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In another nod to primary rival Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton is proposing to increase federal money for community health centers and outlining steps to expand access to health care across the nation. Clinton's campaign says the proposal is part of her plan to provide universal health care coverage in the United States. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee also is reaffirming her support for a public-option insurance plan and for expanding Medicare by letting people age 55 year and older opt in. (Lucey and Thomas, 7/9)

The presumptive Democratic nominee's proposal would double funding for primary care services at Federally Qualified Health Centers, which serve populations with limited access to health care. Community health care centers have been a key priority for Sanders, I-Vt., who successfully fought for the inclusion of $11 billion in funding for such centers in the Affordable Care Act of 2010. (Gaudiano, 7/10)

And she said she would seek to expand federal funding by $40 billion over the coming decade for community-based centers that provide primary health care services. Under that proposal, funding would be doubled for “federally qualified “ health centers, which serve about 25 million low income people in the U.S., many of whom are minorities and reside in hard to reach rural areas, according to Clinton campaign. Sanders made community health care centers a key priority during his primary challenge to Clinton this year and has long championed increased funding for the program. (Pianin, 7/11)

"We have more work to do to finish our long fight to provide universal, quality, affordable health care to everyone in America," Clinton said. "Already, the Affordable Care Act has expanded coverage to 20 million Americans. As president, I will make sure Republicans never succeed in their attempts to strip away their care and that the remaining uninsured should be able to get the affordable coverage they need to stay healthy." (Lee, 7/9)

The document itself is largely symbolic, but it's taken on more weight this year as Clinton moves left to appeal to Sanders' supporters. Sanders, who clashed with Clinton during the primary over his support for a single-payer health care system, praised the Clinton plan in a press call Saturday morning. (Cook, 7/9)

In a press call with reporters Saturday timed to coincide with the plan's release, Sanders applauded the move, calling it an "important step forward." "I congratulate Secretary Clinton for this extraordinary initiative," he said. "It will save lives, it will ease suffering and it will improve healthcare in America and it will cut healthcare costs." (Neidig, 7/9)

As Hillary Clinton prepares to take another big step toward supporting liberal calls for universal health care coverage, a new study concludes that Donald Trump’s proposals for replacing Obamacare would strip nearly 18 million mostly low-income Americans of their current coverage. The study by the non-partisan Center for Health and Economy provides the first detailed analysis of the presumptive GOP nominee’s scattershot proposals on health care. They include removing barriers to the sale of health insurance across state lines, expanding the use of health savings accounts to mitigate the cost of high-deductible insurance policies and allowing households to deduct premiums from their taxable income. (Pianin, 7/8)

Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is nothing like the party's previous nominees, so it isn't surprising that the GOP health policy platform only days ahead of the convention remains largely unknown—very unlike 2012 or 2008. Health policy experts say there is even considerable uncertainty about who will drive the health platform at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland starting July 18. ... The big question is whether the presumptive nominee and his campaign will embrace, as the basis for the platform, all or part of the comprehensive health policy white paper released last month by House Speaker Paul Ryan and other top House Republican leaders to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. That 35-page document includes controversial proposals to cap and cut spending on Medicare and Medicaid and tax employer health benefits. (Meyer, 7/9)

Republican Donald Trump will deliver a speech on veterans' health care reform Monday, his latest in a series of prepared remarks aimed at articulating his policy agenda and convincing still-reticent Republicans that he has the discipline and control to mount a credible general election bid against likely rival Hillary Clinton. Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, will be speaking in Virginia Beach, Virginia, not far from the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk, where he first unveiled his plan to reform the Department of Veterans Affairs last October, promising to modernize the system, while minimizing wait times for patients and improving care. (Colvin, 7/11)

This is the second in a series of videos about health care promises from presidential candidates that “sound like a good idea.” Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News explores why proposals to regulate drug prices may not be such a good idea after all. (Rovner, Ying and Nguyen, 7/11)

A recent report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says rural Americans are gaining health insurance through the Affordable Care Act at rates outpacing their urban counterparts. Mark Andes is among those in rural Kansas who have benefited. Andes was living and working in McPherson last year when he began having some pretty scary health symptoms. (Thompson, 7/8)

