The New York Times: Health Care Gains, But Income Remains Stagnant, The White House Reports
Nearly nine million people gained health insurance last year, lowering the ranks of the uninsured to 10.4 percent of the population. But there was no statistically significant change in income for the typical American household in 2014, the Obama administration said on Wednesday. ... Overall, the new census numbers suggest that one major government program, to provide health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, is working, but that for ordinary Americans, especially the poor, the economic recovery — now into its seventh year — has yet to deliver measurable benefits. (Pear, 9/16)

Los Angeles Times: Poverty Persists But More Have Healthcare
Thanks mostly to the first full-year impact of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, the percentage of people without medical coverage fell to 10.4% from 13.3% the previous year. That represents a drop of 8.8 million, to 33 million people who were uninsured for part or all of last year. A decline was expected. Earlier surveys suggested a big increase in health plan enrollment as states expanded Medicaid and millions of Americans signed up for private insurance through new marketplaces created by Obamacare. Every state, racial group and age of individuals saw a decline in the uninsured rate, the Census Bureau said. (Lee, 9/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Many More Americans Now Have Health Insurance
The census report, viewed as a key gauge of American prosperity, underscored how government policy—from expanded health-care coverage to benefits for the poor—has rippled through the lives of many Americans. Weak income growth was especially striking for a year in which employers added the most jobs since 1999 and stock markets hit new highs. The decline in those lacking coverage, driven largely by people receiving Medicaid or buying insurance on their own, was the largest in records that date to 1987. (Timiraos and Radnofsky, 9/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Percentage Of Uninsured In U.S. Dropped In First Year Of Obama’s Health-Care Plan
The data also show the extent to which tens of millions of people remain uninsured, at a time when the law’s opponents are debating its future once President Barack Obama leaves office. Critics can point out that the law is still set to fall well short of its early hopes to extend near-universal coverage. Some have already argued that its coverage gains haven’t justified its price tag (Radnofsky, 9/16)

The Washington Post's Wonkblog: Number Of Americans Without Health Insurance Falls As Income And Poverty Rate Stay Level
The report, hailed by ACA supporters, is the first that compares the insurance landscape immediately before those changes began and afterwards. At the same time, the nation's official poverty rate stayed level at 14.8 percent, equivalent to 46.7 million people in poverty. A supplemental poverty measure, considered more accurate by many experts, showed the rate at 15.3 percent, similar to 2013. (Goldstein, Guo and Gamio, 9/16)

Kaiser Health News: Nearly 9 Million People Gained Insurance In Health Marketplace’s First Year
[A] change in the way health insurance questions are asked make this year’s report comparable to 2013 but not earlier years. Census officials, however, point out that a different annual survey that has asked health insurance questions consistently show this to be the biggest drop in the uninsured since at least 2008. Others say the sizable increase in Americans with insurance – due in large part to the implementation of the federal health law – is unprecedented since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid 50 years ago. (Rovner, 9/16)

The Fiscal Times: Big Drop In The Number of Uninsured Americans In 2014
The Census report did not delve into the quality of health insurance or the cost to consumers, which has continued to increase since the passage of Obamacare but at a slower pace. (Braverman, 9/16)

CBS News: Evidence That Obamacare Is Working
While other surveys and polls have recorded improvements in the uninsured rate since the ACA's rollout, the Census data is considered the benchmark for such measures. Still, a significant variation in coverage remains between U.S. states, with generally higher uninsured rates in states that declined to expand Medicaid coverage. Texas, Florida and Mississippi, which are among that group, have uninsured rates of more than 14 percent, among the highest in the country, Census said. The state with the lowest rate of uninsured residents is Massachusetts, at 3.9 percent. (Picchi, 9/16)

Dallas Morning News: More In Texas Lack Health Insurance Than In Any Other State
Texas, which still has the biggest share of its population uninsured, now has more people without health coverage than any other state. Last year, Texas had just more than 5 million residents without health coverage — eclipsing California, which for many years had the most but saw its number dip below 4.8 million, according to federal figures released Wednesday. One expert cited Democratic-controlled California’s decision to expand Medicaid and heavily promote its own state-run private health insurance marketplace. GOP-led Texas did neither. (Garrett, 9/17)

The Texas Tribune: Texas' Uninsured Rate Dips, Remains Highest In Nation
For the first time in more than a decade, Texas’ uninsured rate dipped below 20 percent, analysts said Wednesday following the release of U.S. Census data. ... More than 1 million Texans signed up for health insurance on the exchange last year, according to federal tallies at the time, but it is unclear how many of those people were previously uninsured. ... The federal survey found 7 percent of Texas’ low-income children, defined as living with incomes below twice the federal poverty level, remain uninsured. (Walters, 9/16)

