Sacramento Bee: Deadline Is Wednesday To Sign Up For Health Insurance Through Covered California
Still need health coverage for 2018? You’re got until 11:59:59 Wednesday night to enroll in insurance policies offered through the Covered California marketplace. While the federal marketplace closed enrollment in dozens of other states on Dec. 15 this year, California maintained the Jan. 31 deadline. (Anderson, 1/30)

Ventura County Star: Covered California Enrollment Deadlines Loom
People who start the process by the deadline but don’t finish can complete the process on Thursday or Friday. The deadline is also extended for Californians who enroll through a certified insurance agent or enrollment counselor at no extra cost. They have until the end of Friday. (Kisken, 1/30)

KPBS: Covered California Health Care Enrollment Deadline Looms 
The exchange reports as of Jan. 22, more than 340,000 new consumers had signed up for health insurance through Covered California. In addition, more than 1.2 million current Covered California members have renewed their coverage for 2018. (Goldberg, 1/30)

The New York Times: Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway And JPMorgan Team Up To Try To Disrupt Health Care
Three corporate behemoths — Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase — announced on Tuesday that they would form an independent health care company for their employees in the United States. The alliance was a sign of just how frustrated American businesses are with the state of the nation’s health care system and the rapidly spiraling cost of medical treatment. It also caused further turmoil in an industry reeling from attempts by new players to attack a notoriously inefficient, intractable web of doctors, hospitals, insurers and pharmaceutical companies. (Wingfield, Thomas and Abelson, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, JPMorgan Join Forces To Pare Health-Care Costs
“The ballooning costs of health care act as a hungry tapeworm on the American economy,” Berkshire Chief Executive Warren Buffett said in prepared remarks. “Our group does not come to this problem with answers. But we also do not accept it as inevitable. ”The new company will focus on technological solutions that can provide simplified and transparent health care for the three companies’ U.S. employees at a lower cost. (Lombardo, Stevens and Friedman, 1/30)

Los Angeles Times: Amazon, JPMorgan And Berkshire Hathaway Team Up To Lower Healthcare Costs For Their Workers — And Maybe Everyone
Although the companies said their focus mainly would be on providing improved healthcare for their own U.S. workers, which total nearly 1 million, the move immediately triggered speculation that any solutions they develop could spread throughout the industry. (Peltz, Puzzanghera and Levey, 1/30)

Stat: Amazon Pleges To 'Disrupt' The Health Care Industry. Experts Doubt It
When news broke Tuesday morning that Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase are forming an independent health care company for their employees, headlines hailed the idea as a way to “disrupt” health care. ...But many health care experts were far more skeptical — noting both the near-total absence of details in the announcement and the fact that the history of the health care industry is littered with examples of players who have pledged to disrupt the field but ultimately failed. (Thielking, 1/30)

Politico: Amazon's New Health Care Business Could Shake Up Industry After Others Have Failed
Skepticism appears warranted, however, about the prospects for Amazon and its new partners achieving significant changes in a sector that’s proven largely impervious to major reform efforts over decades. “We’ve seen these deals before,” said Sam Glick, a partner in the health and life sciences division at Oliver Wyman. He cited Walmart and Intel as two companies that have sought to provide health care for employees while cutting out the insurance middleman. “It’s not news that jumbo employers are frustrated with escalating costs and lousy experiences in the health care system.” (Demko, 1/30)

The New York Times: How Amazon Rattles Other Companies
Amazon’s ambitions have few limits, and the mere specter of its entry into a particular industry can shape markets. When the company has appeared interested in expanding into a new business, it has spooked investors in potential competitors, leading to large sell-offs. (Russell and Wingfield, 1/30)

The New York Times: ‘Dr. Alexa, I’ve Been Sneezing And My Throat Is Sore’
The fledgling plan from Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase to create an independent health care system for their American employees is just as bare-bones as it is bold. The companies, all titans in their respective industries, gave few details Tuesday when they announced the joint effort. The group said its strategy will focus first on technology as a way to provide simplified, affordable access to medical services. (Hsu, 1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Health Care ‘Tapeworm’ Faces New Threat
Tuesday’s health-care stock jolt might not last for long, but the reckoning that the industry has feared is starting to seem a little less hazy. Amazon.com, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase plan to start their own nonprofit company in a bid to reduce health-care spending for their hundreds of thousands of U.S. employees. Express Scripts Holding, CVS Health and UnitedHealth Group fell sharply on Tuesday before rebounding. (Grant, 1/30)