In 2013, one Affordable Care Act component taking effect — a medical device excise tax — imposed a new financial burden on American Laboratory Products Co. The 2.3 percent tax on revenue took a bite out of the company’s bottom line, “no question about it,” said Sean Conley, president of the family-owned-and-operated Alpco. “This obviously has an impact on where our funds go and makes it a bit more challenging to continue to create new jobs.” (Okun, 7/10)

The 10 co-op plans that were still in business as of last week owe nearly $150 million in risk adjustment payments, according to data released by CMS. That’s a big chunk of change for the struggling nonprofit startups, but it might not be that big of a problem — if they had expected to take such a hit and budgeted for it. But six of the 10 plans underestimated how much they would owe for 2015, according to an analysis of financial filings by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Katherine Hempstead. Altogether, the 10 plans missed the mark by roughly $60 million. (Demko, 7/8)

California’s proposal to let undocumented immigrants purchase unsubsidized Obamacare plans is creating a divide among Republicans in the state’s congressional delegation. Five GOP lawmakers from the state — including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy — declined to sign a letter from their colleagues demanding the Obama administration shoot down the request, the first in the country. The split reflects the geographic realities of the areas they represent, GOP strategists say. Latinos make up a substantial chunk of voters in some GOP-held districts. (Pradhan, 7/8)

Health insurers in Michigan are seeking another round of double-digit rate increases next year for plans they sell to individuals, although smaller increases for their small group plans. Insurance giant Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has asked state regulators for permission to boost its premium rates by an average 18.7% for individual plans, along with a 14.8% increase for its Blue Care Network individual plans. (Reindl, 7/9)

The TennCare expansion proposal to offer access to coverage to those who suffer from mental health or substance abuse disorders tackles a historically underserved population — but it also confronts serious challenges that come with providing behavioral health care in Tennessee. (Fletcher, 7/8)

New Hampshire will start turning over the names of dangerously mentally ill people to the FBI’s gun-buyer background check system, thanks to a little-noticed provision in the state’s Medicaid expansion law, state officials said Friday. The provision, which went into effect on April 6, allows the state to disclose the names to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, Attorney General Joseph Foster said in a letter sent Friday to Linda Dalianis, the chief justice of the state Supreme Court. (Hayward, 7/8)

Aetna Inc. and Humana Inc. face resistance from the Justice Department to their proposed $34 billion merger and an uphill battle persuading antitrust enforcers the deal won’t harm competition, according to people familiar with the matter. The insurers on Friday met with top government officials in a late-in-the-game attempt to make their case that the deal has public benefits and won’t hurt consumers, and that they could address competitive concerns through asset sales, people familiar with the matter said. (Kendall and Wilde Mathews, 7/8)

Aetna Inc executives met with top Justice Department antitrust officials on Friday to convince the government that asset sales it proposed would address potential competitive problems that could threaten its deal to buy rival Humana Inc, according to a source familiar with the matter. Aetna's plan to buy Humana would combine two of the largest providers of Medicare Advantage plans for elderly people, and investors are concerned that antitrust regulators could oppose the deal. (7/8)

WellCare Health Plans Inc and Centene Corp have made competing offers for the Medicare Advantage insurance plans that Aetna Inc looks to shed in seeking clearance for its acquisition of Humana Inc, people familiar with the matter said. The potential divestiture is a central pillar of Aetna's efforts to win over regulators for its $34-billion Humana deal. The health insurer met U.S. Department of Justice officials on Friday in a bid to address their antitrust concerns. (O'Donnell and Humer, 7/9)

Health insurers including WellCare Health Plans Inc. and Centene Corp. have offered to buy assets that Aetna Inc. may have to sell to gain regulatory approval for its proposed $37 billion takeover of Humana Inc., a person familiar with the matter said. WellCare and Centene have separately bid for Aetna’s Medicare Advantage policies that are up for sale, covering about 350,000 people. (Tracer, 7/9)

The growth of insurance plans built around small networks of health-care providers is fueling new fights over surprise medical bills, when patients inadvertently get care from out-of-network doctors. Providers and insurers are blaming each other for sticking patients with higher bills in such cases, and nearly two dozen states have passed or are considering legislation to protect consumers. (Beck, 7/8)

Maybe you’ve experienced this on your own: Out-of-pocket expenses for hospital patients have jumped sharply, according to a recent report in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Between 2009 and 2013, patient shares of the cost of in-hospital stays were up 37 percent. Deductibles grew by 86 percent and coinsurance was up a third. Many consumers don't realize there are ways to reduce such costs. (Sherman, 7/8)

