The Hill: House Passes ObamaCare Repeal
House Republicans on Thursday passed legislation aimed at repealing and replacing ObamaCare, taking a major step toward a long-held goal and setting in motion an overhaul of the nation’s health system. The narrow 217-213 vote is a victory for GOP leaders, who faced a tumultuous path to getting the bill to the floor. The measure had to be pulled in March because of a lack of votes, but a series of deals since then brought on board the conservative Freedom Caucus and then wavering moderates.  (Sullivan, 5/4)

Politico: House Approves Obamacare Repeal Bill
The American Health Care Act, which passed on a 217-213 vote, now heads to the Senate, where Republicans have expressed deep reservations about it. But the vote is a big victory for President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, and the closest Republicans have come to fulfilling their long-running pledge to overturn Obamacare. (Cheney, Bresnahan and Bade, 5/4)

Bloomberg: House Passes Obamacare Repeal In Razor-Thin GOP Victory
The 217-213 vote sends the American Health Care Act to the Senate, where it has little chance of being passed in its current form by fellow Republicans spooked by reports the plan would cause millions to lose health insurance. Twenty Republicans voted against the bill, and no Democrats backed it. (Edgerton, House and Edney, 5/4)

The New York Times: House Passes Measure To Repeal And Replace The Affordable Care Act
Passage of the health care bill completed a remarkable act of political resuscitation, six weeks after House leaders failed to muster the votes to pass an earlier version of their bill, a blow to Mr. Trump and Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin. “We are all breathing a sigh of relief,” Representative Chris Collins, Republican of New York, said. “We’re living up to a campaign promise we made, the Senate made, the president made.” (Kaplan and Pear, 5/4)

The Washington Post: House Republicans Narrowly Pass Controversial Bill To Revise Affordable Care Act, Claiming Fulfillment Of A Major Campaign Promise
“This bill delivers on the promises that we have made to the American people,” Ryan said on the House floor moments before the vote. “You know, a lot of us have been waiting seven years to cast this vote. Many of us are here because we pledged to cast this very vote — to repeal and replace Obamacare, to rescue people from this collapsing law. Are we going to meet this test? Are we going to be men and women of our word?” (O'Keefe, Winfield Cunningham and Goldstein, 5/4)

USA Today: Obamacare Repeal: House Passes Bill In Major Victory For Republicans
Democrats fiercely attacked the GOP plan, saying it would gut consumer protections, increase health care costs, and strip health insurance from the poor and middle class. "Trumpcare eviscerates essential health benefits," such as maternity care and prescription drug coverage, said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., "... and guts protections for people with pre-existing conditions." (Shesgreen, 5/4)

NPR: House Passes GOP Health Care Bill, The First Step In A Longtime Pledge To Dismantle Obamacare
The bill included last-minute amendments designed to draw votes from the most conservative House Republicans in the House Freedom Caucus as well as from their more moderate counterparts. The changes were necessary after the original bill was pulled from the floor in March when it became apparent it would not pass. And last week, GOP leaders considered bringing it back, but then decided not to risk another vote. (Naylor, 5/4)

The Associated Press: House Passes GOP Health Bill, A Step Toward Obamacare Repeal
Leaders rallied rank-and-file lawmakers at a closed-door meeting early Thursday by playing “Eye of the Tiger,” the rousing 1980s song from the “Rocky III” film. (5/4)

The Wall Street Journal: GOP Approves Bill To Replace Most Of Affordable Care Act
Republicans have promised for years to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but it took weeks for House GOP leaders to line up enough support to advance the bill. They came up short twice, including in late March, when leaders pulled the bill from the floor just hours ahead of a planned vote due to collapsing support. (Andrews and Peterson, 5/4)

Los Angeles Times: With A Push From Trump, House Republicans Pass Obamacare Overhaul
The full cost and impact of the final changes to the bill remain unclear because GOP leaders called the vote without first waiting for a new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. A previous analysis, before amendments were made to appease both conservative and centrist factions of the party, estimated the GOP plan would leave 24 million more Americans without healthcare coverage by 2026. (Mascaro and Levey, 5/4)

The Hill: Pelosi On GOP Health Vote: 'This Is A Scar That They'll Carry'
Republicans may secure a major win this week when they vote to repeal and replace ObamaCare. But Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says that victory will be short-lived.The House Democratic leader hammered the Republicans on Thursday for “maliciously … attempting to destroy healthcare” for millions of Americans. But the ultimate political benefit, she suggested, will fall on the Democrats. (Lillis, 5/4)

Politico: Manchin: Trump Voters Will Know Republicans Took Their Health Coverage Away
Sen. Joe Manchin, the centrist West Virginia Democrat, warned Thursday that the Republican health care bill will harm some of President Donald Trump’s supporters — and while they may not believe Democrats' 2010 health law gave them insurance, “they’re going to know who took it away from them.” (Conway, 5/4)

