The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Officials Pressed To Let Pregnant Women Enroll In Health-Law Plans At Any Time
The Obama administration is under increasing pressure to allow uninsured women who become pregnant to obtain health coverage at any time of the year through the Affordable Care Act’s federal exchange. More than 50 House Democrats delivered a letter Thursday to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell calling for immediate guidance that would classify pregnancy as a “qualifying life event.” ... More than 30 national health advocacy groups, including Families USA and Planned Parenthood, sent their own letter Thursday to HHS supporting the change. (Armour, 3/12)

Earlier related KHN story: Pregnant And Uninsured? Don’t Count On Obamacare (Galewitz, 2/18)

Politico Pro: Big Insurers Likely To Push Ahead, Smaller Plans May 'Hit Pause'
The Supreme Court Obamacare challenge could cut down the numbers of insurers expanding into new markets next year — even if the White House wins. And that could be a victory of sorts for the opponents of the health law, even if they lose in court. (Norman, 3/12)

The Hill: Study: Fewer Plans Cancelled Under ObamaCare In 2014
The flurry of media reports that said millions of people were losing their healthcare plans under ObamaCare in 2014 were likely overblown, according to a recent survey. Although a national survey from December 2013 found that one in five people had received a cancellation notice for their insurance, many of those customers were able to keep their plans in 2014 after changes to the government’s policy, according to a new report from the nonpartisan Urban Institute. (Ferris, 3/12)

The Fiscal Times: Americans Have Insurance But Can’t Afford to Use It
Although more Americans have health insurance coverage, 25 percent of non-elderly Americans don’t have enough liquid assets to cover the deductible on their health insurance plan, according to a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation. (Braverman, 3/12)

The Hill: Governor Touts Kentucky As Obamacare Model For Red States
Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear (D) is touting his state as an example of making ObamaCare work in a Republican stronghold. The state has drawn national attention for setting up its own ObamaCare marketplace and expanding Medicaid under the law. “Let me be clear: We welcome the attention, because we know we have boldly seized the opportunity to change the course of history in our state,” Beshear said in Washington Thursday at a conference of America’s Health Insurance Plans, an insurer trade group. (Sullivan, 3/12)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Health Insurance Groups Look To Improve Minority Enrollment
Health insurance enrollment advocates placed a special emphasis on enrolling minority groups in plans under President Barack Obama’s health overhaul. But federal data released this week show that task has been a struggle during the last two years. Now, groups who drive the enrollment efforts are looking for answers and trying new ideas. (Shapiro, 3/13)

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune: MNsure Cuts Two-Year Enrollment Projection By 15 Percent
MNsure officials on Thursday again lowered the outlook for commercial enrollment through the state’s health insurance exchange, as board members noted the influence of both a strong regional economy and the relatively small number of Minnesotans who currently lack coverage. (Snowbeck, 3/12)

Minnesota Public Radio: MNsure To Cut Budget By $2.5 Million Over Three Years
The MNsure board Thursday approved a three-year financial plan that cuts spending by more than $2.5 million over three years. MNsure officials said the cuts were made necessary by lower than expected enrollment in private health plans. MNsure receives some of its funding from a percentage of premium payments made by people who enroll in private health plans through the state's online insurance marketplace. (Zdechlik, 3/12)

California Healthline: Uninsured Rate For 'Young Invincibles' Dips Below 10% At State Universities
On Wednesday, researchers released poll results that show dramatically low rates of uninsured students at California State University campuses, including a steep drop in the number of Latino students without insurance. (Gorn, 3/12)

The Boston Globe: To Ease Use, Mass. Health Connector May Cap Plan Choices
Consumers like having options, but sometimes too many choices can make shopping a nightmare. That can be especially true when shopping for something as complex and personal as health insurance. In the most recent open enrollment period for the Massachusetts Health Connector, 11 health insurers offered a staggering number of plans: 126 in all, each with different premiums, out-of-pocket payments, and benefits. One insurer had more than 30 health plans available. For the next round, the Connector plans to reduce the options by about a third. (Freyer, 3/12)

