The Wall Street Journal: Long-Sought ‘Doc Fix’ Funding Agreement Reached
House Republican and Democratic leaders Thursday rolled out legislation to permanently fix a formula for calculating Medicare reimbursements to doctors and other health-care providers, a deal supporters say will stand a chance of passage given its bipartisan support. The legislation, set for a floor vote next week, would replace the current formula, which was established by a 1997 budget law that tied pay increases for doctors and other providers to increases in economic growth. (Hughes, 3/19)

McClatchy: House-Senate Lawmakers Unveil Bipartisan “Doc Fix” Bill
House and Senate leaders Thursday unveiled a bipartisan bill to end recurring pay cuts that doctors face under Medicare. ... The bill has bipartisan support but -- with the April 1 deadline looming -- it still has some significant hurdles to overcome. The measure is expected to cost more than $200 billion over 10 years. But lawmakers thus far have only figured out how to pay for $70 billion, which has raised concerns among conservative Republicans. Senate Democrats are concerned about a provision in the bill that extends the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for two years. CHIP is set to expire in September and Senate Democrats want it extended for four years. (Douglas, 3/19)

The Boston Globe: Bipartisan Medicare Bill Would End Yearly Fixes
At least once a year, doctors and their elderly patients endure a hated ritual where lawmakers use the threat of deep cuts to physician payments as a political bargaining chip. Now, in a rare instance of bipartisan cooperation, House leaders aim to stop the practice, once and for all. (Meyers, 3/20)

Politico Pro: So Far, House Conservatives Warming Up To Medicare Pay Fix
House conservatives seem to be warming up to the emerging deal to replace the universally hated Medicare SGR formula. The bipartisan bill outlining the policy details of what would replace the current Medicare physician pay formula was introduced Thursday, and it largely mirrors the language key health committees in the House and Senate approved last year. But the offsets to help pay for it — the most contentious details that have repeatedly stymied repeal efforts and resulted in lawmakers passing 17 temporary patches — have yet to be released, and could yet cause more controversy. (Mershon and Pradhana, 3/19)

The Associated Press: House Medicare Deal Hits Senate Turbulence Over Abortion
An emerging bipartisan House deal changing how Medicare reimburses doctors ran into turbulence in the Senate Thursday over abortion, spotlighting a rare public disagreement between Congress' two top Democrats. Some Democratic senators — including Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. — expressed concern that the tentative House agreement would write restrictions on abortions at community health centers into law. The centers provide medical care for millions of low-income Americans in every state. (Fram, 3/20)

CQ Healthbeat: Senate Democrats Resist Emerging 'Doc Fix' Deal
Senate Democrats are resisting the emerging House-negotiated deal to permanently replace Medicare’s physician payment formula less than two weeks before a patch averting cuts to doctors is set to expire. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, was not among the cosponsors of a bill unveiled Thursday detailing the policy parameters to replace the sustainable growth rate formula, or SGR. The measure (HR 1470) does not contain other policies and offsets expected to be included in the deal to move the package through Congress. (Attias, 3/19)

And some physicians still have concerns -

Modern Healthcare: SGR Fix Will Freeze Doc Salaries, Plastic Surgeons' Group Says
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons is breaking from the pack of healthcare organizations that support a new plan to pass a permanent repeal of Medicare's sustainable growth-rate formula. Instead, the society is voicing its opposition to what it calls a 10-year pay freeze incorporated into the proposal. ... The bill's proposed fee updates of 0.5% annually for the first five years, followed by a 0% update for the following five years effectively freezes reimbursement rates for a decade, [Dr. Scot Glasberg, president of the society.] said. (Johnson, 3/19)

In other Medicare reimbursement news -

CQ Healthbeat: Hospitals Press For Relief From Medicare Readmission Penalty
While pressing for relief from a penalty tied to readmission rates, hospital executives showed how the Medicare policy is spurring a deeper look at how some of the poorest Americans live. The American Hospital Association briefed congressional staff Thursday about its bid to change the penalty policy, which it is seeking to attach to a measure that designed to prevent a cut in Medicare payments to doctors. (Young, 3/19)

