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After defending the Affordable Care Act in all its intricacies for six years, President Obama proposed ways to improve it on Monday, saying that Congress should provide larger subsidies for private health insurance and create a public plan like Medicare to compete with private insurers in some states. At the same time, he accused the pharmaceutical industry of trying to protect its profits by opposing any constraints on drug prices. Mr. Obama offered his views in a valedictory message summarizing what he sees as his legacy on health care, together with his ideas to improve the Affordable Care Act. (Pear, 7/11)

President Barack Obama Monday called on Congress to revisit the controversial idea of providing a government-run insurance plan as part of the offerings under the Affordable Care Act. The so-called “public option” was jettisoned from the health law by a handful of conservative Democrats in the Senate in 2009. Every Democrat’s vote was needed to pass the bill in the face of unanimous Republican opposition. But in a “special communication” article published on the website of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the president said a lack of insurance plan competition in some areas may warrant a new look. (Rovner, 7/11)

Obama's assessment of the Affordable Care Act comes in an eight-page article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a peer-reviewed publication. The article debuted Monday on the journal's website, and Obama plans to echo the themes in public events and speeches in the coming weeks. (Lederman and Alonso-Zaldivar, 7/11)

Drawing on a wide range of evidence, Obama states his major, unsurprising findings: 20 million people have gained insurance, bringing the uninsured rate to 9.1 percent in 2015. He notes an increase in the number of non-elderly people who have a physician and access to medicine. He cites a study that found people who gained coverage through expanded Medicaid have greater financial security, reducing the debts sent to collection by $600 to $1,000. His most controversial argument is probably this: He credits the law with helping to control health care spending, a point that has been much debated. It's unclear how much of the slowdown in the growth of health care spending is due to the Great Recession and how much should be attributed to the law or other factors. (Johnson, 7/11)

“The Affordable Care Act is the most important health care legislation enacted in the United States since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965,” he wrote. “Although partisanship and special interest opposition remain, experience with the Affordable Care Act demonstrates that positive change is achievable on some of the nation’s most complex challenges.” (Radnofsky, 7/11)

But Obama also panned congressional Republicans for “hyperpartisanship” which he claims has kept the law from having a greater effect. “Through inadequate funding, opposition to routine technical corrections, excessive oversight, and relentless litigation, Republicans undermined ACA implementation efforts,” Obama wrote. “We could have covered more ground more quickly with cooperation rather than obstruction.” (Bennett, 7/11)

Obama argued that the public option would bring much-needed competition in markets where only one or two plans sell coverage – areas accounting for 12 percent of Obamacare customers. Obamacare tried to create more competition through federal loans to create insurance co-ops, but 15 of the 23 co-ops supported by the law have failed. Besides the public option, Obama offered other prescriptions for making health care more affordable. Obama urged Congress to offer even more generous assistance to middle class families paying for premiums on the law’s insurance marketplaces – many who qualify for subsidies say they still can’t afford to pay for coverage. (Wheaton, 7/11)

It’s a shift that reflects how the party has tilted leftward during the Obama years. Hillary Clinton emphasized a public option in an announcement Saturday that was interpreted as a play for supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who ran a surprisingly strong campaign against her for the Democratic presidential nomination. Sanders has pushed even further for a government-run, “single-payer” system. A public option has no real chance of passing Congress, at least with Republicans in charge of the House. (Sullivan, 7/11)

Hillary Clinton updated her health policy agenda over the weekend to include more strongly worded support for a public option insurance plan on the Obamacare exchanges. Although her position is consistent with what she’s supported in the past, it’s probably not coincidental that the announcement follows a series of bad news about co-op failures and insurers leaving exchanges. These departures have thrown the viability and affordability of exchanges into question. (Owens, 7/11)

Tucked within a lengthy essay he wrote to defend the Affordable Care Act, Obama chastised drug makers for their stance on pharmaceutical pricing and challenged the companies to renew their commitment to improving public health. After lambasting Congress for refusing to work with him to more quickly to provide health coverage, he singled out drug makers as another example of obstinacy. “The pharmaceutical industry oppose(d) any change to drug pricing, no matter how justifiable and modest, because they believe it threatens their profits,” he wrote in an essay in the Journal of the American Medical Association that appeared Monday. (Silverman, 7/11)

