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The Obama administration’s top health care official said Wednesday that if the Supreme Court stopped the payment of health insurance subsidies to millions of Americans, it would be up to Congress and state officials to devise a solution. ... Ms. Burwell and the White House have said that they have no contingency plans to deal with the chaos that could result if the court strikes down subsidies in the pending case, King v. Burwell. (Pear, 6/10)

House Republicans sent a clear signal Wednesday that they wouldn’t preserve the health law in its current form if the Supreme Court guts a key provision, and the Obama administration responded with equal clarity that the states and Congress would be the ones responsible for resolving any fallout. GOP legislators and Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell set out their messages at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing Wednesday, during a week in which both sides are fine-tuning their strategies on the case. (Radnofsky, 6/10)

It will be up to state officials and Congress to help consumers who can’t afford health insurance if the Supreme Court strikes down health law subsidies for millions of Americans, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said Wednesday. "The critical decisions will sit with the Congress and states and governors to determine if those subsidies are available," Burwell told the House Ways and Means Committee. The secretary told Congress earlier this year that the administration has no authority to undo 'massive damage' that would come if the court invalidates the subsidies in the online marketplaces, or exchanges, which the federal government operates in about three dozen states. (Carey and Pockros, 6/10)

Burwell’s comments to the House Ways and Means Committee marked a continuation of Obama administration efforts to pressure Republicans should the justices void subsidies that help millions afford health insurance. A decision is expected this month. The GOP runs Congress, and 26 of the 34 states likely to be hardest hit by such a decision have Republican governors. (Fram, 6/10)

The hearing was supposed to be about the HHS budget, but Ryan nixed that topic, citing Obama's speech on Tuesday strongly defending ObamaCare. "It shouldn’t surprise you that we’re more interested in talking about ObamaCare, especially given the president’s remarks this week," Ryan said. "Whatever the Supreme Court decides later this month, I think the lesson is absolutely clear: ObamaCare is flat busted." The top Democrat, Rep. Sandy Levin (Mich.), hit back at Ryan. "What's busted is not the ACA, but your attacks," he said. (Sullivan, 6/10)

Burwell said the president would not sign a proposed GOP contingency plan that would allow subsidies to continue flowing in exchange for dismantling major provisions of the health law. The measure, sponsored by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), would keep subsidies in place for all existing Obamacare enrollees until 2017, but two key components of the law—the individual and employer mandates—would be repealed. (Ehley, 6/10)

Mr. Boehner and his leadership team have been slowly building support for the fast-track bill. But in recent days Mrs. Pelosi and other Democrats have balked at a provision in the Senate bill that pays for the workers’ aid program with cuts to Medicare providers. The fast-track bill and the trade adjustment assistance had been combined in the Senate in a delicate compromise designed to win over a bloc of Democrats. The prospect of cuts to Medicare has left many House Democrats unwilling to vote for the Senate-passed bill. The Republican leadership has offered to fix the problem by paying for the program with another source of money. But even then, Democrats have indicated they might balk because the fix would be made through a separate piece of legislation. Democrats don’t want to be on the record in support of a cut to Medicare even if they have assurances those cuts won’t take hold and will be replaced by cuts contained in another bill. (Hughes and Stanley-Becker, 6/10)

GOP leaders hoped to allay Democratic concerns about a minor Medicare provision in the sweeping legislation, but the issue remained unsettled after two closed-door party caucuses Wednesday morning. ... Opponents kicked off their final push to defeat Obama’s top remaining legislative priority by latching onto a relatively small cut in Medicare that was meant to offset increased funding for worker training. ... Boehner and Ryan, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, do not want to alter the delicately balanced TPA-TAA package because that would require sending it back to the Senate for another vote and potentially several more weeks of debate there. They worked to avert this issue by advancing a separate piece of legislation that would replace the roughly $900 million cut in Medicare, slated for 2024, with some stricter enforcement of tax laws. (Kane and Nakamura, 6/10)