The Texas Tribune: A Look At How Texas' Uninsured Rate Has Fallen
Some of the most significant drops were in the state's biggest cities. The San Antonio metro area's uninsured rate dropped by nearly 4 points, while in Houston and Dallas, the drop was just over 3 points. Austin was an exception, falling less than 2 percentage points. Disparities persisted among age groups as well. Of young adults ages 19 to 25, the percentage of uninsured Texans fell from nearly 39 percent to 33 percent. The Affordable Care Act allows many people to remain on their parents' insurance plan until they turn 26. Eleven percent of Texas children younger than 18 are uninsured. Among Texans older than 65, that figure is 2 percent. (Walter and McCullough, 9/17)

Houston Public Media: Uninsured Rate Drops 14% In Texas, But Still The Highest Rate In US
For years, Texas has had the notorious distinction of having the highest percentage of uninsured residents in the entire country. But in raw numbers, California always had more uninsured people, because it has more people in general. But now Texas is the worst of all 50 states on that metric, too. (Feibel, 9/16)

Louisville Courier-Journal: Report: Ky. Sees Biggest Drop In Uninsured
Kentucky saw the largest drop in percentage of residents who do not have health insurance than any other state between 2013 and 2014, according to a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau. The number of Kentuckians without health insurance fell by 250,000 in 2014, the report says. And the percent of the state’s population without health insurance dropped from 14.3 percent to 8.5 percent. (Loftus, 9/16)

The Associated Press: Kentucky Leads Nation In Drop Of Uninsured
Kentucky was one of 31 states that chose to increase the number of people eligible to receive taxpayer-funded health insurance in 2013. Since then, Kentucky has added about 400,000 people to its Medicaid program and has been held up as an example by President Barack Obama of the success of his health care law. (Beam, 9/16)

Kaiser Health News: In Colorado, Health Insurance Surges But Cost Still A Concern
On Wednesday, the Census Bureau gave Obamacare some good news: the uninsurance rate in the country dropped to 10.4 percent in 2014, down from 13.3 percent in 2013. Colorado may be doing even better. According to a survey from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Colorado Health Institute, the number of Coloradans who have health insurance has reached a historic high. When the Affordable Care Act launched two years ago, CHI found that about one in seven of the state’s residents, or 14 percent, were uninsured. Its latest data show that figure is 6.7 percent. (Daley, 9/16)

The Columbus Post-Dispatch: Obamacare Credited With Cutting Rate Of Uninsured
New census data suggest that the Affordable Care Act — not the recovering economy — deserves the lion’s share of credit for cutting the rate of people who were uninsured last year in Ohio and across the country. (Sutherly, 9/17)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Health Insurance Enrollment Up Across In Pennsylvania
Fewer Pennsylvanians are going without health insurance as the Affordable Care Act helps push more coverage into struggling communities, federal data show. About 8.5 percent of the state population was uninsured last year, down from 9.7 percent, or roughly 1.2 million people, in 2013, according to an annual report Wednesday from the U.S. Census Bureau. (Smeltz, 9/16)

The Kansas Health Institute News Service: Kansas And Missouri Lag In Reducing Numbers Of Uninsured
Both Kansas and Missouri are underperforming when it comes to reducing the number of uninsured within their borders. From 2013 to 2014, all 50 states recorded statistically significant reductions in their uninsured rates mostly because of the implementation of key provisions of the Affordable Care Act, according to new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. But most states saw bigger reductions than those posted in Kansas and Missouri. (McLean, 9/16)

Raleigh News & Observer: Report: NC Uninsured Rate Fell 13% In ACA’s First Year
North Carolina’s uninsured rate dropped 13 percent in 2014, the first year that most Americans were required to have health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. ... Last year, about 357,000 people in North Carolina enrolled in an individual insurance policy, and most qualified for federal subsidies to offset the cost of the coverage. As a result, the state uninsured rate dropped from 19.9 percent in 2013 to 17.3 percent in 2014. (Murawski, 9/16)

The Detroit Free Press: Rates Of Uninsured Drop In Michigan, Across The U.S.
The percentage of Michigan residents without health insurance continued to decline last year, according to data released today by the Census Bureau. Last year, 8.5% of Michigan residents were uninsured compared to 11% in 2013. ... All 50 states and the District of Columbia showed a decrease in the rate of uninsured people last year, with declines ranging from a 0.4 percentage point drop in Massachusetts to a 5.8 percentage point drop in Kentucky. (Tanner, 9/16)

Arizona Republic: Arizona's Uninsured Rate Drops With Affordable Care Act
Arizona was among states with the largest drops in the uninsured rate last year, as 215,000 Arizonans gained health coverage during the first year of the federal health-care law’s health-insurance expansion, according to a federal report released Wednesday. The Census Bureau reported that Arizona’s uninsured rate dropped to 13.6 percent in 2014, down from 17.1 percent in 2013. (Alltucker, 9/16)

Salt Lake City: Fewer People Are Without Health Insurance — Is It The Obamacare Effect?
Utah's share of residents without health insurance dipped for a fourth consecutive year in 2014, but it remains above the national rate, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Wednesday. The latest numbers indicate 12.5 percent of Utahns were uninsured last year, compared to 10.4 percent nationwide. About 36 million people across the country do not have insurance, the Census Bureau said, with about 365,523 of them in Utah. One advocate for the poor tied Utah's numbers directly to the state Legislature's controversial delay in expanding health programs for low-income residents. (Semerad, 9/16)

