The New York Times: Data On Health Law Shows Largest Drop In Uninsured In 4 Decades, The U.S. Says
The Obama administration said on Monday that 16.4 million uninsured people had gained health coverage since major provisions of the Affordable Care Act began to take effect in 2010, driving the largest reduction in the number of uninsured in about 40 years. Since the first open enrollment period began in October 2013, the officials said, the proportion of adults lacking insurance has dropped to 13.2 percent, from 20.3 percent. Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the secretary of health and human services, said the data revealed “the largest reduction in the uninsured in four decades.” (Pear, 3/16)

The Associated Press: Obama Administration: 16.4M Have Gained Health Insurance
But measuring a different way, an independent expert who took into account insurance losses during some of those years had a much lower estimate: 9.7 million. The Department of Health and Human Services estimated that 16.4 million adults have gained health insurance since the law's major coverage provisions began taking effect in 2010. The lower independent estimate is based on a large daily survey called the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. There seems to be no dispute that Obama's law has significantly reduced the number of uninsured Americans. The question is, by how much? (Alonso-Zaldivar and Pace, 3/16)

Kaiser Health News: HHS: Health Law Has Helped Insure 16.4 Million
A total of 16.4 million non-elderly adults have gained health insurance coverage since the Affordable Care Act became law five years ago this month – a “historic” reduction in the number of uninsured, the Department of Health and Human Services said Monday. Those gaining insurance since 2010 include 2.3 million young adults aged 18 to 26 who were able to remain on their parents’ health insurance plus another 14.1 million adults who obtained coverage through expansions of the Medicaid program, new marketplace coverage and other sources, according to HHS’ report. (Rovner, 3/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Uninsured Rate Down Sharply Since Health Law Was Enacted
A report released by the Department of Health and Human Services, based largely on Gallup survey data, found that about 16.4 million people have gained health coverage since the law’s passage. That number includes 14.1 million adults who have gained coverage since the beginning of open enrollment in October 2013. It also includes younger adults who were allowed to remain on their parents’ plans until age 26. The total also includes people who signed up for Medicaid, the state-federal health-care program for the poor, under an ACA provision that let states change eligibility requirements so more people above the poverty level would qualify. (Armour, 3/16)

USA Today: Uninsured Rates Drop Dramatically Under Obamacare
Edmund Haislmaier, senior research fellow for health policy at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank, said using survey data and extrapolating figures is "kind of a backwards way" of looking at the reduction in the uninsured. A better way is to examine insurer data, he said. For the first three quarters of last year, he said, insurer data showed a net growth of 5.8 million people in the individual insurance market, both on and off exchanges. He said that was offset by a 4.9 million-person decrease in the employer-insured market — meaning net growth in the private insurance market was less than a million people. Government data cited by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that from summer 2013 to 2014, there was a net increase of 8.7 million people enrolled in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. (Ungar, 3/16)

The Washington Post: Affordable Care Act Adds 16.4 Million To Health Insurance Rolls
The Latino uninsured rate dropped by 12.3 percentage points between the first quarter of 2014 and the same period in 2015 as 4.2 million adults gained coverage. That ethnic group, however, continues to have the lowest rate of insurance coverage. About 2.3 million African Americans enrolled, dropping that group’s uninsured rate by 9.2 percentage points, and 6.6 million whites obtained coverage, a decline of 5.3 percentage points. (Bernstein, 3/16)

Politico Pro: HHS Says 16 Million Have Gained Health Coverage
The Obama administration said Monday that 16.4 million uninsured people have gotten health coverage since the Affordable Care Act became law nearly five years ago, the largest gain in insurance in decades. (Pradhan, 3/16)

NBC News: Feds: 4.2M Latinos Got Health Coverage, Saw Biggest Gains
The share of adult Latinos without medical insurance dropped from 41.8 percent to about a third, the Health and Human Services Department announced Monday. This makes Hispanics the group with the largest gains in insurance. (Gamboa, 3/16)

The New York Times: Obama Plans To Use Week To Press Economic Case
Even though Republicans control both houses of Congress, Mr. Obama is using the considerable tools at his disposal to try to build public support for his own agenda. Just as Republicans were preparing to unveil a budget that would propose to repeal Mr. Obama’s signature health care law, the administration released new figures showing that 16.4 million Americans had obtained health insurance since it took effect. The growth of health care costs has slowed over the same period. (Hirschfeld Davis, 3/16)

