The Washington Post: Many Uninsured Americans Seem Oblivious As ACA Enrollment Deadline Nears
As the third open enrollment season for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act comes to a close on Sunday, a new poll reveals that many uninsured Americans still aren't paying attention. The poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, released Thursday, found that the majority of the uninsured say they don't know the deadline for getting coverage this year. Virtually no one knew that the fine for going without health insurance in 2016 has jumped to $695 per adult or 2.5 percent of household income -- whichever is higher. (Sun, 1/28)

The Associated Press: Poll: Uninsured Sit On The Sidelines As Sign-Up Season Ends
A new poll finds most uninsured Americans sitting on the sidelines as sign-up season under President Barack Obama's health care law comes to a close. ... Only 15 percent of the uninsured know that this year's open enrollment deadline is this coming Sunday. ... About two-thirds say they have not been contacted about signing up. The health care law has led to historic gains in coverage, but the poll signals those gains may be slowing. (1/28)

Kaiser Health News: Despite Kvetching, Most Consumers Satisfied With Health Plans: Poll
Bashing insurance companies may be a popular pastime, but a poll released Thursday found most people were satisfied with their choices of doctors and even thought the cost of their health coverage was reasonable. The Kaiser Family Foundation poll revealed that 71 percent of insured adults younger than 65 considered the health care services they receive to be either “excellent” or “good” values. (Rau, 1/28)

Los Angeles Times: Insurance Costs Dominate Public Worries About Healthcare, Survey Finds
Though President Obama's Affordable Care Act continues to animate political debate in Washington and on the campaign trail, Americans are more concerned with basic healthcare issues such as the cost of their health insurance, a new national poll shows. The health law ranked eighth among issues voters identified as most likely to be extremely important to their vote for president this year, with 23% identifying the 2010 legislation, commonly called Obamacare. (Levey, 1/28)

The New York Times: Oklahoma Resists Push For Enrollment In Affordable Care Act Coverage
A resolute band of insurance counselors, undeterred by the politics of health care in this staunchly conservative state, is increasing its efforts to find people who are uninsured and enroll them in coverage before the Affordable Care Act’s third annual open enrollment period ends on Sunday. But the push is facing Dust Bowl-force headwinds in one of the states most hostile to the health law — from some Oklahoma officials and from residents who mistrust all things federal. (Pear, 1/27)

CNBC: How Millionaires Get Obamacare Subsidies Intended To Aid The Poor
A number of wealthy individuals, some of whom were "disgusted" with Obamacare when it first went into effect, nonetheless are now taking advantage of federal financial aid available under that health-care law to help significantly reduce their monthly insurance premiums. ... And it's legal as well, because the Affordable Care Act focuses on income rather than net worth to establish eligibility for Obamacare aid. ... [Financial adviser Carolyn] McClanahan's Obamacare customer clients were all retirees who stopped working before they were 65 years old. ... Those people, while having relatively high net worths due to investments and real estate, also were in a position to have taxable income that was low enough to qualify for Obamacare subsidies. (Mangan, 1/27)

And in other insurance news, some federal workers will get an extension for signing up for health insurance —

The Washington Post: OPM Opens Additional But Limited Insurance Enrollment For Feds
The Office of Personnel Management will hold a limited open enrollment period for active federal employees who want to sign up for single plus one health insurance coverage. Self plus one is a new option in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program. It allows enrollees to obtain coverage for themselves and one other family member. In most cases that coverage costs less than family coverage. (Davidson, 1/27)

Reuters: Health Insurer Anthem Says Obamacare Costs Drag Down Fourth-Quarter Profit
Health insurer Anthem Inc, which is in the process of buying smaller rival Cigna Corp, said on Wednesday its individual Obamacare exchange health plans weighed on fourth-quarter profit, causing it to miss analysts' expectations. Anthem said that it had nearly 800,000 people enrolled in plans through the exchanges, which were created under President Barack Obama's national healthcare reform law, about 30 percent below its expectations. Without the membership it had planned for, costs of running the business were too high, Anthem said. (Humer, 27)

Bloomberg: Obamacare Will Probably Cost More in 2017, Top Insurer Says
Anthem Inc., the second-largest U.S. health insurer by membership, said premiums for Obamacare insurance probably will go up next year. Anthem is eking out a small profit from selling policies to individuals under the Affordable Care Act. Many of its rivals aren’t, though, which means prices have to go up, the company told investors and analysts on Wednesday. (Tracer, 1/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Anthem Medical Costs Rise
Health insurer Anthem Inc. said more of its premiums went toward paying medical costs in its latest quarter, eating into profit, though revenue rose more than expected. The company also said it expects revenue for 2016 in the range of $80 billion to $81 billion, below analysts’ consensus expectations for $82.98 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. (Steele and Wilde Mathews, 1/27)

