The Associated Press: Democrats Poised To Filibuster Stopgap Funding Measure
The Senate is preparing to vote on legislation that would keep the government open beyond next Wednesday's deadline at a price Democrats are certain to reject — stripping taxpayer money from Planned Parenthood. The stopgap spending bill is widely expected to fail Thursday. The next steps aren't set in stone, although Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has promised there won't be a government shutdown. That suggests he would soon press ahead with a stopgap measure that's free of the Planned Parenthood dispute. (9/24)

The Associated Press: GOP Pragmatists Protest Tea Party Shutdown Tactics
Rank-and-file Republican lawmakers are increasingly protesting the tactics of tea party colleagues who demand that legislation to keep the government open also take away federal funding for Planned Parenthood. The leading proponent of bringing the fight over funding the group to a possible government shutdown remained unbowed. (Taylor, 9/23)

The Washington Post: Van Hollen On Government Shutdown: Patients Will Be Turned Away From NIH
Patients with critical illnesses will be turned away and research will be disrupted if the government shuts down again on Oct. 1, the director of the National Institutes of Health and the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee warned Tuesday. With just four legislative days remaining until the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said that during the 16-day shutdown in 2013, new patients were not allowed in to the clinical facilities of the Bethesda medical campus. (Bernstein, 9/22),

The Hill: CBO: Defunding Planned Parenthood Increases Government Spending
Permanently defunding Planned Parenthood would end up increasing government spending by $130 million over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The CBO, Congress’s nonpartisan scorekeeper, projects that defunding Planned Parenthood would actually end up increasing government spending, because it would result in more unplanned births as women lost access to services such as contraception. Medicaid would have to pay for some of those births, and some of the children themselves would then end up qualifying for Medicaid and other government programs. (Sullivan, 9/23)

The Washington Post: Shuttering The Government Actually Costs More Than Keeping It Open — More Than $2 Billion Last Time
Budget hawks in Congress may stand their ground on wasteful spending, but shutting down the government is no example of fiscal frugality. ... The reports run through a lengthy list of disruptions in 2013. They include a backlog in veterans’ disability claims, nearly 6,300 children left out of Head Start, patients left out of cancer studies at the National Institutes of Health, halted consumer-safety work, delays in tax refunds. The Food and Drug Administration delayed “nearly 500 food and feed domestic inspections and roughly 355 food safety inspections under state contracts,” the budget office said. (Rein, 9/24)

Politico: Boehner Braced For Pope's Message
Still, Francis will likely please the GOP on other fronts. He’s expected to touch on the need to end abortion, defend traditional marriage and protect religious liberty, even if he uses opaque terms. As the threat of a government shutdown looms, Francis also may discuss the need for bipartisanship, though he’ll likely use a term such as “political unity.” (Toosi, 9/24)

USA Today: Pope Pushes Catholic Hospitals, Clinics To Do More To Help Poor
Pope Francis, who will address a joint session of Congress on Thursday, is pushing Catholic hospitals and clinics to increase their free health care to the poor as many House and Senate Republicans try to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, which provided health coverage to millions of low-income Americans. Anthony Tersigni, CEO of St. Louis-based Ascension — the largest non-profit health system in the USA — will be in the gallery during the pope's address. Tersigni, who chairs the International Association of Catholic Hospitals, will meet with Francis in the Vatican in November to discuss the pope's push to get Catholic-owned health care providers to do more to help the poor. (O'Donnell and Ungar, 9/23)

Reuters: Pope Visits U.S. Nuns Involved In Obamacare Contraception Lawsuit
Pope Francis on Wednesday made an unscheduled stop to a convent of nuns to show his support for their lawsuit against U.S. President Barack Obama's healthcare law. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the visit to the convent of the Little Sisters of the Poor for what he called a "brief but symbolic visit." Last August, a federal appeals court in Denver put on hold its ruling that the order of Roman Catholic nuns must comply with a contraception mandate in the law, giving the group time to petition the U.S. Supreme Court. (9/23)

The Washington Post's The Fix: Study: Obamacare Has Made Americans More Conservative About Health Care
On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton issued her defense of the Affordable Care Act and proposals to change the landmark health law, signaling the next battle in a war with all the signs of a political stalemate. Americans are basically evenly split in their assessments of the law and sharply divided along partisan lines; Republican presidential candidates want to scrap the law, while Democrats support keeping it (Clinton) or expanding it (Bernie Sanders). None of this is new to anybody, nor expected to change anytime soon. (Clement, 9/23)

Real Clear Politics: 'Cadillac Tax' Is Hated, But It Might Be Working
In a bit of poetic justice, a tax named after an automobile brand got a boost from contract negotiations in the Motor City. That new federal levy, officially called an excise tax on high-cost health coverage, is better known as the "Cadillac tax." Under this provision of the Affordable Care Act, employer-sponsored health coverage worth more than $10,200 per year to an individual or $27,500 per year to a family will be subject to a 40 percent tax on the amount that exceeds the threshold. The tax doesn't take effect until 2018, and as we get closer to that date, pressure in Congress is building to repeal it. (Eisenhower, 9/24)

