The Associated Press: Health Insurance Signups Near 10 Million In Midyear Report
About 9.9 million people have signed up and paid for health insurance under President Barack Obama's health care law, the administration said Tuesday, a slight dip from a previous count but on track toward the administration's year-end goal of 9.1 million. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said that 84 percent of those, or more than 8.3 million, were receiving tax subsidies to help with the cost. A Supreme Court decision earlier this summer upheld insurance subsidies in all 50 states, a major victory for the White House. (9/8)

USA Today: Nearly 10 Million People Have Paid For Obamacare Plans
HHS said the 10 states with the highest rate of consumers who received tax credits were: Mississippi (95.4%), Wyoming (92.2%), North Carolina (91.6%), Florida (91.3%), Alabama (90.9%), Louisiana (90.7%), Georgia (90.0%), Arkansas (90.0%), Wisconsin (89.6%) and Alaska (88.8%). The states with the lowest rate of consumers who received credits are: District of Columbia (10.2%), Minnesota (54.8%), Colorado (55.3%), Hawaii (61.4%), New Hampshire (62.8%), Vermont (64.2%), Utah (65.6%), Kentucky (69.8%), Maryland (70.7%) and New York (71.4%). (O'Donnell, 9/8)

Los Angeles Times: Obamacare Enrollment Drops Slightly To 9.9 Million
The new numbers were released Tuesday by the Obama administration in the latest quarterly report on the insurance marketplaces created by the federal health law. The tally was a drop from the 10.2 million people who were enrolled in plans by the end of March.Such attrition has been a regular process since the marketplaces opened in the fall of 2013, as consumers who select health plans during the annual open enrollment period drop coverage through the year or fail to pay premiums. (Levey, 9/8)

The Washington Post: Coverage In Affordable Care Act Health Plans Wanes Since Winter
Nearly 1 in 4 of the Americans who picked a health plan this year through the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplaces have dropped or lost their coverage, according to new federal data. ... Those people reflect a decline from the roughly 12.7 million consumers who signed up for a 2015 health plan. (Goldstein, 9/8)

The Wall Street Journal: About 9.9 Million Enrollees Pay For Health Insurance On State, Federal Sites
Data-matching issues caused some of the decline. Overall, as of June 30, 2015, the exchange has ended coverage for approximately 423,000 people with plans in 2015 who failed to produce sufficient documentation on their citizenship or immigration status. The exchange has also adjusted tax credits or financial assistance for about 967,000 households, in some cases because of incorrect information on family income. (Armour, 9/8)

The Dallas Morning News: Immigration Status Stifles Enrollment For Obamacare
The Affordable Care Act does not permit unauthorized immigrants to use the online health insurance marketplaces, which the federal government operates in Texas and 36 other states. Also, immigrants in the country illegally cannot qualify for subsidies. About 84 percent of marketplace consumers receive tax credits to help pay premiums on their private plans. (Garrett, 9/8)

Bloomberg: Obamacare Marketplace Enrollment Falls To 9.9M, U.S. Says
About 9.9 million people got health insurance coverage through the marketplaces set up by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as of June 30, a decline from earlier in the year though still higher than the Obama administration’s target. About 84 percent got government subsidies to buy the coverage, getting an average of $270 a month, according to data released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Enrollment had been 10.2 million at the end of March. (Tracer, 9/8)

In other local coverage and cost news -

The Associated Press: Nearly 330K Virginians Sign Up For Coverage Under Health Law
President Barack Obama’s administration says that nearly 330,000 Virginia residents have signed up and paid for health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act. The administration said Tuesday that 327,026 residents had enrolled through the end of June. Of those, nearly 84 percent, or more than 274,000, were receiving financial assistance from the federal government. (9/8)

The Connecticut Mirror: Anthem Individual Rates To Rise 2.4%, ConnectiCare’s By 8.5%
Premiums for the 55,000 people who buy Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield health plans through the state’s individual market will rise by an average of 2.4 percent next year, while ConnectiCare Insurance Company’s 34,400 customers will see an average rate hike of 8.5 percent. Both companies sought higher increases, but the Connecticut Insurance Department deemed their proposed rates excessive and required the companies to revise their proposals. (Levin Becker, 9/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Planned Parenthood Fight Threatens To Bring Shutdown
Rising conservative anger against Planned Parenthood is upending congressional GOP leaders’ plans to avoid a government shutdown when federal funding runs out at month’s end. Republicans in full control of Congress for the first time since 2006 are eager to keep the government running when the next fiscal year starts on Oct. 1. But they face mounting resistance from some House Republicans who won’t vote for any government funding bill unless it cuts off funding for Planned Parenthood. Their opposition follows a string of videos purporting to show the group profiting from the sale of fetal tissue to medical researchers. Planned Parenthood has denied the allegations. (Peterson and Armour, 9/8)

