The Associated Press: Analysis: Medicaid Expansion At Center Of Arkansas Primary
Championing a program he inherited under a federal health overhaul he opposes, Gov. Asa Hutchinson has made his push to keep Arkansas' hybrid Medicaid expansion the defining issue in several Republican primary contests next month. He's also turning the election into a referendum on his first two years in office, and an indicator of how the next two will go. (DeMillo, 2/20)

The Associated Press: Economic Policies Highlight Partisan Divide Among Governors
[Arkansas Gov. Asa] Hutchinson said the possibility of a recession also highlights the need for states to have more flexibility to manage their Medicaid budgets. A rise in the number of people on Medicaid can be an early warning sign of a recession, the economists said. Arkansas is among the GOP-led states that have expanded Medicaid under Obama's health care overall, accepting an infusion of federal dollars. Gov. Dan Malloy of Connecticut, the chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, noted that some Republican governors took a firm stand against expanding Medicaid in their states, only to change their minds. (Nuckols, 2/20)

Wyoming Public Radio: Senate Refuses To Expand Medicaid...Again
The Senate voted 20-10 against a budget amendment that would have expanded Medicaid for two years. It would have benefited nearly 20-thousand Wyoming low-income residents who either cannot get insurance or afford it. (Beck, 2/19)

Casper Star-Tribune: Wyoming Senate Defeats Medicaid Expansion
The state Senate defeated a measure to expand Medicaid to 20,000 low-income Wyomingites on Friday afternoon, delivering the final blow to the Obamacare provision this legislative session. The amendment to the two-year state spending bill failed with 10 senators in favor of it and 20 opposed. No budget amendment appeared in the House, as lawmakers who supported Medicaid expansion said they didn’t attempt it because the opposition was even stiffer. This is the fourth consecutive year the Legislature has rejected Medicaid expansion. (Hancock, 2/20)

The Associated Press: Wyoming Senate Rejects Medicaid Expansion Amendments
The Wyoming Senate voted Friday to reject expansion of the federal Medicaid program. Friday's two back-to-back votes rejecting Medicaid expansion budget amendments apparently mark the Legislature's last word on the issue this session. (Neary, 2/20)

The Washington Post: Va. Lawmakers: Pay Raise For Teachers, But No Medicaid Expansion
House and Senate finance committees on Sunday unveiled dueling two-year budget proposals that reject Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s vision for Medicaid expansion but pour big money into his top priorities: education and economic development. The spending plans take different approaches to giving schools greater flexibility in how they spend tax dollars and give lawmakers and businesspeople more authority to shape the state’s approach to diversifying and growing the economy. (Portnoy, 2/21)

The Associated Press: Virginia Lawmakers Unveil State Budget Proposals
And neither chamber includes any budget items related to expanding Medicaid, a long-sought goal of the governor that Republicans have steadfastly opposed. McAuliffe’s spending plan assumed Virginia will expand Medicaid in the next two years, which his administration projects would save the state about $150 million in mental health, prisoner health, and indigent care costs. (Suderman, 2/21)

The Associated Press: A Look At McAuliffe's Latest Attempt To Expand Medicaid
Calling Medicaid expansion "necessary and inevitable," Gov. Terry McAuliffe in December unveiled a new effort to provide coverage to roughly 350,000 low-income Virginians, despite continued resistance from Republicans, who control the General Assembly. A few months later, Republicans are all-but-officially closing the door on the Democratic governor's latest attempt to expand Medicaid. Neither budget proposals outlined by the Senate or the House on Sunday include any budget items related to Medicaid expansion. (2/21)

Indianapolis Star: Pence Seeking Help From Congress In Medicaid Dispute
Gov. Mike Pence wants Congress to get involved in his dispute with the Obama administration over the evaluation of Indiana’s alternative Medicaid program. Pence has accused the administration of hiring an evaluator that is biased against Indiana’s approach. (Groppe, 2/20)

The Associated Press: Lawmakers Stall On Medicaid Alternative, But Talk Expansion
Idaho's lone alternative to Medicaid expansion isn't dead, but it may be on life support. The estimated $30 million plan — pitched at the beginning of the legislation session by Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter — would provide primary and preventative care to 78,000 Idahoans who make too much to qualify for Medicaid but also don't qualify for health insurance subsidies. (Kruesi, 2/21)

