The Associated Press: Administration Says HealthCare.gov Working Well
As a crucial second sign-up season gears up, the Obama administration said Sunday that HealthCare.gov is stable and working well, a far cry from last year's frozen computer screens and frustrated customers. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell said she expects "strong and healthy growth" for 2015. About 7 million people are signed up, and Burwell expects to grow that by 2 million more or so. The Congressional Budget Office has projected a total of 13 million enrolled for 2015, and some see the administration as trying to lower expectations. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 11/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Health-Care Web Site Users Have Few Problems
The second year of Affordable Care Act insurance enrollment, which began Saturday, didn’t have the type of widespread technical meltdowns that frustrated consumers last year. More than 500,000 people successfully logged into HealthCare.gov on Saturday, and about 100,000 people submitted insurance applications to the site, federal health officials said. Pockets of problems, however, did emerge. Some previous users who returned to HealthCare.gov had trouble submitting or resetting passwords, locking them out of accounts. A handful of state-run exchanges, such as those in Washington and Vermont, grappled with technology gaffes over the weekend that at times stalled enrollment. (Armour, Radnofsky and Wilde Mathews, 11/16)

The New York Times: Some Hiccups, But Federal Health Exchange Website Is In Good Health
The Obama administration said Sunday that 100,000 people had signed up for health insurance on the first day of open enrollment, and it offered practical advice to consumers who had been locked out of their accounts. Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the secretary of health and human services, cited the 100,000 applications as evidence that the refurbished website for the insurance marketplace was working for most users. (Pear, 11/16)

Politico: Obamacare’s Second Season Opens With Minor Enrollment Snags
Obamacare’s crucial second year got under way quietly Saturday, with a fraction of the enrollment fanfare and a weekend start expected to draw far less traffic than the rush that crashed HealthCare.gov within minutes of its debut last October. (Norman and Wheaton, 11/15)

Kaiser Health News: Insurance Exchanges Launch With Few Glitches
A Los Angeles furniture store worker who had never had health insurance enrolled in a plan for $75 a month that will cover both him and his son. An unemployed accountant in Charlotte, N.C., who tried and failed to sign up last year found coverage for $11.75 a month. A self-employed house contractor from West Palm Beach, Fla., found a health plan that will cost him nothing. They were among more than 100,000 Americans who signed up for coverage Saturday through the Affordable Care Act’s online insurance exchanges. (Galewitz and Gorman, 11/17)

The Washington Post: HealthCare.gov Opens Without Major Problems For Second Enrollment Period
HealthCare.gov and online insurance marketplaces in more than a dozen states opened for a second year on Saturday without the widespread computer troubles that frustrated consumers and the Obama administration when the exchanges debuted 13 months ago. ... Not all customers had smooth experiences. Some had forgotten their passwords for online accounts they created a year ago. Others discovered that they still couldn’t find affordable plans. And one state-run exchange — Washington state’s — took down its enrollment system within hours of its launch after discovering it was spitting out incorrect subsidy amounts. (Goldstein and Millman, 11/15)

The New York Times: Some New Frustrations As Health Exchange Opens
The health insurance marketplace opened for business on Saturday and performed much better than last year, but some consumers reported long, frustrating delays in trying to buy insurance and gain access to their own accounts at HealthCare.gov. Thousands of people attended hundreds of enrollment events around the country at public libraries, churches, shopping malls, community colleges, clinics, hospitals and other sites. Insurance counselors and federal, state and local officials said they were trying to juggle two tasks — enrolling more of the uninsured and renewing coverage for those who already had it. (Pear and Goodnough, 11/15)

Politico Pro: Obamacare: Key Tests In Weeks Ahead
The first weekend of Obamacare open enrollment went relatively smoothly and federal and state officials can breathe sighs of relief. But that may have been the easy part. Daunting challenges remain in the coming weeks. (Pradhan, 11/16)

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Affordable Care New Enrollment Period Could Still See Glitches
Open enrollment for people who buy health insurance on their own began Saturday with a key test for the Affordable Care Act. The second open-enrollment period — which runs through Feb. 15 — is almost certain to be smoother than the disastrous start last year. But it's a safe bet that there will be glitches, unpleasant surprises and more than a little confusion. (Boulton, 11/15)

Fox News: ObamaCare Signups Return With Improved Website But More Challenges To The Health Care Law
The second round of ObamaCare signups begins Saturday with expectations for an improved shopper experience but also facing more challenges from Capitol Hill and in federal court. President Obama and top administration officials have set a goal of enrolling 3 million Americans and to re-enroll the roughly 7 million people who enrolled in fall 2013. (11/15)

CBS News: Healthcare.gov CEO: "We've Kicked The Tires On This System"
Obamacare enrollment will be open for the next three months, giving Americans a second chance to register for federal health insurance. One of the biggest issues with the roll-out the first time around was the website Healthcare.gov, which crashed almost immediately after launch and continued having problems after that. But the site has since had an overhaul and Healthcare.gov CEO Kevin Counihan says this time, things should be much smoother. (11/15)

Meanwhile, several news outlets look at what beneficiaries can expect from the plans and how to estimate costs.

