Politico: 'Cadillac Tax' The Next Big Obamacare Battle
A mix of business groups and labor unions are pushing to tee up the next big Obamacare fight: killing its so-called Cadillac tax. It is, they say, the type of Obamacare “fix” that Republicans and Democrats can agree on — notwithstanding the problem of filling an $87 billion budget hole that nixing the levy would produce. Many expect it to be the next protracted battle over Obamacare .... At issue is a 40 percent excise tax on the health benefits companies provide their workers above a certain threshold. In 2018, the tax will hit insurance and related perks valued at more than $10,200 for singles and $27,500 for families. (Faler, 4/6)

The Associated Press: US Rep. Seth Moulton Pushing To Repeal Medical Device Tax
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton is planning to meet with members of the state's medical community to highlight a bill aimed at rolling back a tax aimed at medical device makers. The Massachusetts Democrat is one of more than 270 co-sponsors of the bipartisan Protect Medical Innovation Act. (4/5)

The Associated Press: Health Law Bumps Up Tax Refunds For Some; Others Take Hit
As the April 15 tax deadline nears, people who got help paying for health insurance under President Barack Obama's law are seeing the direct effect on their refunds — hundreds of dollars, for better or worse. The law offers tax credits so people without access to job-based health insurance can buy private coverage. Because these subsidies are tied to income, consumers must accurately estimate what they will make for the coming year. That's been a challenge for millions of people. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 4/5)

The Hill: IRS Deadline Extended For ObamaCare Customers Sent The Wrong Tax Form
ObamaCare customers who received the wrong tax form from the federal government this spring will not face penalties if they miss the April 15 deadline, officials announced Friday. Anyone who has not yet been sent corrected tax forms and is “unable to file an accurate tax return” now has until Oct. 15 to file — as long as they request an extension. The government did not say how many people will be given extra time, though officials said in late March that 80,000 people were still waiting on their corrected tax forms. (Ferris, 4/3)

Fox News: Filing Deadline Extended For Obamacare Customers Given Wrong Tax Forms
The Treasury Department said Friday that hundreds of thousands of ObamaCare customers who received incorrect tax forms earlier this year will not face penalties for filing after April 15. (4/6)

And in Tennessee, an uninsured woman with cancer cannot afford medical care because the state chose not to expand Medicaid -

USA Today: Medicaid Expansion, Or Not: An Uninsured Cancer Victim Stuggles
Tracy Foster's bladder is nearly bulging out of her body. But the 40-year-old divorced mother of two has no insurance and no money to treat what she believes is recurrent bladder cancer, so she spends much of her time in a recliner, with a heating pad over her swollen abdomen. ... If Foster lived in nearby Kentucky, she wouldn't be facing this problem. There, she'd be eligible for expanded Medicaid, which covers residents earning less than 138% of the federal poverty level. But Tennessee chose not to expand its Medicaid program as called for under the Affordable Care Act, and Foster doesn't qualify for her home state's traditional Medicaid program even though she has no income. (Ungar, 4/3)

The Charlotte Observer: A Growing Risk: High-Deductible Health Plans Can Ruin Finances
The 30,000-plus people who work for Carolinas HealthCare System will have only one option for insurance next year, and it requires them to pay up to $5,600 a year out of pocket. For family coverage that risk rises to $11,200. The move by the Charlotte area’s largest employer spotlights a trend that’s sweeping the country: As more people get health insurance, more people with insurance face potentially devastating medical bills. (Helms, 4/4)

The Sacramento Bee: High Price Of Specialty Drugs Prompts Backlash
For hepatitis C patients, new drugs introduced in the past two years offer a cure that’s miraculous when compared with former treatments for the potentially fatal virus. Instead of taking a long course of drugs with miserable side effects, patients can be cured in a matter of weeks. The drugs could change the lives of millions of people – at a price. (Sangree, 4/4)

The Springfield News-Leader investigated lawsuits related to medical debt in Greene County, Mo., and found large variations in how two hospitals handle the issue -

