Kasich Retreats From Politically Charged Health Law Comments

After telling the Associated Press that he didn't think a repeal of the health law was going to happen, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, took aggressive steps to attempt to correct the record. His statement, he said, was meant only about attempts to repeal the Medicaid expansion, which Ohio has implemented. 

Politico: Gov. John Kasich: Repeal Obamacare, But Not All Of It
A political firestorm broke out Monday when The Associated Press quoted Kasich as saying that Obamacare repeal was “not gonna happen.” That view is almost unheard of — at least in public — among most Republicans, let alone those who might run for the White House in 2016. Kasich said AP got it wrong, and he called POLITICO Monday night to correct the record. He said he was talking specifically about repeal of the expansion of Medicaid — which Ohio has implemented — and not of the Affordable Care Act more broadly (Wheaton, 10/21).

The New York Times: Ohio Governor Backpedals On Repeal Of Health Law
Wait, that’s not what I really meant. Gov. John Kasich of Ohio said his comments about a Republican-led Congress being unlikely to repeal the Affordable Care Act — which commentators on the right and left pounced upon Monday — were taken out of context. Mr. Kasich, a Republican mentioned as a 2016 presidential hopeful, in an interview distanced himself from the notion that he had accepted the health care law as a fait accompli. The idea is anathema to almost all Republican officials, and especially the party’s base (Gabriel, 10/20).

The Washington Post: Kasich: I ‘Don’t Back Obamacare’ And I ‘Want It To Be Repealed’
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) is pushing back on reports that he'd said Obamacare was here to stay, saying Monday night that he opposes the federal health care law and believes it could be repealed and replaced under a Republican president and GOP-controlled Congress. "I don't back Obamacare. I never have. I want it to be repealed," he told The Washington Post in a telephone interview (Sullivan, 10/20).

CNN: Kasich In Interview: Obamacare Has To Stay
A repeal of President Barack Obama's signature health care law is "not gonna happen" even if the GOP takes the Senate, Ohio Gov. John Kasich said. The Republican governor's comments, in an interview with The Associated Press published Monday, are a major departure from the rest of his party -- and stunning for a potential 2016 presidential contender (Bradner, 10/20).

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Does John Kasich Still Want To Repeal Obamacare?
So it was surprising Monday to see Kasich quoted in an Associated Press story that characterizes his position as shifting even farther to the left. "That's not gonna happen," Kasich reportedly told the AP when asked about a repeal of Obamacare, something many GOP candidates for president and Congress favor. ... But when it comes to the Affordable Care Act in its entirety, Kasich has in the past expressed support for "repeal and replace" -- a standard Republican stance. What's changed? Nothing, said Kasich press secretary Rob Nichols. "He's for repeal and replace," Nichols said Monday afternoon. "He always has been." Nichols said Kasich was speaking specifically about Medicaid expansion when interviewed by the AP (Gomez, 10/20).

The AP story that quoted Kasich also looks at other GOP governors who face a similar pull between their choice to expand Medicaid and their positions on the overall health law -

The Associated Press: GOP Governors Don’t See ‘Obamacare’ Going Away
While Republicans in Congress shout, “Repeal Obamacare,” GOP governors in many states have quietly accepted the law’s major Medicaid expansion. Even if their party wins control of the Senate in the upcoming elections, they just don’t see the law going away. Nine Republican governors have expanded Medicaid for low-income people in their states, despite their own misgivings and adamant opposition from conservative legislators. Three more governors are negotiating with the Democratic administration in Washington (Alonso-Zaldivar, 10/20).

ACA Knowledge Gap Greatest Among Uninsured

Most of the uninsured know little about the online insurance marketplaces, or that financial help is available for those with low incomes, finds a poll. Meanwhile, a West Virginia Medicaid official says new enrollees "come in with baggage," such as a history of using free drug samples that aren't covered by the program and The Washington Post looks at continuing legal challenges to the law.

Politico Pro: ACA Knowledge Gaps Loom Before Second Enrollment Season
Here comes another bit of trouble for the Affordable Care Act: Most of the uninsured don’t know that open enrollment starts next month. And they don’t know much about the marketplaces. Or that financial assistance is available for low-income consumers, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s latest Tracking Poll, released Tuesday. The poll found that 89 percent of the uninsured don’t know that the second season of enrollment begins on Nov. 15. Two-thirds said they know “only a little” or “nothing at all” about the marketplaces or exchanges and over half (53 percent) of the uninsured don’t know about the subsidies (Villacorta, 10/21).