The Associated Press: Q&A: What's Covered, What's Not In Health Overhaul
As the federal government and states launch a second round of enrollment under the health care law, consumers should be aware of what's covered and what's not when buying health coverage through insurance marketplaces. Plans cover essential health benefits, pre-existing conditions and preventive care, but dental and vision benefits vary. (Lin, 11/15)

Kaiser Health News: You Paid What? How Negotiated Deals Hide Health Care’s Cost
As Americans begin shopping again for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, they’ll be wrangling with premiums, deductibles, out-of-pocket costs and other vague and confusing insurance-speak. Believe it or not, that’s the easy part compared to figuring out what the overall cost of health care is. (Mack, 11/17)

The Seattle Times: Washington Healthplanfinder Back In Business
Washington Healthplanfinder, the state’s health insurance exchange website — is open for business this morning after staff worked overnight to fix a glitch in the system’s software for calculating 2015 tax credits. The problem was noticed during the site’s first hours of operation on Saturday morning, the first day of open enrollment for 2015 plans. The staff decided to take the site down for repairs at 10 a.m. In a statement, the exchange said the miscalculation affected fewer than 800 customers, including nearly 150 customers who scheduled payments based on that information. The exchange will be contacting those customers individually to notify them of the corrected figures. (Marshall, 11/16)

Minnesota Public Radio: Second MNsure Enrollment Begins Smoothly
MNsure officials say the launch of their second open enrollment period is going smoothly so far. The state health insurance exchange started taking applications for its second year at 8 a.m. Saturday. By noon, CEO Scott Leitz said, about 140 people had enrolled. (Nelson, 11/15)

WBUR: New Health Connector Website Launches
The new Health Connector website for Massachusetts launched successfully Saturday morning and was working as designed upon launch. (Paiste, 11/15)

WBUR: New Mass. Health Connector Website Works, But Some Enrollees Have Problems
State officials and the folks at the Massachusetts Health Connector call the first day of the new health insurance website a success. ... Roughly 1,600 people did not complete their application. They may still be weighing their plan options, they may have run out of time, or they may have had trouble using the site. And 1,713 people dialed the Connector’s call center number seeking help with their application. (Bebinger, 11/15)

The Baltimore Sun: Few Hiccups, Lots Of Face Time As Maryland Health Care Enrollment Begins
Esmeralda Banda had marked Saturday on her calendar and arranged to have a co-worker cover her shift at Chik-Fil-A. At 41, she figured it was time to get health care. "I'm getting older, I'm getting sick more, and I don't want to be paying as much out of pocket," the Catonsville resident said. Saturday was the first day of open enrollment in Maryland and around the nation on exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act for people who do not get health insurance through employers. In Maryland, residents received their first shot at gaining coverage at an enrollment fair in Glen Burnie, hosted by the state's nonprofit partner HealthCare Access Maryland. (Rector, 11/15)

The Oregonian: Kitzhaber Inserted Re-Election Consultants Into State Business Over Cover Oregon's Fate, Documents Show
Among Clyde Hamstreet's chores as Cover Oregon interim director last April 18 was to "work on coordination of proceedings" with a top re-election engineer of Gov. John Kitzhaber, Patricia McCaig. Hamstreet's 12 hours of work that day came shortly before two key Cover Oregon public meetings that the discussions concerned. His later invoice showed that besides McCaig, the "coordination" work involved the governor's chief of staff, Mike Bonetto, and the governor's health policy advisor, Sean Kolmer. (Budnick, 11/14)

The Chicago Sun-Times: Shoppers Trickle In As Health Insurance Open Enrollment Begins
There were no big crowds but also no major problems reported Saturday as people around Chicago and nationwide came out to sign up for a 2015 health insurance plan through the Affordable Care Act. Saturday was the first day of the new open-enrollment period under President Barack Obama’s health-care law. At Heartland Health Centers on Devon Avenue, Roglio Hernandez, 48, showed up at 8:30 a.m. to sign up for a 2015 health insurance plan. The Rogers Park resident had thought about getting insurance last year, after going without any for many years. But he said, “I didn’t know what to do, so I decided to wait a little longer.” (Thomas, 11/15)

News outlets also provided scene setters on the steps taken by certain states to address the problems that plagued their online insurance marketplaces last year -

