The New York Times: Government Shutdown Ends After 3 Days Of Recriminations
Congress brought an end to a three-day government shutdown on Monday as Senate Democrats buckled under pressure to adopt a short-term spending bill to fund government operations without first addressing the fate of young undocumented immigrants. The House quickly approved the measure — which will fund the government through Feb. 8 and extend funding for the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program for six years — and President Trump signed it on Monday night. (Stolberg and Kaplan, 1/22)

The Washington Post: Short-Term Spending Agreement Provides Longer-Term Relief For CHIP
The spending bill that the Senate and House adopted Monday, and that President Trump signed, provides six years of federal money for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, a bipartisan creation that furnishes coverage to nearly 9 million children and 375,000 pregnant women. The budget for CHIP, as it is known, ended on Sept. 30 without lawmakers having reauthorized it as they had done several times over its two decades — usually months in advance of the deadline. States, which share responsibility for CHIP, had been running short of federal funds for their programs at different paces. Connecticut became the first to freeze enrollment just before Christmas, and at least five states notified families that they would need to do so soon. Eleven other states were expecting to run out by the end of next month. (Goldstein, 1/22)

Kaiser Health News: CHIP Renewed For Six Years As Congress Votes To Reopen Federal Government
Republicans, said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Sunday, “were using the 10 million kids on CHIP, holding them as hostage for the 800,000 kids who were Dreamers. Kids against kids. Innocent kids against innocent kids. That’s no way to operate in this country.” Republicans, however, said it was the opposite — that Democrats were holding CHIP hostage by not voting for the spending bill. “There is no reason for my colleagues to pit their righteous crusade on immigration against their righteous crusade for CHIP,” said Hatch. “This is simply a matter of priorities.” (Rovner, 1/22)

The Hill: Congress Funds Children's Health Program After Four-Month Delay
"This action ends months of anxiety and worry for the hard-working families who rely on CHIP for life-saving health care," said Frederick Isasi, executive director of Families USA, a health care advocacy group in D.C. "States — some of which had already sent notices to families warning of looming CHIP enrollment freezes—can now set about restoring trust that CHIP will be there for kids and their families." (Hellmann, 1/22)

The Associated Press: Deal That Broke Senate Impasse: Kids' Health But No DACA
The agreement [also includes] delays to three taxes under the Obama-era health care law: the medical device tax through 2019, the so-called Cadillac tax on generous employer-paid health care plans through 2021 and a tax on health insurance companies through 2019. (1/22)

Stat: Congress Delays Medical Device Tax For Two Years
Almost no one got everything they wanted out of the Monday deal to reopen the government — except perhaps medical device companies, who managed to fend off an industry-wide excise tax before the first payments were due. The stopgap spending deal that was signed by President Trump on Monday included a two-year delay of the 2.3 percent tax, which was originally included in the Affordable Care Act to help pay for the law’s health insurance subsidies. (Mershon, 1/22)

CQ: Many Health Care Provisions Wait In Limbo For An Omnibus Deal
Lawmakers' focus over the next three weeks will be a long-term spending bill and immigration issues but, as usual in this session, health care issues could creep into the debate. ... But Congress still needs to address a slate of health care issues left over from last year that lawmakers and aides have said could move as part of an omnibus spending bill. (McIntire, 1/22)

Modern Healthcare: New Spending Stopgap Measure Stalls Medicare Extenders, DSH Delay 
Medicare programs known as Medicare extenders, whose funding expired Oct. 1, and community health centers still wait for Congress to fund appropriations. Medicaid disproportionate-share hospitals expect another delay to the cuts in their federal allotments that technically went into effect in fall 2017, but won't hit most hospitals until the summer of 2018. (Luthi, 1/22)

The Washington Post: Shutdown Ends After Democrats Agree To Trust That McConnell Will Allow ‘Dreamer’ Vote
The impact of the shutdown, which began at midnight Friday, was minimal, leaving hundreds of thousands of federal workers unsure of what the week would bring — but stretching into just one workday. Lawmakers agreed to fund the government through Feb. 8 after McConnell (R-Ky.) said he would address the status of young immigrants called “dreamers” who were brought to this country illegally as children. (Sullivan, O'Keefe and Viebeck, 1/22)

