The New York Times: Senate Takes Major Step Toward Repealing Health Care Law
Senate Republicans took their first major step toward repealing the Affordable Care Act on Thursday, approving a budget blueprint that would allow them to gut the health care law without the threat of a Democratic filibuster. The vote was 51 to 48. During the roll call, Democrats staged a highly unusual protest on the Senate floor to express their dismay and anger at the prospect that millions of Americans could lose health insurance coverage. (Kaplan and Pear, 1/12)

The Hill: Senate Takes First Step Toward Repealing ObamaCare 
Republicans needed a simple majority of votes to clear the repeal rules, instructing committees to begin drafting repeal legislation, through the upper chamber, with the vote falling largely along party lines. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) voted against the budget resolution because it didn’t balance, while no Democrat supported the repeal rules. (Carney, 1/12)

The Associated Press: Republican-Led Senate Takes First Step To Repeal 'Obamacare'
The House is slated to vote on the measure on Friday, though some Republicans there have misgivings about setting the repeal effort in motion without a better idea of the replacement plan. Trump oozed confidence at a news conference on Tuesday, promising his incoming administration would soon reveal a plan to both repeal so-called Obamacare and replace it with legislation to "get health care taken care of in this country." (Taylor, 1/12)

Bloomberg: Obamacare Repeal Effort Clears First Big Hurdle In U.S. Senate 
The budget resolution, S. Con. Res. 3, sets a Jan. 27 target for writing the first Obamacare replacement bill. A group of five Republicans proposed changing that target to March 3, but they withdrew the amendment late Wednesday after GOP leaders reassured them that there was no practical difference because missing the deadline doesn’t carry a penalty. (Dennis, 1/11)

The Wall Street Journal: Senate Takes First Step Toward Repeal Of Affordable Care Act
“The Senate just took an important step toward repealing and replacing Obamacare by passing the resolution that provides the legislative tools necessary to actually repeal this failed law while we move ahead with smarter health-care policies,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Kentucky) said in a statement after the resolution passed. (Peterson and Andrews, 1/12)

USA Today: Senate Approves First Step To Repealing Obamacare
Democrats said repealing the law will strip millions of Americans of insurance, leave people with pre-existing medical conditions unable to find coverage, and increase the nation's budget deficit by $353 billion over the next 10 years as the tax and fee provisions that pay for Obamacare are gutted. "Ripping apart our health care system — with no plan to replace it — will create chaos," said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the senior Democrat on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. "If Republicans repeal the Affordable Care Act, it’s women, kids, seniors, patients with serious illnesses, and people with disabilities who will bear the burden." (Kelly, 1/11)

The Washington Post: Obamacare Is One Step Closer To Repeal After Senate Advances Budget Resolution
Senate Democrats made a late-night show of resistance against gutting the Affordable Care Act by forcing Republicans to take politically charged votes against protecting Medicare, Medicaid and other health-care programs. The measure narrowly passed without the support of any Democrats. The hours-long act of protest culminated in the early hours of Thursday when Democrats made a dramatic display of rising to speak out against the repeal measure as they cast their votes. The Democrats continued to record their opposition over their objections of Senate Republicans. (Snell and DeBonis, 1/12)

Politico: Senate OKs Budget, Moves Toward Demise Of Obamacare
Democrats sought to drive a wedge between Senate Republicans and President-elect Donald Trump by pushing multiple amendments to curb the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs. ... Democrats also forced Republicans to balk at supporting popular provisions in the health law. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) offered an amendment to prevent discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions; Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) tried to block “legislation that makes women sick again” by stripping women’s health care services provided under Obamacare. Both proposals went down to defeat, 49-49. (Weyl, 1/12)

CQ Roll Call: Senate Adopts Budget Opening Door For Repeal Of Health Care Law
Before adoption of the budget blueprint, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the ranking member on the Budget Committee, took a final shot at the budget resolution and Republican efforts to repeal the health care law without a clear replacement. “If they do that, up to 30 million Americans will lose their health care, with many thousands dying as a result. Because you have no health care and you can’t go to a doctor or a hospital, you die," Sanders said. "They have no alternative proposition. They want to kill [the Affordable Care Act], but they have no idea how they’re going to bring forth a substitute proposal.” (Shutt and McCrimmon, 1/11)

The Hill: Trump Says His Team Will Put Forward ObamaCare Plan 
President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that his administration will put forward a plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare "essentially simultaneously." "We're going to be submitting, as soon as our secretary is approved, almost simultaneously, shortly thereafter, a plan," Trump said, referring to his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.). "It will be repeal and replace." (Sullivan, 1/11)

Bloomberg: Trump Backs ‘Simultaneous’ Obamacare Repeal And Replacement
Trump didn’t provide details of his plans for the Affordable Care Act, but indicated that his administration will present replacement proposals after his pick for Health and Human Services secretary is confirmed, a process that could take weeks. (Tracer and Edney, 1/11)