A separate bill, on customs and trade law enforcement, would move in concert with those two as a catchall for pet provisions, from language to crack down on international currency manipulation to measures to speed responses to countries that export products to the United States at prices below their cost of their production. That plan has become mired in controversy. Aid in the trade adjustment assistance bill is paid for with a slight tweak to Medicare financing, a provision that caused no problems in the Senate. But in the House, it has enraged Democrats, who accuse pro-trade forces of trying to harm the elderly. Republicans responded with a complicated solution. (Weisman, 6/10)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi had already delivered the message to Speaker John Boehner: Democrats could not support Medicare cuts to pay for a job-training program that is critical to pass fast-track trade authority for President Barack Obama. But it was her good friend, Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who offered the blunt political message to Democratic lawmakers in a closed meeting Wednesday: If you vote to cut Medicare, you could soon find yourself out of a job. (Sherman, Bresnahan and French, 6/10)

Beyond the trade bill, Ryan’s ideas for replacing Obama’s signature health care law, rewriting the tax code and overhauling the welfare system will have to wait for a new president, he says. (Kellman, 6/11)

Facing resistance from Pacific trading partners, the Obama administration is no longer demanding protection for pharmaceutical prices under the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, according to a newly leaked section of the proposed trade accord. But American negotiators are still pressing participating governments to open the process that sets reimbursement rates for drugs and medical devices. Public health professionals, generic-drug makers and activists opposed to the trade deal, which is still being negotiated, contend that it will empower big pharmaceutical firms to command higher reimbursement rates in the United States and abroad, at the expense of consumers. (Weisman, 6/10)

Medicare would pay doctors and other health care providers to have voluntary conversations about end-of-life care with patients diagnosed with a serious or life-threatening illness under bipartisan legislation re-introduced Wednesday by Sens. Mark Warner and Johnny Isakson. (Kenen, 6/10)

A bipartisan pair of senators who advocate for government-funded end-of-life planning appears to be winning support for the cause, which became politically toxic by "death panel" rhetoric kicked up during the 2010 health law debate. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., on Wednesday unveiled a bill that would create a Medicare benefit to allow people to get medical advice about how they would want to be treated when facing serious and terminal illnesses. (Young, 6/10)

House GOP appropriators on Wednesday proposed chopping IRS resources almost 8 percent, reducing the agency budget to $10.1 billion. It would be a huge hit to the agency responsible not only for overseeing tax collections but administering Obamacare’s health care subsidies. (Bade, 6/10)

Concerns about a $30 billion federal program meant to encourage the adoption of electronic health records are likely to be addressed in a Senate medical innovation bill later this year, according to Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Lamar Alexander. Alexander said his panel is on track to consider its version of legislation to speed medical cures after it finishes a planned reauthorization of higher education law in September. Parallel efforts in the House have been on a much quicker timeline, with the full chamber expected to consider its so-called 21st Century Cures bill as early as next week. (Zanona, 6/10)

Sen. Lindsey Graham is renewing a GOP push for a 20-week abortion ban — a bid that could boost his long-shot presidential campaign but spell trouble for vulnerable GOP senators up for reelection in swing states next year. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) earlier promised a vote on the hot-button bill, which already passed the House. Abortion foes say a vote in the Senate would be a historical milestone, the most consequential vote on the issue in more than a decade. (Everett, 6/10)

Could the federal government hasten a cure for Alzheimer’s disease by offering a $1 billion prize? That’s one of the new twists in the House Republican Study Committee’s plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. Rep. Robert Pittenger, who represents North Carolina’s ninth district, pushed that plan when he was in Charlotte recently. Most of the 2015 American Health Care Reform Act, introduced last week, is picked up from the version that debuted in 2013. The plan would repeal “Obamacare,” eliminating federal mandates that individuals must buy health insurance and that companies have to provide certain levels of coverage, including for people with pre-existing medical conditions. (Helms, 6/10)

Health professionals intend to ask Congress to change some of the rules for Medicare's accountable care organization program, which is considered a key tool for shifting the agency away from a fee-for-service approach to payments based more on coordinated care, said the head of a trade group that represents the industry. Clif Gaus, president and chief executive officer of the National Association of ACOs, or NAACOS, said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services should allow waivers for telehealth services and direct admissions to skilled nursing centers without requiring a previous three-day hospital stay for organizations participating in the Track 1 version of the program. (Young, 6/10)

