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SCOTUS declines to hear cases that would defund Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood will continue to receive Medicaid funding in Louisiana and Kansas after the Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear cases in which the states sought to stop the organization from participating in the program. The Supreme Court’s decision not to take up the case leaves intact lower court decisions that allowed Planned Parenthood to continue to receive Medicaid funding.

Kavanaugh and Roberts side with liberal justices. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch dissented from Monday’s decision not to hear the case, saying that they believed the court did not get involved because the issue of abortion was at play. “What explains the court’s refusal to do its job here? I suspect it has something to do with the fact that some respondents in these cases are named ‘Planned Parenthood,’” Thomas wrote. He argued that the court should have taken up the case in order to resolve the question over whether an individual can challenge state decisions regarding Medicaid. Four justices are needed to accept a case. The decision is the first major case involving abortion to come before a more conservative Supreme Court following the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Chief Justice John Roberts also sided with the liberal minority.

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Obama urges more people to sign up on the exchanges. “No jump shots. No ferns. No memes,” former President Barack Obama tweeted this morning. “Not this time. I’m going to give it to you straight: If you need health insurance for 2019, the deadline to get covered is December 15. Go to http://HealthCare.gov  today and pass this on — you just might save a life.” Obama’s message comes as enrollment is lagging behind with roughly a week left to enroll in coverage.

Health coalition releases ‘guiding principles’ on surprise medical billing. Nine organizations representing consumers, businesses, and health insurers released a list of “guiding principles” Monday, saying they supported the passage of legislation to end surprise medical bills. Patients shouldn’t be charged when they are care for by a doctor or hospital that is outside of their network, and providers should tell patients when this happens, the groups said. Surprise medical billing has been receiving more attention in the Senate, where the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee has been holding hearings to draw attention to it. When patients are cared for by a medical provider who isn’t under their insurance plan, they receive an unexpected bill in the mail months later and must front the costs themselves. About 1 in 10 adults with health insurance said they have received such a bill, according to a recent poll from Kaiser Family Foundation. The groups that released the principles were America’s Health Insurance Plans, American Benefits Council, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Consumers Union, The ERISA Industry Committee, Families USA, National Association of Health Underwriters, National Business Group on Health, and the National Retail Federation.

House Democrats demand answers in anti-Obamacare lawsuit. House Democrats asked the Trump administration in a letter to explain its decision not to defend Obamacare in the Texas v. Azar lawsuit. A decision is expected on the case any day, and the administration has sided with Republican state officials in the suit who said that because the individual mandate is being zeroed out then the rest of the law must fall. The administration has asked for portions dictating rules on pre-existing conditions to be thrown out. “In declining to defend these provisions, the Trump Administration is seeking to invalidate these critical patient protections, and once again subject millions of Americans with preexisting conditions to the discrimination they faced before the ACA,” lawmakers wrote in their letter. The group of lawmakers had originally asked for a response in June but they said the reply they received was not satisfactory. In it, the Trump administration said it couldn’t comment on pending litigation. “There is no legal basis to withhold information from Congress on the basis of the pendency of an ongoing lawsuit,” the lawmakers wrote.

House Democrats will set the agenda for the party’s 2020 presidential contenders. What House Democrats pass in the next two years of their majority will shape the party’s 2020 message and challenge the Democrats running for the White House to get in line with their legislative program. With their new majority, House Democrats will take center stage, pushing bills that serve as symbolic messages to the electorate about what the agenda should be. Give them the reins and they’ll pass universal gun background checks, a Medicare buy-in, Medicare for All, a clean Dream Act and more, depending on the size of their majorities. The leftward shift of the party is evident in the growing ranks of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, whose leaders boasted of their new additions the day after the election and immediately put Democratic leaders on notice. Though the number of centrists increased as well, they’ve stayed relatively quiet as newly elected liberals have ruled the airwaves — tweeting about their legislative wishlists, demanding more seats at the leadership table, and joining climate change and healthcare protests in lieu of regularly scheduled orientation meetings.

NPR Poll: Younger adults most likely to delay medical care. A third of adults under age 35 said that they delayed getting medical care because of cost, according to an NPR-IBM Watson Health poll. About 1 in 5 of those surveyed, of all ages, had postponed, delayed, or canceled some kind of medical care because of cost. Among people who were 65 and older, 8 percent delayed care because of cost. The survey took place in July and queried more than 3,000 households.

How New Mexico might create a Medicaid buy-in. The options range from going through Obamacare’s 1332 waivers to not needing federal approval at all. The New Mexico legislature commissioned a study on how they might go about implementing a plan. Manatt Health, Health Action New Mexico, New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, Partnership for Community Action, and Strong Families New Mexico wrote a report outlining four different Medicaid buy-in scenarios. Options included offering Medicaid on the Obamacare exchanges, or targeting specific groups who aren’t eligible for Medicaid now and subsidizing them. An alternative scenario is offering Medicaid to anyone who is not Medicare-eligible, or extending it to people making up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The groups noted that providers consider the Medicaid reimbursement to be inadequate, that poor access to care is persistent among Native American communities in the state, and that people who are eligible for Medicaid now are still uninsured.

Woman alleges NYPD officers handcuffed her to hospital bed while in labor. Police took a pregnant woman who went into labor while in detention at a Bronx holding cell to a hospital where they shackled her to a hospital bed, a lawsuit alleges. The woman, 27, went into labor when she was 40 weeks pregnant. Police had detained her due to a custody issue. She was subsequently taken to Montefiore Medical Center, where she was cuffed to the bed by police officers at her ankles and wrists. Although police officers were warned that it was illegal to cuff a pregnant woman in New York, the officers dismissed doctors’ concerns and said that department’s Patrol Guide superseded state law and required the restraining the woman, identified as Jane Doe in the lawsuit. The issue has been bubbling up nationally in recent months. The House in May passed the First Step Act, which would prevent pregnant women from being handcuffed in federal prison. The Senate has yet to approve the proposal.

Babies affected by opioids can be born with smaller heads. Babies born to women who took opioids while they were in the womb have a higher likelihood of having smaller heads, according to a study out Monday in the journal Pediatrics. The latest study adds to a small body of research on the condition, known as neonatal abstinence syndrome, which is not well understood. Being born with a smaller head causes other neurological issues later in life. Researchers looked at 858 infants for the study, half of whom had NAS and half who did not. Thirty percent of those with NAS had smaller heads. Most were born to women who were taking methadone or buprenorphine, which are treatments for addiction.

Information about the New Mexico buy-in has been corrected.

RUNDOWN

Politico Establishment looks to crush liberals on Medicare for all
NBC News ‘Kids are falling off’: Why fewer children have health insurance now

Washington Post More salt and less whole grain allowed in Trump administration’s new school lunch nutrition rule

The Mercury News Kaiser strike: Mental health workers to picket over staffing, benefits

Bloomberg Millions of Americans could face surprise emergency room bills in January

Science Trump administration has quietly barred NIH scientists from acquiring fetal tissue

Wall Street Journal Roche executive Daniel O’Day is named Gilead CEO

Forbes UnitedHealth Group expands army of navigators