The New York Times: A Post-Election Day Certainty: New Scrutiny For The Affordable Care Act
This week’s elections ensure a new round of political attacks on the Affordable Care Act, but they also create potential opportunities to repair provisions of the law that people on both sides of the partisan divide would like to fix. With the shift in power in the Senate, Republicans can turn up the heat on the White House, which has dismissed as political stunts repeated House votes to repeal the law. (Pear, 11/6)

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: For Obama And GOP, Is There A Middle Ground?
Mr. Obama made clear Republicans were going to try to strip away at the law, piece by piece, starting with the parts he feels are the most unpopular. Mr. Obama signaled Wednesday he was open to some changes to the law, which he described as things he would view as “responsible,” but he wanted to hear what Republicans planned first. This could be a chess game that plays out over the next two years. Does Mr. Obama hand over the keys to his biggest legislative achievement? Do Republicans agree to make changes to the law, and then allow themselves to put their fingerprints all over it? Or, do both sides eventually go back to warring? (Paletta, 11/6)

CNN: Heated Republicans Return Fire At Obama
Just hours after [President Barack] Obama recommitted himself to staying the course on immigration orders and protecting his signature health care law, Republicans spent Thursday firing back shots at the administration, signaling that Tuesday's midterms did little to quell partisan tension in Washington. (Bradner, 11/6)

Minnesota Public Radio: Boehner Says Rolling Back 'Obamacare' Is GOP Priority
House Speaker John Boehner said approval of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline and the repeal of key parts of Obamacare are among Republicans' top priorities now that the GOP has won control of both houses of Congress. (Neuman, 11/6)

The Wall Street Journal: John Boehner Strikes Combative Tone
House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) struck a combative tone Thursday in his first postelection comments, vowing the House would again vote to repeal the federal health-care law and warning the White House from “poisoning the well” on immigration. ... Additionally, he said Republicans would continue to try and repeal Mr. Obama’s signature achievement in office, the Affordable Care Act. “Obamacare is hurting our economy, is hurting middle class families,” Mr. Boehner said. (Crittenden, 11/6)

Meanwhile, NBC reports on some additional political concerns related to repeal efforts --

NBC News: GOP Pledges Obamacare Repeal Amid Drops in Uninsured Latinos
Republican leaders have come out of the elections pledging to repeal Obamacare, under which rates of uninsured Latinos have dropped. Much of the post-election discussion on Latinos and the Republican agenda has revolved on immigration reform and how the GOP will respond to executive action taken by Obama. But the health care issue is one that also goes to the heart of needs in the community and takes on particular poignance as conservative groups and the GOP attribute their election night victories in part to improved support from the Latino community. (Gamboa, 11/6)

The Fiscal Times: GOP: Repeal Obamacare, Then Fix the $28B Medical Device Tax
When Republicans take control of the Senate in January, they will once again vote to repeal Obamacare, which they know will be vetoed by President Obama. The GOP Plan “B” will be to chip away at the health care law, starting with the 2.3 percent tax on medical devices. (Ehley, 11/6)

The Wall Street Journal: Republican Leaders Aim To Keep Rank-And-File In Line
GOP leaders of both chambers this week outlined an agenda that begins with areas of bipartisan consensus and acknowledges the limits of what they can do with a Democratic president. Their legislative priorities include approving the Keystone XL pipeline and stripping out the least popular pieces of the Affordable Care Act, including the medical-device tax and a requirement that big employers provide insurance to all workers clocking 30 hours a week or more or pay a fee. (Peterson and Crittenden, 11/6)

NPR: Republicans' First Order Of Business May Be Chipping Away At Obamacare
Now that the Republicans control the House and Senate, they've got their eyes on the Affordable Care Act. Which parts will President Obama veto and which parts will he inevitably have to give up? Melissa Block talks to Mary Agnes Carey, a senior correspondent for Kaiser Health News. (Block/Carey, 11/6)

Bloomberg: Republicans To Chip At ObamaCare By Refining Work Hours
Newly empowered Republicans say they can’t repeal Obamacare and plan to chip away at the law piece by piece, starting with redefining full-time work in a way that could affect health coverage for 1 million people. House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell yesterday said they want to rewrite the Affordable Care Act so employers could avoid providing health coverage to workers who put in less than 40 hours a week -- up from the law’s current 30-hour threshold. (Dorning and Woellert, 11/7)

