Reuters: Molina Healthcare To Cut About 1,400 Jobs: Memo
Molina Healthcare, a health insurer that specializes in the Obamacare and Medicaid healthcare programs for low-income and poor people, plans to cut about 1,400 jobs in the next few months, according to an internal company memo reviewed by Reuters. (Humer, 7/24)

Modern Healthcare: Molina To Lay Off 10% Of Its Workforce
Medicaid health plan Molina Healthcare intends to lay off 1,400 employees, or 10% of its workforce, over the coming months to try to offset losses from its Obamacare exchange business, the company said in an internal memo to employees Monday. The cuts will be across-the-board, including senior leadership, interim CEO and Chief Financial Officer Joe White said in the memo. (Barkholz, 7/24)

Los Angeles Times: KKR's Internet Brands Plans To Buy WebMD In A $2.8-Billion Deal
WebMD has found a remedy for its volatile business: A $2.8-billion sale to El Segundo online media company Internet Brands. The Internet’s leading destination for information about rashes, coughs and other ailments has gone through mergers and sales multiple times since its founding in the late 1990s. But investors made a fresh case for a deal earlier this year, contending that being at the cross-section of healthcare and the Internet should be more valuable than what traders were paying for WebMD shares on the stock market. (Dave, 7/24)

The Associated Press: Family Of Brain-Dead California Girl Fights To Reverse Death
More than three years after a coroner declared a teenage girl dead, a Northern California judge is expected to soon decide whether to revoke her death certificate. (Elias, 7/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: Jahi McMath’s Family Wins Backing For Argument That She’s Alive
It’s been more than three years since 13-year-old Jahi McMath was declared dead after something went terribly wrong following throat surgery at Children’s Hospital Oakland. Her family has never accepted the declaration and has kept her on life support ever since — and in a new twist, a prominent neurologist says recent videos of the girl show she is alive, with a partially functioning brain. (Johnson, 7/24)

Los Angeles Times: Doctors And Drug Abuse: Why Addictions Can Be So Difficult
Allegations that Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito used methamphetamine and ecstasy while he was dean of USC’s medical school have opened a window into the pervasiveness of drug use and addiction among physicians and the challenges they face when confronting it. Experts say physicians become substance abusers at about the same rate as the general population. But they are often reluctant to seek treatment out of fear of losing their medical licenses and livelihoods. (Karlamangla, 7/24)

Orange County Register: How Good Or Bad Is Your Air? These Southern California Air Quality Maps Will Tell You 
Air quality in Southern California has improved a lot since 2000, but the fight against smog continues. This week the ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach announced their ambitious Clean Air Action Plan to cut down pollution from diesel engines. (Snibbe, 7/24)

The Mercury News: Why California's Most Polluting Vehicles Aren't Required To Get Smog Checks
As Gov. Jerry Brown and the mayors of Los Angeles and Long Beach promise an emissions-free future, some diesel fumes aren’t going anywhere. That’s because, unlike your car, there’s no routine emissions-testing program for big rigs in California. (Uranga, 7/24)

San Francisco Chronicle: SF May Ban Controversial Flame-Retardant Chemicals
San Francisco is on track to become the first city in the nation to ban flame-retardant chemicals from furniture and children’s products, a move scientists said could bring down cancer rates and save children from a variety of developmental problems. ...These chemicals migrate into dust, posing a danger to infants who crawl around on floors or people who eat at their computers. (Swan, 7/25)

Capital Public Radio: Got Milk? Breastfeeding Crucial For Gut Health, UC Davis Research Shows
Modern medicine strives to keep bad germs out of our systems, but sometimes it wipes out good bacteria, too. Scientists at UC Davis say breast milk could hold the key to a healthy bacterial balance. It all comes down to the gut microbiome - the community of microbes, fungi and viruses that live in our intestines. Some of these organisms cause disease, while others aid in digestion, immunity, and growth. New UC Davis research shows that babies who are breastfed start out with more diverse microbiomes, which protect them from obesity, allergies and other chronic diseases later in life. (Caiola, 7/21)