Health News Florida: Lawmaker: Choose Medicaid Expansion Over Health Transparency Database
The Internet allows savvy consumers to comparison shop for big ticket items. Those items may soon include medical procedures. The Florida House is ready to consider a bill (HB 1175) that would enable consumers to see what hospitals around the state charge for similar surgeries and courses of treatment. ... But Rep. Lori Berman, D-Boynton Beach, doesn’t think a database is the best way to deal with soaring health-care costs. ... She thinks the push for a database is related to the state’s refusal to accept federal dollars for Medicaid expansion. (Jordan, 2/19)

USA Today: Are You Prepared For New Obamacare Tax Forms?
For tax year 2015, millions of Americans will be getting a new tax form related to health care reform measures. Will you know what to do with yours when it arrives? The Affordable Health Care Act, colloquially known as “Obamacare,” mandated three new tax forms to be used as a kind of proof of insurance so taxpayers may avoid paying a penalty for failure to be covered. (Reeves, 2/19)

Earlier KHN coverage: Delay Of New Health Law Forms May Confuse Some Taxpayers (Andrews, 2/16)

In other news -

The Wall Street Journal: Are HSAs The New 401(k)? Money Managers Hope So
An unexpected winner from rising health care costs? Wall Street. More Americans are setting aside money in health-savings accounts for medical bills that their company plans no longer cover. Money managers are eyeing this new pool of assets as an opportunity. HSAs are primarily offered by banks and act as checking account-like pools that preserve balances. As they grow, however, some savers are increasingly interested in investments beyond money market funds that could generate greater returns over time. This is a welcome opportunity for asset management firms at a time when they are seeing net 401(k) withdrawals for the first time. (Martin and Krouse, 2/19)

Bloomberg: Chart: Trump's Drug Savings Goal Is More Than Nation Spends
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's claim that he could save taxpayers $300 billion a year by negotiating with drugmakers may be wildly overstated, as his savings goal actually exceeds what the entire nation spent on prescription drugs in 2014 ($298 billion). Medicare drug spending in 2014 totaled $143 billion. Trump's claims are also at odds with the Congressional Budget Office, which says that government drug-price negotiation for Medicare, by itself, wouldn't impact the federal deficit. (Rye, 2/19)

The New York Times: Donald Trump In Triage Mode After Shocking Conservatives With Health Care Comments
He has broken with many Republicans on taxing the rich, threatening trade wars and keeping Planned Parenthood alive. On Friday, Donald J. Trump faced criticism for an even bolder act of conservative heresy: embracing the core tenet of the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Trump has to date offered only bits and pieces of his health agenda, generally presenting a vow to repeal “Obamacare” and replace it with “something great.” (Rappeport, 2/19)

Politico: Jeb Bush Drops Out Of White House Race
Jeb Bush, unable to muster enthusiasm for his presidential bid beyond the family network that helped him raise a record sum exceeding $150 million, is suspending his campaign following a disappointing finish in South Carolina. The decision follows a string of underwhelming primary finishes for the former Florida governor, including in New Hampshire where he invested heavily and bet on a massive ground organization but still finished behind Donald Trump, John Kasich and Ted Cruz. (Stokols, 2/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Big Pharma’s Delicate Dance On Drug Prices
Drug makers are enjoying a research-and-development revival after a fallow period. Last year the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved 45 new drugs, more than double the number in 2006. But the industry also faces growing criticism of the prices it charges for new drugs—some cancer therapies cost as much as $150,000 a year—as well as repeated price increases for older drugs. Critics say high prices are putting drugs out of reach for many patients and straining health-care budgets. (Loftus, 2/21)

Bloomberg: Alexion Tests Orphan Drug Limits
If a strategy works in the pharmaceutical industry, then you can bet someone will take it to its furthest extreme. Alexion has been a pioneer in two hot industry trends: marketing rare-disease, or "orphan," drugs and jacking up prices. It sells its drug Soliris, which treats rare blood disorders, for as much as $525,000 a year. Its newest drug Kanuma, which treats a rare genetic enzyme deficiency, could cost even more per patient per year, according to the U.K.'s health-care cost watchdog, known as NICE. (Nisen, 2/19)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Cancer Questions Over Popular Diabetes Drug Raise Furor
Before he died early last year of pancreatic cancer, Stephen T. Johnson filed a lawsuit against Merck for not telling him his disease might be a side effect of taking Januvia, the company's blockbuster diabetes drug. The 63-year-old Philadelphia police officer knew his life was at an end, but he wanted the product labeling changed to warn other diabetics. (McCullough, 2/19)

