Axios

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it's using whole genome testing and on-the-ground investigation to try to determine why the current E. coli outbreak from romaine lettuce is more virulent than normal — about half of all people affected have been hospitalized .

Kevin Counihan, a former Obama administration official who oversaw the HealthCare.gov marketplace and now is an executive at health insurer Centene, told Wall Street investors during Centene's first-quarter earnings call that the Affordable Care Act's requirement to purchase health insurance wasn't really effective.

"When I was at [the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services], I never really thought the individual mandate was all that powerful, and I'll tell you why. Because number one, the dollar value for the penalty was not that significant, particularly compared to premium. And number two is, there were so many opportunities for people to appeal."

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services unveiled its annual regulation that will, among other things, raise Medicare payments to the nation's hospitals by $4 billion in 2019.

Why it matters: The $4 billion increase is a sizable proposed raise from the $2.4 billion hospitals got for this year. The 1,883-page rule also proposes several policies, including requiring hospitals to publish inpatient charges online and reimbursing cancer hospitals for new breakthrough treatments.

Go deeper: Read the rule

The populous Miami-Dade County has joined the hundreds of other cities, counties and Native American tribes that are suing opioid manufacturers and drug distributors over their roles in the country's opioid epidemic.

What's next: All of these lawsuits have been consolidated before a federal judge in Cleveland, Dan Polster. He previously said he hopes to strike a settlement before the case begins, and the U.S. Department of Justice wants to help with those discussions.