The Associated Press: Trump Tweets, McCain Return Set Stage for Health Bill Vote
President Donald Trump urged Republicans to "step up to the plate" for Tuesday's crucial Senate vote on their bill eviscerating much of the Obama health care law. The stage was set for high drama, with Sen. John McCain returning to the Capitol to cast his first vote since being diagnosed with brain cancer. No stranger to heroic episodes, the Navy pilot who persevered through five years of captivity during the Vietnam War announced through his office that he would be back in Washington for the critical roll call on beginning debate on the legislation. (7/25)

The Hill: McCain Returning To Senate In Time For Health Vote 
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will return to the Senate on Tuesday after being diagnosed with brain cancer, giving the GOP push to repeal and replace ObamaCare a boost of momentum. “Senator McCain looks forward to returning to the United States Senate tomorrow to continue working on important legislation, including health care reform, the National Defense Authorization Act, and new sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea," McCain's office said on Monday evening. (Carney, 7/24)

The Washington Post: McCain’s Return To Senate Injects Momentum Into GOP Health-Care Battle
McCain, who was recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, could provide a critical vote to open debate on the GOP bill. The senator had been recuperating from surgery and exploring treatment options in Arizona. McCain’s announcement came as some Senate GOP leaders expressed confidence in a newly emerging strategy of trying to pass smaller-scale changes to the Affordable Care Act, with an eye toward continuing negotiations into the fall. (Sullivan, Snell, O'Keefe and Wagner, 7/24)

Politico: McCain To Make Dramatic Return For Obamacare Vote
McConnell spent the day cajoling his members and meeting with Vice President Mike Pence to plot strategy. The majority leader was still short of the votes to even open debate, and Republicans still don't know what they'd be voting to allow debate on if they agree to go along with McConnell on the procedural vote. (Everett, Kim and Haberkorn, 7/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Urges GOP Senators To Overturn Affordable Care Act
Lawmakers typically vote with party leaders at least to begin debate on legislation, and failure to pass the motion would be a rebuke for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), who has argued that allowing debate to begin would give senators unhappy with the bill a chance to amend it. (Armour, Peterson and Radnofsky, 7/24)

The New York Times: Senate Braces For Health Showdown With McCain On Hand But A Plan Unclear
President Trump spent Monday ratcheting up pressure on Republican senators to get onboard. Mr. Trump criticized their inaction and warned that they risked betraying seven years’ worth of promises to raze and revamp the health law if they did not.“Remember ‘repeal and replace,’ ‘repeal and replace’ — they kept saying it over and over again,” Mr. Trump said at the White House, flanked by people who he said suffered as “victims” of the “horrible disaster known as Obamacare.” (Kaplan and Davis, 7/24)

Politico: Farenthold Blames 'Some Female Senators' For Obamacare Repeal Failure
Rep. Blake Farenthold on Monday blamed “some female senators from the Northeast” for hampering Republican efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, telling a local radio station that he might challenge them to a duel if the allegedly obstructive lawmakers were men. The Texas Republican’s remark appeared to be a reference to Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), both of whom have expressed some degree of hesitancy toward Senate Republicans’ specific plans to repeal and replace former President Barack Obama’s signature health care legislation. (Nelson, 7/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Democrats Accuse HHS Of Using Improper Tactics In Health-Law Battle
Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and his department have been publicly panning the Affordable Care Act. Democrats call the campaign an improper use of federal resources to undermine the health law. The disagreement amounts to a low-profile skirmish on health care unfolding in the shadows of the attention-grabbing battle playing out on Capitol Hill. If Republicans in Congress fail to enact a sweeping health-care overhaul, Dr. Price’s battle with Democrats will take on far greater importance as the primary arena for the partisan back-and-forth on health care. (Armour and Hackman, 7/24)