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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump vowed on Tuesday to summon Congress into a special session to end and replace the Affordable Care Act, as he portrayed the repeal of the contentious health-care law as a prime reason for voters to elect him. In midday remarks in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, Trump went slightly beyond his previous promise to try to end the ACA, widely known as Obamacare, on the first day of a Trump administration. But his call for a special session puzzled many, as the current Congress is scheduled to reconvene after the election, and the new one will gavel in January, before Inauguration Day. (Goldstein and Johnson, 11/1)

The Republican presidential nominee renewed his call to repeal and replace the law known as Obamacare on the first day of the official sign-up period for coverage under the law, and in the wake of significant rate increases in many battleground states. ... The event represented an effort to spotlight the health law’s woes and build on the political edge Mr. Trump believes he has gained in recent days as Mrs. Clinton has been thrown on the defensive by new revelations about her email. The focus on the impact of the health-care law took the campaign into an unusual detour into policy and economic issues that are of direct concern to voters in a campaign that has been dominated by personal attacks. (Hook and Radnofsky, 11/1)

Donald Trump on Tuesday vowed to immediately repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s signature health care law if he’s elected president next week. But Congress won’t be able to repeal and replace the health law quickly or easily. Even if Republicans keep control of the Senate, Democrats will likely have enough votes to filibuster a quick repeal bill. (McCaskill, 11/1)

Donald Trump on Tuesday vowed to call a “special session” of Congress to repeal ObamaCare if he wins the White House. If he’s elected, Trump said, Republicans “will be able to immediately repeal and replace ObamaCare.” “It’s one of the most important reasons why we must win on Nov. 8,” he said during a speech in Pennsylvania, a crucial battleground state.   It’s unclear why a special session would be required to roll back the law, because the new Congress would start work before the next president is inaugurated. (Sullivan and Kamisar, 11/1)

Trump again offered little detail about how he would address rising health costs beyond vague pledges to reduce regulation of health insurance. He spent just eight minutes discussing healthcare in the speech, billed as a "special" address on the topic. But Trump’s new attacks come as state and federal officials nationwide open insurance marketplaces for 2017 enrollment amid widespread concerns about rising costs. (Levey, 11/1)

In what his campaign billed as a major health-care speech Tuesday, Donald Trump offered no new details about his plan to replace Obamacare, but re-emphasized the need to repeal the 2010 law. The ideas outlined in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, by the Republican presidential nominee—tax-free health savings accounts, insurance across state lines and sending Medicaid funds to states—were included in a white paper he unveiled in March. They largely match proposals popular among conservative policy advocates. (Kapur and Cirilli, 11/1)

Seeking to boost their chances in the critical Philadelphia suburbs, Donald Trump and Gov. Mike Pence used a campaign stop in King of Prussia on Tuesday to denounce the Affordable Care Act and for the first time offer specifics on a health-care alternative under a Trump presidency. The Republican candidate presented his plan to 700 invited guests at the DoubleTree hotel, saying it would repeal and replace President Obama's health-care law, one he said has "devastated" people with health-care costs "that are more than their mortgages or rent." (McCabe, 11/2)

In Democratic-leaning Pennsylvania, a state where the campaign claims it is increasing ad spending, Trump appealed to minority communities and millennials. "In many instances, their health care costs are more than their mortgage costs, more than their rent --which by the way is a first in American history," Trump said. "This is particularly unfair to millennials and younger Americans generally, who will be totally crushed by these massive health care costs before they even get started on their journey through life." (Santucci, De La Cuetara and Smith, 11/1)

Many Americans’ health care — and the roiling health-care debate in Washington — is likely to be very different depending on whether Democrat Hillary Clinton or Republican Donald Trump becomes the next president. We looked at what both have said they would do with major aspects of the health-care system. (Goldstein, 11/1)

Bill Clinton on Tuesday tangled with a heckler at a Florida rally who threw back at the former president the remarks he made in October that Obamacare was the "craziest thing in the world." Clinton, who has at times gotten heated on the campaign trail, especially bristled at the suggestion that he would support repealing President Barack Obama's signature health care law. (Griffiths, 11/1)