Describing work needed to improve the health law, Obama wrote that drug costs “remain a concern,” citing a 12 percent increase in prescription drug spending in 2014. He called for legislation to increase rebates drug manufacturers are required to provide to Medicaid and Medicare and to grant more authority to the federal government to negotiate prices on high-cost drugs. (Dorning, 7/11)

In this Special Communication, I assess the progress the ACA has made toward improving the US health care system and discuss how policy makers can build on that progress in the years ahead. I close with reflections on what my administration’s experience with the ACA can teach about the potential for positive change in health policy in particular and public policy generally. (Obama, 7/11)

The fight between House Republicans and the Obama administration over billions of dollars in disputed health care spending sounds arcane, but it could have major — some might say huge — consequences for our constitutional democracy. Consider it in this context: How would lawmakers react if a willful new chief executive, unable to win money from Congress for a wall on the Mexican border, simply shifted $7 billion from another account and built it anyway? How about if a future president were so determined to cut college costs that she bypassed Congress and funneled billions of dollars into a new tuition grant program without approval? (Hulse, 7/11)

Insurers are ramping up lobbying to defeat legislation that would limit their payments under one of the 2010 health law's stabilization programs, according to congressional staff and outside experts. The bill (S 2803), from Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse would slash in half the Department of Health and Human Services general management budget, unless the agency pays certain funds from the so-called reinsurance program to the Treasury Department. Until now, the agency has prioritized its payments to insurance companies and not yet paid into the Treasury, a practice it has justified under the health law. (Mershon, 7/11)

Almost nine out of every 10 Kansans who selected health insurance on the federal online marketplace paid for at least the first month of their coverage this year, offering one bit of stability in the sometimes-turbulent marketplace. Critics of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, questioned whether people who signed up for coverage actually would pay their premiums after the exchanges’ troubled rollout in late 2013 and early 2014. (Hart, 7/11)

Consultants hired by the state Legislature updated a legislative task force on several matters related to health-care reform Monday, including a $25 million increase in the estimated cost to Arkansas of its Medicaid expansion program over the next five years. Testifying before the Health Reform Legislative Task Force, consultants with The Stephen Group discussed the application the state submitted June 30 for federal approval of changes to the Medicaid expansion program that has been known as the private option and that Gov. Asa Hutchinson and the Legislature are seeking to revise under the new name Arkansas Works. (Lyon, 7/12)

Arkansas officials should consider transferring more high-cost enrollees from the private option to the traditional, fee-for-service Medicaid program, a sponsor of the law that created the program said Monday. At a meeting of the Health Reform Legislative Task Force, Senate President Pro Tempore Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, said he's concerned that health care costs of some enrollees are increasing the cost of coverage for others in the state's individual insurance market. "If we do not have the mechanism to make sure those folks are in the right category with the right coverage, then we're going to continue to have this problem," said Dismang, considered one of the private option's legislative architects. (Davis, 7/12)

So far, Georgia’s Republican-led government has opted against expansion, saying it would ultimately be too costly for the state. Support for the idea has shown some momentum lately, but it faces opposition from Republicans in the General Assembly. Still, it’s unclear when, or whether, there will be any study of expansion’s possible financial impact on the Georgia budget. Such an analysis would help identify potential gains from expansion, says Bill Custer, a health insurance expert at Georgia State University. “I am confident it would show significant savings.” (Miller, 7/11)

Three Republican lawmakers sued the state Department of Public Health and Human Services on Monday, claiming it is withholding information on people enrolled in Medicaid expansion in Montana through the Affordable Care Act and whether participants are qualified. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Reps. Tom Burnett and Art Wittich of Bozeman and Sen. Roger Webb of Billings in the 18th judicial district court in Gallatin County, claims that more than 47,000 Montanans have been added to the Medicaid program since November 2015, which they say exceeds projections of 25,000, likely increasing the state’s share of the costs. (Drake, 7/11)

A trio of Republican legislators on Monday sued the Bullock administration to obtain household-income data for those signing up for Montana’s new expanded Medicaid health coverage. The suit, filed in state District Court in Bozeman, said the lawmakers have made “repeated requests” for the information since February, and that the Bullock administration is “refusing to disclose to the public the growing costs of the program. …” (Dennison, 7/11)