More than half of U.S. states have so-called "filial responsibility" laws that require adult children to support their parents if they become indigent. For example, under Pennsylvania's 2005 statute, spouses, parents, and children are obligated to care for or financially assist destitute family members. (Arvedlund, 7/10)

A new weight-loss device that scores high on the “yuck” scale may also score well on the effectiveness scale — at least in the short term. The AspireAssist device lets an individual pump food out of his or her stomach directly into the toilet after a meal. The calories get flushed away before they can be turned into body fat. It’s a way of eating less without actually eating less. It was recently approved by the FDA for obese adults who haven’t been able to lose weight with other nonsurgical approaches. (Skerrett, 7/8)

Legal challenges are mounting against the Food and Drug Administration’s move to regulate cigars and e-cigarettes, which for the first time would be treated just like traditional tobacco products under new rules. As many as five lawsuits have been filed against the agency over the rules finalized in May that require products hitting store shelves after February 2007 to go through a costly approval process. (Wheeler, 7/10)

In the waning days of summer in 2008, a convicted felon and his business partner leased office space on a seedy block near MacArthur Park. They set up a waiting room, hired an elderly physician and gave the place a name that sounded like an ordinary clinic: Lake Medical. The doctor began prescribing the opioid painkiller OxyContin – in extraordinary quantities. In a single week in September, she issued orders for 1,500 pills, more than entire pharmacies sold in a month. In October, it was 11,000 pills. By December, she had prescribed more than 73,000, with a street value of nearly $6 million. (Ryan, Glover and Girion, 7/10)

For years, Jevon “Goldie” Lawson dealt crack on the steps of a 7-Eleven in a rough part of this blue-collar town. He smoked the rocks he didn’t sell and often appeared as strung out as his customers. But in 2008, he moved into a $400,000 house, started driving a champagne-colored Humvee, and made himself the star act of his own hip-hop label. He abandoned the crack business. Found something better, he told associates. (Ryan, Glover and Girion, 7/10)

Congress this week is expected to send President Obama legislation to combat heroin and painkiller abuse, despite lingering disputes over whether there is enough funding to support new treatment and prevention programs. Senate Democrats have pushed for additional funding arguing that without it the bill will not be able to deliver on its promise to help thwart the opioid epidemic. But they do not plan to block the agreement that House and Senate negotiators finalized last week, according to a spokesman for Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). It’s unclear how many Democrats will support the bill, but it is expected to easily be approved just in time for the height of the election season. (Demirjian, 7/11)

The House overwhelmingly approved a compromise package bolstering federal steps against illicit drugs on Friday, as lawmakers of both parties flocked to cast an election-year vote to stem the nation's surge of deaths among drug abusers. The legislation was approved 407-5, underscoring the broad support it has attracted to combat a problem that claims victims across racial, economic and geographic lines. (Fram, 7/8)

Republicans dared House Democrats to block an opioids bill over a lack of funding, and the Democrats blinked. Now the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act — legislation that’s a political priority for lawmakers in both parties and key to the reelection bids of vulnerable Senate Republicans — heads to the Senate next week with a full head of steam after a 407-5 landslide vote to approve it in the House on Friday. (Norman, 7/8)

If you have chronic pain, you might be hearing about more treatment options from your doctor soon. Greater Cincinnati primary care doctors have a chance to learn more ways to manage chronic pain, thanks to a no-fuss, no-cost UC Health program. Nearly a dozen UC Health specialists are on hand monthly for a virtual mentoring program that gives doctors tips about treating pain –often without prescribing opioids. At first, the program was offered to the health organization's primary care physicians, but now, it's open to any physician groups in the region. (DeMio, 7/9)

Doctors have long complained about patients demanding inappropriate treatment, especially addictive opioid painkillers. Many say they feel forced to comply for fear they will be rated poorly by patients on the internet or even more official surveys. (Sapatkin, 7/11)

A person infected with Zika has died in Utah, and while the exact cause is unclear, authorities said Friday it marks the first death related to the virus in the continental U.S. The unidentified Salt Lake County resident contracted the virus while traveling abroad to an area with a Zika outbreak, health officials said.The patient who died in late June was elderly and also suffered from another health condition, according to the Salt Lake County Health Department. (Whitehurst, 7/8)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that it had been notified of the death. In April, the CDC reported the first U.S. death from Zika in a patient in Puerto Rico. That man, who was in his 70s, died from internal bleeding after developing severe thrombocytopenia -- a rare immune reaction to his infection that cause low levels of platelets that help blood clot. (Sun, 7/8)