Kaiser Health News: Planned Parenthood Isn’t The Only Health Program At Risk Of Losing Funds
Federal funding for Planned Parenthood will clearly be a flash point when Congress returns this week from its summer break. But the fate of many other health programs, from the National Institutes of Health to efforts to reduce teen pregnancy, hang in the balance as well, as lawmakers decide whether and how to fund the government after the current fiscal year expires Sept. 30. (Rovner, 9/8)

Meanwhile, Congress begins Planned Parenthood hearings -

The Associated Press: Congress Starts Planned Parenthood Hearings, Accusations Fly
A prominent abortion foe is accusing Planned Parenthood of violating federal laws barring for-profit sales of fetal tissue, while a defender of the group says it's done nothing illegal as Congress begins long-awaited hearings that are already weaving accusations, emotion and politics. Clandestinely recorded videos show that Planned Parenthood "violates various federal laws," and only banning research using fetal tissue from abortions or abortion itself "will prevent the inevitable abuse," James Bopp Jr., general counsel for National Right to Life, said in testimony prepared for Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee hearing. (9/9)

Reuters: Group Urges Republican Candidates To Defund Planned Parenthood
An influential conservative group is calling on Republican presidential candidates to vow they will veto any future funding for women's healthcare provider Planned Parenthood, which is under fire from abortion opponents. In a letter seen by Reuters that is being sent to all party hopefuls in the 2016 White House race, the ForAmerica advocacy group asks candidates to make "a firm commitment" to starve Planned Parenthood of federal funding. (Gibson, 9/8)

The Wall Street Journal: 'Cadillac’ Health Tax Fight Heats Up
A looming tax on generous employer health plans could imperil flexible spending accounts, a popular benefit that lets employees set aside tax-free money for certain medical expenses. The Affordable Care Act’s tax on high-cost employer health insurance is scheduled to start in 2018, when it will impose a 40% levy on benefits that exceed a government-set threshold. Employers already are reviewing or trimming health plans to minimize the effect of this “Cadillac tax,” benefit experts say. (Armour, 9/8)

Politico Pro: Congress Faces Pressure To Push Back Obamacare's Small Group Expansion
There's growing bipartisan support to roll back a looming Obamacare provision that could raise health insurance costs for thousands of midsized businesses, but the law's complicated politics could derail congressional efforts to approve a fix. Starting next year, the Affordable Care Act expands the definition of the “small group” insurance market .... That means a broader swath of companies will have to live under new Obamacare coverage rules — most notably, a prohibition on charging employers more money based on their medical claims history or the ages of their workers. (Demko, 9/8)

Bloomberg: Anthem, Aetna Deals Threaten Competition Across U.S., AMA Says
The market for health-insurance in the U.S. is already so highly concentrated that pending tie-ups among four of the country’s largest insurers risk hurting both consumers and doctors, the American Medical Association said. Anthem Inc.’s proposed takeover of Cigna Corp. and Aetna Inc.’s bid for Humana Inc. would reduce competition among insurers in 154 metropolitan areas, worsening already concentrated markets, the organization said in studies released Tuesday. The mergers could cause premiums to go up and decrease payments to doctors, the AMA said. (McLaughlin, 9/8)

CNN Money: AMA Says Insurance Mergers Will Raise Premiums And Hurt Quality Of Care
The American Medical Association says the proposed mergers between four of the nation's largest health insurers will drive up costs for patients and hurt the quality of care. In a study released by the physicians' trade association, the AMA argues that insurance competition would be significantly reduced in 97 metropolitan areas spread across most states. It's calling for the mergers to be blocked. (Isidore, 9/8)