CQ Healthbeat: New Direction Seen For Senate HELP Panel In 114th Congress
Republicans’ success at the polls will take the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in a new direction in the 114th Congress, particularly when it comes to the health care law. While retiring Chairman Tom Harkin of Iowa was a fierce champion of the overhaul, a Republican-led committee will likely spend more time conducting oversight over the law’s implementation and moving legislation to repeal and change it. (Attias, 11/6)

The New York Times: Chance For Tax Overhaul Is Seen In Shift Of Power
And two conservatives, Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Representative Tom Price of Georgia, are expected to take over their chambers’ budget committees. Both are considering turning to a parliamentary procedure called reconciliation to cut the costs of social programs like Medicare and ease the passage of a simplified tax code. (Weisman, 11/6)

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: Rep. Van Hollen Sees GOP Using The Budget To Target The Health Law
Republican leaders are being careful so far not to reveal how they might craft budget resolutions next year, an important part of their legislative strategy as it allows the Senate to hold filibuster-proof votes on contentious issues like taxes and health-care policy. But Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, predicted Republicans would use the budget “reconciliation” process to try to roll back the Affordable Care Act. (Paletta, 11/6)

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: The GOP Agenda 101: Taxes, Health Care, Islamic State
House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) and soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) offered a bulleted agenda in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Thursday. Parts of their agenda were specific, while others were more thematic. Here’s what they said, and what it revealed about their plans. Q: Are Republicans going to repeal the health-care law? A: They will certainly try. In the second paragraph of their op-ed, they say they renew their “commitment to repeal Obamacare, which is hurting the job market along with Americans’ health care.” There will be votes – or attempts at votes – to repeal the entire health-care law, maybe right off the bat. But Mr. McConnell said at a press conference Wednesday that he knows Mr. Obama won’t let them repeal the actual law, so they’ll have another strategy. This includes more targeted measures to repeal parts of the law, such as the “medical device tax,” which a number of Democrats have even tried to jettison. The two also wrote that they will try to “restore the traditional 40-hour definition of full-time employment.” (Paletta, 11/6)

Politico: John Boehner, Mitch McConnell Vow To Kill Obamacare
House Speaker John Boehner and incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, outlining their legislative vision for the last two years of Barack Obama’s presidency, are vowing to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Wednesday evening fresh off the Republican Senate takeover and major GOP House gains, the leaders largely maintain their commitment to reaching legislative compromise and cutting through Washington paralysis. (Topaz, 11/6)

The Wall Street Journal: All Eyes On Healthcare.gov Chief As New Enrollment Season Nears
Kevin Counihan knows he has a lot at stake this month. As chief executive of Healthcare.gov, Mr. Counihan is responsible for making sure the site doesn’t falter during the second year of insurance sign-ups under the Affordable Care Act. Its disastrous launch last year embarrassed the Obama administration and frustrated millions who visited the portal to buy health plans. (Armour and Radnofsky, 11/7)

Politico: HHS: Obamacare Website Is Safe
Americans’ personal information is safe on Healthcare.gov, says a senior Obamacare official, seeking to allay public concerns as the days count down to the start of the second open enrollment season on Nov. 15. (Perrera, 11/6)

The Associated Press: Healthcare.gov Gets Cybersecurity Upgrades
Officials say Healthcare.gov has gotten cybersecurity upgrades ahead of a Nov. 15 start for the second open enrollment season under President Barack Obama's health care law. Andy Slavitt oversees the complex technology. Slavitt says the facility that hosts HealthCare.gov is now certified to meet rigorous government standards for cloud computing. Cloud operations use large networks of machines in different locations to handle data. (11/6)

USA Today: After Republican Sweep, Uncertainty Over ACA
As Kentucky prepares for the second year of Obamacare sign-ups, there's little of the public hoopla that surrounded last year's historic launch in a state widely seen as a national model for its smooth roll out. But after Tuesday's Republican sweep of Congress, there's new uncertainty about the Affordable Care Act's future — with the state's newly re-elected senator, soon-to-be Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, saying he plans to target elements of the law. (Ungar and Kenning, 11/7)

Politico Pro: Exchanges Mull How To Sustain Themselves In Long Term
Three state-based exchanges have not yet finalized how they will sustain their marketplaces financially in the long term, according to a new Commonwealth Fund blog post by several health care experts. (Pradhan, 11/6)

The Oregonian: As Health Insurance Enrollment Begins, Use Exchange With Caution: Health Insurance Guide 2015
More than 350,000 more Oregonians received subsidized or government-paid health coverage last year than the year before, due to expanded income standards for the Oregon Health Plan as well as new tax credits to reduce private health plan premiums. But receiving those funds is risky business, despite new government health insurance exchanges that were supposed to make enrolling online easy. Many of those people using government help ended up with the kind of insurance they didn't want, or faced other problems. (Budnick, 11/6)

