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Ohioans will finish voting on Tuesday on a referendum with an ostensibly straightforward question: Should it be harder to amend the State Constitution? But the results could have far-reaching consequences for another, more explosive issue on the ballot in November: whether to establish a right to abortion. That subtext has turned what would normally be a sleepy summer election on an off year into a highly visible dogfight that has taken on national importance and already drawn nearly 600,000 early voters. The few polls taken leave it unclear which side has an edge, and there are plausible scenarios in favor of both. (Wines, 8/8)

The outcome of Tuesday’s election will have immediate implications for the fate of Ohio’s abortion rights ballot measure this November, but many predict it will shape the two parties’ strategies on ballot measures more broadly. (Fernandez and Ollstein, 8/7)

The ballot initiative Ohio voters will decide Tuesday is likely to demonstrate again the continuing public resistance to last year’s Supreme Court decision ending the nationwide constitutional right to abortion – while also offering an early indication about how broadly that backlash may benefit Democrats in the 2024 election. (Brownstein, 8/8)

Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion activists on Monday filed a court challenge against an initiative petition to legalize abortion. In the lawsuit, Rep. Hannah Kelly, Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman and activist Kathy Forck argued that the cost estimate that will be provided to voters considering whether to adopt the constitutional amendment is too low. (Ballentine, 8/7)

Attorney General Josh Kaul on Monday filed a motion seeking to expedite a decision in his challenge against Wisconsin's abortion ban — a move that comes less than a week after liberals gained control of the state Supreme Court. The case, which is currently before Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper, is expected to make its way to the state's high court. (Opoien, 8/7)

GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis said that he would not support punishments for women who violate abortion bans.  “Not at all,” DeSantis responded when NBC’s Dasha Burns asked whether he supported punishments for those who violate an abortion ban. “No, I don’t think this is an issue about the woman. I think a lot of these women, you know, are in very difficult circumstances. They don’t get any support from a lot of the fathers.” (Sforza, 8/7)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: How The Texas Trial Changed The Story Of Abortion Rights In America

During the five decades that followed Roe v. Wade, lawsuit after lawsuit in states across the country chipped away at abortion rights. And again and again, the people who went to court to defend those rights were physicians who often spoke in clinical and abstract terms. “The entirety of abortion rights history is a history of doctors appearing in court to represent their own interests and the interests of pregnant people,” said Elizabeth Sepper, a law professor at the University of Texas-Austin. (Varney, 8/7)

EG.5 includes a strain with a subgroup of variants designated as EG.5.1, which a biology professor, T. Ryan Gregory, nicknamed "Eris" — an unofficial name that began trending on social media. Experts say EG.5 is one of the fastest growing lineages worldwide, thanks to what might be a "slightly beneficial mutation" that is helping it outcompete some of its siblings. (Tin, 8/7)

The World Health Organization (WHO) has its eyes on yet another new COVID-19 variant that has been linked to a spike in hospitalizations overseas. EG.5.1, nicknamed Eris, was added to the WHO SARS-CoV-2 variant monitoring list and has quickly become prevalent in both the U.K. and U.S. As of July 20, Eris is the second most common variant infecting people in the U.K., accounting for roughly 14.55% of cases and growing at a rate of 20.51% per week, according to The U.K. Health Security Agency (UKHSA). It trails behind fellow Omicron subvariant Arcturus, or XBB.1.16, at 41.82% of U.S. cases. (Walrath-Holdridge, 8/7)

The numbers of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the Chicago area have been slowly creeping upward as summer winds down, following a national trend and reminding people that COVID-19 is still lurking, even if it’s no longer top-of-mind. In Chicago, laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 were up 27%, to 67 new cases a day, on average, as of July 28, compared with the previous week, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health. (Schencker and Arougheti, 8/7)

The United States is experiencing a bump in coronavirus transmission for the first time since the public health emergency ended in May, exposing the challenges of avoiding the virus when free testing is no longer widely accessible. The Biden administration stopped mailing test kits to households in June. The ones Americans stockpiled over the last year and a half are expiring. Major insurers no longer pay for over-the-counter tests once the requirement to do so ended with the emergency declaration. (Nirappil, 8/7)

The federal government stopped processing payment disputes between providers and insurers regarding out-of-network bills following last week's court ruling that vacated parts of the surprise billing law. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Health and Human Services Department paused the independent dispute resolution process Thursday as the agencies adapt to a court ruling earlier Thursday that invalidated the federal government’s fee increases for filing disputes and batching requirements that would bundle multiple claims in a single dispute. (Kacik, 8/7)

