First Edition: March 24, 2015

Kaiser Health News: Tax-Time Tribulations: Health Law Complicates Filing Season For Many
This tax season, for the first time since the health law passed five years ago, consumers are facing its financial consequences. Whether they owe a penalty for not having health insurance or have to reconcile how much they got in premium tax credits against their incomes, many people have to contend with new tax forms and calculations. Experts say the worst may be yet to come. (Andrews, 3/24)

The Associated Press: AP Exclusive: GOP Hits Medicaid To Offset Doc Fee Hikes
House Republicans quietly deepened recommended budget savings from the government’s chief health care program for the poor by about $140 billion in recent weeks to offset part of the cost of higher payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients, according to officials familiar with the tradeoff. The maneuver comes as Republicans in both houses struggle with competing priorities, in this case a desire to stabilize what is widely viewed as a dysfunctional system of provider payments under Medicare, while pursuing a 10-year goal of balancing the budget. (Espo, 3/24)

The Associated Press: House Dems Say New Abortion Language Helps Medicare Doc Deal
Language has been added to an emerging bipartisan deal on Medicare clarifying that the agreement’s abortion restrictions on community health centers are temporary and won’t be inscribed into permanent law, House Democrats said Monday. The Democrats said they believe the new provisions will ease concerns that have threatened Democratic support for the overall package, which is mostly aimed at protecting doctors who treat Medicare patients from imminent, deep cuts. (Fram, 3/23)

USA Today: Budget Debate Highlights Divides In Congress
If Republicans can agree to a joint budget resolution, which sets spending levels for the upcoming fiscal year, they could also trigger a protected legislative process known as reconciliation. Republicans intend to use that process to repeal Obamacare, because it requires only a majority vote and cannot be filibustered. Even if they are successful, however, Obama would veto the measure if it reaches his desk. GOP leaders are hopeful that the appeal of targeting Obamacare will help ease ongoing intra-party divides over defense spending. (Davis, 3/23)

The Washington Post: Republicans Heading For Whiplash On Partisan Budget, Bipartisan Health Bill
Congressional Republicans will have their governing bona fides tested again this week with key votes on the 2016 budget and a plan to revamp the payment system for doctors who treat Medicare patients. On the budget resolution, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) will be in familiar territory, trying to pass an austere spending plan with votes entirely from his side of the aisle but facing a revolt from the far-right flank, which insists on more ideological purity in budgeting (and nearly everything else). For the Medicare provision, Boehner worked preemptively with Democrats. The proposal, which has not provoked much division within his party’s ranks, could create some of the structural changes to entitlement programs that Republicans have long sought. (Kane, 3/23)

The Associated Press: CDC: Uninsured Drop By 11M Since Passage Of Obama's Law
The number of uninsured U.S. residents fell by more than 11 million since President Barack Obama signed the health care overhaul five years ago, according to a pair of reports Tuesday from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although that still would leave about 37 million people uninsured, it's the lowest level measured in more than 15 years. (3/24)

The New York Times: Many Will Need To Repay Health Subsidies
Half of the households that received subsidies to help pay health insurance premiums last year under the Affordable Care Act will probably have to repay some of that money to the federal government, according to a new analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The foundation also predicted that 45 percent of households that received subsidies will probably get a refund, because their 2014 income was lower than what they estimated when they applied for coverage. (Goodnough, 3/24)

Los Angeles Times: Obamacare: California Sends 120,000 Corrected Tax Forms, Thousands More Coming
California's Obamacare exchange has sent out 120,000 corrected tax forms, but it said tens of thousands of other consumers are still waiting for their information. Peter Lee, executive director of the Covered California exchange, said those remaining households should get tax forms related to their health-law subsidies by the end of March. "We are very sorry for the inconvenience this has caused for too many consumers," Lee said. "This is far from ideal." (Terhune, 3/23)

USA Today: Medicaid Expansion Slashes Hospitals' Unpaid Bills
Hospitals in states that expanded Medicaid to their poorest residents faced about $5 billion less in unpaid bills last year — about twice the reduction as those that did not expand this health care coverage, according to a new federal report. The Department of Health and Human Services released the report at a Virginia event marking the fifth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. The ACA expanded Medicaid, but a Supreme Court decision gave states the option of offering Medicaid to all of their citizens or not, and 22 states have not done so. (O'Donnell, 3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: In 2016 Bid, Cruz Lays Out Conservative Agenda
Sen. Ted Cruz on Monday began his campaign for the White House with a call to abolish the 2010 health law and the Internal Revenue Service, an appeal for greater school choice and a proposition to his party: that Republicans can win the White House only if they nominate a forceful conservative like himself. The Texan, who became the first major candidate of either party to enter the 2016 race, laid out an argument here that Republicans have failed in presidential elections because their nominees were insufficiently conservative, leaving evangelical Christians and others on the political right to sit out the vote and hand victory to the Democrats. (Epstein and Ballhaus, 3/23)

