The New York Times: Head Of Obama’s Health Care Rollout To Lobby For Insurers
Marilyn B. Tavenner, the former Obama administration official in charge of the rollout of HealthCare.gov, was chosen on Wednesday to be the top lobbyist for the nation’s health insurance industry. Ms. Tavenner, who stepped down from her federal job in February, will become president and chief executive of America’s Health Insurance Plans, the trade group whose members include Aetna, Anthem, Humana, Kaiser Permanente and many Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. (Pear, 7/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Health Insurance Trade Group Names New CEO
The latest turn of the revolving door between government and health industry comes as government business is exerting a bigger effect on insurers’ bottom lines. Under federal rules designed to minimize the opportunities for officials to pass freely between government and the private sector, Ms. Tavenner will be barred from lobbying her former colleagues for the remaining months of the Obama administration, but she isn’t subject to a similar restriction on lobbying Congress. (Radnofsky and Wilde Mathews, 7/15)

The Washington Post: Former CMS Chief To Become Top Lobbyist For Health Plans
She stepped down from CMS in February 2015. A former hospital executive and Virginia health secretary, Tavenner will replace Karen Ignagni, a highly respected insurance lobbyist with more than two decades of experience at AHIP. Ignagni resigned to become the CEO of insurance company EmblemHealth in May. The change in AHIP’s leadership is a significant moment in the group’s history as insurers adjust to the health care environment created by Obamacare and seek to protect reimbursement rates for Medicare Advantage, a popular alternative to traditional Medicare. (Viebeck, 7/15)

Politico: Former Medicare Chief To Head Health Insurance Lobby AHIP
But AHIP’s decision to hire a former Obama administration official as its next leader also signals that health insurers are committed to the health reform law. ... Tavenner, who was the first Senate-confirmed CMS administrator in almost a decade, is well-regarded by Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill. ... After UnitedHealth Group’s exit from AHIP there are questions about fissures. Representing the interests of both nonprofit carriers and the big national for-profit players has become increasingly challenging as insurers seek their footing in the overhauled insurance landscape. (Palmer and Demko, 7/15)

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Former Medicare Chief Named Top Health Insurance Lobbyist
Marilyn Tavenner will lead the trade group following the departure of former CEO Karen Ignagni earlier this year. Tavenner formerly lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and oversaw the implementation of President Barack Obama's health law. ... It's a turbulent time for health insurers. The largest companies are consolidating and firms are still struggling with the roll out of the federal health law. Already, Aetna and Humana have announced a merger, Clayton-based Centene Corp. is in the process of acquiring Health Net Inc., and Anthem is pursuing a deal with Cigna. (Shapiro, 7/15)

USA Today: Medicaid Turns 50 Mired In Controversy
Tennessee farmer Timmy Parks lives without a prosthetic for his amputated arm and endures chest pain so excruciating he sometimes doesn't want to eat — all because he has no insurance and no way to pay for health care. Yet if he lived less than five miles away, in Kentucky, he'd qualify for Medicaid, the government program designed to help the poor. As Medicaid turns 50 years old this month, it's racked with cost over-runs, bitter politics and never-ending controversies that have left millions of people around the country like Parks without health care coverage they desperately need, unable to afford everything from open heart surgery to prescriptions to prevent life-threatening seizures. (O'Donnell and Ungar, 7/15)

Fox News: GOP Govs Test Obamacare Compromise: Make Medicaid Recipients Pay
Republican officials, after battling for years with Washington over ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion, are testing a middle ground that could reshape the program – by making recipients pay for part of their health care. (Fossen, 7/16)

Reuters: Alaska Governor Pushes To Expand Medicaid Program For The Poor
Alaska Governor Bill Walker is set to announce on Thursday plans to expand the Medicaid health program for the poor, which would bring coverage to more than 40,000 uninsured residents. Walker, an independent, has already had several expansion efforts blocked by the Republican-led state legislature since he took office after winning the November 2014 election. The governor's office said Walker would lay out details of the plan on Thursday. (Quinn, 7/15)