CQ Healthbeat: Racial, Ethnic Health Coverage Disparities On The Decline, HHS Says
Minorities have gained health insurance at higher rates than white Americans since the marketplaces created by the health care law opened in October 2013, Health and Human Services officials said Monday in releasing a report that found 16.4 million people gained insurance since 2010. African-American and Latino adults still remain less likely to have health coverage than white people. However, the disparities are declining. (Adams, 3/16)

The Denver Post: Denver Reports 94% Of Residents Have Health Coverage
Be Healthy Denver and Denver Public Health said Monday new data indicates 94 percent of city residents have health care coverage. Before implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2014, officials said, about 108,000 people in Denver — about 1 in 5 residents — were uninsured. Officials report 83.1 percent were insured. (Draper, 3/16)

Minneapolis Star-Tribune: Dayton Proposes Task Force To Consider MNsure Options
Gov. Mark Dayton is seeking $500,000 for a task force that would consider future options for MNsure including a possible switch to the federal government’s HealthCare.gov website. (Snowbeck, 3/16)

The Associated Press: House Panel Votes To End MNsure, Shift To Federal Exchange
The debate over the future of Minnesota's state-operated health insurance exchange took an emotional turn Monday night as lawmakers weighed stories from one man who said his struggle to get coverage through the exchange contributed to his wife's death, while others said MNsure saved their lives. (3/17)

Minnesota Public Radio: GOP Leader Wants To End MinnesotaCare
Days after saying they want to cut taxes and still spend money on key priorities, a key Republican in the Minnesota House is floating a proposal to end a popular health care program for Minnesota's working poor. ... State Rep. Matt Dean, who chairs the House Health Care Finance Committee, would move the 95,000 people currently participating in MinnesotaCare coverage to MNsure, where they would buy a private plan. Dean estimates the shift would save about $900 million over two years, cash that could be used for Republican priorities that include nursing home funding, and mental and dental health programs. (Richert, 3/16)

The Associated Press: Expanded Review Of Colorado Health Exchange Awaits Governor's Pen
An expanded review of the Colorado health insurance exchange awaits the governor's pen. The state House voted 64-1 Monday to approve an expanded state audit for Connect For Health Colorado. (3/16)

St. Louis Public Radio: Health Care Professionals Skeptical Of Nixon's Medicaid Expansion Proposals
Hospitals are pushing for Medicaid expansion in Missouri. Physicians say it’s crucial. And yet, lawmakers in favor of expansion have been unable to create a proposal that the legislature’s Republican majority will accept. (Bouscaren, 3/16)

The New York Times: House Republican Budget Overhauls Medicare And Repeals The Health Law
House Republicans on Tuesday will unveil a proposed budget for 2016 that partly privatizes Medicare, turns Medicaid into block grants to the states, repeals the Affordable Care Act and reaches balance in 10 years, challenging Republicans in Congress to make good on their promises to deeply cut federal spending. (Weisman, 3/16)

Los Angeles Times: Republicans Struggle To Present Unified Front Over 2016 Budget
But faced with pressure from fiscal conservatives for a tough approach that cuts across all aspects of the federal government, Republican leaders will be hard-pressed to produce a document that can unify its ranks. Whether House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will be able to usher a budget to passage remains uncertain. The party’s budget problems are the latest challenge for the Republican-led Congress, which swept into power promising not only to cut spending but also to use the budget process to attack President Obama's top priorities, including the Affordable Care Act. (Mascaro, 3/16)

In related news -

The Associated Press: Improper Payments By Federal Agencies Reach A Record $125B
Federal agencies set a new record for improper payments last year, shelling out $125 billion in questionable benefits after years of declines. The payments included tax credits for families that didn't qualify, Medicare payments for treatments that might not have been necessary, and unemployment benefits for people who were actually working. (3/17)

CQ Healthbeat: GOP Begins Thinking About Obamacare Contingency Plans
Conservative lawmakers and advocacy groups, after years of trying to repeal President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, are lining up behind the idea that Congress needs a plan if the Supreme Court undercuts the financing of the law in a case now before the justices. The challenge is settling on a response that groups like Heritage Action for America and FreedomWorks would endorse as conservative rather than as something seen to bolster the 2010 law or mimic its structure. (Attias, 3/16)

Also, the House approved legislation to reauthorize federal trauma care programs -

The Hill: House Passes Measures To Reauthorize Trauma Care Programs
The House approved legislation on Monday to reauthorize federal grants for trauma care programs. Current law, which expires in September, authorizes $100 million annually for trauma care grant programs. (Marcos, 3/16)

The Associated Press: A New Class Of Experimental Cholesterol Drugs Outperforming Traditional Statins
New research boosts hope that a highly anticipated, experimental class of cholesterol drugs can greatly lower the risk for heart attacks, death and other heart-related problems. The government will decide this summer whether to allow two of these drugs on the market. (Marchione, 3/16)