The Associated Press: States Working To Fix Hobbled Health Care Websites
The Massachusetts website, designed by the same contractor that worked on the troubled federal website, performed so poorly it prompted a public apology from Gov. Deval Patrick and forced health care officials to adopt a series of manual workarounds, creating a backlog of more than 50,000 paper applications. Massachusetts was one of several states where the ambition of running their own health insurance marketplace inside a new federal system ran into a harsh reality. Some, like Oregon and Nevada, folded and decided to go with the federal exchange for the second round of open enrollment, which began Saturday. Others, like Maryland and Massachusetts, fired their technology contractors and are hoping for better results this time. It hasn't been cheap. (LeBanc, 11/16)

Fox News: States Hurry To Fix Healthcare Exchange Websites In New Enrollment Period
Several states whose health exchange websites failed their first test during last year's inaugural ObamaCare open enrollment period have adopted different approaches for the second round, which began Saturday. Some, like Oregon and Nevada, folded and decided to go with the federal exchange. Others, like Maryland and Massachusetts, fired their technology contractors and are hoping for better results this time. (11/17)

In related news, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on how Georgia's uninsured rate is impacted by the health law and the state's decision not to expand Medicaid -

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Rate Of Uninsured Stays Stubbornly High In Georgia
[Stacy] Soulimiotis is one of roughly 1.8 million Georgians under the age of 65 without health insurance, giving Georgia the third-highest rate of uninsured people in the nation, according to a Gallup poll. The number has remained stubbornly large despite the Affordable Care Act and the launch of its Health Insurance Marketplace last year. That’s in large part because the state opted not to expand Medicaid, the government health program for the poor. The marketplace also hasn’t had a substantial impact on the state’s uninsured rate. (Anderson, 11/14)

The Associated Press: Health Care Push Comes To Bars, Nail Salons
The pitch for health care coverage is being made at nail salons, pizzerias, mosques and even bars. As the second enrollment period under President Barack Obama's health care law begins, advocates are employing new tactics and expanding old ones to reach people who need insurance. Some groups are targeting populations they believe slipped through the cracks during the last enrollment period. (Sanner, 11/16)

Kaiser Health News: State Health Insurance Exchanges Hope To Woo Urban Minorities
Two very successful state health insurance exchanges, Connecticut’s and California’s, are both intent on reaching people who avoided signing up last year – especially young Latinos and African-Americans. "The big takeaway for us last year was that the uninsured were really pocketed in a couple of key, large cities," says Jason Madrak, the chief marketing officer of Access Health CT, in Connecticut. In light of that, he says, the exchange has changed its ad strategy. "We’ve dialed up some of the more locally-focused efforts while we’ve dialed down some of the broader efforts," he says. (Cohen and Demboskey, 11/14)

Some news outlets take a look at how dynamics within state marketplaces are impacting the cost of coverage and the alternatives that might be available to consumers. And, in the background, the individual mandate continues to be an issue with the public -

The Denver Post: Colorado Health Co-Op Built To Shake Up State Insurance Marketplace
The tens of thousands of people on the state health exchange who find themselves shopping for new, cheaper policies can blame Colorado's first nonprofit health insurance cooperative. Colorado HealthOP recently upended the state marketplace by undercutting the lowest prices for mid-level, or silver, health plans, dragging down tax credits for all. Yet this market volatility uncorked by Colorado HealthOP is a design feature of the Affordable Care Act. (Draper, 11/17)

Health News Colorado: Cancer Survivor Faces Steep Price Hike, Plunging Subsidies
Many of the 148,000 people who bought private health insurance this year through Colorado’s exchange, Connect for Health Colorado, are facing disheartening news this month and must decide within weeks whether to renew their plans and pay more, switch to lower-cost coverage or opt out altogether. (Kerwin McCrimmon, 11/14)

The Charlotte Observer: Paying On Faith: Ministries Offer Alternative To Health Insurance
John Uit de Flesch is among a small but growing number of Christians joining health care sharing ministries, in which members agree to abide by Christian lifestyle principles and contribute to each other’s medical expenses. Four long-standing ministries – Christian Healthcare Ministries, Liberty HealthShare, Medi-Share and Samaritan Ministries – qualify as an alternative to health insurance under the ACA. That means members won’t face tax penalties. As with insurance, they make monthly payments, though they’re called shares rather than premiums, and pay a fixed amount out of pocket, much like deductibles. Methods of getting that money to members with covered medical bills vary: Some ministries handle the billing, while one oversees a system in which payments are sent directly from one member to another. (Helms, 11/16)

The Fiscal Times: More Uninsured People Will Reject Obamacare’s Mandate
More uninsured people say they would rather pay the Obamacare penalty under the law’s individual mandate this year, than buy health insurance on the health exchanges. (Ehley, 11/14)