If the Supreme Court strikes down Affordable Care Act subsidies later this month, we can expect financial and political turmoil to ripple through the next several months. But one reaction could come quickly: A rush on doctor’s offices. Almost 459,000 North Carolinians get federal aid to buy health insurance. If the court rules in favor of the plaintiffs in King v. Burwell and that money goes away, their monthly premiums will increase by an average of more than 300 percent, according to recent federal data. (Helms, 6/10)

Mary Johnson has boosted her savings in recent months, and raised extra cash by selling produce from her garden. Naturally thrifty, the 63-year-old self-employed writer from Virginia has become even thriftier in anticipation of a decision originating some 100 miles northeast of her home in rural Barboursville. ... The case challenges the validity of the premium subsidies that consumers receive in some 34 states where the federal government is operating the insurance marketplace under Obamacare. Virginia is one of those states. If the justices side with King, Johnson stands to lose the monthly $288 subsidy that lowers the cost of her gold-level health plan. (O'Brien, 6/11)

In June 2012, the nation was awaiting the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States ("SCOTUS") on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. NFIB v. Sebelius was the case. In June 2015 the nation, once again, awaits. This year, the case is King v. Burwell. Conservatives see it as the last chance to stop ObamaCare. Liberals see it as the last hurdle in the nation's pursuit of universal health insurance. The stakes are high. SCOTUS commentators see the case as a toss-up. Health insurance for 8 million Americans hangs in the balance. (Cowart, 6/10)

A Supreme Court decision striking Obamacare subsidies in federal-run exchanges could come with a significant and unanticipated side effect — renewed limits preventing states from cutting their Medicaid rolls. (Pradhan, 6/10)

While the Affordable Care Act has succeeded in slicing down the uninsured rate to historic lows, many Americans--mostly the working poor--still can’t afford health coverage and are delaying medical treatment. (Ehley, 6/10)

A key goal of the Affordable Care Act is to help people get health insurance who may have not been able to pay for it before. But the most popular plans – those with low monthly premiums – also have high deductibles and copays. And that can leave medical care still out of reach for some. (Burress, 6/10)

The Department of Health and Human Services is currently in the initial review period for health care plans to be sold on exchanges for the 2016 open enrollment period. They’re making sure plans comply with the complex regulations in the Affordable Care Act, or ACA. But this time around, some groups are objecting to minute details in plans. Advocates and patients say some insurers are designing their benefits to drive away people with preexisting conditions. (Fitzsimons, 6/11)

A top administrator for the Oregon Public Health Division was fired from his previous high-level position at the Ohio Department of Health for discrediting the agency, according to a news report. (Terry, 6/10)

A federal judge on Wednesday denied a request from Gov. Rick Scott that the court intervene in the state’s ongoing negotiations with healthcare regulators over the extension and revamping of a $1 billion government program that pays hospitals for caring for uninsured and under-insured patients. In denying Gov. Scott’s request, Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court in Pensacola M. Casey Rodgers cited a June 19 hearing in the state's lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that will require “extensive preparation on the part of all parties.’’ (Chang, 6/10)

Scott filed the lawsuit in April, contending that the Obama administration was trying to unconstitutionally link continuation of the state's Low Income Pool health-funding program with expansion of Medicaid. The federal government has called those arguments "baseless" and has indicated that the state will receive about $1 billion in Low Income Pool funding for the fiscal year that starts July 1. While the $1 billion is a reduction from the current year's funding for the so-called LIP program, state lawmakers are using that number as they negotiate a budget during an ongoing special session. (6/10)

Scott said in a statement Wednesday he was disappointed with the ruling and with the administration for delaying a decision. (6/10)

Among presidents in modern times, Barack Obama stands apart in the intensity of his remarks on Supreme Court cases, a soon-to-be published article in Presidential Studies Quarterly concluded. Mr. Obama added a new data point on Monday, saying at a news conference that “under well-established precedent, there is no reason” the administration should lose a challenge to the Affordable Care Act pending before the court. (Bravin,6/10)

