The Wall Street Journal: GOP Effort To Repeal Health Law, Defund Planned Parenthood Grows Complicated
It should have been smooth sailing. Senate Republicans combined two of their top policy priorities into a bill that can pass later this week without any Democrats. Instead, this week’s vote will cap a protracted, behind-the-scenes campaign to find enough GOP votes for legislation that would both repeal the Affordable Care Act and strip federal funding from Planned Parenthood Federation of America. (Peterson, 12/1)

The Associated Press: Senate GOP Health Law Repeal Delivers Wins To Party's Wings
Senate Republican leaders seem to have carried out a delicate balancing act in their drive to dismantle President Barack Obama's health care law and close the federal funds spigot to Planned Parenthood. They're poised to push through a measure that would bestow victories on both conservative Republicans and moderates, senators confronting the more competitive 2016 re-election races. For his part, Obama is primed to veto the bill when it reaches his desk. And Democrats say the GOP exercise is a partisan charade aimed at setting up Republicans to use the health care law as a wedge issue in the election campaign next year. (Fram, 12/2)

The Huffington Post: Senate Republicans Are Voting To Repeal Obamacare Again
The Senate will vote as early as Thursday to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a purely symbolic exercise that has played out gazillions of times in Congress. What's different this time, though, is that the bill is expected to make it to President Barack Obama's desk. (Barron-Lopez and Bendery, 12/1)

Politico: GOP Has Little Room To Spare On Obamacare Repeal
Senate Republican leaders say they will finally realize their long-sought goal of sending an Obamacare repeal to the president's desk — but likely only by the narrowest of margins. After months of tweaking the measure to secure the pivotal 51 votes, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) can afford only three GOP defections if he wants to pass the measure. ... McConnell was able to mollify concerns from conservatives such as Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) that the bill didn’t go far enough by adding a repeal of the law’s Medicaid expansion and subsidies that help consumers purchase health coverage on the Obamacare exchanges. And he allayed worries from senators in states that expanded Medicaid by delaying the repeal for two years — enough time, in theory, to find replacement health care for lower-income Americans. (Kim and Haberkorn, 12/1)

The New York Times: Paul Ryan Pushes Changes In Mental Health Care After Colorado Shooting
While Democrats made it clear they believed that Republicans were avoiding the real problem — lax restrictions on access to guns — Mr. Ryan encouraged lawmakers from both parties to present their ideas to address the problems with mental health care. He expressed support for an ambitious proposal that would make major changes to the mental health care system. The bill would, among other steps, create an assistant secretary post in the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate the government’s approach and remedy a shortage of beds in psychiatric hospitals. (Huetteman and Perez-Pena, 12/1)

The Washington Post: Ryan’s Nod Could Get Mental Health Legislation Moving
Congressional Republicans have frequently pointed to mental health in their responses to mass shootings, but Ryan and McCarthy’s remarks this week were notable in their endorsement of a specific piece of legislation — one that had seemed to be gaining bipartisan support earlier this year. “The common theme with these kinds of shootings is mental illness, and this is something that we should not be ignoring,” Ryan said. “Congressman Murphy has a very comprehensive effort underway. He’s put years into this, and that is why we want to see this process all the way through, and this is something that requires our attention.” (DeBonis, 12/1)

USA Today: GOP Focuses On Mental Health After Colo. Shooting
Murphy's bill — which has had some Democratic support — would also reduce barriers for caregivers to provide information with parents or guardians of their patients, and would boost support for "assisted outpatient treatment" for patients with severe mental illness. AOT is basically a court-ordered treatment regimen, with court-imposed penalties for non-compliance. Mental illness causes tens of thousands of death a year through suicide, drug overdoses, and a range of ailments that afflict homeless people with mental illness, Murphy told USA TODAY Tuesday. (Singer, 12/1)

The Wall Street Journal: Ryan Calls for Mental-Health Overhaul After Planned Parenthood Shooting
Mr. Murphy said his bill would enable those with mental illness to receive treatment sooner, making them less likely to become engaged in violent acts. “For those with mental illness, what we ought to be doing is treating the mental illness instead of responding to the crime,” he said in an interview Tuesday. Democrats have called for new gun-control measures and urged Republicans to change their tone against the women’s health organization. (Peterson, 12/1)