President Barack Obama's top health aide is redoubling efforts to get more funding to fight the Zika virus, calling on Congress to take urgent action on a request for a $1.9 billion appropriation before a looming deadline. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said the money is needed to help monitor and contain the virus, which has been linked to brain damage and other severe defects in children born to infected mothers. (Ross, 7/8)

While Congress dithers over the advancing Zika virus, another smoldering epidemic keeps threatening to burst back into flame. Ebola. Emergency funds to fight that deadly virus may run out in October because they were poached to fight Zika until Congress agreed on a plan to battle the new, mosquito-borne epidemic. (Allen, 7/8)

With Congress remains deadlocked over funding to fight the Zika virus, senior GOP leaders are working to head off yet another big public health funding fight. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) and others for weeks behind the scenes have been working on legislation to create an emergency fund for public health crises. (Ferris, 7/10)

In a span of 13 months, a relatively unknown virus morphed into a global health emergency thanks to a pest less than four millimeters wide. The Pan American Health Organization reports more than 50,000 people in the Western Hemisphere are infected with the Zika virus. The primary mode of transmission is by mosquitoes — the Aedes aegypti, to be precise — and its relative the Aedes albopictus. But the virus can also be transmitted sexually. ... So far, no cases of locally transmitted Zika infection have been reported in the U.S. But, with summer vacations on many people’s minds, here is a breakdown of what travelers should know about where the virus is most likely to circulate and how the risks could affect travel plans. (Heredia Rodriguez, 7/11)

In major emergencies, hospital staff usually have some warning -- however brief -- to prepare. Clinicians can mobilize and ambulance crews can try to stabilize patients en route. That wasn’t the case this time. “The way that we knew we had critically injured patients was that they arrived,” said Dr. Michael Foreman, medical director of trauma, and one of the surgeons on duty the night of the shooting. “At that point, we just do what we're trained to do.” (Rice, 7/9)

...1 in 5 surgeons had symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and two-thirds had at least one symptom of secondary traumatic stress. Symptoms of STS mimic PTSD, and it is often described as indirect PTSD. Doctors and emergency responders with STS can suffer sleep disturbances and anxiety, and they can find themselves reliving painful memories. (Yasmin, 7/10)

Lesbian and bisexual women are disproportionately overweight in comparison with heterosexual women. But if doctors offered more targeted health guidance, could it help? To try to answer that question, researchers enrolled women who self-identified as both overweight and lesbian or bisexual in a study in which doctors stressed health care interventions specifically tailored to them. Focus groups suggested, for instance, that lesbian and bisexual women generally did not respond well to weight-loss appeals emphasizing appearance or body size. The study was published in Women’s Health Issues. (Samuel, 7/8)

The story is a familiar one: the saga of a loving parent's quest to save a child. This time it's about the mother of a boy with autism. The mother scours the medical literature in search of any kind of treatment, however far-fetched and experimental. She finds one that seems promising, something involving magnetic fields, and moves mountains to get it for her son as part of a research protocol. Then, seeing that it helps, she devotes herself to getting more of it. Ultimately the mother starts a foundation to promote research into the new treatment, hoping to prove its value and one day make it part of standard care, not just for her son but for other children with autism, too. This particular version of the story, though, is tinged with irony. (Marantz Henig, 7/9)

Lighting in tune with your body clock, a vitamin-infused showerhead, on-demand aromatherapy, custom blackout shades, filtered tap water, air purifiers that remove pollen, pet dander, and your neighbor’s unwelcome cooking odors ... These amenities are all part of a wellness pilot program at a new apartment building in Cambridge. The developers want to see whether renters come sniffing around or just sniff at it. Fuse Cambridge, a 244-unit apartment building in the Fresh Pond neighborhood that opened June 22, is offering options that go beyond the usual standards associated with “healthy” buildings. (O'Leary, 7/9)

With more than 120,000 people on the national waiting list for a kidney or other donated organ — but only about 30,000 transplants performed each year — new moves are getting underway to try to ease the critical shortage. Efforts range from smartphone apps letting would-be donors register with a few clicks, to helping transplant centers use some organs that today would be discarded for fear they're not good enough. (Neergaard, 7/11)