Alaska Dispatch News: Supreme Court Ruling May Pave Way For Walker To Act On Medicaid Expansion
Gov. Walker has scheduled an announcement for Thursday on his plans for Medicaid expansion. His options could include another special session on the topic, possibly in the fall, or taking unilateral action without legislative support. Walker's press secretary Katie Marquette said it is “in our interest to ensure more Alaskans have access to health care -- expanding Medicaid is the obvious next step.” ... At the end of the regular session, the then-pending Supreme Court case, King v. Burwell, was cited as a factor against expansion by opponents such as Rep. Steve Thompson, R-Fairbanks. ... House Rules Committee Chair Craig Johnson, R-Anchorage, made similar comments at the end of the regular session, calling expansion “a billion-dollar gamble” and said no action should be taken with the issue in flux. (Forgey, 7/15)

Arkansas News: Hutchinson: State ‘Doing The Right Thing’ With Medicaid Check
Arkansas is “doing the right thing” in checking the eligibility of enrollees in Medicaid and the Medicaid expansion known as the private option and terminating coverage for thousands who do not qualify, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Wednesday. Hutchinson told legislators in a letter Monday that within the next three months the state will have verified the eligibility of nearly 600,000 Medicaid recipients. More than 15,000 people, most of them enrollees in the private option, already have had their coverage terminated because their income levels were found to be too high for eligibility — and they did not show they were eligible within 10 days of receiving notice. (Lyon, 7/15)

Arkansas Online: Task Force Studies Ways To Trim Medicaid Costs
Striking more deals with drug companies, joining forces with the health plan for teachers and state employees, and hiring a managed care company to handle prescription drug benefits were among the options for reducing the state Medicaid program's drug costs that a legislative task force explored Wednesday. The Health Reform Legislative Task Force is examining Medicaid spending on drugs, as well as medical services, as it crafts recommendations for improving the program. Among the changes the task force is expected to recommend is a replacement program for the state's private option, which uses federal Medicaid funds to buy private insurance for more than 218,000 low-income Arkansans. (Davis, 7/15)

Salt Lake Tribune: While Medicaid Debate Drags On, Utahns Are Dying
Legislative leaders are working on an agreement to expand Medicaid coverage to tens of thousands of uninsured, low-income Utahns, but even if a deal is struck, it will be far too late for Carol Frisby. Frisby died Monday from cancer, years after she first showed symptoms but couldn't get the colonoscopy her doctor recommended because the screening wasn't covered by the state's Primary Care Network. "I'm not going to back down, and she's never been one to back down," said Carol's husband, Brent Frisby, a Vietnam War veteran. "My message to them is: Get off this childish stuff, and let's be pioneers and do something to help people." (Gehrke and Moulton, 7/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Federal Health Exchange Approved Fake Claims
The federal exchange set up under the Affordable Care Act allowed fictitious applicants to maintain coverage and re-enroll this year, according to a report by a congressional watchdog group that raises questions about the marketplace’s ability to detect fraud. The exchange, HealthCare.gov, last year approved 11 fictitious applications submitted in an undercover operation by the Government Accountability Office, according to the report released Wednesday by the agency. (Armour, 7/15)

The Associated Press: Probe: Bogus Enrollees Kept Getting 'Obamacare'
Phony applicants that investigators signed up last year under President Barack Obama's health care law got automatically re-enrolled for 2015. Some were rewarded with even bigger taxpayer subsidies for their insurance premiums, a congressional probe has found. The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office says 11 counterfeit characters that its investigators created last year were automatically re-enrolled by HealthCare.gov, even though most had unresolved documentation issues. In Obama's terms, they got to keep the coverage they had. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 7/15)

CNN Money: Fake Enrollees Keep Getting Obamacare Subsidies
The federal Obamacare exchange, known as Healthcare.gov, did not catch 11 fictitious policyholders who were enrolled last year as part of an undercover investigation by the Government Accountability Office. The watchdog agency last summer announced that it had created 12 fake identities and 11 were able to sign up for coverage, qualifying for a total of $2,500 a month in subsidies. An update to the probe found that all 11 enrollees had their coverage automatically extended for 2015. Republican lawmakers released the new information Wednesday ahead of a Congressional hearing on Obamacare controls. (Luhby, 7/15)

The Washington Post: Report: ACA Plans Have A Third Fewer Providers Than Employer-Based Plans
Consumers who bought insurance on the health exchanges last year had access to one-third fewer doctors and hospitals, on average, than people with traditional employer-provided coverage, according to an analysis released Wednesday. The study by consulting firm Avalere Health provides a statistical basis for anecdotal reports from consumers and others about the more limited doctor and hospital choices in plans offered on marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act. (Sun, 7/15)