And in the news from insurers -

Bloomberg: How Health Insurance Startup Oscar Is Going To Get To 1 Million Members
Oscar Health Insurance Corp. CEO Mario Schlosser has found the strategy he says will build his startup into a million-customer player in the health insurance industry: use tight, exclusive networks with hospitals to sell competitively priced insurance in perhaps 30 U.S. markets. (Tracer, 2/19)

The Cleveland Plain Dealer: Ohio Gov. John Kasich Signs Bill To Cut Funding To Planned Parenthood In Ohio
Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Sunday signed a bill intended to block Planned Parenthood from receiving funding for services it provides in health clinics around the state, although the new law would have no impact on abortion services. (Higgs, 2/21)

NBC News: Governor John Kasich Signs Ohio Bill To Cut Planned Parenthood Funding
Republican presidential hopeful and Ohio Governor John Kasich on Sunday signed a bill that aims to strip funding from Planned Parenthood in the state. It's a long-expected but controversial move that ignites a debate that seeped into his presidential campaign. Kasich faced a number of protesters this week while campaigning in South Carolina who challenged him on the issue during his events. (Koenig, 2/21)

CNN: Kasich Signs Bill To Defund Planned Parenthood
Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed a bill Sunday prohibiting the state from contracting for health services with any organization that performs or promotes abortions, blocking government funds to Planned Parenthood. (Kludt and Spodak, 2/21)

Reuters: Texas Official To Retire After Criticizing Planned Parenthood Cuts
A senior Texas health official who co-authored a report that criticized the state's funding cuts to Planned Parenthood for reducing access to reproductive healthcare will retire from his post next month, a Texas commission said on Friday. Rick Allgeyer, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission's director of research, faced criticism from the state's Republican leaders over the report published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine this month. The report said state funding cuts to Planned Parenthood and its affiliates had an adverse effect on family planning for lower-income people. (Herskovitz, 2/19)

And here's more related news from Florida and Virginia -

The Washington Post: Va. Bill To Restrict Abortion Fizzled. Here’s Why Abortion Foes Are Oddly Upbeat.
This session, Virginia House Republicans failed to pass a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, a top priority. But they are surprisingly upbeat, encouraged by signs in Virginia and across the country that their long-term strategy for restricting access to the procedure is picking up steam. (Portnoy, 2/21)

Health News Florida: Abortion Clinics Face Licensure Loss After Doctor's Arrest
Four Florida abortion clinics -- two in Orlando and one each in Ocala and Fort Lauderdale -- face the potential loss of their licenses following the arrest of a physician the state says has an "ownership interest" in them. The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration filed administrative complaints last month against EPOC Clinic LLC in Orlando, Orlando Women's Center LLC, Ocala Women's Center LLC and Fort Lauderdale Women's Center LLC. (Watts, 2/19)

Arkansas Online: 2 State Hospitals Settle Medicare Cardiac-Implant Suit
Arkansas Heart Hospital has agreed to pay $900,000 to settle claims that it billed Medicare for implanting cardiac devices in situations that violated the program's payment guidelines, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday. The Little Rock hospital was among 51 hospitals that entered settlements during the "final stage" of a nationwide investigation into devices implanted from 2003 through 2010, the Justice Department said in a news release. The settlements announced Wednesday involved hospitals in 15 states and totaled more than $23 million, the release says. (Davis, 2/19)

Newsday: 5 LI Hospitals Settle Suit In Medicare Cardiac Devices Case
Five Long Island hospitals are among more than 500 nationwide to reach settlements of more than $270 million in a cardiac devices case with the Department of Justice — one of the biggest whistle-blower lawsuits to date. The settlements stemmed from a suit filed in 2008 alleging health care fraud in hospitals that inserted implantable cardioverter defibrillators, or ICDs, in Medicare patients before the federal government deemed it proper. (Ochs, 2/18)

Los Angeles Times: $17,000 Bitcoin Ransom Paid By Hospital To Hackers Sparks Outrage
The malware ransom attack on Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center — which prompted the facility to pay a $17,000 ransom in bitcoin to the hacker who seized control of the hospital's computer systems — is part of a larger problem that is generating outrage. The hospital attack has prompted a California state senator to propose making it an extortion crime for a hacker to infect a computer system with so-called ransomware. (Winton, 2/19)