The Associated Press: House, Senate Panels Adopt Balanced-Budget Plans
Republicans in Congress advanced balanced-budget plans bristling with cuts in Medicaid and other benefit programs Thursday, determined to make a down payment on last fall’s campaign promise to erase deficits by the end of the decade. ... Yet the GOP’s focus also extended to deficit reduction, repeal of the health care law, an overhaul of the tax code and other budget priorities long advocated by conservatives in control of both houses of Congress for the first time in nearly a decade. (3/19)

The Washington Post: Congressional GOP Struggles To Approve Budgets, Signaling Trouble Ahead
Budget resolutions do not have the force of law and don't require the president's signature, but they do set the rules for the remainder of the year in funding federal agencies and, if both chambers pass the same document, allow for fast-track procedures to approve certain legislation without having to overcome a Senate filibuster. The GOP budgets, which aim to be balanced in a decade through cuts and changes to Medicare and other domestic spending, will not receive any Democratic votes because they are viewed as overly punitive. Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said also said the GOP proposals would cut Pell grants for college tuition, slash nutrition programs and lead to higher medical and drug costs for seniors. (Kane and DeBonis, 3/19)

The Associated Press: Budget Spat Leaves House GOP Leaders Facing New Discord
House Republican leaders confronted that truth again this week when fiscal conservatives unexpectedly blocked a leadership plan for the new federal budget. ... GOP Rep. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, a frequent Boehner critic, taunted the speaker for recently working with the House’s top Democrat to seek a long-term solution to Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors. When reporters asked Huelskamp on Thursday about Boehner’s fallback plan to tackle the latest budget quarrel in the Rules Committee, the Kansan asked sarcastically: “Did Nancy Pelosi approve that one? Oh, no, that’s the doc fix.” (Babington and Kellman, 3/20)

Los Angeles Times: GOP Uses A Little 'Parliamentary Contortionism' To Advance Budget
Even more important for the GOP, the budget process gives Republicans their best procedural tools for passing other measures -- including a repeal of Obama's healthcare law -- on a simple majority vote, circumventing Democratic filibusters. Though Obama could still veto such bills, the promise of passing a bill to undo the Affordable Care Act has become a strong pull to convince the deficit sharks to go along with the extra military spending, without contingencies. Obama has sharply criticized the overall GOP blueprint as more of the same trickle-down economics that provide tax breaks in hopes of spurring economic growth, while deeply cutting domestic programs, including Medicare. (Mascaro, 3/19)

In related news, a calculation error in the House budget is giving federal employees pause -

The Washington Post: Error In House Budget Understated Spending Cuts By $900 Million
A correction to the House Republican budget released this week could mean far deeper cuts for federal employees than the original document suggested, further alarming government workers and their unions already upset about hits they have taken in recent years. The initial version called for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to identify $100 million in savings over a decade from mandatory spending programs within its jurisdiction, which includes the federal-worker retirement and health plans. But the amount was supposed to be $1 billion — 10 times larger than first advertised. (Hicks, 3/19)

The New York Times: McConnell Makes Changes, But Senate Gridlock Remains
The battle of wills may foreshadow new nastiness over the coming months as Congress turns to writing a budget, fixing the Medicare payment formula for doctors and shoring up the nation’s highway system. The emerging bipartisan House solution to the Medicare payment system is already being quietly opposed by Mr. Reid. Unlike Speaker John A. Boehner’s power in the House, which had seemingly been limited to thwarting Mr. Obama’s agenda while Democrats controlled the Senate, Mr. McConnell’s newly won status came with a charge to alter his party’s image from obstructionists to policy architects in service to its candidate for the White House. (Steinhauer, 3/20)

Politico: John Boehner Defies Conservatives, Goes Bold On Budget
Speaker John Boehner’s newest tack is to go big. Over the next week, the Ohio Republican and his top lieutenants plan to jam two big-ticket items through the House — a show of strength for a leadership team stung by a string of defeats and facing doubts about whether it even can govern. ... First, to get a budget approved, the Republican leaders intend to employ a parliamentary maneuver to boost defense spending by $20 billion without any corresponding spending cuts. They’re betting the move will help break a stalemate between fiscal hardliners and defense hawks. Within days of that, the GOP leaders will try to pass a permanent fix to the “Sustainable Growth Rate,” a formula by which the federal government reimburses doctors who serve Medicare patients. (Sherman and Bresnahan, 3/20)