The New York Times: Republicans Get Their Health Bill. But It May Cost Them.
But by leaning on members to vote for a bill that many fear will take too much health care from too many people, Mr. Ryan has exposed moderate Republicans to withering political attack, especially in the roughly two dozen districts where Hillary Clinton prevailed, but also in places where the Affordable Care Act’s popularity has been increasing. (Steinhauer, 5/4)

Meanwhile —

Politico: 5 Instances Of GOP Hypocrisy On Obamacare Repeal
For seven years, Republicans campaigned on a single message: Obamacare was rammed through Congress by power-hungry Democrats who rushed a hastily written bill riddled with backroom kickbacks. But now, after vowing for years that the repeal process would be different, with regular order and plenty of public scrutiny, Republicans are doing the exact same thing — or worse — that they blasted Democrats for repeatedly. Here’s how. (Caygle, 5/4)

Politico: Republicans Don’t Really Like The Health Care Bill They Just Passed
Republicans have been saying this particular bill was set to pass because it’s a now-or-never situation — especially after the embarrassing collapse of the first effort in March — and they’re been finding solace in the idea that the legislation won't be the final product anyway. Rep. Luke Messer, an Indiana Republican, called it a "green flag" and a "start." (Dawsey, 5/4)

Stat: As Health Care Bill Heads To Senate, 7 Winners And Losers
It’s the first step toward fulfilling a promise Republican legislators have campaigned on for seven years. But even though the House voted Thursday to repeal major elements of the Affordable Care Act, the effort still faces a number of major political hurdles, not the least of which is that little is known about this legislation’s impacts. (Facher, 5/4)

Vox: 3 Winners And 3 Losers From The Republican Vote To Replace Obamacare
If the bill makes it through the Senate and becomes law, Republicans will have achieved a campaign promise they’ve been making for the past seven years. Millions of Americans will lose health insurance altogether, according to CBO estimates based on an earlier version of the bill. Taxes will drop for the wealthiest Americans. And for those still buying individual plans, the American health insurance system will prioritize the needs of young and healthy people more, and sicker people less. (Kliff, 5/4)

USA Today: Obamacare Repeal: Republicans Scramble In 11th Hour With New Health Plan
House Republicans will take another crack at repealing Obamacare on Thursday in a high-stakes vote on legislation that would dramatically revamp the health care system and will serve as a major test for the GOP Congress and the Trump administration. The Republican bill, hotly contested and highly controversial, was the subject of 11th-hour negotiations and last-minute sweeteners, as GOP leaders scrambled for enough votes to push it through the House and send it to the Senate. (Shesgreen, 5/4)

Politico: Decision Day For Obamacare Repeal
House Republicans will huddle Thursday morning for what amounts to a last-minute pep rally to buck up colleagues as they prepare to take a vote to remake health insurance for millions of Americans. ... Though Republican leaders insisted Wednesday they've secured the 216 votes needed to pass their bill, the roll call will still be nerve-wracking. At least 16 Republicans are still on record rejecting the proposal and about a dozen more are undecided. (Cheney and Bresnahan, 5/4)

The New York Times: With $8 Billion Deal On Health Bill, House G.O.P. Leader Says ‘We Have Enough Votes’
House Republican leaders planned to hold a showdown vote Thursday on their bill to repeal and replace large portions of the Affordable Care Act after adding $8 billion to the measure to help cover insurance costs for people with pre-existing conditions. “We have enough votes,” Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the House majority leader, said Wednesday night. “It’ll pass.” (Kaplan and Pear, 5/3)

The Washington Post: Republicans Plan Health-Care Vote On Thursday, Capping Weeks Of Fits And Starts
Rep. Fred Upton, an influential Republican from Michigan, introduced the amendment that was key to resolving a major sticking point this week. It provides more financial assistance — $8 billion over five years — to help people with preexisting conditions pay for medical costs. Those people are at risk of losing protections under the GOP plan, which seeks to repeal and replace major parts of the ACA. Just a day earlier, Upton said he could not support the Republican plan because of its stance on preexisting conditions. But he sounded an optimistic note after sketching out his fix Wednesday and meeting with President Trump at the White House. (Sullivan, Weigel and Snell, 5/3)

The Wall Street Journal: Who Opposes The New Republican Health Care Bill In The House?
To understand who opposes the bill and why, it helps to put lawmakers in the context of how the people in their districts tend to vote and what it means for lawmakers' prospects in the 2018 elections. (Canipe and Yeip, 5/2)

Politico: Tuesday Group Leader Under Fire Over Health Care Deal
Republican Rep. Tom MacArthur might have singlehandedly saved the Obamacare repeal effort. But rather than being hailed as a hero, the New Jersey lawmaker has come under fire from GOP centrists, who are incensed he negotiated with Freedom Caucus ringleader Mark Meadows. (Bade and Cheney, 5/3)