Gov. Dennis Daugaard isn't done talking about Medicaid. The governor used radio appearances Monday to make the case for expanding the insurance program for needy people in the 2017 legislative session. On KELO-AM, the governor told host Greg Belfrage that holding a special session to discuss expansion would have been fruitless and mired in "political drama." But the topic could be more favorable in the 2017, he said, after lawmakers are able to delve into the plan, which involves using savings from a federal policy change. (Ferguson, 7/11)

Republican Donald Trump pledged Monday to expand programs that allow veterans to choose their doctor and clinics — regardless of whether they're affiliated with Department of Veterans Affairs — and still receive government-paid medical care. In a policy speech announcing a 10-point plan for veterans, Trump said he "begins with a simple promise: Every veteran will get timely access to top-quality care." (Daly and Colvin, 7/11)

Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump on Monday said that as president he would press for an extensive overhaul of the Department of Veterans Affairs, making it a more privatized system of care and giving veterans a direct line to the White House. During a campaign speech in Virginia Beach, Va., Mr. Trump presented a 10-point plan for the embattled department, calling for greater privatization of veterans’ care than presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. (Kesling, 7/11)

During nearly every Republican convention in recent history, the GOP presidential nominee has offered, at the very least, a strong hint that he would oppose abortion. It has been a sure-fire applause line, and an effective way to fire up the Republican base. But with Trump, as is often the case, there are no sure things. Trump is a former supporter of abortion rights, and clips of him talking about his belief in “choice” are easy enough to find. (Nather, 7/11)

Republicans are considering strengthening the already strict anti-abortion language in their party platform by condemning Planned Parenthood and calling for Supreme Court justices who will reverse decisions in favor of abortion rights. Platform committees that are meeting in Cleveland before next week's Republican National Convention have given preliminary approval of the Planned Parenthood condemnation, according to attendees. (Haberkorn, 7/11)

The Republican National Convention is coming to town next week, and Dr. Robert Wyllie is ready with a binder 6 inches thick, crammed full of plans for dealing with any potential medical emergency. ... Across both Cleveland and Philadelphia, where the Democrats will convene at the end of July, hospitals are girding for the presidential nominating conventions. Both cities can expect a slew of relatively minor problems: exhaustion, dehydration, misplaced medications, a delegate or two — or 20 — having too much to drink. Then there are the big fears: terrorist attacks, riots, shootings, fistfights. (Keshavan, 7/12)

The Senate's Republican and Democratic leaders battled Monday over funding to fight the Zika virus, a clear sign that lawmakers have yet to break a stalemate days ahead of a seven-week recess. Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) tried to bring up the Senate's original deal — spearheaded by Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) — that would provide $1.1 billion in funding. (Carney, 7/11)

Every day there are headlines about the Zika virus. The number of travel-related cases is growing, and public health officials — especially in states such as Florida, which could be among the hardest hit — predict it is only a matter of time until the first locally transmitted case is confirmed. They are scrambling to prepare strategies to combat Zika’s spread. On the research front, at least one private pharmaceutical company is slated to begin human trials on a Zika vaccine in the fall, and National Institutes of Health researchers hope to bring their version to clinical trials as soon as summer’s end. ... At the center is Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. (Heredia Rodriguez, 7/12)

In its latest to bid to set parameters around compounding, the US Food and Drug Administration last week issued a pair of draft guidelines to clarify when compounding pharmacies are permitted to make versions of commercially available medicines. Although federal law currently states that a compounder generally shouldn’t make copies of drugs that are approved for sale, the agency is getting more specific and wants to ensure that a true clinical need exists before a compounded version of an approved medicine drug is made for a patient. (Silverman, 7/11)

The U.S. should have a more robust national evaluation system for medical devices, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf wrote in an opinion article published today. A national evaluation system could “enable the FDA to focus efforts on facilitating the development and interpretation of more informative data essential for policy making and clinical decisions for individuals and populations,” Califf and Jeffrey Shuren, the director of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health at the FDA, wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association. (McIntire, 7/11)