And look who might be making his way onto the campaign trail -

The New York Times: Kasich Looks To Republican Primaries, ‘Ohio Story’ In Hand
As chairman of the House Budget Committee when Mr. Gingrich was speaker and Bill Clinton was president, Mr. Kasich drove legislation to balance the federal budget. Recently, he wrapped up a six-week national tour, lobbying lawmakers in states like South Dakota and Montana to adopt a constitutional amendment that would require a balanced budget. ... But Mr. Kasich delights in poking his own party. He enraged conservatives by expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, and quoted the Bible in explaining his decision. (Stolberg, 3/19)

Stateline: Waiting For The Children's Health Insurance Program
The federal-state Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) will run out of money on Sept. 30. Until recently, Congress showed little interest in paying for it. But this week, the House agreed on a bill that would continue the $13 billion program in its current form through 2017. (Vestal, 3/20)

The Hill: Advocates: Don't Turn Children's Insurance Into Medicare Bargaining Chip
A children’s advocacy group wants Congress to promise four years of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) instead of settling for a two-year compromise. House leaders have been mulling a two-year extension of CHIP as part of a major deal on Medicare’s “doc fix.” (Ferris, 3/19)

CQ Healthbeat: Republicans Weigh Medicaid Expansion's Federal Ties
Republican state lawmakers debating Medicaid expansion harbor doubts that the federal government will keep its financial promise to cover the cost, but are also trying to prevent the traditionally state run program from being further subject to federal demands. Under the 2010 health care overhaul, state Medicaid programs can be expanded to enrollees with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line. The expansion is 100 percent covered by the federal government until 2020, when states that expanded will be responsible for chipping in 10 percent. (Evans, 3/19)

Topeka Capital-Journal: Opponents Of Medicaid Expansion Get Their Day To Have Their Say
Even though the Health and Human Services committee moved the second day Medicaid expansion hearing to a larger room, overflow seating was still necessary as concerned citizens, political action groups and other lawmakers listened to opposition testimony on House Bill 2319. ... On Thursday, the committee heard testimony from six conferees, including two representatives from Americans for Prosperity. The group, which is backed by Charles and David Koch, sent a senior policy analyst from Washington, D.C., to argue against expansion. (Sweeney, 3/19)

The Kansas Health Institute News Service: Kansas Medicaid Expansion Could Cost More Than $100M Per Year
State officials told legislators Thursday that the state's share of Medicaid expansion costs could start at $100 million per year and increase from there, and those costs could double if the federal government required full funding of waiting lists as a condition of expansion. One day after her predecessor testified in favor of expansion under the Affordable Care Act, Kansas Department of Health and Environment Secretary Susan Mosier provided neutral testimony that warned legislators of potential fiscal pitfalls. (Marso, 3/19)

Witchita (Kan.) Eagle: Medicaid Expansion Stalls In House Committee After Testimony On Costs
A proposal to expand Medicaid could have a difficult time regaining momentum after a state official testified that it would cost Kansas more than $2 billion over 10 years. The House Committee on Health and Human Services did not advance the bill on Thursday, leaving it in limbo. (Lowry, 3/19)

Tampa Bay Times: Florida House, Senate Clash Over Health Care Spending
The Florida House and Senate rolled out vastly different health care spending plans Thursday, putting the two chambers on a collision course over the state's $77 billion budget. The Senate version includes $2.8 billion in federal money to pay for expanded health care coverage, something the House adamantly opposes. It also includes a $2.2 billion program known as the Low Income Pool (or LIP) that helps hospitals treat uninsured, under-insured and Medicaid patients. Reaching consensus on the two issues will be difficult and could require an extended or special legislative session. (McGrory, 3/19)

