The Associated Press: Democratic Attorneys General Fight Texas Health Care Lawsuit
Sixteen Democratic attorneys general pushed back Monday against a Texas lawsuit aimed at striking down former President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra led 14 other states and the District of Columbia in filing a motion to intervene in the Texas case and defend the law, suggesting the Trump administration wouldn't take such action. (4/9)

Los Angeles Times: California Seeks To Intervene To Defend Obamacare In Court
“It is an irresponsible action,” Becerra said of the Texas lawsuit. “It is a legally unsound action, and it is a dangerous action for millions of Americans who left the bad days of pre-existing conditions and the inability to get care for their children. ”The lawsuit by Texas challenges Obamacare as unconstitutional, arguing that because Congress has set the penalty for going without insurance at zero, it does not count as a tax. A 2012 Supreme Court decision had upheld the law as a tax. The motion to intervene by California, New York and other states argues that Texas’ lawsuit is legally insufficient and would cause chaos in the healthcare market. (McGreevy, 4/10)

The Associated Press: California Bill Would Create Health Care Price Controls
California's government would set prices for hospital stays, doctor visits and other health care services under legislation introduced Monday, vastly remaking the industry in a bid to lower health care costs. The proposal, which drew swift opposition from the health care industry, comes amid a fierce debate in California as activists on the left push aggressively for a system that would provide government-funded insurance for everyone in the state. (4/9)

California Healthline: California Aims To Tackle Health Care Prices In Novel Rate-Setting Proposal
Backed by labor and consumer groups, a California lawmaker unveiled a proposal Monday calling for the state to set health care prices in the commercial insurance market. Supporters of the legislation, called the Health Care Price Relief Act, say California has made major strides in expanding health insurance coverage, but recent changes haven’t addressed the cost increases squeezing too many families. (Terhune, 4/10)

Capital Public Radio: Should California Regulate Cost Of Health-Care Services? Proposed New Law Would Put State In Charge Of Pricing. 
Under the proposal, a nine-member commission appointed by the governor, the Senate pro tem and the Assembly speaker would be tasked with setting baseline rates for all health care services from stitches to major surgeries, whether they’re provided in clinics, hospitals or private practices. The rates would be built off of current Medicare service costs. (Caiola, 4/9)

The Washington Post: With $2 Million, Kaiser Permanente Wants To Help Revive Underfunded Gun-Violence Research
Kaiser Permanente announced Monday that it will begin studying gun violence — a long-ignored issue because of the political pressures surrounding firearms in this country — by investing $2 million in research that will involve doctors and other professionals across its hospitals and centers nationwide. Officials at the giant health system said they hope the move will encourage other systems to wade into this field of research, which has had lack of funding and data in the more than two decades since the federal government virtually abandoned such studies. (Wan, 4/9)

KPBS: San Diego's Flu Season Still Going Strong; Hepatitis A Outbreak Not Over
This flu season had a record 20,131 influenza cases and 326 deaths have been confirmed by San Diego's Health and Human Services Agency. ... According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this year’s flu vaccine has been around 35 percent effective. (Hoffman, 4/9)

In other public health news —

The Bakersfield Californian: Valley Fever Killed Nine, Infected More Than 2,900 In Kern County In 2017 
Valley fever, an insidious respiratory disease endemic to the region, killed nine people and infected 2,929 in Kern County in 2017, making it the second worst year for the disease since the county began recording cases in 1992, local public health officials announced Monday. ... The announcement of preliminary numbers marks the third straight year that cases have increased in Kern and statewide. Infections in Kern County generally make up about 30 percent of the state’s total cases. (Pierce, 4/9)

KPBS: What Happens To The Brain When It Becomes Addicted 
Scripps Research Institute professor Dr. Olivier George estimates that nearly 800,000 San Diego County residents have a substance-use disorder. And, he said, many don't realize it. (Ruth and Cavanaugh, 4/9)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Unveils New Budget, Emphasizing Homeless Services And Other Safety-Net Programs
Los Angeles County officials released a proposed $30.8-billion budget for the next fiscal year Monday, emphasizing the need to combat and prevent homelessness and to provide crucial safety-net services. "Of all of the issues confronting the county none is more urgent and complex than homelessness," Sachi Hamai, the county's chief executive, said at a news conference. (Agrawal, 4/9)

