The New York Times: Zika Bill Is Blocked By Senate Democrats Upset Over Provisions
Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked a federal spending bill that would have provided $1.1 billion to fight the mosquito-borne Zika virus, saying Republicans had sabotaged the legislation with politically charged provisions. The move raised the possibility that no new money would be available soon to fight the disease as Southern states brace for a summer outbreak. The stalemate, accompanied by a sharp war of words on the Senate floor, raised the prospect that the partisan divide in Congress was hindering the government’s ability to respond effectively to a pressing public health emergency. (Herszenhorn, 6/28)

The Associated Press: Senate Democrats Block GOP's Zika Funding Bill
Democrats blocked the GOP-drafted measure by a 52-48 vote Tuesday — short of the 60 votes required to advance it. The party faulted Republicans for packing the bill with provisions designed to deny new funding for Planned Parenthood clinics in Puerto Rico and ease rules on pesticide spraying. What happens next is unclear. Neither side is looking forward to leaving Washington next month for a seven-week vacation without having acted to address the health threat, but hard feelings seemed to harden in the immediate aftermath of the vote, leaving any path forward in doubt. (Taylor, 6/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Zika Spending Bill Is Blocked By Senate Democrats Due To Planned Parenthood Exclusion
The bill, which Republicans wrote and pushed through the House on June 23 in the midst of the Democrats’ sit-in on the House floor over gun control, would direct $1.1 billion to research the virus, develop a vaccine, and give certain health-care providers money to respond to an expected influx of patients. The measure would direct the money through hospitals and public health clinics as opposed to women’s health clinics such as those operated by Planned Parenthood. (Hughes and Armour, 6/28)

The Washington Post: Zika Funding Stalls In The Senate Amid Partisan Rift
The House-passed measure would provide $1.1 billion to fight the mosquito-borne virus through September 2017, including funds to help develop a vaccine. The spending would be offset by $750 million in savings, including $107 million in unused Ebola funds, $100 million in cuts to administrative funding for the Department of Health and Human Services and $534 million from unspent Affordable Care Act money for health-care exchanges in U.S. territories. The package also loosens Environmental Protection Agency restrictions on pesticides and strikes a measure that would have banned the display of the Confederate battle flag at cemeteries run by the Department of Veterans Affairs. (Snell and DeBonis, 6/28)

Reuters: U.S. Lawmakers Deadlock On Zika Virus Funds
It was unclear when Congress would revisit the issue. Democrats urged bipartisan talks, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said lawmakers would address the matter again sometime after the July 4 national holiday next week. (Cornwell, 6/28)

The Hill: Blame Game Begins On Zika Funding
Republicans slammed Democrats for voting down the $1.1 billion bill, arguing the party is standing in the way of funding it has claimed for months to desperately want. Democrats countered that the bill was not a serious effort at bipartisan compromise and was loaded with unacceptable riders .... Asked if he is willing to reconsider the Planned Parenthood provision given that it is the focus of the Democratic objections, McConnell said: “Well, it’s an interesting discussion, but it’s irrelevant. This is a conference report. It’s not amendable. It’s not amendable.” (Sullivan, 6/28)

Stat: Senate Vote On Zika Money Fails, Leaving Funding Future Uncertain
In the meantime, public health officials are emphasizing the need for action. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement Tuesday afternoon that without more funding from Congress, several parts of its Zika response could be delayed or put on hold. (Scott, 6/28)

Reuters: White House Chides Congress For Failing To Fund Zika
White House spokesman Josh Earnest, on Tuesday, chided Republicans for failing to push forward with the president's request for funding to combat the Zika virus and address an urgent public health crisis. "They need that money right now," Earnest told reporters. (Rascoe and Zargham, 6/28)

The New York Times: Justices’ Orders Underscore Ruling Against Abortion Limits
The Supreme Court on Tuesday let stand appeals court decisions that had blocked abortion restrictions in Mississippi and Wisconsin. The orders, part of a final set from the court before the justices left for their summer break, underscored the sweeping nature of Monday’s abortion rights decision striking down similar restrictions in Texas. In the Mississippi case, Currier v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, No. 14-997, a divided panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, had said the challenged law would have shut down the state’s only abortion clinic. (Liptak, 6/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Supreme Court Denies Mississippi, Wisconsin Efforts To Reinstate Abortion Laws
The brief, unsigned orders rejecting the state appeals, reflected the first fallout of the court’s decision to strike down Texas provisions that included the admitting-privileges mandate along with a requirement that abortion clinics meet the strict building standards of ambulatory surgical centers. If implemented, the Mississippi measure was expected to lead to the closure of the state’s only abortion facility. (Bravin and Radnofsky, 6/28)

Reuters: Supreme Court Spurns Abortion Restrictions In Two More States
Reverberations from the U.S. Supreme Court's major ruling backing abortion rights were felt on Tuesday as the justices rejected bids by Mississippi and Wisconsin to revive restrictions on abortion doctors matching those struck down in Texas on Monday. (Hurley, 6/28)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: U.S. Supreme Court Denies Wisconsin's Appeal On Abortion Clinic Restrictions
Handing down its second major abortion action in as many days, the U.S. Supreme Court refused Tuesday to rescue a Wisconsin law restricting abortion clinics and doctors in the state, leaving in place lower court rulings that had struck it down. The unsigned order ends a three-year legal fight and was accompanied Tuesday by another rejection of an appeal by Mississippi that sought to reinstate a similar law requiring abortion doctors to be able to admit patients to nearby hospitals. Wisconsin taxpayers now also face the potential of having to pay perhaps $1 million in attorney fees to abortion clinics, according to one lawyer's rough estimate. (Stein, 6/28)

The high court also declined to hear a case over a requirement that pharmacies sell the morning-after pill —

Reuters: Divided Supreme Court Rejects Family Pharmacy's Religious Claim
A divided U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday turned away an appeal by a family-owned pharmacy that cited Christian beliefs in objecting to providing emergency contraceptives to women under a Washington state rule, prompting a searing dissent by conservative Justice Samuel Alito. The justices left in place a July 2015 ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld a state regulation that requires pharmacies to deliver all prescribed drugs, including contraceptives, in a timely manner. (Hurley, 6/28)

Politico Pro: Court Declines To Take Pharmacists' Religious Liberty Case
The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear a case challenging a Washington state policy that requires pharmacists to sell the so-called morning-after pill despite religious objections. In Stormans v. Wiesman, a group of pharmacists in Washington state says that the state does not have a conscious protection that would protect them from having to stock and sell the morning-after pill, which they say their religious beliefs inform them is akin to abortion. The FDA says that the drug is a form of birth control and does not cause an abortion. (Haberkorn, 6/28)

Houston Chronicle: Despite Abortion Ruling, Damage Already Done, Supporters Say
Despite a sweeping legal victory on their side, abortion-rights supporters have an uphill effort as they seek to rebuild shattered networks while opponents work with allies in the Texas Legislature to limit the procedure in the 2017 session. (Cervantes and Zelinski, 6/28)

The Texas Tribune: Texas Abortion Clinics That Have Closed Since 2013
Though the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed Texas abortion providers a major victory by striking down the state’s most stringent abortion restrictions, House Bill 2 leaves behind a trail of shuttered clinics. There were more than 40 abortion clinics open in Texas when lawmakers began pushing for the new restrictions. ... When the restrictions became law, clinics that couldn't meet those terms began closing their doors. By the time the high court agreed to take up the case, the number of abortion clinics in Texas had halved to 19. And there were no clinics open anywhere between San Antonio and El Paso. (Ura, Murphy, Daniel and Carbonell, 6/28)

