ABC News: President Obama Shows Lighter Side In ABC News Interview
[Richard] Besser asked the president to rate the success of the Affordable Care Act on a scale from 1 to 10. Obama gave the law an “8.” (Neporent, 4/8)

The Associated Press: Obama: Health Care Law An 8 Out Of 10, Lawsuit A 'Last Gasp'
President Barack Obama is giving his health care law an eight out of a 10, and calls a lawsuit hanging over it "the last gasp" from opponents. Obama tells ABC News he doesn't give it a 10 is because things can always be improved. He says the biggest challenge is getting more states to expand Medicaid coverage. He says "stubbornness" among state leaders who aren't using the benefit is "based on ideology, not on wise public health policy." (4/8)

Los Angeles Times: 18,000 Californians Use Extended Obamacare Sign-Up To Avoid Tax Penalty
California officials said about 18,000 people have taken advantage of an extended Obamacare enrollment period that was created as a final opportunity to escape the health law's tax penalties. The special enrollment window runs until April 30 for people who claim they were unaware of the Affordable Care Act's financial penalties for being uninsured. (Tehune, 4/7)

NPR: Many Obamacare Policyholders Face Tax Surprises This Year
The old saying goes, "Nothing is certain except death and taxes." But the Affordable Care Act has added a new wrinkle. For many policyholders, the ACA has introduced a good deal of uncertainty about their tax bills. That has led to surprise refunds for some and higher-than-expected tax payments for others. If you're insured by Obamacare, filling out your 2014 federal income tax return will require you to figure out whether the premium subsidies you received were appropriate for your level of income. (Ydstie, 4/7)

Politico Pro: With First ACA Tax Season, Little Controversy In The End
Obamacare’s first tax season includes all the elements needed to ignite a political firestorm. Yet with only a week to go until the filing deadline, nothing's burning. (Villacorta and Mershon, 4/8)

The Associated Press: Montana House Panel Gives Medicaid Expansion Bill Adverse Report
A House committee tried to kill the last-standing Medicaid expansion bill Tuesday by heavily amending it and giving it an unfavorable report. Those moves led to the start of a procedural rules battle between Democrats and conservative Republicans that likely will take at least the rest of the week to resolve. (Baumann, 4/8)

Montana Public Radio: Fate Of Medicaid Expansion Bill Hinges On Argument Over 'Silver Bullets'
One of the biggest bills in this year’s Montana Legislature remains in limbo. Wednesday at noon, the House rules committee will meet to decide whether a committee had the right to kill a Medicaid expansion proposal with a “do not pass” recommendation. The bill, by Great Falls Republican Senator Ed Buttrey, is a compromise plan that was passed last month by the state Senate. It would cover an estimated 45,000 low-income Montana residents, who would have to pay a small premium and take part in job training. (Jess, 4/7)

Helena (Mont.) Independent Record: GOP Committee Votes To Kill Medicaid-Expansion Bill; Rules Fight Continues
A Republican-controlled House committee Tuesday voted to kill the only remaining bill to expand Medicaid health coverage for thousands of low-income Montanans, but a rules battle over its survival tumbled into Wednesday. House Democrats, on the House floor, challenged the committee vote as improper, setting up further parliamentary action this week that could determine the bill’s fate. (Dennison, 4/7)

The Associated Press: House Finance Begins Digging In To Governor's Medicaid Bill
The House Finance Committee on Tuesday began digging in to Gov. Bill Walker's proposal to expand and reform Medicaid in Alaska. Walker has made expansion a priority and his administration sees expansion as going hand-in-hand with efforts to reduce and contain costs within the current Medicaid program. But some lawmakers have raised concerns with the potential impacts of adding more people to a system widely seen as currently unsustainable. Medicaid comprises about 60 percent of the state health department budget and is a driver of the state operating budget. (Bohrer, 4/8)