Politico: Trump’s Obamacare Impatience Challenges GOP
Donald Trump on Wednesday called for a quick and nearly simultaneous repeal and replacement of Obamacare — a task that's technically almost impossible. Republicans can repeal much of the law on a party line vote under fast-track budget rules. But replacement require at least a handful of Senate Democrats to help dismantle President Barack Obama's historic achievement that's covering 20 million Americans. And the Republicans have to agree among themselves on a specific detailed bill, an agreement that has so far been elusive. (Haberkorn and Demko, 1/11)

CQ Rollcall: GOP Lawmakers Weigh Trump's Obamacare Timeline
Several prominent House conservatives are using President-elect Donald Trump’s calls to “simultaneously” repeal and replace the 2010 health law to bolster their campaign for a more immediate consensus on the GOP’s replacement plan. “I believe that President-elect Trump’s timeline is a tighter timeline than our leadership was speaking about a month ago. We’re going to take our lead off of President Trump,” Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., who serves as the Trump transition team’s congressional liaison, told reporters. “A tighter timeline and sense of urgency by the president will be listened to by our conference and leadership.” (Williams and Mershon, 1/11)

Cincinnati Enquirer: Trump And Obamacare: A Look At The Future
President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. But complications swirl around such a task, and any actions taken would likely take years to go into effect. Here’s a quick look at the future of Obamacare. (Saker, 1/11)

The Washington Post: Kicking Off Obamacare Fight, GOP Group Funds Million-Dollar Ad Blitz
The push to repeal and replace President Obama’s health-care law is coming to televisions nationwide starting Thursday night because of a push by a nonprofit group with close ties to House Republican leaders. The American Action Network, a 501(c)(4) group affiliated with the Congressional Leadership Fund super PAC and run by key GOP establishment figures, is spending more than $1 million on ads promoting House leaders’ plans on health care. (DeBonis, 1/11)

Los Angeles Times: Musicians Rally To Defend The Affordable Care Act
The life of a musician can be economically precarious, and the club-gig circuit rarely comes with health insurance. Under the Affordable Care Act, many artists have been able to find and afford coverage for the first time. Now that the law is threatened by the incoming Trump administration, some musicians are speaking out about what that coverage has meant to their lives and livelihoods. (Brown, 1/11)

Reuters: U.S. Business Lobby Wants Smooth Obamacare Repeal, Warns On Trade
The largest U.S. business lobby group on Wednesday said it could be a mistake to quickly repeal Obamacare without developing a replacement healthcare insurance plan and urged the incoming Trump administration not to erect trade barriers. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce faces challenges with the next U.S. president and his team, including overcoming deep divisions on key issues like trade while trying to work together on common goals like repealing President Barack Obama's signature 2010 healthcare law. (Gibson, 1/11)

Columbus Dispatch: Report: Repeal Of Health-Care Law Will Affect Those Treating Drug Addiction, Mental Illness
More than 220,000 people in Ohio may be unable to afford care for mental illness or drug addiction if congressional Republicans scrap the 2010 health-care law without passing a substitute measure, a new report says. A study released Wednesday by Harvard Medical School and New York University predicts that not only would nearly 1 million people in Ohio lose health coverage through Medicaid or federally subsidized private insurance policies, but thousands would have to find other ways to pay for substance-abuse treatment at a time when deaths in Ohio because of prescription-drug and heroin abuse are at record highs. (Torry and Ludlow, 1/11)

The Associated Press: NY Bill Would Keep Birth Control Free If 'Obamacare' Revoked
New Yorkers could get free birth control even if President-elect Donald Trump repeals "Obamacare," under legislation proposed by the state attorney general. The bill proposed Wednesday by Democratic Attorney General Eric Schneiderman would guarantee co-pay free coverage, access to a year's worth of contraception at one time, and free vasectomies. (1/11)

San Francisco Chronicle: Women Rush To Get IUDS, Fearing Affordable Care Act Repeal 
President-elect Donald Trump and the congressional Republicans have claimed that they are going to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with “something terrific.” There are no details so far on what that replacement might entail, but if it doesn’t include access to contraception, then my patients will suffer. And my office isn’t the only one seeing an uptick in requests for IUDs: Planned Parenthood reported Tuesday that demand for that service at its offices has increased 900 percent. Google Trends showed an enormous surge in searches on “IUD” two days after the November election. (Cronbach, 1/11)

Kaiser Health News: Health Law Sleepers: Six Surprising Health Items That Could Disappear With ACA Repeal
The Affordable Care Act of course affected premiums and insurance purchasing. It guaranteed people with pre-existing conditions could buy health coverage and allowed children to stay on parents’ plans until age 26. But the roughly 2,000-page bill also included a host of other provisions that affect the health-related choices of nearly every American. Some of these measures are evident every day. Some enjoy broad support, even though people often don’t always realize they spring from the statute. (Appleby and Carey, 1/12)