Houston Chronicle: Beaumont Abortion Clinic 'Definitely Has The Ability' To Reopen
The organization at the center of the U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down Texas' abortion clinic regulations said on Monday that it hasn't determined which cities will be first but it "definitely has the ability" to reopen its Beaumont facility. Whole Woman's Health of Beaumont, which was the only abortion provider between Houston and Louisiana, closed in 2014 after the passage of two provisions pushed by the Republican-dominated Texas Legislature a year earlier. (Teitz and Liptak, 6/28)

Los Angeles Times: Expect A State-By-State Rollback Of Abortion Restrictions, Advocates Say
Texas abortion clinics at risk of being closed by a restrictive state law will remain open, and some of those shuttered probably will be able to reopen in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling Monday that could block similar laws in other states across the so-called “abortion desert” of the South and Midwest. Supporters of abortion rights said they now expected a steady state-by-state rollback of laws that restrict the ability to get an abortion, erasing gains that opponents have notched in recent years. (Hennessy-Fiske, 6/28)

North Carolina Health News: North Carolinians React To Supreme Court Abortion Ruling
Last year, the [North Carolina] legislature passed a bill requiring women to wait 72 hours before they can obtain an abortion. In addition, the Women and Children’s Protection Act requires physicians performing abortions after 16 weeks gestation to send their notes and copies of ultrasounds to the Department of Health and Human Services for review. (Hoban, 6/28)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: How Many Abortions Were Done In Gwinnett County In 2014?
Even though Georgia doesn’t have the same restrictions as the Lone Star State did, abortion has been a hot button issue here. Georgia has 14 clinics that perform abortions, all of them in urban centers including metro Atlanta, Savannah, Columbus and Augusta. That does not include the unknown number of private physicians that provide terminations. Metro Atlanta has the greatest number of abortions each year, but how many per county? (Bentley, 6/28)

The New York Times: Latest Plan To Cut Medicare Drug Payments Leaves Senators Skeptical
Under fire from senators in both parties, a senior federal health official told Congress on Tuesday that the Obama administration would adjust its plan to reduce Medicare payments for many prescription drugs, but those assurances did not fully allay deep concerns. The official, Dr. Patrick H. Conway, a deputy administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, indicated to the Senate Finance Committee that the administration would probably go ahead with its proposal in some form, and he promised that officials would try to prevent any harm to patients. (Pear, 6/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Medicare Proposal To Discourage Expensive Drugs May Undergo Changes
The response is an acknowledgment of the fierce backlash from lawmakers, doctors and patient groups who fear the proposal is too broad and will limit seniors’ access to drugs. Pressed by lawmakers, Dr. Conway remained vague about what could be changed but did say that re-examining the scope of the test proposal is a key issue. The goal of the plan is to remove the financial incentive for prescribing more expensive drugs. (Armour, 6/28)

The Associated Press: Medicare Weighs Changes To Controversial Plan On Cancer Meds
Affected [by the proposal] are those medications administered in a doctor's office. That includes most chemotherapy drugs, as well as injected and infused drugs for macular degeneration, rheumatoid arthritis, some immune diseases and other conditions. ... Medicare now pays doctors and hospital outpatient clinics the average sales price of a drug, plus a 6 percent add-on. Since 6 percent of a $15,000 drug is more than 6 percent of a $3,000 drug, some experts believe the formula influences doctors' prescribing decisions. The new formula would combine a 2.5 percent add-on with a flat fee for each day the drug is administered. A control group of doctors and hospitals would continue to be paid under the current system. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 6/28)

Modern Healthcare: CMS Defends Medicare Part B Proposal
The CMS has noted the concern for small and rural practices and has proposed a monitoring plan and potential exceptions to the rule, Conway said. He added that he is contacted daily by beneficiaries who currently have problems affording drugs prescribed to them. “If we think the status quo is optimal, I think we are mistaken, and we need to test new models,” he said. (Muchmore, 6/28)

Morning Consult: HHS Official Hints At Changes To Medicare Payment Proposal
Although Democrats have stopped short of embracing the proposal, they used the hearing to hammer home the point that something must be done about rising drug costs. If it’s not the administration’s proposal, it should be a different one. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), ranking member of the committee, asked Conway if the rising costs threaten the sustainability of Medicare. “The costs of the Medicare program have the potential to threaten the program, and drugs are a substantial part of those costs,” Conway said. “I think we have to make major positive changes in the delivery system reform.” (Owens, 6/28)

The Hill: Obama Official Pledges 'Adjustments' To Controversial Medicare Proposal
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have expressed serious concerns with the administration’s proposal, which aims to fight high drug prices by changing the way Medicare Part B pays for drugs. ... Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, on Tuesday raised a common objection, that patient access to drugs could be harmed if doctors’ costs for a drug became higher than what Medicare reimbursed, especially in rural or small practices. (Sullivan, 6/28)

And in other Medicare news —

Kaiser Health News: HHS Proposes To Streamline Medicare Appeals Process
The Department of Health and Human Services Tuesday proposed key changes in the Medicare appeals process to help reduce the backlog of more than 700,000 cases. The measures “will help us get a leg up on this problem," said Nancy Griswold, chief law judge of the Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals. If there was not a single additional appeal filed and no changes in the system, it would take 11 years to eliminate the backlog, Griswold said in an interview. (Jaffe, 6/29)

Health News Florida: Senate Budget Eliminates Funding For Medicare Counselors
A program that helps seniors choose a Medicare program and save money on prescription drugs could be going away in Florida and across the country. (Miller, 6/27)

Houston Chronicle: Three Doctors Convicted In $3.1 Million Scheme To Defraud Medicare
After two weeks of testimony and two full days of deliberation, the jury before U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes convicted the three doctors of signing off on bogus exams for elderly and disabled patients who got kickbacks to visit the clinics and report vague symptoms. (Banks, 6/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Gilead Gets FDA Approval For Combo Hepatitis C Drug
Gilead Sciences Inc. received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for its Epclusa hepatitis C combination drug and priced the treatment below its older drugs for the disease. ... The new drug, a combination of the biopharmaceutical company’s Sovaldi with its new velpatasvir therapy, is the first drug that treats all six major strains of the disease. Gilead priced Epclusa lower than its older hepatitis C drugs, at $74,760 for a course of treatment before discounts, according to a company spokeswoman. (Stynes and Rockoff, 6/28)

The Associated Press: FDA Approves First Pill To Treat All Forms Of Hepatitis C
Federal health officials on Tuesday approved the first pill to treat all major forms of hepatitis C, the latest in a series of drug approvals that have reshaped treatment of the liver-destroying virus. The Food and Drug Administration approved the combination pill, Epclusa, from Gilead Sciences for patients with and without liver damage. The new drug's broad indication could make it easier to use than five other hepatitis drugs recently approved by the FDA, which are each tailored to different viral strains or stages of liver disease. (6/28)

Stat: FDA Approves A Gilead Pill That Is First To Treat All Forms Of Hepatitis C
Gilead Sciences won regulatory approval on Tuesday to sell a new hepatitis C combination drug, which can combat all six strains of the disease, and priced it below its older treatments. (Silverman, 6/28)

The Hill: Gilead Wins FDA Approval For Cheaper Hepatitis C Cure
The company that created Sovaldi, the landmark drug to cure hepatitis C, has won approval for a new, slightly cheaper treatment that will be even more effective against the disease. The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved the newest drug from Gilead Sciences called Epclusa, which marks the first combination therapy to treat all six forms of the liver disease hepatitis C. (Ferris, 6/28)

For more drug pricing news, check out our weekly feature, Prescription Drug Watch, which includes coverage and perspectives of the issue.