The New York Times: Extra Billions For Health Bill? Researchers Say It’s Still Not Enough
Is $8 billion enough to get the House health bill passed? And is it enough to ensure that people with pre-existing medical conditions will still be able to get insurance if Congress repeals the Affordable Care Act? The answer to the first question is maybe. On the second, it’s very likely to be no. (Abelson and Sanger-Katz, 5/3)

The Washington Post: Here’s What You Need To Know About Preexisting Conditions In The GOP Health Plan
Before the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies could consider a person’s health status when determining premiums, sometimes making coverage unaffordable or even unavailable if a person was already sick with a problem that required expensive treatment. The ACA prohibited that, in part by requiring everyone to purchase insurance. But that “individual mandate” was unpopular and Republicans would eliminate that requirement in their proposed American Health Care Act. (Kessler, 5/4)

The Wall Street Journal: Jumping Into High-Risk Insurance Pools
The sickest 10% of Americans account for about two-thirds of health-care spending, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The ACA requires almost everyone to have insurance or pay a fine so healthy customers would subsidize sick ones. High-risk pools take a different approach, separating the sickest people into their own pool so premiums for healthy customers would fall. (Hackman, 5/3)

The New York Times: What Republicans Changed In Their Health Care Bill To Try To Get More Votes
In a scramble to garner enough votes for passage, House Republicans have added more revisions to their bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), more than a month after pulling their initial bill from the floor. Here’s a look at how the Republican bill compares with the Affordable Care Act. (Park, Sanger-Katz and Lee, 5/3)

The New York Times: Jimmy Kimmel Sheds Light On Health Coverage For Infants With Birth Defects
Jimmy Kimmel’s tearful description of his newborn son’s heart defect has galvanized parents across the country. A few shared his experience as a frantic new father; many more gave silent thanks that they had been spared this ordeal. But the talk-show host’s monologue has also focused new attention on how infants with such birth defects were cared for before passage of the Affordable Care Act, and what may lie ahead for them should the legislation be repealed. (Kolata and Goodnough, 5/3)

The Wall Street Journal: How Health-Care Bill Would Affect You
The Republican proposal to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, which is expected to receive a vote in the House on Thursday, would bring big changes to health-care coverage for many Americans. Here are some of the most important ones. (Armour and Hackman, 5/3)

Politico: Deep-Pocketed Health Care Lobbies Line Up Against Trump
Just about every major health care group opposes President Donald Trump’s health care overhaul — and the self-styled negotiator-in-chief hasn’t tried cutting a deal with them. The opposition from the deep-pocketed health care industry — and patient advocacy groups from the American Heart Association to the March of Dimes — has made it hard for Republicans to push Obamacare repeal through the House. And they could be a persistent obstacle if the legislation makes it to the Senate. (Cancryn, Karlin-Smith and Demko, 5/3)

San Francisco Chronicle: Trump, GOP Leaders Lean On California Republicans To Pass Health Bill 
President Trump and House GOP leaders leaned hard Wednesday on undecided Republicans, including vulnerable Californians in swing districts, in a last-ditch effort to pass their proposed repeal of the Affordable Care Act this week. By late in the day, Republican leaders expressed confidence they had the support they needed to repeal former President Barack Obama’s signature legislative victory, and said the House would vote Thursday. (Lochhead, 5/3)

The Mercury News: California's GOP Delegation Key To Obamacare Repeal
Nearly six weeks after Republican leaders in the House canceled a vote on a controversial replacement for the Affordable Care Act because they lacked the votes, they are set to try again on Thursday. And California’s 14 Republican members of Congress will be critical in deciding its fate. (Seipel, 5/3)

Orange County Register: Constituents Of Rep. Ed Royce March For A Vote Against American Health Care Act 
A small number of constituents who live in Rep. Ed Royce’s district marched to his Brea office Wednesday afternoon asking that he oppose legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare. Royce is undecided at a time when fellow Republicans are seeking to bring legislation to a vote that would make health insurance optional and allow states to opt out of banning insurers from charging more to people with pre-existing conditions. (Perkes, 5/3)

Los Angeles Times: California Shows Why The Republican Plan To Rely On States To Replace Obamacare May Not Work
Richard Figueroa still shudders at the memory of the calls he fielded as enrollment director of California’s special health plan for sick patients who’d been rejected by insurers. Desperate callers pleaded to get off the waiting list as cancer or other illnesses worsened. Enrollees struggled to understand why the plan would not cover all the treatment they needed. (Levey, 5/3)