Consumer advocates and Obama administration officials started working Tuesday to sign up millions of consumers for Obamacare coverage as the fourth open enrollment period kicks off. Kevin Counihan, the CEO of HealthCare.gov, said the administration is going “all out” this year with an education campaign and on-the-ground partnerships to encourage sign-ups. The administration needs a successful enrollment to ease concerns about the cost of insurance under the Affordable Care Act. (McIntire, 11/1)

The Obama administration is hitting the airwaves Tuesday to promote the final ObamaCare signup period of Obama's presidency. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell took part in nearly a dozen radio and TV interviews to kick off the first day of ObamaCare’s open enrollment period for the federal marketplace. This year, health officials hope to boost ObamaCare’s numbers by 1 million to reach a total of 13.8 million customers. (Ferris, 11/1)

The fourth open enrollment for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act opened Tuesday, a critical 90 days that the Obama administration hopes will boost participation and stabilize markets roiled by premium increases and insurer withdrawals. HealthCare.gov and state equivalents began taking applications Tuesday morning from people signing up for individual health coverage and learning about their eligibility for subsidies. (Armour and Radnofsky, 11/1)

Open enrollment for the insurance exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act kicks off Tuesday, and there’s a good chance consumers logging on to compare plans will face some sticker shock. Monthly insurance premiums for popular plans on HealthCare.gov are rising by 25 percent on average next year, according to government data. But the increases will be more dramatic in certain parts of the country, especially for consumers not receiving subsidies, the numbers show. (Marte, 11/1)

The open enrollment period for coverage through the health insurance marketplaces starts today, and readers have plenty of questions about what to buy. [KHN consumer columnist Michelle Andrews] addresses a few of them this week. (Andrews, 11/2)

Massachusetts Health Connector officials are bracing for disruption as people who buy their own health insurance start signing up for coverage on Tuesday, the first day of the three-month enrollment period. A significant minority of Connector customers face big increases in premiums and may decide to change plans. The Connector estimates that nearly one-quarter of its subscribers will have to pay premiums that are at least 15 percent higher in 2017 if they want to keep their current plan. But most Connector customers will see small increases or even decreases in their premium costs. (Freyer, 11/1)

Tennessee's 2017 individual health insurance market offers new, and more narrow, options for shoppers. So far the path to coverage has been flush with plot twists for insurers, shoppers and health systems. This time last year shoppers were getting ready to plow through another round of premium increases (as well as bigger subsidies), restructured networks and plans from an evolving cast of carriers. But 2017 isn’t just a new chapter; it’s a new era marked by who’s in and who’s out of networks. BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee’s decision to back out of the Greater Nashville individual market — as well as Memphis and Knoxville — turned 2017 options upside down just over a month before open enrollment started Tuesday. (Fletcher, 11/1)

As thousands of Minnesotans visited MNsure’s website Tuesday to sign up for health insurance, many were greeted by errors and website crashes. Those calling its hotline reported long waits and disconnections. “What a mess,” said Susan Campbell, a resident of Itasca County who spent nearly four hours on the phone Tuesday morning, most of it on hold. The “mess” had multiple causes. An apparently unrelated website issue brought MNsure — and around 70 other state websites — down for half an hour Tuesday morning. The call volume from Minnesotans heeding MNsure’s advice to shop early set an all-time record for the 4-year-old health exchange. And a possible robocall attack may have further jammed up the call center. (Montgomery, 11/1)

The state's online health exchange opens today for enrollment in 2017 health insurance plans. People who do not have coverage through an employer can review plans from four insurers and enroll on the exchange website, marylandhealthconnection.gov.  UnitedHealthcare, which covered about 10 percent of enrollees last year, pulled out of Maryland's exchange and many other exchanges around the country. It will stop providing coverage to those currently insured at the end of the year. This year, the exchange also unveiled a mobile app for searching and enrolling. (Cohn, 11/1)

