San Francisco Chronicle: Trump Delivers Ultimatum In Move To Pass Health Care Bill 
Trump’s move was an astonishing use of power wielded at precisely the moment he appeared weakest. Amid a day of turmoil and frenzied meetings at the White House and the Capitol, the legislation, called the American Health Care Act, was on the brink of collapse. Republicans were dozens of votes short, having timed the repeal for the seventh anniversary of the day the Affordable Care Act became law. House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin had postponed the vote and called a recess, his GOP factions hopelessly divided over their fundamental approach to health care. Trump’s risky move sets up a dramatic showdown on the House floor Friday. (Lochhead, 3/23)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Threatens To Leave Obamacare In Place If GOP Bill Fails
"The message is tomorrow it's up, it's down — we expect it to be up — but it's done tomorrow,” Mulvaney said Thursday night. It remained unclear whether Trump’s extraordinary ultimatum was real or a pressure tactic designed to bring unruly Republicans in line. Despite personal appeals from the president and a flurry of last-minute negotiations with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), wary GOP lawmakers remained unconvinced, leaving leaders shy of the votes needed to advance the legislation. (Mascaro and Levey, 3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: In Health-Law Fight, GOP Leaders Struggle To Reconcile Factions’ Needs
After years of making the repeal of the Affordable Care Act a signature issue, Republicans are struggling to deliver on the promise, floundering amid warring factions that neither President Donald Trump nor House Speaker Paul Ryan have been able to whip into line. ... They are confronting a thorny challenge that required two things in short supply among today’s Republican rank and file: a willingness to compromise or to defer to leadership. (Hook and Epstein, 3/23)

The Associated Press: House Sets Risky Health Care Vote After Trump Demands It
In a gamble with monumental political stakes, Republicans set course for a climactic House vote on their health care overhaul after President Donald Trump claimed he was finished negotiating with GOP holdouts and determined to pursue the rest of his agenda, win or lose. House Speaker Paul Ryan set the showdown for Friday, following a nighttime Capitol meeting at which top White House officials told GOP lawmakers that Trump had decided the time for talk was over. (Fram and Alonso-Zaldivar, 3/24)

Trump, a self-avowed dealmaker, faces high stakes in the outcome of Friday’s House vote —

The New York Times: Trump The Dealmaker Projects Bravado, But Behind The Scenes, Faces Rare Self-Doubt
President Trump, the author of “The Art of the Deal,” has been projecting his usual bravado in public this week about the prospects of repealing the Affordable Care Act. Privately he is grappling with rare bouts of self-doubt. Mr. Trump has told four people close to him that he regrets going along with Speaker Paul D. Ryan’s plan to push a health care overhaul before unveiling a tax cut proposal more politically palatable to Republicans. (Thrush and Haberman, 3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: Health Vote’s Outcome Carries High Stakes For Trump Presidency
The health-care bill now stalled in Congress is proving an early test of whether the deal-making skills that made President Donald Trump rich in the business world will also work in the legislative realm, where lawmakers face competing pressures and require different sorts of incentives to reach agreement. (Nicholas, Lee and Radnofsky, 3/23)

Clearing the House would be just a first step since the GOP plan faces significant hurdles in the Senate —

Politico: Trump's Obamacare Repeal Concessions Likely Can't Pass Senate
Democrats say they are certain they can kill any language in the repeal bill that erases Obamacare’s mandate for minimum benefits in insurance plans. And top Republicans are making no promise that the last-ditch changes to win over conservatives will fly in the more centrist Senate, which is beginning to write its own health care plan. (Everett and Haberkorn, 3/23)

The Washington Post: Health-Care Overhaul Faces An Even Bigger Challenge In The Senate
Even if the House approves a GOP effort this week to repeal and replace key parts of the Affordable Care Act, the work of persuading the Senate to do the same is likely to be even harder. (Sullivan and Snell, 3/23)

East Bay Times: Where Do California Republicans Stand On The Health-Care Bill? 
Of the 237 Republicans in the House, more than 30 of them have come flat-out against the proposed bill to repeal and replace Obamacare. None is from California, a state that lately features a fairly milquetoast version of GOP reps in Congress. What California DOES have, at least as of Thursday afternoon as the sun settled over the Golden West, are five moderate GOP lawmakers who, according to the New York Times’ take on the Congressional pulse, are “undecided or unclear” about where they stand on the health-care bill. Particularly if conservative Republicans succeed in forcing changes to the House bill, these moderates can’t be taken for granted — they haven’t committed yet, and they may find the Freedom Caucus’ health care agenda too unpalatable to move from “undecided” to “yes.” (May, 3/23)