The Associated Press: Florida Senate Holds Firm On Health Care Despite Standoff
A growing standoff about health care is creating a divide between the Republican-controlled Florida Senate and Gov. Rick Scott. A Senate panel Tuesday refused to confirm a top appointee of the Scott administration after he would not answer questions about whether he supported the Senate plan to expand health care coverage to 800,000 Floridians. (Fineout, 4/7)

Tampa Bay Times: In War Over Medicaid Expansion, Senate Panel Declines To Confirm Gov. Rick Scott's Pick For Surgeon General
One day after Gov. Rick Scott came out against a Senate proposal to expand health care coverage to about 800,000 poor Floridians, a Senate panel declined to confirm Scott's pick for surgeon general. The Senate Health Policy Committee postponed the vote on Surgeon General John Armstrong on Tuesday after he repeatedly declined to give his opinion on the Senate's proposed alternative to Medicaid expansion. Senate Majority Leader Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, later said Armstrong had failed to provide "an adequate answer" on the issue. (McGrory, 4/7)

The Washington Post's Wonkblog: The Coming Revolution In How Employers Provide Health Insurance
As workers are increasingly asked to pay more from their own pockets for employer-sponsored health plans, there's a big shift happening in how businesses are planning to offer health insurance. About 6 million Americans with workplace coverage in 2014 received their health insurance through privately run health insurance exchanges, where employees can select coverage from a number of health plans — double the number from the year before, according to a new report from Accenture. (Millman, 4/7)

Bloomberg: Workers Sent To Shop For Health Plans As Employers Quit Benefits
A growing number of Americans are no longer getting health insurance directly from work as companies quit administering benefits, sending about 40 million people to shop for their own coverage by 2018, a new study estimates. Instead of picking a companywide health plan, employers are increasingly giving workers financial support to choose their own from a menu of options. For 2015, 6 million workers selected coverage from markets run by private benefits administrators, according to a study from Accenture. (Tracer, 4/7)

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Inquirer looks at the higher costs of cancer drugs for the uninsured, and Modern Healthcare reports how new mental health parity rules for Medicaid don't address the dearth of providers -

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Uninsured May Face Much Higher Charges For Cancer Drugs
Doctors may charge uninsured patients anywhere from two to 43 times what private insurance plans or Medicare pay for chemotherapy drugs, a new study estimates. Researchers said the findings, reported in the April issue of Health Affairs, highlight a fundamental inequity. (Norton, 4/7)

Modern Healthcare: Mental Health Parity In Medicaid Plans Would Help, Not Solve, Limited Access
Proposed regulations ensuring mental health parity in Medicaid managed care plans promise better coverage for important services like substance-abuse counseling—at least for beneficiaries who have providers. But the CMS rules won't guarantee more providers will participate. (Dickson, 4/7)

Minneapolis Star-Tribune: UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley Made More Than $66 Million In 2014
For the year ended Dec. 31, 2014, UnitedHealth had total revenue of $130 billion and net income of $5.6 billion. Revenue grew 6.5 percent for the year but net income dropped 6 million [though earnings per share grew 3.6 percent to $5.70 thanks to share repurchases]. Analysts expect UnitedHealth’s total revenue to increase to $141.5 billion in 2015 and $151.6 billion in 2016. (Kennedy, 4/7)

The Associated Press: UnitedHealth Stock Growth Yields Potential Windfall For CEO
UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley realized a potential gain of more than $45 million from exercising stock options last year, as the share price of the nation’s largest health insurer topped $100 on the way to setting all-time highs. (Murphy, 4/7)

The Associated Press: Aetna Aims For LGBT Community With Targeted Marketing
Aetna is urging gay customers to "be proud" — and consider buying its coverage — as part of a new, narrow focus to selling health insurance in a business where the individual's buying decision matters more than it used to. The nation's third-largest health insurer is using mobile phone apps, print ads and a recently launched website to appeal to the estimated 9 million members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in the United States. Its website features a video of a gay woman and man talking about love and relationships. It also helps visitors find LGBT-friendly doctors and promises coverage "with features that fit you, your partner and your family." (Murphy, 4/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Humana Estimates Medicare Funding Will Increase 0.8% In 2016
Humana Inc. said Tuesday it expects its Medicare funding to fare better-than-expected in 2016 after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services completed benchmark payment rates on Monday. Humana said it expects its Medicare Advantage funding to increase by about 0.8%, compared with its previous expectation for a funding decline of 1.25% to 1.75% based on a rate proposal unveiled in February by federal regulators. (Dulaney, 4/7)