Marylanders hoping to buy health insurance from Evergreen Health through the state's online insurance exchange, which opened Tuesday, will have to wait. In a bid to stay in business, Evergreen announced plans in October to be acquired by a group of investors and convert from a nonprofit to a for-profit insurer. It won't be allowed to sell health plans through the exchange unless and until the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approves the proposal, Matt Jablow, an Evergreen spokesman, confirmed Tuesday. Evergreen plans and pricing continue to be listed on the Maryland Health Connection in hopes the review will be concluded soon, said Andrew Ratner, an exchange spokesman. (Gantz, 11/1)

California has been an enthusiastic adopter of President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul, but that hasn’t inoculated the state from growing pains. While many Republican-led states resisted creating insurance marketplaces, legislators here moved swiftly to launch Covered California. More than 2.8 million Californians have gotten coverage via the exchange since it opened in 2014 and about 1.4 million are actively enrolled. (White, 11/1)

On the first day of Obamacare open enrollment, a consumer group sued Anthem Blue Cross for attempting to automatically renew policies that no longer cover out-of-network costs for hundreds of thousands of Californians. A lawyer for Consumer Watchdog said Tuesday that Anthem was “railroading existing members into bare-bones plans” without properly disclosing the change to them in recent renewal letters. (Petersen, 11/1)

Calling it a classic “bait and switch,” a California consumer group on Tuesday lashed out at Anthem Blue Cross of California, claiming it failed to adequately warn customers they were being shifted in 2017 to brand-new, stripped-down plans. Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog announced it has filed a class action lawsuit against the health insurance giant after Anthem moved hundreds of thousands of its Preferred Provider Organization customers to Exclusive Provider Organization plans for 2017 — all the while calling the new plans “similar coverage.” PPO plans cover a portion of out-of-network costs, while EPO plans cover none of them. (Seipel, 11/1)

The number of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren is going up and increasingly it’s because their own kids are addicted to heroin or prescription drugs, or have died from an overdose. For some, it’s a challenge with little help available. In 2005, 2.5 million children were living with grandparents who were responsible for their care. By 2015, that number had risen to 2.9 million. Child welfare officials say drug addiction, especially to opioids, is behind much of the rise in the number of grandparents raising their grandchildren, just as it was during the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and ’90s. An estimated 2.4 million people were addicted to opioids at last count. (Wiltz, 11/2)

A Washington state couple is facing numerous charges after police said the parents kept their three young children in a home littered with rat droppings and drug needles and injected them with heroin, which they called “feel good medicine.” Ashlee Hutt, 24, and Mac Leroy McIver, 25, have been charged with unlawful delivery of a controlled substance to a person under 18, criminal mistreatment in the second degree and assault of a child in the second degree, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in September in Pierce County Superior Court. (Bever, 11/1)

Virginia state government has a new website designed to help battle opioid and heroin addiction. Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced Tuesday the creation of VaAware.com, which he said was an informational tool for the public, health care practitioners and law enforcement officials. Opioid deaths in Virginia have risen dramatically in recent years. In 2015, there were 801 deaths, a nearly 50 percent increase since 2012. (11/2)

For years, in the face of troubling statistics over poverty and hunger, gun violence, child abuse and exposure to lead and other toxic chemicals in the environment, the U.S. has grappled with the problem of children’s health. Public health officials and physicians have just added two more serious childhood dangers to the mix: the nationwide epidemic of opioid abuse and the surge in the availability and use of marijuana. (Pianin, 11/1)

The fight against childhood obesity should begin in doctors’ offices with routine weight screening for all kids ages 6 and up, according to fresh advice from health experts. Draft guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force urge pediatricians and other clinicians to check the body mass index of children and adolescents to identify patients who would benefit from weight counseling programs. (Kaplan, 11/1)

Despite the lure of Halloween candy and Christmas treats, elementary school children are more likely to gain weight over the summer, a study finds. If you remember your childhood summers as filled with running around outside and doing cannonballs off the diving board, that may sound improbable. But a study published in Obesity on Wednesday is only the most recent research to show that the summer vacation is the danger zone for childhood obesity, suggesting that interventions need to move beyond what goes on during the school day. (Hobson, 11/2)