Los Angeles Times: California's Doctors In Congress Both Laid Out Their Objections To The Healthcare Bill In Videos Today
While House Republicans spent the day Thursday trying to reach agreement among themselves on their healthcare bill and ended up delaying the vote that was scheduled to take place, Democrats have been using one of the few tools available to them to stop the bill: public perception. That meant press conferences, social media pleas for people to call Republican members and a lot of television appearances. (Wire, 3/23)

Capital Public Radio: California Congressmen To Republicans: Take The Time Required To Fix Obama Care
California Congressmen from both sides of the aisle say lawmakers should take as much time as they need to get a health insurance bill passed that helps the most people. A vote on a Republican health care bill that would repeal and replace the existing system known as Obamacare could come Friday. The bill is being pushed by House Speaker Paul Ryan and President Donald Trump. (Moffitt, 3/23)

Fresno Bee: Clovis Protest Asks Nunes To Reject Affordable Care Act Repeal Law 
More than three dozen people gathered outside the office of Rep. Devin Nunes in Clovis on Thursday, urging him to reject legislation that would end the Affordable Care Act. Kate Connor, 40, organized the protest as part of the Courage Campaign. She said similar protests were being held in six other districts in the state. The protest was organized on the seventh anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, and also on the day it was supposed to be repealed. (Rodriguez-Delgado, 3/23)

KPCC: California Senator Kamala Harris On Health Care, The National Budget, And Investigating Russian Election Interference 
It's been just over 4 months since California voters elected former Attorney General Kamala Harris as US Senator. Since then, there's been little time for rest. Harris serves on four senate committees, including two that have been working overtime... Take Two's A Martinez spoke with Senator Harris about how she's taking on the big issues in Washington DC. (Cross and Martinez, 3/23)

Los Angeles Times: Crowd In Downtown L.A. Protests Obamacare Repeal
Crowds marched through Downtown Los Angeles Thursday afternoon to protest efforts by Republican lawmakers to overhaul the Affordable Care Act. In a rally that occupied a portion of Temple Street outside of the Roybal Federal Building, speakers addressed a crowd of healthcare providers and advocates. (Kohli, 3/23)

Reuters: Obamacare Supporters Rally Against Congressional Repeal Efforts
Supporters of Obamacare staged rallies across the country on Thursday denouncing efforts by President Donald Trump and Republican congressional leaders to repeal the landmark law that has extended medical insurance coverage to some 20 million Americans. Hundreds of demonstrators turned out in Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles marking the seventh anniversary of enactment of Obamacare, as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has become widely known. (Simpson, 3/23)

KQED: As House Vote Approaches, Protesters Of GOP Health Care Bill Get Creative 
Wearing white coats and surgical scrubs, a small group of political activists passed out pink fliers in downtown Oakland Wednesday. They wore toy stethoscopes and shiny, circular mirrors on their heads. They’re not really doctors, but they dressed the part to grab the attention of pedestrians and warn them about the political efforts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. (Klivans, 3/23)

The Bakersfield Californian: Locals Rally Against Healthcare Bill Ahead Of Expected Vote
On the eve of the House’s long-awaited, nail-biter vote to undo and replace Obamacare, 20 Kern County residents rallied in front of Congressman David Valadao’s Bakersfield office Thursday evening urging people to call on their representatives to vote against it..."I think it’s a joke,” Julie Otero, 53, said of the bill, "because where’s the ‘better’? All I see is destruction.” Otero, a board member of the United Domestic Workers Kern Chapter, has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, and hypertension. She said the repeal would hurt her health and finances. (Mills-Gregg, 3/23)

San Jose Mercury News: Bay Area Voters Not Surprised By GOP Health Care Vote Delay
Yet no matter where they got the news, and regardless of their political leaning, several people on the Bay Area News Group’s 25-member voters’ panel — assembled to evaluate President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office — said they weren’t surprised that the dismantling of Obamacare had gotten so gummed up in the nation’s capital that the GOP plan appeared to be going nowhere for now. (Seipel, 3/23)

