Sacramento Bee: Threatened Repeal Of Obamacare Hovers Over California Health Insurance Signups; Deadline Is Tuesday 
After Jan. 31, only those with changed circumstances – losing a job, having a baby, moving within California – can enroll in Covered California. Otherwise, consumers who don’t have employer-based health insurance will need to wait until next fall, when there likely will be an entirely new health care system in place. Although Trump and congressional Republicans have taken the first steps in their campaign promises to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, it’s unclear exactly what the replacement health coverage program will look like. (Buck, 1/27)

Sacramento Bee: Obamacare Repeal Will Affect Millions In California 
A repeal of the Affordable Care Act without some form of replacement insurance would have profound effects in California, particularly in counties with a high proportion of impoverished residents. President Donald Trump and Congress have taken steps to repeal the ACA, often called Obamacare. Lawmakers supporting repeal, mostly Republicans, have promised to replace Obamacare with another form of broad-based coverage but have not yet rallied around an alternative. (Reese, 1/27)

In other news on the health law repeal —

KQED: California’s Undocumented Kids—Why They Could Be First To Lose Medical Care Under Trump 
[T]he ability of [Maria Bernal's son] Edwin and some 164,000 poor undocumented California children to see a doctor for regular medical care hangs in the balance—with several experts predicting they could be among the first to lose health coverage if the Trump administration carries out its promise to end much of Obamacare, leaving California to try to make up the difference. To be clear, the federal government does pay limited medical costs for kids in the country illegally under the restricted-scope Medi-Cal program, which is available to anyone regardless of immigration status for emergency and prenatal services only. Last May, however, California became one of a handful of states to provide state-funded full-scope Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program. (Aguilera, 1/26)

Los Angeles Times: Republicans Divided Over Whether Millions Of Americans Should Lose Government-Subsidized Health Coverage
As Republicans scramble for a strategy to repeal and replace the healthcare law, they are reckoning with a fundamental question the party has never settled: whether to foot the multi-trillion-dollar bill to ensure millions of Americans retain the coverage they obtained under Obamacare. GOP lawmakers for years ducked that issue as they unified behind cries to roll back the program, but were assured President Obama would block them. Now, the power to actually repeal and replace the law is exposing deep divisions in the party. (Levey, 1/26)

Orange County Register: UCI Gets Approval To Open Nursing School, Doubling Number Of Students In 10 Years 
UC Irvine gained approval Thursday to open a much anticipated school of nursing that will double the number of nursing students in a decade, helping meet the expected demands of an aging population. UC Regents voted to establish the Sue and Bill Gross School of Nursing, propelled by a $40 million donation given by the Gross Family Foundation last year. Construction of a building on campus will begin in 2018. (Perkes, 1/26)

The Bakersfield Californian: San Joaquin Community Hospital Announces New Name, Mission
San Joaquin Community Hospital is changing its name and broadening its focus to improving the health of the whole community, officials announced Wednesday. The hospital is changing its name to Adventist Health Bakersfield and adopting a mission statement of "Living God’s love by inspiring health, wholeness and hope," which emphasizes not just caring for the sick but "helping communities be healthier," it said in a news release. (1/25)

Capital Public Radio/KXJZ: California Improves Tobacco Control, But Many Counties Still Have Weak Policies
California has reestablished itself as one of the leaders in tobacco control policies. The 15th annual American Lung Association's State of Tobacco Control report showed California improved its grades in a number of areas thanks to several new laws, says Diana Douglas, policy analyst with the American Lung Association. (Sandsor, 1/26)

The Mercury News: Council Bans Smoking In Outdoor Dining Areas
Milpitas has expanded its smoking ban to include outdoor dining areas around the city beginning on Feb. 2. The City Council on Jan. 3 held a second reading to adopt the expanded smoking ban to include marijuana, e-cigarettes and hookahs. (Mohammed, 1/26)

The Associated Press: Trump Administration Pulls Back On HealthCare.Gov Ads
The Trump administration says it is pulling back advertising to promote HealthCare.gov as open enrollment draws to a close for this year. The Health and Human Services Department said in a statement Thursday that the government has withdrawn about $5 million in ads as part of an effort to cut costs. The statement said HHS has already spent more than $60 million to promote sign-ups this year under former President Barack Obama's health care law. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 1/27)

Politico: Trump White House Abruptly Halts Obamacare Ads
The decision sends the clearest signal yet that President Donald Trump is determined to fulfill his campaign pledge to repeal Obamacare. Hours after being sworn in, Trump issued his first executive order allowing federal officials to start unwinding parts of the law. "President Trump is signaling he's the new sheriff," said Rep. Chris Collins, (R-N.Y.), the president's top congressional ally. "He's been elected with a mandate. He's not going to tolerate his employees contradicting and undermining his mandate to get this country going in another direction." (Demko, 1/26)