Bloomberg: Amazon Health-Care Move May Be Next ‘Home Run’ Like Cloud Services
Amazon.com Inc.’s foray into health care won’t be the first time it has disrupted an entire industry by starting with an effort inside the company. Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos is teaming up with fellow billionaires Warren Buffett and Jamie Dimon to revamp health care for the 2.4 million workers and dependents of the companies they run. The move fostered widespread speculation the trio will eventually make their approach to medical care available to companies far and wide. (Soper, 1/31)

Bloomberg: Who Could Lead A New Health-Care Company For Three Billionaires? 
Wanted: Chief executive for health-care startup. Must be able to reinvent an industry, reduce spiraling costs and improve care for one million people -- and possibly the entire nation. Reply to: Three billionaires. Amazon.com Inc., Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are teaming up to try to solve the seemingly insurmountable mess that’s the U.S. health-care system. Their venture raises a crucial question of who could run such an enterprise. (Melin and Abelson, 1/30)

Bloomberg: Buffett-Bezos Health Plan Will Hinge On Buying Power, Technology 
Prices for prescription drugs, which move through a complex chain of pharmacy-benefit managers and wholesalers before reaching patients, are especially hard to understand. Even big employers often have to travel to secure rooms in the offices of pharmacy-benefit managers to learn the secret discounts they are getting on brand-name medications. The new joint venture could make pricing information more accessible--and drive down profit margins for drug-plan managers such as Express Scripts Holding Co. and CVS Health Corp., and wholesalers including AmerisourceBergen Corp. and McKesson Corp. (Langreth and Tracer, 1/30)

The Mercury News: Google: Using Your Health Records To Predict Whether You’ll Live Or Die
An elite team of computer scientists and medical experts from Google and three major U.S. universities believe they’ve found the best way yet to predict whether a hospitalized patient will end up leaving via the front doors or the loading dock at the morgue. ...In a just-released paper, not peer reviewed, the researchers claim their AI-based software, based on AI known as “deep learning,” does a better job at predicting patient outcomes than other methods currently available. (Baron, 1/30)

KPCC: As Families Return To Montecito Homes, Disease Threat From Mud Persists 
Montecito residents who had been evacuated from neighborhoods overrun by mud Jan. 9 were cleared to return home this week. But families returning to intact houses might still have to deal with a layer of mud in their yards, and unhealthy substances the mud picked up in its path. (McNary, 1/30)

Ventura County Star: Dental, Eye Care Available For Young Fire Victims
Free dental and vision care services are available to children of low-income families who have been affected by the Thomas Fire. The free services include exams, X-rays, glasses, root canals, endodontics, periodontics, extractions, crowns, fillings, cleanings, and occasionally braces for medical reasons. The services will be donated by the Ventura County Medical Resource Foundation’s professional oral health and vision care specialists from throughout Ventura County. (1/30)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. County Urges State To Expand Definition Of 'Gravely Disabled'
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion Tuesday that asks California lawmakers to change the way the state defines "grave disability" in order to give officials more power to forcibly treat mentally ill homeless people. The motion comes amid concern about the growing number of deaths of the homeless in L.A. County. According to data from the Los Angeles County coroner's office, 831 homeless people died in 2017, compared with 458 in 2013. (Etehad, 1/30)

In other new from across the state —

Sacramento Bee: California's Treasurer And Attorney General Move On Plan To Create Public Bank For Pot Businesses
Because of the federal prohibition on marijuana, banks generally will not provide accounts to cannabis companies, forcing them to pay taxes and other expenses in cash. The resulting safety problems and accounting complications have been brought to the fore by the Jan. 1 start of legal recreational pot sales in California. (Branan, 1/30)

San Jose Mercury News: Walgreens Settles Suit Alleging It Sold Expired Baby Food
Walgreens Co. will pay $2.25 million to resolve a consumer protection lawsuit brought by Bay Area prosecutors alleging that the company sold expired baby food, infant formula and over-the-counter drugs. The suit also alleged that Walgreens violated state law by charging more than the lowest posted or advertised price for items. (Green, 1/30)

San Diego Union-Times: Doug Sooley's 'Long Road Back To Health' 
Ramona resident Doug Sooley is on the road to recovery from a New Year’s Day bicycle accident that sent him to intensive care at Palomar Medical Center in Escondido.On that day, Sooley was cruising down a hill at 40 mph with friend Steve Molick on Archie Moore Road near Mt. Woodson. After his bike began wobbling, he lost control of it and flew over the handlebars, breaking his scapula, seven ribs, collarbone, his pelvis in several places and a sacrum. (Gallant, 1/30)

The Hill: CDC Head Resigns After Report She Traded Tobacco Stocks
Centers for Disease Control and Prevent Director Brenda Fitzgerald resigned Wednesday, one day after reports that she traded tobacco stocks while heading the agency. "This morning Secretary Azar accepted Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald’s resignation as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement. (Hellmann, 1/31)

