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As a candidate back in July 2015, Donald J. Trump promised that he would repeal Obamacare and replace it with “something terrific.” Mr. Trump is now a few days from taking office as president, and has identified health care as a top policy priority, but the public knows little more about his proposal than it did then. In comments to The New York Times on Tuesday and in his news conference on Wednesday, Mr. Trump described when a Republican health reform bill would be released — “very quickly.” But he has yet to give any details about the policies it would contain. (Margot Sanger-Katz, 1/11)

The drug industry is just wrapping up what looked like an upbeat week here at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, where all of the healthcare industry's biggest executives come every year to court investors and negotiate deals. This is the where big mergers are conceived. But now every pharma and biotech executive has a lump in his throat (they're mostly men). Because of Donald Trump. Many pharmaceutical executives hoped that because of the Republican Party's long-term opposition to price controls and love of free markets, a Trump presidency would involve fewer controls on drug prices than a Hillary Clinton one. But at his first press conference today, Trump made it very clear that is not the case. (Matthew Herper, 1/11)

The classic interest group political logic of granting a government entitlement has historically been was that delivering tangible benefits to a specific group of voters would bind them to the party who gave it to them. ... Obama’s reward for passing ObamaCare, on the other hand, was to lose first one, then the other house of Congress ... and to help birth the Tea Party .... after the post-World War II creation of the Veterans Administration, then Medicare for the elderly and disabled and Medicaid for the categorically needy, and the bipartisan S-CHIP for kids, the most “attractive” subgroups of vulnerable Americans already had their health care entitlement. ... Nevertheless, the hand the Republicans seem to have dealt themselves on ObamaCare seems even less promising: how do you unmake the law without stranding 20 million people ... As the new Republican majority will learn in the next year, healthcare is an issue that you can win and still lose. (Jeff Goldsmith, 1/11)

At his press conference Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump endorsed what may be the most oft-cited solution to the crisis of skyrocketing drug prices: allowing Medicare to negotiate prices directly with drug manufacturers. Trump’s words were solidly in the mainstream of healthcare reform thought, even if he did add the spin of a self-styled dealmaker. (Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both advocated the same policy during the campaign.) (Michael Hiltzik, 1/11)

Health costs are going up. For all of us. And that's not going to change any time soon, no matter how Congress votes on an Obamacare repeal. It seems the least our lawmakers could do is give more people a carrot -- in the form of a savings account that allows them to deduct contributions from their taxes and withdraw the cash tax free -- to help pay the costs we can't avoid. (Joanna Allhands, 1/11)

Donald Trump’s election to the US presidency marks a time of global transition, with singular importance to health. The world is witnessing the rise of populist movements characterized by concerns about trade, immigration, globalization, and international organizations. These seismic events could have profound effects on health and development in the United States and globally. (Lawrence Gostin, 1/11)

Scientific ignorance never lies very deep beneath the claims of the anti-vaccine movement. Many of its adherents still claim there’s a connection between childhood vaccines and autism, even though the connection has been conclusively debunked and shown to have originated in an act of scientific fraud. (Michael Hiltzik, 1/11)

A little more than six months ago, in the early morning hours of June 21, I came within five minutes of dying. One half of my heart's mitral valve had torn away and was hanging by a thread, and although my heart continued to beat, it was unable to circulate enough oxygenated blood to my brain and other organs. Since my lungs had experienced what is called "flash edema" and quickly filled with fluid, there really wasn't any oxygen to circulate anyway. The fact that I not only lived but went on to make a full recovery has been called a miracle by several people, including the cardiologist who oversaw my treatment. But I know better. (Daniel Welch, 1/11)

During his Condition of the State address on Tuesday, Gov. Terry Branstad proposed eliminating state funding for Planned Parenthood. He said his two-year budget blueprint “redirects family planning money to organizations that focus on providing health care for women and eliminates taxpayer funding for organizations that perform abortions.” (1/11)

Although the debate over repealing the Affordable Care Act is currently taking center stage, Medicaid’s turn in the spotlight is coming sooner than many realize – and the immediate threat to Medicaid expansion is just the beginning. During the campaign, President-elect Trump promised that he would not cut Medicaid, differentiating himself from other Republican candidates. Yet his actions since the election have spoken louder than these words, as Vice President-elect Mike Pence, Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Tom Price, and Speaker Paul Ryan lay the groundwork for radical changes that will gut the Medicaid program and leave millions uninsured. These attacks on our health care safety net will come on three major fronts. (Thomas Huelskoetter, 1/12)

A guiding principle of the medical profession is “do no harm.” But Kansas state legislators are contemplating a policy that would harm our state and many of its most vulnerable patients. The idea is to expand the state’s Medicaid program by adding nearly 100,000 able-bodied adults to the Medicaid rolls. (Jeff Glendening, 1/12)

[M]y interest was piqued by a recent news article about Farm Bureau Health Plan, which sells full-year individual-market plans to Tennesseans willing to submit to medical underwriting. I was surprised because I thought the ACA had ended that type of review of applicants' medical histories in full-year, comprehensive health plans. Two experts I contacted said they are not aware of any other health plans like this. ... Farm Bureau Health Plan is apparently an anomaly. Brown said his organization is allowed by the state to sell non-compliant plans because it's a not-for-profit membership services organization providing services to the members of the Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation, which was created in 1947. (Harris Meyer, 1/11)

As the baby-boomer generation ages, experts and government are trying to catch up with what frazzled caregivers have long known: The aging of America is placing unprecedented demands on time and dollars, straining family resources and government budgets and social services. Recent polls and reports have documented a need for greater support for caregivers, many of whom drain their own finances or quit jobs to care for an aging loved one. Not surprisingly, caregivers often have higher rates of anxiety, chronic disease, depression and stress. (1/12)

It shouldn’t be a big deal that I gave blood this week, but it is. To do it, I had to give up all forms of sex for a year. The reason: I’m gay. With what we know today about the disease, it’s a stupid reason. (Jay Franzone, 1/12)