The Associated Press: Federal Agency Examines NY Health Exchange Controls
A federal oversight agency says the New York Health Exchange's internal controls sometimes were ineffective in verifying household income and reconciling inconsistent data for people enrolling for coverage and financial assistance. The Department of Health and Human Services inspector general says that doesn't necessarily mean the exchange improperly enrolled applicants, noting that other controls did work, like verifying Social Security numbers. (9/24)

Wichita Eagle: Via Christi, Citing Revenue Declines, Will Renew Efforts To Expand Medicaid In Kansas
Via Christi said it is losing nearly $14 million a year as a result of the state’s decision not to expand Medicaid. The hospital is joining with other medical groups in an effort to push the state to expand eligibility for the federal and state insurance program for people with low incomes or who are disabled. As part of that push, the hospital released an update Wednesday on its finances saying it lost $14 million in both 2013 and 2014 because Medicaid was not expanded. (Dunn, 9/23)

The Kansas Health Institute News Service: Via Christi Leader: Kansas Hospitals Hurting Due To 'Failure' To Expand Medicaid
Kansas’ “failure” to expand Medicaid is putting health care providers in jeopardy, the head of the state’s largest health system said Wednesday. Jeff Korsmo, CEO of Wichita-based Via Christi Health, issued a statement calling on Gov. Sam Brownback and Republican legislative leaders to drop their opposition to expanding KanCare, the state’s privatized Medicaid program. (McLean, 9/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Hillary Clinton Aims To Limit Consumers’ Health-Insurance Costs
Each idea is geared toward addressing gripes that have grown louder in recent years among people who have insurance. Among the biggest complaints are so-called high-deductible plans, which offer relatively low monthly premiums but require people to pay several thousand dollars before coverage kicks in. Such plans have become increasingly common options for people who buy through the health law or get coverage as part of their job. Insurance networks also have generated considerable consumer heartburn. (Radnofsky, 9/23)

The Washington Post: Clinton Proposes Expansion Of ACA For Doctor ‘Sick Visits’ And Tax Credit For Out-Of-Pocket Medical Costs
Hillary Rodham Clinton proposed Wednesday to guarantee Americans three doctor visits annually that would not count against a patient’s insurance plan “deductible,” the threshold amount patients must pay out of pocket before some insurance plans kick in. The Democratic presidential candidate is also proposing a tax credit to help offset other out-of-pocket medical costs for Americans squeezed by rising patient-borne costs for doctor visits, prescription drugs and other medical expenses. (Gearan, 9/23)

The Associated Press: Clinton Aims To Tackle Out-Of-Pocket Health Care Costs
And her plan aims to protect Americans from unexpected medical bills and help states prevent insurance companies from imposing excessive rate increases. (9/23)

CNN: Hillary Clinton Unveils Plan To Lower Americans' Medical Costs
A day after taking on price gouging by drug companies, Hillary Clinton unveiled a plan to help Americans' afford the rising cost of seeing the doctor. ... "When Americans get sick, high costs shouldn't prevent them from getting better," Clinton said. "With deductibles rising so much faster than incomes, we must act to reduce the out-of-pocket costs families face. My plan would take a number of steps to ease the burden of medical expenses and protect health care consumers." (Luhby, 9/23)

Reuters: Clinton Plan To Cut Health Costs Tax Credits, More Sick Visits
Clinton, who has promised to build on President Barack Obama's signature healthcare initiative, also pledged to try to strengthen efforts to block or modify what her campaign called "unreasonable" health insurance rate increases. (Becker, 9/23)

Bloomberg: Clinton Promises Health Insurance Merger Scrutiny In Policy Plan
Hillary Clinton said she would give close scrutiny to health-insurance industry mergers like those proposed this year by Anthem Inc. and Aetna Inc., part of the Democratic presidential candidate's latest policy plans. Clinton's campaign, which on Tuesday released a group of policies that would lower Americans' prescription drug spending, said Wednesday that she would give families tax credits worth as much as $5,000 to help pay for all out-of-pocket health-care costs, while individuals would get as much as $2,500. (Edney, 9/23)

The Huffington Post: How Clinton Wants To Turn Obamacare Into Hillarycare 2.0
By both backing President Barack Obama's most significant domestic policy achievement while also acknowledging its shortcomings and pledging to improve it, Clinton is, in a way, returning to her roots and reclaiming ownership of a signature issue. Health care reform helped define Clinton in the 1990s when she headed former President Bill Clinton's failed efforts to make over the system into what critics in the insurance industry and the Republican Congress derided as "Hillarycare." (Young, 9/23)