The Seattle Times: State's Top Insurance Official Hopes Glitches In Exchange Will Be Fixed
The state’s top insurance official expressed concern this week that technical problems plaguing the state’s online insurance marketplace still may not be fully fixed — less than two weeks before the exchange opens Nov. 15 for the second year of enrollment. The biggest problems since the Washington Healthplanfinder exchange initially launched in October 2013 have involved software problems resulting in unintentionally canceled accounts and inaccurate reporting of consumer payments to their insurance carriers. (Marshall, 11/6)

Meanwhile, consumers are offered pointers about how to shop on an insurance exchange --

Kaiser Health News: Thinking About Enrolling In Obamacare? Keep These 5 Tips In Mind
The health law’s open enrollment season is just around the corner. Are you ready? Here’s a quick checklist for people who don’t get their health insurance at work and plan to shop for coverage on the health law’s online exchanges, or marketplaces, starting Nov. 15. You can compare plans and prices at healthcare.gov or, if your state has its own exchange, shop there to find out which coverage is best for you. And you may be eligible for subsidies to help pay your premium. (Carey, 11/7)

The New York Times: Arizona: Court Hears Arguments Over Medicaid
A rift between Gov. Jan Brewer and state legislators in her own party over her support of Medicaid expansion played out before the State Supreme Court on Thursday. (Rojas, 11/6)

The Associated Press: Arizona Supreme Court Hears Medicaid Arguments
The Arizona Supreme Court had tough questions for Gov. Jan Brewer's lawyers on Thursday as they tried to convince the justices to overturn a decision allowing a challenge to her Medicaid expansion plan to proceed. Two justices sharply questioned how throwing out the suit would not "eviscerate" a state constitutional requirement that tax increases require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature. Brewer wants a suit filed by 36 fellow Republicans in the Legislature challenging the 2013 law to be dismissed, as a superior court judge ruled in February. But the Arizona Court of Appeals revived the suit in April, saying their arguments that lawmakers lacked legal standing to sue didn't hold up. (Christie, 11/6)

The Associated Press: GOP Sweep Clouds Arkansas Medicaid Plan's Future
Republicans' sweeping victory in the midterm election further clouds the future of Arkansas' compromise Medicaid expansion, with voters backing several candidates who vowed to end a first-in-the-nation program providing coverage to thousands of poor residents. Democrats and Republicans alike acknowledge the state's "private option" expansion faces an uphill fight after Tuesday's election. Republican Gov.-elect Asa Hutchinson told reporters Thursday he's still reviewing whether to push for the program's reauthorization next year, and said he won't announce a decision until late January at the earliest. (DeMillo, 11/6)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Medicaid Expansion Will Be In John Kasich's Next Budget Plan, But Will GOP Lawmakers Support It?
Gov. John Kasich's budget proposal next year will ask to continue Medicaid expansion, though it's unclear whether legislative Republicans will overcome their prior opposition and approve funding for it. ... Rep. Ron Amstutz, a Wooster Republican, said the real goal should be to reduce the number of Ohioans dependent on Medicaid. Education can help, Amstutz said, "But you can have educated barbarians that don't know how to get up in the morning and you know, are on drugs. There's a lot of things that happen to people -- they have mental health problems. These are things that we can come together on." Amstutz told reporters afterward that he didn't mean to use the term "educated barbarians" as a pejorative. Instead, he said, he was referring to graduates of top universities who are struggling with issues such as alcoholism or mental health problems. (Pelzer, 11/6)

Columbus Dispatch: Kasich Will Try To Keep Medicaid Expansion In New Budget
Gov. John Kasich’s next budget proposal will continue expanded Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands of low-income Ohioans, but whether majority Republicans who opposed the plan last year will support it this time remains to be seen. State Budget Director Tim Keen said yesterday that the two-year executive budget plan, which will be rolled out on Feb. 2, will include Medicaid spending that includes expansion. His comments were made in Columbus at the post-election conference Impact Ohio. A key GOP leader in the Senate was noncommittal, saying he wants to know whether tax-funded health care is helping to lift the poor from poverty. (Candisky, 11/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Humana’s Profit Dips In Third Quarter
Humana Inc. said its earnings fell in the most recent quarter as the health insurer continued to feel pressure from costs related to insurance exchanges and new, expensive hepatitis C drugs. The company said these effects were offset in large part by increasing membership, although its results fell below analysts’ expectations. (Calia, 11/7)