WBUR: Connector Gains New COO, Corner Office Adviser
The Baker administration continues to put its stamp on the state’s Health Connector Authority with the hiring of two top officials. (Dumcius, 3/12)

Associated Press: Oregon Gets A Win, Judge Sends Cover Oregon Fight With Oracle To State Court
The state of Oregon has notched another victory in its high-stakes legal battle with Oracle Inc. over the failure of the Cover Oregon health insurance website. U.S. District Judge Anna Brown this week rejected Oracle's attempt to try the case in federal court. The decision means dueling lawsuits filed by the state and the company will proceed separately in state and federal court. (3/12)

Fairbanks (Alaska) News-Miner: Alaska House Again Rejects Effort To Expand Medicaid Coverage
The Republican-led House Majority rejected another effort by minority Democrats to implement Medicaid expansion through the state’s operating budget. Democrats offered an amendment to accept some $145 million in federal funds to offer Medicaid coverage, made available through the federal Affordable Care Act, to an estimated 40,000 poor and uninsured Alaskans. The amendment was the second of 20 amendments Democrats were expected to offer in a marathon floor session on the operating budget. (Buxton, 3/12)

St. Louis Public Radio: Missouri House Sends $26.1 Billion State Budget To Senate
Thursday's debate was also dominated by the Republican majority's refusal to expand Medicaid. State Rep. Margo McNeil, D-Hazelwood, accused GOP leaders of shortchanging Missouri's infrastructure, schools and health services by not expanding Medicaid. "It's no surprise that Missouri is not moving forward with economic development like some of our surrounding states," McNeil said. "We have depressed our economic development through our decisions in this body." State Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick, R-Shell Knob, argued that Missouri wouldn't be guaranteed its share of federal dollars if Medicaid were expanded. (Griffin, 3/12)

The Hill: Dems Seek Medicaid Payment Bump
Two senior Senate Democrats introduced a bill Thursday that would boost payments to Medicaid doctors to equal those paid to Medicare doctors. Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) are hoping to extend a provision of ObamaCare that expired last year that ensures equal payments to all providers. (Ferris, 3/12)

Columbus Dispatch: Doctors Fight Medicaid, Medicare Payment Plan
Gov. John Kasich’s plan to give primary-care doctors serving Medicaid patients a $156 million rate increase over the next two years would come largely from the pockets of other physicians. The Ohio State Medical Association has urged state lawmakers to reject the governor’s budget plan to finance the rate increase by reducing reimbursements to doctors treating patients covered by both Medicaid and Medicare, so-called dual eligibles. Instead, the association is asking for both rates to be increased. (Candisky, 3/13)

The Wall Street Journal: Senate Republicans’ Budget Targets Medicaid, Food Stamps
The Senate Republican budget slated for release next week is expected to generate savings by turning more responsibility for Medicaid and food-stamp programs over to states, GOP lawmakers and aides said Thursday. ... Under the current system, Medicaid programs are administered by the states, but an average of 57% of their budgets come from federal funds, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers. Republicans have proposed similar moves in the past, but have encountered Democratic resistance. ... To get a sense of potential savings, under last year’s House GOP budget, converting the food-stamp programs into a block grant starting in 2019 would have saved $125 billion over 10 years. The document also estimated that overhauling Medicaid would trim $732 billion over a decade. (Peterson, 3/12)

Politico: Hill Republicans Playing It Safe On Deficit Reduction
The House and Senate Budget Committees won’t roll out their tax and spending plans until next week. But all indications are the savings target for reconciliation won’t come close to the trillions needed to reach balance by 2025. Part of this is practical politics given President Barack Obama’s veto. But in a surprising twist, a lot also has to do with new, lower cost estimates for the law the GOP loves to hate: the Affordable Care Act. Just this past Monday, the Congressional Budget Office trimmed $209 billion from its prior January estimate for the 10-year cost of subsidies and related spending and revenues for the health exchanges. That’s a 20 percent drop in the space of two months, and those are the same exchange subsidies threatened by a Republican-backed lawsuit before the Supreme Court. If the justices were to strike down the subsidies this summer, Republicans would be under pressure to come up with some relief for the millions who would find it harder to keep their health coverage. (Rogers, 3/12)