Politico: Graham Itching To Confront Cruz, Paul
Graham said in an interview he's prepared to confront Cruz directly as the chamber braces for a rhetorical assault from the Texas senator, with Graham arguing that a shutdown would be futile and politically damaging. It’s an opportunity, Graham says, “to tell my side of the story here.” And, the senator with the syrupy Southern drawl admits, it won’t be because he thinks it’s going to give him a bounce in the polls. “I’m running to be the president of the United States. And a certain amount of honesty comes with that,” Graham said in an interview. “Shutting down the government, I think it hurts our overall cause and I don't mind telling people that. If I’m going to be a good nominee and a good president, I’ve got to tell you what I believe.” (Everett, 9/24)

Los Angeles Times: Carly Fiorina Just Another Politician? Views Shift To Sway More Conservative Crowd
In one of the most dramatic moments of her breakthrough debate performance, Carly Fiorina called for a government shutdown in the fight over Planned Parenthood, painting a gruesome picture involving the harvesting of fetal tissue for medical research. ... But beyond that controversy and the battle over federal funding for Planned Parenthood, Fiorina’s forceful response stood out for another reason: It suggested a shift from the stance she took in her 2010 U.S. Senate race in California. Then, during a debate with Democrat Barbara Boxer, she endorsed spending federal funds on research using human embryos that would have otherwise been discarded. ... Campaigning for president, she fiercely emphasizes her opposition to legal abortion, referring to it as “butchery” and “a kind of barbarity,” and calls for overturning Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. But in another debate during her Senate race, Fiorina said if elected she would not initiate action to overturn Roe vs. Wade, or make opposition to abortion a litmus test for Supreme Court appointments. (Barabak and Mehta, 9/23)

The Associated Press: Fury Over Drug Price Spikes Rising, But Increases Aren't New
Hillary Clinton was among the patients and politicians who voiced outrage this week after it became public that the price of a 62-year-old drug used to treat a life-threatening infection had been raised by more than 5,000 percent. But exorbitant drug price hikes like that have happened increasingly over the last few years. And they could become even more common because of decreasing competition in the pharmaceutical industry, among other factors. (Johnson, 9/23)

CNN: 'Outrageous' Pill Prices Are Big Business As Usual
Drugs such as Daraprim, Doxycycline, Flucytosine and Cycloserine have been making news headlines lately because of their dramatic price hikes. A 2014 House of Representatives investigation found 10 generic drugs that ranged in price increases anywhere from 420% to over 8,000% of their prices just a year before. These generic drugs have jumped in price for a range of reasons, including shortages because of manufacturing issues and market consolidation. Generic drugs in particular are more susceptible to the market because they are off patent and can have competition. But what concerns doctors and patients most is the sheer ability of manufacturers to set their own price because there is no body or regulation that oversees drug prices. (Kounang and Ansari, 9/23)

The Washington Post: A Defining Moment In Modern Health Care
Martin Shkreli is health care’s Gordon Gekko, its wolf of Wall Street, the symbol of all that makes people uneasy about an industry that seeks to make money by selling treatments while vowing to care only about the well-being of vulnerable patients. ... Shkreli’s actions were shocking for a simple reason: It was an unusual moment of complete transparency in health care, where motives, prices and how the system works are rarely ever talked about so nakedly. Shkreli’s company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, raised the price of Daraprim from $18 to $750 per pill because he could. (Johnson, 9/23)

The Washington Post's The Fix: Martin Shkreli: A New Icon Of Modern Greed
Shkreli is the founder and chief executive of the pharmaceutical company Turing. He and his company have, of course, been the subjects of widespread news coverage this week after the New York Times highlighted Shkreli's decision to boost the cost of the more-than-60-year-old drug Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 after the company purchased the drug in August. The drug, developed long ago (i.e. the research costs were borne by a previous owner of the drug), is not exactly a frequently used medication but is considered the most effective drug and therefore the standard of care for people suffering with an infection called toxoplasmosis. (Ross, 9/23)

CBS News: Controversial Drug Company CEO Once Sued For Harassment
The moment Martin Shkreli announced a 5000 percent increase in the price of Daraprim, a drug used by some AIDS and cancer patients, the Internet exploded with rage. ... Shkreli's bio on the Turning Pharmaceuticals website says he has a Bachelors of Business Administration from Baruch College. What the 32-year-old knows about healthcare he learned as a hedge fund manager, who often clashed with drug companies. ... The board of directors of Retrophin, Shkreli's first drug company which he founded in 2011, kicked him out and filed suit in August for $65 million. He is alleged to have "used his control over Retrophin to enrich himself" and to pay back investors in his hedge fund, who lost millions in a bad investment. An earlier lawsuit brought by a former Retrophin employee, Timothy Perotti, accused Shkreli of harassing his family. (Dahler, 9/23)

