Sacramento Bee: Soaring Drug Prices Prompt CA Bills To Control Costs 
From presidential campaign promises to congressional hearings on the price of EpiPens, 2016 was the year that public anger over the rising cost of prescription drugs boiled into a national outrage. California lawmakers responded this session with a half-dozen measures targeting players across the complex supply chain that brings medications to patients and determines what they pay. To tackle what those legislators say is a problem of drug affordability, however, they’ll first have to agree on who is to blame. (Koseff, 5/29)

In other news from Sacramento —

Sacramento Bee: Paid Maternity Leave For Teachers In California Bill
California public school employees would be fully paid for at least six weeks during their maternity leave under a bill moving through the California Legislature. In a move that would apply to those working for school districts and community colleges, pregnant certificated, academic and classified employees would not need to spend their accrued leave to compensate for those days. The measure passed the state Assembly on Monday and will next be considered in the state Senate. (Ko, 5/26)

Fresno Bee: Proposed California Dialysis Clinic Bill Advances 
Clinics that provide dialysis for people with diabetes and others with end-stage kidney disease in the central San Joaquin Valley and statewide could be required to have more staffing and be inspected annually if a bill in the California Legislature becomes law. The legislation, which would also require a set amount of time for cleaning equipment between patients, moved out of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday. It has to be approved on the floor of the state Senate by next Friday to move to the Assembly. (Anderson, 5/28)

KPCC: Bill Aims To Train Daycare Workers To Care For Traumatized Foster Kids 
The California legislature is considering a bill that would train childcare providers in how to better take care of children who've been traumatized. Nearly 20 percent of Los Angeles County’s children have experienced at least two traumatic events, including abuse, neglect, or poverty. And that number spikes when you're talking about kids in foster care. (Petrie, 5/26)

Los Angeles Times: The Effort To Make Tampons Tax Free In California Has Been Delayed Until 2018
Legislation to eliminate California sales taxes on the purchase of tampons was delayed Friday by the Assembly's fiscal committee until 2018, a blow to advocates who say the tax is an unfair burden on low-income women and families. The delay imposed on AB 9 is the second setback this month for efforts to eliminate taxes on products for women and children. A separate bill that included a tax-free provision for diapers was killed in a legislative committee on May 8. (Myers, 5/26)

The Mercury News: California Single-Payer Bill Puts Dems In Tough Position
A sweeping proposal to replace private medical insurance in California with a single, government-run health care system has suddenly taken on sharp political edges for Democrats, threatening party unity even as it promises to mobilize voters on the left. Supporters say “single-payer” proposals like Senate Bill 562, which the state Senate could vote on this week, are becoming a hard-and-fast litmus test for Democrats in California, and perhaps nationally — despite the long odds of one state going it alone with a top-to-bottom health care overhaul. (Murphy, 5/27)

KPCC: California Set To Vote On Single-Payer Health 
As the Republicans in Congress work on a bill to replace Obamacare, California lawmakers are considering a radical move in the other direction. The state senate is set to vote on a bill that would create a so-called "single payer" health care system for California. The bill the senate will vote on this week would cut out insurance companies and put the state in charge of paying for all health care. (Faust, 5/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Court Documents Shed Light On Theranos Board’s Response To Crisis
Two former Theranos Inc. directors said they didn’t follow up on public allegations that the Silicon Valley blood-testing firm was relying on standard technology rather than its much-hyped proprietary device for most tests, according to newly released court documents. In depositions, the highly decorated former directors—former U.S. Navy Adm. Gary Roughead and former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz —who were board members when concerns of employees and regulators became public—said they didn’t question Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes about the matter. (Weaver, 5/30)