The Washington Post: White House Stops Ads, Outreach For Last Days Of 2017 ACA Enrollment
The directive stunned some staffers within the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a source close to the department who was briefed on the action. Staff members protested to Trump appointees at HHS that the sudden ban on outreach would suppress the enrollment of the most desirable customers — younger, healthier people who tend to buy coverage at the last minute — which in turn could raise insurance prices in the future, the source said. (Goldstein, 1/26)

In other national health care news —

Reuters: Trump Tells Republican Lawmakers: Enough Talk. Time To Deliver
President Donald Trump pushed Republican lawmakers on Thursday for swift action on a sweeping agenda including his planned U.S.-Mexican border wall, tax cuts and repealing the Obamacare law, despite tensions over timetables and priorities. Congressional Republicans were in Philadelphia for a three-day retreat to hammer out a legislative agenda, with the party in control of the White House, Senate and House of Representatives for the first time in a decade. (Cowan and Cornwell, 1/26)

The Wall Street Journal: Pressure Builds To Grant VA Exemptions From Hiring Freeze
The pressure for exemptions to President Donald Trump’s federal hiring freeze grew Thursday, led by Republican congressional leaders. The chairmen of the Senate and House veterans committees sent a letter to the White House asking that the president further clarify which jobs at the Department of Veterans Affairs are exempt from the order that Mr. Trump signed just days earlier, which suspended hiring throughout the federal government. (Kesling, 1/26)

Politico: Anti-Abortion Marchers To Celebrate A New Era Under Trump
Tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected in Washington Friday for an anti-abortion march that’s shaping up as a triumphant affair under President Donald Trump — despite his ambitious projection of crowds as large as 600,000. The March for Life, as it’s known, has kicked off on the National Mall every year since 1974 to mark the Jan. 22 anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision establishing abortion rights. (Schor and Nussbaum, 1/27)

The New York Times: Limiting Antibiotics Curbs Deadly Hospital Infections
Hospitals try to control Clostridium difficile, a bacterium that can cause deadly infections, by careful cleaning and meticulous washing of the hands. But limiting the use of antibiotics may be even more effective, a British study suggests. (Bakalar, 1/25)

Los Angeles Times: Showing Panic Over Obamacare Repeal, GOP Senators Release Replacement Plan That (Almost) Makes Sense
If you’re following the health insurance debate—and since the coverage of more than 20 million Americans is under threat from the Trump White House and the Republican congressional majority, you should be—you’re going to be hearing a lot in the coming weeks about Cassidy-Collins. That’s an Obamacare replacement plan just introduced by Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). Dubbed the Patient Freedom Act, It’s the first such proposal that indicates that the GOP is becoming increasingly panicked about the political price of repealing the Affordable Care Act outright, and increasingly desperate to reassure voters that the provisions of Obamacare they actually value can be retained without a break. (Michael Hiltzik, 1/24)

Los Angeles Times: The Hidden Costs Of Replacing Obamacare
Congressional Republicans set themselves on a fast track this month to repeal the tax and spending provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. But President Trump and numerous GOP lawmakers are coming around to the view that it would be irresponsible, and possibly disastrous, to take that step without enacting a plan to replace the law at the same time. That change of heart has forced opponents of the act to focus on something they should have been focusing on for years now: What is the problem they’re trying to fix? Because repealing Obamacare won’t slow rising healthcare costs by itself, and it certainly won’t enable more Americans to obtain health insurance. (1/21)

Orange County Register: What If Trump-Care Works In California? What If It Doesn't? 
One problem in having a president who operates without much regard for facts, truth or consistency — one whose staff has devised the concept of “alternative facts” — is that when he says or promises something, no one can know whether he means it. So it was with President Trump’s mid-January promise of “health insurance for everybody,” including better coverage, more choice among policies, lower deductibles and no one left behind — far different from anything his Republican allies in Congress ever promised in their many efforts to “repeal and replace” Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act (ACA). (Thomas Elias, 1/24)

Sacramento Bee: Obamacare Repeal Means Huge Windfall For Wealthy 
The debate on repealing Obamacare has rightly focused on all those Americans who would be hurt – the estimated 18 million who could lose their health insurance in the first year. But there should be more attention on those who could benefit right away – the super rich who would get a huge tax cut. At the same time, millions of Americans – including 1.2 million Californians – would lose tax credits on health insurance premiums they now get under the Affordable Care Act. (1/23)

Los Angeles Times: Obamacare Repeal Would Hit California's Central Valley Hard
Last week, I went looking for the real Obamacare. Not the one that’s been vilified by President Trump and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, but the Obamacare that’s otherwise known as the Affordable Care Act, the one providing health coverage to more than 5 million people in California. (Ed Hernandez, 1/26)

