First Edition: April 28, 2015

Kaiser Health News: Medicaid’s Tension: Getting Corporate Giants To Do Right By The Needy
Lynda Douglas thought she had a deal with Tennessee. She would adopt and love a tiny, unwanted, profoundly disabled girl named Charla. The private insurance companies that run Tennessee’s Medicaid program would cover Charla’s health care. Douglas doesn’t think the state and its contractors have held up their end. In recent years she says she has fought battle after battle to secure essential care to control Charla’s seizures, protect her from choking and tube-feed and medicate her multiple times a day. (Hancock, 4/28)

Politico: GOP Budget Dodges Fights Over Entitlements, Defense
Forget about Paul Ryan’s Medicare privatization plan. The same with other entitlement reforms. And never mind offsetting defense spending increases. In almost every instance, sources describe a GOP budget deal in which political practicality beats out ideology as Republican leaders tack toward the party’s center now that they’re in control of both chambers. The final agreement was expected to be unveiled Monday evening until Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) announced he would not sign the deal without explanation. (Bade, 4/27)

Politico: Bob Corker Puts Brakes On Budget Deal
Sen. Bob Corker is holding up a much-awaited GOP budget deal, barring Republican leadership and top budget negotiators Monday night from filing the agreement that was weeks in the making, his office confirmed to POLITICO. The Tennessee Republican’s office would not say why, but his refusal to sign on to the deal stops the agreement in its path for the time being. Corker’s vote is needed to advance the fiscal blueprint, which GOP leadership hopes to pass this week before the House goes on recess the first week of May. (Bade, 4/27)

The New York Times: Republicans In House And Senate Agree On A Budget
The deal would increase military spending and take aim at President Obama’s signature health care law. It would also cut education and entitlement programs, like Medicare, but negotiators dropped a proposal by Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin and a former chairman of the House Budget Committee, to turn Medicare into a largely private voucher program. Under the deal, Congress would use a procedural process known as reconciliation to repeal, or at least begin to undo, the Affordable Care Act. (Parker, 4/27)

The Associated Press: Compromise GOP Budget Hikes War Funds, Targets 'Obamacare'
House and Senate GOP negotiators neared agreement Monday on a budget blueprint that would enable Republicans controlling Congress to more easily target President Barack Obama's signature health care law while delivering an almost $40 billion budget boost to the Pentagon. (4/27)

Los Angeles Times: Democrats, Several Of Them Californians, Were 'Party Of No' In House Budget Fight
Republicans are usually cast as the "Party of No" in today's Congress. But it was Democrats like [Rep. Ami] Bera in competitive electoral environments who formed the largest bloc of "no" voters during last month's budget debate, the first opportunity lawmakers had this year to weigh in on the crucial taxing and spending battles ahead. A Republican proposal — cutting social safety-net programs, lowering tax rates and raising spending on defense — eventually passed along mostly party lines, 228 to 199, setting the stage for negotiations with the Senate. (Bierman, 4/27)

The New York Times: Obama Proposes That Medicare Be Given The Right To Negotiate The Cost Of Drugs
Embedded in President Obama’s budget request to Congress is a paradox. He proposes a major new initiative to develop drugs tailored to the genetic characteristics of individual patients, but he expresses deep concern about the costs of such specialty medicines for consumers and for the Medicare program. He has asked Congress to let Medicare officials negotiate prices with drug manufacturers — a practice explicitly forbidden by current law. (Pear, 4/27)

The Washington Post's Fact Checker: Christie’s Claim That Medicaid Spending Has Grown ‘Over 800 Percent’ In 25 Years
Overhauling long-term entitlement programs has become a major talking point for [N.J. Gov. Chris] Christie, and it is expected to his centerpiece of his potential presidential campaign. Christie recently unveiled his plan to make sweeping changes to government spending and structure of entitlement programs, especially long-term programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Such programs have grown out of proportion and taken up too much of the federal budget and debt, according to Christie. ... While it is correct that Medicaid spending has grown disproportionately to the size of the economy, Christie’s numbers give a misleading impression of the magnitude. (Lee, 4/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Universal Health Posts Rise In Profit, Revenue
A wave of newly insured patients coupled with fewer uninsured patients and a higher rate of admissions drove Universal Health Services Inc.’s revenue and profit growth in the first quarter, the hospital operator said Monday. Shares, up 45% over the past 12 months, rose 2% in recent late trading to $123, just shy of a 52-week-high set Friday during regular trading. Like its industry peers, Universal Health—which operates medical, surgical and behavioral-health facilities—has benefited from an increase in insured patients under the Affordable Care Act. (Armental, 4/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Makers Of Baby Formula Press Their Case On WIC Program
Capitol Hill lawmakers will soon be wrestling over the future of one of the nation’s biggest food-assistance programs, and the makers of infant formula are among the unlikely players in the middle of the scrum. The law authorizing the $6 billion-a-year WIC program, which provides food vouchers to pregnant or postpartum women and their young children, is up for renewal this year. One of the largest formula makers has suggested the program’s eligibility should be tightened, noting that it has up to 20% more recipients than the government intended. Much like the government’s separate food-stamp program, WIC expanded during the recession—reaching a peak of 9.2 million participants in 2010—and has since contracted to about 8.3 million women and children. (Tracy, 4/27)

The Washington Post: How Is The Doctor-Patient Relationship Changing? It’s Going Electronic.
Thanks to technology, Gary Sullivan enjoys a new kind of relationship with his doctor. If he wakes up with a routine health question, the 73-year-old retired engineer simply taps out a secure message into his doctor’s electronic health records system. His Kaiser Permanente physician will answer later that day, sparing Sullivan a visit to the clinic near his Littleton, Colo., home and giving his doctor time to see those with more urgent needs. (Levingston, 4/27)

The Associated Press: Bill Seeks To Expand Coverage For Hawaii Fertility Law
A proposal in Hawaii's Legislature would expand a state mandate on fertility treatments to include same sex couples and single women, updating a law that now only offers such benefits to women who are married to men. (4/28)

The Washington Post: Proposed Zoning Changes Would Restrict Abortion Clinics In Manassas
The Manassas City Council and mayor voted 4 to 3 Monday evening in favor of sweeping changes to the city’s zoning code — changes that opponents said could threaten the survival of the city’s sole abortion clinic. (Stein, 4/27)