The Hill: Fewer Choices Of Doctors Under ObamaCare, Study Finds
ObamaCare plans on average offer a choice of 34 percent fewer healthcare providers in the insurance plans' network, a new analysis finds. The study from the consulting firm Avalere Health says that overall figure includes an average of 42 percent fewer cancer and heart doctors to choose from. In addition, there are 24 percent fewer hospitals to choose from and 32 percent fewer primary care doctors. (Sullivan, 7/15)

The Associated Press: Taxpayer Service Hits New Low At IRS As 'Obamacare' Kicks In
Hello? Hello? Customer service at the IRS hit new lows this year, just as taxpayers were grappling with a wave of identity theft and new requirements under President Barack Obama’s health law. A report issued Wednesday by the National Taxpayer Advocate says the IRS has been hampered by years of budget cuts, which have diminished customer service and hobbled enforcement. The timing of the budget cuts was bad, the report said. (Ohlemacher, 7/15)

USA Today: Report: IRS Taxpayer Service Goes From Bad To Terrible
Nonetheless, the report said the IRS ran a generally successful filing season under difficult circumstances, processing 126.1 million individual tax returns and issuing 91.8 million refunds while implementing parts of the Affordable Care Act and Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. (McCoy, 7/15)

The Associated Press: Congressional Panels Will Probe Planned Parenthood Video
The searing political conflict over abortion flared anew Wednesday as three Republican-led congressional committees said they will investigate whether Planned Parenthood is selling organs from aborted fetuses. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, criticized the group and said President Barack Obama should condemn and end the practice. Other GOP lawmakers and 2016 presidential hopefuls joined in, including some who said Congress should end federal aid to the organization. (Fram, 7/15)

NPR: John Boehner Calls For Probe Of Planned Parenthood After Sting Video
House Speaker John Boehner is calling for an investigation of Planned Parenthood after a sting video alleged the organization sells aborted fetal body parts, which is illegal. (Ludden, 7/15)

New Hampshire Union Leader: Video Sets Off Abortion Firestorm For Planned Parenthood Prior To It Seeking State Funding
A video showing a Planned Parenthood doctor discussing the sale of body parts from aborted fetuses has ignited a firestorm for the organization, just as it is about to seek funding from New Hampshire. Planned Parenthood says the secretly recorded video from July 25, 2014, which surfaced Tuesday on the Internet, falsely portrays the reproductive health group’s role in the sale of fetal tissue and body parts from abortions. (Solomon, 7/15)

Politico: Republicans Call For Investigations Into Planned Parenthood
Republicans are furious about an undercover video they say shows a Planned Parenthood executive discussing the sale of fetal organs, and they’re calling for investigations. (Collins, 7/15)

St. Louis Public Radio: Wagner Calls For Congressional Investigation Of Planned Parenthood
Two committees of the Republican-led House of Representatives will look into whether a clip of video shows an official with Planned Parenthood discussing the sale of human organs from aborted fetuses. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin, is one of several lawmakers asking both the House Judiciary Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee to investigate allegations made by an anti-abortion group. A spokesman for Planned Parenthood said the video is edited out of context and distorts the meaning of what was said. The video was shot more than a year ago by an anti-abortion group that has released several undercover videos aimed at discrediting Planned Parenthood. (Howard, 7/15)

The Sacramento Bee: Placerville Company Accused Of Involvement In Planned Parenthood Controversy
StemExpress, a Placerville biotech firm specializing in stem cell procurement for scientific research, is under fire after being mentioned in a viral YouTube video created by abortion opponents. The video, posted Tuesday, shows footage of Dr. Deborah Nucatola, senior director of medical services at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, discussing over lunch the harvesting of fetal organs for research. She’s talking with two actors from the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress, who were posing as representatives from a biotech firm. (Caiola, 7/15)

Politico Pro: GOP Senate Hasn’t Attacked Obamacare 'Root And Branch'
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell won his resounding 2014 reelection — and control of the Senate — with a pledge to try to repeal Obamacare “root and branch.” That hasn’t happened. So far, the Republican-controlled Senate has only held one non-binding repeal vote. And nothing more is expected until at least September. (Haberkorn, 7/15)

The Hill: House Clears ALS Assistance Bill
The House easily passed legislation on Wednesday to make it easier for people with Lou Gehrig’s disease to buy speech-generating devices. Lawmakers passed the bill by voice vote in both the House and Senate, which now sends it to President Obama’s desk. (Marcos, 7/15)