Kaiser Health News: Urging Openness About Superbug Infections, Doctor Omits Cases In Own Hospital
As superbug outbreaks raised alarm across the country last year, a prominent doctor at a Philadelphia cancer center wrote in a leading medical journal about how to reduce the risk of these often-deadly patient infections. Dr. Jeffrey Tokar, director of gastrointestinal endoscopy at Fox Chase Cancer Center, pointed to recent outbreaks from contaminated medical scopes and discussed steps doctors and hospitals should take to ensure patient safety in his Sept. 22 article in the Annals of Internal Medicine. (Terhune, 2/22)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Jefferson Suspends Heart Transplant Program
Jefferson Health announced Friday that it was taking the unusual step of voluntarily suspending heart transplant procedures for six to nine months while it begins a "significant redesign" of the program. "Every facet of healthcare delivery in our country is changing, and transplant care is no exception," Anne Docimo, chief medical officer of Jefferson Health, said in a statement. (Sapatkin, 2/20)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: 200 Protest Closure Of St. Joseph's Hospital In N. Phila.
Roughly 200 people staged a loud, angry march tonight in the vicinity of St. Joseph's Hospital to protest next month's slated closing and layoffs at the longtime North Philadelphia health care facility. Observers said that as many as 25 police cars lined the streets near the hospital at 16th Street and Girard Avenue, but there were no immediate reports of trouble or arrests. (2/19)

The Associated Press: Florida Agency Rejects Hospital's Corrective Action Plan
Florida's health care agency has rejected Calhoun-Liberty Hospital's corrective action plan. A hospital spokeswoman says the Blountstown facility has until Wednesday to submit a new plan to the Agency for Health Care Administration. The agency said the hospital did not provide specific details on staff training in emergency room care and oversight in addressing patient complaints. (2/20)

Georgia Health News: Killing CON? Repeal Bill Will Face Fight
A bill just introduced in the General Assembly would scrap the state’s current health care regulatory apparatus, known as certificate of need or CON. Georgia’s CON laws play a crucial role in health care facility construction and services across the state. (Miller, 2/21)

The Kansas Health Institute News Service: Budget Provision Tied To Health Care Compact
The temporary budget that legislators passed this week includes a provision intended to assure the public that they won’t privatize Medicare under an interstate health care compact. The compact is an agreement among states to petition Congress for the option to receive federal money for health care programs as block grants free from federal regulations. Kansas is one of nine states that had joined it as of December. (Marso, 2/19)

The Sacramento Bee: Health Plans’ Finances A Big Unknown In California Tax Swap Package
A $2.4 billion managed-care organization tax package awaiting votes in the California Legislature reflects the heavy imprint of the state’s health insurance industry, which pushed for major changes to avoid any tax hit that could be passed on to customers. ... It has a strong chance of winning enough support from Republican lawmakers to reach the needed two-thirds vote threshold to pass. Then, the state would be on the verge of its ultimate goal: continuing to pull in more than $1 billion in federal matching money. (Miller, 2/20)

The New York Times: Governors Devise Bipartisan Effort To Reduce Opioid Abuse
Alarmed at an epidemic of drug overdose deaths, the National Governors Association decided over the weekend to devise treatment protocols to reduce the use of opioid painkillers. The guidelines are likely to include numerical limits on prescriptions, or other restrictions, governors said. (Pear, 2/21)

The New York Times: Pivotal Nursing Home Suit Raises a Simple Question: Who Signed the Contract?
[I]n September 2009, [Elizabeth] Barrow was found dead at a local [Massachusetts] nursing home, strangled and suffocated, with a plastic shopping bag over her head. The killer, the police said, was her 97-year-old roommate. ... More than six years after the killing, Mrs. Barrow’s only son, Scott, is still trying to hold the nursing home accountable. “The woman had a history of problems,” Mr. Barrow said of the roommate in an interview this month. “She should not have been living in that room with my mother.” Mr. Barrow was barred from taking Brandon Woods to court in 2010 because his mother’s contract with the nursing home contained a clause that forced any dispute, even one over wrongful death, into private arbitration. (Corkery and Silver-Greenberg, 2/21)

The Cleveland Dispatch: Suicides In Nursing Homes Hard To Track, Prevent
Suicides among older adults remain disturbingly high despite improved screening and treatment for depression. And although there is growing awareness about suicide, the one area in which it is less documented, not very well understood and much more hidden is in nursing homes, advocates say. (Pyle, 2/22)

