KQED: California Congressional Republicans Urge Blocking Obamacare For Undocumented Immigrants
Several California congressional Republicans want the Obama administration to block the state’s request to sell health insurance to undocumented immigrants on the state’s exchange. The move comes after Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill earlier this month authorizing California to formally request a waiver from the Affordable Care Act provision that bars undocumented immigrants from any of the law’s benefits. ... Nine of California’s 14 Republican representatives have signed a letter to cabinet officials appealing to them to deny this waiver. The representatives called California’s request “a brazen attempt to circumvent the will of Congress.” (Aliferis, 6/29)

Orange County Register: Orange County's GOP Congress Members Fight Health Care Expansion To Immigrants
Orange County’s Republican Congress members sent a message to President Barack Obama’s administration: Don’t expand health coverage to people living here illegally. GOP Reps. Darrell Issa, Dana Rohrabacher, Ed Royce and Mimi Walters joined five other members of Congress from California in signing a June 24 letter to federal health and treasury officials. They are urging authorities to reject an application from California requesting a waiver to give those here illegally the ability to buy unsubsidized health insurance through Covered California, the state's exchange. (Kopetman, 6/29)

Morning Consult: California Reps Ask Feds To Reject Plan To Cover Illegal Immigrants
Nine California representatives asked the health and treasury secretaries to reject the state’s application to allow illegal immigrants coverage under the state’s health insurance exchange. Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed a law earlier this month requiring the state to apply for a waiver with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that would permit illegal immigrants to enroll on the exchange, called Covered California. ... The letter was signed by California Republicans Darrell Issa, Tom McClintock, Ken Calvert, Dana Rohrabacher, Duncan Hunter, Doug LaMalfa, Paul Cook, Ed Royce, and Mimi Walters. (McIntire, 6/29)

iNewsource: Many San Diego Hospitals Don’t Restrict Drug Industry Payments To Doctors
Doctors have accepted free meals, gifts, travel expenses and other payments from the drug and medical device industry for years. But because of concerns those payments might influence treatment decisions, the Affordable Care Act requires public disclosure. Now, investigative journalists with ProPublica have sorted the payments by each doctor’s primary hospital. Not only does the data show wide variation across the country, but the extent to which doctors accept those payments depends greatly on the hospital with which they’re affiliated. (Clark, 6/29)

The Desert Sun: Palm Springs Area Doctors Receive Money From Drug Makers
Doctors at the Coachella Valley's two largest hospitals were more likely than doctors at most other large California hospitals to receive money from drug and medical device makers, according to the first analysis of its kind. A study by the nonprofit journalism outfit ProPublica of payments reported to the federal government found that roughly 75 percent of doctors primarily affiliated with Desert Regional and Eisenhower hospitals and who accept Medicare took payments from outside companies in 2014. (Newkirk, 6/29)

Sacramento Bee: California Military And VA Projects Stung In Congress’ Zika Fight
California military and veterans’ facilities are hostage to the congressional partisanship that’s hung up emergency Zika funding. Naval Air Station Lemoore, in rural Kings County, seeks millions of dollars for an engine repair facility. At Travis Air Force Base in Solano County, officials await money for a fuel system. (Doyle, 6/29)

Los Angeles Times: Heart Disease And Cancer Are Responsible For Nearly Half Of All Deaths In The U.S., Report Says
What are the most common ways to die in America? The answer depends on how old you are, whether you’re a man or a woman, and your racial and ethnic background, a new report shows. Alzheimer’s disease accounted for 5% of deaths among U.S. women, for instance, but only 2.1% of deaths among men. Accidents and unintentional injuries caused 39.7% of deaths among people between the ages of 10 and 24, but only 7.4% of deaths for adults between the ages of 45 and 64. Diabetes was responsible for 4.3% of African American deaths and 2.7% of white deaths. (Kaplan, 6/29)

Los Angeles Times: Church Attendance Linked With Reduced Suicide Risk, Especially For Catholics, Study Says
Against a grim backdrop of rising suicide rates among American women, new research has revealed a blinding shaft of light: One group of women — practicing Catholics — appears to have bucked the national trend toward despair and self-harm. Compared with women who never participated in religious services, women who attended any religious service once a week or more were five times less likely to commit suicide between 1996 and 2010, says a study published Wednesday by JAMA Psychiatry. (Healy, 6/29)

San Jose Mercury News: Palo Alto-Based Kurbo Health Tackles Childhood Obesity
For Joanna Strober, the problem was clear -- her 11-year-old son needed to lose weight. His doctors kept telling her so, but the trouble was Strober, who didn't feed him fast food or bring soda into the house, didn't know exactly how to make that happen. And no one was helping her. So Strober launched Palo Alto-based Kurbo Health, an online and mobile weight loss program for children ages 7 to 18. Now more than two years old, the app has been used by more than 100,000 kids around the world to help them achieve a healthier weight, she says. (Kendall, 6/29)