Bloomberg: Novartis Wins Judge's Approval To Sell First-Of-Kind Copycat
Novartis AG can sell in the U.S. the first imitation of a bioengineered drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration, a judge ruled in a setback for Amgen Inc. A federal judge in San Francisco allowed Novartis’s Sandoz unit to sell its version of Amgen’s $1.2 billion-a-year Neupogen cancer drug. The so-called biosimilar may save the U.S. health-care system as much as $5.7 billion in the next 10 years, according to an estimate by Express Scripts Holding Co., the largest pharmacy benefit manager in the U.S. (Pettersson, 3/19)

Los Angeles Times: Judge Rejects Amgen Request To Block Sandoz's Copycat Drug
A federal judge rejected Amgen Inc.'s effort to temporarily block a competitor from releasing a copycat version of one of its top-selling biologic drugs. The Thousand Oaks biotech company had accused Novartis subsidiary Sandoz of violating the law in its effort to sell a version of Amgen’s infection-fighting drug Neupogen in the United States. (Pfeifer, 3/19)

Meanwhile, a small, early-phase trial of Biogen’s experimental drug for Alzheimer’s shows promise -

Bloomberg: Biogen Alzheimer's Drug Slows Disease Progression In Trial
Biogen Idec Inc.’s experimental drug for Alzheimer’s slowed progression of the disease in a study, offering a glimmer of hope after a string of failures by competitors who have tackled the ailment. The shares rose in early U.S. trading before markets opened. (Kitamura, 3/20)

And companies that make surgical devices to pluck blood clots from the brain are set for a jump in orders -

Bloomberg: New Hope For Stroke Victims Boosts Demand For Device To Nab Clots
There’s a revolution under way in stroke care, and it’s not just patients who stand to benefit. Medtronic Plc and others who make tiny surgical devices to pluck blood clots from the brain are set for a jump in orders. Victims of stroke, the world’s second-biggest killer, are more likely to recover if doctors swiftly intervene to restore blood flow to the brain instead of relying on clot-busting drugs alone, new research shows. (Gale, 3/19)

Los Angeles Times: Blacks, Latinos Lag Behind Whites; 'Leaving So Many Behind,' Report Says
Improved health factors are generally the result of better healthcare insurance as mandated by Obamacare. Blacks went from 78.2% to 79.8%, helped in part by statistics showing a decrease in unhealthy life factors such as binge drinking. Latinos experienced a lower death rate and better health care coverage, improving their standing from 102.4% to 106.9% when compared to whites at 100%. A ranking of less than 100% means that blacks or Latinos were doing less well than whites, but a figure larger than 100% meant that the groups were doing better than whites. (Muskal, 3/19)

The Washington Post's Wonkblog: Support For Government Help Has Fallen Among Those Who Rely On It Most
Blacks are still far more supportive of governmental redistribution than the population as a whole. The elderly used to be as supportive, but now they are more likely to be opposed. What's more, opposition is growing among these groups to the kinds of redistributive policies that benefit them in particular. Blacks have become more opposed to the idea that the government should help members of racial minorities. The elderly are increasingly adamant that the government should not provide health insurance -- despite their fondness for Medicare, a federal program. (Ehrenfreund, 3/19)

California Healthline: State Insurance Commissioner Calls Out Blue Shield For 'Second Tax Dodge'
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones (D) on Wednesday said Blue Shield of California has been dodging taxes for years. Jones spoke Wednesday after the Franchise Tax Board revealed it had revoked Blue Shield's tax-exempt status in August 2014. (Gorn, 3/19)

The San Jose Mercury News: California Drops Hammer On Blue Shield Tax-Exempt Status
In a startling blow to one of California's biggest health insurers, the state has revoked the tax-exempt status of Blue Shield of California, forcing the company to pay tens of millions of dollars in back taxes and unleashing a torrent of calls for it to return billions of dollars to customers. (Seipel, 3/19)

The Associated Press: Police Shootings Of Mentally Ill Reveal Gaps In Care
Police crisis intervention efforts and diversion courts are helpful in stemming the violence, but those on the front lines say states need innovative programs and more must be done to get people early and provide preventative care to curtail explosive moments of crisis. (Warren, 3/19)

