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The deadline to sign up for health coverage for 2015 under the Affordable Care Act is Sunday. Renee Montagne talks to presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett about the looming deadline. (2/11)

As the health law’s second open enrollment season barrels to a close on Sunday, nearly a million Texans have purchased or applied for health insurance. This time around, insurance brokers are aggressively marketing themselves to shoppers – it’s a big change for the brokers who have had an uneasy relationship with the health law for years. Bart Franco is one customer who sought help from a broker this time. He is the pastor of a tiny community church that he founded in a garage behind his house near downtown Houston. (Feibel, 2/11)

If you who don’t get coverage at work or are otherwise uninsured, you may qualify for financial assistance for coverage purchased on the exchanges, or marketplaces. You can compare plans and prices at the federal website, healthcare.gov, or, if your state has its own exchange, shop there to find out which coverage is best for you. If your state has expanded Medicaid, the federal-state program for low-income people, you might also qualify for coverage there. (Carey, 2/11)

As this year’s deadline to sign up for Obamacare fast approaches, California State University officials are trying to show students that buying health insurance makes financial sense. A new analysis from the CSU Health Insurance Education Project found that half the approximately 445,000 students in the CSU system are able to purchase health insurance for less than they would have to pay in fines for remaining uncovered. (Karlamangla, 2/10)

Minnesota, which has some of the lowest health insurance premiums in the country, but also tends to have high deductibles. Deductibles also are rising in other states, so much so that there are growing concerns nationwide that there are millions of people with health insurance they cannot afford to use .... Two years ago, nearly nine in 10 insured private sector workers in Minnesota had a deductible, a significantly higher level than the national average. The high deductibles are intended to discourage unnecessary trips to the doctor to help curb the rising cost of health care, Minnesota State Health Economist Stefan Gildemeister said. ... But the tools are so blunt, Gildemeister said, that rising deductibles — more common in Minnesota than any other state — are discouraging people from seeking necessary care. (Zdechlik, 2/10)

In Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolf, a newly elected Democrat, is scrapping his Republican predecessor’s conservative approach to expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Wolf said this week that he would instead pursue a straightforward expansion of the government health insurance program for the poor, no longer charging premiums or limiting benefits for some enrollees. (Goodnough, 2/10)

Senate Republicans expressed frustration Tuesday after spending 90 minutes in a closed-door caucus talking about the state's options for Medicaid expansion without reaching any decision. "We're not finished," Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, told reporters. The caucus plans to tackle the issue again Thursday because there are still unanswered questions, he said. (Romboy and Roche, 2/10)

Legislative Republicans Tuesday rolled out their proposals to expand health coverage for the poor in Montana and reform health care, saying the plan is focused on "getting the right services to the right people." The plan, outlined at a Capitol news conference, is an alternative to Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock's proposal to accept federal Medicaid funds to cover 70,000 low-income Montanans, they said -- and is targeted at those who really need it. ... The plan includes nearly 20 bills, some of them not yet introduced, to expand government coverage for some poor Montanans, fund more local mental-health programs, limit liability for medical providers, and encourage market-based solutions for health coverage. (Dennison, 2/11)

The federal government could save millions of dollars each year if it truly established Medicaid as the “payer of last resort,” a new audit has found. Nearly one in seven people enrolled in Medicaid was also insured by a private company – a total of 7.5 million people – which should mean a large amount of government savings. (Ferris, 2/10)

Obamacare health insurance cooperatives are pushing federal officials to make it easier for the nascent plans to get significant private funding to stay solvent. A major obstacle is determining how and when those loans would be paid back and if government loans would be repaid after any private loans or investments. Representatives from the nonprofit insurers were in Washington this week to meet with federal officials, including HealthCare.gov CEO Kevin Counihan. (Pradhan, 2/10)

This tax season offers a new wrinkle as individual filers must report to the IRS whether they had health insurance during 2014. The requirement brings a new task for MNsure, too, since the state’s health insurance exchange must send more than 30,000 tax forms to people who bought private coverage last year. (Snowbeck, 2/10)