The Wall Street Journal: Gilead Knew Hepatitis Drug Price Was High, Senate Says
Gilead Sciences Inc. knew the $1,000-a-pill launch price for its hepatitis treatment would be out of reach for many patients and cause “extraordinary problems” for government health programs, according to a U.S. Senate report released Tuesday. The 144-page committee report adds to a chorus of criticism of escalating drug prices from patients, doctors, insurers and some presidential candidates. U.S. congressional committees also have opened inquiries into drug-pricing practices by other companies including Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., and House Democrats have formed a drug-pricing task force to explore ways to reduce costs. (Loftus, 12/1)

The Associated Press: Report: Drug Maker Was Focused On Profits, Not Patients
In a statement, Gilead said it disagreed with the report’s conclusions. Gilead stock was down slightly most of the day Tuesday, as broader financial markets posted solid gains. The company’s first breakthrough drug, Sovaldi, was priced at $1,000 per pill, or $84,000 for a course of treatment. Gilead has since introduced a more expensive, next-generation pill called Harvoni, highly effective and simpler for patients to use. It’s priced at $94,500 for a course of treatment. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 12/1)

The Washington Post's Wonkblog: How An $84,000 Drug Got Its Price: ‘Let’s Hold Our Position … Whatever The Headlines’
Gilead Sciences executives were acutely aware in 2013 that their plan to charge an exorbitantly high price for a powerful new hepatitis C drug would spark public outrage, but they pursued the profit-driven strategy anyway, according to a Senate Finance Committee investigation report released Tuesday. "Let's not fold to advocacy pressure in 2014," Kevin Young, Gilead's executive vice president for commercial operations, wrote in an internal email. ‘‘Let’s hold our position whatever competitors do or whatever the headlines." (Johnson and Dennis, 12/1)

NBC News: Company Put Profit Over Patients In Pricing $1,000 Hepatitis Pills: Senate Report
The Senate report paints a picture of a drug that burdened state and federal health insurance plans. "For example, state Medicaid programs nationwide spent $1.3 billion before rebates on the drug in 2014. Even with that expenditure, less than 2.4 percent of the roughly 700,000 Medicaid enrollees with Hepatitis C were treated with Sovaldi," the report reads. Hepatitis C affects about 3.2 million Americans, killing more than 15,000 each year, mostly from illnesses such as cirrhosis and liver cancer. (Fox, 12/1)

Meanwhile, another drug maker that dramatically raised prices recently may be getting some cut-rate competition -

CBS News: Reining In The Rising Cost Of Some Prescription Drugs
Patients who suffer from the rare infection toxoplasmosis got some help Tuesday when the drug benefits manager Express Scripts offered to sell a treatment for a dollar a pill. The drug is similar to Daraprim, sold by Turing Pharmaceuticals for $750 a pill. (Dahler, 12/1)

Marketplace: More Drama In Prescription Drug Pricing
The price of prescription drugs has become something of a flashpoint in recent weeks, due in no small part to something that the company Turing Pharmaceuticals did, when it hiked the price of Daraprim, a pill often used by HIV patients and pregnant women, from $13.50 to $750 a dose. But now Express Scripts, which purchases drugs for insurers and large employers, will work with a different pharmaceutical firm, Imprimis, to make a generic version of that drug for a dollar a pill. (Gorenstein, 12/1)

Politico: Ryan And Pelosi Bear Down On Budget As Deadline Looms
The private conversation between Pelosi and Ryan, however, marked a new phase in the government funding battle, and it also helps illustrate the new dynamics between the top Democrat and Republican in the House. Former Speaker John Boehner and Pelosi cut many deals to fund the government, oftentimes frustrating Rogers and other appropriators who thought they were being big-footed. (Sherman and Bresnahan, 12/1)

NBC News: Democrats Accuse McConnell Of Blocking Zadroga Act
Senate Democrats say that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is single-handedly blocking a bill to help 9/11 first responders from being included in the long-term highway bill, which was unveiled today and is expected to pass as soon as this week. The bill, called the James L. Zadroga 9/11 Health & Compensation Act, would reauthorize an expiring health care program for 9/11 first responders permanently, while at the same time reauthorizing a victims compensation fund for five years, aides say. (Thorp, 12/1)