Springfield News-Leader/USA Today: From Patient To Defendant: One Of Springfield's Two Health Systems Sues Far More Over Debt
Springfield resident Renee Cook's son Devon ... was in and out of a hospital for most of his life. He couldn't walk, talk or stand up, and accumulated medical bills to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, most of it covered by Medicaid. He died in December 2006. Years later, Renee Cook received an unwanted reminder of her son's short life. Springfield-based CoxHealth said she still owed money in connection with his care. ... On Aug. 30, 2011, CoxHealth sued her. ... CoxHealth and Mercy, part of Chesterfield-based Mercy Health, are the two health systems that dominate the city of Springfield. ... Both are nonprofit institutions, similar in size of local operations. But when it comes to medical debt incurred by their patients, the two systems take very different approaches. (Gounley, 4/5)

In other news, patient advocacy is a growing industry to help consumers handle the challenges of the medical system. And Alabama is creating a task force to improve health care in the state -

Los Angeles Times: Patient Advocates Help People Deal With Doctors, Hospitals, Insurers
Navigating the murky waters of hospital bills, insurance statements and medical claims can be jarring. When Thomas Fefer's wife of 22 years was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last summer and died just 66 days later, the onslaught of bills and bureaucratic hurdles was overwhelming for him. ... He needed help. An online search led him to a little-known industry of patient advocates and billing specialists that provide guidance on dealing with doctors, hospitals and insurance companies. They handle negotiations and work to find satisfactory billing agreements. Often a fee is involved, but many employers will cover the cost. (Zamosky, 4/5)

The Associated Press: Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley To Create Health Care Task Force
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley will sign an executive order creating a group focused on improving health care in the state. Bentley will sign an order Monday creating the Alabama Health Care Improvement Task Force, which will work on finding ways to make Alabama health care more accessible and affordable. (4/3)

The Washington Post: Tech Titans’ Latest Project: Defy Death
[Peter Thiel] and the tech titans who founded Google, Facebook, eBay, Napster and Netscape are using their billions to rewrite the nation’s science agenda and transform biomedical research. Their objective is to use the tools of technology — the chips, software programs, algorithms and big data they used in creating an information revolution — to understand and upgrade what they consider to be the most complicated piece of machinery in existence: the human body. The entrepreneurs are driven by a certitude that rebuilding, regenerating and reprogramming patients’ organs, limbs, cells and DNA will enable people to live longer and better. (Cha, 4/4)

The Washington Post: ALS Patients Press FDA For Quick Access To Controversial Biotech Drug
For people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which attacks the body’s motor neurons and renders a person unable to move, swallow or breathe, the search for an effective treatment has been a crushing disappointment. ... Then in the fall, a small California biotech company named Genervon began extolling the benefits of GM604, its new ALS drug. In an early-stage trial with 12 patients, the results were “statistically significant,” “very robust” and “dramatic,” the company said in news releases. ... Genervon took an even bolder step: It applied to the Food and Drug Administration for “accelerated approval.” ... This isn’t the first time desperate patients have launched a social media campaign to try to compel the FDA to act. But in this case, the effort also has laid bare stark divisions within the ALS community, where some advocates, patients and researchers — including one who helped lead the clinical trial — have criticized the company’s tactics. (Nutt and Dennis, 4/3)

Meanwhile, the company that invented aspirin is remaking itself and a British investor is pouring $40 million into a Maryland company pursuing vaccine therapies for operable and inoperable cancers.

The Wall Street Journal: Bayer’s CEO Injects A Dose Of U.S. Risk-Taking
The company that invented aspirin is reinventing itself—again. Bayer AG has long been a household name to Americans who associate its iconic cross logo with the painkiller. Few know the 150-year-old German pharmaceuticals giant’s product line also includes brands from Flintstones chewable vitamins to blood thinner Xarelto. Marijn Dekkers, Bayer’s Dutch-born, U.S.-trained chief executive, is out to change that. Since he took the helm in 2010, Mr. Dekkers has rocked Bayer’s staid culture by demanding that division heads have marketing backgrounds rather than science pedigrees. He presided over the launch of five new blockbuster drugs and has beefed up the group’s over-the-counter drug business with the $14.2 billion acquisition of U.S.-based Merck & Co.’s consumer-care division. (Alessi, 4/3)