Nearly 1 million Texans have now signed up for health insurance on the federal marketplace, known as healthcare.gov. But Texas, and 33 other states that did not create their own exchanges, will be the most vulnerable if the U.S. Supreme Court rules against the Obama administration in the latest lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act, health policy experts say. (Walters, 2/10)

Is repealing the Affordable Care Act an issue of manhood? A state representative in Missouri suggested as much in a resolution asking members of the state’s congressional delegation to undo the law. The bill, introduced by State Representative Mike Moon, a Republican, insists that “each member of the Missouri congressional delegation endeavor with ‘manly firmness’ and resolve to totally and completely repeal the Affordable Care Act, settling for no less than a full repeal.” The macho language raised the eyebrows of Senator Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat who has been a defender of the law. (Rappeport, 2/10)

CVS Health Corp. got a boost from its Medicaid business which helped offset retail sales declines in the wake of the company’s decision to stop selling cigarettes. CVS’s pharmacy services business posted a 22% increase in revenue to $23.9 billion for the three months through Dec. 31, driven by continued growth in specialty-pharmacy sales after the acquisition of Coram Specialty Infusion Services. Pharmacy network claims grew 8.2%, primarily because of growth in its Medicaid programs. (Kapner, 2/10)

CVS Health’s fourth-quarter earnings climbed more than 4 percent in a performance that matched Wall Street expectations even though the pharmacy chain’s decision to quit tobacco sales delivered an anticipated blow to its drugstore business. The Woonsocket, Rhode Island, company said Tuesday that growing demand for expensive specialty drugs helped increase revenue from its pharmacy benefits management, or PBM, business nearly 22 percent in the quarter to $23.9 billion. That easily countered a 7.2 percent drop in revenue from the front end of its established drugstores, or the area outside the pharmacy. (2/10)

Doctors have long prescribed a muscle relaxant called cyclobenzaprine to treat injuries like back strains, using five- or 10-milligram pills. But doctors who also dispense the drugs they prescribe directly to patients have recently embraced a new pill that contains 7.5 milligrams of the muscle relaxant. There is no evidence to suggest that the pill works any better except, perhaps, for doctors and the middlemen supplying them. They can charge $3.45, or about five times as much as a five- or 10-milligram pill. (Meier, 2/10)

On the morning of the day Marisa Pizarro gave birth, the usual tumult reigned in her apartment in Lower Manhattan’s financial district. Her husband, a music producer known as J Grand, in shower sandals and gym shorts, was busy tending to their toddler daughter, the financial news on TV and his iPad, where he was still rearranging tracks on a forthcoming release. His wife, her contractions now 10 minutes apart, was almost an afterthought. But who could blame him? Ms. Pizarro had her doula, Domino Kirke, attending to her every need, absorbing every hint of snappishness. (Hartocollis, 2/10)

When Wendy Swanson started out as a pediatrician eight years ago, it never crossed her mind to bring up the option of intrauterine devices – an insertable form of long-acting contraception – when she had her regular birth-control discussions with teenage patients who were sexually active. "The patch had been the thing," she said, referring to a small, band-aid-like plastic patch that transmits hormones through the skin to prevent unwanted pregnancies. (Luthra, 2/11)

With rampant diabetes and obesity, Mississippi and West Virginia have struggled with health crises. Yet when it comes to getting children vaccinated, these states don't mess around. The states, among the poorest in the country, are the only ones that refuse to exempt school children from mandatory vaccinations based on their parents' personal or religious beliefs. Separate efforts to significantly loosen those rules died in both states' legislatures last week. (2/10)

Robert Siegel speaks to Emory University epidemiologist Dr. Saad Omer about his research into state laws covering non-medical vaccine exemptions. (2/10)

Federal lawmakers Tuesday offered a bipartisan endorsement for the use of vaccines as a safe and effective means of protection against preventable infectious diseases in an effort to alleviate concerns raised in recent years by anti-vaccine parents, even as a major proponent of parent choice was not heard from. (Johnson, 2/11)

