First Edition: January 16, 2015

Kaiser Health News: Burwell Calls For Congress To Work With Her On Health Issues
Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell Thursday called on Congress to look beyond the Affordable Care Act to find compromise on health care. In remarks at the New America Foundation, Burwell cited several areas – including opioid abuse, Ebola, medical research and innovation – where Republicans and Democrats have sponsored legislation to work together to solve problems in the nation’s health care system. (Carey, 1/15)

Kaiser Health News: Limited Insurance Choices Frustrate Some Patients In California
When Dennie Wright went to sign up for Affordable Care Act insurance last year, it wasn’t a hard decision. His insurance agent told him he had only one insurer – Anthem Blue Cross – that he could buy from on the exchange, Covered California. Wright lives in a modest house overlooking a pasture in Indian Valley. It’s a tiny alpine community at the northern end of the Sierra Mountains, close to the border with Nevada. He lives in one of 250 zip codes where Blue Shield of California stopped selling individual insurance policies in 2014. (Bartolone, 1/15)

The Wall Street Journal: States Stand Pat Ahead Of Supreme Court Health-Law Ruling
A push in states to protect consumers’ insurance tax credits in the face of a Supreme Court challenge is losing steam because of political and practical obstacles to reworking the health law’s exchanges, raising the stakes in the court battle. At issue are subsidies for millions of consumers under the Affordable Care Act that make health plans cheaper. In 37 mostly Republican-controlled states, the federal government has a hand in running the exchanges where consumers buy insurance. About 4.7 million people in those states got billions of dollars of tax credits to offset the cost of insurance premiums for 2014, and more are expected to get them this year. (Radnofsky, 1/15)

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: GOP's Top Priority: Passing A Budget Resolution
Republicans are still wrestling with how to use a contentious procedural budget tool known as “reconciliation” that enables lawmakers to attach related measures to the budget and pass them as well with a simple majority. Some lawmakers view reconciliation as an opportunity to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act, while others think that would be a waste, given that President Barack Obama would veto any attempt to undo the health law. Overhauling the tax code could be a better use of the procedure, some Republicans have suggested. (Peterson, 1/15)

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: Burwell Lists Likely Common Ground With GOP, But Not The Health Law
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell headed to a left-leaning think tank Thursday to say she was offering a olive branch to the new Republican-led Senate. “I count myself among those who do not believe that disagreements in some areas – even significant disagreements – should prevent us from moving forward on others,” Ms. Burwell said at the New America Foundation. (Radnofsky, 1/15)

Los Angeles Times: California: Latino Enrollment In Obamacare Opens Strong
California's health exchange said it has seen a strong turnout among Latinos for Obamacare coverage after nearly two months of open enrollment. Covered California struggled at times to reach uninsured Latinos during the initial rollout of the Affordable Care Act, and it was roundly criticized by state lawmakers for marketing missteps. (Terhune, 1/15)

The Wall Street Journal: Lawmakers Vow To Keep Close Watch On Veterans Affairs Progress, Spending
Key members of Congress are vowing to ensure the Department of Veterans Affairs follows through on reforms designed to alleviate long wait times at VA facilities that brought down the organization’s top leadership last year. Top legislators in the House and Senate veterans committees said they would scrutinize how the VA’s new leaders spend more than $16 billion in emergency funding approved last year to reform the ailing department. (Kesling, 1/15)

The Washington Post: Obama Tells Agencies To Advance Sick Leave For Feds With New Children
President Obama signed a memo Thursday directing agencies to advance up to six weeks of paid sick leave to federal employees with a new child. He also is urging Congress to pass legislation providing them an additional six weeks of paid administrative leave. (Davidson, 1/15)

The Associated Press: Obama Tries Again To Get Paid Leave For More Workers
The White House said Obama will push the issue anew in the State of the Union address he delivers Tuesday night to a joint session of Congress. Obama wants Congress, states and cities to pass measures to let workers earn up to a week of paid sick time a year. He’ll also ask for more than $2 billion to encourage states to create paid family and medical leave programs. Obama also will propose that Congress pass legislation giving federal workers an additional six weeks of paid parental leave. (1/15)

The Associated Press: Booking A Trip To The ER On Your Smartphone? It's A Breeze
Hospitals and doctors increasingly are subscribing to the services to simplify appointment scheduling for patients who dislike waiting on hold and are comfortable doing everything from shopping to banking online. With most of the services, booking is as simple as going to a website, entering a zip code and the kind of care needed, and checking available times. (1/15)

The Washington Post: CDC: Flu Vaccine Only 23 Percent Effective This Season, But Still Better Than Nothing
So it turns out this season's flu vaccine was kind of a dud. Getting it reduced a person's chance of having to visit the doctor because of the flu by only 23 percent -- and possibly even less for many adults -- according to data released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Dennis, 1/15)

NPR: This Year's Flu Vaccine Is Pretty Wimpy, But Can Still Help
As expected, this year's flu vaccine looks like it's pretty much of a dud. The vaccine only appears to cut the chances that someone will end up sick with the flu by 23 percent, according to the first estimate of the vaccine's effectiveness by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC had predicted this year's vaccine wouldn't work very well because the main strain of the flu virus that's circulating this year, known as an H3N2 virus, mutated slightly after the vaccine was created. That enables the virus to evade the immune system response created by getting vaccinated. (Stein, 1/15)

Los Angeles Times: California Rejects UnitedHealth's Bid To Sell Obamacare Statewide
California's Obamacare exchange rejected a bid from the nation's largest health insurer to start selling coverage statewide next year. The Covered California board adopted new rules Thursday that sharply limit where industry giant UnitedHealth Group Inc. could offer policies to individuals. Many consumer advocates backed the exchange's decision. But California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones panned it, saying Californians deserve more choice and competition statewide. (Terhune, 1/15)