The Associated Press: 13.8M Goal Set For Obama's Final Health Care Sign-Up Season
The Obama administration has set its goal for the president's final health care sign-up season. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell says she expects 13.8 million people to sign up. This is shaping up to be the most challenging sign-up season since HealthCare.gov launched in 2013 and its computer system didn't work. (10/19)

CNBC: Obamacare Sign-Ups For 2017 Projected At 13.8 Million, Slight Rise Over 2016
The nation's top health official said Wednesday she expects nearly 13.8 million people to sign up for Obamacare insurance plans for health coverage in 2017 during the upcoming open enrollment season. That estimate represents a modest increase in the number of people — 12.7 million — who signed up for Obamacare plans during open enrollment for 2016. The 9 percent projected increase would equal the bump seen in sign-ups for this year, when enrollment growth in Affordable Care Act plans began leveling off. (Mangan, 10/19)

The Washington Post: ACA Enrollment To Rise By 1 Million Next Year, Obama Administration Projects
The administration’s optimism contrasts with recent estimates by outside analysts,some of whom have suggested that enrollment growth will slow or even reverse in 2017 because some insurers are withdrawing from the ACA exchanges and the prices charged by the remaining companies are soaring in many parts of the country. “Ultimately, the marketplace is strong – and will continue to be strong – because it is offering a product that people want and need,” Burwell said in remarks at HHS headquarters. (Goldstein, 10/19)

Los Angeles Times: Bucking His Detractors, The Controversial Leader Of An L.A. AIDS Nonprofit Sets His Sights On The National Political Stage
In a state as expensive as California, and during a political year as crowded as 2016, most organizations would struggle to sponsor just one ballot measure. Fighting on two fronts is often reserved for the most formidable interest groups. But that’s just what the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation is doing this year. The foundation, led by longtime HIV activist Michael Weinstein, has become one of the biggest — and most controversial — nonprofits dedicated to fighting the disease and is quickly becoming a political powerhouse. It has a $1.2-billion budget and two high-profile measures on California’s ballot: Proposition 60, which would require condom use in adult film production, and Proposition 61, which seeks to lower prices state agencies pay for prescription drugs. AIDS Healthcare Foundation has contributed more than $19 million to the initiatives. (Mai-Duc and Panzar, 10/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Zenefits Touts New Software In Turnaround Effort
Human-resources startup Zenefits is seeking to put its troubled past behind it, launching redesigned software at its first customer conference on Tuesday in an effort to jump-start sales and repair its corporate image. Zenefits said the new software, dubbed “Z2,” enables its small-business customers to manage more human-resources tasks, like employee payroll. It also now works with 17 business apps made by other software makers, including Intuit Inc. and Salesforce.com Inc. ... Zenefits, incorporated as YourPeople Inc., gives away its software free to small businesses, which use it primarily to manage employee health-care benefits. Zenefits makes money by collecting brokerage commissions from insurance carriers. (Winkler, 10/18)

Los Angeles Times: UC Irvine Health Workers Picket Medical Center Over Layoffs
More than 100 UC Irvine Health workers used their work break or their day off Tuesday to picket at UCI Medical Center in Orange in response to 175 employee layoffs that began this month. UC Irvine Health's chief executive, Howard Federoff, informed staff of the layoffs through an email Oct. 3. Previous expense reductions and increased revenue through growth of the organization's clinical services have "not been enough to avoid reductions in staff," Federoff said in the email. (Chan, 10/18)

Orange County Register: Hundreds Rally Outside UCI Medical Center To Protest 175 Layoffs
About 200 union members and supporters picketed UC Irvine Medical Center Tuesday afternoon to decry the loss of 175 health care jobs. The protesters, some wearing medical scrubs or union T-shirts, carried signs and chanted, “UC, UC, you’re no good. Treat your workers like you should.” (Perkes, 10/18)

Los Angeles Times: More Than Half Of U.S. Kids Don't Get Dental Sealants, And The CDC Wants Schools To Change That
How can elementary schools save nearly $50 per student? By bringing in dental professionals to put sealants on their molars, federal health officials said Tuesday. If that doesn’t sound like an education-related problem, consider this: Cavities that go untreated cause kids to do worse in school. (Kaplan, 10/18)

KPCC: Dental Sealants Prevent Cavities, But Many Poor Kids Don't Get Them 
Dental sealants are an effective and inexpensive way to prevent kids from getting cavities, but many low-income kids aren't getting them, the Centers for Disease Control says in a report released Tuesday. To close this gap, the CDC recommends that state and local officials develop school-based programs to provide dental sealants to poor kids and those who live in rural areas. The agency provides 21 state public health departments with funding to implement such programs. California is among the 29 states that don't receive this money, but Los Angeles Unified School District officials say they do offer dental sealants as part of their dental care program. (Plevin, 10/18)

