The San Jose Mercury News: How Dementia Can Drain A Family’s Life Savings
If Denis Winter suffered from heart failure, cancer or almost any other deadly disease, his family could rest assured that his care would be largely covered by insurance. But Winter has Alzheimer’s disease. So the extraordinary cost of his care — $8,500 a month, or $102,000 a year — is borne entirely by his wife, Linda. It is quickly draining their lifetime of savings. (Krieger, 4/15)

In other news —

Los Angeles Times: Too Much Sitting May Thin The Part Of Your Brain That's Important For Memory, Study Suggests
If you want to take a good stroll down memory lane, new research suggests you'd better get out of that chair more often. In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers have found that in people middle-aged and older, a brain structure that is key to learning and memory is plumpest in those who spend the most time standing up and moving. At every age, prolonged sitters show less thickness in the medial temporal lobe and the subregions that make it up, the study found. (Healy, 4/13)

The Wall Street Journal: Why No One Wants To Back The Gun Of The Future
It was supposed to be the dawn of a new era of “smart guns.” Spurred by the deaths of 20 young children in the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, Silicon Valley set out to make safer, technologically advanced weapons that could only be fired by their owners. Venture-capital luminary Ron Conway, known for his early investments in Google and PayPal , led the charge, raising millions for grants aimed at jump-starting the smart-gun industry. (Elinson and Palazzolo, 4/14)

Meanwhile —

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Don't Be Surprised If Your Doctor Asks You About Guns 
With gun violence on the rise over the past few years and mass shootings happening more frequently, physicians are making a renewed push to treat the issue as a public health crisis. And part of that begins in your doctor’s office. Doctors, especially primary care physicians, are in a unique position to know some of the most private details of our lives, including many indicators that could suggest a higher risk of being a victim or perpetrator of gun violence. The Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California Davis has launched a new tool kit for doctors and nurses that teaches them how to gently introduce the topic of guns into the conversation, with a special emphasis on spotting red flags that could indicate risks for suicide, domestic violence, homicide or child access to guns. (Davis, 4/15)

The New York Times: Employees Jump At Genetic Testing. Is That A Good Thing?
Levi Strauss & Company introduced a novel benefit for employees at its San Francisco headquarters last fall: free genetic screening to assess their hereditary risks for certain cancers and high cholesterol. Chip Bergh, Levi’s chief executive, said he had hoped that the tests would spur employees to take preventive health steps and in that way reduce the company’s health care costs. But even Mr. Bergh was surprised by the turnout. Of the 1,100 eligible Levi’s employees, more than half took the genetic tests. Now, he wants to extend the benefit to employees in other cities. (Singer, 4/15)

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Sonoma West Medical Center At A Crossroads After Losing Lucrative Drug-Screening Revenue
Even as critics of the district and hospital raise red flags about the hospital’s financial viability, citing persistent debt and potential legal liabilities surrounding a lucrative but now-defunct drug testing program, [Dennis Colthurst, president of the board of directors of the Palm Drive Health Care District,] remains optimistic about the hospital’s future. “We’re treating patients, our emergency room, our surgery department are open,” Colthurst said. “We’re OK right now. We’re looking at the next steps to increase revenue through extra lines of work.” But for some hospital observers and critics, the controversy surrounding the hospital toxicology program demonstrates poor leadership on the part of both the hospital and district, and the best solution may be to sell it. (Espinoza, 4/15)

In other news from across the state —

Ventura County Star: Study: Prescriber Shortage Keeps Opioid Users From Meds
If all 7,300 Ventura County residents battling opioid addiction tried to get treatment, more than half might struggle to find medications that are used to wean people off the drugs, researchers say. Data presented by the Urban Institute and the California Healthcare Foundation claims a shortage of prescribing doctors and treatment programs creates a care gap across California and in Ventura County. Researchers focused on the availability of methadone and buprenorphine, medications used to treat addictions to heroin, oxycodone, fentanyl and other opioids that are feeding a nationwide crisis. (Kisken, 4/14)