And in other pharmaceutical news —

Los Angeles Times: Xencor Signs Cancer-Drug Deal With Novartis; Its Stock Surges 32%
Shares of Los Angeles-area biotech firm Xencor Inc. soared Tuesday by 32% after the company announced a deal with Swiss drug giant Novartis. Under the agreement, Novartis will pay Xencor $150 million now and potentially much more in the future as the companies work to develop and commercialize two experimental cancer drugs. Monrovia-based Xencor will keep the rights to the drugs in the U.S. while Novartis will have those commercialization rights in the rest of the world. (Petersen, 6/28)

The Columbus Dispatch: Emergency Medicine: So-Called ‘Smart Drugs’ Can Have Dangerous Consequences
The pills this young man was taking fit into the broader category of nootropics, pharmacological agents designed to improve cognition. These so-called “smart drugs” are becoming more and more popular, although not terribly well supported with scientific studies. ... What we also know, through survey data, is that men are more likely to experiment with medications and be more adventurous in pushing the limits of getting smarter, stronger and faster. That's why it is not surprising that the advertising for these “smart drugs” targets men, especially successful upwardly mobile men. (Gorgas, 6/29)

Bloomberg: Anthem Says Cigna Deal ‘Compelling,’ No Talks To End The Merger
Anthem Inc. said it’s not in discussions with Cigna Corp. to end their $48 billion tie-up, as speculation about the health-insurance deal’s fate mounts. (Tracer and Altstedter, 6/28)

Los Angeles Times: Blue Shield Faces New Criticism Of Shortchanging Consumers In California
Blue Shield of California, already under scrutiny by state officials, is facing new criticism that it didn’t adequately pay back policy holders for excessively spending on administrative costs in 2014. Officials from the health insurer strongly rejected the allegation, made by a former company executive in a complaint to state regulators. But if substantiated by investigators, the accusation could force the insurer to pay additional rebates to customers. (Levey, 6/28)

The Columbus Dispatch: InHealth Mutual Customers Near A Deadline To Find Insurance
Nearly 22,000 Ohioans — more than one-third of whom live in the Columbus area — have until Thursday to find a new health insurance plan or face being uninsured for most of July. The Ohio Department of Insurance took over InHealth Mutual, a subsidiary of Coordinated Health Mutual, in May. The health insurance cooperative based in Westerville was set up in 2014 to be a lower-cost option for Ohioans who shop the federally run health insurance marketplace. The state agency is liquidating the company because it ceased to meet the federal requirements for minimum essential coverage under the Affordable Care Act. (Steinbauer, 6/29)

The Fiscal Times: Really Want to Lower Healthcare Costs? Stay Away From Your Doctor
Not all that long ago, the notion of obtaining medical advice and treatment over the phone, email or video seemed exotic and risky. ... But as Melinda Beck of The Wall Street Journal wrote on Monday, many of those obstacles and concerns have been surmounted, and the era of the “virtual doctor” is upon us. ... routine on line consultations typically cost about $45. That compares with $100 or more for an in-office visit, $160 for a visit to an urgent-care clinic and $750 or more at a hospital emergency room, according to The Journal. (Pianin, 6/28)

NerdWallet: Request Your Medical Records Before You Pay That Hospital Bill
It’s your right to access all of your hospital records — and the best reason to have them might be financial. If you’re hit with a huge medical bill that you think is erroneous or fraudulent, these records can prove you right or wrong. They’re the best account of what actually happened, more reliable than your memory or the doctor’s. (Glover, 6/28)

The Associated Press: Biden Hosting Cancer Summit To Try To Accelerate Research
Vice President Joe Biden will try to give efforts to cure cancer a jolt during a summit in Washington that's casting a spotlight on research and innovative trials taking place across the country. Scientists, oncologists, donors and patients planned to gather Wednesday at Howard University for the daylong event, with thousands more participating at related events across the country, the White House said. Comedian Carol Burnett, whose daughter died of cancer, was to introduce Biden and stay to emcee the summit. (Lederman, 6/29)

Stat: Biden To Unveil Effort To Speed Researchers’ Access To Cancer Drugs
The Obama administration on Wednesday is rolling out a series of initiatives to build momentum for cancer research, announcing that it will try to expedite scientists’ access to experimental drugs for research purposes and partner with foundations and the private sector to fund more “precompetitive” studies. (Nather, 6/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Public-Private Partnerships Aim To Bolster ‘Cancer Moonshot’ Initiative
Vice President Joe Biden announced a series of partnerships involving government, industry and academia that are aimed at bolstering the White House’s proposed $1 billion “cancer moonshot” to speed up the national fight against the disease. The alliances were disclosed Wednesday at the outset of more than 270 events around the country to kick off the cancer effort, including a meeting at Howard University in Washington, D.C., billed as the Cancer Moonshot Summit. Mr. Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, were scheduled to speak, as was Greg Simon, executive director of the Cancer Moonshot Task Force. (Burton, 6/29)

Morning Consult: Biden To Announce Public-Private Partnerships For Cancer Moonshot
Nearly 400 researchers, cancer doctors, advocates and officials will gather in Washington, D.C., Wednesday as Vice President Joe Biden announces new steps as part of the White House’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative. ... The task force is expected to issue a report by the end of this year about how it will proceed. This summit could start looking toward that blueprint. (McIntire, 6/28)

Politico Pro: White House Launches New Cancer Moon Shot Efforts
The White House rolled out its first round of cancer moon shot initiatives ahead of a summit Wednesday, outlining the first concrete projects of a government-wide push to achieve 10 years’ worth of progress against the disease in five years. The efforts led by Vice President Joe Biden span federal agencies from the departments of Energy, Commerce and Veterans Affairs to the NIH and FDA. They range from unleashing the government’s supercomputing power on massive health care data sets to redesigning a website to help patients who are looking for clinical trials. The moon shot initiative is also touting a number of private sector efforts. (Norman, 6/29)

The Washington Post: The World’s Smartest Computer Will Help Treat 10,000 Veterans With Cancer
IBM's supercomputer Watson, known for its "Jeopardy" prowess, is teaming up with the Department of Veterans Affairs to try to revolutionize cancer care for veterans. The VA-IBM partnership is one of dozens of initiatives being announced Wednesday as part of Vice President Biden's all-day cancer summit at Howard University. Other efforts aim to sharply increase the number of patients in clinical trials, harness the government's computing power to pave the way for better "precision medicine" therapies and rejigger the way officials handle approvals of cancer-related products. (McGinley, 6/29)

Los Angeles Times: Two New Vaccines Can Protect Against Zika After A Single Shot
Just five months after the Zika virus was declared a global public health emergency, a scientific team’s feverish efforts to create a vaccine against the viral threat have borne promising fruit: With a single shot of either of two different types of vaccine, experimental mice gained near-total immunity to Zika for at least two months. Writing in the journal Nature on Tuesday, a U.S.-Brazilian team of scientists reported that two distinct vaccine candidates conferred powerful protection from Zika infection when each was delivered by intra-muscular injection to mice. (Healy, 6/28)

PBS NewsHour: Two New Vaccines Ward Off Zika In Mice
Two new experimental vaccines protect mice against the Zika virus, a study out Tuesday shows. Researchers from governments, academic labs, and biopharma companies have been rushing to develop Zika vaccines since global health experts started warning about the previously unknown dangers wrought by the mosquito-borne virus, including serious birth defects. Just last week, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first human testing of a Zika vaccine candidate from the company Inovio Pharmaceuticals. (6/28)

The Washington Post: Zika Infections Last Much Longer During Pregnancy, Monkey Study Shows
New research on monkeys found some good news that could have implications for humans: One infection with the Zika virus protects against future infections. But along with good news were some troubling findings. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Duke University found the virus persisted in the blood of pregnant monkeys for much longer — up to 70 days — compared to the 10 days it lasted in males and non-pregnant female monkeys. (Sun, 6/28)