The Washington Post: Post Analysis: Health Plan Choices And Premiums Increase On Healthcare.gov
People shopping on the HealthCare.gov marketplaces that reopened Saturday have more options this year than they did last year, but the options usually will be costlier. Twenty-five states using the federal enrollment portal on average have higher premiums this year for the most popular level of health insurance plans — called “silver” plans — while nine states on average have lower prices this year for that level of coverage, according to a Washington Post analysis of federal data. New plans are typically slightly more expensive than existing ones, the analysis showed. (Keating and Millman, 11/15)

The New York Times: Cost Of Coverage Under Affordable Care Act To Increase In 2015
The Obama administration on Friday unveiled data showing that many Americans with health insurance bought under the Affordable Care Act could face substantial price increases next year — in some cases as much as 20 percent — unless they switch plans. ... An analysis of the data by The New York Times suggests that although consumers will often be able to find new health plans with prices comparable to those they now pay, the situation varies greatly from state to state and even among counties in the same state. (Pear, Abelson and Armendariz, 11/14)

The New York Times: Where Federal Health Exchange Rates Will Rise (Graphic)
In about a fifth of the counties in states using the federal insurance exchange, premiums for the lowest-priced silver plans will increase by 10 percent or more. But rates for the same plans will decrease in all of Maine, Montana and New Hampshire, and most parts of Mississippi and South Dakota. (11/14)

Politico: GOP Preps New Attack Plan For Obamacare
The Republican Congress is getting ready to ramp up the Obamacare hearings, firing up enough investigations to keep Obama administration officials visiting hearing rooms on both sides of the Capitol for the next two years. They’ll shine the spotlight on everything from cable-friendly scandals to tried-and-true complaints about the law’s side effects. They’re going to investigate premium increases for individuals and small businesses, the impact on the federal deficit, payments to insurance companies that attract too many sick people, and the threat of huge tax headaches for some Obamacare customers next spring. (Nather, 11/14)

Politico: Obamacare's 'Burwellian' Rollout
Sylvia Mathews Burwell was brought in to run HHS with one big goal: make sure the second round of Obamacare goes a whole lot better than last year’s disaster. After months of distractions — Ebola, a border crisis, an unusual enterovirus that sickened hundreds of children — the new HHS secretary will be the person who either pays the price or wins the praise when HealthCare.gov reopens Saturday for business and potentially millions of people look to enroll in health insurance. President Barack Obama hired her not for her political savvy or public profile but because she is thought of as one of the most skilled technocrats in the bureaucracy. (Haberkorn, 11/15)

CBS News: Obamacare: 5 Things To Know About The Law's Future
Although Americans are signing up for health insurance on the Obamacare exchanges for the second year, there is some uncertainty in the law's future, with legal and legislative challenges ahead. Here are five things to know about the law's future in the current political climate. (Kaplan, 11/17)

The Wall Street Journal: Obama Dismisses Consultant’s Remarks On Health Law
President Barack Obama and the secretary of Health and Human Services disputed the comments of a consultant on the president’s health-care law who said it passed in part because of the “stupidity” of the American people. Jonathan Gruber, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was a paid consultant to HHS on the health law, sparked a furor with remarks that a lack of transparency and the stupidity of American voters was a political advantage in passing the bill. (Zumbrun and Patterson, 11/16)

The Washington Post: Obama Dismisses Renewed Criticism Of Health-Care Law In Wake Of Gruber Video
President Obama dismissed renewed criticism of his signature health-care law Sunday and disputed an assertion from a former adviser involved in its creation who said the administration had deceived lawmakers. ... “We had a year-long debate,” Obama told reporters Sunday. “Go look back at your stories. One thing we can’t say is that we didn’t have a lengthy debate over health care in the United States. Every press outlet here should go back and pull up every clip and every story. It’s fair to say there is not a provision in the health-care law that was not extensively debated and was not fully transparent.” (Nakamura, 11/16)

Politico: Obama: We Didn’t Mislead On Health Care
President Barack Obama denied Sunday that his signature health care reform law was deceptively marketed, rejecting statements by a consultant on the plan who said aspects of Obamacare were designed to take advantage of the “stupidity” of voters. “The fact that an adviser who was never on our staff expressed an opinion that I completely disagree with in terms of the voters is not a reflection on the actual process that was run,” Obama declared at a press conference here, speaking for the first time about the comments by MIT economist Jonathan Gruber. (Gerstein, 11/16)