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal also covers Ventas' plan to spin off 355 skilled nursing facilities and outpatient centers -

The Wall Street Journal: Ventas To Spin Off Nursing Facilities Into New REIT
Ventas Inc. announced Monday that it would spin off 355 skilled nursing facilities and outpatient recovery centers into a new real-estate investment trust, the latest sign of the growing interest in highly specialized medical properties, which carry more risk but have the potential for high returns. The new company, which isn't yet named, could have a market value of more than $5 billion based on trading multiples for similar companies, said Green Street Advisors, a research firm. Ventas, one of the largest owners of health-care properties, said the spin off would produce annual net income between $315 million and $320 million. (Whelan, 4/7)

And, as hospitals spend a lot of money to find ways to keep patients from returning, there’s no consensus about what’s best for their care -

Marketplace: Hospitals Innovate To Keep Patients From Coming Back
The government thinks sick patients are coming back to the hospital too soon. So a couple of years ago, the department of Health and Human Services decided to give hospitals a financial nudge in the right direction – by penalizing the hospitals’ Medicare reimbursements if the number of patients who came back to the hospital within 30 days exceeded the national average. It’s supposed to encourage hospitals to find ways to keep patients healthier. The result is that hospitals are spending lots of money to find ways to keep patients from coming back – but there’s no consensus about what’s best for patients. (Kuda Croen, 4/7)

The New York Times: Kansas Limits Abortion Method, Opening A New Line Of Attack
Kansas on Tuesday became the first state to sharply restrict or alter the most common technique used for second-trimester abortions, opening a new, emotionally charged line of attack by anti-abortion forces who hope to take it swiftly to other states. A bill signed into law by Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican and longtime abortion opponent, outlaws what it calls “dismemberment abortion,” defined in part as “knowingly dismembering a living unborn child and extracting such unborn child one piece at a time from the uterus.” (Eckholm and Robles, 4/7)

The Associated Press: Kansas Governor Signs Nation's 1st Ban On Abortion Procedure
Kansas became the first state Tuesday to ban a common second-trimester abortion procedure that critics describe as dismembering a fetus. Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, a strong abortion opponent, signed a bill imposing the ban, and the new law takes effect July 1. He and the National Right to Life Committee, which drafted the measure, said they hope Kansas' example spurs other states to enact such laws. Already, the measure also has been introduced in Missouri, Oklahoma and South Carolina. (4/7)

The Washington Post: In Arizona, Arkansas, Women Must Be Told That Abortion Can Be ‘Reversed’
New laws in Arkansas and Arizona require doctors to inform women that drug-induced abortions can be “reversed” mid-procedure, a claim that quickly drew charges of “junk science” from abortion-rights groups and many doctors. The Arkansas law took effect late Monday, after Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) signed it. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) signed his state’s bill into law earlier this month. (Somashekhar, 4/7)

The Associated Press: Mass. Bill Would Toughen Oversight Of Planned Hospital Mergers
Attorney General Maura Healey is pushing legislation designed to give her office stronger oversight of hospital mergers. The bill would toughen the authority of the Health Policy Commission when considering mergers of health care providers. (4/8)

The Wall Street Journal: NYC’s Public Hospital System Unveils Financial Plan
New York City’s cash-strapped public hospital system, tasked with caring for many of the city’s uninsured and vulnerable residents and facing growing budget deficits, unveiled a plan on Tuesday to help shore up its finances by 2020. Ram Raju, president and chief executive of the New York City Health & Hospitals Corp., spoke to hundreds of employees, labor leaders and elected officials at Manhattan’s John Jay College, outlining a plan to increase the number of patients treated and reduce wait times. (Kravitz, 4/7)