The Associated Press: US Budget Deficit Totals $192.3 Billion In February
The federal government ran a slightly smaller deficit in February than a year ago but the imbalance through the first five months of the budget year is still running ahead of last year. ... But Republicans, who now control both the House and the Senate, have attacked Obama’s plan for raising taxes and failing to tackle rising costs for the government’s biggest benefit programs, Social Security and Medicare. GOP lawmakers have pledged that the budgets they put together in coming weeks will eliminate deficits over the next decade. (3/12)

The Hill: Momentum Building In Congress For $174 Billion Medicare Fix
Momentum is building in Congress for a proposal that would abolish Medicare cuts, top Republicans said Thursday, despite the emerging battle over the $174 billion price tag. Optimism has been growing this week that Congress could finally reach its long-sought goal of ending the automatic cuts to doctors under Medicare, which come through what is known as the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR). The package being discussed by House leaders in both parties would partially pay for the cost of the $174 billion fix, sources say. (Sullivan and Ferris, 3/12)

In other Capitol Hill news, an anti-human trafficking measure becomes mired in abortion politics -

The Hill: McConnell Files Cloture On Anti-Trafficking Bill
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) filed cloture Thursday on an anti-trafficking bill that has stalled in the Senate amid an abortion fight. It's the latest step, as senators try to find a way forward on the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, which boosts resources for law enforcement and trafficking victims. McConnell's move likely sets up a procedural vote next week. Democrats have balked over the legislation's inclusion of the Hyde Amendment, which blocks federal funding for abortions. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) blocked McConnell's attempt Thursday to allow for an up-or-down vote on removing the abortion provision. (Carney, 3/12)

Politico: How Abortion Politics Scuttled A Human-Trafficking Bill
It’s a cause any politician would have a hard time opposing: cracking down on human trafficking. Instead, in a breakdown sensational even by Senate standards, a bill to address the issue is set to go down in a partisan firefight. The cause of the row? Democrats didn’t read the 68-page bill to discover its provisions dealing with abortion, and Republicans didn’t disclose the abortion language when Democratic staffers asked them for a summary of the legislation. (Everett and Kim, 3/12)

Politico Pro: Obama Confronts VA Mess
Whether President Barack Obama thinks things are getting better at the Phoenix VA may depend on whether he talks to patients or staff. Current and former employees at the veterans hospital that spawned a nationwide scandal last year warn that a culture of sloppy service and reprisals against whistleblowers persists and should make vets think twice before renewing their trust in the agency. (Wheaton, 3/12)

The Associated Press: Obama To Visit VA Hospital, Check Progress On Veterans Care
President Barack Obama is making a first-time visit to the Arizona veterans' hospital that triggered a national examination into how the government cares for its former service members to get an appraisal on the health system's progress and its lingering needs. Obama will travel to Phoenix on Friday to draw attention to the Veterans Affairs Department response to widespread mismanagement where VA workers falsified waiting lists to conceal chronic delays in care. (3/13)

Arizona Republic: VA Secretary McDonald Presses For Veterans' Care Reform
On the eve of a presidential visit to the Phoenix VA hospital, Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald stressed that reforming his massive federal agency is a process with two key elements: leadership and time. (Wagner, 3/12)

In other news related to veterans' health -

Kansas Health Institute News Service: Moran Questions VA Commitment To Veterans Choice Program
Millions of veterans nationwide now have a card that’s supposed to improve their access to health care. But a Kansas senator and some other members of Congress doubt the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is really serious about the new Veterans Choice Program. The program is meant to let veterans get care from private providers if they live at least 40 miles from a VA health care facility or if they face a wait of more than 30 days for an appointment. ... At a recent hearing, [Sen. Jerry] Moran told McDonald the VA seems to be putting its own welfare ahead of what’s best for veterans. “The concern I have is that the VA has a mentality against outside care, even in the circumstances of (when veterans) can’t get care within 30 days or within 40 miles,” Moran said. (Thompson, 3/12)