The Associated Press: Anthem 4Q Profit Falls 64 Pct, Misses Expectations
Anthem’s fourth-quarter earnings tumbled 64 percent as the health insurer absorbed some sizeable expenses and booked fewer customers than it expected through the Affordable Care Act’s public insurance exchanges. The Blue Cross Blue Shield insurer continued to expand its business from government programs like Medicaid and reaffirmed its forecast for the new year. But earnings fell short of Wall Street expectations, and its stock price fell more than 2 percent in afternoon trading Wednesday. (Murphy, 1/27)

The Associated Press: GOP Leaders Call For Continuation Of Medicaid Expansion
Republican lawmakers [in New Hampshire] presented their plan for reauthorizing Medicaid expansion Wednesday, outlining a proposal that includes work requirements for recipients and asks insurance companies and hospitals to help foot the state’s share of the program’s costs. “This is an important debate to many of my constituents,” said Republican Rep. Joe LaChance of Manchester, the bill’s prime sponsor. LaChance said he’s seen the positive effects of the program, which insures more than 45,000 New Hampshire residents, in his home city. New Hampshire crafted a version of Medicaid expansion in 2014 that uses federal dollars to put people on private insurance plans. The program insures people who make up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line, or about $16,000 a year for an individual. (Ronayne, 1/28)

New Hampshire Public Radio: N.H.'s Medicaid Expansion: Where It Stands, and Where It Could Be Heading
A public hearing is scheduled this morning for a mostly Republican-backed proposal to extend the [Medicaid expansion] program through 2018, with some new requirements for program recipients and a plan to have health providers cover the state’s share of program costs for the next two years. Another proposal, backed by a group of mostly Democrats, would extend the program indefinitely, but doesn’t contemplate how to pay for it without dipping into the state’s general fund. That second proposal doesn’t yet have a hearing date. (McDermott, 1/28)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Democratic Leader Says Medicaid Expansion’s Time Has Come
The top Democrat in the state House this week filed legislation to expand Georgia’s Medicaid program, and while Rep. Stacey Abrams knows its a long shot, she said it’s time the discussion advances. ... Abrams said expanding Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act will provide health insurance to nearly 500,000 Georgians by raising the income threshold for Medicaid and expanding subsidies for coverage. Republican lawmakers and Gov. Nathan Deal have said expanding the program is financially imprudent and have explored other solutions to the state’s health care crisis. (Sheinin, 1/27)

The New York Times: Theranos Lab May Pose Threat To Patient Safety, Regulator Says
A federal regulator has found that a lab run by Theranos, the Silicon Valley laboratory that promised to perform blood tests with a simple finger stick, violated several clinical standards, including one it said posed a threat to patient safety that had to be immediately corrected. The regulator, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, conducted an inspection of the company’s Newark, Calif., laboratory last year, but it issued a letter this week detailing the violations and raising the possibility that Theranos could lose certification for the lab in question. (Abelson, 1/27)

Bloomberg: Theranos Lab Faults Jeopardized Patient Health, U.S. Says
U.S. regulators found serious shortcomings at a medical laboratory run by startup Theranos Inc., the latest in a series of setbacks for the highly valued blood testing startup founded by billionaire entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes. Deficiencies at Theranos’s lab in Newark, California, “pose immediate jeopardy to patient health and safety,” U.S. government regulators said in a letter to the company released Wednesday that demanded immediate changes at the lab and threatened the closely held company with sanctions. (Tracer and Chen, 1/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Theranos Lab Practices Pose Risk to Patient Health, Regulators Say
[The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] defined one infraction by the blood-testing company, based in Palo Alto, Calif., as a situation “likely to cause, at any time, serious injury or harm, or death, to individuals served by the laboratory or to the health and safety of the general public.” If the lab doesn’t correct them and come back into compliance, CMS could revoke the facility’s certification to test human specimens and fine Theranos as much as $10,000 a day, according to the letter. (Carreyrou, 1/27)

The Associated Press: Regulators Warn Testing Startup Theranos Over Lab Conditions
Federal regulators have issued a warning to blood-testing startup Theranos, saying some of the Silicon Valley company's testing procedures do not meet standards designed to protect patients. Inspectors for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sent a letter to Theranos, citing five deficiencies at a laboratory run by the privately held company. In the Jan. 25 letter, inspectors say that some of the problems "pose immediate jeopardy to patient health and safety." (1/27)

USA Today: Theranos Lab Poses 'Immediate Jeopardy' To Patients, Say Regulators
A California startup offering easy and inexpensive blood tests to help people check themselves for STIs, celiac disease or high cholesterol levels has again run afoul of federal lab regulators. It’s the latest public blow for the formerly high-flying Theranos of Palo Alto, Calif., which in September “voluntarily paused” the use of its specialized finger-prick blood draws. (Hughes, 1/27)