Modern Healthcare: Professors Urge Court To Rehear St. Luke's Antitrust Case
Seventeen law professors from across the country are urging a federal appeals court to rehear the antitrust case against Idaho's St. Luke's Health System. The professors filed a friend-of-the-court brief on Monday with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asking it to grant St. Luke's request for a rehearing before a full panel of judges. Earlier this year, a three-judge panel of the court decided against St. Luke's, saying its acquisition of Saltzer Medical Group in Nampa, Idaho, was anti-competitive. (Schencker, 4/7)

NJ Spotlight: NJ High Court Upholds Ban On Medicaid Coverage For Recent Immigrants
Five years after new immigrants living in the state first lost eligibility for Medicaid, the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that they don’t have a right to the federal healthcare coverage. The ruling ends an extended legal battle that aimed to restore Medicaid coverage to those who have been in the country legally for less than five years. (Kitchenman, 4/7)

Los Angeles Times: With New Immigration Proposals, State Lawmakers Hope To Build Momentum
Democratic lawmakers will unveil a slew of new immigration-related proposals Tuesday, including measures that would extend state-paid health coverage to those in the country illegally and offer more protection against deportation. ... The most far-reaching of the new proposals would offer enrollment in Medi-Cal — California's healthcare program for the poor — to people who qualify regardless of immigration status. In California, about 1.8 million people who are in the country illegally lack healthcare coverage, according to estimates by UC Berkeley and UCLA. About 1.5 million of them would qualify for Medi-Cal. (Mason, 4/7)

The Associated Press: Kansas Attorney General Criticizes Federal Home Health Laws
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says new federal regulations threaten home health care services in Kansas. Schmidt asked a federal appeals court on Monday to affirm a lower court ruling that blocked new U.S. Department of Labor regulations. In a court brief, Schmidt argued the federal agency overstepped its authority by requiring overtime pay for home health care workers and reducing the services they can provide. (4/7)

The Salem News: Mass. Rehab Hospital Closes Due To Medicare Policy Change
Spaulding Hospital, a rehabilitation hospital whose roots in Salem date to the 18th century, is scheduled to close in September. Hospital officials said upcoming changes in federal regulations designed to cut Medicare costs will lead to dramatic reductions in the types of patients that Spaulding will be allowed to admit. (Leighton, 4/7)

The Associated Press: NY To Spend $50M On Alzheimer's, Dementia Care
New York state is making an unprecedented investment in care for people with Alzheimer's disease. The state budget approved by lawmakers last week includes $25 million this year and another $25 million next year for the expansion of services to support people with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia as well as their caregivers. (4/8)

Connecticut Mirror: Is It A Gag Order Or The Malloy Administration Speaking With One Voice?
This year, the state is facing a major projected deficit, and legislators are interested in significant changes to the governor's budget proposal. That plan, which tries to close projected deficits of $1.3 billion in the next fiscal year and $1.4 billion the year after, employs several steps, including hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to health care and social service programs. (Phaneuf and Levin Becker, 4/7)

Minneapolis Star-Tribune: HealthPartners Plans $140 Million Remake At Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital
Construction projects in health care keep coming, with plans announced Tuesday for a $140 million expansion and renovation at Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park. (Snowbeck, 4/7)

The Associated Press: Illinois Mulls Expanded Disease List For Marijuana Program
Illinois residents have petitioned the state to add more than 20 medical conditions to the medical marijuana program, including anxiety, migraines, insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder. Petitioners identifying themselves as veterans of Vietnam and Iraq asked that PTSD be included, making emotional pleas for help, according to 269 pages of petitions obtained by The Associated Press through the state's Freedom of Information Act. The state blacked out the names of petitioners before releasing the documents to protect patients' privacy. (4/7)