Early-onset Alzheimer's strikes less than 5% of all people with the degenerative brain disease. But the death of legendary college basketball coach Pat Summitt, who was diagnosed at age 59, has turned a new spotlight on the issue. Here are a few commonly asked questions about early-onset Alzheimer's. (Smith, 7/7)

As early detection technology outpaces the ability to distinguish innocuous cancers from dangerous ones, some fields of oncology are grappling with "overtreatment" and "overdiagnosis." In other words, treating cancer more aggressively than needed for a cure, or worse, treating tumors that would never cause harm if left undiagnosed. (McCullough, 7/10)

A new study on the worst pollution event in recorded history, what’s known as the London Smog, finds a staggering link between pollution and asthma. ...In the study, the youngest Londoners turned out to be five times more likely to have asthma. Nearly 25 percent of those in London during the Great Smog reported having asthma; those not in the city at the time reported a 5 percent rate. (Tong, 7/8)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's drinking water standard for nitrates is 10 parts per million — picture a bucket with 1 million drops inside, 10 of which are nitrates instead of water. Water at the Dublin Road plant, which usually contains 5 to 6 parts per million, rose above that threshold, triggering the advisory. ... The advisory was lifted five days later. But for some, questions linger. What problems do excessive nitrates actually pose? And why wasn't everyone cautioned to avoid the tap water? (Kurtzman, 7/11)

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday delivered a temporary, last-minute victory to families of children with disabilities who want to stop sweeping budget cuts to a state-funded children’s therapy program. State lawmakers last year approved $350 million in budget cuts for Medicaid programs that provide physical, speech and occupational therapy to disabled children. Blocked once before by a district court order, the cuts were scheduled to take effect July 15 after an appellate court ruled in April that Texas could move forward with them. (Walters, 7/8)

The court's decision, which reinstated an injunction issued by a state district judge last September, was announced in a two-sentence order. The ruling is a victory for the therapists and parents of children with disabilities, who together have been fighting the cuts, which would take away $350 million in services to poor kids with disabilities. That total is made up of a $150 million cut in state funding and a $200 million federal match. (Rosenthal, 7/8)

The reductions [in therapists' pay] would be as great as nearly 26 percent. Companies, including those who supported families who brought the lawsuit, say care could be disrupted for tens of thousands of children with disabilities or speech delays caused by premature birth. The commission, and some GOP lawmakers who forced it to cut therapy reimbursements, argued Texas Medicaid was paying home health agencies more than other states' Medicaid programs and some private insurers. The underlying data for that decision, though, has been the object of intense debate for more than a year. (Garrett, 7/8)

Just-released city government emails reveal an intense behind-the-scenes struggle over who will become the next health commissioner, a job that will oversee nearly $50 million in private and taxpayer money spent next year on the health of Cincinnati's residents. Former Mayor Dwight Tillery, who runs a health nonprofit dependent on city grants for funding, went to Mayor John Cranley to intercede in the process, the emails say. Cranley then made phone calls to some board members to encourage them "to follow their consciences," his spokesman said. (Saker, 7/10)

Tennova Healthcare, owned by Community Health Services, announced in March that the hospital would shutter its doors in May. The company cited several issues, including structural problems with the building, fewer patients and less federal funding. A slew of other rural community hospitals in Tennessee and across the country are facing the same problems that are outweighing financial benefits for the larger companies that own the facilities. The changes affect the economy and culture of a community. (Boucher, 7/10)

Haywood, a county of 18,000 that sits off Interstate 40 between Memphis and Jackson, Tenn., lost Haywood Park Community Hospital in summer 2014. Its ambulances average 15 calls a day, up from nine before the hospital closed. A day with 20 runs is not uncommon. (Fletcher, 7/10)

Medical practices are making it easier for patients to multitask, offering eye exams at primary-care offices or dental services at pediatric visits, and taking blood pressure at barbershops. Some of the changes are attempts to make things easier for busy families. Other offerings are intended to reach people who can't afford to see a doctor or dentist or eye doctor regularly. (Fallik, 7/10)

The State of Maryland has awarded a four-year $9.2 million grant to major health care services providers in Cecil and Harford counties to create local teams to assist people with treatment of multiple chronic conditions that typically cause them to make frequent hospital visits. (Anderson, 7/8)