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: Uninsured Still Know Little About Health Law As 2nd Enrollment Period Draws Near
Health law? What health law? Almost nine of 10 uninsured Americans – the group most likely to benefit — don’t know that the law’s second open enrollment period begins Nov. 15, according to a poll released Tuesday. Two-thirds of the uninsured say they know “only a little” or “nothing at all” about the law’s online insurance marketplaces where they can buy coverage if they don’t get it through their jobs. Just over half are unaware the law might give them financial help to buy coverage, according to a new poll (Carey, 10/21).

Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette: New Medicaid Patients ‘Come In With Baggage’
With 155,000 people added to West Virginia’s Medicaid program following a major expansion, the state’s family practice doctors are seeing more patients whose medical care requires a complete overhaul, a state Medicaid official told lawmakers Monday. “The problem is patients who come from an uninsured status to a suddenly insured status frequently come in with baggage,” said Dr. James Becker, medical director for West Virginia’s Medicaid program. Some new Medicaid patients show up at doctors’ offices with medical treatment plans that don’t comply with program standards. Other patients are taking free drug samples not on the Medicaid program’s preferred medication list. Becker said primary care doctors are helping patients switch gradually to state-approved prescription drugs (Eyre, 10/20).

The Washington Post’s Wonkblog: How The Supreme Court Could Still Wreak Havoc On Obamacare
Obamacare may not be the political issue it was this time last year, when a faltering Web site threatened to derail the program, but that doesn't mean it's in the clear. Ongoing legal challenges to one aspect of the law could still put its coverage expansion in serious jeopardy. The dispute has to do with whether the subsidies can be provided through public health insurance marketplaces in states that refused to set up their own, instead leaving the job to the feds. The administration and Obamacare supporters say the law was designed to provide premium subsidies to all states, regardless of who runs the marketplace (Millman, 10/21).

Fiscal Times: Ebola: Obamacare’s Ultimate Pre-Existing Condition
With the new Obamacare enrollment period scheduled to begin on November 15, here’s an intriguing question: If you’re one of the rare Americans to have the misfortune of contracting Ebola, can you apply for a new insurance policy on one of the government-run health exchanges without being rejected (Pianin and Ehley, 10/21)?

Medicaid Expansion, Health Exchanges Dominate Gubernatorial Debates

In Georgia, where a runoff is considered likely, Gov. Nathan Deal went on the offensive and criticized a third-party candidate's support for expanding Medicaid. In Maryland, Republican candidate Larry Hogan slammed Democratic Lt. Governor Anthony Brown for his role in the state's troubled health exchange launch.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia Candidates Are Ready For A Runoff … But Not Happy About It
If you needed any proof that Republicans are worried about a looming runoff, look no further than Sunday’s gubernatorial debate. That’s when Gov. Nathan Deal, instead of lobbing a softball at his Libertarian rival, unloaded a double-barreled attack questioning his support for a Medicaid expansion and criticizing the millions of dollars in federal grants his technology firms accepted (Bluestein and Malloy, 10/20).

Baltimore Sun: Hogan Slams Brown, O’Malley Administration On Health Care Lawsuit Delay
Reppublican gubernatorial candidate Larry Hogan criticized the O'Malley administration Monday over its decision to delay a lawsuit against the contractor it has blamed for the failed launch of the state's health exchange web site.  Hogan, locked in a battle with Democratic Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown with two weeks to go before Election Day, accused the administration of putting politics ahead of the taxpayers by delaying court action against Noridian Healthcare Solutions. The state fired Noridian in April for poor performance and vowed to recover $55 million it spent on the web site, which crashed on its first day of operation last October. Maryland decided early this year to scrap the web site and develop a new one based on software used on the more successful Connecticut site (Dresser, 10/20).

Medicare, Health Care Getting Attention In Senate, Congressional Races

In Louisiana's Senate race, Medicare is grabbing the spotlight. The powerful issue is also popping up in North Carolina and Iowa. Meanwhile, Michigan's Senate race references to Medicare and the health law are checked for accuracy. And Obamacare is the subject of ads in an increasingly high-profile California House contest.   