Bloomberg: Democrats Aim To Weaponize Health Bill Against House Republicans 
Democrats seized on the House health-care vote as an opportunity to inflict political damage on vulnerable Republicans.The Democratic National Committee has begun blanketing the districts of roughly 50 House Republicans with targeted emails and robocalls about the bill, urging recipients to call the lawmakers to express opposition to the bill...It’s the first time the DNC has carried out this kind of campaign since Perez became chair of the party last month and reflects the committee’s efforts to be a hub of anti-Trump activity. (Epstein, 3/23)

Modesto Bee: GOP Delays Vote On Obamacare Replacement Bill; Local Impacts Come Into Sharper Focus 
GOP House leaders delayed their planned vote Thursday on a long-promised bill to repeal and replace “Obamacare,” in a stinging setback for House Speaker Paul Ryan and President Donald Trump in their first major legislative test... State officials provided more clarity on what’s at stake for California, predicting Wednesday that annual losses in Medi-Cal funding would amount to $24 billion by 2027 under the Republican plan. The analysis was done by the state Department of Health Care Services and Department of Finance. (Carlson, 3/23)

KQED: Rural California Counties Could Be Hit Hard Under Obamacare Repeal 
In California, it was largely rural counties that voted to elect Donald Trump president. Trump made repealing the ACA one of his key campaign talking points. But Dr. Anthony Iton with the California Endowment says those counties have among the most to lose should the ACA be repealed. (Orr, 3/24)

The Desert Sun: What California Stands To Lose In Health Care Vote
The first major test of the Republicans' new health plan will have to wait. The U.S. House of Representatives is now expected to take up the vote on Friday rather than Thursday, buying House Speaker Paul Ryan and President Donald Trump more time to negotiate with members of their own party...A California Department of Health Care Services analysis released on Tuesday concluded that the bill would pass significant costs onto states — $6 billion alone in California by 2020, growing to $24.3 billion by 2027. (Newkirk and Marx, 3/23)

Sacramento Business Journal: State Report: American Health Care Act Would Cost California $24.3 Billion By 2027 
The plan being touted by President Trump and congressional Republicans as a replacement to the Affordable Care Act would cost California more than $24 billion by 2027, threaten the health insurance of millions and cut federal funding for in-home support services, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the California Department of Health Care Services. The analysis was released as congressional leaders reportedly planned a vote Thursday on the American Health Care Act. (Patton, 3/23)

Los Angeles Times: Obamacare 101: 4 Things You Need To Know About 'Essential Health' Benefits 
Among the most important — and little understood — new insurance rules put in place by the Affordable Care Act was a requirement that health plans cover a basic set of benefits. The requirement was part of a package of new consumer protections in the healthcare law, including a prohibition on insurers denying coverage to people with preexisting medical conditions and bans on annual- or lifetime-limits on coverage, which were once common. Conservative House Republicans have been demanding the so-called essential benefit requirements be scrapped. Here’s a rundown of what this debate is about. (Levey, 3/23)  

Marketplace: Conservatives Want The Government To Stop Mandating What Insurers Must Cover
The latest carrot that House leadership and the White House are using to win conservative Republican votes for the health care bill is repealing an Obamacare provision that standardized insurance policies. Under Obamacare, virtually all insurance policies cover things like hospitalization, mental health, prescription drugs and pregnancies – known as essential health benefits. But guaranteeing those benefits cost money, while doing away with them would drop the price of premiums. (Gorenstein, 3/23)

NPR: Republican Health Bill Could Remove Pre-Existing Condition Protections
When House Speaker Paul Ryan says he wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act so that people can buy insurance that's right for them, and not something created in Washington, part of what he's saying is that he wants to get rid of so-called essential health benefits. That's a list of 10 general categories of medical care that all insurance policies are required to cover under the Affordable Care Act. Getting rid of that requirement, or trimming it, is central to the Republican strategy, because they say those benefits drive up insurance premiums so much that healthy people won't buy coverage. (Kodjak, 3/23)

The Washington Post: ‘I Wouldn’t Want To Lose My Mammograms,’ Male GOP Senator Says — Then Immediately Regrets
It’s a common question among those decrying the cost of health insurance: Why should you have to purchase a plan that covers procedures you won’t ever need? Especially if, say, you’re a guy, and your plan covers maternity care — as Obamacare requires most plans sold through an exchange to do? It’s also a philosophy in conservative circles gaining momentum as Republicans try to deconstruct Obamacare, (Phillips, 3/23)

