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Congressional Republicans will move to temporarily continue health care subsidies for millions of people if the Supreme Court overturns the aid, according to plans discussed Wednesday in the House and Senate. In addition, the GOP proposals would dissolve many of the basic requirements of President Barack Obama's health care law, including mandates that most people buy coverage and most companies provide it to their workers, Republicans said. Eventually, they hope, the entire law would be repealed. (Fram and Werner, 6/17)

Republican leaders are coalescing around a plan to extend the health law’s tax credits for as long as two years, while repealing other parts of the law, if the Supreme Court invalidates the credits. The high court is expected to rule by the end of June on whether to restrict the 2010 law’s tax credits—used by low- and moderate-income consumers to help pay their insurance premiums—to the handful of states that opted to set up their own insurance exchanges. (Peterson and Radnofsky, 6/17)

Senate Republicans are coalescing around a plan to extend Obamacare subsidies for up to two years if the Supreme Court strikes them this month. The court is due to rule within days on whether the president’s health care law allows people using HealthCare.gov to get insurance subsidies. If the court rules against the White House and strikes the subsidies, Republicans say they want to be ready to protect the more than 6 million people who could lose their subsidies. (Haberkorn and Everett, 6/17)

Congressional Republican leaders have promised for months they would be ready if the Supreme Court wipes out Obamacare subsidies for millions of consumers. At separate closed-door meetings in the House and Senate Wednesday, those leaders laid out a framework for their response, and totally repealing the law is the key feature, as it has been for more than five years. The Supreme Court is likely to rule this month -- as soon as Thursday morning -- in King v. Burwell, a lawsuit engineered by conservative and libertarian activists that seeks to invalidate health insurance subsidies for 6.4 million low- and moderate-income people. The plaintiffs claim the law only permits subsidies to residents of states that operate health insurance exchanges under the law, not the 34 states where the federal government does so. (Young, 6/17)

If the Supreme Court decides against the Obama administration over subsidies that help cover health insurance costs at the heart of Obamacare, House Republicans are hatching a plan that would almost immediately reintroduce those same subsidies. That means the same House GOP conference that has voted more than 50 times to repeal all or parts of Obamacare would be ready to offer a short-term transition period to keep those stripped of a subsidy afloat as they search for health insurance. (Walsh and Schleifer, 6/17)

Despite White House veto threats, the House is ready to vote to repeal taxes on medical devices and kill a Medicare advisory board that foes say would ration health care as the chamber aims its latest whack at President Barack Obama's health care law. ... The medical device tax and the Medicare advisory board were "two of the most flawed and ill-conceived" parts of the law, said Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., accused Republicans of restaging "the same tired debates." Since 2011, the Republican-run House has voted more than 50 times to repeal all or part of the law. (Fram, Espo and Werner, 6/17)

A federal agency charged with helping prevent hospital patients from acquiring infections and suffering other harm in the course of medical treatments is emerging as a flash point as appropriators draft the spending bill for many federal health agencies. Lucille Royball-Allard of California on Wednesday cited the reported successes of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in her bid to protect it. The House fiscal 2016 Labor-HHS would terminate AHRQ, with an intention of spreading its duties among other organizations in the Department of Health and Human Services. (Young, 6/17)

A National Institutes of Health program that channels research money into mostly rural states would get a 14 percent increase in its budget under a House spending plan, a notably generous bump at a time of tight spending caps. Spending for the NIH’s Institutional Development Awards program would rise by almost $39 million to $311.8 million under a draft House Appropriations bill. Finding money for such an increase meant taking funds from other programs. The House Labor-Health and Human Services-Education bill would cut about $3.7 billion overall from fiscal 2015 spending levels. (Young, 6/17)