Ventura County Star: No Place To Go: Hospitals Struggle In Discharging Homeless Patients
The homeless man came in a taxi, carrying hospital discharge papers suggesting possible medical needs staff at an Oxnard shelter said they couldn't meet. Another patient without a home was kept in St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard for 182 days until hospital employees found a center that could provide follow-up care. ... Hospitals everywhere struggle with the same problem: Finding a place to send patients who are well enough to be discharged but have no place to complete their recovery. In Ventura County, the issue has triggered concern from homeless shelters and hospitals and is now spawning a 12-bed recuperative care center set to open July 1 at the Salvation Army in downtown Ventura. (Kisken, 5/26)

KPCC: New Genetic Test Could Slow Growth Of Antibiotic-Resistant Gonorrhea 
A UCLA professor says he has created a genetic test that can determine which gonorrhea patients can be treated with an antibiotic that has fallen out of favor, an innovation that could help slow the spread of resistance to a medication that is commonly used to treat the disease. The test was developed by Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, who teaches medicine and public health at UCLA. (Plevin, 5/29)

In other public health news —

Los Angeles Times: Can Virtual Reality Reduce High Blood Pressure At A Church In South L.A.? 
Now he’s collaborating with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to try to reduce high blood pressure in the community. The project has enrolled many of his congregants at Holman United Methodist Church and uses everything in the public health toolbox, including weekly dinners and classes, fitness trackers, nurse check-ins and even virtual reality. African Americans suffer from high rates of hypertension, which makes them much more likely to have strokes or heart attacks. (Karlamangla, 5/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: Some Answers About Injection Drug Use By Homeless
The in-your-face injection drug use that pervades downtown San Francisco these days, and the thousands of dirty syringes dangerously discarded on the streets, are downright confusing to average residents, if my email in-box is any indication. (Knight, 5/30)

San Francisco Chronicle: Meatless, Tasty And Genetically Modified: A Healthy Debate 
To those steeped in the natural-food movement, the acronym GMO — for genetically modified organisms — has traditionally been almost as taboo as a plate of braised veal. However, that view could be changing as a new generation of Bay Area entrepreneurs upends the alternative meat and dairy industry, using biotechnology to create vegetarian foods that taste more like meat and promise ecological advantages to boot. (Duggan, 5/29)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento State Lab Employees Say Their Jobs Are Making Them Sick 
A chemical spill at Sacramento State last year has led to questions about whether the university is putting its lab workers at risk from exposure to hazardous substances. Some lab employees say they work in areas so poorly ventilated that acidic fumes corrode metal and rubber, and two workers claim that exposure to these substances and others may have led to their inability to have children. (Lambert, 5/28)

Los Angeles Times: Here’s What Happens When You Defund Planned Parenthood
It was Aubrey Reinhardt’s last year at Texas Tech University. So when things started getting serious with her boyfriend, she decided it was time to look into birth control. Reinhardt knew that abortion foes had been trying to strip Planned Parenthood of every penny it receives from government sources. But until that moment two years ago, Reinhardt recalled, she didn’t appreciate what that could mean for a person like her who just needed somewhere to go for affordable contraception — without feeling she was being judged. (Zavis, 5/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Health-Care Groups Weigh Involvement In GOP Overhaul Push
Health-care groups that vocally opposed the House Republicans’ health plan are now split on the best path forward in the Senate: Should they work with lawmakers to shape a measure or simply try to kill it? As House Republicans pushed through legislation toppling large portions of the Affordable Care Act, groups representing hospitals, doctors, consumers and some insurers made no secret of their displeasure. Largely shut out of the talks, they actively opposed the bill, firing off angry letters and in some cases airing ads aimed at vulnerable House Republicans. (Hackman, 5/28)

The Associated Press: McConnell Faces A Challenge Passing Health Care In Senate
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell faces a challenge in resolving the clashing demands of GOP senators on a health care replacement bill. Lawmakers have mixed feelings about Medicaid funding, with decisions that could throw millions into the ranks of the uninsured, and rising premium costs for some. Many conservatives are eager to cut costs, especially on Medicaid. (Fram, 5/30)