Politico: CDC Director Resigns Over Financial Conflicts
Buying shares of tobacco companies raised flags because it stood in stark contrast to the CDC’s mission to persuade smokers to quit and keep children from becoming addicted. Fitzgerald's behavior likely broke with ethical norms for public health officials, critics said, and could have posed legal problems if she didn't recuse herself from government activities that could have affected her investments. (1/31)

Stat: CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald Resigns Following Controversy Over Stocks
The statement said that Fitzgerald owns “certain complex financial interests that have imposed a broad recusal limiting her ability to complete all her duties as the CDC director." It said that Fitzgerald could not divest from them in a definitive time period, due to the nature of the investments. After advising Azar of the problem, she offered her resignation and he accepted. (Branswell, 1/31)

CNN: CDC Director Fitzgerald Resigns
Fitzgerald was selected for the position in July by then Secretary of Health and Human Services, Dr. Tom Price. (Goldschmidt, 1/31)

The New York Times: Trump Issues Appeal For Unity In First State Of The Union
President Trump challenged Democrats on Tuesday night to join him in overhauling immigration policies and in rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure in his first State of the Union address. Speaking to a joint session of Congress, Mr. Trump hailed what he called the “extraordinary success” of his administration’s first year, and largely steered clear of the nationalist rhetoric, political attacks and confrontational tone that have been his calling cards both as a candidate and as a commander in chief. (Hirschfeld Davis and Shear, 1/30)

The New York Times: 2018 State Of The Union Fact-Check
Reporters from The New York Times checked the facts, falsehoods and statements in need of context from President Trump’s first State of the Union address. Watch a replay along with real time analysis here and an annotated transcript of the speech. (1/30)

The Wall Street Journal: In State Of The Union, Trump Vows Optimism As More Fights Loom
[Trump] squeezed in remarks on a handful of specific other issues including health care, which had dominated his first year in office, when he applauded Republicans’ repeal of the requirement that most Americans obtain health insurance or pay a penalty as removing “the core” of the Affordable Care Act. (Nicholas, Radnofsky and Hughes, 1/31)

The Hill: Trump Makes No Calls For ObamaCare Repeal In State Of The Union 
President Trump made no mention of repealing or replacing ObamaCare during his first State of the Union address on Tuesday, cementing how far the issue has fallen off of the GOP’s agenda. Republicans on Capitol Hill have largely moved away from gutting former President Obama’s signature health-care law, and Trump wasn’t expected to speak about repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in his speech Tuesday. (Roubein, 1/30)

The Associated Press Fact Check: Trump On Obama's Health Care Law
Congress did repeal the unpopular requirement that most Americans carry insurance or risk a tax penalty but that takes effect next year. It's a far cry from what Trump and the GOP-led Congress set out to do last year, which was to scrap most of the sweeping Obama-era health law and replace it with a Republican alternative. The GOP blueprint would have left millions more Americans uninsured, making it even more unpopular than "Obamacare." (1/30)

The Associated Press Fact Check: Trump On Opioid Epidemic
According to the U.S. Centers on Disease Control and Prevention, about 40 percent of the opioid deaths in 2016 involved prescription painkillers. Those drugs are made by pharmaceutical companies. Some are abused by the people who have prescriptions; others are stolen and sold on the black market. The flow of heroin into the U.S. from Mexico is a major problem, but drugs that are brought from other countries don't all come over land borders. (1/30)

Politico: Trump State Of The Union 2018 Transcript: Live Analysis & Fact Check
Trump pledged repeatedly to halt the opioid epidemic, vowing in October to “liberate” Americans from the “scourge of addiction.” But neither the administration nor Congress has taken the major steps public health experts say are necessary fight the crisis – namely, pouring far more money into the effort. Trump in October decided against a national emergency that would have freed up new federal resources, opting inside to settle for declaring a “public health emergency” that only allowed the redirection of existing resources. Since then, he’s yet to propose any new plan for tackling the epidemic and left key health and drug jobs vacant – prompting experts to conclude that not much of consequence is being done. (1/30)

Stat: In State Of The Union, Trump Endorses 'Right To Try' For Terminally Ill Patients
In a wide-ranging State of the Union address Tuesday evening, President Trump endorsed Congress’s efforts to pass a bill allowing access to experimental treatments for patients with terminal conditions. So-called “right-to-try” legislation was passed by the Senate last fall, but the effort has since stalled in the House. Vice President Mike Pence has endorsed a right-to-try bill. In February Trump gave his support to the legislation but he had not spoken publicly about the issue prior to Tuesday’s address. (Swetlitz, 1/30)