The Wall Street Journal: Congress Passes Three-Week Spending Bill To End Shutdown
The agreement will keep the federal government running through Feb. 8, but did little to resolve the underlying policy fights over immigration and government-spending levels and doesn’t preclude a similar shutdown next month. The deal also opened a rift in the Democratic Party between a left flank that wanted to hold out now for an agreement on the young immigrants known as Dreamers and a more centrist group eager to reopen the government and work out a bipartisan compromise. (Peterson, Hook and Andrews, 1/22)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Signs Bill To Reopen Government — For Three Weeks — After Bipartisan Deal
The deal was worked out by a gang of 30 or so senators calling themselves the Common Sense Coalition, which grew in numbers over the weekend during frantic negotiations to end the standoff. Now many lawmakers in both parties are hoping the moderate group will continue to exert its influence to break the logjam, even as a few ideological factions were plotting how to stamp it out. (Mascaro, 1/22)

Politico: Congress Votes To End Shutdown
Coons and King were part of a group of at least two dozen senators who began meeting late last week in the office of Sen. Susan Collins to broker a deal to stave off a shutdown — much like the effort that the Maine Republican led in 2013. To try and keep the peace, Collins wouldn't let any senator in the room talk unless they were holding a "talking stick" — which one aide later said was a Maasai leadership stick that Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) gave Collins a few years ago. At one point, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee forcefully tossed the stick toward Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia after Warner interrupted him, nearly shattering a glass elephant belonging to Collins, according to two people briefed on the throw. After that incident, Collins suggested using a small rubber ball, and Alexander also brought his own basketball "because it’d be safer than a stick," an aide said. (Kim, Everett and Schor, 1/22)

Denver Post: End Of Shutdown Means 75,000 Colorado Children Keep Their Health Insurance 
On Monday, 114 days after Congress allowed funding for his daughters’ health insurance program lapse, Denver resident TC Bell breathed a sigh of relief. But only a little one. In voting to approve a measure ending the federal government shutdown on Monday, Congress also approved a six-year extension of funding for the national Children’s Health Insurance Program. The program provides health coverage to kids and pregnant women from families that make too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to reasonably afford private coverage. The program in Colorado is known as the Child Health Plan Plus, and it covers nearly 800 pregnant women and more than 75,000 kids here — including Bell’s two little girls. (Ingold, 1/22)

The Hill: Collins 'Optimistic' ObamaCare Fixes Will Pass 
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Monday that she is “optimistic” that the ObamaCare fixes she is pushing for can still pass, despite the deadline for voting on them having “slipped.” “Our negotiations with the House are going very, very well,” Collins told reporters. “The deadline slipped but the policy is what is important.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel (R-Ky.) in December gave a commitment to Collins to support the passage of two bills aimed at stabilizing ObamaCare markets and lowering premiums before the end of the year, in exchange for her vote for the tax reform bill. (Sullivan, 1/22)

In other news from Capitol Hill —

Kaiser Health News: Tax Bill Provision Designed To Spur Paid Family Leave To Lower-Wage Workers
Tucked into the new tax law is a provision that offers companies a tax credit if they provide paid family and medical leave for lower-wage workers. Many people support a national strategy for paid parental and family leave, especially for workers who are not in management and are less likely to get that benefit on the job. But consultants, scholars and consumer advocates alike say the new tax credit will encourage few companies to take the plunge. (Andrews, 1/23)

Politico Pro: Stagnant Enrollment In State Exchanges Masks Shake-Up In Marketplace Behavior
Enrollment in state-based Obamacare marketplaces for 2018 is on target to nearly equal sign-ups last year, according to the latest enrollment data. But the seemingly stagnant results belie significant shifts in who’s signing up for coverage, how they’re paying for it and what type of plan they’re purchasing. Half of the 10 state-based exchanges that extended their enrollment periods beyond the Dec. 15 deadline for the federal HealthCare.gov exchange have released final enrollment figures. Connecticut, Minnesota and Rhode Island show slight bumps in enrollment, while Colorado and Maryland saw a marginal erosion compared with 2017. (Demko, 1/22)

San Francisco Chronicle: Signups For Health Insurance Through Covered California Up 7 Percent
About 342,000 Californians have signed up for health insurance through Covered California since open enrollment began in November — up roughly 7 percent compared to this time last year, according to figures released by the agency Monday. Covered California is the state agency created under the Affordable Care Act to sell health plans to Californians who do not get insurance through their employers or Medi-Cal, the insurance program for the poor. (Ho, 1/22)

