Worth your time

At the direction of Seema Verma, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has paid top dollar for an array of Republican-aligned communications consultants to bolster coverage of the agency's work. This Politico story has raised questions about the agency's stewardship of taxpayer money and has led Democrats on Capitol Hill to call for an investigation. — Lev Facher

STAT has a fascinating look at a New York county executive’s seemingly unprecedented decision to ban unvaccinated children from enclosed public spaces like schools and synagogues in the face of a massive outbreak of measles concentrated in an Orthodox Jewish community. — Erin Mershon

Kaiser Health News has an interesting look at how patients with chronic conditions are often forced to pay hundreds in drug costs, even after they’ve reached so called “catastrophic coverage” where the government picks up most of the tab. — Nicholas Florko