Los Angeles Times: Donald Trump's Executive Order On Obamacare Will Cripple The Health Insurance Market
The day after the election I wrote that Republicans would find it hard to repeal Obamacare — but not so hard to vandalize it. In his first official action after being sworn in as president, Donald Trump applied the first smear of graffiti to a law that today brings health coverage to more than 20 million Americans. The executive order Trump signed at the White House gives the Department of Heath and Human Services and other government agencies broad latitude to start undermining the law. It encourages them “to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay” any provision of the law that would “impose a fiscal burden” on pretty much anyone — state, hospital, doctor, or patient. (Michael Hiltzik, 1/21)

Los Angeles Times: Paul Ryan Continues His Assault On Obamacare And Medicare — This Time On The 'Charlie Rose' Show 
We previously debunked the statements Ryan delivered about the Affordable Care Act during a broadcast town hall last week, when he tried to explain why he’s so intent on repealing the law. On Wednesday, Ryan brought his act to the “Charlie Rose” show on PBS. For an hour, he comfortably fielded verbal balls of yarn from the host, who indulgently allowed him to rattle on without any measurable pushback. So let’s once again examine Ryan’s words and test them against the truth. We’ll start with Obamacare and move on to Medicare. People should pay attention, because the effect of Ryan’s policies would be to make affordable healthcare harder to find for millions of Americans and to leave seniors holding the bag for more of their own medical needs. (Michael Hiltzik, 1/20)

Sacramento Bee: A Choice: Come To The Table Or Be On The Menu
The polls say we want our leaders to produce environmentally sensible and fiscally responsible solutions for our crumbling infrastructure, and a health system that fosters innovation and provides a safety net for those that need one. Polls say we want a tax code that is simple to understand and equally meted out, and an immigration system that is true to the timeless values on which our nation was built, and one that is rational and compassionate. ... How can we reach considered compromise? Let’s start with how not: labeling the ascendant party as illegitimate. Pledging, even before the new government assumes control, to fight it. (John Russell IV, 1/22)

Sacramento Bee: Make America Sick Again? In California, GOP Could Pay A Price
So it went Monday outside the most endangered health center in the congressional district of Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, whose party’s crusades against Planned Parenthood and Obamacare are on a collision course with millions of Californians just trying to manage their lives. As if it isn’t enough that the GOP Congress and the Trump administration have vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act – a plan that would disrupt or end health insurance for about 5 million people in this state, including hundreds of thousands in Republican districts – they also have greased the skids for defunding the state’s best known provider of women’s reproductive health care. (Shawn Hubler, 1/20)

Los Angeles Times: U.S. Judge Finds That Aetna Misled The Public About Its Reasons For Quitting Obamacare
Aetna claimed this summer that it was pulling out of all but four of the 15 states where it was providing Obamacare individual insurance because of a business decision — it was simply losing too much money on the Obamacare exchanges. Now a federal judge has ruled that that was a rank falsehood. In fact, says Judge John D. Bates, Aetna made its decision at least partially in response to a federal antitrust lawsuit blocking its proposed $37-billion merger with Humana. Aetna threatened federal officials with the pullout before the lawsuit was filed, and followed through on its threat once it was filed. Bates made the observations in the course of a ruling he issued Monday blocking the merger. (Michael Hiltzik, 1/23)

Los Angeles Times: California Needs To Do More Than Apologize To People It Sterilized 
As part of the vile eugenics movement that swept the country during the first half of the 20th century, more than 60,000 women and men were sterilized in state homes and hospitals to prevent them from passing on what were considered defective genes. Laws in 32 states allowed sterilizations to be performed at state-run institutions on people deemed “feeble minded” or mentally ill or even, in some cases, sexually promiscuous. However, nowhere was eugenics more aggressively practiced than in California. About 20,000 people in California were sterilized, mostly between 1920 and 1960, although the state law was in effect from 1909 to 1979. (1/21)

Los Angeles Times/Glendale News Press: Glendale Is Bad For Your Health
Like many current residents, I grew up in Glendale, attending Glendale High School. I decided to stay where I grew up — not least because my job kept me around, and I could stay close to family and friends. Glendale offers a good quality of life. It's a clean city with proximity to big-city life, while still being relatively affordable. However, one important parameter involved in quality of life — traffic control and safety — seems to decline inexorably every year. If you do a simple Google search, you will see that Glendale routinely makes headlines as among the nation's most dangerous cities in which to drive, and this danger is compounded for pedestrians and bicyclists. (Shant Minas, 1/19)

San Jose Mercury News: It's Time To Have 'The Talk' With The Kids (About Pot)
Marijuana is now legal in some form in 30 states and the District of Columbia. Even if you are among the shrinking number of Americans who still live in a state in which marijuana remains illegal, your children will likely travel to places where pot is legal – Venice Beach in Los Angeles, the mall in Washington, D.C., or the Las Vegas strip. (Mike Lynn, 1/24)