study, those experiencing severe nausea and vomiting may be more likely to use the drug. The health effects of using marijuana while pregnant aren’t clear, but national guidelines recommend that women stop using marijuana while pregnant. The new study, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that pregnant women with severe nausea and vomiting used marijuana at more than twice the rate of women without those symptoms. (Thielking, 8/20)

Four decades after Virginia legalized medical marijuana in a pioneering but ultimately unworkable way, dozens of companies are vying for the state’s permission to grow cannabis and make a medicinal oil out of the otherwise outlawed weed. Under emergency legislation passed early this year, Virginia will grant up to five permits to produce cannabidiol (CBD) oil or THC-A oil. Stripped of most of the plant’s THC, the chemical compound that triggers the intoxicating reaction in the nervous system, the oils have been touted as treatments for severe seizures and other maladies. (Vozzella, 8/20)

The sunny days of summer are not yet over, but flu season has already weaseled its way into drug and grocery stores, where pharmacies and clinics are administering vaccines to ward off influenza. Stores such as Safeway and CVS Health started offering flu shots to customers this month after they received shipments of the vaccine. (Seaman, 8/20)

In July, the World Health Assembly in Geneva made news when delegates passed a resolution promoting breastfeeding. The controversy wasn’t that the resolution passed (it was expected to, without fanfare), but rather that it almost didn’t due to the energetic efforts of a surprising antagonist.The U.S. delegation — ignoring all scientific evidence proving the benefits of breastfeeding — pushed for the removal of language asking governments to “promote, support, and protect” breastfeeding. They also wanted another clause struck that urged policymakers to restrict promotion of food products that global public health officials have identified as having deleterious health effects on infants. The food products are infant formulas, which, when combined with untreated water (as they often are in developing countries), can be deadly. A 2016 study in The Lancet calculates that universal breastfeeding could have saved the lives of more than 823,000 children and 20,000 mothers and resulted in more than $302B in savings in 2012. (Jonathan Fielding, 8/20)

When it comes to cancer survival, the United States is sharply divided by race. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the cancer death rate for African-Americans is 25 percent higher than whites, and Hispanics and Latinos are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer at a late, and more dangerous, stage of the disease. Kids aren't exempt from those disparities either — black and Hispanic children are more likely to die of many childhood cancers than their white counterparts. So what explains the survival gap? (Blakemore, 8/20)

Canadian researchers unveiled a promising bit of scientific alchemy Tuesday: a newly discovered enzyme that may be able to turn your average blood donation into coveted Type O blood, which can be safely transfused into at least 85 percent of Americans. Their work is an admittedly early step, but one researchers hope could ultimately help them address near-constant shortages of donated blood. (Sheridan, 8/21)

Kaiser Health News: Biorhythms And Birth Control: FDA Stirs Debate By Approving ‘Natural’ App

The Food and Drug Administration took a “big tent” approach earlier this month when it approved two new forms of birth control that prevent pregnancy in very different ways. Women’s health advocates applauded the availability of a new vaginal ring that could be used for up to a year. But some questioned the approval of a mobile phone app that helps women avoid pregnancy by tracking their body temperature and menstrual cycle, a type of contraception called “fertility awareness. (Andrews, 8/21)

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Lahey Health are firing back against criticism of their proposed merger, calling a watchdog agency’s prediction that the deal would increase health care costs “misleading and inflammatory." In a filing released Monday, hospital leaders responded to a critical analysis last month from the state Health Policy Commission, which said uniting the hospital systems could raise costs by as much as $251 million a year for hospital and physician services. The cost estimates assume that a merger would allow the hospitals to sharply raise the prices they charge for medical services. (Dayal McCluskey, 8/20)

For more than a year now, Grady has blended mental health services into regular patient visits in the Atlanta system’s primary care clinics. Screening for mental health problems is now part of a patient’s regular Grady primary care visit. Since 2017, about 80,000 patients have been screened for depression through the Grady “integrated behavioral health” program. About 3,000, like Dennard, have been referred to behavioral health care after visiting one of Grady’s eight primary care clinics. In addition to therapists, Grady has psychiatrists and a clinical pharmacist to help these patients, along with access to tele-psychiatry. (Miller, 8/20)

About 38,000 Legacy Health patients' personal, medical or billing information might have been accessed in a May email breach, the health system said Monday. The Portland-based nonprofit health system said someone accessed multiple employees' email accounts, some of which contained patient information. The breach was not discovered until June 21 and not publicly disclosed until Monday, as the health [system] moved to establish a hotline and contact affected patients. (Njus, 8/20)

