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Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) are teaming up to “break up big medicine.” The lawmakers introduced legislation to crack down on health care conglomerates that own multiple parts of the industry — including pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), which act as a conduit between insurers and drug manufacturers, and pharmacies themselves. Warren and Hawley’s “Break Up Big Medicine Act” proposes prohibiting parent companies from owning a medical provider or management services organization and a PBM or insurer. (Rego, 2/10)

Doctors want more money from Medicare and more ways to get it, medical societies told House members developing plans to overhaul the payment system. In December, Reps. Dr. John Joyce (R-Pa.), Dr. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) and Dr. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.) invited organizations representing physicians to weigh in on a potential successor to the Merit-based Incentive Payment System, or MIPS. Groups including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Medical Group Management Association and the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations answered the call with policy recommendations. (Early, 2/10)

Top Republicans and Democrats quietly tucked new requirements into the government funding package Congress passed last week to make it more difficult for the Trump administration to defy lawmakers and refuse to allocate federal dollars in the way they intend. Many of the measures fall far short of what Democrats wanted, including provisions restricting departments from canceling federal contracts and barring the White House from unilaterally rescinding funds Congress already approved. In some instances, House Republicans rejected stronger language written by appropriators in the Senate. (Edmondson, 2/10)

Natalie Reichel is due for her next cancer therapy in March. But a contract fight between Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, where she gets care, and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, whose network her insurance uses, has cast doubt on whether she’ll be able to get it on time. “I am feeling dubious,” said Reichel, 40. The dispute is about money: Mount Sinai says Anthem owes it more than $450 million in unpaid claims, while Anthem says Mount Sinai is demanding a 50% rate increase. (Lovelace Jr., 2/10)

Health insurance costs ate up 10% or more of median family income in 19 states, according to a new analysis. The findings show how tough it can be to afford health care, even with insurance, for many of the estimated 167 million Americans who get coverage through an employer. (Bettelheim, 2/11)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: End Of Enhanced Obamacare Subsidies Puts Tribal Health Lifeline At Risk

Leonard Bighorn said his mother tried for two years to get help for severe stomach pain through the limited health services available near her home on the Fort Peck Reservation in northeastern Montana. After his mom finally saw a specialist in Glasgow, about an hour away, she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer, Bighorn said. Now, 16 years after his mother’s death, Bighorn has access to regular screenings for cancer and other specialty care that she didn’t have, through a health insurance program the Fort Peck Tribes created in 2016. (Houghton and Orozco Rodriguez, 2/11)

�鶹Ů�� Health News: Listen To The Latest '�鶹Ů�� Health News Minute'

Katheryn Houghton reads the week’s news: American farmers are being hit hard by the end of extra Obamacare subsidies, and hospitals are starting their own Medicare Advantage plans. (2/10)