Reuters: Obama Defends Health Care Law After Adviser Criticism
U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday defended the transparency of his signature healthcare law, after one of the White House's advisers on the reform said the law passed, in part, because of the "stupidity" of American voters. Obama said the law, which extends private health coverage to uninsured Americans, was extensively analysed and written about before its passage in 2010, and in subsequent debates. "The fact that some adviser who never worked on our staff expressed an opinion that I completely disagree with ... is no reflection on the actual process that was run," Obama said during a press conference at the Group of 20 leaders meeting in Brisbane, Australia. (11/16)

NBC News: Health Secretary Burwell: 'I'm Focused on Transparency'
The Secretary for Health and Human Services said Sunday morning that she does not agree with controversial comments recently made by one of the architects of health care reform. In an exclusive interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Sylvia Mathews Burwell responded to the videos that surfaced this week of MIT economics professor Jonathan Gruber in which he criticized American voters and their knowledge of the system. (Brewster and Armbruster, 11/16)

The Washington Post: What Exactly Was Gruber’s Role In The Creation Of The Health Law?
What was Jonathan Gruber’s role in putting together the Affordable Care Act? ... While it is probably overstating things to describe Gruber as an “architect” of the law, as so many recent reports have, he was also no ordinary adviser — as evidenced by the fact that he was paid nearly $400,000 by the administration for his work. And his advice was important at critical moments when the bill’s survival was in jeopardy. (Tumulty, 11/16)

The Associated Press: Obamacare 'Stupidity'? New Energy Push For Repeal
Newly surfaced videos are adding fresh energy to the efforts of congressional conservatives to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law, feeding into their contentions that the overhaul was approved through a scheme of deception. Some are calling anew for hearings on the law, which is about to begin its second year of coverage for millions of Americans. And activists are telling lawmakers to make good on their talk of scrapping the law or face defeat in the next elections. The videos show MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, an adviser in the law's drafting, saying that "the stupidity of the American voter" helped Democrats pass the complex legislation. (Elliot, 11/15)

The New York Times: Affordable Care Act Supporter Ignites Fury With A Word: ‘Stupid’
Gruber, a health care expert who helped develop Mitt Romney’s health care plan in Massachusetts and later was a consultant for Mr. Obama’s Affordable Care Act, was no stranger to the pundit circuit, and repeatedly called attention to the similarities between the two plans — a politically helpful fact for the Obama 2012 campaign. They’re the same bill,” Mr. Gruber declared once, adding an expletive before the word “bill.” But now, Mr. Gruber’s bluntness is clearly less appreciated by those in the West Wing. (Shear, 11/14)

The Associated Press: Challenge To Obamacare On Contraceptives Rejected
A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a path devised by the Obama administration that allows religious nonprofit groups to avoid paying for contraception under the president's health care law. In a 3-0 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected a challenge by the groups, which claimed that the accommodation still imposes a substantial burden on their expression of religion. (Yost, 11/14)

The Hill: Obamacare Mandate Challenge Rejected
Religious nonprofit groups were dealt a blow Friday when a federal appeals court upheld the Obama administration's plan to allow an exemption for providing contraception coverage, according to the Associated Press. The District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 against the groups - that charged the new path set by the administration would harm their ability to express religion. (Hooper, 11/15)

Other news outlets looked at a case likely to play a key role in the Supreme Court's deliberations on a challenge to the health law's subsidies in states that do not have their own exchanges, and how states could respond if the court rules in favor of the challenger --

Modern Healthcare: Reform Law Challenge May Hinge On Supreme Court's Interpretation Doctrine
How the U.S. Supreme Court rules in a major challenge to the healthcare reform law could come down to one word: Chevron. Experts agree that the justices will have to consider the high court's oft-cited precedent in the 1984 case Chevron USA v. Natural Resources Defense Council in deciding whether to rule in favor of the government or the challengers in King v. Burwell. ... The Supreme Court in its landmark decision in Chevron held that federal agencies must follow the letter of the law where the law is clear. But if courts using the Chevron analysis conclude that a law is ambiguous, then they must defer to an agency's reasonable interpretation of the law. Many experts say that if the justices apply Chevron, it would mean a win for the government. (Schencker, 11/14)

The Fiscal Times: One Way States Could Avoid An Obamacare Disaster
When the Supreme Court announced it would take up the King v. Burwell case, health experts, lawmakers and pundits immediately began sounding the alarms warning that an unfavorable ruling for the Obama administration would have grave implications for the entire health care law. ... Legal experts say that there is at least one workaround option states could use in order for their residents to continue to be eligible to receive federal subsidies ... . (Ehley, 11/14)

The Hill: Obama Touts 'Improved' Healthcare.gov
President Obama urged Americans to sign up for ObamaCare on Saturday - the first day of open enrollment since last year. ... He encouraged individuals to sign up early in the three months open enrollment period or, for those who "already buy insurance through the online marketplace," to shop around for less expensive alternatives. (Hooper, 11/15)