California Healthline: Roughly 10,000 Covered California Enrollees Lose Premium Subsidies, At Least For Now
Nearly 10,000 Covered California policy holders have lost their federal tax credits — at least temporarily — due to a bookkeeping error by the state health insurance exchange. But Covered California is still trying to contact these individuals and families to fix the problem, and the agency promises to reinstate their tax credits retroactively if they give it permission to verify their income, said Covered California spokeswoman Lizelda Lopez. (Bazar, 1/12)

Pioneer Press: How To Give Health Insurance Relief? Lawmakers Must Weigh Speed Vs. Control
Finding $300 million to help Minnesotans struggling with health insurance premiums was the easy part. The part that’s been tying Minnesota leaders in knots this month is how to get the money to the people who need it. Lawmakers want to spend the money quickly, accurately and fairly — and may have to choose which of those priorities they care about most. The basic concept is simple: give a state-funded discount of around 25 percent on 2017 premiums to the roughly 120,000 Minnesotans in the individual market who are facing soaring health insurance premiums without federal subsidies to offset them. (Montgomery, 1/11)

The New York Times: Head Of Veterans Health System Is Trump’s Pick To Lead Veterans Affairs
In a move that left many veterans groups breathing a sigh of relief, President-elect Donald J. Trump on Wednesday selected the current head of the nation’s sprawling veterans health care system, Dr. David J. Shulkin, an appointee of President Obama’s, to become secretary of veterans affairs. If confirmed, he will be the first secretary to lead the department who is not a veteran. (Philipps, 1/11)

The Associated Press: Trump Picks Veterans Affairs Insider To Lead Troubled Agency
David Shulkin's nomination signals a more modest approach to change at the VA after Trump repeatedly pledged an overhaul. During the presidential campaign, Trump described the VA as "the most corrupt agency" and "probably the most incompetently run agency. "If confirmed, Shulkin would have the rare distinction of being an ex-Obama administration official serving in the Trump administration. (1/11)

The Wall Street Journal: David Shulkin Chosen For Secretary Of Veterans Affairs
Since 2015, Dr. Shulkin has been undersecretary for health at the VA, in charge of the department’s health-care system, an appointment by President Barack Obama that required Senate confirmation. Advocates and those familiar with the department said such continuity is important for a department that has been roiled by scandal that began in 2014, when employee malfeasance and long wait times led to poor treatment and contributed to the deaths of some veterans. (Kesling, 1/11)

USA Today: Trump Picks David Shulkin For Secretary Of Veterans Affairs
During his tenure, Shulkin told USA TODAY recently that he had cut the number of veterans waiting for urgent care from 57,000 to 600. At the same time, he spearheaded an effort to provide same-day care at all 167 VA medical centers across the country by the end of last year. It’s unclear whether he reached that goal. (Slack, 1/11)

The Washington Post: David Shulkin Tapped As Trump’s VA Secretary
The decision ends a protracted search for a head of the second-largest federal agency and would make Shulkin the first VA secretary who had not served in the military. Trump said he and his transition team had interviewed “at least 100 people” in their search for an executive to carry out multiple promises he has made to improve the care of veterans. In the end, they looked inside. (Rein, 1/11)

Modern Healthcare: Trump Nominates Insider Shulkin As Head Of VA, Says ACA Repeal Will Concur With Replacement
President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday named Dr. David Shulkin, current undersecretary for health at the Veterans Affairs Department, as his nominee to run the VA. In a wide-ranging press conference, his first since July, Trump also railed against pharmaceutical companies, saying they were “getting away with murder.” Those comments sent pharmaceutical and biotech stocks plummeting. (Muchmore, 1/11)

Stat: Trump Picks A Longtime Hospital Administrator To Head VA
Longtime hospital administrator Dr. David Shulkin, the current undersecretary of health for the Department of Veterans Affairs, has been tapped for secretary of the department, President-elect Donald Trump announced on Wednesday. Shulkin has a background in executive hospital leadership, at many hospitals across the country. He received his medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1986. He has said his top priorities at the VA were increasing access to care and reducing wait times for veterans. (Swetlitz and Thielking, 1/11)

Bloomberg: Trump Picks Shulkin To Head Maligned Veterans Affairs Agency 
President-elect Donald Trump announced that he will nominate David Shulkin to be secretary of Veterans Affairs, heading an agency that has been beset by complaints of delayed medical care for military veterans. Shulkin, currently the undersecretary for health at the agency, “will do a truly great job,” Trump said Wednesday in a press conference where he announced the appointment. He said his administration will “straighten out the VA for our veterans.” (Cortez, 1/11)

