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Poverty in the U.S. seems intractable, even as safety net spending rises each year. Most policy makers, meanwhile, remain locked in trench warfare over whether to increase spending further or cut it, launch new programs or restrict current ones. But what if states had more flexibility to move federal dollars between antipoverty programs -- not to increase spending or cut it, but to find its most effective use? (Oren Cass 6/7)

Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin is making good on his campaign promise to close the doors on Kynect, the state’s Obamacare exchange. While Democratic former Governor Steve Beshear and a handful of Obamacare supporters have made waves about that decision, it has raised a bigger question: Does it make sense to run a state-based exchange? Kynect is causing higher premiums for most residents of Kentucky, is not fiscally sustainable, and serves almost exclusively as a channel for Medicaid enrollment — Gov. Bevin is prudent to push to switch to the federal exchange. (Josh Archambault, 6/7)

The Summer Olympic Games are scheduled to begin on Aug. 5 in Rio de Janeiro, and it appears that will happen under the dark shadow of the Zika virus. Unfortunately, current conflicts between doctors and the World Health Organization are provoking confusion about the virus. In turn, that’s creating a tremendous amount of anxiety and even fear among athletes who usually would be extremely excited about participating in the Olympics. (6/7)

Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena will participate in California’s assisted suicide law when it takes effect Thursday. But that could change down the road. I reported last month that medical leaders at the hospital quietly had voted for the facility's hundreds of doctors and affiliated personnel to opt out of the End of Life Option Act, which allows physicians to prescribe medication to hasten the death of terminally ill adults. (David Lazarus, 6/7)

While authorities investigate where Prince obtained the drugs that killed him, as well as the scandal that’s rocked the University of Minnesota wrestling team, a small scene reflecting the country’s growing opioid problem played out in an almost-empty federal courtroom Monday with a pharmacist as the unlikely protagonist. (Jon Tevlin 6/7)

A national icon dies of an accidental overdose. A media frenzy develops as public scrutiny focuses on the new, highly potent drug that is suspected of killing him. At the same time, a measure has been proposed in Congress that would impose harsh new mandatory prison sentences for offenses involving tiny quantities of the new drug. (Jeremy Haile and Michael Collins, 6/7)

While it is already too late for the victims of overdose, there are many more people for whom heroin and prescription-opioid abuse do not have to spell the end. I see every day in my work with Evergreen Treatment Services that people do recover, and many will fight fiercely for the chance. They need our help, not our judgment. We have to increase access to and acceptance of the tools in our toolbox, particularly medication-assisted treatment. (Molly Carney, 6/7)

In an emotional speech, Vice President Joe Biden urged the 30,000 oncologists attending the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual conference to work together in the search for a cure for cancer. Biden called for more collaboration among among oncologists and researchers and easier access to clinical trials and expanded databases. (Maria Castellucci, 6/6)