Lawmakers are officially giving up hopes of considering a bill to speed the development of new medical cures before they leave town for an extended recess, sharply increasingly the likelihood that the legislation might have to be taken up by the next Congress. They’re not declaring the effort dead. Instead, Lamar Alexander, the chairman of the Senate health committee, said late Monday he hopes the Senate can reach an agreement and pass the legislation in September, when lawmakers return from a seven-week break. (Nather, 7/11)

The first significant advance in heart stents in more than a decade is providing U.S. patients and their doctors with a new option for treating blockages in the coronary arteries that cause chest pain and heart attacks. Last week, cardiologists began implanting Abbott Laboratories’ new biodegradable stent called Absorb in patients following its approval last Tuesday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Unlike the permanent metal devices that have been used to prop open diseased vessels for more than 20 years, Absorb is designed to fully dissolve within two to three years after it is deployed. (Winslow, 7/11)

U.S. health regulators have approved Shire PLC’s dry-eye treatment, a potential blockbuster drug that is expected to go on sale in the third quarter. The drug, which would be sold under the name Xiidra, is a twice-a-day prescription eye drop solution to treat the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease in adult patients. Xiidra, or lifitegrast, which Shire added to its portfolio as part of its 2013 SARcode Bioscience acquisition, could top $1 billion a year in sales, according to some analysts’ estimates. (Armental, 7/11)

Humana's stock price fell by 2.6% Monday because of investors' fears that the U.S. Justice Department will try to squash Aetna's $37 billion takeover of the insurer. Humana's stock descent began in earnest last week after antitrust trade publication MLex cited sources who said the Justice Department was skeptical about the Aetna-Humana deal and potentially was ready to sue to block it. (Herman, 7/11)

New York’s insurance regulator has conditionally approved Aetna Inc.’s $37 billion takeover of Humana Inc., one of the last state sign-offs needed for the deal, people familiar with the matter said. The transaction is still under review by U.S. officials. State insurance regulators have been conducting their own assessments, which are in some cases required before a transaction can proceed. (Tracer and Farrell, 7/11)

With decisions from the Justice Department pending on two potential mergers involving Aetna and Cigna, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., sent a pair of letters Monday urging both companies to maintain a "strong presence" in Connecticut regardless of the outcome. He did not oppose the mergers. "I trust the Department of Justice to review the merits of the proposed mergers and come out with a ruling that is fact-based and fair," Murphy said in a statement. (Constable, 7/11)

Female physicians at some of the nation’s most prominent public medical schools earn nearly $20,000 less a year on average than their male colleagues, according to an analysis published on Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. Before adjusting for factors that could influence income, the researchers found that the absolute difference between the genders was more than $51,000 a year. (Saint Louis, 7/11)

For a study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine on Monday, Anupam B. Jena obtained salary information for academic physicians at 24 public medical schools through the Freedom of Information Act. ... Jena also found that female physicians were less likely than their male counterparts to be full professors. This was not controlled for age or experience so it could at least partially have to do with the fact that they also tend to be younger and that getting tenure in academia can take a long time. It also could have to do with the fact that the women in the study had fewer total publications and were less likely to have conducted a clinical trial or have funding from the NIH. It could also have to do with the fact that they are more likely to choose different specialties than men. It turns out that women are more likely to be in internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics. (Cha, 7/11)

Dozens of liberal-leaning advocacy groups are demanding that GOP leaders immediately halt their probe into Planned Parenthood, which they argue sets a "dangerous precedent" for congressional investigations. In a scathing letter sent Monday, the groups urge Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to disband the 10-month investigation that they claim exists solely for political purposes. (Ferris, 7/11)

Lawyers for abortion providers have asked a federal judge to block new Alabama laws that ban abortion clinics near schools as well as the procedure most commonly used in the second trimester. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a request for a temporary restraining order before the laws go into effect Aug. 1. The group said the location restriction would close two of the state's busiest abortion clinics, while the procedure ban would severely curtail second-trimester abortion access in Alabama. (7/11)

State legislation to outlaw ransomware is drawing broad support from tech leaders and lawmakers, spurred by an uptick in that type of cybercrime and a series of recent attacks on hospitals in Southern California. The bill, authored by state Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), would update the state’s penal code, making it a felony to knowingly use ransomware, a type of malware or intrusive software that is injected into a computer or network and allows a hacker to hold data hostage until money is paid. (Ulloa, 7/12)