The Connecticut Mirror: Census: CT Uninsured Rate Down To 6.9 Percent
Connecticut’s uninsured rate dropped below 7 percent after the major provisions of the federal health law took effect last year, according to Census estimates released Wednesday. Uninsured rates fell in all 50 states and the District of Columbia from 2013 to 2014, and enrollment growth was highest in Medicaid and individually purchased private insurance – the two types of coverage most directly affected by Obamacare. (Levin Becker, 9/16)

Georgia Health News: State Sees Decline In Rate Of Uninsured People
Georgia’s uninsured rate in 2014 fell by three percentage points, to 15.8 percent, mirroring a national trend linked to new coverage from the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Wednesday. (Miller, 9/16)

Indianapolis Star: Indiana’s Uninsured Rate Drops, But Not As Much As Nation
The share of Hoosiers without health insurance fell from 14 percent to 11.9 percent last year, after implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the Census Bureau reported Wednesday. But Indiana still has a higher uninsured rate than its neighboring states, which expanded Medicaid before Indiana. (Groppe, 9/16)

The Oregonian: Oregon's Uninsured Rate Plunged In 2014, Census Says
Oregon saw one of the largest drops in the nation of the number of people who lacked health coverage last year, new U.S. Census numbers show. The portion of Oregonians who lacked insurance the entire year dropped to 9.7 percent last year, down from 14.7 percent the year before. That means that, in theory, more people have access to health care. (Budnick, 9/16)

Minnesota Public Radio: Rate Of Uninsured Minnesotans Falls To 5.9 Percent
New U.S. census statistics show that the percentage of Minnesotans without health insurance dropped sharply from 2013 to 2014. In 2013, 8.2 percent of Minnesotans lacked health insurance. By 2014, that number had dropped to 5.9 percent. (Zdechlik, 9/16)

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Census Report: Levels Of Uninsured Fell Dramatically In U.S., Wisconsin
An estimated 8.5 million people nationwide, including 100,000 in Wisconsin, gained health insurance coverage in 2014, the first year that key provisions of the Affordable Care Act went into effect, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The estimates released Wednesday show a historic drop in the uninsured rate to 11.7% nationally and to 7.3% in Wisconsin. (Boulton, Glauber and Crowe, 9/16)

Alaska Public Radio: Legislative Council Prepares For Next Phase Of Medicaid Expansion Lawsuit
The Legislative Council is moving forward with their lawsuit to stop Medicaid expansion. In the meantime, both the legislature and the Walker administration are working with consultants to find ways to reduce the cost of the Medicaid program. (Feidt, 9/16)

The Tennessean: AG: Haslam Can't Expand Medicaid Without Lawmaker OK
Supporters of Insure Tennessee suffered another loss at the hands of the attorney general this week, and Gov. Bill Haslam potentially lost some leverage, in the ongoing debate over expanding health care coverage to low-income Tennesseans. In a new opinion, Attorney General Herbert Slatery argued Haslam can't implement any form of Medicaid expansion without lawmaker approval. (Boucher, 9/16)

Elsewhere, Florida continues to struggle with the cost of care for low-income residents -

The News Service Of Florida: Medicaid Projections Cloud Predicted Forecast
Despite a transition to managed care meant to tame huge increases in Medicaid spending, the health-care program for low-income Floridians still threatens to consume almost half of the state's revenue growth, an economist told lawmakers Tuesday. Forecasters expect Medicaid to eat up 45.9 percent of the growth in the state's general revenue over the next three years, according to Amy Baker, coordinator of the Legislature's Office of Economic and Demographic Research. Baker was speaking to the Legislative Budget Commission, a group of House and Senate lawmakers who have to approve an annual three-year outlook for the state budget. (Larabee, 9/16)

And in other health law implementation news, states do not have ambitious plans to take advantage of the so-called 1332 waiver program, so far -

Politico Pro: States Thinking Small On Major Obamacare Waiver Program
An ambitious Obamacare waiver program providing states with broad discretion to redesign their health care systems beginning in 2017 is hardly living up to the hype — at least for now. The so-called 1332 waiver program was included in the law to let states pursue their own reforms after Obamacare's coverage expansions took root. The waivers have been touted both as a vehicle for blue states to pursue more progressive coverage schemes and for red states to help undo a law that Republicans say is far too prescriptive. (Pradhan, 9/16)

The Wall Street Journal: GOP Tensions Grow Over Planned Parenthood Funding
Chances of a government shutdown at the end of the month are growing as Republican leaders face mounting pressure from conservatives determined to use a must-pass spending bill as leverage in the fight over Planned Parenthood. Senior Republicans, intent on avoiding a partial government shutdown, plan to bring a raft of antiabortion measures up for votes in the House and Senate this month in hopes of channeling conservatives’ anger over videos showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing fees for procuring fetal tissue for medical researchers. (Peterson and Armour, 9/16)