Wyoming’s Title 25 program is $13 million dollars over budget and a group of legislators and others were told this week that reforms and policy changes are needed to slow down that spending. Title 25 covers court ordered hospitalizations for mental health and substance abuse patients. The state hospital doesn’t have enough beds to house those who need services, so the state has to pay private providers for that care. (Beck, 7/8)

A 150-year-old health-care institution in the Bronx has a new prescription for wellness that starts with affordable housing. SBH Health System, which includes St. Barnabas Hospital, has joined with developers L+M Development Partners and Hornig Capital Partners LLC to create a 450,000-square-foot complex designed to address many of the hurdles to healthy living facing low-income residents in the Bronx. (Morris, 7/10)

The word “immunization” has long evoked images of nervous children wincing as they get injections to protect them from measles, mumps and other diseases. Now California’s doctors are turning their attention to adults, who haven’t been as diligent about getting their own shots. The California Medical Association Foundation, the charitable arm of the Sacramento-based physicians’ organization, published a vaccine schedule last year to inform doctors and patients about recommended vaccines for adults. (Gorman, 7/11)

A Columbus Fire Division paramedic involved in the death of a woman and a $1.2 million city settlement with her family is now under investigation for letting his paramedic certification lapse. ... records kept by the Ohio Emergency Medical Services show that (James) Amick let his paramedic certification expire three times in the past 10 years. ... Amick’s failure to get re-certified is the subject of an internal investigation, Fire Chief Kevin O’Connor said last week. (Sullivan, 7/11)

Between 2010 and 2015, African American children died at well above the rates of any other racial or ethnic group in Sacramento County: Nearly one-quarter of the 873 children under age 18 who died in the county during that six-year time frame were black, even as black youths made up just 11 percent of the population in that age group. During that time period, the death rate among black children was more than twice the rate of white children and about three times the rate for Latino and Asian children, according to a Sacramento Bee review of state death certificates. (Caiola, 7/10)

Many Iowans who are supposed to be paid by the state for providing in-home care for disabled people have gone for weeks or months without pay because of the state’s shift to private management of its Medicaid program, the state workers’ union alleged Friday....The dispute involves Iowans who work in a program that lets people with disabilities or long-term illnesses choose someone to provide services such as bathing, medication and feeding assistance in their homes. (Leys, 7/8)

Health Central Hospital is opening its new 52-bed emergency department next week, bringing an upgrade and expansion to its existing ER. The new emergency room has 10 more rooms than the old one. It opens on Wednesday. (Miller, 7/11)

A brain-dead Vacaville toddler, whose family waged a legal fight to keep him on life support, could be coming home after six weeks in a Central American hospital. An air ambulance return trip to the U.S. was scheduled Friday morning for 2-year-old Israel Stinson, “but there were administrative hiccups with the (U.S.) hospital,” said Alexandra Snyder, an attorney with the Life Legal Justice Foundation, one of two nonprofit legal groups handling Israel’s case. Snyder said it’s likely the boy and his parents will leave an unidentified Central America country early next week on a medical flight to an East Coast hospital, where he’ll be treated by a pediatric specialist for “technology-dependent” children, such as those on ventilators. (Buck, 7/8)

Delivering bilingual health care and social services to 5,500 mostly low-income residents of southern Chester County annually, [La Comunidad Hispana] tends to basic human needs, with no concern about who can or cannot pay. Its staff quickly found a home for the woman, gave her emergency medical treatment, and counseled her. (Gerniger, 7/9)

Will it never end? Crucial emergency funding to fight the spread of the increasingly scary Zika virus, which causes birth defects in unborn babies, has gotten mired in the same tiring partisan fight over contraception and reproductive health that is on endless repeat in Washington. ... Prospects for a compromise appear slim, as there’s only one week left before Congress breaks for nearly two months. Without new funding, top health officials warn, vital preventive measures may have to be cut back. (7/8)

The idea of the public option ― as first sketched out by Jacob Hacker, a Yale political scientist ― is to create a separate, government-run insurance plan that would compete with private insurers offering coverage through the Affordable Care Act’s exchanges. The hope is that this competition can help keep premiums for all the insurance plans low, particularly if the government-run plan has the ability to dictate low reimbursement rates to doctors, hospitals, drugmakers, and other suppliers of medical care. (Jonathan Cohn, 7/9)