Policyholders pay premiums to get coverage that's often good for six months or a year, and, fingers crossed, give it little thought until the time comes to renew. But a generation of consumers who are increasingly connected and accustomed to getting what they want and when they want it, particularly from their smartphones, have spurred several startups to develop apps or technology making it possible to turn protection on or off or to customize coverage to meet their needs. (Yerak, 7/11)

Most of us lock access to our phones with a pass code. It keeps our friends from posting silly things on our social media. It also keeps others from accessing information we’d rather they not have. However, what happens when we do want people to have access to some of that information, possibly in an emergency?...It turns out many newer iPhones have a built-in option in the health app available from the lock screen. For android phones there are apps available in the Google Play Store. (Roberts, 7/11)

Surgery can make anyone anxious, but it is especially hard for young children. Kids going into surgery may be separated from their parents for the first time in a frightening new environment, and they may not understand what’s happening. ... Panicking before surgery can cause both physical and emotional problems. ... It is dangerous enough that many children are given an anti-anxiety medication before general anesthesia. But medications always carry risks. (Gold, 7/12)

In the days following her 18-year-old daughter’s first arrest on heroin charges, Stephanie Moyer took solace in thinking she would be safe in jail until she got into a treatment program. However, Victoria “Tori” Herr sounded disoriented on a call home three days later. She feared she was dying and begged for something to drink, her mother said. Herr, who had a 10-bag-a-day habit, collapsed following days of severe vomiting and diarrhea at the Lebanon County Correctional Facility. She spent five days in the hospital, then died on Easter Sunday 2015. Her case is one of at least a half-dozen deaths nationwide during the last two years involving jail heroin withdrawal, and advocates fear the number will grow given the nation’s heroin crisis. (Dale, 7/11)

The program, recommended by the Orange County Heroin Task Force, will link him to addiction counseling, treatment after jail and therapy that includes a once-a-month injection of Vivitrol, a brand-name form of naltrexone. The non-addictive drug blocks the euphoric effects of heroin. (Hudak, 7/11)

Winning a mention of the opioid epidemic, which killed about 28,000 Americans in 2014, might not be too tough a goal were it not for the thousands of other people who want a few sentences of their own in the platforms on subjects from health care to criminal justice. (Keane, 7/12)

In U.S. medical schools, a total of nine hours is required in pain management training for doctors. That’s 0.3% of total time in medical school and, to compare, veterinarian schools spend more than 500x more time spent learning to treat pain in animals. That’s according to a study conducted by Johns Hopkins in 2011 and cited by Dr. Michael Bottros, the director of acute pain service at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. (Moffitt, 7/11)

The latest numbers from the New Hampshire Office of the Chief Medical Examiner show that at least 161 people have fatally overdosed so far in 2016. Officials are anticipating that those numbers will continue to rise in the months ahead, and the state is projecting at least 494 overdose deaths by the end of the year. (McDermot, 7/11)

PBS NewsHour traveled to six places across the world to find stories of those in the middle of the AIDS epidemic. Will they find an end to AIDS? Watch our six-part series, starting July 11th. (7/11)

There’s still no vaccine and no cure, but the medical community is increasingly focused on ambitious plans to bring about an end to HIV/AIDS. The NewsHour launches its series, “The End of AIDS?” with a look at intense prevention efforts underway in one of the cities most impacted by the epidemic, San Francisco. (Brangham, 7/11)

Grindr, the gay dating app, is an effective way to get gay black and Hispanic men to try home H.I.V. self-testing kits, according to a recent study. The small study was confined to Los Angeles, and fewer than 400 test kits were distributed, but the idea has broader potential. Grindr is used by at least five million men in 192 countries, according to its developer. (McNeil, 7/11)

Gilead Sciences won a victory last week when a federal court judge tossed a lawsuit in which an AIDS activist group accused the drug maker of manipulating the patent system in order to thwart competition for its HIV medicines. In its lawsuit, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation had charged that Gilead not only violated antitrust laws, but also prevented countless HIV patients from access to a newer and safer treatment. The battle was framed by AIDS activists as another instance in which the company had placed profits over patient safety, a criticism that has dogged Gilead over its pricing on hepatitis C drugs for more than two years. (Silverman, 7/11)