Meanwhile, some Democrats are revisiting their opposition to an investigative panel formed in regard to the recent controversies surrounding Planned Parenthood's fetal tissue program. And, in Ohio, some legislators are questioning whether the tenor of that debate led to last week's shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic --

Los Angeles Times: California Members Among Congressional Democrats Seeking To Disband Planned Parenthood Panel
House Democrats, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, called on House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wisc.) Tuesday to disband the select committee investigating Planned Parenthood. The organization has been a focus of heated criticism by conservatives since the release last summer of several videos in which Planned Parenthood officials in California and Colorado appeared to discuss using tissue from aborted fetuses in medical research. The videos were filmed by anti-abortion activists posing as biotechnology workers. (Wire, 12/1)

The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Abortion-Rights Leaders Worried About Harsh Rhetoric Against Planned Parenthood
After the attack at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic that killed three people on Friday, the organization’s officials in Ohio are re-evaluating their security measures. There’s currently no threat to any of the state’s 28 health centers, said Stephanie Kight, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio, but protests outside of clinics have picked up in the past six months. (Berliner, 12/2)

Politico: Democrats Take Aim At GOP's Medicaid Repeal
Putting an Obamacare repeal on the president’s desk would mark a major psychological — if not an actual — victory for Republicans. But it also could come with electoral repercussions that Democrats believe could boost their efforts to recapture the Senate in 2016. This week, Senate Majority Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is poised to clinch the elusive 51 votes he needs to pass a repeal after devising a bill to appease a small group of conservative Republican senators. But the new version also would gut an expansion of Medicaid that’s put millions of Americans from low-income households on the insurance rolls. (Everett, 12/2)

The Great Falls (Mont.) Tribune: Blue Cross Says Ready To Handle Medicaid Expansion
A state panel was told Tuesday that the third-party administrator for the state’s new expanded Medicaid program is ready to roll when the program kicks into gear on Jan. 1. And officials were told that 10,500 Montanans have enrolled in the program so far. (Drake, 12/1)

Kaiser Health News: Kentucky Strategy Will Test Need For State-Run Obamacare Exchanges
Kentucky Gov.-elect Matt Bevin’s plan to dismantle the state’s successful health insurance exchange, Kynect, and shift consumers to the federal one would likely have little impact on consumers, health experts say. "The federal exchange is a perfectly viable alternative," said Jon Kingsdale, a Boston health care consultant who formerly led the state agency that started Massachusetts’ exchange in 2006, the model for the federal health law. Consumers on the federal exchange would still be able to shop and enroll in private plans and apply for federal subsidies to lower their costs. (Galewitz, 12/2)

Houston Chronicle: Texas Premature Birth Rates Are Down. Thank Medicaid.
Last month brought good news: The premature birth rate in Texas has declined significantly, down from more than 13 percent of births a few years ago, to just over 10 percent. Although Texas still has one of the highest premature birth rates in the country, we are making progress. The most amazing part of the story is that this improvement is particularly focused on low-income women. Also welcome are the reasons for the improvement, and the specific people and organizations whose daily work continues to bring the premature birth rate down. Who are they? (Or, I should say, who are we?) More than 50 percent of all births in the Houston area and throughout Texas are covered by, financed through, and managed by Medicaid Managed Care Organizations such as Community Health Choice, Texas Children's Health Plan, and others. (Jada, 12/1)

The Cleveland Plain Dealer: Summit County Company Owes Medicaid $167,000 For Fraudulent Charges, State Audit Says
A Medicaid transportation provider owes $167,000 in overcharges defrauding the state's Medicare fund, according to the Ohio state auditor. A to B Transportation, which provided ambulette transportation services to Medicaid patients in Summit County, ripped off the state's Medicaid fund 177 times between 2011 and 2013, the auditor says. The company also billed the state for some cancelled trips. (Harper, 12/1)