The Associated Press: In Louisiana, Both Sides Claim Defense Of Medicare
An old political standby — the future of Medicare — is emerging as the go-to issue in Louisiana’s bitter Senate race as the candidates woo seniors who typically wield strong influence in midterm elections. The challenge for voters is to figure out which side, if either, is telling the whole truth about who would cut and who would protect the popular insurance program. Medicare serves more than 50 million people and accounts for about 15 percent of federal spending, with about 10,000 new beneficiaries added daily as baby boomers reach age 65. The issue is so powerful that it’s cropping up in North Carolina and Iowa, too, amid a national battle for control of the Senate (Barrow and Deslatte, 10/21).

Politico: Fact-Checking The Michigan Senate Race
The Michigan Senate race pits Democratic Rep. Gary Peters against Republican Terri Lynn Land, a former Michigan secretary of state, to replace the retiring Sen. Carl Levin. The two candidates have faced plenty of attacks from outside spending groups, who have poured enough money into the race to make it the seventh costliest in terms of outside dollars. In fact, those groups — not the candidates themselves — have so far been the focus of our fact-checking efforts. False and misleading claims have centered on taxes, equal pay for women, health care, outsourcing jobs, Medicare and energy (Factcheck.org, 10/21).

Sacramento Bee: Ad Watch: Democrats Use Obamacare Against Ose
House Majority PAC, a Democratic group, has criticized Republican congressional challenger Doug Ose for his stances on veterans and Social Security. Now, in a new television ad, the group is targeting the former congressman for his pledge to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a new plan (Cadelago, 10/20).

Few California Inmates With Hepatitis C Get Costly Sovaldi

The drug is being given to fewer than 1 percent of the 17,000 inmates with the virus in California prisons, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Meanwhile, a Senate Democrat plans a hearing on how VA hospitals are coping with its high cost.

San Francisco Chronicle: Prisons Balk At Sovaldi’s $84,000 Cost For Hepatitis C Treatment
In San Francisco’s jails, no inmates with hepatitis C are receiving Sovaldi, the breakthrough pill that can cure most patients in an unprecedented amount of time. In California’s prisons, the drug, made by Gilead Sciences of Foster City, is being given to less than 1 percent of the 17,000 inmates with the virus. Sovaldi could wipe out what has long been an intractable disease. But its $84,000 cost for a 12-week supply doesn’t fit into lean government budgets (Lee and Garofoli, 10/20).

The Wall Street Journal’s Pharmalot: Senate Lawmaker Eyes Hearing On The Cost Of Hepatitis C Treatments
Responding to the ongoing controversy over the prices for new hepatitis C treatments, U.S. Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) will probably hold a hearing -- possibly before the year ends -- to examine how the cost is affecting the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, according to his spokesman. Sanders is chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (Silverman, 10/20).

Just In Time For Open Enrollment, A New Physician Rating Site

USA Today reports that the website uses about 500 million federal and private claims and patient reviews to rank doctors. Meanwhile, the failure of the $30 billion federal program to create interoperable electronic health record systems is examined by Politico.

USA Today: New Doctors Site Rates For Experience, Quality
The first comprehensive physician rating and comparison database launches Monday in time for open enrollment on federal and state health exchanges, as well as for many employer-provided plans. The new version of the website Healthgrades.com uses about 500 million claims from federal and private sources and patient reviews to rate and rank doctors based on their experience, complication rates at the hospitals where they practice and patient satisfaction (O’Donnell, 10/20).

Politico: Few Motives To Fix Busted Health Data
Someday, doctors will have our data at their fingertips and will use it to prevent drug reactions, nip diabetes and cancers in the bud and lengthen our lives while preventing unpleasant and costly hospital stays. But for most doctors, that free-flowing information highway is a beautiful dream that doesn’t pay the bills (Allen, 10/20).

The role of primary care doctors in lowering health care costs is also examined -

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: More Efficient Health Care Generates Savings
The potential to lower health care costs by focusing on primary care can be seen in the example of a patient with diabetes who had been to an emergency department or hospitalized 30 times in roughly a year. The patient then developed a relationship with a primary care physician who closely monitored his health. The next year, he didn't seek care at an emergency room and wasn't hospitalized once (Boulton, 10/20).

