Stat: Biden Calls For Election Wake-Up Call On Abortion Rights — But New Upheavals Are Fast Approaching
President Biden started his sprawling national address Thursday night with a warning to Republicans: Women have rebuked attempted abortion limits in past elections, and they will do it again. (Owermohle, 3/7)

Stat: In His State Of The Union, Biden Takes Clear Aim At 'Big Pharma' 
Often, a president’s State of the Union address is a staid affair, with platitudes and calls for bipartisanship and unity. But President Biden blasted the pharmaceutical industry with its unflattering moniker, “Big Pharma,” not once, but three times Thursday night, only the second time ever that sobriquet has been used in such a setting, after Biden’s address last year. (Wilkerson, 3/7)

Business Insider: Biden Says The Question Isn't About His Age: 'It's About How Old Are Our Ideas'
President Joe Biden on Thursday used his State of the Union to take concerns about his age head on. Biden waited until almost the end of his address, but the president made it clear that he would not ignore the question consuming his reelection. He used a mixture of self-effacing humor and the cold realism of what he sees as the stakes in this election to make his point. "I know it may not look like it, but I've been around a while," Biden said. "When you get to be my age, certain things become clearer than ever. I know the American story. Again and again I've seen the contest between competing forces in the battle for the soul of our nation." (Griffiths, 3/7)

San Francisco Chronicle: Biden SOTU: Is Washington Getting Serious About The Housing Crisis?
President Joe Biden had a difficult needle to thread in his State of the Union speech Thursday night ahead of his rematch with former President Donald Trump: tout the strength of the economy under his administration, while acknowledging the frustration many Americans feel about the cost of living. He attempted to do that by zeroing in on the housing crisis, an issue acutely familiar to Californians that is becoming more serious across the country. The proposals he floated Thursday included expanded tax credits for low-income and first-time homebuyers, grant funding to increase housing construction and efforts to address rental price fixing and hidden fees. (Stein, 3/7)

The New Republic: Will Biden’s Pledge To Restore Roe Go Far Enough?
Some advocates believe that merely reinstating access as it existed under Roe is insufficient for truly protecting abortion rights. Biden’s remarks on Thursday, and the larger messaging by Democrats ahead of a difficult election season, reflect an ongoing struggle within the movement to determine how to truly ensure everyone who wants an abortion can obtain one. (Segers, 3/8)

Sacramento Business Journal: Delta Dental To Lay Off 137 From Its Offices In Rancho Cordova 
Dental insurance company Delta Dental Plan of California is laying off 137 workers at its offices in Rancho Cordova in May. (Anderson, 3/7)

Modern Healthcare: Change Healthcare Update: Systems Coming Back Online Next Week 
UnitedHealth Group reopened Change Healthcare's electronic prescribing platform, and expects to restore other key parts of the system next week, the company said in a notice on its website Thursday. Change Healthcare's electronic prescribing platform came back online Thursday, according to UnitedHealth Group, which operates Change Healthcare through its Optum subsidiary. The company anticipates reactivating the electronic payments platform on March 15 and restoring the medical claims network for customers the week of March 18. (Young, 3/7)

Modern Healthcare: Epic Brings EHR Software To Apple App Store For Macs
Electronic health record company Epic said Thursday its software is available on Apple's App Store. Clinicians who use Apple's Mac computers can download the program directly through the technology giant's App Store. This version of Epic is designed specifically for Apple computers, the EHR company said. This is the first time Epic will run its application directly on Mac computers. (Turner, 3/7)

The Washington Post: FDA Will Conduct More Review Of Eli Lilly’s Alzheimer’s Drug Donanemab
Eli Lilly said Friday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is subjecting a proposed Alzheimer’s drug to additional review, a surprise move that will delay regulatory action on a medication that was widely expected to be approved this month. (Gilbert, 3/8)

USA Today: 'Let's Get Serious': Eli Lilly Slams Hollywood's Ozempic Obsession Ahead Of Oscars
Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly is finally weighing in on Hollywood’s obsession with Ozempic. In a commercial spot released Thursday, the company criticizes people who prescribe or take weight loss drugs without an obesity diagnosis. The ad hits the airwaves days before the 96th Academy Awards, an epic Hollywood gathering where people tend to be laser-focused on celebrities and their bodies. Eli Lilly is the company behind tirzepatide, sold under the brand name Zepbound, which was approved in November to treat people with obesity. (Rodriguez, 3/7)