Lawmakers have made other modifications to the bill as well —

The Washington Post: Nine Health-Care Bill Changes Aimed At Wooing Moderates And The Far-Right
The legislation, dubbed the American Health Care Act, faces resistance within the House GOP from both moderates within the party and the most conservative faction. As a result, the bill’s authors have proposed to alter parts of the bill in ways to appeal to one camp or the other — and even offered a change specifically targeting a handful of representatives from Upstate New York. Here’s how the bill has changed. (Goldstein, Schaul, Soffen and Uhrmacher, 3/23)

Stat: Trump Pledged Not To Cut Medicaid. Is He Keeping That Promise?
It’s among his most famous campaign promises: Donald Trump pledged he would not cut Medicaid as president. But the legislation that Trump has aggressively promoted, and that Congress is expected to vote on ... appears to do exactly that. It would reduce Medicaid spending by hundreds of billions of dollars over 10 years, compared with current law, while dramatically altering the financing of a program that covers 70 million Americans.The White House, however, says it is not “cutting” Medicaid. (Scott, 3/23)

Bloomberg: Trumpcare Has Seniors Rethinking Early Retirement 
After decades of saving diligently, Dan Maize, 53, of Williamsburg, Va., made the decision last year to retire early. He stayed at his job, managing a grocery store, until February—just before Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives unveiled a health-care bill that could make his early retirement much harder to afford. Under the American Health Care Act, the Obamacare overhaul that faced a congressional vote on March 23, costs could fall for many younger Americans. The majority of older people would pay much more, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and others who analyzed an early version of the legislation. (Steverman, 3/23)

The Hill: CBO Releases New Score For ObamaCare Repeal Bill 
GOP leaders had pledged that they would wait for the CBO's new score before holding a floor vote on the legislation. That vote could happen as early as Friday. The CBO's score, however, does not reflect last-minute changes that could be made to win over conservatives, including repeal of ObamaCare's minimum coverage requirements. That change would be significant, but it is possible House Republicans could bring up the vote without that revised score. (Sullivan, 3/23)

The Washington Post: CBO: Latest House GOP Health-Care Bill Would Mean As Many Uninsured By 2026
According to the CBO’s projections, a set of amendments that House GOP leaders agreed to support Monday night would cut the federal deficit by $150 billion between 2017 and 2026. The original version of the American Health Care Act, as the bill is called, would have curbed the deficit by an estimated $337 billion in that period. The changes would have less impact on savings because they would make it easier for Americans to deduct the cost of medical care from their income taxes and would accelerate by a year the repeal of several taxes that help pay for the ACA, including taxes on insurers, hospitals, high-income adults and tanning beds. (Goldstein, 3/23)

Bloomberg: Wall Street Frets Over Health Vote's Impact
As Republicans in Congress tried to wrangle enough votes to pass their health care bill Thursday, the S&P 500 Index swung from a gain to a loss, continuing its worst selloff of the Trump era. Meanwhile demand rose for traditional safe havens like Treasuries. By the close of trading, the GOP had decided to delay the vote as conservatives mulled a proposal from the Trump administration. The S&P 500 finished down 0.1 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was essentially flat and the Nasdaq 100 Stock Index fell 0.2 percent. (Burger, 3/23)

Reuters: Uncertain Fate Of Obamacare Causes Some Hospitals To Halt Projects, Hiring
Uncertainty surrounding the Republican plan to replace Obamacare is forcing some U.S. hospitals to delay expansion plans, cut costs, or take on added risk to borrow money for capital investment projects, dealing an economic blow to these facilities and the towns they call home. (Respaut and Abutaleb, 3/23)

Marketplace: Hospitals Worry As Obamacare Repeal Vote Approaches
The AHA launched a media campaign against the bill and brought dozens of hospital leaders to lobby members of Congress. The real danger, [Rick Pollack, president and CEO of the American Hospital Association,] said, is that the hospital would have to absorb the cost of care for the uninsured patients. So as executives have made their case to lawmakers, one message they carry is that hospitals are businesses. (Gorenstein, 3/23)

