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Top Senate Republicans and their staff are plowing ahead with a plan to repeal and replace Obamacare in the hopes of getting legislation on the floor by mid-summer — even if their own GOP colleagues have no idea what the bill will contain. “It’s coming together and there’s a lot of feedback of (Congressional Budget Office) trying to get scores on different policy options ... but it’s coming,” South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the third-ranking Republican in the Senate, told reporters Monday evening. (Collins, 6/12)

Several Republican senators have no knowledge of the specific policy proposals GOP leadership is weighing for inclusion in the pending legislation to overhaul the U.S. health care system. The lack of widespread knowledge among members about the exact policy under review calls into question whether Republicans will be able to advance a bill before the Fourth of July recess, the timeline that GOP aides say Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is operating under. (Williams, 7/12)

Senate Republicans are aggressively trying to rein in expectations for their Obamacare repeal effort, wary of blowing a deadline or falling short of 50 votes on a promise that has driven the GOP's political strategy for much of the past decade. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is still aiming for an Obamacare repeal vote in June, though his lieutenants acknowledge that deadline could slip into July. And while GOP leaders want to hold the vote as soon as possible, Republicans continue to avoid hard deadlines and say factors outside their control could strike. (Everett, 6/12)

Senior Senate Republicans on Monday signaled doubts about meeting their goal of voting on a major health care bill before the July Fourth recess. Republicans continue to debate among themselves how to make major revisions to Medicaid and insurance policies...Senators have already begun sending pieces of their legislation to the Congressional Budget Office, said John Thune of South Dakota, the third-ranking Republican in that chamber. But several GOP senators said they want to analyze the legislation as a complete bill. (Young, 6/12)

Senate Republicans are considering adding funding for opioid abuse treatment to their ObamaCare repeal bill, according to senators and aides. The move would be meant to ease concerns about the effect on opioid addiction treatment from rolling back ObamaCare’s expansion of Medicaid, which currently plays a major role in providing coverage for that treatment. But it's unclear how much funding would be included and whether that could meaningfully fill the gap. (Sullivan, 6/12)

The departure of insurers from ObamaCare is emboldening Republicans, helping them make the case to the public and to each other that the time has come to repeal the law. In recent weeks, insurers in many states have grown skittish about offering ObamaCare plans in 2018, raising the possibility that large swaths of the country will be left without a coverage option on their exchanges next year. (Weixel, 6/13)

Congressman-elect Greg Gianforte will perform community service and anger management classes but serve no jail time for body-slamming a reporter on the eve of his election last month. Gianforte pleaded guilty to charges that he assaulted Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs at the politician’s campaign headquarters on May 24 — an incident that was witnessed by other journalists and captured on audiotape. (Mettler, 6/12)

Eight influential healthcare and consumer advocate groups are partnering to ... highlight concerns about the House-passed ObamaCare repeal-and-replace bill. As the Senate works to dismantle ObamaCare, the groups plan to host events in four states — Ohio, Colorado, Nevada and West Virginia — aimed at showcasing the need for affordable and adequate healthcare. The first event will take place on Thursday in Cleveland. (Roubein, 6/13)

Healthcare groups are decrying Republican senators for closing their doors to the public as they write legislation repealing and replacing ObamaCare. Senate Republicans are not holding public hearings or committee markups for their bill, a major departure from the traditional lawmaking process. Healthcare groups fear the final product will be released just a couple of days before the vote, minimizing time for feedback or for opposition to build. (Sullivan, 6/12)

Conservative groups are demanding the Senate repeal all ObamaCare taxes in its healthcare reform bill. In a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), 45 groups, led by Americans for Tax Reform, called on the Senate to repeal nearly 20 taxes created under ObamaCare. ... Some GOP senators have expressed support for keeping some ObamaCare taxes to pay for their new healthcare bill as they negotiate a plan they will eventually merge with the House-passed measure. (Hellmann, 6/12)

AARP is ramping up pressure on senators to vote against provisions in the House-passed ObamaCare repeal-and-replace bill that the influential lobbying group says would hurt older adults. It's launching another seven-figure television ad buy that will run as long as the Senate healthcare reform debate lasts. It’s targeting six more GOP senators than a previous ad buy in May. (Roubein, 6/12)