The Washington Post: Agonizing Over The Right To Die
Maryland, a state where lawmakers abolished the death penalty and made same-sex marriage legal, would seem fertile ground for an aid-in-dying bill. But the state also has deep Catholic roots and a large African American population, and both of those communities have long opposed assisted suicide for the terminally ill. At a hearing Friday on a bill that would make Maryland the sixth state to legalize aid in dying, dozens of witnesses waited hours to testify. There were terminal patients who said they deserve the option to legally end their lives and caregivers who described loved ones committing suicide to cut short their suffering. There were religious leaders and disability advocates who argued that “every life” is precious, and a young woman who survived brain cancer as a child after doctors said she had little time to live. (Wiggins, 2/20)

Stateline: Coverage For Autism Treatment Varies By State
Since 2001, 44 states have begun requiring some insurance plans to cover ABA for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. But the rules are all different, making for uneven coverage across states. Autism Speaks, a national nonprofit, estimates that 36 percent of Americans have access to autism coverage. The mandates don’t apply to those companies, often large, that insure their own workers. In some states, small businesses are not required to offer coverage. Depending on the state, coverage may be available to state employees, Medicaid recipients and people purchasing insurance in the marketplaces created under the Affordable Care Act. (Fifield, 2/19)

Earlier KHN coverage: Narrow Marketplace Plans In Texas Pose Problems For Autistic Children (Harrington, 2/8)

The Associated Press: Review: SC Medicaid Agency Exposed Data To Cybertheft Risk
A four-decade-old computer system and poor safety measures at South Carolina's Medicaid agency exposed the personal health information of roughly 1 million residents to risk of cybertheft, according to a federal report released Friday. The findings by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General include that the Medicaid agency did not — at the time of its evaluation in 2013 — have a security plan for its computer system, had no encryption for laptops and had not properly trained employees. The report purposefully did not give specifics. (Adcox, 2/19)

The Associated Press: Lawmakers Want Federal Probe Of Suspension Of Medicaid Funds
Democrats with New Mexico's congressional delegation are calling for a federal investigation into the withholding of Medicaid payments from 15 nonprofits that provided behavioral health services to needy residents. (Bryan, 2/19)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: SEPTA Transportation For Seniors And Disabled Not Working For Many
There was something familiar about James Williams' hushed cellphone conversation in my lung doctor's office. "It's just a few blocks," he said. "She can't walk that far," he said. Finally: "I waited 25 minutes on the phone for you to tell me you can't do anything?" While his mother was being seen by the doctor, Williams told me he'd been talking to SEPTA's Customized Community Transport (CCT Connect), which provides transportation to elderly and disabled residents. Except when it doesn't. (Ubinas, 2/19)

St. Louis Public Radio: St. Louis County Police Add Heroin Overdose Antidote To Patrol Cars
Until now, when St. Louis County Police Officer Kevin Magnan responded to an opiate overdose call there wasn’t much he could do except wait for the paramedics to arrive. “You’re seeing a body that’s barely moving. Sometimes their eyes are open sometimes they’re not. And you’re not really sure what to do,” said Magnan, who works as a patrol officer in Jennings. ... Magnan and about thirty other St. Louis County police officers learned how to administer the heroin antidote Narcan Thursday. He and his fellow trainees have been tasked with passing that training — and their precincts' new Narcan kits — on to the rest of the officers in their precincts. (Phillips, 2/19)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Inspira In Home Care Venture With Bayada
Inspira Health Network filed a state layoff notice affecting 105 home-care and hospice employees as it prepares for a joint venture with Bayada Home Health Care covering Cumerland, Gloucester, and Salem Counties. Inspira spokesman Greg Potter said Thursday that the Inspira employees would be interviewed for Bayada jobs, but "there may be some who don't fit into the joint venture." (Brubaker, 2/19)

The Chicago Post-Tribune: Indiana Smoking Prevention, Smoke-Free Policies Failing
Indiana's tobacco control policies are failing to reduce smoking rates among adults and youth, and tobacco use is costing the state more than $2.9 billion in healthcare costs and lost productivity annually, according to the American Lung Association's 2016 State of Tobacco Control report. (Lazerus, 2/19)

Health News Florida: Fecal Transplant Programs Coming Online
C. Diff causes severe diarrhea, bloating, stomach pain and a fever, and was associated with 29,000 deaths in 2011. It earned the moniker "deadly diarrhea" from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The use of stool transplants to treat recurrent cases is a growing field in the U.S. Florida Hospital plans to launch a stool transplant program by the end of this month, and it’s currently a hot topic for researchers. (Aboraya, 2/18)