The New York Times: Peril On Wings: 6 Of America’s Most Dangerous Mosquitoes
With the spread of the Zika virus, the threat posed by the tiny mosquito has been magnified into shark-size proportions. But among the more than 3,000 species of the insect worldwide, only two in the Americas are known carriers of the virus: the yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) and the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus). The potential range of the two species in the United States helps explain where Zika could be a threat. (Rueb, 6/28)

Politico Pro: Zika Could Be Perfect Storm For The South
Women in the Deep South, the part of the country that will be hit hardest by Zika, face some of the steepest hurdles accessing reproductive health care in the country — an unfortunate geographic coincidence that could amplify the virus’s impact in America. Cuts to Medicaid and reproductive health services in these states mean that many pregnant women in the region won’t even learn about the dangers of Zika infection until it’s too late. And they have fewer options for abortion if they learn the fetus they are carrying has terrible birth defects. (Cook, 6/28)

Meanwhile, in Florida, officials confirm the first baby born in the state with Zika-linked microcephaly —

Reuters: First Baby With Zika-Related Birth Defect Microcephaly Born In Florida
A Haitian woman in Florida has delivered the first baby in the state born with the birth defect microcephaly caused by the Zika virus, Florida's health department said on Tuesday. The mother contracted the mosquito-borne virus in her home country and traveled to Florida to give birth, state officials said in statements. (Jenkins, 6/28)

Orlando Sentinel: First Baby With Zika-Linked Microcephaly Born In Florida
A woman infected with the Zika virus has given birth to a baby with microcephaly, a condition causing abnormally small heads and developmental defects, for the first time in Florida, Gov. Rick Scott’s office announced Tuesday. (Rohrer, 6/28)

Tampa Bay Times: First Baby Delivered In Florida With Zika-Related Microcephaly
Doctors have delivered the first baby in Florida with Zika-related microcephaly, state health officials said Tuesday. The child's mother is a Haitian citizen who contracted the mosquito-borne virus while in her home country, the Department of Health said. She came to Florida to give birth. (McGrory, 6/28)

Health News Florida: First Case Of Zika-Related Microcephaly Confirmed In Florida
The first case of Zika-related microcephaly was confirmed today in a child born in Florida, according to the Florida Department of Health. (Ochoa, 6/28)

The New York Times: In Pat Summitt, A Toughness Greater Than Invincibility
[Pat] Summitt died Tuesday at 64 after years of struggling with Alzheimer’s-type dementia. In her 38 years as a head college coach, she won 1,098 games, more than any other Division I coach, man or woman, and led Tennessee to eight national championships. You can talk about her toughness: She once dislocated her shoulder while chasing an aggressive raccoon off her porch, in an attempt to protect her Labrador retriever, and spent two hours trying to pop her shoulder back into place before calling for medical help. ... ut it’s also important to remember how Summitt dealt with dementia, and what a perfect reflection it was of her personality. (Macur, 6/28)

USA Today: What Is Early Onset Alzheimer's Disease?
About 200,000 Americans suffer from early onset Alzheimer's disease, the condition that took the life Tuesday of legendary basketball coach Pat Summitt at age 64. She was diagnosed with the illness five years ago. USA TODAY's Liz Szabo asked experts to explain the disease. (Szabo, 6/28)

The Washington Post: More Than 5,300 U.S. Water Systems Violated Lead-Testing Rules Last Year
If you think Flint, Mich., is the only place in the United States threatened by lead-contaminated water, think again. The beleaguered city continues to grapple with the fallout of a drinking-water crisis that exposed its residents -- including 9,000 children 6 and younger -- to a toxic substance that can cause learning disabilities, behavioral problems and other serious health issues. But while Flint might be an extreme example, a report released Tuesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council details how many other communities around the country are failing to adequately ensure that their water supplies remain free of lead. (Dennis, 6/28)

KQED: ‘Indigenizing Genomics,’ Or, How To Erase The European Bias In Gene Research
“So that begs the question: Who is the Human Genome Project actually for?” asks (Keolu) Fox. “Just like we have different-colored eyes and hair, we metabolize drugs differently based on the variation in our genomes. So how many of you would be shocked to learn that 95 percent of clinical trials have also exclusively featured individuals of European ancestry?” It has been difficult for scientists to recruit ethnically diverse study participants because researchers have misused data in the past. (McClurg, 6/28)

NPR: Teen Bullies And Their Victims Both Face A Higher Risk Of Suicide
Bullying and cyberbullying are major risk factors for teen suicide. And both the bullies and their victims are at risk. That's according to a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics that urges pediatricians and family doctors to routinely screen teenagers for suicide risks. "Pediatricians need to be aware of the problem overall," says Benjamin Shain, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and lead author of the report published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics. "They should be screening for things like mood disorders, substance abuse as well as bullying." (Kodjak, 6/28)

The Columbus DIspatch: Senior Health: Men Often Let Health Slip After Spouse Dies
Because women typically live longer than men, women are far more likely to lose a spouse. But growing evidence suggests that spousal bereavement is actually more difficult for men. Even a wife’s hospitalization can be hazardous to a husband’s health, according to research. And losing a partner can be particularly hard on those already ill or frail. (Pyle, 6/29)

Wyoming Public Radio: Click For Fewer Calories: Health Labels May Change Online Ordering Habits
Thanks to the rise of food delivery services like Grubhub and Eat24, it's getting easier to order meals online. And when the Food and Drug Administration's new calorie labeling regulations go into effect next spring, it'll also be easier to see exactly how many calories we're ordering with each click. Some companies like Starbucks and Panera already offer up calorie counts on their online menus. (Beans, 6/28)

The Washington Post: The Days Of The Dreaded Annual Pelvic Exam For Women May Be Numbered
There's great news for women who dread that annual pelvic exam (i.e. basically everyone). On Tuesday, a panel made up of medical experts that advise the government said that there's not enough evidence to support doing them for women who are healthy and not pregnant. The conclusion, issued as a draft recommendation by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, is a strong endorsement of the recent evidence that has been building against the practice that is performed 63 million times annually and is estimated to cost $2.6 billion. This is the first time the task force has made a statement related to pelvic exams for gynecologic conditions and is likely to impact what millions of women decide to do about the test and what insurers will cover. (Cha, 6/28)

Stat: Millions Of Women Undergo Pelvic Exams With No Proven Benefit, US Panel Concludes
Doctors who perform routine pelvic exams have vigorously defended their worth against previous criticism, but on Tuesday their organization, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, backed away from that firm stance, acknowledging there is little to no evidence that the exam benefits asymptomatic women. (Begley, 6/28)

Earlier, related KHN coverage: Dueling Recommendations About Need For Pelvic Exams Leaves Women Confused (Boodman, 10/13)

The Boston Globe: Planned Parenthood Contract Up For A Vote In N.H.
New Hampshire leaders will vote Wednesday on the state’s contract with Planned Parenthood clinics for health care services, a determination that would affect many of the state’s low-income women. The decision will come down to a swing vote from Chris Sununu, one of the five members of New Hampshire’s Executive Council and the leading Republican candidate for governor this year. (Pindell, 6/29)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Planned Parenthood Contract Puts Attention On Sununu
Chris Sununu has voted for state contracts with Planned Parenthood , and he's voted against them. This one, which would send $638,000 to seven clinics, five run by Planned Parenthood. It would subsidize low cost birth control, STD testing, and cancer screenings.