WBUR: Trump Announces David Shulkin As Pick For Secretary Of Veterans Affairs
President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he plans to nominate David Shulkin to be his secretary of veterans affairs, a position that requires Senate confirmation. Shulkin is currently the undersecretary for health at the VA, which means he runs the Veterans Health Administration. He was nominated for that position by President Obama in March 2015 and confirmed by the Senate that June. Shulkin's official bio says he is a physician — a board-certified internist — and was the chief executive or chief medical officer of several hospitals and hospital systems. (Domonoske, 1/11)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: President-Elect Donald Trump Says Cleveland Clinic Will Assist With VA Reform 
The Cleveland Clinic and its CEO, Toby Cosgrove, will play a key role in reforming troubled Veterans Administration heath care, President-elect Donald Trump told reporters during his press conference on Wednesday. Trump used his first press conference as president-elect to announce he'll nominate current VA Under Secretary of Health David Shulkin to head the institution, and said he'll have assistance from "some of the great hospitals of the world," including the Cleveland Clinic and the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. (Eaton, 1/11)

In other veterans' health care news —

Seattle Times: ‘Angry Piece Of Flesh’: Amputee’s Right Leg Plays Key Part In VA Malpractice Suit
The leg was swaddled in plastic and kept in a freezer when the lawyers came for it.Amputated below the right knee, it had been frozen, thawed and frozen again since its donation more than a year earlier. It had variously been left out in a grass field, hidden in bushes and tucked under a log...Since its recovery in July 2016 from a local nonprofit that used it to train rescue dogs, [Timothy] Kuncl’s amputated limb has become a key piece of evidence in a federal legal dispute. Its very existence may help Kuncl prove his case that negligent medical treatment at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Puget Sound Health Care System ultimately caused him to lose his leg, according to court records filed last week. (Kamb, 1/11)

Roll Call: HHS Nominee Might Not Be Confirmed Until Mid-February, Says Senator
President-elect Donald Trump said at a news conference Wednesday in New York City that a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act would come once Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Rep. Tom Price of Georgia wins confirmation. But the chairman of a key committee involved in both the repeal-replace process and in confirming Price said his confirmation may not take place until around the President’s Day recess in February. (Lesniewski, 1/11)

In other news about the incoming administration —

Stat: Trump Meets With Two Contenders To Lead NIH
The president-elect met at Trump Tower with Dr. Francis Collins, the current NIH director, and Congressman Andy Harris of Maryland, who has expressed an interest in serving in the administration. Collins, who has led the agency for eight years under President Barack Obama, previously told STAT he would be willing to stay on as director if asked by Trump. Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker who has advised Trump over the last year, also told STAT that Collins was under serious consideration. (Scott, 1/11)

The Atlantic: Trump Meets With Vaccine Skeptic, Discusses 'Committee On Vaccine Safety'
On Tuesday, Donald Trump met with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer and activist, who also happens to be an outspoken vaccine conspiracy theorist. After the meeting, Kennedy told reporters it went “very well,” and said that Trump “asked me to chair a commission on vaccine safety and scientific integrity.” He also said that Trump called him to ask for the meeting. (Beck, 1/10)

Los Angeles Times: California Is Friendly Territory, But A National Defunding Push Worries Planned Parenthood
At a recent breakfast gathering, Sue Dunlap, the president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, detailed the potential effects of a GOP-led effort to strip the group’s affiliates across the country of federal funding. It was a gloomy scenario for Planned Parenthood supporters, but attendees, according to Dunlap, were able to find some solace: The national outlook may be bleak, but surely in the Democratic bastion of California, the organization would be fine. Dunlap corrected them: Not only was Planned Parenthood in California not immune, it may have more to lose than its nationwide counterparts. (Mason, 1/12)

The Washington Post: Cardinal Health Fined $44 Million For Opioid Reporting Violations
One of the nation’s largest drug distributors has agreed to pay $44 million in fines to resolve allegations that it failed to alert the Drug Enforcement Administration to suspicious orders of powerful narcotics by pharmacies in Florida, Maryland and New York. The agreement on monetary penalties comes more than four years after the DEA reached an administrative settlement with the mammoth drug wholesaler Cardinal Health over alleged misconduct at its Lakeland, Fla., drug distribution warehouse. (Bernstein and Higham, 1/11)

In other news on the opioid epidemic —

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Fatal Drug Overdoses In Philly Surged To 900 In 2016
Drug overdose deaths in Philadelphia surged to 900 last year — nearly a 30 percent increase in a single year — as the nation continued to grapple with an epidemic of opioid use and abuse. City health officials announced the numbers Wednesday as Mayor Kenney convened a 16-member task force of health and law officials. “Hopefully, 2017 is the year we get our arms around this problem,” Kenney said. “Failure is no longer an option.” There were 277 homicides tallied in Philadelphia last year. The number of drug overdoses was more than triple that number. (Wood, 1/11)

