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The Obama administration knowingly spent billions in health care dollars without proper congressional authority and went to “great lengths” to impede congressional scrutiny of the money, Republicans on two major House committees said in a report that will be made public on Thursday. An extensive investigation by the Ways and Means and the Energy and Commerce Committees concluded that the administration plowed ahead with funding for a consumer cost-reduction program that was central to the new health insurance law even though Congress did not provide money for it. (Huse, 7/7)

The Affordable Care Act was meant to have a particular impact on smokers when it was enacted: It would shift the burden of high health-care costs from smoking ailments to the smokers themselves—17 percent of American adults in 2014. At the same time, the ACA would keep making progress toward the goal of universal health care, even for smokers. It fell short on both goals in its first year, a study released Wednesday by the Yale School of Public Health found. (Ramkumar, 7/6)

A tobacco surcharge levied by some insurers has led to lower enrollment in health coverage — but not to lower smoking rates. That’s according to a new study by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health, which examined the tobacco surcharge allowed under the Affordable Care Act. ...The legislation, among other things, allowed insurance plans to to levy a surcharge of up to 50 percent on tobacco users’ premiums. (Cuba, 7/6)

An organization representing state health insurance co-ops criticized the Affordable Care Act’s risk adjustment formula as a failure causing difficulties for the nonprofit insurers created under the law. The announcement from the National Alliance of State Health Co-Ops came a day after HealthyCT, the Connecticut co-op, was put under an order of suspension, signaling the co-op would start taking steps to shut down. Kelly Crowe, the group’s CEO, said the case was not a “one-off example.” (McIntire, 7/6)

Evergreen Health Cooperative must pay $24.2 million to its biggest competitor because of an Affordable Care Act program that aims to level the playing field for insurers taking on riskier customers from state health insurance exchanges. (Gantz, 7/6)

Children's Community Health Plan, which is owned by Children's Hospital and Health System, plans to sell insurance on the federal marketplace set up through the Affordable Care Act. The plan oversees the care of 135,000 people covered by BadgerCare Plus, the state's largest Medicaid program, and had operating revenue of $237.8 million last year. The move to sell insurance on the federal exchange will give people in six counties in southeastern Wisconsin another option on the marketplace next year, and it comes as some health insurers are abandoning the marketplaces after incurring large losses. (Boulton, 7/6)