After battling Republicans in Congress for more than six years, President Obama and his lawyers will spend much of his remaining time in office fighting in the courts to preserve the administration’s most significant domestic achievements. The fate of Obama’s healthcare law again rests with the Supreme Court, in a case that will decide this month whether the administration may continue to subsidize health insurance premiums for millions of low- and middle-income Americans. (Savage and Memoli, 6/10)

Millions of people will be able to see a doctor on their smartphones or laptops for everyday ailments once the nation's largest drugstore chain and two major insurers expand a budding push into virtual health care. Walgreens said Wednesday that it will offer a smartphone application that links doctor and patients virtually in 25 states by the end of the year. That growth comes as UnitedHealth Group and the Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurer Anthem prepare to make their own non-emergency telemedicine services available to about 40 million more people by next year. (Murphy, 6/10)

Federal health advisers said Wednesday that a highly-anticipated cholesterol-lowering drug from Amgen Inc. should be approved for patients with dangerously high levels of the artery-clogging substance. But as with their review of a similar drug a day earlier, the Food and Drug Administration experts stressed that long-term results are needed to judge the drug’s real benefit. (Perrone, 6/10)

For more than two decades, courts have struggled with a fuzzy legal standard set by the Supreme Court for judging abortion laws: When does a rule governing doctors or clinics or medical procedures become an unconstitutional “undue burden” on a woman’s right to an abortion? Now, after a federal appeals court decision on Tuesday that could force many of Texas’ remaining abortion clinics to close for good, many legal experts are hoping the Supreme Court will be forced to provide some clarity. (Eckholm 6/10)

A federal appeals court upheld a Texas law Tuesday that could force more than half of the state’s remaining abortion clinics to close and make it more difficult for women to end a pregnancy. If the law goes into effect, the number of state abortion facilities is expected to drop from 17 to seven that meet its requirements. The remaining clinics are in the Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio areas. (Martin, 6/10)

Indiana's push to place tougher restrictions on a Lafayette Planned Parenthood clinic that provides abortions only by using drugs, not surgery, could spark a new court fight under a revised law set to take effect in July. The Republican-dominated Legislature this spring approved changes to a blocked 2013 law that would have required the Lafayette clinic to meet the same standards as surgical abortion clinics by adding a recovery room and surgical equipment and making other upgrades even though it doesn't perform surgical abortions. (6/10)

Diving into an issue that continues to polarize the country, Gov. Rick Scott signed into law a requirement that Florida women visit a doctor and wait at least 24 hours before having an abortion. Though it won widespread support in the Republican-controlled Legislature, the issue was one of the most emotionally-charged questions tackled in the spring session. Word of its passage was quick to trigger passionate defense among pro-life supporters along with raising the ire of pro-choice activists. (Auslen, 6/10)

Arizona's Medicaid program has canceled a planned 5 percent cut in payments to hospitals, doctors and other medical professionals after they objected and lower than expected insurance costs gave the program leeway to avoid the cuts. The decision came just three months after Gov. Doug Ducey signed a plan for the budget year that begins July 1 that projected $37 million in savings from the cuts in the first year. (Christie, 6/10)

Arizona hospitals, doctors and other health providers will get a reprieve after the state's Medicaid program announced it will cancel a planned 5 percent payment cut because of lower-than-expected use among enrollees and a prescription-drug rebate. (Alltucker, 6/10)

Months into this year’s legislative session, one of the biggest elephants in the statehouse has been what a plan to reform the state’s Medicaid program would look like. On Wednesday, people got their first glimpse at the House’s ideas for moving Medicaid forward, but they didn’t have look that hard. The plan looks a lot like plans proposed by House Health and Human Services leaders during last year’s session. (Hoban, 6/11)

The Maryland General Assembly has commissioned the Maryland Dental Action Coalition to look at ways to expand oral health care and dental coverage for adults. The independent, nonprofit organization that aims to improve oral health in the state expects to release a study on the issue in December. The group is looking at options to expand services to adults from all walks of life, including older adults in residential and community-based, long-term care programs; those on Medicaid and people who have private plans. (McDaniels, 6/11)