Politico Pro: Obama Pushes ACA Enrollment
President Barack Obama kicked off the Affordable Care Act’s second sign-up season by touting the HealthCare.gov changes that he said should make it even easier for people to get coverage. (Villacorta, 11/15)

CBS News: Obama: 'Spread The Word' On Obamacare Enrollment
Obamacare's 2015 open enrollment period began on Saturday, and President Obama urged Americans to visit HealthCare.gov to check their insurance options and "spread the word" by urging their friends and neighbors to do the same. (Miller, 11/15)

Bloomberg: Doctor Dies In Nebraska After Ebola Infection In Sierra Leone
A physician infected with the Ebola virus died today at the Nebraska Medical Center after being evacuated from Sierra Leone. Martin Salia was on dialysis, a ventilator and multiple medications after suffering from kidney and respiratory failure, the hospital said today in a statement. He also got a dose of plasma from an Ebola survivor and Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc.’s ZMapp drug. (Harrison, 11/17)

The Washington Post: A Doctor's Mistaken Ebola Test: 'We Were Celebrating ... Then Everything Fell Apart'
When Martin Salia’s Ebola test came back negative, his friends and colleagues threw their arms around him. They shook his hand. They patted him on the back. They removed their protective gear and cried. But when his symptoms remained nearly a week later, Salia took another test, on Nov. 10. This one came back positive, sending the Sierra Leonean doctor with ties to Maryland on a desperate, belated quest for treatment and forcing the colleagues who had embraced him into quarantine. (Sieff, 11/16)

The Washington Post: In Ebola Fight, Private Foundations Provide Critical Financial Aid
The U.S. emergency response team working on Ebola in Kemena, Sierra Leone, was stuck. The vehicle they had been using to transport patients, deliver oral rehydration packets and do other critical work had two flat tires. It was early October, a time when things seemed to be spiraling out of control in the epicenter of the crisis, and there wasn’t a moment to waste. The stranded Centers for Disease Control and Prevention workers knew just where to call for help: a little-known nonprofit — the CDC Foundation — that received millions of dollars in donations in recent months from Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen, and other philanthropists. (Cha, 11/16)

The Washington Post: Federal Drug Agents Launch Surprise Inspections Of NFL Teams Following Games
Federal drug agents conducted surprise inspections of National Football League team medical staffs on Sunday as part of an ongoing investigation into prescription drug abuse in the league. The inspections, which entailed bag searches and questioning of team doctors by Drug Enforcement Administration agents, were based on the suspicion that NFL teams dispense drugs illegally to keep players on the field in violation of the Controlled Substances Act, according to a senior law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. (Jenkins and Maese, 11/16)

The New York Times: Federal Investigation Into Painkillers Targets N.F.L. Teams’ Medical Staffs
Federal drug enforcement agents questioned medical-staff members from the San Francisco 49ers and several other teams on Sunday as part of a continuing investigation into the distribution of painkillers in the N.F.L. The unannounced visits by the Drug Enforcement Administration were spurred, in part, by reports of widespread abuse of painkillers that were included in a class-action lawsuit against the N.F.L. (Belson, 11/16)

Los Angeles Times: DEA Agents Conduct Checks On NFL Teams' Medical Staffs
Federal drug agents surprised at least two NFL teams, including the San Francisco 49ers, on Sunday by showing up to check on their doctors while a growing class-action lawsuit by former players alleges that the league illegally handed out painkillers and other prescription pills. The Drug Enforcement Administration checked the 49ers' medical staff at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., after the team played the New York Giants, the team confirmed. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers said their staff was checked at Baltimore-Washington International airport after a game against the Redskins. News outlets have also reported that agents visited the Seattle Seahawks as well. (Raab and Farmer, 11/16)

The Washington Post: VA Secretary: ‘We’ve Got To Design This Organization So It Doesn’t Depend On My Cellphone’
[T]he Federal Eye asked for [Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald's] personal cellphone number, and he gave it out. In front of a roomful of reporters. On live television. And we published it. Since then, he has received about 900 phone calls or text messages, and “we probably have solved about 25 to 30 percent of the issues,” he said. Some had trouble with their benefits, others with wait times. ... “But the point is, we’ve got to design this organization so it doesn’t depend on my cellphone.” (Wax-Thibodeaux, 11/14)

Arizona Republic: VA Didn't Track Vacant Medical Jobs Until This Year
The Department of Veterans Affairs' record-keeping processes were in such disarray in recent years that the agency didn't track its number of unfilled medical positions until June of this year, according to VA officials. (Giblin, 11/16)