The Washington Post: VA Manager Helped Pick Relative’s Property For New Medical Center
Department of Veterans Affairs manager Wendy Gillis seemed to understand the trouble with serving on a selection committee that was considering five of her family’s properties for a new VA medical center in Fayetteville, N.C. “I don’t think I need to be here … Oh my god, I shouldn’t be here,” a VA official remembered her saying during a 2010 evaluation of one relative’s plot. (Hicks, 3/13)

Los Angeles Times: Experts Call For 'Tobacco-Free World' And Raising Legal Age For Cigarettes
Among a generation of kids ranging from today's 15-year-olds to babies only now being contemplated, shifting the minimum legal age for tobacco purchases from 18 to 21 across the United States now would prevent a quarter-million premature deaths, says a new report. For children born between 2000 and 2019, such a policy shift would reclaim a projected 4.2 million years of life now expected to be lost to tobacco-related illnesses, an Institute of Medicine analysis concludes. And down the road even further, boosting to 21 the minimum age for those buying cigarettes would save 4,000 babies whose lives would otherwise be claimed by sudden infant death syndrome. (Healy, 3/12)

USA Today: Raising Tobacco Age Would Save Lives, Report Says
About 95% of smokers pick up the habit before 21, studies show. Raising the age to buy tobacco to 21 would make it harder for teens to pass for legal age or get cigarettes from their older high school friends, says Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "With 2,800 youth trying their first cigarette every day and many using multiple tobacco products, powerful interventions are needed to keep youth from lifelong addictions to these deadly products," says Chris Hansen, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. (Szabo, 3/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Study Supports Raising Tobacco-Purchase Age To 21
Only Congress, which required that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration commission the report, has the power to increase the tobacco purchase age nationally. States and cities can raise the age in their jurisdictions. The report by a panel at the independent Institute of Medicine examined the impact of increasing the age to 19 on teenagers. The committee also looked at how raising the age to 21 would affect 18- to 20-year-olds, and how boosting it to 25 would affect 21- to 25-year-olds. (Mickle, 3/12)

The Associated Press: Report: Raising Legal Age For Tobacco Would Stop, Delay Use
Raising the legal age to buy tobacco to higher than 18 would likely prevent premature death for hundreds of thousands of people, according to a report issued Thursday by the Institute of Medicine. The report examines the public health effects of increasing the age to 19, 21 or 25. While it doesn't make any recommendations, officials say, it provides the scientific guidance state and local governments need to evaluate policies aimed at reducing tobacco use by young people. (3/13)

The Associated Press: NY Regulator To Push Alternative Health Care Payments
New York's top insurance regulator says most health insurance in the state pays hospitals and doctors for each service regardless of quality, efficiency or outcome, and his staff will try to encourage alternatives to reduce costs and improve health. Department of Financial Services Superintendent Ben Lawsky says their recent survey shows every major insurer in New York's commercial market is making some effort at payment reform, like "pay-for-performance" or pay-per-member fees for health care. (3/13)

The Texas Tribune: Competing Bills Filed Over End-of-Life Care For Pregnant Women
The mother of Marlise Muñoz, the pregnant Fort Worth woman who in 2013 was kept on life support against her family’s wishes, says her daughter’s death had been “used as a political debate” and wants to prevent other women from going through similar ordeals. (Walters and Ura, 3/12)

The Associated Press: Comptroller: New York State Medicaid Spending To Rise
New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says state spending on Medicaid is projected to rise by nearly $700 million a year over the next four years. However, DiNapoli said Thursday that the state's efforts to limit Medicaid spending are showing signs of progress with annual growth at less than 2 percent. The growth rate had previously been more than 5 percent annually. (3/13)

USA Today: Policing Mentally Ill Overshadowed By Race Debate
Deep in a White House examination of policing tactics is a recommendation that left unaddressed, officials say, will contribute to continued fractures in law enforcement's relationship with the public, similar to the racial divide.The report by the Task Force on 21st Century Policing urged authorities to offer training to deal with a disturbing number of violent encounters between police and the mentally ill. And, the panel concluded, Congress should pay for it. (Johnson, 3/12)