The Hill: House Passes Breast Cancer Research Bill That Excludes Komen
The House revived legislation Wednesday to help increase funding for breast cancer research, one day after GOP leaders pulled it from consideration due to a fight over abortion. The bill, which passed 421-9, would create a pink gold commemorative coin in 2018 and donate proceeds from the coin sales to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) voted "present," while all nine votes in opposition were from Republicans. (Marcos, 7/15)

Marketplace: New Obamacare Fight Takes Aim At 'Cadillac' Tax
The Supreme Court fights over the Affordable Care Act may be over for now. But before you get too comfortable, there’s still plenty of fighting left to do. The latest example can be seen in Washington where Fortune 500 companies and labor unions have teamed up to lobby Congress to kill a tax on generous – some say lavish – health plans. In the health policy world, they call it the "Cadillac Tax," but for employers – and employees – who may get hit by it, it’s more like a "Ford Fusion Tax." (Gorenstein, 7/16)

The Wall Street Journal: UnitedHealth Boosts Outlook As Results Top Expectations
UnitedHealth Group Inc. on Thursday boosted its full-year outlook as the largest U.S. health insurer reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue in its second quarter. UnitedHealth said it now expects revenue of $154 billion, up from its previous forecast of $143 billion. The company is now calling for earnings of $6.25 to $6.35 per share, up from its prior outlook of $6.15 to $6.30 per share. ... Earlier this month, Aetna Inc. struck a deal to buy Humana Inc. for $34.1 billion after a five-way merger frenzy. Anthem Inc. has bid for Cigna Corp., while UnitedHealth earlier approached Aetna about a deal, The Wall Street Journal has reported. (Dulaney, 7/16)

The Associated Press: UnitedHealth Tops Street 2Q Forecasts
UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) on Thursday reported second-quarter net income of $1.59 billion. The Minnetonka, Minnesota-based company said it had net income of $1.64 per share. The results topped Wall Street expectations. (7/16)

The New York Times: Specialty Pharmacies Proliferate, Along With Questions
As the end of each month nears, Megan Short frets. Her 1-year-old daughter, Willow, cannot afford to miss even a single dose of a drug she takes daily to prevent her body from rejecting her transplanted heart. Because of stringent rules from her drug plan and the pharmacy she is required to use, Ms. Short cannot order a refill until her monthly supply is three-quarters gone. Yet processing a refill takes about seven days, making it touch and go whether the new shipment will arrive before the old one runs out. (Thomas and Pollack, 7/15)

The Wall Street Journal's Pharmalot: Pharma Boosts Support For Continuing Medical Education, But Only A Little
Amid ongoing scrutiny of industry influence over medical practice and research, new figures show that companies increased their spending on continuing medical education last year by 2%. Although this represents a modest uptick, the report suggests that spending by drug and device makers has leveled off in recent years in response to sustained controversy over CME funding. (Silverman, 7/15)

Meanwhile, other news outlets offer these reports on drug costs and dosage concerns -

The Charlotte Observer: Cancer Patients Saw Costs Jump
Jimmy White of Charlotte is an example of a cancer patient whose out-of-pocket bills jumped when he switched from injections to pills. Although he is covered by Medicare and his out-of-pocket costs would not be affected by a change in state law, his situation is similar to that of privately insured patients who would benefit from the proposed “oral chemo parity” bill. In 2013, when White, 75, got chemotherapy injections to treat his rare cancer, Medicare and private insurance covered the entire cost – $3,360 per week over nine months. (Garloch, 7/15)

ProPublica: How Much Acetaminophen A Day Is Safe? Canada Decides It's Less
Canada’s top health agency is considering lowering the maximum recommended daily dose of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol and other pain relievers. Citing the risk of liver damage from overdosing on the popular pain medication, Health Canada announced it will review changes to labels, the creation of an educational awareness campaign and possible revisions to dosage recommendations. Acetaminophen is considered safe when taken at recommended doses. Tens of millions of people use it weekly with no ill effect. But in larger amounts, especially in combination with alcohol, the drug can damage or even destroy the liver. In severe cases, acetaminophen overdose can cause death. (Miller and Gerth, 7/15)

PBS NewsHour: Long-Term Care Costs Vary Greatly By State And Type
It is not surprising that long-term care can be expensive, but the cost differences based on location, level of care and comfort are staggering, according to recent reports. The 2015 GenWorth Cost of Care Survey explored the price of long-term care, breaking it out by private or semi-private room in a nursing home, home health aide, homemaker services, assisted living facility and adult day health care. The data further drilled down into differences by state. (Santhanam and Hickey, 7/15)

