San Francisco Chronicle: Covered California Premiums Projected To Rise 11 Percent In 2019
The cost of health insurance continues to climb in California. Estimates released Thursday by Covered California, the state insurance marketplace, project that premiums in the individual market will rise 11 percent next year, while enrollment in the exchange — which is larger than any other state’s — will drop 12 percent. (Ho, 5/17)

The New York Times: ‘Just The Grossest Thing’: Women Recall Interactions With U.S.C. Doctor
He quipped about the looseness of a woman’s vagina. He remarked on the smoothness of another woman’s skin. He surprised one patient by suddenly removing her tampon and dangling it in front of her. Former students at the University of Southern California are coming forward by the dozens, re-examining years-old interactions with Dr. George Tyndall, the longtime gynecologist at the student health center who is now at the center of a growing scandal. What they considered inappropriate and humiliating at the time, they are now reporting to a special university hotline as signs of the doctor’s trail of abuse. (Medina, 5/17)

Los Angeles Times: USC's Aggressive Recruiting Of Chinese Students Faces Challenge Amid Gynecologist Scandal
USC has relied on bright young minds from across the Pacific to propel itself from prominent Southern California commuter school to international research university. Aggressive recruitment of Chinese students has delivered high-quality students and tuition dollars to the university and given scholars from rural provinces access to top professors and the bright lights of Hollywood. But the unique bond forged in recent decades between USC and the world's most populous nation was shaken this week amid allegations of misconduct on the part of a longtime campus gynecologist. (Etehd, Pringle, Xia and Hamilton, 5/17)

The Associated Press: Report Faults Response To San Diego's Hepatitis A Outbreak
A grand jury report following the worst outbreak of Hepatitis A in the United States in 20 years faulted the response of San Diego city and county officials on Thursday and recommended improving communications to prepare for future health emergencies. The outbreak killed 20 and sickened 577 people between November 2016 and October 2017. (5/17)

In other public health news —

Los Angeles Times: To Prevent Recurrent Strokes, Should Aspirin Have A Wingman? Maybe Not
When it comes to preventing the formation of potentially deadly blood clots in people at elevated risk for them, there are no easy answers. That's the upshot of a clinical trial involving patients who suffered a stroke that resolved quickly and caused no lasting damage. For these patients, adding the anti-platelet drug Plavix to usual aspirin therapy drove down some serious risks, but increased the chances of bleeding events. A second study found that an anticoagulant drug known as Xarelto performed no better than aspirin alone in heading off strokes and heart attacks after a small stroke, and also drove up subjects' risk of bleeding. (Healy, 5/17)

KQED: Does CBD Help Kids With Autism? New Clinical Trial Aims To Find Out
A new clinical trial will attempt to determine how certain chemical compounds in marijuana might help children with autism. ...Now, the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research (CMCR) at the UC San Diego School of Medicine aims to determine if marijuana could be useful in curbing challenging behaviors associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder. (Wiley, 5/17)

Los Angeles Times: Kaiser Permanente To Commit $200 Million To Help Communities Reduce Homelessness
Healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente plans to invest $200 million in community efforts across the country to reduce homelessness, joining a growing list of health systems that are moving to address the housing crisis afflicting many large cities. The commitment — which Kaiser is announcing Friday morning alongside a coalition of mayors and business leaders — marks one of the largest private-sector initiatives to tackle homelessness. (Levey, 5/18)

The Associated Press: Trump To Deny Funds To Clinics That Discuss Abortion
The Trump administration will resurrect a Reagan-era rule that would ban federally funded family planning clinics from discussing abortion with women, or sharing space with abortion providers. The Department of Health and Human Services will announce its proposal Friday, a senior White House official said Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to confirm the plans before the announcement. (5/18)

The New York Times: Trump Administration To Tie Health Facilities’ Funding To Abortion Restrictions
The rule, which is to be announced Friday, is a top priority of social conservatives and is the latest move by President Trump to impose curbs on abortion rights, in this case by withholding money from any facility or program that promotes abortion or refers patients to a caregiver that will provide one. The policy would be a return to one instituted in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan that required abortion services to have a “physical separation” and “separate personnel” from other family planning activities. That policy is often described as a domestic gag rule because it barred caregivers at facilities that received family planning funds from providing any information to patients about an abortion or where to receive one. (Davis and Haberman, 5/17)

The Associated Press: FDA Names Drugmakers Accused Of Blocking Cheaper Generics
U.S. drug regulators are publicizing information on brand-name drugmakers that use what government officials call "gaming tactics" to block cheaper copycat versions. The Food and Drug Administration's new webpage names the makers of more than 50 brand-name drugs, many carrying five- or six-figure annual price tags, who are under scrutiny. The agency also lists inquiries it has received from generic drugmakers requesting FDA's help in getting access to the brand-name drugs though not all the complaints have been verified. (5/17)

The New York Times: F.D.A. Names And Shames Drug Makers To Encourage Generic Competition
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, calls this “gaming the system,” and has vowed to stop it as part of the government’s campaign to lower drug prices. On Thursday, the F.D.A. took a new tack and began posting a list of makers of brand-name drugs that have been the target of complaints, to persuade them to “end the shenanigans,” in the commissioner’s words.Dr. Gottlieb calls it transparency, but this approach is better known among ethicists as naming and shaming. (Kaplan, 5/17)