Hill Republicans Refine Their Strategy On Foreign Travelers As CDC Tightens Ebola Guidelines

The GOP is now pressing to suspend visas for some travelers since the administration has so far rejected calls for a flight ban. Also Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention beefed-up its guidelines to protect health care workers.

The New York Times: On Ebola Response, Congressional Republicans Put New Focus On Visa Suspensions
Republican leaders, conceding the futility of a flight ban from Ebola-afflicted West Africa, are refining their response to the outbreak, pressing to suspend visas for travelers and create "no boarding" lists. But a supercharged political atmosphere is making legislative nuance difficult two weeks before midterm elections and days before a hearing on Friday on the Ebola response called by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, a panel riven by partisan division. Republicans on the campaign trail continue to goad Democrats to embrace a broad travel ban, although no direct flights to the United States from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea exist (Weisman, 10/20).

The Washington Post: CDC Issues Formal Guidelines Giving Workers More Protection Against Ebola
Federal health officials Monday tightened infection-control guidelines for health-care workers caring for Ebola patients, explicitly recommending that no skin be exposed. The beefed-up guidelines also call for health-care workers to undergo rigorous training, and to be supervised by trained monitors when putting on and taking off personal protective equipment. The government will issue step-by-step instructions for workers to follow in doing that (Sun and Berman, 10/20).

Los Angeles Times: New Ebola Protection Guidelines Leave No Bare Skin
After pointed criticism from healthcare workers and relatives of an Ebola-infected nurse, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new guidelines Monday for hospital protective gear. The guidelines, which were scheduled to be posted on the CDC's website late Monday night, were described by CDC Director Thomas Frieden during a telephone news conference (Morin, 10/20).

Politico: Dude, Where's My Czar?
The White House announced Friday that Ron Klain would be the country’s public point-person on Ebola, but so far what the "Ebola czar" isn’t doing has been clearer than what he is. Klain won’t be testifying this Friday on the Hill. He didn’t participate in a Saturday meeting of top officials on Ebola. And administration officials haven't yet confirmed that he’s talked with the president since their conversation the day his selection was made public (Epstein, 10/20).

State Highlights: Calif. Ballot Measure Updates; Va. Prison Health Care Budget Shortfall

A selection of health policy stories from California, Arizona, Maine, South Dakota, Virginia, Maryland, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Texas, Washington state and Missouri.

CQ Healthbeat: California Leads States In Ballot Measures That Could Influence Health Care
They’ll vote on whether to upend decades-old policies and give the state insurance commissioner the power to deny health insurer requests for rate increases. Another question on the ballot could significantly increase medical malpractice award caps set in 1975 and impose the first requirements in the nation that doctors get tested for illegal drug use. California’s measures stand out as the most significant health-related ballot initiatives in front of voters in the November elections. Elsewhere, Arizonans will vote on whether terminally ill people in the state can use drugs that aren’t yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration. In Maine, voters will decide whether to spend millions to encourage the development of a genomic industry, while South Dakotans will vote on whether to join at least 33 other states that require health insurers to have a contracting process that will consider requests to participate from all interested and licensed providers (Adams, 10/20).

Los Angeles Times: Health Insurers Boost No On 45 Funding
California insurers have pumped more than $12 million over the last five days into a campaign to defeat Proposition 45, an initiative on the Nov. 4 ballot that would regulate health insurance rates. Blue Shield gave $2.66 million, WellPoint $6 million, Kaiser Permanente $3.73 million and Health Net $350,000, according to late filings at the secretary of state's office (Lifsher, 10/20).

Richmond Times-Dispatch: Va. Prison System Faces $45 Million Shortfall In Inmate Health Care
Virginia’s prison system faces a $45 million shortfall in inmate health care through next year, even as the corrections department bears the brunt of the latest round of cuts in the two-year state budget. The shortfall emerged this year after a private company that had provided health care to inmates at 17 prisons in hard-to-serve areas ended its contract with the state at the end of September, according to Department of Corrections Director Harold W. Clarke in a presentation Monday to the House Appropriations Committee (Martz, 10/20). 