Reuters: Humana Says Profits Fell On ACA Exchanges And Hep C Treatment
Health insurer Humana Inc said on Friday that third-quarter profit fell as it invested in the Obamacare health insurance exchanges and state-based health contracts, and paid for costly hepatitis C treatments. (Humer, 11/7)

Boston Globe: Quincy Medical Center To Close
Steward Health Care System said Thursday that it would close Quincy Medical Center and displace nearly 700 workers after the long-struggling hospital finally succumbed to the intense competition for patients south of Boston. The shutdown, scheduled to be completed by the end the year, marks the biggest hospital closing in the state in at least a decade and the first failure for Steward, the for-profit company that promised to reinvent community health care when it entered the Massachusetts market four years ago. (McCluskey and Weisman, 11/6)

WBUR: Quincy Medical Center Closing At Year’s End
After years of struggling to balance the books, Quincy Medical Center will close. Steward Health Care says it is losing nearly $20 million a year at the hospital. It just doesn’t have enough patients: On any given night there are about forty, while 80 percent of the beds are empty. (Bebinger, 11/6)

The Associated Press: Boston-area Acute-care Hospital Closing To Make Way For Urgent Care
Financially troubled Quincy Medical Center is closing at the end of the year, leaving the city south of Boston without its own acute-care hospital. Parent company Steward Health Care announced the move Thursday, saying the hospital isn't sustainable with current patient flow. Steward said it plans to open an urgent care facility and a 24-hour emergency department, and maintain other outpatient services in Quincy, which has a population of 90,000. Several other hospitals operate in communities nearby. (11/6)

The Associated Press: N.M. Human Services Secretary Resigns
Human Services Secretary Sidonie Squier is leaving her Cabinet-level job in Gov. Susana Martinez's administration after coming under fire for more than a year for her management of an agency that administers the state's largest health care program. The Human Services Department administers a $6 billion budget to operate Medicaid, food stamps and other welfare assistance programs. Squier, a former U.S. Department of Health and Human Services director, has faced criticism for halting Medicaid payments last year to more than a dozen mental health providers because of allegations of fraud, mismanagement and overbillings. (Massey, 11/6)

The Baltimore Sun: Md. Board Backs Continual Monitoring Of Charges Against Doctors
Maryland doctors would be fingerprinted and continually monitored for criminal charges under draft legislation the state Board of Physicians plans to propose next year. The policy would require them to apply for a background check when first seeking a medical license, or for currently practicing doctors, when they next renew their licenses. Background checks would occur once for each doctor. The board plans to use an FBI program that allows indefinite monitoring that would alert regulators to any new criminal activity. (Dance, 11/6)

The Associated Press: Ex-DHHS Employee Sentenced in SC Data Breach
A former employee at South Carolina's Department of Health and Human Services has been sentenced to three years probation in connection with a breach of data from the agency. Attorney General Alan Wilson says 39-year-old Christopher Lykes Jr. of Swansea was also ordered Wednesday to serve 300 hours of community service. He had faced a possible 25-year prison sentence. Authorities say the agency project manager compiled more than 228,000 Medicaid patients' personal information on a spreadsheet and sent it to his private email. (11/6)

Health News Colorado: Primary Care Providers Beg University Hospital: ‘Open Your Doors’
Just beyond the gleaming new towers at the Anschutz Medical Campus, low-income patients with cancer and other complex medical problems often cannot find a specialist to care for them. A group of primary care providers and patient advocates who work in Aurora now are begging leaders at the University of Colorado Hospital to increase access to specialists. (Kerwin McKinnon, 11/6)

The Associated Press: New Hampshire Health Center Gets $242K To Grow
The Lamprey Health Care center in Newmarket is getting a $242,000 grant through the Affordable Care Act to create or expand its mental health and substance abuse treatment programs. The grant is part of $51 million in grants announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The money is going to 210 health centers to expand services to 440,000 people around the country. At Lamprey, the grant means the number of people in New Hampshire with access to mental health or substance abuse treatment will increase by just over 200. (11/7)

The Associated Press: Study: Alabama Has Low Rate Of Uninsured Kids
A new national study says Alabama has the lowest rate in the South for children without health care coverage. A study by the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University says 4.3 percent of Alabama's children didn't have health coverage in 2013. Other Southern states ranged from slightly more than 5 percent to 11 percent. The national average was 7.1 percent. Alabama ranked 10th best among the states. The study found that Alabama had nearly 11,000 fewer uninsured children in 2013 than in 2011. (11/7)