Kansas Health Institute News Service: KDADS Secretary Plans To Introduce Reworked Medicaid Mental Health Drug Bill
A Senate-rejected bill meant to allow KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program, to regulate mental health patients’ access to antipsychotic medications is making a comeback. Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services Secretary Kari Bruffett on Thursday said she hopes to introduce a revised version of the bill within the next few weeks. The intent of the new bill, she said, will be to ensure patient safety without jeopardizing ready access to mental health drugs. (Ranney, 3/12)

Kansas Health Institute News Service: Lawmakers Consider New Restrictions For Welfare Policies
Kansas lawmakers are preparing to vote on a bill that would further tighten the rules for the state’s two main public assistance programs. The measure, which the House Commerce, Labor and Economic Development Committee endorsed on Wednesday, writes into state law several recent administrative changes made as part of Gov. Sam Brownback’s welfare to work initiative. Supporters of the changes say they will decrease dependency on welfare and step up efforts to prevent the misuse of benefit cards used by Kansans in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Opponents say the bill will reduce the number of people receiving assistance at a time when more Kansans are living in poverty. (McLean, 3/12)

North Carolina Health News: Lawmakers Expected to Consider Bill on Chemotherapy Cost Parity
Many insurance companies in North Carolina treat oral chemotherapy pills as a pharmacy benefit, and this distinction means that the pills often aren’t covered in the same way as IV chemo, adding thousands of dollars to out-of-pocket costs. Many patients who receive inpatient chemotherapy pay only the co-pay for hospital or clinic treatment. But if that same patient gets chemotherapy in the form of a pill, they often have to pay a much higher price for the drug. ... Sen. Ralph Hise (R-Spruce Pine) said there’s movement in the Senate to file a bill to address the disparity. “It’s overall a cheaper cost for the health care system, and particularly for Medicaid and other populations,” Hise said. “I think that requiring someone to come out with a greater out-of-pocket cost for something that is ultimately a lower cost doesn’t make sense for our health system and certainly doesn’t make sense for patients.” (Namkoong, 3/12)

North Carolina Health News: Advocates Try Again To Ban Tanning Bed Use For Teens
This is the third year that legislation to restrict the use of tanning beds for anyone under 18 has been introduced at the General Assembly. A bill introduced in 2013 passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support. The bill was then sent to the Senate, where it died. At one point last summer, House lawmakers inserted the tanning bed language into an omnibus regulatory reform bill, where it also died. (Hoban, 3/12)

Arizona Republic: In Abortion Debate, Arizona Lawmaker Reveals Secret
She had already delivered her prepared remarks about an abortion-related bill and was answering questions from her fellow lawmakers. That's when something compelled Rep. Victoria Steele to publicly and tearfully share a secret. (Ruelas, 3/12)

North Carolina Health News: Continuity Of Care: The Rural Doctor 2.0
[Kate] Sloss has now opened a new practice, the Lake Lure Medical Center, as part of the Mountain Area Health Education Center network. Sloss joined up with Grey Tilden, a graduate of MAHEC’s Family Medicine Residency Program, which trains doctors to live and work in rural areas. ... Tilden is from Alabama. Back when he was mapping his path into medicine, he got a piece of advice from a family physician: If you want to go into family medicine (which he did), don’t do your training in a big city, because there are so many specialists there that you won’t get to do as much as you would in a rural program. He liked what he learned at the Family Medicine Residency Program in Hendersonville. It was the most innovative in terms of, for example, tracking chronic illnesses. (Sisk, 3/13)

The Hill: Rural Health Advocate To Assume No. 2 Post At HHS
One of the country’s leading rural health advocate will assume the No. 2 position at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Mary Wakefield, who has spent five years overseeing the government’s programs for vulnerable populations at HHS, was tapped Thursday as the department’s acting deputy secretary, according to a release provided first to The Hill. Wakefield said in an interview Thursday that rural health will continue to be one of her top priorities, as well as reforms to make healthcare delivery more efficient across the board. She also pledged to focus on “strengthening HHS as an agency.” (Ferris, 3/12)