The Washington Post: She Shot Up Her Father With Heroin. Now He’s Dead And She’s In Prison.
Police said 27-year-old Lindsay Newkirk told them she had done it before — shot a small amount of heroin into her own arm, then shot some into her father's. That's precisely what she said she did on a Friday in February at a motel in Columbus, Ohio. She said she passed out and, when she woke up, her father was unresponsive, according to the Columbus Dispatch.Her father, 55-year-old Leonard Newkirk, was dead. (Bever, 1/11)

WTOP: Hooked On Heroin: Access To A 'Godsend' Anti-Overdose Drug Expands
When Ginny Lovitt found her brother had overdosed in 2013, there was nothing she could do "but call 911 and wait” while he died. Since then, she has made it her personal mission to teach anyone who will listen about a life-saving drug that can bring someone back from the brink of death. In the fourth story of her Hooked on Heroin series, WTOP's Jamie Forzato examines naloxone, the efforts to put it in more hands and the obstacles that remain. (1/12)

Stat: Can A Flu Shot Wear Off If You Get It Too Early? Perhaps
It can be jarring to see placards advertising “Flu Shots Today” in late July or early August in 80-degree weather. But those signs may be more than just an unwelcome reminder that summer’s days are numbered. Mounting scientific evidence is raising questions about whether vaccinating people that early may actually be undermining the effectiveness of the nation’s massive flu vaccination program. (Branswell, 1/12)

Columbus Dispatch: Feds, Cancer Centers Aim To Boost HPV Vaccinations 
Faced with getting her daughter the HPV vaccine, which helps protect against cervical and other cancers, Anaraquel Sanguinetti paused.The human papillomavirus is spread through sexual contact, and the Westerville mom didn’t want her now-18-year-old daughter to think she was promoting promiscuity. So Sanguinetti did some research. And she had a long talk with her daughter, and another with her doctor. (Viviano, 1/11)

Sacramento Bee: Forced To Watch Child Porn For Their Job, Microsoft Employees Developed PTSD, They Say 
As part of their job, moderators for social websites have to view some of the most disturbing videos and photos on the internet. Once the employees have determined that the images violate the company’s community standards and the law, they delete the accounts of the people who posted them and report the incidents to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, per federal law. Unsurprisingly, having to watch upsetting content like that every day takes a toll on moderators. But two Microsoft employees say their company, one of the largest in the world, failed to provide them with proper support as their mental health deteriorated and they began showing symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. (Hadley, 1/11)

Miami Herald: Zika Virus: UM Doctors Publish Study Of Miami Zika Pregnancy Case 
In the aftermath of Miami-Dade’s Zika outbreak, a team of physicians from the University of Miami Health System has published a case study detailing the country's first locally transmitted case of the mosquito-borne illness in a local pregnant woman. In the study that appears Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, the multi-disciplinary team describe a skin rash that appeared on the 23-year-old Miami-Dade woman’s chest, arms, legs, palms and soles. This rash, along with a fever that preceded it and joint pain that followed it, ultimately led the woman to seek medical help in July when she was 23 weeks pregnant. (Veciana-Suarez, 1/11)

Boston Globe: Preschoolers Could Have Less Stress If They Get Positive One-On-One Time With Teachers
Children who engaged with teachers in one-on-one play sessions designed to foster warm, caring relationships showed reduced stress levels during the day as compared to children who did not participate in the activity. The findings, published recently in the journal Prevention Science, show that even small, positive interactions can have a valuable impact on a child’s well-being. (Scudellari, 1/11)

Georgia Health News: Deal Speech Targets Health Services For The Vulnerable
Gov. Nathan Deal, in his annual State of the State address Wednesday, outlined several health care initiatives to boost mental health services, DFCS, Medicaid and autism coverage. Deal said his fiscal 2018 budget proposal includes, on average, a 19 percent pay raise for DFCS caseworkers to help ensure “a competitive salary,’’ so the state can recruit and retain the best people for the job. The Georgia agency, facing an increase in foster kids, continues to struggle with a high turnover rate among caseworkers who help these children, GHN reported recently. (Miller, 1/11)

Boston Globe: Mass. Health Providers Routinely Ordered Wasteful Medical Tests And Procedures, Report Finds
Massachusetts health care providers routinely order wasteful and unnecessary medical tests and procedures, driving up costs, according to a new report from the state Health Policy Commission. The findings released Wednesday offered new details about what’s called nonrecommended care. Most of the state’s large physician and hospital networks, especially Partners HealthCare, Lahey Health, and Steward Health Care System, regularly ordered unnecessary tests and procedures, the report said. (Dayal McCluskey, 1/11)

Richmond Times Dispatch: Senate Republicans Want To Shift Money From Proposed New Initiatives To State Police 
The General Assembly had not even convened when Senate Republicans sent a message to Gov. Terry McAuliffe to put money into state police salaries inside of hiring people for new public safety and mental health initiatives. Members of the Senate Finance subcommittee on public safety made clear on Wednesday morning that they were not interested in funding new positions the governor proposed for the Board of Corrections to oversee mental health in regional jails, or mental health screening at jails, or new law enforcement training, or part-time parole investigators, or more full-time workers at state liquor stores. (Martz, 1/11)

