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Physicians and physicians’ organizations scrambled Wednesday to react to an omnibus gun-rights bill that appeared Tuesday afternoon at the General Assembly. The bill would forbid any health care provider – from doctors to dental hygienists to hospital workers – from asking a patient about their ownership or storage of firearms. Further, the bill would create a mechanism to fine doctors who did. (Hoban, 4/29)

Mayor Mike Duggan on Wednesday unveiled a plan to allow auto insurance companies to sell Detroiters lower-cost policies with a maximum of $275,000 in medical coverage for auto-related injuries. Duggan's long-anticipated proposed legislation, which he said would knock $1,000 off motorists' annual bills next year if passed, would provide $25,000 in base benefits for personal-injury protection and another $250,000 for catastrophic care for disabling injuries from in auto accidents. (Ferretti and Livengood, 4/29)

Mayor Mike Duggan will ask lawmakers to approve cheaper insurance plans for Detroiters that would offer lower benefit levels as a way to cut down on highest-in-the-nation premiums residents pay just for living in the city. Duggan's plan would provide a minimum $25,000 in personal injury protection and cap catastrophic medical coverage at an additional $250,000, Duggan said Wednesday night at a town hall meeting at Historic Litlte Rock Missionary Baptist Church. Health care costs beyond that level would be the responsibility of a driver's health insurance provider, the person said. (Helms, 4/30)

The number of Californians buying individual health insurance soared 64% to nearly 2.2 million as Obamacare took full effect last year, a new report shows. In California, 843,607 people joined the individual market both inside and outside the Covered California insurance exchange, as of Dec. 31, 2014. (Terhune, 429)

Officials are investigating a security and privacy breach affecting 900 patients who were treated at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center’s mental health facility. The breach was discovered April 3 during a search of the home of a nurse who was employed at the Augustus F. Hawkins Mental Health Center, said Michael Wilson, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. The investigation was not related to county business, he said. (Rocha, 4/29)

Texas health officials recently made a change to doctor reimbursements that hasn’t gotten much notice. They’ve made it a little easier for low-income women and girls to get IUDs. Many health professionals see these contraceptives as the best way to stop unintended pregnancies. (Douglas, 4/29)

Texas sheriffs could soon have to produce detailed reports on how they treat pregnant inmates under a bipartisan bill that has won preliminary House approval. Austin Democratic Rep. Celia Israel faced some hazing — a tradition when first-year lawmakers propose their first bill. But ultimately, her colleagues voted Wednesday to advance her plan, which now needs only a final, procedural vote to clear the House. (4/29)

In Upton-Druid Heights in West Baltimore — one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods and, in recent days, the scene of some of its most vocal protests — the cost of long-term poverty is counted in lives. Its residents die from nearly every major disease at substantially higher rates than the city as a whole — nearly double the rate from heart disease, more than double the rate from prostate cancer, and triple the rate from AIDS. Life expectancy here is just 68 years, one notch above Pakistan. (Tavernise, 4/29)

The constant images and reports of a city in strife have been unsettling. And as Baltimore continues to experience the aftermath of both the death of Freddie Gray and the demonstrations and riots that followed, the need for healing is abundantly clear to mental health experts. Seeking the help of a trained mental health care provider is of the utmost importance, according to Shreya Hessler, a licensed psychologist based in Bel Air. (Williams, 4/29)

Lawmakers looking to prevent a repeat of an HIV outbreak that has rocked a southern Indiana county sent Republican Gov. Mike Pence a measure Wednesday that would allow communities to implement needle-exchange programs if they can prove they're in the midst of an epidemic tied to intravenous drug use. Pence, who opposes needle exchanges as part of anti-drug policy, said in a statement Wednesday that he looks forward to signing the legislation into law. (Schroeder, 4/30)

Although Minnesota has one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the country — better than 42 other states — the state's good ranking masks a stark difference in mortality among racial groups. American Indian and African-American babies die at twice the rate of white babies. If those infants shared the same low mortality rate as white infants, about 40 more babies in Minnesota would survive each year. (Benson, 4/30)

Unusually high rates of infant deaths among certain minority groups in Minnesota have state health officials searching for ways to better support mothers before, during and after their pregnancies. A Minnesota Department of Health report released Thursday revealed that babies born to black mothers are more than twice as likely to die in infancy as babies born to white mothers — giving Minnesota one of the widest infant mortality gaps in the nation. (Olson, 4/29)

The Boston City Council unanimously approved a measure Wednesday to give the city’s non-union employees six weeks of paid parental leave. ... The policy would give new parents, including those who adopt, two weeks of fully paid leave, with 75 percent pay for weeks three and four, and 50 percent pay for weeks five and six. It would be available to both men and women who have worked for the city for at least a year. (4/29)

A measure to require health warning labels on sodas and other sugary beverages fell flat in a state Senate committee Wednesday afternoon. Sen. Bill Monning (D-Carmel) presented the bill as a tool to combat rising obesity and diabetes rates. The measure would have required sugar-sweetened drinks, including sodas, sports drinks and energy drinks, to be adorned with a label that would read "drinking beverages with added sugars contributes to obesity, diabetes and tooth decay." (Mason, 429)

Two laboratories just got the job of quality testing Minnesota’s medical marijuana. The state is just two months away from the first legal sales of the drug. On Wednesday, the Minnesota Department of Health named its two testing facilities: Aspen Research Corp. of Maple Grove, and Legend Technical Services Inc., of St. Paul. The labs will test cannabis products to ensure they’re free of pesticides and contaminants and to confirm that they contain the drug compounds and potency promised on the label. (Brooks, 4/29)

Dallas-based Teladoc, a leading national telemedicine provider, sued the Texas Medical Board on Wednesday to stop a ruling that would require doctors to meet in person with any new patient before writing prescriptions. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Austin, alleges the board is trying to protect Texas physicians from competition, and warns that the April 10 ruling could “bring Teladoc to the brink of bankruptcy.” ... Teladoc works with employer-sponsored insurance plans covering nearly 11 million people to provide day-or-night access by phone or video to a physician. The company says it covers about 2.4 million people in Texas. (Landers, 4/29)