| House GOP considers adding health measures to funding bill House Republicans are considering adding a six-year extension of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), as well as delays of certain ObamaCare taxes, to a short-term government funding bill this week, sources say. The six-year extension of CHIP would help put to rest a months-long delay in renewing the funding for that program, which has been caught up in a partisan dispute over how to pay for it. There was a breakthrough last week when the Congressional Budget Office revised down the cost so that a six-year extension would essentially cost nothing. A GOP aide on the House Energy and Commerce Committee said Tuesday they are "feeling good that CHIP gets done this week." The package could also include delays of ObamaCare taxes, according to lobbyists following the negotiations. Read more here. But it's unclear if lawmakers will actually be able to work out a funding deal this week. As The Hill's Scott Wong reports, lawmakers are warning that the odds of a shutdown are rising. Read more on that here. White House doctor: Trump in excellent health, mentally fit for office President Trump's doctor on Tuesday gave him a clean bill of health, declaring him physically and mentally fit for the challenges of the nation's highest office. Navy Rear Adm. Dr. Ronny Jackson, who has served as the presidential physician since 2013, conducted a lengthy and unusual briefing at the White House where he offered a detailed rundown of Trump's first physical as president. Jackson said he has interacted with Trump, 71, several times a day over the past year and saw no need to conduct a cognitive evaluation as part of the physical because the president is "very sharp" and "very intact." But at Trump's urging, Jackson selected and administered the Montreal Cognitive Assessment during the president's physical exam last week at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Trump scored a 30 out of 30, Jackson said, a score he said should put to rest questions about Trump's mental fitness. Read more here. Number of uninsured Americans rises by over 3M in Trump's first year: Gallup The number of uninsured Americans in 2017 saw its largest single-year increase since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act's coverage expansion, according to Gallup data released Tuesday. According to the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index, the number of Americans without health insurance rose by 1.3 percentage points in 2017, representing about 3.2 million people. Among those who saw the biggest declines in coverage were people between the ages of 18 and 25, as well as black and Hispanic people and individuals with an annual household income of less than $36,000. Read more here. CDC director to miss fourth Congressional hearing because of ethics issues Brenda Fitzgerald, the director of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, had to cancel another appearance before Congress because of ethics issues, a committee aide told The Hill. This is the fourth time since being appointed to the role in July that Fitzgerald has been unable to testify because of potential conflicts of interest. She was slated to testify Wednesday in front of the Senate's health committee on public health threats but is no longer scheduled to. Fitzgerald, a former Georgia health official, has divested from many stock holdings since taking the CDC job. But because she's been unable to divest from some holdings due to legal and contractual obligations, she's had to recuse herself from some CDC duties, including testifying in front of Congress. Read more here. Pentagon, FDA to speed up approval for battlefield medical products The Defense Department and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday announced new steps aimed at expediting the approval of medical devices and drugs for use on the battlefield. The plan is being carried out in line with a law passed last year in the wake of a controversy over whether the Pentagon should be allowed to approve products for battlefield use. "We recognize that there are essential and in some cases unmet health-care needs of those protecting our nation and that we at the FDA need to do our part to better protect them," Anna Abram, the FDA's deputy commissioner for policy, planning, legislation and analysis, said in a conference call with reporters. Right now, the Pentagon is focusing on getting approval for freeze-dried plasma, cold-stored platelets and cryopreserved platelets, which the military hopes will help save troops from bleeding out on the battlefield. The Pentagon and its advocates in Congress have been frustrated by what they describe as the FDA's slow approval of certain treatments they say could save lives on the battlefield. Read more here. UnitedHealth expects $1.7B windfall from tax law UnitedHealth Group, the country's largest insurer, will gain $1.7 billion in additional earnings in 2018 because of the GOP tax bill, the company's CEO said Tuesday. In a fourth quarter earnings call, Dave Wichmann told investors the company will "accelerate" investing the windfall in new technology and local community-based health-care initiatives. The legislation signed by President Trump last month slashed the corporate tax rate in an attempt to boost wages and add new jobs in the U.S. However, Wichmann did not mention that UnitedHealth would be using the additional cash for higher wages for its employees. Read more here. Kentucky governor threatens to end Medicaid expansion An executive order issued by Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) would end the state's Medicaid expansion if any part of the state's newly approved Medicaid overhaul is struck down by a court. If the expansion were to end, nearly 500,000 people would lose Medicaid coverage. Bevin's executive order would instruct the secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the Medicaid commissioner to "take necessary steps to terminate Kentucky's Medicaid expansion" if any part of his plan is struck down in court. The order, which was also issued on Friday, calls for the expansion to start being dismantled "no later than six months" after all appeals are exhausted. Bevin ran on a platform of ending the expansion, which was enacted by the state's previous governor, Democrat Steve Beshear. Read more here. What we're reading: Contraceptive app under fire for causing unwanted pregnancies (Endgadget) Former health secretary Tom Price gets a new gig as adviser (Bloomberg) Celgene in talks to buy Juno Therapeutics (Wall Street Journal) State by state In occupation where stress is ample, farmers have few options for mental health care (mprnews.org) How California became a role model on measles (The New York Times) | 
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