The Associated Press: UnitedHealth CEO Terms ACA Exchange Growth A 'Bad Decision'
UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley offered a mea culpa Tuesday for his company's decision to dive deeper into the Affordable Care Act's public insurance exchanges, a move that ultimately forced the nation's largest health insurer to cut its earnings forecast. Hemsley told investors that the insurer should have learned more about the still-new business, and expanding before it did that was "for us, a bad decision." UnitedHealth jumped into two dozen state-based exchanges for 2015 after selling coverage on just four in 2014. (Murphy, 12/1)

Bloomberg: UnitedHealth Says It Should Have Avoided Obamacare Longer
UnitedHealth Group should have stayed out of Obamacare's new individual markets longer, the chief executive of the biggest U.S. health insurer said Tuesday, after announcing last month that it will take hundreds of millions of dollars in losses related to the business. While the company's other lines of business are growing, instead of expanding into Obamacare next year, the company should have kept waiting, UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley said at an investor meeting in New York. (Tracer, 12/1)

The Fiscal Times: UnitedHealth CEO: Joining Obamacare Was A ‘Bad Decision’
Insurance giant UnitedHealth Group on Tuesday seemingly took another step closer to bailing out of Obamacare in 2017 when its top corporate executive engaged in more public handwringing over financial losses and conceded strategic mistakes in rushing into the system. While a pullout by UnitedHealth would deliver a serious blow to the future of President Obama’s signature health insurance law, a larger concern is whether its departure would trigger a stampede to the door by other bigger players in Obamacare, including Aetna and Anthem. (Pianin, 12/1)

The Connecticut Mirror: To Improve Health, Raise ‘Insurance Literacy,’ Experts Say
In focus groups, even those with the knowledge to pick the best plan often had little confidence in their choice, worried that health plans contained tricks or traps they didn’t catch, she said. That’s not just a problem for the millions of people trying to renew their health plans or pick new ones. It’s a problem for policymakers trying to improve the health of the population and ensure that the expansion of health care coverage under the federal health law does more than give a lot of people new insurance cards, experts said Tuesday at a symposium on health insurance literacy hosted by the Health Disparities Institute at UConn Health. (Levin Becker, 12/2)

The Wall Street Journal: What Is A QALY?
The acronym stands for Quality-Adjusted Life Year, a metric that health economists and others use to quantify the health benefits generated by a particular treatment. QALYs (kwah-lees) are often used by state-run health systems in Europe and other countries to help decide which drugs to cover. ... Use of QALYs can be controversial, particularly in the U.S., where some critics say they amount to putting a price on life. Drug makers have been among the metric’s biggest critics. In an October letter to a Boston nonprofit group that studies the value of health care, the Biotechnology Industry Organization said there are “well-documented disadvantages of using QALYs to assess the value of a therapy.” (Whalen, 12/1)

Georgia Health News: WellStar OKs $575 Million Deal For Tenet Hospitals
WellStar Health System announced Tuesday that it had agreed to buy Tenet Healthcare’s five metro Atlanta hospitals for $575 million. The deal, if approved by regulators, would make Marietta-based WellStar easily the largest health system in the state of Georgia. (Miller, 12/1)

The Orlando Sentinel: Report Reveals Most Profitable Hospital In Central Florida
Hospital systems in Florida are expanding through mergers, acquisitions, new facilities and partnerships, according to Florida Health Market Review 2015, the 13th report of its kind by independent Minnesota-based analyst Allan Baumgarten. Not surprisingly, Florida Hospital and Orlando Health dominate health care delivery in Central Florida, according to the report, which was compiled using public data and interviews with market leaders. (Miller, 12/1)

And in Minnesota -

The Pioneer Press: Allina Health Ditching Sugars, Fats At Hospitals And Clinics
You won't find Dr. Pepper in United Hospital waiting rooms beginning Jan. 1 -- not unless it's the diet version of the soft drink or an actual doctor named Pepper. Allina Health announced Tuesday that in 2016 it will no longer offer sugar-sweetened beverages or deep-fried foods in its cafeterias, vending machines and other food service areas. That includes United Hospital in St. Paul along with the 12 other hospitals and 90 clinics in its system. (DeLage, 12/1)