Meanwhile, in California, anti-abortion groups’ advertising is concerning to Oakland officials —

KQED: Oakland Seeks To Ban False Advertising By Anti-Abortion Clinics
Oakland officials are considering an ordinance that would allow the city to fine pregnancy centers that claim to offer abortion services, but do not. Officials say some anti-abortion groups’ internet advertising and mass transit billboards are misleading, and intended to lure pregnant women in for counseling against abortion. (Dembosky, 6/28)

Reuters: Doctors Less Satisfied, More Burned Out With Electronic Records
Most doctors who use electronic health records and order entry software tend to be less satisfied with how much time they spend on clerical tasks and are at higher risk of burnout than others, according to a new study. (Doyle, 6/28)

Fox News: Hacker Looks To Sell 9.3 Million Alleged Patient Healthcare Records On The Dark Web
A hacker is attempting to sell 9.3 million alleged patient healthcare records on the dark web, according to security experts, just days after 665,000 records reportedly went on sale. Security researcher Dissent Doe reports that the database containing records from an unnamed U.S health insurer has been listed on the TheRealDeal, a shadowy dark web marketplace that provides anonymity to buyers and sellers. (Rogers, 6/28)

Modern Healthcare: McKesson Plans To Divest Tech Business
After a tough year of losses and cost-cutting, McKesson Corp. is looking to divest its technology business in a joint venture with Change Healthcare Holdings. The San Francisco-based drug distributor and technology company announced Tuesday that it would merge the majority of its technology business with nearly all of the holdings of the Blackstone Group-owned provider of revenue-cycle management, data network and analytics services. (Rubenfire, 6/28)

The Associated Press: Advocates Criticize Kentucky's Proposed Medicaid Overhaul
Bobby Paisley's health insurance covers his vision and dental care. He knows, because he and his wife pay for it. "I don't have to do community service, I don't have to earn points and I don't have to wait," he said. But that's exactly what some 400,000 Kentuckians would have to do if they need an eye exam or a tooth pulled under Gov. Matt Bevin's proposal to overhaul the state's Medicaid program. Bevin's plan, announced last week, would eliminate dental and vision coverage for able-bodied Medicaid beneficiaries, but they could earn those benefits back by getting a job, volunteering for a charity or taking a class at a community college. (Beam, 6/28)

Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal: Bevin's Medicaid Reforms Decried At Hearing
Speakers worried the proposal for a "waiver," or approval from the federal government to restructure Medicaid in Kentucky, would be too costly for consumers, is overly complicated and eliminates important benefits, such as dental or vision coverage for adults. "I feel like this waiver is out of touch with the reality of low-income people," said Jeanie Smith, a Bowling Green woman who said her family benefited temporarily from Medicaid coverage while she was pregnant and her husband was in nursing school. "I am proud of our Medicaid expansion – for once, Kentucky is leading the way." (Yetter, 6/28)

Kaiser Health News: Will Louisiana's Medicaid Expansion Be A Harbinger For Georgia?
Louisiana and Georgia have many political similarities. Both states face significant health challenges affecting their populations. And until recently, both states had identical approaches to Medicaid expansion. Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, has rejected expansion since he took office in 2011, and GOP lawmakers have repeatedly backed him up. They point to concerns about the future cost of expansion, saying it would eventually put too much strain on the state budget. But on Friday, Louisiana will become the 31st state -- and only the third Southern state -- to expand the government program, which is jointly financed by state and federal governments. Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat elected last fall, on his second day in office reversed the course set by his predecessor, Republican Bobby Jindal, by signing an executive order that began the process. (Miller, 6/29)

Los Angeles Times: Initiative To Legalize Recreational Use Of Pot In California Qualifies For November Ballot
An initiative that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana in California officially took its place on the Nov. 8 ballot on Tuesday as its campaign took a commanding lead in fundraising to battle the measure’s opponents. The Secretary of State’s Office certified that a random sample showed sufficient signatures among the 600,000 turned in to qualify the measure. The initiative is backed by a coalition that includes former Facebook President Sean Parker and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. (McGreevy, 6/28)

Reuters: California Gets Go-Ahead To Vote On Legalization Of Marijuana
Californians are set to decide whether to make recreational marijuana use legal, as other Western states have done, after the California Secretary of State's office said on Tuesday the issue could be put to voters in the November ballot. (6/29)

The Associated Press: Judge Orders Illinois To Add PTSD To Medical Marijuana List
Illinois must add post-traumatic stress disorder to the list of diseases eligible for medical marijuana treatment, a Cook County judge ordered Tuesday in a sternly worded ruling that also said the state's public health director engaged in a "private investigation" that was "constitutionally inappropriate." (6/28)

KQED: As Adults Legally Smoke Pot In Colorado, More Minority Kids Arrested For It
Marijuana is legal in Colorado — as long as you're 21 or older. It's still illegal for kids to possess, so juveniles are coming to dominate the marijuana arrests in Colorado. But another startling trend also has developed: Arrest rates have risen dramatically for young blacks and Latinos. (Markus, 6/29)

The Baltimore Sun: Doctors Seek To Open Lab To Test Medical Cannabis For Quality
A group of local doctors plans to open a medical marijuana testing facility in Columbia to ensure product quality as the state prepares to launch its burgeoning therapeutic cannabis industry. Testing is required by state law for cannabis growers, which presented an opportunity for the group of four doctors, led by Dr. Andrew Rosenstein, chief of the division of gastroenterology at University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center. (Cohn, 6/28)

Newnan Times-Herald: Certificate Of Need Approved For Newnan Behavioral Hospital
A company seeking to open a mental hospital in Newnan announced to supporters Monday that it had won approval from the state. In an email sent out to supporters of the facility, Larisa Klein, vice president of US HealthVest, confirmed last week’s approval and thanked supporters who sent out over 150 letters of support for the proposed Newnan Behavioral Hospital. "Each of the letters supporting this hospital were compelling, and the show of support was strongly recognized by the state of Georgia,” Klein said. “We could not have done this without each of you." (Neely, 6/28)

Rome News-Tribune: FMC Projects $13 Million Surplus; Hospital Board Approves Purchase Of 2 Lots
Floyd Healthcare Management is projecting a 3.7 percent increase in net patient revenue, to $408.5 million, in the upcoming fiscal year, which runs from Friday through June 30, 2017. The management firm, which runs Floyd Medical Center, adopted its Fiscal Year 2017 budget Monday night.The hospital is projecting a bottom line surplus of $13,199,417 — which is down from the estimated $23.7 million profit for FY 2016, which ends Thursday. (Walker, 6/28)

Houston Chronicle: Man Sues Houston, Officers After Being Shot, Tasered In Hospital Room
A former Houston man who was shot and tasered by two Houston police officers while in in the midst of a bipolar episode at St. Joseph Medical Center has filed a lawsuit seeking more than $100,000 in damages. Alan Pean, who now lives in New York, had driven himself to St. Joseph in August 2015 while in the midst of a "mental health crisis," according to the suit filed Tuesday in state district court. (Banks, 6/28)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Annual Survey Shows The High Cost Of Long-Term Care
The median cost of a personal care worker for someone who needs help with daily household tasks is estimated at $51,480 a year in Wisconsin, according to an annual survey of long-term care costs. That's based on someone who receives 44 hours a week, or a bit more than six hours a day, of personal care. The cost, up 7.14% this year, is higher than care at an assisted-living center but less than at a nursing home, according to the survey by Genworth Financial Inc. (Boulton, 6/28)

San Antonio Express-News: CareLink Patient Enrollment Numbers Continue To Dwindle
University Health System officials report a continuing decline in the number of people enrolling in CareLink, its financial assistance program for low-income, uninsured Bexar County residents seeking medical care at its facilities. (O'Hare, 6/28)