The Hill: GOP Leader Tempers ObamaCare Expectations 
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is tempering expectations that the Senate will pass an overhaul of the nation’s healthcare system, promising his colleagues a vote but not success. McConnell in his public comments and private conversations about the ObamaCare repeal and replace bill is painting a more sober picture than Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who in March guaranteed passage through the House. (Bolton, 5/29)

The Associated Press: Newly Insured Fret Over Gains Made Under US Health Care Law
Dawn Erin went nearly 20 years without health insurance before the Affordable Care Act, bouncing between free clinics for frequent and painful bladder infections. The liver-destroying disease hepatitis C made her ineligible for coverage until President Barack Obama's law barred insurers from denying people with a medical condition. She has since seen a specialist who helped get her bladder infections under control, and her insurance covered about $70,000 in prescription drugs to treat hepatitis C. "I don't want to go back to the old way of doing things, worrying if I'm going to have the money to get my bladder infection treated," said the 46-year-old self-employed massage therapist from Austin, Texas. (5/28)

The New York Times: Trump’s Proposed Budget Cuts Trouble Bioterrorism Experts
President Trump has promoted his first budget proposal as placing one mission above all else — keeping America safe. But the president has drawn a narrow definition of national security, and one aspect of defense would actually receive less money: protecting the nation from deadly pathogens, man-made or natural. To help offset a 10 percent increase in military spending, much of the government would take serious hits, including agencies tasked with biosecurity. (Baumgaertner, 5/28)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Biomedical Research Would Be Hit By Trump's Proposed Budget
Despite some good aspects, President Trump's proposed 2018 budget includes cuts in biomedical programs that would cripple life science research and industry, experts say. "It's a horrendous proposal," said Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist-geneticist with Scripps Health in San Diego. "Every way you look at it, it spells trouble." The proposed cuts also would come at a time when biomedical research has become extraordinarily productive in finding new treatments and insights into human health, Topol said. (Fikes, 5/26)

The Associated Press: Trump Budget Draws Ire, Concern From Minority Communities
Advocates for minority communities say the budget proposed by President Donald Trump will hit them hard if it's adopted. Trump's spending plan for the budget year beginning Oct. 1 generally makes deep cuts in safety-net programs. Those include Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program and Social Security's disability program. The White House says its budget would put the country back on track for a healthy economy. (5/29)

Stat: Trump Tweet On Health Care Spending At Odds With White House Budget
President Trump urged spending more on health care, in a tweet Sunday night —  to “make it the best anywhere” — even as his administration’s budget proposal last week called for broad cuts to health programs, including Medicaid, public health, and medical research funding. It’s unclear what, if anything, Trump’s tweet means for his administration’s spending priorities. The White House declined to elaborate. The president also wrote that “Obamacare is dead — the Republicans will do much better!” (Gil, 5/29)

The Washington Post: Trump Calls For More Spending On Health Care So It’s ‘The Best Anywhere,’ But He Just Proposed Big Cuts
President Trump on Sunday evening called for more spending on health care and said his plan to overhaul the tax code “is actually ahead of schedule” — two statements that are at odds with the budget proposal he unveiled just last week. The statements came as part of a blizzard of Twitter posts the president made after he returned from his first foreign trip. (Paletta, 5/28)

The New York Times: White House Acts To Roll Back Birth-Control Mandate For Religious Employers
Federal officials, following through on a pledge by President Trump, have drafted a rule to roll back a federal requirement that many religious employers provide birth control coverage in health insurance plans. The mandate for free contraceptive coverage was one of the most hotly contested Obama administration policies adopted under the Affordable Care Act, and it generated scores of lawsuits by employers that had religious objections to it. (Pear, 5/29)

The Hill: Senate Dems Urge White House Not To Roll Back Free Birth Control Rule 
Senate Democrats are warning the Trump administration not to roll back ObamaCare rules requiring free birth control for women. A Thursday letter, led by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), points to a forthcoming regulation currently under review at the White House that could change the ObamaCare requirements. Under ObamaCare, regulations currently require contraception to be offered at no cost to the patient, but the rules have drawn objections on religious grounds. (Sullivan, 5/26)