Is use of antibiotics in infancy tied to childhood obesity? Some studies suggest so, but a new analysis suggests the link may be with infections, rather than antibiotics. Using records of a large health maintenance organization, researchers tracked 260,556 infants born from January 1997 through the end of March 2013. The database included details on antibiotic use, diagnosis and height and weight measurements from birth through age 18. (Bakalar, 11/1)

Just 22 percent of Georgia hospitals received an “A” grade on patient safety in the latest ratings from the Leapfrog Group. That put Georgia in a tie for 36th place among states ranked on percentages of top-safety hospitals. The ratings from Leapfrog, a patient safety organization founded by employers, are issued semi-annually, in fall and spring. In this year’s spring survey, Georgia came in 35th among states in the overall percentage of top-performing hospitals. (Miller, 11/1)

Enter the micro hospital. St. Luke’s Health System of Kansas City is working on an array of tiny hospitals that will have just eight to 10 beds for overnight stays as well as round-the-clock emergency rooms equipped and staffed like the ERs in their big parent hospitals. The micro trend, gaining traction nationally, provides one more option for patients beside the existing cornucopia of health care clinics in grocery stores, drug stores, strip malls and doctors offices. (Stafford, 11/1)

Banner Health on Tuesday completed acquisition of 32 Urgent Care Extra facilities in metro Phoenix and Tucson in a move that adds more than 400 employees to one of the state's largest private employers. In a Tuesday statement, the company said it is in the process of rebranding the locations as Banner Urgent Care facilities and plans to have as many as 50 facilities opened by the end of 2017. Banner initially purchased the facilities in August. (Frank, 11/1)

Hospital psychiatric wards long have been considered places where personal dignity and respect are checked at the door, and where ­relatives of patients are left to fend for themselves. Administrators at Hennepin County Medical Center in downtown Minneapolis want to change that. As part of a broader effort to offer more humane treatment, the hospital opened a new center Tuesday that will give psychiatric patients and their families a place to connect with local treatment options and talk openly and non-judgmentally about mental illness. (Serres, 11/1)

An attorney for the family of a 13-year-old boy whose right leg was amputated below the knee said the hospital bill could reach $1 million, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reported. Montravious Thomas is at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston as a result of an injury he suffered in an alleged incident with a contract teacher in Columbus, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. Thomas’ surgery was in mid-October. The alleged incident happened in mid-September. (Burns, 11/1)

A state panel voted Tuesday to recommend several strategies to control health care costs and reshape the way care is delivered. They included creating a state office to oversee health reform efforts and adopting a controversial payment model under which health care providers could lose money if they don’t hit quality and cost targets when caring for Medicaid patients and state employees. The Health Care Cabinet also appeared poised to recommend setting a target for health care cost growth in the state, although members did not yet vote on it. (Levin Becker, 11/2)

Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday called on the Obama administration to expedite federal funding for the Zika virus to the state. ... Congress approved $1.1 billion in federal funding for the virus in September after months of negotiations. The Department of Health and Human Services has defended the speed at which the money is being distributed, saying that the administration must take the appropriate steps now that the money has been allocated. The Centers for Disease Control says it has provided nearly $16.5 million in Zika-specific funding to the state, and more than $29 million in Public Health Emergency Program funding that can go toward responding to the virus. (McIntire, 11/1)

Justices heard arguments Tuesday morning over whether to keep in place an injunction that has blocked the waiting period from being enforced for most of the past year and a half. A Tallahassee circuit judge agreed to block the law while a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a Gainesville abortion clinic moves forward. The Supreme Court won't yet rule on whether the law is constitutional, but because a lawsuit over constitutionality could take years, the justices' ruling could determine, for years to come, if the 24-hour waiting period goes into effect. (Auslen, 11/1)

