Axios

The federal and state response to the escalating monkeypox outbreak is lacking access to enough vaccines, testing and treatments to keep up with the virus' spread, infectious disease experts are warning.

Why it matters: Public health officials are racing to halt the spread before the disease becomes endemic in more countries. Cases are rising quickly — New York City, for example, has seen a tripling in patients over the past week.

Editor's note: Due to an editing and transcript error, the headline, photos, url and article have been corrected to note that the proposed bill and quotes are from Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) to Axios' Alayna Treene.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is set to introduce legislation that would create a government website providing access to family planning services, along with information for pregnant women, she told Axios' Alayna Treene at an event Thursday.

Why it matters: The legislation is aimed "especially in places and states that are going to ban abortion" in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Mace said.

Texas state officials on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration to challenge its recent guidance telling health providers that they can perform abortions in emergency cases and be protected under federal law, despite the bans in their states.

Driving the news: While current bans on abortion offer exceptions for certain medical emergencies, health providers have faced questions determining what qualifies as an emergency under a state ban.

New hospital admissions of patients with COVID-19 are on the rise in the U.S., topping 31,000 over a seven-day average ending July 11, CDC data shows.

Why it matters: We don't know how many cases are individuals admitted for COVID versus those hospitalized for other conditions who happen to have COVID. But with many COVID cases being detected through home testing, experts have increasingly pointed to hospitalizations as an important metric for understanding what's happening at a community level, Insider reports.

Nearly 20 Senate Democrats are urging President Biden to "immediately" declare a public health emergency on abortion following the Supreme Court's ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.

Driving the news: "Millions of American women have been endangered by the Supreme Court’s reckless decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and eliminate the constitutional right to an abortion," the senators, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), wrote in the letter.

After weathering the pandemic with federal COVID aid, rural hospitals are facing a convergence of challenges that could leave many facilities deep in the red and at risk of closing as soon as the end of this year.

Why it matters: Hospitals are among the biggest employers in rural communities and the only health providers in large swaths of the country. But they've been operating on the edge for years, tending to older, sicker patients who often can't afford care.

The Biden administration says powers under the Affordable Care Act can clear up any uncertainty about whether states with abortion bans can influence what medicines pharmacists dispense. But it may not be so straightforward.

Driving the news: The Department of Health and Human Services released guidance on Wednesday to clarify that pharmacies that receive federal funding cannot deny people from accessing prescribed medication that could be used to terminate a pregnancy because doing so runs afoul of anti-discrimination provisions in the ACA.

Congressional Democrats see government drug price negotiations as a core part of a reconciliation bill — but one key swing lawmaker suggested Wednesday that piece could wind up being an end in itself.

What happened: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) reiterated concern about big spending initiatives worsening inflation on a day the Consumer Price Index hit another four-decade high.

The FDA said it has issued warnings to two manufacturers for marketing synthetic vaping products without authorization and sent 107 other warning letters to retailers for illegally selling such products to underage buyers in recent days.

Driving the news: The Food and Drug Administration has moved to crack down on vaping companies that use non-tobacco nicotine products since a law designed to close a loophole that companies had exploited to avoid oversight of devices like e-cigarettes took effect in April.

The House passed a bill on Wednesday to expand health care access for veterans who became ill after being exposed to toxic burn pits while serving in the military.

Driving the news: The bill, which passed 342 votes to 88, would make it easier for more than 3.5 million veterans exposed to toxic burn pits since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to obtain health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs, per a statement from House Veterans' Affairs Chair Mark Takano (D-Calif.).

Our house plants don't just look nice. They make us happier and healthier.

Why it matters: Many of our jobs keep us indoors — away from nature — and the pandemic magnified that problem. But it turns out being around nature is essential to health.