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Chamber of Commerce Chief Tells House GOP: Pass Health Bill Now, Improve It Later
Tom Donohue, the president of the U.S. Chamber of commerce, has a plea for lawmakers wavering in their support for the GOP’s health-care overhaul: stick with it if you want a better outcome. Speaking in a Thursday morning interview, Mr. Donohue said it was imperative for lawmakers to keep their eyes on the ultimate prize – repealing and replacing the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Even if the House Republicans’ bill falls short of their various desires, he said, the only way to improve the bill is to pass it and continue work in the Senate. (Hackman, 3/23)

San Jose Mercury News: Community Survey Gives Snapshot Of Palo Alto Perception On Youth Suicide
The Palo Alto community sees improvements among youths and adults regarding the stigma over suicide and seeking help for mental illness, but more targeted outreach could be done, speakers at a forum on youth suicide said Wednesday. Becky Beacom, of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and Sutter Health, shared results of a community survey that sought to better understand the perceptions Palo Alto youths and adults have about youth suicide and prevention. (Lee, 3/23)

Southern California News Group: Winter Rain - Achoo! - Puts Allergies In Bloom
Allergists and other specialists working across California had similar expectations – a stormy winter could lead to aggravated symptoms for people who are sensitive to common allergens like pollen or mold. Another thing to keep in mind, the powerful rain storms of past weeks are the kind of thing that can pound pollen spores into even smaller particles capable of nesting deep within a patient’s lungs. (Edwards, 3/23)

Sacramento Bee: Sacramento County Sheriff Adds Mental Health Beds To Jail 
As the Sacramento County Main Jail handles more inmates with psychiatric problems, the Sheriff’s Department is developing a new section staffed by UC Davis medical professionals, social workers and deputies that can provide intensive mental services without 24-hour care. The county currently keeps inmates who are suicidal or deemed a threat to others in an 18-bed “acute care” unit, which functions like a residential treatment facility. (Garrison, 3/23)

The San Diego Union-Tribune: San Diego Veteran Sues To Keep Support Dog With Him At Recovery Center 
A Marine Corps veteran has sued Veterans Village of San Diego over a dispute about keeping his support dog, a Great Dane named Arthur, at the recovery center. The federal lawsuit comes as more veterans are getting service or support dogs for assistance with conditions from post-traumatic stress disorder to missing limbs, creating a new challenge for landlords, employers and health-care institutions. Mike Roberts said Arthur is trained to wake him during nightmares caused by his PTSD. Roberts served honorably in the Corps from 1996 to 1999 and has a non-combat disability connected to his service, his lawyer said. (Steele, 3/23)

East Bay Times: Monsanto Weed Killer Caused Cancer, Californians Allege In New Lawsuit 
Forty California residents are suing chemical giant Monsanto, alleging that exposure to the company’s Roundup weed killer caused them to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The complaint, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, seeks compensatory and punitive damages from defendants Monsanto Co. and Willbur Ellis Company, LLC., for wrongful death and personal injuries. In the lawsuit, which was filed by consumer attorney firm Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman and environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the plaintiffs allege that Monsanto promoted false data and attacked legitimate research that showed the danger of glyphosate, an ingredient in its popular weed killer. (Sciacca, 3/23)

San Francisco Chronicle: California Passes Nation’s Toughest Methane Emission Regulations 
California air quality officials have approved what are widely considered to be the most rigorous and comprehensive regulations in the country for controlling methane emissions, a move that helps cement the state’s status as a standard-bearer for environmental protection. The new rules, green-lighted Thursday by the state’s Air Resources Board, seek to curb methane emissions at oil and gas production plants by up to 45 percent over the next nine years. (Fracassa, 3/23)

NPR: Kids Who Suffer Hunger In First Years Lag Behind Their Peers In School
Growing up in a hungry household in the first couple of years of life can hurt how well a child performs in school years later, according to a new study. An estimated 13.1 million children live in homes with insufficient food, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Many of those children experience hunger during their first few years of life, or their parents are hungry and stressed out about food during those years – the most crucial time for a child's development. (Chatterjee, 3/23)

NPR: Cancer Is Partly Caused By Bad Luck, Study Finds
Cancer can be caused by tobacco smoke or by an inherited trait, but new research finds that most of the mutations that lead to cancer crop up naturally. The authors of the study published Thursday poked a hornet's nest by suggesting that many cancers are unavoidable. (Harris, 3/24)