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House Republicans on Monday released long-anticipated legislation to supplant the Affordable Care Act with a more conservative vision for the nation’s health-care system, replacing federal insurance subsidies with a new form of individual tax credits and grants to help states shape their own policies. (Goldstein, DeBonis and Snell, 3/6)

The bill would replace Obamacare’s income-based subsidies with tax credits based more heavily on age, wipe out the individual mandate, cut federal funding for local public health programs, bar Planned Parenthood from receiving federal money and phase out enhanced funding for newly-eligible Medicaid recipients. (Pugh and Daugherty, 3/6)

The House Republican bill would roll back the expansion of Medicaid that has provided coverage to more than 10 million people in 31 states, reducing federal payments for many new beneficiaries. It also would effectively scrap the unpopular requirement that people have insurance and eliminate tax penalties for those who go without. The requirement for larger employers to offer coverage to their full-time employees would also be eliminated. People who let their insurance coverage lapse, however, would face a significant penalty. (Pear and Kaplan, 3/6)

The House plan calls for age-based tax credits ranging from $2,000 to $4,000, replacing the Affordable Care Act's income-based subsidies. Credits for a single household would be limited at $14,000. Subsidies would be phased out for individuals earning $75,000 and at $150,000 for families. (Demko, 3/6)

Insurers would be allowed to charge their oldest customers more than they do now. Under current law, they can charge older people three times the amount they charge their youngest customers. That would rise to five times the amount they charge young people. (Hackman, 3/6)

Gives states a $100 billion fund over a decade to help lower-income people afford insurance, and to help stabilize state insurance markets. The fund could be used to help lower patients’ out of pocket costs or to promote access to preventive services. (Tracer, Edney and Dennis, 3/6)

[The bill] would still allow adult children to stay on their parents' plans until age 26. And the bill would not repeal the popular provision barring insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing health problems. Instead, to keep people from buying coverage only when they need it, insurers could raise premiums 30% for those jumping back into the market. (Groppe, 3/6)

"Today marks an important step toward restoring healthcare choices and affordability back to the American people," the White House said in a statement, adding Trump looked forward to working with Congress on replacing Obamacare. (Cornwell and Abutaleb, 3/6)

House committees planned to begin voting on the 123-page legislation Wednesday, launching what could be the year’s defining battle in Congress. GOP success is by no means a slam dunk. In perhaps their riskiest political gamble, the plan is expected to cover fewer than the 20 million people insured under Obama’s overhaul, including many residents of states carried by President Donald Trump in November’s election. (Fram and Alonso-Zaldivar, 3/6)

The GOP bill that would potentially repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act will be taken up by two U.S. House committees on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett said Monday. ... Republicans released new legislation Monday evening that effectively repeals Obamacare and introduces a health care payment system based on monthly tax credits. The credit amounts depend on a person’s age, with individuals over the age of 60 receiving $4,000 a year, the maximum amount. Under the new bill, federal funds will used to expand Medicaid will be suspended by 2020 and people will no longer have to be on an insurance plan. (Alfaro, 3/6)

House GOP leaders have also yet to release the official budget score that details the cost of the plan and how many people could lose insurance, a huge issue for moderates who fear blowback in their swing districts. “We are concerned that any poorly implemented or poorly timed change in the current funding structure in Medicaid could result in a reduction in access to life-saving health care services,” wrote the four Republican senators to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Signatories included Sens. Rob Portman of Ohio, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Cory Gardner of Colorado and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska—Republicans from states that expanded Medicaid under Obamacare. (Bade, Demko and Haberkorn, 3/6)

The bill released by House Republicans on Monday night doesn’t have an official CBO score or coverage estimates yet, so it’s hard to measure its full impact on Americans needing coverage, or health plans and providers. But there are several groups that stand to clearly gain — or lose — under the plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act. (Diamond, 3/6)

Sources said previous versions of the plan faced unfavorable coverage numbers from the CBO. (Sullivan, 3/6)

To pass the bill through the reconciliation process and avoid a Senate Democratic filibuster, Republicans will have to convince the Senate parliamentarian that all the provisions of the bill are germane to the budget. And the bill can't be deemed to increase the federal deficit 10 years or more from now. Some of the bill's insurance market changes may have a tough time surviving those procedural tests. (Meyer, 3/6)