The Washington Post: Booz Allen Buys Baltimore-Based Health Division Of Genova Technologies
Booz Allen Hamilton has acquired the health care division of Genova Technologies, an Iowa-based government contractor, for an undisclosed sum. The health care group, made up of about 40 employees, is based in Baltimore. The office has already been integrated into Booz Allen, said Susan Penfield, executive vice president of Booz’s health business (Jayakumar, 10/20).

The Associated Press: La. Health Dept. Seeks End To Billing Rape Victims
Sexual assault victims in Louisiana should not have to pay for their treatment in emergency rooms, the health department said Monday, announcing a proposal that would have a state victims’ assistance board finance the exams (10/20).

The Wall Street Journal: Judge Blocks Cancellation Of Philadelphia Teachers Contract
A judge on Monday temporarily blocked the Philadelphia public-school system from canceling the teachers union contract and requiring educators to pay a share of their health insurance premiums starting in December. The union, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, sought the injunction, claiming the five-member School Reform Commission that governs the district lacked legal authority to impose the changes. The school district said it would appeal Monday’s ruling (Calvert, 10/20).

Boston Globe: Mental Health Record May Be Predictor For Baker
[Charlie] Baker’s blueprint saved Massachusetts millions of dollars at a time when the state was staring at a nearly $2 billion deficit, but it left thousands of mental health patients often waiting weeks for treatments. The controversial approach became his template for rescuing financially ailing Harvard Pilgrim Health Care a decade later. The aftershocks of both initiatives are still being felt as the now 57-year-old Republican runs for governor, and those experiences, say Baker supporters and critics, provide a window into how he might handle similarly fraught and costly issues if elected (Lazar, 10/21).

Arizona Central-Republic: Phoenix VA Hospital Fails Outside Compliance Review
The Department of Veterans Affairs health-care system in Phoenix does not comply with U.S. standards for safety, patient care and management, according to a non-profit organization that reviews medical facilities nationwide. In findings published online, The Joint Commission says Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center failed a July inspection in 13 quality-control categories (Wagner, 10/21).

California Healthline: New Los Angeles Program Working To Divert Mentally Ill, Homeless From Jail
Court. Jail. Homelessness. Repeat. That cycle so familiar to many Californians with mental illnesses may soon be interrupted thanks to the new Third District Diversion and Alternative Sentencing Program in Los Angeles County. Designed for adults who are chronically homeless, seriously mentally ill, and who commit specific misdemeanor and low-level felony crimes, the demonstration project could help reduce recidivism by as much as two-thirds, Third District Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said (Stephens, 10/20).

North Carolina Health News: A Rural Practice Fights To Stay Solvent
By many measures this is a pediatric practice that shouldn’t exist. Ahoskie is home to 5,000 people, only 1,200 of whom are under 18. The median income of the town hovers right around the federal poverty level, and the bulk of the young residents qualify for Medicaid or the state’s children’s health insurance program, free school lunch, and other services. Beverly Edwards, MD, is one of only two pediatricians within a 2-hour drive of Ahoskie, and never has a shortage of patients. Despite the challenging environment, and state bureaucratic changes that have nearly bankrupted her practice, Ahoskie Pediatrics’ sole doctor, Edwards says she’s been living the dream (Ferris, 10/21).

The Associated Press: Texas Selects Company To Run Psychiatric Facility
Texas leaders are closer to privatizing a much maligned North Texas psychiatric facility despite concerns from mental health care advocates. The Austin American-Statesman reports state officials announced Monday that Tennessee-based Correct Care Solutions has the winning bid to operate Terrell State Hospital, which employs 980 staffers and serves more than 250 patients. The state and company are negotiating the deal and a decision on whether to move forward with the privatization should be made by the year's end. State health officials said privatization might be the best way to improve the hospital, which was scrutinized following a patient death. A 62-year-old Pittsburg woman died at the facility in 2013 after being restrained for 55 hours. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services shortly thereafter cut off federal funding because of poor conditions at the hospital (10/21).