JAMA Pediatrics: Widening Rural-Urban Disparities In Youth Suicides, United States, 1996-2010
[Researchers sought to] examine trends in US suicide mortality for adolescents and young adults across the rural-urban continuum. ... Longitudinal trends in suicide rates by rural and urban areas between January 1, 1996, and December 31, 2010, were analyzed using county-level national mortality data linked to a rural-urban continuum measure that classified all 3141 counties in the United States .... Across the study period, 66 595 youths died by suicide, and rural suicide rates were nearly double those of urban areas for both males (19.93 and 10.31 per 100 000, respectively) and females (4.40 and 2.39 per 100 000, respectively). Even after controlling for a wide array of county-level variables, rural-urban suicide differentials increased over time for males. (Fontanella et al., 3/9)

Health Affairs: Solving The Sustainable Growth Rate Formula Conundrum Continues Steps Toward Cost Savings And Care Improvements
Congress is again attempting to repeal the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. The formula is a failed mechanism intended to constrain Medicare Part B physician spending by adjusting annual physician fee updates. ... Current congressional deliberations appear focused on how to pay for the fix, with wide consensus that the 2014 legislation should remain the basic model for reform. We describe key features of the 2014 SGR fix, place it in the context of both past and ongoing Medicare health policy, assess its strengths and weaknesses as a mechanism to foster improved care and lower costs in Medicare, and suggest further actions to ensure success in meeting these goals. (Reschovsky, Converse and Rich, 3/11)

The Kaiser Family Foundation: How Much (More) Will Seniors Pay For A Doc Fix?
Last year, Members of Congress ... came to consensus on a long-term alternative system for setting [Medicare's] physician fees. ... But, as in prior years, lawmakers have yet to come to agreement on the vexing issue of financing .... Among the more contentious issues is whether beneficiaries should pay more ... to help offset this cost to the federal government. ... Often overlooked in these discussions is the fact that, under current law, beneficiaries would automatically absorb their share of Part B costs associated with replacing the SGR. Take the Part B premium, for example .... We estimate that Medicare beneficiaries would automatically contribute $58 billion over the next ten years in Part B premiums to replace the SGR along the lines of the leading bipartisan proposal. (Boccuti and Neuman, 3/10)

Rand Corp.: Borrowing For The Cure
Recent market entries of breakthrough pharmaceutical products have reignited the debate about the affordability of high-priced drugs for public and private payers worldwide. ... medical professionals and government ministers have complained that this "blank check" might not be sustainable. Concerns about short-term budget impact have led countries to restrict access to expensive drugs, even when they met cost-effectiveness criteria and could lead to long-term savings. This paper offers a research-grounded perspective on innovative financing mechanisms to facilitate access to expensive yet highly effective breakthrough medical treatments. The authors outline the scope of the problem; describe several policy and market options, including bond financing and linking repayment to real-world value generation; and describe real-world applications. (Mattke and Hoch, 3/11)

The Kaiser Family Foundation: Consumer Assets And Patient Cost Sharing
Higher cost sharing in private insurance has been credited with helping to slow the growth of health care costs .... For families with limited resources, however, high cost sharing can be a potential barrier to care and may lead ... to significant financial difficulties. ... We use information from the 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances to look at how household resources match up against potential cost-sharing requirements. ... we compare household resources against two deductible levels: $1,200 single/$2,400 family ... and $2,500 single/$5,000 family .... Overall, three in five (63%) households have enough liquid financial assets to meet the lower deductible amounts while one-half (51%) can meet the higher deductible amounts. ... Only 32% of households with incomes between 100% and 250% of poverty can meet the lower deductible amounts, while one-in-five can meet the higher deductible. (Claxton, Rae and Pancha, 3/11)

Journal of General Internal Medicine/Rand Corp.: Impact Of Out-Of-Pocket Spending Caps On Financial Burden Of Those With Group Health Insurance
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandates that all private health insurance include out-of-pocket spending caps. Insurance purchased through the ACA's Health Insurance Marketplace may qualify for income-based caps, whereas group insurance will not have income-based caps. ... We applied the expected uniform spending caps, hypothetical reduced uniform spending caps (reduced by one-third), and hypothetical income-based spending caps ... to nationally representative data .... With the uniform caps, 1.2 % of individuals had lower out-of-pocket spending, compared with 3.8 % with reduced uniform caps and 2.1 % with income-based caps. ... Mandated uniform out-of-pocket caps for those with group insurance will benefit very few individuals. (Riggs, Buttorff and Alexander, 3/9)