The Washington Post: Md. Opioid Task Force Releases Final Recommendations
A Maryland task force on Tuesday released its final recommendations on how to address the growing scourge of opioid addiction and deaths in the state, calling for expanded access to treatment and increased efforts to disrupt drug trafficking. (Hicks, 12/1)

New Hampshire Public Radio: Lawmakers Consider Stepping Up State Funding For Prescription Drug Monitoring Program
The manager for New Hampshire’s prescription drug monitoring program told lawmakers Tuesday that more funding would help the system to better handle an expected increase in use that could come with efforts to more closely monitor opioid prescribing. As part of a special legislative session on heroin and opioid misuse, Gov. Maggie Hassan and Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley have each proposed giving the program $100,000 in state money to help with technology upgrades that would encourage more widespread use. (McDermott, 12/1)

The Orlando Sentinel: Office Of Insurance Regulation Holding Public Hearings On Proposed Mergers Of Insurance Giants
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation is conducting public hearings to discuss the proposed mergers of insurance giants Humana and Aetna, and that of Cigna and Anthem. These mergers could affect millions of Floridians. Although shareholders of the companies have approved the mergers, the acquisitions still need to be approved by the federal regulators. Many hospitals and consumer groups have urged the U.S. Justice Department to closely watch the deal, according to a recent report in Forbes, saying that deals don't help consumers and will reduce competition. (Miller, 12/1)

Los Angeles Times: State Lawmakers Worry Projected Budget Surplus Saps Effort To Revise Healthcare Tax
One of healthcare advocates' unspoken fears is being voiced by state lawmakers who worry a projected multibillion-dollar budget surplus could weaken political resolve to revamp a soon-to-disappear tax that helps fund healthcare for low-income Californians. "The lack of alarm is troubling," state Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles) said at a Tuesday legislative hearing on the fate of California's managed care organizations, or MCO, tax. (Myers, 12/1)

The Houston Chronicle: Nursing Home Agrees To $3 Million Settlement In Ambulance Swapping Case
Galveston-based nursing home operator Regent Management Services has agreed to pay more than $3 million to settle allegations that the company received illegal kickbacks from ambulance providers. The settlement is believed to be the nation's first to hold a medical institution – a hospital or nursing home – rather than a transportation company accountable for what are called ambulance-swapping arrangements. In these arrangements, providers often give price breaks or do not charge residents for certain ambulance rides in exchange for referrals of other lucrative Medicare and Medicaid business. (George, 12/1)

The Associated Press: NY Adds Tax Check-Offs On Mental Illness, Women's Cancers
New York taxpayers will have the option of contributing to 13 causes next year that will include educational efforts to prevent women's cancers and against the stigma of mental illness. At the same time, another new state law will generally require spending contributions in the fiscal year they're collected, meant to stop leaving millions of donated dollars languishing as the state comptroller found in a report almost two years ago. (12/1)

The Columbus Dispatch: Faster Treatment Possible Under New OhioHealth Stroke Protocol
OhioHealth announced on Tuesday that it is working with Columbus fire officials to deploy a specially equipped ambulance to care for stroke patients before they reach a hospital. But the move has exposed a rift with other local hospital systems on how best to care for patients in the early stages of such medical emergencies, during which the timeliness of treatment can not only save a patient’s life but also can have major implications for the patient’s quality of life. (Sutherly, 12/1)

The Tampa Bay Times: At Tampa Eye Lab, A Discovery Involving Retinas Puts Big Advances In Sight
A discovery made in a Tampa laboratory could one day help millions of people regain their vision. Working at the Lions Eye Institute last summer, Daniel Lindgren, of the Nevada-based research firm OcuScience, found a way to preserve retinas from human donors — and bring them back to life. Now he's working to patent the technology. The development is significant because donated retinas have been considered too perishable for functional research, Lindgren said. Most studies have used animals. (McGrory, 12/1)

The Associated Press: Utah Prison Settles Suit After Inmate Missed Dialysis, Died
Utah State Prison settled a wrongful death lawsuit involving an inmate who died after a dialysis provider didn't show up to give him treatment for two days, according to court documents filed Tuesday. Inmate Ramon C. Estrada, 62, had been in prison since 2005 on a rape conviction. He died less than three weeks before he was set to be paroled. Prison officials didn't acknowledge legal responsibility for Estrada's death. (Whitehurst, 12/1)