NPR: Turing Pharmaceuticals Retreats From Plan To Raise Price Of Daraprim
Turing Pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli has backed down on his plan for an astronomical price increase on a drug used to treat a deadly parasitic infection. The company did not say what the new price would be, but presumably less than the $750 a pill it had planned to charge. The move illustrates how Shkreli is more Wall Street speculator than pharmaceutical entrepreneur. (Zarroli, 9/23)

And sometimes marketing strategies can make an old drug seem new -

Bloomberg: How Marketing Turned EpiPen Into A Billion-Dollar Business
In a 2007 purchase of medicines from Merck KGaA, drugmaker Mylan picked up a decades-old product, the EpiPen auto injector for food allergy and bee-sting emergencies. Management first thought to divest the aging device, which logged only $200 million in revenue. Then Heather Bresch, now Mylan’s chief executive officer, hit on the idea of using old-fashioned marketing in part to boost sales among concerned parents of children with allergies. That started EpiPen, which delivers about $1 worth of the hormone epinephrine, on a run that’s resulted in its becoming a $1 billion-a-year product that clobbers its rivals and provides about 40 percent of Mylan’s operating profits, says researcher ABR|Healthco. EpiPen margins were 55 percent in 2014, up from 9 percent in 2008, ABR|Healthco estimates. (Koons and Langreth, 9/23)

In other news -

Modern Healthcare: How The National Drug Debate Is Changing The Pharmacy Benefit Business
The pharmacy benefit management industry is experiencing subtle changes, and a leadership shuffle at the country's largest PBM has experts speculating about whether PBMs will remain stand-alone companies. More healthcare organizations view prescription drug use as a critical element of keeping patients healthy and reducing costs, and controlling a PBM could help with a population health strategy. “You could see a pathway forward where the PBMs become more integrated with the payers,” said Jon Kaplan, managing director at Boston Consulting Group. (Herman, 9/23)

Bloomberg: Clinton's 'Price Gouging' Tweet Sends Drugmaker Hedges Surging
Biotechnology is being singled out by options investors as the sick sibling of the health-care family. Losses for U.S. biotech stocks have accelerated in the three days since Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton suggested there may be “price gouging” in the market for prescription pills. The high-flying industry, which has surged more than 450 percent during the six-year bull market, is now finding less favor among investors than its more staid older cousins that include Aetna Inc. and HCA Holdings Inc. (Ciolli and Jackson, 9/23)

Bloomberg: Here's What Wall Street Thinks Of Hillary Clinton's Plan To Crack Down On Pharmaceutical Companies
In July 2014, the world's most powerful woman sounded the alarm on biotech valuations. In testimony before Congress, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen warned that there were some signs of froth in this segment. Her comments sparked a short-lived selloff in the sector. But the woman who has her sights set on claiming that title in 2016 -- Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton -- who has sparked her own form of pressure on the high-flying group in recent days. (Kawa, 9/23)

Other market developments in the headlines  -

Reuters: Steep Discounts Help Biotech Drug Copies Gain Ground In Europe
Cut-price versions of expensive biotech drugs are gaining ground in Europe, following surprisingly steep price discounts offered on the first copy of a complex antibody medicine for rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease. The potential for so-called "biosimilars" to take business from pricey original brands is grabbing the attention of both healthcare providers, who see big budget savings, and investors, worried about the impact on drug company earnings. (Hirschler, 9/23)

Reuters: Nestle Pushes Father Into Medicine With Planned Alzheimer's Test
Food group Nestle has taken a further step into the medicine business by signing a research collaboration agreement with a Swiss biotech company to develop an Alzheimer's disease diagnostic test. Nestle's second medical deal in a week underscores the commitment by the world's largest packaged food company to the faster-growing, more profitable medical field as sales of processed foods slow in many markets. (9/23)

The Wall Street Journal's Money Beat: Health Insurance Mergers: Aetna And Anthem Win Over Politicians
The chief executives of health insurers Aetna Inc. and Anthem Inc. went to Capitol Hill Tuesday to win support for their pending deals. The early read is mission accomplished. Wall Street analysts gave both CEOs solid grades for their performance before a Senate subcommittee on why the government should bless each of their deals. (Farrell, 9/23)

CQ Healthbeat: Health Plan CEOs Spar With Senate Democrats On Mergers
Senate Democrats are concerned that mergers among the five largest health insurers will narrow choices for consumers, a charge that the CEOs of the acquiring companies are downplaying as they try to focus on potential savings to policyholders. The Senate Judiciary Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Subcommittee is investigating whether Aetna Inc.’s acquisition of Humana Inc. and Anthem Inc.’s purchase of Cigna Corp. would have harmful effects on an industry that has been consolidating for the past five years. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, the ranking Democrat, said in a hearing Tuesday that the U.S. "values competition" and referred to the Sherman Act of 1890 that prohibits anti-competitive actions by companies as the "Magna Carta of free enterprise." (Chamseddine, 9/23)