Houston Chronicle: Nurses Sue Over Working Lunches
Meghan Stewart, a nurse who began working four years ago at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, filed suit on Friday in U.S. District Court in Houston, claiming that she and more than 4,000 of her co-workers aren't paid for tending to patients during their meal periods. The filing came the same day other nurses settled a similar lawsuit against Houston Methodist Hospital. (Sixel, 6/28)

Georgia Health News: Many Georgians With Cystic Fibrosis Miss Out On Life-Changing Help
Ethnic minorities, low-income workers and those who live in rural areas may be missing out on early diagnosis and state-of-the-art treatments for cystic fibrosis, according to Emory University researchers. ... Heel-stick tests for newborns have been around for more than 50 years, and in 2007 Georgia added cystic fibrosis (CF) to the list of more than 30 serious health conditions detected by this method. The test, however, isn’t perfect. It picks up 23 different abnormal changes in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene, many of which can cause serious problems in multiple organ systems, but all of these mutations were identified by studying Caucasian people. So the test may miss genetic changes that lead to CF in patients of other ethnicities. (McGill, 6/28)

The Columbus Dispatch: Latino Kids Face Challenges In Central Ohio
This increase in Latino youth has the potential to fuel the country’s overall growth, re-energize its aging population and give it a much-needed economic shot in the arm, advocates say. ... Latino children, for example, are 12 times more likely than white kids to be both poor and living in impoverished neighborhoods. And living in high-poverty neighborhoods limits a youth’s access to fresh food, quality schools, affordable housing and health care — and has the potential to literally impair their growth and development, the 2016 Champion of Children report finds. (Pyle, 6/29)

The Dallas Morning News: Labor Department 'Mole' Helps Dallas Relatives Maintain $30M Health Care Scam, Feds Say
Internships can often pave the way for a lucrative career, but one woman sought her internship at the U. S. Department of Labor in Dallas to serve as a "mole" for her family's $30 million health care fraud, federal prosecutors said. (Krause, 6/28)

St. Louis Public Radio: North St. Louis Clinic Closes On Weekends, Citing Gun Violence
Violence in north St. Louis is prompting one of the few urgent care clinics in the area to close on the weekends. A gun battle outside the doors of North City Urgent Care on a Saturday last month was the last straw, said Dr. Sonny Sagar, its medical director. The clinic, at 6113 Ridge Ave., sits in the Hamilton Heights neighborhood and is one of just a few urgent care facilities in the area. (Bouscaren, 6/28)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Atlanta Nurse Now Works Where She Was Treated For Cancer As Child
Now 23, [Amelia] Ballard, who has been cancer-free for several years, is returning to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta — not as a patient — but as a nurse in the emergency room department. “My goal is to provide the best care possible and meet every need required,” the Atlanta woman said in a recent interview at the hospital. “I want to pay it forward and provide each of my patients and their families with the care and compassion shown to me and my family.” (Oliviero, 6/28)

ProPublica: Drug And Device Makers Find Receptive Audience At For-Profit, Southern Hospitals
A higher percentage of doctors affiliated with hospitals in the South have received such payments than doctors in other regions of the country, the analysis found. And a greater share of doctors at for-profit hospitals have taken them than at nonprofit and government facilities. (Ornstein and Jones, 6/29)

The Boston Globe: Drug Companies Focus Attention On Smaller Hospitals
Years after many big academic medical centers cracked down on industry perks, drug companies still regularly buy meals for doctors affiliated with smaller hospitals, a new analysis shows, with some physicians receiving dozens of lunches and dinners in a single year. (Kowalcyzk, 6/29)

The Tennessean: Tennessee Hospital Leads U.S. In Doctors Taking Drug Industry Money
A small for-profit hospital on the outskirts of Memphis has the highest rate of doctors who took payments from the pharmaceutical and medical device industry, out of more than 2,000 hospitals across the nation. Federal disclosures show 59 out of 62 doctors at St. Francis Hospital-Bartlett — or 95 percent — received payments for speaking engagements, meals, gifts, travel, consulting or other interactions with the industry in 2014, the most recent year of information available. (Reicher, Fletcher and McKenzie, 6/29)

The Tennessean: Vanderbilt Hospital Limits Outside Influence With Ethics Policy
The conflict of interest policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center is a “living document” the medical center continually updates as it tries to limit outsize influence from pharmaceutical and device manufacturers without stymieing research, said Dr. David Raiford, chief of clinical staff and senior associate dean for faculty affairs.In 2014, the health system had the lowest share of doctors receiving payments — 38 percent of its 960 doctors — from third-party companies in the state. The average hospital in Tennessee saw 71 percent of physicians accepting a payment, such as meals, gifts, travel and consulting fees from the industry, according to Medicare data analyzed by nonprofit news organization ProPublica. (Fletcher, 6/29)

FiercePharma: Gifts, Meals, And Speaking Fees? Patients--Not Docs--Get Them From Pharma When It Comes To Hemophilia
Pharma companies regularly use food, small gifts and financial opportunities to build relationships with doctors and in turn, they hope, boost sales of their drugs. But showering patients with those gifts and opportunities? It may sound unusual, but it happens in the hemophilia world--and not everyone is okay with it. Younger patients with the clotting disorder receive grants, gifts, meals, services, consulting opportunities and plenty of special attention from pharma sales reps, according to a new paper published in PLOS Medicine--and plusses such as educational scholarships, awards, counseling and branded toys aren’t uncommon either. (Helfand, 6/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Biotech Labs Birth New Drugs—And New Fortunes
New drugs that extend or improve the lives of millions of people—and the potential of ones still in development—have lifted stocks of the biotechnology companies that own them and created a new class of millionaires from many of the scientists, doctors and investors behind them. Biotech leaders have joined hedge-fund and tech executives in the U.S. corporate winner’s circle, riding the success of new high-price drugs and investor enthusiasm for the high-risk business. Some have bought fancy houses. Others ... say not much has changed from lives spent in labs. (Walker and McGinty, 6/24)

Marketplace: What Brexit May Mean For The Pharmaceutical Industry
Drug makers are raising concerns Brexit could delay regulatory approval, slow down funding for basic research and overall increase the cost of drugs. So it’s little surprise just days after the historic vote, pharmaceutical executives are mapping out a new strategy after the unexpected vote. “Europe actually is very skilled at doing deals. That’s what it does best,” said Mike Thompson, the head of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry – a trade group. (Gorenstein, 6/28)

Bloomberg: Decoding Big Pharma’s Secret Drug Pricing Practices
The pharmaceutical industry has long said that list prices aren’t a reliable indicator of what Americans pay for prescription drugs because big customers, including health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, negotiate discounts. But a Bloomberg analysis of 39 medicines with global sales of more than $1 billion a year showed that 30 of them logged price increases of more than double the rate of inflation from 2009 to 2015, even after estimated discounts were factored in. Only six drugs had price increases in line with or below inflation. (Langreth, Keller and Cannon, 6/29)

California Healthline: California Drug Price Transparency Bill Clears Key Committee
A measure that would compel pharmaceutical companies to disclose and justify drug price increases overcame a show of skepticism by Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday afternoon, passing the Assembly Health Committee 12-4 on a party-line vote. The bill — softened from earlier versions — would require drug manufacturers to notify state agencies and health insurers within days of federal approval for a new drug that cost $10,000 or more per year or for one course of treatment. (Bartolone, 6/29)

Bloomberg: Mayne To Buy Generic Drugs From Allergan, Teva For $652 Million
Australia’s Mayne Pharma Group Ltd. agreed to buy a basket of generic drugs from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Allergan Plc. for $652 million, as the two larger companies divest products to gain antitrust approval for their own deal. Mayne Pharma will acquire 37 marketed drugs and 5 more that are in development, according to a statement to Australia’s stock exchange Tuesday. The acquired products are expected to generate sales of $237 million in 2017, the company said. (Chen, 6/27)