The Washington Post: Nearing “The Finish Line” On Cancer Vaccine Trial, Maryland Firm Raises $40 Million
A British investor has injected another $40 million into Northwest Biotherapeutics, fueling the Maryland company’s increasingly promising pursuit of new vaccine therapies targeting both operable and inoperable cancers. ... “This gives us the resources we need to ramp up our programs, and it will help us advance both of our two major product lines,” Linda Powers, chief executive at Northwest Bio, said in an interview. Those two product lines consist of cell-based vaccines that the company, which was founded in 1996, has developed to harness the body’s immune system to attack solid cancer tumors. (Harrison, 4/3)

NPR: Women Having A Heart Attack Don't Get Treatment Fast Enough
Each year more than 15,000 women under the age of 55 die of heart disease in the United States. And younger women are twice as likely to die after being hospitalized for a heart attack as are men in the same age group. Studies show that women tend to wait much longer than men to get emergency care for heart attacks. So Judith Lichtman, an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health, tried to figure out why. In a recent study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, Lichtman and her colleagues conducted in-depth interviews with 30 women, ages 30 to 55, who had been hospitalized after a heart attack. It turned out that many of them didn't really know what a heart attack is supposed to feel like. (Singh, 4/6)

Kaiser Health News: Ritual, Not Science, Keeps The Annual Physical Alive
It’s a warm afternoon in Miami, and 35-year-old Emanuel Vega has come to Baptist Health Primary Care for a physical exam. Dr. Mark Caruso shakes his hand with a welcoming smile. ... Vega is one of more than 44 million Americans who is taking part in a medical ritual: visiting the doctor for an annual physical exam. But there’s little evidence that those visits actually do any good for healthy adults. (Gold, 4/6)

The Baltimore Sun: Equal Coverage For Mental And Medical Health Remains An Issue, Studies Show
After overdosing 19 times, William Head Williams was finally ready to enter a detoxification program for his heroin addiction. But he was turned away from a New York hospital after his insurer deemed his admission not medically necessary, said his father, Bill Williams, who drove him there Oct. 16, 2012. (Cohn, 4/3)

The New York Times: Battling Crime And Calories At F.B.I. (Fit Bureau Of Investigation)
F.B.I. agents are on the front lines of the fight to protect the United States from Islamic terrorists, Russian hackers and Chinese spies. Now they have something far more personal to worry about: their waists. For the first time in 16 years, the F.B.I. is requiring that its agents pass a fitness test. ... The fitness tests, which started at the end of last year, are a return to a tradition begun by the F.B.I.’s first director, J. Edgar Hoover, who obsessed about his agents’ weight, as well his own considerable girth. More significant, the tests are a response to concerns throughout the bureau about how its transformation after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, has put more stress on the agents and given them less time for fitness. (Schmidt, 4/5)

The Associated Press: Study: NYC Health Workers' Ethics Compromised In Jails
New York City jail health workers say their medical ethics are often compromised by the demands of treating patients who are also prisoners, such as when they witness guards' use of force or are asked to approve stints in solitary confinement, according to a first-of-its-kind city study. The two-year study at New York's sprawling Rikers Island jail complex concluded with a bold recommendation to remove health workers entirely from the most contentious issue they face -- whether to put an inmate in solitary. That's because many doctors believe the confinement, which involves 23-hour stretches of isolation, could harm inmates. (4/3)

The New York Times: Transgender Inmate’s Hormone Treatment Lawsuit Gets Justice Dept. Backing
The Justice Department put the nation’s prisons and jails on notice on Friday that it regarded blanket policies prohibiting new hormone treatment for transgender inmates to be unconstitutional. In court documents, the Justice Department backed a lawsuit brought by a prison inmate who says the state of Georgia illegally cut off the hormone treatment that she had been taking for 17 years. (Apuzzo, 4/3)

Reuters: California Judge Orders State To Provide Sex Change Surgery For Prisoner
A federal judge in San Francisco on Thursday ruled that California must provide sex reassignment surgery to a transgender inmate, calling denial of the procedure a violation of constitutional rights. U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar wrote in his 38-page order that the state was violating the constitutional rights of Michelle-Lael Norsworthy, who was convicted of second-degree murder in April 1987, by not providing the operation. (Skinner, 4/3)