Mission Health, the not-for-profit health system that HCA Healthcare is looking to buy, announced Monday it will place $90 million into six hospital-level foundations in hopes they'll use the money to improve health in their communities. If the deal with HCA closes, Asheville, N.C.-based Mission will give $15 million to each of its five existing hospital foundations plus one that will be created for its Angel Medical Center, which doesn't currently have a foundation. The money would come in three annual payments of $5 million. ... Part of why Mission wants to ensure the strength of the local foundations is so they can help carry out the goals of Dogwood Health Trust, the not-for-profit foundation that would be created from the proceeds from the sale of Mission to HCA, which some have predicted will exceed $1 billion. Dogwood also won't legally be able to give money directly to the hospitals. (Bannow, 8/20)

The California Legislature has passed a bill banning the sale of short-term health insurance plans — a type of insurance the Trump administration is seeking to expand. The bill, SB910, authored by State Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-West Covina), was approved by the Senate on Monday and the Assembly last week. It will need the signature of Gov. Jerry Brown to become law. (Ho, 8/20)

President Donald Trump’s nominee for “drug czar” visited New Haven on Monday, prompted by the massive medical emergency caused by the synthetic cannabinoid K2, to discuss the ongoing and deadly addiction epidemic that continues to grip Connecticut. Last week, dozen of people were taken to the hospital from New Haven’s Green after they became sickened from K2. (Rigg, 8/20)

New Haven, Connecticut, became what officials called “ground zero” Monday for efforts to shine a light on the dangers of drugs, as President Donald Trump’s nominee for drug czar visited a city reeling from more than 100 recent overdoses on synthetic marijuana. Jim Carroll met with Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Mayor Toni Harp and first responders to discuss the overdoses, as well as the country’s opioid crisis. (Collins, 8/20)

Around the state, consumers with individual Blue Shield policies, like Summers, say they have been subject to sudden, [Ashley] erroneous cancellations, especially in recent months, forcing them to go without heart medicine, skip vaccinations for their children and pay hundreds of dollars out-of-pocket for other medical care. On social media, customers have described frantic attempts to get their coverage reinstated. (Terhune, 8/20)

Maddy Wilford tied a surgical mask around her face and scraped the dirt from beneath her fingernails. She scrubbed her hands and arms, allowing frothy yellow iodine to wash over the thick scar on her right arm — a physical reminder that she had nearly died six months ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Ms. Wilford was shot multiple times that day, the bullets piercing her arm and torso, and arrived at Broward Health North in shock and need of surgery. Now she was volunteering as an intern at the same hospital, learning about medicine from the doctors who saved her life. (Bidgood, 8/21)

Pinellas County hadn’t seen a case of measles in 20 years. Then suddenly last week it had three, all from unvaccinated people. While some local physicians were not surprised that the highly contagious virus made its way back into Tampa Bay, most are reiterating the safety and importance of routine vaccinations in an era when some parent groups claim immunizations do more harm than good. (Griffin, 8/21)

It’s called Count the Kicks, and it’s about to get a boost from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The program teaches expectant mothers how to track the movement of their fetus every day during the third trimester of pregnancy. (Marso, 8/20)

Electronic-cigarette users will no longer be able to vape in public spaces in Newark. More than a decade after Ohio banned smoking in public places, Newark City Council expanded those rules to include e-cigarettes Monday night in a 10-0 decision. (Hendrix, 8/20)

Summit County Community Partnership and its 60 partners have distributed more than 60,000 disposal pouches for prescription drugs in less than two years in the Deterra Project, an addiction-prevention initiative. The pouches deactivate drugs after water is added and render the mixture safe for normal disposal with residents' trash. (Conn, 8/20)

For the first time in its 15-year history, Metropolitan Human Services District is operating a children's clinic in New Orleans East. The new program, which opened last week, offers mental health and substance abuse services for people ages 5-21. The state health agency will be operating the clinic in partnership with Tulane University and Louisiana State University. (Webster, 8/20)

A homeless inmate gave birth last year in Alameda County’s jail while she lay alone in a cold, dirty concrete solitary confinement cell after guards ignored her screams for hours, according to a federal lawsuit filed Monday. The mother was locked into the isolation cell after medical staff accused her of exaggerating complaints of pain and cramping, and deputies decided to punish her for the exaggeration, the suit says. (Fagan, 8/20)

In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, JDRF Houston Gulf Coast Chapter members worked to deliver life-saving insulin and diabetic medical supplies to those in need in Houston and surrounding areas. Gulf Coast residents with Type 1 diabetes should take special precautions to make sure they are ready in the event of a hurricane, flood or other disaster, said Rick Byrd, JDRF Houston Gulf Coast Chapter executive director. (Maness, 8/20)