The Fiscal Times: The Life-Saving Drug That Almost No State Can Afford
This year so far, only nine people have been approved for Sovaldi, racking up a bill of $264,927 for the state [of Illinois] in January and February. Meanwhile, 39 Medicaid patients were approved to receive Harvoni, the other promising Hep-C drug from Gilead, at a cost of roughly $1.8 million over that same time period, according to the Illinois Department of Health and Family Services. (Pianin and Ehley, 3/17)

And a drugmaker agrees to pay a fine after allegations of misrepresenting some drug costs --

The Wall Street Journal's Pharmalot: Novartis Pays $12.6M Fine For Giving Inaccurate Pricing Data To Medicare
In what the federal government says is the largest such settlement ever reached, Sandoz has agreed to pay $12.64 million to resolve allegations that it misrepresented pricing data on medicines that were provided to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (Silverman, 3/16)

Kentucky Press News Service: Health Initiative In Kentucky Yields Progress
More Kentuckians have health insurance, are covered by smoke-free policy, can access physical activity resources, seek care for heart disease and cancer prevention, and get dental services since the launch of kyhealthnow last year, according to the program’s preliminary inaugural annual report previewed Thursday by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. The draft report, which was discussed during the kyhealthnow quarterly oversight team meeting, shows Kentucky is moving in the right direction in meeting the ambitious and wide-ranging goals laid out in the initiative, which was launched in February 2014 by Gov. Steve Beshear. (3/16)

The Associated Press: Plan For Iowa Medicaid Eligibility System Under Review
A plan for Iowa to hire an outside contractor to vet some Medicaid recipients was held for further review Monday in the Iowa Senate. A Senate subcommittee opted to hold the bill, which already received full approval in the Iowa House. The proposal would require the state to contract with an outside vendor to set up a computerized system that would assess whether people who are elderly, blind or disabled meet Medicaid eligibility rules. (3/16)

The Associated Press: Indiana Medicaid Recovers $126,000 In Lawsuit Settlement
Indiana's Medicaid program will receive more than $126,000 from a drug manufacturer that filed false claims to Medicaid and other federally funded health care programs. Attorney General Greg Zoeller announced Monday that the settlement with Indiana, 48 other states and the federal government will resolve five lawsuits against the pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo Inc. (3/17)

The Des Moines Register: Four More Hospital Systems Form ACOs
Iowa’s largest health insurer continues to add hospital systems to its collection of health-care providers that have signed accountable care organization contracts. (Leys, 3/16)

California Healthline: Possible Explanation Offered For Delayed Medi-Cal Termination Data
State officials have said they're handling about one million renewals a month for Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program. It's a process that started in June 2014. In addition to renewing Medi-Cal benefits for some Californians, the process includes terminating coverage for others for a variety of reasons. State officials last week said they don't have data for how many Californians have been dropped from the Medi-Cal program. (Gorn, 3/16)

The Associated Press: UPMC, Pitt, Carnegie Mellon To Work On Medical Data Sharing
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center plans to partner with Pitt and Carnegie Mellon University to collect and analyze patient health care data and, hopefully, use that information to create ways to better treat some illnesses. The Pittsburgh Health Data Alliance was announced Monday in hopes it could help doctors and hospitals rapidly detect outbreaks of various illnesses, or even develop smartphone applications that could be used to improve or manage the health of a person based on their own physical, health or genetic characteristics. (3/16)

Kaiser Health News: Rural Hospitals, One Of The Cornerstones Of Small Town Life, Face Increasing Pressure
Despite residents’ concerns and a continuing need for services, the 25-bed hospital that served this small East Texas town for more than 25 years closed its doors at the end of 2014, joining the ranks of dozens of other small rural hospitals that have been unable to weather the punishment of a changing national health care environment. For the high percentages of elderly and uninsured patients who live in rural areas, closures mean longer trips for treatment and uncertainty during times of crisis. 'I came to the emergency room when I had panic attacks,' said George Taylor, 60, a retired federal government employee. 'It was very soothing and the staff was great. I can’t imagine Mount Vernon without a hospital." (Gugliotta, 3/17)

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Health Care Files Rich Trove For Identity Thieves
The 80 million-person Anthem Inc. data breach jeopardized the identities of more than 750,000 Pennsylvanians, including 51,867 Highmark customers notified by letter last week. It also reminded the information security world that health records — subject to strict privacy requirements — are a rich target for hackers. (Lord, 3/16)