The Associated Press: Florida VA Makes Little Headway To Shorten Waits For Care
Florida veterans were forced to wait at least 30 days for nearly 77,000 medical appointments at VA medical facilities from September through January, and half of those delays were found at just seven sites in north Florida and the Panhandle, according to government data reviewed by The Associated Press. The data shows the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is far from reaching its goal of reducing long waits for care at some hospitals and clinics in its massive health system. (Kennedy, 4/6)

The Associated Press: Major Nursing Home Chain Defends Care Of Residents
A major nursing home chain is defending the care provided at its facilities after New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas vowed to pursue claims against the company. The attorney general's office filed an amended complaint this week against Preferred Care Partners Management Group, a Texas-based company that operates in at least 10 states. (Bryan, 4/3)

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Insurers, Doctors Partner To Improve Patient Care, Cut Costs
The Longstreet Clinic is one of a growing number of primary care providers in Georgia teaming up with insurers, specialists, hospitals and others to improve patients’ health by better overseeing their overall care and, the theory goes, rein in out-of-control health care costs in the process. (Anderson, 4/6)

Georgia Health News: Emory, WellStar Commit To Planning Merger
Trustees of Emory University and WellStar Health System have approved a resolution to start the “design phase” of a new entity, the two organizations announced Thursday evening. The combination of Emory Healthcare and WellStar would be easily the state’s biggest health system. But a merger won’t come quickly, officials said. And the deal still has not been clinched, they emphasize. (Miller, 4/3)

Minnesota Public Radio: Health Care Advocates On Edge As GOP Pushes Budget Cuts
Minnesota House Republicans recently unveiled a budget plan featuring a $2 billion tax cut and more education and transportation spending. To balance it, they proposed slashing health and human services. (Scheck, 4/6)

Heartland Health Monitor: Prescription Drug Monitoring Wins Missouri Senate Approval
For years, Missouri has been the only state in the country that doesn’t monitor prescription drugs. But that may be about to change. The Missouri Senate on Thursday, by a 24-10 vote, approved a bill that would create a drug monitoring program that addresses some of the privacy concerns raised by opponents. The vote marked the first time the Senate has approved such a program. (Smith, 4/3)

NPR: California Faith Groups Divided Over Right-To-Die Bill
The Rev. Vernon Holmes ... leads a Lutheran congregation near Sacramento; the average age of members is 79. His faith promotes quality of life, Holmes says. And that same faith leads him to challenge the status quo and injustice. His congregation belongs to an advocacy group called California Church Impact, which supports California's bill that would allow the terminally ill to end their own lives with medical assistance. (Bartolone, 4/3)

The Sacramento Bee: Sac City Trustees Struggle To Fill Huge Gap In Retirees’ Medical Fund
District officials estimate that Sacramento City Unified needs another $634 million – nearly 1.5 times its annual budget – to fully pay for the health benefits promised to its workers and retirees, based on the latest actuarial data. That number represents the gap between projected health care costs and what its investments are expected to cover. (Kalb, 4/4)

The San Jose Mercury News: California Vaccine Exemption Bill Faces Crucial First Test On Wednesday
Democratic-led efforts to ban vaccine exemptions in Oregon and Washington state toppled one after the other last month amid fervent opposition from parents and anti-vaccine groups who say the bills would have trampled their fundamental rights to decide how to care for their own children. Now it's California's turn to try. (Seipel, 4/5)

The New York Times: A Rare Bipartisan Medicare Bill
Unfortunately, the Senate left for spring break on March 28 before taking up the [House's bill to fix the Medicare system of doctor payments], leaving scant time for acting on the bill before an automatic 21 percent cut for doctors kicks in. Medicare won’t start processing claims at the new low rate until April 15. But the Senate won’t be back until April 13, leaving it a day and a half to pass the House bill or some modification of it. That is an irresponsibly short time to consider such important legislation. The House bill is basically sound but could use fine-tuning. (4/6)

Los Angeles Times: Mark Cuban Vs. The Facts, Healthcare Edition
As anyone knows who follows the National Basketball Assn., the business world or the reality TV show "Shark Tank," Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is brash and outspoken -- and that's the polite way of putting it. When it comes to healthcare policy, he's brash, outspoken and very misinformed. That became clear on Wednesday, when Cuban advised his 2.8-million followers on Twitter to "have your blood tested for everything available, do it quarterly so you have a baseline of your own personal health." Recognizing that this involves an enormous expense, he limited the counsel to those who "can afford" it. (Michael Hiltzik, 4/3)