The Washington Post's Wonkblog: Deficiencies At Theranos ‘Pose Immediate Jeopardy To Patient Health’
Theranos, once valued at $9 billion based on its immense promise to make blood testing cheaper and more efficient, has been embroiled in questions about its technology and regulatory strategy for months. The scrutiny was sparked by a Wall Street Journal investigation that revealed that the intensely secret company's much-touted fingerprick blood tests were barely being used and employees had raised questions about the accuracy of its tests. (Johnson, 1/27)

CNN Money: Theranos Lab Poses 'Immediate Jeopardy'
Biotech startup Theranos has 10 days to correct critical deficiencies with its lab. That's according to a letter issued to the company Monday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (O'Brien, 1/27)

Reuters: Theranos Lab Poses 'Jeopardy To Patient Health': Regulator
Deficient practices at a lab operated by blood-testing startup Theranos pose "immediate jeopardy to patient health and safety," the U.S. government's Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said in a letter to the company released on Wednesday. Theranos, founded and led by Elizabeth Holmes, has been in the spotlight after reports in the Wall Street Journal suggested that the company's blood-testing devices were flawed and had problems with accuracy. (1/27)

The Associated Press: Drug Abuse Bill Raises Hopes For Election-Year Achievement
In a testy election year likely to see scant collaboration between Republicans and Democrats, there's a glint of hope in Congress for a bipartisan bill aimed at fighting heroin and opioid addiction — a deadly, growing problem that afflicts states both red and blue. Senate and House bills establishing grants to combat abuse, improve treatment and bolster some law enforcement programs are winning support from members of both parties. President Barack Obama used this month's State of Union address to call such legislation one area where lawmakers "might surprise the cynics" and get something done this year. (1/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Officials Call For Stronger Efforts To Combat Heroin, Painkiller Abuse
Governors, senators and law-enforcement officials on Wednesday called for stronger efforts to combat heroin and painkiller addiction, saying the problem was overwhelming police, health-care workers and families in every state. At a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, they argued for more federal funding, wider access to substance-abuse treatment and stricter rules for painkiller prescribing to fight the main driver of soaring drug overdose rates. (Whalen, 1/27)

CQ Healthbeat: Opioid Bill Wins Support But Critics Call For Broader Focus
Top Senate Judiciary Committee members signaled interest Wednesday in advancing a bipartisan bill to address heroin and prescription drug abuse that supporters maintain would be the most comprehensive federal legislation to curb opioid addiction to date. But panel members at a hearing on the measure (S 524) remain concerned about what they said was the lack of efforts to address overprescribing by doctors and criticized the way pain management is often tackled in the medical community. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has drawn criticism from pharmaceutical and patient advocacy groups over a set of proposed opioid prescribing guidelines, with skeptics arguing that some of the recommendations could hinder patients' access to pain medications. (Zanona, 1/27)

NPR: Congress Moves To Tackle Heroin, Prescription Drug Epidemic
What is being done to fight heroin and prescription drug abuse in hard-hit states like New Hampshire? What can Congress do to help? Lawmakers tackle the issue. (Chang, 1/27)

In other news from Capitol Hill, two committees look at a law involving kick-backs —

Politico Pro: Congressional Republicans Look To Update Stark Law
Republicans on the Senate Finance and the Ways and Means committees are considering updating federal anti-kickback statutes including the Stark law to make them better fit the move toward alternative payment models. (Mershon, 1/27)

The Associated Press: Sen. Manchin Joins Growing Opposition To FDA Nominee
Add West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin to the growing list of lawmakers vowing to block President Barack Obama's nominee to head the Food and Drug Administration. In a statement Wednesday, Manchin cited Dr. Robert Califf's ties to the pharmaceutical industry and argued that it would make it difficult for him to deal with the prescription opioid crisis. Califf was a cardiologist and medical researcher at Duke University for more than 30 years. (1/27)

The Wall Street Journal: White House Remains Confident In FDA Nominee
The Obama administration has “full confidence” in its nominee to run the Food and Drug Administration despite a Democratic senator’s plan to filibuster the nomination, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday. Mr. Earnest said the White House is confident Robert Califf has the ability “to make the kinds of decisions that are in the best interests of the health and safety of the American people.” (Burton, 1/27)