Hospitals charge commercial health plans two to three times more than what they charge the same insurer's Medicare Advantage plans for the same procedure, a new study in Health Affairs found. While it's well established that private plans are typically charged more than Medicare, this study leverages the latest available pricing data to shed light on differing dynamics between the commercial and Medicare Advantage markets. (Dreher, 8/7)

Latinos — especially Mexican Americans — remain underrepresented in the U.S. medical workforce, according to a recent analysis. The study, published in the journal Health Affairs, found that Latino and Hispanic groups are underrepresented in medical professions that require advanced degrees and overrepresented in similar professions that don’t require a bachelor’s or higher degree. (Blakemore, 8/6)

Northwest Arkansas' children's hospital has received its largest donation ever — $25 million toward the expansion plans it announced earlier this year. The expansion is poised to keep NWA's growing population of children closer to home for health care and create a regional hub for children's health care. Plans entail new construction, expanded services in a number of specialties and more doctors. (Golden, 8/7)

Babylon Health said Monday its proposed deal to go private with MindMaze, a digital health company focused on brain health, will not move forward. Babylon, an artificial intelligence-enabled virtual diagnosis and medical appointments company, announced the would-be deal to go private and combine with MindMaze in June. The deal was proposed by London-based investment manager AlbaCore Capital Group, which secured a term loan facility for Babylon in November 2021. (Perna, 8/7)

For many young patients, harsh lights, bare walls, and windows facing parking lots or brick buildings make already painful hospital visits more unpleasant, stoking fear and uncertainty instead of hope. Often, those patients say, it makes recovery harder. Their perspectives — historically overlooked in hospital design — are at the heart of a budding movement to make architecture more inclusive for the people who actually spend time there. (Ravindranath, 8/8)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: What One Lending Company’s Hospital Contracts Reveal About Financing Patient Debt

With tens of millions of Americans burdened by medical debt, hospitals and other medical providers are increasingly shuttling their patients into loans serviced by banks, credit cards, and other financial services companies. The arrangements have proven very profitable for lenders. But, as �鶹Ů�� Health News reported in November, the rise of the patient financing industry is often less welcome for patients, who can end up in loans that pile interest on top of what they owe for their medical care. (Levey, 8/8)

Zhi Alan Cheng, a former doctor at a prominent New York hospital, recorded dozens of videos as he raped and sexually abused women, prosecutors said. (Closson and Schweber, 8/7)

A man in southwest Florida has been charged with flooding a hospital’s emergency rooms after attacking a nurse and stripping off his clothes, authorities said. The 53-year-old became agitated while in a waiting room at the North Collier Hospital in Naples, Florida, on Saturday, according to a report from the Collier County Sheriff’s Office. He barged into the emergency room, pushed a patient and then pushed a nurse in the head. After the hospital staff got him into a room in an effort to keep him from disturbing other patients, he took off his clothes and pulled a high-pressure water pipe from the wall, the report said. (8/7)

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Monday proposed a rule endorsing a broad application of a new federal law extending stronger legal protections to pregnant workers. The EEOC proposal is designed to implement the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA), which took effect last month after President Joe Biden signed it into law late last year. The commission is tasked with enforcing the law. ... The commission in Monday's proposal listed a slew of accommodations that workers may seek under the law, including part-time or modified work schedules, more frequent breaks, modified equipment and uniforms, seating, remote work, and paid or unpaid leave. (Wiessner, 8/7)

A pair of Cambridge drug makers Monday postponed setting a price for their newly approved pill to treat postpartum depression as they weighed the financial impact of a US regulatory decision to reject the pill’s use for the more widespread condition of major depressive disorder. (Weisman, 8/7)

The Washington Post asked clinicians what pregnant people and their families should know both about Zurzuvae, its symptoms and its treatment of postpartum depression. (Felton, 8/7)

Sage Therapeutics said Monday that it may need to reduce costs, including through employee layoffs, following the Food and Drug Administration’s denial of its rapid-acting drug for major depressive disorder. On Friday, the agency granted market clearance for the drug, called Zurzuvae, to treat women with postpartum depression, a smaller commercial market. Sage failed to convince regulators to also approve the drug for depression, a broader condition. (Trang, 8/7)

