Trending News Today: GOP Senators Drop ACA Repeal Effort

Officials in California are working to contain an outbreak of hepatitis A among homeless residents and injection drug users, according to California Healthline. The outbreak—which has hospitalized hundreds and killed at least 17 individuals in San Diego—is likely the result of limited access to restrooms and sinks. Officials have reported that it is rare that hepatitis A spreads rampantly when it is not associated with a common source, which resulted in a slower than usual response, according to the article.

Yesterday, GOP senators abandoned their last effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) due to a shortage of votes, ABC News reported. Although the senators who crafted the bill plan to try again, the ACA will remain in place for the time being. The GOP’s new priority is to reform the tax code, which they say has many loopholes, according to the article.

The CEO of insurance giant Kaiser Permanente, Bernard Tyson, said that a bipartisan approach to reforming healthcare is the best path forward, NPR reported. Tyson also told NPR that implementing federal standards for preventive care, maternity care, and hospitalization would bring some insurers back to the individual marketplace. In addition to federal standards, flexibility on how to allocate funding for healthcare may be able to adequately address problems that affect states differently, such as the opioid epidemic, according to the article.