The Associated Press: Delegates To Consider Mental Health Units In Law Enforcement
The legislation as amended would establish behavioral health units within the Baltimore City and Baltimore County police departments. The units would be comprised of at least six officers who are trained to handle incidents involving people with mental disorders or who exhibit substance abuse signs. The officers, according to the bill’s language, could help those individuals get treatment rather than risk an unnecessary or violent encounter with law enforcement. (3/20)

The Washington Post: D.C. Home Health-Care Workers Organize To Seek $15 An Hour
D.C.’s at least 6,000 home health-care workers work for about 26 health-care agencies. They were organized by Service Employees International Union 1199, the regional chapter of a national labor union that put on Wednesday’s event, though few of the workers are members of the union. D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) and the Rev. Graylan Hagler, a longtime activist and pastor of Plymouth United Congregational Church, where the event took place, also spoke at the event. (Stein, 3/19)

The Associated Press: Delaware State Employees Win Reprieve On Health Care Costs
Bowing to pressure from Democratic lawmakers, Gov. Jack Markell’s administration has agreed to delay proposed health care cost increases for state government workers and retirees. A state panel was set to vote Friday on proposals for new or higher deductibles, and higher copays for drugs, lab tests, outpatient surgeries and hospital stays, aimed at addressing an estimated $60 million deficit in Delaware’s state health insurance plan. (3/19)

Modern Healthcare: Sacred Heart Execs Convicted Of Bribery Scheme
A federal jury found the former owner of a now-shuttered Chicago hospital and two former top administrators guilty on Thursday of taking part in a scheme to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to doctors in exchange for referring patients on Medicare and Medicaid to the struggling facility. (Schencker, 3/19)

The Associated Press: Iowa DHS Leader Defends Changes To Medicaid
The head of the Iowa Department of Human Services on Thursday defended the decision to close two state mental health facilities and switch the state's Medicaid program to private management, saying the changes will save money and offer people better care. DHS Director Charles Palmer told the Senate Human Resources Committee that the department was facing budget shortfalls when he recommended closing the facilities in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant. (Rodriguez, 3/20)

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune: Judge Says Transgender Man Has Plausible Case He Was Mistreated At Hospital
Jakob Rumble was in severe pain when he came to the emergency room of Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina with his mother. What happened next provoked a federal lawsuit by the West St. Paul resident and a decision by U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson that is being hailed by national transgender and gay rights organizations. Nelson ruled this week that Rumble, who identifies himself as a transgender man, has built a “plausible” case that he was a victim of discrimination and mistreatment by an emergency room doctor on the basis of gender identity. She denied a motion by the doctor’s employer and Fairview to dismiss the case. (Furst, 3/20)

The Associated Press: NY Senate Panel Backs Oxygen Therapy For Wounds
The New York Senate Health Committee has advanced legislation to ensure Medicaid coverage for topical oxygen therapy for chronic wounds, which the state health department has tried to curtail. Supporters say it's used by about 400 patients now, and they've obtained a temporary court order prohibiting the department from discontinuing coverage. (3/19)

NJ.com: A Fork In The Road: Medicaid Patients Say Transportation System Fails The Neediest
Irene Carrasquillo, bent over from arthritis, stepped a few feet from her seat at Friendship Baptist Church in Trenton. With great difficulty, the Camden woman shuffled to a chair facing the audience gathered to talk about the transportation system many of New Jersey's Medicaid patients depend on to get to doctor's appointments, dialysis and chemotherapy. ... Missed or late transportation calls sometimes have threatened Carrasquillo from losing vital medical care, she said. "When we miss the doctor's appointment," she said, "it gets us stressed out." Carrasquillo was among more than 60 people at the program Tuesday. She and others spoke not just about the transportation system, but how it has to change. (Darragh, 3/20)

Georgia Health News: Medical Cannabis Bill Scores Key Victory
Georgia’s medical marijuana proposal took what its chief sponsor called “a giant leap’’ forward Thursday by passing a Senate committee after a long, emotional hearing. (Miller, 3/20)