Here is a selection of news coverage of other recent research:

NPR: Results Of Many Clinical Trials Not Being Reported
Many scientists are failing to live up to a 2007 law that requires them to report the results of their clinical trials to a public website, according to a study in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine. The website is clinicaltrials.gov, which draws 57,000 visitors a day, including people who are confronting serious diseases and looking for experimental treatments. A study from Duke University finds that five years after the reporting law took effect, only 13 percent of scientists running clinical trials had reported their results. (Harris, 3/11)

Reuters: Seeing Medical Records Might Ease Hospital Patients’ Confusion
Letting patients see their medical records while they’re in the hospital might ease worry and confusion without extra work for doctors and nurses, a small study suggests. "The hope is that increased transparency achieved by sharing electronic medical records with patients while they're in the hospital would make them more engaged in their care, more satisfied, and more likely to ask questions and catch errors," said lead study author Dr. Jonathan Pell, an assistant professor at the University of Colorado in Denver. (Rapaport, 3/9)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Privately Insured Brain Tumor Patients May Fare Better
Brain tumor patients with private health insurance do better than those who have Medicaid coverage or are uninsured, a new study finds. Researchers analyzed data from more than a half-million brain tumor-related hospitalizations in the United States between 2002 and 2011. (3/9)

Modern Healthcare: PCORI Is Meeting Its Mission Under Affordable Care Act, GAO Says
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute awarded 360 contracts totaling $670.8 million as of October 2014, according to a report (PDF) issued Monday by the Government Accountability Office. The not-for-profit organization is operating in accordance with the requirements of the Affordable Care Act, the government watchdog agency concluded. PCORI was established under the federal healthcare law to promote research into how conditions and diseases can be most effectively diagnosed and treated. The ACA established five research priorities for the institute, including improving dissemination of research and addressing healthcare disparities. (Demko, 3/9)

Medscape: Study Spots Patients Who Benefit From Early Postdischarge Care
Hospital readmissions were significantly reduced when patients with multiple chronic conditions and a greater than 20% baseline risk for readmission received follow-up within 7 days of discharge, according to a study of 44,473 Medicaid recipients in North Carolina with 65,085 qualifying discharges. The main findings, published in the March/April issue of the Annals of Family Medicine, showed that the one quarter of patients having the highest risk had a clinically meaningful reduction in the rate of readmission if they had an outpatient visit within 7 days of discharge. Others saw little, if any, reduction. (London, 3/10)

Reuters: Survival Rates For Risky Surgeries In U.S. Vary Widely
The chance of surviving any of four high-risk surgeries can vary by as much as 23 percent depending on what hospital patients use, according to an analysis released on Thursday. The report - by the nonprofit Leapfrog Group, a patient-safety organization supported by large employers, and Castlight Health Inc, which sells software for employers to manage healthcare spending - shows that choice of hospital "can mean the difference between life and death," said Leapfrog's Erica Mobley. (Begley, 3/12)

McKnight's: OIG Says Critical Access Swing Beds Should Be Paid At SNF Rates
New legislation should be introduced to significantly change the way rural-based hospitals are reimbursed for care provided in post-acute care swing beds, the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General told the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this week. In its report to Congress, the OIG found that the agency could have saved more than $4 billion over a six-year period by reimbursing critical access hospitals (CAHs) under the conventional skilled nursing facility prospective payment rate. The OIG recommended that the agency switch CAH reimbursement to the SNF prospective payment rate as soon as possible. (Hall, 3/11)

MedPage Today: Male Med Students: More Resolute, More Fallible
Female medical students answered medical questions correctly more often than their male counterparts, but expressed less certainty about their answers, researchers reported. Recognizing the association -- or lack thereof -- between accuracy and confidence in medical trainees may help reduce diagnostic errors caused by overconfidence, wrote three male medical students in a letter published in Annals of Internal Medicine. (Yurkiewicz, 3/3)