Stat: Another Big Insurer Will Pay For Key Drugs Based On Patient Outcomes
Yet another health plan is aggressively pursuing deals with drug makers based on patient outcomes. In the latest instance, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, which is the second-largest health insurer in New England, has reached agreements with Novartis and Eli Lilly to calibrate payments for two of their most important medicines. (Silverman, 6/27)

Bloomberg: Global Pharma Spending May Reach $1.4 Trillion by 2020: Chart
Worldwide spending on pharmaceuticals is set to surge over the next few years, and IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics has estimated that it will touch $1.4 trillion by 2020, an increase of as much as 32 percent from 2015. Some of the fastest growth will come from emerging countries like India and China even as the U.S. remains the world’s largest drug market. (Khan, 6/26)

The Associated Press: Lawmaker To Woman: Buy Kid's Meds Yourself; Don't Ask State
A state representative told a Mississippi woman she should earn money for the insulin and insulin pump supplies that her diabetic 8-year-old daughter needs to survive instead of asking for state help. Nicole Nichols of Richland told The Clarion-Ledger she was "flabbergasted" by the email from Ocean Springs Republican Rep. Jeffrey Guice. Nichols said she emailed all 122 state representatives after calling 23 suppliers without finding one covered by Medicaid and in the approved network for the Medicaid-covered supply company she has used for the past three years. (6/28)

CBS News: The Cost Of Miracles
Can a miracle drug also be a bitter pill? It can when the price of a life-saving prescription drug - is more than most people could possibly afford. "Most people don't know that kids can get arthritis, too." Ten-year-old Graci Diggs may just make you believe in miracles. Only a year ago, Graci spent much of her time in a wheelchair. ...Humira is just one of several drugs that have transformed the lives of millions of Americans who suffer from Rheumatoid arthritis (or RA). With similar advances made in treatments for cancer, multiple sclerosis and Hepatitis C, the pharmaceutical industry should be basking in praise. Instead it's on the defensive, trying to explain why the cost of many of these treatments is so high. (6/26)

Harrisburg Patriot-News: Prices Rise For Life-Saving Overdose Rescue Drug
There is no question the use of naxolone to reverse opioid overdoses is saving lives across Pennsylvania. Police alone have administered naloxone 1,033 times in the past year in Pennsylvania, and demand is rising as more departments, EMS services and even individuals carry the drug. While supplies are holding, however, prices are rising, and how to continue paying for public stocks is something agencies already are thinking about. Officials will be looking for grant renewals or new sources of money to pay for the antidote. (Miller, 6/28)

Bloomberg: Cancer Drugs May Start The Next Drug Price Wars
This could be the most exciting time in cancer-research history; previously deadly diseases may be survivable for some patients. But there’s a cost. The first approved combination of immune-oncology drugs -- immunity-boosting medicines that can produce spectacular results -- is priced at an incredible $256,000 a year in the U.S. Discounts and rebates usually cut the actual prices people pay for such drugs. But cancer drugs often aren’t discounted as much as other medicines. (Max Nisen, 6/28)

The Des Moines Register: Big Pharma’s Personal Touch Is Scary, Costly
Pharmaceutical companies have long been engaged in direct marketing to patients, most visibly through mass-market advertising. But in recent years, some of these companies have begun to rely more heavily on another form of marketing: direct, one-on-one outreach to patients. Even more troubling, some of this marketing is aimed directly at children. (6/28)

Stat: Drug Industry Overstates Impact Of Patent Reviews On Innovation
Drug makers complained bitterly last week after the US Supreme Court left intact a controversial procedure for reviewing patent disputes, arguing that the decision threatens valuable research efforts and that patients will eventually suffer. But the truth of those claims is debatable. The ruling upheld a process Congress created five years ago for challenging patents outside the courts. It allows the US Patent and Trademark Office to issue the “broadest reasonable interpretation” of patents. The case at hand had nothing to do with pharmaceuticals, but drug makers believe it will make their patents more easily challenged, and more likely to be overturned. (Ed Silverman, 6/27)

Lincoln Journal Star: Drug Prices Soaring In Sick System
A panel created to give Congress advice on Medicare warned earlier this month that the rising cost of prescription drugs is unsustainable and offered suggestions on how to slow the trend. One popular recommendation called for Congress to sharply reduce or eliminate the co-payments that low-income Medicare recipients pay for generic drugs. Other parts of the complex package received mixed reviews. In any event, most everyone involved knew that the semi-annual report from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission was little more than an exercise in frustration. – Congress was not going to do anything in an election year. (6/26)

Los Angeles Times: The Supreme Court Ruling Is An Abortion-Rights Victory. But It Doesn't Guarantee Access To Services
Monday was a busy day for the Supreme Court, which closed its current term by handing out major rulings on abortion, corruption, and gun control. All three were landmark cases, but the court’s ruling on abortion, Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, was the most hotly anticipated. The case stemmed from a 2013 Texas law mandating that only abortion clinics that employ doctors with admitting privileges at local hospitals and meet outpatient surgical center standards would be allowed. Enforcing this law would have likely closed around 30 of the state’s 40 abortion providers, and left large swathes of the state entirely without access to abortion services. (Melissa Batchelor Waruke, 6/28)

The Washington Post: The Supreme Court’s Texas Abortion Ruling Reignites A Battle Over Facts
Yesterday’s decision in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt finally answered a question almost 15 years in the making: How do you know if a law unduly burdens a woman’s right to choose abortion? Before answering this question, Hellerstedt addressed the constitutionality of two parts of Texas’s abortion law. One provision required doctors performing abortions in the state to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles, and a second regulation mandated that abortion clinics comply with the regulations applied to ambulatory surgical centers. In a 5 to 3 decision, the court struck down both measures. Most obviously, the decision matters because clinics in Texas will stay open, and the constitutionality of similar laws on the books in other states is now far from a sure thing. But Hellerstedt also makes a difference because it sends the clearest message in decades about where abortion jurisprudence is going: toward a battle over facts. (Mary Ziegler, 6/28)

Reuters: The Supreme Court Is Moving Left. Here’s Why.
The ratchet turned on the last day of the term in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. The court struck down Texas laws requiring doctors in abortion clinics to obtain admitting privileges at hospitals nearby and mandating that the clinics satisfy standards demanded of ambulatory surgical facilities. The requirements would likely have resulted in the closing of three-quarters of the state’s clinics, leaving a swath as large as California without an abortion provider. In an opinion that Kennedy, as senior justice in the majority, assigned to Justice Stephen Breyer, the five-justice majority rejected the state’s health justifications and cited the prohibition on measures that place an “undue burden” on access to reproductive services. The decision may now be used to block similar restrictions adopted by a number of states. (William Yeomans, 6/28)

The Washington Post: How Ruth Bader Ginsburg Just Won The Next Abortion Fight
Rejecting Texas' latest effort to do away with abortion rights, the Supreme Court served the antiabortion movement some very bad news Monday. The justices didn't believe Texas was just trying to help its poor, hapless women out. Instead, according to Justice Stephen Breyer's majority opinion: "In the face of no threat to women's health, Texas seeks to force women to travel long distances to get abortions in crammed-to-capacity superfacilities." (Linda Hirshman, 6/29)

Detroit Free Press: SCOTUS Shuts Down Backdoor Efforts To Restrict Abortion
If I had to describe the relationship between abortion rights advocates, critics of abortion rights, and so-called Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers laws, I'd say it's like this: You know what you're doing, and I know what you're doing, but you're pretending that you don't know that I know what you're doing. (Nancy Kaffer, 6/28)