The Associated Press: Mental Health Workers Urge Governor To Spare Inmate’s Life
Dozens of mental health workers and child advocates are urging Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe to spare the life of a convicted killer scheduled to be executed next week. More than 50 people sent a letter to McAuliffe this week asking him to support Ricky Gray’s request to have his sentence commuted to life in prison. Gray’s execution is scheduled for Jan. 18. Gray’s attorneys say he was raped repeatedly by his brother as a child and began using drugs to deal with the effects of that abuse. Gray claims he doesn’t remember much about slaying a family because he was high. (1/11)

Boston Globe: Naturopaths Get Their Own Licensing Board 
Governor Charlie Baker on Wednesday signed into law a bill that creates a licensing board to regulate naturopaths, alternative medicine practitioners who have fought for two decades for the right to be licensed in the same way as medical professionals. The bill, pushed through on the Legislature’s final day, stirred controversy as opponents — primarily the Massachusetts Medical Society — said licensure would grant legitimacy to practices that are merely “a combination of nutritional advice, home remedies, and discredited treatments.” (Freyer, 1/11)

Chicago Sun Times: New U. Of C. Medicine Trauma Center Boss Aims To Tackle Violence
The new $39 million Level 1 adult trauma center, the first on the South Side in 25 years, is scheduled to open a year from now, then it will begin accepting adult trauma patients in spring 2018...The university launched a national search in June for a leader for the long-awaited E.R. in a violence-besieged area devoid of adult trauma care since Michael Reese Hospital closed in 1991. The ideal candidate, officials said then, would not only be a skilled physician administrator, but bring expertise on violence intervention. Chicago saw more than 780 people killed last year — its deadliest in over two decades. (Ihejirika, 1/12)

North Carolina Health News: Community Health Centers Partner With Docs, Managed Care In Reform Plan 
In a move designed to safeguard their survival, the state’s community health centers have agreed to a partnership with one of the nation’s largest for-profit managed care companies to provide and coordinate care to Medicaid patients under the state’s reform plan. A press release Tuesday from the North Carolina Medical Society, another plan partner, described how the joint venture will “establish, organize and operate a physician-led health plan to provide Medicaid managed services.” (Hoban, 1/11)

Sacramento Bee: Yolo County Reports First Flu Death; Officials Say It's Not Too Late For Flu Shot 
Yolo County reported its first flu-related death this season, prompting health officials to remind Californians there’s still time to get a flu shot. “It’s absolutely not too late,” said Dr. Stuart Cohen, chief of the infectious diseases division for the UC Davis Health System. Last week, he said, UC Davis lab technicians confirmed 32 new cases of flu, roughly double the number during the week between Christmas and New Year’s. (Buck, 1/11)

Chicago Tribune: Planned Mental Health Hospital 'Long Overdue' 
A new facility planned in New Lenox could help provide mental health services to area residents, as well as help alleviate pressure on Will County programs dealing with mental health and drug addiction issues. Silver Cross Hospital plans to partner with a national firm to build a $22 million behavioral health hospital to help address the need for such services in Will County. (Fabre, 1/11)

San Jose Mercury News: $500 Million Game-Changer: UCSF Given Historic Gift
UC San Francisco announced Wednesday that it has received a stunning $500 million donation — the single largest gift in University of California history and one of the most generous gifts ever given to an American university. The gift, which comes at a time of dwindling financial support from the state, was pledged by the family foundation of the late Helen Diller, a San Francisco native and longtime champion of UCSF whose husband, Sanford, founded the Prometheus Real Estate Group, a San Mateo-based commercial real estate firm. (Krieger, 1/11)

San Francisco Chronicle: ‘Transformative’ Donation To UCSF: $500 Million 
The Helen Diller Foundation is pledging $500 million to UCSF — the biggest gift in campus history and among the largest to any public university in the United States — to recruit faculty and students and fund “high-risk, high-reward” research. The gift, to be announced Thursday, comes on top of a series of hefty donations to the school over the past decade, including a previous $35 million contribution to support cancer research from Diller, a philanthropist who died in 2015 at her home in Woodside, and two $100 million gifts from Salesforce founder Marc Benioff and his wife, Lynne Benioff, for the UCSF children’s hospital. (Allday, 1/11)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Official: Food Stamp Drug Tests Would Violate Federal Law
Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to drug test some food stamp recipients violates federal law and cannot proceed without an act of Congress, a top appointee in the Obama administration says. Wisconsin's Republican governor has called on President-elect Donald Trump to act immediately on taking office to allow the Walker administration to start testing able-bodied recipients of Wisconsin's Food Share program. (Stein, 1/11)

