Axios

Officials are trying — and failing — to squelch a simmering Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the death toll passed 1,000 on Friday. The outbreak has been taking place for nearly a year.

Why it matters: The longer this outbreak goes on, the greater the likelihood of it spreading to highly populated areas within the DRC, moving beyond the country to neighboring areas or becoming endemic to the sprawling country. It is already the second-largest outbreak of the highly lethal and contagious virus on record, and officials from the World Health Organization issued new warnings Monday that they do not have the money or the security resources to fight it.

A jury yesterday found John Kapoor, the founder and former CEO of Insys Therapeutics, and 4 other executives guilty of a scheme that involved bribing doctors to prescribe the company's powerful opioid, Subsys, for patients who didn't need it and tricking health insurers to pay for it, Reuters reports.

Why it matters: This trial was a high-profile affair that many people viewed as a referendum on Big Pharma's role in the national opioid crisis.

A jury has found John Kapoor, the founder and former CEO of Insys Therapeutics, and 4 other executives guilty of a scheme that involved bribing doctors to prescribe the company's powerful opioid, Subsys, for patients who didn't need it and tricking health insurers to pay for it, Reuters reports.

Why it matters: This trial was a high-profile affair that many people viewed as a referendum on Big Pharma's role in the national opioid crisis. Other major makers of painkillers, including Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson, also are facing potential trials.

2020 Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg's campaign walked back an initial statement Wednesday that he believes personal/religious exemptions should be allowed except during a public health emergency, with a campaign spokesperson telling CNN:

"Pete believes vaccines are safe and effective and are necessary to maintaining public health. There is no evidence that vaccines are unsafe, and he believes children should be immunized to protect their health. He is aware that in most states the law provides for some kinds of exemptions. He believes only medical exemptions should be allowed."

One vote prevented Medicaid expansion from moving forward yesterday in the Kansas state Senate, the Kansas City Star reports.

The big picture: Expansion has been a huge priority for newly-elected Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat. Still, flipping a governor's seat from red to blue isn't always enough to move Medicaid expansion forward.

Some states have stopped paying for public retirees' health care benefits in response to rising health care costs and squeezed budgets, the Wall Street Journal reports.

By the numbers: There's about a $600 billion gap between what states have promised retirees — mostly in health benefits — and what they have actually saved up, according to government data compiled by Eaton Vance Corp.

The Trump administration has laid out its full argument for why a federal appeals court should invalidate the entire Affordable Care Act — and it's a doozy.

The big picture: It comes down to "severability," and severability comes down to congressional intent. The thinking goes: if the ACA's individual mandate is unconstitutional — which is not a given — can other parts of the law function the way Congress intended?