Reuters: U.S. Doctors Group Says Planned Health Mergers Anti-Competitive
The leading U.S. physicians' organization said on Tuesday that two proposed mergers of U.S. health insurers worth tens of billions of dollars could lead to higher prices in 17 states for companies that buy insurance for their workers or people who buy their own insurance. Aetna Inc announced plans to buy smaller rival Humana Inc in early July and Anthem Inc agreed to buy Cigna Corp later that month. Both mergers are being reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice and state insurance officials. (Bartz and Humer, 9/8)

The Detroit Free Press: How UAW's Risky Health Care Experiment Became A Success
A grand experiment that began eight years ago for the UAW to take over management of retiree health care for the Detroit Three is now viewed as a major success. Retirees, analysts and executives involved in the contract of 2007 that created the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust say it's working even better than originally expected. ... UAW President Dennis Williams wants to use the Trust, also called a VEBA, as a model for a new benefits pool that would oversee healthcare for the 141,000 hourly workers at General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and maybe even the automaker's salaried workforce. (Snavely, 9/8)

The Cleveland Plain Dealer: Study: Ohio's Health Insurance Industry Is Shrinking; Prices Bound To Rise
If you think health insurance in Ohio is too expensive, grab your wallets. A new study released Tuesday finds that the state's health insurance industry experienced one of the nation's biggest drops in competition between 2010 and 2013. Ohio ranked 10th nationally in overall loss of competition, according to the study by the American Medical Association, which warned that premiums could rise sharply in communities across Ohio and the U.S. due to consolidation by insurers. (Ross, 9/8)

The Washington Post's Wonkblog: What We Know About How Health Insurance Affects Health
A study published Tuesday in Health Affairs reports new evidence of health insurance's salutary effects on chronic disease, quantifying those effects down to changes in blood sugar control, blood pressure and a slight drop in cholesterol. Expanding coverage to half the number of non-elderly uninsured people, the authors estimate, will mean 1.5 million additional people will be diagnosed with chronic diseases and 659,000 will gain control of their illness. The analysis adds to a growing, if somewhat uneven, body of evidence probing health insurance's effects on health. (Johnson, 9/8)

In other marketplace news, concerns are raised about the costs of new drugs to fight cholesterol.

Reuters: Independent Group Finds New Cholesterol Drugs Far Too Costly
An independent non-profit organization that evaluates clinical and cost effectiveness of new medicines said announced prices for a just-approved class of potent cholesterol lowering drugs were far too high, according to a draft report released on Tuesday. The Boston-based Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) said its analyses indicated "that the price that best represents the overall benefits" the drugs may provide patients would be between $3,615 and $4,811 a year, a 67 percent discount off the list prices. (Berkrot, 9/8)

And an industry merger -

The New York Times' DealBook: Concordia Healthcare To Acquire Drug Maker Amdipharm Mercury
The Concordia Healthcare Corporation of Canada said on Tuesday that it had agreed to acquire the drug maker Amdipharm Mercury from the European private equity firm Cinven in a deal that valued the company at about $3.5 billion, including debt. The deal is expected to expand Concordia’s geographic footprint to more than 100 countries and give it access to 190 complementary and niche pharmaceutical products, Concordia said. (Bray, 9/8)

NJ Spotlight: Foundation Aims To Spark Innovation Among Safety-Net Health Care Providers
Over the past several years, large and wealthy hospital systems have been investing in technology and dedicated staff to meet the goals of the Affordable Care Act and better coordinate patient care among different healthcare and social-service providers. But for hospitals that serve largely low-income residents, it can be difficult to pay for the programs to attain this level of coordination. A training program called the New Jersey Innovation Catalyst Initiative and funded by the Nicholson Foundation, aims to close the gap between wealthier providers and those that serve as a safety net for patients who are uninsured or receive Medicaid. (Kitchenman, 9/8)

CQ Healthbeat: Hospitals Face New Limits If Discount Program Changes As Proposed
Hospitals likely would see a reduction in their savings from the 340B drug discount program if a new Health Resources and Services Administration proposal is adopted without major changes. That would be a win for pharmaceutical companies, which have complained about the recent expansion of a program intended to expand medical services in communities where many people live in or near poverty. One of the major changes in HRSA's proposal would end the 340B discount for medicines that people take after they are discharged from hospitals, said Elizabeth S. Elson, an attorney with Foley & Lardner, who specializes in federal health programs. (Young, 9/8)