Houston Chronicle: Riverside Hospital Ex-CEO, 3 Others Convicted In Medicare Fraud Case
The former president of historic Riverside Hospital -- along with his son and two other people affiliated with the facility -- were convicted in federal court Monday for their roles in a Medicare scheme to steal $158 million from the U.S. government. The convictions are a hefty blow to the hospital, which has been teetering on financial collapse. Prosecutors said the facility's psychiatric care was a "sham," and that the four convicted - ex-hospital chief Earnest Gibson III; his son Earnest Gibson IV; Regina Askew and Robert Crane - reaped taxpayer money for services that were not provided. Assistant U.S. Attorney General Leslie Caldwell said the defendants treated mentally ill and disabled people "like chits to be traded and cashed out to pad their own pockets (Chiller, 10/20).

Seattle Times: Washington Insurance Commissioner, Court Bolster Mental Health Coverage
Washington residents will be able to recover some of their medical costs for certain mental health services. Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler is sending letters instructing insurance companies to identify and inform policyholders whose insurance claims were denied for mental-health care that they have a right to have those claims re-evaluated, provided that they were denied under a blanket or categorical exclusion. The letters from Kreidler are being sent in response to a ruling earlier this month by the state Supreme Court. The court determined that insurance companies are required to cover medically necessary neurodevelopmental therapies for patients with mental illness including autism (Stiffler, 10/20).

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Home Health Workers In Missouri Fight For Higher Minimum Wage
For home health attendants and their patients, a push to raise the workers’ hourly minimum wage is a no-brainer. “The people that take care of me deserve a living wage,” said Kyle Auxier, of St. James, Mo., who receives five hours of care at home every day from a home health attendant. “They don’t get what they deserve in my opinion. They can help someone disabled, like me, live their life normally.” But the proposal for an $11 hourly pay floor for those workers in a Medicaid-funded consumer-led health program has been met with skepticism and silence from some state policy makers. Auxier has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a condition that has progressed as he’s gotten older. He has had a home health care attendant each day for the last four years but said his current worker was considering leaving because she makes only $7.75 an hour (Shapiro, 10/20).

Views On Ebola: America Needs To 'Calm Down'; Political Criticism Is Off Base

Los Angeles Times: Calm Down, America, Ebola Isn't About To Kill Us All
A Texas university refuses to accept students from Nigeria, where there were a couple dozen Ebola cases before the disease was quickly stopped. Louisiana refuses to allow incinerated trash from the treatment of Texas' first Ebola victim, Thomas Eric Duncan, into its landfills, as though the virus would survive immolation. A passenger on a cruise ship to Mexico who may have been exposed to lab samples from Duncan, but who appears to be healthy, is given a blood screening for Ebola even though the test isn't reliable in people without symptoms (10/20). 

The Wall Street Journal: Reasons To Calm Down About Ebola
The Ebola epidemic ravaging Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea is unlikely to become a global pandemic, though an international response is critical. The isolated cases in the U.S., Spain and elsewhere are to be expected, but as long as public-health systems act with alacrity, this should not lead to new outbreaks (F. Landis MacKellar and Jose G. Siri, 10/20).

The Washington Post: A Public Dispute Between NIH Officials Over Ebola
Foes of medical research spending by the National Institutes of Health got a boost Sunday from an unlikely source: Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci, a media-friendly scientist, was asked on "Meet the Press" on Sunday about remarks on the Ebola outbreak made by Francis Collins, head of the National Institutes of Health. ... I spoke Sunday night with Fauci, a longtime advocate for higher levels of medical research funding, to see why he had opened this public dispute with Collins. He said he agrees that "budget cuts have a lot to do with the slowing down of research" on Ebola and most everything else, but it’s possible that even with full funding, NIH might have encountered difficulty with the vaccine and couldn't persuade a corporate partner to make it (Dana Milbank, 10/20). 

The Washington Post: Beating Ebola Through A National Plan
The appointment of Ebola czar Ron Klain is an important initial step in mobilizing a coordinated national effort to confront this deadly virus. As the first U.S. hospital to successfully treat Ebola patients, Emory University Hospital has a unique perspective on the scope of the effort and skill required to care for such patients while also protecting the staff and public. One key lesson learned has been that training and strictly following protocol are paramount. Although that may sound simple, it takes an enormous amount of dedication, resources and planning (John T. Fox, 10/20). 