The New York Times: Scientists Move Closer to Understanding Schizophrenia’s Cause
Scientists reported on Wednesday that they had taken a significant step toward understanding the cause of schizophrenia, in a landmark study that provides the first rigorously tested insight into the biology behind any common psychiatric disorder. ... The researchers pieced together the steps by which genes can increase a person’s risk of developing schizophrenia. That risk, they found, is tied to a natural process called synaptic pruning, in which the brain sheds weak or redundant connections between neurons as it matures. During adolescence and early adulthood, this activity takes place primarily in the section of the brain where thinking and planning skills are centered, known as the prefrontal cortex. People who carry genes that accelerate or intensify that pruning are at higher risk of developing schizophrenia than those who do not, the new study suggests. (Carey, 1/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Study Gives New Clues To Schizophrenia Risks
Scientists have identified key genetic traits that for the first time point to a biological mechanism behind schizophrenia. There has been a tremendous amount of research on the genetics of the condition, which has a strong hereditary component. But, previous work has yielded little understanding into what goes wrong in the brain to cause the illness, which is characterized by cognitive and emotional changes, often including hallucinations and delusions. (Wang, 1/27)

Los Angeles Times: Geneticists Uncover A Key Clue To Schizophrenia
Scientists say they have broken new ground in the study of schizophrenia, uncovering a potentially powerful genetic contributor to the mental disorder and helping to explain why its symptoms of confused and delusional thinking most often reach a crisis state as a person nears the cusp of adulthood. Genes associated with the function of the immune system have long been suspected in schizophrenia, but scientists have been at a loss to understand the nature of the link. (Healy, 1/27)

The Washington Post: Scientists Open The ‘Black Box’ Of Schizophrenia With Dramatic Genetic Discovery
For the first time, scientists have pinned down a molecular process in the brain that helps to trigger schizophrenia. The researchers involved in the landmark study, which was published Wednesday in the journal Nature, say the discovery of this new genetic pathway probably reveals what goes wrong neurologically in a young person diagnosed with the devastating disorder. The study marks a watershed moment, with the potential for early detection and new treatments that were unthinkable just a year ago. (Ellis Nutt, 1/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Cancer Centers Urge Increase In HPV Vaccinations
The top cancer centers in the U.S. jointly called for an increase in vaccination against the human papilloma virus, or HPV, saying low uptake of the three-shot regimens amounts to a “public health threat” and a major missed opportunity to prevent a variety of potentially lethal malignancies. In a statement issued Wednesday, all 69 of the nation’s National Cancer Institute-designated centers urged parents and health-care providers to “protect the health of our children” by taking steps to have all boys and girls complete the three-dose vaccination by their 13th birthdays, as recommended by federal guidelines, or as soon as possible in children between 13 and 17 years old. (Winslow, 1/27)

PBS NewsHour: Postpartum Mom Says Depression Screening Would Have Made All The Difference
The United States Preventative Task Force’s new guidelines urge medical workers to screen pregnant women and new mothers regardless of whether they have services in place to provide treatment, given that mental health services are now more widely available and screenings are accepted as part of mental health care. The recommendation received a “B” rating from the Task Force, making it so that screening for maternal depression must now be covered under the Affordable Care Act. (Pasquantonio, 1/27)

NPR: Teaching Parenting Skills At Doctor Visits Helps Children's Behavior
As researchers have come to understand how poverty and its stresses influence children's brain development, they've begun untangling how that can lead to increased behavior problems and learning difficulties for disadvantaged kids. Rather than trying to treat those problems, NYU child development specialists Adriana Weisleder and Alan Mendelsohn want to head them off. They say they've found a way: Working with low-income parents when they bring babies and young children to the pediatrician. They've been able to reduce key obstacles to learning like hyperactivity and difficulty paying attention, according to research published Wednesday in the journal Pediatrics. (Rancano, 1/27)

The Associated Press: Obama To Seek $12B From Congress For Child Nutrition
President Barack Obama plans to ask Congress for $12 billion over a decade to help feed millions of schoolchildren from low-income families during the summer, the White House said Wednesday. Nearly 22 million low-income children receive free and reduced-price meals during the school year, but just a fraction of those kids receive meals when school is out. The disparity puts those children at higher risk of hunger and poor nutrition during the summer months, the White House said. (1/27)

And the latest on Flint's public health emergency due to tainted water —

Reuters: Michigan Governor Names Panel To Fix Flint's Contaminated Water System
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on Wednesday appointed a group of government officials, health and other experts to implement long-term fixes for Flint's lead-contaminated water system, which has become a national scandal. The 17-member committee would recommend ways to help people exposed to lead, study Flint's water infrastructure and determine possible upgrades. The members includes Flint Mayor Karen Weaver and county and state officials. (Wisniewski, 1/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Flint Water Crisis Shines Light On Lead Pipes Crisscrossing The U.S.
The water crisis in Flint, Mich., has exposed the danger that lead could potentially leach into the drinking water of millions of Americans, showing what can go wrong if aging infrastructure isn’t properly monitored and maintained. Lead is common in pipes across the country, mostly in service lines linking street pipes to people’s homes. Millions of pipes now in use were installed well before 1986, when federal law banned lead pipes and solder, and some date back to the 1800s. (McWhirter and Maher, 1/28)