The city of St. Louis hasn’t had a general dental school in nearly 25 years, and it shows. Too few dentists and lack of access have contributed to a measurable decline in dental health for many of the region’s residents. Organizers of a $23 million dental clinic near Lafayette Square, which opens Monday, hope to reverse that trend. (Shapiro, 6/10)

The 2014 nurse staffing law will apply to burn units and intensive care for newborns along with intensive care units for adults, under final regulations adopted by the Health Policy Commission on Wednesday. Passed by the Legislature in part to avoid a ballot referendum, the law required each ICU nurse be assigned only up to two patients, and only one patient if that is what is required. (Metzger, 6/10)

The DC Council is considering a bill that registered nurses say will improve patient care by establishing new staffing requirements for nurses at hospitals. The bill would mandate minimum staffing requirements for nurses and set limits on the number of patients registered nurses can care for. (6/11)

A medical software company is notifying patients of health care providers it serves that their private information may have been exposed when its networks were hacked, it said Wednesday. Fort Wayne-based Medical Informatics Engineering said the attack on its main network and its NoMoreClipboard network began May 7 and wasn't detected until May 26. The exposed information includes names, addresses, birthdates, Social Security numbers and health records, it said. (6/10)

Rep. John Ewy, a Republican from Jetmore, is now 66 and has spent most of his life in the area around Larned State Hospital, one of two public facilities for Kansans with severe mental illness. “It used to be the place to work,” Ewy said. “Now it’s the place to work if you can’t find anything else.” The hospital employs about 1,000 people when fully staffed, Ewy said, which ranks it with the cattle yards in Dodge City and Garden City among the biggest employers in southwest Kansas. (Marso, 6/10)

State administrators have eased off their deadline for closing two mental hospitals, which were supposed to be emptied out by next Monday. But the number of patients and employees at the hospitals continues to dwindle, as Gov. Terry Branstad considers a bill that would restore services at one of the facilities. Human Services Director Charles Palmer had repeatedly said the agency aimed to have all patients at the Clarinda and Mount Pleasant mental institutions transferred elsewhere by June 15. (Leys, 6/9)

Florida House committee on Wednesday passed a bill strongly supported by Gov. Rick Scott that would do away with what he calls the unnecessary red tape before new hospitals can be built. But the measure is unlikely to pass in the Senate. A so-called certificate of need that is currently required grants state approval before a hospital is built, replaced or takes on a specialty service such as organ transplants. The bill would remove that requirement. (Kennedy, 6/10)

Beatrice Lumpkin, 96, was among 50 demonstrators who helped deliver “senior survival kits” to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s aides at the Thompson Center on Wednesday to protest his proposed cuts to elderly services. The box filled with kits held a day’s amount of medicine, first aid, and a note reading “don’t shortchange our seniors.” Those $400 million in cuts include having the Illinois Department on Aging raise the requirements to qualify for a program that provides them with at-home care and can help them avoid going to nursing homes. The rally was led by SEIU and the Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans. (Holman, 6/10)

When her medically fragile son was in kindergarten, Sabrina Jones had a rotating cast of private-duty nurses at his Philadelphia public school. "It just wasn't a good experience," said Jones - too little consistency, no real connection with her son, who has a feeding tube. But when he moved to a school that had a full-time nurse, she said, things improved dramatically. (Graham, 6/10)

Full-service hospitals in Massachusetts reported making 821 preventable errors that harmed or endangered patients last year, according to a report released Wednesday. That included 41 instances in which an unintended object was left behind after surgery, 24 operations on the wrong part of the body, and 290 serious injuries or deaths after a fall. (Freyer, 6/11)