The Baltimore Sun: State's Highest Court Rejects Hospital's Final Appeal In Birth Injury Case
With MedStar Harbor Hospital's last appeal to Maryland's highest court rejected, the family of a severely disabled Glen Burnie boy will get $20.6 million plus interest to provide for his care for the rest of his life. The original verdict in Baltimore Circuit Court in 2012 was one of a pair of high-profile cases that prompted some hospitals and activists to pursue creation of a birth injury fund during the current legislative session to provide care to injured newborns without litigation and the high payouts that can come from court cases. (Cohn, 3/19)

The Kansas Health Institute News Service: Committee Endorses Mental Health Drug Compromise
State officials say they’ve reached an agreement with mental health providers for regulating Medicaid patients’ access to antipsychotic medications. (Ranney, 3/19)

North Carolina Health News: New Bill Seeks To Eliminate Vaccination Exemptions
A bipartisan group of senators wants to tighten the rules around granting exemptions from vaccination. (Hoban, 3/20)

The Des Moines Register: Stand Up For Mental Health Services, Joan Becker Urges
Iowa families affected by mental illness need to speak up to keep the state from cutting precious services, Joan Becker said at a Statehouse rally Thursday. Becker has campaigned statewide and nationally for improved mental health care since shortly after her mentally ill son, Mark, fatally shot Aplington-Parkersburg football coach Ed Thomas in 2009. She maintains that her son did not receive the treatment he needed for schizophrenia and other troubles before his delusions led him to kill his former coach and longtime family friend. He is now serving a life prison sentence. (Leys, 3/19)

Urban Institute: Marketplace Premium Changes Throughout The United States, 2014-2015
In this paper, we examine marketplace premium changes between 2014 and 2015 in all rating regions in all states and the District of Columbia. We provide premium data on the lowest-cost silver plan within each rating region for a 40-year-old individual who does not use tobacco. We calculate that the population-weighted national average premium increase in the lowest-cost silver plan offered in each year was 2.9 percent. Increases varied considerably both across rating regions within states and across states. The change in the population-weighted average premium in the lowest-cost silver plan offered in each year was 1.8 percent in the Northeast, 3.5 percent in the Midwest, 5.4 percent in the South and 1.4 percent in the West. (Holahan, Blumberg and Wengle, 3/17)

Rand Corp./American Medical Association: Effects Of Health Care Payment Models On Physician Practice In The United States
[The researchers] aimed to describe the effects that alternative health care payment models (i.e., models other than fee-for-service payment) have on physicians and physician practices .... Respondents perceived that alternative payment models have encouraged the development of team approaches .... Market observers and physician practices reported that global capitation and related shared savings models were changing relationships between primary care and subspecialist physicians. ... Alternative payment models had negligible effects on the aggregate income of individual physicians within the sample. ... Alternative payment models have not substantially changed how physicians delivered face-to-face patient care. Additional nonclinical work created significant discontent. (Friedberg et al., 3/19)

The Kaiser Family Foundation/George Washington University: Community Health Centers: A 2013 Profile And Prospects As ACA Implementation Proceeds
In 2013, 1,202 federally funded health centers operating in 9,170 sites provided 61 million medical care visits, 11 million dental visits, 6.6 million visits for behavioral health needs, and 5.1 million visits for enabling services such as case management. In all, health centers provided more than 85 million visits. ... More than 70% of health center patients have income below 100% of the federal poverty level (FPL) .... Over one-third (35%) of health center patients were uninsured in 2013, and 41% were covered by Medicaid. As the ACA is implemented, early evidence suggests that the proportion of insured patients in the health care system will grow substantially. At the same time, however, the uninsured rate among health center patients is expected to remain high. (Shin et al, 3/17)

Brookings: High Value Health IT: Policy Reforms For Better Care And Lower Costs
[T]he Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health IT recently announced a ten-year “Interoperability Roadmap” as the next step in its effort to promote more straightforward exchange of electronic health data for a wide range of clinical, administrative and public health purposes. Despite this progress, significant gaps in practical interoperability remain. ... This policy brief details several major challenges with existing health IT policy, and also describes policy recommendations to address these issues. The main goals of these recommendations are: (1) to align health IT efforts directly with other major payment reforms and policies to suppport higher value care and (2) ensure better health outcomes for patients, and (3) implement data standards for the most important information to support care improvement. (Basch, McClellan, Botts and Katikaneni, 3/16)