Politico: GOP Weighs Delay Of Planned Parenthood Fight
With just seven legislative days until the government shuts down, House and Senate Republicans both privately discussed delaying the fight over Planned Parenthood’s funding until the budget reconciliation process, according to multiple sources in both meetings. Government funding runs out Sept. 30, and dozens of conservative House Republicans want to use the upcoming legislative debate to cut off federal funding for the women’s health group. (Sherman and Bade, 9/16)

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: Q&A: How We Got To The Verge Of Another Government Shutdown
Talk of a government shutdown has again absorbed Washington – two years after the government was shut down for 16 days when conservative Republicans used a routine spending bill to try to stop the Affordable Care Act from taking hold. This time the issue is abortion, as conservative Republicans are vowing to strip funding for Planned Parenthood from bills to fund the government in the new fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. Here are some basics. (Hughes, 9/16)

The Associated Press: GOP Leaders Hope Right To Life Can Help Head Off Shutdown
Hoping to prevent the Republican uproar over the Planned Parenthood videos from snowballing into a government shutdown, GOP leaders are turning to one of Planned Parenthood’s most implacable foes: the National Right to Life Committee. (Fram, 9/17)

Politico: McCarthy, Ryan Call For End To Boehner Drama
The only two viable potential replacements for John Boehner as speaker of the House say they back the Ohio Republican and will oppose any effort to remove him from power. But other high-ranking Republicans are testing the waters should the embattled speaker be forced out. ... Boehner’s tenuous hold on power, exacerbated by conservative demands to cut off federal funding to Planned Parenthood, has set off some jockeying for position in the upper ranks of the House GOP hierarchy should he fall. ... However, Boehner does face serious internal challenges, as even his closest allies openly admit. A small pocket of roughly two dozen conservatives — led by members of the House Freedom Caucus — have threatened to try and remove the speaker if they don’t get what they want on a government funding bill by the end of this month. GOP leadership prefers to defund Planned Parenthood as part of the budget reconciliation process. (Sherman, Bresnahan and Palmer, 9/17)

The Associated Press: Report: $235M Saved By Year Ban On Planned Parenthood Funds
A Republican bill that would halt federal payments to Planned Parenthood for a year could reduce health care access for about 390,000 people while saving taxpayers about $235 million, Congress’ official authority on the budget said Wednesday. The estimate by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office comes as Republicans are pushing for the cut in the wake of videos that show Planned Parenthood representatives discussing how the group provides fetal tissue for research. (Fram, 9/16)

Politico Pro: CBO: Planned Parenthood Defunding Bill Would Save Government $235 Million
The House's proposal to defund Planned Parenthood for one year would cut about $235 million in government spending, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The agency said that about $255 million would be cut from Planned Parenthood in the year after the bill is enacted. But the cuts would likely result in more Medicaid spending down the road — $20 million in the first year and a total of $60 million over the next decade. (Haberkorn, 9/16)

The Hill: CBO: Defunding Planned Parenthood Means 'Several Thousand' More Births
Cutting off Planned Parenthood’s funding would result in a net savings of $235 million over a decade, while also resulting in “several thousand” unplanned births that would drive up government costs elsewhere, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday. A bill to freeze the provider’s funding would save $390 million in Medicaid spending over the next year, according to a report from the nonpartisan office. But it would also cost Medicaid about $60 million more because of the additional pregnancies by women who no longer receive birth control. (Ferris, 9/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Donald Trump Fields Jabs In Republican Debate
Candidates were also at odds on whether to force a shutdown of the government over efforts to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who was a leader of the health-law funding fight that resulted in a 2013 partial government shutdown, said he would do it again—even though many Republicans viewed the 2013 fight as a political loser for their party. The candidates criticized the videos depicting officials at the organization discussing the use of fetal tissue obtained after abortions, but Mr. Kasich said closing the government would be a fruitless effort. “The American people are going to shake their heads and say, ‘What’s the story with these Republicans?’ ” He said he was “sympathetic” to the cause of eliminating the group’s funding but that a government shutdown wouldn’t “work out.” (Hook, O'Connor and Ballhaus, 9/17)

The Washington Post: Fact Checking The Second Round Of GOP Debates
Not every candidate uttered facts that are easily fact checked, but following is a list of 17 suspicious claims. As is our practice, we do not award Pinocchios when we do a roundup of facts in debates. ... “As the brand new first ever pro-life governor of New Jersey since Roe versus Wade, I defunded Planned Parenthood.” —New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) This is a shift in Christie’s rhetoric, tying his decision to veto Planned Parenthood funding to his anti-abortion beliefs. A review of news coverage from 2010 and Christie’s vetoes of funding measures for Planned Parenthood clinics shows that Christie previously explained his veto as a measure to balance the state budget — not as a pro-life measure. (Kessler and Lee, 9/17)