Ohio’s influential Republican governor, John R. Kasich, said on Monday that he could accept a gradual phaseout of the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, but only if Congress provides states with more money than the House health care bill included and more flexibility to manage the health program for the poor. Mr. Kasich’s statement could prove significant as Senate Republicans try to find near unanimity on a bill to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement. His position points to a compromise that moderate Senate Republicans could embrace — but that could challenge the chamber’s most conservative members. (Pear, 6/12)

Medicaid is now the biggest health program in the country, covering more than 70 million people, or 1-in-5 Americans. Spending surpassed $545 billion in 2015. Yet Medicaid, “the other M,” is often overshadowed by Medicare. But the depth and breadth of innovation in Medicaid in states across the country under Democratic and Republican governors, deserves more attention. That’s particularly true now as the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress consider sweeping changes and deep spending cuts that would fundamentally change the program that provides health care for Americans with low income, the disabled, and millions of older Americans needing long-term services and support in nursing homes or in the community. (6/12)

Not-for-profit health insurers warned Monday that federal Republican lawmakers' proposed Medicaid funding cuts would endanger programs essential to caring for members who are elderly, disabled or suffering from substance use disorders. Vulnerable Medicaid members would go without necessary care and some would even lose coverage, driving up the cost of uncompensated care at hospitals throughout the states, medical directors at regional health plans Geisinger Health Plan and UCare said during a teleconference organized by the Alliance of Community Health Plans, which represents not-for-profit insurers. (Livingston, 6/12)

Indiana has opened up its pending request for a Medicaid work requirement to legal challenges by skipping a crucial step in the submission process. The state submitted the amendment as part of its renewal application for its Healthy Indiana Plan 2.0 waiver to the CMS on May 25, the CMS said in a notice released Friday. The comment period for the request doesn't end until later this month. The amendment proposes requiring Medicaid beneficiaries to be employed or searching for work in order to be eligible for the program. ... CMS and Indiana may be violating federal public comment standards for waiver requests, according to St. Louis University health law professor Sidney Watson. (Dickson, 6/12)

States like Wisconsin that didn't fully expand their health programs under Obamacare would still miss out on billions of dollars under a proposed Republican repeal of the federal law, an industry report has found. In a bit of political irony, mostly GOP-led states that didn't join the Obamacare party would get little in the way of credit — even from Republicans in Congress who are promoting a repeal bill. (Stein, 6/13)

Senate Republicans slashed $1 billion from the state's proposed two-year budget, cutting money from Medicaid and prisons as part of their plan to keep the state in the black. Cuts would include $200 million from Medicaid, $20 million from the state's prisons, at least three percent from many state agencies' budgets and dozens of earmarks. Republicans, who control the Ohio Senate, did add $6.4 million to tackle the state's drug epidemic, bringing the total to more than $176 million, Senate President Larry Obhof announced Monday. (Balmert, 6/12)

Ohio Senate Republicans said Monday they were able to close a projected $1 billion shortfall in the next two-year state budget without raising taxes or cutting essential public services. State lawmakers have been grappling since April with how to fill an estimated $800 million revenue gap in the 2018-19 budget. ... [Senate President Larry] Obhof said his chamber's version of the budget made across-the-board agency cuts of 3 to 4 percent and trimmed Medicaid spending by $200 million, including a $75 million cut to hospitals. (Borchardt, 6/12)

Iowa is asking the Trump administration for permission to jettison fundamental aspects of its Affordable Care Act marketplace, contending that a large-scale rewriting of the rules is the only way to prevent the state from becoming the first without any health plans available under the law next year. In an extreme plan that Iowa’s insurance commissioner submitted to federal health officials on Monday, the state would essentially take an estimated $350 million in federal ACA money that its residents and insurers would ordinarily receive next year and use it for different purposes. (Goldstein, 6/12)

"While legislation appears to slowly be moving at the federal level, it is unlikely any changes to the ACA will be enacted in time to keep Iowa's individual health insurance market from a total collapse leaving nearly 72,000 individuals with zero options to purchase health insurance for 2018," [Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug] Ommen said.(6/12)