Hospitals across the country announced a flurry of mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures in 2014, including nine in Illinois, according to a new survey. Kaufman Hall, a Skokie-based health care consulting company, reported Monday that hospitals announced 95 deals in 2014, down slightly from 98 in 2013, but up 44 percent from 66 transactions in 2010. (Hirst, 2/10)

After watching a harmless fee turn into a hefty, increasing tax in just three years, Connecticut’s hospitals say a phase-out of the state provider tax is essential to preserve health care services and jobs. With Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s new biennial budget plan due in just eight days, the Connecticut Hospital Association proposed this week phasing out the provider tax over the next five years. (Phaneuf, 2/10)

The Wyoming State Senate is sticking to its plan to put up $5 million in state funds to help hospitals cover the cost of charity care. The Senate voted for the second time Tuesday in favor of a bill sponsored by Cowley Republican Sen. Ray Peterson to allocate the hospital money. (Neary, 2/10)

State lawmakers were scrambling to find $1.3 billion to plug a sudden budget deficit after the nation’s Medicaid chief said Tuesday that Florida will lose federal money to help hospitals treat poor and uninsured patients. Eliot Fishman, director of the Children and Adults Health Programs Group in the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS) at CMS, told attendees at an Orlando healthcare conference that the federal government won’t extend Florida’s “Low Income Pool” program, or LIP, that reimburses hospitals that treat large numbers of poor and uninsured patients. (Stickler, 2/10)

Gov. Terry Branstad said Tuesday that he will work with legislators on his plan to shut down two state mental institutions, but critics said his administration is already in the process of closing them. Supporters of the facilities in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant have pointed to a section of state law that says mental hospitals "shall be designated" in Clarinda, Mount Pleasant, Independence and Cherokee. They say Branstad can't legally close any of the facilities without persuading legislators to change the law. (Leys, 2/10)

The Legislative Analyst's Office found a number of budgeting inefficiencies and question marks about policies and procedures in its evaluation of the Department of State Hospitals released Monday. DSH oversees California's five mental hospitals with an annual budget of $1.6 billion. The LAO analysis said it could spend that money in more efficient ways. (Gorn, 2/10)

A confluence of events in late January led to dozens of mental health patients waiting for days in WakeMed’s emergency department and forcing the hospital to turn some away. (Hoban, 2/11)

In Kansas, the state’s Medicaid program tells doctors which medications they can prescribe for heart disease, diabetes, asthma or cancer. It’s been that way for as long as most policymakers can remember. Mental health drugs are different. Since 2002, state law has allowed Medicaid patients access to whatever behavioral health drugs their physician or psychiatrist sees fit to prescribe. Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration wants to change that. (Ranney, 2/10)

A bipartisan proposal to allow some dental hygienists to perform certain procedures now done only by dentists drew opposition Tuesday from groups that represent and regulate dentistry in North Dakota, while supporters said the goal was to improve access to dental care statewide. Bismarck Republican Sen. Dick Dever, the measure's primary sponsor, told the state Senate Human Services Committee that 40 percent of North Dakota counties have either one dentist, or none at all, hampering access to routine oral health care for thousands of residents. (MacPherson, 2/10)

Los Angeles County officials cut back Tuesday on contracts to provide medical care to AIDS and HIV patients, citing increased numbers of people now insured under the federal government's overhaul of healthcare. The move to cut $4 million from the contracts, paid for with federal money, marked the latest clash between the county and the nonprofit AIDS Healthcare Foundation, one of the largest providers of medical services to HIV patients in the region. (Sewell, 2/10)

Parents of epileptic children gathered in the gallery of Virginia’s law-and-order House of Delegates on Tuesday, almost afraid to look as their long-shot medical marijuana bill came up for a vote. (Vozzella, 2/10)

Following federal requirements, Connecticut’s Medicaid program is expanding coverage of services for young people with autism spectrum disorders. But advocates say the proposed rules for that coverage contain so many potential barriers that many children would be unlikely to get treatment. (Levin Becker, 2/11)