KQED: What Stem Cell Researchers Talk About When They Talk About Ethics 
This year marks an anniversary that in all probability flew under your radar: The iPSC is 10-years-old... But iPSCs are normal cells, such as skin or blood cells, which have been tinkered with and reprogrammed to revert to an embryonic-like state. They are then capable of reproducing as stem cells or developing into other types of human cells (pluripotent), such as liver, heart, pancreatic or nerve cells. So the ability to derive a stem cell without using human embryonic tissue changed the debate about stem cell research ethics. (Venton, 10/18)

Santa Rosa Press Democrat: Sonoma County Flu Season Could Be Virulent 
With flu season expected to ramp up this month, local public health officials are urging Sonoma County residents 6 months and older to get a flu shot to curb the spread of the virus. There’s still very little local transmission of the influenza virus, but infectious disease experts say this year’s dominant strain could be Influenza A’s H3 subtype, a particularly virulent virus. Early cases of H3 flu virus have been detected in various parts of the country, said Dr. Gary Green, head of infectious disease at Kaiser Santa Rosa Medical Center. (Espinoza, 10/18)

In other news from across the state —

Sacramento Business Journal: Sutter Cancer Center Roseville Consolidates Services Under One Roof 
Sutter Health is celebrating the grand opening of its new $27 million Sutter Cancer Center Roseville to bring many of its scattered cancer services in Roseville into the same building. Construction was recently completed on the three-story building, with tenant improvements through most of it. Some space remains empty for future expansion. The building at 8 Medical Plaza Drive houses multiple groups that had been in other locations in Roseville, some of them in office buildings on Douglas Boulevard and others that had been in Sutter Roseville Hospital and in other locations. (Anderson, 10/18)

Bloomberg: Why 27 Million Are Still Uninsured Under Obamacare
One key to stabilizing the law is drawing in more of those who are uninsured, particularly the younger, healthier ones. In fact, young people are the most likely to go uninsured, according to a detailed analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The analysis shows that those who lack insurance cut across age and income and vary from state to state. Taking a look at who these people are can give clues to how the health law is falling short, and what can be done to fix it. (Diamond, Tracer and Whiteaker, 10/19)

The Wall Street Journal: Rate Increases For Health Plans Pose Serious Test For Obama’s Signature Law
Finalized rates for big health insurance plans around the country show the magnitude of the challenge facing the Obama administration as it seeks to stabilize the insurance market under the Affordable Care Act in its remaining weeks in office. Market leaders that are continuing to sell coverage through HealthCare.gov or a state equivalent have been granted average premium increases of 30% or more in Alabama, Delaware, Hawaii, Kansas, Mississippi and Texas, according to information published by state regulators and on a federal site designed to highlight rate increases of 10% or more. (Radnofsky, 10/18)

The Hill: ObamaCare Experts: Don't Expect Fixes In 2017 
Leading experts on healthcare policy say they’re not holding their breath for major fixes to ObamaCare in the next Congress.“ We shouldn’t hold down great expectations for significant change,” Robert Reischauer, one of two public trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, said Tuesday. “What we should probably do is tamp down the behavior that would make things worse,” he said, referring to six years of Republican attempts to undermine the law. (Ferris, 10/18)

In other national health care news —

Modern Healthcare: They're With Her? These Are Likely Picks For Health Posts In A Clinton White House 
If Hillary Clinton wins the presidency Nov. 8, she will quickly name people to top health policy positions who are diverse in gender, race, and ethnicity, have sharp political and administrative skills, and can work in a bipartisan way, Democratic political insiders say. Some names floated as likely contenders for HHS Secretary, CMS administrator and other posts include former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Neera Tanden, Chris Jennings, Ann O'Leary, Dr. Atul Gawande, and Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey. While some hope Sylvia Mathews Burwell will continue on as secretary, that's seen as unlikely. (Meyer, 10/18)

The Wall Street Journal: Medicare Spent $359 Million On Unnecessary Chiropractic Care In 2013, Audit Finds
More than 80% of the money that Medicare paid to chiropractors in 2013 went for medically unnecessary procedures, a new federal audit found. The federal insurance program for senior citizens spent roughly $359 million on unnecessary chiropractic care that year for treatment of strains, sprains or joint conditions, a review by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General found. (Evans, 10/19)

Stat: Primary Care Doctors Are Staying Out Of The Fight Against Opioids
The scarcity of doctors trained to deal with addiction may be particularly acute in Española, but the issue resonates in cities and towns across the country, where roughly 20,000 people die annually from opioid-related overdoses. In the face of one of the country’s most pressing and fastest-growing public health crises, few primary care doctors treat substance abuse disorders, even though they are uniquely positioned to recognize problems and help patients before it’s too late. Instead, many primary care doctors follow an old script: Refer patients to addiction centers and Narcotics Anonymous, and move on. (Tedeschi, 10/19)