News outlets also report on the veterans' disability system and a push to get the VA to recognize medical marijuana -

Los Angeles Times: Disability System For Veterans Strays Far From Its Official Purpose
[T]he real culprit was the broad eligibility criteria of the [veterans] disability system itself. The contractor had played by the rules for benefits and, as many Washington lawmakers know, those benefits cover ailments from sports injuries to bullet wounds, resulting in disability payouts that totaled $58 billion this fiscal year — up from $49 billion last year. Routinely criticized in government reviews as out of touch with modern concepts of disability, the system has strayed far from its official purpose of compensating veterans for their lost earning capacity. Yet lawmakers are unwilling to support reforms — or even to criticize the system publicly. (Zarembo, 11/16)

The Washington Post: More Veterans Press VA To Recognize Medical Marijuana As Treatment Option
At a time when the legalized use of marijuana is gaining greater acceptance across the country, [Amy] Rising is among a growing number of veterans who are coming out of the “cannabis closet” and pressing the government to recognize pot as a legitimate treatment for the wounds of war. They say it is effective for addressing various physical and psychological conditions related to military service — from chronic back pain and neuropathic issues to panic attacks and insomnia — and often preferable to widely prescribed opioid painkillers and other drugs. (Wax-Thibodeaux, 11/15)

PBS NewsHour: Massachusetts Town Mulls Nation’s First Total Tobacco Ban
The town of Westminster, Mass., could become the first in the nation to ban the sale of tobacco products if a proposal from the city's board of health passes in December. The unprecedented pitch would ban the sale cigarettes, chewing tobacco and e-cigarettes within the city. Proponents cite the benefit of the reduced health risks from tobacco, whereas some residents and local businesses say jobs and consumer freedom is at stake. (Brangham, 11/16)

The Toledo Blade: Federal Changes Could Impact Ohio Autism Program
Vicki Obee keeps a bright yellow folder on her desk. Scrawled on front in black marker: "Don't give up the farm." It's a mantra Obee, executive director of Bittersweet Farms, has adopted as she waits to learn how a federal rule issued earlier this year will affect the services Bittersweet provides for people with autism. In January, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued changes to its Home and Community-Based Services program, which provides waivers to Medicaid-eligible people with disabilities to live at home or in the community rather than in facilities the government deems institutional. The goal is to keep people out of settings with isolating qualities that keep them away from the broader community. (Lindstrom, 11/15)

The New York Times: In Death, Girl, 2, Is Caught In Fight Over Organs
Thaiya Spruill-Smith, who loved broccoli, Minnie Mouse and the movie “Space Jam,” was declared dead Friday evening at Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center. When her death certificate is issued, it will say she died on Friday, two days after officials say her stepfather shook her violently. But Thaiya’s actual death has been postponed, held up by a tug of war between her mother and her father. Her father, Terrell Smith, said cutting up his daughter would be desecration. Her mother, Teoka Spruill, wants her daughter’s organs to help others. (Barker and Schweber, 11/16)

Reuters: Discrimination May Affect Health Of Older Chinese-Americans
One in five older Chinese Americans in Chicago has experienced discrimination, and this source of added stress could have negative health effects, according to a new study. Combined with a cultural preference for tolerance, instead of fighting back, “Discrimination may operate as a stressor that decreases older adults’ self-esteem and increases the risk of psychological distress, social isolation, thus leading to poorer health status,” said Dr. Xinqui Dong, who led the study. (Kennedy, 11/14)

The Associated Press: Wisconsin Woman Charged With Medicaid Fraud
Prosecutors have charged a Kenosha woman with bilking Medicaid out of more than $1.5 million. Online court records show the state Justice Department charged 42-year-old Carleen Larson with multiple counts of felony fraud as well as forgery and racketeering on Thursday. The agency said in a statement that Larson was the owner of The Caring Heart, a home health care agency that was a certified Medicaid provider. Investigators learned that between July 2005 and July 2014 The Caring Heart billed Medicaid for 94,987 hours of services that weren't provided, collecting $1,522,307 in fraudulent payments. (11/15)

The Wall Street Journal: ObamaCare Security: Still On Life Support
According to the Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general, between $800 million and $1.7 billion has been or will be spent to develop HealthCare.gov. Even if the website turns out to be more functional than it was last year, one significant problem remains: The ObamaCare website is still not fully secure. Independent agencies such as the Government Accountability Office and the HHS inspector general have warned of continued security problems. This is concerning for Americans, as HealthCare.gov houses vast amounts of sensitive personal enrollment information—from full, legal names, to Social Security numbers, dates of birth and even income information. (Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., 11/14)