Monday's release is the first time a replacement plan with backing from House leaders has been prepared for a floor vote and put into legislative text, rather than merely a broad blueprint, in the seven years that Republicans have called for a repeal of President Barack Obama's signature domestic achievement. (Williams and Mershon, 3/6)

The ObamaCare repeal bill unveiled by the House Monday includes language that would defund Planned Parenthood for a year. It’s the same language included in the 2015 repeal bill that passed Congress but was vetoed by President Obama. The language, if passed, would block Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid reimbursements. Defunding Planned Parenthood has long been a goal of Republicans because it provides abortions, even though they are already legally prohibited from using federal funds for the procedure. (Hellmann, 3/6)

Here are highlights of the legislation unveiled Monday by House Republicans as they move to dismantle former President Barack Obama’s health care law and replace it with a system designed along conservative lines. (3/7)

This is House Re­pub­lic­ans’ plan to re­place the Af­ford­able Care Act, also known as Obama­care. They re­leased the pro­pos­al Monday. (3/6)

Households at the top of the U.S. income ladder would see taxes on their wages and investments drop under the House Republicans’ new health-care proposal. As expected, the bill repeals a 3.8% tax on investment income and a 0.9% tax on wages. Both levies affect only the highest-earning households, those individuals making at least $200,000 and married couples making more than $250,000. (Rubin, 3/7)

Though the legislation is focused on making good on Republican promises to repeal and replace the health program, it would likely also amount to the first big tax cut of the Trump administration, one that comes even before lawmakers tackle tax reform in earnest. The plan should make rewriting the tax code easier by moving the cost of some tax cuts into separate legislation. (Faler, 3/6)

The legislation that House Republicans have unveiled to repeal and replace ObamaCare would eliminate nearly all of the 2010 health law's taxes — with one key exception. The House bill, unveiled Monday evening, would allow ObamaCare's "Cadillac" tax on high-cost health plans to take effect in 2025. The tax, which has been opposed by both Democrats and Republicans, had been slated to take effect in 2020 under current law. (Jagoda, 3/6)

Starting in 2020, Obamacare imposes a 40 percent excise tax on employers’ plans that cost more than $10,200 for individuals and $27,500 for families. The Ways and Means Committee’s proposal would impose the tax but delay it until 2025. The Republican proposal wouldn’t alter current federal tax provisions that exclude the amounts that workers pay for health insurance from federal income and payroll taxes. For decades, lawmakers have flirted with the idea of capping or eliminating that tax break. (Andrews, 3/7)

A handful of House conservatives on Monday evening criticized GOP leaderships’ newly released Obamacare replacement bill, foreshadowing trouble for the repeal effort even after leaders tried to assuage the far-right. Some House Freedom Caucus members dismissed the bill as creating a new “entitlement program” by offering health care tax credits to low-income Americans. (Bade, 3/6)

An analysis written for an influential bloc of U.S. House conservatives derides a key component of a new Republican plan to replace Obamacare, faulting a provision offering tax credits to individuals who wouldn’t otherwise have access to health insurance. Prepared for the Republican Study Committee, a group of about 170 House conservatives, the staff report called the refundable tax credits “a Republican welfare entitlement.” (House, 3/7)

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-S.C.) on Monday night wondered whether his party’s plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare would ultimately lower healthcare costs. “The biggest concern I have is, will it lower healthcare costs?” he asked on Fox News’s “Hannity." "Until we get that answer we have to hold out judgment.” Meadows added the GOP is nearing a viable ObamaCare replacement, but said the party’s latest version falls short of its efforts in 2015. (Hensch, 3/6)

Four Republican senators have raised concerns about a House GOP plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. And that could threaten the fate of the plan in the Senate. ... Senate Finance Chairman Orrin G. Hatch of Utah indicated to reporters that there was no pre-cooked agreement that could move swiftly across the Senate floor after House action. “I would not look to these problems as though they can’t be resolved. They can, and it’s going to take some leadership. But watch what McConnell does here.” (Bowman, 3/6)

Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania said Monday that dealing with the Medicaid expansion in a repeal of former President Barack Obama’s health care law must be a “negotiated agreement.” Toomey also said the sickest people, such as those with serious pre-existing conditions, should be covered through a high-risk pool that is subsidized by the government to make it affordable. Toomey’s comments came during a stop at the studio of Philadelphia’s KYW-TV, where he answered several questions submitted online. (Levy, 3/6)

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday slammed the GOP’s replacement plans for Obamacare, saying Democrats will work to defeat the bills. “This bill is a giveaway to the wealthy and insurance companies at the expense of American families, and Senate Democrats will work hard to see that it is defeated,” Schumer said in a statement. Republicans rolled out two measures on Monday to repeal and replace the healthcare legislation, a signature campaign promise of President Trump. (Shelbourne, 3/6)

Democrats quickly condemned the bill. “Tonight, Republicans revealed a Make America Sick Again bill that hands billionaires a massive new tax break while shifting huge costs and burdens onto working families across American,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi tweeted. “Republican will force tens of millions of families to pay more for worse coverage — and push millions of Americans off of health coverage entirely.” (Carey and Galewitz, 3/6)

Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and Richard Neal, D-Mass., the ranking Democrats on the Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committee issued a joint statement saying the bill would "rip healthcare away from millions of Americans, ration care for working families and put insurance companies back in charge." (Kodjak and Neel, 3/6)

Long-awaited legislation announced Monday night to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act immediately raised cries of dismay among Democratic legislators and consumer health advocates in California. House Republicans in Washington, D.C., called it a necessary fix. The bill, part of President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to dump Obamacare, sparked fears from some that millions of Americans will lose health coverage. (Pugh, Daugherty, Buck and Caiola, 3/6)

The bill is a political gamble for House Republican leaders. The party and President Donald Trump ran for office on promises to repeal and replace the health law. Republicans have said their plan is aimed at decreasing costs and boosting choice for consumers. But to do so, their proposals would likely provide coverage for far fewer people than the ACA, according to a number of research reports. “Working together, this unified Republican government will deliver relief and peace of mind to the millions of Americans suffering under Obamacare,” said House Speaker Paul Ryan. (Armour, Peterson and Hackman, 3/6)

The political ramifications couldn't be more significant. Perceptions that Republicans and President Donald Trump are not moving ahead with a wholesale Obamacare repeal would anger large swaths of the party's base, while the possibility of millions of Americans losing coverage could emerge as a top liability for Republicans ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. (Lee, Walsh and Fox, 3/7)

[T]he bill faces opposition from many conservatives who say it does not go far enough in uprooting the current law. The bill also faces attack from some Senate Republicans who are concerned about any plan that eliminates existing Medicaid coverage. The critiques from both left and right underscore the difficulty the GOP leadership faces in pushing the bill, despite the Republican majorities in both the House and Senate. (Levey and Mascaro, 3/6)

The nation’s passionate debate about the role of government in providing health care for citizens and paying the costs is unlikely to be settled by the legislation newly revealed by House Republicans. With Republicans now controlling the White House and both chambers of Congress, the bill would drive government policy down routes long advocated by conservatives. The course correction would take at least two years to get rolling, and probably longer to show definitive results. If it falls short, it would give rise to a fresh set of health care grievances. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Fram, 3/7)

Two House committees released long-awaited draft measures that House Speaker Paul Ryan and GOP leaders negotiated with the White House, and made expedited plans to take up the measures Wednesday. The proposal would scrap the underpinnings of Obamacare, including its mandate to buy insurance and many of its taxes, and establish a new refundable, age-based tax credit to help people buy insurance. Leaders aim to get a final measure to Trump’s desk by mid-April, which leaves little room for error. (House, 3/6)

The White House  praised the House Republicans’ plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare on Monday, but stopped short of fully endorsing the proposal. White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the legislation’s release “marks an important step toward restoring healthcare choices and affordability back to the American people.” (Fabian, 3/6)

Medicaid emerged Monday as perhaps the singular issue on which the Republican bid to overhaul the Affordable Care Act will live or die. House Republicans unveiled their official plan to repeal and replace much of the health care law, including dramatic changes to Medicaid, the insurance program that covers low-income Americans and that was expanded under Obamacare. Republicans want to convert the program from the open-ended entitlement it is now to a program with a hard spending limit. (Scott, 3/6)