Minnesota Public Radio: Startups Bet On Consumer Demand For Health Care Convenience
MinuteClinic pioneered the concept of convenience health care more than 15 years ago. Since then the number of walk-in clinics in retail stores, supermarkets and pharmacies has exploded nationally. Now several companies around the country are taking convenience a step further with low-cost primary care that includes house calls. (Zdechlik, 9/9)

Los Angeles Times: Diabetes Nation? Half Of Americans Have Diabetes Or Pre-Diabetes
About half of all Americans have either diabetes or pre-diabetes, according to a new report. And experts in the field say that's good news. That's because the study finds that after two decades of linear growth, the prevalence of diabetes in the United States has finally started to plateau. In a paper published Tuesday in JAMA, the authors write that their findings are consistent with other studies that show the percentage of people with diagnosed diabetes remained steady from 2008 to 2012. (Netburn, 9/8)

Meanwhile, the surgeon general takes steps to urge walking for health -

The Associated Press: Surgeon General Calls For Steps To Promote Healthy Walking
Take a walk: That's the U.S. surgeon general's prescription for sedentary Americans — but communities will have to step up, too, and make neighborhoods easier and safer for foot traffic. Only half of adults and just over a quarter of high school students get the amount of physical activity recommended for good health, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said in a "call to action" being issued Wednesday. (Neergaard, 9/9)

In other news, federal officials are focusing on inequities and disparities in health care for seniors who are from minority populations, or who are rural or poor -

USA Today: Feds To Focus On Health Inequities Among Minority, Rural And Poor Seniors
Federal regulators announced a new plan Tuesday to make health care for minority and poor senior citizens more equitable, a challenge that persists 30 years after the Department of Health and Human Services issued a powerful report on the problem. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released its first plan to address health equity in the mammoth Medicare program. The "equity plan" focuses on six priority areas, including increasing the ability of health care workers to meet the needs of vulnerable populations. (O'Donnell, 9/8)

The Connecticut Mirror: Mental Health Agencies Take On Larger Role Coordinating All Care
Behavioral health homes draw on two concepts that are gaining momentum in health care – the medical “home,” in which patients have a health care provider who takes on a larger role in coordinating their care, and bringing together primary care and behavioral health. But most of those efforts center on primary care practices, either as the site of patients’ medical home or where mental health services are delivered. The premise behind behavioral health homes is that, for some people with serious mental illness, it makes more sense to take the opposite approach – using the behavioral health treatment system as people’s home base and coordinating medical care from there. (Levin Becker, 9/9)

CQ Healthbeat: Privacy Issues Complicate Mental Health Overhaul
Congressional efforts to overhaul the mental health system have more momentum than at any time since the 2012 shooting at a Newtown, Conn., school by an unbalanced young man, with leading measures introduced in the House and Senate that seek to address access, treatment and privacy. But the question of whether to tie millions of dollars in funding to states’ willingness to force some people with serious illnesses into outpatient treatment programs revives sticky questions about patients’ rights that divide advocates, complicating prospects for a consensus. (Attias, 9/8)

The New York Times: Cuomo Pledges Advice And Assistance To Puerto Rico
The assistance was largely in the form of expertise and influence, including promises to push Washington to increase federal health care funding on the island and to develop a plan to evaluate and improve its current Medicaid program; to send state teams specializing in agriculture and energy issues; and to hold a “commercialization summit” to help find funding for “promising early-stage Puerto Rican businesses.” (McKinley, 9/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Gov. Cuomo Mixes Business, Friendship On Puerto Rico Trip
Most prominent Democrats, including Mr. Cuomo, have endorsed giving Puerto Rico the ability to pursue bankruptcy protection as well as Medicaid reimbursement equivalent to what states receive. (Orden, 9/8)

Reuters: New York Governor Cuomo Pledges Health Care Help To Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico, whose leaders have complained of unequal federal treatment on healthcare, may get some help from the state with the most Puerto Rican citizens outside the island itself - New York. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo visited the U.S. commonwealth on Tuesday, presenting a plan to assist Puerto Rico in seeking federal investment to overhaul its healthcare system, and to pressure the U.S. government to change healthcare funding formulas. (Brown, 9/8)

News Service Of Florida: Proposal Seeks To Help Dentists In Underserved Areas
A House Republican on Friday proposed creation of a program that would offer financial help to dentists who practice in underserved areas. The bill (HB 139), filed by Rep. Travis Cummings, R-Orange Park, will be considered during the 2016 legislative session and follows years of discussion about a lack of dentists in some low-income parts of the state. (9/8)