The Wall Street Journal: Challenges To Forecasting Obamacare Enrollment For 2015
Ahead of the Affordable Care Act open-enrollment period beginning Saturday, the Obama administration announced its projections for enrollment in the ACA marketplaces. By its forecasts, 9.1 million to 9.9 million people would enroll, fewer than the 13 million projected by the Congressional Budget Office in its budget forecast. There are 7.1 million people enrolled now. The questions that arose this week: Is one number right or wrong? Was the administration lowering expectations? The best answer here, simply put, is that there is no right number, that one estimate is as good as the other, and that enrollment is very hard to predict. (Drew Altman, 11/15)

Bloomberg: Next Obamacare Fight Has Peril For Both Sides
But there will be changes to the health-care law in the Republican-controlled Congress. The nature and scope of those adjustments will have important implications for health care and politics. ... There is danger for Obama in how all this plays out. Some changes could severely undermine the president's signature domestic-policy achievement. That would also carry risk for Republicans, however. The public tends to express a negative view of the Affordable Care Act, but individual provisions of the law are gaining support. In a decidedly Republican midterm electorate this month, voters nationally and in battleground states were divided between those who said Obamacare went too far and those who said it was just right or didn't go far enough. (Albert R. Hunt, 11/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Another ObamaCare Deception
The all-too-candid MIT economist is not likely to have a hard time paying for his own health care—Mr. Gruber reportedly received $400,000 for advising the Obama administration on the Affordable Care Act. But he is having a hard time explaining his unguarded comments about the law. His views may be obnoxious, but Mr. Gruber has performed a public service by finally telling the truth about ObamaCare and providing a glimpse of the mind-set of those who foisted it on the country. The American people are smart enough to see Mr. Gruber and the Affordable Care Act for what they are. (Tevi Troy, 11/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Jonathan Gruber’s ‘Stupid’ Budget Tricks
As a rule, Americans don’t like to be called “stupid,” as Jonathan Gruber is discovering. Whatever his academic contempt for voters, the ObamaCare architect and Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his candor about the corruption of the federal budget process. (11/14)

Bloomberg: Liberal Arrogance At The Core Of Obamacare
Gruber's comments, made over the last several years, reveal a disdain for the American voter (whom he described as stupid) and for people's ability to understand the policy discussions that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist and his fellow liberal wonks engaged in when they crafted the Affordable Care Act. But none of us should be surprised by his perspective. Liberal thinkers and policy-makers have never believed that individuals can manage their own health care. This is why they’ve said government should be involved in even our most basic health-care decisions, such as what benefits an insurance plan must include. (Lanhee Chen, 11/14)

The New York Times: The Fate Of Medicaid Expansion
Hopes for expanding Medicaid — an important goal of the Affordable Care Act — suffered a blow in the midterm elections. Several Republican governors who oppose expansion held on to their offices in close races and Republicans tightened their grip on state legislatures, which often have the final say on whether to expand. While some states might still improve their versions of Medicaid, the joint state-federal program for insuring the poor, the odds have grown longer. (11/14)

Los Angeles Times: Health Shouldn't Be Based On Where You Live
By expanding insurance access, the ACA has the potential to be a great equalizer, to make the U.S. a country in which where you live doesn't determine your healthiness. But we're not there yet, as I am reminded when I think about my sister in Virginia. A months-long political battle there fizzled out in September with no real progress on Medicaid expansion. So in a few weeks, I'll make sure my sister gets enrolled in a plan through healthcare.gov. But even if she qualifies for premium subsidies, it will be beyond her financial reach, which is why expanding Medicaid is such an important component of the Affordable Care Act. (Judy Belk, 11/15)

The New York Times Upshot blog: AIDS Group Wages Lonely Fight Against Pill To Prevent H.I.V.
News articles often describe Truvada, the daily medication that has been shown to greatly reduce the risk of contracting H.I.V., as controversial. But they tend to cite one specific Truvada opponent: Michael Weinstein, the outspoken president of the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation. ... Mr. Weinstein shows up in lots of news articles about Truvada in part because he runs a large H.I.V.-care organization, and in part because he gives colorful quotes. But he also shows up because he and the foundation stand more or less alone within the world of H.I.V.-prevention groups in their skepticism about PrEP. (Josh Barro, 11/16)

The New York Times Upshot blog: How The G.O.P. Can Court The Working Class
A defining feature of Republican economic policy for decades has been its benefits for the well off. The stated goals of that policy have been to shrink government and lift economic growth, but the main method has been cutting taxes much more for high-income families than others. At the same time, the party has opposed an expansion of health insurance for low- and middle-income families, increases in the minimum wage and college financial aid and extensions of jobless benefits. ... One of the most intriguing questions heading into the 2016 presidential campaign is how serious Republicans are about trying to change this situation. (David Leonhardt, 11/15)