Sacramento Bee: Unfunded Health Care Promises Are ‘Snake Oil,’ Says Would-Be California Governor
Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa likes to say healthcare is a right, not a privilege. ... But now as a candidate for governor, Villaraigosa said he isn’t prepared to embrace single-payer without first identifying a way to pay for it, putting him at odds with his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who says he would push a universal, single-payer system, and is working with allies on such a proposal. (Cadelago, 5/3)

KPBS: San Diego Scientists Find Further Evidence A Club Drug Could Treat Depression
San Diego scientists say they have found new evidence to support the idea that a common drug — which some users take illegally for its dissociative effects — could be used to treat depression. Ketamine has long been used as an anesthetic, and some users take it as a hallucinogenic club drug. But a number of studies have shown it may also alleviate depression. (Wagner, 5/3)

Los Angeles Times: Congressional Representatives Warn WHO Of OxyContin Maker's Global Push
Members of Congress called on the World Health Organization Wednesday to “do everything in its power” to stop the manufacturer of the highly addictive painkiller OxyContin from setting off “a worldwide opioid epidemic” with its rapid expansion into developing countries and other foreign markets. In a letter to the WHO’s director-general, a dozen U.S. representatives from areas devastated by opioid addiction urged the international medical community to be wary of Connecticut opioid maker Purdue Pharma and its international arm, known as Mundipharma. (Ryan, 5/3)

The Mercury News: A New Health Care Clinic For African-Americans Opens In San Jose
When it opens its doors on Monday, the Roots Community Health Center on The Alameda will be the first primary care service provider in the South Bay aimed at improving the health and well-being of African-Americans. ... Santa Clara County is home to about 55,000 African-Americans, but the black community here — like those nationwide — continues to face serious health disparities compared with other racial and ethnic groups. (Seipel, 5/3)

In other health news from across the state —

The Mercury News: Palo Alto Secondary Schools Get New Mental Health Provider
Counseling and Support Services for Youth, which serves eight of 12 elementary schools in the Palo Alto Unified School District, is being recommended to the school board by the School-Based Counseling Proposal Review Committee. The committee of more than 20 district staff members, mental health specialists and students reviewed three organizations that answered the district’s request for proposals. (Lee, 5/3)

Orange County Register: Costa Mesa Adopts New Sober-Living Rules To Protect Evicted Residents 
The City Council’s 3-2 vote Tuesday night  to adopt the new rules puts additional requirements on sober-living operators to ensure evicted residents don’t end up homeless — making Costa Mesa unique among Orange County cities. Costa Mesa is home to 20 percent of the county’s state-licensed sober living homes but has only 3 percent of the county’s population, officials say. In addition, evicted sober-living residents are becoming the fastest contributor to the city’s homeless population, straining city resources, officials say. (Casiano Jr., 5/3)

Orange County Register: Former Orange County Lab Owner Convicted Of Healthcare Fraud 
A former Aliso Viejo man has been convicted of healthcare fraud for submitting bills to insurance companies that sought reimbursement for tests that were never performed. A jury on Tuesday found Michael Mirando, 40, who resides in Portland, Oregon, guilty of 15 felony counts of healthcare fraud, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. (Puente, 5/3)

Fresno Bee: Fresno State Student Has Bacterial Meningitis 
A Fresno State student has been diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and 72 students who might have been exposed are being given antibiotics, county health officials said Wednesday afternoon. The health center at California State University, Fresno notified the county Department of Public Health of the diagnosis on Monday, said Dr. Ken Bird, health officer for Fresno County. (Anderson, 5/3)

Ventura County Star: Healthy Thousand Oaks Family Credits March Of Dimes
By late that night, the Thousand Oaks resident and her husband Anthony were in the maternity ward of Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center, where doctors furiously tried to stave off a premature birth. But contractions persisted, and the 27-year-old gave birth the next day to baby Abigail in an emergency Caesarean section...[Jen] Francis said the support of her family, who lives close by, helped everyone get through the ordeal. She is also grateful to the March of Dimes, which developed the medication for NEC. And because of their gratitude to the organization, the Francis family was the Ventura County March for Babies Ambassador Family at a recent fundraiser at California Lutheran University. (Flans, 5/3)

East Bay Times: People Needed To Foster Dogs Training In Antioch, Oakley
Jalina is a diabetic alert dog, provided by Dogs4Diabetics, a Concord-based charity. [Miranda] Bennetts and Jalina have been together for four years now. Bennetts is a senior at Freedom High School, and when she goes off to college, Jalina will go with her...Now, Dogs4Diabetics is looking to expand its program. This summer, the charity will be moving to a new location in Concord that is three times the size of its current facility. It will be able to train more dogs to provide to clients. As a result, it is looking for volunteers to foster the dogs during their training and is specifically recruiting people in the Antioch-Oakley-Brentwood area. (Esper, 5/3)