A new report says Montana stands to lose more than $284 million in healthcare funding if Congress repeals the Medicaid expansion that’s part of the Affordable Care Act. The Montana Healthcare Foundation commissioned the study. It says that since Montana joined federal Medicaid expansion in 2015, more than 71,000 Montanans have signed on to Medicaid coverage. It says more than 30,000 Montana adults have used that coverage to access preventive care. (Whitney, 3/6)

The clock is ticking for Georgia lawmakers who still hope the state will eventually expand Medicaid to hundreds of thousands of poor residents. The 19 states, including Georgia, that have so far refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act would have until Jan. 1, 2020, to sign up new enrollees in the government health program for poor Americans, according to a new GOP health plan unveiled Monday evening. The proposed bill would then “freeze” enrollment with lawmakers expecting the number of enrollees to eventually drop off as people’s incomes change. (Williams, 3/7)

Arkansas would move about 60,000 people off its hybrid Medicaid expansion and require some participants to work under a series of restrictions the governor proposed Monday, even as the future of the federal health overhaul remains murky. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he’ll ask the federal government to approve the new restrictions by June and hopes to implement them by 2018. More than 300,000 people are on Arkansas’ hybrid program, which uses Medicaid funds to purchase private insurance for the poor. The program was created in 2013 as an alternative to expanding Medicaid under the federal health law. (Demillo, 3/6)

Gov. Asa Hutchinson is asking the Trump Administration for approval to make changes to the Arkansas Works Medicaid expansion program. They include lowering the eligibility cap, which would reduce the number of beneficiaries by about 60,000 people, and adding a work requirement for recipients. ... Hutchinson noted during Monday’s press conference the uncertainty about what will happen on the federal level. More than 300,000 Arkansans are on the hybrid program for low income residents, which started in 2013 and is largely funded by federal dollars. The state began paying five percent of the cost this year, which will grow to 10 percent by 2020. (Hibblen, 3/6)

The White House, concerned about the possible political repercussions of the Republican effort to defund Planned Parenthood, has proposed preserving federal payments to the group if it discontinues providing abortions. The proposal, which was never made formally, has been rejected as an impossibility by officials at Planned Parenthood, which receives about $500 million annually in federal funding. That money helps pay for women’s health services the organization provides, not for abortion services. (Haberman, 3/6)

Republicans are intent on repealing a public health fund created by the Affordable Care Act — but with President Trump also pursuing a dramatic reduction in domestic spending, lawmakers admit they don’t know if they could make up the losses at one of the nation’s most critical health agencies. The latest version of the GOP health care bill would end the law’s Prevention and Public Health Fund, which provides nearly $1 billion annually, in 2019. Those dollars have become an integral part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s budget, accounting for one-eighth of its funding and providing more than $300 million for immunizations alone. (Facher, 3/7)

Immigrant doctors from the six Muslim-majority countries included in President Trump’s revised travel ban play a critical role in caring for Americans, especially in many of the Rust Belt and rural areas that voted heavily for the Republican, according to an analysis by graduate students in economics at Harvard University and MIT. The economists found that these doctors, who handle about 14 million patient visits a year, are unevenly distributed across the country, often settling in areas where American doctors are reluctant to work. (Freyer, 3/6)

A U.S. alliance formed last year by more than three dozen companies, including American Express Co., Johnson & Johnson and Macy’s Inc., is announcing its first plans aimed at lowering the companies’ health-care spending. The blueprint includes group contracts to purchase prescription drugs through units of CVS Health Corp. and UnitedHealth Group Inc.; the creation of specialized doctor networks; and a deal to use International Business Machines Corp.’s Watson software to analyze their health-care data. (Walker, 3/6)

Charities are becoming a lot more generous with pay at the top. The tax-exempt organizations, which include many hospitals and colleges as well as traditional charities such as the United Way, provided seven-figure compensation to roughly 2,700 employees in 2014, an analysis of newly available data shows. (Fuller, 3/6)

