First Edition: January 7, 2016

Kaiser Health News: Medicaid To Fund More Addiction Treatment
For decades, if someone on Medicaid wanted to get treatment for drug or alcohol addiction, they almost always had to rely solely on money from state and local sources. Now, in a dramatic shift, the federal government is considering chipping in, too. The agency that governs Medicaid is proposing to cover 15 days of inpatient rehab per month for anyone enrolled in a Medicaid managed care plan. (Allen, 1/7)

Kaiser Health News: Turning To Medicaid To Insure Lowest-Paid Employees
Companies must offer affordable coverage to all employees and will be subject to a penalty if their workers instead turn to the health exchange to buy subsidized coverage. There's no penalty for companies, it turns out, if workers qualify for Medicaid — though there could be controversy. ... Wal-Mart, McDonald's and some other large companies have drawn fire for not providing employees with health insurance, instead relying on taxpayers to fund workers' health needs via Medicaid. (Mogul, 1/7)

Reuters: Congress Sends Bill To Gut Obamacare, To Certain Veto
The U.S. Congress on Wednesday approved legislation dismantling President Barack Obama's signature health care plan, putting on his desk an election-year measure that faces a certain veto. ... The Republican-run House of Representatives finalized passage on Wednesday on a 240-181 vote, sending the bill to the White House. Republican leaders are expected to try to override Obama's promised veto, but they lack the two-thirds majority needed to do so. (Cornwall, 1/6)

The New York Times: House Votes To Send Bill To Repeal Health Law To Obama’s Desk
While Democrats dismissed the bill — which would also remove funding for Planned Parenthood — as another ploy in the partisan drama that has played out in the Capitol since the law was enacted in 2010, the vote proved that a Republican congressional majority could deliver a measure that repeals the health law to a Republican president, even in the face of united opposition from Democrats. It also shows that nearly six years after its enactment, the law remains a divisive political issue not only because it is associated with Mr. Obama, but also because for much of the middle class, it is at least perceived as costly and lessening consumer choice, polls show. (Steinhauer, 1/6)

Politico: Congress Sends Obamacare Repeal To President's Desk
House Speaker Paul Ryan has vowed that Republicans will offer their Obamacare alternative this year — a familiar promise Republicans have made since it became law in 2010. "The people deserve a truly patient-centered health care system. And ultimately, this is going to require a Republican president," Ryan said. (Ehley, 1/6)

Los Angeles Times: Republicans Push Again For An Obamacare Alternative, With Donald Trump A Looming Worry
Even as congressional Republicans celebrated their latest symbolic jab at the Affordable Care Act, the GOP confronts an increasingly urgent challenge to develop a meaningful alternative in the face of Donald Trump’s enduring candidacy. More than five years after the health law was enacted, the party still has no unifying healthcare platform. And if Trump extends his run atop the Republican presidential field, his unorthodox healthcare positions may soon define the GOP. (Levey, 1/6)

The Washington Post: Clinton, Sanders Make Competing Cases For Electability In Nevada
[At the Nevada Democratic Party’s “Battle Born Battleground” dinner] Hillary Clinton cited progress made on health care under President Obama and warned against “tearing up the Affordable Care Act.” That was a not-so-subtle jab at Sanders, who has proposed moving to a single-payer system. During his remarks, Bernie Sanders credited Obama for making progress in reducing the number of uninsured but said “we must do better.” “The time is long overdue for this great country to join to the rest of the industrialized world and pass a Medicare for all single-payer program,” Sanders said. (Phillip and Wagner, 1/7)

The New York Times: Under Gun Rules, F.B.I. Will Receive Health Data
Responding to Republicans who have repeatedly tied gun violence to mental health issues, President Obama’s new gun control plan will allow state agencies and the Social Security Administration to provide certain “protected health information” to the F.B.I. to help crack down on weapons sales to people who pose a danger to themselves or others or are unable to manage their own affairs. ... The Obama administration said the final rule “balances public safety goals with important patient privacy interests.” Many mental health professionals agree. But some doctors and lawyers said the rule could add to the stigma of mental illness and deter people from seeking treatment. (Pear, 1/6)

The Washington Post: Mental Health Legislation Complicated By Gun Control Debate
For a long time, the Republican response to more gun control was to double down on calls for better mental-health services to catch disturbed shooters who shouldn’t have access to guns. But the renewed focus on gun control in the wake of President Obama’s proposals may just exacerbate existing tensions on mental-health efforts that advocates hoped would gain momentum in 2016. (Demirjian, 1/6)

The Associated Press: Washington Governor Takes Action On Guns After Obama Move
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed an executive order aimed at curbing gun violence by improving data-sharing among government agencies and starting a new public health campaign on suicide prevention. (Blankinship, 1/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Dementia Discovery Fund Chooses Alector For First Investment
A promising new avenue in Alzheimer’s research that focuses on the eradication of brain plaque by the immune system has become the first investment for a $100 million fund dedicated to delivering new dementia drugs within a decade. The Dementia Discovery Fund, set up last year with backing from the U.K. government and several of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies, has led a $29.5 million investment round to back research under way at San Francisco-based Alector LLC. (Roland, 1/7)

USA Today: Skyrocketing Drug Prices Leave Cures Out Of Reach For Some Patients
Sophisticated drugs are opening the door, scientists say, to an era of "precision medicine." They're also ushering in an age of astronomical prices. Even with insurance, patients might pay thousands of dollars a month out of pocket. But patients aren't the only ones paying. Taxpayers underwrite the cost of prescription drugs provided by Medicare, Medicaid and other public insurance programs. (Szabo, 1/6)

NPR: Study Finds Birth Control Pill Use Isn't Associated With Birth Defects
Pregnant women worry about all kinds of things. Now there's one less thing to fret about: harm to the baby when the mother takes birth control pill right before conceiving, or during the first few months of pregnancy. According to a study covering more than 880,000 births in Denmark, the overall rate of birth defects was consistent for women who had never taken the pill at all, for those who had used it before getting pregnant and for those who continued on the pill in early pregnancy. (Hobson, 16)

NPR: Cholesterol Provides A Clue About Heart Risks From Sleep Apnea
Soon after many people fall asleep, they have trouble breathing. Their upper airway constricts and chokes them. They wake, startled, take a deep breath, and fall back to sleep. This condition, obstructive sleep apnea, affects about a fifth of American adults and triples the risk for cardiovascular disease. How exactly has been unclear. Research published Wednesday suggests that cholesterol, a common culprit in heart disease, plays a special role in raising risk for people with sleep apnea. (Chen, 1/6)

NPR: How A Simple Bump Can Cause An Insidious Brain Injury
It's not just football players or troops who fought in the wars who suffer from brain injuries. Researchers estimate that hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in the U.S. get potentially serious brain injuries every year, too. Yet they and even their doctors often don't know it. One such doctor is Bryan Arling, an internist in Washington, D.C. His peers often vote to put him on those lists of "top doctors," published by glossy magazines. So it's ironic that the brain injury he failed to diagnose was his own. And he could have died from it. (Zwerdling, 1/6)

Los Angeles Times: Gov. Jerry Brown's State Budget Is Set To Include A Revised Healthcare Tax
In an effort to break a political and policy logjam, Gov. Jerry Brown will unveil a state budget that revamps a controversial tax on health plans to avoid jeopardizing federal healthcare dollars. Sources who spoke on the condition that they not be identified prior to Brown's scheduled Thursday announcement said the reworked tax plan reflects intense behind-the-scenes negotiations with California's biggest insurance companies. (Myers and Mason, 1/6)