An increasing number of states are striving to connect released prisoners like Calderon to health care programs on the outside. Frequently, that means enrolling them in Medicaid and scheduling appointments for medical services before they are released. Some state programs — in Massachusetts and Connecticut, for example — provide help to all outgoing prisoners. Programs in some other states are more targeted. Those in Rhode Island and New York, for instance, focus on ex-offenders with HIV or AIDS. Elsewhere, probation and parole are being used to encourage ex-offenders to adhere to certain treatments. Utah, for example, passed a measure this year that cuts probation time for former prisoners if they get treatment for mental illness or substance abuse. (Ollove, 6/1)

New York City on Wednesday dropped the private company that delivers health care in its jails after a year of scrutiny over high-profile deaths of mentally ill inmates and a city probe that found the company hired felons and provided questionable care. (6/10)

A Georgia prosecutor dropped a murder charge Wednesday but is pursuing a drug possession count against a 23-year-old woman accused of ending her pregnancy without a prescription, using pills she bought online. Dougherty County District Attorney Greg Edwards dismissed a malice murder charge against 23-year-old Kenlissia Jones, who spent about three days in jail after seeking help at a hospital. The dismissal of the murder charge police had used to arrest Jones was praised by Lynn Paltrow, an attorney and executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women in New York. But she said the case still illustrates a creeping trend of prosecuting women who exercise their right to abortions. (Foody and Bynum, 6/10)

A Donelson nursing home has been barred from taking new patients, fined $3,000 and put under a special monitor after a series of quality care failures — some of which put residents in immediate jeopardy. Donelson Place Care and Rehabilitation Center at 2733 McCampbell Ave. failed to pass a revisit survey last month, which resulted in the June 4 punitive actions. However, the series of problems began as early as December, according to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The nursing home is operated by Louisville-based Signature HealthCARE. (Wilemon, 6/10)

[Deanna Jean] Ryther, who lives in Austin, has tried cannabis before to ease the seizures and muscle spasms she suffered after a traumatic brain injury in 2009. On July 1, patients like her will be able to buy the drug legally in Minnesota — but only if they can find a doctor or other health care practitioner willing to certify that they have one of the nine conditions that qualify them to enroll in the new state program. (Brooks, 6/10)

The crux of the lawsuit is a dispute over how to interpret four words that appear in a key passage of the law. That’s why administration officials have said that the easiest, and most viable, remedy would be for Congress to pass a one-sentence amendment to clarify that tax credits should be available in all states. Republican leaders like [Rep. Paul] Ryan have made clear they won’t do that, instead dangling the possibility of some kind of “off-ramp” or “transitional” assistance that would allow people in those states to keep their tax credits -- but only for a little while and only if the Obama administration makes concessions. ... Neither Ryan nor other House Republican leaders have seen fit to produce a detailed proposal or even to hold hearings on what such a proposal should look like. (Jonathan Cohn, 6/11)

Things clearly had gotten off on the wrong foot. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, wanted to know whether President Obama is going to work with Congress to rewrite health-care law if the Supreme Court strikes down Obamacare — “or is he going to put concrete around his ankles and say, ‘It’s my law or nothing’?” ... Wednesday’s hearing, coming as the nation awaits word on whether the Supreme Court will strike down the law that defines the Obama presidency, was less a legislative forum than a pageant of ankle-biting. (Dana Milbank, 6/10)

So, if the Supreme Court guts Obamacare, what will the GOP do? Simple. They'll do what they've been promising ever since hating Obamacare became their favorite pastime: Offer an alternative to the health care law that will help all Americans and satisfy the conservative base. That alternative was outlined in a recent tweet sent by Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota: "Six million people risk losing their health care subsidies, yet @POTUS continues to deny that Obamacare is bad for the American people." That's it, folks. That's the plan. Blame Barack Obama. (Rex W. Huppke, 6/10)

The Affordable Care Act aimed to go well beyond merely making health insurance more accessible to millions of people who couldn't buy it in the individual insurance market; many provisions were designed to fundamentally change for the better how healthcare is delivered in the country. A new study shows one way it's working by improving patient outcomes in a sample of New York hospitals. (Michael Hiltzik, 6/10)

And now, a final word for opponents of Medicaid expansion: Touche. You did it. You won. Once again, you denied health insurance for hundreds of thousands of Floridians. And all it took was distortions, diversions, threats and cruelty. All in a day's work, am I right? (John Romano, 6/10)