Millions of people are waiting anxiously for the Supreme Court to decide the fate of President Obama’s health care law with a ruling this month on health insurance subsidies. But David M. King, a plaintiff in the case, is not among them. Mr. King, 64, said recently that he was reasonably confident he would prevail in his challenge to the subsidies, a central element of the Affordable Care Act. ... But Mr. King said that he was not really worried about the outcome of the case, King v. Burwell, because as a Vietnam veteran, he has access to medical care through the Department of Veterans Affairs. (Pear, 6/17)

It is D-Day once again for Obamacare, the President's hard-won health law, which stands again before the Supreme Court. Opponents are asking the Supreme Court to determine a critical question: does the text of the law authorize tax subsidies for 6.4 million Americans who have already received help to afford health coverage? As the justices work toward a self-imposed June deadline, they will seek to answer that question, knowing that if they side with the challengers the ruling could severely destabilize the structure of the entire law. (de Vogue, 6/18)

The Supreme Court will decide a seemingly simple question this month in the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act: Does the law limit subsidies for low- and moderate-income consumers to insurance purchased through an exchange “established by the state.” The phrase at issue is found in a section of the law that outlines how subsidies should be calculated. It has taken on enormous importance because only 13 states and the District of Columbia operate their own exchange, or marketplace. Three more states established marketplaces, but rely on the federal HealthCare.gov online market. The remaining 34 states declined to establish a marketplace, leaving the job to the federal government, an option provided by the law. (Savage and Levey, 6/17)

Before the month is out, the Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision that could determine the fate of much of the Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare. That case, King vs. Burwell, will determine whether subsidies the government provides to purchase health insurance are legal. Nearly three dozen states use the federal exchange, and the case is whether subsidies used in those states are valid. (6/17)

As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to rule on whether people in 34 states can continue to receive Obamacare health insurance subsidies, economists are projecting billions of dollars in lost healthcare spending for hospitals, drugstores and drugmakers if the justices say the payments are illegal. The immediate consequences of such a ruling would fall on the 6.4 million people who receive the subsidies and live in states that did not establish their own insurance exchanges under President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, instead relying on the federal HealthCare.gov website. (Begley and Humer, 6/17)

Insurers and government officials in Wyoming are bracing for an impending U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a challenge to the Affordable Care Act that could leave thousands of state residents without health coverage. ...If the Supreme Court rules against the federal exchanges, [Insurance Commissioner Tom] Glause said Wyoming's options range from doing nothing and seeing if Congress comes up with a solution through trying to create its own state marketplace or possibly partnering with other states. He said it would be untenable for the state to try to pay the cost of the current federal subsidies — about $8.4 million a month. (Neary, 6/17)

An imminent decision from the U.S. Supreme Court on subsidies under the Affordable Care Act could unleash “incredible chaos” in North Carolina’s health care market, N.C. Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin predicted Wednesday. Goodwin said the shock waves of invalidating health insurance subsidies would go far beyond the 458,738 North Carolinians who count on financial aid under the health care law. The fallout could ultimately drive some insurance companies to stop selling policies in the state, Goodwin said, leaving legions of residents stranded without coverage. (Murawski, 6/17)

As the country braces for a decisive U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the future of the Affordable Care Act, some states are taking steps to prepare for the potential fallout. But not Missouri. Hampered by a law that was adopted before the current legal challenge took shape, Missouri officials are left to scratch their heads as health insurance for 200,000 residents hangs in the balance. (Shapiro, 6/17)

Florida Gov. Rick Scott will not drop his lawsuit against the federal government until the Obama administration makes a decision on the Legislature’s proposal for $2 billion in shared spending next year for hospital payments and a raise in Medicaid rates, according to a notice filed in the case this week. Scott filed the notice Tuesday to withdraw a prior request that the U.S. District Court in Pensacola compel the Department of Health and Human Services to continue a hospital funding program that’s set to expire on June 30, leaving the state with a budget hole. (Chang, 6/17)