Employee Benefit Research Institute: Views On Employment-Based Health Benefits: Findings From The 2014 Health And Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey
[D]ata on worker preferences will be useful toward making informed decisions about the future direction of employment-based health benefits. ... Nearly 70 percent report that they are satisfied with the health benefits they currently receive, while 12 percent say they would trade wages to get more health benefits, and 19 percent say they would surrender some health benefits for higher wages. ... the importance of benefits as criteria in choosing a job remains high, and health insurance in particular continues to be, by far, the most important employee benefit to workers. ... Choice of health plans is important to workers, and they would like more choices, but most workers express confidence that their employers or unions have selected the best available health plan. (Fronstin and Helman, 3/16)

Brookings: Disruptive Entrepreneurship Is Transforming U.S. Health Care
Economists and other experts debate why, in the past few years, health care inflation has abruptly and significantly moderated. ... This paper, however, adds weight to a significant body of evidence suggesting that longer-lasting structural changes are also at work: in particular, changes in economic incentives ... have given rise to an entrepreneurial ... ecosystem. Supporting this ecosystem are four developments: first, changes in public and private payment structures that reward value; second, rapid improvements in information technology; ... third, an influx of creative value-seeking entrepreneurship ...; fourth, an investor infrastructure that is eager to bankroll value-seeking startups. In short, health care is beginning to taste the disruptive culture of Silicon Valley, retailing, and many other American sectors. (Rauch, 3/17)

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

Reuters: Early X-Rays Might Not Help Elderly With New Back Pain
Older people with a new episode of back pain shouldn’t be sent right away for x-rays or other imaging studies, new research suggests. They won’t be any better off, and they’ll end up with bigger bills, the researchers say. “We found that they didn’t have worse or better outcomes, and yet they were certainly getting more things done to them downstream,” said Dr. Jeffrey Jarvik, the study’s lead author from the University of Washington in Seattle. (Doyle, 3/17)

The New York Times: Too Much Cardiac Testing
The electrocardiogram you got at your most recent physical may have been a waste of time and money. A guideline from the American College of Physicians published Monday in The Annals of Internal Medicine concludes that routine cardiac testing of adults without symptoms has not been shown to improve patient outcomes, and can lead to potential harms. There is no evidence that stress tests, electrocardiograms or myocardial perfusion imaging (the so-called nuclear stress test that involves exposure to radiation) have any advantages over routine risk assessment in asymptomatic people. All the tests commonly produce false positives that lead to further unnecessary testing, and all involve extra expense. (Bakalar, 3/16)

The New York Times: Breast Biopsies Leave Room For Doubt, Study Finds
Breast biopsies are good at telling the difference between healthy tissue and cancer, but less reliable for identifying more subtle abnormalities, a new study finds. Because of the uncertainty, women whose results fall into the gray zone between normal and malignant — with diagnoses like “atypia” or “ductal carcinoma in situ” — should seek second opinions on their biopsies, researchers say. Misinterpretation can lead women to have surgery and other treatments they do not need, or to miss out on treatments they do need. (Grady, 3/17)

MinnPost: Income Inequality: What Is Its Toll On Workers' Health?
The rise in income inequality over the past three decades or so is taking a major toll on the general health of American workers — and not just because stagnant or falling wages have made it increasingly difficult for many workers to afford high-quality health care. For, as a commentary published recently in the American Journal of Public Health points out, income inequality has also been accompanied by changes in the workplace that increase workers’ stress in ways that negatively affect their health. (Perry, 3/17)

Bloomberg: Costs Of Obesity Ballooning For Employers, Individuals And U.S.
Obesity is weighing heavily on the U.S. economy. As a panel of scientists considers ways to help Americans trim down, unpublished research shows medical expenses linked to being extremely overweight have skyrocketed. Experts say the damage is augmented by reduced productivity, wider gender and income inequality and even higher transportation costs. (Stilwell, 3/16)