Ventura County Star: Simi Valley Toddler Thrives With Half A Heart
Olivia Huss was born with hands and feet the color of her eyes: Blue. The now 21-month-old from Simi Valley was born with a left ventricle the size of a sliver and unable to pump. This meant red blood that typically comes from the left side of her heart mixed with the blue, oxygen-poor blood coming from the right, rushing to her major organs. (Kisken, 4/13)

The Washington Post: Republicans Lose Their Favorite Campaign Message: Repealing Obamacare
The campaign website of Rep. Mike Bishop (R-Mich.) doesn’t mention Obamacare, even though Web archives show it once prominently featured promises to vigorously fight the 2010 health-care law. Rep. Garland “Andy” Barr (R-Ky.) touted repealing the Affordable Care Act as one of three top priorities when first running for Congress in 2012. Now his website focuses on tax cuts and job creation instead. In her first House bid in 2014, Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) said her campaign was about growing the economy, creating jobs and “repealing and replacing Obamacare.” She’s not talking about that anymore. (Cunningham, 4/14)

Modern Healthcare: 50 Shades Of Healthcare: Bit By Bit, The Affordable Care Act Is Being Remade 
As the Trump administration and some in Congress whittle away at the Affordable Care Act, blue states are filling in gaps in an attempt to bolster their markets. Others are picking up chainsaws. Federal moves to pull a form of financial assistance for low-income Americans and slash ACA outreach and advertising last year were followed by the GOP tax law's elimination of the individual mandate penalty, and a proposal to expand health coverage that disregards ACA rules and protections. A bipartisan bill to restore cost-sharing reduction payments and establish a federal reinsurance fund fizzled out. (LIvingston, 4/14)

In other national health care news —

Politico: Abortion Foes Seize On Chance To Overturn Roe
The anti-abortion movement believes it's one Donald Trump-appointed Supreme Court justice away from a shot at overturning Roe v. Wade, and advocates are teeing up what they hope will be the winning challenge. From Iowa to South Carolina, lawmakers are proposing some of the most far-reaching abortion restrictions in a generation, hoping their legislation triggers the lawsuit that eventually makes it to the high court. (Haberkorn, 4/15)

The New York Times: How Profiteers Lure Women Into Often-Unneeded Surgery
Jerri Plummer was at home in Arkansas, watching television with her three children, when a stranger called to warn that her life was in danger. The caller identified herself only as Yolanda. She told Ms. Plummer that the vaginal mesh implant supporting her bladder was defective and needed to be removed. If Ms. Plummer didn’t act quickly, the caller urged, she might die. (Goldstein and Silver-Greenberg, 4/14)

The New York Times: Drug Company ‘Shenanigans’ To Block Generics Come Under Federal Scrutiny
Trump administration officials, seeking ways to lower drug costs, are targeting pharmaceutical companies that refuse to provide samples of their products to generic drug companies, making it impossible to create inexpensive generic copies of a brand-name medicine. Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, said recently that drug makers must “end the shenanigans” that prevent competing products from reaching the market. (Pear, 4/14)

Stat: Former Mallinckrodt Employee Alleges The Ingredients In A Best-Selling Drug Are A Mystery
In a sensational lawsuit, a former Mallinckrodt (MNK) employee claims that she was fired for repeatedly warning the drug maker about a host of allegedly illegal activities designed to boost sales of a key drug. Those practices included running a “sham” patient assistance program and refusing to provide payers with clinical data that would be used for making coverage decisions. Moreover, executives were allegedly unaware of the ingredients in the best-selling Achtar drug, which is used to treat infantile spasms and often prescribed for more than a dozen other maladies. (Silverman, 4/13)

The New York Times: A Drug To End Addiction? Scientists Are Working On It.
Scrambling for ways to contain America’s out-of-control opioid crisis, some experts in the field are convinced that one bit of good advice is to just say no to the enduring “just say no” antidrug message. Addiction, they say, is not a question of free will or a correctable character flaw, as a lot of people would like to believe. Rather, it is an affliction of the brain that needs to be treated as one would any chronic illness. One possible approach, an experimental vaccine, draws attention in this offering from Retro Report, a series of short video documentaries exploring major news stories of the past and their lasting impact. (Haberman, 4/15)