Pointing to a budget agreement reached by lawmakers, Gov. Rick Scott's attorneys late Tuesday withdrew a request for a preliminary injunction in a legal battle with the Obama administration about health care funding, according to a notice filed in federal court in Pensacola. The notice, however, said Scott is not withdrawing the overall lawsuit, which contends that the federal government has tried to unconstitutionally link expanding Florida's Medicaid program with the continuation of the Low Income Pool, or LIP, program. (6/17)

New Mexico survived a collapse of oil and natural gas revenues, but more budget problems are on the horizon because of the state's expansion of Medicaid coverage for low-income residents as part of the federal health care overhaul, a top legislative official warned Wednesday. More than 216,000 people have been added to the Medicaid rolls in New Mexico, bringing the total to nearly 800,000. David Abbey, director of the Legislative Finance Committee, told lawmakers during a meeting in Santa Fe that once the rate of federal cost-sharing for the expansion drops to 90 percent, New Mexico's share will balloon to about $120 million. (Bryan, 6/17)

In 2009, President Obama said, "What's most telling is that some of the people who are most supportive of reform are the very medical professionals who know the health care system best." While the health care reform law eventually gained the backing of the American Medical Association, surveys and physician commentary over the past five years provide a striking contrast to Obama's assertion. (Drost, 6/17)

The federal agency in charge of Obamacare paid insurers almost $2.8 billion last year without adequate controls in place to make sure the money was being properly disbursed, according to an internal watchdog. Without such "effective internal controls ... a significant amount of federal funds are at risk," said the report issued by the inspector general of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department on Tuesday. (Mangan, 6/17)

California's top insurance regulator expressed alarm Wednesday at the prospect of further consolidation in the health insurance industry. Dave Jones, the state's elected insurance commissioner, said consumers, employers and medical providers all could be harmed if industry giants such as Anthem Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc. pull off potential mega-mergers. (Terhune, 6/17)

The nation's biggest health insurers are speed-dating one another, searching for a partner worthy of a multibillion-dollar merger. Anthem Inc. and other industry giants are flush with cash and eager to swallow up competitors as they increasingly vie for individual customers on Obamacare exchanges and government business tied to Medicare and Medicaid. (Terhune, 6/17)

Pharmacy giant Walgreens is rolling out $49 digital doctor visits that will enable customers to connect via their computer or tablet with a doctor at any time of day or night. Walgreens, which sees the service as an extension of its popular walk-in clinics, launched the program in five states last week and plans to add another 20 states, where such doctor visits are permitted, by the end of the year. (Weintraub, 6/17)

Millions of people will be able to see a doctor on their smartphones or laptops for everyday ailments once the nation’s largest drugstore chain and two major insurers expand a budding push into virtual health care. Walgreens said that it will offer a smartphone application that links doctor and patients virtually in 25 states by the end of the year. That growth comes as UnitedHealth Group and the Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurer Anthem prepare to make their own non-emergency telemedicine services available to about 40 million more people by next year. (6/17)

CVS drugstores that quit tobacco sales last year are now getting health and beauty makeovers and a shot of ethnic diversity in some cases to attract customers who want more than a prescription refill. The nation's second-largest drugstore chain said Wednesday that it is adding fresh foods, healthy snacks and expanded beauty options to many of its locations. It also is testing a new format designed for stores that serve Hispanic populations. (6/17)

A high-ranking Senate Democrat is probing retailers and online companies about sales of dubious dietary supplements, especially those promising seniors protection from memory loss, dementia and other age-related problems. The pills, tablets and formulas targeted by Senator Claire McCaskill bear names like “Brain Awake,” ”Dementia Drops” and “Food for the Brain,” which claims to ease “forms of dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease.” (Perrone, 6/17)

When a doctor prescribes a medication, most of us don’t ask how much it’ll cost. It makes sense: for a lot of people – both doctors and patients – talking about the cost of care is a totally foreign concept. (Plevin, 6/17)