The Associated Press: New Law Clarifies Medical Marijuana Insurance Requirements
Workers' compensation carriers and self-insurers will not be required to pay for a patient's medical marijuana under a new bill [Arizona] Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law Monday. The state's more than 63,000 holders of medical marijuana cards will still be allowed to purchase their own cannabis, but the law removes the requirement that workers' compensation carriers and self-insurers reimburse patients for medical marijuana. (Van Velzer, 4/7)

The Kansas City Star: 'Aging In Place' In Kansas To Monitor Elderly After Hospital Stays
A program in Kansas City’s Northland called Aging in Place has been launched to help older adults return to — and stay in — their homes after hospital stays. It will use health monitoring devices and special attention from health professionals to help people avoid rehospitalization or expensive care facilities. (Stafford, 4/7)

The Wall Street Journal: Of Medicare, Melgen And Menendez
Medicare spending growth can’t slow, as it has in recent years, without the question of why becoming a political football, over which ideological battles are waged. The decline between 2011 and 2014 measured at $800 per beneficiary may be in small measure due to the Medicare drug benefit; in small measure due to the better health demographics of recent Medicare enrollees; not at all due to the Affordable Care Act. But going forward, if we are so lucky as to see the slowdown maintained, a reason is likely tangentially connected to the Sen. Bob Menendez scandal. (Homan W. Jenkins Jr., 4/7)

USA Today: Sen. Menendez Case Reinforces Sleazy D.C.: Our View
The 68-page bribery indictment of Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., isn't the kind of reading typically required in civics classes. It should be. The indictment, which details a pattern of favors Menendez did for a wealthy eye doctor who plied him with huge campaign contributions and private jet trips, paints a depressing picture of the sleazy side of Congress, where what's legal can be just as bad as what's illegal. (4/7)

USA Today: A Questionable Prosecution: Opposing View
Whenever a prominent politician is indicted for corruption, questions arise. Is the prosecution part of a dangerous trend toward criminalizing policy differences? Does it endanger free speech rights of contributors? Will it constrain the legislative branch from checking the executive? These questions are being raised in the context of the indictment of Sen. Robert Menendez, as they previously were in the ill-advised prosecutions of John Edwards, Ted Stevens, Tom DeLay and Rick Perry. (Alan Dershowitz, 4/7)

Chicago Tribune: Congress, It's Time To End The 'Doc Fix' Charade
You may notice your doctor is a little more distracted than usual. Even edgy. Maybe that's because a 21 percent cut in physicians' Medicare fees kicked in last Wednesday. The U.S. House voted overwhelmingly to stop that pay cut. But the Senate left town on a two-week recess without following suit. So doctors are left in limbo. (4/3)

The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire: Why Low Growth In Health Costs Still Stings
The rate of increase in health spending and premiums in recent years is about as low as I have ever seen it. But for most people the pain from health-care costs is more intense, because the divide between out-of-pocket health costs and individuals’ wage growth has widened. Deductibles in particular could be the emerging issue in health policy. (Drew Altman, 4/8)

New York Daily News: Cuomo’s Quiet Medicaid Miracle: He Is Succeeding Where Countless Predecessors Failed
Five years into his term as New York’s chief executive, it’s time to give credit where credit is due: Gov. Cuomo has tamed the Medicaid beast. Succeeding where many predecessors crashed and burned, Cuomo has brought spending on the $50-plus-billion health plan for the poor and disabled down to consistently manageable levels — without touching benefits or trashing the quality of care. He pulled that off even as the program added 1.5 million enrollees under Obamacare. He also did it with none of the epic battles against hospitals and health-care unions that paralyzed the Legislature under past governors. (Bill Hammond, 4/8)

The New York Times: Yes, We Were Warned About Ebola
The conventional wisdom among public health authorities is that the Ebola virus, which killed at least 10,000 people in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, was a new phenomenon, not seen in West Africa before 2013. (The one exception was an anomalous case in Ivory Coast in 1994, when a Swiss primatologist was infected after performing an autopsy on a chimpanzee.) The conventional wisdom is wrong. (Bernice Dahn, Vera Mussah and Cameron Nutt, 4/7)