At least 93 employees at tax-exempt nonprofits in Massachusetts made more than $1 million in 2014, according to a review by the Wall Street Journal of newly released data from the Internal Revenue Service. Many of the employees were executives at hospitals and colleges. (Rocheleau and Wallack, 3/6)

[Hospitals] affiliated with Yale, Duke, Johns Hopkins, and other top medical research centers also aggressively promote alternative therapies with little or no scientific backing. They offer “energy healing” to help treat multiple sclerosis, acupuncture for infertility, and homeopathic bee venom for fibromyalgia. A public forum hosted by the University of Florida’s hospital even promises to explain how herbal therapy can reverse Alzheimer’s. (It can’t.) This embrace of alternative medicine has been building for years. But a STAT examination of 15 academic research centers across the US underscores just how deeply these therapies have become embedded in prestigious hospitals and medical schools. (Ross, Blau and Sheridan, 3/7)

For young adults, social media may not be so social after all. Among people in that age group, heavy use of platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram was associated with feelings of social isolation, a study finds. (Hobson, 3/6)

When you pick up a newspaper and read a story about the latest results on breast cancer, autism, depression or other ailments, what are the odds that finding will stand the test of time? The answer, according to a study in the journal PLOS One is: flip a coin. (Harris, 3/6)

Over his four-decade medical career, Dr. Stuart Mushlin has cracked countless medical mysteries. Putting on his detective hat to figure out an elusive diagnosis when the signs and symptoms point elsewhere: syphilis, leprosy, tuberculosis. He’s seen it all. And seen how medicine has changed over the years. (Clayson, 3/6)

A friend’s 8-year-old daughter packs her own lunch for school. One day, her dad noticed that lunch consisted of a single cherry tomato, one slice of apple and one spoonful of yogurt. When asked, the child replied that she didn’t think she’d be hungry at school. My friend wanted to know: Was this the beginning of problem eating? (Adams, 3/6)

Children with asthma related to mouse allergies show as much improvement when their families are taught how to clean allergens and trap mice as they do when professional pest managers treat the home, a new study by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine researchers suggests. The results, published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, could help doctors and scientists who have long looked for ways to reduce rates and symptoms of asthma in Baltimore. (Cohn, 3/6)

Community health-care systems are taking steps to embrace genetic testing in treating cancer, a cutting-edge approach offered at most major academic medical centers. The changes mean patients can get treatment close to where they live. The hospitals and small practices treat most cancer patients but may be far from major research centers and have fewer resources than them. (Kincaid, 3/6)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a new warning to parents and caregivers to be aware of children drinking hand sanitizers — sometimes on purpose. The caution comes with a new CDC report released March 3 that found 70,669 cases of children younger than 12 exposed to sanitizer poisoning from 2011 to 2014. (Gutierrez, 3/6)

Companies vying for federal contracts will not be required to disclose serious workplace safety violations after the Senate narrowly voted today to overturn one of President Barack Obama’s executive orders. The move follows a vote by the House last month to dismantle the 2014 order, which required companies vying for federal contracts of $500,000 or more to disclose workplace safety, wage and civil rights violations from the previous three years. (Gollan, 3/6)

Kansas legislators heard testimony against physician-assisted suicide Monday from a former state representative. “This is a direction we don’t want to go,” said Steve Brunk, a Republican who represented a Wichita-area district for 12 years. “We value life, and we don’t want to take the step of looking down this corridor where we negate the value of life and we assist people in dying.” It’s already a felony for physicians to help patients end their lives in Kansas. (Marso, 3/6)

Along-running battle to establish a database to monitor for prescription drug abuse in Missouri — the only state without one — is about to hit a boiling point. On one side is Republican state Senator Rob Schaaf, who once said that when people die of overdoses that “just removes them from the gene pool.” Schaaf, who is a physician, has squashed legislation in the past six sessions to establish a prescription drug monitoring program, or PDMP. But sensing urgency that the legislation might pass this session, Schaaf introduced his own bill to set up a PDMP that’s unlike those in any other state — a proposal that medical experts have called a “sham.” (Thielking, 3/7)