The New York Times: Zika Virus ‘Spreading Explosively’ in Americas, W.H.O. Says
Officials from the World Health Organization said on Thursday that the Zika virus was “spreading explosively” in the Americas and announced that they would convene an emergency meeting on Monday to decide whether to declare a public health emergency. “The level of alarm is extremely high,” said Dr. Margaret Chan, the director general of the W.H.O., in a speech in Geneva. (Tavernise, 1/28)

USA Today: Experts: USA Must Prepare Now For Zika Virus
U.S. public health officials must prepare now for the inevitable arrival of Zika virus, a mosquito-borne infection that has spread to 22 countries and territories in the Americas and poses particular danger to pregnant women, health experts said. International air travel will help the virus spread quickly, said Lawrence Gostin, director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University in Washington. Zika doesn’t spread from person to person, but a mosquito carrying the virus could hitch a ride on the plane and end up in the USA. An American mosquito could become a carrier of the virus if it bites an infected person who contracted the virus while traveling in an affected country. (Szabo, 1/27)

The Sacramento Bee: Zika Virus Confirmed In California, But State’s Climate Likely To Block Spread
While a case of Zika virus was reported in California this week, health officials say the state’s dry Mediterranean climate and pest control efforts make it an unlikely home for the mosquitoes that carry the tropical disease. (Caiola, 1/27)

The San Jose Mercury News: Zika Outbreak Worries California Officials As Virus Progresses Across Western Hemisphere
A mosquito-borne virus linked to a rare birth defect in Brazilian newborns has the Americas in its grips and Californians worried about its possible progression to the Golden State. The implications of the Zika virus -- which also has reportedly led to paralysis in some cases -- have caused widespread panic in the Southern Hemisphere since last fall, when cases of microcephaly, abnormal smallness of the head in babies, ballooned in Brazil from 150 in 2014 to 3,900 in the past four months. This week, the World Health Organization predicted the virus would spread to all countries across the Americas except Canada and Chile. (Seipel, 1/27)

Reuters: How Planned Parenthood's Accusers Became The Accused In Texas Case
An aggressive legal strategy pursued by U.S. women's healthcare provider Planned Parenthood may have been critical in turning the tables on opponents who were seeking to prosecute it in Texas for allegedly profiting from sales of aborted fetal tissue. In a surprise move disclosed on Monday, a grand jury in Harris County not only cleared Planned Parenthood's Gulf Coast affiliate but also indicted the two anti-abortion activists, David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, who had prompted the probe in the first place. (Ingram and Mincer, 1/27)

The Huffington Post: GOP Still Investigating Planned Parenthood, Even After Sting Videos Backfire
Republicans are determined to push on with their investigation of Planned Parenthood, even after a Texas grand jury cleared the organization of wrongdoing on Monday and instead indicted two anti-abortion activists who targeted the family planning provider in a series of undercover videos. (Lachman, 1/27)

Reuters: No New Grand Jury For Two Indicted In Planned Parenthood Videos: Prosecutor
Two people indicted by a Texas grand jury for presenting fake driver's licenses as part of a plan to secretly video tape Planned Parenthood will not have their cases presented again to a new grand jury, the prosecutor in the case said on Wednesday. (Herskovitz, 1/28)

The Kansas City Star: Gov. Sam Brownback Stands By Comments About Planned Parenthood Selling 'Baby Body Parts'
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback on Wednesday held firm to his recent statement that Planned Parenthood was selling “baby body parts” despite news about the Texas grand jury indictment this week of two abortion opponents. Brownback said the indictments didn’t change his mind about the veracity of videos by an anti-abortion group. (Eveld, 1/27)

Elsewhere, media outlets cover abortion news in Ohio, Michigan, Texas and Florida —

The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Senate Approves Bill Defunding Planned Parenthood
Once again, Republican lawmakers passed a bill stripping Planned Parenthood of $1.3 million in state funding. Once again, the bill is not headed to Gov. John Kasich for his signature. (Siegel, 1/27)

The Detroit Free Press: Bill Would Prohibit State Money To Abortion Providers
Public funding for abortion services hasn’t been available in Michigan since the 1980s, and Planned Parenthood hasn’t received money from the state since 2004. But state Rep. Thomas Hooker, R-Byron Center, wants to make sure that no future Legislatures are able to provide funding to agencies such as Planned Parenthood for any services. (Gray, 1/27)

Reuters: Texas Urges Supreme Court To Uphold Abortion Law
The state of Texas on Wednesday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold its restrictions on abortion providers, citing the case of a Philadelphia doctor convicted in 2013 of murdering babies at his abortion clinic. Lawyers for Texas were responding to court papers filed by abortion providers who challenged the 2013 state law. The high court is due to hear oral arguments on March 2 and issue a ruling by the end of June. It is one of the biggest cases before the nine justices in their current term. (Hurley, 1/27)