Three years ago, when the Texas Health and Human Services Commission wanted software that investigators in its Office of Inspector General could use to track down Medicaid fraud, it asked the federal government to foot most of the $20 million bill. In its request, the agency assured its Washington counterparts — in writing — that the contract had been competitively bid out. That was not true. (Langford, 2/10)

In the midst of jury selection for the trial of James Holmes, the alleged perpetrator of the July 2012 Aurora theatre shootings that left 12 people dead and 70 injured, I see one bright spot in a process that will otherwise force us to relive unspeakable tragedy. We set people with mental illness up for complete and utter failure. It's simply untrue to say that we as a society provide any meaningful support to children and adults battling mental health demons. (Messenbaugh, 2/10)

A home-healthcare company has agreed to pay $5.6 million to settle allegations that it submitted false bills to Iowa's Medicaid program and to the federal Medicare program. Federal prosecutors said ResCare violated a Medicaid and Medicare rule that an independent physician must verify in a "face-to-face" assessment that a person needs in-home care. (Leys, 2/10)

Carolinas HealthCare System has until Feb. 28 to come to a contractual agreement with insurance provider United HealthCare. If no agreement is reached, the hospitals in Shelby and Kings Mountain will no longer be in network and United HealthCare members could pay more out-of-pocket costs. (Bridges, 2/10)

Obamacare and its precursors (Kennedycare, Hillarycare, Romneycare) were rooted in a liberal moral vision -- that no one in so wealthy a nation should be denied health care because they lack the means to buy it. Many Americans accept that premise. Republicans have all but ceded the argument; they just don't like the redistributive consequences of it. Rather than combat the morality of Obamacare head-on, conservative opponents typically divert their attacks to adjacent playing fields. (Francis Wilkinson, 2/10)

The Montana Legislature has the opportunity to do more good for our state at less cost than will be available for decades. All we need to do is accept funds to which our citizens are entitled through Medicaid expansion to establish a Montana-based, privately run health insurance program. As a 30-year investment professional, I find the business and financial benefits of expansion to be remarkable. Much attention has been focused on the 70,000 Montanans who would be provided healthcare coverage. Largely overlooked in the discussion is the fact that all Montanans will benefit through a stronger economy, substantial job creation, a more secure healthcare system, and a reduction in the costs we all pay to care for the uninsured. (Mark J. Semmens, 2/11)

My Kaiser Family Foundation colleagues Tricia Neuman and Juliette Cubanski recently published a finding, captured in the graphic above, that brings this question into focus. They showed that Medicare per capita spending increases steadily with age. It doesn’t flatten out as people move into their 80s or early 90s and, remarkably, it peaks at age 96. Per capita Medicare spending then declines gradually for the relatively small number of beneficiaries at even older ages. Most of the spending goes toward emergency-room visits, inpatient hospital care, skilled nursing facilities, and home health care. (Drew Altman, 2/10)

The measles outbreak linked to Disneyland has heightened public debate about the effect of anti-vaccination sentiment, and what can be characterized as a luxury of choice in the United States. Understandably, much of the dialogue is focused on whether to vaccinate kids. It's critical to address these issues so we can dispel myths about immunization and reemphasize the important benefits of vaccines. But there is another conversation that we're not having, one that is equally important to making sure measles outbreaks don't happen in the United States: how to stop measles outside our borders. (Andrea Gay, 2/10)

E-cigs have been a godsend to people who wish to give up smoking or avoid taking up the habit in the first place. These devices involve no smoke, only a vapor, but give one the pleasure of nicotine without wrecking the lungs. ... But instead of being hailed as the most effective antismoking tool ever, e-cigs have been pilloried as the devil’s device to hook the unwary to tobacco and for posing hideous health threats to users. The latest example is a report entitled “A Community Health Threat” from the California Department of Public Health, which apocalyptically attacks e-cigs and calls for drastic action to curb their use. (Steve Forbes, 2/11)