The Washington Post's The Plum Line: Morning Plum: The GOP Congress Will Finally Repeal Obamacare! But There’s A Catch.
It looks increasingly likely that some time in the next few days or weeks, the GOP Congress may realize a longtime dream of Republicans: Pass something that seriously guts Obamacare. The health law won’t actually be repealed, of course, since President Obama will veto such a measure. But that alone — forcing Obama to veto a repeal bill — is deemed a worthy goal in and of itself. However, there’s a catch. Some Senate Republicans are apparently willing to vote for this measure precisely because Obama will veto it, sparing them the political fallout they might suffer if they actually did succeed in repealing the health law. (Greg Sargent, 12/1)

Modern Healthcare: Senate Republicans Must Figure Medicaid Expansion Beneficiaries Don't Vote
Senate Republican leaders apparently have persuaded wavering GOP senators from Medicaid expansion states to support a fast-track bill that would repeal Medicaid expansion along with most of the rest of the Affordable Care Act. They must be calculating that people who have benefited from the expansion don't vote. The so-called reconciliation bill, which may be voted on Thursday, reportedly would phase out the expansion of coverage over two years to low-income adults with incomes up to 138% of poverty. (Harris Meyer, 12/1)

The Washington Post: A ‘Tax Extenders’ Bill That Could Make Fiscal Matters Worse
A bipartisan agreement reportedly taking shape on Capitol Hill would make permanent certain provisions — such as the research and development tax credit for business and Obama-era expansions to the earned-income tax credit for the working poor — that deserve to be fixtures of the tax code on their merits .... the bill also may gut two Obamacare revenue sources: excise taxes on medical devices and on high-cost employer-paid health insurance. Both of these measures help fund insurance for lower-income people; the latter, by shifting incentives, tamps down medical costs. It’s especially galling that this budget-busting assault on President Obama’s signature domestic policy enjoys the support of many Democrats. They are responding to home-state device-makers protecting their profits and labor unions protecting their expensive health plans. (12/1)

The New York Times: Donald Trump’s Appeal
Poll data from the Pew Research Center shows how much Trump depends on the politically restive white working class. His backing from voters with a high school degree or less is twice as high as is it is from those with college degrees; the percentage of men lining up behind him is eight points higher than the percentage of women; voters from households making $40,000 or less are 12 points more likely to cast a Trump ballot than those from households making more than $75,000. Unlike most Republican candidates, Trump rejects cuts in Social Security and Medicare — programs strongly supported by the white working class. And, while he nods in the direction of the anti-abortion movement, he does not attempt to impose a repressive sexual morality (after all, he has been married three times). (Thomas B. Edsall, 12/2)

The New York Times: The Toll Of Violent Anti-Abortion Speech
Since the videos appeared over the summer, there have been four arsons at or near Planned Parenthood clinics. Abortion providers say threats and harassment have increased as well. But then, disclaiming any connection with violence has a long history in the anti-abortion movement. Black Lives Matter activists are accused by some of promoting the murder of police officers, and every Muslim on earth is seemingly expected to condemn jihadi terrorism on practically a daily basis. Meanwhile, I’m not aware of any prominent abortion opponents who have publicly accepted responsibility for fomenting violence by using language that equates abortion with the Holocaust or murder on an industrial scale. (Katha Pollitt, 12/1)

Los Angeles Times: Must Planned Parenthood Critics Share Guilt With The Shooter?
The attack on a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado Springs, Colo., that killed a mother of two, an Iraq war veteran and a police officer was a horrific crime and not the first such outrage. But was it also the inevitable result of recent denunciations of Planned Parenthood in Congress and elsewhere — to the point that the organization's critics must share some measure of responsibility for what happened? (12/1)