The closure of inpatient maternity services at UMass Memorial Health - HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital, formerly known as Leominster Hospital, has splintered the community. So far, it has resulted in two protests, the creation of a Facebook group, and hours of testimony at a Department of Public Health hearing last month contesting the need to shutter the service. Local pediatricians oppose the closure, which is slated for Sept. 23, saying it would hurt local residents. (Bartlett and Mohammed, 8/7)

To commemorate World Breastfeeding Week, which was the first week of August, a group of male health care leaders at Covenant Health participated in a "simulated breastfeeding challenge," as FOX34 reported. Covenant Health is a Christian health network located in Lubbock, Texas. For four days, the men simulated the act of breastfeeding every three hours for 20-minute stints, the report stated. They summarized their daily experiences in video diaries. (Rudy, 8/7)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Amid Lack Of Accountability For Bias In Maternity Care, A California Family Seeks Justice

Aniya was ready to leave. She was dressed in a fuzzy white onesie her mother had packed for her first trip home. Yet Aniya’s family had more questions than answers as they cradled the newborn out of the hospital, her mother’s body left behind. April Valentine, a 31-year-old Black mother, died while giving birth in Inglewood, California, on January 10. Her family has raised questions of improper care: Why didn’t nurses investigate numbness and swelling in her leg, symptoms she reported at least 10 times over the course of 15 hours? Why did it take nearly 20 hours for her doctor to see her after she arrived at the hospital already in labor? (Kwon, 8/8)

There are many period products on the market from pads, tampons and cups to discs. Yet, there is a dearth of reliable information about how much menstrual blood they can hold — a useful metric for clinicians as well as consumers. Heavy menstrual bleeding affects up to a third of people who menstruate and that can only be diagnosed using traditional menstrual products like pads and tampons. However, as more people use non-traditional products, clinicians are looking for data to advise patients on what would be the best product to absorb heavy menstrual flow. (Balthazar, 8/7)

Merck, the company that makes Antivenin, now says that the drug is available and that it has “taken a number of steps to ensure uninterrupted supply.” Merck sells only between 300 to 800 vials of Antivenin each year. The drug is made by injecting horses with the venom, then extracting antibodies the animals produce, and it should not be given to anyone with an allergy to horses. (Cimons, 8/7)

The World Health Organization on Monday flagged a batch of contaminated common cold syrup, manufactured by an Indian company, the latest in a series of warnings by the agency about substandard medicines from the country. The United Nations agency said the batch of the syrup, branded Cold Out, found in Iraq was manufactured by Fourrts (India) Laboratories for Dabilife Pharma, and had higher than acceptable limit of contaminants diethylene and ethylene glycol. (8/7)

A behind-the-scenes feud over a drug development program erupted into public view as Nektar Therapeutics filed a lawsuit accusing Eli Lilly of undermining a project in favor of another deal. At issue is a partnership that began in 2017 to develop and potentially market a drug, known as Rezpeg, to treat various autoimmune diseases, and in particular, eczema. But the arrangement went awry after Lilly spent about $1.1 billion in 2020 to acquire another company called Dermira, which was developing a competing medication to treat atopic dermatitis, according to the lawsuit. (Silverman, 8/7)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Seeking Medicare Coverage For Weight Loss Drugs, Pharma Giant Courts Black Influencers 

Pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk has turned to influential Black Americans in pursuit of what would be a lucrative victory: having Medicare cover a new class of weight loss drugs, including the company’s highly sought Wegovy, which can cost patients more than $1,000 a month. During a conference of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation last fall — a jampacked gathering featuring prominent Black lawmakers and President Joe Biden — Novo Nordisk sponsored a panel discussion on obesity for which it selected the moderator and panelists, company spokesperson Nicole Ferreira said. The foundation is a nonprofit affiliated with the Congressional Black Caucus, a powerful group of lawmakers on Capitol Hill. (Pradhan, 8/8)

Government regulators may soon decide whether to crack down on distracting visuals in television drug commercials or require subtitles about side effects, a regulation that’s been 13 years in the making. White House budget experts are reviewing changes to the regulation of broadcast drug advertisements that the Food and Drug Administration proposed in 2010, according to the Office of Management and Budget website. That proposal aimed to make commercials present drug risks in a manner that consumers notice and understand. (Wilkerson, 8/8)

A new study is raising fresh questions about the value of breast cancer screening in older women, finding that those 70 and older who underwent mammograms were more apt to be diagnosed with tumors posing no threat to their health than those who did not screen. The study by researchers at Yale Medical School, published on Monday in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, tracked 54,635 U.S. women 70 and older who received a mammogram - an X-ray of the breast - in 2002. Women who opted for continued screening were compared to those who chose not to be screened. (Welle, 8/7)