NPR: Fact Check: Fiorina's HP Record; Trump's Bankruptcies; Vaccines And Autism
Trump has touted his success as a businessman as his chief qualification for the Oval Office. But he also offered up some medical opinions last night, particularly on the question of vaccines. Trump was asked Wednesday night about having previously raised the notion that childhood vaccines could cause autism. That's a long-discredited theory, but he again left open the possibility that they do. ... Trump was quickly set straight by his fellow candidate Ben Carson, who's a retired pediatric neurosurgeon: "We have extremely well documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations." Trump said all he's really advocating is that vaccines be spaced out over a longer period of time, though the American Academy of Pediatrics says there's no evidence that's necessary. (Horsly, 916)

The Washington Post: The GOP’s Dangerous ‘Debate’ On Vaccines And Autism
Whether or not the vaccine “debate” did any damage to Carson, Trump, Paul or the GOP among voters is still unclear. But it was a talking point from a testy night full of politicians pushing back against science and “big government.” Technically, Carson’s answer was in line with the overwhelming scientific consensus that vaccines don’t cause autism. ... But even Carson’s tepid initial response quickly began to unravel. (Miller, 9/17)

The Hill: Fioriana: 'Shame On US' If Congress Funds Planned Parenthood
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina delivered an impassioned attack against Planned Parenthood on Wednesday, comparing the women’s health provider to the dangers of Iran. “I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes,” she said of the 10 undercover videos that have been released by an anti-abortion group this summer. (Ferris, 9/16)

Politico: The POLITICO Wrongometer
Donald Trump stuck to a position that’s totally unsupported by medical evidence — that a link exists behind autism and vaccines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other medical authorities have said repeatedly that science has demonstrated there is no link between vaccination and autism. Giving children multiple vaccinations at the same has also been proven to be safe, the CDC said. ... The videos that have stirred up so much trouble for Planned Parenthood don’t show what Fiorina claims. An anti-abortion group, the Center for Medical Progress, has released several videos alleging that the women’s health organization illegally profits from fetal tissue sales. In one video, a former employee of the fetal tissue procurement company StemExpress — which, until recently, worked with Planned Parenthood — alleges that she saw an aborted fetus’ heart beat after a clinician tapped its heart. That video relies solely on the interview and does not include footage to support her claims. The group’s undercover videos do show specimens of fetal tissue in some Planned Parenthood clinics, but at no point do they include footage of an entire aborted fetus. (/16)

Reuters: Cigna CEO Defends Anthem Deal, Says Consumers Will Have Choice
Health insurer Anthem's planned $47 billion takeover of rival Cigna will not hurt consumers but increase choice and affordability, Cigna CEO David Cordani said, defending the merger against widespread criticism that it will harm competition. The Anthem-Cigna deal and a plan by Aetna Inc to buy Humana have come in the wake of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act and amid pressure on insurers to keep healthcare spending down for their biggest customers - employers and the U.S. government. (Humer, 9/16)

Reuters: GE Exec Says No Intent To Split Off Health Care Business
General Electric Co has no intent to split off any significant parts of its healthcare business, GE's head of the unit said on Wednesday, and that "all aspects" of the $18 billion division are part of the company's portfolio. Some analysts and investors over time have raised questions about how smoothly GE's healthcare business fits with the rest of the industrial conglomerate and whether some parts could generate more value if divested. (Krauskopf, 9/16)

Bloomberg: Target To Offer Health Tracking Fitbits To 335,000 Employees
Retail giant Target will offer activity trackers from Fitbit to its 335,000 U.S. employees, becoming the latest firm looking to the inexpensive wearable devices as a way to improve its workers' fitness and reduce health-care costs. The deal is one of Fitbit's largest corporate accounts yet. While corporate services generate less than 10 percent of Fitbit's revenue, it's "one of the fastest-growing parts of the business," Chief Executive Officer James Park said in an interview. Fitbit offers employers a dashboard where they can see an employee's activity data, such as steps taken in a day. It also helps companies organize competitions and incentives to get workers moving. (Chen and Pettypiece, 9/16)

The Associated Press: Target, Developing Healthier Habits, Hands Workers Fitbits
Target is going on a health kick, aimed at both customers and its employees. The discount-store chain will push granola bars and healthy grab-and-go snacks over candy at the checkout and hand out free basic activity trackers from Fitbit Inc. to its more 300,000 employees as part of the effort. Target will also give employees extra discounts on fruits and vegetables, said Jodee Kozlak, chief human resources officer. (9/16)

And, a new health coverage option for federal employees offers a mixed bag for workers on how much it costs -

The Washington Post: New Federal Employee Health Insurance Option Will Mean Savings For Some, Higher Costs For Others
Family coverage premiums in the health insurance program for federal employees and retirees will increase by 7 percent on average for 2016 because of the introduction of a new option covering only the enrollee and one family member. Meanwhile, current family plan enrollees who switch to that new option, called self plus one, will save 6 percent on average compared with current rates, the government projects. (Yoder, 9/16)