The Associated Press: 18 Charged In Florida In $125M Private Insurance Fraud Scam
Federal authorities have charged 18 people in South Florida in a $125 million fraud scheme aimed at prominent private health insurance companies. Four of those indicted last week controlled 30 companies in the Miami area that misappropriated the names and licensing information of dozens of physicians. Prosecutors say that information was used to submit false claims to the insurers. (3/16)

The Associated Press: Medical Abortion Bill Headed To Idaho Senate
Legislation that would ban Idaho women from receiving abortion-inducing medication through telemedicine —an option not currently available in the state— faces just one more hurdle before heading to the governor's desk for his signature. The Senate State Affairs Committee endorsed the bill Monday, with the few Democratic members opposing, after listening to more than two hours of testimony primarily from anti-abortion organizations. (Krusei, 3/16)

State House News Service: Electronic Cigarettes Subject Of Proposed Regulations In Massachusetts
Massachusetts lawmakers were unsuccessful last session in pushing through legislation to regulate electronic cigarettes. On Tuesday, Attorney General Maura Healey plans to announce "proposed regulations" affecting e-cigarettes, according to her office. (3/16)

The Associated Press: Analyst Warns Gov. Brown's Retiree Health Plan Could Cost More
An independent budget analyst is questioning Gov. Jerry Brown's call for state workers to contribute half the cost of their retirement health benefits. In a report Monday, legislative analyst Mac Taylor says the state could end up paying more over time if current and future state workers are asked to help pay for their health benefits. He says when the state began requiring higher pension contributions from employees in 2013 it ended up offsetting the cost to employees with pay increases. (3/16)

The Kansas Health Institute News Service: Possibility For Compromise On KanCare Committee Overhaul
A compromise is emerging on a bill that would change the legislative committee that oversees KanCare, the state's privatized Medicaid program. Senate Bill 121 as written lessens the minority party’s influence on the KanCare committee by removing members appointed from the House and Senate budget committees. (Marso, 3/16)

NJ Spotlight: Delegating Tasks Can Benefit Home Care Nurses And Patients
The state and federal governments are making it easier for New Jerseyans to stay in their homes as they age and their healthcare needs increase. But this shift to home-based care demands more from the nurses who assess and develop plans to meet residents’ needs. It also places increasing reliance on the home health aides who help people in their daily lives. (Kitchenman, 3/16)

North Carolina Health News: Study Makes Economic Case For Advanced Practice Nurses
A new study finds loosening practice restrictions on North Carolina nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and nurse anesthetists could save hundreds of millions annually. (Hoban, 3/17)

ProPublica: California Announces Audit Of Insurance Company That Took Away Home Health Aide
California’s labor department says it will conduct an audit of how Travelers Insurance handled the case of paralyzed worker Joel Ramirez, who was left to fend for himself for months after the company withdrew his 24-hour home health care. (Grabell and Berkes, 3/16)

NPR: Vaccination Gaps Helped Fuel Disneyland Measles Spread
California has been dealing with a big measles outbreak since December, when cases emerged among visitors to Disneyland in Orange County. Measles spread quickly afterward. As of Friday, the state had confirmed 133 measles cases among residents since December. Of the people who got sick and for whom the state could determine vaccination status, 57 people hadn't been vaccinated against measles and 20 people had had at least one shot of the vaccine. (Hensley, 3/16)

Bloomberg: Obamacare: The Third-Fastest Expansion Of Health Insurance In U.S. History
The Obama administration announced today that the Affordable Care Act has expanded health coverage to 16.4 million people who were previously uninsured. This means Obamacare has expanded medical insurance faster than any new policy since Medicare and Medicaid were created in 1965. The announcement today counts 14.1 million people who have enrolled in private plans or expanded Medicaid coverage since 2013, and 2.3 million young adults who were allowed to stay on parent's health plans until the age of 26. The percentage of Americans without health insurance dropped from 20.3 percent two years ago to 13.2 percent today, according to the administration's analysis of Gallup polling data. That's impressive. (John Tozzi, 3/16)

Los Angeles Times: A Middle Way To Resolve The Obamacare Case
At the Supreme Court argument in King vs. Burwell, the case challenging how the Affordable Care Act works, someone should have asked, “If a state with a federally run health insurance exchange now adopts or ratifies that marketplace as its own, wouldn't it qualify as a state-established exchange?” An affirmative response opens a middle way out of the dilemma posed by that lawsuit. (Edward J. Larson, 3/16)