In other news from across the state —

The San Diego Union-Tribune: New Grossmont Clinic Aims To Take Pressure Off Region's Busiest ER 
A new care clinic across the street from Sharp Grossmont Hospital looks like any other modern medical office suite but, from a certain perspective, it’s actually a pressure-release valve for the county’s busiest emergency department. As East County’s only full-service hospital, Grossmont has long been the closest option for a wide swath of inland San Diego, drawing from La Mesa out to Lakeside and beyond. But many who come, noted Scott Evans, Grossmont’s chief executive, don’t technically have an emergency. (Sisson,4/9)

KPCC: SoCal's Allergy Season Is Never-Ending And Could Get Worse
Spring has arrived in Southern California, and a lot of people are looking forward to spending more time outdoors, frolicking through the majesty of the spring bloom. But for an estimated 30 percent of the population, spring means deliberating which drug ad features the most robust-looking people and the least intimidating list of quickly rattled-off side effects. (Paskin, 4/9)

Reuters: Trump Administration Issues Rule Further Watering Down Obamacare
The Trump administration took additional steps to weaken Obamacare on Monday, allowing U.S. states to relax the rules on what insurers must cover and giving states more power to regulate their individual insurance markets. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a final rule that allows states to select essential health benefits that must be covered by individual insurance plans sold under former President Barack Obama's healthcare law. The 2010 Affordable Care Act requires coverage of 10 benefits, including maternity and newborn care and prescription drugs. Under the new rule, states can select from a much larger list which benefits insurers must cover. (Abutaleb, 4/9)

The Washington Post: Trump Administration Rewrites ACA Insurance Rules To Give More Power To States
The rules add two broad exemptions from the ACA’s requirement that most consumers be insured. The change offers escape hatches that will be retroactive two years, even before a recent tax law ends the penalties completely starting in 2019. People living in areas where only one insurer is selling plans in the marketplace now can qualify for a “hardship exemption.” So can people who oppose abortion and live in places where the only available plan covers abortion services. Federal health officials and private researchers have shown that about half of U.S. counties have only one ACA insurer this year. (Goldstein, 4/9)

The Hill: Trump Officials Create New Exemptions To ObamaCare Mandate 
The administration is also stepping up eligibility checks to make sure people are supposed to receive financial assistance under the law. Officials said they worried some low-income people in states that have not expanded Medicaid were overestimating their income, so that it becomes over the poverty level, thereby qualifying them for tax credits to help afford premiums on the law’s private marketplaces. (Sullivan, 4/9)

The Associated Press: Abortion Objectors May Get A Pass On Health Law Penalty
Object to abortion? You may be able to get an exemption from the Affordable Care Act tax penalty for people who don't get health insurance. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced final rules Monday for the ACA's health insurance marketplaces, and expanded exemptions were part of the package. Last year's GOP tax bill repealed the health law's unpopular requirement to carry health insurance or risk fines from the IRS — but that doesn't happen until next year. (4/9)

The Wall Street Journal: ​Trump Administration Allows States To Narrow ACA Coverage
Democrats and some consumer groups denounced the rule as another effort by the administration to undermine the ACA. They have said that weakening the scope of the benefits offered in ACA plans will hurt consumers by reducing coverage. The new rule will “undermine protections for people with pre-existing conditions with a race-to-the-bottom approach that fundamentally undermines the Affordable Care Act’s essential health-benefit coverage guarantee,” said Brad Woodhouse, campaign director of Protect Our Care, a group that is an advocate for the ACA. (Armour, 4/9)

The New York Times: F.D.A. Restricts Sales Of Bayer’s Essure Contraceptive Implant
The Food and Drug Administration on Monday said it would require Bayer to restrict sales of its Essure birth control implant to medical practices like doctors’ offices that agree to fully inform women about the device’s risks. Since the implant became available 16 years ago, thousands of women have sued Bayer, Essure’s manufacturer, with many claiming they suffered severe injuries, including perforation of the uterus and the fallopian tubes from the metal implant. (Kaplan, 4/9)

The Associated Press: FDA Puts Restrictions On Birth Control Implant But No Recall
The Food and Drug Administration said only women who read and have the opportunity to sign a brochure about the risks of the device will be able to receive the implant made by Bayer. The checklist of risks must also be signed by the woman's doctor. The new requirement comes almost two years after the FDA added its strongest warning to Essure, citing problems reported with the nickel-titanium implant. The agency also ordered Bayer to conduct a study of the device's safety. (4/9)

The Washington Post: FDA Restricts Sale Of Essure Contraceptive Device, Requires That Women Be Informed Of Risks
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement that the agency was making the checklist mandatory because some women were not being adequately informed of Essure's risks “despite previous efforts to alert women to the potential complications ... That is simply unacceptable. Every single woman receiving this device should fully understand the associated risks.” (McGinley, 4/9)