Fox News/Nerd Wallet: Balance Billing: How To Avoid This Common Medical Expense Trap
Imagine receiving a hospital bill for tens of thousands of dollars despite having the best health insurance you can afford. This scenario happens to even the most diligent health care consumers more than you’d think. Often, the culprit is balance billing, which occurs when patients are charged for the difference between what a provider charges and what the insurance will pay. It often happens after a hospitalization, where insurance covers most services, with the exception of one doctor. ... Here’s how you can defend yourself from balance billing or avoid it in the first place. (Glover, 9/23)

Reuters: How To Pick A Health Plan For The Kids
Choosing health insurance for a family used to be easier, with fewer options and fewer households where parents were each covered by their own workplace plans instead of picking a joint one. But now more and more families must make a choice at every open enrollment period about how to cover the kids due to the advent of surcharges and exclusions for covering spouses who have the option of their own workplace insurance. (Pinsker, 9/22)

Northeast Ohio Media Group: Ohio Senate Plans To Block State, Federal Funds From Planned Parenthood
Ohio Senate President Keith Faber said Wednesday the Senate will quickly move legislation to prevent state and federal funding from being used for services at Planned Parenthood. Faber, a Celina Republican, said legislation is directly tied to hidden-camera footage shot by anti-abortion activists that purported to show the health organization sells body parts from aborted fetuses. Planned Parenthood has said the videos were deceptively edited and the organization's affiliates may accept donations to cover abortion costs but do not sell fetus parts. (Borchardt, 9/23)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Assembly To Consider Stripping Planned Parenthood Of More Funding
The state Assembly on Thursday will consider a measure to strip Planned Parenthood of more government funding. The debate comes as Republicans who control the Legislature struggle over separate legislation that would ban research using fetal tissue from abortions. Democrats have argued the effort to block federal money from going to Planned Parenthood in Wisconsin would cause people to lose access to birth control and screenings for sexually transmitted diseases. Republicans deny that, saying the money will instead flow to other providers. They say public money shouldn't go to the state's largest abortion provider for any purpose. (Marley, 9/24)

The Texas Tribune: 2 State Women's Health Programs To Consolidate In July
Four years after they first reconfigured state-subsidized health services for low-income women, Texas health officials are at it again as they consider how to consolidate two of the state’s main women’s health programs. Following a directive from the Legislature, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission announced Wednesday that it would combine two women’s health programs to create the “Healthy Texas Women” program on July 1. The new initiative will be a consolidation of the Texas Women’s Health Program and the Expanded Primary Health Care Program, which provide health screenings and contraception to poor women in the state. (Ura, 9/23)

Dallas Morning News: State To Offer Free Birth Control To Low-Income Teenagers
Large numbers of poor teenagers will be able for the first time to get free birth control from the state as officials aim to reduce Texas’ high teen pregnancy rate, state health agencies announced Wednesday. By consolidating programs that provide family planning, reproductive health care and cancer screenings, leaders hope to expand low-income teens’ access to another 5,000 health providers in the new Healthy Texas Women program, Health and Human Services Commission officials said. (Martin, 9/24)

Dallas Morning News: Groups Target 5 Dallas ZIP Codes With “Alarming” Teen Birth Rates
While the teen pregnancy rate has steadily dropped in the U.S., Dallas has pockets that stubbornly defy the trend. In parts of southern Dallas, 1 of every 9 girls has a baby. Those babies are born to girls and boys who haven’t finished high school and aren’t ready for careers, let alone raising a family. A team of researchers and nonprofits vows to tackle the grim problem, so teens can decide to better their lives and wait to have babies. (Hacker, 9/23)

The Houston Press: Judge Halts $350M In Cuts To Children's Therapy Services
After therapy providers and families with disabled children filed a second lawsuit against the state for the deep cuts it has ordered to Medicaid therapy services, a judge has halted the cuts from going through on October 1, as the Texas Tribune reported Tuesday evening. The lawsuit claims the Texas Health and Human Services Commission did not consider how $350 million in cuts to occupational, physical and speech therapy services over two years would affect the actual people at stake — including children with autism, cerebral palsy, severe brain damage, spina bifida and feeding disorders, among others — and all of the therapists who serve them. The therapists faced cuts to their reimbursement rates of roughly 20 percent. It was estimated the cuts would put 60,000 kids at risk of losing access to care. And State District Judge Tim Sulak said he chose to temporarily block those cuts from going through out of concern for those young patients. (Flynn, 9/23)

The Star-Telegram: State Botched Cuts In Medicaid Therapy
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission argues that cutting $350 million from a therapy program for poor and disabled children won’t harm those children, but it has little to back up that counter-intuitive theory. So when faced with the challenge of convincing an Austin judge of its argument this week, the commission’s lawyer chose the straightforward approach: make fun of the therapy providers and families of disabled children who say their kids will be harmed, then simply say it won’t happen. (9/23)