Health News Florida: Lawmakers Want Admitting Privileges For Abortion Providers
The Florida Legislature is moving forward with a bill that could restrict abortion access. But similar measures have been struck down in other states. A bill filed by Republican Senator Kelli Stargel of Lakeland mandates hospital admitting privileges for abortion providers. Stargel wants these doctors to have relationships with local hospitals, allowing them to bring in patients for care. Stargel says the bill is about women’s health and safety. (Payne, 1/27)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Cruz Hammers Trump On Abortion, Health Care, Debate
Ted Cruz on Wednesday ratcheted up his criticism of GOP presidential rival Donald Trump, belittling the celebrity real estate mogul as a "fragile soul" for refusing to participate in Thursday's debate and likening him to an "imperial dictator." Cruz, a first-term senator from Texas, and Trump are locked in a dead heat before the Iowa caucuses begin the presidential nominating contest on Monday. (Seidman, 1/27)

The New York Times: John Kasich Is Called An ‘Obama Republican’ In New Hampshire Ads
Gov. John Kasich of Ohio has steadily gained ground in the New Hampshire polls, drawing few attacks from his opponents as they have fought among themselves. Now, that will begin to change. A national conservative group, the American Future Fund, ... will run a commercial that goes after Mr. Kasich for supporting Common Core educational standards and expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. It shows an image of Mr. Kasich smiling, face to face with Barack Obama, and calls him “one of the few Republican governors to cheerlead Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion.” (Burns, 1/27)

The Washington Post: Pelosi Dismisses Portions Of Sanders’s Tax And Health-Care Agenda: ‘It’s Not Going To Happen’
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) dismissed portions of Bernie Sanders’s agenda Wednesday, welcoming the Vermont senator’s energetic support for his presidential bid but declaring that some of his deeply liberal ideas were unrealistic. Kicking off a three-day retreat of House Democrats in her childhood home town, Pelosi said that the party’s agenda would not include a call to raise taxes and would continue to embrace the Affordable Care Act that Democrats bitterly fought for in 2010. (Kane, 1/27)

The New York Times: Doctors Who Get Sued Are Likely To Get Sued Again
One percent of all doctors account for 32 percent of all paid malpractice claims, and the more often a doctor is sued, the more likely he or she will be sued again. Researchers analyzed 10 years of paid malpractice claims using the National Practitioner Data Bank, a federal government database that includes 66,426 claims against 54,099 doctors. The study is in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Bakalar, 1/27)

Reuters: One Percent Of U.S. Docs Responsible For A Third Of Malpractice Payments
Just one out of every 100 U.S. doctors is responsible for 32 percent of the malpractice claims that result in payments to patients, according to a comprehensive study of 15 years’ worth of cases. And when a doctor has to pay out one claim, the chances are good that the same physician will soon be paying out on another, researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine. (Emery, 1/27)

The New York Times: Wounded Warrior Project Spends Lavishly On Itself, Insiders Say
In [The Wounded Warrior Project's] swift rise, it has embraced aggressive styles of fund-raising, marketing and personnel management that have many current and former employees questioning whether it has drifted from its mission. ... The charity recently pledged to raise $500 million for a trust to fund lifetime supplemental health care for severely wounded veterans. And on Tuesday, it started a program to provide care for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries, two of the most common injuries for veterans of recent wars. Such ambitious programs would be impossible without significant spending on fund-raising and staff, said Mr. Nardizzi, its chief executive. (Philipps, 1/27)

The Associated Press: Report Highlights Confusion On Private Medicaid Oversight
It's unclear how Iowa will give all Medicaid recipients an independent way to voice complaints about service under private management that goes into effect soon, lawmakers said Wednesday following a presentation on some proposed oversight of the system. Lawmakers in the Senate Human Resources Committee expressed concern that an independent system for all Medicaid recipients to file more serious challenges to insurance claims or treatment won't be in effect in time for the privatization switch on March 1. (Rodriguez, 1/27)

The Kansas Health Institute News Service: Bill Would Require KanCare Patients, Doctors To First Try Lower-Cost Drugs
Gayle Taylor-Ford’s husband has been waiting two months for the treatment his doctor thinks is most likely to help with his multiple sclerosis, a wait she attributes to their insurer’s step therapy protocol. Through step therapy, doctors and patients must document that lower-cost drugs didn’t work before a more expensive prescription can be tried. Taylor-Ford and others spoke Wednesday at a Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee hearing on Senate Bill 341, which would allow step therapy in the state’s privatized Medicaid program known as KanCare. (Hart, 1/27)

Health News Florida: Family Battles Medicaid Managed Care For Special Care
As a mother, Anya Staton says her primary instinct is to feed her children. So when her oldest son developed an eating disorder she knew he needed help -- help she didn't know how to give. And care the family's insurance company, through Florida's Medicaid program, denied the boy needed. (Watts, 1/27)