Commissioner Doug Ommen said his proposal would tweak Obamacare rules in ways to encourage more young and healthy people to buy such coverage. Those customers could be a counterweight to the health-care costs of older Iowans with chronic health problems. Ommen’s plan also would help insurers shoulder the burden of extremely expensive patients. And it would boil down carriers’ offerings to one standard plan, with uniform benefits. (Leys, 6/12)

Under Iowa’s plan, a 40-year-old making about $42,000 a year would pay an estimated $384 a month out of pocket next year to buy coverage, compared to $291 under Obamacare. In general, younger and wealthier people would fare better under the Iowa proposal, while older and poorer people would face higher costs. The program doesn’t include Obamacare’s cost-sharing reductions, which help poorer people afford to use their insurance plans by reducing their deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. (Tracer, 6/12)

Trump administration officials said they were open to supporting the Iowa proposal to the extent possible under the current health law. A White House official said the administration welcomed suggestions from the states to tweak the workings of the ACA within their borders, and officials “want to get to ‘yes’ with states. ”The Iowa proposal, which would offer one type of insurance plan and revamp the law’s subsidies that help people buy coverage, among other changes, would be in effect for 2018, though it could be extended. (Wilde Mathews and Radnofsky, 6/12)

Two carriers, including Wellmark, exited the marketplace earlier this year. The two remaining — one of which only sells plans in about five counties — hadn’t yet committed to selling health plans in Iowa’s insurance marketplace for 2018, a decision affecting 72,000 of the state’s residents. (Roubein, 6/12)

Iowa’s emergency proposal to prevent an Obamacare collapse will test how far the Trump administration is willing to go to let states prop up shaky insurance markets. The state’s stopgap plan to prevent 72,000 Obamacare customers from not having any options next year would represent a broad rewrite of Obamacare's architecture. (Pradhan, 6/12)

Continuing a dropout trend seen in the Obama years, about 16 percent of consumers who signed up for coverage this year through public health insurance markets had canceled their plans by early spring, the government said Monday. Figures released from the Health and Human Services department show that 10.3 million people were signed up and paying their premiums as of March 15. That's 1.9 million fewer than the 12.2 million who initially signed up during open enrollment season, which ended Jan. 31. (6/12)

CMS said high costs and lack of affordability were the most common factors individuals cited when asked why they didn't keep their coverage. A separate report on enrollment trends attributed the drop-off to other factors, including securing a job with employer-sponsored insurance. (Pradhan, 6/12)

For the nearly 4,000 people who dropped coverage prior to paying the first month's premium, 49% said they found coverage elsewhere and 46% attributed the move to premium increases or ineligibility for financial assistance, the CMS said. Enrollment data also showed that individuals whose insurer left the market were more likely to forgo coverage. (Livingston, 6/12)

Two Senate Democrats have sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services’s independent watchdog, asking for an investigation into Trump administration actions that could have “undermined” the Affordable Care Act. Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.), the top Democrat on the Senate’s Health, Education Labor and Pensions Committee, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), a member of the committee, requested that the department’s inspector general make public any actions taken by the Trump administration to destabilize the individual health-insurance market. (Hackman, 6/12)

U.S. President Donald Trump says Obamacare, the health-insurance system created by his Democratic predecessor, is collapsing and needs to be replaced. Democrats say Trump is sabotaging Obamacare by scaring insurers away. As proof, both sides point to double-digit premium increases and the departure of a string of national insurers from the individual-policy market under Obamacare, officially known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Climbing prices and narrowing choices. On June 6, Anthem Inc. announced its decision to quit Ohio’s ACA market, a step that may leave 13,000 people without any coverage option under the program next year. Anthem offers ACA plans in 13 other states, where its continued participation largely remains a question mark.  (Edney, Tracer and Recht, 6/12)

Arizona has been described as "ground zero" for "Obamacare's" woes because of the departure last year of all but two health insurance companies and massive customer rate hikes. But those two insurance companies appear content enough with Arizona's health-insurance marketplace this year that they have pursued steps to again offer plans in 2018. (Alltucker, 6/12)