The Associated Press: VA Says It Will Relax 40-mile Rule For Private Medical Care
Responding to pressure from Congress and veterans groups, the Department of Veterans Affairs is relaxing a rule that makes it hard for some veterans in rural areas to prove they live at least 40 miles from a VA health site. The change comes amid complaints from lawmakers and advocates who say the VA's current policy has prevented thousands of veterans from taking advantage of a new law intended to allow veterans in remote areas to gain access to federally paid medical care from local doctors. (Daly, 3/24)

The Washington Post: Federal Workers Could Pay More For Health Care, Get Less For Retirement Under GOP Plan
The federal budget proposed by House Republicans would reduce the amount of money that government employees earn on a popular retirement plan and potentially increase the amount they have to contribute to their health-care plan, according to newly released details. House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.) last week unveiled the spending blueprint — which aims to achieve several hundred billions of dollars in savings through measures affecting federal employees — but did not initially release the specifics. (Hicks, 3/24)

The Wall Street Journal: Humana To Sell Concentra Unit For $1.06 Billion
Humana Inc. has agreed to sell its Concentra Inc. unit to a joint venture of Select Medical Holdings Corp. and private-equity firm Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe for about $1.06 billion in cash. Select Medical Holdings operates specialty hospitals and outpatient rehabilitation clinics, while Concentra provides occupational health, urgent care and physical therapy services to employers and consumers in the U.S. Concentra had about $1 billion in revenue last year. (Dulaney, 3/23)

The Associated Press: Humana To Narrow Focus Outside Insurance With Concentra Sale
Humana plans to sell occupational health care provider Concentra for about $1.06 billion, as the health insurer refines its focus on providing patient care. The Louisville, Kentucky, company said Monday it will sell Concentra to a joint venture between specialty hospital operator Select Medical Holdings Corp. and the private equity fund Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe XII LP. Humana will then use proceeds from the deal to buy back stock. (3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Tenet Healthcare, United Surgical In Short-Stay Surgery Deal
Tenet Healthcare Corp. agreed to a deal that will hand it control of United Surgical Partners International Inc. as consolidation picks up among hospital companies seeking to adapt to pressure from the new U.S. health-care regime. Tenet said it would create a joint venture with Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe, combining Tenet’s short-stay, or ambulatory, surgery centers and imaging facilities with USPI, which the private-equity firm owns. Tenet will initially own 50.1% of the operation, with the right to buy the rest over five years. (Cimilluca and Weaver, 3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Lab Reaches Tentative Deal With Government Over Doctor Payments
A laboratory that has collected large sums from Medicare has reached a tentative agreement with the Justice Department to pay nearly $50 million to settle a civil investigation into whether payments it made to doctors amounted to kickbacks, according to people familiar with the matter. The tentative accord involving Health Diagnostic Laboratory Inc. follows a Page One article in The Wall Street Journal in September that detailed the company’s practice of paying doctors to send it patients’ blood for testing. (Carreyrou, 3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Alzheimer’s Patients Aren’t Always Told They Have Alzheimer’s
More than half of people with Alzheimer’s disease, or their caregivers, have never been told by their doctors that they have the condition, according to a new study from the Alzheimer’s Association, a nonprofit advocacy group. “We are alarmed. This means that people are being robbed of the opportunity to make important decisions about their lives,” says Beth Kallmyer, the association’s vice president of constituent services. (Beck, 3/23)

The Washington Post: Apple Isn’t Just Satisfied Reinventing Health Care, It’s Targeting Clinical Trials As Well​
When Apple announced, last year, that it was developing a watch that had the functions of a medical device, it became clear that the company was eyeing the $3 trillion health care industry; that the tech industry sees medicine as the next frontier for exponential growth. Apple’s recent announcement of ResearchKit shows that it has an even greater ambition: It wants to also transform the pharmaceutical industry by changing the way clinical trials are done. (Wadhwa, 3/23)