Salem, Ore., Statesman Journal: OHA: 77,000 Lose Medicaid, Many Being Reinstated
Tens of thousands of Oregon Health Plan enrollees had their coverage terminated on Nov. 1, after their renewal window closed, but Oregon Health Authority officials say some are being reinstated. Spokeswoman Patty Wentz said in an email that 77,000 people out of 355,000 members of Oregon's version of Medicaid lost coverage Nov. 1. While people drop off for a variety of reasons, many have not responded to their renewal notices, she said. (Yoo, 11/6)

Boston Globe: Charlie Baker Vows To Tackle State’s Opiate Problem
Governor-elect Charlie Baker plans to address the state’s opiate addiction crisis early in his term, saying in an interview Thursday that he wants to forge a coalition of labor leaders, elected Democrats, and health care officials to curtail the usage of prescription painkillers. (O'Sullivan and Phillips, 11/6)

The Washington Post's Wonkblog: How The Soda Industry Met Its Match In One Of America’s Most Liberal Cities
On Tuesday, voters in Berkeley, Calif. passed the country's first soda tax with a whopping 75 percent of the vote, a big defeat for the beverage industry, which had poured millions of dollars into blocking the tax. In a campaign year when control of the Senate was at stake and states across the country were voting on marijuana legalization, the beverage industry's attention was focused on Berkeley. (Ferdman, 11/6)

Contra Costa Times: Success Of Berkeley Soda Tax Builds Hope For National Movement
Soda-tax advocates were plotting future strategy Wednesday while opponents exercised damage control the day after the resounding passage of the nation's first municipal tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. The 1 cent-per-ounce tax on the distribution of most sweetened beverages needed only a simple majority to pass, and it won by a 3-1 margin. (Lochner, 11/6)

Health Affairs: ‘Pharmacy Deserts’ Are Prevalent In Chicago’s Predominantly Minority Communities, Raising Medication Access Concerns
Attempts to explain and address disparities in the use of prescription medications have focused almost exclusively on their affordability. However, the segregation of residential neighborhoods by race or ethnicity also may influence access to the pharmacies .... We found that throughout the period 2000–2012 the number of pharmacies [in Chicago] was lower in segregated minority communities than in segregated white communities and integrated communities. In 2012 there were disproportionately more pharmacy deserts in segregated black communities, as well as in low-income communities and federally designated Medically Underserved Areas. (Qato et al., 11/3)

Health Affairs: Hennepin Health: A Safety-Net Accountable Care Organization For The Expanded Medicaid Population
We describe how Hennepin Health—a county-based safety-net accountable care organization in Minnesota—has forged ... a partnership to redesign the health care workforce and improve the coordination of the physical, behavioral, social, and economic dimensions of care for an expanded community of Medicaid beneficiaries. Early outcomes suggest that the program has had an impact in shifting care from hospitals to outpatient settings. For example, emergency department visits decreased 9.1 percent between 2012 and 2013, while outpatient visits increased 3.3 percent. ... Hennepin Health has realized savings and reinvested them in future improvements. (Sandberg et al., 11/3)

Health Affairs: The 340B Discount Program: Outpatient Prescription Dispensing Patterns Through Contract Pharmacies In 2012
Section 340B of the Public Health Service Act provides qualified organizations serving vulnerable populations with deep discounts for some outpatient medications. ... We used 2012 data from Walgreens, the national leader in 340B contract pharmacies. Medications used to treat chronic conditions such as diabetes, high cholesterol levels, asthma, and depression accounted for an overwhelming majority of all prescriptions dispensed at Walgreens as part of the 340B program. ... The majority of 340B prescriptions dispensed at Walgreens originated at tuberculosis clinics, consolidated health centers, disproportionate-share hospitals, and Ryan White clinics. Our results suggest that 340B contract pharmacies ... disproportionately dispense medications used by key vulnerable populations targeted by the program. (Clark, 11/3)

The Urban Institute/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Marketplace Insurance Premiums In Early Approval States: Most Markets Will Have Reductions Or Small Increases In 2015
[W]e present data on how premiums are changing between 2014 and 2015 in nongroup marketplace plans; we focus on 17 states and the District of Columbia, which were the first to complete their rate review and approval processes. ... Many of the small increases or reductions in 2015 premiums will occur in large cities .... Larger premium increases are more likely to occur in rural areas. ... As a result, the lowest cost silver option available to consumers in 16 of the rating regions will be lower in 2015 than in 2014. Those changes reflect that many of the lowest cost carriers in 2014 have fairly low premiums and believe that they can increase those rates, while other carriers are responding to competitive pressure. (Holahan et al., 11/6)