Los Angeles Times: A Milder 'B' Strain Might Be Keeping California's Flu Numbers Low
Though more people in California have been falling sick with the flu in the past few weeks, the season so far is proving milder than in recent years. Experts suggest several reasons: the available vaccine is a good match for the flu strains going around, the virus may not be spreading rapidly because of unusually warm weather, and the outbreak might not have peaked yet. (Karlamangla, 2/19)

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: Under Any 2016 Election Outcome, Obamacare Challenges Remain Daunting
Even with the subsidies authorized under the Affordable Care Act, millions of individuals remain uninsured, possibly because they consider coverage still too expensive or they’d rather pay the penalty for not buying insurance. When the most recent enrollment period closed, 12.7 million people had signed up for Obamacare, up from 9.3 million last fall but still well short of earlier projections. Meanwhile, health insurers losing money on the added policies are raising rates. ... The bottom line, no matter who wins the White House in November: Improving or replacing Obamacare in ways that effectively address the problems the law was meant to resolve–as Chief Justice Roberts put it–will continue to prove every bit as difficult as enactment was in 2010. (Robert Litan, 2/19)

Modern Healthcare: Republicans And Democrats Head For A Healthcare Reckoning After Saturday Primaries
Whatever the GOP candidates say now, any Republican who wins the presidential election in November will face heavy pressure to roll back the ACA given the Republican base's strong opposition to the law and the candidates' repeated vows to repeal it. In an interview, Chris Jennings, a Democratic healthcare strategist and former senior adviser to the Obama White House, said a Republican president and Congress would at least substantially reduce the ACA's premium tax credits and cut and restructure Medicaid in a major way. Where a Republican-led government would run into big problems would be in reducing or eliminating the subsidies and repealing the individual mandate while trying to keep the requirement that insurers accept customers regardless of preexisting conditions. (Harris Meyer, 2/21)

Forbes: ACA "Savings": Paying Doctors And Hospitals Bonuses To Deny Care To Patients
One of the stated goals of proponents of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was to prevent patients from being denied health care so that others could increase their profits. As then-candidate [Barack] Obama put it, one of his goals was “making sure that they are limited in the ability to extract profits and deny coverage”. Now, one of the lesser-known provisions of the ACA calls for the federal government to pay physicians and hospitals bonuses if they deny health care to seniors and the disabled – and even encourages them to form local monopolies to make it harder for them to find alternative sources of care. And most patients won’t even know that’s the reason they are being denied care. (Robert Book, 2/21)

AL.com: Alabama's Medicaid Reform Could Be A Model For The Nation
Solving the Medicaid challenge is the toughest fiscal hurdle the state of Alabama faces. If its costs are not contained, Medicaid will continue to grow like kudzu, and lawmakers must either raise taxes or severely cut other state services to keep the program going. I am for neither of those options, so there has to be a third way. ... To keep costs under control, we have radically changed how care is delivered to Medicaid patients. In 2013, I sponsored legislation to create Regional Care Organizations (RCOs) to improve the delivery of care to Alabama's 650,000 non-nursing home Medicaid patients with the goal of bending Medicaid's cost curve down. (Alabama Senate Majority Leader Greg Reed, 2/21)

The New York Times: Break Up The Insulin Racket
Insulin has been around for almost a century. The World Health Organization considers it an essential medicine, which means it should be available “at a price the individual and the community can afford.” So why is this product increasingly too expensive for many Americans? In the United States, just three pharmaceutical giants hold patents that allow them to manufacture insulin: Eli Lilly, Sanofi and Novo Nordisk. Put together, the “big three” made more than $12 billion in profits in 2014, with insulin accounting for a large portion. What makes this so worrisome is that the big three have simultaneously hiked their prices. (Kasia Lipska, 2/10)

The Washington Post: The Planned Parenthood Witch Hunt
Twelve states that undertook investigations of Planned Parenthood found no wrongdoing. An additional eight states refused even to investigate, citing lack of credible evidence. A grand jury in Texas and a federal judge in California exonerated the organization after each conducted extensive reviews. Three congressional committees failed to turn up any improprieties. In short, the hidden-camera videos purporting to show illegal selling of fetal tissue show no such thing. Despite all that, a Republican-led House panel is undeterred in conducting its own investigation, or, more accurately, witch hunt. Even more troubling than the considerable time and money that will be wasted is the potential damage to health care and medical research. (2/20)

