Axios

House Democrats on Tuesday proposed an emergency funding bill that would give the Food and Drug Administration $28 million to address the nationwide baby formula shortage.

Why it matters: The bill intends to give the FDA funds to increase its staff to help inspect baby formula before it arrives on grocery store shelves and to prepare for potential future shortages.

A Michigan court has temporarily blocked a currently unenforced 1931 state law that banned abortion in the state, Planned Parenthood of Michigan announced on Tuesday.

The big picture: While it is unlikely that the law would immediately take effect if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, abortion rights advocates worried that the absence of the precedent could open a legal path for the ban to be brought back.

About two years after the U.S. confirmed its first COVID case, more than 1 million people in the nation have now died from the coronavirus, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University that posted on Tuesday.

The big picture: The gruesome milestone comes three months after the U.S. topped 900,000 COVID deaths. The coronavirus has killed people in the U.S. at higher rates than in other affluent countries, the New York Times reports.

Giving Americans over 60 access to Medicare would add about 7.3 million people to the program's rolls and swell the budget deficit by $155 billion over a five-year period, the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation project said in a new analysis.

Why it matters: While it's a popular idea with voters, the big price tag illustrates why Medicare expansion isn't gaining centrist support and remains a legislative long shot.

The availability of Spanish-language mental health services is shrinking even as the U.S. Latino population continues to grow, according to a recent study.

Why it matters: Spanish is the second-most spoken language in the U.S., and the number of Latinos who speak Spanish at home has grown from 24.6 million in 2000 to 39.1 million in 2019, according to the Pew Research Center.

Drug-related deaths among adults 65 and older doubled over the course of a decade, with overdoses and misuse of prescription medications from 2018 to 2020 weighing hardest on Black communities, a new report from UnitedHealth Group finds.

Why it matters: While adolescents and young adults have received much of the attention as U.S. overdose deaths hit new records, seniors have posted the largest increase in intentional and unintentional deaths compared with other age groups 15 and older, according to the report.

It's been over a year and a half since the first COVID-19 vaccines were administered in the U.S. In the months since, vaccine eligibility has changed, additional doses have been recommended and more shots have been delivered.

The big picture: An initial two-shot series is considered "fully vaccinated," but boosters are recommended for many age groups to be considered "up to date." Here's the latest on which type of COVID vaccine you're eligible to get and when.

Employers and private insurance plans in 2020 paid hospitals 224% of what Medicare paid for the same services, with rates for inpatient and outpatient care varying widely from site to site, a new report from RAND finds.

The intrigue: The report found that hospital prices had no significant correlation with hospitals' share of Medicare and Medicaid patients, which hospitals say factor into private rates. Price did positively correlate with hospital market share.

Editor's note: Read here for the latest on the program.

Americans can now order up to eight additional free coronavirus tests from the government online.

Driving the news: COVID-19 cases and even deaths are ticking back up in many parts of the country.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized the first non-prescription COVID-19 test that can also detect the flu and RSV, the agency announced on Monday.

Driving the news: In addition to COVID-19, the test can detect other respiratory viruses, including influenza A and B, commonly known as the flu, and respiratory syncytial virus, also known as RSV.

Abbott Nutrition said Monday it has reached an agreement with the Food and Drug Administration to reopen its infant formula plant, paving the way for increased baby formula supply amid the ongoing shortage.

Why it matters: The U.S. has faced a massive baby formula shortage because of supply chain issues compounded by the closure of Abbott's facility in Sturgis, Michigan due to an FDA recall. Reopening the facility means more baby formula could hit store shelves soon.

NIAID director Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that he would not return to his current position if former President Donald Trump were re-elected for a second term.

The big picture: Trump has teased another run for president in 2024, but has yet to officially announce a campaign.

Vaccines could have prevented roughly 319,000 COVID-19 deaths between January 2021 and last month, according to a new analysis from researchers at Brown School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Microsoft AI for Health.

In other words: At least every second person who died from COVID-19 since vaccines became available might have been saved by getting the vaccines, they said.

The blood test used to detect prostate cancer may be more effective at preventing deaths — particularly among Black men — than previously thought, according to a study in NEJM Evidence.

Why it matters: Prostate cancer has one of the most pronounced disparities by race of any cancer, and Black men have historically been underrepresented in trials despite having double the risk of dying from it, the authors write.

Officials at Novavax say they're confident their COVID-19 vaccine will receive an emergency use authorization from the FDA early next month, CNBC reports.

Why it matters: The Maryland company received $1.6 billion from the federal government to speed the development of the shots early during the pandemic but has yet to make it to the U.S. market.

The Biden administration is expected to signal this week whether it's ready to end the COVID-19 public health emergency — which would affect a host of health care policies, including vaccines for kids.

Why it matters: Ending the emergency would allow a president who campaigned on ending the pandemic to declare victory over the virus. But the complex series of policy changes — and the continued threat of more COVID waves — could leave the government ill-prepared for whatever comes next.