Reuters: Experts Call For Transparency On Insulin Pump Problems
When diabetic patients report problems with their insulin pumps, the pump manufacturers collect that information – but there’s no easy way for researchers to analyze the data independently, a new paper says. In a joint statement, experts from the American Diabetes Association and the European Association for the Study of Diabetes say regulatory agencies should work together to create standards that apply to all pump manufacturers. People who use these devices shouldn’t be alarmed, however. (Doyle, 3/17)

The New York Times: Trillion Dollar Fraudsters
So, about those [Senate and House GOP] budgets: both claim drastic reductions in federal spending. Some of those spending reductions are specified: There would be savage cuts in food stamps, similarly savage cuts in Medicaid over and above reversing the recent expansion, and an end to Obamacare’s health insurance subsidies. Rough estimates suggest that either plan would roughly double the number of Americans without health insurance. But both also claim more than a trillion dollars in further cuts to mandatory spending, which would almost surely have to come out of Medicare or Social Security. What form would these further cuts take? We get no hint. (Paul Krugman, 3/20)

Bloomberg: Tricks To Balance Budget: Repeal Health Care Law, Keep Its Revenue
House and Senate Republicans say their budget proposals add up. It takes some creative math and logic to make that true. The budget plans unveiled this week call for the U.S. government to collect about $2 trillion in taxes in the next decade that Republicans have little or no intention of collecting. Some of that revenue would come straight from taxes to pay for the Affordable Care Act — which they want to repeal. (Richard Rubin, Erik Wasson and Heidi Przybyla, 3/20)

Alaska Dispatch News: Medicaid Expansion Is The Right Thing To Do
One of the perks of my job as governor is health insurance. For those of us who have insurance, it’s easy to forget what it’s like for the thousands of Alaskans who do not. They are one mishap away from financial ruin. Medical debt is now the top cause of personal bankruptcy filings in the U.S. No one should have to choose between life-saving care and losing their home. ... Medicaid coverage will enable Alaskans to get the care they need to join or stay in the workforce. It will help those coming out of prison get substance abuse treatment and stay out of trouble. It will reduce medical costs for all of us by reducing the amount of care hospitals provide that no one pays for. And it will pump millions of federal dollars into Alaska’s economy at a time when we can surely use it. (Gov. Bill Walker, 3/19)

The Wall Street Journal: An ObamaCare Plan Beats No Plan
Liberals are lobbying the Supreme Court to uphold ObamaCare’s illegal subsidies by claiming Republicans won’t fix any resulting problems. This claim is political, not legal, but it is also likely wrong. In recent months the GOP has made more intellectual progress on health care than any period since ObamaCare passed. The question is whether the GOP can cohere around a reform alternative before the High Court rules in June, or repeat its recent dysfunction. (3/19)

The Wall Street Journal: The IRS Gets Out The Vote
Some Americans have already got a taste of what President Obama’s fondness for government by mandate means. Before it won its Supreme Court case, the crafts chain Hobby Lobby was faced with fines of $1.3 million for every day it refused to obey the contraceptive mandate. This year, with the April 15 tax deadline approaching, many young and healthy Americans who have disobeyed the Obama mandate to buy health insurance from the government’s limited menu are going to have to deal with the IRS. (3/19)

The Washington Post's Volokh Consipiracy: My William Brennan Lecture On “NFIB V. Sebelius And The Debate Over Constitutional Federalism”
My 2014 William Brennan lecture on NFIB v. Sebelius and its implications for the ongoing debate over constitutional federalism is now available on SSRN. ... But people can reasonably argue that the recent debate over federalism issues in King v. Burwell calls into question my conclusion that the debate over constitutional federalism is ideologically polarized and likely to remain that way for some time to come, with most conservatives and libertarians arguing for relatively strong judicial enforcement of federalism and most liberals arguing for little or none. (Ilya Somin, 3/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Big Pharma Needs To Get Busy In The Lab
The average cost of developing a single new drug has reached $2.6 billion, according to a 2014 study by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development. Is this figure accurate? It depends who you ask: Critics of the drug industry say companies use the expense numbers to justify high prices. But drug companies defend the estimates. (Gary Pisano, 3/19)