A huge majority of parents who have a child with autism have tried some sort of unorthodox treatment to alleviate core symptoms and improve skills like communication or social behavior. A 2013 UCSF study found 88 percent of parents surveyed tried some form of complementary or alternative medicine for their child. The treatments range from special diets and supplements — two of the most frequently tried interventions — to music or animal therapy. But parents have little guidance from medical science, because the evidence for alternatives is thin, if it exists at all. (McClurg, 7/11)

More children are being diagnosed with and treated for autism spectrum disorder due to state mandates requiring commercial health insurers to provide services to these children, according to new research from the University of Pennsylvania. Still, they found, far too few children who need help are getting it. (Giordano, 7/12)

If you’re a parent, you might want to think twice about shooing a thumb from your child’s mouth. Researchers in New Zealand have found that children who suck their thumbs or bite their nails are less likely to develop allergies later in their lives. The research comes from a long-term project known as the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, which has followed more than 1,000 children from Dunedin, New Zealand, since birth. The study is now in its fifth decade. (Beachum, 7/11)

In the wake of the death of Philando Castile, protesters took to the streets - and to the governor's mansion - demanding justice and systematic change. Some of those protesters are the same people who took part in the occupation at the 4th precinct in north Minneapolis after Jamar Clark was killed. How will these events affect those protesters? It turns out there's not much research into how protest and resistance affect a person's long-term physical and mental health. (Weber, 7/11)

Researchers have found bacteria resistant to the antibiotic of last resort in a sample from a second patient in the United States, according to a study published Monday. The patient had surgery at a New York hospital last year, researchers said. The news comes after researchers reported in late May that a patient in Pennsylvania carried a strain of E. coli bacteria that was resistant to the antibiotic colistin, the antibiotic that doctors use to treat patients who have infections that don't respond to other drugs. (Sun, 7/11)

A majority of working adults say they still go to work when they have a cold or the flu. There are some jobs where doing that can have a big effect on health. At least half of people who work in very public places, like hospitals and restaurants, report going to work when they have a cold or the flu. Those were among the findings of a poll conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (Bichell, 7/11)

Prenatal vitamins are a staple of modern pregnancy. But a report out Monday in the journal Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin suggests they don’t make much difference in preventing complications such as premature birth, low birth weight, and stillbirth. ... The journal reviewed dozens of clinical trials testing the effect of several vitamins and nutrients commonly included in prenatal supplements. Some of the trials were quite large, with up to 24,000 participants. (Samuel, 7/11)

There is no cure for glaucoma, the second-most common cause of blindness (after cataracts), but a new study offers hope that it might not always be so. In lab mice, combining two very different therapies let the animals see again — at least partially. ... Scientists have put a lot of effort into figuring out how to make neurons recover, and are still searching for a cure for diseases that result from nerve damage, like spinal trauma or glaucoma. (Seervai, 7/11)

Delicately colored mosaics. Swirling currents of neon green. Who knew that cancer, so terrifying, could be so weirdly beautiful? Adam Marcus, for one. A cancer researcher at Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute, he embedded lung cancer cells in a gel and let them invade surrounding tissue for 24 hours. The resulting image he created looks like a gaily lit mainland, with a handful of tiny vessels — individual cancer cells — setting out for distant shores. (McGinley, 7/11)

Nobody looks forward to having a cavity drilled and filled by a dentist. Now there’s an alternative: an antimicrobial liquid that can be brushed on cavities to stop tooth decay — painlessly. The liquid is called silver diamine fluoride, or S.D.F. It’s been used for decades in Japan, but it’s been available in the United States, under the brand name Advantage Arrest, for just about a year. (Saint Louis, 7/11)

A for-profit hospital system focused on complex and advanced cancers has drawn scrutiny for touting sky-high survival statistics buoyed by disproportionately healthy and wealthy patients. Now, new research provides the fullest portrait to date of the massive nationwide ad blitz launched by Cancer Treatment Centers of America to attract patients. The CTCA spent $101.7 million promoting its services in TV, print, online, and other ads in 2014, accounting for nearly 60 percent of all ad spending by US cancer centers that year, according to a new study from researchers at Indiana University and the University of Pittsburgh. (Robbins, 7/11)