Los Angeles Times: Opponents Of New California Vaccination Law Begin Referendum Drive
Opponents of a new state law requiring more children to be vaccinated are moving to stop it from taking effect next year as scheduled. The California secretary of state announced Tuesday that the opponents have been cleared to begin collecting petition signatures for a referendum on the law. Their measure would appear on the November 2016 state ballot. A majority of voters would have to say yes to the referendum, in favor of the new vaccination law, or it would not go into effect. (McGreevy,7/15)

The Connecticut Mirror: New London, Westerly Hospitals To Join Yale New Haven System
The parent company of New London’s Lawrence + Memorial Hospital and Rhode Island’s Westerly Hospital has reached an agreement to join the Yale New Haven Health System, the two corporations announced Wednesday. The deal, which is subject to approval by federal, Connecticut and Rhode Island regulatory agencies, would make Lawrence + Memorial and Westerly hospitals part of a network that includes Bridgeport, Greenwich and Yale-New Haven hospitals and is already the largest network of Connecticut hospitals. It comes at a time when many independent hospitals are looking to partner with larger organizations, and as consolidation within health care draws increased scrutiny from some state officials. (Levin Becker, 7/15)

The Charlotte Observer: Carolinas Patients Pay More For Oral Chemo
North Carolina is one of only 11 states where cancer patients who get their treatment in pill form pay much more than those who get chemotherapy by infusion or injection. That difference has come under attack by patient advocates who are pushing for a state law to require insurers to apply the same out-of-pocket requirements for patients no matter which way they get treatment. By taking pills, patients can avoid hours of sitting in clinics getting intravenous drugs, but they may also be charged thousands of dollars more. (Garloch, 7/15)

Politico Pro: California May Let Undocumented Immigrants Sign Up For Obamacare
California lawmakers and activists, frustrated by stalled immigration reform efforts in Washington, are spearheading a first-in-the-nation plan to let undocumented immigrants buy Obamacare health insurance. Supporters say the California proposal, which would need federal approval and couldn’t start until 2017, is the next logical step in expanding health insurance to a population that was intentionally excluded from the president’s health care law. But uniting the two highly combustible issues of Obamacare and immigration could reignite a fierce health care reform controversy. (Pradhan, 7/15)

The Associated Press: New Program Puts Military Liasons At Mental Health Centers
Each of New Hampshire's 10 community mental health centers will have a staff member devoted to helping veterans, military service members and their families connect with other community resources under a first-of-its-kind initiative being launched by the state's Department of Health and Human Services. Commissioner Nick Toumpas was joined by state military officials, the directors of VA health centers in New Hampshire and Vermont, and numerous civilian sector partners on Wednesday to describe several initiatives aimed at improving health care and other services for veterans, active military and their families. He said the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration recently confirmed that no other state has created military liaison positions within its entire community mental health system. (Ramer, 7/15)

The Courier Journal: Feds Cut Off Funds For Louisville Nursing Home
Citing deplorable conditions, some that endangered the health and lives of residents, federal officials are cutting off Medicaid and Medicare funds for a Louisville nursing home, a move that could force it to close. The action against the Hurstbourne Care Center at Stony Brook follows an investigation by officials with the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services who cited filthy, unsanitary and dangerous conditions at the facility of 125 residents. (Yetter, 7/15)

MinnPost: Hennepin Health Doesn't Want You In The ER, But Does Want You To Have A Phone
The first thing the middle-aged and frail man in front of me tells me is that he has a tick; he rocks back and forth. The second is that a month ago he thought his life was over. The third is he needs to take a call. He takes his ringing cellphone out of his pocket, gives me the apologetic "one-second" hand gesture, and says hello. I wait. This is a good thing. I know this because Holly Sandefer tells me it is. She’s sitting there with us at the Hennepin Health Access Clinic in downtown Minneapolis. She’s the one who gave Jimmie Jo his phone. (Wahlberg, 7/15)

The Denver Post: Colorado Board Votes No One Allowing Medical Pot For PTSD
The Colorado Board of Health voted 6-2 — amid shouts, hisses and boos from a packed house — not to add post-traumatic stress disorder to the medical conditions that can be treated under the state's medical marijuana program. The board voted Wednesday against the recommendation of the state's chief medical officer. A dozen of the veterans who testified said cannabis has saved their lives. Many said drugs legally prescribed to them for PTSD at veterans clinics or by other doctors — antidepressants, antipsychotics, opioids and others — nearly killed them or robbed them of quality of life. (Draper, 7/15)