Los Angeles Times: Was Robert Lewis Dear Inspired By The Planned Parenthood Videos? So What If He Was?
"No more baby parts.” As of this writing, that statement by Robert Lewis Dear is the only evidence that the “Planned Parenthood shooter” in Colorado Springs, Colo., was motivated by anti-abortion rhetoric. ... But let's assume Dear was inspired by those videos. My sincere question is “So what?” I understand that many abortion rights activists don't want abortion rights to be up for debate, hence the effort to cast any opponents of unlimited abortion as not just wrong, but as anti-woman, anti-health and in some sense in league with someone like Dear: an alleged domestic terrorist. But that's not only ridiculous on the merits, it's not how the 1st Amendment works. (Jonah Goldberg, 12/1)

Los Angeles Times: Gilead Harmed Patients By Overpricing Its Drugs. But Did It Miscalculate?
Gilead Sciences, the maker of two stratospherically high-priced drugs for hepatitis C patients, says it cares deeply about enabling patient access to the drugs and “enabling healthcare accessible for all Americans.” According to a new report from the Senate Finance Committee, here’s how it showed its concern: Its executives concluded it could make a profit by charging $55,000 per 12-week treatment for Sovaldi, its original breakthrough drug. But the company decided to charge $84,000, which would deliver higher profits from fewer patients. ... The Foster City company refused to offer anything but minimal discounts to big insurers and Medicaid programs, even though they acknowledged that thousands of patients might have to go without the treatments. (Michael Hiltzik, 12/1)

Bloomberg: How Big Pharma Could Lose The War On Disease
The planned merger of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer with competitor Allergan, aimed in large part at cutting the combined company's tax bill, illustrates a troubling trend in the industry: Firms are focused more on pursuing near-term profits than on the difficult, longer-term research needed to develop truly groundbreaking new drugs. This is unfortunate, because disease may be making a comeback. (Mark Buchanan, 12/2)

USA Today: Turning Pfizer Irish: Our View
U.S. drugmakers benefit enormously from policies that force Americans to pay far more for prescription drugs than do people abroad. The companies benefit, to the tune of $12 billion a year, from the fact that Medicare isn't allowed to bargain over drug prices. They benefit from American laws governing securities and intellectual property. They benefit from a highly educated workforce. And they benefit from a highly respected federal system for testing and approving new drugs. But when these same companies are asked to pay their U.S. taxes, they complain bitterly about high rates. Some go so far as to merge with a smaller foreign company so they can "move" their headquarters to a country with a lower corporate tax rate. (12/1)

USA Today: Pfizer-Allergan: Good For America
Pfizer applies science and its global resources to bring therapies to people that extend and significantly improve their lives. Pfizer’s proposed combination with Allergan creates a global R&D leader and will enable us to pursue cures and treatments for conditions ranging from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease to cancer and rare genetic disorders. (Ian Read and Brent Saunders, 12/1)

The New York Times: An Opening In The War Against AIDS
International health agencies continue to lose ground in the struggle against H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS. Each year the number of people who become infected outpaces the number of people starting treatment for the virus. That is discouraging given that the opportunities to control the spread of the virus have never been better, scientifically and financially. It is imperative to move aggressively to change the trajectory of this epidemic. (12/2)

Huffington Post: Fewer Patients Have Been Dying From Hospital Errors Since Obamacare Started
Hospitals have cut down on deadly medical errors, saving around 87,000 lives since 2010, according to a new government report. Pinning down the precise reasons for this change is difficult, to say nothing of predicting whether the decline will continue. Improvement has slowed in just the last year, the report suggests. But many analysts think government initiatives within the Affordable Care Act have played a significant role in the progress so far. In short, Obamacare may literally be saving lives. (Jonathan Cohn, 12/1)

Los Angeles Times: White Working-Class Longevity Drops Along With White Privilege
For almost a century, there was a comforting American narrative that went like this: Advances in nutrition and medical care would guarantee longer lives for all. Recently published research, however, shows that members of the white working class, ages 45 to 54, are dying at an immoderate rate. In the last four years, the life span gap between poor white men and wealthier ones has widened by up to four years. This was not supposed to happen. Especially not to white people, who in relation to people of color have long had the advantage of higher earnings, better access to healthcare, safer neighborhoods and, of course, freedom from the daily insults and harms inflicted on the darker-skinned. (Barbara Ehrenreich, 12/1)