The U.S. Army has commissioned a study to determine whether an anesthetic injection to the neck alleviates symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder—a treatment that, if proven effective, could be a big step toward easing an affliction affecting hundreds of thousands of troops who have returned from combat. The $2 million Army study constitutes the first large-scale randomized control research into use of the shots—called stellate ganglion blocks—to treat PTSD. The injections have been used for decades for arm pain and shingles. (Phillips, 6/12)

A key federal official who helps adjudicate claims by veterans who say they were exposed to Agent Orange has downplayed the risks of the chemical herbicide and questioned the findings of scientists, journalists and even a federal administrative tribunal that conflict with his views. Jim Sampsel, a lead analyst within the Department of Veterans Affairs’ compensation service, told a VA advisory committee in March that he believes much of the renewed attention to Agent Orange — used during the Vietnam War to kill brush and deny cover to enemy troops — is the result of media “hype” and “hysteria,” according to a transcript of the meeting released to ProPublica. (Ornstein, 6/12)

Technological advancements are ushering in a new era of health care, eroding the long-held model of hospitals and doctors’ offices as the physical center of the health system... This rapidly changing landscape raises the question: Will there come a day when we won’t need to go to the doctor’s office anymore? (Ho, 6/12)

The health care industrial complex has spent billions of dollars and untold amounts of time trying to make medical records as flexible, invisible and unobtrusive as possible for patients and clinicians alike... But after nearly two decades of concerted innovation, amid a push to do away with paper records, many physicians say they’re still hamstrung by issues that have dogged them for years. (Francassa, 6/12)

Some experts say ingestibles — also dubbed “smart pills” — can help solve one of the biggest problems plaguing the health care industry: patients simply not taking their medication as prescribed. The Proteus sensor can indicate if and when a pill is taken. It was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2012 — the first such device to receive the agency’s OK. (Thadani, 6/12)

Inside Starkey’s Shattuck Avenue lab, Carlile and his team are researching brain-sensing technologies that may enhance hearing aids in the next five or six years... Using a skullcap dotted by round electrodes, the researchers are measuring brain-wave activity to pinpoint which talker a person is trying to hear in noisy situations. (Evangelista, 6/12)

Newer models of medical devices like pacemakers, insulin pumps and medication pumps have wireless connectivity so doctors can remotely access the device to monitor the patient or to make changes to how it operates. But those very features also provide a backdoor for hackers to gain access to the device, just as they could hack into any other information stored online. (Stanford, 6/12)

More than 10 percent of the world’s population is now obese, a marked rise over the last 30 years that is leading to widespread health problems and millions of premature deaths, according to a new study, the most comprehensive research done on the subject. Published Monday in The New England Journal of Medicine, the study showed that the problem had swept the globe, including regions that have historically had food shortages, like Africa. (Richtel, 6/12)

The findings represent "a growing and disturbing global public health crisis," said the authors of the paper, which was published Monday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Among the 20 most-populous countries, the highest level of obesity among children and young adults was in the U.S., at nearly 13%. Egypt topped the list for adult obesity at about 35%, while the lowest rates were in Bangladesh and Vietnam, respectively, at 1%. (Rice, 6/12)

Louisiana and other Southern states have the highest rates of new HIV and AIDS diagnoses, the largest percentage of people living with the disease, and the most people dying from it. As AIDS death rates decline in the U.S., they are also declining in the region, albeit more slowly. But in pockets around the Deep South, public health officials say new policies and programs are providing a glimmer of hope...In Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee, state public health officials and AIDS activists are focusing on getting people tested and linked up with medical care. Treatment, they say, helps prevent the spread of the virus, because patients with lower levels of HIV in their bodies are much less likely to pass it on to others. Their efforts could serve as models for other states battling the epidemic, public health officials across the country say. (Wiltz, 6/13)

A mother’s fever during pregnancy, especially in the second trimester, is associated with a higher risk that her child will be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, researchers reported Tuesday. Three or more fevers after 12 weeks of gestation may be linked to an even greater risk of the condition. The study by researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health adds support for the theory that infectious agents that trigger a pregnant woman’s immune response may disrupt a fetus’s brain development and lead to disorders such as autism. (Bernstein, 6/13)