Men with melanoma, particularly Black men, are more likely to die than women with melanoma, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. The study also showed that men of color were more likely to have melanoma diagnosed at an advanced stage, making it more difficult to treat. Even when adjusted for factors like income level and insurance coverage, Black race alone increased mortality risk compared to the White population, the study found. (Moniuszko, 8/7)

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have developed an artificial intelligence tool that could help trace a cancer back to its site of origin in particularly tricky cases. (Hale, 8/7)

Outdoor air pollution may raise the risk for non-lung cancer in older adults, with even low levels of air pollution exposure increasing the chances for prostate, colorectal, breast, and endometrial cancers. That’s according to a new Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health study of millions of Medicare beneficiaries. The researchers found that chronic exposures to fine particulate air pollutants (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) over a 10-year period increased the risk of developing cancer. PM2.5 has been in the news during the last couple of months because that’s the concerning air pollutant from the Canadian wildfire smoke, which has wreaked havoc across the U.S. (Sobey, 8/7)

The Air Force has detected unsafe levels of a likely carcinogen at underground launch control centers at a Montana nuclear missile base where a striking number of men and women have reported cancer diagnoses. A new cleanup effort has been ordered. (Copp, 8/7)

Wednesday marks a year since the PACT Act was signed into law. It's also an important deadline for veterans who want to enroll for its benefits. While new claims can be filed after the deadline, those who make the Wednesday cutoff could receive additional benefits or compensation backdated to Aug. 10, 2022, when the act was signed. (Guan, 8/7)

As drug overdose deaths reached record levels in the United States, evidence-based treatments for substance use remained significantly underutilized, a new study found. The vast majority of drug overdose deaths involve opioids, and rates have surged in recent years. In 2021, more than 80,000 people died from a drug overdose involving opioids, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But only about a third of adults with opioid use disorder received any type of treatment for substance use, and only about 1 in 5 received medication to treat opioid use disorder, according to the new study by researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Center for Injury Prevention. (McPhillips, 8/7)

Imagine if during a deadly public health crisis, 80% of Americans weren't able to get safe, effective medications proven to help people recover. A study published Monday in the JAMA found that's exactly what's happening with the opioid crisis. Nationwide, only one in five people with opioid use disorder receive the medications considered the gold standard for opioid treatment, such as methadone, buprenorphine or extended-release naltrexone. (Mann, 8/7)

Black patients and women in the US are far less likely to receive medication to manage opioid abuse, according to research that shows how unequal access is to the life-saving treatments. White adults were 14 times more likely to receive medicine to combat opioid use disorder than Black adults, according to research released Monday in the JAMA Network Open medical journal. Meanwhile, men had six times the likelihood as women of getting access to drugs such as buprenorphine. (Jones and Griffin, 8/7)

Oxycontin maker Purdue Pharma on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the U.S. Department of Justice's request to delay its multi-billion-dollar bankruptcy settlement resolving thousands of lawsuits against it over the opioid epidemic. (Knauth, 8/7)

In a victory for LGBTQ rights, a broad swath of the U.S. population of gay and bisexual men Monday became newly able donate blood, thanks to the American Red Cross’ implementation of a landmark recent change in Food and Drug Administration policy. The policy, which the FDA put on the books in May, newly permits donations from men in monogamous relationships with other men, as well as those who have not recently engaged in anal sex. (Ryan, 8/7)

Fifty-year-old psychologist Dennis Deer’s lungs were failing, scarred by a rare inflammatory condition called polymyositis. Despite carrying supplemental oxygen, the Cook County Commissioner for the 2nd district in Illinois was finding it harder and harder to perform his job. “It was terrible. I would walk 10 steps and I was gasping for air,” Deer said in a news conference Monday. Deer was added to the lung transplant list, but he faced an additional hurdle. All of the organs in his chest and abdomen — including his lungs — were flip-flopped in his body, with organs that should be on the right existing on the left and vice versa. (LaMotte, 8/7)

The Atlanta VA intends to hire more employees to answer its phones and has reduced the number of mental health calls that are going unanswered, months after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found evidence that veterans in crisis were struggling to reach the health care system. (Landergan, 8/8)

Airmen and Space Force Guardians can now request a mental health referral from their superiors and will be connected with a medical professional within one day under the Brandon Act. The act was signed into law in December 2021 after a 21-year-old sailor died from suicide. The Department of the Air Force has now implemented the law -- the latest military branch to do so -- and troops in the two services can voluntarily request an immediate mental health referral from a commander or supervisor with a rank of E-6 or above. (Novelly, 8/7)