Modern Healthcare: The Invisible Governor In The Nation's Hottest Medicaid Expansion Fight
Where's Rick? As his fellow Republicans in the Florida Legislature battle over expanding Medicaid to 800,000 low-income state residents, newly re-elected Gov. Rick Scott has hardly been heard from on the most important healthcare issue facing his state. (Harris Meyer, 4/3)

Concord Monitor: State’s Economy Depends On Medicaid Expansion
By 2017, its estimated that up to 55,000 New Hampshire residents, most of them previously uninsured, will be receiving health care coverage thanks to the state’s expanded Medicaid program. If lawmakers don’t reauthorize participation in the federal program, those people, more than the combined populations of Portsmouth and Rochester, will lose health insurance. If not resolved before then, the issue will be the most important factor in the 2016 state elections. Gov. Hassan wants the program to continue and could veto a state budget that doesn’t include it. We would encourage her to do so. (4/5)

Montana Standard: Montana Religious Leaders Encourage Approval Of Medicaid Expansion
As people of faith, we believe that each of us has a moral obligation to take care of each other. At one time or another, every one of our fellow human beings has a need that we can help ease. ... Taking care of each other also means helping people have the best shot at good health. Of course, there are no guarantees. A serious illness can strike anyone. But we also know that those who receive preventive health exams and who don’t have to decide between buying medicine or food are more likely to live longer and be more productive. For almost 70,000 Montanans –- our friends and neighbors –- getting health care when they need it is as distant a possibility as winning the lottery. The reason: they can’t afford it. (4/5)

The New York Times: When ‘Moneyball’ Meets Medicine
[H]ealth economists have in recent years developed new summary measures of personal, public and global health, perhaps chief among them a unit they call disability-adjusted life years, or DALYs. DALYs (rhymes with tallies) are akin to one of the advanced statistics — like Wins Above Replacement — that have revolutionized professional sports. Except, in this case, the wins and losses are years of healthy life. ... Focusing on disability-adjusted life years may sound convoluted compared with simple lives lost. But it more closely aligns with most people’s intuitive sense of how health really works. (Jeremy N. Smith, 4/3)

The Detroit Free Press: Cost Of Care Should Matter To Docs, Too
I had just finished a consultation with a patient about a proposed procedure when she asked, "Well, what's it going to cost me?" I looked at her insurance, one offered through our state's health insurance exchange; the plan had a significant deductible, and I could tell she was hedging on what was an elective procedure. In the past, I would normally have demurred if a patient had asked me the cost of a procedure or a medication. In medical school, the cost of medical care was never part of my education, and, in many academic medical centers, some physicians take a certain amount of pride in being able to deliver "cutting edge" care which is, often, also the most expensive. (Vik Reddy, 4/4)

The New York Times: Alcoholics Anonymous And The Challenge Of Evidence-Based Medicine
Do Alcoholics Anonymous participants do better at abstinence than nonparticipants because they are more motivated? Or is it because of something inherent in the A.A. program? How researchers answered these questions in a recent study offers insight into challenges of evidence-based medicine and evidence-informed policy. (Austin Frakt, 4/6)

The Wall Street Journal: A Pastime Baseball Can Do Without
Major League Baseball has moved slowly on this one. Smoking on the field or in the dugout has been verboten for a good while, and smokeless tobacco has been prohibited in the minor leagues since 1993, though many players say this ban is laxly enforced. In the bigs, where players have a pit-bull union, smokeless tobacco can still be used, though players are prohibited from chewing during postgame interviews. So in the nation’s most traditional sport, the toxic habit endures. (Larry Thornberry, 4/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Bungling The Job On Substance Abuse And Mental Health
The recently released rankings of “The Best Places to Work in the Federal Government” highlight not only the best but also the worst places to work among the 315 agencies rated in 2014. ... Ranked a dismal 298th out of the 315 federal agencies is the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (Samhsa), an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services with a $3.6 billion annual budget. Samhsa’s core mission, as its name suggests, is to reduce “the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on America’s communities.” Samhsa’s poor ranking reflects its poor performance and internal dysfunction. (E. Fuller Torrey, 4/3)