Intrigued, STAT reviewed dozens of scientific studies and talked to a half-dozen aging and nutrition experts about fasting in general and ProLon in particular. We visited [Valter] Longo’s lab at the University of Southern California’s Longevity Institute, where slender black and white rodents pass their days in clear plastic boxes labeled “DO NOT FEED.” We even tried Longo’s diet for one long and rather hungry week. Our conclusion? Fasting does appear to boost health — certainly in mice, and preliminary evidence suggests it might do so in humans as well, at least in the short term. It’s not yet clear whether that’s because abstaining from food prompts cellular changes that promote longevity, as some scientists believe — or because it simply puts a brake on the abundant and ceaseless stream of calories we consume to the detriment of our health. Either way, it can be a powerful force. (McFarling, 6/13)

To the Mesopotamians, the liver was the body’s premier organ, the seat of the human soul and emotions. The ancient Greeks linked the liver to pleasure: The words hepatic and hedonic are thought to share the same root. The Elizabethans referred to their monarch not as the head of state but as its liver, and woe to any people saddled with a lily-livered leader, whose bloodless cowardice would surely prove their undoing. Yet even the most ardent liverati of history may have underestimated the scope and complexity of the organ. (Angier, 6/12)

Dog owners often say the best thing about dogs is their unconditional love. But new research suggests there's another benefit, too. Dog owners walk more. In a study published Monday in the journal BMC Public Health, dog owners on average walked 22 minutes more per day compared to people who didn't own a dog. And they weren't just dawdling. (Aubrey, 6/12)

A few years hence, when you’ve finally tired of turning up the TV volume and making dinner reservations at 5:30 p.m. because any later and the place gets too loud, you may go shopping. Perhaps you’ll head to a local boutique called The Hear Better Store, or maybe Didja Ear That? (Reader nominees for kitschy names invited.) Maybe you’ll opt for a big-box retailer or a kiosk at your local pharmacy. (Span, 6/12)

When her daughter was born at Providence St. Peter Hospital in January, the first thing Maria Rios checked was the baby’s head. She’d seen the terrifying photos on the internet — infants in Brazil and in Puerto Rico whose skulls were misshapen, even collapsed, ravaged by the Zika virus that has engulfed Latin America. Days earlier, U.S. doctors had told Rios — a 20-year-old, first-time mother — that she was infected with Zika, likely spread by a mosquito bite at her parents’ home in Colima, Mexico, last summer. Rios desperately wanted them to be wrong. (Aleccia, 6/13)

Nassau County filed a lawsuit Monday against several pharmaceutical companies, alleging their prescription painkillers helped fuel the opioid epidemic that costs the county millions of dollars annually to combat. The complaint, filed in Nassau County Supreme Court, targets several companies including Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. , Purdue Pharma LP and Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. The defendants also include drug distributors and doctors. (De Avila, 6/12)

Since March, the providers at Wareham Pediatrics have been treating substance misuse within their primary-care office, in a pilot project that might be unique in the nation... The doctors hope their experience — made possible by a foundation grant, guidance from Boston specialists, and months of planning — will provide a roadmap for other practices. (Freyer, 6/12)

Over the past two years, the nonprofit organization HOPE for New Hampshire Recovery has expanded from a single modest space in Manchester to seven drug recovery centers statewide, making it the largest such organization in New Hampshire... Former employees spoke with NHPR about what they call serious problems for a key player in the state’s fight against opioid addiction. (Sutherland, 6/12)

New Hampshire's legislative budget writers have until Thursday to reach agreement on a spending plan so the full House and Senate can vote next week... At issue was how the state awards family planning contracts. This provision would require they be competitively bid. (Rogers, 6/12)

Planned Parenthood has delivered what it says are 16,000-plus petition signatures opposing Texas’ asking the federal government to fund a state-run women’s health program excluding abortion providers. Activists turned in the petitions Monday at Gov. Greg Abbott’s office at the Texas Capitol. (6/12)

Missouri lawmakers returned to the Capitol on Monday after Republican Gov. Eric Greitens called for a special session aimed at imposing more abortion restrictions and undoing a St. Louis ordinance that bans discrimination over abortion and pregnancies. Greitens, an abortion opponent, announced last week he was bringing legislators back to work, the second time he's done so in less than a month. At issue now are a federal judge's ruling striking down some state laws on abortion and the St. Louis ordinance, which prohibits discrimination in housing and employment based on "reproductive health decisions." (6/12)