Reuters: Reference Payment For Colonoscopy Saved California Millions Of Dollars
Two years after offering colonoscopy patients full coverage for their screening if they had it done at lower-priced facilities, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) saved $7 million, according to a new study. The initiative sought to counter the unpredictable, but generally rising, prices for the procedure at different facilities while also making sure members kept access to colon cancer screening. (Doyle, 9/8)

The Associated Press: Parents, Unemployed Focus Of NYC Mental-Health Experiment
A $30 million, city-sponsored experiment in training non-professionals to provide mental health help will focus on people who work with parents of small children, the unemployed poor and young people who aren't in work or school, according to City Hall's charity arm. Those target populations, described to The Associated Press as the city prepares to solicit proposals from community groups, flesh out plans to explore whether non-professionals can form a psychological front line in the nation's biggest city. The idea has gained some traction among mental health advocates, though they also have cautioned that it's no substitute for professional help. (Peltz, 9/9)

California Healthline: Reproductive Rights Battle Continues
California's laws and policies dealing with reproductive health care are considered some of the most consumer-friendly in the country. They might have played a role in the ultimate solution to a disagreement between a patient and her hospital last month in Redding. But the issues raised in the conflict between a Catholic-owned hospital and a pregnant woman seeking a tubal ligation will continue to generate controversy and present problems for women seeking reproductive choices, according to consumer advocates. (Lauer, 9/8)

Health News Florida: Health First Lawsuit Woes Grow
Brevard County’s Health First is again the target of a lawsuit. Competitor Parrish Medical Center is asking a judge to block Health First’s purchase of Space Coast Cancer Center, which has locations in Merritt Island, Titusville and Viera. The suit accuses Health First of violating anti-trust laws and creating a monopoly for health services in Brevard County. (Aboraya, 9/8)

Health News Florida: Increasing Number Of Florida Docs Sign Up For Medical Marijuana Program
Florida doctors can soon order medical marijuana for their patients. The law goes into effect at the start of next year. But so far, only a few dozen doctors have signed up. Ronald Aung-Din is a neurologist in Sarasota. He’s one of only 42 doctors in the state that can recommend medical marijuana for patients. (Forhecz, 9/8)

Georgia Health News: Big Hospitals In Columbus Take Financial Hits
State Attorney General Sam Olens announced Friday that Columbus Regional and other related entities had agreed to pay Georgia and the United States up to $35 million to resolve allegations of false Medicaid claims. Then the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reported Saturday that the other hospital organization in town, St. Francis, has been told by the feds that it must repay $21.4 million and make major changes in the way it does business. ... The two situations are unrelated and very different, experts point out. But together they put a spotlight – and force large payouts – in Columbus. And what happens economically in the big city on the Chattahoochee River affects large areas of west Georgia and east Alabama. (Miller, 9/8)

The Seattle Times: Report: Force Rare As Seattle Police Deal With About 10,000 Mentally Ill People A Year
A three-page form created by the Seattle Police Department as part of federally mandated reforms has yielded a staggering statistic: The department is on track to log roughly 10,000 incident reports annually involving contacts with the mentally ill. Moreover, the numbers show police are using force in a tiny fraction of the encounters. (Sullivan, 9/8)

Health News Florida: The Rising Tide Of HIV In Florida
In 2013, Florida had more new cases of HIV than anywhere else in the nation. When it comes to the presence of HIV in Florida, the state’s six largest metropolitan areas could be states unto themselves. If Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach were a state, it would rank sixth nationally in the number of new cases. The Tampa Bay and Central Florida metro regions each saw more new cases than two dozen other states. On Tuesday, Sept. 1, we hosted a special town hall at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee to discuss the rising tide of HIV in Florida. (Watts, Cooper and Shedden, 9/8)

The Wall Street: Government Shutdown Redux
Congress is back in Washington, which means more intra-GOP drama when funding for the government expires at the end of the month. Some conservatives are trying to force a showdown over Planned Parenthood, but we wish they’d explain how this would benefit the antiabortion movement or the Republican majority. Millions of Americans are appalled by the undercover videos that exposed Planned Parenthood’s fetal-organ trade, and stripping the organization of the $500 million or so that federal taxpayers supply each year is a laudable goal. The GOP is united on the policy but not the strategy. (9/8)