NORC at the University of Chicago/Commonwealth Fund: Premiums Unchanged In Rhode Island, Modestly Higher In Nevada, And Significantly Higher In District Of Columbia
This is the fourth in a series of blog posts reporting premium and benefit changes for the individual market from 2014 to 2015. The states reviewed are the District of Columbia, Nevada, and Rhode Island. ... From 2014 to 2015, average premiums increased substantially in D.C., modestly in Nevada, and held steady in Rhode Island. In Rhode Island and Nevada, the number of carriers participating in the market and the number of plans offered rose. In D.C., the number of plans offered declined slightly. (Gabel et al., 10/31)

The Kaiser Family Foundation: Data Note: Gearing Up For Round 2 of Open Enrollment: Some Lessons From Round 1
Two Kaiser Family Foundation surveys conducted last spring after the first open enrollment came to a close explored the shopping experience among two key groups impacted by the ACA: non-group health insurance purchasers and the previously uninsured in California, the state with the largest number of uninsured in the country prior to the ACA. ... Four key takeaways emerge from these surveys: 1. The websites were just one way people got information and enrolled in health plans – many also got help in person or over the phone. 2. Costs, including the monthly premiums, deductible, and copays, were important factors in plan choice. 3. Outreach efforts that reached individuals directly helped to boost enrollment. 4. Both those who successfully enrolled in coverage as well as those who remained uninsured expressed some trouble with the process. (Norton, DiJulio and Brodie, 11/4)

The Urban Institute/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Narrow Networks, Access To Hospitals And Premiums
In this first year of ACA implementation, many insurers negotiated new hospital network arrangements for Marketplace products. In some cases, providers or facilities that have historically been “in-network” for a given insurer may not be included in that insurer’s new Marketplace plans. ... The ACA includes strict network adequacy requirements, but there remains considerable variation in the breadth of acceptable hospital networks and the options available in each. In this brief, we investigate which hospitals are included in Marketplace plans in major cities in six states. ... We conclude that almost all insurers offer plans that include in their networks access to many highly ranked hospitals. Moreover, all hospitals in the cities we examined were in at least one Marketplace plan’s networks. Finally, the size of networks was not necessarily tied to premiums. (Peters and Holahan, 10/31)

Manhattan Institute for Policy Research: Health Savings Accounts Under The Affordable Care Act: Challenges And Opportunities For Consumer-Directed Health Plans
The ACA implemented a number of important new regulations on health-insurance products, many of which potentially boded ill for HDHPs [high-deductible health plans]. Indeed, many advocates of these types of health plans believed that the administration would implement ACA insurance regulations in a way that would disadvantage consumer-driven products .... Initial skepticism from HSA advocates was understandable; but based on our current research, it appears that the Obama administration was true to its word and that HSAs (at least for the moment) remain widely accessible on public exchanges. ... high-deductible plans are widely available—98 percent of uninsured Americans have access to at least one HSA-eligible plan. Moreover, these plans also make up about 25 percent of total offerings on Obamacare exchanges (Howard and Feyman, October, 2014)

The Commonwealth Fund: What Will Be The Impact Of The Employer Mandate On The U.S. Workforce?
The Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate requires large firms to pay penalties unless they offer affordable health insurance coverage to full-time employees, raising concerns that employers might lay off workers or reduce hours. In this brief, we estimate the number of workers potentially at risk of losing their jobs or having hours reduced. Most workers near the thresholds—those in firms with around 50 full-time-equivalent employees or those working near 30 hours per week—are already insured or have been offered coverage. There are 100,000 full-time workers at the firm-size threshold and 296,000 at the hourly threshold who are uninsured. Fewer than 10 percent, less than 0.03 percent of the U.S. labor force, might see reductions in employment or hours in the short run. Over time, employment patterns might change, leading to fewer firm sizes and work schedules near the thresholds, potentially affecting up to 0.5 percent of the workforce. (Glied and Solis-Roman, 10/28)

Mathematica/The Kaiser Family Foundation: What Do We Know About Health Care Access And Quality In Medicare Advantage Versus The Traditional Medicare Program?
This literature review synthesizes the findings of studies that focus specifically on Medicare and have been published between the year 2000 and early 2014. ... On the one hand, the evidence indicates that Medicare HMOs tend to perform better than traditional Medicare in providing preventive services and using resources more conservatively, at least through 2009. These are metrics where HMOs have historically been strong. On the other hand, beneficiaries continue to rate traditional Medicare more favorably than Medicare Advantage plans in terms of quality and access, such as overall care and plan rating, though one study suggests that the difference may be narrowing .... Among beneficiaries who are sick, the differential between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage is particularly large ... favoring traditional Medicare. (Gold and Casillas, 11/6)