A group of British health-care organization officials kicks off a Texas tour in Houston on Monday in an effort to forge new connections and share knowledge. The delegation from six medical technology companies in the United Kingdom will be making stops in its week-long visit to Texas in Houston, Dallas and Austin to meet with American counterparts, according to a statement released by the Association of British Healthcare Industries. The group is scheduled to meet with representatives from Texas Children's Hospital, the Greater Houston Partnership, Houston Technology Center and Baylor College of medicine. (Deam, 3/6)

A large number of health care bills had moved from one legislative chamber to the other by the end of Crossover, which was Friday, the 28th day of the 40-day legislative session. That’s the last day for a bill to move from one chamber of the Legislature to the other and thereby retain a path to becoming law this year... The Legislature overwhelmingly approved the renewal of the hospital “provider fee,’’ a mechanism that draws an extra $600 million in federal funding for the state’s Medicaid program. And Gov. Nathan Deal has already signed the measure, a priority of his, into law. (Miller, 3/6)

They were surrounded by Democratic allies, but gay activists tried to avoid partisan politics Monday as they called for passage of a state law banning conversion therapy, the discredited practice of using psychological aversion techniques such as electric shock to change a young person’s sexual orientation. The LGBT community sees potential in Connecticut for a bipartisan victory: The proposed ban is co-sponsored by a half-dozen GOP legislators, including House Minority Leader Themis Klarides of Derby, who objected to what appears to be the tacit endorsement of conversion therapy in the platform adopted last summer at the Republican National Convention. (Pazniokas, 3/6)

Besides HB 742, which would allow nursing moms to breastfeed virtually anywhere they want, lawmakers took testimony Monday on House Bill 443, which would require Texas employers to provide a place for nursing moms to breastfeed other than a bathroom, and House Bill 329, which would require state agencies to develop “mother-friendly” workplace policies. Krisdee Donmoyer, legislative director for the Texas Breastfeeding Coalition, said her group has gained traction among state legislators in recent sessions as more members have become aware of the troubles women endure when trying to nurse. It's a rare issue that enjoys wide bipartisan support thanks to increased awareness of the public health benefits of breastmilk. (Evans, 3/6)

San Francisco could soon have the most sweeping lactation policy in the nation, making it easier for mothers to pump breast milk in the workplace. Supervisor Katy Tang will introduce legislation Tuesday that would require all workplaces in the city — private and public — to have a lactation space that would include a seat, surface, electrical outlet and sink. The city Department of Public Health would provide a form for women to request time from their bosses to pump, and the bosses would be legally required to accommodate the request. (Johnson, 3/6)

A judge on Monday awarded $2.5 million to a military veteran who said that his now-terminal cancer would have been curable had the Veterans Administration hospital in Phoenix diagnosed it sooner. U.S. Magistrate Judge Michelle Burns ruled a nurse practitioner who found abnormalities in Steven Harold Cooper’s prostate during an examination in late 2011 at the Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center had breached the standard of care by failing to order more testing and refer him to a urologist. (Billeaud, 3/6)

A Houston medical clinic manager has been sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for her role in a $1 million Medicare and Medicaid conspiracy. Verona Spicer partnered with a physician for the City of Houston in order to run a scam out of clinics in Houston and Port Arthur. The 47-year-old owner of Elite P. Care Medical Services paid off Dr. Jocelyn Pyles of Sugar Land to stop by the clinics after work and sign medical records for patients who'd actually been seen by a foreign medical graduate who wasn't licensed to practice in the U.S., according to a press release from U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson in Houston. (Blakinger, 3/6)

Two people from Santa Clara County are among a dozen in several states who may have become infected by an E. coli outbreak after eating  I.M. Healthy brand SoyNut Butter or granola coated with SoyNut Butter, health officials said Monday in a release. The California Department of Public Health, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are investigating a multistate outbreak of the infections and warning people not to eat the product. Young children and the elderly are most vulnerable, officials said. (Turntine, 3/6)

An electronic program launched in 2012 by Los Angeles County’s public health care system has reduced wait times for specialty care and eliminated the need for some safety-net patients to see specialists at all, according to a new study in the journal Health Affairs. The program, eConsult, allows primary care doctors to get specialists’ advice for their patients and expedite referrals for those who need in-person appointments. About a quarter of the requests included in the study were resolved without patients needing to see an advanced-care doctor, though there was variation among the specialties. (Gorman, 3/7)

