• Future of Revamped Health Care Bill Remains Dubious in House AP by Alan Fram and Julie Pace—Eager for a victory, the White House is expressing confidence that a breakthrough on the mired Republican health care bill could emerge in the House next week. The chamber's GOP leaders, burned by a March debacle, are dubious and signs are scant that an emerging plan is gaining enough votes to succeed.The White House optimism is driven largely by a deal brokered by leaders of the conservative Freedom Caucus and the moderate Tuesday Group aimed at giving states more flexibility to pull out of "Obamacare" provisions. 
  
  
• White House Pressures GOP Leaders on Obamacare Showdown Next Week Politico by Rachael Bade, Josh Dawsey and Adam Cancryn—A frantic and impatient White House is pressuring House GOP leaders for another showdown vote on repealing Obamacare next week so it can notch a legislative win before President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office. But while the outlines of a possible deal are starting to come together, it's far from clear that House Republican leaders have found the sweet spot to pass their embattled alternative health plan.
  
  
• Conservatives' Goal to Relax Mandatory Health Benefits Unlikely to Tame Premiums Kaiser Health News by Julie Rovner—The House Freedom Caucus and members of a more moderate group of House Republicans are hammering out changes to the GOP bill that was pulled unceremoniously by party leaders last month when they couldn't get enough votes to pass it. At the heart of those changes, reportedly, is the law's requirement for most insurance plans to offer 10 specific categories of "essential health benefits." 
  
  
• Health Subsidy Demand Jams Up Shutdown Fight The Hill by Mike Lillis and Cristina Marcos—Democrats' demand that Obamacare subsidies be wrapped into a must-pass spending package is complicating GOP efforts to prevent a government shutdown at the end of next week. The issue puts Ryan and the Republicans in a difficult spot. On one hand, they're still fighting to dismantle Obamacare—a law they've railed against for seven years—and that effort includes sponsorship of the lawsuit challenging the payments. On the other, they don't want to suffer the political blowback if their actions spike costs and erode coverage for the millions of patients newly insured under Obamacare.

• Health Insurers Make Case for Subsidies but Get Little Assurance From Administration New York Times by Reed Abelson—Health insurers pressed Trump administration officials on Tuesday to continue billions of dollars in subsidies for low-income people buying plans under the federal health care law, but left with nothing that would dissipate the fog of uncertainty hanging over the industry. The insurers have been closely watching as President Trump and congressional Republicans and Democrats debate the future of those subsidies, known as cost-sharing reductions, paid by the Obama administration that now go to the companies covering about seven million individuals to help lower deductibles and copayments. Some insurers say they are preparing two scenarios on prices that could soar to 30 percent rate increases.
  
  
• Trump Must Decide Whether to Support or Undermine Obamacare Washington Post by Paige Winfield Cunningham—The White House and Republican lawmakers are facing key decisions that could either improve the insurance marketplaces established by the ACA next year or prompt insurers to further hike rates or withdraw from those marketplaces entirely. The actions center on three programs: cost-sharing reductions, reinsurance and risk corridors. 

• Maps Show a Dramatic Rise in Health Insurance Coverage Under ACA NPR by Alyson Hurt, Juan Elosua and Rebecca Hersher—New data from the U.S. Census Bureau present the most detailed picture yet of the dramatic rise in the number of people covered by health insurance since the Affordable Care Act went into effect. County-level data going back to 2010, when the law was signed, show a patchwork of people living without health insurance that ticked down slowly for the first three years under the ACA. But once the online insurance exchanges opened at the end of 2013 and Medicaid expanded, the population living without coverage dropped noticeably.
  
  
• Veterans Saw Dramatic Gains in Coverage After Obamacare CNN Money by Tami Luhby—The uninsured rate among veterans under age 65 dropped to 5.9 percent in 2015, down from 9.6 percent two years earlier, according to the report. The number of vets lacking coverage fell to 552,000, down from 980,000. The changes started in 2014, when two major Obamacare coverage provisions kicked in. That's when Medicaid expansion took effect and the Obamacare exchanges opened. Most uninsured veterans had incomes that would make them eligible either for Obamacare subsidies or Medicaid. 

• Under Trump, States May Demand Work for Medicaid AP by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar—Work requirements for Medicaid could lead to major changes in the social safety net under President Donald Trump. It sounds like a simple question: Should adults who are able to work be required to do so to get taxpayer provided health insurance? The Health and Human Services department under Secretary Tom Price has already notified governors it stands ready to approve state waivers for "meritorious" programs that encourage work. Yet a surprising number of working-age adults with Medicaid are already employed. Most who are not working report reasons such as illness, caring for a family member, or going to school.
  
  
• States May End Coverage for Kids As Federal Funds Dry Up  Modern Healthcare by Virgil Dickson—Several states may soon have to suspend programs that provide healthcare coverage for children unless Congress reauthorizes funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), according to a government agency. Arizona, California, Minnesota, North Carolina and the District of Columbia will run out of CHIP funding by December 2017 unless Congress approves additional funds for the program, according to a report by the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) discussed during a Thursday panel meeting. 
  
  
• Wisconsin Medicaid Proposal Includes Drug Tests, Premiums Modern Healthcare by Shelby Livingston—Wisconsin on Monday unveiled plans to overhaul Medicaid by requiring members to pay insurance premiums and undergo a drug screening to participate in the program. The state's Department of Health Services said it will submit a waiver request to the the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on May 26, following public comment. The proposal looks a lot like the one used in Indiana's Medicaid expansion known as Healthy Indiana 2.0, which is facing renewed scrutiny following reports that the state used misleading and inaccurate information to justify an extension. 

Editor: Peter Van Vranken