Alaska Public Radio: New Medicaid Reform Committee Strives For Savings
Sen. Anna MacKinnon, R-Eagle River, announced today that a new Medicaid reform subcommittee will focus on the issue over the next month. The subcommittee will look at separate bill proposed by Gov. Bill Walker’s administration and Sen. Pete Kelly, R-Fairbanks, to change how healthcare is delivered to low-income Alaskans. Both bills encourage the use of case management. In the state’s version, a contractor assigns a primary care provider to each patient. The provider would help coordinate the healthcare that the patient receives, with an eye toward preventing problems that cause unnecessary hospital stays and emergency room visits. (Kitchenman, 1/27)

The Boston Globe: Governor Would Hold MassHealth Spending Increase To 5%
Governor Charlie Baker’s proposed state budget keeps spending growth in the state’s Medicaid program, a lifeline for low-income residents who need medical care, to 5 percent a year. That increase would be modest compared to the double-digit jumps in recent years. But the program, known as MassHealth, would still account for $15.4 billion — the single biggest chunk of the state budget — to provide insurance to more than one-fourth of the state’s residents. (Dayal McCluskey, 1/28)

NJ Spotlight: $87.26M Recovered From Medicaid Fraud In NJ
The Office of State Comptroller increased its recovery of Medicaid fraud funds by 12 percent in 2015, to a total of $87.26 million. The comptroller’s Medicaid fraud division uses a number of techniques to ferret out abuses, including audits, data mining, investigations that result from tips, and recoveries from overpayments. (1/27)

California Healthline: Unreasonable Rate Hike? Proposed Legislation Would Tell You About It
California consumers should know when their health insurance premium rates have been deemed unreasonable by the state. That's the primary purpose of a bill (SB 908) proposed yesterday in the state Senate. (Gorn, 1/27)

The Richmond Times-Dispatch: Advocates Push For Mental Health Reforms
With a steady smile and commanding voice, Beth Hilscher led a group of mental health advocates from office to office in the General Assembly building on Wednesday. She introduced them to senators and staff members and gently encouraged them to tell their stories — Pat, whose 34-year-old son needs intensive treatment for schizoaffective disorder; Rebekah, whose sister is often without insurance because bipolar disorder makes it hard for her to hold a job. (Kleiner, 1/27)

CALmatters: California Doles Out Millions To Insurers For Hepatitis C Drugs
In an unusual funding arrangement, California is paying private health plans hundreds of millions of dollars in supplemental payments to cover the high price of hepatitis C drugs for patients in Medi-Cal managed care plans. (Bartolone, 1/27)

Minnesota Public Radio: St. Paul Will Explore Making Earned Sick And Safe Time Mandatory
St. Paul leaders want to explore mandatory earned sick and safe time for all employees in the city. Under a City Council resolution to be released Thursday, a task force will explore how businesses of all sizes in St. Paul could offer earned sick and safe time benefits to their employees. (Nelson, 1/28)

The Charlotte Observer: Attention, Please: Plain Language Replaces Color-Coded Alerts At Some Hospitals
I was sitting at Carolinas Medical Center Last month when an ominous-sounding voice came over the loud speaker: "Security alert. Threat of violence. Levine Children's Hospital. 10th floor. Avoid the area." (Garloch, 1/27)

The Connecticut Mirror: In Shoreline Cancer Treatment Dispute, Questions About Hospital Competition
What began with a plan to replace an aging piece of medical equipment has turned into a dispute over the delivery of cancer care along Connecticut’s affluent shoreline. (Levin Becker, 1/28)

The News Service Of Florida: Florida Prisons Sued Over Treatment Of Disabled Inmates
A group representing disabled inmates has filed a federal lawsuit accusing Florida prison officials of discriminating against prisoners who are deaf, blind or confined to wheelchairs, in violation of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Tallahassee by Disability Rights Florida, alleges that the Department of Corrections failed to provide interpreters and auxiliary aids, prosthetic devices and wheelchairs, and assistants and tapping canes to inmates with disabilities. (Kam, 1/27)

Time: Carly Fiorina: Obamacare Is Failing. Here’s What We Should Do
This week, we learned that Obamacare enrollments are nearly 40% below the original projections—further proof that the American people want nothing to do with this flawed system. Under the Obama administration, we are becoming a nation of rules—not laws—dictated by a president and a White House who are more concerned with pursuing a partisan political agenda than they are with serving the American people. (Carly Fiorina, 1/27)