The Charlotte Observer: Aetna Breaks Ties To Man Who Sold Policies To Hundreds Of Homeless
Aetna is ending its relationship with a Charlotte insurance agent who used the Affordable Care Act to sell premium-free policies to hundreds of homeless people while the N.C. Department of Insurance continues its review of the arrangement. The state has scheduled a Sept. 3 “informal administrative conference” on the sales, which sparked questions and criticism from Charlotte advocates for the homeless and national experts on the health care act. That session will be closed to the public, spokeswoman Kerry Hall said this week. (Helms, 7/15)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Empathy Training For Doctors
It's hard to teach empathy in the classroom, yet it's one of the foundations of the doctor-patient relationship. How well physicians can put themselves in their patients' shoes is directly linked with patient satisfaction. "When I was in med school, no one told me how to do that," said Dennis Novack, professor of medicine and associate dean of medical education at Drexel University College of Medicine. "You could watch your mentors, if you were lucky. Or make mistakes." (Faherty, 7/15)

The Chicago Tribune: Could Chicago Prevent Childhood Lead Poisoning Before It Happens?
By the time city inspectors show up to check for brain-damaging lead hazards at a home in Chicago, children already are poisoned. For years health advocates have stressed the need for a different approach — one that saves children from the devastating effects of lead poisoning with more preventive strategies. But even as the studies pile up and the toxic legacy of lead proves stubbornly persistent, political leaders in Chicago and beyond have been slow to embrace attempts to prevent kids from being harmed in the first place. (Hawthorne, 7/16)

The Washington Post: The Mysterious Death Of A Doctor Who Peddled Autism ‘Cures’ To Thousands
Bradstreet offered thousands of autism patients around the globe controversial treatments. He claimed he could effectively cure kids of their autism, cancer and other maladies simply by injecting them with protein shots. When Bradstreet’s body was found last month in the Rocky Broad River in mountainous North Carolina with a bullet wound to the chest, therefore, friends, family members and patients pointed fingers at drug corporations. The FDA. Anyone but Bradstreet. (Miller, 7/16)

Louisville Courier-Journal: Obamacare Pushing Toward Mergers
Now the announced sale of Kentucky-based Humana, a health insurance company, reveals yet another pitfall of the law. The sale is the inevitable result of Obamacare's push toward consolidation as doctors, hospitals, and insurers merge in response to an ever-growing government. And the resulting consolidation means less competition among insurers, which could leave consumers with even fewer choices and lower-quality care. (Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., 7/15)

Forbes: Obamacare Was Supposed To Kill Medicare Advantage. It Only Made It Stronger.
Marilyn Tavenner is about to make an unprecedented move: From head of Medicare, to the nation’s top lobbyist for private insurers — in just six months. ... I think there’s a very telling line, buried near the bottom of the Times‘ 798-word story. “Asked about her priorities, Mr. Tavenner said she wanted to protect Medicare Advantage, the program under which private insurers manage care for more than 30 percent of the 55 million beneficiaries of Medicare.” There’s a reason why private insurers care so much about Medicare Advantage: It’s arguably their hottest market right now. While enrollment in employer-sponsored insurance has essentially stagnated, total enrollment in MA plans is expected to double by the end of the decade. (Dan Diamond, 7/15)

The Washington Post's Plum Line: Republicans Want Their Lawmakers To Keep Resisting Obamacare
A new U.S.A. Today/Suffolk poll finds that in the wake of the Supreme Court decision upholding Obamacare subsidies a majority of Americans want lawmakers to drop the crusade to repeal the law. But Republicans disagree. ... The fact that a large majority of Republicans want to keep up the fight helps explain why the GOP presidential hopefuls, in the wake of the Court decision, reiterated their commitment to fighting for repeal. (Greg Sargent (7/15)

