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Bernie Sanders formalized the Democratic Party’s left turn on Tuesday, finally endorsing Hillary Clinton and praising her for embracing so many of his ideas. “We have begun a political revolution to transform America, and that revolution continues,” the Vermont socialist said—and the latest evidence for his boast is the revival of ObamaCare’s “public option.” This liberal ambition—a new health-care entitlement akin to Medicare for all middle-class Americans under age 65—couldn’t pass a Democratic Congress in 2010. Mrs. Clinton revived the public option over the weekend, and now President Obama is also lending his support, in an op-ed that appears under his byline in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association. (7/12)

The Democratic National Committee has included the public option and Medicare buy-in as part of its 2016 party platform. This is obviously a sop to the Sanders wing of the party, which never got over its anger about the final shape of Obamacare. And while in general, I think that their demands are pipe dreams, it seems there is a reasonable chance that if Hillary Clinton is elected to the presidency, those people will finally see the dream of the public option made flesh. (Megan McArdle, 7/12)

Last weekend, as the nation reeled from the violence in Minneapolis, New Orleans and Dallas, the Democratic Platform Committee met in Orlando to debate the party’s pledges for the future. Once again, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and his delegates, despite some setbacks, made progress in trying to transform the party’s agenda. ... On health care, the platform committee rejected Sanders’s call for Medicare for all, but it did back a public option in Obamacare and for allowing those 55 and over to buy into Medicare. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, 7/12)

Today, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued an analysis of Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchange plan deductibles. Because the analysis presents data in a misleading way, it draws inaccurate conclusions about the current status of the ACA. (Brian Blase, 7/12)

Today, the drug industry employs more than 36,000 Texas workers. However, the jobs supported by our state’s drug business are in jeopardy. Federal officials have proposed major changes to Medicare that ultimately would stifle drug innovation. If enacted, these “reforms” will drive away investment in local drug research and the jobs that go with it. Specifically, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has proposed cutting reimbursements provided by Medicare Part B, which covers drug treatments like chemotherapy that have to be administered under medical supervision. (Tony Bennett, 7/13)

Starbucks announced Monday that it will give its U.S. workers a raise that will boost compensation by 5% to 15%. That’s very cool. The coffee giant also said it will offer employees more affordable health insurance that will cut costs by being less comprehensive. That’s not so cool. (David Lazarus, 7/12)

Despite a firm reputation for being walkers, New Yorkers have an obesity epidemic on their hands. Lee Altman, a former employee of New York City’s Department of Design and Construction, explains it this way: “We did a very good job at designing physical activity out of our daily lives.” ... This is not just a New York phenomenon. Mass urbanization has caused populations the world over to reduce the amount of time they spend moving their bodies. But the root of the problem runs deep in a city’s infrastructure. (Meera Senthilingam, 7/12)

Call us cockeyed cynics, but we couldn't help noticing state officials chose the Thursday right before the Fourth of July weekend to release some long-awaited data indicating how many women have recently been denied access to abortions in Texas. (7/12)

I disagree with pretty much everything Donald Trump has ever said. But in calling for veterans to have more options on their doctors and hospitals, he’s got a point. (Peter R. Orszag, 7/12)

Family planning services and supplies have been a part of the Medicaid program since it was first established half a century ago. And over the past several decades, Medicaid has become the dominant public funding source for family planning in the United States, accounting for three-quarters of that funding at last count. ... This spring, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) turned an unprecedented amount of attention to these issues, recognizing Medicaid’s importance in enabling low-income women to access the family planning care they need. Sweeping new regulations governing the involvement of private-sector managed care plans in the Medicaid program and three additional pieces of guidance to state officials focusing exclusively on family planning together form the most comprehensive set of rules, principles, and recommendations for states that CMS has offered on the subject. (Adam Sonfield, 7/12)

Medicare has been successful in achieving its basic mission — providing access to care and stable coverage to aged and disabled Americans. But, as the country’s largest purchaser of health services, it can do more to improve quality, promote coordinated care, and control costs — both within the program and throughout the health system. Medicare can be an important testing ground for cost and quality innovations that can improve Medicare itself and provide examples for the private sector as well. Policies have been put in place that encourage this, including expanding the power of the Secretary of Health and Human Services to put payment reform pilot programs on a fast track and to work with private payers and providers to establish multi-payer initiatives. (Stuart Guterman, 7/12)

For decades, Rio Grande Valley residents have been ingesting cancer-causing chemicals from fish living in the Donna Reservoir and Canal System. While government officials have known about the hazards since 1993, and have now begun a renewed investigation into the source of contamination, they have been slow to take action on commonsense measures that could quickly and drastically reduce the community’s exposure to these toxins. Instead, the Superfund site commonly known as Donna Lake — which provides drinking and irrigation water for the Donna area — remains a popular spot for local residents to go fishing. (Josue Ramirez and Brooke Lyssy, 7/12)