The CT Mirror: Breaking Down This Year’s Access Health CT Open Enrollment
In all, 114,134 residents enrolled in private health insurance through the state’s health insurance exchange, Access Health CT, during the shortened, seven-week open enrollment period that ended on Dec. 22. That represents a 2.3 percent increase from 2017, when open enrollment lasted for three months. (Rigg, 1/23)

The Wall Street Journal: How Doctors Deal With Racist Patients
Darien Sutton-Ramsey walked into a patient’s room at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan a few months ago. The mother of the patient demanded that a physician come in. “Well, you’ve got it, I’m here,” responded Dr. Sutton-Ramsey, a third-year resident in the emergency medicine department at NYU Langone Health. The mother didn’t believe that Dr. Sutton-Ramsey, who is African-American, was a doctor. She asked to talk to the physician-in-charge. His supervisor was also black. The patient ended up refusing medical care and left the emergency room. (Reddy, 1/22)

CNN: Opioid Commission Member: Our Work Is A 'Sham'
The Republican-led Congress has turned the work of the president's opioid commission into a "charade" and a "sham," a member of the panel told CNN. "Everyone is willing to tolerate the intolerable -- and not do anything about it," said former Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy, who was one of six members appointed to the bipartisan commission in March. "I'm as cynical as I've ever been about this stuff." (Drash, 1/23)

In other news on the epidemic —

Boston Globe: Walsh Exploring Litigation Against Pharmaceutical Companies For Opioid Crisis
Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh said Monday he is considering litigation against several pharmaceutical companies, saying they “irresponsibly saturated the market with opiates, knowingly putting consumers at risk for addiction.” In a statement, Walsh said he will seek information from “law firms, researchers and other interested parties” on potential opioid litigation. (Schick, 1/22)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Broadview Heights Joins Litigation Against Drug Makers And Distributors Over Opioid Epidemic
U.S. District Judge Dan Polster is presiding over more than 200 lawsuits - filed by governmental entities in Alabama, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Washington and West Virginia - blaming drug manufacturers and distributors for the opioid crisis. ...The lawsuits say that drug makers overstated the benefits and downplayed the risks of using opioids, and that distributors failed to monitor suspicious orders of prescription opiates. (Sandrick, 1/22)

Chicago Tribune: Hospitals Cut Back On Opioids To Battle Addiction Epidemic 
Many hospitals are now moving to alternative methods of treating pain. Some doctors say less potent medications can handle pain equally well — and that patients are coming to share that view. In the past six months, Rush University Medical Center has given post-surgical patients Tylenol, Motrin and gabapentin, a medication used for nerve pain. A mild opioid is used just for intermittent pain spikes. (Keilman, 1/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Flu Season Continues To Worsen
The number of people sick with the flu is continuing to climb, and transmission is now the most intense it has been since the 2009 pandemic, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said Monday. The federal agency continued to track and respond to the epidemic despite the government shutdown. Its flu laboratories were working Monday, and “we are continuing to look at data we have received from states so that public-health officials can know about their community and influenza,” CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald said in an interview. (McKay, 1/22)

St. Louis Public Radio: With A Rise In Flu Cases, What Can Be Done To Prevent, Treat It?
On Monday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Don Marsh discussed why the flu is so prevalent in St. Louis. Joining him for the discussion was Ken Haller, SLUCare pediatrician at SSM Cardinal Glennon Childrens Hospital and professor at Saint Louis University. Haller addressed how to navigate the flu including the symptoms, treatment and prevention, period of contagion and effectiveness of the flu vaccine. (Hamdan, 1/22)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Flu Affecting Atlanta Hospital Emergency Room Wait Times
At WellStar Health System, which operates hospitals across metro Atlanta, its emergency rooms are currently seeing 27 to 30 percent more flu patients than they did last year. Grady Memorial Hospital’s emergency department,which is always busy, is seeing 40 patients per day because of the flu or flu-like illnesses. (Teegardin, 1/22)

CNN: More People Still Die In Hospitals On Weekends
Doctors call it the "weekend effect." Patients in the hospital are more likely to die off-hours -- whether it's due to a brain bleed, a heart attack or a clot in the lungs. New research on cardiac arrest in the hospital now asks: Has the "weekend effect" changed in recent years, as treatment has gotten better? "We know that survival trends have improved in past decade or so," said Dr. Uchenna Ofoma, assistant professor of medicine at Temple University and a critical care physician at Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pennsylvania. "The question now becomes ... what happens to the disparities? Has it remained the same? Is it narrowing?" (Nedelman, 1/22)