USA Today: Obama Critics Off-Base On Ebola
Sen. Ted Cruz, the Tea Party Republican who has little experience running anything bigger than his mouth, showed up Sunday on national television to hawk his call for President Obama to ban people in Ebola-plagued African countries from traveling to the United States. "For over two weeks, I've been calling on the (Obama) administration to take the common-sense stand of suspending commercial air travel" out of the three West African countries that are hard hit by the Ebola virus, the Texas senator said on CNN. When asked why the president should ignore the advice against the travel ban he received from the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other medical experts, Cruz's responded by, in essence, calling them political hacks (DeWayne Wickham, 10/20). 

Politico: No, A Surgeon General Couldn't Stop Ebola
I appreciate the question "where is the surgeon general on this?" And I understand the public desire for a more neutral medical voice to talk to them about Ebola—one who is also appointed by the president but not as directly involved in the government’s response as [CDC Director Thomas] Frieden, Fauci or the politicos giving them orders. But what we’re talking about here is a wish, not a reasonable expectation. What commentators have failed to acknowledge is the surgeon general is crippled—permanently, in my estimation—and in no position to rescue us from either Ebola or the hysteria that has accompanied it. It didn’t used to be that way, but that's how it is today (Mike Stobbe, 10/20).

Bloomberg: Will Ebola Be Good For The CDC?
Don't get me wrong: Fighting infection is still one of the things that the public health infrastructure does, and though I hope it doesn’t come to that, I expect that our system will do a much better job next time. But the CDC did not botch the job because there’s something wrong with Barack Obama, or government, or the state of Texas, or private hospitals. They dropped the ball because the public health system no longer needs to work so many miracles, and consequently hasn’t had much practice. We shouldn’t have let public health give us such an inflated belief in the power of government. But we also shouldn't forget that with the right task and the right tools, government is still capable of doing some wondrous things (Megan McArdle, 10/20).

The Wall Street Journal: Poll: Most Americans Positive About Ebola Response
For days now marathon media coverage of Ebola has been turning even the tiniest developments into "breaking news." ... But the American people have remained levelheaded. And with just a small number of cases reported in one city, the public seems far calmer about Ebola in the U.S. than either cable news or the debate inside the Beltway suggests (Drew Altman, 10/21).

The Washington Post: Ebola Caregivers Deserve A Parade
A man my age grows up wondering: Could I have hit the beach at Normandy? How would I have handled being trapped near the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea, thousands of Chinese pouring over the border and a bitter winter coming on fast? What about Vietnam, or later Iraq and then Afghanistan and Iraq again? I come not from the Greatest Generation but the Wondering One — lucky, a reaper of what others have sown, and now, jaw agape, I wonder about health workers who leave the comforts and certainties of the United States and go to Africa to treat Ebola patients. Who are these people? (Richard Cohen, 10/20).

Journal of the American Medical Association: Ebola In The United States: EHRs As A Public Health Tool At The Point Of Care
The readiness of the health care system for Ebola was challenged by the very first case. When Thomas E. Duncan went to the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas in September, health care workers reportedly obtained and recorded his travel history, but the patient was nonetheless discharged home without being diagnosed as having Ebola. The press in part focused on whether the electronic health record (EHR) contributed to the missed diagnosis, but the right question to be asking is how a modern computer system should perform in this circumstance. The EHR appears to have performed exactly as expected. ... For many patients, travel history is not especially relevant. However, for Duncan, it was the single most important aspect of the case (Dr. Kenneth D. Mandl, 10/20).

Viewpoints: Health Care Opponent's Legal Strategy; The Challenge For This Open Enrollment

The Wall Street Journal: Carvin's ObamaCare Tour De Force
In 2011 after the first appeals circuit struck down the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate, the White House asked the Supreme Court to take the case as soon as possible and "put these challenges to rest." There was no value in waiting on the merits to percolate in other courts, liberals argued then, given the grave practical consequences for this landmark social legislation. So observes Jones Day attorney Michael Carvin in his corker of a reply brief asking the High Court to accept King v. Burwell, an equally consequential challenge to ObamaCare. Yet now the White House is asking the Court to wait, and wait, and wait, which Mr. Carvin calls "irresponsible" and "out of touch with reality." The 12-page document is a master class in legal persuasion and deserves more readers (10/20). 