The man behind Proposition 60 — and all those billboards — is Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and a long-time maverick in gay activist circles. The nonprofit runs pharmacies and provides HIV care in 13 states and 37 countries, and gave away 38.5 million condoms last year. It’s putting $4.5 million from its pharmacy sales into backing the Proposition 60 condom mandate. (It also put $14.7 million behind Proposition 61, Weinstein’s initiative aimed at lowering drug prices.) Weinstein said he’s steadfastly promoting condoms when other groups seem to have forgotten them. (Dembosky, 11/2)

Suzanne McCarroll, a television news reporter in Denver, had been in remission from non-Hodgkin lymphoma for almost eight years when the cancer returned in May 2015. She had a stem-cell transplant, but the disease came back again in January. What, she wondered, should she do now? After talking to her doctor and her brother, a neurobiologist at Harvard, McCarroll enrolled in an early-stage clinical trial using immunotherapy at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Researcher Center in Seattle. (McGinley, 11/1)

Nearly a dozen state and local lawmakers Monday called for more money and staff to combat the "crisis" of childhood lead-poisoning in Philadelphia and elsewhere in the state. Several Philadelphia council members also said the city must enforce existing laws to crack down on landlords whose properties injure families with unsafe levels of lead contamination. (Laker, 10/31)

Inova Health System is nearing a $112 million deal with the University of Virginia School of Medicine to bolster its effort to become a national leader in genomics and cancer research. Leaders from both organizations plan to announce an agreement Wednesday to form a research partnership and bring a regional campus of the university’s medical school to Inova’s planned Center for Personalized Health in Merrifield. (O'Connell, 11/2)

Babies in midsize Kansas counties were more likely to die before their first birthdays than those in counties with larger or smaller populations, according to the 2016 Kids Count report. The annual report, produced by Kansas Action for Children, compares counties on a variety of measures related to children’s health, financial well-being and educational prospects. In some cases, the most recent data was from 2015, while in others it was from 2014. Statewide, infant mortality fell from 6.2 deaths for every 1,000 live births in 2011 to 5.9 deaths in 2015. Some areas continued to struggle with persistently high rates, however. (Wingerter, 11/1)

Emergency medical technicians feared for their lives during an altercation with a mentally ill man who was shot by police Sunday morning, according to community leaders and others who attended a meeting on Monday with law enforcement officials. Police Commissioner William B. Evans and EMS Chief James Hooley met with roughly a dozen clergy, civic leaders, and lawmakers to discuss the shooting of Terrence Coleman in the doorway of his South End apartment. Police said Coleman had a knife, but his family and a neighbor dispute that account. (Ransom, 11/2

A non-invasive bladder monitor, software to combat lung cancer and an app that identifies high-risk sexual behavior in adolescents are three technologies being developed right here in the Denver area. The three companies took the top awards at the recent Prime Health Challenge $150,000 competition that started with 30 contestants. Littleton’s dBMEDx won the $75,000 top prize for its BBS Revolution, a device that scans a person’s bladder to determine volume — and nix the invasive catheter. Denver’s Matrix Analytics, awarded $50,000 for its second-place finish, collects data to optimize care of patients with lung cancer. (Chuang, 11/1)

The Community Triage Center, which opened in recent weeks, is meant to keep more people with mental illnesses and substance abuse problems out of jail and the hospital. The idea is that people with those issues can visit the walk-in center for assessments, support and referrals. Police also can bring people to the center if they believe they'd be better served there than in the hospital or behind bars. The center, modeled after similar programs in Phoenix, Las Vegas and San Antonio, Texas, is believed to be the first of its kind in Chicago. (Schencker, 11/1)

Smoking among Minnesota teenagers has dropped to an all-time low, and other risky behaviors such as sexual activity and marijuana use are continuing a steady long-term decline. At the same time, the number of teens reporting emotional or mental health problems has risen sharply, and teen use of tobacco and alcohol show persistent gaps along lines of race and income. But overall, the latest Minnesota Student Survey, released Tuesday by the Department of Health, paints an encouraging picture of the state’s adolescents, public health officials said. (Howatt, 11/1)