KQED: Why Sexual Harassment Victims Often Can’t Just ‘Get Over It’
A growing body of research links workplace sexual harassment to negative psychological and physical effects, and these can have consequences years after the events occurred. For Cindy Patterson, workplace sexual harassment isn’t just something that happened to her 25 years ago; she says it’s something that still has an impact on her life today. (McClurg, 1/22)

Reuters: Study: Being Around Trees And Other Greenery May Help Teens Stave Off Depression
Exposure to trees and other greenery has been shown to stave off depression in adults, and a new study finds the same may be true for teenagers. Researchers looked at more than 9,000 children 12 to 18 and found those who lived in areas with a lot of natural vegetation were less likely to display high levels of depression symptoms. The effect was strongest among middle schoolers, the study team reports in the Journal of Adolescent Health. (Gillis, 1/22)

The Wall Street Journal: P&G Trying To Stop ‘Dangerous’ Tide Pods Challenge, CEO Says
Procter & Gamble Co. Chief Executive David Taylor on Monday outlined steps the company is taking to keep teens from eating Tide laundry pods for sport, a behavior he called a “dangerous trend” fueled by social media. In a blog published by the company, Mr. Taylor said the company has put out public-service announcements and is asking industry and advocacy groups to discourage the game while working with social media companies to stop the spread of videos of the so-called Tide Pod challenge. (Terlep, 1/22)

Iowa Public Radio: What Do Asthma, Heart Disease And Cancer Have In Common? Maybe Childhood Trauma
Burke Harris is the founder and CEO of the Center for Youth Wellness in San Francisco. She's spent much of her career trying to spread awareness about the dangers of childhood toxic stress. (Turner, 1/23)

CNN: Screen Time: Mental Health Menace Or Scapegoat?
"Have smartphones destroyed a generation?" Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, asked in an adapted excerpt of her controversial book, "iGen." In the book, she argues that those born after 1995 are on the "brink of a mental-health crisis" -- and she believes it can be linked to growing up with their noses pressed against a screen. (Nedelman, 1/22)

Stat: 'Shark Tank'-Funded Food Sensitivity Test Is Medically Dubious, Experts Say
But what EverlyWell describes as one of its best-sellers — a test for food sensitivity — is of dubious medical value, according to experts interviewed by STAT. The $199 test promises to use a fingerprick’s worth of blood to gauge whether a person’s immune system is active against 96 common foods, including asparagus, garlic, and eggs. An immune protein called immunoglobulin G, the company’s website says, could be to blame for symptoms such headaches, stomach pain, diarrhea, and fatigue. (Bond, 1/23)

New Orleans Times-Picayune: Why Your Dentist's Office Should Have A Defibrillator On Site
Cardiac arrests don't often happen in dental offices, according to Iggy Rosales, a first aid instructor through the American Heart Association as well as a fireman, paramedic and emergency room nurse. Rosales trains Dr. Camenzuli's staff yearly in first aid. All medical providers are required to be certified every two years in first aid. ... Rosales trains medical professionals for certifications in first aid, from basic to advanced cardiac life support. He's begun to see more dentist offices equipped with defibrillators.  (Clark, 1/22)

Modern Healthcare: Does Epic Hinder Innovation? Depends On When You Ask. 
Despite adding to the sea of complaints about electronic health record companies, Fairview Health Services leaders are optimistic about working with their vendor, Epic Systems Corp. That take on the relationship came a few days after Fairview CEO James Hereford blasted Epic for hindering technological development. The not-for-profit, 11-hospital health system then backpedaled, saying the EHR vendor does, in fact, help innovate. "Given Epic's prominence as an electronic health record provider, they are uniquely positioned to support collaboration for innovation in healthcare," said Erika Taibl, system director of corporate communications for Fairview. (Arndt, 1/22)

Pioneer Press: Anti-Abortion Group’s Minnesota Agenda: Ultrasounds 
Minnesota’s most-influential anti-abortion group rolled out its agenda Monday:   “Let women see their ultrasounds!” The demand was emblazoned on signs and preached by a number of speakers before crowds that lined the Capitol Rotunda in St. Paul on Monday, the 45th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision that hallowed into law a woman’s right to an abortion. Numerous Republican lawmakers cheered when House Speaker Kurt Daudt promised legislation would be introduced that would guarantee a woman’s right to view an ultrasound of her fetus before any abortion is performed. (Orrick, 1/22)