The amount of advertising by cancer centers has exploded over the past decade - and so have come-ons that emotionally manipulate or even mislead patients. That is the bottom line of a study and accompanying editorial published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine. (McCullough, 7/11)

Adam Rabb holds the bottle of Harvoni pills in his hands, and it feels like a fistful of gold. Except gold might have been easier for him to get. Rabb, diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2010, needed a court order to get these pills. With one move from a federal judge, the 47-year-old Lakewood, Pierce County, resident is one of the first of potentially thousands of Washingtonians on Medicaid whose lives could improve with access to the so-called blockbuster drug. (O'Sullivan, 7/10)

Many babies born to mothers who are covered by Medicaid are automatically eligible for that coverage during the first year of their lives. In a handful of states, the same is true for babies born to women covered by the Children's Health Insurance Program. Yet, this smart approach is routinely undermined by another federal policy that requires babies’ eligibility be reevaluated on their first birthday. Although they’re likely still eligible for coverage, many of these toddlers fall through the cracks. (Andrews, 7/12)

New Jersey has done a poor job of overseeing the private company that handles non-emergency medical transportation for Medicaid patients, according to a federal audit. That lapse in oversight may have affected nearly $65 million in services, according to the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (Livio and O'Brien, 7/11)

Dozens of nurses gathered for a picket Monday morning to protest what they say are unsafe staffing levels at St. Louis University Hospital. In advance of contract negotiations, the hospital’s chapter of National Nurses United conducted a staffing survey in 2015 and compared the data collected to staffing guidelines set by the hospital’s management. Overall, optimal staffing levels were not met on 58 percent of shifts in a 21-day period. (Bouscaren, 7/11)

Methamphetamine is dangerous. If you want proof, just go to the San Diego County morgue. In 2014, county records show 262 deaths from meth-related causes. That’s more than the number of people who died from the flu and homicides combined that year. (Goldberg, 7/11)

A subsidiary of healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente has filed a lawsuit in California accusing a former employee responsible for investigating insurance fraud claims of embezzling $7 million. The suit by Kaiser Foundation Health Plan accuses Michael Albert Quinn of submitting invoices for investigative services that were not performed or were not justified over a 16-year span after he joined the company in 1998. (7/11)

Gov. Greg Abbott was admitted to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio for treatment of burns on Monday, and will not attend an interfaith memorial service on Tuesday in Dallas honoring the five police officers slain during a peaceful protest last week. First lady Cecilia Abbott will attend the ceremony, which will include speeches by President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush. (Atkinson, 7/11)

A mobile mental health unit that was to open in Manchester in July is now on track for October, according to the winning vendor for the project, the Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester...The organization hopes to build office space and two apartments for the program in the former Hoitt’s Furniture building on Wilson Street, which already provides space for Families in Transition homeless services and Hope for New Hampshire Recovery addiction services. (Solomon, 7/11)

BeniComp Insurance Co., a supplemental group health insurance company, has relocated its headquarters from Fort Wayne, Ind., to downtown Tampa. Initially, nine members of the firm's executive team will move to the new headquarters at 501 E Kennedy Blvd. The company plans to add at least three more full-time employees over the next year. (Harrington, 7/11)

As the landscape of concussion-related lawsuits continues to grow, Stanford finds itself in the crosshairs after David Burns -- an ex-football player with the Cardinal in the 1970s -- was listed as the main plaintiff on class-action litigation filed last week against the university, the NCAA and the Pac-12, as reported by CBS San Francisco. The complaint was filed on behalf of Stanford football players from 1959 and 2010. It's one of more than a dozen lawsuits filed since May by Chicago-based law firm Edelson PC. (Daily News Dispatches, 7/11)

The Seton Prenatal Clinic, which for nearly a century helped poor and uninsured women bring healthy babies into the world, has stopped accepting patients and will close its doors in early August. Like many charitable clinics across the nation, Seton has seen a sharp drop in patient admissions since the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, which has dramatically reduced the number of uninsured. (Serres, 7/11)

