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The owner of seven Louisiana nursing homes who sent more than 800 of his elderly residents to a crowded, ill-equipped warehouse to ride out Hurricane Ida last year was arrested Wednesday on fraud and cruelty charges arising from the squalid conditions. Bob Glynn Dean Jr., 68, had already lost state licenses and federal funding for crowding his residents into a facility in the town of Independence, roughly 70 miles (110 kilometers) northwest of New Orleans. There, authorities said they found ill and elderly bedridden people on mattresses on the wet floor, some crying for help, some lying in their own waste. Some had arrived without their medicine, according to one doctor. Civil suits against Dean’s corporation said the ceiling leaked, toilets overflowed at the sweltering warehouse and there was too little food and water. (McGill, 6/22)

Maine unnecessarily institutionalizes youths with mental health and developmental disabilities because of a lack of sufficient community-based services that would allow them to stay in their homes, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday in declaring a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Justice Department conducted its investigation after advocacy group Disability Rights Maine filed a complaint on behalf of a group of children. The rights organization said the children were not able to access community-based services, resulting in institutionalization or risk of institutionalization that violated the ADA. (Whittle, 6/22)

Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said his office is finalizing a legal framework for going after the manufacturers of the so-called forever chemicals. The attorney general’s office began last fall soliciting bids from law firms willing to help represent the state in legal cases against the chemical companies that make PFAS. Used for decades in consumer products, some varieties of PFAS — short for per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances — have been linked to health concerns. And there are a growing number of PFAS hotspots popping up around the state, many of which have been linked to contaminated municipal sludge or industrial waste that was spread on farm fields as fertilizer. (Miller, 6/22)

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday signed a bill (HB 357) that will lead to increased oversight of pharmacy benefit managers, which serve as sort of middlemen between health insurers and pharmacies. The bill, in part, will give the Office of Insurance Regulation more authority over pharmacy benefit managers. Small pharmacies have long complained about pharmacy benefit managers, which represent health insurers in negotiations with drug companies and pharmacies. (6/22)

On Wednesday morning, a group of advocates who’ve been working to persuade the General Assembly to expand the state’s Medicaid program started their day with a prayer service. By the end of the day, they seemed closer to having their prayers answered. After weeks of telling reporters that consideration of closing this health insurance coverage gap would be too heavy a lift for the end of this year’s legislative work session, House of Representatives Speaker Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain) presented a plan from his chamber to counter the one presented in the Senate several weeks ago. (Hoban, 6/23)

Counseling and treatment for drug and alcohol abuse is coming soon to three north St. Louis neighborhoods by way of a 42-foot bus. Doctors, nurses and therapists on the bus, operated by the Black Alcohol/Drug Service Information Center, aim to provide immediate care to Black residents in the area. The therapy bus will make stops five times a week in the rear lots of CareSTL Health clinics in the Greater Ville, Riverview and Wells-Goodfellow neighborhoods. People visiting the mobile treatment center can receive therapy assessments, drug and alcohol abuse counseling and medication for those who suffer from withdrawals. (Henderson, 6/23)

KHN: Trump’s Legacy Looms Large As Colorado Aims To Close The Hispanic Insurance Gap

Armando Peniche Rosales has a crooked toe that for years has predicted the weather, growing sensitive when rain or cold is coming. “It never healed right,” said Peniche Rosales, who broke the middle toe on his left foot as a high school soccer player in Denver years ago and limped home without seeing a doctor. He was living in the U.S. without authorization at the time. From age 9, when he moved to Denver, until he was in his 20s, he didn’t have health insurance. (Bichell and Hawryluk, 6/23)