Businesses in Sheboygan County, where staffing shortages are so intense they bus workers in from Milwaukee, now have a new pool of potential recruits: seniors at Milwaukee's Vincent High School. Milwaukee Public Schools and the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corp. on Tuesday announced a collaboration aimed at exposing interested Vincent seniors to the industries and employment opportunities two counties to the north. The program is modeled after a similar initiative known as the Joseph Project, in which a Milwaukee church transports local men — primarily African-American men who have subsisted on temporary jobs — to Sheboygan for more stable positions in factories there. (Johnson, 11/1)

As the state pushes to reclaim half of the $150 million it invested to lure Sanford Burnham to Orlando, one of the research institute's most prized assets — its intellectual talent pool — remains in flux. The faculty's uncertain future casts a shadow on the Lake Nona Medical City — the cluster of universities, hospitals and research facilities that's reaching the critical mass that stakeholders have been touting and hoping for. (Miller and Shanklin, 11/1)

About 90 people a day use a staffed, portable restroom set up in June near Sacramento’s largest homeless services center. The idea is to reduce outdoor human waste while giving homeless people a bit more dignity. But the restroom has cost the city about $1,000 a day, nearly 75 percent higher than the initial estimated cost for the project, according to a city staff report. (Reese and Chabria, 11/1)

With a fight over drug prices expected next year, drug companies have been funneling significant political contributions toward Republican candidates, fearful of what a full Democratic takeover of Washington might mean for the industry, according to a STAT analysis. (Scott, 11/2)

Until this week, when big increases in insurance premiums were unveiled for next year, the federal health law has not been a major issue in the presidential election. In fact, fixing what ails the Affordable Care Act isn’t even among voters’ top priorities for health issues for next year, according to a new poll. (Rovner, 10/27)

Facebook wants a much bigger cut of the billions that pharma companies spend every year on advertising. And that means you’re soon likely to see more drug ads — both overt and stealthy — on social media.The in-your-face variety will likely look like the mobile Facebook ad just launched by Bayer. All the small print warning of a drug’s possible side effects flits by in an automated scroll, technology that Facebook is using for the first time for the pharma industry. (Robbins, 11/1)

Kendall Jack was dismayed when her health plan stopped covering her migraine drug Treximet earlier this year. To buy a pack at the pharmacy would cost $750, compared with a $20 copay when the drug was covered. “Nothing’s worth $750 for nine pills,” she said. “It’s cruel.” (Roland, 10/30)

At first, the researchers who discovered insulin agonized about whether to patent the drug at all. It was 1921, and the team of biochemists and physicians based in Toronto was troubled by the idea of profiting from a medicine that had such widespread human value, one that could transform diabetes from a death sentence into a manageable disease. Ultimately, they decided to file for a patent — and promptly sold it to the University of Toronto for $3, or $1 for each person listed. (Johnson, 10/31)

Makers of insulin became the latest target for Senator Bernie Sanders, who has been going after pharmaceutical companies one by one over the issue of high U.S. drug prices. Shares of Eli Lilly & Co. fell after the senator, an independent lawmaker from Vermont, criticized the company and Novo Nordisk A/S over the price of insulin. Along with France’s Sanofi, they are among the world’s largest producers of the drugs, which are used by millions of diabetics. (Bloomfield, 11/1)

The drug-pricing worries  roiling pharmaceutical and middlemen’s stocks  have been brewing for a while, as the drug industry’s practice of taking regular increases triggered a public backlash that investors fear could hurt sales. (Rockoff, 10/28)

It’s been a brutal October for health-care investors. The worst may be yet to come. A year after presidential candidate Hillary Clinton first tweeted about outrageous price gouging, the reality of pricing pressure in the U.S. hit Wall Street in the most concrete way: earnings. (Bloomfield, 10/28)

Poverty and higher out-of-pocket drug costs may be the main reason that some women don’t stick with hormone therapy designed to prevent breast cancer from coming back, a recent U.S. study suggests. Researchers analyzed data on about 8,700 women who had breast cancer and at least one prescription for pills to curb production of the hormone estrogen - which can fuel tumor growth - or pills to stop estrogen from attaching to cancer cells. (Rapaport, 11/1)