Minnesota Public Radio: Abortion Opponents To Push For Ultrasound Bill At Capitol
The group Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life is backing a proposal for the 2018 session that would allow women to see ultrasounds of their unborn children before abortions are performed. Similar proposals have been pushed in other states and some have been challenged in court. Still, Daudt offered his support. (Pugmire, 1/22)

In other women's health news —

The CT Mirror: Female Lawmakers Will Champion Bills Aimed At Women’s Health
As Connecticut legislators gear up for the start of the 2018 session, female lawmakers on Monday outlined plans to introduce several bills targeted at protecting women’s health services. The five state legislators were joined by local advocates as they made their announcement on the 45th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide. (Silber, 1/22)

Boston Globe: Public Employee Unions Cry Foul After State Cuts Health Insurance Options
Labor unions that represent Massachusetts public employees are fuming over a stunning decision by a state commission to limit their health plan options and are lashing out against the move, which affects hundreds of thousands of people and shakes up the local insurance industry. Under the changes, which take effect in July, commercial plans from the popular insurers Tufts Health Plan, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, and Fallon Health no longer will be available. (Dayal McCluskey, 1/23)

The Associated Press: Arkansas Scabies Cases In Nursing Homes Linked To Inaction
A scabies outbreak at a south Arkansas nursing home spread throughout the facility and into the community after those in charge failed to act, according to a government report. Government documents show that officials at Longmeadow Nursing Care in Camden told nursing staff in some cases not to leave any documentation indicating they were treating residents for scabies, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported . Scabies is a highly contagious skin condition caused by mites, according to the U.S. Library of Medicine. (1/22)

The Associated Press: Vermont Governor With 'Mixed Emotions' Signs Marijuana Bill
Gov. Phil Scott on Monday privately signed Vermont's marijuana bill into law, making the state the first in the country to authorize the recreational use of the substance by an act of a state legislature. The law, which goes into effect July 1, allows adults to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana, two mature and four immature plants. (1/22)

The Washington Post: Emanuel Zayas Dies After Doctors Remove 10-Pound Tumor From Cuban Boy’s Face
The basketball-size tumor was finally gone, and the first signs after Emanuel Zayas’s surgery were deceptively encouraging. The 14-year-old’s eyes had begun to react to stimulation. The muscles on his face were strengthening. For a moment, his family, doctors and other supporters exhaled. But inside, the teen was already dying, according to Miami NBC-affiliate WTVJ. (Wootson, 1/22)

The Star Tribune: Blue Cross Shifting Work To Anthem 
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota is shifting back-office work for its management of state public health insurance programs to a subsidiary of Indiana-based Anthem, one of the nation's largest health insurers. The move comes while the state's relationship to health insurers in the public programs is in flux, with Minnetonka-based Medica largely dropping the business last year and state lawmakers opting in early 2017 to open the market to for-profit HMOs for the first time in decades. (Snowbeck, 1/22)

Georgia Health News: Shortage Of Mental Health Providers Harms Georgia Kids, Report Says
The report from Voices for Georgia’s Children cites a “severe shortage’’ of child and adolescent psychiatrists statewide. It also reported that 76 of the state’s 159 counties do not have a licensed psychologist in 2015, and that 52 counties did not have a licensed social worker. (Miller, 1/22)

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Nonprofits That Deliver Crucial Human Services Struggle Financially
Impact’s hotline might be on society's front lines but its constant financial straits have become commonplace among the tens of thousands of nonprofits across the nation that rely on government grants to deliver crucial human services to an estimated one in five Americans. According to a new report, the financial health of the nation’s community-based organizations — or CBOs — is increasingly precarious. (Schmid, 1/22)

The Baltimore Sun: Kool Smiles To Pay Millions Over Allegations It Performed Unnecessary Dental Procedures On Maryland Children 
Kool Smiles must pay the state of Maryland more than $1 million as part of a national settlement for allegedly performing unnecessary tooth extractions and other dental procedures on children and then billing Medicaid. The settlement is part of $23.9 million the Georgia-based dental company agreed to pay to the federal government and 19 other states. Kool Smiles has more than 100 offices across 16 different states, including five in Baltimore, according to the company’s website. (McDaniels, 1/22)