Stat: Right-To-Try Bill Headed For Vote Puts Bigger Burden On FDA, Gottlieb Says
The House is set to take up a controversial “right-to-try” bill next week — and if it passes, the Food and Drug Administration will have to work harder to protect patients than it would if a different version of the legislation were advancing, Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told STAT in an interview. Gottlieb’s comments, made at FDA headquarters on Thursday, indicate that one of President Trump’s top lieutenants believes Congress is moving forward with a bill that contains less of his agency’s input than an alternative version of the bill — a more recent, updated bill that passed the House in March but ultimately stalled in the Senate. (Swetlitz and Mershon, 5/17)

Politico: Pulse Check: Azar To Drug Plan Critics: Bring On The Fight
HHS Secretary Alex Azar has a message for critics of the Trump administration's plan to lower drug prices: Bring it on. Drugmakers, pharmacy benefit managers and some physician groups have spent a week taking shots at the new effort — a reprise of how the industries banded together to stop a similar Obama-era initiative in 2016. On POLITICO’s “Pulse Check” podcast, Azar encouraged the players to engage with the administration. (Diamond, 5/17)

The New York Times: N.I.H. Halts Enrollment In A Study Of Drinking Now Under Scrutiny
The National Institutes of Health has suspended enrollment in a huge clinical trial on the health benefits of moderate drinking while officials review whether its employees inappropriately solicited funding from the alcohol industry. Five liquor and beer companies are providing about $67 million of the $100 million cost of the 10-year study. In March, The New York Times reported that scientists and officials with the N.I.H.’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism met with alcohol industry groups on several occasions in 2013 and 2014 to discuss funding. (Rabin, 5/17)

The Associated Press: Gov't Approves $10B Deal To Overhaul VA Medical Records
The government approved a $10 billion deal Thursday to overhaul the electronic health records of millions of veterans, part of a bid to improve wait times and expand access to doctors outside the Veterans Affairs system. The aim of the contract with Cerner Corp. is to provide veterans easy access to their health records upon leaving active-duty service and when they receive medical treatment at a VA facility or a private doctor referred under the VA's Choice private-sector program. (5/17)

The New York Times: New Drug Offers Hope To Millions With Severe Migraines
The drug, Aimovig, made by Amgen and Novartis, is a monthly injection with a device similar to an insulin pen. The list price will be $6,900 a year, and Amgen said the drug will be available to patients within a week. Aimovig blocks a protein fragment, CGRP, that instigates and perpetuates migraines. Three other companies — Lilly, Teva and Alder — have similar medicines in the final stages of study or awaiting F.D.A. approval. “The drugs will have a huge impact,” said Dr. Amaal Starling, a neurologist and migraine specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix. “This is really an amazing time for my patient population and for general neurologists treating patients with migraine.” (Kolata, 5/17)

The New York Times: Hail Caesar Salad! Romaine Is Safe To Eat Again
Attention Caesar salad fans: You may now safely rekindle your romance with romaine. Federal health officials have concluded that the tainted lettuce that sickened 172 people across 32 states, and killed one, is no longer available for sale. Both the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced this week that the danger had passed. (Hoffman, 5/17)

Los Angeles Times: Why Are So Many Misconduct Complaints Falling On Deaf Ears At USC?
For the second time in less than a year, the University of Southern California is drawing scrutiny not just for the alleged misconduct of one of its doctors, but also for the way campus leaders handled the situation. Any organization the size of USC is bound to have problematic employees. The issue is how the organization responds: Is it bad luck? Bad supervision? Or a bad organizational culture? (5/17)

Los Angeles Times: Vulnerable Young Women. A Gynecologist Accused Of Violating Them. Where Was USC?
You take off your clothes, and put on a thin cotton gown. You sit on a padded table covered with a crisp white piece of paper that crackles every time you move. Your bare feet dangle. You stare at the walls and wait. And wait. Then the doctor walks in. If the doctor is a man, he comes in with a female chaperone. The doctor tells you to lie back, put your legs in the metal stirrups on either side of the table and scoot down. Toward him. (Robin Abcarian, 5/17)

Los Angeles Times: California's Historic And Successful Right-To-Die Law Is Itself On Life-Support
California's right-to-die law is nothing less than historic, certainly one of the most important pieces of legislation passed in the last several years. More than 100 people have used it to take their own lives since it was approved in 2015. Families have said repeatedly that the law has brought comfort to their relatives who took advantage of it, in many cases by offering an alternative to pain and suffering. Furthermore, it has wide backing. ... But this important, compassionate and, by all measures, successful law was overturned Monday by a judge in Riverside County. (5/16)

San Jose Mercury News: Cost Panel Would Cripple Californians' Health Care
At a time when California is leading the nation by expanding health care coverage, our state’s elected leaders must work to help, not hurt, the progress we’ve made over the last decade. That’s why legislators should reject Assembly Bill 3087, which would lead to drastic cuts in health care services, eliminate thousands of health care jobs and harm patient access to care throughout the state. (Cal Knight, 5/15)