Atlanta Journal Constitution: Limited Medical Marijuana Bill Hits Senate As Others Push Cultivation
A bill offering a small expansion to Georgia’s medical marijuana law will be introduced Thursday in the state Senate, the same day the law’s architect expects to file much broader legislation attempting to legalize growing and distributing the drug in-state for medicinal purposes. Senate Bill 16 represents an olive branch of sorts from the chamber’s conservative majority, which last year blocked attempts by the House to expand the 2015 law. Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle acknowledged last week that it was coming, saying he thought Senate Republicans may be ready to compromise. (Torres, 1/11)

Kaiser Health News: Mobile Team Offers Comfort Care To Homeless At Life’s End
Since January 2014, the pilot project run by Seattle/King County Health Care for Homeless Network and UW Medicine’s Harboview Medical Center has served more than 100 seriously ill men and women in the Seattle area, tracking them down at shelters and drop-in clinics, in tents under bridges and parked cars. This KHN story also ran in USA Today. It can be republished for free (details). “It’s really necessary that people be taken care of where they are,” said Dr. Daniel Lam, director of inpatient and outpatient palliative care services."(Aleccia, 1/12)

Health News Florida: Bilingual Clinic Provides Care To Tampa's Diverse Community 
Spanish speakers in the Tampa area have a new health care provider that they can understand. Located on West Hillsborough Avenue, CliniSanitas calls itself Tampa's first multicultural medical center. The clinic’s staff is 100 percent bilingual and though it provides urgent care, the clinic really aims to be your family doctor. (Ochoa, 1/11)

Tampa Bay Times: Gov. Scott To Name Justin Senior To Lead Health Care Agency
Gov. Rick Scott will name Justin Senior the secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration, his office confirmed Wednesday. Senior, 45, has been serving in the job as interim secretary since October, when the previous secretary, Liz Dudek, left the agency. He earns $142,000 a year. As secretary, Senior will oversee one of the state’s largest budgets and the department that runs Florida’s Medicaid program. He’ll face confirmation from the state Senate, but the Republican-controlled chamber almost never rejects appointees of the Republican governor. (Auslen and Bousquet, 1/11)

Orlando Sentinel: Orlando Startup Wants To Better Your ER Experience 
Quick'rCare is an online platform that allows consumers to find the nearest emergency rooms and urgent care centers, compare their wait times, and reserve their spot online before heading to the facility. To make this possible, the one-year-old startup sells its software to various providers, including health systems, so that their emergency room and urgent care center data show up on Quick'rCare website when consumers plug in their zip code.The service is free for consumers. (Miller, 1/11)

The New York Times: Trump’s Obamacare Plan: Still Optimistic, Still Vague
As a candidate back in July 2015, Donald J. Trump promised that he would repeal Obamacare and replace it with “something terrific.” Mr. Trump is now a few days from taking office as president, and has identified health care as a top policy priority, but the public knows little more about his proposal than it did then. In comments to The New York Times on Tuesday and in his news conference on Wednesday, Mr. Trump described when a Republican health reform bill would be released — “very quickly.” But he has yet to give any details about the policies it would contain. (Margot Sanger-Katz, 1/11)

Forbes: Trump's Comments Are Big Pharma's Nightmare
The drug industry is just wrapping up what looked like an upbeat week here at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, where all of the healthcare industry's biggest executives come every year to court investors and negotiate deals. This is the where big mergers are conceived. But now every pharma and biotech executive has a lump in his throat (they're mostly men). Because of Donald Trump. Many pharmaceutical executives hoped that because of the Republican Party's long-term opposition to price controls and love of free markets, a Trump presidency would involve fewer controls on drug prices than a Hillary Clinton one. But at his first press conference today, Trump made it very clear that is not the case. (Matthew Herper, 1/11)

The Health Care Blog: The Unlovable Political Logic Of Health Reform: Step Right Up!
The classic interest group political logic of granting a government entitlement has historically been was that delivering tangible benefits to a specific group of voters would bind them to the party who gave it to them. ... Obama’s reward for passing ObamaCare, on the other hand, was to lose first one, then the other house of Congress ... and to help birth the Tea Party .... after the post-World War II creation of the Veterans Administration, then Medicare for the elderly and disabled and Medicaid for the categorically needy, and the bipartisan S-CHIP for kids, the most “attractive” subgroups of vulnerable Americans already had their health care entitlement. ... Nevertheless, the hand the Republicans seem to have dealt themselves on ObamaCare seems even less promising: how do you unmake the law without stranding 20 million people ... As the new Republican majority will learn in the next year, healthcare is an issue that you can win and still lose. (Jeff Goldsmith, 1/11)

Los Angeles Times: Allowing Medicare To Negotiate Drug Prices Is A Popular Solution To Healthcare Costs. But It May Not Work
At his press conference Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump endorsed what may be the most oft-cited solution to the crisis of skyrocketing drug prices: allowing Medicare to negotiate prices directly with drug manufacturers. Trump’s words were solidly in the mainstream of healthcare reform thought, even if he did add the spin of a self-styled dealmaker. (Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both advocated the same policy during the campaign.) (Michael Hiltzik, 1/11)

