Sept. 5-8

5 Governors Press Congress For Fast Bucks To Secure Obamacare Market In 2018
By Julie Rovner and Rachel Bluth
State leaders tell senators that federal dollars are needed this fall to keep insurers participating in Obamacare next year and prevent big hikes in premiums.

Insurance Commissioners Say Help Offered By Congress Is Not Enough To Save Market
By Julie Rovner and Rachel Bluth
Making needed fixes to Obamacare before next year may be more difficult — and expensive — than Senate leaders think, state insurance commissioners suggested at a Senate hearing Wednesday.

Lawmakers Debate How Much Wiggle Room To Give States In Health Care
By Julie Rovner
The federal health law includes a provision that allows states to alter some of its rules if they can think of a better way to provide health care to their residents, but it’s not clear how far outside the box states can go.

Vital Health Officials You’ve Never Heard Of: Insurance Commissioners In The Hot Seat
By Julie Appleby
The fate of the Affordable Care Act’s individual insurance marketplaces remains in play as state insurance commissioners take a central role in the debate.

California, Other States To Extend Obamacare Sign-Up Beyond Federal Limit
By Pauline Bartolone and Carmen Heredia Rodriguez
Several state-based exchanges and the District of Columbia will allow people more than the 45 days set by the Trump administration.

Congress’ Tight Timetable Complicates Renewal Of Children’s Health Plan
By Phil Galewitz
The Senate Finance Committee begins hearings Thursday on the program, which provides coverage to more than 9 million children and is up for renewal on Sept. 30.

To Insure More Poor Children, It Helps If Parents Are On Medicaid
By Shefali Luthra
New research offers evidence that coverage expansion policies for adults have a positive spillover effect for kids.

For Low-Income Drug Users, Medi-Cal Offers A Fresh Start
By Anna Gorman
Under a five-year agreement with the federal government, California is using Medicaid dollars to expand drug treatment, including more inpatient care and a broader range of medications.

Shedding New Light On Hospice Care: No Need To Wait For The ‘Brink Of Death’
By Judith Graham
Hospice care often prompts fear and misunderstanding, but the services provided can lead to less pain and trauma at the end of life.

The Secret To Chronic Happiness As You Age
By Bruce Horovitz
Happy doesn’t always mean healthy. These older adults are still finding joy in spite of their physical challenges.

Guess Who Pays The Price When Hospital Giants Hire Your Private Practitioner?
By Jenny Gold
Gobbling up doctors’ independent practices is lucrative for hospital systems — but not necessarily a good deal for the physicians or consumers, critics say. Northern California is a case in point.

Meningitis B Vaccine’s High Price Poses A Health Care Conundrum For College-Bound
By Shefali Luthra
This immunization may mark a shift among some vaccine makers to higher-priced, “niche” preventives that protect against very specific and sometimes rare illnesses.

Move To End DACA Leaves Some Young Immigrants Fearing For Their Health
By Barbara Feder Ostrov and Anna Gorman
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program made it possible for young adults who came into the country illegally as children to get jobs with insurance and, in some states including California, Medicaid. Now that coverage is in peril.   

Hurricane’s Health Toll: A Texas Doctor Taps Lessons From Katrina
By Shefali Luthra
After weathering the catastrophe in New Orleans 12 years ago, Dr. Ruth Berggren moved to Texas, where she again finds herself in the center of a hurricane crisis. In a Q&A, she draws parallels between the harrowing events and pinpoints risks in Harvey’s aftermath.

How Below-The-Radar Mergers Fuel Health Care Monopolies
By Jay Hancock
Most acquisitions by hospitals of physician practices are too small to trigger antitrust attention, study says. But a buying spree of “onesies and twosies” doctor practices has driven competition down and prices up.

Another Way For Anti-Vaxxers To Skip Shots For Schoolkids: A Doctor’s Note
By Ana B. Ibarra and Barbara Feder Ostrov
No longer able to get exemptions for personal beliefs in California, parents opposed to inoculations seem to be obtaining medical exemptions for their children, according to a new study.