The Associated Press: Medicaid Overhaul In North Carolina Now Officially Law
Gov. Pat McCrory says his signature on far-reaching Medicaid legislation is just the beginning of a years-long process to transform the health care program that serves more than one in six North Carolina residents. McCrory signed a Medicaid overhaul bill into law during a ceremony Wednesday at the Executive Mansion, surrounded by legislators who helped negotiate the law. Also there was Rick Brajer, the new secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, which will carry it out. (9/23)

Other state Medicaid news comes from Florida and Massachusetts -

The Miami Herald: Group Rates Florida's Medicaid HMOs Average, But State Lauds Quality Of Care
Most of the private companies managing Florida’s Medicaid health insurance program for low-income people ranked at the national average on patient satisfaction, preventive care and medical treatment in 2014, according to a recently released comparative rating of plans. But the ratings excluded six of the 13 private insurers in Florida’s Medicaid program during 2014 because those health plans either failed to report data or submitted insufficient information to the National Committee for Quality Assurance, a nonprofit that rates and accredits health plans. (Chang, 9/23)

Boston Globe: State, Feds To Increase Payments To Health Program For Poor And Disabled
State and federal officials will raise payments for a troubled program to insure some of Massachusetts’ sickest and poorest residents. The pilot program, known as One Care, lost $54 million in its first 18 months, the Globe reported in August. One Care covers people struggling with poverty and disabilities who qualify for both Medicare, the government program that covers the elderly and disabled, and Medicaid, which covers low-income families and individuals. State officials said they would boost payments by 8.6 percent this year, and more than 10.5 percent in 2016, as part of a revised payment structure designed to help stabilize the program. Together, the state and federal government will spend nearly $48 million on One Care over the next two years. The bulk of the funding is federal. (Dayal McCluskey, 9/23)

The Associated Press: Philadelphia Hospitals Prep For Overseas Visitors, Diseases
As people from around the world head to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families and the papal visit, doctors are preparing to treat illnesses that they may not recognize or that normally would be treated at other facilities. "Some diseases that are common in other parts of the world aren't regularly seen in the U.S. Our providers know about them but haven't seen them," said Mark Ross, regional manager of emergency preparedness for the Hospital Association of Pennsylvania. "We've made sure our providers know what they look like." (Pompilio, 9/23)

The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore Gets More Than $20M From CDC To Battle HIV
The Baltimore Health Department will announce Thursday it has received more than $20 million in federal funding for a new HIV strategy that will target gay men and transgender people and push a drug that can prevent people from contracting the disease. Under the initiative to be developed with two grants from the Centers for Disease Control, city officials will partner directly with 11 community and provider groups in the largest collaboration in recent history to combat HIV, health officials said. (McDaniels, 9/23)

The New York Times: Missouri Governor Jay Nixon’s Legacy Firmly Linked To Ferguson
But when it comes to Ferguson, Mr. Nixon will need to build legislative majorities to address some of his commission’s most ambitious proposals. Among them, he expressed particular interest in expanding Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act, a policy generally opposed by Republicans. (Smith, 9/23)

Sacramento Bee: Push To Nix California Vaccine Law Enters Crucial Stretch
Signed into law this June after a ferocious political fight, Senate Bill 277 requires that children – unless they have a medical exemption – receive all their shots before enrolling in public or private school. Opponents who could not halt it in the Legislature hope voters will rally to their cause by overturning the law at the ballot box. ... They believe the same fervor that sent thousands of angry parents to the state Capitol will sustain their ballot campaign and put the issue before the people. (White, 9/23)

CNN: Pittsburgh Hospital Suspends Organ Transplants After Mold Infections, Deaths
A Pittsburgh hospital has temporarily stopped organ transplants after three transplant patients contracted a fungal infection and died. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center voluntarily suspended transplants at UMC Presbyterian "until we have completed our investigation and are satisfied that we've done all we can do to address the situation," UPMC Chief Medical and Scientific Officer Dr. Steven D. Shapiro said. (Yan and Brumfield, 9/22)

ProPublica: Take A Valium, Lose Your Kid, Go To Jail
In Alabama, anti-drug fervor and abortion politics have turned a meth-lab law into the country's harshest weapon against pregnant women. (Martin, 9/23)

The News Service Of Florida: Report: Foster Kids Still Being Medicated Without Proper Consent
Despite an outcry in 2009 over a 7-year-old's apparent suicide, a draft report from the research arm of Florida's child-protection system shows that foster children are still being put on psychotropic medications without caregivers following proper procedures. As of July, 11 percent of the children in state foster care --- 2,434 of 21,899 children --- had active prescriptions for at least one psychotropic drug, according to the Florida Institute on Child Welfare at Florida State University. (Menzel, 9/23)

