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President Barack Obama said “a handful of people” would take a hit from hefty health-insurance premium increases due to kick in next year, and that all of those people had previously been uninsured, in remarks that downplayed problems with his signature health law as it takes on greater prominence in the final days before the election. Data from the Department of Health and Human Services puts that handful as high as 8.4 million – between almost seven million people who buy coverage directly from insurers, and another 1.5 million who use HealthCare.gov or a state equivalent but don’t meet income criteria for a tax credit. Others say the handful may be even higher. (Radnofsky, 11/3)

While the Affordable Care Act has pushed the uninsured rate in the U.S. near a record low, a Commonwealth Fund study this year found that about four in 10 adults in ACA plans aren’t confident they could afford care if they got sick. Affordability has become a major issue in the presidential campaign. Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, has pointed to rising premiums as a sign that the ACA doesn’t work, and promised to repeal it. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate, has pledged to fix the law, in part by boosting subsidies to buy insurance. Any major changes would need action by Congress. (Tracer and Doherty, 11/4)

With a string of comeback wins, the Federal Trade Commission has proved it's still capable of foiling healthcare consolidation it deems out of bounds—even though most of the deals it fights these days are wrapped in the flag of reform. A federal appeals court on Nov. 1 handed the FTC a big victory Oct. 31 when it revived its effort to challenge a proposed merger of Advocate Health Care and NorthShore University HealthSystem in Chicago's northern suburbs. And last month the agency won its appeal to temporarily block the union of Penn State Hershey (Pa.) Medical Center with PinnacleHealth System, which prompted them to abandon their plans. (Castellucci, 11/4)

New data show that 16.4 million people have gained health insurance since ObamaCare’s main coverage provisions went into effect in 2013. The survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds that the uninsured rate is near a record low, at 8.9 percent, just slightly higher than the 8.6 percent record in the first quarter of this year. In 2013, it was 14.4 percent. (Sullivan, 11/3)

There were roughly 28 million uninsured Americans during the first six months of this year, a significant change from the 48 million consumers who lacked coverage at the time of the enactment of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. Government-subsidized health insurance policies for low and middle-income people, along with an expansion of the Medicaid program in more than half of the states, have helped more than 20 million uninsured people obtain coverage. But as the politically embattled program begins its fourth year of operation in January, Obamacare has been rocked by skyrocketing premiums, high deductibles and an alarming number of major insurers including Aetna and UnitedHealthcare deciding to pull out of the market after incurring tens of millions of dollars in losses. (Pianin, 11/3)

Advocates and opponents are gearing up for a life or death battle over a problematic Affordable Care Act in 2017, and the idea of a government option in health insurance is gaining some traction among Democratic legislators. ... A public option would involve a government-run health plan that would compete with private options offered on the health law’s exchanges. It would be different from a so-called single-payer system under which a government-run national health insurance program would cover everyone. (Armour, 11/3)

The Affordable Care Act was a major point of contention when U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson ran against then-Sen. Russ Feingold six years ago, and it's front and center again with their rematch coming up Tuesday. Johnson, a Republican who was elected to the Senate partly because of his opposition to the health insurance reform law, remains one of its most steadfast critics. Feingold, a Democrat who voted for the law, continues to support it. But with the law now in its sixth year, few opponents talk of returning to the status quo that existed before it was implemented, and few supporters suggest it has worked out exactly as planned. (Boulton, 11/3)

The sign-up period for 2017 Obamacare health plans began this week, but leaders of Connecticut’s health insurance exchange are eyeing the need for significant changes in the following year to ensure that the marketplace remains viable. ... Two of the four insurers that sold plans through Access Health this year are not offering exchange plans for 2017, and the head of one of the remaining insurers, Anthem, indicated Wednesday that the company might consider leaving exchanges across the country in 2018 without improvements in “the pricing and regulatory environment.” (Levin Becker, 11/4)