California lawmakers have been trying for more than a decade to protect hospital patients from being hit with huge bills from doctors who aren’t part of their health insurer’s network. They have another opportunity to do so this year, and they should seize it. ... AB 72, would require out-of-network doctors to obtain a patient’s permission at least a day before providing non-emergency treatment at an in-network hospital or clinic. If the patient doesn’t voluntarily agree to be treated by a specific out-of-network doctor and pay the extra charges, he or she couldn’t be billed for more than an in-network provider would have cost — even if out-of-network doctors are brought in. Any participating out-of-network doctor, meanwhile, would have to accept the average amount paid to in-network doctors or go to arbitration with the insurer. (7/12)

Congress is about to pass a bill meant to deal with the nation’s opioid epidemic. It contains some good ideas. It will also be far less effective at saving lives than it should be. The Senate is expected to vote soon on the measure, approved by the House on Friday by an overwhelming 407-to-5 majority. It would authorize addiction treatment and prevention programs to stem what has become a scourge and a disgrace — more than 28,600 overdose deaths in 2014. But it contains not a penny to support those initiatives. (7/12)

The federal health reform known as the Affordable Care Act has dramatically reduced the number of Americans without insurance. In California, the rate of adults under age 65 without coverage has fallen from 23.7 percent to 11.1 percent since the law took effect. But as many of the newly insured have discovered, there’s a big problem lurking behind those numbers: Even with insurance coverage, it can still be very difficult for consumers to find a doctor. (Daniel Weintraub, 7/11)

In an era when bipartisanship is rare, the U.S. House of Representatives has taken a step toward providing more care and treatment of severely mentally ill people. The U.S. Senate, including California Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, should take a cue from the House and approve HR 2646, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. The bill, introduced after the slaughter at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012, passed the House by a vote of 422-2 – not a typo. (7/11)

It’s understandable why most Massachusetts legislators weren’t talking publicly last week about one particular amendment they cut from the state budget before sending it to Governor Charlie Baker. Opposing a measure titled “Preventing patient abuse in nursing homes” probably wouldn’t sit well with constituents, especially older ones, who tend to vote in droves. The proposal, which called for drastically increasing the limit on fines that can be levied against nursing homes for health and safety violations, seemed to have broad support on Beacon Hill. Until it didn’t. (7/11)

President Obama’s Special Communication reports substantially slower increases in health care spending during the first 5 years of the ACA (2010-2014). One question is whether this slowing occurred because of the ACA, or because of other factors unrelated to the ACA .... The slowing of health care spending began in 2006, before both the ACA was passed and the onset of the 2008 recession. A previous study suggested that the specific cost-saving components of the ACA during this period could not have accounted for this moderation in growth. ... So if not the ACA, why was inflation-adjusted Medicare spending declining on a per-capita basis during 2010-2014? ... the early enthusiasm for many then-new technologies developed in the 1990s and 2000s ebbed beginning in 2006, leading to a general “exnovation” or scaling back of many common and expensive treatments such as coronary artery bypass graft surgery, carotid endarterectomy, coronary artery stenting, and inpatient back surgery. (Jonathan Skinner and Amitabh Chandra, 7/11)

First, perhaps the most significant surprise since 2010 is the substantial deceleration in health care costs. The conventional wisdom at the time the ACA was enacted was that despite its ostensible dual mandate, the act largely addressed the coverage problem while doing almost nothing to address cost trends. ... So why has this happened? For employer-sponsored insurance, the evidence points strongly to the economic downturn as the primary impetus. ... For Medicare, by contrast, the evidence shows little if any business cycle effect. The Medicare trend thus provides the most suggestive structural evidence of “bending the cost curve.” (Peter R. Orszag, 7/11)

The president is also unduly sanguine about the future of health care costs. Financing of Medicare has benefited from a slowdown in the increase in health costs. But this trend preceded enactment of the ACA, and many analysts are uncertain about the cause and continuation of the slowdown in the growth of health care costs, attributing much of the moderation to the Great Recession. The president could be correct that the ACA will slow the growth of per capita health spending, but the CBO and others expect spending to increase more rapidly in the future. (Stuart M. Butler, 7/11)