Reuters: Cigna To Help Health Plans Limit Costs Amid Boom In Weight-Loss Drugs
Cigna Group said on Thursday its pharmacy benefit management unit had launched a program aiming to cap annual cost increases for health insurance providers and employers from new weight-loss drugs at 15%, as demand for the treatments soars. (Leo, 3/7)

Modern Healthcare: Why Physician, Nursing Shortages Persist And What Can Be Done
Training bottlenecks, uneven distribution of certain providers and expected regulation are adding roadblocks to efforts to tackle pervasive staffing shortages throughout healthcare. The National Center for Health Workforce Analysis predicts that by 2036 the industry will have shortages of more than 68,000 primary care physicians, 62,400 psychologists, 42,100 psychiatrists, 6,600 obstetrician-gynecologists and 33,100 family medicine physicians, in addition to deficits of other specialties. (Devereaux, 3/7)

Los Angeles Times: Are L.A.'s Anti-Camping Laws Failing? We Went To 25 Sites To Find The Truth
In the final days before Tuesday’s municipal election, a leaked report purportedly exposing systemic failures of Los Angeles city’s anti-camping law reignited a heated debate among the law’s supporters and opponents on the City Council. The report, prepared in November by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, said only a small fraction of homeless people who were relocated from encampments had obtained permanent housing — and that hundreds simply moved back, in some cases more than were initially there. (Smith, Vives and Zahniser, 3/7)

LAist: Federal Judge Says LA Misled About Homeless Encampment Promises
A visibly frustrated federal judge announced Thursday that he would rule that the city of L.A. misled attorneys about promises to follow through on a settlement agreement that requires specific deadlines to clear encampments and add shelter beds in each city council district. “I would find that you were misled in this matter,” U.S. District Judge David O. Carter told plaintiffs’ attorneys at a hearing in downtown L.A. (Gerda, 3/7)

Voice Of San Diego: Despite Need, Care Facilities For Homeless Patients Are Underutilized 
When the state detailed plans to allow Medi-Cal insurance to pay for recuperative care for homeless patients with health challenges who need safe places to recover, homeless advocates cheered. They envisioned the reform helping more homeless San Diegans access potentially life-changing post-hospital support and supplying funding for respite beds that regional leaders agreed San Diego County needed to scale up.  (Halverstadt, 3/7)

Stat: RSV Shot Was 90% Effective At Preventing Hospitalizations In Kids
A new monoclonal antibody product to protect against respiratory syncytial virus was 90% effective at preventing little children from being hospitalized with RSV, according to new data from the first season it was in use. (Branswell, 3/7)

Bloomberg: Why Do Women Get Worse Long Covid? Study Points To Testosterone
Among the many mysteries about long Covid, one of the most vexing has been why women seem to experience the condition more often and more severely than men. Now, scientists are starting to think hormones — and the different ways they affect women and men — could be part of the puzzle. A new study by a prominent team of researchers from the Yale School of Medicine and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has found that women with long Covid had significantly lower levels of testosterone compared to those who had recovered from their infection. (Jarvis, 3/7)

Axios: America's Split On Whether The Pandemic Is Over
Free COVID tests are over, for now. So are guidelines for infected people to isolate. Half of the country thinks the pandemic is finished. But, in reality, COVID-19 is still with us. Though the official trappings of the crisis keep fading away and it's increasingly being treated like the flu, the virus remains an ever-present threat that's killing hundreds of Americans every week and consuming health care dollars and resources. (Goldman, 3/8)

Roll Call: Spending Debate Tees Up Potential Lame-Duck Health Bill 
A collection of year-end health policy deadlines are increasing the chances that Congress will face another must-pass bill come December, after lawmakers punted a number of bipartisan health riders from the most recent spending package. (Clason, 3/7)

AP: Senate Passes Bill To Compensate Americans Exposed To Radiation By The Government 
The Senate passed legislation Thursday that would compensate Americans exposed to radiation by the government by renewing a law initially passed more than three decades ago. The bill by Sens. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., would expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include more people who believe that exposure caused their illnesses. While some Republicans have balked at the cost — an estimated $50 billion, according to Hawley’s office — the senators have argued that the government is at fault and should step up. (Jalonick and Salter, 3/7)