Missouri Governor Eric Greitens on Monday said a special session of the legislature was a necessary response to abortion measures adopted recently by “radical politicians” in St. Louis. Greitens made the  comments after signing the Real ID bill, ensuring that Missourians can use their driver’s licenses to board planes and enter military bases and federal buildings. Missouri had been one of only a handful of states that was not compliant with the federal Real ID Act, meaning Missourians could have been turned away from the facilities because their driver’s licenses were not deemed to be valid identification. (Margolies, 6/12)

University leaders for years said UConn Health’s John Dempsey Hospital was too small and outdated to be financially viable, but three separate attempts between 2008 and 2010 to overhaul the campus or merge the hospital with a larger network of hospitals failed to cross the finish line... Now heading into the second full year that many of the new facilities have been open, university officials say UConn Health’s fiscal picture is the worst it has been in a long time – and it is going to continue to deteriorate unless major changes are made. (Rabe Thomas, 6/12)

The pending sale of Pottstown Memorial Medical Center presents a troubling prospect to school district officials in the Montgomery County borough. The hospital, now owned by the for-profit Community Health Systems Inc., is the school district’s largest real estate taxpayer by far. The assessment of the main hospital alone, is $20.26 million, about twice the value of the next-biggest property, a shopping mall. Altogether, Pottstown Memorial’s property tax bill for the school district, including two smaller properties, was $923,998, public records show. That amounts to 3.2 percent of the $28.65 million the school district budgeted from real estate taxes for the 2016-17 school years. (Brubaker, 6/12)

Despite public support from citizens, Williamson County Commissioners won't create a task force to study the feasibility of selling Williamson Medical Center anytime soon. With 16 commissioners voting against the proposal, drafted by Gregg Lawrence, and seven voting in favor, there was widespread confusion and disagreement about what state law actually says about how money from the sale of county-owned hospitals can be used. While state law says proceeds from such a sale must be used for health purposes, commissioners found the language to be arbitrary and worth questioning. (Sauber, 6/12)

Even as Gov. Terry McAuliffe ceremonially signed two bills Monday that take the state closer to providing more immediate access to mental health care for people in crisis and those behind bars, Virginia’s top behavioral health official outlined looming challenges. Among the most urgent: overcrowded mental hospitals, significant staffing shortages and the need for millions more to complete an overhaul of the state’s community-based mental health care system. (Kleiner, 6/12)

The Baltimore City Health Department has launched a new program aimed at encouraging local companies to provide healthier work environments by offering them a Workplace Wellness designation. Company leaders can use a questionnaire adapted from a scorecard generated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help them identify priorities, or gaps, in their health promotion programs in nutrition, physical fitness and emotional health. (Cohn, 6/12)

Children in Arizona rank near the bottom of a national survey of child well-being, according to a report released Monday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The state finished 46th out of the 50 states in a survey that looked at factors ranging from the percentage of kids living in poverty, to the teen birthrate to access to health care. (Pitzi, 6/12)

Two national child advocacy organizations have filed a federal lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Social Services, alleging that children in the state’s foster care system are over-prescribed psychotropic medications with little oversight...The five plaintiffs, identified by their initials, include two- and three-year-old sisters who were allegedly prescribed Risperdal, an antipsychotic not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for children under five. Another plaintiff, aged 12, was prescribed five medications at once, and experienced hallucinations. (Bouscaren, 6/13)

About 8,000 UnitedHealthcare customers who get care from University of Chicago Medicine might have to switch doctors this summer — or pay significantly more for services because of a contract disagreement between the insurer and the medical system. UnitedHealthcare — the state's second-largest health insurer — and University of Chicago Medicine have been unable to agree on a contract to keep the medical center and the system's doctors in the insurer's network. (Schencker, 6/12)

The number of uninsured children in Florida dropped to a record low of 7 percent, according to the study, which used data from 2015. The state also saw lower teen pregnancy rats and more teens in school or working full-time. But the study ranked Florida 44th in health and 45th in economic well-being. (Ochoa, 6/13)