The News Service Of Florida: Judge Rules Against State In Dispute Over Children's Medical Program
An administrative law judge Tuesday ruled against the Florida Department of Health in a challenge involving the eligibility of children for a state program that provides specialized medical care. Judge Darren Schwartz ordered the department to "immediately cease" using a new eligibility-screening tool to decide whether children continue to qualify for the Children's Medical Services Network, since the screening tool was not adopted through formal rule-making procedures. (Menzel, 9/23)

The Associated Press: Cleveland Police To Get Enhanced Training On Mental Health
Cleveland officers will receive enhanced training on how to deal with people during mental health crises, a requirement in the city’s agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to reform its trouble police department, officials announced Wednesday. (Gillispie, 9/23)

Northeast Ohio Media Group: Cleveland Inks Deal To Improve Police Response To Mental Health Crises
More than nine months after a federal investigation found Cleveland police too often use cruel and unnecessary force against people suffering from mental illness, the city has inked a deal to improve the way officers respond to mental health crises. Mayor Frank Jackson announced Wednesday a memorandum of understanding with the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County that aims to improve how police care for people with mental illness. (Blackwell, 9/23)

Dallas Morning News/NBC5: Texas Taxpayers Pay To Spin Vets In Chair
The gyrating chair, cocooned inside a gleaming oval capsule, looks like an astronaut’s training device. Patients spin upside down and sideways after they buckle in. ... Aging Dallas Cowboys like Tony Dorsett and Randy White, their brains and bodies battered, said it made them feel better. A retired general said it improved his vision. And a Texas governor with presidential aspirations wanted to use it to treat post-traumatic stress disorder and brain injuries in war heroes. So the state of Texas said yes, sure, and poured 2 million taxpayer dollars into a study to see whether a spinning chair — described as an “Off Vertical Axis Rotational Device” — could help. Experts say there was no medical reason to think that spinning traumatized combat veterans upside down could help them — and every reason to think it wouldn’t. (Ambrose and Gordon, 9/23)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Horizon's Plan For Insurance Network Stirs Concerns
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey stirred things up this month when it announced the formation of Omnia Health Alliance with just six of the state's 20 health-care systems. It also included a large physicians group, but the only South Jersey system in Omnia is the relatively small Inspira. That left health executives scratching their heads over how Horizon, New Jersey's largest health insurer, made its picks. (Brubaker, 9/24)

NPR: Obesity Maps Put Racial Differences On Stark Display
Click on the CDC's obesity prevalence maps and you'll see something even more startling — the disparity among different ethnic groups. It's not new that the obesity epidemic is hitting African-Americans the hardest, followed by Hispanics, but the maps highlight this worrying trend. For African-Americans for example, there are 33 states with an obesity rate of at least 35 percent, whereas for white Americans only 1 state reports that rate. Nine states estimate the Hispanic obesity rate at 35 percent or higher. (Greenhalgh, 9/23)

Wyoming Public Radio: When Deciding To Live Means Avoiding Guns
When you're managing a mental health issue, home's not always a safe place. I recently talked with a 23-year-old in Oakland, Calif., who says he's worried about an upcoming visit to his aunt's home on the East Coast. He's afraid of what he might do to himself there. "I know that in my aunt's house there are three guns in the basement," says the young man, who asked that NPR not use his name. (Meagley, 9/24)

The Associated Press: South Texas Ambulance Company Owner Pleads Guilty To Fraud
The owner of a South Texas ambulance company faces up to 12 years in prison for scamming the government into paying for trips that were never made. Victor Lee Gonzalez of Mission pleaded guilty Tuesday in McAllen to health care fraud and aggravated identity theft. (9/23)

Boston Globe: IBM Granted $2.5M In Tax Breaks For Locating Digital Health Venture
Kendall Square is one of the hottest office markets in the country, with technology and biotech giants jockeying to land outposts and bring jobs there. Yet the Baker administration on Wednesday granted $2.5 million in tax breaks over three years to IBM Corp. to encourage the company to bring its new digital health venture, known as IBM Watson Health, to Cambridge’s high-tech hotbed. In return, IBM has promised to create at least 500 new jobs. (Chesto, 9/23)

Politico: The Republican Party’s Surrender Politics
Today, President Barack Obama fights relentlessly for his liberal priorities. Like the Terminator, he never gives up, he never stops. And Republican leadership responds to every challenge by surrendering at the outset. President Obama demands of Congress: fund all of Obamacare, with no changes to help the millions being hurt by that failed law, or he will veto funding for the entire federal government. And Republican leadership backs down. ... President Obama demands: give $500 million in taxpayer money to Planned Parenthood, a private organization under criminal investigation—or he will veto funding for the entire federal government. And Republican leadership backs down. The core of this capitulation comes from Republican leadership’s promise that “There will be no government shutdown.” On its face, the promise sounds reasonable. Except in practice it means that Republicans never stand for anything. (Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, 9/23)