The Des Moines Register: Supreme Court Ruling A Victory For Choice And Truth
At least Iowa state Sen. Jake Chapman didn’t try to disguise his motivation for proposing to make abortion a hate crime against the unborn this spring. The Adel Republican made it clear he prioritizes fetuses over pregnant women. (Rekha Basu, 6/28)

Lexington Herald Leader: Sham Dunk On Women’s Rights
From now on lawmakers in Kentucky and other states will have to base abortion laws on scientific fact and medical necessity, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling striking down restrictions that closed more than half of the abortion providers in Texas. The 5-3 decision exposed the favorite anti-choice pretense — “we’re only trying to protect women’s safety” — for the sanctimonious sham that it is. (6/28)

Houston Chronicle: Court's Decision On Texas Abortion Clinics Should Have Stopped Disingenuous Crusade
This week, the "mob" was vindicated. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down H.B. 2, the bill that eventually became law and led to the shuttering of dozens of clinics and loss of access to abortion services across the state. The ruling came after years of wasting taxpayer dollars. After years of state officials assuring us that they were motivated not by politics, but because they wanted to protect the health of Texas women. (Lisa Falkenberg, 6/28)

The Washington Post: Abortion Providers In Places Like Texas Are Heroically Courageous
If you’ve never been to an abortion clinic, here’s what you can expect: Protesters outside will gather as close to the clinics as state laws allow, some right outside the door. Their voices grow louder the closer you get to the clinic. Your jaw will tense for the few minutes it takes for the clinic staff to unlock the door after they assess you through the security cameras. You will check over your shoulder many times before you are safely inside. (Dawn Porter, 6/29)

The New York Times: From Uruguay, A Model For Making Abortion Safer
With the announcement in April that the Zika virus spreading across Latin America can cause microcephaly in the womb, leaders across the region have come under increased pressure to relax some of the world’s most restrictive laws against abortion. Only two countries in Latin America have made abortion legal and widely available. Cuba was the first, in 1979; Uruguay the second, in 2012. But it’s the experience of the latter, one of the most democratic countries in Latin America, that offers a lesson in reform — or at least a picture of what is possible. (Adams, 6/28)

Concord Monitor: A Chance For N.H. To Right A Wrong On Planned Parenthood
A lot has changed in the 11 months since the Executive Council voted against accepting $639,000 in federal funds that would be distributed to the state’s five Planned Parenthood health clinics. That vote split 3-2 along party lines. For Councilor Chris Sununu, now a candidate in a five-way primary to become the Republican nominee for governor, it was a break from his past votes to support Planned Parenthood funding. Not only is Sununu a pro-choice Republican, he long recognized that the clinics serve the needs of many constituents who might otherwise not get health care. (6/29)

The New York Times: The Growing Cost Of A Hospital Stay
If you have to go to the hospital, health insurance is supposed to cushion the financial blow. But as insurers pass more costs along to patients, hospitalizations are getting more expensive, and checking in can come with a four-figure bill. A new study, conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and published in JAMA Internal Medicine, looked at how much people with employer-sponsored or individual insurance plans spent on hospital stays between 2009 and 2013. During that period, the average out-of-pocket spending per stay grew by 37 percent, from $738 to $1,013. That’s a growth rate of 6.5 percent per year, during a time when overall health care spending grew just 2.9 percent annually. (Anna North, 6/28)

The Wall Street Journal: The Zika Democrats
Pollsters regularly show that Congress is less popular among the public than infectious diseases, and Senate Democrats on Tuesday helped explain why. After spending months demanding more funding to combat the Zika virus, they voted down their own priority to foment the chaos they believe will work to their political benefit in the fall. The White House asked Congress for $1.9 billion by July 4 to address mosquito-borne Zika, which can cause a birth defect called microcephaly. (6/28)

Tampa Bay Times: Congress Fiddles As Zika Spreads
More than 200 people in Florida have been diagnosed with the Zika virus, and state health officials confirm the first baby has been born in the state with Zika-related microcephaly. Yet as the virus spreads, Congress is still playing partisan games and will leave for the Fourth of July break without agreeing on emergency funding to fight the mosquito-borne disease. No wonder voters are so disgusted with Washington. (6/28)

Chicago Tribune: I Was Too Cool For Bug Spray; Now I Have Zika
I was in Jamaica last week to attend a friend's wedding. I'd previously lived there for five years while I was pursuing my medical degree. Because I once lived there, I still consider myself a local when I visit, and like some local people, I didn't use mosquito repellent. My comfort level overruled my judgment, and now I have Zika. Maybe you've used some of these excuses, though likely not about Zika: "No need for this smelly bug spray" or "I lived here for years and never got chikungunya, why would I get Zika?" or even, "It's not like I'm planning to have a baby any time soon." (Krystal Alexander, 6/28)

Georgia Health News: Don’t Fall For The Arkansas Model Of Medicaid Expansion
It appears that this prominent state senator will be forming alliances with the Georgia Chamber of Commerce to push for a Medicaid expansion model similar to the one implemented in Arkansas, called the “Private Option.” Instead of working for taxpayers, this program, now known as “Arkansas Works,” has done the opposite. Supporters of this model believe that a Section 1115 Medicaid Waiver, the kind Arkansas received, will give Georgia the ability to expand Medicaid under its own terms, not under those of Obamacare. That is just not true, and the disastrous experiment in Arkansas is proof. (Jason Spencer, 6/28)

San Jose Mercury News: Commentary: Health Care Needs High-Risk Pools
Obamacare guarantees all Americans health insurance. But it doesn't guarantee that coverage will be affordable. ... There are less costly ways to make sure that all Americans have access to coverage -- and that they can afford it. They're called "high-risk pools" and they can protect those with pre-existing conditions without jacking up premiums for everyone else. (Sally C. Pipes, 6/28)

Stat: Undermining A Small But Important Federal Health Agency Is A Dangerous Gamble
New discoveries are the lifeblood of medical progress, but they don’t do any good until they are actually used to treat illness and save lives. That’s why I’m troubled by plans to cut the budget of the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) or eliminate it altogether. Undermining this essential organization will create serious problems for patients, care providers, and the entire health care system. Though AHRQ is a little-known part of the US Department of Health and Human Services, it’s a small organization with a big job: helping translate discoveries and best practices into everyday clinical care. (Michael L. Millenson, 6/28)

The New York Times' Room For Debate: Should The Veterans Health Care System Be Privatized?
The federal Commission on Care, set up to study the future of Department of Veterans Affairs health care, is to present its final report this week. Seven of its 15 member have released recommendations that some veterans groups say would privatize the system. Would privatization of V.A. health care improve the system or undermine it? (6/28)

The Columbus Dispatch: Law Fills A Gap In Paramedic Care
Who knew? Before a new law was passed this spring, it was illegal for firefighters or paramedics to provide basic emergency care to the dogs and cats they rescued from fires or car accidents. Of course, many have provided oxygen or other help to suffering animals out of compassion and also because the pets are beloved family members. (6/29)

The Texas Tribune: 'Flesh-Eating' Bacteria Scares Shouldn't Keep You Off Texas Beaches
Every summer as millions flock to Gulf Coast beaches, another seasonal cycle begins: news stories of what we should fear. Most recently in Texas, there have been a number of stories about so-called flesh-eating bacteria infecting beachgoers, Vibrio vulnificus. V. vulnificus is a naturally occurring bacteria found in our coastal waters that can cause a serious medical emergency, especially in people with compromised immune systems. The Centers for Disease Control and Gulf States’ health departments from Texas to Florida have done a wonderful job of providing plenty of easy-to-read information about this health threat. Unfortunately, a brief search of the Internet will also produce all the chilling photos and highly sensationalized news stories one would need to justify never going back into the water. (Larry McKinney, 6/28)