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Republicans' strong showing in this week’s mid-term elections opens the door to more calls to repeal President Obama’s signature law, the Affordable Care Act. And while that is all but impossible given the balance of power in the U.S. Senate, victories in Washington and at the state level could usher in other healthcare changes. (Gorenstein, 11/6)

In a nod to voter opposition to the Affordable Care Act, Mr. Obama said he is open to making “responsible” changes to his signature legislative achievement. He declined to specify what targeted changes he is willing to accept, saying he preferred to discuss ideas in private with Mr. McConnell and other lawmakers on Friday. Mr. McConnell, who is under pressure from Senate conservatives to fight for a full repeal of the health law, said he’d prefer that course, but acknowledged that such a move might be impossible while Mr. Obama is in office and able to veto any such effort. Mr. McConnell said lawmakers would move to repeal a tax on medical devices and make other targeted changes to the health law. (McCain Nelson and Lee, 11/5)

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is planning to make ObamaCare a priority in his first weeks as leader of the Senate, vowing a sustained effort to dismantle the law piece-by-piece. Instead of a full repeal, McConnell said the GOP will tackle unpopular aspects of the law such as the individual mandate, the medical device tax and the 30-hour workweek requiring employers to provide insurance. (Ferris, 11/5)

The Republican Party’s drive to repeal the Affordable Care Act will continue to stall despite the Republican takeover of the Senate, prompting party leaders to instead concentrate on peeling back unpopular bits of the law. Republican lawmakers and strategists signaled Wednesday that a simple message of repealing President Barack Obama ’s 2010 health law won’t be enough to appeal to voters. Polls show a majority of Americans oppose the law, but still don’t want it repealed and prefer lawmakers fix it instead. (Radnofsky, Armour and Peterson, 11/5)

Tuesday’s Republican victories in the U.S. Senate are inspiring strong optimism among medical device companies in Minnesota and nationwide for a repeal of the 2.3 percent tax on their products. But repealing the unpopular medical-device tax will not be easy, even with Republican majorities in the House and Senate. Any stand-alone device-tax bill would face a likely veto threat by President Barack Obama, which means repeal is more likely to be a part of a broader bill reforming business taxes or the Affordable Care Act. (Carlson, 11/5)

On immigration, healthcare and global warming, the initial public statements from the two sides, while polite, indicated little flexibility and presaged intense new battles that could begin within weeks. ... McConnell also said the Republican Senate would move to undo at least parts of the 2010 healthcare law, although he also sought to quiet expectations of conservatives that the GOP could achieve total repeal. ... Republicans will, at minimum, try to repeal the law's new tax on certain medical devices, he said, and will try to strike down the requirement that individuals buy health insurance or pay a fine, which "people hate." Obama said he would veto any effort to repeal the insurance requirement, calling it "a line I can't cross" because it would "undermine the structure of the law." (Parsons and Lauter, 11/5)

Within hours of solidifying their control of Congress, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John A. Boehner were quietly laying plans for a series of quick votes in January aimed at erasing their obstructionist image ahead of the 2016 elections. ... Finally: Aim for the big score. Not repealing President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, though the conservative campaign to undermine the law will proceed in the background. Instead, Republicans dangled the prospect of fast-track trade agreements and sweeping tax reform as potential areas of agreement during Obama’s waning days in office. (Montgomery and Costa, 11/5)

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) is expected to take the gavel at the Senate Budget Committee. GOP control of the budget process in the Senate and House, which remains under Republican control, will give the party greater leverage in budget negotiations with President Barack Obama, particularly over the nation’s borrowing authority and government funding levels. Mr. Sessions, a conservative, could use the position to lead GOP efforts to use the budget process to target the Affordable Care Act and programs such as Social Security or Medicare. (Crittenden, 11/5)