Marlene Allen thought she had decent medical coverage after she fell in December and broke her wrist. She had come in from walking the dogs. It was wet. The fracture needed surgery and screws and a plate. Weeks later, she learned her employer health plan would cover nothing. Not the initial doctor visit, not the outpatient surgery, not the anesthesiology. She had $19,000 in bills. (Hancock, 6/18)

Virginia should improve medical and police training, increase public education and expand drug courts to help combat heroin and prescription drug abuse, according to a task force formed by Gov. Terry McAuliffe. The recommendations are part of a report that experts in health care and law enforcement approved Tuesday and plan to send to McAuliffe (D) this month to begin to address what he called a problem of “epidemic proportions.” (Portnoy, 6/17)

Fatal overdoses linked to heroin surged by 58 percent in King County last year, fueling the steepest rise in local drug-caused deaths in 17 years. Heroin was involved in 156 deaths in the region in 2014, up from 99 the year before — and just 49 in 2009. Overall, there were 314 drug deaths in the area last year, the highest number since 1997, according to a report released Thursday by the University of Washington Alcohol & Drug Abuse Institute. (Aleccia, 6/18)

Remember that scene in "Pulp Fiction" when John Travolta saves Uma Thurman from a heroin overdose by plunging an adrenaline-filled hypodermic needle into her heart? In the movie Uma pops up and presumably goes on to enjoy many more years of barefooted dancing. But that could never happen in real life, right? Yes it can. Well something like that. More likely is a real-life Uma would be given Narcan, which is an opioid antagonist that can reverse the impact of an overdose within minutes. It works remarkably well. It’s just not available in that many places yet. But that's starting to change. (Wahlberg, 6/17)

Two weeks after legislators passed a budget that hospital officials called devastating, Hartford HealthCare, the parent company of five hospitals, announced plans to eliminate about 335 positions. In a statement announcing the cuts, Jeffrey A. Flaks, Hartford HealthCare’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, cited cuts to federal and state funding for the system, which includes Hartford, Windham and Backus hospitals, MidState Medical Center and The Hospital of Central Connecticut. (Levin Becker, 6/17)

One of the three health insurers participating in a state pilot program to control health care costs for low-income people with disabilities is dropping out of the program for financial reasons. Fallon Health of Worcester said Wednesday that it tried to find a way to stay in the program but ultimately decided participating was “not economically sustainable.” (Dayal McCluskey, 6/17)

As Gov. Jerry Brown struck a budget deal Tuesday that would offer healthcare to children in the country illegally, Sacramento County supervisors — sitting less than a mile away — also agreed to provide medical care for county residents who lack papers. Speaking of a statewide campaign for universal health coverage, Anthony Wright, executive director of the advocacy group Health Access California, said, "It was a big day for Health for All, in Sacramento and in Sacramento," referring to Capitol Hill and the county. (Karlamangla, 6/18)

Pharmacists in California will soon be able to prescribe birth control. That’s under a new state law that grants expanded authority to pharmacists. While some doctors’ groups are skeptical, lawmakers say pharmacists can fill a need for primary care providers, especially in rural areas. (Dembosky, 6/18)

A drug manufacturer is asking the Mississippi Supreme Court to reverse a $38.2 million judgment for the state in a Medicaid drug-pricing lawsuit. A judge ruled in Rankin County in 2011 that the pharmaceutical company, Sandoz Inc., inflated the average wholesale prices for its generic drugs. Attorney General Jim Hood says the inflated number caused Mississippi Medicaid to lose money by paying pharmacies too much. (6/17)

A health care union is launching its own ad push in an attempt to counter Gov. Bruce Rauner’s statewide TV ad launch. The ad, called “Wrong Priorities,” features first-person testimonials from family of the elderly and disabled, who say their quality of life — and actual lifespan — improves if they’re able to stay at home. (Korecki, 6/17)