While suicide is the second-leading cause of death for teenagers ages 15 to 19, it is rare, with 150 suicide deaths in California in that age group in 2013... The California Department of Education released a model youth suicide prevention policy last month that calls for schools to create strategies to encourage students to talk about depression and stress. (Adams, 6/12)

General Electric Co. has been ramping up its activity in the state’s health care and life sciences sectors for several years. The rise of two health care-focused executives on GE’s new leadership team could turbocharge its business in the booming fields. (Weisman, Dayal McCluskey and Rosen, 6/12)

The Massachusetts House of Representatives will begin debate Thursday on a bill making changes to the state’s voter-passed recreational marijuana law... As passed by voters, the law gave all regulatory power to a three-person Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) that would fall under the office of state Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, with all members to be appointed by the treasurer. (Brown, 6/12)

For now, Medicare is not part of the national conversation on health care. While campaigning, Donald Trump promised not to touch Medicare, and, in his first budget, he basically kept that commitment to voters. In addition, Congress and the new administration are consumed with rolling back key elements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and replacing them with different provisions. Medicare does not feature prominently in that debate. That will need to change at some point because Medicare is simply too big and important, both in terms of its fiscal consequences and its effect on the overall health system, to leave on autopilot indefinitely. (James C. Capretta, 6/12)

Six-week-old Lilly was born premature and is struggling to gain weight. She needs regular weight checks to monitor her progress, breastfeeding support for her mother, and a nutritionist to ensure her caloric intake is sufficient. Her difficulties are particularly stressful for her mother because Lilly's family lives in a rural county in northeast Texas with limited health care resources. ... Thankfully, Lilly and thousands of other children in rural Texas have health coverage through Medicaid to provide them the best chance to grow and thrive. ... Included in the American Health Care Act passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in May was an $800 billion cut to Medicaid. This goes far beyond rolling back the Medicaid expansion created in the Affordable Care Act and will create deep cuts to existing programs and shift burdens to states for care for children, the disabled and the elderly. (Valerie Borum Smith, 6/12)

If f you've been following the Obamacare repeal and replace struggle, you know this much: The GOP-backed bill that passed the House won't become law. It's DOA in the Senate. Senators are crafting their own version. But that House bill, known as the American Health Care Act, was valuable because it reminded us of a larger truth about the 2010 law President Barack Obama championed: America has not one Obamacare population, but two. (6/11)

Imagine your mother needs to move into a nursing home. It’s going to cost her almost $100,000 a year. Very few people have private insurance to cover this. Your mother will most likely run out her savings until she qualifies for Medicaid. This is not a rare event. Roughly one in three people now turning 65 will require nursing home care at some point during his or her life. (David Grabowski, Jonathan Gruber and Vincent Mor, 6/13)

The Republican health care bill now sneaking its way through the Senate has a good chance of becoming law, even though it would do miserable damage. And it has a good chance partly because some of the bill’s most influential opponents have not had the courage of their convictions. I realize that sounds harsh. These opponents generally have good intentions. But they haven’t been very effective so far, and they don’t have much time to summon the courage to become more effective. (David Leonhardt, 6/13)

A coterie of Republicans is planning to have the Senate vote before July 4 on a bill that could take health insurance away from up to 23 million people and make changes to the coverage of millions of others. And they are coming up with the legislation behind closed doors without holding hearings, without consulting lawmakers who disagree with them and without engaging in any meaningful public debate. There is no mystery why the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, is trying to push this bill through quickly. The legislation would repeal major provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Opening it to scrutiny before a vote would be the congressional equivalent of exposing a vampire to sunlight. (6/13)

President Trump and his fellow Republicans made it clear from the beginning that if they could not “repeal and replace” Obamacare through the legislative process, they would try to destroy it through the bureaucratic process. And at that, they’ve been pretty effective. (Jay Bookman, 6/12)

Let’s say your elderly parent was neglected or abused in a nursing home. In the past, your only recourse might have been arbitration, rather than going to court. But thanks to a rule put in place last fall by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, nursing homes that receive federal funding — which is most of them — could no longer include so-called mandatory arbitration clauses in their contracts. In other words, residents and their family members were given back the right to sue. (David Lazarus, 6/13)