Artificial intelligence-powered social media influencers are created to look like perfect people living the perfect life, which could damage younger users' mental health, a technology strategist told Fox News. Just like their human counterparts, AI influencers are online personalities that use their platforms to endorse brands and sell products. The catch is they're completely computer-generated. ... Spending time on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and other social media has been linked to mental health issues in kids such as depression, suicide and anxiety, according to a March report from the U.S. Surgeon General. (Michael Raasch and Ramiro Vargas, 8/7)

One in four Missouri nursing homes hasn’t had a standard inspection in two or more years, according to recently updated federal data. Federal law requires states conduct an unannounced comprehensive inspection for each long-term care facility at least every 15 months to assess compliance with federal health and safety rules. During those visits, inspectors generally spend several days at each facility reporting on factors including medication management, resident rights and quality of life. (Bates, 8/7)

The number of mosquitos infected with West Nile virus this season is the highest Colorado health officials have seen in years. A Weld County resident recently died from the virus, marking the state's first West Nile-related fatality in 2023, officials announced this month. It's unlikely to be the last, with an "abundance" of Culex mosquitoes — the primary species that carries the virus in the U.S. — swarming due to record rainfall this past winter and spring. (Alvarez, 8/7)

Vermonters victimized by the recent catastrophic flooding who don't have health insurance are eligible to sign up for a qualified plan now on Vermont Health Connect, according to a news release from the Vermont Department of Health Access. Vermont Health Connect is the state of Vermont's health insurance marketplace. The DVHA says more than 90% of the people enrolled through the marketplace qualify for financial help, with 25% of enrollees paying less than $25 a month for their health plans. (D'Ambrosio, 8/4)

Rain pounded outside as water pushed in through the baseboards. Hurricane Ian had reached Southwest Florida. Christian Childers and Kendra Elliott hunkered with their two boys, staying away from windows in the hallway of their Englewood home. "It sounded like jets constantly flying over our house," Elliott said. "It was horrible. I was scared the whole time." The danger posed to Elliott, Childers and their kids by last fall’s storm had hardly begun. The family would be shattered, but not by the original brunt of Ian. (Meszaros and Upton, 8/7)

A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked enforcement of Colorado’s new law raising the age to purchase all firearms to 21, a blow to Democrats who passed a major slate of gun control measures this year. The law was set to go into effect on Tuesday. The ruling was issued by Chief U.S. District Judge Phillip A. Brimmer in a lawsuit filed against Gov. Jared Polis by Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, a hard-line gun rights nonprofit based in Colorado. (Paul, 8/7)

State Issue 1, which Ohio voters will decide in a special election Tuesday, looks harmless enough. But don’t be fooled: It is a brazen attempt to keep a majority of Ohioans from enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution. Anyone who believes in reproductive privacy — or in democracy itself — must vote no. (Eugene Robinson, 8/7)

The recent Food and Drug Administration approval of the Opill, a progestin-only birth control pill and the first over-the-counter daily oral contraceptive, is a milestone for teenage girls. It allows them to purchase birth control without parental consent or a doctor’s prescription. However, the war isn’t won with availability alone; affordability is the second, equally important half of this battle. (Diya Sabharwal, 8/8)

More than three years into the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us can finally walk into a store or sit in a restaurant without the constant looming fear of COVID on our minds. That is a good thing. But for far too many people, COVID remains a dangerous threat. (Jerome Adams, 8/7)

Do hospitals and doctors embrace “hospitality”? Doctors’ offices aren’t restaurants, and hospitals aren’t hotels, nor should they be. But should we aspire to send patients home feeling catered to like the fictional restaurant’s patrons? That might not be possible. (Jules Lipoff, 8/8)

On inpatient medical services, it’s common to hear patients’ laboratory results presented with statements sounding like “CALCE-MAG-FOSS were normal.” The efficiency of this reporting is part of the secret handshake of one insider communicating with another. But often verbal constructions and other shortcuts are tightly linked with behaviors. Not only do some physicians report the results of serum calcium, magnesium, and phosphate simultaneously, they often order these tests together — a reflex where their behavior mirrors the contractions in their speech — even though there are many more reasons to check a calcium than a magnesium. The result here is needless tests and avoidable costs. (David A. Asch and Roy Rosin, 8/8)