Mary Brainerd, who as HealthPartners chief executive for about 15 years presided over one of the country’s major healthcare organizations at a time of growth and upheaval in the industry, said Monday that she plans to retire effective June 1. Brainerd will be succeeded by Andrea Walsh, another longtime executive at the nonprofit healthcare organization, which is a top insurance provider and a leading hospital and medical-clinic network. (Ojeda-Zapata, 3/6)

From San Jose to Felton to Guerneville and beyond, floods this winter have Northern California home recovery and restoration experts scurrying from one water disaster to the next, alerting panicked residents that time is critical in the battle against mold. For many San Jose residents, the floodwaters from Coyote Creek triggered a cascade of confusion: The sudden loss of personal property was followed by headaches over insurance issues and scam-artist contractors. Then came worries that the filthy flood water left behind and the resulting mold could jeopardize their health. (Seipel, 3/7)

Now out of elected office, former Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and her husband, Floyd Huen, are embarking on a new venture: a medical marijuana dispensary. Quan and Huen, a physician, are partnering with Apothecarium to open a dispensary in the Outer Sunset, in a predominantly Chinese American neighborhood in San Francisco. Apothecarium already operates a dispensary in the Castro, but Huen said there is a great need for one in the Sunset. (Debolt, 3/6)

‘ObamaCare is collapsing,” President Trump said during his address to Congress last week, “and we must act decisively to protect all Americans.” House Republicans have heard the president’s message loud and clear. On Monday night the congressional committees we lead released the American Health Care Act, which will rescue those hurt by ObamaCare’s failures and lay the groundwork for a patient-centered health-care system. (Reps. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Greg Walden, (R-Ore.), 3/6)

Republicans in the House have performed major surgery on the Obamacare replacement plan they circulated a few weeks ago. But compared with the Affordable Care Act, the new plan still shifts a lot of benefits from the poor to those who earn more. Legislative language for what House leaders call the American Health Care Act, released Monday evening, would substantially cut back funding to states that cover poor adults through their Medicaid program. It would cut back on financial assistance for relatively low-income insurance shoppers above the poverty line. (Margot Sanger-Katz, 3/6)

After weeks of expectations — actually, nearly seven years of expectations — House Republicans on Monday released their proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Elements of the proposal, which was kept under lock and key last week — have been dribbling out for a few days. The text of the bill encompassing the GOP plan validates much of that reporting. On the whole, however, it’s a nastier, more consumer-unfriendly proposal than even close followers could have expected. (Michael Hiltzik, 3/6)

With Congress moving forward to repeal and replace Obamacare, it is no surprise that the law’s advocates are worried about their Washington-centered approach to health care being scrapped. It was surprising, however, to see former congressman Henry Waxman take up his pen to decry potential reforms to the Medicaid program — especially since the policies he criticized were ones he once supported. (Brett Guthrie, 3/6)

Social conservatives opposed to women's health, rights and autonomy now control the White House, both houses of Congress and, at the state level, most governors' houses and legislatures. Even as these policymakers continue their assault on abortion rights, they are also poised to enact policy that will undercut US women's access to family planning services. (Ann M. Starrs, 3/7)

Why do careful students of health care view cross-state sales of insurance skeptically? One reason is that it is already allowed –- and yet basically doesn’t happen. States possess the authority to sanction sales across their borders, and to define the conditions for such sales. In addition to this generic state authority, Section 1333 of Obamacare authorizes “health care choice compacts” across states. As of last month, five states had passed legislation allowing insurance plans that cross state lines: Rhode Island, Wyoming, Georgia, Kentucky and Maine. Georgia's law has been in effect since 2011, yet no insurer has yet offered an out-of-state policy there -- or in any of the other four states. If this is the key to bringing costs down, why doesn't anyone want to do it? (Peter R. Orszag, 3/6)

It’s misleading to say that California could have a single-payer healthcare system just like in other developed nations. Other nations approach their single-payer systems in a variety of different ways. Canada’s system is different from Germany’s, which is different from Britain’s. Each country ensures that all residents have access to high-quality and affordable healthcare. But they take different roads to get there. (David Lazarus, 3/7)