The drug industry is showing signs it is slowing the pace of price increases after years of hefty hikes, alarming shareholders worried that pressure from politicians, consumers and employers will continue to stifle pricing power. Shares of many drugmakers, wholesale distributors and pharmacy-benefit managers were battered Friday on new evidence in corporate earnings reports that pharmaceutical companies are declining to ratchet up prices as sharply as in previous years. McKesson Corp., one of the largest wholesale drug distributors, shed a quarter of its market value after disclosing that competition and a slowdown in price inflation for brand-name drugs would reduce its profits for its current fiscal year. (Loftus, 10/28)

The next leader of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will have to make drug prices a top priority, the agency’s current acting administrator said Tuesday. “The person sitting in my chair next isn’t going to have a choice but to make this one of their top two or three priorities,” Andy Slavitt, acting administrator of CMS on Tuesday told attendees of an America’s Health Insurance Plans conference on Medicare in D.C. To do that, CMS will need partnership from members of the Medicare Part D community, he said. (McIntire, 10/25)

Anna Edney, a healthcare reporter for Bloomberg News, discusses the nationwide increase in drug prices, and how there is plenty of blame to go around for the problem. She speaks with Alan Bjerga and Amy Morris on Bloomberg Radio’s "Politics, Policy and Power." (10/27)

As Americans grapple with the rising cost of medicines, a contentious ballot measure in California is being billed as a fix to an intractable national problem. Known as Proposition 61, the proposal would require state agencies to pay no more for prescription drugs than the US Department of Veteran Affairs, which receives a federally mandated 24 percent discount from manufacturers. In theory, that would lower drug costs for up to 7 million residents of California who get insurance coverage for their medicines through various state agencies, including low-income residents on the state version of Medicaid. (Ed Silverman, 10/31)

Every few months, a drug company gets caught cranking up prices. Most recently, Mylan, the maker of EpiPen, took its turn in the hot seat for raising the price of a lifesaving allergy treatment by 500 percent. Congress was rightly enraged and opened yet another inquiry into pharmaceutical price gouging. Mylan offered discount coupons. The story will soon fade from the headlines — until the next pricing scandal. (Jason Cone and Raymond C. Offenheiser, 10/27)

Outrage over repeated hikes in the price of lifesaving EpiPens is the latest example of pharmaceutical companies breaking the social contract with patients who rely upon their medicines. Just as hospitals have an ethical commitment to treat patients regardless of their ability to pay, pharmaceutical companies have a similar obligation to ensure those who have a medical necessity for a drug are able to receive it. (Kenneth L. Davis, 11/1)

On Halloween 2016, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. saw some ghosts. The specialty pharmaceutical firm's shares fell 12 percent on Monday, after Bloomberg News reported ex-CEO Michael Pearson and ex-CFO Howard Schiller are the subjects of a criminal probe over potential accounting fraud, related to Valeant's now-dead (or undead?) relationship with the specialty pharmacy Philidor. (Max Nisen, 11/1)

When it comes to AbbVie Inc., all eyes are always on Humira. It's the best-selling drug in the world and makes up 63 percent of AbbVie's sales, but competition from biosimilar copies is looming. (Max Nisen, 10/28)

Sticker shock over the cost of drugs isn’t going away any time soon. Drug prices spiked 7 percent last year, the highest rate since 1992. Compare that with the modest increase of just 0.8 percent in hospital care costs. So why is the pharmaceutical industry working to gut a federal program that helps make medicines and hospital services affordable to the most vulnerable among us? (Ted Slafsky, 11/1)

With campaign season at its peak, every day we hear why each candidate should be trusted to address the challenges facing our country. Despite the seemingly constant political coverage and criticism of the Affordable Care Act, there has been a dearth of realistic solutions proposed, especially regarding substantive and timely relief for patients impacted by exorbitant prescription drug costs. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Health tracking poll conducted in September, 77 percent of Americans say prescription drug costs are unreasonable, and this number is up from 72 percent a year ago. Political candidates should be paying more attention to these issues. (Carly Medosch, 11/1)