The Washington Post: Researchers: 2001 Paxil Study Seems To Play Down Suicide Risks To Youths
The study that paved the way for prescribing the antidepressant Paxil to millions of adolescents was seriously flawed, marked by what appear to be attempts to play down harms such as an increase in suicidal behavior by younger people who tested the drug, according to a reanalysis released Wednesday.(Bernstein and Cha, 9/16)

Reuters: Analysis Of GSK's Seroxat Antidepressant Finds Key Data Was Held Back
A medical journal criticized British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline on Thursday for delaying access to key data from a trial of its antidepressant Seroxat that would have shown earlier that it is neither safe or effective in adolescents. The widely used medicine, known generically as paroxetine, is linked to an increased risk of suicide in young people and has carried a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "black box warning" advising against its use in adolescents since 2004. (Kelland, 9/16)

The Washington Post: Va. Hospitals Pressure State Lawmakers In Ad Campaign For ACA Money
A network of Virginia hospitals on Wednesday adopted a new approach to finding a way to use federal dollars from the Affordable Care Act to relieve the economic burden on the health-care industry: Don’t call it Medicaid expansion. Hospital chief executives gathered at an urban hospital in Richmond to unveil the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association’s ad campaign that will target lawmakers opposed to extending coverage to 400,000 uninsured Virginians and get residents thinking about the importance of community health care. (Portnoy, 9/16)

The Richmond Times-Dispatch: Hospital Association Warns Of Financial Pressures
Some Virginia hospitals are financially struggling, threatening the delivery of medical services especially in rural areas, hospital executives warned Wednesday. Government decisions, such as 2 percent cuts to Medicare payments, failing to expand Medicaid, and penalizing hospitals for readmissions that are beyond their control, are driving some facilities, particularly those in rural areas, to financial insolvency, the executives said at a news conference convened at a hospital in Richmond’s East End. (Smith, 9/16)

The Associated Press: Va. Hospital Association Warns Of Financial Challenges
Virginia's hospitals are taking a step back from their earlier appeals to expand Medicaid and are instead trying a new approach: reminding lawmakers how critical hospitals are to the state's welfare and emphasizing the financial strain they are under. The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association announced Wednesday at the Richmond Community Hospital that the group is launching a new ad campaign aimed at letting legislators and the public know that hospitals are under intense financial pressure and need help. (Suderman, 9/16)

NPR/Side Effects Media: School Nurses Stock Drug To Reverse Opioid Overdoses
AnneMarie Zagari found her teenage son unresponsive on the couch after he took too many opioid painkillers in 2011. She began pounding his chest and slapping his face, and finally succeeded in reviving him by giving him CPR. It was a terrifying moment. And that panic wouldn't have been necessary if she'd had access to the drug naloxone (also known as Narcan), which can instantly reverse an overdose. (Faust, 9/16)

Health News Florida: Heroin Straining Those Who Protect, Treat
Manatee County, on Florida's west coast, is home to more than 300,000 people. It's known for its beaches, and if you go just a short distance inland, you'll pass by the iconic fruit stands and working citrus groves. "This is a really fabulous place to live. We have a lot of great things going on here,” said Melissa Larkin-Skinner, who has lived in Manatee County since the age of 3. “I grew up here and I love it." But as the chief clinical officer at Centerstone, the only in-patient detox facility in Manatee County, she sees her hometown starting to be well known for something else -- hundreds of overdoses and dozens of people dying from heroin. (Watts, 9/16)

The Associated Press: Illinois To Fund Services For Disabled Kids Amid Budget Feud
Illinois will begin paying for services to help young children with developmental disabilities and to assist seniors in their homes despite not having a budget in place and warnings from lawmakers that the state is spending billions more than it's taking in. Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger said Wednesday her office determined the early intervention services, provided to children up to age 3, should have been paid for under a previously issued consent decree that requires some social services be funded. In a separate action, a federal judge ruled a program that aims to help seniors avoid costly nursing home care is covered by a court order requiring state payment. (Burnett, 9/17)

The Associated Press: US Judge Rules Illinois Must Fund Senior-Aid Program
A federal judge has ruled a program providing in-home services to seniors is covered by Medicaid and should be funded even though there's no Illinois budget because of a political stalemate. Stephanie Altman is with the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. She says U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow issued the ruling in Chicago on Wednesday. Altman says the Community Care Program serves 89,000 seniors. It provides homemaking assistance which allows them to avoid costly nursing home care. (9/16)

Kaiser Health News: In L.A., Longevity And Health In Later Life Vary By Community
A report on aging in Los Angeles County, the nation’s largest county and one of its most diverse, shows wide disparities in life expectancy among different ethnic groups and neighborhoods. Overall, the life expectancy for Los Angeles County residents was about 82 years in 2011, up from nearly 76 in 1991, according to the report by University of Southern California’s Roybal Institute on Aging. Much of that can be attributed to drops in coronary heart disease, strokes and lung cancer, the report noted. (Gorman, 9/16)