The Wall Street Journal: ObamaCare In Arrears
In her confrontation with Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton always promises to “build on the successes” of ObamaCare, so allow us to recommend a follow-up question: What would those be, precisely? The entitlement is becoming less stable and less entrenched, not more, as it gets older. The latest jolt is the $475 million loss UnitedHealth Group booked on the insurance exchanges in 2015, which the largest U.S. mega-insurer by membership expects to rise this year to another $500 million. Only three months ago the company projected losses of $400 million to $425 million. Every other line of UnitedHealth’s business is thriving, but the ObamaCare money-pit sunk its year-over-year profit margin to 3.7% from 4.3%. (1/26)

Lexington Herald Leader: There Are A Lot More Flint Catastrophes
Flint isn’t alone. There are a lot more Flints out there—overwhelmingly low-income communities of color where pollution, toxic chemicals, and staggering neglect adds to families’ burdens. We need to face some hard truths about race and justice in America. After 250 years of slavery, 90 years of Jim Crow, and decades of “separate but equal,” our country’s struggle with racism is far from over. That’s true in our criminal justice system. In our education system. In employment, housing, and transit. And tragically, it’s true in the very air our children breathe and in the water they drink. (Hillary Clinton, 1/27)

The Huffington Post: The Bernie Sanders Health Plan Is Too Good To Be True, Analyst Says
When Bernie Sanders released his universal health care plan last week, promising that most people would receive more generous insurance coverage while paying less for medical care, most policy experts said it sounded too good to be true. Now, a veteran health economist has produced a more serious assessment of Sanders' proposal and concluded that the critics were right. (Jonathan Cohn, 1/27)

JAMA: Tackling The Social Determinants Of Health: Small Steps On A Long Journey
The idea that social factors influence health is both obvious and evidence-based. It is intuitive that patients with diabetes who are homeless will have a harder time managing their disease, and the evidence bears this out. As the United States marches towards spending 20% of our economic output on health care, and as the government takes on an increasing share of that spending, policy makers are realizing that we need a new approach to tackling health care expenses. Our current approach, in which the public finances most health care expenses but looks skeptically at covering nonmedical spending, appears unsustainable. Homeless persons struggling to manage their diabetes can expect taxpayers to pay thousands of dollars for their hospitalizations but not necessarily the housing and food that would help them manage the disease and avoid hospitalization. (Ashish K. Jha, 1/27)

The High Cost Of Cutting Health Budgets: The High Cost Of Cutting Health Budgets
Running government on the cheap has a high price, and state lawmakers should finally start paying attention to the devastation it causes. Years of Florida budget cuts to essential government agencies, including the Departments of Health, Children and Families, and Corrections, have started to bear the bitter fruit of skyrocketing new HIV infections, a dysfunctional mental health system and violent, understaffed prisons and mental hospitals that have far too many unexplained patient and inmate deaths. Siphoning resources from government via haphazard tax cuts rips the social fabric of the state, which harms everyone. Because it is about people, the erosion of the social infrastructure is even more insidious than the potholed roads and crumbling bridges of the physical infrastructure. The Legislature should put a stop to it. (1/25)

Lexington Herald Leader: Bevin’s Budget Won’t Satisfy His Ambitions
Bevin’s plan would free up a lot of money, but, as he said, it’s just a start on closing the gaps: The Kentucky Retirement Systems is underfunded by $11 billion and selling assets to meet monthly obligations. The teachers retirement system is underfunded by $24.4 billion. It took years to dig these holes and will take years to climb out. While we can’t argue with the areas Bevin wants to shield from cuts — most prominently basic funding for public schools and Medicaid — sheltering so much of government required deep cuts in the remaining areas. (1/27)

Portland Press Herald: Maine Voices: Conditions Now Favorable For Expansion Of Medicaid Coverage In Maine
Enacting a bipartisan bill to provide Medicaid coverage to all low-income people in Maine is a challenge not unlike that faced – and overcome – by other states. Times have changed since Maine’s last unsuccessful effort to expand Medicaid. Six states where the expansion controversy was as intense as the debate in Maine are administering “private option” Medicaid programs. Those programs buy private insurance, require premiums and cost sharing and, in one state, disenroll those who fail to meet their premium payments after a grace period. (Trish Riley, 1/27)

Reuters: First Amendment Won't Shield Defendants In Planned Parenthood Scandal
We journalists like to think we are special. We are cloaked in the First Amendment. We are a pillar of liberty. If Thomas Jefferson had been forced to choose between a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, he’d have sided with us. But we are not above the law. (Frankel, 1/27)

The Raleigh News & Observer: N.C. Should Act On Mental Health Plans
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has commendably concentrated on mental health care and substance abuse with a task force focused on issues that have confused and challenged lawmakers for many years. The task force has ideas that seem sound – but it will have to persuade the General Assembly to act. Consider: There is a priority for finding affordable housing for the mentally ill. Some are in prisons; some are in hospitals; some are homeless; some are living with their families in situations that strain everyone involved. The issue also is important because the U.S. Department of Justice had threatened to sue the state because there is a shortage of such housing. (1/27)