With the largest HIV outbreak in Indiana history on the wane, a state-run community outreach center that's been in operation since late March will close next week and reopen at another location, state health officials said Wednesday. State Health Commissioner Dr. Jerome Adams said the three-days-a-week response center in the Scott County city of Austin will close June 25 but HIV testing, a needle exchange and its other services will continue at a to-be-determined site that will remain open for at least one year. (Callahan, 6/18)

Maine lawmakers have defeated a bill that would have allowed doctors to provide lethal doses of medication to terminally ill patients. Republican Sen. Roger Katz's bill died Tuesday because the Senate and House failed to agree on the bill. (6/17)

Illinois lawmakers have approved legislation that would grant amnesty to underage drinkers who call 911 to get help. The plan would provide legal protection to the person in need of medical help and the person who called on their behalf. The legislation would also grant police officers discretion to determine whether amnesty is appropriate to the situation. (6/17)

As New Jersey tries to increase the number of seniors covered by Medicaid who live in their own homes rather than nursing homes, state officials might look to a long-established program that’s succeeded in doing just that. Advocates for the Program for All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, or PACE, see it as a model for a larger statewide effort to improve delivery of healthcare and other services to seniors. But they say the program has been hurt by state funding cuts. They’re now working with state officials to ensure that the program has a stable source of funding in the future, and expect to learn from officials tomorrow what the funding level will be for the year starting on July 1. (Kitchenman, 6/17)

The ex-chief financial officer for a Texas hospital chain has been sentenced to almost two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to lying to federal agents investigating fraud allegations against the chain. A federal judge in Tyler sentenced Joe White to 23 months in prison Wednesday. He could have received up to five years in prison for his Nov. 12 plea. White worked for Dallas-area physician Tariq Mahmood, who was sentenced in April to 11 years in federal prison after a jury found him guilty of conspiracy, identity theft and health care fraud. Mahmood made more than $1 million in fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims. (6/17)

The insurer for a western Pennsylvania jail’s former health care provider has agreed to a $2 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of an inmate who died in 2012. The parties settled Monday during a mediation session before a U.S magistrate judge in Pittsburgh. Debra and Earl Black sued Allegheny Correctional Health Services and Allegheny County in February 2013 over the death of their son, Derek Black. The lawsuit alleged that 28-year-old Black, who was jailed on drug and theft charges, got into a fight with another inmate and was denied medical treatment until it was too late to treat resulting pulmonary conditions. (6/17)

Routine medical care will be available to residents of southeastern Alabama through a program meant to train military members to provide health care during missions. Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs officials say residents of Barbour and Macon counties are being offered free medical, dental and eye screenings through June 25. Officials say the clinics are being hosted by the Delta Regional Authority and the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. (6/17)

Frustrated by their inability to repeal the Affordable Care Act and unable to produce a conservative alternative to replace it, House Republicans are moving two bills to repeal small but important provisions of the law — a tax on medical device manufacturers and an independent board to clamp down on out-of-control Medicare spending. The two bills would harm the federal budget and do nothing to help consumers, but were approved by the House Ways and Means Committee and are expected to pass the House on Thursday. (6/18)

In a recent interview with the Des Moines Register, Hillary Clinton outlined several elements of Obamacare that she said she would seek to change as president. Her proposals illustrate how the fiscal impact of the law could increase significantly from what was expected when the legislation passed in March 2010. Among the things Mrs. Clinton cited was “how to fix the family glitch.” In short, if an individual qualifies for “affordable” health insurance through an employer, that person’s family will not qualify for federal insurance subsidies–even if the employer does not offer family coverage or if family coverage is unaffordable for the household. Supporters of the health-care law may call this a “glitch,” but it is far from an unintended consequence. This provision has worked exactly how Congress wrote it into the Affordable Care Act. (Chris Jacobs, 6/17)