LA Daily News: Program For African American Moms-To-Be Shut Down Amid Funding Cuts
The health and wellness of women and their newborns is at the heart of Black Infant Health, a state program enacted in California in 1989, when public health officials noticed a disparity in infant mortality among African Americans statewide. The Golden State’s overall infant mortality rate of 4.7 per 1,000 live births in 2013 was lower compared to the rate nationwide. “However, there were significant racial and ethnic disparities, with African American infants dying at rates twice as high as all other racial groups, except those who are two or more races,” according to the California Health Care Foundation. (Abram, 6/29)

In other news from across the state —

San Jose Mercury News: Menlo Park: Child Development Center Gets Big Lift Boost
A city-operated child development center in Menlo Park will get a big boost for its programs and three additional workers, thanks to a $256,500 grant from Silicon Valley Community Foundation. ... The funds will allow the center, which offers full-day child care at affordable rates for low-income working families, to hire a new full-time teacher's aide, a contracted office assistant and a contracted family engagement consultant, as well as staff laptops and other classroom supplies. The teacher's aide, according to the report, will be similar to the community policing officer for Belle Haven who is funded by Facebook, meaning that when the Big Lift grant terminates in August 2019 the city "will manage the loss." (Kelly, 6/30)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: Medical Group Audit Shows Billing Errors
An audit of a key medical group that treats patients at Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside found significant errors in the organization’s Medicare billing, but the group’s leader said the investigation is inaccurate. Tri-City has declined to provide a copy of the audit in recent weeks, asserting that the document is protected by attorney-client privilege and that its disclosure would not serve the public interest. (Sisson, 6/29)

Capital Public Radio: 600 Commercial Marijuana Farms Registered In Calaveras County
More than 600 growers have registered as commercial marijuana farms in Calaveras County. Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. is the deadline for growers to sign up and pay a $5,000 registration fee. Caz Tomaszewski, head of the Calaveras Cannabis Alliance, says this will bring the industry out of the shadows. (Capital Public Radio, 6/29)

Reuters: Zika Sex Research Begins Despite U.S. Congress Funding Impasse
It could take years to learn how long men infected with Zika are capable of sexually transmitting the virus, which can cause crippling birth defects and other serious neurological disorders. In the meantime, health officials have warned couples to refrain from unprotected sex for six months after a male partner is infected. The extraordinary recommendation, based on a single report of Zika surviving 62 days in semen, could affect millions. (6/30)

The Hill: Zika Vaccine Trials Could Halt Without New Funds, Official Says
A top U.S. health official says that advanced trials of a Zika vaccine would be hindered or even stopped completely if Congress does not approve more funding. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of infectious disease research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), said he hopes to start a phase II trial of a Zika vaccine in early 2017, but that the effort requires more money. (Sullivan, 6/29)

In other national health care news —

The Washington Post: FDA Raises Questions About ‘Data Gaps’ Regarding Safety, Effectiveness Of Hand Sanitizer
The colorful gels have become the front lines in our fight against germs. Antiseptic hand sanitizers in greens, blues and reds are now ubiquitous in schools, workplaces and hospitals. They are must-haves in moms' pocketbooks. And they have been distributed in West Africa to fight Ebola and in South Korea against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. Although these products were designed to be used when old-fashioned soap and water aren't available, many people use them multiple times a day even when a sink is nearby under the belief that they are killing more bacteria. (Cha, 6/29)

The Washington Post: Biden Threatens Funding Cuts For Researchers Who Don’t Report Clinical-Trial Data
An impatient Vice President Biden threatened Wednesday to cut funding to research facilities that fail to report clinical-trial results quickly enough and took a swipe at drug companies that jack up the prices of cancer drugs. At an all-day cancer summit he convened at Howard University in Washington, Biden showed flashes of anger as he expressed concern that many medical institutions that receive millions of dollars in government grants weren't reporting results to a publicly accessible database in a timely fashion. (McGinley, 6/29)

Bloomberg: There's Big Money Again In Saving Humanity With Antibiotics
Big Pharma is creeping back into development of new antibiotics after decades of largely ignoring the business due to the scant rewards offered by such medications. With the planet on the brink of losing its miracle cures for bacterial diseases, research incentives from governments are spurring drugmakers to renew efforts to fight antimicrobial resistance and replenish the arsenal of infection-fighting drugs. Giants such as Roche Holding AG and Merck & Co. are stepping up their efforts in the field while a host of startups seek partners to help market new products. (Gale and Fourcade, 6/30)

Politico: Why Lamar Alexander Wants A Deal On Obamacare
Sen. Lamar Alexander says he's more than happy to strike deals with Democrats — even on Obamacare. "Whoever the president is in January, we're going to have to take a good, hard look at Obamacare," the powerful chairman of the Senate HELP committee told POLITICO's "Pulse Check" podcast. "It can't continue the way it is." "I don't think Republicans can go another four years, whether we have a Republican president or not, and say just give us a couple more Republicans and we'll repeal Obamacare," he added. (Diamond, 6/29)

The Associated Press: HMO, EPO, PPO, OMG! How To Navigate Insurance Plans
Hunting for the right health insurance plan outside the workplace used to involve a much lower risk of losing hair — from tearing it out in frustration. If a shopper could get coverage, the chain of events was often straightforward: Pick a plan, see a doctor and then wait for the insurer to eat most of the bill for that visit. But rising health care costs and the Affordable Care Act are changing the health insurance market. (6/29)