From time to time I arrive home to discover Gracie the Goldendoodle has had her way with the garbage. It's not pretty, and yet the hound will look at me with those baleful eyes that shamelessly suggest, "Garbage? What garbage? I didn't create that mess. It must have been the cat, even though there is no feline anywhere in the house." And that is why I'm thinking of renaming her … Steve Crisafulli. Crisafulli, R-Eenie-Meanie-Moe-Larry-And-Curly, is the speaker of the Florida House. He defends the House's decision to stiff more than 800,000 low-income Floridians by denying them subsidized health coverage. ... Crisafulli's rather candid bottom line was simply this: If you are poor in Florida, even if you are working at a job at poverty-level wages and get sick, we don't care. (Daniel Ruth, 6/10)

For the last several years, opponents of abortion rights have cloaked their obstructionist efforts under all manner of legitimate-sounding rationales, like protecting women’s health. This has never been more than an insulting ruse. Their goal, of course, is to end all abortions, and lately they’re hardly trying to pretend otherwise. (6/11)

It’s been a dismal stretch for a woman’s right to choose. Not everywhere — I swear that if you stay with me there’s going to be a bright spot. But, first, I’m afraid we’re going to have to talk about Texas. Like many states, Texas has been on a real tear when it comes to women and reproduction. The Legislature keeps piling on indignities, like mandatory pre-abortion sonograms and a script that the doctor has to read to educate the pregnant patient about her condition. Which people in the State Capitol are sure she never thought through on her own. (Gail Collins, 6/11)

In the wake of the decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upholding a Texas law that would close many of the state’s abortion clinics because they don’t comply with new regulations, you might be thinking that the conservative court’s decision can’t possibly survive Supreme Court review. Think again. The decision was reached under the legal standard of “undue burden” established in the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision. Justices Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O’Connor intended the standard to be pragmatic and flexible in evaluating the constitutionality of abortion laws. Now that O’Connor has been replaced by Samuel Alito, and the politics of abortion have continued to change, the content of pragmatism is changing, too. (Noah Feldman, 6/10)

Last Sunday marked the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in the case of Griswold v. Connecticut. On June 7, 1965, the Court declared an 1879 statute criminalizing the distribution and use of contraceptives in Connecticut unconstitutional. Violators of that law faced fines or imprisonment, and any individuals providing counseling on access to contraception were subject to the same penalties. It took the Griswold decision and the Court’s articulation of a “right to privacy” just 50 years ago to legalize access to birth control in the United States. The Griswold decision remains as relevant today as it was in 1965. Challenges to access to contraception remain and unfair characterizations of women who seek and use contraceptives are not extinct. (Susan L. Roberts, 6/10)

Income inequality has been rising on the political agenda, yet one group has been left out of the discussion: seniors. Older adults are somewhat less likely than working-age adults to be poor by the government’s traditional poverty measure, developed in the 1960s. But this official measure may understate the extent to which seniors live in poverty. (Drew Altman, 6/11)

The desperation of [the early days of the AIDS epidemic] led to the rise of an activist movement that took to the streets and pressed government officials to expedite research on drugs to treat AIDS. The danger of faster drug approval was that a devil’s bargain would be struck: quicker access to experimental drugs, but without first determining whether these drugs were safe and would improve health and extend life. How that danger was navigated in the AIDS battle offers essential warnings for Congress as it considers the 21st Century Cures Act. (Gregg Gonsalves, Mark Harrington and David Kessler, 6/11)

Parents in Illinois send a child to school with the expectation that he or she will be safe from common childhood diseases because the other students have been vaccinated. But in many classrooms, that's not true. Thousands of children in Illinois attend schools where vaccination rates have sagged. It's important to maintain what doctors call "herd immunity" — a critical level of protection that prevents an epidemic from taking hold and spreading rapidly. The lower the rates, the higher the risk. One reason more children aren't vaccinated in Illinois: Parents can easily opt out by claiming a religious exemption. (6/10)