Drug lords look with envy on the markups some pharmaceutical companies get away with. Hospitals, clinics and physicians are sick over the relentless and rapid rise in prescription drug costs that can no longer be escaped by substituting generic medications. Premiums under the Affordable Care Act are expected to increase by 25 percent, in part because the law does nothing to reduce the drug costs that are becoming an ever bigger factor in the increasing cost of health care. (10/27)

If there is a coherent theme to this year’s election, it is the growing economic frustration of working Americans. While trade has been the chief scapegoat, a major culprit has received much less attention: the rising cost of health insurance. (Regina E. Herzlinger, Barak D. Richman and Richard J. Boxer, 11/2)

Big Blue has found yet another business application for its precocious cognitive computing system. IBM Watson Health is collaborating with the biopharmaceutical company Celgene to develop a new platform for evaluating the safety of drugs—both before and after they hit the market—the two companies are announcing this morning. The new offering, “Watson for Patient Safety,” will gobble up anonymized medical records, claims data, and millions of electronic submissions to the FDA about potential drug side effects (known as individual case safety reports) to see if it can learn about the hidden dangers of medicines before they become too costly. (Sy Mukherjee and Clifton Leaf, 11/1)

The U.S. just reached an important milestone that will help more children grow to reach their full potential. Following the sharpest two-year decline in child uninsured rates on record, the U.S. made history with 95 percent of children covered by health insurance. The only age group with a better rate of health coverage are seniors who hover around 99 percent coverage rates thanks to the success of Medicare. The improvements for children were driven by the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. (Joan Alker, 11/1)

Republican vice-presidential nominee Mike Pence, while campaigning with Donald Trump, is again urging a complete repeal of Obamacare, echoing Trump’s view that it is an unmitigated disaster. Pence a couple of years ago struck a deal to expand Medicaid pursuant to the provisions of Obamacare in exchange for some waivers. Is he a hypocrite for now calling for its total repeal? (Jennifer Rubin, 11/1)

President Obama once promised that the Obamacare exchanges would make buying insurance as easy as selecting a TV on Amazon. Just a few clicks, and you could comparison-shop and pick the plan that’s right for you. In a way, the president was right: The marketplaces set up under the Affordable Care Act make a really confusing and expensive purchase a lot easier. But insurance remains a complex financial product. (Margot Sanger-Katz, 11/1)

There are 1,485 active projects, aimed at increasing health care access and outcomes for these populations. Proponents of Medicaid expansion fail to acknowledge these facts. They also overlook the fact that more than half of the state-run Affordable Care Act exchanges have collapsed due to financial insolvency and that several of the nation's largest health insurers have withdrawn from the exchanges altogether. Indeed, Texas' largest insurer has proposed premium increases of more than 50 percent, saying that Obamacare "is not a financially stable business model." None of these things improve access to care. (John Colyandro and Tom Aldred, 11/1)

Medical research has made staggering progress in saving lives and reducing human suffering. For the last 50 years, life expectancy has increased by more than three hours every day. This is very real for me. I had cancer when I was 30, and I was successfully treated. Subsequently, through research, I learned that my treatments had been developed only 10 or 15 years before 1984, when I was diagnosed. So I have a very keen sense of the importance of the work underway here in Boston. That is why investing in life sciences was a major priority for me when I was president of Harvard, and today I still believe more can and should be done to fully exploit the potential of biomedicine, both for Boston and for the world at large. (Lawrence Summers, 11/1)

Although Type 1 diabetes is still more common among children, Type 2 diabetes — previously called adult onset or non-insulin-dependent diabetes — is becoming more common among adolescents and even younger children. Type 2 diabetes occurs in children as young as 6, and is increasing at an alarming rate, primarily due to the epidemic of obesity in children and adolescents. Type 2 diabetes is also more common among some ethnic groups, such as African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans. (Janine Sanchez, 11/1)