Senate Bill 562 would create a genuinely universal system for all Californians, with comprehensive covered services, no insurance networks that restrict patient choice of doctor, hospital or other provider, and no more copays, deductibles or surprise medical bills. By pooling what the state already pays for health care services, using the power of a single-payer system to negotiate bulk discounts, and eliminating the waste and profiteering of the insurers, we can protect all California families and set a model for other states about to be hammered by whatever comes out of Washington. (Deborah Burger, 3/6)

While the nation waits to see what will become of the ACA, it's painfully apparent to those of us on the front lines of the opioid and heroin epidemic that an outright repeal would create significant headwinds, in all aspects of our healthcare system, but especially in mental and behavioral healthcare. The most immediate concern would be changes to the Medicaid expansion ushered in under the ACA. ... Speaker of the House Paul Ryan has recently proposed a plan that would strip the program of $1 trillion in funding over the course of the next decade .... Congress is discussing changes to the federal Medicaid program which would jeopardize the recent expansion of addiction services in New Jersey and other states throughout the nation. (Robert J. Budsock, 3/6)

We’re nearing the endgame in the Republican effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. House Republicans offered their proposal Momday, and the Trump White House may have something to say this week. Votes are possible this month. ... But the truth will eventually become obvious: Trumpcare is Obamacare, only with less money. (Dave Helling, 3/6)

Over the course of his campaign, President Trump heard from many Americans whose lives have been devastated by our widespread opioid abuse epidemic. The stories they were telling — specifically the growing rates of opioid use, addiction and death — were heartbreaking. We’ve witnessed scenes splashed across the news media this past year of a child strapped in to the back seat of a car while the parents lay motionless and dying in the front; or the gut wrenching video of a crying toddler pulling at her overdosed mother on the floor, frantically pleading for her mother to wake up. Now, even deadlier drugs have been showing up on our streets courtesy of bad actors in China and Latin America. (Mary Bono, 3/6)

The hear-no-evil, see-no-evil monkeys? How did they end up in a conversation about the impact of and possible solutions for drugs and heroin in our fair city? We began our Together Lexington-sponsored Courageous Conversation perusing postcards of random images designed to stimulate conversation. And they did. We introduced ourselves to our table by relating our chosen postcard to the impact of drugs on our city. We quickly found that most of us had a personal story of being impacted by addiction. (Shelley Elswick, 3/6)

While we have long known about the existence of microbes — the tiny bacteria, fungi and archaea that live all around, on and in us — our full relationship has become one of the hottest topics for research only in recent years. Scientists believe that every person contains as many independent microbial cells as human cells. This collection of life, known as the microbiome, provides useful functions for us. Indeed, some of the things we think our bodies do are actually the abilities and enzymes of life-forms living within us. They can help with digestion, vitamin synthesis and even immunological responses. (Aaron E. Carroll, 3/6)

Access to health care matters, but not as much as we tend to think it does. Regardless of what happens regarding calls to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Act, we still need to face the significant effects our local policies, systems and environments produce. Local health providers and hospitals are crucial partners, but they are far from the sole guardians of our longevity – as the maps so clearly illustrate. (Kate Gallego, 3/6)

The federal judge and legal scholar Guido Calabresi likes to pose a conundrum to his law students. He asks them to imagine a deity coming forth to offer society a wondrous invention, one that would make everyday life more pleasant in almost every way. This invention comes with a cost, however. In exchange, the deity would choose 1,000 young men and women and strike them dead. (David Leonhardt, 3/7)

Medicare wastes more taxpayer dollars than any other program government-wide, with more than $40 billion lost annually to provider misbilling. ... The ability to stop hemorrhaging taxpayer dollars from the Medicare FFS program exists, is in place and tested—it’s just barely being used. After seeing its success in the private sector, Congress mandated the Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) Program in 2009 to review post-payment Medicare FFS claims, identify improper payments and return misbilled funds back to the program. Since the RAC program began, more than $10 billion has been returned to the Medicare Trust Funds, all while auditing a mere 2% of a provider’s claims. (Kristin Walter, 3/6)