Pioneer Press: Minnesota, Wisconsin Infants: Free Baby Boxes Can Be Yours (Parent Education Required) 
Starting Jan. 23, the company is launching a program in Minnesota and Wisconsin that will give parents across the two states free access to resources, education and boxes of their own through a program called Baby Box University. ...This social experiment is as much about education as it is about boxes: Parents are required to take an online Baby Box University course to receive a free box that the company says serves as a safe sleep space. Minnesota health care experts and educators work alongside the Baby Box University team, the company says, to ensure that there is a “guiding vision and clear strategy for creating the platform’s courses and videos, which includes myriad topics on safe sleep practices, postpartum depression, breastfeeding, brain-boosting activities and more.” (Guthrey, 1/22)

Detroit Free Press: DMC Announcing Layoffs, Reboot Of Administrative Structure
The Detroit Medical Center announced a long-planned organizational reboot on Monday that that will simplify its management structure and result in what could be significant job reductions. The exact number of jobs that will be cut was not disclosed. DMC has eliminated about 100 positions per year for the past three years in year-end cost-cutting, but this year's reductions are expected to be deeper, perhaps around 300. (Gallagher, 1/22)

Bloomberg: Another Year Of Rolling Back Obamacare 
The year ahead looks to be dangerous for health-care security in the U.S., as Donald Trump's administration continues to sabotage the law that Congress couldn't repeal. New proposals would let many more healthy Americans drop their Obamacare coverage -- raising costs for the unhealthy and risks for everyone, sick or well. (1/22)

Miami Herald: Government Shutdown Is Over, For Now, But Congress, President Trump, Leave DREAMers In Limbo
The DREAMers and their heart-rending stories have gotten the lion’s share of publicity recently. But so much more was at stake: The short-term budget agreement extends funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program — CHIP — for six years. That’s extremely important. Nationally, CHIP covers almost 9 million children. In Florida alone, almost 375,000 children are enrolled in this program each year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Still left unresolved is dealing with the epidemic of opioid use across the country and keeping community health centers whole, to name just a few urgent issues. (1/22)

The New York Times: Kentucky’s New Idea For Medicaid Access: Pass Health Literacy Course
If you’re on Medicaid in Kentucky and are kicked off the rolls for failing to meet the state’s new work requirements, Kentucky will be offering a novel way to reactivate your medical coverage: a health or financial literacy course you must pass. The precise content of the courses is not yet worked out but may include instruction on household budgeting, opening a checking account, weight management and chronic disease management, said Kristi Putnam, a manager with Kentucky Health, the new state Medicaid program that includes work requirements. She said quizzes would be included that people must pass to complete the course. (Austin Frakt, 1/22)

Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal: Bevin’s Medicaid Work Requirement Is A Huge Win For GOP And Fiscal Conservatives
On Jan. 12, the federal government finally approved Kentucky’s long-awaited (section) 1115 Medicaid waiver, allowing the state to add a work requirement for able-bodied adults, without dependents, who were part of Medicaid expansion. As a unified Republican government on the federal level continues its effort to reverse the left-leaning policies of the Obama administration, and to continue chipping away at the 20th century’s vast government expansions, while Kentucky seeks to wrestle with the nation's worst-funded and poorly structured pension system, the Medicaid waiver represents a landmark moment for conservative fiscal policy. It is impossible to overstate what an important achievement it is for Bevin, Kentucky and the dozens of states that will seek to replicate the policy shift. (Jordan Harris, 1/23)

The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot: Outlook Brightens For Medicaid Expansion
A recent survey commissioned by the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association, and conducted by a Republican polling firm, found that “four out of five Virginia voters (83 percent) support a plan to help enroll the uninsured.” Support varied little by region, and mirrors what Virginia saw at the polls in November. That election saw Democratic challengers, campaigning on the issue, topple a number of incumbent Republicans to capture seats in the House. ... In November, the influential Senate Finance Committee listened as staff recommended a “Medicaid redesign initiative” that would use waiver options from Washington to create a Virginia-specific program. It might prove to be a promising vehicle for accommodate expectations and concerns from both sides of the aisle. The co-chairman of that committee, Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. “Tommy” Norment Jr., a James City County Republican, told the Daily Press last week, “I do think we’ll see something this year for health care for lower-income Virginians.” (1/22)

