The Biden administration on Thursday proposed a plan to expand access to health coverage for individuals in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from the District of Columbia, Florida, and Maryland. 

• District of Columbia: The Biden administration on Thursday proposed a plan to expand access to health coverage for individuals in the DACA program. Under the proposal, DACA participants would be allowed to enroll in the Medicaid, CHIP, and Affordable Care Act marketplaces. According to the White House, HHS  will propose a new definition of "lawful presence" to include DACA recipients. Currently, the Biden administration estimates that roughly 34% of the nearly 580,000 DACA recipients do not have health coverage. "We're not done fighting for their pathway to citizenship, but we're getting them the opportunities they deserve in the meantime," President Joe Biden said. "We recognize that every day counts, and we expect to get this done by the end of the month," the White House said. (Moreno/Bettelheim, Axios, 4/14; Radde/Rose, NPR, 4/13)
• Florida: Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Thursday signed a bill that would ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. However, the six-week ban will only go into effect if the state's current 15-week ban is upheld by the state Supreme Court. If the six-week ban goes into effect, it will have wide implications for abortion access. "This ban would prevent four million Florida women of reproductive age from accessing abortion care after six weeks — before many women even know they're pregnant," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. "This ban would also impact the nearly 15 million women of reproductive age who live in abortion-banning states throughout the South, many of whom have previously relied on travel to Florida as an option to access care." (Izaguirre, Associated Press, 4/14)
• Maryland: FDA  on Thursday announced that labels for opioid pain relievers will be required to contain new safety warnings in the prescribing information, including a warning that alerts users to increased sensitivity to pain. According to FDA, data suggests that individuals who use opioids for pain relief after a procedure often have extra tablets, putting them at risk for overdose and addiction. The updated safety warnings will include guidelines on which patients should be prescribed opioids. They will also outline dosage and administration guidelines. The new labels will also be required to contain a warning that the risk of overdose increases with the dosage and that immediate-release opioids should only be used long term when a patient's pain is persistently severe. (Samal/Satija, Reuters, 4/14)