Arizona Republic: Jeff Flake's Health-Savings Bill Makes Too Much Sense
Health costs are going up. For all of us. And that's not going to change any time soon, no matter how Congress votes on an Obamacare repeal. It seems the least our lawmakers could do is give more people a carrot -- in the form of a savings account that allows them to deduct contributions from their taxes and withdraw the cash tax free -- to help pay the costs we can't avoid. (Joanna Allhands, 1/11)

JAMA Forum: How Will President Trump’s Policies Affect Domestic And Global Health And Development?
Donald Trump’s election to the US presidency marks a time of global transition, with singular importance to health. The world is witnessing the rise of populist movements characterized by concerns about trade, immigration, globalization, and international organizations. These seismic events could have profound effects on health and development in the United States and globally. (Lawrence Gostin, 1/11)

Los Angeles Times: Donald Trump And A Major Medical Clinic Have Moved Vaccine Anti-Science Back Into The Mainstream
Scientific ignorance never lies very deep beneath the claims of the anti-vaccine movement. Many of its adherents still claim there’s a connection between childhood vaccines and autism, even though the connection has been conclusively debunked and shown to have originated in an act of scientific fraud. (Michael Hiltzik, 1/11)

Chicago Tribune: Obamacare Saved My Life
A little more than six months ago, in the early morning hours of June 21, I came within five minutes of dying. One half of my heart's mitral valve had torn away and was hanging by a thread, and although my heart continued to beat, it was unable to circulate enough oxygenated blood to my brain and other organs. Since my lungs had experienced what is called "flash edema" and quickly filled with fluid, there really wasn't any oxygen to circulate anyway. The fact that I not only lived but went on to make a full recovery has been called a miracle by several people, including the cardiologist who oversaw my treatment. But I know better. (Daniel Welch, 1/11)

The Des Moines Register: Who Can Replace Planned Parenthood?
During his Condition of the State address on Tuesday, Gov. Terry Branstad proposed eliminating state funding for Planned Parenthood. He said his two-year budget blueprint “redirects family planning money to organizations that focus on providing health care for women and eliminates taxpayer funding for organizations that perform abortions.” (1/11)

RealClear Health: State Flexibility: A Trojan Horse For Weakening Medicaid
Although the debate over repealing the Affordable Care Act is currently taking center stage, Medicaid’s turn in the spotlight is coming sooner than many realize – and the immediate threat to Medicaid expansion is just the beginning. During the campaign, President-elect Trump promised that he would not cut Medicaid, differentiating himself from other Republican candidates. Yet his actions since the election have spoken louder than these words, as Vice President-elect Mike Pence, Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Tom Price, and Speaker Paul Ryan lay the groundwork for radical changes that will gut the Medicaid program and leave millions uninsured. These attacks on our health care safety net will come on three major fronts. (Thomas Huelskoetter, 1/12)

The Wichita Eagle: Medicaid Expansion Harms State
A guiding principle of the medical profession is “do no harm.” But Kansas state legislators are contemplating a policy that would harm our state and many of its most vulnerable patients. The idea is to expand the state’s Medicaid program by adding nearly 100,000 able-bodied adults to the Medicaid rolls. (Jeff Glendening, 1/12)

Modern Healthcare: Tennessee Health Plan May Foreshadow The Post-ACA Future
[M]y interest was piqued by a recent news article about Farm Bureau Health Plan, which sells full-year individual-market plans to Tennesseans willing to submit to medical underwriting. I was surprised because I thought the ACA had ended that type of review of applicants' medical histories in full-year, comprehensive health plans. Two experts I contacted said they are not aware of any other health plans like this. ... Farm Bureau Health Plan is apparently an anomaly. Brown said his organization is allowed by the state to sell non-compliant plans because it's a not-for-profit membership services organization providing services to the members of the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation, which was created in 1947. (Harris Meyer, 1/11)

The Columbus Dispatch: Senior Population Presents Challenge
As the baby-boomer generation ages, experts and government are trying to catch up with what frazzled caregivers have long known: The aging of America is placing unprecedented demands on time and dollars, straining family resources and government budgets and social services. Recent polls and reports have documented a need for greater support for caregivers, many of whom drain their own finances or quit jobs to care for an aging loved one. Not surprisingly, caregivers often have higher rates of anxiety, chronic disease, depression and stress. (1/12)

The New York Times: I Abstained From Sex For A Year To Donate Blood
It shouldn’t be a big deal that I gave blood this week, but it is. To do it, I had to give up all forms of sex for a year. The reason: I’m gay. With what we know today about the disease, it’s a stupid reason. (Jay Franzone, 1/12)