Los Angeles Times: Now Is Not The Time To Expand Medi-Cal To Undocumented Adults
Advocates of a single-payer healthcare system in California have struggled to come up with a realistic and feasible way to pay for it, so this year they're pushing for more incremental steps toward universal health insurance coverage. The most far-reaching of these would be to expand Medi-Cal, the joint federal and state insurance program for poor and disabled Californians, to cover low-income residents who are living in the country illegally. Now is not the time to take that step, however. (5/16)

Sacramento Bee: What California Should Do About Record STD Rates 
This week, the California Department of Public Health released a new report showing STD rates have hit an all-time high in California, with 300,000 cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and early syphilis reported – a 45 percent increase compared to five years ago. ...With this year’s budget showing a projected surplus, it’s time for the governor and our elected lawmakers to make STD funding a priority in this year’s state budget, and provide the leadership and resources needed to get the job done. (Julie Rabinovitz, 5/15)

Los Angeles Times: Mandatory Armed Guards In California's K-12 Schools? No Thank You
According to David Ropeik, a Harvard scholar who studies risk, the chance of a child being shot and killed in school is far lower than the chance that he or she will have an accident on the way to or from school, catch a potentially fatal disease while in school, or suffer a potentially deadly injury playing sports at school. Of course that doesn't mean that school shootings shouldn't worry us, or that we shouldn't take serious steps to prevent them. But it does suggest that, despite the attention and news coverage they get, these events are relatively infrequent and not imminent at any given school — and that we should be tactical and thoughtful about the best way to prevent them. That's not the case with Assembly Bill 2067, which would mandate that an armed security officer be posted at every publicly funded school in California, including elementary schools and charter schools. The state would pick up the tab, estimated at $1 billion per year, according to the office of the bill's author, Assemblyman James Gallagher (R-Yuba City). (5/16)

Los Angeles Times: Where Do Prescription Drugs Come From? Good Luck Answering That Question
Frances Richmond, chairwoman of the Department of Regulatory and Quality Sciences at USC's School of Pharmacy, told me that because all facets of the supply chain must meet strict FDA safety standards, it shouldn't matter to consumers where drugs or their ingredients originate. But she acknowledged that some drug companies probably don't want people knowing that 80% of active ingredients — yes, 80% — come from China and India. (David Lazarus, 5/15)

San Francisco Chronicle: Trump’s Drug Plan Shows He Isn’t Willing To Take On Big Pharma
Donald Trump promised to rein in drug prices. It was his only sensible campaign promise. But the plan he announced Friday does little but add another battering ram to his ongoing economic war against America’s allies. (Robert Reich, 5/15)

Sacramento Bee: Farm Bill Will Take Food From Hungry
Farmers in the Central Valley have been waiting for a federal farm bill that makes the investments that will ensure California’s agricultural industry continues to lead the nation, and the world. Unfortunately, the proposed bill moving through the U.S. House leaves behind the people who harvest, sort, sell, prepare and serve the Valley’s agricultural bounty. It would make it more difficult for millions of Californians, including working parents and many low-wage workers, to put food on the table by cutting their assistance through CalFresh. (Jared Call, 5/14)

Los Angeles Times: Undermining An Effective Birth Control Funding Program To Promote Abstinence Is The Height Of Stupidity
For nearly half a century, the Title X Family Planning Program has been a crucial source of federal dollars for family planning and related healthcare services for low-income Americans. ... But the biggest provider of Title X services is also the GOP's current favorite healthcare punching bag: Planned Parenthood, which operates 13% of the clinics funded under the program and cares for about 40% of the patients. And now the Trump administration is steering the program itself in the wrong direction. (5/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Why California Leaves Its Homeless Out In The Sun
When most people think about the city of Anaheim, Disneyland or the Angels baseball team probably comes to mind. But until recently it was also home to one of California’s fastest-growing housing developments: a homeless encampment. ... Rising vagrancy in Southern California is creating a Catch-22: People don’t want the homeless living on their streets, but they don’t want homeless shelters in their neighborhoods either. (Allysia Finley, 5/11)

Los Angeles Times: Koreatown Needs A Homeless Shelter. It Also Needs City Officials To Learn From The Mistakes Of The Past
As executive director of the Korean American Coalition, I often find myself in this somewhat fraught position — a bridge between the limited-English-speaking Korean immigrant community and the service providers who have the resources to help them. ...Our goal was to develop a process to count the invisible ethnic Korean homeless population, identify the causes of its spread and brainstorm possible solutions to the growing issue. (Joon Bang, 5/18)

Los Angeles Times: How Jack Nicklaus And Dr. Sanjay Gupta Hyped An Unproven Stem Cell Treatment — And Why This Could Harm You
Just last week, the Department of Justice and Food and Drug Administration filed lawsuits to shut down clinics in California and Florida that have been purveying unlicensed and unproven treatments to thousands of patients. The target clinics have histories of causing harm to their customers, according to the lawsuits. That, Knoepfler observes, "illustrates just how much it is a jungle out there for consumers interested in stem cells." (Michael Hiltzik, 5/14)