The 19th: WIC Funding In Congress: Program's Clinics Also Step Up When Disaster Strikes
When Hurricane Florence hit the Carolinas in 2018, causing $24 billion worth of damage, the South Carolina WIC agency jumped into action. Dispatching their mobile clinics to flooded areas across the region, the agency was able to reach participants to replace lost vouchers, which are used to purchase things like infant formula and healthy foods, and enroll newly eligible residents. (Kutz, 3/7)

The Wall Street Journal: E.R. Visits Quadruple For Children Accidentally Eating Melatonin
More parents with young children are taking melatonin to sleep. And some of them are going to the emergency room after their children took melatonin accidentally. The number of children who visited emergency rooms for unsupervised melatonin consumption increased 420% from 2009-2020, federal data showed. Melatonin was implicated in some 7% of recent E.R. visits for children 5 and younger who had taken medication without supervision. (Wernau, 3/7)

Mayo Clinic News Network: Study Shows Daylight Saving Time Has Minimal Effect On Heart Health 
A recent Mayo Clinic study examining the effects of daylight saving time (DST) on heart health suggests that the impact is likely minimal. (Jacobbi, 3/7)

CNN: Single Dose Of LSD Provides Immediate, Lasting Anxiety Relief, Study Says
A clinical trial’s encouraging results won US Food and Drug Administration breakthrough therapy status for an LSD formulation to treat generalized anxiety disorder, Mind Medicine Inc. announced Thursday. The biopharmaceutical company is developing the drug. (LaMotte, 3/7)

NPR: TBI: Domestic Violence Can Leave Telltale Patterns Of Brain Damage
About one in three women and a smaller proportion of men say they've experienced severe physical violence at the hands of an intimate partner. Studies suggest most women in this group have sustained at least one mild TBI, a brain injury commonly known as a concussion. The symptoms usually resemble those seen in sports or the military: headaches, dizziness, fatigue, sensitivity to noise and light, and problems with memory and thinking. (Hamilton, 3/8)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Prop 1 Is Close. Gov. Gavin Newsom Left It To Chance
health system and issue $6.4 billion in bonds to build treatment facilities and supportive housing is too close to call, with voters almost evenly split as of Wednesday morning. The Newsom administration has described Proposition 1 as the “linchpin” of its ambitious behavioral health strategy. If the measure fails, it could take other key reforms down with it — including CARE Court, Newsom’s framework to voluntarily direct more severely mentally ill people into housing and treatment. (Emily Hoeven, 3/6)

California Focus: Can The Possibly Passed Prop. 1 Help Solve Homelessness?
The possible passage of Proposition 1 raises one very basic question: Could it help solve homelessness or merely be another financial boondoggle helping a few but leaving the crisis in the streets essentially unsolved? (Tom Elias, 3/6)

Capital & Main: Why It Is Time For Newsom And The Legislature To Get Serious About Mental Health In California
California Gov. Gavin Newsom got busy at the 11th hour. He allocated considerable time to campaign for Proposition 1, a narrowly focused, $6.4 billion mental health measure that was spun as both a fix for substance-addicted homeless people and a boost for suffering veterans in the state. With barely half the votes counted Wednesday, that measure faced an uncertain fate despite a massive spend by the groups supporting it. But the worthy attention paid to Prop. 1 carried an additional cost: It obscured the larger truth that improved mental health care services for all Californians remains desperately needed. That need is not being met, pure and simple. (Mark Kreidler, 3/7)

Los Angeles Daily News: Don’t Make California Health Care Worse Than It Already Is 
Assembly Bill 2200 would make CalCare the state’s single-payer health-coverage provider. Under the act it would be illegal for any resident to pay a doctor privately for any medical treatment covered by CalCare. (John C. Goodman and Linda Gorman, 3/7)

CalMatters: Supreme Court Homelessness Case Holds Extra Significance For Black Californians
The Supreme Court announced last month it would hear a case that, at first glance, may appear to have little importance to Californians. Grants Pass v. Johnson concerns an Oregon city with a population of about 40,000 and commanding none of the cultural importance of Portland, Salem or Eugene. But Grants Pass is about to throw California’s racial politics into a state of upheaval. (Jackson Huston, 3/6)