The New York Times: Jon Stewart Joins 9/11 Workers In Pressing Congress To Extend Benefits
Jon Stewart, the recently retired host of “The Daily Show,” exhorted Congress on Wednesday to permanently extend a law providing treatment and compensation to rescue workers who were injured or sickened by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The bill, which is set to start expiring next month, has long been a favored cause of the comedian, whose shows in 2010 criticizing the law’s Republican opponents and showcasing emergency medical workers with health problems helped prompt its passage. (Mueller, 9/16)

Heartland Health Monitor: Truman Medical Centers Shutting Down Behavioral Health Emergency Department
Truman Medical Centers said it is closing its Hospital Hill behavioral health emergency department in Kansas City, Mo., effective immediately and current patients will be transferred to the hospital’s inpatient facility or to another psychiatric facility. Truman CEO Charlie Shields said in a telephone interview that the move came after state and federal regulators made it clear the department needed “to look and operate as if it’s an emergency department in a regular hospital, and that’s fairly challenging for us.” (Margolies, 9/16)

North Carolina Health News: Troubled Rural Hospitals Get Attention At The Legislature
Two rural hospitals in crisis got some help from state legislators Wednesday, as amendments to assist them were added to a bill to encourage diabetes screening for children. House Bill 20, now renamed the Rural Access to Care Act, makes tweaks to existing state law to help residents of Yadkin and of Beaufort counties, both of which have had hospitals close in the past year. (Hoban, 9/17)

The Center For Investigative Reporting: California Surgeon Accused Of Leading $150 Million Insurance Scam
In a case the Los Angeles district attorney’s office is calling one of the largest insurance scams in the state, an orthopedic surgeon is accused of deceiving patients into having surgery at the hands of an unqualified assistant and undergoing procedures they didn’t need. (Jewett, 9/16)

The Associated Press: Man Claims Bias Over Use Of HIV-Blocking Drug
As a gay man, the Boston attorney thought he was doing the responsible thing when he asked his doctor to prescribe Truvada, a drug hailed as a way to halt the spread of AIDS. But when he tried to get long-term care insurance, Mutual of Omaha turned him down, saying it does not offer coverage to anyone who takes the drug. Now, the man is planning to sue the insurer, alleging he was discriminated against because he is gay. He filed a complaint Wednesday with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, the first step in a lawsuit. (Lavoie, 9/16)

The Kansas Health Institute News Service: Garden City Mother Prepares To Sue State For Right To Use Medical Marijuana
Lawyers for Garden City resident Shona Banda have prepared a lawsuit against Gov. Sam Brownback and the state agency that has custody of her child, claiming she has a constitutional right to use cannabis to treat her Crohn’s disease. Banda self-published a book and posted videos online in which she says cannabis is the only treatment able to calm her condition. The national medical marijuana movement has rallied around her since March, when Garden City police came to her home and confiscated her cannabis after her 11-year-old son spoke up about her use of it at a school anti-drug presentation. (Marso, 9/16)

Bloomberg: Obamacare, The Unfinished Success
The numbers are in: Obamacare reduced the share of Americans without health insurance last year to 10.4 percent, down from 13.3 percent the year before. That represents 8.8 million fewer people who risked financial ruin if they needed significant medical care. Most of the improvement came from people getting coverage through Medicaid or the state insurance exchanges. The figures put to rest the notion that Obamacare would cause more people to lose coverage than gain it. But U.S. health care is by no means fixed. Three substantial improvements are still needed. (9/17)

The New York Times' The Upshot: Four Ways Obamacare Has Affected Health Insurance
Beyond the headline numbers showing a substantial decline in the number of Americans without health insurance, today’s Census Bureau report contained some important details, including: The employer health insurance market still looks strong. Enrollment numbers from the federal government have told us that millions of Americans signed up for private health insurance in the new Obamacare marketplaces. But some skeptics had worried that those sign-ups weren’t uninsured people, but instead previously insured people whose employers had stopped offering coverage once government-subsidized options were available. ... Before today, it has been really hard to know for sure. ... The report found that the number of Americans with employer coverage held steady — there was no statistically significant change between 2013 and 2014. (Margot Sanger-Katz, 9/16)

The Washington Post: The ‘Young Invincibles’ Are Primarily Men
The U.S. Census Bureau just released its latest numbers on health insurance, showing a spike in the share of Americans with coverage. But there’s still a sizable chunk of the population that has high rates of uninsurance: older millennials, a.k.a. the “young invincibles,” a nickname that refers to their supposedly hubristic attitude that they don’t need health insurance because they’ll never get sick. (Catherine Rampell, 9/16)

The Washington Post: Message From New Census Data: Keep The Recovery On Track And Leave The ACA Alone!
On the other hand, one of the most important, positive and striking findings from today’s report is the drop in the number of Americans lacking health coverage, a clear sign of the Affordable Care Act at work. Last year, 8.8 million more people got coverage, leading to yet another decline in the uninsured rate, from 13.3 percent in 2013 to 10.4 percent in 2014. That’s a record low for these data, and a comparison using a range of health coverage surveys demonstrates that these are the largest single-year declines on record, with data back to 1987. (Jared Bernstein, 9/16)