The Washington Post: Obamacare’s ‘Cadillac Tax’ Is An Important Part Of The Plan So Don’t Mess With It
Thanks to the recent Supreme Court decision reaffirming the legality of its premium subsidies, the Affordable Care Act keeps on rolling along. Millions have affordable coverage which they highly value, the uninsured rate is the lowest on record, and cost containment appears to be working in ways that are helping both households and our fiscal accounts. Of course, the assault on the ACA will continue, and one forthcoming line of attack will be on the excise tax on high-cost premiums, aka, the Cadillac tax (even Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, a solid supporter of the ACA, is apparently having second thoughts about the tax). (Jared Bernstein, 7/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Big Brothers Of The Poor
These are inauspicious times for religious liberty, and this week’s illustration is the appeals court decision on Tuesday that instructs an order of Catholic nuns to comply with ObamaCare’s birth-control mandate. A 2-1 majority of a Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals panel informs these believers that their moral convictions are wrong on the merits, so shut up and submit. (7/15)

The Washington Post: Don’t Rush To Judge Planned Parenthood
Video of a secretly-recorded conversation with Planned Parenthood’s medical director has gone viral, starting a new controversy about whether the nation’s largest provider of abortions is profiting from the illegal sale of fetal tissue. Chances are many people — including those who support a woman’s right to choose — who watch Dr. Deborah Nucatola, the group’s senior director of medical research, sip wine and talk casually and graphically about harvesting fetal tissue will squirm. ... But before any conclusions are drawn about lines being crossed, the full, unedited footage should be examined. (JoAnn Armao, 7/15)

The Chicago Tribune: Planned Parenthood Too Clinical In Its Rebuttal Of Controversial Video
Planned Parenthood needs to speak up. An anti-abortion group released a surreptitiously recorded video Tuesday showing a high-ranking Planned Parenthood official sipping wine and munching salad while casually discussing procuring tissue from aborted fetuses for scientific research. The video, which the anti-abortion group hyperbolically describes as documenting the "sale of baby body parts," lit up the Internet and led several Republican presidential candidates to call for an investigation or for the defunding of Planned Parenthood. (Rex Huppke, 7/15)

Politico: The Grotesque Business Of Planned Parenthood
In the media, it is relentlessly repeated that abortion is only 3 percent of Planned Parenthood’s business, as if it’s an afterthought. Nucatola provides the more accurate picture. She talks of how Planned Parenthood performs 40 percent of the abortions in the country and how clinics are stuck with the parts of dead babies (“tissue”) that they have trouble discarding. An organization that exists in large part to perform abortion — about a million every three years — shouldn’t receive a dime in public funding. And the best way to limit the sale of the parts of aborted babies is to save the babies from being aborted in the first place. (Rich Lowry, 7/15)

Los Angeles Times: Broadening The Health Insurance Umbrella In California Is A Worthy Goal
State Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) has long sought to provide health insurance coverage to the multitude of Californians who cannot obtain it because they are in the country illegally. That's a heavy lift, financially and politically, even though the right policy in the long run is to bring as many people as possible under the insurance umbrella. So Lara is trying to attain that goal one step at a time. His current objective is to open the state's insurance exchange, Covered California, to every state resident regardless of immigration status, although only legal residents would be eligible for subsidies. It's a small step that may be more symbolic than substantive, but it's well worth taking. (7/15)

news@JAMA: Coming Together On Long-Term Care
The daunting potential cost of long-term care is an increasing worry for aging baby boomers, as well as for lawmakers concerned about the growing costs of Medicaid and other government programs—for good reason. Although most older adults in the United States will not experience a lengthy period living in a nursing home or using intensive home supports, an estimated 70% will need some level of long-term supports and services (LTSS). Given that nursing facilities cost on average nearly $90 000 per year and the average yearly cost for home health care tops $45 000, those individuals who need lengthy care face catastrophic financial costs. (Stuart Butler, 7/15)

JAMA: Cholesterol Lowering In 2015: Still Answering Questions About How And In Whom
For 30 years, it has been well known that lowering blood cholesterol concentrations by a variety of drugs and other approaches reduces cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. With more trials in patient groups with lower risk, including those with relatively low levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), it has become clear that atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) can be prevented by lowering LDL-C levels, especially with statin drugs, in broad segments of the general population. However, the critical questions—when, in whom, and how to lower cholesterol—still remain. (Philip Greenland and Michael S. Lauer, 7/14)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Promoting Healthy Learners Ready For Success
Child Focus Early Learning Programs has long recognized the vital role optimal health plays in overall development. Providing rich learning experiences designed to help children achieve mastery of developmental milestones is integrated in daily programming for children. Ongoing assessments allow monitoring of children’s progress and interventions when developmental concerns arise. When health issues go unidentified and untreated, children struggle to master developmental milestones and will likely struggle in school. (Karen Balon, 7/15)