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

Medscape: Low-Risk Cesarean Delivery Rates Dropping In US
Low-risk cesarean delivery rates have declined in the United States, going from a high of 28.1% in 2009 to 26.9% in 2013, according to a report published November 5 in the National Vital Statistics Reports. The low-risk cesarean delivery rate was at its lowest, at 18.4%, in 1997 and rose steadily after that, note Michelle J.K. Osterman, MHS, from the Division of Vital Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hyattsville, Maryland, and colleagues. (Brown, 11/5)

Medscape: Better Handoffs Cut Medical Errors 30% In Multicenter Trial
The I-PASS (illness severity, patient summary, action list, situation awareness and contingency plans, and synthesis by receiver) system of bundled communication and training tools for handoff of patient care between providers reduced injuries caused by medical errors by 30%, according to a multicenter study. The improvements in patient safety and quality of care occurred without significantly burdening clinical workflows, researchers report in an article published in the November 6 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. (Barclay, 11/6)

HealthDay/Philadelphia Inquirer: Lung Cancer Screening Can Be Cost Effective, Study Reports
Lung cancer screening with CT scans can be cost-effective while saving lives, a new study suggests. But, there are two caveats to that finding -- the procedure has to be performed by skilled professionals and the screening must be done on a very specific set of long-time smokers, the researchers noted. Results from the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) showed four years ago that annual CT scans can reduce lung cancer deaths by 20 percent in older, long-time smokers. The new study, which uses data gathered during that national trial, concludes that screening for lung cancer would cost $81,000 for each year of quality life gained -- lower than the generally accepted $100,000-per-year threshold for cost effectiveness. ... The results are published in the Nov. 6 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. (Thompson, 11/5)

NBC News: Missing Out: 8 Million U.S. Women Skip Cervical Cancer Screening
As many as 8 million adult women who should be screened for cervical cancer haven’t had that checkup in the past five years, and they’re missing a chance to prevent or treat the disease before it could kill them, federal health officials said Wednesday. More than half of women diagnosed with cervical cancer cases had never or rarely been screened, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. A Pap smear or a test for the human papillomavirus (HPV) that causes cervical cancer can catch it early, while it’s still curable, or even prevent cancer. (Fox, 11/5)

Medscape: Bariatric Surgery Cuts Costs For Diabetes, Cardiac Drugs
A new study based on national insurance claims in the United States has found that obese patients who had contemporary bariatric surgery went on to use fewer drugs for conditions such as type 2 diabetes, thus lowering healthcare costs. Specifically, costs for prescription medications among 2700 patients who underwent laparoscopic gastric banding or bypass surgery were $8411 in the 4 years following the operation vs $9900 for 2700 matched patients who did not have this surgery — a saving of 22.4%. (Busko, 11/6)

USA Today: Boehner-McConnell Vs. Obama: Our View
The other big flashpoint is the two GOP leaders' declaration that they remain committed to repealing Obamacare, rather than working with the White House to improve it. They could hardly do otherwise, because Republicans promised supporters they'd do that if they got control of Congress. In his news conference Wednesday, though, Obama renewed his own promise to veto any repeal. A foredoomed fight over repeal would set pulses racing in the bases of both parties, but it would achieve nothing and drain away energy and goodwill for things that can get done. (11/6)

The New York Times' Taking Note: Facts & Figures: Healthcare Premiums Are Not On The Rise
Republicans warned that insurance premiums would rise dramatically in 2015, but it doesn’t look like that will happen. Only two of 17 states in an Urban Institute study will see premium increases of more than 5 percent. (11/6)

The New Republic: A Scary Sign The Supreme Court Could Be Taking The Latest Obamacare Suit Seriously
This past Monday, when most of the nation was focused on the midterm elections, the Supreme Court hinted that it could be taking seriously the latest right-wing challenge to the Affordable Care Act. In King v. Burwell, ACA opponents have asked the high court to overturn the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals’ rejection of their argument that ACA tax credits and subsidies are illegal on federally managed state insurance exchanges (of which there are 34 or 36, depending on how one counts). Most court-watchers had expected that the Court would deny ACA opponents’ request. The justices’ standard practice is to wait and remain above the fray, until and unless a split among the circuit courts materializes. However, on Monday, the Court neither denied nor granted review, instead “re-listing” King for consideration at its next internal conference, this coming Friday, November 7. (Simon Lazarus, 11/6)