The New York Times: The G.O.P.’s Obsession With Planned Parenthood
Congressional Republicans are again playing brinkmanship with the budget — some are even threatening to shut down the government — in order to score ideological and political points. On Tuesday, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, introduced a bill to keep the government running for a few months past the end of this fiscal year on Sept. 30 — as long as Democrats agree to cut off money for Planned Parenthood. (9/24)

Bloomberg: Don't Blow It Now, Republicans
The looming possibility of a U.S. government shutdown threatens more than the normal functioning of federal agencies. It imperils everything the Republicans have been trying to accomplish since winning control of both houses of Congress last November. Once again, the danger stems from the party's all-or-nothing stance on a divisive issue. The last time Congress failed to pass a budget on time, two years ago, House Republicans refused to approve any funding for Obamacare. This year, it's Planned Parenthood. (9/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Government Shutdown As Self-Promotion
For the right reasons, congressional Republicans want to end taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, the country’s largest abortion provider. ... These Republicans’ motive is sound, but the problem is tactics. Some in the GOP say that unless Planned Parenthood is defunded, they’re willing to shut down the federal government—which would be a disaster for the pro-life cause. (Karl Rove, 9/23)

Dallas Morning News: Some Republicans Aren’t Fazed By Past Failure On Shutdowns
Historical precedents aren’t fazing some conservative congressional Republicans. For the third time in 20 years, GOP lawmakers are threatening a government shutdown to force a Democratic president to accept their position, this time the elimination of federal funding for Planned Parenthood health services. As some of the GOP’s saner voices are pointing out, Republicans lost both the 1995 battle against President Bill Clinton and the 2013 fight against President Barack Obama. Not only did they fail to get their way, but they damaged the party’s brand, something Republicans probably don’t need, given the problems their 2016 presidential candidates are creating. (Carl P. Leubsdorf, 9/22)

Los Angeles Times: The Little-Known FDA Program That's Driving Drug Prices Higher
Consider the Food and Drug Administration's unapproved-drugs initiative, launched in 2006. The program is well known to some physicians and hospitals and their patients, who blame it for huge increases in the price of drugs that have been in common use for decades -- even, in one case, for millenniums. It's little known to the general public. That's a shame, because it underscores an enormous flaw in our drug-approval process that rewards a few clever manufacturers at the expense of patients. (Michael Hiltzik, 9/23)

The New England Journal of Medicine: Reducing Diagnostic Errors — Why Now?
Diagnostic errors are thought to be a substantial source of avoidable illness and death in the United States. Although diagnosis has always been central to the practice of medicine and diagnostic errors have always been prevalent, systematic efforts to measure these errors and analyze their underpinnings have been limited .... we would argue that diagnostic errors are clinically and financially more costly today than ever before and that they therefore require greater attention and more dedicated resources. (Dhruv Khullar, Ashish K. Jha and Anupam B. Jena, 9/23)

The Charlotte Observer: How Lawmakers In Raleigh Are Putting 1.8M People At Risk
Gov. Pat McCrory has long resisted expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, despite health care advocates’ contention that the $2 billion-a-year federal infusion would create 43,000 new jobs and save the state $318 million. I want a North Carolina Medicaid plan, he kept saying. The Medicaid overhaul he signed Wednesday? It targets a well-regarded program created by North Carolina doctors and healthcare providers and sets it up to be overrun by private managed care firms from out-of-state. (9/23)

The Kansas City Star: Democrats Offer Good Ideas To Rein In Runaway Prescription Drug Prices
Pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli is taking a lap as the Internet’s most vilified personality, but his rude tweets and callous business decisions are serving a useful purpose. Sky-high drug costs are now a front-and-center political issue. It’s been simmering on the back burner for months. Several members of Congress, including Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, have sought information about seemingly arbitrary price hikes of prescription drugs. (9/23)

The American-Statesman: McDermott: Early Mental Health Intervention Crucial For Kids And Teens
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) approximately 50 percent of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by 14; yet the average delay between onset of symptoms and receiving treatment is eight to 10 years. Like all illnesses, if left untreated these disorders can worsen and create obstacles to a child’s development and success. ... we can lighten the load for families in our community affected by mental illness by educating and supporting overwhelmed parents, schools and teens. (Louise McDermott, 9/23)

Bloomberg: Football's Most Dangerous Practice
New research that examined the brains of 91 deceased football players found signs of a disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, in 96 percent of them. ... the study also found that 40 percent of the afflicted had been linemen, players who get hit on almost every play. This bolsters previous evidence that repeated minor blows to the head could be more dangerous, over the long term, than the single violent hits that get more attention. And it confirms that confronting CTE will require ambitious changes to football programs at every level. The place to start is with practice. (9/23)