Bloomberg: The Pope's Other Bombshell
Like Icarus edging too close to the sun, Pope Francis learned Thursday what it means to graze Donald Trump's news cycle: Even the most meticulously chosen words are burned away in the nebular heat. Largely overlooked in the uproar over the pope's criticism of Trump was an understated -- but no less intentional -- observation about contraception. Avoiding pregnancy is not an absolute evil, Francis noted, apropos of a question about the Zika virus. (2/19)

The Washington Post: My Son With Down Syndrome Is Not A Mascot For Abortion Restrictions
But more recently, opponents of abortion have begun to use Down syndrome in their attempt to roll back women’s reproductive rights. Last month, the Missouri Senate debated a bill that would outlaw selective abortion — that is, termination of an otherwise wanted pregnancy on the basis of a Down syndrome diagnosis. ... Proponents of these laws claim to be motivated by desire to fight prejudice against people with Down syndrome, rather than curtail women’s access to abortion. ... Let me suggest another way. These laws trivialize the often-wrenching decision to terminate a pregnancy by suggesting that women are acting out of simple prejudice. But women decide to abort after a diagnosis of Down syndrome for many reasons. (Rachel E. Adams, 2/19)

The Wall Street Journal: The NFL Needs Distance From Its Brain-Injury Funding
This month ESPN reported that the NFL and its partners have over the past several years become the nation’s largest and most powerful funder of brain research, exceeding the National Institutes of Health. Such investments—totaling more than $100 million—are commendable. Federal research dollars are limited, and despite the popularity and visibility of football, its risks directly affect far fewer people than other health concerns. But the role that the NFL has played in its largess has undercut the credibility of much of the scientific research into the risks of football, and thus compromises our ability to make the game safer for children, college students and professionals. (Roger Pielke Jr., 2/21)

The New York Times: Why Are White Death Rates Rising?
It’s disturbing and puzzling news: Death rates are rising for white, less-educated Americans. ... Why are whites overdosing or drinking themselves to death at higher rates than African-Americans and Hispanics in similar circumstances? ... here is one solution to the death-rate conundrum: It’s likely that many non-college-educated whites are comparing themselves to a generation that had more opportunities than they have, whereas many blacks and Hispanics are comparing themselves to a generation that had fewer opportunities. (Andrew J. Cherlin, 2/22)

The New York Times: Scalia Autopsy Decision Divides Pathologists
Should an autopsy have been performed on the body of Justice Antonin Scalia? When a Texas justice of the peace certified that the 79-year-old Supreme Court justice had died from natural causes, questions immediately erupted. No autopsy had been performed, and the certification had been made without even an examination of the body. ... Three forensic pathologists interviewed separately were divided in their opinions about the handling of the death of Justice Scalia. (Dr. Lawrence K. Altman, 2/20)

The Wall Street Journal: Why I Wonder If Wearables May Harm Our Health More Than Help
In our increasingly digital health world, wearables are exploding in their usage. While making hospital rounds last week, I noted that all of the housestaff and some of the patients were wearing some type of sensor device to track their steps, flights climbed, etc. ... But is more data always better? Are we healthier because of all of this additional monitoring or are we being distracted from what truly matters? Call me skeptical. To date, the evidence that commercial apps help to change users’ behavior, improve their health, or even take accurate measurements is sparse. (Rita Redberg, 2/19)

Bloomberg: Calorie Counts Really Do Fight Obesity
Until recently, the sophisticated view about calorie labels in restaurants was one of despair: A series of studies suggested that the practice, required by Obamacare and modeled on what has been done in New York and other cities, just doesn't succeed in promoting healthy food choices and reducing obesity. But comprehensive new research offers a dramatically different picture. It finds that if we divide Americans into subgroups -- the normal, the overweight, and the obese -- we’ll find that calorie labels have had a large and beneficial effect on those who most need them. (Cass R. Sunstein, 2/19)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Is It OK To Bribe Our Children For Better Health?
“Can I have dessert?” “Did you eat all of your vegetables?” This is a common dinner conversation in our house and probably for most other families. Whether we call it bribery or not, parents bribe their kids in small ways every day. Eating more vegetables in exchange for a little dessert. Cleaning a bedroom in exchange for more time on a computer or video game. Good behavior to play with friends. (David Grande, 2/22)