If you have been to the doctor in the last couple years, you just might have run across that doctor who hates Obamacare -- so much that he or she tells you about it, unprompted. Donald Trump has, and he mentioned it during his rambling announcement speech on Tuesday. ... We don't doubt that Mr. Trump has a friend who is a doctor who said this. But this is an anecdote. And anecdotes are not quantitative -- at all. And sure enough, for just about every doctor who feels the way Trump's friend does, there is another doctor who is pleased with the new health-care law. According to a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll, opinions among doctors when it comes to the Affordable Care Act look a lot like ... well ... opinions among all Americans. If your doctor is a Republican, chances are good (87 percent) that he or she doesn't like it. If your doctor is a Democrat, there's an equal chance (87 percent) he or she will think it's a good thing. (Aaron Blake, 6/18)

The last five years have been marked by a continuous, state-by-state assault on abortion rights. In that time, abortion rates have plummeted. Tying those facts together may be beneficial to backers of the pernicious, often constitutionally questionable laws meant to limit access to abortion to the point of a de facto ban. But it doesn’t hold up to serious scrutiny. (6/18)

I don’t want my epitaph to be “The patient was satisfied with her hospital experience but died from poor care.” This came to my mind last fall, during a graduate nursing course I teach in health policy, when we were studying value-based health care. A student who worked in a financially stressed hospital serving a poor community said the administration encouraged employees to ensure that patients would give high marks on a patient satisfaction survey. After all, those scores were linked to enhanced Medicare payments. The student said physicians felt compelled to prescribe opioids for “drug-seeking” patients and order unnecessary tests or antibiotics, for example, at patients’ requests. Nurses and other personnel were being trained in “customer service,” while nurse–patient staffing ratios had gotten worse. (Diana Mason, 6/17)

The Food and Drug Administration moved formally to eliminate artificial trans fat from Americans’ food on Tuesday, revoking the ingredient’s “generally recognized as safe” status. From here on, neither foodmakers nor their government regulators may assume that the artery-clogging oils are relatively benign, and manufacturers will have three years to cull them completely from the U.S. food supply. ... This isn’t food fascism. It’s a long overdue, science-informed recognition that trans fats are both dangerous and unnecessary, and it’s about the least the government can do to encourage healthier eating. (6/17)

Mention trans fat, and while many people might not know exactly what it is, odds are they know it's bad for them. That knowledge, along with labeling requirements and market forces, cut trans fat consumption by nearly 80% since 2003. Quite a public health coup. ... the government shouldn't forget how successful it has been in cutting consumption without a ban, by giving the public the facts and letting the free market do the rest. (6/17)

Getting artificial trans fat — the kind of fat that comes from industrially produced partially hydrogenated oils — out of the food supply has been a landmark public health victory that is saving tens of thousands of lives per year. This week's action by the Food and Drug Administration will save thousands more. (Michael Jacobson, 6/17)

In January, McDonald’s, leaning against the winds of fashion, said kale would never replace lettuce on its burgers. In May, however, it said it will test kale in a breakfast meal (breakfast is about 25 percent of McDonald’s sales). Kale might or might not cause construction workers to turn at 6 a.m. into McDonald’s drive-through lines, where approximately two-thirds of McDonald’s customers place their orders. McDonald’s also says its milk will soon be without artificial growth hormones, and chicken (McDonald’s sells more of it than of beef) will be free of human antibiotics. All these might be good business decisions and as socially responsible as can be. They certainly pertain to McDonald’s new mantra about being a “modern, progressive burger company,” whatever that means. (George F. Will, 6/17)

Last week, the House of Representatives voted to repeal a law requiring pork, chicken and beef from Canada and Mexico to have so-called country-of-origin labels. The two U.S. neighbors recently won World Trade Organization rulings that the labeling was a form of discrimination. These labels, enacted as part of farm bills in 2002 and 2008, were initially viewed as a way to protect consumers. But history suggests that country-of-origin laws have a long and dubious history as a weapon in the protectionism arsenal. (Stephen Mihm, 6/16)