Marketplace: In Surgery, Practice Makes Perfect
From today's file of statistics that will scare you, a patient-safety organization called The Leapfrog Group finds survival rates for some high-risk surgeries can swing by as much as 23 percent depending on the hospital a patient visits. In all, The Leapfrog Group looked at four risky surgeries including esophagectomy, replacing the aortic valve in the heart and removing some or all of the pancreas. (Gorenstein, 3/12)

The Hill: The Best Sustainable Growth Rate Fix Is A Medicare Fix
On April 1, Medicare physicians will get a 21 percent pay cut, unless Congress stops its own Medicare payment formula from going into effect — for the 18th time. If this seems absurd, well, it is. The annual Medicare physician payment and funding crisis can't be resolved simply by throwing money at it. It must be fixed in a fiscally responsible fashion. In fact, the proper topic of debate should be less about the "doc fix"; it really ought to focus on producing a Medicare fix. We've come to this deadline every year for two decades because Congress refuses to reform Medicare. (Robert E. Moffit, 3/13)

The Wall Street Journal: Breaking Another Promise To Veterans
Last August President Obama signed the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act, the most significant reform to the Department of Veterans Affairs in decades. Seven months later, the Veterans Choice Program, a core part of the law designed to help veterans see private doctors, is floundering. Yet instead of fixing the many problems, the Obama administration is using them as an excuse to divert funding from the program. (Pete Hegseth, 3/12)

The Wall Street Journal: Why Not 50 Different Affordable Health-Care Plans?
If the Supreme Court in King v. Burwell strikes down subsidies to the buyers of health insurance on the federal exchange, President Obama will call on Congress to change the law to allow the subsidies. There also will be enormous pressure on elected officials to establish state exchanges in the 34 states that don’t have them. Instead, congressional Republicans should be laying the groundwork for market-friendly health reforms and devolving power to the states, meanwhile helping Americans who have difficulty purchasing coverage made unaffordable by the Affordable Care Act. The seeds of far-reaching reform already exist in an obscure provision of the law. (Lanhee J. Chen, 3/12)

Toledo Blade: Ohio’s Medicaid Mess
More than 60,000 poor Ohioans lost their Medicaid health-care coverage last month because they failed to take required steps to renew their benefits. The system has safeguards to mitigate the damage, such as retroactive coverage and 90-day renewal periods. But the state Department of Medicaid must act now to prevent mass expulsions that could risk the health and well-being of tens of thousands of Ohio residents. (3/13)

Bloomberg: Control Costs, Boost Growth
Everyone knows by now that the American health care system is overpriced. We get about the same health outcomes as people in Europe and Asia, but we pay about twice the price. However you measure productivity, the U.S. health-care system comes out looking pretty bad. ... Government subsidizes health care through Medicare, Medicaid and a host of other programs, and also by the tax break on employer-provided health insurance. But its power to negotiate lower prices is constrained. (Noah Smith, 3/12)

Los Angeles Times: Picking A Preschool Is Hard Enough Without Having To Worry About Vaccination
Finding a preschool might seem at first like just another routine chore of parenthood, another box to check off right about the time your kid turns 2 or 3. But the process is actually quite arduous, with everything from cost (can you afford a second mortgage?) to the guilt caused by leaving your child in the care of a stranger (with extensive training, to be sure) conspiring to make even the most career-oriented parents reconsider the virtues of single-income living. (Susan Rohwer, 3/12)

JAMA: Ethical Implications Of Patients And Families Secretly Recording Conversations With Physicians
When a conversation is recorded without a physician’s consent, the nature of the relationship between patient and physician can change. Physicians who suspect secret recordings or learn of them after the fact may believe that their perceived right to consent to recordings has been violated. They may feel vulnerable because of the one-sided protections conferred by law to patient-physician communications. This can threaten the integrity of an existing patient-physician relationship and predispose a physician to assume a posture of distrust toward future patients. (Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Morrow and Ali Seifi, 3/12)