The New York Times: Could Obama Bypass The Supreme Court?
It is time to talk about President Obama’s contingency plan for health care. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments earlier this month in King v. Burwell, a case challenging the provision of tax credits on federal insurance exchanges. ... The government estimates that millions of Americans will be left without affordable health insurance if it loses. ... But luckily the Constitution supplies a contingency plan, even if the administration doesn’t know it yet: If the administration loses in King, it can announce that it is complying with the Supreme Court’s judgment — but only with respect to the four plaintiffs who brought the suit. (William Baude, 3/17)

Bloomberg: Jeb Bush And Florida's Medicaid Meltdown
To appreciate what went wrong with Jeb Bush's attempts to reform Florida's Medicaid program, and why they bode so poorly for the health-care policies he would pursue as president, you could look at the state's dismal quality-of-care scores, or its sharp drop in Medicaid spending, or a judge's ruling from December that Florida is failing low-income children. ... In 2013, almost half the children covered by Florida's Medicaid program didn't get the recommended number of doctor visits in their first 15 months, putting Florida in the bottom quarter of Medicaid plans nationwide. (Christopher Flavelle, 3/16)

Bloomberg: Obamacare, Assessed
It’s been more than a year since the U.S. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, took full effect. How’s it doing? No single statistic can cover all of its many aspects. But there are some data sources than can shed some light. It’s helpful to step back from the day-to-day partisan battle and recall the sweeping goals of the law: to give more people health insurance while reshaping a medical system that spends more and delivers less than that of any other wealthy country. (Alex Wayne, 3/16)

Los Angeles Times: The Paradoxical Path From Sequester Cuts To A Larger Federal Budget
GOP leaders of the House and Senate budget committees are due to release their budget outlines Tuesday for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, a hotly anticipated event in Republican circles. That's because it's the first time during the Obama presidency that Republicans will have full control over the process. No doubt the proposals will look very different from the multiyear budget deals that House Republicans struck with Senate Democrats in 2011 and 2013. Nevertheless, the spending restraint in the proposals may be short-lived. Republicans may soon find themselves trying to roll back the automatic spending cuts imposed by the 2011 Budget Control Act, just as Democrats sought (successfully) in 2013. ... Many forms of so-called mandatory spending, such as Social Security, Medicaid and food stamps, are excluded from the sequester cuts, so lawmakers could trade reductions in these areas for increases in discretionary spending. (Jon Healey, 3/16)

USA Today: Balance The Budget For A Prosperous America
We promote patient-centered health care by repealing all of Obamacare — the taxes, spending and mandates. This would end the raid on Medicare that was used to create this new entitlement, and it would allow Congress to start over on health care reform to build a system that works for patients, families and physicians, not Washington. At the same time, while making no changes for those in or near retirement, we propose needed improvements to Medicare so we save and strengthen this vital program. These structural reforms would give beneficiaries more choices and more access to affordable care. (Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., 3/17)

Fox: Medicare: Time For Congress To Repeal And Replace The 'Sustainable Growth Rate' Formula
It’s time we in Congress do our job and show leadership by enacting permanent legislation to repeal and replace the flawed SGR formula. The entire medical community recognizes the problem with the SGR, and now Congress has a responsibility to stop the bleeding. We have drafted a meaningful, proactive solution—and now Congress must have the courage and political will to see it through. Continually kicking the can down the road is only perpetuating Washington’s spending problem, while yet another SGR deadline quickly approaches. (Rep. Renee Ellmers, R-N.C., 3/16)

The Wall Street Journal: Wanted: Guidelines For Access To Experimental Drugs
A year ago this month a social-media crisis thrust a set of complex ethical questions and dilemmas onto life-science companies. The family of a 7-year-old boy turned to patient advocates and social media to pressure Chimerix, a small biotech company of which I was CEO, to provide access to an experimental drug, brincidofovir, to fight his life-threatening viral infection. ... Requests for expanded access increased 92% in 2014, a trend that will continue. In the aftermath of Josh Hardy’s story and others, eight state legislatures have enacted and over 20 are considering “right to try” laws, under which terminally ill individuals are deemed to have a “fundamental right” to receive experimental medicines and devices via expanded access. Last month the Food and Drug Administration took steps to simplify the expanded access application form for physicians. (Kenneth I Moch, 3/16)

Bloomberg: Want Miracle Drugs? You Have To Get Lucky
The saliva harvesters at 23andMe have struck upon what sounds like a smart idea -- using the genetic data they gather about their customers to develop new medicines. ... If 23andMe is collecting all that genetic data anyway, why not use it to identify drug targets? You probably shouldn’t hold your breath, though, for a slew of world-changing drugs to emerge from this effort. Developing truly new drugs around specific genetic targets isn't as easy as it is sometimes made to sound. (Justin Fox, 3/16)