We are hearing quite a bit about the transformation of health care, but what does that really mean? If you are Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, it is the complete repeal of the Affordable Care Act. If you are the Democratic front-runner, Hillary Clinton, it is modifying the existing platform. (Andy Carter, 7/11)

The nation's 250-plus safety net hospitals, which serve a disproportionate share of poor and uninsured patients, still face unique challenges. Architects of the Affordable Care Act made the reasonable assumption that expanded health insurance coverage would alleviate much of their uncompensated care burden. The law mandated a gradual reduction in the extra money sent to safety net hospitals for treating a population with greater need for complex care. But the coverage expansion has not played out as planned. (Merrill Goozner, 7/9)

Before they see a doctor, most patients turn to websites and smartphone apps. Caution is advised. Research shows they aren’t very good. A few years ago, doctors from the Mayo Clinic tested the wisdom of online health advice. Their conclusion: It’s risky. According to their study, going online for health advice is more likely to result in getting no advice or incomplete advice than the right advice. (Austin Frakt, 7/11)

Something strange is going on in medicine. Major diseases, like colon cancer, dementia and heart disease, are waning in wealthy countries, and improved diagnosis and treatment cannot fully explain it. Scientists marvel at this good news, a medical mystery of the best sort and one that is often overlooked as advocacy groups emphasize the toll of diseases and the need for more funds. Still, many are puzzled. (Gina Kolata, 7/8)

A congressionally mandated commission offers two views of health care provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Care for veterans is “in many ways comparable or better in clinical quality to that generally available in the private sector.” At the same time, VA health care, operated by the department’s Veterans Health Administration (VHA), needs “fundamental, dramatic change — change that requires new direction, new investment, and profound reengineering.” The statements seem to clash, but they both can be true as the 300-page Commission on Care report documents. The point is, no matter how good the care, it could be much better particularly when it comes to access. (Joe Davidson, 7/8)

David Hill's problem wasn’t just that he had suicidal thoughts. The 23-year-old Eastham resident also needed more support than his family could wrangle for him in a state where mental health care hospital beds are hard to come by. Hill’s case figures prominently in the Globe Spotlight Team’s latest investigation, which shows how, as Massachusetts dismantled its psychiatric hospital system over a half-century, patients and their loved ones were left without adequate treatment options. Families like the Hills face a creeping new social Darwinism. Mentally ill citizens and their long-suffering relatives have to fend for themselves. (Dante Ramos, 7/10)

Do antidepressants ease depression and, if so, for whom? In my work as a psychiatrist, I have seen these medications work for people with all levels of depression. But because critics have cast doubt on the worth of antidepressants, I have spent five years combing through the research. One thing I have learned is that the media, consumers, and perhaps even editors of medical journals are more interested in the drugs’ shortcomings than their strengths. (Peter D. Kramer, 7/11)

“Every Woman. Every Time.” That’s a straightforward health mantra for well-woman care, but recently I’ve realized that it extends to children and families in the context of toxic substances. The impacts of well-known chemicals like DDT, asbestos and lead are recognized for their negative impacts on health. But amidst the tens of thousands of chemicals listed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inventory, only a minority have been tested for toxic effects – and only a fraction of those have been evaluated for effects on brain development in children. (Jeanne Conry, 7/10)

Treating narrowed or blocked heart arteries has evolved over the past 40 years. This week, the FDA approved the latest step in that evolution — a stent that dissolves away, leaving nothing behind. Stents are devices that prop open an artery after an angioplasty restores blood flow through a narrowed or blocked artery. Stents have traditionally been tiny cages made of metal that remain forever in the artery. In contrast, the newest one on the market, the Absorb GT1 made by Abbott Vascular, gradually fades away. (Ron Waksman, 7/8)

As a doctor, my number one responsibility is to provide my patients with expert medical advice and prioritize their well-being over anything else. Unfortunately, as a Texan, I know my patients are surrounded by personal injury lawsuit ads that bombard them with misleading information and alarm them about unproven medical risks or threats to their health. (Christine Canterbury, 7/10)

Ecotherapy is a unique variation of psychotherapy, one that employs nature as a co-therapist. Over 30 years of research shows that contact with the natural world enhances physical, mental and spiritual well-being. And when this interaction is intentional, as in ecotherapy, these benefits magnify. Of course, we are increasingly indoor creatures. (Philip Chard, 7/8)