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Drug-resistant superbugs account for an estimated 700,000 deaths worldwide today, but that number could rise to 10 million within the next few decades unless new antibiotics are developed. That’s according to a new report commissioned by the UK government, which is proposing a provocative solution to the problem: a 10-year, $40 billion global fund to provide incentives to develop new superbug-fighting drugs. (Ed Silverman, 5/24)

The Obama Administration is unlawfully diverting billions of dollars from taxpayers to insurance companies that sell Obamacare policies. That is the conclusion reached in a legal opinion letter released today by former Ambassador and White House Counsel Boyden Gray. (Grace-Marie Turner and Doug Badger, 5/23)

Gallup polling released last week showed majority support–58%–for replacing the Affordable Care Act with a federally funded health system. The same poll found 51% support for repealing the ACA. There is a basic point that often gets lost in reaction to poll findings like these: They measure the public’s initial response to ideas and words, and proposals such as single payer or ACA repeal that people associate with candidates–but they don’t tell us much about the likely level of support for a policy if there is a real debate about legislation before Congress, with winners and losers laid bare. (Drew Altman, 5/24)

A new bill making the rounds on Capitol Hill has a hospital-centric theme. But private Medicare Advantage insurers with bad quality ratings would also benefit from one surreptitious provision. Last week, Reps. Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio) and Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) introduced the Helping Hospitals Improve Patient Care Act of 2016. A key component of the legislation would take into account socio-economic factors into Medicare readmission rates for hospitals. (Bob Herman, 5/23)

Abortion may be a key issue for evangelical Christian voters, but Samantha Bee says that wasn’t always the case. On Monday night, the “Full Frontal“ host went back in time to the late 1970s to explain how the issue was manufactured by power-hungry leaders of the religious right and then legitimized by the Republican Party. (Lee Moran, 5/24)

In between trying to find a cure for cancer, billionaire drug developer Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong is committing resources to another vexing problem, the ailing newspaper industry. Soon-Shiong's investment firm Nant Capital is committing $70.5 million to become the second-largest shareholder in Tribune Publishing Co., parent company of the Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun and Chicago Tribune, among titles. He also will serve as vice chairman of its board of directors. (Beth Kutscher, 5/23)

Over the past seven years, more than 2,700 residents of St. Louis County have died as a result of heroin or opioid overdose. A sad, stark truth, but deaths related to heroin and prescription drug overdoses have surpassed car accidents as the number one cause of injury-related deaths nationwide. Between 2004 and 2015, hospital utilization for opioid abuse increased 137 percent in Missouri, with the highest rates reported in St. Louis. These alarming statistics are proof that no community is immune, and our own neighborhoods are right in the middle of a growing epidemic that is destroying our families, increasing crime on our streets, and robbing so many Missourians of their futures. (Ann Wagner, 5/22)

The strongest link, the most persistent voice — and now one that can claim a measure of victory — that ties together all these editorial opinions is Miami-Dade County Judge Steven Leifman. In his years on the bench he has evolved into a national expert in the treatment — and, at great cost, the mistreatment — of mentally ill people who get swept into the criminal justice system, often for frightening or dangerous behavior that has left families or law enforcement with few other choices. And jail is absolutely the wrong place for many of the nonviolent offenders, exacerbating their condition — bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, perhaps — rather than addressing it appropriately, humanely and with the goal of rehabilitation. (5/23)

Congress is finally getting serious about hazardous chemicals in household products and industrial goods. The House is expected to vote on Tuesday on a bill overhauling a 1976 chemical safety law that has made it hard for federal regulators to ban toxic substances, even known carcinogens like asbestos. The Senate is expected to follow later in the week. The bipartisan legislation would direct the Environmental Protection Agency to review chemicals to determine whether they threaten human health or the environment. Regulators would be required to give priority to the riskiest chemicals, evaluate at least 20 substances at a time and finish each evaluation in no more than seven years. (5/24)

The National Institutes of Health seems to have discovered what communities across the land already know: The National Football League is an untrustworthy partner. According to a report released Monday by the Democratic staff of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the NFL pressured the NIH to cancel a $16-million grant to study football-related brain injuries to a prominent Boston brain researcher who the league claimed was biased. The NIH had found no evidence that the researcher, Robert Stern, was biased or subject to a conflict of interest. The House staff agreed. On the other hand, it did assert a conflict of interest on the part of one NFL medical advisor, who applied unsuccessfully for the same grant and then became a leading critic of the award to Stern. (Michael Hiltzik, 5/23)

I don’t eat breakfast. It’s not that I dislike what’s offered. Given the choice of breakfast food or lunch food, I’d almost always choose eggs or waffles. It’s just that I’m not hungry at 7:30 a.m., when I leave for work. In fact, I’m rarely hungry until about lunchtime. So, other than a morning cup of coffee, I don’t eat much before noon. This habit has forced me to be subjected to more lectures on how I’m hurting myself, my diet, my work and my health than almost any other. Only a fool would skip the most important meal of the day, right? As with many other nutritional pieces of advice, our belief in the power of breakfast is based on misinterpreted research and biased studies. (Aaron E. Carroll, 5/23)

The nation took a big step on Friday toward better health, as first lady Michelle Obama unveiled the first updated Nutrition Facts labels for food packaging in more than two decades. She deserves great credit in standing her ground against fierce opposition from food industry lobbyists against the improved labels, which will disclose how much sugar is added to products and list a healthy limit for daily consumption. (5/24)

About a year ago, fast-food chain Chipotle trotted out its “G-M-Over It” campaign, boldly declaring that it would extend its commitment to healthy food by eliminating genetically engineered ingredients from its menu. GMO-fearing burrito eaters rejoiced, while most food scientists rolled their eyes at what they called needless fear over genetically modified organisms. We joined in the eye-rolling. (5/24)

Bayer's $62 billion, all-cash bid for Monsanto is a risky proposition, and not because of the difficulty of raising enough cash for the biggest corporate takeover in German history. Rather, the company that once marketed heroin as a cough medicine should be aware of another kind of risk as it prepares to get deeper into the genetically modified crops that many European countries want no part of. (Leonid Bershidsky, 5/23)