Bloomberg: Don't Lose Sleep Over A Government Shutdown
To keep the government's doors open, Republicans are expected to try to pass a short-term spending bill. Will they succeed? ... Republican leaders in Congress are publicly against using a shutdown threat. ... Of course, neither party wants to start bargaining by saying it will eventually give in, often at the last minute. Both sides owe it to their constituents to hold out to get the best possible deal. This kind of brinkmanship can lead to miscalculations that cause shutdowns lasting a day or two. But it isn't what leads to extended government shutdowns. (Jonathan Bernstein, 9/8)

Bloomberg: Make A Stand On Abortion, Without A Shutdown
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Florida congresswoman who chairs the Democratic National Committee, sent out a fundraising e-mail about how mad she is that Republicans want to cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood. She says they "are just fine with shutting down the government -- again." Cynics may suspect that Wasserman Schultz would in truth be delighted if the government were to shut down over this issue. In any case, the Republican leadership in both houses of Congress isn't "just fine" with a shutdown. It is desperate to avoid one -- maybe too desperate. (Ramesh Ponnuru, 9/8)

Health Affairs: Quantifying Planned Parenthood’s Critical Role In Meeting The Need For Publicly Supported Contraceptive Care
Over the past few months, legislative attempts to defund Planned Parenthood have flared at both the federal and state levels; these moves are clearly an attempt to shutter Planned Parenthood health centers, potentially depriving women of the contraceptive services and counseling, sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing and treatment, and breast and cervical cancer screening that they provide. Although proponents of closing Planned Parenthood argue that other providers would be easily able to fill the hole torn in the safety net, credible evidence suggests this is unlikely. (Jennifer Frost and Kinsey Hasstedt, 9/8)

Los Angeles Times: Can ZendyHealth Be The Priceline Of Healthcare?
[I]n his new book, "Vaporized: Solid Strategies for Success in a Dematerialized World," former Sony executive Robert Tercek argues that the changes wrought by high-speed, ubiquitous Internet connectivity are bound to spread broadly across the economy. As tasks once performed by specialized machines are translated into software programs, and physical products become digitally delivered services, basic functions of commerce are being transformed, traditional sales channels are being displaced and established players are being circumvented. A good illustration of this is ZendyHealth, a Los Angeles-based start-up that wants to bring Priceline's model for discounted airfare and hotel rooms to healthcare. (9/8)

The Wall Street Journal: Why Higher Drug Costs Are Consumers’ Biggest Cost Worry
The emerging issue in health care is drug costs — despite the fact that most people say they can afford their drugs and greatly value the role drugs can play in making their lives better. One likely reason this is the case: Drug costs are the first thing people think of when they think of the growing out of pocket costs they are paying for health care, at a time when their wages have been relatively flat. (Drew Altman, 9/8)

The New York Times: The Solution To Drug Prices
We're paying too much for prescription drugs. The price for cancer drugs like Yervoy, Opdivo and Keytruda routinely exceeds $120,000 a year. Some other specialty drugs have even higher prices. Cerezyme for Gaucher disease costs about $300,000 per year for life. Kalydeco for cystic fibrosis also costs about $300,000 per year. Despite representing about 1 percent of prescriptions in 2014, these types of high-cost drugs accounted for some 32 percent of all spending on pharmaceuticals. (Ezekiel J. Emanuel, 9/9)

The Detroit Free Press: Without Action, A Shortage Of Doctors Stands
America is in the midst of full implementation of the federal Affordable Care Act. Among the objectives of that legislation was to expand access to health care for more people. In Michigan, and in many other states, that objective is hampered by a current and looming shortage of primary care physicians. In a recent study, the Citizens Research Council found that many Michigan counties have insufficient numbers of primary care physicians, including family doctors, internists, pediatricians, obstetricians and gynecologists, general surgeons, and especially psychiatrists. Many of the most severe shortages are in the northern half of the Lower Peninsula, but southeast Michigan is not immune — especially the city of Detroit. (Eric Lupher, 9/7)

Bloomberg: Uncle Sam Wants You (To Quit Smoking)
There's good news this month from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: In 2015, the smoking rate among adults in the U.S. fell to a new low of 15 percent. Within the military, though, smoking rates remain substantially higher. This not only harms the health of soldiers but also impairs military performance, which is why Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter should push to further discourage smoking in the military. (Peter R. Orszag, 9/9)