The Wall Street Journal: I’ll Create Jobs, Provide Better Care For Less (Letter)
[H]ere’s where the [Wall Street Journal] article is mistaken. While a Medicare-for-all program may cost $15 trillion over 10 years, this proposal would eliminate all payments made by Americans and businesses to health-insurance companies. At a time when the U.S. spends substantially more per capita on health care than does any other country on earth, a single-payer health-care program would substantially lower our total health-care costs and would guarantee health care to all Americans. This approach would end the international embarrassment of the U.S. being the only major country on earth that doesn’t already do this. For The Wall Street Journal to ignore the enormous savings that Medicare-for-all would bring to our wildly inefficient and dysfunctional health-care system is irresponsible. (Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., 9/17)

Los Angeles Times: Are Congress Members Required To Get Coverage Via Obamacare?
Herbert says he saw that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker — one of the GOP candidates — said recently that, if elected president, he would "light a fire under Congress" to repeal the reform law by signing "an executive order that will pull back the special deal President Obama put in place for Congress." ... Herbert asks: "Doesn't Congress already have to live under the Affordable Care Act?" Nope. At least if they don't mind paying more for health insurance. (David Lazarus, 9/16)

Raleigh News & Observer: The ACA’s Strong Showing In North Carolina
General Assembly conservatives who dismissed the thousands of citizens who came to demonstrate against their anti-labor, anti-middle-class agenda may attack Obamacare at their peril. For despite all that Gov. Pat McCrory and legislative leaders did to frustrate those who wanted and needed health insurance they could obtain only through federal health care exchanges – the state declined to set up its own marketplace – North Carolina remains the state with the fourth-highest ACA enrollment. New figures show nearly 460,000 people are insured thanks to the Affordable Care Act. Without this insurance, they’d be left to long waits in emergency rooms and a catch-as-catch-can health care of illnesses that need maintenance and regular scrutiny from doctors. (9/15)

The New York Times: When Crime Pays: J&J’s Drug Risperdal
Risperdal is a billion-dollar antipsychotic medicine with real benefits — and a few unfortunate side effects. It can cause strokes among the elderly. And it can cause boys to grow large, pendulous breasts; one boy developed a 46DD bust. Yet Johnson & Johnson marketed Risperdal aggressively to the elderly and to boys while allegedly manipulating and hiding the data about breast development. J&J got caught, pleaded guilty to a crime and has paid more than $2 billion in penalties and settlements. But that pales next to some $30 billion in sales of Risperdal around the world. (Nicholas Kristof, 9/17)

The Washington Post: Trump And Sanders Chase After Seniors Shamelessly
There can be no solution to the nation’s long-term fiscal imbalances that does not involve pruning Social Security and Medicare. The sacrifices involved need only be modest for the vast majority of seniors — and none for the small minority who are poor — though the longer we wait, the higher the cost. (Charles Lane, 9/16)

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Rural Patients Deserve Better Than Medicare Cuts
Every hour, more than one Wisconsin resident dies of cancer, and that rate will increase if Medicare patients aren't able to access medical care. Yet some in Washington could soon jeopardize access by slashing funding for Medicare Part B — which covers treatments such as cancer drugs and outpatient chemotherapy. Such funding cuts to Medicare Part B would force many rural cancer clinics to close, depriving Medicare patients from access to lifesaving treatments, such as chemotherapy. Wisconsin's representatives in Congress should follow the lead of their colleagues Ron Kind and Paul Ryan in opposing actions that harm Part B and risk patients' health. (Gregg Silberg, 9/16)

The Chicago Sun-Times: Disabled Kids Get Funds, Hospitals Left Waiting
Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger’s office called Wednesday with a piece of good news: the state will resume payments to providers of Early Intervention services to developmentally disabled infants and toddlers. That’s one of the programs I’ve been telling you fell through the cracks after the state started operating without a budget on July 1. Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration determined the program, which it was already targeting for major cuts, wasn’t covered by any of the existing court orders and consent decrees that are keeping most of the rest of state government functioning. So they stopped paying the people who work with disabled kids, putting the whole program in danger of collapse. Parents were up in arms. (Mark Brown, 9/15)

The Denver Post: Nurses Unite In Anger At "The View" Over Miss Colorado
Nurses unite! Take back your stethoscopes! The country's nurses are pushing back against "The View" and the hosts who denigrated the work of nurses generally and Miss Colorado, Kelley Johnson, in particular. Social media is full of anger at Joy Behar and co-host Michelle Collins for comments made on the ABC show. As the world now knows, during the talent portion of the pageant, Johnson, who is from Windsor, wore a stethoscope and her nurse's scrubs while giving a monologue about her career as a health worker. Collins found Johnson's bit "hilarious." Under the hashtag "#nursesunite" a typical comment directed at the show and the host (@TheView @JoyVBehar) read, "I save lives. What do you do?" (9/16)