An Arizona hospital is experiencing a baby boom. Sixteen nurses who work for the intensive care unit at Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa, Ariz., are pregnant. Most of the women are due between October and January. (Molina, 8/20)

Lyon and other state department officials were aware of a deadly Legionnaires Disease outbreak in Genesee County in January, 2015. But the department did not issue a public advisory about the outbreak until January 2016. The department did advise doctors and medical institutions in 2015. Between 2014 and 2015, at least a dozen people died from Legionnaires Disease in Genesee County, and dozens more were sickened. Evidence connecting the Legionella bacteria outbreak to Flint's ill-fated drinking water switch in 2014 is disputed. (Carmody, 8/20)

A judge on Monday ordered Michigan’s health director to stand trial for involuntary manslaughter in two deaths linked to Legionnaires’ disease in the Flint area, the highest-ranking official to face criminal charges as a result of the city’s tainted water scandal. Nick Lyon is accused of failing to issue a timely alert about the outbreak. District Court Judge David Goggins said deaths likely could have been prevented if the outbreak had been publicly known. He said keeping the public in the dark was “corrupt.” (White, 8/21)

One of the most popular partisan attacks on Medicaid is the claim that the program’s expansion under the Affordable Care Act exacerbated the opioid crisis in America. —You’ll find this claim retailed on right-wing websites all across the internet. It’s been energetically marketed by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., who paints a picture of an army of Medicaid patients using their government-provided ID cards to obtain prescription opioids for free, then turning around and selling the drugs at a terrific markup. Johnson’s claim has been widely debunked, as we’ve reported before. But a new paper from a group of researchers at Johns Hopkins emphasizes another aspect of the matter generally overlooked or minimized by Johnson and his acolytes: Medicaid, including Medicaid expansion, is crucial for treating the opioid epidemic. (Michael Hiltzik, 8/20)

With midterm elections rapidly approaching, over half of voters say that health care is one of the three most important issues impacting their vote. Americans across the country, no matter their political leanings, agree that health care needs to be a priority for policymakers. However, in recent months, Congress has failed to make meaningful moves to address the health concerns experienced by millions of Americans, from high deductibles to ever narrowing coverage networks. If Americans on both sides of the aisle agree that health care must be a priority, why has Congress been silent? (Jim Manley, 8/20)

When news organizations covered how Florida educators flooded Robert Goodman, a teacher fighting colon cancer, with donated sick and vacation days so Goodman could take time off to complete treatment after he posted a plea for help on Facebook, the story was framed as a heartwarming tale. “Today’s #PositivePost is about this teacher who got the news he has cancer,” tweeted a news anchor in Indianapolis. “This is a wonderful story,” said Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.). Au contraire. Yes, the donors were indeed generous. But that the story exists at all highlights the cruelty of our health-care and economic system. (Helaine Olen, 8/20)

In the real world, it has become clear that placing restrictions such as work and reporting requirements on Medicaid is disastrous. They’re legally dubious, for one thing — as a federal judge stated in late June when he tossed out work requirements imposed in Kentucky. More important, they lead to needy beneficiaries being thrown off the program and locked out of healthcare for lengthy periods, often because of confused regulations and the natural uncertainties of life in a low-income environment. The best evidence for that comes from Arkansas, where thousands of residents may lose their eligibility for Medicaid for no good reason — and may not even know they’ve been barred until they go to a doctor and get turned away. (Michael Hiltzik, 8/20)

Last week, the New York University School of Medicine became the first medical school in the nation to become fully tuition-free. Dr. Robert Grossman, dean of the medical school, cited young physicians’ “crushing debt” as an impetus for the move. One may think that doctors, with their gigantic salaries, are immune to student debt worries, but Dr. Grossman’s announcement made official what many medical school students have long known: The crisis of paying for education has finally caught up with the one percent. (Farzon A. Nahvi, 8/20)

When two physicians wrote recently in STAT that their colleagues aren’t burning out but are instead suffering from “moral injury,” they struck a nerve. Thousands of physicians across the country talked about it on social media and discussion boards; rapper and internist ZDoggMD spent nearly 30 minutes discussing it with his followers. This is a subject that clinicians have been talking about in differing, veiled terms for years. It’s reflected in the quiet whispers that something is wrong — something more than mouse clicks and workflows. Is it any surprise that a broken system has produced a broken workforce? (Andrew Morris-Singer, Stuart Pollack and Matthew Lewis, 8/21)