Des Moines Register: Let's Put Iowans Back In Control Of Medicaid
Since April 2016, when Iowa Medicaid was turned over to out-of-state companies, constituents have complained about the obstacles they face getting care and services. Hospitals, nursing homes and other health care providers from our largest communities to Iowa’s small towns and rural areas agree that the privatized system is not working. They are not being properly reimbursed for the care they provide. They face red tape and bureaucratic nightmares with delays and denials of payment ruining their budgets. Many are in financial jeopardy, and some have even been forced to scale back the services they provide or close their doors altogether. The state keeps giving private, out-of-state companies more of your tax dollars to run Medicaid despite all the evidence that this system is failing. (Democratic State Sen. Nate Boulton, 1/22)

Stat: Follow The Evidence To Treat Opioid Addiction
The Trump administration could help improve the treatment of substance use disorder by following the recommendations of its own Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis. One recommendation urged federal agencies to analyze the quality of the various types of addiction treatment. This would give patients confidence that they are receiving treatments proven to work. It would also provide a framework for medical providers to turn to when helping their patients decide the best treatment options for their situations. (Sarah Wakeman and Gary Mendell, 1/22)

Los Angeles Times: Right-To-Try Laws Are Hazardous To Your Health--And Now They're Backed By The Koch Brothers
Falling victim to a terminal disease is one of the ultimate human tragedies in its own terms. But congressional conservatives, egged on by libertarian ideologues and the Koch brothers, are working hard to burden these people with another layer of victimization in their last weeks or months of life. They're doing so by pushing what has aptly been termed "a cruel sham": a federal "right-to-try" law. State versions of such laws, which have been enacted in 38 states, purport to offer a last ounce of hope to the terminally ill, by allowing them to try drugs that have not fully been tested for safety and efficacy. (Michael Hiltzik, 1/22)

Chicago Tribune: Stop Lollygagging And Step Up The Search For A ‘Universal' Flu Vaccine
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, since 2010, flu has annually caused “between 9.2 million and 35.6 million illnesses, between 140,000 and 710,000 hospitalizations and between 12,000 and 56,000 deaths.” In the 2017-18 season, which began in November and won't end until March, hospital emergency rooms are overflowing, deaths are running ahead of recent years and pharmacies are low on the anti-flu drug Tamiflu and intravenous solutions needed to keep patients hydrated. Vaccination ought to be the key to prevention. According to estimates from the CDC, in six influenza seasons starting in 2005-06, vaccination prevented 13.59 million cases. That looks impressive, but our current vaccines are barely adequate, and the nation's drug regulators and science-funding agencies aren't doing enough about it. (Henry I. Miller, 1/22)

Los Angeles Times: Restricting Access To Abortion Makes Poor Women Poorer
On the 45th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, clinic abortion rates in the United States are plummeting, having decreased by an unprecedented 25% between 2008 and 2014. Some of this decline may be due to improvements in contraceptive use, but it is likely that the hundreds of state-level restrictions that have shuttered abortion clinics and increased the cost of getting an abortion have resulted in many women being unable to get one. (Diana Greene Foster, 1/22)

USA Today: State Of Abortion Rights
When courts tear down one barrier, states erect another. Since the Supreme Court rejected Texas-style clinic restrictions, about a half dozen have enacted laws to effectively ban the most common, safest method used in the second trimester, spurring more court showdowns. “These restrictions represent legislative interference at its worst," said the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. "Doctors will be forced, by ill-advised, unscientifically motivated policy, to provide lesser care to patients.” (1/22)

USA Today: Americans Are Ready For Meaningful Limits On Abortion
Abortion remains as controversial as ever as shown by tens of thousands coming to Washington every year to the March for Life, marchers overwhelmingly young and happy for whom it’s more of a celebration than a political demonstration. Polls have shown a steady rise in “pro-life” sentiment over the past two decades, even while “pro-choice” numbers fall. (Tony Perkins, 1/22)

San Antonio Press-Express: Retirees Health Care Plan Funding Needs A Permanent Fix
State lawmakers need to come up with a long-term solution for funding the health costs of Texas’ retired teachers. Tweaks in the last year will keep the TRS-Care solvent through the 2019 fiscal year, but the plan has a projected $400 million shortfall by the end of 2021. (1/22)