The New York Times' The Upshot: Election Results Endanger Innovative Arkansas Medicaid Plan
In Arkansas, a bipartisan policy compromise has led to one of the country’s most successful health insurance expansions under the Affordable Care Act. But this week’s election results put the future of the state’s Medicaid expansion in jeopardy. (Margot Sanger-Katz, 11/6)

Forbes: Arkansas Voters Overwhelmingly Reject Obamacare's Medicaid Expansion--Now What?
Arkansas has received its share of national attention the past few months, culminating in the spectacular defeat of incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Pryor by GOP Congressman Tom Cotton. In an electoral thumping powered by opposition to Obamacare, last night also saw the defeat of every Democratic candidate for Congress and all statewide offices. But there’s one more Obamacare loss likely on the horizon in the Natural State: Arkansas’s disastrous “Private Option” Obamacare expansion. (Nic Horton, Jonathan Ingram, and Josh Archambault, 11/5)

Los Angeles Times: Asymptomatic Quarantines For Ebola Are Foolish
Caution about risk is part of our vernacular. In the ongoing discussions about the precautions needed to prevent more U.S. cases of Ebola, you often hear the phrase "in an abundance of caution," usually invoked to justify a high level of government intrusion, such as a quarantine. In a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 71% of the respondents supported mandatory quarantines for health professionals who have treated Ebola patients in West Africa, even if they are asymptomatic. But we don't — or at least we shouldn't — make public policy decisions by referendum. Addressing risk, whether it derives from infectious diseases, pharmaceuticals or hurricanes, should have a scientific basis and be proportional to the probability and degree of harm. (Henry I Miller, 11/6)

Bloomberg: Next Ebola Challenge: Spending The Money
President Barack Obama is asking Congress for $6 billion in emergency funds to fight Ebola, including $2 billion for the U.S. Agency for International Development to spend on health care in West Africa. But an analysis of federal spending shows that in the five years leading up to the Ebola outbreak, his administration struggled to spend the money Congress had already made available. (Christopher Flavelle, 11/6)

The New York Times' Taking Note: An Oklahoma Court’s Good Move On Abortion Rights
This week’s focus on the abortion-related ballot measures in Colorado and North Dakota (where “personhood” initiatives were emphatically defeated), and Tennessee (where a majority of voters weakened protection of reproductive rights) has obscured a notable Election Day development in a fourth state: Oklahoma. (Dorothy J. Samuels, 11/6)

Los Angeles Times: Business Fraud, Waste And Absurd Charges A Drag On Medicare
Medicare has a zombie problem. An investigation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that the federal insurance program paid nearly $300,000 to cover HIV drugs for about 160 people. However, all those people were dead when their prescriptions were filled in 2012. (David Lazarus, 11/6)

Times of Trenton: Medicare Open Enrollment Brings Improved Plans, Steady Rates
This year, people with Medicare who choose to enroll in a Medicare health or prescription drug plan will have access to more high-rated, four- and five-star plans than ever before. Approximately 60 percent of Medicare Advantage enrollees are in a Medicare Advantage plan that earned four or five stars in 2015, compared to an estimated 17 percent back in 2009. Likewise, about 53 percent of Part D enrollees are enrolled in stand-alone prescription drug plans with four or five stars for 2015, compared to just 16 percent in 2009. (Marilyn Tavenner, 11/6)

Bloomberg: How To Put The Chill On Teen Sex
The conservative method of preventing teen sex is to tell teens not to have sex. That seems pretty straightforward, right? There’s just one problem with abstinence education -- it doesn’t work. ... Fortunately, liberals may have found just such a way. According to a recent study in the Journal of School Health, a comprehensive sex-education program called Get Real, developed by Planned Parenthood, managed to cut the number of sexually active eighth-graders by about 15 percent. That may not sound like a huge number, but it’s far, far better than abstinence-education programs have managed. (Noah Smith, 11/6)

The Journal of the American Medical Association: Designing Smarter Pay-For-Performance Programs
Over the past decade, public and private payers have experimented with the use of financial incentives to motivate physicians to achieve quality and efficiency. The idea behind pay for performance is simple. Because individuals and organizations respond to incentives, physicians whose patients achieve desirable outcomes should be paid more as an incentive to improve their performance. Yet the results of pay-for-performance programs have been largely disappointing. One argument is that neither the right set of incentives nor the right set of metrics has been identified. Another explanation, which has received far less attention, is that the right set of patients has not been identified for targeted efforts. (Aaron McKethan and Ashish K. Jha, 11/6)