Physicians are often unaware of the cost of a test, drug or scan that they order for their patients. If they were better informed, would they make different choices? Evidence shows that while this idea might make sense in theory, it doesn’t seem to bear out in practice. (Aaron E. Carroll, 6/12)

You’d think a U.S. senator who chairs one of the chamber’s most powerful committees could get reliable, accurate information about a federal agency’s operations. But back in February, officials with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs told Sen. Chuck Grassley’s Judiciary Committee that no veterans were currently waiting more than 90 days for care at Iowa’s two VA medical centers. (6/12)

Hospitals have policies protecting against workplace discrimination at the hands of colleagues or supervisors. But when a patient is racist or biased towards a physician or other health care provider, there is often no recourse. Through silence and inaction on this issue, hospitals may reinforce the isolation that clinicians of racial and religious minorities can sometimes feel in medicine. Particularly at a time when some Americans feel emboldened to speak and act in bigoted ways, clinicians need support managing patients who make derogatory and abusive remarks. (Lachelle Dawn Weeks, 6/12)

Desperate for more effective ways to confront the opioid crisis, cities and states are reining in doctors who prescribe too many opioid painkillers and suing drugmakers for downplaying how addictive their products are. But the epidemic has moved beyond prescription pills to illicit drugs, so it also makes sense to try an approach that's more aggressive -- and controversial: giving addicts a safe place to use drugs. (6/12)

There’s no mistaking Kentuckian’s heroin and opioid addiction is a public health crisis. There are not enough spots in urban detox and inpatient treatment centers. It’s worse in rural areas. One hope for addicts seeking sobriety is treatment that combines Suboxone, to help the deadly craving for heroin and opioids, and counseling. It’s called MAT – medication-assisted treatment. If taken correctly, it can save lives. (6/9)

Despite all efforts to combat the opioid epidemic, the crisis continues to destroy lives and contribute to the growing gap in life expectancy by income and education in the U.S. But it appears that some relief may come from an unexpected source: virtual reality. Anyone who thinks virtual reality is just a sideshow for gamers should pay close attention to the stunning results it’s achieving in the medical world. (Peter R. Orszag, 6/13)

Over the last 48 hours, Twitter has exploded with angry commentary directed at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) after the organization actively attempted to censor what was posted on twitter during their annual sessions this past weekend in San Diego. The fiasco began when an attendee posted a picture of slides on twitter—in an attempt to “LIVE Tweet” during a session on the recommended #ADA2017 Hashtag. The @AmDiaAsso twitter feed then began to post tweets instructing individual attendees to take down specific tweets that involved photography. In fact, the ADA twitter feed at one point was dominated by their repeated requests for attendees to delete tweets. Quickly, the censorship became the focus of the hashtag—not the science. (Kevin Campbell, 6/13)

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, four million children and adolescents in the United States have serious mental disorders that cause significant functional impairments at home, at school and with peers. Despite this huge number, a 1999 report from the Surgeon General suggests that only 20 percent will receive treatment within any given year. (Nancy Rappaport and J. Wesley Boyd, 6/13)

Most people grasp, with horror, the poisoning of an estimated 6,000 to 12,000 young children in Flint, Michigan, by lead that leached into that city’s water system. But one doesn’t need to look north to find poisoned kids: An Ohio State University analysis determined that at any given time in Franklin County, about 5,500 children younger than 6 suffer from lead poisoning. (6/13)

In January, [Gov. Greg] Abbott declared child welfare reform one of four emergency items for the 85th legislative session. ... The funding and reforms were long overdue, fueling the child welfare crisis. (6/12)

It t is extremely unlikely anyone you know will ask you to donate a kidney. So don’t worry, you’re safe. Or are you? It is extremely likely that someone you know needs a new kidney, and that means someone in your life needs you to donate one. ... It seems that people, myself included, are far more willing to donate a kidney to someone they know over someone they don’t. We want the altruistic pleasure of knowing the recipient, and perhaps the pleasure of knowing that the recipient knows us. (Terry Wood, 6/13)