The New York Times' The Upshot: Next Open Enrollment For A.C.A. Approaches, But Few Notice
This year, the big challenge for officials behind the Affordable Care Act may not be making the website work but getting customers to come shop in the first place. A new survey of people without health insurance highlights the challenge: It found that 89 percent of the people surveyed were unaware that open enrollment begins in November, or any time soon (Margot Sanger-Katz, 10/21). 

The New York Times' Letter From America: Obamacare Losing Power As A Campaign Weapon
Then there was the disastrous rollout in late 2013, caused by computer glitches that cost the program precious credibility at a critical time. That's what most people remember — which might explain why some Republicans seeking election next month are still running attack ads against the health care law. The problem with that narrative is the program is proving to be a success, and yet the health care initiative — arguably the most significant piece of social legislation in decades — is no longer a prominent part of the Democratic agenda (Celestine Bohlen, 10/20). 

Los Angeles Times: To Govs. Jindal, Perry: A Travel Ban Won't Save Lives, But Medicaid Will
For Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Rick Perry of Texas, two Republican governors thinking about running for president, the Ebola virus has been a heaven-sent opportunity. It has allowed them to swank around as protectors of public health, distracting their audiences from policies they've implemented that really are threats to public health (Michael Hiltzik, 10/20). 

The New Orleans' Times-Picayune: The Political Gamesmanship Of Opposing Medicaid Expansion
Sen. David Vitter, who has never been mistaken for a liberal, said in a June speech to the Baton Rouge Press Club that if he's elected governor, he wouldn't rule out Medicaid expansion the way that Gov. Bobby Jindal has. This is noteworthy because the Medicaid expansion is a major component of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, and Rep. Bill Cassidy is just about basing his entire campaign on Sen. Mary Landrieu's support of that legislation. ... If Jindal had agreed to an expansion of Medicaid, then Cassidy's argument that the Affordable Care Act has been bad for Louisiana would be more difficult to make. If there were 242,000 people who were granted access to medical coverage, Landrieu could rightly claim credit for that. And what self-respecting Republican is going to let a Democrat claim credit for something as monumental as bring health care access to the masses? (Jarvis DeBerry, 10/20).

The Hill: ObamaCare — Why, Sure, It's 'Paid For'
Republican Senate Budget Committee analysts reported last week that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) — a.k.a. ObamaCare — would increase the federal deficit by $131 billion over the period from 2015 to 2024. Drew Hammill, a senior aide to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), dismissed the report as "complete garbage." Name-calling is no substitute for analysis. The Senate budget analysts' work is fully transparent. Based on Congressional Budget Office (CBO) data on medical spending and labor market effects, it is quite easy to check out (Robert E. Moffit, 10/20).

The Wall Street Journal: ObamaCare Shunts My Patients Into Medicaid
Thirty years of experience in private medical practice uncovers many ironies. For example, recently several of my patients who had been paying for their own individual health insurance informed me that they were forced off private insurance and placed into Medicaid when they signed up for health care at Healthcare.gov. This unwanted change—built into ObamaCare with the intention of helping patients—has harmed them by taking away their freedom to choose a health-care plan that works best for them (Jeffrey A. Singer, 10/20).

The Washington Post's Volokh Conspiracy: A Recent Poll Shows That Most Doctors Give Obamacare Low Grades – But Should This Influence Voters’ Evaluation Of The Program?
A recent survey of doctors by the Physicians Foundation finds that most give low grades to Obamacare. Some 46% of the doctors polled gave Obamacare a grade of "D" or "F" and 29% gave it a "C." Only 25 percent give it an "A" or a "B," including just 4% who gave it the highest grade. It’s possible that some of the doctors who chose C really meant to say that it was at least reasonably good. But in modern America, thanks to grade inflation, a C is generally considered a very bad grade. Thus, it seems likely that a large majority of doctors have strongly negative view of the program (Ilya Somin, 10/20).

Los Angeles Times: What's Behind The Huge Price Jump For Some Generic Drugs?
Why are the prices of some generic drugs so darn high? That's a question many consumers have been asking lately. And now, a pair of prominent congressmen are demanding an answer from the drug industry. In letters to 14 pharmaceutical companies, the congressmen said they're investigating "the recent staggering price increases for generic drugs used to treat everything from common medical conditions to life-threatening illnesses" (David Lazarus, 10/20).